‘Through Fire and Water’ – A Negative Comment
I think one can learn much more from works on the ugly parts of Jewish history.
For example, Rabbi Chaim Kramer’s “Through Fire and Water – The Life of Reb Nosson of Breslov” on the first wars against Breslovers. I was favorably impressed by how objective and even-handedly he managed to write about these events.
But there is one exception.
At the start of chapter Thirty-Five, pp. 388-392 the author starts with the Savraner Rebbe’s proclamation of all-out war against Breslovers.
[The text follows.]“No time was wasted putting these directives into practice… The vilification of the Breslover Chassidim was intensified. Rebbe Nachman’s seforim were torn and thrown into garbage dumps. Economic sanctions were implemented, even forcing people from their long-established livelihoods. Physical violence broke out in the form of public beatings, while throwing stones at a Breslover Chassid became a common sport.
This is no exaggeration, as illustrated throughout the book.
[The text of the letter follows.]… In a final effort to avert a catastrophe, Reb Noson tried writing to the Savraner personally.
An answer was not long in coming. Reb Noson ‘s enemies decided there was no need to fight hard. Just do away with Reb Noson and the job is finished. They hired some murderers to do the work. On Friday night, December 19, 1834, a few days after Reb Noson sent this letter, they attacked.
…
They murdered a neighbor by the same name.
But the language “an answer was not long in coming” makes it sound like the Savraner Rebbe himself ordered the murders! One must interpret the meaning of the author, that the letter was read by other people, who decided to order the murders. But this is very sloppy wording
Only in the endnote, page 631, do we hear the truth:
In all fairness to the Savraner, Reb Noson’s letter, written on Wednesday, 17 December, did not reach him until that Friday, and there was not time for a reply. It is also certain that the Savraner was not at all implicated in commissioning the crime But there can be no question that it was the flood of hatred unleashed by the Savraner’s earlier statements that had opened all avenues of persecution, including murder.
Of course, there is no great difference between that and actual murder, since the Savraner later issued another edict permitting Mesirah, as well (p. 392).