But Gd willing not the last. From The Rebbe Nachman Thursday Night Chaburah meeting of 6 May’10.
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Based on Shivchei HaRan (Praises of Rebbe Nachman) #13
As a young child, [Rebbe Nachman] would often take several large coins and change them for small ones. Then he would slip into the synagogue, through the window or somehow. He would recite a Kabbalistic prayer that precedes the doing of a mitzvah and then take a coin and toss it in the charity box for anonymous donors.
Then he would pretend that his attention had been diverted. Then he would repeat the prayer and deposit another coin. He would again “be diverted,” say the prayer and toss in a coin. The Rebbe would do this until he had placed every coin in the charity box, each time reciting the prayer. He did this so that he could do many mitzvot.
I recalled this episode the other morning as I was doing hitbodedut.
When I went to Shachris, I only had a five-shekel coin to give away to tzedakkah (charity). Knowing that Wednesdays are a busy day for collectors here in Yerushalayim, I realized that I would have to get change in order to maximize my giving. So I did.
Afterwards, mid-hitbodedut, I thanked our dear Creator for letting me give tzedakkah. And I made a calculation. Our Sages teach that giving tzedakkah is equivalent to performing all 613 mitzvot. Turning a five-shekel coin into ten half-shekels gave me 10×613 mitzvot. 6,130 mitzvot! In less than one hour! Made my day.
So I thought of the above episode from Rebbe Nachman’s life which made me think of Chanukah. Chanukah is a time for giving tzedakkah. “On Chanukah, we give more tzedakkah than usual because it is a propitious time for rectifying one’s soul through charity giving, especially if one provides support for indigent Torah scholars” (Kitzur Shulchan Arukh 139:1 [end]).
Our Sages teach that Yerushalayim will be redeemed only through tzedakkah (Shabbat 139a). Since Chanukah is a time when geulah (redemption) is literally in the air, it is a time to engage in activities which bring geulah (and the Geulah) closer. By giving tzedakkah we create an atmosphere of peace and friendship (Likutey Moharan I, Lesson 17:1), the opposite of the sinat chinam (baseless hatred) which caused and perpetuates our current exile. Because “Torah scholars increase peace in the world” (Berakhot 64a), supporting them gives an extra measure of peace.
Perhaps the Rebbe’s “childish” behavior can give us some ChiNuKh (education) for ChaNuKah. Even if our gifts seem limited (they are) we can still be creative and stretch them to get “more mileage” out of them. Not for the sake of reward, but for the sake of making within ourselves, and in the great wide world, a deeper, more powerful emunah (faith) and resolve to do more, better mitzvot, no matter what.
alichtege freilekhen Chanukah!
Chanukah sameach!
Happy Chanukah!
© Copyright 2009 Breslov Research Institute
Based on Likutey Moharan Tinyana, Prologue
“Avraham was one” (Ezekiel 33:24). Avraham worshiped God only because he [Avraham] was one, because he considered himself alone in the world. He paid no attention whatsoever to people who turned him away from God and hindered him, or to his father or others who would interfere. Rather, it was as if he was the only one in the world. This is the meaning of “Avraham was one.”
It’s the same for anyone who wants to enter the service of God. The only way for him to enter is by thinking that other than himself, there is absolutely no one else in the world. He must ignore anyone who would hinder him, such as his father and mother, or his father-in-law and his wife and children, or the like; or to the obstacles presented by other people who ridicule, object to or obstruct his service of God. He must be unconcerned about them and pay them no mind. Instead, he should adopt an “Avraham was one” attitude—as if he is the only one in the world, as above.
What gives a person the strength to stand up to the whole world, to think differently, with a different outlook and attitudes on life, and to behave differently? Our first Patriarch, Avraham Avinu, is called HaIvri (Genesis 14:13) not only because he was from eiver, the other side of the River Jordan, but because he was on the opposing side of the world’s majority opinion on major issues. From where such strength?
Many of us are schizophrenic. Not, God forbid, psychologically or theologically, but at some deep level of our soul. Up to a certain point, there is no doubt in our mind—or heart—that our Jewishness not merely defines us, but is us. Up to that point, we, too, are unconcerned about the objections of others and can overcome obstacles. Up to that point, we are one. Beyond that point, we are two (or more). We ourselves are unconvinced. We want very much to live a life of faith; but it’s only a part of us. Other parts agree with the zeitgeist, with the man in the street. So the interference we struggle with is due to the relatively shallow depth of our oneness. We aren’t one through and through.
