Sichos HaRan
Rebbe Nachman's Wisdom

by Reb Noson of Nemirov

#260.

The Rebbe once emphasized the importance of longing and thirsting for the holy. Even if you are not worthy of actual fulfillment, the yearning itself is good. This has already been discussed at length {12, 14, 155}.

The Rebbe brought proof for this from a law in the Shulchan Arukh(Orach Chaim 62:4). If you are in an unclean place and cannot recite the Shema, you should at least think about it. The commentaries explain that you should think that you must recite the Shema and are suffering because of your inability to do so. You then receive the same merit as you would for actually reciting it.

Even though you cannot actually complete an observance, the yearning and longing is still very precious and worthy of reward.

#261.

(The following was found in one of our manuscripts. It was written by one of our group, and is neither in order nor well edited. This is what could be gathered from it.)

It is written, 'And Jacob dwelt in the land of his father's sojourn, in the Land of Canaan. These are Jacob's offspring, Joseph...Ó (Genesis 37:1,2). It is also written, 'My foot stands on a sound place, in congregations I will bless GodÓ (Psalms 26:12).

The foot is faith. It supports the Torah and all good traits. Thus, the Talmud (Makot 24a) teaches us that the prophet Habakkuk based all the commandments of the Torah on one principle, 'The righteous person shall live by his faithÓ (Habakkuk 2:4).

Faith is the foundation and root of all Torah and devotion. Faith must be clear and pure, without admixture (EiRuV). It must not be in the category of evening (EReV). It is written, 'A man of faith abounds in blessingÓ (Proverbs 28:2). Faith is the channel for every benefit and blessing.

Skepticism causes these benefits and blessings to be taken by the kelipot {evil husks}. It is written, 'The wicked walk round aboutÓ (Psalms 12:9). This is the husk of skepticism that surrounds the holy fruit of faith. When this skepticism enters the mind, faith is blemished. These husks then take the blessings and benefits.

Doubts can engulf a man and confuse his faith. The root of this skepticism is pride. The Talmud teaches us that God says to the proud man, 'You and I cannot abide togetherÓ (Sotah 5a). When pride causes a departure of God, skepticism has a place to enter. The doubts are an eclipse of God's presence.

To avoid pride, you must open your eyes. If you compare your own lowly state of God's lofty greatness, you will never be proud or skeptical. The door to this is the Shabbat. You must greet the Shabbat with great honor and proper sanctity. For the Shabbat is an eye. Through it, you can see your own lowliness and God's loftiness.

The ShabBaT is Shin Bat. The {Hebrew letter} shin has three heads–the three colors of the eye. Bat is daughter–the bat ayin {the pupil of the eye}. Through the eye of Shabbat you can see your own lowliness. When you keep the Shabbat, you are rescued from pride and are worthy of faith. Thus we are taught, 'He who keeps the Shabbat according to its laws, though he may worship idols like the generation of Enosh, all his sins are forgivenÓ (Shabbat 118b). Keeping the Shabbat annihilates the idolatry of skepticism and makes one worthy of true faith.

Idolatrous skepticism is a blemish of faith causing harsh decrees to descend on the world. For when idolatry exists in the world, there is anger in the world. This is God's name Elokim {the name expressing harsh judgement}. It is written, 'For a sun and shield is God ElokimÓ (Psalms 84:12). The name Elokim is the moon, a shield that eclipses the sun.

The Talmud teaches that God says, 'In this world My name is not read as it is written. It is written yud keh {i.e., the Tetragrammaton}, but read as alef dalet.* But in the Future World it will be both written and read yud kehÓ (Pesachim 50a).

