Moshe in the generation of the Flood
The rav pauses over a question in Chullin 139b: where is Moshe hinted to in the Torah? That sounds surprising. Once Moshe enters the narrative, the Torah speaks about him repeatedly. The answer points to an earlier place, before his birth:
וַיֹּאמֶר ה׳ לֹֽא־יָדוֹן רוּחִי בָֽאָדָם לְעֹלָם בְּשַׁגַּם הוּא בָשָׂר וְהָיוּ יָמָיו מֵאָה וְעֶשְׂרִים שָׁנָֽה׃
Hashem said: My spirit shall not abide in humankind forever, since he too is flesh; his days shall be one hundred and twenty years. — Genesis 6:3
The word beshagam has the numerical value 345, the same as Moshe. Chullin gives the allusion; Zohar III:216b develops the possibility of Moshe receiving the Torah in the generation of the Flood, had that generation been worthy. The gematria is a derash on the verse, not its plain explanation of humankind and its allotted years.
The rav places two kinds of water alongside each other. Torah is compared to water, and the generation that could have received that life instead experienced the destructive waters of the Flood. Rashi on Bereishis 7:12 says that the rain first descended mercifully, with the possibility of becoming rain of blessing if the people returned. It became a flood when they did not return.
This does not make every detail of the Flood a single claim about one sin. The rav recalls Rashi’s distinction on Bereishis 6:13: immorality is part of the corruption, while the decree was sealed over robbery. He is developing the relationship between the generation’s great capacity and its misuse of that capacity.
Against the flood of temptation he sees around him, the rav also evokes Noach entering the ark: a person can seek refuge rather than resign himself to being swept along.
That is the background to Reb Tzadok’s dream: the same souls can appear in a generation that directs its desire toward Torah and closeness to Hashem.
Desire can be directed
Reb Tzadok HaKohen describes a dream in Divrei Chalomot 3. In the dream, the generations of the Flood, the wilderness and the time of Mashiach are connected at the level of their souls. The teacher uses this teaching to describe a struggle between destructive desire and the desire to come close to Hashem.
The generation of the Flood is associated with chata’ot ne’urim, sins of youth. The rav connects this with the Torah’s description after the Flood:
וַיָּרַח ה׳ אֶת־רֵיחַ הַנִּיחֹחַ וַיֹּאמֶר ה׳ אֶל־לִבּוֹ לֹֽא־אֹסִף לְקַלֵּל עוֹד אֶת־הָֽאֲדָמָה בַּעֲבוּר הָֽאָדָם כִּי יֵצֶר לֵב הָאָדָם רַע מִנְּעֻרָיו וְלֹֽא־אֹסִף עוֹד לְהַכּוֹת אֶת־כׇּל־חַי כַּֽאֲשֶׁר עָשִֽׂיתִי׃
Hashem smelled the pleasing aroma, and Hashem said in His heart: I will not again curse the ground on account of humankind, for the inclination of the human heart is evil from youth; nor will I again strike every living thing as I have done. — Genesis 8:21
The verse’s observation about youth supplies part of the language of the teaching. It does not say that the presence of an impulse makes return impossible. The generation that followed Hashem into the wilderness is associated with chesed ne’urayich, the devotion of youth:
הָלֹךְ וְֽקָרָאתָ בְאׇזְנֵי יְרוּשָׁלַ͏ִם לֵאמֹר כֹּה אָמַר ה׳ זָכַרְתִּי לָךְ חֶסֶד נְעוּרַיִךְ אַהֲבַת כְּלוּלֹתָיִךְ לֶכְתֵּךְ אַֽחֲרַי בַּמִּדְבָּר בְּאֶרֶץ לֹא זְרוּעָֽה׃
Go and call in the ears of Jerusalem, saying: Thus says Hashem: I remember for you the devotion of your youth, the love of your bridal days, how you followed Me in the wilderness, in a land not sown. — Jeremiah 2:2
The rav dwells on following Hashem into a wilderness without an ordinary supply of food for the nation. The same strength of longing could become a love willing to follow Him. Both Hebrew expressions begin with ches and nun. The rav also associates those letters with Noach’s name, whose letters are nun and ches in the reverse order. The language places two very different expressions of human longing alongside each other. A powerful desire can be expressed destructively, and it can also be directed toward attachment to Hashem.
