The mechanics of the famous teaching of Azamra - to see only the good point in people

 HH

In 2017 I merited to publish the book Azamru! Live Up The Good Points [Amazon - or - read on line], since then I merited to a fundamental simple clearer understanding of the teaching, and BH I will be adding this new chapter to the book.

In depth understanding of the mechanism of reverting someone to the good by finding a good point

The Mechanics of Azamra 

In Likutay Moharan, Torah-teaching 282 Rabbainu revealed that finding and concentrating on a good point in someone influences that person to revert to be entirely good. The original way I understood this is that, first of all, by grasping the good point, this gives the person better leverage to repent (-this is written explicitly), and secondly, by continuingly finding more good points (-also written explicitly), the good is built up until it completely takes over. However, upon closer examination it becomes clear that Rabbainu only spoke of finding additional good point when he addressed the person finding good points in himself, and with regard to the Shuliach Tzibor – the Tzadik, finding good points in others, but not with regard to the initial principle that everyone should judge one another by a good point that can be found in them. Rabbainu wrote, that by putting the other person in this positive vantage, the person can then repent. Then, as an additional construct, Rabbainu wrote about a person finding in himself more additional good points, whereby he builds a melody of song and praise to Hashem. The melody is specifically from one’s own good points, and this specifically is what is stated in the verse, “I will sing to Hashem with ‘my’ utmost/last bit.” Also the Shuliach Tzibor – the Tzadik, who builds the melody from the good points of the public, can only do so by virtue of having all those good points included in himself. This concurs with what Rabbainu taught (Likutay Moharan II, Torah-teaching 1, and see Parparous Lichuchmuh there) that when one judges a person, he makes a Rosh Hashana for that person – that is, a day of reckoning, something one would wish only their enemies, something to be avoided by all means. This follows the dictum of our Sages, do not judge a person until you realized his place. No judging! Only the Tzadik who has this Divine attribute of being the place of the world, can judge others. Also in the Story of the Clever Man and the Simple Man, the hero refuses to regard others, and proclaims, “That is his business and this is mine, and furthermore (“vi-oad” – the same word used in Azamra, the utmost/last-bit, this is remarkable, even though Rabbainu actually delivered the story in Yiddish with the word: vayeter) why should we speak about others?” Thus, in the Torah-teaching of Azamruh, Rabbainu is not instructing to judge and examine people for their good points, only, to find some good positive vantage of each person by which to regard them. Only with regard to oneself, Rabbainu says, even after you have found a positive vantage with which to view yourself, and put yourself on course to repent, keep looking and finding and building more and more good points, because this forms a melody to thank and praise Hashem.

Thus Rabbainu wrote, that by finding some remaining good point even in the most wicked person, this actually extricates him from being damned and puts him in a position of merit. Rabbainu did not write that by judging favorably this starts a procedure and a sequence of events which will lead to the extraction, Rabbainu wrote that immediately by finding the positive vantage, that itself aligned the person in a position of merit. Then, from that position of merit, the person can repent and return completely to Hashem. What remains is only to understand how this works.

This is actually one of the Divine Attributes, as pointed out in the footnotes at the beginning of the Torah; Hashem chooses to view a person by their merit, and we are commanded[1] to follow the ways of Hashem. Thus, in the same way Hashem, when He looks at a person only their good points, is inherently setting this person in a position of merit, because everything is based on how Hashem sees it, so too a person, who is created in the Divine Image and commanded to resemble Hashem in His ways, has this power to decide a person’s good status simply by viewing that person in a positive light.

The Ramchal (Daas Tevunos II, published in Ginzay Ramchal) explains further, that in reality the soul of each Jew is a point of holiness rooted in the Torah and G-d (as the Arizal already made clear, that the 600,000 souls of Israel are rooted in the 600,000 letters of the Torah), just that they are disconnected and separated from their root, and sin and all types of evil can accumulate and encompass the soul until it is totally alienated from its source, and completely unrecognizable. Therefore the main rectification is simply to give strength to the good point which is the person’s root and real essence, and all the evils which had taken hold of the soul will become foreign and fall away.

