The Secret of the Fire and the Flame: The Power of Studying Gemara and Holy Practices

Lesson No. 17 | Friday, Parashas Nasso, 4 Sivan 5755 - Morning Lesson in the Yeshiva

A profound article explaining how studying Gemara and avoiding jealousy protect a person, and why it is impossible to achieve a true burning passion for Hashem without filling one's mind with Torah. Through stories of tzaddikim and holy practices, the secret of mesiras nefesh (self-sacrifice) and spiritual protection is explained.

A person must write down all his sins, every single day until the end of his life, to cry and regret them, and all the more so if he hurt a friend. He must write in a book his Torah insights, his transgressions, and the novel Torah concepts (chiddushim) that he hears.

The Secret of the Bones That Do Not Decay

The Gemara in Tractate Shabbos tells the story of Rav Acha bar Yoshiya. When they were digging in the courtyard of Rav Nachman, they suddenly found a man in the ground. That man started screaming: "Stop digging! What do you want, to kill me? This is pikuach nefesh (a matter of life and death)!" The people were terrified and ran to Rav Nachman, thinking it might be a demon. Rav Nachman went himself and asked him: "Who are you?" He answered: "I am Rav Acha bar Yoshiya."

Rav Nachman was astounded, for Rav Acha bar Yoshiya was a Tanna who lived hundreds of years before him! He asked him: "How did you not decompose? After all, Rav Mari said that tzaddikim are destined to turn to dust!" Rav Acha answered him: "Who is Mari? I don't know him. I am a Tanna, what do I have to do with Rav Mari who lived generations after me?" Rav Nachman said to him: "But it is an explicit verse in Koheles: 'And the dust will return to the earth as it was'!" Rav Acha replied: "The one who taught you Koheles did not teach you Mishlei. For in Mishlei it is written: 'And jealousy is the rotting of the bones' - whoever has jealousy in his heart, his bones rot, and whoever does not have jealousy, his bones do not rot."

From here we learn that a person must read a chapter of Tanach every day, so that he will know the books of Mishlei and Koheles. If a person reads one chapter a day, within thirty-one days he will finish the book of Mishlei and know what a transgression is and what the upright path is. Korach, for example, fell because of jealousy. He saw that Elitzafan ben Uziel was given a position, and he wanted to be the leader. An upright person, when someone else receives a position, does not fall into depression or become bedridden; rather, he rejoices in his lot.

The True Healing: Studying Gemara

To understand the book of Mishlei, one must also read the book 'Yemei Shmuel' by Rabbi Shmuel Horowitz, and see how a Jew conducted himself. He did not descend from heaven as an angel; he was born to a father and mother. When he was a child and they made his 'chalakah' (first haircut) in Meron, he fell ill with smallpox. What does one do when a child is sick? Today, people run to doctors and emergency rooms. But his father, Rabbi Shmuel Heller, made a vow to study Gemara without speaking. He put up a note requesting that no one speak to him, and he sat and studied for twelve consecutive hours.

This is the true healing. A child is sick? You open a Gemara and learn. No other segulos (spiritual remedies) are needed.

"He sent His word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions"

Anash (our Breslov brethren) explained this verse as follows: Doctors often only destroy and ruin. But the Gemara is the true healing. In the merit of the Gemara, we will be saved from what the doctors destroy in us.

A Blazing Fire for Hashem

Rabbi Shmuel Horowitz writes about himself that wherever he studied, he was the outstanding student. He was a Breslov child burning like a blazing fire for Hashem. But you should know, if the mind is empty, it is impossible to burn for Hashem. All those whose minds are empty cannot recite The Tikkun HaKlali, they cannot wake up in the morning for Vatikin (sunrise prayer), because they do not study Gemara. That is it! Everyone wants to pray, but if the mind is empty, it is impossible to wake up in the morning.

Rabbi Shmuel burned for Hashem with a blazing fire until his last day. I merited to know him. Out of all the elders, he was the only one who remained lucid, with a face shining and glowing like fire, immersed in studying Gemara and serving Hashem. When he would emerge from the tziyun (tomb) of Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa, his face would literally shine. When will we merit this? He achieved this because until the age of seventeen, he studied Gemara day and night, knowing entire tractates by heart with immense depth. Only after he filled his belly with Shas (the Talmud) did his heart open up and he discovered Rebbe Nachman, the spiritual work of crying out and enthusiasm in prayer. The Torah is fire, and every letter is a blazing flame. If one does not study the letters, there is no fire.

