Likutay Moharan - Volume 2 - Torah-teaching 125

Regarding the Matter of Reciting Psalms

Regarding the matter of reciting Psalms, he spoke with one and said to him that the essence of reciting Psalms is to say all the Psalms about himself, to find himself within each and every Psalm. And he asked him, of blessed memory: How? And our master, of blessed memory, explained to him somewhat, that all the battles that David the King, peace be upon him, requested that Hashem [G-d] save him from them, all must be explained about himself regarding the battle of the yetzer hara [evil inclination] and its forces, and the like in other Psalms [and as explained above in Likutay Moharan II:101]. And he asked him: How should he explain about himself from the verses where David the King, peace be upon him, praises himself, such as: "My soul guarded, for I am pious" [Psalms 86:2], and the like? He answered him: This too must be explained about himself, for one must judge himself favorably and find in himself some merit and good point, that in the aspect of this good point he is in the aspect of a pious one [chasid] and the like. And our master, of blessed memory, said to him: Behold, regarding Yehoshafat it is written: "And his heart was lifted in the ways of Hashem" [II Chronicles 17:6], that in the ways and service of Hashem he lifted his heart somewhat. Further, our master, of blessed memory, said to him: Behold, in the morning we say at the beginning: "What are we, what is our life," etc., and we greatly diminish ourselves. And afterward we say: "But we are Your people, the children of Your bris [covenant]," etc., that afterward we strengthen ourselves and lift ourselves, and we recount our greatness and pride ourselves that we are His people, the children of His bris, the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, etc. For so one must conduct himself in the service of Hashem, as above. And see this in the first book [Likutay Moharan I:282] on the verse: "I will sing to my G-d while I exist".

Be strong, be strong, be strong.

The Words of Rabbi Nachman - articles 1-3

WORDS OF RABBI NACHMAN

 

1

"Because I know that Hashem is great and our Master (is greater than) all gods (Psalms 135:5)." King David r.i.p. said, "because I know," specifically I know,[1] because the greatness of the Creator blessed He is impossible to relate to one's friend, and even to oneself it is impossible to relate from one day to the next day according to what shines for him and flares for him on that day, he cannot tell over to himself on the second day the brilliance and the sparkling illumination of His greatness blessed He that he had yesterday. Therefore he said, "because I know," specifically I[2] know, because it is impossible to relate whatsoever.

 

And he said that what is written afterwards: "All that Hashem desired He did in the Heavens and the Earth etc.," This is a completely different matter, and completely divergent from the praise of "because I know." Because his intent with these words "because I know" is impossible to relate whatsoever, and it is very, extremely high, "high above high (Koheles 5:7)," what is impossible for a mouth to relate, just specifically I know as explained above. And as it is written in the Zohar (volume 1 page 103): "known in the gates is her husband (Aishes Chayil - a woman of valor, Proverbs 31:23)," - 'Everyone according to the falcons of their heart', as explained elsewhere (see Likutay Moharan 72, and Likutay Halachos, Rosh Chodesh 3:11, and Pirya Virivya 3:16).

 

2

It is very good to throw oneself upon Hashem Yisburach and to rely upon Him. And my way is: when the day comes, I give over all the movements of mine end of my children and does all those contingent on me upon Hashem, that all should be as His desire blessed He, and this is very good. Also then there is no need to worry and to think whatsoever if the behaviour is proper or not, since it is reliant upon Him blessed He. And if He blessed He desires in a different way - he is complaisant to behave in a different way as He desires blessed He.[3]

And similarly, when Shabbos or Yom Tov arrive, then I give over all the behaviour and all the matters and all the movements of that Shabbos or Yom Tov to Hashem Yisburach, that everything should be as His will blessed He. And then, however the conduct is on that Shabbos or Yom Tov no longer thinks or worries whatsoever maybe he did not fulfill the obligation in the conduct of the Holiness of that day, since he already gave everything over to Hashem Yisburach, and relied upon Him blessed He alone.[4]

