Dvar Torah for Yom Kippur

On the day before Rebbe Nachman's last Yom Kippur in this world, he was visited by two men. One of them was a disciple of his and he told the Rebbe of how terribly sick he was and how much he was suffering. The disciple's friend said, "His illness has become worse because he immersed in the mikveh (ritual bath) today."

Rebbe Nachman responded, "Why do you blame the illness on a mitzvah? It is better and more correct to blame it on a sin."
Rabbi Nachman's Wisdom #298

On Yom Kippur we are not permitted to wash ourselves for the sake of pleasure. Immersing in a mikveh, even in preparation for the prayers of the day, is forbidden. On the other hand, Yom Kippur itself is like a mikveh. If we "immerse" ourselves in the essence of the day, teshuvah (repentance), it cleanses us from all our sins (Leviticus 16:30).

The disciple's friend made a common mistake. He saw his friend perform a mitzvah and he saw a negative result. Ergo, it was the mitzvah that brought it about. Rebbe Nachman corrected him. We have to be honest and admit that we have made mistakes, namely, sins. If something does not go the way we want it to go, we have to acknowledge that we may be to blame, even if we cannot see any immediate connection between what we have done and what has gone awry.

In addition, we have to do our best to strengthen mitzvah observance, our own and that of others. If we attribute negative results to a mitzvah, we, and those around us, will become lax in our observance.

agutn Shabbos!
Shabbat Shalom!