How do we deepen our oneness, connect to our soul? Rebbe Nachman offers advice that helps on a few levels (see Likutey Moharan I, Lesson 22:6–8). One is sighing: “From the sound of my sighing, my etzem (bone, essence) has clung to my flesh” (Psalms 102:6). Daring to express one’s dismay about the body’s excessive enjoyment frees some inner-space; the soul moves into it. The tzaddik is the soul of the Jewish people. When one attaches himself to the tzaddik one can hear the tzaddik’s “sigh,” his teachings that urge us to follow the call of the soul. That too creates inner-space for the soul.
As the soul assumes greater influence by penetrating and moving closer to the body, we have the opportunity to further close the gap between “the two of us” so that we become one. The opportunity? Using the body to do mitzvahs and to practice the advice of the tzaddik (e.g., hitbodedut; see here and here).
agutn Shabbos!
Shabbat Shalom!
© Copyright 2009 Breslov Research Institute
From: Where Earth and Heaven Kiss
A Guide to Rebbe Nachman’s Path of Meditation
By Ozer Bergman
What is Hitbodedut?
There is no single or simple answer to this question. Hitbodedut takes many forms, moving easily and naturally from one to another, often imperceptibly, and so cannot be described as being only one thing.
That said, hitbodedut is raw, unadulterated prayer. Rebbe Nachman points out that historically, prayer referred to the communication between a person and God, spoken in one’s native tongue and one’s own words. No prayer book, no formalized or ritualized service—just straight talk from the heart.
Reb Nosson writed how Rebbe Nachman first introduced him to hitbodedut:
Rebbe Nachman put his arm around my shoulder and said, “It’s very good to pour out your heart to God as you would to a true, good friend.”
Copyright © 2006 Breslov Research Institute
Click HERE to purchase From Where Earth and Heaven Kiss
Again, the following is based on a teaching of Rabbeinu Yehudah ben Yakar, one of the teachers of Ramban (Nachmanides). The focus is the bowing in Modim, the penultimate blessing of Shemonah Esrei. Our Sages were very strong in their emphasizing the importance of bowing in this blessing. They said that the spine of one who fails to bow in Modim will turn into a snake. Here are two reasons offered for this.
Tosfot (Bava Kama 16b) write that since we are to rise from our bow in a smooth, snaky motion (head first, then the body; Berakhot 12b), one who did not do so, will have his spine “serpentized.”
A second reason, offered by Maharsha, is that one’s failure to humble himself to God is Serpent-like behavior which is “rewarded” in kind.
As to the bowing itself, the opening bow of Modim follows our explicit mention of the future Beit HaMikdash (“restore the service to Your Innermost Sanctuary” and “Who returns His Shekhinah to Zion”). We thank God for this. Even though thanking is not bowing, thanking is accompanied by bowing, as in (Psalms 138:2), “I will bow towards Your holy chamber and give thanks to Your Name.” We bow here to invoke the bowing that precipitated the first Temples, so that the third one may soon be built (speedily in our lifetime – Amen!).
The closing bow follows our thanking God for “our lives that have been placed in Your hands and our souls that have been entrusted to You”—a reference to techiyat hameitim (the Resurrection). If we have lost the privilege to live or had our lives been entrusted to someone other than God, we would not be here. (This is related to the verse [Psalms 31:6], “In Your hand I entrust my spirit; redeem me Lord, God of Truth!” This is a plea concerning the Resurrection when God will redeem souls and bodies from their prison.)
This is why we say “and all of the living will thank You, forevermore” instead of just “the living”—“all” includes those who should no longer be alive. So we bow, for in that merit the dead shall live again.
Thus in the blessing that emphasizes the future Temple and Resurrection, our Sages stressed that we “bow like a snake” so that we not seem to be like those who don’t believe in these things.
I’ve been asked a number of times, and again just last week, the following:
Is it OK to do my hitbodedut in Shemonah Esrei (aka the Amidah)?
No. Interestingly—and somewhat counter-intuitive—even though the Amidah was meant to be a replacement for one’s private prayer (see Rambam, Hilkhot Tefilah Chapter 1), Shemonah Esrei is to be used only for praising God and making requests from Him.
This is true not only in the berakhah of Shomeia Tefilah, but also in the Eloky Netzor. Even though these two parts of the Amidah are open-ended and a “blank” one may fill in for any prayer one chooses to add, they must nonetheless be used only for making requests. Even when one wants to accept upon himself an optional fast (in Eloky Netzor), he does so by couching it in a request.
So, you will have to save your deveikut for another time. However, if you need to split your hitbodedut time into two or more periods, you may use either of these sections of Shemonah Esrei for the “request part.”
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