Nonetheless, many Jews fell away from their emunah in Spain, and many more during the “Enlightenment” period that began in Western Europe. However, just when the darkness of the Enlightenment began to spread across Europe, Hashem had immense compassion on the Jewish people and he sent us the holy Baal Shem Tov. Perhaps the greatest achievement of the Baal Shem Tov was that he was able to awaken the emunah of the Jewish people to hold onto to their tradition and protect themselves from the wave of heretical beliefs that swept over the world. He brought the light of the Zohar HaKadosh and the Writings of the Arizal down to the common Jew in a very simple and meaningful way in order to strengthen our connection to Hashem even amidst the spiritual destruction of the secular world.
Not only that, but he also inspired his close talmidim to awaken such a deep emunah and attachment to Hashem to the point that they could bring the light of emunah to their talmidim as well. And so, this tradition has continued from generation to generation. When Rebbe Nachman mentions the “true tzaddikim,” or the “great and awesome tzaddikim of every generation,” he is primarily referring to the Baal Shem Tov and his talmidim who are the most recent ones to reignite the spark of emunah in the hearts of the Jewish people.
Thus, we should certainly learn their sefarim and try to understand them as much as we can. At the same time, as we discussed at length in the introduction to this sichah, the main thing is to attach ourselves to the path of these tzaddikim with simple emunah. Even if we ourselves have doubts and confusion, nonetheless, we must believe that these great and awesome tzaddikim definitely know the truth. Therefore, it is fitting for us to ignore all of our questions and, as Rebbe Nachman says here, “follow in their footsteps” with pure emunah. Whether we’re able to understand the Torah or not is irrelevant to our practice of mitzvos. When it comes to actually serving Hashem, we must rely on our emunah in the tzaddikim.
This practice gives us an incredibly strong foundation to weather all the storms of confusion in the modern world. It protects and purifies our hearts of all forms of darkness. And it is a constant source of inspiration for us in avodas Hashem.