 

 

3

And he spoke of the inordinate dramatic greatness of the Creator blessed is His Name, and it is impossible to explain this in writing. And he said[5]: That to the greatness of the Creator blessed He there is no measure, because there are awesome things happening in the world, extremely wondrous and awesome and they are not known whatsoever, that is, that we still do not know any knowledge whatsoever, absolutely nothing. And also what is brought (Bicheenoas Oalum[6]) “the apex [tachlis] of knowledge [ha-yideyuh] is that we will not [sheloa] know [naidah][7][8],” that is also applicable to every single (level of) knowledge, that is, that even when one reaches the apex of that knowledge, that is, not to know, even still this is not the apex. Because this apex is just in that knowledge, but in the knowledge higher than it, he still has not started in it whatsoever, and so forth higher (and) higher. Hence never will one know anything, whatsoever not, and even still this is not the apex, because he still hasn’t started whatsoever to know of the knowledge above this knowledge that he has reached its apex of not knowing etc..[9][10]

 

Also he spoke of the inordinate dramatic greatness of the virtue of repentance, and even when one falls drastically Heaven forbid, and everyone falls to where they fall may the Merciful One save us, even still it is forbidden to give up on oneself, because repentance is higher, above the Torah[11], therefore there is not any despair in the world, because if one merits there will be made from his sins an entirely different affair, just as our Sages o.b.m. said (Yuma 86: regarding repentance out of love) that the sins are turned around into merits. And there is in this matter secretive secrets[12], just the general principle is that from all the falls and descents of the world may the Merciful One save us, it is possible to return to Him blessed He easily, “because to His greatness there is no measure (Psalms 145:3).[13]” And the main thing which all is contingent upon, is that one should despair of himself from screaming to Hashem and to supplicate and to pray to Him blessed He always.[14]

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[1] In the Psalms (145:6) of Ashray, recited three times a day, the verse (6) says, “And the might of Your awesomeness they will say, and Your greatness I will relate.” Here too, when it comes to the greatness of Hashem, the verse reverts to the singular, I will relate, whereas regarding the awesomeness of Hashem the verse writes, they, the many (However the Targum renders both to the many, possibly viewing the aleph as extra, as is found often, or perhaps interpreting: what I will relate they will relate). The question is, what is the difference between the awesomeness that can be discussed by the many, as opposed to the greatness which cannot? Perhaps, awesomeness is of the aspect of constrictions, whereas greatness is the aspect of kindness which is unconstrained. This differentiation can explain the verse quoted here by Rabbainu. As Rabbainu points out, regarding knowledge of the greatness of Hashem it says I, whereas the end of the very same verse speaks of “our”, “Our Master is greater than all the gods,” because when talking about gods, that is, foreign powers, there is already a multiple presence in the world, unlike the absolute unity which is the paradigm of the beginning of the verse. This is the secret of ani (-I, the Malchus) having the same letters as ain (-nothing, the highest paradigm of Kessehr), of ain the verse says (Deuteronomy 32:39) there is no god with me. This is explained at length in Adir Bamurom (Michon Ramchal 361-).

Even still this verse seemingly refutes what Rabbainu says here, because the verse says that he will relate the greatness, whereas Rabbainu explained that it is impossible. Perhaps the answer is that for this reason the verse doesn’t use the simple conjugation: asapehr – I will relate, but: asaprehnuh – which is translated as, I will tell it over, however in Hebrew we find that the letter Nun at the end of the word comes to lessen and downgrade, so the verse is really saying I will tell a little of it over, because to tell it all over is impossible, but still whatever can be told over must be told over.

