Rebbe Nachman's Chayei Moharan

Rebbe Nachman of Breslov was a great-grandson of the Baal Shem Tov and a most distinguished Chasidic leader in his own right.  Profound and original, he remains the inspiration for the Breslov movement today two centuries after his death.Chayei Moharan is a collection of conversations and biographical information recorded by his foremost disciple Rav Nosson Sternhartz.  We present selections below:

 Breslov

The letters of the words LEV BASAR 'a glad heart' spell out the word
BReSLoV.

Clothing

Every time a person wears a nice new article of clothing something changes inside of him; when he changes his clothes his face changes as well.

A pure and G-d-fearing person should take special care to wear dignified clothing. As far as he can.  He should certainly never look slovenly.  Even the followers of a righteous person are only drawn to him because of his clothes.  They see the dignity of his clothing and this is what gives him his standing in their eyes and makes them willing to follow him.  If he were not dressed properly they would not see anything in him.

G-d Himself clothed Himself in Egypt.  The entire sequence of events in Egypt was all ‘clothing.’ G-d had to clothe Himself, so to speak, in the events connected with the Exodus, until later on the Jewish people started to know G-d Himself.

Dancing

This year I danced a lot because the edicts against the Jews were being
discussed.  Through dancing and hand-clapping we sweeten the decrees and nullify them.

Death

What is there for you to be afraid of about dying?  The world there is far more beautiful than here.

Presumably the dead man is laughing in his heart at the way they are
crying over him.  When someone dies people cry over him as if to say: how good if you had lived in this world even longer and suffered even more trials and torments, and then you would have had even more bitterness.

I am not the least bit afraid of dying anymore.  For I have surely achieved a few things in this world.

Surely the only difference between life and death is very minimal.  Now a person is here and then afterwards he is there. (He gestured with his hand toward the cemetery). 

Eating

We should get into the habit of eating without haste, calmly and with
manners.  We should always eat with the same dignity we would display if someone important were sitting at the table.

Encouragement

It is forbidden to despair.  Gevalt! Don't give up!

Even if a person experiences a tremendous fall each one in his own way, he should still strengthen himself and never ever despair, because G-d's greatness is exalted even beyond the Torah, and there is a place where everything can be corrected.  For repentance is beyond the Torah.

When a person wants to accomplish something holy, no matter how much effort he has put into it, how many thoughts have to pass through his mind and how much he has to do in order to succeed, not a single good thought or deed is ever lost.  They are all recorded in his favor. How fortunate to be able to overcome all the obstacles and accomplish something worthwhile

Evil Inclination

There is a big evil urge in many people and especially very great people that makes them abandon everything for the sake of one thing they believe to be a mitzva.

The way the Evil One connives against people and puts obstacles in their way is through creating mental barriers.  Sometimes a person gets it into his mind that doing a certain thing will be very burdensome for him, and this is how the Evil One tries to hold him back.  Other times the Evil One makes him take such a light view of the matter and view it as so insignificant that it does not occur to him that the very life of his soul depends on it.

You have to be very obstinate and fight it [the Evil inclination] time and time again- even a hundred times and more.  If you are very firm every time, in the end you will be able to drive it away completely

Faith

We must believe that everything is certainly correct and right, only with our minds it is impossible to understand G-d’s ways. Even the few explanations brought in genuine kabbalistic works written by holy righteous men with deep perception and genuine spiritual powers are unable to solve the problems completely.  Clearly the answers hang in the air and we have only faith to rely on.

I believe that G-d can turn a triangle into a square, for G-d's ways
are hidden from us.  He is omnipotent and nothing is impossible for Him.

Through faith a person can reach such a state of longing that he does not
know what he is longing for, and he can cry out, Gevalt!  Bind me. I want
to be a Jew

G-d is always good

The goal of all knowledge of G-d is to realize that one is truly ignorant

Free Will

One of the young men was speaking to the Rebbe and said, "I want to be a good Jew."  "But do you want to want?' the Rebbe replied.

Whatever you see in the world exists only for the sake of free will.  The whole world and all it contains were created only for the sake of free will.

Friendship

Make an effort to talk to people a great deal so as to inspire them and
bring them back to G-d.

It is best to talk over matters concerning one's devotions with a close
friend

Praying for a friend who has troubles keeps a person from arrogance.

Happiness

Real weeping comes from joy.

We should even try to turn sadness and depression into a reason for being happy.  We should say, 'Even though I am the way  I am, I still have the merit of being Jewish.  How many mitzvot I carry out each day- tzitzit,tefillin, saying the Shema, giving charity etc.  Perhaps the way I carry them out leaves much to be desired.  Even so, they still contain many good points, and in the upper worlds they bring a lot of joy. This even applies to the mitzvot done by Jews who are sinners, because as long as they still go by the name of a Jew, G-d takes great pride in them, as is written, "Israel in whom I take pride (Isaiah 49:3)."

Throughout the Rebbe's works you will find "mountains of dictates" and

all kinds of ways to keep constantly happy no matter what the situation.

Usually the only way is with light-heartedness and laughter.  Depression

is the worst thing of all, and once it gets a hold it is harder to break

than anything else.  It also damages more than anything else.  This is why

it is so necessary to try one's utmost to be happy even when under great

pressure, materially and spiritually.  Even when things are at their worst

one should still have unfaltering trust in G-d remembering that in the end

G-d will never abandon him.

Hitbodedut (secluded meditation)

Meditation and prayer is SIChah.  A bush of the field is SIaCh.  When
every bush, SIaCH of the field begins to return to life and grow, they all yearn to be included in prayer and meditation, SICHAH.

Meadows and forests are good very good places for meditation.

When do I have my meditation? When everyone is standing around me and I am sitting here in the middle.  That is when I seclude myself with G-d.

