Likkutei Etzot – Page 3 – New beginnings: A blog about spirituality, chaplaincy and renewal

Rebbe Nachman’s Advice # 3 – Belief as it relates to the sacredness of the miracle of Time and Space

Are there actual miracles in the world? Can we be open to the concept that even the events that we think are natural are miraculous? Do we just rely on our knowledge, which blinds us to seeing the beauty and sacredness all around us?

I have suggested that our understanding of miracles has become more sophisticated. This is a double-edged sword. We can see the miraculous even in moments that we have a clear sense of the nature of what we are witnessing and yet, because we know more, we tend not to be able to experience the miraculous with as much excitement and wonder. Because of this, our skepticism gets in the way of our experiencing the world.

For Rebbe Nachman, as part of his perspectives on faith as culled together in Likkutei Etzot, recognizing the possibility of the miraculous, something seeming beyond the norm, is an important element of developing, strengthening and maintaining our faith. As he says:

ז. אֵלּוּ בְּנֵי אָדָם הַמַּכְחִישִׁים כָּל הַנִּסִּים, וְאוֹמְרִים שֶׁהַכֹּל דֶּרֶךְ הַטֶּבַע, וְאִם רוֹאִים אֵיזֶה נֵס הֵם מְכַסִּים הַנֵּס עִם דֶּרֶךְ הַטֶּבַע, שֶׁאוֹמְרִים שֶׁזֶּה דֶּרֶךְ הַטְּבָעִים, הֵם פּוֹגְמִים בָּאֱמוּנָה מְאֹד, וּפוֹגְמִים בַּתְּפִלָּה וּבְאֶרֶץ יִשְׂרָאֵל, וְהֵם מַאֲרִיכִין אֶת הַגָּלוּת: (שם אות ה’)

The people who deny that miracles are possible and claim that everything that takes place has a natural explanation can actually witness a miracle themselves and still try and glaze over it and explain it away. Naturally, this attitude of mind is very damaging to religious faith. It is harmful to prayer, and people’s understanding of the true significance of the Land of Israel becomes obscured. All this contributes to the lengthening of the exile (Ibid. 2).

Before unpacking this idea, I would highlight a summarization of this concept from earlier in this section of Likkutei Etzot:

ב. אֱמוּנָה וּתְפִלָּה וְנִסִּים וְאֶרֶץ יִשְׂרָאֵל הֵם בְּחִינָה אַחַת, וְכֻלָּם תְּלוּיִים זֶה בָּזֶה: (שם)

Faith, prayer, miracles and the Land of Israel are all one concept. They are all dependent upon each other (Ibid.).

If we remove the belief in the miraculous, we run the risk of losing the feelings of awe and wonder that is the beauty in the world. If we lose this sense of awe, we presume everything has a direct correlation, instead of maintaining a sense of the faith we often need to help guide us through challenging moments. Without this faith, why would we pray, since how can prayer ever make a change. And finally, we close ourselves off the sacredness of time and space, as exemplified by the notion of that the true significance of Israel is obscured, for part of the true significance of Israel is the notion that place can be sacred.

Rebbe Nachman is advising us to be open to experiencing things without having to intellectualize them. If we allow for experience, we open ourselves up to feeling the changes between the mundane and sacred. How do we feel the difference between a weekday and Shabbat if we merely just look at a calendar? How do we see the beauty of Gd’s creation if all we are doing is driving through? When we experience the sacredness, we feel the inspiration to grow, to connect, to recognize the faith of the “unknown.”

May we be able to open our hearts and minds to truly feel the holiness and sacred of our world. May we recognize how different times and different spaces have different vibes.

Are you struggling with your spiritual growth? Faith? Feeling lost in the midst of the journey of life? Contact New Beginnings Spiritual Coaching and Consulting LLC at 732-314-6758 ext. 100 or via email at newbeginningsspiritualcoach@gmail.com

Rebbe Nachman’s Advice # 2 – Attaining Faith through Prayer

ו. עַל־יְדֵי שֶׁמִּתְפַּלֵּל בְּכֹחַ וּמַכְנִיס כָּל כֹּחוֹ בְּאוֹתִיּוֹת הַתְּפִלָּה, עַל־יְדֵי זֶה זוֹכִים לֶאֱמוּנָה: (לק”א סי’ ט’ אות א’)

Pray with strength and put all your force into the letters of the prayers. Through this you attain faith (9:1).

Prayer comes from faith and faith comes from prayer.

