Great Throughts Treasury

"There is no despair in the world."

"There is no limit to the bitterness of this world. "Were it not for salt, the world could not endure the bitterness" ( Zohar I, 241b) . [Salt neutralizes bitterness.] Were it not for the strength of the Tzaddikim, who observe the Covenant with absolute purity and who are called the "eternal covenant of salt" (Numbers 18:19 ) , the world would be unable to endure at all because of the terrible bitterness caused by the desire for wealth. The closer a person comes to the Tzaddik, the more he can sweeten this bitterness. But those who are far from the Tzaddikim and from personal purity, and especially those who are actually opposed to the Tzaddikim, will be the victims of the full force of this bitterness. How many are sunk in this! Pay heed to these words and perhaps you will escape."

"There is no need to be upset about whether or not you have money. Even with money, you could waste away your days. The world deceives us completely. It makes us think we are constantly gaining but we end up with nothing. People spend years working to make money, but in the end, when they come to the final reckoning, they are left with nothing in their hands. Even when someone becomes rich, in the end he is taken from his money."

"There is no need to make a war and shake your head from side to side in order to banish bad thoughts. This does not help at all; quite the contrary, it makes them attack even more strongly. Simply pay no attention: do your part and think instead about Torah, prayer or business. Don't glance back at the bad thought at all. This way it will go away by itself."

"There is nothing I need to do for myself in this world at all. I came into the world only to bring Jewish souls closer to God. But I can only help someone who comes to me and tells me what he needs."

"There is nothing in the world that does not contain Godliness, however hidden it may be. There are two levels of concealment. The first is simple concealment; the second is the "concealment within the concealment"."

"There may be many things that you cannot do. Even so, you should long and yearn to fulfill them. The longing itself is a great thing - for God desires the heart."

"There was once a very rich man who possessed countless wealth. He announced that anyone who needed to borrow money should come to him and he would give him a loan. Needless to say , large numbers of people were only too eager to take up his offer, and they came and borrowed money. The rich man had a notebook in which he kept a record of all the loans he gave."

"Therefore even one whose occupation involves contact with non-believers cannot excuse himself from serving God on account of being constantly surrounded by gross materialism. Godliness can be found everywhere, in all material things and even in the languages of the nations. Without Godliness they could not exist or endure at all. It is just that as the levels descend, Godliness becomes increasingly "contracted" and veiled in many garments."

"Therefore even though I consider myself a sinner, I am an essential ingredient in the prayers and the service cannot be complete without me. If I am a sinner, I must strengthen myself all the more to pray to God. I must have trust that in His mercy He will accept my prayer, since the perfection of the prayer depends on me - the galbanum in the incense."

"Therefore when a person needs to perform some holy task, whether it is to visit the Tzaddik or any other holy mission, he is first given the desire to accomplish it."

"Therefore you must marshal all your strength and steel yourself to make an energetic start. You must begin each time with ever-renewed fire and passion for God. Start as if you had never begun before at all."

"Therefore, when a person wants to repent, he must make sure to stop the bad air from coming into him. The way to do this is with a sigh, which is a long, deep breath in and out. The sigh begins when you draw in extra air. This is similar to what happens just before a person dies: he draws in extra air and then the spirit leaves him. Every exhalation is the death of the moment that has passed, in preparation for the birth of the new moment. Thus when you take a deep sigh, you release yourself from the bad air of the sinner and bind yourself to the pure air of the Tzaddik in order to receive new vitality."

"These extraneous thoughts are actually of great benefit. Without them prayer would be impossible. Tremendous maligning powers seek to denounce our prayers, but these irrelevant thoughts disguise our prayers so that unholy forces disregard them, enabling our prayers to enter on high."

"They are worlds of yearning because then we will be worthy of true thirst and yearning for God. Quenching this thirst will be the main delight of the future world."

"They say that in the "good old days" everything was much less expensive than today, even though people did not have as much money as they have now. Even ordinary people, even those who live off charity, spend more today than wealthy people did in the past."

"Think only about the present day and the present moment. When someone wants to serve God, he may see it as a heavy burden. But if you remember that you have only today, it won't be such a burden. Don't push off serving God from one day to the next, saying, "I'll start tomorrow - tomorrow I'll pray with real devotion.""

