Yosef ha-Tzaddik, R' Nachman, and the Role of Mashiach ben Yosef
In Why Uman?, we saw that R' Avraham Chazan places Mashiach ben Yosef at the very center of the final redemptive process. Just as Moshe Rabbeinu could not redeem Yisrael without taking the atzamot of Yosef with him, so too, R' Avraham writes, the redemptive power of Mashiach ben David will come through the atzamot of Mashiach ben Yosef. We also learned that R' Nachman of Breslov is identified principally with the aspect of Mashiach ben Yosef, and that Breslov sources explicitly connect his tziyun and the Rosh Hashanah journey to Uman with the geulah.
But this leaves unresolved the question at the heart of the matter. What exactly does Mashiach ben Yosef possess that Mashiach ben David needs? What is it that must be received from Yosef before the final geulah can be completed?
It is fitting that we take up this question in Parashat Bereshit, where it is written (Bereshit 2:10): וְנָהָר יֹצֵא מֵעֵדֶן לְהַשְׁקוֹת אֶת הַגָּן (And a river goes forth from Eden to water the Gan). The image of a flow proceeding from a higher source and descending to water what lies below provides a fitting introduction to the role R' Avraham assigns to Yosef.
R' Avraham develops the role of Yosef much more fully in Chochmah u'Tevunah (Siman 9:2). In the course of his discussion, he turns to the words of Mishlei 18:4, נַחַל נֹבֵעַ מְקוֹר חָכְמָה (nachal novea mekor chochmah, "a flowing brook, a source of wisdom"), whose rashei teivot spell נחמן – Nachman – and then describes the spiritual flow that proceeds through this nachal: ובשם יוסף מוסיף והולך להאיר מעצמו מיום ליום … הנח"ל הנובע ומוסיף לשפוך מימי הדעת והחכמה מיום ליום כנ"ל, [הנמשכים ויוצאים ממקור החכמה שלמעלה] וברוב רוממותו נעלם ונסתר הוא גם מדעת אחיו הקדושים והצדיקים בהסתרה והעלמה כנ"ל (And in the name of Yosef, [R' Nachman] continues increasingly to shine from himself from day to day … the nachal which flows and continues to pour forth the waters of da'at and chochmah from day to day, [which are drawn and come forth from the source of the higher wisdom], and because of his great exaltedness, he is hidden and concealed even from the understanding of his holy and righteous brothers, in concealment and hiddenness, as explained above). The image is one of an actual spiritual flow. The waters of da'at and chochmah descend from a higher source and are poured forth through the nachal. Yet this same Yosef-aspect remains hidden precisely because of its exaltedness, even from holy and righteous people.
R' Avraham then goes further and describes the continuing relationship between Yosef and the souls of Yisrael: ובאמת הוא השליט והראש לכל נשמות ישראל אשר ברוחניות והעלם נפלא יוצאים ונמשכים מאתו כל הדורות … וכאשר הוא בעצמו נתעלה ויצא … מחושך לאור, כן בכוחו ועוז גבורתו … נפשות ישראל הנמשכים מאתו עד עת קץ (But in truth, he is the ruler and head of all the souls of Yisrael, from whom, spiritually and through a wondrous concealment, all the generations proceed and are drawn … and just as he himself was elevated and emerged [from prison on Rosh Hashanah] … from darkness to light, so through his power and mighty strength … the souls of Yisrael are drawn from him until the time of the end). R' Avraham therefore does not regard Yosef's role as ending in Egypt: the generations are spiritually drawn from him עד עת קץ (until the time of the end), explicitly extending his role into the final redemptive process.
R' Natan makes the dependence upon Yosef even more explicit in Likutei Halachot (Orach Chaim, Hilchot Hashkamat ha-Boker 4:18): אֲבָל הַצִּמְצוּמִים וְהַכֵּלִים שֶׁל יוֹסֵף הַצַּדִּיק עָלוּ עַל כֻּלָּם … שֶׁכֻּלָּם צְרִיכִין לְקַבֵּל מִמֶּנּוּ הַשָּׂגוֹת אֱלֹקוּת עַל-יְדֵי הַצִּמְצוּמִים נִפְלָאִים שֶׁעָשָׂה בְּחָכְמָתוֹ הָעֲמֻקָּה … שֶׁאֲפִלּוּ הַצַּדִּיקִים הַגְּדוֹלִים שֶׁעוֹסְקִין בָּזֶה … גַּם הֵם צְרִיכִין לְקַבֵּל מִמֶּנּוּ (But the tzimtzumim and vessels of Yosef ha-Tzaddik surpassed them all … everyone must receive from him perceptions of G‑dliness through the wondrous tzimtzumim that he fashioned with his profound wisdom … that even the great tzaddikim who are engaged in this … they too must receive from him). R' Natan's point is remarkably strong. Yosef does not merely possess elevated da'at; he provides the structure through which perceptions of G‑dliness can be received. Consequently, everyone must receive from him, even great tzaddikim.