The Voice of the Rooster Calling

When he studied in the cheder (Torah school for children), he was so sharp that he would understand the explanation of the Gemara even before the melamed (teacher) finished explaining it. Because he was such an illui (prodigy), when he was seven years old, the melamed warned him and said: "If you don't want them to throw you out of the cheder, say you are twelve years old!" At the age of seven, he comprehended and was more outstanding than twelve-year-old children.

Here, a new generation has been built that thinks Breslov is just sitting around drinking Coca-Cola. What is Coca-Cola? Coca-Cola is an acronym for: Kol Korei HaTarnagol Kumu La'avodas HaBorei (The voice of the rooster calls out, arise to serve the Creator)! People need to start studying Torah, and through this, they will be able to cry out to Hashem. The spiritual work is to cry out to Hashem without stopping, but it is impossible to cry out if one does not study twelve hours of Gemara. The rest of the time is divided into sleep, Hisbodedus (personal secluded prayer), prayers, and the remaining time is simply spent crying out to Hashem until all the impure blood is expelled.

Cold Mikvahs and Holy Practices

To burn for Hashem, one must immerse in cold mikvahs. The Rebbe never turned on a heater in the winter. He would run to a cold mikvah, and when it was minus forty degrees, he stayed in the mikvah for two hours until the water became boiling hot from his body heat. The Kotzker Rebbe said regarding the verse, "By day the heat consumed me, and the frost by night" - if you are in the frost at night, then you merit the "heat," the burning passion for Hashem. But if you are not in the frost, you cannot burn. Here, people walk around with coats and fur hats when it is plus ten degrees outside. It is a shame and a disgrace; it only shows that the heart is not burning.

Beyond this, there are holy practices that must be instilled from a young age. Rabbi Eliyahu Lopian related that the Chasam Sofer would test every shochet (ritual slaughterer) before giving him semichah (ordination). Once, he entered the bedroom of a brilliant and meticulous shochet on the night before his ordination, and saw that he did not have water for netilas yadayim (ritual hand washing) next to his bed. The Chasam Sofer said to him: "You are disqualified!"

Similarly, it is told about the Tzemach Tzedek that his wet-nurse would ensure he never went bareheaded, even as an infant. From the moment a baby is born, one must put a kippah on him and wash his hands. These things sanctify a person in his youth and cause him to have yiras Shamayim (fear of Heaven). Baalei teshuvah (returnees to the faith) need to take the books of tzaddikim, study them, and teach their wives these simple practices, which were customary in every Jewish home for generations.

The Ten Commandments and Mesiras Nefesh

Rabbi Pinchas of Koretz used to read the Ten Commandments before dawn. In the book 'Kav HaYashar', it is brought down that one should recite the Ten Commandments from Parashas Yisro (corresponding to the attribute of day - "Zachor" / Remember) at dawn, and the Ten Commandments from Parashas Va'eschanan (corresponding to the attribute of night - "Shamor" / Keep) before going to sleep, after the Bedtime Shema. Whoever does this merits two crowns on his head. When the soul ascends on high at night, the demons try to throw it down and strike it because of the sins he committed during the day (and this is what a person experiences as nightmares and being struck in his sleep). Reading the Ten Commandments causes the angels to escort the soul and elevate it safely to the Heavenly Chambers.

When a person leaves his home, he must say three times upon the mezuzah: "Hashem shall guard my going out and my coming in, for life and for peace, from now and forever," and also three times the verse: "In all your ways know Him, and He will make your paths straight" (which contains twenty-six letters, corresponding to the numerical value of the Tetragrammaton, Havayah).

He should tilt his head to three directions, and have the intention to surrender his soul to Hashem. A person must, in every blessing, at every moment, not let an hour pass without intending to surrender his soul to death - stoning, burning, beheading, and strangulation - for the sake of Hashem. One should especially have this intention when saying 'Hashem Echad' (Hashem is One) and during Tachanun (falling on one's face in prayer), and then he is incorporated into the Tree of Life and all his sins are forgiven. May Hashem help that there be a complete Geulah (Redemption) speedily in our days, Amen.

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