Likutay Moharan - Torah-teaching 233

233 - When evil thoughts and ponderings overpower a person

When evil thoughts and ponderings overpower a person and he strengthens and overpowers them and conquers them, there is to the Holy One blessed be He great pleasure from this, and it is very precious in the eyes of Hashem, blessed be He, like the parable that there is with kings, sometimes on a festive day they place several animals to fight (conquer) each other, and they stand and watch, and they have great pleasure from the fight (conquest), similarly the thoughts, they come from aspects of the animals (cha’yos, see Tikun 21 at its end), and holy thoughts, they are aspects of pure animals, and evil thoughts, they are aspects of impure animals, and from Above, they place intentionally that they fight (conquer) each other, and there is to the Holy One blessed be He great pleasure when the person overpowers the impure animals and conquers them.

The general rule is, that it is impossible in any way in the world that there be two thoughts together at one time, therefore one can easily chase away evil thoughts by only remaining stationary (“sit and do not do” – shev vi’al taaseh) that is, not to think that thought, only to think some other thought in Torah or service or even business, because it is impossible that there be two thoughts together in any way, and this is already explained in another place (above in Torah-teaching 72), that one does not need to make war and to shake their head here and there in order to banish the evil thoughts because this does not help at all, on the contrary by this they overpower more, only not to pay attention to them at all, only to do one’s own thing - in what he is occupied in Torah or prayer or business, and not to look behind him at all, and by this it automatically departs.

 

Likutay Moharan - volume 2 - Torah-teaching 50

Likutay Moharan 2:50

Thought [מַחֲשָׁבָה, active mental focus, controllable by will] is in the hands of a person to direct it according to their will to the place they desire. It is impossible for two thoughts to exist together at all. Even if sometimes one’s thought wanders and strays to other, foreign matters, it is in the person’s hands to direct it, against its will, to the proper path [דֶּרֶךְ הַיָּשָׁר, path of righteous thought and action] to think what is appropriate. This is exactly like a horse that turns from the path and veers to another path, where one grabs its reins and brings it back, against its will, to the proper path. So too, one can grab the thought, against its will, to return it to the proper path.

Technology catching up to support the faith

 HH 

With the advent of the telegraph and telephone, people had a natural belief that they could speak to G-d in Heaven (-even though HY is everywhere, the prayers go to Heaven).

With the advent of cameras and videos, people understood naturally that all their actions are recorded.

Now with the advent of tools that can be operated by the mind alone, people will understand the importance and severity of good and bad thoughts.

Na Nach Nachma Nachman MayUman

Nanach on the Torah Portion of Boa - references to all the original teachings of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov and his disciples

HH

Boa – פרשת בא – Come <to Pharaoh>

10:2 וּלְמַעַן תְּסַפֵּר בְּאָזְנֵי בִנְךָ וּבֶן בִּנְךָ וגומר: And in order that you tell over in the ears of your children and childrens' children etc..

It is necessary to make known the might of Hashem Yisburach

Likutay Halachos, Laws of Power of Attorney 4:7

10:22 וַיְהִי חֹשֶׁךְ אֲפֵלָה בְּכָל אֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם שְׁלֹשֶׁת יָמִים: And there was pitch darkness in all of the land of Egypt three days.

Reason of the plague of darkness

Likutay Halachos, Laws of Chudush-New Produce 3:4

11:4 כַּחֲצֹת הַלַּיְלָה אֲנִי יוֹצֵא בְּתוֹךְ מִצְרָיִם: At about midnight I will go out into Egypt.

Exile is the lack of daas (holy realization of knowledge) that everything is with Hashgacha (Divine Providence) and it is attributed to nature, and this is the matter of darkness and night, and when HY redeems Israel He extends upon them Hashgacha from the aspect of the Future World

Therefore the redemption was at night that specifically then He illuminated to them that everything was with Hashgacha (Divine Providence)

Likutay Halachos, Laws of Washing Hands in the Morning 2

12:12 וְעָבַרְתִּי בְאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם בַּלַּיְלָה הַזֶּה: And I will pass through (/reveal myself) in the land of Egypt in this night.

