No Discouragement, Only Encouragement
No Discouragement, Only Encouragement
When a person awakens himself to ignite such a flame in his heart for Hashem and to stay away from getting cold in his practice of mitzvos, he usually has to go through many ups and downs. And when he's unable to hold on, it appears to him that avodas Hashem is not for him. Not only that but after a while, he often ends up making fun of the whole concept of serving Hashem with passion. Some fall even further and say that there is no reason to have a fire for avodas Hashem. Others claim that it is not relevant to our generation, and so on. Because of this, for the most part, chassidus has turned into an external matter regarding clothing and different minhagim. However, the biggest problem that comes out of this is that people discourage the younger generation from renewing themselves in avodas Hashem, causing the light of penimiyus haTorah has become forgotten, as Rebbe Nachman says, "A chassid who falls is worse than a heretic."
Therefore, Rebbe Nachman teaches us that we must have mesirus nefesh to remain among those who still hope to Hashem, like during times of great spiritual danger from the goyim. We must strengthen ourselves to believe that it is possible to serve Hashem. This is the main pivot point that all the teachings of Breslov revolve around. The essence of our lives is the great cry of the verse in Tehillim: “Strengthen and empower your heart, all those who hope to Hashem!" We must have incredible self-sacrifice to hold on to our yearning. Similarly, the elders in Breslov would be very careful to stay away from anything that didn't have a spark in avodas Hashem. They would say, "Oy! Oy! That's getting cold!" In order to achieve this, Rebbe Nachman gives us incredible advice in this lesson: We should speak to others about serving Hashem with passion, even if we ourselves are far from fulfilling what we're discussing. This is how we remain among those who hope to Hashem. Even if we haven't reached this level, maybe our friend can do so, since it is something that is certainly attainable. And if we continue encouraging others, over time, we will definitely merit finding more chiyus in avodas Hashem.
L'Ma'aseh-Practically Speaking
In order to constantly keep our heart burning with yearning for Hashem, we should strengthen others to serve Him with passion.
