Sichos HaRan
Rebbe Nachman's Wisdom

by Reb Noson of Nemirov

#240.

Reb A. of Teplik told me that the Rebbe once told him not to be a schoolteacher. Reb A. argued that it is said that the Baal Shem Tov taught that it is good to be a teacher. The Rebbe replied, 'I do not know if the Baal Shem Tov ever really said that. Even if he did say it, it no longer applies. The tzaddik of each generation has the power to erect boundaries and direct the community. I say that the best way to serve God today is by not becoming a teacher.Ó

This man told this account to me slightly differently, but this is the gist of what he said. The Rebbe was once speaking to one of his followers who was a teacher. The Rebbe asked him, 'How much do you earn each term?Ó The man named the amount. The Rebbe calculated how much it came out to for each day, and showed that it was a very small sum.

The Rebbe said, 'If this is the case, figure how much you earn each hour. It is a mere trifle. You are being taken away from your own studies and losing your future reward for a mere gilden or two. If you are involved in business, you may take a gilden or two that is not rightly yours. This is because it is impossible to be exact to the penny and such accidents do happen. Your customer will certainly forgive you. But if you waste an hour while teaching, there is no chance of your being forgiven.Ó

#241.

The Rebbe was particularly opposed to those who accepted posts as schoolteachers in cities far away from their homes. He spoke of them in the most derogatory terms, saying, 'To me, a man who takes a teaching post away from home is like a Canaanite slavewoman.Ó

#242.

The Rebbe spoke of the concept of the evil eye. He said that there is power in a glance. If an evil thought accompanies this glance it can reach another and harm him. The eye is then evil. The power of sight actually exists and can touch the visualized object. When the eye is evil, this glance can do actual damage. It is for this reason that the look of a menstruating woman can cause a mark of blood to appear on a mirror (Ramban on Leviticus 18:19).

The specific remedy for Evil Eye is to smoke the fin of a fish. The Hebrew word for fin is snapir. The numerical value of snapir is the same as that of ra ayin {evil eye}.

letter	value	letter	value
samekh	60	reish	200
nun	50	ayin	70
peh	80	ayin	70
yud	10	yud	10
reish	200	nun	50
400		400

Especially good for this is a fish called the shelein. Shelein is a homophone for shel ayin–'of the eyeÓ– and the similarity of sound indicates a deeper relationship. I also heard that the Rebbe said that the fin of a shelein fish should be worn by an adult or child who has an evil eye. This will protect him.

I heard the following from the same source in the name of the Rebbe. The evil eye's power comes from the four hundred men that Esav brought to fight against Jacob. It is written that Esav had 'four hundred men with himÓ (Genesis 32:7). These four hundred came to place an evil eye upon Jacob's camp. Four hundred is the numerical value of ra ayin. These four hundred men are the source of the Evil Eye.

Four hundred is also the numerical value of snapir. This is why it is effecitive in protecting against the evil eye. The Rebbe also mentioned a number of other things that add up to four hundred.

#243.

The Rebbe once told a man who had a sickness in his family to rise before daylight and recite the entire Song of Songs. The Rebbe said, 'Every remedy in the world is contained in the Song of Songs.Ó The man followed the Rebbe's advice and his relative immediately took a turn for the better and regained his health.

#244.

I heard this from one of the Rebbe's disciples who was truly religious and God-fearing. The Rebbe told him, 'Some people serve God but are not shown their accomplishments during their lifetime. This is only revealed to them after death, in the Future World.Ó

The Rebbe told this to him to keep him from becoming discouraged. He had spent very many years serving God and had not seen any advancement. The Rebbe therefore told him that some people only have this revealed to them after death.

#245.

The Rebbe once spoke to me about innovating original concepts in the Torah. Speaking with wonder and awe, he asked, 'From where does one get a new concept? When one is worthy of innovation, his original thoughts are really very wondrous and mysterious. From where do they come?Ó

An original idea is a revelation of God, bringing something from nothingness to existence. At first you do not know the idea at all. It still exists within the Infinite, in a state of nothingness. This is the source of all wisdom. Every new idea is drawn from this source. We therefore see God's revelation in each new idea.

I discussed this with the Rebbe and said, 'Don't I know this! Sometimes I must struggle desperately to innovate even a single word.Ó (At other times the heart is opened and many new ideas pour forth.) The Rebbe answered, 'Even this is a great wonder and mystery.Ó

It may take great effort to come up with even one original word, but even this is one of God's miracles. For what is the source of even this one word? If you have a desire for the truth and a heart to understand, you can literally see the reality of God's existence. If you yourself can originate new ideas, you certainly see God's revelation in them. But even if you cannot innovate yourself, you can still see God's reality and greatness in the wondrous flow of new concepts found in our sacred literature.

