The Water in Which Faith Grows

by R. Nachman of Breslov

It is important to dig and find the water in which faith grows.

And that “water” corresponds to solution-oriented ideas, out of which faith grows.

This is related to the verse, “I will praise Your name, for You have done something that comes out of nowhere; solutions from afar, deeply faithful” (Isaiah 25).

Such solutions correspond to the depth of the heart.

In other words, when a person’s faith is damaged and it falls, when even crying out does not help him—i.e., not even a simply outcry without words—then a person has to cry out from his heart only, as in the verse, “Their heart cried out to Hashem” (Lamentations 2). In that case, only the heart cries out, without a sound, as in the verse, “From the depths have I called out to You, Hashem” (Psalms 130)—from the depths of the heart.

And the depth of the heart corresponds to solution-oriented ideas, as in the verse, “Deep waters are solutions in the heart of a person” (Proverbs 20).

And so, when crying out does not help because one’s faith has fallen, then one has to cry out from the heart alone, without a sound, only from the depth of the heart.

And as a result, the solutions are revealed, which correspond to “deep waters are solutions….”

And when such solutions are revealed in the world—i.e., when people know how to solve their problems—then faith grows. “Solutions from afar, deeply faithful.”
Likutei Moharan II 5:2

The Sabbath is a Time of Joy

by R. Nachman of Breslov

When a person’s communication is complete, that corresponds to the Holy Tongue.

All human languages are incomplete and lack perfection, and are called “barbarous speech” (Isaiah 32:4).

Only the Holy Tongue possesses perfection. And the Holy Tongue is connected to the Sabbath. Thus, our Sages comment on the verse that includes the phrase, “and speak a word” (ibid.), which speaks of the Sabbath, “that a person’s speech on the Sabbath should not be the same as his weekday speech” (Shabbat 113).

Similarly, our sages state that the phrase “Thus shall you bless” (Numbers 6:23) means, “in the Holy Tongue” (Sotah 38). The Holy Tongue incorporates blessing and holiness, due to the fact that it is associated with the Sabbath, which is described as possessing blessing and holiness, as in the verse, “and He blessed … and He sanctified” (Genesis 2:3).

And so by means of the Holy Tongue a person is connected to the Sabbath.

Therefore, by means of perfecting one’s speech, which corresponds to the Holy Tongue, a person draws the joy of the Sabbath to the six days of the week.

The six weekdays are associated with depression, for “the angel Metat rules in the weekdays” (Tikunei Zohar 18, p. 33b), and Metat is a servant, which corresponds to depression.

But the Sabbath corresponds to a son, when “there is rest for those in heaven and those upon the earth.” Then joy is awoken. At that point, all of the commandments that a person performed during the six days of the week are raised and elevated from depression; instead, rest and joy are drawn onto them. This is alluded to by the verse, “A son was born and his name was called Noah, for it was said, ‘This one will comfort us from our deeds and from the weariness of our hands” (Genesis 5:28-29).

That corresponds to the Sabbath, which corresponds to the son, corresponding to Noach, “Rest (i) for those in heaven and those upon the earth” (see Tikun 70 at the end and Zohar Bereishit 58, 59), which comforts and gives joy to everyone instead of depression—thus, “this one will comfort us….”

When a person attains the level of the Holy Tongue, which is connected to the Sabbath, he draws down the holiness and joy of the Sabbath into the six days of the week.

Since the Holy Tongue is connected to the Sabbath, through it the joy of the Sabbath is drawn to the six days of the week. Thus, the verse states, “The Mighty One, God, Hashem, spoke.” The numerical value of this phrase in Hebrew (plus the number of words of which it is composed) is equal to that of the word, simchah, joy. By means of a perfect speech, which is the Holy Tongue, joy is drawn down.

Likutei Moharan II 2:5

We Raise in Holiness, and We Do Not Bring Down

by R. Nosson of Nemirov

“We raise up in holiness and we do not bring down” (Berachot 28).