[2] In article 3, Rabbainu explains the concept of the apex of knowledge which is to not know. The subject in the aphorism is “we”, even though Rabbainu applied it to himself, it is possible that is only because he was relating it over, whereas just for himself, perhaps it is possible that the apex of knowledge can be actual knowledge, because it would be in attainment of absolute unity with G-d, and G-d and His knowledge are one (see Likutay Moharan, Torah-teaching 65 that a person in prayer can reach, for some limited time, the tachlis of one). However, this knowledge itself is called not knowing, as explained in Likutay Moharan, Torah-teaching 4:9. That being said, it is probable that this apex of not knowing, is really referring to the aforementioned state of prayer and abnegation which is the aspect of not knowing. This is the secret of raising ani (-I, Malchus) to ain (-nothing, Kessehr), as mentioned previously in the notes. Also see the note on article 3 which gives a Kabbalistic label to that apex of not knowing as Raisha diloa isyaadah, see there.

[3] Here Rabbainu shows how to go in the Way of Unity (of Hashem, Derech Ha-Yichud) of before the sin of Adam, which will be the way of the future. See Adir Bamaroam of the Ramchal (page 414, Spinner): “because originally they were almost like angels whose behavior is after the root, so it was that besides from the mitzva they were commanded, they were to go just according to the movement of the root. And this is the secret of (Yichezkel 1:12) ‘to where there will be the spirit going they go’. And then they were literally like someone who goes with closed eyes leaning on someone who brings him (see the Legendary Story of Ancient Times of The Seven Beggars, the fifth day, tells of a blind person guiding the moon). And therefore, then (Genesis 2:15) ‘and He placed him <va-ya-nee-chayhoo> in the Garden of Eden’, in the secret of ‘menoocha’ (-same root as the placement, meaning rest, and connotes prophecy), because he was behaving just according to the supernal illumination reaching him every second, and according to what he received, that is what he did.” See all of this awesome revelation at length there, and the Ramchal states explicitly that this is achievable even today, just that it doesn’t come easy.

This also might be the difference in the level of Baal Shem Tov and his successor the Magid of Mezritch. Because we know that the Maggid did every single movement, however tiny and infinitesimal,  according to Divine unifications, so in what way did he pale before his master the Besht? Maybe it had to do with this concept of abnegating oneself completely to the root.

[4] This entire article is brought in article 238, where it preceded by something tangential.

[5] See The Life of Our Leader Rabbi Nachman, article 67, this was said on the way from Breslov to Uman. Rabbi Nachman said, “Hashem Yisburach is extremely great and it is not known at all etc.” and Rabbi Nussun questioned him, that he had already said previously that he had come to the knowledge of the apex of knowledge is not knowing, and Rabbainu answered him, “from when I left Breslov until here I already also do not know.” Rabbi Nussun points out there the awesome alacrity of the Rabbainu’s growth and ascent, that in such a short span of time, while travelling, he had reached the apex of a completely knew level of knowledge.

[6] This is a holy work of ethics by Rabbi Yidaye-yuh son of Avrohom Hapneenee known as Bedehrshee (1270-1340) it is styled with chapters and verses somewhat like Proverbs and Koheles.

The verse referred to here is in Part 8, Chapter 2, Verse 19/16:

ותכלית מה שנדע בך שלא נדעך – And the utmost of what we can know of You (is) that we can/will not know You.

[7] The subject in this aphorism is “we”, see the note about this at the beginning of the very first article.

