Nachman of Breslov

“ And they replied that they had chosen for themselves that murder is the goal. They accepted a certain murderer as king, then they found a woman sitting in a sea of blood, so they took her up as a king, because they saw that she is surely a very great murderer since she is seated in an ocean of blood. ”

“ Then the Warrior came to them and took them out of their pits that they had dug for themselves there out of disgrace, and he said to them, "Come with me, because now you need no longer have any fear of the Warrior, for I myself am the Warrior!" They begged the Warrior to give them from the foods, to bring to their country, because they themselves would surely just hate money, however, they wanted the whole country to go out from this money craving. ”

“ Even though after death one no longer wants any money and the dead person certainly has no desire for anything, nevertheless they are particular about the dead's honor and they guard his honor. Therefore it is honor that is the main object. They continued saying more such conjectures and deductions of that sort, that honor is the main object of the world, until it became settled among them that the main purpose is honor. ”

“ And all of you, with all your gods, are all merely humans and not one of them is any god at all. There is no more than only one God in the world: He who created everything, and He alone should be served and only to Him one should pray; and this alone is the main purpose in the world." And such other words did the Prayer Leader speak with the guard. And the Prayer Leader kept speaking more of the same kinds of words with the guard, while the guard continued to not listen, because their mistaken belief had already been set within them from a long time ago, as mentioned. ”

“ Inasmuch as when there was the Storm Wind, at which time the world became separated into numerous factions (that is, into many opinions, as each sect had a different opinion, as mentioned) , then the people of the country chose for themselves that the main thing is wisdom, and they took up for themselves a great sage as a king. Not long ago they found quite an exceptionally great wise man, who is strangely an extraordinarily great sage. The king relinquished the kingship to him and they took him up as king, since for them the main thing was wisdom. ”

“ They talked with the Sage regarding that country that had become so deluded about money, etc., and they said, "If we had been thrown around and dispersed for nothing more than on account of that country, in order that we should correct them and turn them to the truth, it would also be worth it, for they have become so deluded." Because in truth, all the aforementioned factions, each one having chosen its nonsense, this one wanting honor, and this one murder, etc. — they have all become deluded and need to be led out to the proper goal. ”

“ And they had officers who were appointed to observe of everyone whether he has as much money as he says, because everyone had to show off his wealth at every moment in order to remain in the status and honor that he had according to his money (in other words all the rich people who for them were gods, stars, angels etc. due to their money would always be inspected whether he has so much money; whether he is not in vain a god and so forth, and people were appointed to constantly watch this) . And sometimes among them an animal would become a person, or a person an animal. ”

“ And they had devotions, sacrifices and incenses with which they served their gods (that is, those who had much money) . But despite this the country was definitely full of murder and theft, because whoever did not believe in the devotions became a murderer and thief in order to get money, because the main thing for them was wealth, since through money one can buy anything — food and clothing — so the root of a man's life is through money ”

“ One will understand by himself already that all the previous factions were all gravely mistaken and deluded in great folly, each faction in their folly through their foolish hypotheses and foolish deductions. ”

“ Traders would go out from them to trade in other countries, in order to win money, in order to bring even more money into the country. And charity was certainly a great prohibition for them, because how can someone be permitted to give away the money that God has given him — which was for them the main thing, to have money — how can someone be permitted to give that away? ”

“ Namely when a rich person lost his money he already became a non-human — a man became an animal, because he already had no money for himself; and conversely when someone won money, so an animal became a human ”

“ Hence this elderly beggar is a very 'honorable' man, because he has such an honor, and also pursues honor, because he is so strict over his honor. Therefore this beggar pleased them and they accepted him as a king. And because land also has an effect, for there is a land that engenders and is conducive to honor, and similarly there is a land that is specially suited for another trait, therefore this faction (which regarded honor as the main purpose) sought a country that engenders and is conducive to honor ”

