Why Are So Many Greats in Breslov Passing Away? Rabbi Moshe Binenstock shlit"a

Rabbi Moshe Binenstock shlit"a, one of the great transmitters of the Breslov Chassidut tradition, speaks out against the controversy in Breslov and the many deaths that have occurred because of it. These are his words.

"I am in shock at the great loss we have suffered - Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Carmel, who was a soul-friend of mine. We would meet; he would see me from a distance in the halls and would come over with humility and self-nullification, even though he knew how to learn much better than I. He mastered all the places; his books are full and laden with material. He truly sanctified the name of our Rebbe."

"His prayers—without shouting, the whole synagogue could hear his pouring out of the soul. He was truly a magnificent vessel; we have lost a precious vessel."

"If I had said the night before what I am saying now, you would have said I was a prophet. My dear friend R' Aharon Kliger shlit"a asked me why I am holding back. I was truly holding back, but I was boiling so much the night before. I was boiling over what is happening. I spoke with many people about the grandson of R' Shmuel Shapiro, the late Rabbi Pesach Shapiro z"l, a lovely boy who was also in my study groups. He passed away in 5732, and after him, Rabbi Yankele Teplinski a"h passed away. This was a short time after the classes with R' Levi Yitzchak Bender had resumed, after there had been a break of several years because R' Yitzchak signed for the elections, they kicked him out of the shul, and then they stopped the class. In any case, there were only a few of us."

"When Yankele passed away, it was a terrible blow to everyone. He was the pride of Breslov, the heart of Breslov. He was a true role model, a man who understood this world and also spirituality—a 'chaverman' (good fellow) and innocent, yet clever, everything together, a person of all virtues, and above all, heart. When he passed away, it was a terrible blow to Breslov, and R' Levi Yitzchak did not stop talking about it for weeks upon weeks. There was a controversy between two of the elders of Anash (the community) regarding the management of the shul. There were those who sided here and those who sided there, and Yankele Teplinski tried to make peace."

"That same day, he still had the towel in his hand from the midnight immersion, as he did all day. In the end, he collapsed on Tzefania Street. R' Levi Yitzchak cried terribly, even though he was a tough man, and of course, he was at the funeral. I remember the elders walking on foot to the Mount of Olives."

"R' Levi Yitzchak Bender did not stop talking about one subject - the Rebbe is ready to forgo everything except for controversy."

"He said: In the case of Korach, a needle from the end of the world entered the pit. I remember R' Levi Yitzchak saying: Even infants in the cradle passed away - everything is because of the controversy. The Rebbe forgoes everything except for controversy."

"Have mercy, gentlemen, stop looking for faults. Read Prayer 34, what R' Nathan speaks about - stop persecuting people; it causes destruction."

"I wanted to say this then that night, but I held back. It is good that I held back, otherwise, they would have said that it happened because of me, Heaven forbid. But - 'Behold, I give to him My covenant of peace' - this is the great work of Pinchas, this is Elijah who rides on horses of fire in a storm. Just as the Rebbe says in Torah 9, Part Two, to calm down and find the good in the other, the calm and pure air."

"Although it is a marginal group, it is very destructive - to destroy 700 sets of 'Siach Sarfei Kodesh', books of Breslov Chassidut - the Rebbe cannot be silent about this. It is shocking, just because you don't like that they wrote the name of so-and-so. Things like this never happened! Is this the image we are leaving for the next generation of Breslov?"

"Did R' Nathan do this? Did R' Avraham b"r Nachman do this? R' Nachman of Tulchin? - I don't want to go into more shocking details... we must make a change! Don't forget that when they said to Agrippas, 'You are our brother,' at that very moment, destruction was decreed upon Israel. Flattery and the fear of opening one's mouth are our undoing. Heaven forbid that this should end, but Moshe Golsevsky who passed away suddenly, and R' Nathan Shapiro who passed away suddenly, and now R' Yitzchak Carmel - suddenly. I am not talking about those who fell, I am not talking about those who suffered from illnesses, but we have lost in the last two years the best people that the Breslov Chassidim had: Moshile Anshin, Motta Toritz, Chaim Burshtein, etc., one after another, and I am not focused enough to mention all the names."

"Do the math, the cream of the crop, the pride of the elders of the Breslov Chassidim who were supposed to be the elders of the generation - they are gone, R' Yisrael Nieresh, everyone! - It is shocking! We must put an end to this business."

"'For these I weep, my eye, my eye runs down with water, because the comforter who should revive my soul is far' - 66 of the Breslov Chassidim have passed away in the last year and a half, truly a harsh decree that is hard to grasp with the mind. We do not know the accounts of Heaven, but everyone is awake and aware of the harsh controversy taking place within the camp of the Breslov Chassidim - may their memory be a blessing."