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“And the Jewish People passed through the Sea on dry land…”

Every one of us is constantly attacked and bombarded by his mind. The best way to avoid becoming overwhelmed by ones thoughts and worries is by simply not paying any attention to them at all. We must split the sea!

When the rushing waters start to overpower us, when we are stuck in the depth of the sea with nowhere to run, the Jewish Soul is in great distress – it is overwhelmed. Don’t look back! You have but one option – pay no attention to that which is going on around you.

God commanded Moshe: “Tell the people they should journey!” Go forward but don’t look back for even one second. And so Nachshon jumped into the sea and the rest of the Jewish People followed. God saw our strength and thus split the sea for us. If we strengthen and encourage ourselves and go forward without looking back – immediately our doubts and negativity disappear and we cross over on dry land.

Written by Yossi Katz

Based on Likutey Halachos Yoreh Deah, Shluach HaKan Halacha 4.

YossiK Uncategorized

We will meet at 7:00 PM EDT, February 2, 2010 on Skype to Study Likutey Moharan. Our focus will be building content knowledge, learning skills and an overall appreciation of the Rebbe’s Teachings.

The topic of this series of is: “You are HOW you Eat”.

Source Material:
Advice by Reb Nasson, Eating, Page 20 – 25, Breslov Research Institute
Crossing The Narrow Bridge, Food, Glorious Food, Page 215-225, Breslov Research Institute
Likutey Moharan, Lesson 17:3,Page 29-35, Volume lll, Breslov Research Institute
Likutey Moharan, Lesson 62:1,2,5,Page 282-319, Volume Vll, Breslov Research Institute

Please join us for this group study session if you can!

To join the class contact howard.o on Skype at the start time.
Email me at coliver@breslov.org if you need any help with Skype.

Chaim Oliver

Chaim Oliver How to Learn Lekutey Moharan Breslov Research Institute, Lekutey Moharan

Based on Likutey Moharan I, Lesson #54

“Moshe said, ‘God said, “About midnight I will make Myself known in Egypt and every firstborn in Egypt will die”…’” (Exodus 11:4–5).

“At midnight I awake to thank You…” (Psalms 119:62).

Did David know and Moshe not know [when midnight was]?! David had a harp hanging over his bed. When midnight came, the North Wind would blow, and the harp played by itself (Berakhot 3b).

At midnight, sacred music, descended from David’s harp, is triggered.
This is the music that extracts the good spirit from the bad. This is the time [of day] to strengthen oneself in service of God, to awake and immerse oneself in Divine worship, to pour out one’s heart to God…Understand well the practical application of these words.
(Lesson #54 [end])

Let’s face it. When the Redemption, the one we Jews have been waiting for for close to two thousand (count ‘em—2000!) years, finally comes, the “bad guys,” people whose attitudes and behavior are antithetical to what redemption and the Redemption Era are all about, are going to get hurt. They will have to be “removed.”

This is not something that has to happen. It is quite avoidable.
People and peoples can get with the program so that they can be part of the Redemption Era. Pharaoh got hit real bad because he wouldn’t take a hint and get the message to rehabilitate himself. He had opportunities to soften his heart and change for the better, but he waffled and refused so often that ultimately he couldn’t.

When Pharaoh didn’t change, neither did his people. As a result, they died—but not from loss of life. They died from too much life. When God revealed Himself, they didn’t have the vessels to hold the Divine life-force. They shattered.

Rebbe Nachman teaches that God is constantly trying to get us to soften our hearts. Whatever your situation, everything in your life, even the seemingly random, is a message to “let My people go so they may serve Me” (Exodus 9:1). Admittedly, says Rebbe Nachman, the ordinary folk cannot perceive from every detail of life every hint.
But we ready ourselves to hear and accept the message through simple
activities: sleeping, tzitzit and tefillin, Torah study (including reading the Shema), prayer and business. Each, in its way, prepares a person to understand what s/he needs to understand to become a better Jew.

Rebbe Nachman suggests another way to prepare: wake at midnight. By waking in the still of night to devote time to hitbodedut, Torah study and prayer, one will remember life’s true purpose. The more one’s memory is sensitized to that purpose, the more one is prepared to receive the life-force of the Redemption Era, may it come swiftly and soon, in our lifetime. Amen

agutn Shabbos!
Shabbat Shalom!

© Copyright 2010 Breslov Research Institute

Chaim Oliver Weekly Parsha Parshat Bo

Based on Rabbi Nachman’s Wisdom #232

“The Israelites didn’t listen to me, how will Pharaoh? And my lips are sealed” (Exodus 6:12, see Rashi).

Even Moshe Rabbeinu, who knew how to daven (pray) very well (as evidenced by the results of his prayers following the sin of the Golden Calf and the sin of Miriam), felt that he didn’t have the words to overcome Pharaoh. He felt that way despite the fact that it was God Who was sending him to speak! The lack of immediate success in liberating the Israelites and the worsening of their condition, discouraged him so much.

