Breslov Blog

As I've mentioned several times already, in Torah 10 of "Likutei Moharan" Rabbeinu discusses three stages of attaining something new in spirituality: a mountain, a field, and a home. At first a new insight or ability seems too lofty and far from our ordinary life; then it becomes closer but still requires much toil to internalize and make our own, until, finally, we feel truly at home with it. Today I'd like to connect these three stages to the famous idea from Torah 6, "<...>  a person has to be baki (expert) in Halacha . This demands that he has two types of expertise: baki b'ratzo ("expert at running") and baki b'shov ("expert at returning")." Here Rabbeinu explains that there is no such thing in spirituality as always ascending, or always walking on level ground; there will be countless ups and downs, and so he teaches us how to deal with them. First, we have to be able to run up a mountain without ever slackening our...

This past Shabbos I started learning "Megillas Esther" with a Breslov commentary and already found some inspiration. It didn't really come from the commentary itself, but rather from an insight of my own, but I feel that this is even better.  When describing the feast of Achashverosh, the Megillah says that " d rinks were served in golden vessels, vessels of assorted design..." Our Sages explain that Achashverosh took the holy vessels of the Bais HaMikdash and used them in his drunken feast. This was a tragedy for the Jews because, as the commentary I was reading explains, these vessels represent the tools we have for coming close to Hashem and deepening our awareness of His constant Presence.  With the Bais HaMIkdash destroyed once again and its vessels nowhere to be found, we now find ourselves in more or less the same place. Yet all is not lost. The word "כלי" ("a vessel") has the same gematria as the word "הלכה" (" Jewish  ...

I'm still striving to understand what would be the best way to fulfil the dictum of Chazal, "As soon as Adat comes, we increase our simcha!" As I wrote already, I think it's no coincidence that the word "אדר" ("Adar") has the same gematria as "הר" ("a mountain"). Becoming more joyous doesn't come naturally; it's more like a steep mountain that we have to climb. To be honest, at first I was thinking more along the lines of buying myself a new book, or a new piece of jewelry (and kind of debating with myself which one would work better, or whether perhaps I should go ahead and buy both, so as not to take any chances). This attitude changed today when I listened to R' Nasan Maimon ZOOM class on "Likutei Halochos". As he was finishing the class, R' Nasan said, "Now, in the month of Adar, we have to increase our simcha. Now is the best time to concentrate on the simcha shel mitzvah !" Well, it may ...

  Rabbeinu's name "נחמן" (Nachman) has the same gematria ( 148) as three other words: "קמח" ("flour", which can be understood as physical sustenance in general), "נצח "("eternity"), and "חלקי" ("my portion"). This is the way I understand it: if a person really chooses Rabbeinu as their portion, then Rabbeinu will give them all they need, both physically and spiritually, in this world and in the Next One. What's more, this will enable them not just to live, but to really flourish. The word "יצמח" - "he will flourish" - also has this same gematria of 148.

It's almost Adar already, and everyone knows that, "as soon as Adar comes, we increase our joy". Yet this doesn't always come easy. Indeed, Rabbeinu said in "Sichos HaRan" (#20) that "true simcha is one of the most difficult things to achieve in serving Hashem". As usual, we can see this in the name of this month itself; the word "אדר" in Hebrew has the same gematria as the word "הר" ("a mountain"). So the joyous nature of this month is by no means a free gift; it's a mountain we have to climb. Hopefully, by the time Purim rolls around, we will be well on our way, and then this wonderful holiday itself will propel us straight to the top!

For many of us, this world is a very noisy place. Yet it is also a place of opportunity. The letters of the word "רעש" ("noise" in Hebrew) can be rearranged into another word - "שער" ("a gate"). This world can be a gate into everything holy, yet it can also lead us far away from holiness.  Getting past the noise and choosing the right gate can be agonizingly difficult. But for those of us who are lucky to have Rabbeinu as our guide, this is much, much easier. He was the one who said that we shouldn't allow this world to deceive us, and he also gave us all the tools we need to succeed.

In Torah 18 Rabbeinu says that everything people do has (or should have) a tachlis -  a purpose, and the most important tachlis is coming close to Hashem. I decided to take a look at the word " tachlis " and found something interesting. In Hebrew it is spelled "תכלית", so that right in the middle of it there is another word - "כלי" (a tool or a vessel). The two letters "ת" at the beginning and at the end of "תכלית" can stand for " ת למוד ת ורה" ("Torah learning"). Now, I don't know how much this insight is really worth, but I think all this can be understood to mean that Torah learning is not the primary goal; it is just a tool (of course, a very important one) for achieving the ulimate tachlis - coming close to Hashem.