I am a River that Cleanses
This is a delightful treasury of the memorable expressions and metaphors that Rebbe Nachman of Breslev used to describe...
It occurred to me that I ought to take my wife and go off to some remote place where I could live in secrecy out of everyone’s sight. From time to time I would step out into the street and take a look at the world and laugh at everyone and everything. (Chayey Moharan #259)
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When somebody thinks of me they become like a newborn babe. (Siach Sarfey Kodesh 1-17)
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Nobody ever loses out on my account. (Siach Sarfey Kodesh 1-28)
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God has granted me that whenever people speak of me , their thoughts will turn to repentance. (Siach Sarfey Kodesh 1-47)
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I encounter great opposition and people ask many questions about me. And with one silence I answer all the questions. (Siach Sarfey Kodesh 1-59)
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Maybe One Drop Will Enter
Why have I revealed so many amazing teachings and stories and shared so many of my thoughts with you? Let me explain it with a parable.
There was once a king whose only son became so ill that all the doctors despaired of curing him. Meanwhile, a doctor of outstanding wisdom came and the king begged him to try his best to cure the prince. The doctor told him truthfully that the chances of the prince being cured were very remote, but if they tried one last thing , there was a very faint possibility that the prince would be cured .“But I don’t know if I should tell you what this method is,” said the doctor, “because it will be very hard indeed to apply it.”When the king pressed him to reveal the method , the doctor said: “You must understand that your son’s illness is so desperate that it is now quite impossible to put even a single drop of medicine in his mouth. However, there are certain remedies which are so priceless that a single small bottle costs thousands and thousands of gold pieces. Now you must fill barrels and barrels full of these precious remedies and pour them in bucketfuls over your son. Obviously these precious remedies will almost all go to waste, but the prince will become slightly stronger. And it may be that as they are poured all over him, one tiny drop will enter his mouth and he might be healed.”The king immediately agreed and gave instructions to do what the doctor had suggested, and this was how the prince was healed.
Precisely because we are so crushed by the sickness of our souls, the Tzaddik, the faithful doctor, is forced to pour priceless remedies over us, even though it would seem that virtually all of them will go to waste. Nevertheless, the sweet scent is absorbed. And in the fullness of time, maybe we will allow one drop to enter into our mouths and our inner being, and then there will be some hope for us to be healed spiritually and physically. (Chayey Moharan #391)
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Sometimes I tell a person something but it has no effect until my words are passed from this person to the next and from one friend to another. Eventually they reach a particular individual and penetrate deep inside his heart. Then they carry out their mission to perfection, stirring and arousing him. (Sichot Haran #208)
If you saw a great treasure you would surely rush to dig it up, even if it meant getting very muddy and dirty.
Am I not the treasury of fear of Heaven? Then why don’t people run after me to get it? The way to attain it is with your lips and heart. You must be bold enough to ask for it. It is “in your mouth and in your heart that you may do it” (Deuteronomy 30:14) . (Chayey Moharan #295)
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The Good Wine
I am a “new container full of old wine” ( Avot 4:7) . (Chayey Moharan #289)
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Once, an important trader was traveling with a consignment of fine Hungarian wine. During the journey his assistant and the carriage driver said to him, “Here we are, traveling with all this wine. It’s a very hard journey – give us a little taste of the wine.” He agreed to let them have a small taste.
A few days later, the assistant happened to be in a small town with some people who were drinking wine and praising it extravagantly. They said it was Hungarian.
“Let me have a taste,” said the assistant. They gave him some, and he said, “This isn’t fine Hungarian wine at all!” They were most offended and told him to leave, but he insisted: “I know very well that this wine isn’t Hungarian, because I was with a wine merchant who had genuine Hungarian wine and he gave me some to try. I know what it really tastes like.” But they ignored him.
But when the Mashiach comes, then they’ll know. The time will come for the fine old wine stored up for the righteous to be served. Others will be fooled into believing that inferior Romanian, Wallachsian and Strovitsarian wines are fine old vintage wines. But none of my followers will be fooled, because they’ve already tasted the good wine! (Chayey Moharan #260)
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In time to come the whole world will be Breslover Chassidim.
“I will give you a heart of flesh, LeV BaSaR” (Ezekiel 36:26) . Read the word not as BaSaR but as BoSeR, “glad” (Midrash) . Everyone will be glad at their friends’ good fortune.
The letters of the words LeV BoSeR, a glad heart, spell out the word BReSLoV. (Chayey Moharan #339)
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