This is because the moon is incomplete, resulting from a blemish of faith. The written Name and spoken Name cannot be the same, for 'the sun has never seen the blemish of the moonÓ (Rosh HaShanah 23b). (The written Name is the written Torah and the spoken Name is the Oral Torah.) These are the names Hashem {i.e., the Tetragrammaton} and Elokim, the sun and the moon. This is the meaning of, 'For a sun and a shield is Hashem Elokim.Ó

Faith is the moon. When faith is lacking, the moon is blemished. The written and spoken Names of God cannot be the same, for the sun cannot see the moon's blemish. Regarding the Future World it is written, 'God will be one and His name oneÓ (Zechariah 14:9). The moon's blemish will be remedied and God's spoken Name will be yud keh, the same as His written Name.

The greater a man's faith, the more the names HaShem and Elokim are brought together and unified. They become included in each other as in the Future.

Jacob is the sun. This is the Name HaShem. Isaac is the moon, the name Elokim. It is written, 'And Jacob dwelt in the land of his father's sojourn.Ó The aspect of Jacob is unified and dwells with the aspect of Isaac. HaShem is unified with Elokim, the sun with the moon. This is the aspect of, 'HaShem is ElokimÓ (1 Kings 18:39).

'And Jacob dwelt in the land of his father's sojourn, in the land of Kanaan.Ó KaNAan has the same root as haKhNAah {subjugation, lowliness}. Lowliness results in faith which in turn leads to the above unification.

'And these are Jacob's offspring, Joseph....Ó Joseph in Hebrew is Yosef, addition. This is tosefet Shabbat, the minutes and hours we add to the Shabbat. It is Shabbat that makes us worthy of humility. We then can attain perfect faith, the correction of the moon's blemish, the unification of Jacob and Isaac, HaShem and Elokim.

It is written, 'My foot stands on a sound place, in congregations I will bless God.Ó God's name as it is pronounced HaShem. The foot of faith must stand on a sound foundation. It must be perfect, without impurity. When that is the case, 'in congregations I will bless HaShem.Ó I will then be able to speak out and bless with the Tatragrammaton, the Ineffable Name. The blemish of the moon will be filled and 'God will be one and His name one.Ó The written and spoken names will be the same and we will be worthy of blessing with the name HaShem in congregations.

'My foot stands on a sound place, in congregations I will bless HaShem.Ó Good bounty and blessing are then drawn from on high. This is the Chanukah lamp. Oil is wisdom. It is written, 'And the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew...Ó (Genesis 3:7). Rashi explains that the opening of the eyes is wisdom. Wisdom is in the eyes. When you look through the eyes of wisdom, you are worthy of perceiving your lowliness. You can then attain perfect faith.

The Talmud teaches us that the measure of oil needed for the Chanukah lamp is enough to last until 'feet no longer walk outsideÓ (Shabbat 21b). The feet are the feet of faith. You must look carefully with the eye of wisdom until your faith is purified. Then 'feet no longer walk outside.Ó The feet of faith no longer will walk in the place of the Outside Forces of skepticism. This is the required measure of oilthe wisdom needed to realize your lowliness and be worthy of perfect faith.

#262.

(This was also found among the manuscripts of one of our group.)

There is a type of chen (grace) that enables a man to see the future in dreams. If a man has this grace, he can ask for a vision and perceive the future in a dream. The Talmud teaches us, 'Just as grain cannot exist without chaff, so dreams cannot exist without nonsenseÓ (Berakhot 55a). Dreams contain predictions of the future, but they are intertwined with much worthless chaff.

There is also the clear dream of the prophet, regarding which it is written, 'I will speak to him in a dreamÓ (Numbers 12:6). This is the dream of the man who has grace. Such a man can also predict the future through the dreams of another. When he hears the other's dream, the worthless chaff falls away and only the clear vision falls upon his ears.

Joseph had such grace. He is called, 'A fruitful son by the fountainÓ (Genesis 49:22). Rashi explains that his fruitfulness was that of grace. He therefore had accurate dreams and was able to interpret and make use of them. They are also included in the Torah. The Torah also teaches us that Joseph had a unique ability in interpreting dreams.

#263.