These are his words:

61. The Neshama (soul) said: That the sinner himself should be rectified by punishment – I understand. However, how can this rectification ordinate a sinner into a tzadik or a bal teshuva (-someone who repented)? Because ultimately merit needs to be produced by bechira (-choice - free will), whereas the punishment isn’t contingent on bechira.

62. The Saichel (intellect) said: It is true that this matter is extremely deep, and it is from the great fundamentals of His modus operandi, blessed is His name. And we find by our Sages o.b.m. enigmatic teachings in this matter, that they said (Shir Hashirim Rabba 5:3): ‘Open for me an entrance like the hole of a needle etc. (and I will open for you an entrance like the entrance of the Oolum (the main building of the Temple)’, and surely this isn’t of the justice that the Holy One Blessed He desires to administer. And if you say – that it is from the attribute of kindness, then there is no necessity even for the opening like the eye of a needle. However, in reality this matter is contingent upon what our Sages o.b.m. made known to us (Rashi on Genesis 1:1, and see Biraishis Rabba 12:15) regarding the creation of the world – that the Holy One Blessed He created the world in/with (the attribute of) din (-judgement, accountability), but because it could not endure – He partnered with it the attribute of mercy. And the general principle of this matter is, that what the Creator (Emanater) blessed is His name, when He set up His enterprises, this is what will be afterwards in those in existence. And you already heard the matter of the destruction of the first worlds and their rectification (see Beraishis Rabba 3:9), and this was preparation for what would be found in people. And all of these things need great explanation.

Behold on account of the property of the Sefiroas which were prepared first, to include the force that would in the future release the Other Realm (Sitra Achra, of evil), this withheld from them the perfection of which they are worthy, because not by this force would the creation be created, just by a force superior to it. Hence the Holy One Blessed He did not desire this system of conduct, rather He prepared other Sefiroas, not that He completely abandoned the first ones, rather He rectified the first ones by means of the second ones. Now the vessels, which are external, they are what broke because of this force which would in the future release the Other Realm (Sitra Achra, of evil), and the light left. But there still remained some sparks (of light) in the vessels, and that is what sustained them, and they weren’t completely abandoned. And then more Sefiroas came in the rectification, and with the strength of the few sparks that remained in the vessels, all the vessels rose to receive the rectification, and they returned and regrouped to bind with these incoming Sefiroas.

And behold all of this is preparation for what is necessary for a person in the aspect of his (free) choice and actions, his punishment and reward, and the rectification of his repentance. Behold the breaking of the vessels is the root for that which the souls can be given over to the hand of the Sitra Achra, and to be deprived of the light because they have the defection of sins. And the rectification (of the broken vessels) is the root for that which the souls are able to rise from the Sitra Achra by repentance.

And understand well, that by means of the remaining sparks there is the rectification of the vessels. And the explanation of this matter is – because our Sages o.b.m. said (Eruvin 19a): “The willful sinners of Israel are full of mitzvoas like a pomegranate,” and this is the matter of the sparks in the vessels. And the matter is (as follows), because [even though] it is true that there are 613 limbs in the body, and segments in the soul, and all of them need to be rectified by virtue of (free) choice, as stated previously, in reality, if the Holy One Blessed He would desire to operate everything with kindness (chessed), then He would not desire (free) choice whatsoever, and He would rectify these parts by Himself. And if He would desire absolute judgment (din), there would need to be (free) choice for all the limbs in all the parts. However, since He saw that the world could not stand, He therefore configured that these few sparks could sustain all the vessels with all their parts, and in the same vein the Creator (Emanater) blessed is His Name desires that the little (arena of) (free) choice which exists in those few mitzvoas which are found in the willful sinners of Israel, which are in select limbs, should draw after it the rectification of all the other limbs through the (procedure of) punishment, because the Sitra Achra is separated from them by means of the punishment by the power of this (free) choice which is found in them, and this is sufficient for him, because the very conduct ruling him was already prepared that way from the onset, as explained above, and being that man is readied according to the conduct of the Giver, behold this is sufficient for his rectification. And the truth is, that just like the broken vessels were not deficient of those few sparks, so too there will not be deficiency by the souls - which were hewed from holiness, of a small amount of mitzvoas. And if there will be the matter – that there will be a soul that doesn’t have any merit – behold it will be eliminated. However, this will not be found, because His kindness blessed He will turn itself over with it, until from some angle (merit) will be found for it. And there are already many angles to find benefit for the souls, because even the merit of the fathers can protect. And this is also (by virtue of free) choice, because the choice of the fathers was to do this rectification – that there would be drawn afterwards a rectification for their progeny. And ultimately it is sufficient that the beginning should be with choice, in order for the rectification to be found according to the set up of the conduct which was prepared for man. And understand well this matter, because it is a pillar, and it is great and enormous, and very fundamental.