Humility

The root of arrogance is when a person prides himself on having qualities which his friend lacks.  But when a person believes that the only cause of his friend’s deficiency- spiritual or material-  is the screen he himself has erected between his friend and G-d, Who wants to bestow blessings at all times, he will certainly not become arrogant.

Being humble is the true goal of life

Land of Israel

My only place is in the Holy Land.  Wherever I go I am only going to the Holy Land.  It is only temporarily that I pasture here in Breslov and the like.

Whoever wants to be a Jew, which means going from level to level, can only succeed through the Land of Israel.

I mean Israel quite literally with its houses and apartments.

Someone who wants to reach Israel should go there even if he has to travel on foot, as Abraham was told when G-d said, ‘Go forth” (Genesis 12:1).

Love

Each Jew has his letter in the Torah.  Anyone who speaks against a Jew
detaches himself from the Torah through finding a blemish in the letter
which is the root of the soul of the person he is speaking
against....Surely some little bit of good remains [in a sinner] some good point where he isn't a sinner.

The love which exists between honest, sincere and G-d-fearing people, and in particular between the tzadik and his followers, is priceless.

Opposition

The only way for any plant to reach its ultimate grandeur is for the seed to be placed in the ground first.  The seed then has to rot, and only afterwards does it sprout and grow and become a tree.  So it is with you (Rabbi Nachman’s brother Yechiel who faced opposition).

Opposition brings one to great heights of perception.

Perfection

Anything good in this world is never perfect

Physical desires

With just a little sense all temptations can be overcome.

Purpose of Life

There is no purpose in this world except to abandon our worldly desires and serve G-d.

Our whole way is to be aware that this is a world of trials

Even if someone dies at the age of eighty it may still be that his life
was cut short- in the sense that he failed to improve himself, and all his years were vanity.  We need to live only a little, just as long as we live right.

Everything done in this world, even among the gentile nations, down to the last details of their gait, clothing and so on-everything has some purpose and nothing is meaningless.

If they turned a man inside out they would see that thousands upon
thousands of worlds depend upon every single sinew of his body.

Prayer

When you are making a great effort to pray properly but you still find you can't, the only thing to do is to say the words in the simplest and most literal way possible.

We should weep before G-d like a little child weeps before his father.  We should cry because we are so far from our Father in heaven.

During prayer one has to work himself up like someone working himself
into a temper...a person has to work himself up into a temper for holiness

Rebbe Nachman on Himself

My fire will burn forever and not go out.  My fire will burn until
Mashiach comes.

I am very firm about not giving advice in the form of orders.

Even if I were to commit the gravest possible sin it would still not throw me at all.  After sinning I would still be righteous, just as I was before.  It is just that I would repent.

Renewal

Thank G-d I become a different person with every new moment

Whatever happens it is always good to make a new start each time and say, "Today I am beginning..."

Service of G-d

In all acts of devotion there is always something left for the individual himself to decide, without being instructed one way or the other.  He must decide and choose for himself, as Moses did when he added a day on his own initiative without being commanded.  The area where choice comes into play is where the main work lies.  There is always room for doubt about what G–d really wants, since He has given no instructions about what to do.

Everything depends on effort.  Through work and effort everyone can reach great levels.

Simplicity

Sophistication is nothing.  The main thing is what is in your heart and
your practical actions.

You [a simple person] have the power to stir even a great man to serve
G-d.  A small piece of wood can set fire to a very large piece.


If you want to know what is precious to me, it is when I see the poorest beggar going about with a torn hat, torn clothes, and torn shoes-serving G-d.  I beg of you: be good pure Jews.  This is my only hope and desire.

Speech

It is even possible to whisper to a pistol not to fire- because the power of speech is very great

Stories

Telling stories about the tzadikim, showing their greatness and
extraordinary powers, sweetens the harsh judgments and brings
loving kindness into the world.

People say stories help you go to sleep.  But I said that through stories it is possible to rouse men from their sleep.  

Suffering

Where only a monetary loss is involved, without question I have to accept it with joy, because “Skin for skin, all that a man has he will give for his life” (Job 2:4).  But even if my very life were required, may G-d protect me from now and forever [I would rejoice].

Asking their [tzadikim's] advice sweetens all the harsh judgments and this
is the way to avoid suffering.  Even if one does have to suffer he will
find a way to accept the suffering with love and joy, seeing in it a
revelation of G-d Himself He will be able to understand  how G-d contracts
Himself, as it were, and clothes Himself in his suffering.

Thought

 Thought was created never to rest for a moment.  It is like the
pendulum of a clock which never stops....thinking never ceases.  It is
possible to overcome all untoward thoughts and get rid of them completely by thinking something different.

One's true face is his mind, which illuminates the face from within.

Today

Each day has its own blessing.

Where something can be done for today never leave it for tomorrow.

Torah Study

There is no need for originality. The main concern should be the truth and only the truth.  [However Rabbi Nachman praises original interpretations if motivated by truth]

A very important way of making amends for impure thoughts is by developing original Torah ideas.

The Torah contains an account of everything in the universe.  There is
nothing which the Torah does not speak about.

Teaching

If teachers push a young child too much, the child ends up knowing
nothing.

Truth

When one repeats a lie twice it becomes the truth- that is it becomes like truth for the person who repeats it, by virtue of his having repeated it twice.

Tzadik

Just to see a tzadik even if one does not hear him teach Torah is also
very good.  This is the way to greatness.

War

What great sages they must be to figure out how to make a wonderful weapon that can kill thousands of people at once.  Is there anything more foolish than to kill so many people for nothing?

We ackonowledge the use of Avraham Greenbaum's translation as published by the Breslov Research Institute, entitled Tzadik.