Azamruh - Likutay Moharan Torah-teaching 282 according to Rabbi Yitzchok Breiter

 

Azamra according to Rabbi Yitzchok Breiter

 

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, as Rabbainu writes in Likutay Moharan, Torah-teaching 22:11 about when the world will be in a state of Shabbos, a state of continuous repentance on repentance, see there. 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. Furthermore, this principle if not understood properly and fully, can really be very damaging and weaken a person’s attitude, responsibility, resolve, and almost every aspect of their initiative in living properly and in their devotion to Hashem, G-d forbid, it most probably falls under the category of the wisdoms that Rabbainu warned, that they have no place in the devotion of Hashem. In all the places where Rabbainu gave tremendous encouragement that there is absolutely no despair, for no matter where a person fell G-d forbid, even in those places Hashem can be found (see e.g. Torah-teachings 6, 56, volume II: 12), never does he say don’t despair because it’s all good, it’s all from Above. To write that this principle is foremost and fundamental in the understanding of the holy teachings of Breslov is a gross misrepresentation, may I be forgiven and may HY atone for him and for myself for calling him out. In truth, Rabbi Shimshon Barski already faulted him (in a letter to Yitzchok Meir Korman in 1932) of desiring unnecessary and undesirable sophistication, even though he was undoubtedly a spiritual giant and a beloved Breslover, may his memory be a blessing and may HY avenge his murder. Na Nach Nachma Nachman MayUman.

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