Empathy With Those Who Destroy Kedushas Tzion’s Newsletters

Yes, I empathize with Kedushas Tzion’s valiant enemies

First of all, it’s thankless, hard work. Far too many people don’t do what they are told. Seeing the old ideas lead to ruin, upstarts are willing to consider socially “heretical” thoughts, denunciations notwithstanding.

And Kedushas Tzion has teams of grassroots supporters everywhere stuffing the newsletters into every place they may get read.

But your Holy Work is even more taxing then it seems. See, each 35-page or so newsletter has the name of the association emblazoned in the header of every page. This means those innocent souls who find the materials in the garbage or Genizah, if they are curious, have ways to find out more. It’s like השמטות הש”ס – the list of passages we must be careful to censor…

You will have to shred them individually or bring them straight to central garbage cans. And then dive right in and bury them deeper.

Rabbi Yisrael Odesser discovered Hishtapchus Hanefesh in the Genizah once without the title page. He started practicing Hisbodedus, but his journey to Breslov was correspondingly slowed until he could find out more.

Wikipedia is a bit brief:

Odesser first came into contact with the teachings of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov as a young yeshiva student in Tiberias. Someone had ripped the cover off a Hebrew language holy book and thrown it into the garbage. Orthodox Judaism forbids defacing a holy book in this way, so Odesser rescued it with the intention of burying it, as is proper for worn-out Jewish holy books. Before discarding it, however, he decided to read it. This book was Hishtafchut HaNefesh (Outpouring of the Soul) by Alter Tepliker, which contains excerpts from Rebbe Nachman’s writings about meditation and personal prayer. Because the cover was missing, Odesser did not know who the author was, but the teachings worked for him. Only later did he learn it was a Breslover book.

לאחר בר המצווה נשלח ללמוד בישיבת אור תורה שעל קבר רבי מאיר בעל הנס מחוץ לטבריה, והמשיך להגות בספר. חסיד אחד שראה אותו הוגה בספר אמר לו שהספר הוא מספרי ברסלב שאסור ללמוד בהם, שכן חסידי ברסלב היו מוחרמים באותו זמן, ולאחר ויכוח לקח את הספר. אירוע זה הביא את אודסר לחפש קרבה לחסידות ברסלב.

Good for Kedushas Tzion for including their name on every page!