Rebbe Nachman of Breslov – Page 2 – New beginnings: A blog about spirituality, chaplaincy and renewal

Rebbe Nachman’s Advice # 14 – Purim – Joyfulness overcomes the harshness of life

In about 24 hours, we will be celebrating Purim. Purim is a joyous holiday, celebrating the events described in Megillat Esther. For Rebbe Nachman, the joy we put into celebrating this holiday goes much further than merely lifting our spirits. It has a deeper meaning, as we see in his words below:

א. עַל־יְדֵי שִׂמְחַת פּוּרִים בְּהַמְחָאַת כַּף וְרִקּוּדִין, עַל־יְדֵי זֶה מַמְשִׁיכִין בְּחִינַת קַבָּלַת הַתּוֹרָה בְּנִגְלֶה וְנִסְתָּר, שֶׁהוּא בְּחִינַת הֶאָרָה הַנִּפְלָאָה שֶׁל מָרְדְּכַי וְאֶסְתֵּר, וְזוֹכִין לְקַיֵּם מִצְוַת סְפִירַת הָעֹמֶר כָּרָאוּי, וּמַכְנִיעִין קְלִפּוֹת הָמָן עֲמָלֵק יִמַּח שְׁמָם. וְנִתְבַּטֵּל הַגַּאֲוָה וְהָעֲבוֹדָה זָרָה וְהַכְּפִירוֹת, וְנִמְשָׁךְ אֱמוּנָה גְּדוֹלָה וְחָכְמָה דִּקְדֻשָּׁה וְחַיִּים וַאֲרִיכוּת יָמִים, וּמַמְתִּיקִין כָּל הַדִּינִים וְנִתְבַּטְּלִין כָּל הַגְּזֵרוֹת מִיִּשְׂרָאֵל: (לק”א סי’ י’ אות ח’ ט’)

Our joy and clapping and dancing on Purim make us worthy of receiving the Torah in its two aspects, revealed and hidden. For the great revelation that came about through Mordechai and Esther was “receiving the Torah.” Through this we are able to fulfill the mitzva of counting the Omer in the proper way. The kelipah of Haman the Amalekite (may his name be blotted out) is crushed. The force of pride, idolatry and atheism is broken. Great faith, holy wisdom and true life and length of days are brought into the world. The severity of God’s harsh judgements is sweetened, and all the harsh decrees against Israel are revoked (10:8).

From my perspective, to understand Rebbe Nachman’s words, we must first look back on a passage from the Talmud in tractate Shabbat (88a) which claims the holiday of Purim as a second opportunity for the Jewish nation to accept upon itself the fulfillment of the Torah, this time out of free will.

״וַיִּתְיַצְּבוּ בְּתַחְתִּית הָהָר״, אָמַר רַב אַבְדִּימִי בַּר חָמָא בַּר חַסָּא: מְלַמֵּד שֶׁכָּפָה הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא עֲלֵיהֶם אֶת הָהָר כְּגִיגִית, וְאָמַר לָהֶם: אִם אַתֶּם מְקַבְּלִים הַתּוֹרָה מוּטָב, וְאִם לָאו — שָׁם תְּהֵא קְבוּרַתְכֶם. אָמַר רַב אַחָא בַּר יַעֲקֹב: מִכָּאן מוֹדָעָא רַבָּה לְאוֹרָיְיתָא. אָמַר רָבָא: אַף עַל פִּי כֵן הֲדוּר קַבְּלוּהָ בִּימֵי אֲחַשְׁוֵרוֹשׁ, דִּכְתִיב: ״קִיְּמוּ וְקִבְּלוּ הַיְּהוּדִים״ — קִיְּימוּ מַה שֶּׁקִּיבְּלוּ כְּבָר

