Rabbi Yechiel Michel Dorfman zal – Biography – History of the Tzion in Uman – Part 1 (Yiddish)

Rabbi Yechiel Michel Dorfman zal – History of the Tzion in Uman – Rabbi Yechiel Michel Dorfman zal – Biography – Speaker: Rabbi Yechiel Michel Dorfman zal. (Recorded in Jerusalem, ca. 1999.)

• 00:00 I’ve been in Eretz Yisrael almost 30 years.
• 01:10 The first thing I want to speak about is how I become a Breslover chossid at age 14-15.
• 02:33 He said he’s a Breslover chassid…
• 02:48 I attended an underground (hidden) “Polish” yeshiva in Kiev. The Rosh Yeshiva was a Boyaner chossid.
• 03:01 Hishtapkhus HaNefesh…
• 03:32 I came to Uman, to the Breslover klois…
• 04:00 When I came to the tziyun, I saw for the first time in my life…
• 05:31 I returned from the tziyun and received a letter from my father
• 07:32 I was 16 years and 7 months old when I married Rav Avrohom zal’s granddaughter…
• 08:27 At first we lived in Uman…
• 08:54 The Rebbe’s seforim: Sipurei Maasiyos, Likutey Moharan, Likutey Halakhos…
• 09:39 Now I want to speak about another thing…
• 09:43 When the Rebbe’s neshoma was going to be sent to the world, there was one who objected…
• 10:36 Story of the Rabbi’s Only Son (Sipurey Maasios).
• 11:20 50 years…
• 12:24 Breslov chassidim were accused of undermining communism…
• 13:15 They asked him in Ukrainian…
• 13:38 Where is our ammunition? He put his tzitzis on the table and said, “Here’s our ammunition…”
• 13:52 Tzitzis…
• 14:40 Traveling to Siberia in a train car for animals, not for people…
• 15:33 There was a person who worked in the pharmacy… (clinic?)
• 15:55 An open, lively person…
• 16:24 Standing in cold water… they amputated his feet…
• 18:08 Breslov and Chabad were the most hated by the communists…
• 18:21 It took 38 years…
• 18:42 My thoughts were always in Eretz Yisrael but my feet were there…
• 19:34 62 years I was there.
• 19:43 I lived in Melakhavka, near Moscow.
• 24:03 Kiev.
• 30:57 Broken heart…
• 31:45 All the neshomos there…
• 32:13 Kiev…
• 32:54 Only 3 or at most 4 people could ride in a cab…
• 33:55 8 day vacation from work…
• 34:18 There were no buses, only a taxi…
• 35:27 I sat in front with the driver and we drove to the police
• 36:42 Passport
• 37:03 Red hats
• 37:29 I told him “You sleep.” He slept.
• 39:35 30 or 35 kilometers…
• 39:42 I asked the driver…
• 39:52 He saw an empty place near me, he hitched a ride…
• 40:17 And Baruch Hashem I stayed alive… we traveled on…
• 40:38 That Reb Zanvil built…
• 40:44 In front of the window was plain earth, with stands… there was no marker.
• 40:51 No one else would have known that the tzioun is there, but we knew the tzion was there.
• 41:46 Reb Gedaliah [Fleer] – 5 kapitlach Tehillim.
• 42:06 We traveled a different way back to avoid the police.
• 42:56 He went back to his hotel…
• 43:03 American items… The Ebishter helped – I wasn’t questioned – and came home.
• 43:16 Gedaliah Fleer visited us and told [Rabbi] Zvi Aryeh [Rosenfeld zal] the whole story.
• 43:19 Zvi Aryeh … 12 to 14 people – Leibel Berger.
• 44:12 The owner of the house next to the Tziyun started screaming “there’s no grave here!”
• 44:27 Gedaliah called [Rabbi] Zvi Aryeh [Rosenfeld zal].
• 44:51 Americans could travel but Israeli citizens had to travel with false passports…
• 45:06 Tape is turned over to the other side. “This is the story…” – “There’s a lot to tell…”
• 46:02 Story of the Berger and the Oni (Sipurey Maasios).
• 46:11 He did a wild think – mamash a crazy thing
• 46:35 Holy things can result from wild things. Mesiras nefesh…
• 47:20 I was very happy… Ech farmug epes a zach – that I was allowed to do such a thing?
• 47:30 …that there was a way. Only with help from Above…
• 47:41 Why was I the one?
• 47:56 Living there is exactly as if one isn’t alive.
• 48:26 The story of the Berger and the Oni and the story of the Rabbi’s Only Son gave me strength…
• 48:40 This was not a simple thing. It took mesiras nefesh to accomplish…
• 48:58 Exactly what the Rebbe described in the story is what happened with me…
• 49:02 I had been in Siberia. I knew who these people are.
• 49:11 I did it with the greatest love, to do something for the Rebbe…
• 49:53 People come to Uman from 28 different countries…
• 50:35 People also come by private car with no permit, so maybe it’s 30 or more countries…
• 51:18 These words should bring hischadshus – renewal…
• 51:32 The Baal Davar opposed every step…
• 51:36 I have something else to relate. Each thing is more beautiful than the next…
• 51:43 Today is Tuesday. Tomorrow is Wednesday. Maybe Thursday – wondrous things…
• 52:27 There are factions… but I don’t belong to any group. I’m from the previous generation. Oy – prastik, prastik, prastik! (Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity!)
• 52:52 Holy factions…
• 53:28 Simplicity – prastik prastik prastik is the true Kita – faction…
• 53:42 Closing blessing.
• 55:07 A person can turn the Gehinnam of this world into a Gan Eden if he lives according to the Rebbe’s advice.

Indexing and Notes by S.Y. Wurtzel.