Through the great light which HY radiated the power of the evil realm was nullified, and the Jews had to flee because after a nullification there is an even more powerful resurgence

This matter transpires over every person, and it is necessary to not be dissuaded from this even it strikes myriads of times.

Likutay Halachos, Laws of Washing Hands in the Morning 4:4

12:15 שִׁבְעַת יָמִים מַצּוֹת תֹּאכֵלוּ אַךְ בַּיּוֹם הָרִאשׁוֹן תַּשְׁבִּיתוּ שְּׂאֹר מִבָּתֵּיכֶם: Seven Days you should eat matzah however on the preceding day you should put to cessation the leaven from your houses.

Matzah is the aspect of Hashgacha (Divine Providence) the opposite of chumetz (leaven) and therefore on Passover it is forbidden to eat chumetz

Likutay Halachos, Laws of Washing Hands in the Morning 2

12:21 מִשְׁכוּ וּקְחוּ לָכֶם צֹאן לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתֵיכֶם וְשַׁחֲטוּ הַפָּסַח: Draw and take for yourselves sheep for your families and slaughter the Pesach.

Before the exodus from Egypt they slaughtered the Pesach which quells the physicality and Egyptians

Likutay Halachos, Laws of Chudush-New Produce 3:4

12:39 וְלֹא יָכְלוּ לְהִתְמַהְמֵהַּ: And they could not tarry.

First He radiated upon them a great light from above in the aspect of “rutzoa” (running/entering) and afterwards it left and this is the aspect of “shoav” (returning)

And this matter is so with every person always, that first he is illuminated with a great light

In every generation it is so, that the tzadikim extract people from disgusting places, and some of them fall again afterwards even more

Likutay Halachos, Laws of Blessings on Fruit 5:6

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When one is bestowed with Supernal Arousal he must run with it

Likutay Halachos, Laws of Shaving 3:12

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Utter Supernal arousal without increments

Likutay Halachos, Laws of Honoring one's Father and Mother 2:11

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First all the moachin (consciousness, higher states of mind) were given at once, and then they left – to allow for becheera (free choice) and are regained incrementally

Likutay Halachos, Laws of a Guarantor 4:10

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The exodus was in the aspect of resurrection which pertains to the paradigm of humility of a person which is associated with the higher states of mind and consciousness

Likutay Halachos, Laws of Tefillin 6:31

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This is the process with every person, first he is illuminated with a great light superior to his level, and he is given to enter the courtyard

However when he desires to enter the house, then it is already necessary to return and rectify the outside, and then begin the trials and tests.

Likutay Halachos, Laws of Division of Partners 5:6

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At the beginning of one's drawing close to Nanach he is led and taken by the hand, and then he is let go and must begin to walk by himself

Likutay Halachos, Laws of Sending Away from the Nest 5:15

13:7 וְלֹא יֵרָאֶה לְךָ חָמֵץ: And you should not have discernible chumetz (food with leaven).

One is culpable only for his own improper thoughts but not those that come to him on their own unless he reviews them and considers them

Likutay Halachos, Laws of Gezaila (open theft) 4:5

Na Nach Nachma Nachman MeUman!

The Praises of Rabbi Nachman 17-19

HH

Shivchay Huran

17-19

17. He also said, that the conjugation of the true tzadik is a very difficult matter for him; and not only does he not have any desire whatsoever, just on the contrary, he has suffering from this, mamash (-literally) like the suffering of an infant during circumcision, because mamash suffering such as this the tzadik has during conjugation, and more than this, because the infant doesn't have intellect, therefore his suffering is not so great, but the tzadik who does have intellect, his suffering is greater then the infant, and this was an obvious matter by him. And he said, that every person can merit to come to this level, and it was apparent from his words that his own holiness was yet very extremely higher.

18. And he said, that by him a man and a woman are equal, that is, that no facet of thought occurs to him when he sees a woman, just everything is the same by him in his eyes, as if he sees a man. And one time he said, that he has no fear, not from a woman and not from an angel. And with this there's a lot to explain, because someone who still has any facet of fear whatsoever from thoughts of women, even if he is chaste in this regard, just that he's not immaculate in the utmost purity, and he still has some fear at all with this, he needs to fear from an angel; but he (Rabbainu) boasted that he has absolutely no fear of this, therefore he has no fear of an angel. This is slightly alluded to in the words of our Rabbis of blessed memory (Kedushin 81a): "I am flesh, and you are fire - but I am better/stronger than you," which Rav Amram Chasiduh said to the angel, and it is brought down in his words of blessed memory in the Torah-teaching "Tikoo (blast the shofar) - memshalu (dominion)" Torah 1 in the second volume of Likutay Moharan, see there well, and understand.

