Question:
I have a question on the topic of the “true tzaddik that is in every generation”, which is oft-discussed in the sefarim of Rebbi Nachman of Breslev and his student, Rebbi Nosson. Being that I am a Breslever chassid, how can I actually find the true tzaddik?
It’s known that in every generation there is a tzaddik like Moshe, who was the true tzaddik. Rebbi Nachman writes in Likutei Moharan that merely looking in the sefarim of tzaddikim is not as effective as hearing the Torah teachings from the tzaddik, and the Moharash said that in every generation there is a student, or there are several students, who are well-versed in the Torah teachings of Rebbi Nachman, and that these people are true tzaddikim of the generation. But how can I find the true tzaddikim who have the aforementioned criteria?
Rebbi Nosson of Breslev said that the yetzer hora lets a person to get close to all of the tzaddikim, but it will not let a person get close to the tzaddik yesod olam (the true tzaddik). If there is a person whom people say about him that he is the true tzaddik of the generation, but there is also a lot of machlokes (disagreement) about him, how can I discern the truth about him? After all, all of the holy brothers of Yosef HaTzaddik were opposed to him, and even Moshe Rabbeinu was opposed. So how is it possible for me to know if a certain person is the true tzaddik that I must get close to, especially if there is much disagreement about him?
Answer:
The more a person purifies his being, the closer he gets to understanding who the true tzaddik is.
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