Sichah 2 Part 2
It is very good for a person to give himself over to Hashem and rely on Him. And my custom is that when a day comes, I hand over all my movements, and the movements of my children and those who are dependent on me, to Hashem – that everything should be according to His will. And this is very good. Also, after doing this, a person doesn’t have to consider or worry at all whether he’s doing the right thing or not, since he’s relying on Hashem. And if Hashem wants him to do something else, he’s willing to do whatever Hashem wants.
So too, on Shabbos and Yom Tov, I hand over all the conduct, matters, and movements of that Shabbos or Yom Tov to Hashem – that everything should be according to His will. Then, however a person conducts himself on that Shabbos or Yom Tov, he doesn’t have to be concerned that perhaps he didn’t fulfill the obligation of the kedushah of that Shabbos or Yom Tov, since he’s already given everything over to Hashem and he’s relying only on Him.
This article is based on the Torah of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov zt’’l and his primary talmid Reb Noson zt’’l, as given over by Rabbi Nissan Dovid Kivak, shlit’’a. For comments, questions, and donations, or to subscribe to receive future articles by email, you may contact: [email protected]. To join The Rebbe’s Pharmacy Group on WhatsApp, send a message to: +1-718-207-1468 or scan this QR Code: You may also find shiurim from the author on YouTube by searching “The Rebbe’s Pharmacy.”
The answer is that, in truth, Rebbe Nachman is teaching us that mesiras moda’ah for our own actions works even for things that we can’t really control, such as all the small movements that we make throughout the day. With the exception of very few tzaddikim, we don’t have the power of awareness to think about Hashem every moment of the day and serve Him at all times. Nonetheless, Hashem has incredible compassion on us and He makes it possible for us to give everything over to Him – that it should be considered as if we’ve fulfilled His will.
What we learn from this is that mesiras moda’ah also works for those of us who have a lot of problems in avodas Hashem. Even if we make many mistakes that seem to be beyond our control to fix, nonetheless, it is very effective for us to give our actions over to Hashem and rely on Him. In this situation, our mesiras moda’ah should take the form of hisbodedus.
As we discussed in the introduction, hisbodedus is the revelation of our true intentions, as well as a cry for help in overcoming the challenges we face. Thus, when we’re really struggling, it is not enough just to make brief mesiras moda’ah at the beginning of the day. Rather, in addition, we should take more time to go deeply into the practice of mesiras moda’ah in our hisbodedus. We must believe in the incredible power of our speech to awaken Hashem’s compassion!
Even if we don’t have so much control over our mistakes, we see from the fact that mesiras moda’ah works for the people who are dependent on us that it can also help us in situations when we don’t have the power to make the right decisions all the time.
And this is very good.
Why does Rebbe Nachman say this again? He emphasizes this twice to teach us that it really works in Heaven!
Also, after doing this, a person doesn’t have to consider or worry at all whether he’s doing the right thing or not, since he’s relying on Hashem.
This practice is the key to yishuv hadaas. When we do mesiras moda’ah and rely on Hashem’s compassion, we can escape all the doubts about whether we’re making the right decisions or not. We put everything into His hands, so we can be certain that He gets amazing nachas from what we do. And even if we know that we’ve fallen short in a certain aspect of avodas Hashem, we can avoid getting stuck in the past. We expressed our true ratzon to Hashem and we tried to do our best, so there is no need to be concerned about every little mistake we made. Instead, we can focus our thoughts purely on serving Hashem at this moment.
At first glance, this yishuv hadaas seems to be the only benefit of the practice of mesiras moda’ah. If so, why does Rebbe Nachman say “Also, after doing this . . .?” From here, we see that there are really two benefits to doing mesiras moda’ah in avodas Hashem that Rebbe Nachman mentions in this sichah. The first point that Rebbe Nachman makes is that mesiras moda’ah really works in Heaven, which is the meaning of the phrase “it is very good,” as we explained before. Then here, Rebbe Nachman informs us that, in addition to the fact that mesiras moda’ah is effective in Hashem’s eyes, it also helps us escape our worries about whether we’re fulfilling our obligation to Hashem or not.
And if Hashem wants him to do something else, he’s willing to do whatever Hashem wants.
This advice is very relevant on a daily basis when things don’t go in order. We must humble ourselves and be ready at all times to follow Hashem’s ratzon. When we face unforeseen circumstances, we should be very careful not to get upset. We should clean our hearts of complaints and confusion. We let go of the feeling that Hashem is pushing us away by not allowing things to happen the way that we want.
Through this, we show that we’re truly putting ourselves in Hashem’s hands and relying on Him to guide us. We’re giving ourselves over to Hashem, so we don’t need to worry about whether we’re fulfilling our obligation to Him or not. This takes all the pressure and stress out of our lives. No matter what happens throughout the day, we’re prepared to do what Hashem wants, and we know that this makes Him very happy.
So too, on Shabbos and Yom Tov, I hand over all the conduct, matters, and actions of that Shabbos or Yom Tov to Hashem – that everything should be according to His will.
In this section, Rebbe Nachman repeats the same idea he discussed before but in relation to Shabbos and Yom Tov. The reason why he does so is that the practice of mesiras moda’ah is especially important at these times. Very often, we feel like it is hard for us to attain the kedushah of Shabbos., since we see that we didn’t behave properly the previous Shabbos. Maybe we had to go to a bris or some other celebration and we didn’t learn so much Torah. Or perhaps we got into a conversation with someone instead of saying Tehillim or doing hisbodedus.
Therefore, we have to approach Shabbos in a different way. We have to express to Hashem our yearning to be attached to Him throughout this very holy day. Then, no matter what happens and what we do with our time, we don’t need to question ourselves and get stuck in depressing thoughts about our shortcomings. Rather, we can connect to the light of kedushas Shabbos that shines into our lives right now. We can be happy and satisfied with every act of kedushah that we do on Shabbos.
This is particularly important on the Yomim Tovim, which are special days that only come once a year. At these times, we must be especially careful to rely on Hashem and not feel any pressure to have a perfect Yom Tov in which we don’t make any mistakes and everything goes exactly the way we want.
Then, however a person conducts himself on that Shabbos or Yom Tov, he doesn’t have to be concerned that perhaps he didn’t fulfill the obligation of the kedushah of that Shabbos or Yom Tov, since he’s already given everything over to Hashem and he’s relying only on Him.
Here, Rebbe Nachman repeats what he just said before about Shabbos and Yom Tov. Similarly, in the first section, Rebbe Nachman stated the effectiveness of this practice and then repeated it. The reason for these repetitions is that Rebbe Nachman wants to emphasize the incredible importance of mesiras moda’ah in avodas Hashem. Any person who has entered avodas Hashem can understand this. Even after we’ve succeeded in accomplishing things in Torah and mitzvos, there are still countless other places where we fall short. This leaves a foul taste in our mouths at the end of the day, especially on Shabbos and Yom Tov.
Thus, in order to maintain our emunah and chiyus, we must follow the practice of mesiras moda’ah every day. Then, whether things go in order or not, or whether we serve Hashem the way we hoped or not, we can have yishuv hadaas. We can focus on our tefillah, and be full of joy and life. Rebbe Nachman teaches us that mesiras moda’ah really works, and it’s our job to rely on him!
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