The Secret of Piercing the Firmaments: The Power of the Cry from a Broken Heart

Lesson #2 | Thursday, Parshas Kedoshim, 27th of Nissan 5755 – Morning Lesson at the Yeshiva

The first foundation in the service of Hashem is the sense of lowliness and the knowledge that a person is 'the worst of all.' From this position of 'a pauper at the door,' prayer pierces through all the firmaments and reaches a place that even the prayers of Moshe Rabbeinu and King David do not reach.

The First Foundation: Feeling the Worst of All

The first foundation of our holy Rebbe (Rebbe Nachman), the foundation of a Breslov Chassid, is that a person must believe with perfect faith (Emunah) that he is the worst in the world. Just as our Sages said regarding Mount Tavor, a person must measure himself and know that no matter how many calculations he makes—he is still worse than all the tzaddikim. There are Rebbes, there are tzaddikim who keep Shabbos, put on Tefillin, practice Hisbodedus, and cry to Hashem in their prayers, shedding tears like water. A person must believe that they are all greater and more righteous than him.

But this is not enough. Rebbe Nachman teaches that you must believe you are less even than the intermediate ones (beinonim). And perhaps you will say, "At least I am better than the wicked?" Not even that. A person must know he is worse than everyone. Reb Nosson writes in Hilchos Orlah (Halacha 4-5) that as long as a person has any thought that he is worth something, all his service is worth nothing. If a person does not make the true calculation that he is worse than anyone, he will always return to his initial pride and think he is more important than everyone.

This is the special quality of Jerusalem, about which it is said, "And Jerusalem dwelt beneath her." The more a person serves Hashem, the more he sees only his own lowliness. If a person does not feel lowliness, if he does not feel small in his own eyes, beneath his level, everything reverts back. Suddenly we will find him with thoughts of "I am the most important, I am the most righteous."

The Danger of 'Holy' Arrogance

Reb Nosson explains that a person must know he is worse even than the heretics (Apikorsim). Why? Because it is written that Mashiach will start first with the heretics, and they will run after him immediately. Specifically with the "Chassidim" there might be a problem—they will say: "You are not my Rebbe, you are not my Rebbe's son, how can you be Mashiach?" Until their questions are resolved, several years will pass.

In contrast, the heretics who have no Rebbe will believe in Mashiach in a single moment. In one second, you speak to a heretic and he does teshuvah (repents). Therefore, until a person believes he is worse than everyone, he might miss the main point. If a person has any thought that he is better than someone in the prayer quorum (Minyan)—his prayer no longer ascends. King David says: "Every haughty heart is an abomination to Hashem." If you think you are better than someone, your prayer not only fails to ascend, it descends to the lowest depths.

Standing Like a Pauper at the Door

The true preparation for prayer is to come in the manner of supplications, "like a destitute person." Like a poor man at the door who knocks and does not know if they will give him a penny, or perhaps they will slap him and throw him down the stairs. This is how a person must stand before the Holy One, Blessed is He. Who says they will accept my prayer? Maybe they will throw it out? Maybe they will throw me out?

Rabbi Eliyahu Lopian zt"l used to say: "Stop with these motions of fists toward Heaven." We do not box with the Holy One, Blessed is He. We pray: "Master of the World, have mercy on me, help me, I am poor." Yehoshua bin Nun used to pray like this. When there are wicked people, one must raise hands in prayer, but not out of demand and power, but as a pauper at the door. A person needs to take upon himself a task, to stand for two weeks and do Hisbodedus on this point: to stand like a destitute person, like a pauper knocking at the door.

The Immense Virtue of the Prayer of the Poor

The holy Zohar (Parshas Balak, page 195) reveals a tremendous secret. There are three prayers: A prayer of Moses, a prayer of David, and a prayer of a poor man.

"A prayer of the poor man when he wraps himself [in suffering] and pours out his speech before Hashem."

The Zohar asks: Which prayer is more important? And it answers: The prayer of the poor man is the most important of all. It precedes the prayer of Moses and the prayer of David. Why? Because the poor man is brokenhearted. Everyone despises him, saying he has no sense, he has no parnassah (livelihood), and he comes before Hashem with a completely broken heart.

The verse says "Ki Ya'atof" (when he wraps/envelops)—the prayer of the poor man envelops all other prayers. It pierces all the firmaments. No prayer can enter before his prayer. Even the prayer of Moses, which was like a double-edged sword and cut through all the firmaments, must wait for the prayer of the poor man. All the prayers in the world wait until that poor man comes, that broken heart, and opens the gates.

"Me and Him Alone"

What is the prayer of the poor man? This is a person who pours out his heart and, so to speak, "argues" with the Holy One, Blessed is He, out of pain. He asks: "Master of the World, why is my fate more bitter than everyone else's? Why do my children have no shoes and walk with torn soles? Why do I have no money to buy them a schoolbag and everyone laughs at them?"

He does not speak, Heaven forbid, out of heresy, but out of immense heartache. And the Holy One, Blessed is He, says: "Only this do I wish to hear. Not the song of the angels, not the tzaddikim, but the painful conversation of this poor man."

In this prayer, there are no barriers. Hashem dismisses the entire Heavenly Court, all the angels, and all the clerks. Usually, prayer must pass through [the liturgical gates of] "May it ascend, and come, and reach, and be seen...", passing through clerks and chambers. But regarding the prayer of the poor man, Hashem says: I do not want any angel to hear his complaints. "Me and him b'lachudana"—Me and him alone.

Hashem secludes Himself with the prayers of the brokenhearted. The angels ask, "Where is the Holy One, Blessed is He?", and He is in a special room, listening to the weeping of the simple Jew who feels distant and broken. When Hashem takes away a person's intellect and will, and the person turns that into a prayer with a broken heart—he elevates the entire world along with him.

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