The Gemara cites additional homiletic interpretations on the topic of the revelation at Sinai. The Torah says, “And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet God; and they stood at the lowermost part of the mount” (Exodus 19:17). Rabbi Avdimi bar Ḥama bar Ḥasa said: the Jewish people actually stood beneath the mountain, and the verse teaches that the Holy One, Blessed be He, overturned the mountain above the Jews like a tub, and said to them: If you accept the Torah, excellent, and if not, there will be your burial. Rav Aḥa bar Ya’akov said: From here there is a substantial caveat to the obligation to fulfill the Torah. The Jewish people can claim that they were coerced into accepting the Torah, and it is therefore not binding. Rava said: Even so, they again accepted it willingly in the time of Ahasuerus, as it is written: “The Jews ordained, and took upon them, and upon their seed, and upon all such as joined themselves unto them” (Esther 9:27), and he taught: The Jews ordained what they had already taken upon themselves through coercion at Sinai.

Rebbe Nachman suggests one element of celebrating with joy on Purim is to reenact our recommitment to Torah out of our desire and effort, not out of a fear of negative consequences if we didn’t. This is exemplified in the mitzvah of counting the Omer, which is the counting to the celebration of the revelation of the Torah at Mount Sinai, the moment of the revealed Torah. Yet we know we cannot live with the revealed alone, with just the surface. We must work to see and accept the hidden. This is a core component of Purim, in that Gd is hidden (not mentioned in the biblical version of the story) and yet we come to reaffirm our acceptance of Torah and Gd.

When we rejoice, we break the hold of darkness that so often plagues us collectively and individually. We sweeten the harshness and find we see the world with our positive sight instead of our negative sight. When we rejoice, we reveal what is often hidden, which is the happiness, contentment and joy of our lives. The darkness easily overtakes the light and so we need to put in the effort to turn that around.

In working with people on their spiritual challenges and fostering spiritual growth, part of my role is to help bring out that which is hidden, making it into something revealed. Once we reveal the hidden, the depth of what we want, we can then begin to plan and implement the changes we want to make in our lives.

May this Purim be a time of bringing forth the hidden in our lives, bringing positive feelings to the surface and breaking the hold of the darkness which is hindering our true growth.

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 # 13 – Having Faith will help stay the course

Today, I find myself coming back to the issue of faith and trust. Whenever we embark on a new journey, a New Beginning, we embark on a path along the route of the unknown. In truth, we do this every day of our lives, even when we believe that today is no different than yesterday. When we start out the day, we have no idea how the day will go, yet, most of us go about the day presuming things will work themselves out. For example, by the middle of the day, a meeting I had scheduled was changed to an earlier time, a plan I had made was rescinded and I accomplished a couple of things I hadn’t expected when I got up later than I had planned. What allowed me to stay calm was the sense that this was all part of the road I was supposed to be on today.

In the following passage from Rebbe Nachman, we see his perspective on how faith allows us to overcome the obstacles placed before us and the pitfalls that can be felt when we recognize that our faith is not 100 percent. And while today I was able to remain calm enough in the midst of changes, many times, I know the experience of how a change can leave us feeling lost, showing that we are struggling to “trust the process.”

