AN ISLAND, A MOUNTAIN, AND FEAR OF HEAVEN

How is it possible to determine if a person has fear of Heaven? One possible way to judge is this: whether or not they perform mitzvos just as scrupulously when alone as when surrounded by people.

I found that this is hinted in the word "יראה" ("fear") itself. If we rearrange its letters, we will get two words: "הר" ("a mountain") and "אי" ("an island"). So, if a person is just as religious on a mountain or an island as in a big city, then they truly possess fear of Heaven.

"THERE IS NO WAVE THAT CAN STOP ME"

 As I wrote in a previous post, in Torah 14 Rabbeinu shows that there are two very different ways of serving Hashem and of elevating His honor. One of them is for people who, due to various reasons, aren't complete and whole. In Rabbeinu's time, this was usually because of their sins, but nowadays this is just as likely to be a result of an unfortunate background. Because of this incompleteness, Rabbeinu calls such people "palga", which means "half" in Aramaic.

Their way of elevating Hashem's honor is by fighting various obstacles that keep them away from holiness and by striving to advance no matter what. Rabbeinu compares such obstacles to the Jordan River that stands in the way of those who want to reach Eretz Yisroel.

Perhaps we can find a hint about the right way to relate to all those obstacles in the word "פלגא" ("palga") itself. Its letters, when rearranged, spell "אף גל" ("no wave"), as in, "there is no wave that can stop me". If we really want to come close to Hashem, then there is nothing, not even the mighty Jordan River, that can stand in our way.

"ELEVATING HASHEM'S HONOR" FOR LOSERS AND DUMMIES

In many places throughout "Likutei Moharan", Rabbeinu speaks about elevating Hashem's honor or making it complete. In practice, this means passing all honor on to Hashem without taking any for yourself.

On the surface, this looks simple enough: you achieve something, so people praise you or honor you in some other way. Your task in this case is to shrug your shoulders and say, "I can't take any credit for this. Without Hashem's constant help, this would never be possible." What's more, you should really feel this, and this is much harder.

But what about people who never achieve anything and so are almost never praised? They don't get any honor that they could pass on to Hashem, so does this mean that they don't have any part to play?

Not at all. What such people can and should do is freely acknowledge, both to themselves and to others, "The mere fact that I'm still afloat is only due to constant Siyatta Dishmaya. Without it, I would have drowned in my problems a long time ago."

What's more, they should try hard to avoid any bitterness, "So the only thing that I have to show for myself is that I'm still there! And even that is only because Hashem is helping me." Instead, they should feel satisfaction and gratitude because in this way they, too, get to play a part in this glorious process of elevating Hashem's honor. Because, at the end of the day, this is the only thing that matters.

"PARSA AND PALGA", OR HOW RABBEINU SHOWS THE WAY FOR EVERYONE

 "... I saw a one-day-old urzilla (mountain goat). <...> The length of its outstretched neck was parsa and palga (a mile and a half)". 

This is part of the story of Rabba Bar Bar Chana that Rabbeinu explains in Torah 14. Recently I realized that the second sentence I've just quoted holds the key to this entire Torah.

In this Torah Rabbeinu says that, to achieve peace, it is necessary to elevate the kavod of Hashem to its source. And then he proceeds to map out what I feel to be two very different "routes" to that goal. I would call them "the parsa route" and "the palga route".

The "parsa route" is for people who are whole and who feel whole. Their main tasks are to first merit  the Torah by breaking gaavah (unnecessary pride) in its four aspects and then to teach this Torah to people who are far from Yiddishkeit.

Then there is "the palga route". "Palga" means "half" in Aramaic, and so this route is for people who, for various reasons, don't feel whole at all. They generally feel like losers, with their self-esteem hovering around zero, which means that they have no gaavah to speak of, so there is nothing to break. Moreover, at least in the beginning (which can take years), they aren't ready to "spread the word" because they can't really model Yiddishkeit in general and Breslov in particular so people would be inspired to go after them. Not to mention that, for some of them, making contact with other people can be so difficult as to make this task downright impossible.

For such people, Rabbeinu zal shows a very different way to elevate Hashem's kavod: by striving to remove the "soiled garments" that block their way to Hashem and to holiness. Among other things, this can mean fighting low self-esteem, so they can be said to have the opposite task from that of the people in the first category. Removing the soiled garments is generally achieved by standing up in various tests and making constant efforts to advance in Yiddishkeit (and in Breslov) no matter what.

So it is very heartening to know that there are different routes for different people, but, in the end, they lead to the same goal. This means that we will all get there!

The concerns of the wealthy

HH

People are pointing out that horrible nightmare of wokism was brought on only by the affluence that was achieved. Hungry poor nations struggle to provide for their basic needs and have no time or concern for nuances and the like. Only because the west achieved so much success and comfort, they began to pursue refinement, and since it is coming from a place of obesity (- one of the biggest problems today) they have a very warped sense of propriety, but that is a side point. The point I want to make is that the Jews always always always were working first and foremost on refinement, even when they were in the worst states of exile poverty and persecutuon - and according to the rule above - that shows the true wealth and comfort the Jews always have, wealth money cannot attain and comfort that physical circumstances cannot afford. 

Na NaCh NaChMa NaChMaN MAyUMaN 

IF YOU FEEL THAT YOU'RE DROWNING

There is a famous passuk (Tehillim 69-3): טבעתי ביון מצולה - "I'm drowning in the miry depths".

It's interesting that the first letters of these three words spell "מבט" ("a look").

Sometimes all we have to do to stop drowning is look at our situation from a different angle.

HOW TO MERIT PEACE

 In Torah 14 Rabbeinu speaks about achieving peace.

It's interesting that, if we rearrange the letters of the word "שלום" ("peace"), we will get "לשמו" ("for the sake of Hashem").

So the way to merit peace is to do everything just for Hashem.