Would it occur to anyone to bring holiness down, heaven forbid?

But the following is the meaning of this statement.

There are some holy people who are so truly great that because of their essential holiness they cannot bear people, and because they are so incredibly holy, they push away and push down people whom they are angry at, because they cannot tolerate their corrupt actions.

But this is not what God wants, for “He desires kindness,” and he wants those who are righteous to have compassion on the Jewish people constantly and bring them close, however they may be.

And even if He Himself is very angry at them because of their wicked deeds, He wants the righteous people to pray for them and bring them close.

Thus, when Moshe removed his tent from the camp (Exodus 33) because the Jews had sinned so much, our sages teach that God said, “If I am angry and you are angry, they who will bring them back?”

So do we find regarding a number of prophets and saintly men to whom God Himself complained about His great suffering, as it were, because of the many sins of the Jews—yet when they ratified His worlds and did not defend the Jews, He grew very stern with them.

That was the case with Hosea (Pesachim 87) and Elijah, who said, “I have been exceedingly zealous…” Kings 19), to which God responded, “Anoint Elisha son of Shefat as prophet in your place”—meaning, state our sages, that God told him, “I do not want your prophecy, because you accuse the Jews” (Yalkut Shimoni).

This is because God wants us only to defend the Jews and have compassion on them, even the lowest, bringing them all to God, like Moses, who was entirely dedicated to help the Jews, and who said, “And if not, then wipe me out…” (Exodus 32).

And so “we raise in holiness”—the more we toil and reach holiness and come closer to understanding the divine, the more souls must we raise up, and not bring down—i.e., we must take care not to lower other souls due to our own holiness—i.e., we should not grow unforgiving of the Jews even if we attain great holiness and awareness of God, which makes it impossible for us to tolerate lowly people, until we might grow angry at them and might lower them, heaven forbid…

Rather, we must “Raise in holiness and not lower,” for when a person comes to a higher level and achieves greater understanding, he must shrewdly make new constrictions, utilizing wondrous strategies, so that he will be able to bring many people ever closer, and heal even the lowest and the very ill.

Likutei Halachot, Orach Chaim, Hashkamat Haboker 4

The Vision of the Man in the Circle

I will tell you what I saw. And you tell your children.

Someone was lying on the ground, and people were sitting around him in a circle. There was a second circle around the first, a third circle, and so on.

Around these circles sat some other people in no particular order.

The man who was sitting in the middle on his side was moving his lips, and everyone around him moved his lips like him.

Then I saw that the man in the middle was no longer there, and all the people sitting around him stopped moving their lips.

“What is going on?” I asked.

I was told that the man had grown cold and died. Since he had ceased to speak, the others had ceased to speak as well.

Afterwards, everyone began running.

I ran after them. I saw two beautiful palaces.

Two ministers sat there.

The people ran to the ministers and began to complain to them, “Why did you fool us?” They wanted to kill these ministers. Finally, the ministers ran out.

When I saw the ministers, I liked them very much. I ran after them.

From afar, I saw a beautiful tent.

People shouted from the tent to the ministers, “Go back! Find all your merits. Take them in your hand and go to the candle hanging there. There you will be able to accomplish everything that you want.”

The ministers went back and took their merits. There were bundles of merits. They ran to the candle, and I ran after them.

A lit candle was hanging in the air. The ministers came and threw the merits at the candle, and sparks fell from the candle into their mouths.

The candle [HaNeiR] turned into a river [NaHaR], and they all drank from it.

Creatures were formed within them. When they opened their mouths to speak, the creatures emerged.

I saw them running back and forth. They were neither human nor animal--just creatures.
Afterwards, the ministers decided to return to their place. They said, “How can we get back to our place?”

One of them said, “Let us send a message to the person standing there who is holding a sword from the heavens to the earth.”

They said, “Whom shall we send?”

They decided to send the creatures. The creatures went there, and I ran after them.