"Thirst is a very great desire. It is wonderful to long, yearn and thirst for God."

"This applies even to people who are far from holiness and sin regularly. So great is the power of the Torah that it can free them from their sins. If even the worst sinner would take on himself to study a fixed amount every day, he would be able to escape the evil trap. The power of the Torah is so great that it can accomplish everything."

"This applies to all the different ways one can fall. Each person always thinks that his own situation is so bad that this does not apply to him. People imagine it applies only to those on very exalted levels who are continually advancing from level to level. But you should realize that it holds true even for those on the lowest of levels, because God is good to all."

"This empty void was essential for the creation of the world, because without it there would have been no place to create the world. However, it is impossible to grasp or understand the "contraction" that brought about the empty void. This will only be possible in the future. For we have to postulate two opposites: existence and nothingness."

"This explains the meaning of the verse: "They have set their mouth against heaven" - for they are really speaking against God. However, they are ashamed to speak out against God directly so "their tongue walks about the earth": they loosen their tongue against God's followers in the world. But the truth is, "They have set their mouths against heaven.""

"This is a great principal in Avodas Hashem ? that a person has to begin everyday anew."

"This is actually a scream and not mere imagination. Just as there are channels that bring the sound from your lungs to your lips, so there are nerves that bring the sound to the brain. You can draw the sound through these nerves, literally bringing it into your head. When you do this, you are actually shouting inside your brain."

"This is because the empty void came about through the contraction of His Godliness from there, with the result that Godliness is not present there, as it were. For if this were not the case, the void would not be empty; everything would have been infinite and there would have been no room to create the finite world at all. Yet the real truth is that even so, Godliness is most certainly present there because nothing at all exists without His vitality. Due to this contradiction it is impossible to grasp the concept of the empty void. This will be possible only in time to come."

"This is because the physical human body has a spiritual counterpart, each of whose limbs corresponds to a portion of the prayer service. Each person is associated with a particular limb of the transcendental form. When he reaches the section of the service relating to his limb, he is aroused to great devotion."

"This is done through Judgment. Examine yourself and your life and carefully weigh all your various activities and interests. This will enable you to dispel all your fears of people and forces other than God. These are called "fallen fears". You will then be able to elevate your fear and attain true awe of Heaven."

"This is exactly what the minister did. He went to the king and told him how much the prince was longing for him, begging the king to forgive him. The king immediately agreed and restored the prince to his place."

"This is how songs are made! In essence, music is made by sifting the good from the bad. The musician has to find the "good spirit" - the good air - and reject the bad. A musical instrument is a vessel containing air. The musician produces the sounds by causing the air to vibrate. His task is to move his hands on the instrument in such a way as to produce good spirit, "good vibrations", while avoiding the "bad vibrations" - the dissonant winds of gloom and depression."

"This is how you can give yourself new life in the place to which you have sunk. This is because Ayeh is the Hidden Utterance from which all things derive their vitality. The unholy "husks" are nourished by the concealment, but you now vitalize yourself with the life-force of holiness in the very place to which you have sunk - by earnestly searching Ayeh? - "Where is the place of His glory?" Afterwards you can lift yourself from there completely and reach holiness itself in a place where God's glory is revealed. For the essence of holiness is that God's glory should be revealed. Blessed be God forever. Amen. Amen."

"This is how you overcome God. God has great joy when you conquer Him in this way."

"This is like a pot of water which initially seems quite clear, but as soon as it is placed on the fire and starts to boil, all the impurities begin to surface. Someone has to stand there constantly removing the scum and impurities."

"This is like a stubborn child, who can literally bang his head against the wall just to spite his mother. Similarly certain people are capable of throwing away everything, including all other desires, for the sake of one stubborn overpowering desire."

"This is like showing a small child something he wants and then immediately snatching it from him and hiding it. The child runs after the person, pleading and wanting the thing even more. The child's desire for the object is increased by having it snatched away and hidden. Similarly, we are held back from what we want by obstacles whose only purpose is to increase our desire."

