#Likkutei etzos

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When in doubt, don't overthink

Life is a series of tests. No, not the kind we take in school. The kind in which we have to make a choice and hope that the choice in front of us is the best possible solution in a given situation. At times, it is important to confront our problems with a multi step approach in which we try to imagine the results of several possible outcomes before choosing the “best” approach as we see it. Of…

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Rebbe Nachman's Advice # 22 - Strengthening Faith through Rejoicing

Do we cherish and rejoice in fulfilling mitzvot? Are we excited when we study? Or are these things rote actions? This is the daily struggle. Most of the time, I would venture we are doing because we feel we must. Even if there is a modicum of joy, it is not nearly enough to get us to celebrate even the simplest of activities or the completion of another line of study. I came across this small…

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Rebbe Nachman's Advice # 21 - Maintaining Simple Faith

As we have seen in many of my previous posts reflecting on Rebbe Nachman’s words, his approach is one of “simplicity” which is often misunderstood for lacking depth. Rather, it is an approach to faith that tries to remove all aspects of intellectualism as it pertains to harming our sense of belief. Most of us, this author included, struggle to balance the desire to investigate and reflect deeply…

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Rebbe Nachman's Advice # 20 - Verbalizing Our Desire to be Believing People

It is not simple to be faithful, believing people. The world is complicated. We constantly read about the negative things going on in the world. And even when we read something uplifting and positive, it is easy to fall back into the skeptical, when is the other shoe going to drop mode. We wish we could see things positively but it is quite difficult. Even with all the tools at our disposal, the…

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Rebbe Nachman's Advice # 19 - When physical struggles are spiritual struggles.

How many times do we suddenly feel a stiffness and have questions as to why this pain is suddenly upon us? I know that often what is ailing me physically is not coming just from sitting or moving the wrong way but from something deeper. We know our physical pain is often the outward manifestation of spiritual, social or emotional pain. This is why good holistic medicine offers people supports…

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Rebbe Nachman's Advice # 17 - When Silence is the Epitome of Faith

Much of life is the struggle of our sense of control (The introduction to the Breslov Haggadah – free download here – presents a read of the sin of Adam and Eve as a sin presuming humanity has “real” control). We tend to believe we are in control of everything. Each of us struggles with this sense of self. Part of our expression of this control comes from our speech. While it is often important…

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Rebbe Nachman's Advice # 16 - Working towards Seeing is Believing

This week’s Torah portion, Ki Tissa, brings us to the story of Israel’s almost cataclysmic choice, the fashioning and worshipping of the Golden Calf, the Egel HaZahav. While there is a debate about whether the idol was to replace Gd or Moses or perhaps even both, there is an interesting, underlying spiritual question regarding the story. There is a famous statement, Seeing is Believing, yet how…

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Rebbe Nachman's Advice # 15 - Purim 2 - the relationship of Purim to Pesach

Tonight we celebrate Purim. We celebrate this day with four rituals: Reading Megillat Esther at night and during the day Mishloah Manot – sending gifts of food to friends Matanot L’Evyonim – giving food/money to those less fortunate to be able to celebrate Purim Seudat Purim – A special celebratory meal on the day These four mitzvot speak to the joy of survival, remembering through reading,…

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Rebbe Nachman's Advice # 14 - Purim - Joyfulness overcomes the harshness of life

In about 24 hours, we will be celebrating Purim. Purim is a joyous holiday, celebrating the events described in Megillat Esther. For Rebbe Nachman, the joy we put into celebrating this holiday goes much further than merely lifting our spirits. It has a deeper meaning, as we see in his words below: א. עַל־יְדֵי שִׂמְחַת פּוּרִים בְּהַמְחָאַת כַּף וְרִקּוּדִין, עַל־יְדֵי זֶה מַמְשִׁיכִין בְּחִינַת…

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Rebbe Nachman's Advice # 13 - Having Faith will help stay the course

Today, I find myself coming back to the issue of faith and trust. Whenever we embark on a new journey, a New Beginning, we embark on a path along the route of the unknown. In truth, we do this every day of our lives, even when we believe that today is no different than yesterday. When we start out the day, we have no idea how the day will go, yet, most of us go about the day presuming things will…

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Rebbe Nachman's Advice # 12 - Finding Truth through removing the urge to win

Most of us have a competitive nature. This competitiveness can be positive in that pushes us to success. Yet, this same push can also have negative side effects. Often this competitiveness will lead people to push others aside, cut corners or do other things just for the sense of victory. In this piece by Rebbe Nachman, he suggests that this dark side of looking for the victory can blind us to…

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Rebbe Nachman's Advice # 11 - All we do is to reveal the Divine in the World

One of the most famous teachings from Pirkei Avot states: שִׁמְעוֹן הַצַּדִּיק הָיָה מִשְּׁיָרֵי כְנֶסֶת הַגְּדוֹלָה. הוּא הָיָה אוֹמֵר, עַל שְׁלשָׁה דְבָרִים הָעוֹלָם עוֹמֵד, עַל הַתּוֹרָה וְעַל הָעֲבוֹדָה וְעַל גְּמִילוּת חֲסָדִים: Shimon the Righteous was one of the last of the men of the great assembly. He used to say: the world stands upon three things: the Torah, the Temple service, and…

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Rebbe Nachman's Advice # 10 - Personal faith and the conflict of religion vs/ spirituality

In the modern world, the practice of a religion and the journey for increased spirituality are often at odds. Many times it is because we create false dichotomies between the two as a means of explaining away the ways of people. It is an example of how I often will say don’t a religion by the people who practice it. Religion can and should be a pathway for spiritual growth and hopefully spiritual…

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Rebbe Nachman's advice # 9 - Faith as a key to holiness

As we search for ways to enhance our spirituality, our sense of personal holiness, we go on a journey to find a path. What if the path is not outside of ourselves but rather is already here for us to travel on? I think this short passage from Rebbe Nachman might be hinting at this methodology. כז. עַל־יְדֵי אֱמוּנָה נִפְתָּחִין שַׁעֲרֵי הַקְּדֻשָּׁה: (לק”א סי’ נ”ז אות ח’) The gates of holiness…

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Rebbe Nachman's Advice # 8 -

Our mission in life is to train ourselves to see the truth of every situation. We are tasked with making things better by working on recognizing what is truly in front us. Of course, this can be quite the challenge. In this short one liner, Rebbe Nachman tells us quite simply about the danger of falsehood: כב. הַשֶּׁקֶר מַזִּיק לָעֵינַיִם בְּגַשְׁמִיּוּת וּבְרוּחָנִיּוּת: (לק”א סי’…

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Rebbe Nachman's Advice # 7 - Faith as the key to harnessing a New Beginning

Waking up each day, we start off on the next leg of the journey of life. Each day contains elements of that which happened in the past and many of us feel that one day blends into the next. Yet, each day is a new beginning, another opportunity to do new things or bring newer attitudes to that which might seem monotonous. Rebbe Nachman tied in the notion of faith with waking up each morning,…