Home Faith NarrowBridge.Org: Finding Faith in YOURSELF!

NarrowBridge.Org: Finding Faith in YOURSELF!

by Yehudis Golshevsky
image_print

BRI’s NarrowBridge.Org sends out twice weekly inspiration providing a regular dose of hope, meaning and courage. These emails include small doses of Rebbe Nachman’s wisdom, enabling us to get through the week in a more spiritual way. 

If you would like to receive these emails click here.

Rebbe Nachman of Breslov taught…

Use every means to build your faith. This includes finding ways to build solid faith in a righteous teacher…and in yourself.”
(The Empty Chair, p. 68*)

 

What does this mean to me?

Self-esteem is a popular subject, and has been for a while. But when Rebbe Nachman lived, chassidic rebbes and Torah scholars didn’t speak much about how vital it is to have a healthy sense of self-worth. Rebbe Nachman once told Reb Nosson, “You have faith in G-d…but you don’t have faith in yourself!” The use of the term faith to describe self-confidence is one that many might have even objected to, since the Talmud teaches, “Do not have faith in yourself [have confidence in your probity] until the day you die!” And certainly there is something to that—we aren’t perfect people, and we are prone to error and even failure at times. Just what sort of faith did Rebbe Nachman encourage us to have in ourselves, then?

Every single Jew carries within himself or herself a pure point of Divine essence that cannot be sullied and which is always connected to its source. That spark can be relied upon; it can be trusted, and it deserves our good faith. When we connect with it and work to reveal it, we will find ourselves empowered by our G-dly source and confident in our ability to accomplish all that G-d has sent us to this world to do. And humbled by the kindness that G-d has shown us—because He has invested us with a bit of His spirit to carry out the work.

 

A prayer:

Dear G-d,
let me feel close to you.
Grant me satisfaction with my life.
Let me rejoice in that closeness,
and let me turn that satisfaction
into a sense of self-worth—
not one based in arrogance
or in feelings of self-importance,
but a humble self-esteem
rooted in holiness.

(The Gentle Weapon, p. 58**)

We encourage hearing your feedback and may anonymously publish great remarks. Please send email to: [email protected]

*“The Empty Chair: Finding Hope and Joy – Timeless Wisdom from a Hasidic Master, Rebbe Nachman of Breslov” by Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, Adapted by Moshe Mykoff and The Breslov Research Institute, 1994. Permission granted by Jewish Lights Publishing, Woodstock, VT, www.jewishlights.com.

**“The Gentle Weapon: Prayers for Everyday and Not-So-Everyday Moments – Timeless Wisdom from the Teachings of the Hasidic Master, Rebbe Nachman of Breslov” by Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, Adapted by Moshe Mykoff & S.C. Mizrahi with the Breslov Research Institute, 1999.  Permission granted by Jewish Lights Publishing, Woodstock, VT, www.jewishlights.com.

Feedback:

I appreciate your e-mails, I try my hardest to follow the etzote of Rebbeinu. Bh I am at work most of the day and get so busy with stupid e-mails. I happy to take 1 minute to read what you wrote and the short Tefilah at the end. I also enjoy the simple wording of what is written. (Ex: “What does this mean to me?”) I think thats all anyone wants to know anyways.
SS

מאמרים קשורים

Leave a Comment