19. He was also very accustomed in his early childhood and in his youth to run over all the time to be by the grave of the Baal Shem Tov za.tza.viku.l. to request of him that he help him draw close to Hashem Yisburach. And he used to go there at night, and in the winter when it was extremely cold he would go there at night and from there he returned and went to the mikvah. And there was a mikva outside the bathhouse and one mikvah inside the bath house, and he chose the mikvah that was outside the bathhouse, when the cold was great and he was already very cold from being by the aforementioned grave, because there was a great distance between his house and the cemetery and also from the cemetery to the mikva, besides for the lengthy stay that he spent by the grave, even still after all this he would specifically go to immerse in the mikvah which stood outside, in order to mortify himself - and all of this secretly at night. And I heard from someone who said that he heard from his holy mouth, that when he performed these practices he was just six years old.

And he was so secretive from people in his devotions, to the extent that one time he went to the mikvah in the morning in the winter, and he came from the immersion, and his pehyos (sidelocks) were wet from the water, and everyone wondered at the oddity that in the winter a person would wash his head, because it did not occur to them that he had been in the mikvah, they just thought that he washed his head, and they wondered at his peculiarity that he washed his head in such cold, and they held it to be an act of his immaturity, because he was very, very secretive in his devotion. Also all the very many fasts that he fasted, absolutely no one in the world knew about them, even his father and his mother and his relatives, just his wife alone knew of it, and he would swear her that she should not reveal it to anyone, and he would do many (many) ruses to hide and to conceal all the fasting that he fasted, in such a way that no one would know of them.

Na Nach Nachma Nachman Meuman!

Nanach on the Torah - Portion of Va-Yaitzay - And Yakov left - References to all the original Torah teachings of Rabbin Nachman of Breslov and his disciples

HH

Va-yaitzai – And he left

 

28:11 וַיִּפְגַּע בַּמָּקוֹם: “Va-yifga <and he encountered> Bamukoam <the place>”

Jacob enacted the prayer of arvis (night), that is, that even in the depth of the exile and darkness when it is impossible to even open one's mouth, even then one still has hope at prayer.

Likutay Halachos, Laws of Mincha 7:89

28:12 וַיַּחֲלֹם וְהִנֵּה סֻלָּם מֻצָּב אַרְצָה וגומר: And he dreamed, and behold a latter standing on the ground etc..

The main thing is a person's own efforts, however it is necessary to have help from Above

Yaakov then attained conception that without “issaroosa <arousal> dillisattu <from below>” one will not get arousal from Heaven

Likutay Halachos, Laws of the Prayer of Mincha (afternoon) 7:84

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They told Yaakov in the dream that a man must undergo highs and lows, and should not think during a high that he will always remain that way

Likutay Halachos, Laws of Sending Away from a Nest 5

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The matter of highs and lows

Likutay Halachos, Laws of Gifts 4:12

29:5 הַיְדַעְתֶּם אֶת לָבָן בֶּן נָחוֹר: Do you know Lavan son of Nuchor?

This is the aspect of the deception conducted by Satan, infusing great falsehood into the world, and possesses the greats in order to alienate the true tzadik who can actually help the people and rectify them

Likutay Halachos, Laws of Gifts 4:13

29:17 וְעֵינֵי לֵאָה רַכּוֹת: And the eyes of Leah were tender.

Every Jew must cry not to fall into the lot of the litigator (-Satan, evil inclination)

Likutay Halachos, Laws of Messengers 3:18

29:32 וַתִּקְרָא שְׁמוֹ רְאוּבֵן וגומר: And she called his name Ruevain etc..