Sometimes you and I might also feel that way. The “Pharaoh” of food or money, or some other “Pharaoh,” doesn’t let the “Israelite” within you go free so fast. In fact, despite your hitbodedut (speaking to God in your own words), your spiritual feelings and progress are making negative progress. So although you have something convincing to say that will actually free you from your bondage, you feel too discouraged. You’re trapped at the gates of your lips.

Rebbe Nachman likens this to a warrior, armed to the hilt, who comes to the gates and finding them covered by spiderwebs, turns back from his mission. How silly! says the Rebbe. On account of some defeat and for the lack of a bit of courage should you give up the mission you set out on and for which you are so thoroughly equipped?! Absolutely not.

God sent Aharon to assist Moshe Rabbeinu. We also have tzaddikim, their works and other good teachers who can (and will) accompany us on our mission to overcome Pharaoh. Let’s not be bashful in asking God for help to find them, and in asking them to teach us what to say and to daven on our behalf.

agutn Shabbos
Shabbat Shalom!

© Copyright 2010 Breslov Research Institute

admin Weekly Parsha Parshat VaEra, Rabbi Nachman

To join the class contact howard.o on Skype at the start time.
Email me at coliver@breslov.org if you need any help with Skype.

Chaim Oliver

admin Uncategorized Rosh Chodesh

Question: Is it really true that if you Daven enough, you could get anything? Doesn’t HaShem sometimes answer no?

Answer: Generally speaking HaShem is testing us with things in life because he wants us to build a relationship with Him and ASK for what we need rather than just taking everything for granted. Now many times we may pray and do not get the answer we wanted because HaShem in His Infinite wisdom knows best that perhaps certain things are not for our ultimate benefit. However, if we push and push then the power of prayer is so great that HaShem could say if you want it that badly and don’t care what I think then fine – here it is. This is a bad thing and we must be careful to pray as much in a general way as possible. For example one who is looking for a marriage partner should not pray that the one he/she is dating right now turn out to be his/her spouse but rather that HaShem should lead him to the one that is truly right.

We see this concept in the Ashrey prayer we say three times daily.
“The will of the ones who fear him He establishes – and their cries He hears and saves them.” Now if He is doing what is asked of him, why are they crying? Because they pushed and didn’t have proper Emunah/Faith and now they cry: Oyyy! This was terrible for me. You shouldn’t have given me wealth, this spouse, car, house, job etc… But HaShem is so great that he still hears our cries even afterwards and saves us!

May we are merit to pray with real sincerity and to merit that our prayers are heard and answered for our true eternal benefit. Amen.

Yossi Katz

admin Ask A Breslover

Dvar Torah for Parshat Shemot

Based on Likutey Halakhot, Taaruvot 3:2–3

“And the Israelites were fertile and prolific; their population increased greatly. They became so numerous that the land was filled with them” (Exodus 1:7).

The Torah tell us about the Jewish population explosion right before going into the account of the Exodus. What’s the connection?

We know that any time God needs to chastise the Jewish people, He always prepares the cure/solution before the disease/problem (Megilah 13b). The huge surge in the Israelite birth rate immediately prior to the pain and humiliation of the Egyptian exile was a seed for the geulah (exodus) that was to take place. It is a suggestion for us, how we can bring the future, final geulah that much sooner.

Reb Noson acquaints us with the following concept: the more Jews there are, the more sacred daat (God consciousness) there is; the more sacred daat there is, the sooner the geulah arrives. How does this work?

We know from our own first-hand experience, as well as from history, that pain is a major feature of exile. The genesis of exile-pain, whether inflicted by others or ourselves, is misguided thinking. When non-Jewish concepts, values and weltanschauung hold sway, the inevitable results are a decline in faith (in God, His Torah and her
teachers) and in the exercise of defining Jewish values—kindness, modesty and compassion. Misconceptions about what Jews do or think, whether entertained by Jew or gentile, lead to slavery: mental, emotional, physical, financial and spiritual.

When Moshe Rabbeinu (our teacher) saw that so many Israelites were freed from Egypt and on their way to receive the Torah, he thought mankind’s redemption was at hand. He thought there were enough Israelites with kosher thoughts and attitudes to induce the rest of the world—starting with the Mixed Multitude (non-Jews who departed Egypt with the Israelites)—to accept the notion of “God is One and His Name is One.” That will definitely happen, and soon, we pray. But conditions weren’t ripe then. The Mixed Multitude proved incorrigible and ended up harming the Israelites.

So in later Egypts we continued our history, always accompanied by some great tzaddik reprising the role of Moshe Rabbeinu, always trying to correct the damage done by the Mixed Multitude. The damage is undone when every little Jew gets born and grows up thinking and behaving as a Jew should. The damage is undone as each of us gets re-born, from day to day and hour to hour, thinking and behaving a bit more Jewishly.