"This is not true. Even the greatest Tzaddik would be distracted and distressed if, while praying with outstanding intensity and devotion, someone approached him and disturbed or ridiculed him."

"This is silly! Here you are, ready to use your speech to overcome the great battle against the evil urge inside you. You are on the verge of victory: you are ready to break down the walls and open the gates with your words."

"This is similar to a seal. The writing on the seal is unreadable because the letters are back to front. Only when one takes the seal and stamps it on wax can one understand the letters and designs inscribed on the seal, and one then sees what is written on the seal. Similarly, through the Tzaddik's followers one can come to understand something of the Tzaddik himself."

"This is Teshuvah, returning from impurity to holiness in order to gain new life. The very body is renewed, because "Sighing breaks a person's whole body" (Berachot 58b), and therefore the body is remade."

"This is the meaning of the verse, "I have strayed like a lost sheep: seek out Your servant" (Psalms 119, 176) . "I have strayed like a lost sheep": I have strayed from the good path like a lost sheep that has strayed from the road. This is why I beg of You: ".seek out Your servant, because I have not forgotten Your commandments". Hurry and search for me as long as I still remember the voice of the Torah and mitzvot. Hurry and search for me immediately, because I have not yet forgotten Your mitzvot: I still recognize the call of the mitzvot of the Torah. That is why I beg You to take pity on me and search me out quickly, as long as "I have not forgotten Your mitzvot" and still recognize the voice of the call of the Torah and the mitzvot."

"This is the meaning of the words: "Know this day and realize it in your heart ." (Deuteronomy 4:39). You must bring the realization from your mind into your heart. Understand this well."

"This is the only reason for their suffering, because if they had the Godly awareness to understand that everything is under God's providence, they would feel no pain at all. The truth is that the Jewish People are beyond nature. It is only when they sin that they become subject to the law s of nature just like the nations of the world, who are governed by nature and the stellar influences. The Jews then experience exile and suffering. The main reason for their exile and pain is that they lack Godly awareness and attribute everything to nature."

"This is the Tikun Haklali, the complete fixing. Whoever destroys his sexual impulse, it will be easy for him to get rid of his other evil desires. For all other impulses stem from this one."

"This is very important when trying to serve God. Most people are troubled by the past, especially when trying to pray. Precisely then their minds become filled with all kinds of distracting thoughts about their business, household and other affairs. They worry that maybe they did something wrong or should have acted differently. When a person tries to pray or study, he can easily become troubled by thoughts about past wrongdoings and personal failings. This is a universal problem, as we all know."

"This is visible in practice. When something bad happens to a person, the precipitating cause often seems quite insignificant. One would never have expected such a tiny thing to cause such a train of illness, suffering and other dire consequences. What has happened is that the Divine decree against the person has been clothed in these mundane circumstances in order to send him what he deserves."

"This is why it is a natural response to screw up one's eyes when suffering pain - in order to escape the suffering and nullify the pain through gazing at the ultimate goal, which is entirely good. The only way to focus on this goal is by closing one's eyes. And even though the individual may be totally unaware of what he is doing, the soul knows everything. That is why it is a natural reflex to close our eyes when suffering pain."

"This is why it is so important to avoid all evil thoughts, because otherwise that is where your place will be."

"This is why one must be so careful to protect one's mind and not admit alien thoughts and ideas. To achieve true repentance and make amends for all your sins, make a determined effort to expel all alien thoughts from your mind. The conscious mind is a manifestation of the soul, and thus when a person sanctifies his mind and thereby his soul, everything is elevated and returns to its source. This is the essence of repentance."

"This is why the time to repent these sins is when you are in a state of expanded consciousness, because this counteracts the debtor's state of constricted consciousness."

"This is why we have to narrow our eyes to see a distant object. We have to limit our vision so that other things don ' t interfere, and we must focus on the desired object in order to strengthen our vision and avoid its being diffused. Then it is possible to see the far-off object."

"This is why you should pay attention to what happens to you and consider what it may signify. Think about the thoughts, words and deeds that God sends you each day in order to understand His hints to you to draw closer to Him at every moment. This applies to everyone, no matter who and in what circumstances ."