The Blog @ Breslov.org

Based on Likutey Halakhot, Shavuot 2:35 and Rabbi Nachman’s Wisdom #96

“Therefore, proclaim, Behold! I [God] give [Pinchas] My covenant: Peace” (Numbers 25:12).

We know that God acts measure for measure. How, then, does a spear-toting, tribal-head killing “zealot” (a loaded word, if ever there was one!) get rewarded with God’s covenant of shalom, peace?! A question like this tells us we need to re-examine our definitions and premises.

It’s easier to deal with one opponent than with many. So, one accused of suspect behavior is better off being attacked by a vigilante than by a mob. The mob’s judgment would overwhelm him. Therefore, by silencing the mob with his attack, the vigilante does the suspect a great favor.

This is what happened in the episode of Pinchas and Zimri. “Pinchas…turned My wrath away from the children of Israel, when he took My revenge…and I did not destroy them” (Numbers 25:11). Pinchas killed the sinner Zimri, taking judgment into his own hands. Had he not done so, the Jews would have been annihilated, God forbid. But because Pinchas took God’s vengeance into his own hands, the accusation against the Jews was silenced.

So, although your opponent—and you—may not realize it, his attack may be saving you from something worse. As a people this is also true. Protests made by one element of our wonderful nation, may be saving the rest of us from who knows what tragedy, God forbid!

But wait! Who says “the other guy” or “they,” are wrong? Maybe they’re OK and the protestor is wrong? Oyyy! That’s another reason this long, bitter galut (exile) is so horrible—everybody claims they’ve got the truth! “With God and/or Torah on our side” (and not theirs!) is a refrain understood, if not actually heard, from many religious quarters. And for better or worse, the Godless make claim after claim of other truths, with a certainty that rivals religious fervor.

What’s a seeker to do?

Reb Noson writes that somehow, in some amazing fashion, despite the constant, daily attacks, God protects and preserves the essence of truth from being falsified or adulterated. He quotes Rebbe Nachman: “Gott firt tamid ois; God is constantly finishing” His work of perfecting the world. One who seeks the truth even after thinking he’s found it, will continue to seek it. He will observe the effect of his giving charity. Wrong charity will lead to dissension; kosher charity will lead to shalom.

But! warns Reb Noson, peace is not apathy! To let wrongdoing continue because one doesn’t want to be a troublemaker or is content with his situation, is flattery and falsehood, not shalom. Real truth cannot be done away with, and will not be silenced. Shalom can only be established when the lies surrender, and submit to the truth.

May the One Who makes shalom above, make shalom between us and between all Israel. Amen!

agutn Shabbos!
Shabbat Shalom!

© Copyright 2010 Breslov Research Institute

Ozer Shalom/Peace, charity, truth, tzedakkah charity, Dvar Torah, Parsha, peace, Shalom, truth

Based on Likutey Moharan I, Lesson #191

“If you follow My laws and are careful to keep my mitzvot, I will provide you with rain…the land will bear its crops, the trees…will provide fruit…threshing season will last until your grape harvest…I will grant peace in the land…you will continue eating the previous year’s crops…and will eventually have to clear out the old crops because of the new” (Leviticus 26:3–10).

Sounds pretty good, and I even left out some of the blessings that are on the list. Keep those mitzvot, learn some Torah and then reap the rewards—literally, it says—and enjoy! Right? Well, it depends.

Rebbe Nachman teaches that two people can be sitting next to each other in Gan (the Garden of) Eden, the Heavenly abode awaiting those who are careful to keep God’s mitzvot while they live on our planet, and they will have totally different experiences. One will have “all the pleasures and delights of the 310 worlds, while his friend will feel nothing and have no pleasure whatsoever.” Since they both were observant Jews, why the difference?

Rebbe Nachman explains that Godliness resides in the heart. And even though the heart (and brain) are quite small, though can contain country upon country, with all the things, places and people they contain because, “the Heavens to the heights and the earth to the depths, and the heart of kings is unfathomable” (Proverbs 25:3).

So, if you want to enjoy the rewards of mitzvah performance you have to enjoy doing the mitzvot. You have to put your heart into them, contemplate their wisdom and mystery, the greatness of the One Who chose you to observe them and the wonder of being privileged to do them.

Do that and you’ll enjoy Gan Eden right here on earth!

agutn Shabbos!
Shabbat Shalom!

© Copyright 2010 Breslov Research Institute

admin Weekly Parsha Behar-Bechukoti, Likutey Moharan, Parsha

Based on Rabbi Nachman’s Wisdom #92

The Midrash (Kohelet Rabbah 9:11) teaches: Yesterday, “[Yaakov] rolled the stone off the well” (Genesis 29:10). Today, “[his] sons carried Yaakov to Egypt” (ibid. 46:5).

Rebbe Nachman once commented that an average human lifespan, seventy to eighty years, consists of three periods: growth, stability (“the prime of life”) and decline.

Rebbe Nachman—who died in his 39th year after suffering from tuberculosis for three years—is giving us a heads-up: Don’t expect to stay the same throughout your life. We all know that’s true, but we aren’t practiced in the downside of it. We’re used to growth, not decay. For the first two-thirds or so of life we’re growing stronger and more capable, and then enjoying those strengths. It’s only in the last third that we ask people to repeat what they said (A LITTLE LOUDER PLEASE) or to bring us our cane.

