from the teachings of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov translated by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan
Faith is a very strong thing, and it can greatly fortify your life.
If you have faith, then you have a source of comfort and inspiration even when troubles strike. You realize that all troubles are ultimately for your good and are an atonement for your sins. You know that G-d will be good to you in the end, both in this world and the next.
The faithless skeptic, on the other hand, has nowhere to turn when troubles strike. He is utterly alone, without comfort or inspiration.
It is impossible to put everything into writing, but an intelligent man should be able to build upon this himself.
The main thing is innocent faith. With it, one can have a portion both in this world and the next. Happy is he who has such faith, for he shall never be moved.
There are souls conceived in absolute holiness. When such a holy soul comes down to this world and is not tainted with sin, it results in a person with perfect faith. Such a person never has any doubts.
Others can express their skepticism in such a man's presence, but his faith is no way disturbed. He is totally oblivious to all doubts. His ears are deaf to all their speculation and confusion.
Even one who is not endowed with such an extraordinary soul can realize that the average person's questions are mere foolishness. Upon close examination, their questions turn out not to be questions at all.
Many people are disturbed by questions for years, not realizing that their questions are actually answers. It is only their lack of intelligence that makes them seem like questions in the first place.
They have questions like those one might ask a child: "If we have a broken window, why replace it with a pane from the next window if a bird can then fly through the remaining empty frame?"
Such a question actually includes its own answer. But a child does not realize this and considers it a very difficult question. He will ponder it and not know what to reply.
But the question itself is really very foolish. The question about the bird is really the answer to the first foolish question. The reason why we do not use the adjacent pane is precisely because it leaves a space through which a bird can fly.
A young child does not have enough intelligence to realize that the answer is included in such a question. For this very reason, the question seems very difficult to him.
The same is true of many people. A foolish question enters their mind, and they have no idea that this question actually includes its own answer. It seems like a difficult question, but only because of their lack of intelligence. Understand this well.
Consider all this and be strong in faith. Flee from this foolishness and confusion, and cast all questions and doubts from your mind.
10 comments:
Wonderful mini shiurs Devorah and so inspiring! Can we have more of Rabbi Nachman's teachings as well as updates and info regarding Rabbi Berland? Anything more concrete we can do to help the Rav and his family? Warm Regards, Ms. AP
Yes I will blog more Rebbe Nachman. The latest [honest] updates on Rav Berland are generally found on
Shuvu Banim
and more info on Rav Berland can be found at Emunaroma
Hello!
Question off topic:
Why others (goym) can make your dreams come true, while at the same time there are people who believe in HaShem and are having major problems?
Luiz Felipe.
Not sure what you mean by ''make your dreams come true''.
Belief in Hashem does not guarantee a life without problems. On the contrary, you are probably going to be tested, and perhaps many times. The suffering we experience [the tests] are because we are not perfect. If we were, we would not be here. The problems we have are sent because we still have work to do on ourselves and everyone receives their own unique set of issues, perfectly tailored for them. Even if you don't understand why you are on the receiving end of this particular problem, you can be sure Hashem has not made a mistake. Once we have learned what we need to learn, the problem will go away. Sometimes this can take a very long time, depending on us, and how we react to it.
Contrary to popular belief, living in this wold is not about 'having your dreams come true.' The Creator of all worlds is not here to be our personal santa clause who fulfills our every prayer. A loving father knows that if he says yes to every request without limits his child will be ruined, so our loving G-d gives and sometimes withholds when it is to our benefit. We have to grow out of our self absorbed toddler-hood and practice self sacrifice. It's not about getting..
The bigger the problems, the more capacity that person has to overcome those problems. Someone who seemingly has a carefree life is probably not strong enough to withstand anything else. But I also don't believe there is such a thing as a ''carefree'' life.
I think your English is excellent Luiz. I don't really have a solution for you, but many people read these comments so hopefully someone else will give you a good answer.
Luiz: as far as conversions are concerned, I only know what happens in Sydney. It is not expensive to convert here, you need money to pay for lessons in Judaism, but that is probably the only expense. if it is physically impossible for you to do the conversion, for financial reasons, then there is really not much you can do about it ??? If Hashem has given you this difficult situation, then it also must be that you are strong enough to handle it, otherwise you would not have received it. I know that is very easy for me to say, sitting behind a keyboard, but I know how hard life can be and I do sympathize with you. I wish I could help you more in some way. Hopefully someone else has something useful to comment here.
Unfortunately (for now) there is no solution to the conversion ... it's been 14 years and 6 months to years (since I was 13 years), I'm almost giving up. I won't be a hypocrite: many Rabbis would accept the money (regardless of the source of this, or even tax evasion) to perform the conversion. The ' autistic kids ' talk a lot about materialism, as he entered in the middle of Am Israel.
A clarification (in English, the meaning was wrong):
When I said: " I'm not against cheating, especially in Brazil", I meant: even more in a Communist country.
All the best!
Luiz Felipe - S.P. - Brazil
I'm sorry Mrs. Dvorah!!!
I forgot to clarify, I ended up making a big mess. What I mean is this: I am not against evade taxes in Brazil, Brazil is a Communist country.
Luiz Felipe.
Post a Comment