Reb Tzadok also invokes the renewal of youth:
הַמַּשְׂבִּיעַ בַּטּוֹב עֶדְיֵךְ תִּתְחַדֵּשׁ כַּנֶּשֶׁר נְעוּרָֽיְכִי׃
He satisfies your soul with goodness; your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. — Psalms 103:5
In the dream, the generation of Mashiach brings this work to a renewed expression. The teacher applies the teaching to the struggle he sees around him: intense temptation alongside a strong longing for Torah and closeness to Hashem. This is a reading of the generation’s avodah, its spiritual work, drawn from Reb Tzadok’s teaching. The rav sees a struggle between those two expressions of desire. The generation’s task is to let its longing for Hashem prevail. His description of unusually intense temptation and spiritual searching is the religious perspective he brings to his own time, rather than a measured comparison of every generation.
Tzidkat HaTzadik 44 gives a related point. A person with a strong desire for physical pleasures should not conclude from that desire that he is simply corrupt. Reb Tzadok describes him as having the capacity for a powerful love and search for truth. That capacity still needs direction and work. The presence of a strong desire can become part of the work of turning toward Torah.
These teachings help explain why the discussion of Tikkun Klali begins with hope. A person needs to know that the forces within him can be brought into his relationship with Hashem.
The person who wrote it down
Before reading the history, the rav introduces Reb Noson’s role. He understood that preserving the Rebbe’s teachings meant recording the conversations as well as the formal Torah discourses. Sichos HaRan gathers those conversations; Chayei Moharan records the Rebbe’s life, and Yemei Moharnat records Reb Noson’s own life. The rav marvels at the amount he wrote.
This also explains why he recommends Sichos HaRan as an entry into Breslov learning. Its conversations can be more approachable than the difficult discourses of Likutey Moharan. The account we are reading is a talmid’s careful record of how he received the teaching, including occasions when he was absent.
How the ten chapters reached us
Reb Noson recorded the history in Sichot HaRan 141. He explains that he was absent when Rebbe Nachman first taught the idea of saying ten chapters. He heard the teaching afterward and then discussed it with Rebbe Nachman himself.
At first, the teaching spoke about ten chapters without identifying a particular set. Rebbe Nachman connected the practice with ten forms of song in Tehillim. Later came the disclosure of the specific chapters.
Reb Noson describes a period of nearly four years of waiting. The Rebbe had become ill and returned from seeking treatment in Lemberg. On one occasion Rebbe Nachman dictated verses connected with the ten forms of song, but still did not name the ten chapters. At another point Reb Noson saw a manuscript in Rebbe Nachman’s room. He wanted to know what it contained, but held back from taking it without permission. He also tried to remember the chapters and was unable to retain them. He had entered the room while the Rebbe was at the Torah reading on Shabbos Shekalim, and awe of his Rebbe prevented him from calmly memorizing what he saw. On Sunday, as he took leave, he asked for the chapters as a parting gift. The Rebbe answered that there would be another time for this.
The rav notices the repeated pattern. Reb Noson missed the first teaching and heard it afterward. When the particular chapters were finally revealed, he was again at home in Nemirov. His eventual record includes the testimony of others instead of pretending that he personally witnessed every stage.
Eventually Rebbe Nachman disclosed the chapters before Rabbi Aharon and Rabbi Naftali, asking them to bear witness to what he taught about them. Reb Noson preserved their account. The teacher points to the obstacles surrounding this disclosure as part of the background to the practice. The source calls the chapters a complete tikkun and says that much of the world is caught in the problem. The rav describes its harm in the spiritual language of damage extending through the worlds and the creation of kelipos. These are claims within the teaching’s account of spiritual harm and repair, rather than observable diagnoses made by the editor.
The account also reports Rebbe Nachman saying that earlier tzaddikim had labored to find a complete tikkun. Some had not reached its meaning; others had died before completing their work. He regarded his ability to understand and reveal it as help from Hashem, and called the revelation something new. The rav preserves the strength of that claim while setting out to learn what he can of its meaning.