 

From this it can be learned that by finding a good point by which to view a person, this itself can be sufficient to rectify the person, because this point may be sufficient to draw the rectification of all the aspects of that person even without that person’s initiative. If the person, who is now re-established in holiness, continues to repent and rectify his sins, good, if not the rectification can come solely by punishment, which will remove from him all the evil influences that prevailed and subjugated his soul, and he will remain true to the holiness of his soul by virtue of the good point that he had. Thus, this mechanism is effective even regarding a dead person who can no longer repent, by recognizing some good point in someone deceased, this can bring them rectification.

 

Rabbi Yitzchok Breiter o.b.m. H.y.d. felt that there is another component to the mechanism of this Torah-teaching. In his little treatise of The Seven Pillars, in the first pillar he states that this Torah-teaching of Azamruh is contingent upon this pillar:

 

PILLAR 1 - The Hand of G-d

Translated by Moshe Newman

The most foundational, essential concept which we merited to draw from the Flowing Waters (referring to Rebbe Nachman) is to know and recognize that everything which happens to a person, whether spiritually or physically, intentionally or accidentally, coercively or willingly-—everything is a decree of the Creator. For if a person is not yet befitting and hasn't yet merited to draw close enough to Kedushah (-holiness) to perform a certain mitzvah, then from Heaven he will experience confusions to distract him from the mitzvah. For distracting thoughts will circulate in his consciousness that prevent him from doing the holy thing, even if he actually wanted to do it.

 

Now, all this is not, G-d forbid, Hashem's vengeance, rather it is His Mercy for He is compassionate with all His creatures—the Absolutely Omniscient True Judge. For it is impossible to draw a person towards Good except by way of letting him realize how very far he is from Good, and how he is standing at such a low level like this, and that nothing is going to help him except to cry out about his existential lowliness to Hashem. That he tell Hashem everything, pouring forth his heart in supplications, entreating Hashem through earnest conversation, asking and begging for his very soul, that Hashem will give him the merit to appropriateness with that thing of Kedushah.

 

‘And this whole [cosmic reality] is unfathomably wondrous. Every single teaching and Torah in Likutei Moharan touches upon and issues forth from this foundational concept, as well as all sorts of encouragement, especially the Torah "Azamra” (LM 282) which stresses the need to judge oneself and others favorably. For this is the main way to give oneself and others the benefit of the doubt for all the spiritual descents and declines which have happened intentionally or inadvertently, whether by force or by desire~ everything is from Heaven in order to draw one closer through this very falling.

 

However, those who are distant from the True Tzaddik do not understand the above. Even an actual disciple needs great merit to be able to always remember this-that for everything one undergoes, one must redouble himself in prayer to Hashem to draw close through the very descent itself as opposed to letting the decline distance him, G-d forbid. Similarly, LM Tinyana 82 deals with matters of orderly vs disorderly circumstances within spirituality and physicality with consideration of our powers of choice. May it be that the merit of the revelation of these ideas will provide the construct for us to conduct ourselves accordingly. Amen.

 

 

To date I have not been able to figure out the basis for RYB’s assertion that the Torah-teaching of Azamruh is contingent on knowing that everything is by Divine Providence, because the mechanism is very clearly delineated, as explained above. The best hypotheses I can suggest is that he attributes the ability of being able to lock on to the good point without paying any attention to anything else, to this principle that everything is from Above, so as long as the person’s good point is established the rest can be discounted and ignored. However, from the Ramchal it is clear that even if the person is very inexcusably guilty of many sins Heaven forbid, that doesn’t prevent the mechanism of this holy way of Azamruh.

