The Baal Shem Tov and Smoking, the Soul of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov

Hello, hello.

There are two theories that I would love to hear your opinions on.

A) The ascension of the Baal Shem Tov’s soul, and perhaps his other spiritual achievements, were influenced by smoking.
It is clear that the early Hasidim smoked a lot (“all day long, Lolki Tsibek” – in the nightingale of the Aritzim).
“Wikipedia states” (…) that very large amounts of nicotine can cause hallucinations and psychosis, which includes a lack of distinction between imagination and reality.
In addition, there is someone who wrote (I don’t know on what basis) that they received tobacco from Turkey, which (in his opinion, again – I don’t know on what basis) contained substances that were more pungent than regular tobacco.
In addition, it is explicitly stated about the Bashet that he was knowledgeable in herbal concoctions, and it is possible that he learned from there to add all kinds of substances that have a more powerful effect than regular tobacco.
It is clear that there are natural, psychological explanations for the idea of ​​soul ascension; it is also done in India and other places.
There are also stories of miracles related to the Baasha’s pipe, for example, that he arrived at a court where he was invited, and showed one of the judges what worlds he had created with the pipe, and all the judges were filled with awe from the smell of the pipe. There is also a story that Gentiles stole Baasha’s pipe, and after an hour they found them asleep on their horses.
The question is what you say. Is there any historical information that can confirm or refute that they received “special” tobacco from Turkey? Is there a historical-scientific possibility that their regular tobacco had enough nicotine to cause hallucinations, etc.?

b) Did Rabbi Nachman of Breslov have manic depression?
Manic depression causes, among other things, excessive self-confidence, “explosive” thoughts about fixing the world, and on the other hand, depression that also includes a lack of pleasure in things that bring pleasure to an ordinary person. Of course, extreme changes in mood.
And now for quotes from the disciples of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov:

A. Praises of the Ran, Seder of the Journey to the Land of Israel, letter 15: “And the sheer magnitude of the joy he felt at that moment when he entered and stood on the holy land, is impossible to imagine in the mind. If all the days were enough, etc., they would not suffice to explain even a fraction of it. For he immediately and immediately achieved what he achieved. For he said that as soon as he walked four cubits in the Land of Israel, he immediately did what he wanted to achieve… And in the morning they went to the synagogue, and after they came from the synagogue, a worry arose in him and his heart was very broken without value, and he did not speak anything to any human being.”

on. Likutei Hilkot, Hilkot Tefillin, 5, 5: “And as I saw from our late Rabbi, on countless occasions, that although in the previous hour he boasted of greatness and awesomeness and revealed wonderful Torah that was not usually heard of, and then in the hour after that we saw him in great sorrow, and how many times he explained his sorrow and his conversation to us from the bottom of his heart, that he was very sorry that he was allowed to be a Jew, as one who had never smelled the fragrance of serving God, and one who had not seen this cannot be described in writing to him about this matter, and this is already explained a little in his printed praises, and each time he was accustomed to saying that now he does not know at all, not at all, etc., even though in the previous hour he had revealed what he had revealed and boasted that he had achieved what he had achieved which cannot be revealed, nevertheless immediately afterwards he would say that he knew nothing.”

third. Chai Moharen Aut Retu: “He said Torah, interesting in his arguments, is what he is sometimes, a simple man who is called a plastician… and he said that he does not know at all, and he swore on the holy Sabbath, and he said in this language ‘I swear on the holy Sabbath’, it is about the above matter that he does not know at all now.”