לד. אֱמוּנָה הִיא בְּחִינַת כֹּחַ הַגֹּדֶל וְכֹחַ הַצּוֹמֵחַ וְהִיא בְּחִינַת אֲרִיכַת אַפַּיִם. הַיְנוּ, כְּשֶׁיֵּשׁ לוֹ אֱמוּנָה שְׁלֵימָה, הוּא גֹּדֶל וְצוֹמֵחַ בַּעֲבוֹדָתוֹ יִתְבָּרַךְ אֲפִלּוּ אִם יַעֲבֹר עָלָיו מָה, כִּי אֵין יוּכַל לְבַלְבְּלוֹ שׁוּם בִּלְבּוּל וּמוֹנֵעַ, רַק הוּא מַאֲרִיךְ אַפּוֹ לִסְבֹּל כָּל מַה שֶּׁיַּעֲבֹר עָלָיו. כִּי כָּל הַבִּלְבּוּלִים וְהַמְּנִיעוֹת מֵעֲבוֹדַת הַשֵּׁם מַה שֶּׁאֵינוֹ מִתְקָרֵב לְיִרְאֵי הַשֵּׁם, הַכֹּל הוּא מֵחֲמַת עַצְבוּת וְעַצְלוּת וּכְבֵדוּת שֶׁבָּא מֵחֲמַת חֶסְרוֹן אֱמוּנָה. כִּי אִם הָיָה לוֹ אֱמוּנָה שְׁלֵימָה בְּהָאֱמֶת כָּרָאוּי, בְּוַדַּאי הָיָה רָץ וּמִזְדָּרֵז מְאֹד לְהִתְקָרֵב לָהֶם. וְכֵן מַה שֶּׁאֵינוֹ מִתְפַּלֵּל כָּרָאוּי, הוּא גַּם כֵּן מֵחֲמַת עַצְבוּת וּכְבֵדוּת שֶׁבָּא מֵחֶסְרוֹן אֱמוּנָה, כִּי בְּוַדַּאי אִם הָיָה לוֹ אֱמוּנָה שְׁלֵימָה, וְהָיָה מַאֲמִין שֶׁהַשֵּׁם יִתְבָּרַךְ עוֹמֵד עָלָיו וְשׁוֹמֵעַ כָּל דִּבּוּר וְדִבּוּר שֶׁיּוֹצֵא מִפִּיו וּמַאֲזִין לְקוֹל תְּפִלָּתוֹ, בְּוַדַּאי הָיָה מִתְפַּלֵּל כָּרָאוּי בְּהִתְלַהֲבוּת וְחֵשֶׁק גָּדוֹל. אַךְ עִקַּר בִּלְבּוּל הַתְּפִלָּה הוּא מֵחֲמַת חֶסְרוֹן אֱמוּנָה. וְכֵן כָּל הַהִתְרַחֲקוּת מִצַּדִּיקִים וִירֵאִים וּמֵעֲבוֹדַת הַשֵּׁם בֶּאֱמֶת, הַכֹּל מֵחֲמַת חֶסְרוֹן אֱמוּנָה, שֶׁעַל־יְדֵי זֶה בָּא עָלָיו עַצְבוּת וְעַצְלוּת וּכְבֵדוּת כַּנַּ”ל. אֲבָל כְּשֶׁיֵּשׁ לוֹ אֱמוּנָה שְׁלֵימָה אֵין יָכוֹל לְמֹנְעוֹ שׁוּם דָּבָר, רַק מַאֲרִיךְ אַפּוֹ לִסְבֹּל הַכֹּל, וְגֹדֶל וְצוֹמֵחַ בַּעֲבוֹדַת ה’ אֵיךְ שֶׁיִּהְיֶה: (לק”א סי’ קנ”ה)

Faith contains the power of growth. A person with perfect faith will grow and develop in his devotion to God no matter what he may have to go through. Regardless of the obstacles or difficulties he may encounter, nothing will throw him off course. He will accept whatever he experiences with patience. People who are put off by the obstacles and difficulties which confront them when they try to serve God have a certain lack of faith. They are left with a feeling of heaviness and depression, a lack of enthusiasm. Why is it that people don’t make real efforts to draw closer to those who lead lives of piety and justice? If they really had faith they would run to them as fast as they could. Why do people not pray properly? If they had genuine faith, they would really believe that God stands over them while they are praying and hears every word that emerges from their lips. Then they would pray with tremendous fire and yearning. But instead they are listless and depressed. It is because they lack this real faith. That is why they are far from the Tzaddikim, from the pious and just, and from true devotion to God. When a person has genuine faith nothing can stand in his way. No matter what happens he will grow in the service of God (155).

What is interesting about this passage is that in addition to offering the contrast between the one who has genuine faith to stay the course even when led astray vs. the one who gets overwhelmed and overcome by the obstacles placed in front of him/her, Rebbe Nachman also discusses what real faith would look. If we had genuine faith, we would be more comfortable surrounding ourselves with others who have genuine faith. If we really believed, we would never allow prayer to be something perfunctory. Being truly faithful will allow us to always strive and grow in our spirituality.

