The Blog @ Breslov.org

Question:

I’m currently a kabbalah student with the kabbalah center I wanted to know what is the difference between their teachings and yours is there is something wrong about studying there?

Ozer Bergman Answers:

I’m sorry, but I can’t really answer your question since I don’t know what the Kabbalah Centre teaches.

We teach that the Torah is God-given, at Sinai through Moshe (Moses).

We also teach that God requests, demands and hopes for from each Jew observance of all the mitzvahs of the Torah, to the best of the individual’s ability. Friends of mine who spent a number of years affiliated with the KC have told me that the latter was certainly not taught there.

May God give you the wisdom and strength to do His will in every area of your life.

YossiK Uncategorized

Hello, I have heard that some Breslovers use marijuana as a spiritual tool. And according to Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan it was an ingredient in the holy anointing oil.

So my question is since most likely the Jews of the temple time did smoke weed, and it was also considered something holy… can we in fact today like the rastas smoke weed and learn torah? Thanks

Answer by Ozer Bergman: What some Breslovers (or so-called Breslovers or Breslover wannabes) do, and what is appropriate, and what is likely to have been sanctioned by Rebbe Nachman zal, are not always the same thing. (Ask your local, competent rabbi if smoking weed is permissible.)

>And according to Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan it was an ingredient in the holy anointing oil.

Actually, what Aryeh Kaplan says is that “…some identify Keneh bosem with the English and Greek cannabis, the hemp plant” (”Living Torah” footnote to Exodus 30:23 [p. 258]). However, there are three other opinions (Reb Saadia Gaon, Rambam and Rashi) that he cites as to the identity of Keneh bosem. This is a far cry from being a proof that Jews of the Temple time smoked weed!

> so my question is since most likely the jews of the temple time did smoke >weed,

Again, even if we knew this to be true, it doesn’t make it something we should imitate. After all, Jews in Temple times worshiped Baal and other idols — doesn’t make it right!

> and it was also considered something holy…

see above

>can we in fact today like the rastas smoke weed and learn torah?

Even assuming it were permitted (which I’m not), the question is: Is it a good idea? One of the primary goals of observing/practicing Torah and mitzvot is to have an ever-clearer mind. Does doing drugs of any sort bring one closer to that goal or not? Hint: Stoners are not known for clear thinking. See Likutey Moharan II, Lesson #26 where Rebbe Nachman zal talks about the ills of being drunk. Even though the high and head space of alcohol and weed (or any drug) are not the identical, they share enough similarities such that it seems likely that Rebbe Nachman would not have condoned drug use.

> thanks

you’re welcome.

YossiK Uncategorized Breslov, marijuana, Rebbe Nachman, stoned, weed

“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

Chaim Kramer Speak on Chanukkah, Click to listen.

YossiK Uncategorized

Chaim Kramer Speaks About Emunah

YossiK Uncategorized

Listen to Chaim Oliver’s weekly shiur in Crossing the Narrow Bridge:

YossiK Uncategorized

YossiK Uncategorized

Question:
I was learning ShibChei Haran, and I saw that before Rabeinu
went to E.Yiroel, he stayed in a city Kamenetz, and it said there some
say it was a praise and some opposite, as there are alot of explanations.
Can I have some explanations both ways?
Thank you

Answer:
Thanks for your question.

The statement that some said it was praiseworthy, others said it was not, is in reference to statements made in Rebbe Nachman zal’s lifetime. What the specifics of those statements were are lost to us.

Shabbat Shalom and
kol tuv.
Ozer Bergman

YossiK Uncategorized

Last night the first shiur on Sichos HaRan/Rebbe Nachman’s Wisdom was given by Ephraim Portnoy.

You can watch it here:

YossiK Breslov Research Institute, Classes, Uncategorized

You can see when it is about to happen:
the eye gets a little reddish
then a tiny ooze forms in the inner corner
swelling slowly into a teardrop
as the emotions wash over the heart
and the pain creeps up like a soft blanket.

The tear forms, pear shaped
then gravity exerts its voice
drawing it downwards across the cheek’s terrain
the sandy golden landscape like the Sahara
leaving a trail of moisture in its wake
until it reached the cliff’s edge
and then drops precipitously.

This tear is but a drop
but a drop in the ocean of human tears
that endlessly accumulates.
Mankind does not learn
each inflicts pain on another, weaker
a food chain of suffering
long debated and agreed upon
as to its taboo
nevertheless the deep instinct within to inflict it goes on unchecked.
But do animals cry?
do tears well up in the cat?
do they inflict pain for the pleasure of it?
do massacres occur in the chimpanzee population?
we think not!

My tears form easily now just like hers
as she recounts her story
the story behind the story
the story behind her history
her chief complaint.

The pear-shaped tear
contains all her pain
the world’s suffering
the family anguish
someone must bear this of course
just like someone must laugh it all away.

The drop is discrete and isolated
soon to be wiped away by the controlling mind
the socialized soul
the embarassment of revealing the heart;
but for that moment, that instant
beyond her control
that salty drop told me everything.

A drop in the ocean of tears
we are each that teardrop
each so discreet
yet part of the sea
and affected by its saltiness, its pollutants
its pH and temperature
pushed and pulled by its currents.

That teardrop coursed its trajectory like the path we each must follow
from its birth in pain to its pear-shaped formation
then leaving the mother eye
as it descends along the cheek, leaving home and leaving its salty outlined trace until
it falls off the precipice into the void.

But we are told not one is lost
as the Rebbe of Vurke stood motionless before the ocean of tears
transfixed
bent over his cane like a shaman
pointing to the ocean of tears
refusing to enter the Garden of Eden
until
until what?
the good Lord would dry up the ocean of tears.
to put an end to all tears everywhere for good.

But what of the past?
can we ignore what happened?
can we forget?
can we imagine it never happened in this frenzied Messianic dance?

Who will cry for the memory?
who will shed a tear for each martyr?
unjustly tortured or raped
murdered and pillaged?
will the Rebbe just pack his cane and enter the pearly gates?

She wipes her cheek and continues the narrative
focusing on the symptom
and the technical aspects of her illness and the moment has passed
but in that space
in that instant
all was revealed to me
her past
its impact on her present
and the diagnosis magically appeared.

YossiK Poetry