Someone who studies the sefarim of Rebbe Nachman finds that the main theme is teachings of encouragement. When we want to come closer to Hashem by reaching a higher level of kedushah or strengthening our connection to Torah and tefillah, we must first receive words of chizuk regarding that area.
The reason for this is that the nature of a human being is to feel pain and agony when he sees that he’s not successful in avodas Hashem. And after experiencing disappointment a number of times, a person tends to give up entirely. He thinks he’s not capable of strengthening himself to follow the path that is revealed in the sefarim of the tzaddikim.
Some people lose their inspiration to try to daven with kavanah and learn Torah with consistency. Others let go of their determination to protect themselves from desires and cravings. And there are those who cool off completely to the point that thoughts of discouragement become deeply rooted in their hearts, causing them to stop putting in the little bit of effort that could bring them success.
Always Doing What Is Within Our Reach
Therefore, we need a lot of chizuk so that we will always have the strength to grab whatever avodas Hashem that is within our reach—saying a brachah with kavanah, overcoming the power of temptation in a small way, awakening ourselves from our worries to learn some Torah, and so on. Otherwise, when we see that we fall short of our goals time after time, we are likely to let go of the little bit of kedushah that we can accomplish.
Even though our neshamos are certainly drawn to avodas Hashem and we know that without a connection to spirituality we can’t live a good life, nonetheless, when things don’t work out the way we had hoped, thoughts of despair penetrate our hearts and cool down our motivation.
סימן כה ֶּיַתְ חִיל וַעֲצָתוֹ, ש ֵּם יִתְ בָּרַ ך ׁ ִּתְ עוֹרֵ ר יוֹתֵ ר לְהִתְ קָרֵ ב לְהַש ֶּי ׁ ל כֵּן נָפַל כְּדֵ י ש ַ ת, ע ּ ַ כְלִית הִתְ קָרְ בו ּ א ת ּ ת הו ּ א, כִּי הִתְ רַ חֲקו ּ ָמַיִם הו ׁ ּ ֶמִן הַש ׁ ַדְ רֵ גָתוֹ, יֵדַ ע ש ּ וֹפֵל אָדָ ם מִמ ֶּנ ׁכְּש ׁ בְּכָל יוֹם לְהַתְ חִיל מֵחָדָ ש ָש ְּרִ יכִין מַמ ֶּצ ׁבוֹדַ ת ה' ש ֲ ָדוֹל בַּע ּ דַ יִן כְּלָל מֵעוֹלָם, וְזֶה כְּלָל ג ֲ א הִתְ חִיל ע ֹ ל ּ ו ּ ֵם כְּאִל ׁ ּבוֹדַ ת הַש ֲ לִכָּנֵס בַּע ׁמֵחָדָ ש .
Lesson 25
When a person falls from his spiritual level, he should know that this is from Heaven, since the purpose of falling far from Hashem is to come closer to Him. And the way to accomplish this is by starting over in avodas Hashem, as if one hasn’t even begun to serve Him at all. This is a great principle in life: a person must make a new start every day.
With this, we can understand why Rebbe Nachman reveals to us so many paths of chizuk. He wants us to be strong no matter what we’re going through and understand that there is never a reason to let ourselves fall. Rather, we must forget about everything that has happened until this moment and constantly start over in doing what we can to serve Hashem with enthusiasm.
The General Path of Chizuk
After teaching us many amazing concepts of chizuk in the previous lessons, Rebbe Nachman now reveals in this lesson the general path of how to live a life of chizuk in a clear and simple way. When a person falls from his spiritual level, he must believe that this situation was from Heaven. He was meant to fall in order to make a new start in avodas Hashem with fresh inspiration and yearning, as if he’s never begun serving Hashem. With this approach, we will always search in the sefarim of the tzaddikim for the specific form of encouragement that can renew our souls by showing us how we are still close to Hashem and how we can awaken a new ratzon in our current place.
Not Looking for Excuses
Certainly, the incredible words of this lesson only apply to a person who truly wants to serve Hashem, without looking for excuses to fall far away from kedushah. However, someone who doesn’t have a strong desire to overcome the obstacles to living with the teachings of the tzaddikim can have a spiritual descent that doesn’t lead to coming closer to Hashem. Thus, it is forbidden to tell such a person that his fall was from Heaven, because this will just give him the pretense to give up and claim that he has no connection to avodas Hashem. Instead, such a person must know that everything depends on his freedom of choice, so that he will make a new start in life.
But if a person attaches himself to tzaddikim and he’s determined to follow what it says in their sefarim, then he should apply all their revelations of true daas that take him out of his feelings of being far from Hashem. In particular, we must believe in the general principle that we learn in this lesson: even though we have to try to live with a strong yearning to always make the right decisions, nevertheless, if we go through a hard time and we fall from our level of kedushah, we must know that everything that happened was from Heaven. This was Hashem’s ratzon for us. Just like we must accept our physical suffering with love and hold on to our hope that Hashem will help us in the future, so too, regarding avodas Hashem, we must accept our spiritual descents and believe that everything can be overturned for the good.
Refresh and Go!
In reality, we can’t understand how on the one hand, everything is from Hashem, but on the other hand, everything depends on our decisions, as Rebbe Nachman explains clearly in Likutei Mohoran I, 21. However, when a person is determined to come close to the tzaddikim and find Hashem in every situation in life, then he can live with both of these concepts in the proper way. He will always try to do the right thing, but if he falls from his level, he will know that this is certainly from Heaven in order for him to renew his connection to making good choices and return to Hashem.
The main path of serving Hashem is with yearning and enthusiasm. Thus, there are times when we have to face obstacles and make mistakes so that we will awaken ourselves to refresh our ratzon. This is what gives Hashem the greatest nachas.
With this, we can understand the importance of constantly starting over in avodas Hashem. We must completely remove the past from our thoughts. We must eliminate any memory of previous failures that can cause us to give up and cool down.
When we engrave the words of this lesson onto our hearts, we will be able to do many mitzvos and good deeds by always strengthening ourselves with the chizuk and advice of the tzaddikim.
L’Ma’aseh—Practically Speaking
When a person has a strong desire to come closer to Hashem and he doesn’t look for excuses to give up, then he should know that every spiritual fall he has is from Heaven in order for him to make a completely new start in avodas Hashem.