Touching on this latter point, I think there is a depth to this statement. When we are frustrated, angry, depressed, sad, how do we react? Do we allow it to take us down, drive us away from our desired path? Do we give up easily? Let’s be real. The answer to all of these questions will be yes at times. It is the rare individual that can always step over the obstacles without losing a step. Most of us struggle with times we get tripped up. Yet, even in those moments, if we can find our pathways for continued spiritual work, whether in prayer, in being in the company of others who are living a faith driven life, or with some other spiritual practice, then we can allow that faith to lead us back to the path we are working towards traversing.

May each of us cultivate this genuine faith in all of the spiritual work we do in our lives.

Rebbe Nachman’s Advice # 12 – Finding Truth through removing the urge to win

Most of us have a competitive nature. This competitiveness can be positive in that pushes us to success. Yet, this same push can also have negative side effects. Often this competitiveness will lead people to push others aside, cut corners or do other things just for the sense of victory. In this piece by Rebbe Nachman, he suggests that this dark side of looking for the victory can blind us to what is sitting right in front of us:

לג. הַנַצְחָן אֵינוֹ סוֹבֵל הָאֱמֶת, וְאַף אִם יְבָרְרוּ לְעֵינָיו דְּבַר אֱמֶת יִדְחֶה אוֹתוֹ מֵחֲמַת נִצָּחוֹן. עַל־כֵּן מִי שֶׁרוֹצֶה לֵידַע הָאֱמֶת לַאֲמִתּוֹ, יְסַלֵּק מִקֹּדֶם מִדַּת הַנִּצָּחוֹן מֵעַצְמוֹ, וְאָז יָכוֹל לִרְאוֹת הָאֱמֶת אִם יִרְצֶה בֶּאֱמֶת: (לק”א סי’ קכ”ב)

One who always wants to be victorious is very intolerant of truth. The truth may be staring him in the face. But because he is determined to win at all costs he ignores it completely. If you want to find the real truth you must rid yourself of the urge to win. Then you will be able to see the truth if you wish (122).

This is a powerful spiritual growth principle. When we are looking to foster our drive to fulfill our goals, are we blinded by the end game? Do we constantly just look at the ends but not spend time where true growth really occurs, which is the process of striving towards a goal? Do we struggle to find that inner sense of the spiritual because we are always comparing ourselves to the images we think are the truths in front of us?

It is too easy to compare ourselves to others, to judge others based on how they appear and think that their lives are better. Too often the stumbling block to seeing the truth we know, the one in which we are making progress and succeeding in our own journey, is the urge to compete and compare lives. There are few who have fully shed this blindness to the reality right in front of us.

Yes, there are times we need to “fake it till we make it.” There are moments when the appearance is primary, dressing for the success we hope to have (attested to in the theme of this week’s Torah portion, Tetzaveh, which describes the clothing the priests and high priest must wear when in service to Gd in the Temple). We give off the positive impressions on the outside as part of the societal norms. Yet, our true path, true growth, comes from the internal, not from how I am in relation to another but how I am in relation to myself.

Today, may each of us work towards striving to see the truth that is already in front of us, inside of us. May we find the gratitude towards the self for all of our successes, seeing that Truth cannot be fostered when we are judging ourselves based on someone else.

Rebbe Nachman’s Advice # 11 – All we do is to reveal the Divine in the World

One of the most famous teachings from Pirkei Avot states:

שִׁמְעוֹן הַצַּדִּיק הָיָה מִשְּׁיָרֵי כְנֶסֶת הַגְּדוֹלָה. הוּא הָיָה אוֹמֵר, עַל שְׁלשָׁה דְבָרִים הָעוֹלָם עוֹמֵד, עַל הַתּוֹרָה וְעַל הָעֲבוֹדָה וְעַל גְּמִילוּת חֲסָדִים:

Shimon the Righteous was one of the last of the men of the great assembly. He used to say: the world stands upon three things: the Torah, the Temple service, and the practice of acts of piety.
Pirkei Avot 1:2

The question we should ask is how are these foundations of the world? That might sound somewhat heretical, yet I think it behooves us to ask this most fundamental of questions. How do prayer, study and kindness uphold the world? Perhaps the answer can be teased out from the following passage from Rebbe Nachman:

לא. הַכְּלָל הוּא, שֶׁכָּל מַה שֶּׁאָנוּ עוֹשִׂין, הֵן תְּפִלָּה, הֵן לִמּוּד תּוֹרָה וַעֲשִׂיַּת מִצְווֹת, הַכֹּל הוּא כְּדֵי שֶׁיִּתְגַּלֶּה אֱמוּנָתוֹ וּמַלְכוּתוֹ יִתְבָּרַךְ: (לק”א סי’ ע”ז)

Everything we do — praying, learning Torah, carrying out the mitzvoth — has one fundamental aim: to reveal the kingship of God (77).

The world stands on the concept of the Divine. If we break this down into the three categories of the mishnah and of Rebbe Nachman, we can see how this is foundational,

Prayer: When we pray, we are acknowledging how we cannot do it alone. We are humbling ourselves to show we are interdependent. In Rebbe Nachman’s point of view, this is our turning to Gd as we turn to a parent, asking and asking for what we need. This might be the easiest to understand for the world cannot function if we are all selfish and arrogant to think we are completely independent beings. In a way, we can define prayer as spiritual humility.

Torah study: Learning, expanding our knowledge base is also a mode of expressing our humility. I am reminded of the famous statement, the more I learn, the more I realize what I don’t know. When we can develop this intellectual humility, we also are able to make space for all who we come across in life, being open to learning from others. We become open to possibilities and hopefully can learn that there aren’t many absolutes. This expands our ability to explore the beauty of life around us.

Doing mitzvot/acts of kindness: Our activities as they relate to how we live our the final pillar. This pillar is also a cultivator of humility for when we do for others, we recognize two things. Others might need us and we need others. We also learn the importance of not presuming someone else will do it but that we must make the effort to do the actions needed.

All three of these modalities of cultivating humility make way for Gd to be experienced in the world. So often we lose sight of the divine element of the world because our lives get clouded by ego and selfhood. While it is important to work on our growth and the impact we want to have in the world, this cannot come at the expense of recognizing we are cogs in the great cycle of life.

May we always be working on our spiritual, intellectual and interpersonal growth so as to strengthen the foundation of the world so that we can continue to reveal the divine in the world.

Rebbe Nachman’s Advice # 10 – Personal faith and the conflict of religion vs/ spirituality

In the modern world, the practice of a religion and the journey for increased spirituality are often at odds. Many times it is because we create false dichotomies between the two as a means of explaining away the ways of people. It is an example of how I often will say don’t a religion by the people who practice it. Religion can and should be a pathway for spiritual growth and hopefully spiritual growth will come along to help show people the beauty of time-honored ritual. Yes, our modern world doesn’t always jive with ancient ritual and yet so often we see the reintroduction of these ancient rituals as finding a “new” method for better self-care and help. My favorite of these which I often quote is when we read about the importance of a Sabbath, as if its a new notion of setting aside a day a week for “rest.”

All of the above relates to this idea of Rebbe Nachman on faith. For Rebbe Nachman, and in reality for anyone actively pursuing the spiritual, our growth and journey is built on faith, the trust of the unknown. As Rebbe Nachman posits:

כח. אֱמוּנָה אֵין שַׁיָּךְ אֶלָּא בְּדָבָר שֶׁאֵינוֹ יוֹדֵעַ טַעַם. וְאַף עַל פִּי כֵן אֵצֶל הַמַּאֲמִין הַדָּבָר גָּלוּי, כְּאִלּוּ רוֹאֶה בְּעֵינָיו אֶת הַדָּבָר שֶׁמַּאֲמִין בּוֹ מֵחֲמַת גֹּדֶל אֱמוּנָתוֹ הַשְּׁלֵמָה: (לק”א סי’ ס”ב אות ה’)

We only speak of faith when the one who believes does not know why he believes. But even so, for the believer himself the thing he believes in is perfectly clear and obvious to him — as if he saw it with his own eyes. This is because his faith is so strong (62:5).

