About the song “You brought us this far” • About its stanzas; how and when it was written, • and what stands behind each verse in this song of longing?

Hearts pound with tense anticipation. Is it really so? Will we truly merit to arrive—or will it become clear that, once again, we have reached a dead end, and the only way out is to turn back home exactly as we came, without attaining the longed-for goal…

After investing the very essence of their strength—after pouring in their blood and sweat—after working so hard to gather the money needed for the expensive flights, and after superhuman efforts to obtain—following repeated delays—the coveted visa to the “Garden of Eden” called the Soviet Union; while the officials look at them in astonishment, not to say pity, and tap a finger at their temple to make clear what they think about this strange group standing before them—people doing everything possible to enter a country that everyone who can is trying to escape. There stand the Breslov Chassidim somewhere in one of the airports scattered across Europe, and in the face of a new obstacle that suddenly appears, they ask themselves: “Will this ever end? Will we really reach Uman??”

This is how the trembling words of the song/prayer were born: “You brought us this far—bring us to Uman.” “Father in Heaven—after so many hardships and ordeals that held us back, after so many obstacles piled in our path, after so many disappointments that were our portion—and yet, You ‘brought us this far.’ Our request—after so many miracles we have seen—please, ‘bring us to Uman’…”

“If only I had wings like a dove—I would fly away and find rest”

The song of longing for Uman, composed by Rabbi Berland shlit"a in those years filled with anticipation and yearning for the opening of the road to the resting place of the great Healer of souls, Rebbe Nachman of Breslov in Uman—who promised wondrous salvations to whoever would merit to come to his holy tziyun—is well known to many among our people. Yet while most of the public knows the song only from the occasions when it is sung, there are also those who know the stages of the song, and the times when many of its rhymes were actually lived in real life.

In the upcoming series of articles, we will try, with Hashem’s help, to focus on a number of stanzas that will give us a window into the importance of the journey and its holiness, as well as Rabbi Berland shlit"a’s plans in connection with the holy tziyun of Rebbe Nachman—some of which find expression between the verses of the song (and even there, it is only a small taste).

First article in the series:

“Without eating or drinking—only prayer and immersion”

Rabbi Berland’s practice when traveling to the holy tziyun of Rebbe Nachman in Uman was to fast that day. Rebbe Nachman requires preparation, and for The Rav shlit"a—who in any case does not give much place to eating—it was natural not to eat. What must be understood is that very often the trip was long; including the return route, there were times when an entire day passed in which The Rav ate nothing at all—fulfilling, in the simplest sense, “without eating or drinking.”

At other times, when they would arrive at Rebbe Nachman’s tziyun at night, they would immediately begin planning the following night… so another day would pass in which no food entered Rabbi Berland’s mouth.

In general, The Rav would take almost no food with him for the trip. The chassid Rabbi Yehoshua Dov Rubinstein, who accompanied Rabbi Berland shlit"a on many journeys to Uman, relates that once he decided to check The Rav’s suitcase. He was not surprised to discover that aside from sefarim and clothing, the suitcase contained no food at all—except for a package of dates…

But The Rav did not only conduct himself this way personally—he also advised the travelers among Anash to do the same. The chassid Rabbi Yosef Marian told “His’chadshus” that The Rav instructed Anash that whoever can should try to fast when they need to cross borders, because the journeys required open miracles; and indeed many of Anash would fast until they had crossed the borders.

On the other hand, when it came to prayers and immersions, Anash did not hold back at all… whether it was long prayers—because for Rabbi Berland shlit"a there is no such concept as shortening prayer just because one is on the road or in some remote airport that may never have seen a Jew, all the more so a Jew praying. Yet The Rav shlit"a would stand and pray for long hours with melodies, or alternatively with cries. The common denominator is that The Rav shlit"a prays as though he is in his own home.

We heard a wondrous story from the chassid Rabbi Nachman Horowitz: on one of the trips to Uman, the boarding time for the plane coincided with sunrise. Rabbi Berland shlit"a reached the Amidah in the bus that transports passengers from the terminal to the aircraft, and immediately began Shemoneh Esrei. An eyewitness who was present and later told the story to R’ Nachman describes how he looked at The Rav in great astonishment: in a bus ride that lasts only a minute or two, one stands and prays Shemoneh Esrei? But his astonishment lasted only a few moments—suddenly the bus stopped, and the passengers were informed that due to a malfunction in the plane it was not possible to board now, and they must wait in the bus until further notice… After an hour, Rabbi Berland shlit"a stepped back and said “Oseh Shalom,” and as if by perfect coordination they announced that the malfunction had been fixed and it was possible to board the plane.

And of course, it is impossible not to focus a bit on the prayers until they reached the stage of flying. Long hours, night after night, Breslov Chassidim would engage in Hisbodedus, pouring out longing and supplication before Hashem in order to merit overcoming all the obstacles that appeared impassable. For in the natural order there was no chance—not even the slightest—to reach Rebbe Nachman’s tziyun in Uman. Before their eyes stood only Rebbe Nachman’s words: that prayer changes nature. And in this way—and only in this way—they succeeded in reaching Uman.

And immersions… oh! How much mesirus nefesh is contained in that word. What tremendous self-sacrifice Anash—led by Rabbi Berland shlit"a—undertook to obtain immersion wherever there was any possibility, especially on the way to Rebbe Nachman’s tziyun, for Breslov Chassidim have always been extremely careful not to enter without immersion in a mikveh.

Different frozen rivers did not deter Rabbi Berland shlit"a in the least. More than once he labored to break the ice until a hole was formed where one could immerse—in a cold that cannot be described. Old, foul-smelling mikvaos were also not an obstacle to meriting purity. The stories of mesirus nefesh in this area are astounding, and over time The Rav became like a guide—knowing where there is a mikveh in the city of Vinnytsia, and where in Kyiv or in Odessa there is a river.

The chassid Rabbi Nosson son of Mendel Shapira tells of one of those trips when he went with the chassid R’ Amram Horowitz zt"l in the middle of the night to immerse. On their way, near the river, they met Rabbi Berland shlit"a, who knew the river well, and he told them that the place where they were standing was the sewage area, and that they must move farther away to another area where it is possible to immerse properly.

The chassid R’ Rachamim ben Yosef relates that when they would go to immerse in the rivers, the cold was so intense that people would almost freeze and could not move; they needed others to warm them and help them get dressed. But Rabbi Berland shlit"a would jump into the river for immersion and come up as if nothing had happened.

Over time, The Rav developed an understanding of where in the river the ice was less hard and could be broken more easily…

On trips where a representative of “Intourist”—the USSR’s tourism office, which in practice served as a KGB surveillance branch over tourists—was attached to the group of travelers, Rabbi Berland would explain to him already at the beginning of the trip that we need, each day, some river or the like in order to wash in it. Sometimes it even helped…

A rare photo of the holy gaon and tzaddik Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a breaking a frozen river with his foot in order to immerse at the holy tziyun before Rosh Hashanah: