The Secret of Melody and Dance: The Power to Sweeten All Judgments

Lesson No. 273 | Lesson 1 - Motzaei Shabbos Kodesh Parashas Vayeira, the eve of 21 Cheshvan 5761 - Yeshiva Ketana "Ohr Torah"

An in-depth article explaining how the Torah of our holy Rebbe (Rebbe Nachman) descended from the world of melody, and how through dancing and joy, the harshest decrees can be nullified. The way we learn and experience the Torah in this world is what builds our World to Come.

Our holy Rebbe said:

"The world has not yet tasted anything of me. If they were to hear just one Torah teaching that I say, with its melody and dance, everyone would be completely nullified [in absolute self-nullification]."

If we were to merit hearing the inner melody, the entire world—even the animals and the grass—everything would be nullified in a state of soul-yearning (klos hanefesh) from the sheer magnitude of the wondrous and exceedingly immense delight.

The entire essence of Rebbe Nachman is melodies and dances. Even the book Likutey Moharan is entirely melodies and dances. The Rebbe brought down his teachings from the world of melody, which is the highest world—the world of Atzilus, the world of Ta'amim (cantillation notes), the world of Kesser. Whoever would merit to hear the melodies and dances contained within every word of Likutey Moharan would be completely nullified out of sheer, wondrous delight.

Not Philosophy, but Serving Hashem

In order to merit hearing the melodies and dances in Likutey Moharan, one must not turn the learning into philosophy. One must truly serve Hashem with this learning: waking up for Chatzos (midnight prayer), praying with intention, and guarding one's eyes.

When a person learns in this way, he merits to hear such melodies that his heart is drawn after the melody, and he becomes nullified in soul-yearning after the movements of the melody. Every letter in Likutey Moharan is a movement of melody and a movement of dance, and there is power in that movement to break and awaken the soul, drawing it after him.

The Power to Nullify Terrible Decrees

The greatest secret is dancing. The more a person dances, the more he can sweeten everything. There is no judgment that cannot be sweetened through dancing. Through dancing and clapping hands, all judgments are nullified.

When the Cantonist decree was issued to take Jewish children into the Russian army, over a million Jewish children were kidnapped. It was a terrible tragedy, truly like the Holocaust. Children as young as three were kidnapped, and when they returned at the age of forty or fifty, they suddenly recognized the walls of their home, the furniture, and their parents who had already grown old. Seventy-year-old parents suddenly discovered their son who had been kidnapped decades earlier, thanks to a scar on his back.

Regarding that terrible decree, Rebbe Nachman said:

"If everyone had joined me in dancing, I would have nullified this decree."

The Rebbe said that if all the Torah leaders of the generation had joined him, he would have nullified all the decrees in the world. There was no decree in the world that he could not nullify. However, people were complacent, thinking the decree would not reach them, and they did not join him.

Building the World to Come from Supernal Delight

The greatest delight of all delights is knowing how to direct the words according to the pleasantness of the melody and the dance. A song without words is an infinite delight, but when the letters and words are connected to the movements of the melody and the dance—everything truly becomes one, and one merits to be nullified in soul-yearning from the sheer magnitude of the delight.

A person's World to Come is built exactly according to the way he experiences the Torah in this world. If a person learns Likutey Moharan and afterward gets angry or hurts others, that is what his World to Come will look like. But if a person learns Likutey Moharan and afterward sings, plays music, dances, and feels supernal delight—that is exactly what will await him in the World to Come.

We build our World to Come right here, in this world. Over the course of a hundred and twenty years, a person can build for himself a World to Come filled with songs, dances, and supernal delight, above which there is nothing higher. Even one who cannot dance himself, but stands around and watches these wonderful dances—his soul departs in absolute yearning from the sheer longing and delight.

Part 1 of 4 — Lesson No. 273

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