But what is this particular da'at of Yosef, and what enabled him to become its vessel? Each of these elements could sustain a report of its own, and many have been explored at length in previous issues. Here we will gather only what is needed to understand Yosef's particular da'at.
Its starting point is bitul. As we saw in the previous issue, R' Avraham teaches that Mashiach ben Yosef attained this extraordinary da'at through the intensity of his humility and self-nullification before Hashem. Yosef's own life shows how that bitul is expressed through kedushat ha-brit. Yosef's defining test was not overcome through spiritual self-reliance. He overcame it through attachment to Ya'akov, Yitzchak and Avraham, the chain of tzaddikim who preceded him. In other words, the man who would ultimately become the great mashpia first knew how to be a mekabel. His kedushah began with the recognition that even the greatest spiritual strength does not originate in oneself.
But Yosef understood kedushah as something far larger than personal spiritual protection. His dispute with his brothers concerning their looking at the daughters of the land can be understood in precisely these terms. The brothers reasoned that, as righteous men who were not being personally harmed by what they saw, there was no need for Yosef's extreme standard. However, Yosef's objection reached beyond that consideration. Human conduct affects the klipot, the holy sparks trapped within them, and the spiritual condition of the world. The question is therefore not merely, "Will this harm me?" but, "What does my action do to everything that depends upon me?" What Yosef insisted upon in Eretz Canaan, he later demonstrated in Egypt. His kedushat ha-brit there could therefore affect far more than Yosef himself: his personal kedushah broke the surrounding tumah so that Ya'akov could later descend there and remain holy. The complete tikkun of the brit also includes drawing others close, allowing them to receive one's counsel, and even accepting disgrace and suffering for their benefit. For Yosef, then, da'at was whole, and this enabled him to see that personal kedushah is not merely about oneself, but is part of the means through which others can be protected, elevated, and brought closer to Hashem.
But there's even more to it than that. Yosef's da'at remained intact precisely under concealment and din. Yosef was hated, sold, enslaved, falsely accused, and imprisoned, yet he never allowed the outward appearance of those events to sever him from Hashem or drive him into anger and despair. The Midrash's description of Yosef as גֶּבֶר קָפוֹז (gever kafoz, a jumping man) gives a concrete picture of this quality: even in prison, Yosef preserved simchah. His da'at is therefore not merely knowledge about Hashem, but a way of perceiving and living within reality: remaining attached to Hashem in the lowest places, seeing beyond one's immediate experience to the effect one's actions have upon others, and ultimately becoming a vessel capable of transmitting G‑dliness downward.
How, then, does this da'at pass from the one who possesses it to those who must receive it? R' Avraham describes a spiritual structure of מַשְׁפִּיעַ וּמְקַבֵּל [mashpia, the one who transmits or bestows, and mekabel, the one who receives], reflected in the relationship of a Rav and his talmid. The higher seichel of the Rav is transmitted to the talmid through an ordered relationship of giver and receiver. What the talmid cannot receive directly from above becomes accessible but only through the Rav who receives and transmits it downward. He then gives a concrete example in Biur Ha-Likutim (Hashmatot, Gedulat Eretz Yisrael u'Moharanat): אין ביכולת לקבל מאדמו"ר ז"ל זולת באמצעות מוהרנ"ת ז"ל, כי בו לבד נשפע מנשמת ודעת רבינו ז"ל להיות ביכולת לקבל מאתו (It is impossible to receive from our master, of blessed memory, except through our teacher R' Natan, because into him alone was poured from the soul and da'at of Rabbeinu, making it possible to receive from him). This is an astonishing statement. R' Natan is not presented merely as a talmid who understood his Rav well, but as the recipient of R' Nachman's neshamah and da'at through whom others could receive from him. Without R' Natan, it is simply not possible to receive from R' Nachman. R' Avraham therefore gives us the model of spiritual transmission that explains what we saw earlier concerning Mashiach ben Yosef and Mashiach ben David: da'at is transmitted through a recipient who becomes the necessary channel for those who must receive it. Mashiach ben David therefore cannot bypass Mashiach ben Yosef, but must receive through him.
R' Avraham then moves this same structure further upstream, to Ya'akov and Yosef themselves. Building on Rabbeinu's statement in Likutei Moharan 1 that יַעֲקֹב וְיוֹסֵף כְּחַדָּא חֲשִׁיבֵי (Ya'akov and Yosef are considered as one), he explains in Biur Ha-Likutim (Ma'amar 1, Ot 9) that האב והבן [כרב ותלמיד] מצטרפים זה לזה (the father and the son, [like a Rav and talmid], are joined together), and that וְהַבְּרָכָה … שֶׁהִיא הַחָכְמָה מֵהָאָב וְהָרַב, תַּשְׁפִּיעַ וְתָאִיר לְהַבֵּן וְהַתַּלְמִיד (the blessing, which is the chochmah from the father and the Rav, will flow into and illuminate the son and the talmid). The same structure of transmission we have just seen with Rabbeinu and R' Natan is therefore already present in Ya'akov and Yosef: the higher wisdom of the father and Rav flows into the son and talmid who receives from him. This also gives deeper meaning to what we saw above concerning Yosef's own hitkashrut to the Avot. Yosef does not become the great transmitter by bypassing those above him. He becomes capable of transmitting precisely because he first knows how to receive.
