All of these four lessons come from Likutei Mohoran I, 25, so we have combined them together in this commentary. The foundation of this Torah in Likutei Mohoran is that when we fall, we shouldn’t get discouraged and think we lost our previous level. Rather, we must know that in truth, we are on the way up. However, before reaching a new level, we must face the illusions of desire and confusion, since this is the path to progress.
The unique part of this Torah is the emphasis that people who try to truly enter avodas Hashem make a mistake in this matter. After working hard for a while and reaching greater consistency in Torah and mitzvos, they see all their efforts seemingly melt away, and they mistakenly think that they have fallen back to their original place.
We need to break this illusion, since it holds us back from progressing and going higher. In addition to the deceptions of desire and confusion, we also have to overcome the illusion that we’ve fallen backwards.
Rebbe Nachman reveals a few ways to help us break the obstacles we must face before ascending to a higher level: donating money to upright Jews, making ourselves happy over the fact that we’re Jews, and finding joy from our connection to true tzaddikim.
Lessons 6-9
6: There is a common mistake that upright Jews often make. When they see that their desires, confusion, and obstacles suddenly get stronger, and it appears to them that they have fallen from their spiritual level because these problems weren’t such issues before, they figure that they have indeed declined. However, the truth is that they haven’t gone down at all. Rather, since they want to ascend from level to level according to their place, a lot of desires, confusion, obstacles, twistedness in the heart, and so on try to overpower them and prevent them from doing so. Therefore, a person must awaken himself not to get discouraged from this at all, until he can overcome these problems and break them again and again.
7: The best advice for accomplishing this is giving tzedakah to upright, poor people, since this reveals the greatness and splendor of Hashem. Through this, a person can subdue the klipos, which are the obstacles, confusion, and so on that try to overpower him at each level.
8: Another piece of advice is for a person to make himself happy and joyful over the merit of being a Jew and coming close to true tzaddikim who guide him on the path of truth, through which he has eternal hope, no matter what happens. This joy also breaks the klipos at each level.
9: In addition, when a person strengthens himself to overcome the obstacles, confusion, and so on every time he goes up to a higher level, he helps his friend who is on the level that he now enters, because his friend leaves that level and goes up to an even higher level, since it is impossible for two people to be at precisely the same level.
Facing a Greater Challenge
A person who really understands this teaching realizes that whenever he is faced with the deception that he’s lost his spiritual level, he must overcome this mistaken concept. Although this reality often feels true, it is meaningless. It is merely another hurdle that we must jump over in advancing to the next level.
So, we must be careful to sharpen our awareness of these discouraging thoughts. And whenever we see them entering our mind, we must simply work harder to be happy and remember that they are just an opportunity for us to grow. This is the path to spiritual success in life.
On the other hand, people who aren’t careful about this mistake—since they follow the feelings in their hearts—constantly get stuck with obstacles and confusion and are unable to make progress in avodas Hashem. Therefore, we must awaken ourselves to receive the truth that Rebbe Nachman reveals to us deeply in our soul.
It’s important to understand that our purpose is not to achieve a certain level and remain there. Instead, we need to keep fighting to make Hashem king by continuing to overcome challenges and climbing higher in avodas Hashem. We should never stand still, rather we should always try to come closer to the Creator.
In reality, after we win a battle and we are crowned with a new level of kedushah, we often receive a little bit of respite. But since we have now shown Hashem that we are His faithful soldiers, we soon have to deal with an even more difficult enemy than before. We should take this as a compliment, because it means we were found worthy of facing a tougher fight. This is why it appears as if we’ve fallen to old desires and confusion, but the truth is that we have simply entered an even more dangerous battle in order to add more spiritual places to the realm of kedushah.
A Soldier in Hashem’s Army
This chizuk becomes even stronger when we realize that all the Jewish people are fighting a spiritual war together, like links in the same chain, one above the other. Thus, we have the power to lift our friend up to his next level by overcoming our own challenge!
However, the imagination tricks us into only thinking about ourselves—when will we be successful, when will we reach a place of rest, and so on. We don’t look at the truth: we are a part of the King’s army that is going from war to war to reveal His power to the world. And it is precisely because we won one battle that we are sent to fight another one.
This is the illusion of the yetzer hara who constantly tries to swallow up our ability to understand that we’re making a huge mistake.
Remembering Hashem’s Greatness and Giving Tzedakah
The main advice for overcoming this illusion is remembering the greatness of Hashem. The main time we can do this is during davening. When we say Pesukei D’Zimra, we can awaken our hearts to contemplate the beauty and splendor of kedushah. The entire world was created to praise Hashem! Through this realization, we can find the inspiration to throw out all our confusion and feelings of being far from Hashem that block us from reaching the next level.
But sometimes, it can be difficult for us to recognize the wonders of Hashem through tefillah. At these times, we can reveal Hashem’s greatness through the simple act of giving tzedakah. Money is the main thing that causes illusions in our mind. However, by giving tzedakah, we elevate the spiritual aspect of our money, which lifts our souls out of illusion as well. Through this, we are able to concentrate on the holy words of tefillah that illuminate the greatness of Hashem in our minds.
Another way for us to break our illusions is to focus carefully on the incredible merit we have of being Jewish and thank Hashem deeply in our hearts for this invaluable gift. In addition, we should find joy from the fact that we want to be kosher Jews and we yearn to come close to true tzaddikim. Such thoughts of happiness strengthen us to overcome our mistaken feelings of being far from Hashem. Our simchah of being connected to tzaddikim awakens us to realize our deep relationship with Hashem.
This lesson is one of the main foundations of chizuk, which is why Reb Nosson discusses it many times in “Alim L’Trufah”—his wondrous letters that teach us how to live with Breslov teachings. This is how we receive the power to be careful of all illusions and mistakes that prevent us from coming closer to Hashem.
L’Ma’aseh—Practically Speaking
We should remember that we’re soldiers whose job is to continue fighting. However, before we win each battle and reach new levels, it is necessary for our illusions, desires, and confusion to get stronger. Therefore, we must awaken our minds to protect ourselves from the mistake of thinking that we’ve fallen to a lower spiritual place.
The path to escape this illusion is to think about the amazing descriptions of Hashem’s greatness and the beauty of kedushah in the words of tefillah. In addition, by giving tzedakah, we can elevate the illusion in our money, and through the joy of being Jews and coming close to true tzaddikim, we can strengthen ourselves to throw away all our confusion and enter the realm of kedushah.
This article is a translation of the sefer Meshiv Nafshi, which is based on the teachings of HaRav Nissan Dovid Kivak, shlit’’a. To purchase a copy of the sefer, to make a dedication, or to subscribe to receive these 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:
Published by the Meirat Einayim Institute in Jerusalem, Israel - Graphic Design C. Schorr [email protected]
Published by the Meiras Eynaim Institute לע"נ טוביה מאיר ב''ר זכריה בועז ז''ל