Notice the two points in the above lines. First, is the admission of faith being something we cannot “know.” It is something non-intellectual. This doesn’t mean our faith is purely an emotional state. Rather, it is a reflection on how we cannot presume faith as intellectual, as sitting in the mind. At the same time, we also learn from this passage that our faith must be as it is “known.” Our mission is to build our internal faith into something unknown but known. It needs to remain faith, but be so clear as to be as if we know.

As it relates to the struggle of bridging religion and spirituality, too often the challenge is that religion is that which is more of a communal nature while spirituality has a stronger individualistic bent. The bridge is faith. Faith can be cultivated by the rituals and practices we take on as individuals and as a community. At the same time, faith is something that is purely individualistic, for only we can see our beliefs. The spirituality aspect is supporting the individuality that we can imbue the communal ritual with.

Today, may we continue to work to cultivate and enhance our personal faith/spirituality while also finding the ways to bring that spirituality into our communal, religiously inspired rituals.

Rebbe Nachman’s advice # 9 – Faith as a key to holiness

As we search for ways to enhance our spirituality, our sense of personal holiness, we go on a journey to find a path. What if the path is not outside of ourselves but rather is already here for us to travel on? I think this short passage from Rebbe Nachman might be hinting at this methodology.

כז. עַל־יְדֵי אֱמוּנָה נִפְתָּחִין שַׁעֲרֵי הַקְּדֻשָּׁה: (לק”א סי’ נ”ז אות ח’)

The gates of holiness are opened through faith (57:8).

Faith is an internal barometer of our spirituality. If we sit with our thoughts and our emotions as it pertains to our spirituality, we will begin to see this faith come to the forefront. I would go out on a limb to suggest, though not from Rebbe Nachman himself, that this faith can go beyond the particularistic sense of Gd’s providence in the world. It can be a sense of seeing the world as something not chaotic, not left to random chance. With that said, when we find and cultivate this sense of faith, we open ourselves to the deeper experiences that place before us a sense of kedusha, or feeling the sacredness of life. Faith is the key to the sacred.

On the journey of life, so often, we are looking to travel on a path outside of ourselves. Perhaps we need to recognize the journey is not a road out there. Rather the road is paved by our feet as we walk forward step by step.

Today, may we find our key that is right in front of us to open the door to our internal feeling of being holy, of being sacred.

Rebbe Nachman’s Advice # 8 – avoiding falsehood

Our mission in life is to train ourselves to see the truth of every situation. We are tasked with making things better by working on recognizing what is truly in front us. Of course, this can be quite the challenge. In this short one liner, Rebbe Nachman tells us quite simply about the danger of falsehood:

כב. הַשֶּׁקֶר מַזִּיק לָעֵינַיִם בְּגַשְׁמִיּוּת וּבְרוּחָנִיּוּת: (לק”א סי’ נא)

Falsehood damages the eyes — physically and spiritually.

By being exposed to falsehood, we experience two concurrent problems. One is that we become susceptible to not seeing the world for what it is objectively is. As we know from a lot of modern psychological literature, we constantly deal with a variety of confirmation biases, including that we are often predisposed to what we see in front of us based on the experiences of the moment. For example, if we are thinking about buying a red car, all of a sudden we see red cars everywhere, causing us to presume that all of a sudden there are an extraordinary amount of red cars. Objectively this is not true but our perception is biased.

