WHY DO WE NEED THE TZADDIK?

Since I became a Breslover, many people have asked me the same question, "Why do we need the tzaddik if we already have Hashem?" Now, it doesn't always convince others, but for myself I do have the perfect answer.

We all know, and it says so in the Chumash, that Hashem is our Father. But Rabbeinu adds in Torah 4 that the tzaddik is called the mother of the Jewish people. So it's kind of obvious to me that, just as a person needs both a father and a mother for their optimal physical and emotional development, the same has to be true in the spiritual realm as well.

What's more, for me this is not just theory but my actual life experience. When I first did teshuvah, my life changed, of course, but really not that much, especially on the inside. Now I realize that before I started doing hisbodedus, I wasn't really connected to Hashem, despite all my mitzvah observance and voracious religious reading. It was only when I found Rabbeinu (or rather when he found me) that my teshuvah became complete and I started truly growing. So now I'm absollutely convinced that spiritually, too, a person does need both "parents"!