It is written, 'God's witness is faithfulÓ (Psalms 19:8). The holy Torah is a faithful witness of God. This is discussed at length in my work, Likutey Halakhot (Eidut 4:2).

#246.

I used to watch very closely when the Rebbe ate. He would keep his food between his teeth, without letting it touch his palate. In this manner, he did not taste his food at all. This is very difficult to describe in writing, but you can try it yourself and understand. If you wish to subjugate your appetite for food, it is an excellent method.

#247.

The Rebbe said the greater one's riches, the further he is from them. When one has only a little money, he can keep it on his person. When he acquires more, he must keep it in a strongbox. It is then more distant from him. When he acquires still more, he must then keep it in a bank. It is yet further from him.

If he acquires still more, his wealth and investments will be scattered in other cities and faraway places. They are all the more further from him.

The more honor and riches one has, the further away they are. Great emperors and kings have very great honor, but it is furthest away of all. The czar's subjects sing his anthem here each evening, while he sits far away in his palace. The more honor a person has, the further away it is.

This is true of the worldly. But with Torah and good deeds, the more one has, the closer it is to him.

#248.

The Rebbe said, 'It is good to select a place and sit there day and night, involved in Torah, prayer, and devotion to God. When you must eat, run quickly to some house, quickly grab a crust of bread to appease your hunger, and then go back and serve God.Ó

#249.

A man by the name of ___ came to the Rebbe in a village. He was a great scholar and Kabbalist, but was always angry with his workers and servants. He beat them and degraded them in every possible manner.

The Rebbe asked him, 'Why is it written, ÔAnd Er, Judah's first-born, was bad in God's eyes?' (Genesis 38:7) Why is the word Ôbad' (ra) used, rather than the word Ôwicked' (rasha)?Ó (The Zohar poses a similar question.) 'The reason is because one who commits the sin of Er is always bad tempered and unpleasant. He is disagreeable and always in anger.Ó The Rebbe said no more.

As soon as the other man heard these words, he fell backwards and was stricken with a very great trembling and agitation. His terror and panic were beyond measure. His posture became humbled and he could no longer even lift his head to stand before the Rebbe's holy splendor. The man then fled from the house. He stood outside and began to cry, tears flowing freely down his cheeks.

One of this man's employees, a tutor, was also a follower of the Rebbe's. The man begged his employee to help him approach the Rebbe.

The Rebbe later visited the man and saw a book resting on a shelf right next to him. The Rebbe asked him what kind of book it was. When informed that it was a Kabbalistic text, the Rebbe told him, 'You are not fit to study the Kabbalah.Ó The man then followed the Rebbe in his travels.

When the man returned home, he repented with all his might. He found an isolated room and devoted himself arduously to Torah and prayer for many weeks. It helped for a while, but his ugly temper eventually returned. Still, he constantly followed the Rebbe.

The Rebbe told the tutor, 'Stay with your employer for a while longer. It is good for you to be with him, for you can cause him to be a righteous man for at least an hour a day.Ó

After the man regained his evil temper, he had a disagreement with one of his servants and refused to pay him. The servant walked all the way from their village to the city where the Rebbe lived and complained bitterly. The Rebbe was very irritated with the employer for doing this. But then, the Rebbe began to seek out the employer's good points. He told the servant, 'What can be done? He is very poor. Perhaps he doesn't have enough to pay you.Ó

And there is yet another story that can be told. But there are very many stories. We could tell how the Rebbe dealt with the very least of his followers and it would consume many volumes. As it is written, 'The ear would not be satisfied with hearingÓ (Ecclesiastes 1:8). The Rebbe himself said that many things would overtake his followers and that many tales would be told about each one.

If you were accustomed to being in the Rebbe's holy presence, you would see extraordinary miracles every minute. But the Rebbe's greatest miracles involved bringing people back to God. If a person truly wanted to come close to God, he would go in and see the Rebbe and immediately be transformed into a new person. Everyone who was worthy of standing in the Rebbe's presence was infused with tremendous awe and feeling, true repentance and a great emotional involvement with God and Truth. Words cannot express it. If all the seas were ink....

The world has never seen a miracle like this, that one man should be able to arouse so many, great and small, to such great feeling and emotion toward God.