Rebbe Nachman: The Secret of Drawing Close to the True Tzaddik and Sweetening the Judgments

Lesson No. 2060 | * Yahrtzeit of Rabbeinu in Shuvu Banim 5751 - (Clear) "Regarding Drawing Close to the Tzaddik" Rosh Hashanah (from Ofir) - Until half of side B

In order to emerge from the darkness and confusions, it is not enough to read books or settle for ordinary advice. The article explains the secret of drawing close to the true tzaddik, who has the power to see the root of every person's soul, to transform their intentional sins into merits, and to illuminate the exact path for them.

A Crossroads: The Danger of Divided Counsel

A person must pour out his entire heart to the tzaddik and ask: "Rebbe, reveal to me what you want from me, what I must do, and how I can attain holiness and purity." When a person stands at a crossroads, he is liable to go right and left, forward and backward, in completely opposite directions. Even if a person knows the name of the tzaddik, but does not pour out his entire heart to him, he is liable to wander astray on endless paths.

Regarding this, Reb Noson says (on Torah 4), that there is a situation about which the verse states:

"There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the ways of death"

When a person is in terrible darkness, according to the blemishes he has caused, he is filled with doubts and confusions. He is inside the "flaming, ever-turning sword" that burns him and turns him from side to side, until he merits reaching the path of the Tree of Life. But the true tzaddik, who is the holy of holies and the inclusive supernal intellect, for him all pieces of advice are simple, comfortable, and wondrous. He is the root of everything, and he has the power to sweeten all the judgments and decrees in the world. He brings about salvations for everyone, spiritually and materially, and knows how to illuminate for every person the easiest and simplest path for him.

The Secret of Abba Umna: Extracting the Impure Blood

An example of this is Abba Umna, who would receive a daily greeting from Heaven. He was holy and pure, and even when people would take objects from his home, he would forgive them immediately. How did he merit this? Abba Umna was a bloodletter. He extracted the impure blood from within himself time after time, until only pure blood remained in him. In the merit of this, he heard a heavenly voice every day declaring: "Peace unto you, Abba Umna."

These are wondrous counsels. Even a simple person like Abba Umna, who merely worked as a medical assistant in a clinic and let blood, but did everything in holiness, in purity, and with guarding of the eyes – merited reaching spiritual levels that even Abaye and Rava did not merit. He placed a charity box outside so that everyone could pay according to their ability, and he forgave anyone who robbed him.

Transforming Intentional Sins into Merits

When a person extracts his impure blood, all the paths and pathways are revealed to him, even if he is still in the depths of darkness. The true tzaddik sees into all the darknesses; he penetrates into all the problems and the lowest depths of a person. If the person only wants to get out of there, the tzaddik immediately pulls him out, because at the root – the bad is transformed into good.

The true tzaddik can bring a person to a level where intentional sins are transformed into merits. He leads him to teshuvah (repentance) from the depths of the heart, until all the transgressions are transformed into merits. The moment a person attains a broken heart and weeps tears like rivers, he no longer has any "divided counsel" or doubts, because the blemishes have disappeared and everything shines for him through a luminous lens.

Everyone wants to attain holiness, purity, and the ultimate perfection. The path to this is very simple: faith in the true tzaddik and shedding tears like a stream. Through this, all the counsels are revealed to a person with the utmost ease, and the tzaddik draws down to him the exact advice according to his value and spiritual level.

Why Is It Not Enough to Read Books?

This is the virtue of drawing close to the tzaddikim, and this is also the secret of the mitzvah of Sukkah. The Sukkah is drawn from those true tzaddikim who would enter on Yom Kippur between the Cherubim and the Ark Cover. A person must draw close specifically to such tzaddikim. It is not enough to read books, and it is not enough to seek out a neighborhood rabbi or even a regular righteous Jew – one must search for the true tzaddik.

Rebbe Nachman teaches that books are not enough. The Komarno Rebbe says that whatever has already been written in a book is considered the "Written Torah." The Chiddushei HaRim also brings down in Parashat Chukat, that we are in lowly generations, and the lower the generations are, the more one needs to know the secrets of the Torah. The tzaddikim do not write these true secrets down at all.

Therefore, Reb Noson says that books are not enough. The essence of the Oral Torah is to receive it directly from a true tzaddik and to hear his words. There are matters and secrets of the Work of the Chariot and the Work of Creation that cannot be written down at all, and only by hearing them from the mouth of the tzaddik will we truly merit the complete Geulah (Redemption) speedily in our days, Amen.

Part 3 of 4 — Lesson No. 2060

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