HEALING FOR THE LOWEST LEVELS

Today I came upon the following quote from the classic commentary "Parparaos LeChochmah" describing the unique role of Reb Noson, the closest follower of Rabbeinu, "It was up to Reb Noson continually to draw from his master's teachings to bring vitality and strength to those on the lowest levels, who feel distant from Hashem yet wish to experience Him."

I have to say, it never ceases to amaze me how classic Breslov authors pictured to themselves people on the lowest levels: that they "feel very distant from Hashem yet with to experience Him". This goes to show just how far the subsequent generations have fallen, much farther down then anyone in the 19th century could even imagine. Today those who are truly on the lowest levels either don't believe in Hashem at all or, even if they do, feel either totally disconnected from Him or unable to trust Him. And if they're even lower than that, they understand all the difficulties and troubles in their lives as Hashem torturing them for no reason, probably because He just doesn't like them enough to smooth the way for them. Before Rabbeinu found me, I used to belong to that last group, so you can trust me that it is a very painful and uncomfortable place to be. So do such people "wish to experience Hashem"? No, not at all.

Yet what amazes me even more is how Rabbeinu, like no one else, can provide help and healing even for people like me! So when he said that "from him until Mashiach there wasn't going to be anything new", these weren't just empty words, chas veshalom. What Rabbeinu meant was that he would be able to understand the unique problems of every subsequent generation and to give each person, at all times, just what they truly need.