It had become fairly common for marriage relationships to degenerate and often result in separation and divorce. One of his followers once spoke to the Rebbe about this. The Rebbe said, 'This is the work of the Evil One. He works very hard to destroy the family life of young men in order to trap them, in his net, heaven forbid.

'The Evil One lies in wait for them while they are young, working to destroy their family life. He destroys their relationship with all sorts of trickery.Ó

#264.

The Rebbe often warned us to honor and respect our wives. He said, 'Women have much anguish from their children. They suffer in pregnancy and childbirth and then have the troubles of raising their children. This is besides the many other areas in which they suffer for you. You should take this into consideration and honor and respect your wives.Ó

The Talmud teaches us, 'Honor your wives that you may have wealthÓ (Bava Metzia 59a). It also says, 'It is sufficient that they raise our childrenÓ (Yevamot 63a).

#265.

The Rebbe warned us very strongly not to eat raw onions. It made no difference whether they were mixed with oil, fat or eggs, or even if they were eaten on Shabbat. Many people had a custom of eating chopped eggs and onions on the Shabbat. The Rebbe ridiculed this practice, saying, 'How can they claim that it is a good custom to eat something as harmful as this?Ó

The Rebbe said that onions are harmful in many ways and listed numerous illnesses that can be caused by them. Although the details were not preserved, the main lesson is that they should be avoided, even mixed with something else, even on Shabbat. The only safe way to eat them is cooked.

The entire conversation came about when we mentioned to the Rebbe that we had heard that the Baal Shem Tov had spoken very strongly against eating raw onions. The Rebbe agreed that this was true, and began to reckon numerous reasons for it. It was at this time that we heard the above.

#266.

The Rebbe said, 'There are tzaddikim who are great Torah experts, fully versed in many sacred works and specifically because of this cannot innovate anything in the Torah. As soon as they begin to expound and innovate, their great fund of knowledge confuses them and they weave many extraneous concepts into lengthy introductions. Their thoughts become so muddled that any new concept they may have had is irrevocably lost.Ó The Rebbe gave as an example one of his contemporaries, who could not expound on the Torah for this reason.

From what the Rebbe said, we understood that if you wish to innovate, you should concentrate on the subject and not confuse yourself with extraneous introductions. Pretend that you are totally ignorant of everything but the subject at hand. You will then be able to innovate many new ideas and bring them to light in order, step by step. The Rebbe spoke at length about this, but it cannot all be put into writing. If you are wise, you will understand.

#267.

The Rebbe said, 'You may expound the Torah and innovate in any area you wish. The only condition is that you may not use your interpretations to innovate or change any law. This is particularly true of innovations based on drush or sod {expositary construction and esoteric resolution}.Ó

From what the Rebbe said, we understood that you may expound and innovate according to your intellectual attainment, even in such Kabbalistic works as those of the holy Ari. The only stipulation is that you may not drive any religious practice or law in this manner {see Likutey Halakhot, Bekhor Beheima Tehora 3:7 }.

#268.

'How was the Holy Temple destroyed...? How long will we cry out in bondage...? Until when...? The son of Your maidservant....Ó

These are all part of Tikun Chatzot, the midnight service mourning the destruction of the Temple and the exile of the Shekhinah. Taking these hymns as an example, the Rebbe spoke of how much we must cry out before God. He noted how much these prayers awaken the heart, chanting them with the melody of Chatzot in his deep, beautiful voice.

He also greatly praised the chorus, 'My beloved came down to His gardenÓ as a debate between the Jewish people and God that can deeply arouse the heart.

#269.

People are often very confused as to the best way to serve God. Sometimes it seems necessary to act in one manner, but later this appears completely wrong and another method seems best. This can cause one to become very confused and disturbed.

The Rebbe said, 'Why is it necessary to confuse yourself? Whatever you do, you do. As long as you do not do any evil, heaven forbid. Vie men tut, tut men. Abie mitut nit kein shlekhtz, chas v'sholom.Ó

(*Note to #261:That is, the holy name as currently prounounced (only in prayer, blessings and Torah study) Adonoy.