This Land is My Land

"Run for the hills! Run for the hills!"

This can be a very good piece of advice, a real lifesaver. In fact, the Torah recommends it. The angels suggested it to Lot (Genesis 19:17) who was fleeing for his life when Sodom and Gomorrah were being overthrown. Lot needed refuge. So, the angels said, "Run for the hills!"

This means, Rashi explains, "Run to Avraham, who dwells in the mountain." Namely, run to the tzaddik. Seek refuge under his wing; seek refuge through his teachings. In this day and age, with all the bitterness of the world emerging in torrents, our only refuge is the Torah, as received through the true tzaddikim.

Sayeth the Zohar, "Were it not for the salt, the world could not bear the bitterness." Rebbe Nachman teaches that "salt" represents the tzaddik. How so? A covenant was made with salt (Leviticus 3:13; Numbers 18:19), and the tzaddik is one who guards the covenant, i.e., he maintains a very high standard of morality. Thus, when bitterness and anxiety pervade the world, when we feel like "Lot," accursed (see previous essay) and lost in our troubles, when the world, like Sodom, is in complete upheaval with buildings tumbling down around and upon us, the best advice is to "run for the hills," to take refuge in the Torah and the genuine tzaddikim.

The tenth story of Rabbi Nachman's Stories is Burgher v'Ani (The Burgher [merchant] and the Pauper). This story reflects the saga of the Jews and the imminent arrival of Mashiach. The following is a condensation of the story.

Two couples lived in the same building. One husband was a successful merchant, the other extremely poor. The families were very close with one another. The merchant was always happy to look in on his neighbors and assist them in however possible. Both couples were childless.

One day the merchant's wife went traveling with a group of women, the poor man's wife among them. The women were accosted by soldiers who took the poor man's wife captive. The poor man was distraught. Upon seeing this, the merchant sought out the soldiers' camp in order to rescue the poor man's wife. Despite all the security of their armed forces, he managed to enter their camp, find the poor man's wife, and free her.

After they escaped, the merchant understood that they would pursued. In the course of their flight they took refuge in places of water. The first time they hid, they hid in a well, afterwards in a mikveh, then in a pool, a spring, a stream, a river and a lake. They finally arrived home safely.

The poor man's wife appreciated the risk the merchant took on her behalf, and vowed that if she would ever have any good fortune, she would give it all away to the burgher if he wanted it. In virtue of having maintained their morality when alone together, they were both blessed with children. The merchant and his wife had a boy, and the poor man and his wife a girl. The burgher suggested that their children marry and poor man's wife agreed, so that she would be able to fulfill her vow.

The poor couple's daughter was blessed with extraordinary beauty. People came to see her in order to admire her beauty. In doing so, they brought many presents to her parents. The couple began to prosper. As their good fortune grew, so did the poor man's pride. He advanced in status and rank. He became an officer in the king's army and was victorious in all his battles. Eventually, due to his daughter, he became emperor over the entire world.

By then, however, he refused the match with the merchant. He had the merchant's son sentenced to death, in order to be able to arrange a different match. However, the empress stood by her word and pleaded for the young man's life. She arranged for him to be saved and advised him to flee for the time being. Meanwhile, she had told her daughter about the vow she had taken. The poor man's/emperor's daughter accepted the truth from her mother, and swore she would only marry the burgher's son. To show him her support, she drew a map with illustrations of the seven bodies of waters where their parents had hidden and sent it to him.

The story continues with the travails of the young man. He arrives in a distant wilderness and decides to spend the rest of his life there. He stored the princess's map in a tree, but a storm destroyed the forest and he could no longer find the map. Brokenheartedly, he sets out to return and try to take his betrothed's hand in marriage. He fails and returns to his desolate camp. (The princess insisted on seeing her map as proof that a prospective suitor was her true betrothed.)

Time passed and the princess was kidnapped by a pirate. Their ship was blown off course and they were shipwrecked near the young man's camp. The princess managed to escape from her kidnapper and came across the young man. Owing to the many years that had transpired, they did not recognize one another. They stayed together, but revealed nothing of their pasts.

After the princess was kidnapped, the emperor's fortune began to wane. Eventually he was dethroned. He began to wander the world, and discovered the camp of the other two. So much time had elapsed, they did not recognize each other. The young man had never despaired of finding the map. He went to the forest each day to search for it. There were thousands of trees. Each day he would search three trees and mark them. And each day, as he returned empty-handed, he would come back with eyes swollen with tears.

One day his companions asked him about his search and tears. He told them the entire story, how he was a merchant's son betrothed to the princess and how the emperor refused the match and that he had to flee for his life. He was searching for the illustrated map in the princess' own handwriting which he hid in one of the trees. The next day, they went with him to look for it. The princess found the map.

The story ends with their return to the capitol. The princess and the burgher's son marry, rule over the entire world and live happily ever after.

When the Rebbe concluded the story he said the former emperor had no true greatness because everything had been his fault. In contrast, the burgher was held in great esteem, for his son was the new emperor. (See Rabbi Nachman's Stories, pp. 197-230, for the full story, annotated according to Breslov tradition, by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan.)

The story relates to Avraham. The angels told Lot, "Run to the hills!" with the "hills" referring to Avraham. The "burgher" represents Avraham for mountain, in Yiddish, is "burgh." Thus, the salvation lies with the "burgher." We have seen that the burgher's son would search each day for the promise of salvation, the map written in the princess's own handwriting. Daily he would "carve out" three trees, i.e., he would pour out his heart before God three times a day, until his salvation finally came.

Thus the refuge we must take now, to overcome the problems and difficulties we face, is through Avraham. We must stand firm in our prayers, as did Avraham when Sodom was being overturned. Even though he didn't save the entire city's population from a destruction of their own making, he at least saved those who were close to him.

Avraham represents more than just prayer. He is the paradigm of kindness. So we must "run to the hills," and engage in acts of kindness and gentleness towards others, in order to raise our awareness of good, so as not to be overwhelmed, nor overcome, by the destruction that surrounds us. This is especially true today when those who are poor in character rule the world and whose policies result in the overturning of whole cities and countries.

Thus the refuge is prayer, kindness and the study of Torah, the writings of the true tzaddikim. The bitterness of the fire and brimstone from which we must flee, can be sweetened by Avraham, the tzaddik. The pain and suffering of the world as mankind goes through its upheavals can be mitigated by the heartfelt prayers which release the tension of the soul. The death and destruction of the Sodomites of Arabia can be countered by the kindness of Avraham. For despite Yishmael's claim to being an offspring of Avraham, the paradigm of kindness has no connection, whatsoever, with those who seek the death and destruction of others. It simply is not, and cannot be acceptable that kindness begets such atrocities.

Thus, with our claim as Avraham's seed, despite the daily fire and brimstone of Arabia, their Sodomite behavior and murderous goals, their cause of utter destruction to the Land they covet, we are still the only ones who have a legitimate claim to the Land.

May we live here (there), happily ever after, Amen.