The names of the tribes are on account of the tikunim (rectifications) that are made through doing the mitzvoas (commandments) with joy

Likutay Halachos, Laws of Blessing of Thanksgiving 6:56

30:8 נַפְתּוּלֵי אֱלֹקים נִפְתַּלְתִּי: Grappling of G-d I grappled.

The main divaikus (clinging/binding to HY) is through prayer

Likutay Halachos, Laws of Tefillin 5:43

30:23 אָסַף אֱלֹקים אֶת חֶרְפָּתִי: G-d has gathered up my disgrace.

Yosef culls the holiness from the midst of the klipa (husks – evil forces)

Laws of Orlu 3:8

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He is called Yosef on account of his role of being “mi-asef” (gathering up) the disgrace of Israel and “moaseef” (adding) new souls for Hashem Yisburach

Likutay Halachos, Laws of Getting Up Early in the Morning 4

30:37 וַיִּקַּח לוֹ יַעֲקֹב מַקַּל לִבְנֶה לַח וְלוּז וגומר: And Yaakov took for himself a staff of damp livneh (poplar) and of looz (hazel) etc..

The holy forefathers in all their actions had intentions of effecting lofty holy rectifications

Likutay Halachos, Laws of Fish 4:3

30:38 וַיֵּחַמְנָה בְּבֹאָן לִשְׁתּוֹת: And they (the sheep) would be heated up (/impassioned)

Yaakov conducted those who drew close to him to have such moachin (consciousness) to serve Hashem Yisburach with holy passion and fieriness and not cold

Likutay Halachos, Laws of Gifts 4:14

31:12 עֲקֻדִּים נְקֻדִּים וּבְרֻדִּים: Ringed, speckled, and checkered (sheep).

These are three aspects of moachin (consciousness) in the order of progression until one attains a clarity in learning

Likutay Halachos, Laws of Gifts 4:14

31:20 – Yaakov stealing himself away from Laban – see 31:46.

31:46 לִקְטוּ אֲבָנִים וַיִּקְחוּ אֲבָנִים וַיַּעֲשׂוּ גָל: “Collect stones,” and they took stones and they mad a “gul” <heap>.

Bad thoughts which are the aspect of Laban, it is necessary to run away from him without telling him, i.e. not to enter into debate at all

Likutay Halachos, Laws of Tefillin 6:35

Na Nach Nachma Nachman MeUman!

A very practical way to bring the redemption according to Breslov tradition

HH

There is a tradition in Breslov that there is a very simple, powerful, and practical way for us to bring the redemption, and that is by utilizing the Torah that Rabbainu revealed in Likutay Moharan, Torah-Lesson 31, that every holy yearning and longing creates a soul which goes out into the world and whoever it encounters it brings them good desires and thoughts. Thus any person can literally be a mega factory, spewing out vast quantities of holy souls which go out and tune everyone in to holiness. The yearning must be verbalized to produce the souls.

Looking at history, up to the holocaust, Breslov was starting to grow, especially in Poland it gained very strong traction. Most of them were killed may HY avenge their blood. After the holocaust we see just a few Breslovers in Israel, one can read about them in Yimay Shmuel - The days of Shmuel Horowitz, a close friend of Saba Yisroel. They were a very small group, blood brothers. They lived under constant threat that they would be accused of spying for the Russians (Uman was then in Russia)- the great enemy of the Turks who ruled Israel, and they were hated etc. etc.. These few Breslovers lived entirely for and by Rabbainu. Thus they were very much occupied in manufacturing and producing holy souls to proliferate goodness in the world. Shmuel Horowitz himself writes how often he couldn't sleep at night (these Breslovers in the preNanach era were much stronger willed than us, they were able to go sometimes for 2 days without sleep, just on sheer willpower in the holy excitement of devotion of Hashem) as he lay pumped up with intense yearning for holiness - hours of yearning, before getting up for midnight and going all out in prayer in hisbodidus. Undoubtedly these few Breslovers were rocking the entire world with their infusion of holy souls - and it is safe to presume that the entire hippy movement, where so many millions of people were sick of living empty materialistic lives and sought to find some meaning, all of  this can be attributed to the few Breslovers. Unfortunately, aside from Shlomo Carlbach there were no others to help guide the masses to holiness, and Breslov was to small and contained to be on the scene, until Saba Yisroel came out fully with the holy Petek.