“ The emissaries came to the decision: Why should they any longer go to those other gods, that is, to the country they were sent to, where they are greatly wealthy people whom they considered to be gods? Isn't it better that this man will surely be able to better help them, for he is, after all, a god above all of them (according to their crazed notion) , since he has such extraordinary, great riches more than them all (many, many times over) ? ”

“ He replied, "Because we all must leave the country and go to another country, for we have seen that the main goal is only money, therefore it has become ingrained in us that we must go to such a country where they make money (that is, there, there is a kind of earth from which they make gold and silver) . ”

“ Inasmuch as they had been in a country where the entire populace were gods and traveled about with angels — that is, that country is where everyone, from the smallest to greatest, are all extraordinarily great [vild-groiss, lit. "wild-great"] wealthy people in the extreme, such that even the smallest among them is also a god according to their foolish delusion (because the smallest person in the country is exceptionally wealthy and has as much money as was reckoned by them that with that much money one becomes a god, as mentioned) . ”

“ And meanwhile they made the rich man into a king until they would find such a person as they want, as above; then the rich man would descend from the reign and the other one would be taken up as a king. ”

“ When the Sword is lifted then all the officers of the [opposing] army flee, so as a matter of course they fall, because when the officers flee, there is no one to lead the battle, so they certainly fall. But despite this, the survivors may still be able to wage war — however, the Sword has two sharp edges, and they have two powers: through one edge they all fall down, and through the other edge they get the sickness called "dör" (wasting; consumption) , namely they (the enemies whom they are fighting) become meager of flesh and lifeless, as is known of this sickness; the Merciful One spare us. ”

“ The Prayer Meister [The Prayer Meister] A tale. Once, there was a Prayer Meister [Ba`al Tefilah: master of prayer; or the leader of a prayer service] who was constantly occupied only with prayer, songs and praises to Hashem Yithbarakh (the Blessed G-d) . He dwelled outside of the settled areas [yeshuv] , and would regularly go into them to enter into [conversation] with some person — typically people of lower stature, such as poor people, etc. ”

“ For even the sect that had chosen for itself that the main thing is wisdom, they too have not reached the true purpose and also need to be led out from that, for they have clung to alien and heretical wisdoms. ”

“ For they [the Ba'al Tefilah's associates] had great pity on them about having gone so off in the lust for money; especially since the Ba'al Tefilah had said that they could go further and further astray, therefore these people went to that country. Perhaps they could restore them from their nonsense.
[So, the Ba'al Tefilah's people] entered the country and approached one of them who was apparently a low-status person whom they called an animal. And they began to talk with him, that truthfully money is not a purpose at all, and the main purpose is only serving Hashem, and so forth. ”

“ And so the Prayer Leader went to another guard and also spoke with him in his usual way, as above; and he too did not listen to him, but in the end also replied as above, "I am one person" and so forth, as above. And so all the guards answered him this teshuvah in the end.
Afterwards the Prayer Leader entered the city and began talking with them in his usual way: inasmuch as they are all very much in complete error, and money is no goal at all; rather, the essential purpose is solely to delve in Torah and prayer and so forth. ”

“ Meanwhile on the way as the emissaries were going they went astray and they noticed a man walking with a stick, whose stick came to more than all their gods. That is, his stick was set with very expensive diamonds so that the stick was worth more than the riches of all their gods. Should one put together all the riches of their gods and even of the gods of that country they're going to, the stick would be worth more than all their riches. ”

“ And this is the Warrior with whom we now go about conquering the world. But he says (that is, the Warrior who has now become king over them) that he means something else in his going about conquering the world, for he does not at all intend that the world should be under him; instead he means something else." (All this, one of the strongmen told the Prayer Leader who had asked him how they had joined the Warrior; he answered him all this.)
[The Prayer Leader and Warrior Reunite; the Prayer Faction] Asked the Prayer Leader, "Wherein is the strength of the Warrior who is now your king?" ”