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All Or Nothing?

From the teachings of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov

All Or Nothing?
April 3, 2016 Ron Caras

There is a common attitude in the world that the actions we put forth and the work we do must either be complete, or it may be better not to do it at all.
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But in our work towards a holy connected life, this way of thinking is not accurate at all.
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Rebbe Nachman of Breslov explains that there are two ways in which the heart becomes ignited; through the physical and spiritual. A man is made up of both body and soul. Our bodies rule over all of our physical needs and desires, including food, rest, exercise, passion… All of these desires and needs are necessary in our survival, but only if fulfilled in the right proportion. We have a desire for food because food is an essential part of our survival. But if we don’t eat properly, or we overeat, this physical desire which aids in our living could become dangerous to us. The same is true for all physical desires.
“The heart becomes ignited through our physical and spiritual desires”
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This is what the halachot are all about. The halachot explain to us the correct proportions and intentions we need for each action, in order for them to truly fulfill us in the correct way.
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This concept is simple to grasp in terms of the physical, but what about spiritually?
One would think that in terms of spiritual matters its best to soar as much as possible! It would sound counterproductive to lessen our desire for spiritually when we have it, isn’t spirituality to its fullest extent good for us?.
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But the same principle holds true for the spiritual as it does for the physical.
When a persons heart becomes ignited towards holiness, he feels a strong connection towards Hashem and his true purpose in this world. From this desire for connection he gets a small glimpse and understanding into the greatness of Hashem. Often times what follows is a deep enthusiasm and desire to be super holy and pure and to be the best person he can be for the sake of connecting to the source.
This is a beautiful feeling!
“From this desire for connection he gets a small glimpse and understanding into the greatness of Hashem”
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But if we don’t channel that enthusiasm into actions according to the vessels we can handle, it can burn us out, or lead us into despair, when we realize how far we are from the perfection we so desire. We may say “eh why should I even try to pray and talk to Hashem, anyway I wont understand or be able to connect through the words like I know I should, so it wont make any difference..”, or “I want to help that person, but someone else can do it so much better then me so whats the point in doing anything at all”. So we do nothing. We don’t even do the things that we ARE capable of, because of this misguided desire for perfection.
“We don’t even do the things that we are capable of,because of this misguided desire for perfection”
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Rebbe Nachman explains that the opposite is true. Every small action we take in this world, however minuscule, makes a huge movement in the upper worlds. This over-excess of enthusiasm can potentially cause us to lose out on all these small motions which in truth create infinite amounts of waves of holiness!
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However, if a person takes things on slowly and in the proper measurements that he personally can handle, he can reach even higher then he ever imagined and connect to Hashem in a deeper way then he could have by taking everything on too fast.
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This is precisely what happened in the story of Yiravam Ben Navat in the Midrash.
Yiravam Ben Navat spent his whole life involved in serving Idols. One day Hashem revealed Himself to him, and tells Yiravam that if he returns to Him and does teshuva, then he will merit to walk with Hashem and Dovid Ha’melech (King David) in heaven. Yiravam Ben Navat asked Hashem, “But who will walk first”? To which Hashem replied, that Dovid will be in the lead. Yiravam replied that if that was the case he didn’t want any of it, and returned to his corrupt lifestyle of serving idols.
“If that is the case, I don’t want any of it at all”
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This story seems to make no sense at all! After all the bad things that Yiravam had done to distance himself from God, How can he suddenly expect to be higher then Dovid Hamelech? According to the way he had lived up until that point he didn’t deserve even close to what he is now being offered! He is being offered the honor of walking alongside one of the greatest Tzaddikim in our history in heaven, and he rejects it because he wants to be even higher then Dovid Hamelech??
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From the Torah that Rebbe Nachman explains to us, we can come to understand this story;
Because Yiravam was so blown away by having Hashem reveal Himself to him, he wanted to be as close to Hashem as humanly possible! When he heard that he could not surpass the greatness of Dovid Hamelech, he wanted no part in it at all. In truth his intentions behind his response were because he was seeking the deepest truest and most pure connection, but because he did not then take action in the right proportion that he could handle, he missed out on the greatness he could have merited.
“His intentions behind his response were because he was seeking the deepest truest and most pure connection…”
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Yiravam got so caught up in his desire to be as holy as possible, that when he heard he could not reach that place immediately, it broke him and he gave up everything. In truth, if he would have slowed down and agreed to put in the effort bit by bit according to his vessels, he could have climbed higher and higher and achieved beautiful things! It may have even been possible for him to surpass the greatness that Dovid Hamelech achieved, for as we all know “A tzaddik cannot stand where a baal teshuva stands”.
“A Tzaddik cannot stand where a ba’al Teshuva stands”
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This story, like all the stories in the Torah, is meant to be a deep message for all of us. Of course it is a true story that did occur, but Rebbe Nachman explains that its even more then that. Each story that is recorded in the Torah is living inside of every one of us at all times. The lesson held within it is necessary for each of us in every generation.
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When we want to do something in a perfect matter, we are like Yiravam Ben Navat.
Rebbe Nachman teaches us to do whatever we CAN do. Even if it is not complete, or how we think it really SHOULD be done. And even if the small action is seemingly insignificant! We shouldn’t give up whatever we can do. Rebbe Nachman tells us that if we travel along the path of holiness in a slow manner, and in the right proportion that we can handle, in the end we will reach beautiful things! And not only that, in most cases we will even end up in a higher place then we ever could have imagined when we started.
“We should never give up what we CAN do”
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So how do we make sure to put our spiritual desires into the right measurement?
How do we turn this burning of the heart into something that will help us climb and reach higher heights, and not something that will God-forbid drag us down or leave us stagnant?
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Rebbe Nachman advices that when both the physical and spiritual desires ignite our hearts, we should speak aloud Torah and Tefillah. By speaking Torah and Tefillah out loud, it cools off the burning of the heart so we wont burn out form it, and allows us to access the growth we seek in the way we can truly handle. This is what the holy Zohar is referring to when it writes “If not for the wings of the lungs, the heart would burn our whole body”. The “wings of the lungs” are referring to the letters of the holy Torah.
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This is why when we take the awesome energy we feel when we are inspired and put it into the letters of the Torah either by speaking words of Torah or by talking to Hashem, we can access the spiritual light we desire in the proper proportion that our mind, body, and soul can handle.
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This article is based on Torah 78 in Likutei Maharan & the third Halacha in Likutei Halachot Hilchot on donations and maa’ser
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Please note: We spent much time and effort to bring the inspirational teachings of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov as accurately as possible in this article. If you find any mistakes in translation or have trouble understanding the article, please let us know! Feel free to comment below.
We bless the viewers to be connected to Rebbe Nachman and to his teachings, and to always be happy and inspired…

Comment (1)

  1. Shlomo 8 years ago

    Excellent! Some people think that Breslover Torah is all abstract and unreachable. That is not true. Thank you for giving me a great example of how Rav Nachman applies even to me, and to many areas of my life.

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