Further, R' Avraham makes a remarkable identification that allows this structure to enter the history of chassidut itself. In the Hashmatot to Biur Ha-Likutim, under the heading Kever R' Yisrael Ba'al Shem Tov, he writes: ר' ישראל בעל שם טוב ז"ל שהוא ישראל אבינו (R' Yisrael Ba'al Shem Tov, of blessed memory, who is Yisrael Avinu). He clarifies this identification in Sichot v'Sippurim 41, writing of the Ba'al Shem Tov: בו נמצא עיקר גדול מנשמת יעקב אבינו, שנקרא אחר כך בשם ישראל (Within him was found a major aspect of the soul of Ya'akov Avinu, who was afterward called Yisrael). He then develops the point further, explaining that Hashem first brought this Yisrael-soul into the world, and that through the Ba'al Shem Tov's avodah and holy descendants, the soul of his great-grandson R' Nachman was later drawn into the world. In other words, R' Avraham presents the Ba'al Shem Tov as the Ya'akov-Yisrael link that leads to R' Nachman in the unfolding process of geulah.
That succession appears again in Kochvei Ohr, Sippurim Nifla'im, in the section Meshalim mei'R' Avraham z"l l'Inyan Shtut Havlei Olam HaZeh v'ha-Tachlit, where we read that after the passing of the Ba'al Shem Tov, his light began to subside in the world: אור הבעל שם טוב התחיל לשקע (The light of the Ba'al Shem Tov began to sink). And yet Hashem increased his mercy and sent R' Nachman: ושלח את רבנו הקדוש, שכבר הכין עד משיח צדקנו (And He sent our holy Rabbeinu, who had already prepared [the way] until Mashiach Tzidkeinu). Therefore, Rabbeinu does not stand as an isolated tzaddik. He is described as the key link in a chain within a redemptive succession beginning with the Ba'al Shem Tov and extending to Mashiach.
Taken together, these sources reveal a consistent redemptive chain. The Ba'al Shem Tov is identified with the Ya'akov-Yisrael aspect, while R' Nachman is identified principally with Yosef and Mashiach ben Yosef. The third link is David and Mashiach ben David. Just as Yosef stands at the root of the Mashiach ben Yosef aspect, David stands at the root of Mashiach ben David. The full chain is therefore: Ba'al Shem Tov / Yisrael → R' Nachman / Yosef / Mashiach ben Yosef → David / Mashiach ben David. The pattern we have been tracing – higher wisdom flowing from mashpia to mekabel, from father to son, from Rav to talmid – now appears as part of the larger redemptive structure itself.
There is also a standard kabbalistic architecture underlying this chain. Ya'akov-Yisrael corresponds to Tiferet, Yosef to Yesod, and David to Malchut: Tiferet → Yesod → Malchut. This is a synthesis of the sources rather than a single statement of R' Avraham, but its significance is difficult to miss. Yesod is the intermediary sefirah: it receives the flow from above, preserves and channels that flow, and transmits it into Malchut below. R' Nachman's principal identification with Mashiach ben Yosef therefore fits precisely the position we have been describing throughout. Mashiach ben Yosef does not merely come before Mashiach ben David; his spiritual function is to receive, embody, and transmit what must ultimately reach him.
At this point, R' Nachman's identification with Mashiach ben Yosef takes on a much deeper significance. It is not merely a title or symbolic association; it is functional. Yosef first receives through bitul and hitkashrut, recognizing that spiritual strength does not originate in oneself. Through kedushat ha-brit, he becomes a vessel capable of carrying that da'at intact even through concealment and din. And because his kedushah is directed not toward himself alone but toward the elevation of others, he ultimately becomes the necessary mashpia through whom that da'at can be transmitted downward. This same pattern appears from father to son, from Rav to talmid, and from mashpia to mekabel. Mashiach ben David therefore cannot bypass Mashiach ben Yosef, because the Davidic stage of redemption must receive the da'at transmitted through Yosef. Mashiach ben Yosef prepares, preserves, and transmits what must ultimately reach David and Malchut in the completed geulah.
But this raises the next and perhaps more troubling question. If redemption depends upon receiving from Yosef, what happens if Klal Yisrael refuses to receive from him? That question takes us directly back to the sale of Yosef. The sale of Yosef is far more than an ancient family conflict. It is the prototype for machloket against the true tzaddik, and for the refusal to receive what Yosef was meant to transmit. If the exile begins with the rejection of Yosef, then its final repair must somehow involve the reversal of that rejection. B'ezrat Hashem, that is where we will turn next.