Alternatively, and what really seems to be most likely, RYB understood somehow that the judging favorably of Azamra is the same as the regular judging favorably commanded by the Torah – to give people the benefit of the doubt. Hence he asserts that this is contingent upon his first principle that everything is governed by Divine Providence and thus in reality everyone should not be held down by their actions, rather, independent of what they have done, they have some special value and good point, and that is how they should be seen, and thereby the person will be freed of the guilty status of their deeds.

This premise, that the judging favorably of Azamra on some level actually exonerates and absolves the subject of responsibility of their deeds, was rejected by the commentaries, not just because there doesn’t seem to be mention of any such mechanism in the wording of the teaching, but also because the Torah forbids judging the wicked favorably, and Rabbainu himself brings such directives. Answers can be found, but I do not think this is the right understanding of Azamra, just the simple understanding which is vindicated and has foundations in the Divine Attributes.

Furthermore, the paradigm of reality where everything is a direct translation of G-d Will and Providence is extremely esoteric, beyond the parameters of just simple complete faith and abnegation to the Tzadik. In Likutay Moharan, Torah-teaching 4, Rabbainu discusses such a reality where even the façade of bad is recognized as good, and he writes that for a person to reach such a paradigm he must make repent and make a confession of all his sins before the true Tzadik, who will pass them through fire and restore the correct permutations of the letters of the Torah which were scrambled by sin. This paradigm is associated with that of the future world. This is definitely not something that can be done by anyone besides the true Tzadik, and even the True Tzadik doesn’t do this by simply judging the person favorably, it demands the entire process part of which is mentioned above. Therefore, there doesn’t seem to be anyway to explain that the Torah-teaching of Azamra is working by virtue of the RYB’s first principle.

Similarly, this very deep principle doesn’t seem to be such a pivotal matter in most of the holy teachings of Breslov. It is an extremely deep and complex construct far beyond the average person’s working understanding, and at best it can be compared to Yiras HaRoamimus – fear of the loftiness of G-d, which Rabbainu emphasized (Words of Rabbi Nachman 5) was not practically relevant to all but a very, very select few, and even for tzadikim the main thing is just simple fear of punishment. To write that this principle is foremost and fundamental in the understanding of the holy teachings of Breslov is a gross misrepresentation, may HY atone for him, and may I be forgiven and atoned for as well.

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[1] There are at least three types, and many places the Torah instructs us to follow the ways of Hashem. In Deuteronomy (26:17 and 28:9) the Torah says: vihulachtuh bidruchuv – and you should go in His ways. In Song of the Sea (Exodus 15:2) it says: Zeh Ai”lee vi-anvaihoo – this is my God and I will “anvaihoo”, this word has many interpretations, the primary meaning is from the word “nuveh” a dwelling, to make a place of dwelling from the Divine Presence, also “nu-eh” means to nice, to beautify all the matters of Hashem. The Talmud (Shabbbos 133) says that this word also means to be similar to Him, to His attributes, Rashi explains that according to this teaching, the word “vi-anvayhoo” is a constriction of two words: Anee – I, vi-hoo – and Him. Both these words are part of the Divine Name of 72 (three letter names. VHV is 1 and 49, ANI is 37). A third way the Torah commands us to follow the ways of Hashem is with the command (see Deuteronomy 10:20, 11:22, 13:5, 30:20): viduvaktuh boa – and you should bind yourself to Him, the Sages explain, how is it possible to bind oneself to God?! It must mean that one should follow and practice the Divine Attributes (when the verse also commands explicitly “vi-hulachata…” to go in His ways, the Sages deduced that the additional commandment is referring to binding to the tzadikim – which is really also one of the ways of G-d). In many places the Sages elaborated on the ways of God to be emulated, and as pointed out already, the holy book of Tomer Devorah dedicates a chapter to the Thirteen Crown Attributes which include this way of a. looking for the good however little or hard it is to find, b. not paying attention to the bad, and c. judging only by the good.

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