Straight to the Rebbe!

The 10th of Teves is the day of the hilula of Reb Nosson of Breslev, the 163rd yartzeit of his passing to the world of truth.

Reb Nosson's passing was directly connected to the three tragedies that took place in Teves. Ezra was a scribe, he spread Torah among the Jews. Reb Nosson was Rebbe Nachman's scribe, he was the only of the Rebbe followers who worked constantly to spread his teachings as widely as possible. Even people who never met the Rebbe are aroused to serve Hashem through his writings, all because of Reb Nosson.

With the passing of the scribe there is a slackening in the spreading of Torah, as manifested in the translation of Torah into Greek - which obscured the deeper meaning of the Hebrew text. This corresponds to the imposition of secular studies and atheism on the Jews of our times. This heresy led to the siege of Jerusalem and exile, and corresponding to the infamous Russian Pale of settlement and the mass migration of eastern European Jewry, which began around the time of Reb Nosson's passing. It was not for nothing that Reb Nosson mentioned these three tragedies and to exhort his followers to "be strong with money, willpower and effort," and make sure to spread the teachings of the Rebbe (Parparaos leChokhmah 61:8).

Reb Nosson passed away on that Friday afternoon, 10th of Teves, 5605 (December 20, 1844), just moments after the Shabbos candles were lit. He was 64 years and 11 months old. Reb Nosson was totally attached to Hashem until the very end. His whole mission was to show that a man can always return to Hashem, regardless of anything he may have done, no matter how much he may have sinned. This was the mission Rebbe Nachman held out to him a few days after their frist meeting: to become the lower point of the aleph, to bring life, vitality and faith to all the lower levels. Even as he left this world, Reb Nosson was mindful of his mission, repeating again and again, "Chanun Hamarbeh lislo'ach" There is hope for all; Hashem will forgive! always!

Repentance and forgiveness for all of Israel were the very essence of Reb Nosson. The letters of the words "Chanun hamarbeh lislo'ach have the the numerical value of 500, the same as the letters of NoSSoN.
Reb Nosson Passed away just before Shabbos. those were the days before the invention of the telegraph, and it was impossible to transmit the news of his passing anywhere until after Shabbos. Even so, that Friday night Reb Naftali, who was in Uman, already knew that Reb Nosson was no longer. When asked how he knew, Reb Naftali answered: "I had a dream in which I saw Reb Nosson running quickly. I said,'Reb Nosson where are you running?' 'Me?' he said. 'Straight to the Rebbe'" may we merit to run also straight to our Rebbe Amen!

Shalom Reb Nati

Pesach Sheynei "A Second Chance"

Hashem told the the Jews to prepare for the Pesach Festival. There were Jews who were tamei (impure) and were not ready in time. They came to Moshe and asked, 'How can we still partake of Pesach, when it was too late for us to purify ourselves?' Moshe asked Hashem and He replied, 'They can have a second chance. Let them celebrate the holiday of Pesach Shaynei, one month later, on the fourteenth day of the second month the month of Iyar'(Bamidbar 9).

"How great these impure people must have been! they were able to initiate the revelation of a new law of Torah" (Rashi).

Reb Noson explains that this came about specifically because of their great desire to partake of the Mitzvah. These people were impure. It was their own negligence that brought them to be distanced from the rest of the Jews on Pesach and thus not being able to participate in the Paschal lamb. Still, they never gave up hope. They came Before the Tzaddik, Moshe, pleading, "We are impure, we know we are impure, but we do not want to fail to be included in the sacrifice to Hashem."

Similarly, continues Reb Noson, every Jew should come to the Tzaddik and say, "I'm impure. I know I'm impure. Still why should I be held back? Why should i not come close to Hashem, to learn Torah, to pray, to do t'suvah? Is it because I am to distant that there is Hashem forbid no hope for me whatsoever? Hashem can always help, even those who are very distant from Him." A person must know that if he always turns to Hashem and constantly searches for the true Tzaddik who can show him the right path, he will definitely come true repentance (Likutey Halakhot, Birkhat HaPeirot 5:15, G'viat Chov M'Yetomim 3).

So It was with me yesterday night on the 14th day of Iyar I got my second chance, as we preformed my pidyon Habechor. I had never been redeemed and was was in a constant state of issur mitzvah deriser, unknowingly. My father not begin religious had never redeemed me as I'm a first born son of first born son for five generations. and only last week I found out that I had chiuv to be redeemed without delay. As all that I had previously had done, yes every mitzvah I had done until yesterday was tied to the other side, because of this issur. Wow that explains a lot. The whole day from the first shiur at Rav shalom Arush's yeshieva to the shiur in zohar with Rav Teicher was screaming do this so we found a Kohain actually two and I and three others preformed the ceremony at the kotel on pesach shaynei, and yarzteit of Rebbe Meir Baal Haneis, seuda and all, right there in front of Hashem and all those who were present, several hundred who said amen. What a relief these people must have felt to know they had a second chance. I know what I felt, I felt relief as now I am able to draw even closer to Hashem. Thank you Hashem for being Loving and Compassionate to the poor and distant of Your people.
A Guten Yom Tov
Reb Nati

"Sefirah" Counting the Omer Part III

Reb Nosson teaches that the daily obstacles we encounter are in direct proportion to the spiritual levels and wisdom we seek to achieve. We should therefore not feel discouraged when we see our improvement in serving Hashem suddenly countered by difficulties. As long as we maintain our Mochin de'Gadlut, the forces opposing our advancement cannot affect us. For it is only when we descend to Mochin de'Katnut, to depression and despair, that we find it very difficult to stand up against these obstacles.

In fact, taking heart and strengthening ourselves each day is the one protection we have. Even when there are difficulties or obstacles, we have to realize that today is also part of the allotted time on earth. It, too, is a day during which we can and must accomplish whatever possible in coming closer to Hashem. If we cannot pray or study study Torah properly, then we should say tehillim (psalms) or perform other miztvot - doing whatever we can. For "Hashem wants the Jews to be rewarded; and therefore He gave them the Torah to study and many mitzot to perform."

In other words, we must never fool ourselves into thinking that since the day started wrong, today is a wasted day, G-d forbid! We must never allow ourselves to say that there is no point in trying to serve and to know Hashem or returning to Him on this day; that we are better off waiting until tomarrow. Rather, we must realize that every day is important and that every moment counts! And this is the lesson of Sefirat Ha'Omer, the 49 days of counting. It teaches us to make the best and the most of what we have, since every day does count! (Likutey Halakhot, Pikadon 4)

Have a great day, from Reb Nati