Hello and welcome to the Neshamah Project podcast,
Where we explore spiritual tools for human thriving.
I'm Rabbi Ben Neumann.
Today I'd like to explore some writings from Rabbi Nachman of Bratislava on joy and suffering.
Some of the writings might be a little difficult to hear,
As it's hard to feel joy in times of such extreme suffering.
But I invite the listener to keep in mind that Rabbi Nachman himself experienced great suffering in his life.
And he said,
Do not despair,
Do not give up hope,
And that we should pursue joy,
As you'll see in these pieces that I'm about to read.
The first piece is from Sipurei Maasiyot 13.
2,
His collection of stories.
For there are two birds,
One male and one female,
And they are just one pair in the world.
The female was lost.
He goes and seeks her,
And she seeks him,
And they were seeking each other very long,
Until they were lost.
And they saw they could not find each other,
And they stood still,
And they made themselves nests.
The male made him a nest close to one country of the two countries mentioned above,
And not really near it,
Just that in the measure of bird voice it is near,
For they can hear the voice of the male bird in that country from the place where he stood and made him a nest.
And likewise,
She also made her a nest near the second country.
In other words,
Likewise,
That it was near in the sense that they can hear her voice there,
As mentioned.
And when night arrives,
Then this pair of birds begins each one,
Both of them,
To wail in a very great voice of wailing,
For each one wails for its mate,
As mentioned above.
And this is the voice of wailing that is heard in these two countries,
Because of which voice of wailing,
They all wail much and cannot sleep.
And in the day it is impossible to come there,
For in the day it is impossible to bear the joy that is there,
For in the day the birds gather by each one from the pair mentioned above,
And they console and make happy each one from the pair mentioned above,
In very,
Very great joys.
And they tell them words of consolation,
That still it is possible that they find each other,
Until in the day it is impossible to bear the greatness of the joy that is there.
The second piece is from Likutey Moharan,
Part 2,
23.
1.
1-7.
On the topic of simcha,
Joy,
An analogy.
Sometimes when people are happy and dance,
They grab someone standing outside the circle who is depressed and gloomy.
Against their will,
They bring them into the circle of dancers.
Against their will,
They force them to be happy along with them.
It is the same with happiness.
When a person is happy,
Gloom and suffering stand aside.
Yet greater still is to gather courage to actually pursue gloom and introduce it into the joy,
Such that the gloom itself turns into joy.
A person should transform gloom and all suffering into joy.
It is like a person who comes to a celebration.
The abundant joy and happiness then transforms all their worries,
Depression and gloom into joy.
We find that they have grabbed the gloom and introduced it against its will into the joy,
As in the aforementioned analogy.
The third piece is from Likutey Moharan,
33.
3.
1.
Now,
There are two types of days,
Good days and bad days,
As is written in Ecclesiastes 7.
14.
So on a day of good fortune,
Enjoy the good fortune,
And on a day of misfortune,
Look.
That is,
A person has to look very well there.
They will certainly find good days,
In other words,
Torah,
There.
This next one,
Which might be a little challenging to us,
But I would like to read it nonetheless,
Is from Likutey Moharan,
65.
3.
4-11.
And in truth,
There is no evil whatsoever in the world.
Everything is only good.
The pain a person nonetheless experiences because of their suffering,
God forbid,
Is only because their awareness is taken from them so that they are unable to focus on the ultimate purpose,
Which is entirely good.
Through this,
You can understand an inexplicable thing,
Why the instinctive human response when experiencing severe pain,
God spare us,
As for example,
When one of a person's limbs is being amputated is for one to close one's eyes and shut them tightly.
Empirically,
We know that when a person wants to look at some distant object,
They squint,
They contract and narrow their vision in order to focus on the faraway object they want to see.
It is the same when we want to focus on the ultimate goal of creation,
Which is entirely good,
Entirely one.
One has to close one's eyes and fix one's gaze on the ultimate goal.
This is because the light of this ultimate goal is very distant from a person.
The only way for them to see it is by closing their eyes.
They have to close them completely and shut them tight,
Even pressing a finger on them to seal them shut.
Then they will be able to focus on this ultimate goal.
In other words,
One has to completely close one's eyes so as not to look at this world.
They must turn their eyes away and shut them tightly,
Not gazing at the temptations of this world and its vanities at all.
One will then be able to see and grasp the light of the ultimate goal,
Which is entirely good.
And then the suffering is nullified since the main reason one suffers is because one is far from the ultimate goal,
As explained above.
That final teaching is a little hard to hear in light of suffering and some of the recent events of the world,
But I think it's good to be challenged by Rabbi Nachman,
Who himself suffered a lot and was still able to proclaim that the ultimate goal of life is good and goodness and joy.
That's it for this episode of the Neshama Project.
Until next time,
This has been Rabbi Ben Newman.
Take care.
