Baruch Dayan Emet – Dr. Zev Ballen

The entire staff of Breslev Israel mourns the very difficult news that Dr. Zev Ballen, HaRav Zev Chaim Mordechai Ben Yaakov, died of a heart attack on 26-Tevet-5781 (January 10, 2021). Dr. Ballen wrote hundreds of articles for the website, in addition to hundreds more videos. This is in addition to so many people he helped personally, doing  emuna  counseling, on tours, and so much more. He was a very righteous man who used all his resources to help others and teach them emuna, teach them the truth, and help them navigate through their personal troubles. He was quite possibly the best psychotherapist the field has ever known.  

Dr. Ballen is now in the World of Truth, the next world. There, he no longer can perform mitzvot and keep G-d’s commandments on his own. However, his soul can still be elevated by the deeds of others!  

Dr. Ballen gave us so much – now it is our turn to give back to him.  

It is customary to light a candle in his honor and learn Mishnayot in his honor (Mishna in Hebrew is based on the same root as  neshama,  soul).  

However, the very biggest merit you can give him is to learn emuna! Technology is so amazing – even though he is no longer in this world, you can still read his articles and even watch his videos. Through this, you enable Dr. Ballen to fulfill Rebbe Nachman’s teaching that a person must leave behind students, so that through them learning his teachings, it is as if he is alive in both this world and the Next World, at the same time. 

Remember Dr. Ballen’s story! His passing is a perfect example of what Rabbi Arush just taught about thanking Hashem every moment.  

Every moment is precious, and we cannot take the next moment for granted. Thank Hashem for everything, down to the tiniest detail. Thank Hashem for your chair, every time you sit in it. If you have even one pair of clothes, excellent! Baruch Hashem, thank You Hashem. Not just “thank You Hashem for the food” – Thank You Hashem for the plate, the fork, the napkin, the table, the tablecloth, the wife who cooked the food, the money to buy it, the pan she used to cook it. Thank you for each and every type of food, and that I always have food to eat when I am hungry. Thank You Hashem for enabling me to put on tefillin this morning, thank You Hashem for my modest clothes, thank You Hashem for my next breath.  

If you’re still breathing – thank Hashem! Remember Dr. Ballen’s sudden passing – don’t take that next breath for granted.  

Live every day like it’s your last, to the fullest. Look for the good points and ignore the bad. Don’t ruin all the good and all the potential for the future upset about what you didn’t manage. Every moment of life is a diamond – don’t stand there crying about the diamonds that fell. Just keep grabbing whatever you can! 

The Last Day 

And make sure to fulfill the dictum of the Sages – “Repent the day before you die.” We don’t always know when that will be, and we can’t assume there will be time to repent before we are taken. Every single day, do one hour of personal prayer, including at least 30 minutes (but not more than 60 minutes) of spiritual accounting, reviewing your day from the last session until now.  

Thank Hashem for all the good you were able to do, and review the places where you could have done better. Ask for forgiveness, find the messages and lessons from Hashem, review how you could have done better in the situation and learn from it, and especially pray for the ability to do better in the future.  

In this way, you are forgiven for all your sins – even if you didn’t manage to detail them all. This is called teshuva from love – repenting out of love, not out of fear. You aren’t waiting for the inevitable suffering to come out of the sin – you’re jumping the gun and repenting long before that. You’re essentially telling Hashem, “I love You and I don’t want anything to be between us! I want You to be happy with me, and I want to right away apologize for whatever I’ve done against You, not because I am afraid of You punishing me, but because I can’t stand the idea that You could be upset at me. I know You love me. I love You, and I only want to live according to Your will!” Now all your sins become merits! 

And on the day G-d takes you from this world, you’ll have no judgment in the Heavenly Court – because you already judged yourself. It’ll be a short case, just over whatever you did since your last personal prayer session. That’s a very good thing, because the Heavenly Court is a real terror! 

Please watch this truly outstanding video by Dr. Ballen on personal prayer. It is one of the last videos he recorded while working  at  Breslev  Israel, and might as well be his last will and testament.  

If this article inspires you to do only one thing – make it watching this video! 

The Biggest Merit 

One final, and very important, thing we can learn from Dr. Ballen is the power of teaching others emuna. This is truly the biggest merit it is possible to have in this world. It is also the biggest Heavenly protection that we can give ourselves. 

I hope and pray that in Dr. Ballen’s merit, you’ll pick up a copy of The Garden of Emuna that changed his life, and read it in depth, like a workbook. I hope you’ll read some of his articles, or watch a few videos. I hope you’ll strengthen yourself to thank Hashem for every moment and every mitzvah, and not take anything for granted. I hope that you’ll try out the wonder that is daily personal prayer, or strengthen yourself in it if you’re already doing it. 

And the biggest thing you can do for him – share this article. Share his articles or videos. Talk to a friend about emuna or buy them a copy of the book. Enable yet another person to learn the teachings that changed his life! 

Breslev Israel and the Arush family send our heartfelt condolences to the entire Ballen family. May you be comforted among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.  

May his memory be for a blessing and may his soul be elevated. 

 You can also read Dr. Ballen’s book The Ultimate You – Using Emuna to Break Through Personal Barriers.