The Crystal-Ball Impostors
Rather than planning a dangerous mission against Iran that could erupt into a World War III, our people would be much better off just crying out for Hashem.
Gog and Magog, Part 3
The war of epikorsut is agnosticism and heresy. Even many rabbis are non-believers, says Rebbe Nachman. How can that be? Look at the epidemic of false kabbalists that take money from people and tell them that their problems are from evil eye. Then give them a red string for $27 and tell them that everything will be fine. The crystal-ball impostors tell you that you can solve problems with a rabbit's foot type of solutions. That's idol worship and kills people’s incentive to do teshuva. A real rabbi helps you get closer to Hashem! He demands commitments, more Torah, more observance, more prayer, more teshuva! He makes you commit, rather than giving you ridiculous false remedies that negate emuna. When a person is in trouble, only Torah and prayer will help, not little red strings or bottles of holy water. The people that purvey them are Gog and Magog rabbis who are no better than witch doctors who talk about witchcraft, evil eye, and other kinds of voodoo and nonsense. Needless to say, they sorely lack emuna to say the least.
To make spiritual gain, you have to commit! Reinforce your relationship with Hashem! You don't have kids? Don't go to some soothsayer; he won't help you! Make teshuva, talk to Hashem. No, people want to hear prophecies from crystal-ball impostors and fake actor-type rabbis that tell them they're OK. A real rabbi is like a good coach or commander – he makes demands!
Anybody that comes to me with a problem, the minimum he or she gets away with is 10 minutes of hitbodedut a day for that problem alone.
If you make the right choice, you don’t have to worry about the ultimate doomsday scenario of Gog and Magog. You can be one of the survivors. Strengthen your emuna. Talk to Hashem. Know that He's doing everything for the best. Place your life in His trust. Make teshuva, not all at once, but whatever you can at a steady and measured pace, moving forward little by little. Be like a weightlifter who increases the weight he lifts by another ¼ pound a day; over the long haul, he's making tremendous gain.
A flabby person at first can jog for 30 seconds. I don't take a secular person and force him into Talmudic study. Little by little. The fat guy adds a few seconds each week. In a few months, he's running a mile. After a year, he's lost a lot of weight, his circulation is better and his blood pressure is down. Before you know it, he's a marathoner.
The same thing applies to a soul that's born far away from Judaism. A Jewish college student from West Virginia wanted to make teshuva. I told him little by little. Start talking to Hashem. Read Rebbe Nachman's works. Start keeping the Sabbath. Learn to read Hebrew. And now, two years later, he's learning Gemara.
If you have trouble, don't look for easy solutions. Learn how to pray. Don’t give up. No prayer is so strong like a person's appeal to Hashem – Rebbe Natan says that wherever he sees deficiency, he sees a lack of prayer.
Troubles are a stick in Hashem's hands. A person with a brain shouldn’t fight the stick. The ABC's of emuna are to justify whatever Hashem does and accept it with love. We have to do our job, and let Hashem run the world; as soon as we do that, we can do soul-searching, and tshuva, and come closer to Hashem.
A young man wrote me and complained, "My life has no meaning. I have no reason to live. I want to make tshuva but my wife won't agree."
The wife was dead-set against her husband’s Torah observance. I told him to talk to Hashem for 15 minutes a day, to respect his wife and never criticize her. “Give her confidence and don't threaten her,” I said. “Promise her that you’ll make her happy, and that she’s first place in your life. Then, be happy and strengthen yourself with emuna! Hashem will turn her heart around.”
The Gog and Magog rabbis are adamant. They tell the husband to give the dissident wife an ultimatum: “Shabbat, Kashrut, mikva, or else! Divorce her!” If the unsuspecting husband listens to them, in the end, he's broken and ends up being nonreligious too. Another victim of Gog and Magog!
Teshuva starts with emuna. It has to be pleasant. There are loads of rabbis that never had a conversation with Hashem in their lives. How can they teach emuna? How can they be spiritual commanders and help others survive the war of emuna, when they themselves lack emuna?
With proper tshuva and a smile, the whole family gets close to Hashem.
Emuna starts with declaring, "Hashem, you're a tzaddik! You're justified by all you do!"
With emuna, there's no natural law in the world. Hashem is above nature. Hashem decides nature. Don't fall into kfira, agnosticism, as if the forces of nature dictate your life. Since Hashem is above nature, a person connected to Hashem can’t be harmed by natural elements.
All life's deficiencies stem from a lack of emuna and lack of prayer. The real meaning of an “evil eye” is when a person looks bad on the world, as if he or she doesn't deserve what befalls them.
All of Judaism depends on emuna. The war of Gog and Magog is exactly like what Rebbe Nachman says: Whoever believes in Hashem, that everything is from Him and everything is for the ultimate best, emerges victorious from the War of Gog and Magog. Such people are the tzaddikim of the generation.
Those who believe in the power of nature, the power of the army, or the power of the government – even if they’re rabbis – they will be the victims of Gog and Magog. Some rabbis preach revenge or preemptive strikes against our enemies. King David fought wars, but he didn’t put his trust in the might of his right arm. No! King David said in Psalms, "I am prayer!"
Simple faith is prayer! Simple faith is the test of this generation – who's going to hold on?
How does a person obtain simple faith? First, talk to Hashem! An hour of hitbodedut every day! Thank Him, talk your heart out! Tell Him what's on your mind. Ask for emuna. All your deficiencies in life come from emuna. Someone complained to me that their car was stolen. Realize that Hashem took your car away! Talk to Him!
Second, listen to our CD's every day, until simple faith runs in your veins. That way you win the war. Talk about emuna everywhere, all day long. If you want to help your friends and loved ones, spread the CD's.
Third, read The Garden of Emuna, over and over until it’s second nature.
Rebbe Nachman says that exile and diaspora stem from a lack of emuna. The more we strengthen ourselves in emuna, the faster we'll leave the Diaspora, merit Moshiach, and the full redemption of our people. May Hashem help us all strengthen our emuna and live happy lives in this world and the next, amen!