[8] It is my impression that this is what the Kabballah calls Raisha [head] diloa [that is not] Isyaadah [known]. Just to give a very brief and rudimentary idea of this head, I will write a few lines. Every paradigm at every level is composed of ten sfiros. These ten sfiros can be classified as five Divine Countenances [partzufim]. The highest Countenance, of Kesser – Crown, is Ehrech (-long-healing-ruling) Anpin (-countenance). However, there is an even higher Countenance which crowns Ehrech, that of Atik. The seven lower sfiros of Atik are enclothed in Ehrech, they correspond to the seven thousand years of the world. The higher sfiros remain above Ehrech, and they are called in the Zohar and in the Lurianic Kabbala, Raisha Diloa Isyaadah. Rabbi Chaim Vital discusses at great length the intricacies of the “sfaikoas” – doubts – of this head. The Ramchal revealed the nature of these doubts and why they are so important. The Ramchal says (Klach Pischay Chuchmah 86, Adir Bamurom, Michon Ramchal 303) that they are not simple doubts due to obscurity, rather on the contrary, this head processes the infinite possibilities of associations of all of time, mixing and matching them, and creates from them an eternal paradigm where are the particles of time shine. Thus, it is impossible in time to actually grasp these processes, and one who attempts will be confronted with the aforementioned doubts. Thus, this head is the bridge between the highest level of one paradigm, taking it up into the paradigm above it. When a person merits to have conception of this head, on whatever level he is on, he will truly not know, and he will be preparing to rise to a higher paradigm altogether, whose lowest level encompasses and dwarfs the entire entity of the lower paradigm.

See also the notes on The Praises of Rabbi Nachman, cited below, which cites Likutay Moharan, Torah-teaching 83, that the apex of not knowing is the place of the world, see there.

[9] See The Praises of Rabbi Nachman, Part II article 35 and my footnotes there.

[10] It comes out, that one who knows, is really far from knowledge, whereas one who does not know is much closer. This is a little similar to a rule given by the Baal Shem Tov (Tzufnas Panayach 112:4, Letter to his son, Toldoas Yaakov Yosef on Mishpatim 69:4) that one who feels/thinks he is close to Hashem is far, and one who feels far is in reality close. See Restoration of the Soul, article 78.

[11] In a very general sense, repentance is attributed to the Sefirah of Beenah whereas Torah is attributed to the Sefirah of Tiferess, which is third below Beenah. Also see the Zohar (Vayikra 69b), When HY created the world He wanted to create people, He sought the counsel of the Torah etc., the Torah responded saying how man would sin and anger Gd, and in the continuation of the Zohar there, it says how HY created Repentance before the world so that when man sins they can repent. And see a similar inference in the Psikta of Rav Kahana (25), which seemingly favors the approach of repentance over the approach of Torah. See also Likutay Halachos, Orach Chaim, Laws of the Night Prayer 4:9, that through repentance one merits to abnegate to the tachlis (ultimate purpose) which is above the Torah, for all the Torah comes from there, see there.

This needs further explanation because there are aspects of Torah which are much higher than Beena and which can also bring one to complete abnegation, and these teachings themselves are Torah. Rabbainu’s generalization is referring to the role of the “Mishpat” (-laws of the) Torah being the ruling force of this world. This is the aforementioned sefirah of Tiferess which takes on the full countenance (-partzuf) of Zair Anpin (-the Small Countenance), and is represented by the letter vav in YHVH, under the V is the letter H (-the female partzuf of Rachel), which corresponds to all of G-d’s kingdom in this world. Thus this world’s affairs are directly ruled by these last two letters VH. Above these two is another H (-the female partzuf of Mother), this is the paradigm of repentance, and it encompasses the last two. Thus even though a person in this world is directly governed by the Laws of the Torah, ultimately both the Laws of the Torah and the person, are governed by the realm of Repentance.

The secret of how this works, very possibly the secrets Rabbainu referred to here, is explained in a few places by the Ramchal (particularly beautifully in Adir Bamarom, Michon Ramchal 335-). The ruling of the world under the Laws of the Torah allows for a person to have becheera (-free choice) to do bad, just as HY allowed for the presence of the appearance of evil in the world, but ultimately HY is pure goodness, and everything will be reverted to be good. This very system of the Torah was with this tachlis (-end goal), to be reverted to complete goodness. Even though the system of “Mishpat” and free choice seemingly could not be guaranteed to turn out good, it is steered in this direction by the upper realms, where there is never a trace of evil, and these realms dominate the lower realms bringing them to this realization. Thus, ultimately everything will turn out for the best, and the main thing is to just hold out with prayer to HY.

