The Secret of Humiliation: How Enemies Open the Channels of Abundance
Lesson No. 143 | Motzaei Shabbos Parshas Nasso, the eve of 13 Sivan 5758 - A lesson for the young men at the Third Wall (HaChoma HaShlishit)
Rebbe Nachman of Breslov teaches that whoever opposes us and humiliates us is actually throwing precious stones and pearls at us. Through a wondrous story about a poor Jew and a cruel nobleman, it is revealed how humiliation and persecution are precisely what break the klippos (spiritual husks) and draw down upon a person the immense abundance that was decreed for him even before his birth.
Rebbe Nachman of Breslov traveled extensively. The secret of the Rebbe lies in the verse:
"These are the journeys of the Children of Israel."
The Rebbe once said, "If the Jews knew even one secret of my journeys, they would kiss my footsteps." All of the Rebbe's journeys were intended for one purpose, as he writes in Torah 282: to judge the entire world favorably. When one judges a person favorably, a Mishkan (Tabernacle) is built from it. The secret is to never speak ill of any Jew, to avoid taking an interest in disputes, and instead to sit with the Gemara and learn.
A person must judge favorably all those who oppose him and all those who speak against him. He must know that they are actually throwing precious stones and pearls at him. The Rebbe says that the enemies who speak about you are throwing diamonds at you, and therefore you must do every possible favor for them in the world. Specifically to those who hate you, you should do good, because everything comes from the dust.
Heaven forbid to speak about an enemy or to say, "He did bad to me." The moment you say that someone did bad to you, you give a foothold to the dispute of the Sitra Achra (the Other Side, forces of impurity). In truth, he is not doing you any harm; he is only doing you good. Hashem sends people to throw a sack of diamonds through your window. The glass shatters, and you start screaming, "Gevald, they broke my window!" while in reality, they threw you a sack of diamonds.
A Sack of Gold Disguised as a Dead Monkey
This is similar to the well-known story about a Jew named Reb Moshe, who ran a tavern. He had no money to pay the rent, and the nobleman summoned him and threatened to throw him out of the tavern after he had failed to pay for an entire year, owing more than a thousand gold coins. Reb Moshe said to him, "Throw me out, Hashem will give me parnassah (livelihood). Parnassah comes only from Hashem."
The nobleman was furious: "What do you mean Hashem gives? I give to you!" Reb Moshe answered him, "Whatever Hashem wants is what will be. Whether you throw me out or you don't throw me out—everything is according to Hashem's will. Right now Hashem has not given me money, so I don't have any." The nobleman decided to teach him a lesson and planned to expel him immediately after the holiday of Pesach.
The days were the eve of Pesach. Reb Moshe had nothing in the house—no matzos, no wine, simply nothing. At that same time, the nobleman suddenly found his pet monkey dead in his vault room. A wicked idea came to his mind: to throw the monkey's carcass into the Jew's house on the night of Bedikas Chametz (the search for leaven), just to see what he would do.
The nobleman sent a giant servant who threw the huge monkey through the closed window. Reb Moshe and his family were sitting in the house in the dark, with no candles and no food for the Seder night. Reb Moshe had decided to go all the way with his trust and emunah (faith): he would not ask anything of any man. Whatever Hashem wants—He will send him, because everything is in the hands of Hashem.
Suddenly, a tremendous crash was heard. The windowpane shattered into pieces and a dark body fell inside. The household members were terrified and thought it was a blood libel, but when they approached, they saw it was the carcass of a monkey. Suddenly, they noticed shiny objects coming out of the monkey's mouth. By the light of the moon, they discovered that these were pure gold coins! They tore open the monkey's stomach and found hundreds of gold coins there, an amount one could live on for an entire lifetime. In the morning, they hurried to buy all good things: matzos, wine, fish, and meat.
On the Seder night, the nobleman arrived at Reb Moshe's house, expecting to see a weeping and starving family. To his astonishment, he saw lights shining from afar. He knocked on the door and saw the whole family rejoicing, dressed in new clothes, sitting around a table laden with all good things, conducting the Seder with enthusiasm and tremendous singing.
The stunned nobleman asked, "Reb Moshe, how did you suddenly become rich in one day?" Reb Moshe told him about the dead monkey that was thrown through the window and the gold coins that poured out of it. The nobleman grabbed his head. He remembered that when he had counted the gold coins in the vault, he had tested each coin with his teeth to ensure it was pure gold. The monkey, imitating his actions, had also put the coins into its mouth, swallowed them, and died as a result.
The Wealth Hidden in Humiliation
Regarding this, the Rebbe says: Whoever opposes you and speaks against you is actually throwing "monkeys full of gold" at you. They are throwing precious stones and pearls into your house. The more they trample upon you, crush you, mock you, and humiliate you—the more money and gold will come forth for you.
A person does not know how fortunate he is. Abundance and gold come to a person only through being trampled upon and crushed again and again. Only through humiliation will all the abundance that was decreed for him from the day he was born come to him.
The Heavenly Proclamation Before Birth
Everything is decreed upon a person even before he is born. As it is brought down in the Gemara:
"Forty days before the formation of a child, a heavenly voice goes forth and declares: 'The daughter of so-and-so to so-and-so, the house of so-and-so to so-and-so, the field of so-and-so to so-and-so'" (Sotah 2a).
The heavenly voice announces that this person will enjoy every good thing throughout his life. It is declared what a magnificent home he will have, which lands and properties he will purchase, and how his investments will multiply in value a hundred and a thousandfold. Hashem does not want you to be poor; He wants you to have immense abundance.
However, since a person commits sins, and these sins create klipos (spiritual husks) and barriers, people must come and "thresh" him in order to break these klipos. Therefore, opponents are sent to a person. Those who hate you and speak against you—they are your true friends. They are actually throwing abundance, gold, and precious stones at you. Through the humiliations you suffer, they cleanse your flaws and open the channels of abundance that were preordained for you.
Part 1 of 4 — Lesson No. 143