But decay and decline—and death—are parts of life. To spare ourselves grief and despair so that our Jewishness can get stronger even as the body gets weaker, we must have a strategy, a Torah, in place for dealing with the decline, before it arrives. We need to assume a positive perspective. We need to focus not on what the decline/decay is taking away, but what is it GIVING? (Not a far-fetched notion. Just as earlier maturation in the womb and childhood prepared us for later stages and events in life, so does later-stage maturation.)

This perspective helps in dealing with a physical loss. For example, the loss of mobility (no more driving/jogging/walking) is (or can be) a loss of independence. But it prepares us for the future, for life in the very cramped space of the grave (Rabbi Nachman’s Wisdom #51). If one had to immediately adjust to it from a far-ranging, (near) unlimited mobility, it would be extremely difficult. Being slowly slowed-down makes the transition easier. In addition, being slowed-down gives us time to focus so that we can make amends and arrangements, as necessary.

But it ain’t necessarily so that the infirmities are the most problematic problem. Often (but not always), there are ways to compensate, or assistance to be had. Loss of identity is often a bigger problem; if I can’t do/have X, I’m no longer me. As in Rebbe Nachman’s parable about the farmer who found and then lost a diamond, the “diamond” that one loses was never really his since it was taken away. Knowing that a particular power or possession eventually fades inhibits one from basing his identity on it to begin with, saving one much existential anguish.

agutn Shabbos!
Shabbat Shalom!

© Copyright 2009 Breslov Research Institute

admin Weekly Parsha Breslov Research Institute, Dvar Torah, human lifespan, Midrash, Parsha, Parshat VaYetze, Rebbe Nachman

“God looked into the Torah and created the world” (Zohar 2:161b).
Day One: Light and dark.
Second Day: Upper waters and lower waters.
Third Day: Seas and Continents/Dry Land; vegetation.
God names/labels things and puts them where they belong.

Maybe if I made a plan and organized my life I would also be able to accomplish something. Actually, the Zohar continues: Man looks into the Torah and maintains the world. Hmm. I should pay better attention.

Ozer Weekly Parsha Creation, organization, Parsha, Zohar

Moshe said to Korach and his followers:
“Is it but a pittance for yourselves that the G-d of Israel has separated you from the [rest of the] congregation of Israel to bring you closer to Him to perform the services of the Mishkan of Ad-noy, and to stand before the congregation to serve them? He brought you near with all of your bretheren the sons of Levi with you, and yet you ask to be kohanim as well?”
Certainly Korach’s intention was purely for the sake of Heaven, however he erred by not following God in a truly simplistic and straightforward way. Had he said “I will serve God, I will look at what G-d has given me and I will straighten myself in that area by serving Him humbly,” he would have never rebelled against Moshe.

Moshe beseeched God:
“Do not turn to their offering.”

Rash explains:
“According to the plain interpretation, [through] the incense which they will offer before you tomorrow, do not turn to them. According to the Midrash, he said, “I know that they have a portion in the continual communal sacrifices. Let their portion not be received by you favorably. Let the fire allow it to remain without consuming it.”

From this we see the awesome extent to which God watches over every one of us. There were 600,000 Jews in the desert. Each and every Jew had a portion in the communal offering. Not only that but each Jews portion was completely defined and separate from the other 599,999 Jews. If God runs the world with such precision then certainly we have nothing to worry about at all. Everything is truly for our best. Let us just be happy and grateful!

May it be His will that we truthfully merit to have total faith, as is His will and the will of the Tzadik.

Based on Oneg Shabbot
By Yossi Katz yossik@breslov.org

admin Uncategorized Parsha

In this week’s Parsha we continue to read about the jobs which each class of Leviim had in transporting the Mishkan. Throughout Chazal we find that the Mishkan alludes to the manifestation of G-d’s presence in this world. The Leviim are those responsible for the upkeep of the Mishkan, to help realize this revelation of G-dliness.

However, in the teachings of Rebbe Nachman and Reb Noson, we find that the Mishkan is not only a chapter in our history. Even today, every one of us can volunteer to be a Levi, and to be a partner in making this world a more fitting abode for G-dliness through our performance of Torah and Mitzvos.

In light of their teachings, we can see an eternal message in this Parsha, that even when the Mishkan is disassembled and being transported through the desert, the Levi still has a job. Even when it seems as if all holiness has been taken apart, and we’re travelling through a spiritual desert, we’re still Leviim, we’re still on the program of Avodas Hashem.

This message is even further developed when we delve into in the names of the families of the Leviim. The B’nei Kehas who merited carrying the Menorah, Shulchan, and Mizbeach, were discussed in the previous parsha. They allude to those who merit being successful in Torah and Avodas Hashem in a greater level.

There are, however, those who are B’nei Gershuni. Those who feel meGuRaSH, separated and expelled from holiness. The Torah wants us to realize that they are also part of the team, and they also have a job. The B’nei Merari refer to those who feel not only barred from holiness, they feel the MeRiRus, the bitterness of lack of success in Avodas Hashem.

The Torah wants us to internalize that even those of us who find ourselves to be from the B’nei Gershuni or B’nei Merari are also Leviim. We are also an intregal part of the Mishkan, especially at a time when the Mishkan is not assembled and in its proper place.

Written by Ephraim Portnoy ephraimp@breslov.org

admin Uncategorized Parsha, Parsha Naso