It is high time that the holy men of Rabbainu, those true to the holy Petek, get back in there, get back to this holy enterprise.

Every person who believes in Rabbainu Na Nach Nachma Nachman MeUman should set for himself/herself a minimal time daily, that no matter what he will not forgo (an if there are extenuating circumstances he will make up the time the next day) to dedicate to this simple holy critical devotion, the manufacturing, production, and delivery of holy souls into the world. No day should ever pass by without taking at least one moment to actively discharging a good soul out there - as a minimum limit, and a person should have a primary goal of a lengthier daily time period dedicated to contributing holy souls to the world. Thus he should have two boundaries, a bare minimum that in no way whatsoever he reneges, and a primary full daily regimen.

It has been said that every time one says Na Nach Nachma Nachman MeUman - it brings 200 people to have a thought of repentance. That is one thought, and one needs many more, and there are billions of people... so get to work!

Na Nach Nachma Nachman MeUman!

Don't get into something that can't end well - that you can't take all the way

HH

Yesterday I was inundated with bad thoughts, and I was desperately calling up all my little tricks to escape but was not fairing well. B"H one thing snapped me out of it, I thought of what I would look like if I actually went full out with bad thoughts and even acted upon them G"F, and I got a pretty scary (-i.e. utterly disgusting) image, and with that B"H I got right out. This is probably the same with many things, like drugs, hitting up even once has to be understood in the context of the big picture - what is the tachlis (-end-ultimate purpose), to get high, and if this high is a good thing, so it would be done more and more, ultimately ending in the person G"F being a junky, hence this high is actually a piece and part of a very nefarious ordeal. The desire for money on the other hand, although we know that our Sages obm revealed one who has a hundred wants two etc., even still there is a certain satiation point or goal where a person is providing for his needs, just like eating. The highs from drugs or the gratification from sexual desires are not the same, because they are not intrinsic to a persons life -- a person does need highs and does (if he is not a tzaddik) need a sexual outlet, but those have a kosher scheme which in and of itself means that they are are being used intrinsically for his life, and not some external quest. Quests for holy highs are very intrinsic and satisfying, yet even they are surrounded by great dangers, for at every new level one is faced with more powerful needs of gratification, and if he is not constantly on guard and aspiring to the holiness he has become accustomed to, he will be hit very hard for vitality from the other side G"F.

There's a great more to be said about all of this, and of course it is much better to read about these things directly from the holy teachings of Rabbainu, but B"H it is good to at least write a little something and not let it go unmentioned.

May the Holy Merciful One G-d help us have holy thoughts and only holy thoughts and holy consciousness.

Na Nach Nachma Nachman MeUman!

It's not worth peeking

HH

What is so terrible about having an improper thought? Yes, we know it is forbidden, and it causes damage in the supernal world, and that really those worlds are very much the actual reality, and that it will G-d forbid lead from one thing to the next until it really brings one to no good, but even still we say to ourselves, let me be for a bit, a few thoughts, a little pleasure, what's the big deal?

So here's something to consider. G-d is completely above the paradigm of existence, He created existence, however in the existence He created, He also exists, and this existence of His is infinite. Anyone familiar with algebra knows that infinite can remain in a very small value – as a number approaches another in different increments, increasingly getting closer but never reaching. Such are the various classes that G-d created, the worlds of doing, speaking, thinking (asseeya, yetzeerah, breeya) and infinitely more, as the worlds approach G-d Himself, never reaching, but infinitely getting closer, each one in it's own class and restraint. In all of this, the prophet refers to G-d as continuously hiding Himself (Ail misstattair). The direction of the infinite existence of G-d in the whole layout of existence is to the esoteric, the more spiritual and hidden. The Ramchal asserts that the entire study of Kabbala – the study of G-d and how He runs the world, can be summarized as inner and outer (peneemeeyoos and cheetzoaneeyus). Always the inner, which is more spiritual, more refined and hidden, is the soul of the outer body, and completely encompasses it, rules it, and is it's very lifesource. Except for the final world in which man exists, where the body has a certain independence not recognizing its soul. The Torah (even the "revealed Torah") as well must be kept hidden and should not be taught in public places (Moed Kutun 16a). 