Spiritually, falsehood can also damage the mind’s eye. It can lead us to stray off a path. There is a well known explanation for the verse we recite in Shema:

וְלֹֽא־תָת֜וּרוּ אַחֲרֵ֤י לְבַבְכֶם֙ וְאַחֲרֵ֣י עֵֽינֵיכֶ֔ם אֲשֶׁר־אַתֶּ֥ם זֹנִ֖ים אַחֲרֵיהֶֽם׃

so that you do not follow your heart and eyes in your lustful urge.
Numbers 15:39

Why does it say follow the heart and then the eyes? We would presume that first we need to see and then it will come into our hearts. The reason it says heart first is because if the heart desires something, then the eye will see it. If we are struggling with spiritual falsehood, we will be more likely to struggle with the results of how the struggle changes our perceptions spiritually.

As we work on our spiritual growth, may we find ways to avoid seeing the falsehoods around us and only strive to work toward truth seeing.

Rebbe Nachman’s Advice # 7 – Faith as the key to harnessing a New Beginning

Waking up each day, we start off on the next leg of the journey of life. Each day contains elements of that which happened in the past and many of us feel that one day blends into the next. Yet, each day is a new beginning, another opportunity to do new things or bring newer attitudes to that which might seem monotonous.

Rebbe Nachman tied in the notion of faith with waking up each morning, saying:

יט. עַל־יְדֵי אֱמוּנָה מְחַדְּשִׁין הַמֹּחַ, שֶׁהוּא הַנְּשָׁמָה, בִּשְׁעַת שֵׁנָה. וְזוֹכִין לְקַבֵּל עַל־יְדֵי הַשֵּׁנָה שֵׂכֶל חָדָשׁ וּנְשָׁמָה חֲדָשָׁה מֵאוֹר הַפָּנִים: (לק”א סי’ ל”ה אות ג’ ד’ ה’)

When a person is asleep he enters the category of “faith”, and this refreshes his intellect, which is the manifestation of his soul. The refreshment a person gains from sleeping can help him to attain new levels of religious awareness and perception of God. He can actually receive a new soul from the light of God’s countenance (35:3-5).

The epitome of faith is found in the state of sleep, the state that allows the soul to reconnect without the constraints of the physical. This opportunity affords us the chance to awaken with a new sense of perspective in life. Too often we all believe once we walk along a certain path we do not have the chance to veer off and do something new. By recognizing that each day is a fresh start, even in the midst of outwardly doing the same tasks from the day before, we can find new levels of spiritual growth.

May each of us work toward seeing all aspects of life, from the awake state to the sleep state, as opportunities for enhancing our faith and growing in our spirituality.

Rebbe Nachman’s Advice # 6 – Charity and Faith go together

Faith manifests itself in many forms. Much of our approach to faith is emotional/intellectual, in that we either try to gain clarity and understanding in what we see in the world or allow experience and gut to guide us on our journey. In the below quote from Rebbe Nachman, he suggests that faith has a more pragmatic, action oriented element as well:

טז. עִקַּר חֲשִׁיבוּת הַצְּדָקָה וּשְׁלֵמוּתָהּ הִיא בֶּאֱמוּנָה. וְכָל הַבְּרָכוֹת וְהַהַשְׁפָּעוֹת הַבָּאִים עַל־יְדֵי הַצְּדָקָה, אֵין לָהֶם שְׁלֵמוּת כִּי אִם עַל־יְדֵי אֱמוּנָה, שֶׁהִיא מְקוֹר הַבְּרָכוֹת. וְעִקַּר אֱמוּנָה זוֹכִין עַל־יְדֵי שְׁמִירַת שַׁבַּת קֹדֶשׁ: (לק”א סי’ ל”א אות ב’)

Charity is only perfect when it is combined with faith. The same is true of all the blessings which flow into the world through acts of charity. They are only perfect when there is faith. Faith is the source of blessings. Keeping the holy Shabbat — which is called the “source of blessings”— is the foundation of faith (31:2).