How many of us who pray daily throw away prayer through rote recitation and then say, “prayer has no meaning for me?” Or perhaps prayer seems uninspired. The question is, just as much as we want prayer to give us something, so too prayer “wants” us to give it something.

For Rebbe Nachman, strengthening our faith comes from the exertion and work of growing and cultivating that faith. Faith is not something we just have. It is something we need to plant, water and grow. Faith is something that can be damaged or even “destroyed (but don’t despair, the seed we planted will always remain, perhaps deep down, but it remains).” An ideal way to strengthen our faith is through the “action” of tefillah, turning to Gd daily in recognition of being provided with what we need and having opportunity to request what we believe will help us further our lives. If we focus and we take hold of what we are saying and to Whom we are addressing, we have the opportunity to enhance and inspire our prayers.

Regarding the letters of prayer, I will just add that within mystical traditions each letter carries a spark of the divine which, through our recitation, we are said to be able to reveal to the world. When we do the work, we reap the efforts spiritually.

Today, may each of us find the inspiration within the faith we already carry to inspire our prayer so as to continue to grow our faith.

Rebbe Nachman’s advice – New series

In addition to my recordings on Tanya, (see latest episode – Episode 38, and link to episodes on Apple Podcasts – here), and my occasional, reflective writing as the muse speaks to me, I am planning a couple of other serial postings. Keep on the lookout for new writing projects.

For now, I want to begin with a new series writing and commenting on the spiritual and psychological underpinnings as I see them in from the aphorisms and quotations of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov as culled together in the work, Likkutei Etzot. Based on the sales blurb on breslovbooks.com, Likkutei Etzot is:

The teachings in the Likutey Moharan not only contain novel enlightening concepts but also contain very practical advice and directions on how to implement the wisdom in the teachings. Lekuty Eitzos extracts and summarizes the main practical advice from Rabbi Nachman’s teachings, outlining them in a clear organized fashion. Aside from Lekutey Moharan thoughts are also taken from the sefer Sichos Haran. Now Rebbe Nachman’s guidance is made readably accessible, where one can directly locate and relate to his powerful advice. This work was compiled by Rebbe Nosson. He understood the strong, clear guidance Rebbe Nachman offers and wanted to make it more accessible for the masses. Likutey Eitzos was later reprinted with additions by Rabbi Nachman of Tcherin Lekutay Eitzos is therefore sometimes referred to as the “early” or “later” edition. This book is an amazingly powerful aid for one’s spiritual journey in this world.

I plan to explore selected pieces of advice, in order of the book. The text and translation come from Sefaria. I invite readers to search Sefaria for the original source texts to get a sense of the quotations context. However, my goal is to see the quotes as independent statements requiring our attention and reflection.

The first section is about אֱמֶת וֶאֱמוּנָה, Truth and faith.

א. עִקַּר הַגְּאֻלָּה תְּלוּיָה בָּאֱמוּנָה, כִּי עִקַּר הַגָּלוּת אֵינוֹ אֶלָּא בִּשְׁבִיל חֶסְרוֹן אֱמוּנָה: (לק”א סי’ ז’ אות א’)
In essence, redemption is dependent on faith. The root cause of the exile is simply a lack of faith (Likutey Moharan 7:1).

In this first quote, we can surmise a powerful idea in relation to mindset. Many times the sense of personal exile and redemption is one of perception. When we are in a “good place,” which might be a place where we are feeling strong in our faith in something greater than ourselves, we might well feel a freedom and sense of being redeemed from the trials and tribulations of what came before. At other times, this sense of faith will ebb, will shrink, will shatter. This is often in moments of crisis, moments taking us off the path we feel we have set before ourselves. In those moments of exile, part of the mindset of feeling exiled, feeling lost, can be rooted in the ebbing of our sense of order in the ways of the world. It can be rooted in our loss of sense of connection to Gd. Of course, many times it is the opposite, the exile leads to a sense of lost faith, lost trust.

While this statement can and is read as a call to merely strengthen faith and by extension we will find redemption, I would not be so quick to make that leap. I have witnessed those in “crisis,” in a personal exile being stronger and more secure in their faith than those for whom life is “whole” (though very few really have absolute wholeness in life).

In the eyes of my chaplaincy/spiritual coaching work, a statement like this is a good reinforcer to the work we support others in as it relates to their individual sense of belief, faith and spirituality. While things don’t occur so simply, it is in the depth of recognizing personal exile and redemption can have elements of spiritual struggle or the lack thereof that we can explore in our work.

Comments are welcome as we explore the work of Rebbe Nachman together.