[12] Rabbainu can be referring to many concepts here. In the previous note I explained one underlying secret which explains why the bad doesn’t define the person trying to return, because he is on the path of pure goodness, see there. In the holy books of Breslov many reasons are given to explain the gains that are only made possible by being G-d forbid in a fallen and bad place. Sometimes this can trigger a person to make an amazing and complete comeback. Sometimes it could be to help save and rescue other souls stuck there. Sometimes it could be to test and prove his tenacity, ultimately bringing him much higher. When in such a state G-d forbid, even the slightest nuance and attempt to do good is incredibly powerful. These and others can be found in Restoration of the Soul.

[13] This might be the link between the two paragraphs of this article. In the first paragraph Rabbainu spoke of the greatness of Hashem, and then in the second he went on to speak of the greatness of repentance, possibly because the latter is contingent on the former, the amazing nature and ability to repent is due to the greatness of Hashem.

The greatness of Hashem facilitating repentance can refer to different aspects. Primarily it means that He is readily found everywhere, even in the most impure places one can find Him, because nothing exists outside of Hashem, so anywhere in existence, no matter how impure, exists only by G-d’s sustenance, and therefore no matter where a person is he can find Hashem and make an instantaneous complete transition to holiness. The greatness of Hashem also means that He is forgiving, and it means that He is looking out for the sinners best interest in infinite ways.

[14] See The Life of Our Leader Rabbi Nachman article 565: Providing they do not despair of themselves from screaming and prayer and requesting etc., just to engage in screaming and prayer and supplication etc. and not to tire ever etc. because the main repentance is screaming and crying out to Hashem Yisburach.

For more Breslov writings in English click here:
http://naanaach.blogspot.com/search/label/read%20online

Na Nach Nachma Nachman MayUman

King David's case for Psalms and Hisbodidus against the leading Torah scholars

HH
This is something I've already wrote about at length, but since I found myself rewriting it for someone recently, I will share it.

HH King David had great disputations with the Torah scholars of his time who belittled him and shamed him in the Bais Medrah (-study hall) - all of this is documented in the Talmud. The question is why did they have such a vendetta against him?! So a big litvak Rabbi who passed away a few years ago A.M. explained elaborately that King David was the greatest hero of the time, more than any politician, actor, singer, or billionaire - he had absolutely everything, and he was a mighty warrior and king, so he was obviously the highest aspiration and hero-idol of the world. He was also the authority on halacha, as our Sages laid down that the halacha is like him always, and that he had an inner comprehension of the Talmud ("gulee misechtu"). But King David was a terrible disappointment to many of the Torah scholars, because he did not advocate to the masses such an approach, rather he professed the ideals of Psalms and hisbodidus. This was a huge threat on the whole system of Judaism the scholars we're familiar with which was completely based on complete abnegation just to the study of Torah, and there was barely room even for prayer - and now the people were going to aspire not to their ideals but to King David's. Therefore they did their utmost to shame him in the Halls of Torah to try to prove that the path of King David brings to utter failure in the acquisition of Torah. But how does King David prove to the world that there is just the way of prayer. In Psalms he said: Taste and see.... He didn't get into philosophical arguments and deep complex proofs, he said simply, if you want to know the truth, taste it and you'll see. This holds true to this very day. If you want to know the truth of Nanach simply taste it's holy awesome ways and you will know for yourself. Leave all the fancy complex disputations and reasonings and dissertations and proofs and whatnot. Get real with yourself and with the absolute truth of Na Nach Nachma Nachman Meuman.

The Praises of Rabbi Nachman 8-10

HH

Shivchay Huran

8-10

8. And he related that all his learning came to him with great exertion, because at the beginning he studied mishnayos, and he didn't understand what he was learning, and he would cry copiously before Hashem Yisburach that He should enlighten his eyes. And he would cry and cry so much until he merited that he was able to learn mishnayos. And so too afterwards he learned other books and he also didn't understand, and he would cry and cry as well very copiously until he merited to understand them. And so too with the study of Zohar and Kisvay Hu-Ari o.b.m., he would also cry copiously until he merited to understand.