D. Praises of the Rabbi, 16: “And the very greatness of his holiness in breaking the ‘general desire’ that includes all evil desires, which is the desire for intercourse, cannot be explained or described. He said that he had countless trials, but in truth it is not a trial at all, because he said: It is not a desire at all… until he was worthy of withstanding all the trials, and he sanctified himself greatly in abstaining from this desire to the point of being beyond measure and value, until he was worthy of breaking this desire completely. Until he was amazed at those who thought it was difficult to break this desire, because he said that it was not a desire at all, and he would often speak about this matter, about the nullification and abhorrence of this desire… and he boasted of himself greatly in the greatness of his strength in breaking this desire. He was a great and terrible saint in this matter and said of himself that he had no desire at all. He said that with him male and female are equal. That is, he has no conflict because of any side of his reflection when he sees or when he speaks to a woman. Because everything is equal with him.”

the. Chai Moharan Aut Relag: “He said: If it were not explicitly found in the words of our rabbis, may their memory be blessed, in the commentary (Kedushin 30) that it is forbidden to say ‘Gira bei ina dashatna’, I would say Gira bei ina dashatna. And I do not understand all the facts found in the words of our rabbis, may their memory be blessed, from the Tannaim and Amoraim, that this desire was very difficult and burdensome to them, as is stated in several facts in the Gemara. Because for me it is nothing, not at all, and it is not considered by me to be an experience at all, and certainly there is a secret in what is found in the Torah that this desire is an experience, because in truth it is not an experience at all.”

and. Chai Moharan’s life received a note: “And in Istanbul he threw himself into an extremely extreme smallness that is beyond imagination, and he dressed himself in torn clothing and went barefoot and without his top hat and went outside and walked like one of the fewest of the few and so on, many such matters of smallness and smallness that he did there for a while. And he made war with other people in a joking way like the way boys laugh with each other, etc. and so on, other matters of laughter and smallness that cannot be explained and told… and it seemed to them that he was a deceitful man, God forbid, and they would humiliate him with all kinds of humiliations for several days in a row and he would accept all the humiliations and on the contrary he would make tricks so that they would humiliate him.”

7. The life of Moharan Ot Ramah: “The world cannot exist without me at all.”

H. Chai Moharan, letter RN: “He said: ‘The whole world needs me, it doesn’t matter to you, because you know for yourselves how you need me, but even all the righteous need me, because they too need to return them to the good.”

9. Chai Moharen Aut Renz: “I heard him say, ‘I have such a desire for G-d that I could have brought the Messiah through it, but I have removed everything and taken myself with you to return you to the best.'”

J. Chai Moharen Aut Rasa: “I also heard him say: ‘If I were to speak plainly in the Gampat, all the scholars and great men would be laid under my feet, but I still have no desire for that.”

11. Chai Moharen Aut Sheid: “I heard him say: The least of my people I lead in the way of a very great righteous man [from the omitted passages:] like the one of today… He said: Picture to yourself, the greatest of today’s generation, in the end he will surely stand at the door and be very jealous of those close to him, especially those who are privileged to hand him fire to make smoke, that is, to light a [pipe].”

12. Chai Moharen Aut Sheng: “He said that he knows all the righteous who have been from Adam until now, from what place they came from and from what place they recite Torah… But I recite Torah from a place that is above these places, and even if Torah comes to me from these places, I do not want them because I only want news… And how he receives Torah from a place from which no one has ever received it.”

13. Chai Moharan Aut Shef: “He said that he had a thousand chapters [in a book he composed] Aut Rabbi on medicine, and all the cures were written there, and there was no sick person in the world whose cure was not written there, but he did not want to copy it and burned it.”

14. Likuti Moharan Tanina, end of letter 11: “And our Rebbe, of blessed memory, said, Behold, everyone says that there is this world and the world to come. And behold, there is a world to come. We believe that there is a world to come. Perhaps there is also this world, as well as some other world, because here it seems to be Gehenna, because all are always full of great torments, and he said that there is no world to come at all.”

What do you say? Does this seem appropriate? What is the likelihood that Rabbi Nachman of Breslov actually had manic depression, or was this an unfounded hypothesis? Incidentally, if so, it also ostensibly shows a right to him, because the praise he bestows on himself – that there has never been anyone like him, etc. – is not generally accepted in the Jewish world.

Thank you very much in advance,
Eli K.