From this passage, we are given a shift in our perspective on both charity and faith. As to faith, Rebbe Nachman gives us a clear approach to its value in that faith allows us to be a receptacle for blessing. Through faith in its ideal, we open ourselves up to a more selfless approach to life as a whole. Obviously, this takes work and effort to overcome selfish faith, one in which we claim faith only so that we can receive blessing. Rather, we have to cultivate faith in our individual and collective missions to make the world a better place. All of this leads us to charity.

Charity is a complicated idea. Maimonides, for example, makes it clear that tzedaka, which we translate as charity, a term that implies a certain subjectivity in that we can choose how to be supportive, is not the correct translation of tzedaka. Rather tzedaka should be seen as a required form of supporting others in positions of need. Without tzedaka, the world wouldn’t stand as we would be relying only on acts of kindness, chesed, which are contingent on the goodness of one to another. Others work with the more colloquial approach to tzedaka as the equivalent of chesed, which I would argue is what Rebbe Nachman is suggesting. As such, this is where faith comes in. If we combine faith with our sense of charity, we will find it easier to give because this combination cultivates our sense of trusting our giving is not a diminishment in what we have but rather a conduit for furthering our collective mission as human beings in caring for all.

Finally, how does Shabbat fit in? Shabbat, cessation from doing, is the source of all blessing. When we allow ourselves to take a moment to witness all we have done, we can often gain a deeper perspective. We can see the bigger picture. We can have the time and space to reflect and to not be caught up in doing, allowing ourselves to strengthen our spirituality and ultimately our faith. This foundational principle is in line with the above. When we allow ourselves to stop, we are saying that we trust that even if we aren’t doing, the world can continue because we have done what we could. Faith is the sense that we do our part and believe that Gd will take care of the rest. Faith is a deep sense of trust. Resting/Shabbat and Charity both must be accompanied by this notion of faith in order for them to be done to their utmost and if they are, then we should hopefully see blessings come into this world as a result.

As we get ready to enter the Shabbat of the special reading for Parashat Shekalim, which is about the obligatory giving of a half shekel to support the tabernacle and Temple, may we see the merits of our giving shine a light on our lives.

Rebbe Nachman’s Advice # 5 – Growing our Faith beyond the intellect

As we continue to explore some key points of faith as per Rebbe Nachman, this short piece is fundamental to his thought as well as a good reflection on the ideal engagement with faith.

יד. אֲפִלּוּ מִי שֶׁזּוֹכֶה לְהַמְשִׁיךְ אֵיזֶה שֵׂכֶל דִּקְדֻשָּׁה, צָרִיךְ לְהַמְשִׁיךְ אֱמוּנָה לְתוֹךְ הַשֵּׂכֶל, כִּי אֵין לִסְמֹךְ עַל הַשֵּׂכֶל בְּעַצְמוֹ: (לק”א סי’ כ”ד אות ו’)

Even a person who attains a certain level of religious insight and understanding must take good care to ensure that the perception he has is suffused with faith. Intellect alone is not something to rely upon (24:6).

For faith to have an impact on our lives, it cannot just reside in our minds. Faith needs to find its place in our heart, in the depth of who we are. How many of us struggle with faith not because we don’t have it but because we work too hard to try to understand the world. We are educated to think, debate, hypothesize, experiment and sometimes we forget the simple beauty of just seeing what is right there in front of us. Rebbe Nachman warns that the more we learn, the more we think we know, the more we must also work to strengthen the tie to the emotional feeling that is faith. I believe it is from that feeling that is faith we draw on the strength to withstand traumas and crises.

But this is no easy task. It is hard work to get to this place. How do we do that without intellectualizing our faith? Perhaps this is the power and beauty that we can find in prayer. Through prayer, we approach the world from a place of recognizing lack and looking to Gd to show us how to fill up what is missing. Prayer as a regular practice goes beyond knowledge. While it is important to have a deep understanding of the words we are saying, the deeper investment of energy in tefillah, prayer, is in allowing each time we pray to be a new experience, leaving the intellectual to the side and approaching it from the emotional.

May each of us find and cultivate our individual reservoir of faith as we also work to learn and increase our knowledge and understanding of the world.