I saw a frightening being standing from heaven to earth with a sword in his hand that reached from heaven to earth, which had many blades.

One blade was sharp for killing; another blade was for poverty; another blade was for weakness. And there were other blades for other punishments.

They began, “It is a long time that we have been suffering because of you. Now help us and bring us to our place.”

He said, “I cannot help you.”

They asked, “Give us the blade of death and we will kill the people.”

But he did not agree.

They asked for another blade, but he did not want to give them any blade. So they left.

Meanwhile, an order was given to kill the ministers, and their heads were cut off.

Then things went back to what they had been before.

A person lay on the ground and there were circles of people about him, and they ran to the ministers, and so forth, all over again.

But this time, I saw that the ministers did not throw their merits at the candle. Instead, they took the merits, went to the candle and broke their hearts and began to beg before the candle. Sparks fell from the candle into their mouths.

They pleaded more and the candle turned into a river, and so on, and the creatures were formed. And I was told, “These will live. The first ones were guilty of death because they threw the merits at the candle and did not plead, as these had.”

I didn’t understand this.

I was told, “Go to such-and-such a room and you will be told what it all means.”

I went there, and an old man was sitting there. I asked him about this.

He grasped his beard and told me, “This beard is the explanation of the story.”

I answered him, “I still don't understand.”

He told me, “Go to such-and-such a room, and there you will find the explanation.”

I went there, and I saw a long, broad, endless room, full of writings. And wherever I opened up [a book], I saw an explanation of the story.

Chayei Moharan p. 36, #2

A Movement

Sometimes an ordinary Jew just makes a movement with his sidelock, and God takes great pride even in that.
Likutei Moharan 17:1

Charity

It is possible to draw God’s complete providence only when we break our lust for money.

We do that by giving charity.

“A spirit descends to cool the heat of the heart. When that spirit descends, the heart receives it with the joy of the song of the Levites” (Zohar Pinchas 244a).

This “spirit” is charity, which is “a voluntary spirit” (Psalms 51:14). With this, we cool of the heat of the lust for money. The verse “He cuts off the spirit of the princes” (Psalms 76:13) can be read, “The spirit cuts off the princes.” The spirit diminishes the lust for princeliness and wealth.

“The song of the Levites” is dealing faithfully in business—in other words, being happy in one’s portion and not rushing to grow wealthy. Song refers to business. In Hebrew, “business” is literally “lifting and giving.” This corresponds to the verse, “Lift up a tune and give the tambourine” (Psalms 81:32).

“The joy” is the fact that one is happy with one’s portion.

And this is the incense [that was offered in the Temple]. This incense connects the heat of the heart to the spirit. “Incense rejoices the heart” (Proverbs 27:9).

“They will bring incense for Your nostrils” (Deuteronomy. 33:10). That incense nullifies the curse, “by the sweat of your brow shall you eat” (Genesis 3:19). The words for “nostril” and “brow” in the above two verses are similar.

And this is the revelation of the messiah. At that time, there will be no lust for money. “On that day, a person will cast aside his gods of silver and his gods of gold” (Isaiah 2:20).

The messiah is “the spirit of our nostrils, the anointed of Hashem” (Lamentations 4:20).

As long as the idolatry of money exists in the world, there is anger in the world (see Sanhedrin 113; Sifri Re’eh).

But when this idolatry is nullified, so is the anger nullified. “The spirit of our nostrils, the anointed of Hashem.”

Then love is drawn into the world: “He performs love for His anointed one” (Psalms 18:51).

When this love will be revealed, consciousness will be drawn down. And that is the building of the Temple: “In the greatness of Your love will come to Your house.” (Psalms 5:8). And: “His right hand [which indicates love] will build the Temple” (Zohar Pinchas 220b).

Consciousness is a house. “If a person has consciousness, it is as though the Temple was built in his time” (Berachot 33a).

Likutei Moharan I 13:1