What A Rebbe You Have

Rebbe Nachman’s mother, Feiga, was known for her ruach hakodesh and righteousness. She was called “Feigaleh the prophetes” by her renowned brothers Rabbi Ephraim of Sudylkov and Rabbi Boruch of Medzeboz, who were aware of her ability to see into the future and speak of events before they actually came to be.

Nearly thirty years after Rabbi Nachman was born, and his fame had become widely known, his mother Feiga overheard the Rebbe’s followers discussing her son’s greatness. “I shall tell you”, interjected Feiga, “what a Rebbe you have. From this you will realize his holiness and the holiness of his soul!” She then related events leading up to Rebbe Nachman’s birth.

Rabbi Simcha, Feiga’s husband, often left home for long periods of hisbodedus. On one such occasion, Rabbi Simcha, who had told his wife to expect him for Shabbos, had been away for nearly two weeks. It was Friday morning and Feiga was planning to go to the mikvah that night, providing her husband would return. When she performed the mitzvah of taking a tithe from the dough she was preparing for Shabbos chalahs, Feiga made use of special unificiations of the Holy Names in the hope of determining her husband’s whereabouts. To her great dismay, she was shown nothing. Later that day, when she lit the Shabbos candles, she again attempted to attain the required Divine inspiration for learning of Rabbi Simcha’s location. Once again she was not shown.

Laying down to rest, Feiga fell asleep and her mother, Adil, appeared to her. Accompanying Adil were the Matriarchs, Sarah, Rivkah, Rachel and Leah. “Don’t worry”, they told her, “your husband will be home for Shabbos.” They then took Feiga and guided her to the “chamber of souls.” Taking note of a soul which shone brightly, she was informed that this was the soul of her grandfather, the Baal Shem Tov. Walking on, she spotted yet another luminous soul whose brightness was even greater than the first. “Whose soul is that?” she asked. “This soul is to be given to you,” came the reply.

She awoke to find that her husband had already returned home. What had caused his delay? Rabbi Simcha, in describing his journey, told Feiga that he had gotten lost, only to find himself near Medzeboz before Shabbos had come.

Feiga went to the mikvah and later that night conceived a child. This child was given the soul which Feiga had seen in her vision. “And this is your Rebbe,” she concluded.

(Until The Mashiach pg. 324 – 325)