And he said: that at the beginning with every single book that he studied he did not understand and it was extremely difficult for him and he was unable to figure out the simple meaning of the context. And he had great suffering from this, and his learning was with great exertion, and even still he learned a very great deal. Because he would strengthen himself immensely, and he merited to everything through his prayers and his crying as mentioned above.

9. And he would fast very profusely, and many times he fasted from Shabbos to Shabbos, and all this was in his very youth before he was 20 years old. And sometimes he fasted twice from Shabbos to Shabbos continuously from one to the next. And even though he was a "yel-ed (-a child of) shaashoo-im (delight/spoiled) (Jeremiah 31:19)," and was raised pampered, and was an extremely delicate person, even still he did not have any mercy on himself whatsoever, and he fasted and mortified himself tremendously, and he fasted 18 ("chay") times from Shabbos to Shabbos in one year (-that is the maximum feasible amount, because there are days in the year which are forbidden to fast on).

10. However, his main devotion through which he merited what he merited, was just the abundant prayers, and the beseeching, and the supplications, and the conciliations, and the appeasements that he was very accustomed to pray and beseech before Him blessed He. And he would placate and appease Him blessed He with all types of beseeching and supplications that He should merit him with His Mercy to draw him close to His service blessed He. And fundamentally what availed him were the prayers that he prayed in Yiddish, for he would very often designate for himself someplace that he found where there were no people, and he would express his words before Hashem Yisburach in the vernacular, that is in Yiddish. And he would placate and appease Him blessed He, and supplicate and beseech before Him blessed He with many, many types of argumentation and reasonings that it was befitting for Him blessed He that He should draw him close to His service, and he would do this very extremely frequently, and he spent days and years at this.

He would also hide himself on top of his father's house under the roof, where there was the likeness of a room with partitions of reeds for storage of hay and fodder, and he would hide himself there and recite Psalms and he would scream silently to Hashem Yisburach that He should merit him to draw him close to Him blessed He.

And in general all the various supplications in the world that are found in any book that is available by us, absolutely everything, he did not leave any beseechment or supplication that he did not say many, many times, whether it be Psalms, or the book "Shaaray (gates of) Tzion (Zion), or the supplications printed in the large prayer books, or the other types of supplications and beseechings, and even the beseechings printed in Yiddish - all of them, he did not leave out from saying them, and he would frequently say all the beseeching which are printed after the maamudos for each day, and he would frequently say all the beseechings in their entirety of all the days in one time (t.n. since the prayers are specific to the day of the week it is my belief that Rabbi Nachman would have introduced the prayers of each day accordingly: On Sunday this is..., On Monday this is...).

He was also accustomed at times to say from Psalms just the verses which speak in beseeching and supplication and screaming to Hashem Yisburach, and he would say just these verses and not say the rest. And he would say all these verses from the whole book of Psalms in one time.

And aside from all of this, the main thing was what he would pray from himself, that is, what he was accustomed to speak from his heart before Hashem Yisburach in Yiddish, that he would pray and argue before Hashem Yisburach with many, many types of argumentation and beseeching and supplications that he would say from his mind and his heart as mentioned above that Hashem Yisburach should merit him to His service. And this was the fundamental which availed him to merit to what he merited, so we heard from his holy mouth explicitly.

Na Nach Nachma Nachman Meuman!

Kiss! נשיקות

ב"ה
אמירת תהלים זה כמו לנשק את השם יתברך, כל אות וכל תיבה, ואם זוכים לקצת דקבות אז זה נשיקות צרפתית...

נ נח נחמ נחמן מאומן

HH

Saying Tehilim (Psalms) is liking kissing G-d, every letter and every word, passionate kisses. If one merits to dveikus (bonding) it will be like French Kissing....

Na Nach Nachma Nachman MeUman!