All sexual gratification (which the Vilna Goan clearly classifies as a sin between a person and himself, any damage done to another person by this sin is purely collateral) is the body's insurgency over the soul. This is hijacking a person's manifest, from going in the way of G-d, and ever increasingly give strength to the unseen, the soul of yet a more esoteric plane, which by the way is the ultimate eminence of the traits of humility and tznius (modesty), where one hides himself preferring to reach further inwards than to show an outward, superficial exploitation, and all of this is hijacked and reversed by even a small improper thought and desire, which empowers the body, giving it precedence, giving it the dominion to drag and subjugate the direction of the soul to be reduced to an expression of the body (and if a person G-d forbids generates seed wantonly, this is the actual reduction of the ultimate spiritual manifest, to a coarse superficial coarse goal, HY).

The idea I presented above is actually found explicitly in the holy books, particularly in Rabbainu's Likutay Moharan, regarding fasting. Rabbainu reveals that on a day that a person eats, the food goes to his stomach and inners, and from there energy is sent up to the brain, it is the liver that is propelling the brain. When a person fasts, the direction is the opposite, the brain rules over the body (MeLeCh – king, rule – Moach – brain, Lev – heart, Cuvaid – liver, as opposed to the reverse order of CuLaiM – meaning embarrasment/incarceration – locked into the embarrassing control of the body).

The main thing is to sing Na Nach Nachma Nachman MeUman, which is the ultimate direction!

NNNNM!

Triggers programmed to holiness - Na Nach Nachma Nachman MeUman!

HH

Reverting evil to the epitome of holiness and good

When a person is confronted by bad thoughts, hears vulgar language, or sees enticing thing, all of which bombard his mind, swamping him with ill desires trying to overwhelm him to give up his hold and give in, plunge down Heaven forbid, and when a person accustoms himself to scream to Hashem Yisburach at all such instances, to scream and scream with all his heart and might, in this way he ultimately brings about a fundamental phenomenal tikkun. For in this way the person trains and ingrains in himself that these images, sounds, or thoughts trigger strong crying out to Hashem Yisburach. Everytime this person experiences such and such, together with the evil urge comes a strong shouting and upheaval to find refuge in the mercy and unity of Hashem Yisburach. In time, it may take one day, one year, twenty or fifty years, it could take till after he dies, but eventually the evil lure will fade, and the objects of enticement will remain bare skeletons of emptiness, and now they will only be conduits and reminders of the holiness which they conjured. The most disgusting perverted glamor which held so many captive to the other side will actually conjure only yearning and longing for Hashem Yisburach!

Sometimes unfortunately we are afflicted by opposite, certain words or images invoke in us reminders of something unholy, and we must do our utmost to reprogram these instinctive reflex triggers to holy ones. Take the time to address it head on, if it is a word, try to figure out how this word actually has holy roots and persuasion, something to latch on to and project for yourself instead of the unholy. Empower the good venue you found with strong conviction, which itself is screaming to Hashem Yisburach to help afix you on the path of holiness.

In this way one changes the whole world for the good, sanctifying his surrounding and his very well-being. Rabbi Nachman said that there is a construct that everything is turned to good.

Na Nach Nachma Nachman MeUman!

Imminent

HH

All sin, bad thoughts, negativity, it all stems from a person's despair, giving up, failing to believe that he will hear G-d personally in the near future. If a person would really be expecting and full of hope that he would experience the Divine then there would be no way he'd fall to depression and sin, on the contrary he would excited, happy, and productive.

The holy sages revealed that even the greatest sinner is beloved by his Creator, and literally in a split second can change his status to that of righteousness. Obviously the odds are kind of against him, mainly because of his own despair. Even a regular person is challenged to keep high faith that he will merit to an extremely blatant relationship with HY.

The more a person spends in hisbodidus with HY, the more he will learn first hand how much his life is actually in direct synchronization as a communication with HY. He will begin to appreciate more and more the hand of G-d in all of his life. He will begin to feel HY's touch. He will begin to understand that no matter where he fell or find himself he can and should feel the most intimate relationship with HY. In this way he can be full of faith and find himself full of positive thoughts and productivity.

Na Nach Nachma Nachman MeUman!