May we soon see the fulfillment of the prophecy, “The smallest will number in the thousands and the least will be a mighty nation. I, God, will hasten it, in due time” (Isaiah 60:22). Amen.

agutn Shabbos!
Shabbat Shalom!

© Copyright 2010 Breslov Research Institute

–
www.breslov.org

admin Weekly Parsha Likutey Halakhot, Parshat Shemot

If my father’s chassidish and my mother’s a Litvak, does that make me multi-ethnic?

From Rashi on Avodah Zarah 7b (d’tanya R’ Eliezer…) it’s mashma that one shd do hisbodedus before davening S’ Esrei (assumedly Shachris)

The history of Psukei d’Zimra is VERY interesting. For example, Mizmor Shir is relatively late, only from the Arizal. The Tur and Mechaber don’t mention it! It seems that the Litvaks didn’t add it till the Yesod v’Shoresh HaAvodah championed it.

kol tuv.
OB

–
It’s very good to pour out your heart to God as you would to a true good friend.
— Rebbe Nachman of Breslov

http://www.google.com/profiles/nekudot

admin Uncategorized Jokes, Rebbe Nachman of Breslov

We will meet at 7:00 PM EST, January 5, 2010 on Skype to study the Rebbe’s Torah: AYEH? Where?

“To achieve lasting happiness, you have to know how to rise out of the lows. This is the theme of Rebbe Nachman’s teaching of “Ayeh?” which shows how to find hope in even the darkest, most desperate situations and turn them to your own advantage”

Reference Clink: http://www.breslov.org/bookstore/explorations/i-will-sing-azamra-where-ayeh-/prod_5.html

To join the class contact howard.o on Skype at the start time.
Email me at coliver@breslov.org if you need any help with Skype.

Chaim Oliver

Chaim Oliver Uncategorized Breslov Class, Likutey Moharan, Rebbe Nachman

Based on Likutey Halakhot, Basar b’Chalav 5:7-8

“The days of Yisrael drew close to dieing; [Yaakov said to Yosef,] ‘I will lie down with my fathers…’ (Genesis 47:29,30); [Yaakov said to Yosef,] ‘behold I am dieing’ (48:21); [Yaakov] passed away (v.31); Yosef said to his brothers, ‘Behold I am dieing’ (50:24); Yosef died at the age of 110…and was placed in a casket” (:26).

Every human being comes to this world in order to make the world a better place by doing good deeds. However, most don’t get it right; they make things worse. This is why they undergo any number of reincarnations and suffer in many different ways. The primary foundation for improving the world is by affiliating oneself with a tzaddik who knows the root of every soul. Such a tzaddik knows how to deal with each soul, while it is alive and when it is dead, in order to fix it and help it to receive the maximum daat (Divine awareness) it can. (This daat is the essential delight of the World to Come.) So it’s a good idea to attach yourself to such a tzaddik while you’re still alive. It’s much harder once you’re dead. (But it’s not
impossible.)

We find that many people fall away from their attachment to the tzaddik. There are even some who for the most of their lifetime were closely connected to the tzaddik, but when they grew old broke their connection and became opponents to the tzaddik—may God save us! The critical part of any episode in life, and of life itself, is the ending. (All’s well that end’s well, as they say.)

As we grow older we should be growing wiser, with an ever more refined spiritual wisdom. Because the older we get, the closer we get to returning to our spiritual root and, ideally, to our ultimate tikkun (rectification). But also, for as long we’re alive we struggle with our evil inclination. The more spiritual wisdom and daat one must attain, the greater one’s struggles. Often one who regresses spiritually in his old age has not sanctified him sufficiently earlier in his life. Therefore, he is unable to receive the spiritual wisdom that comes his way and, as it were, loses his mind.

Sometimes Divine wisdom and daat are sent to us in pleasant packages; sometimes in less-than-pleasant ones. Study of a tzaddik’s teachings and otherwise affiliating with a tzaddik gives us the tools and vessels to receive the wisdom and daat, so that neither the pleasantness nor unpleasantness of the package overwhelms or distracts us.

So, “Don’t trust in yourself until the day you die” (Avot 2:5). “Don’t trust in yourself”—Don’t think you can go it alone; we all need the tzaddik’s advice. “Until the day you die”—to fully absorb the teachings of the tzaddik you have to be willing to “die,” to make sacrifices, even suffer shame and humiliation, in order to maintain your connection with him “until the day you die.”

May God bless us that we live well and wisely, for a long, long time. Amen.

(Next week we’ll talk about birth—I promise!)

agutn Shabbos!
Shabbat Shalom!

admin Weekly Parsha Likutey Halakhot