The Essence of Judaism

Translated by Aaron Yoseph
 
 
What is Yiddishkeit? What is Breslev? What is serving Hashem? That a person must always look for the intrinsic wisdom of each thing. Every mitzvah should be with joy and enthusiasm, because you’re doing it to honor Hashem. Learning Torah – take enthusiasm from it. The Rebbe starts by saying that through Torah our prayers are accepted. It seems to be the wrong way round – isn’t the main thing to toil in Torah? But this is the truth, that through Torah a person can come close to Hashem and start to see the intrinsic wisdom in each thing. Through Torah a person becomes open to being comforted, encouraged and to listen to advice. Many people stay on the outside all their lives, only because they stubbornly insist that things are the way they perceive it. They are right, and everyone else is wrong. So they stay trapped in the Gehinnom they create for themselves all their lives.
 
The Rebbe comes to take simple people like us and bring us into this Gan Eden. First things first – there is no compromise. This is the truth, this is what we need – to look for the intrinsic wisdom in each thing. There are simple thoughts – thoughts of encouragement, thoughts to do each thing with holiness. With these few words the Rebbe summarizes and gives us the essence of all Yiddishkeit, he tells us what it means to be a Jew – to be someone whose heart is open and who looks a bit deeper, beneath the surface. A person has to look for the intrinsic wisdom of each thing. More than that, he has to “connect himself to the intrinsic wisdom of each thing.” Why does the Rebbe repeat these words? Because here he brings the idea of connection to Tsaddikim.
 
There is Chassidut Breslev – I’m connected to something. That’s where I go to look for my answers, in the seforim and with my friends. I don’t yet understand, but I’ll learn. I want to understand the things that are written there. This is called attaching oneself to the wisdom and intrinsic wisdom. The light of wisdom is Hashem’s light that is contained in everything in the creation. His will decreed that man needs to eat, sleep, do business and be busy with things. We have to attach ourselves to this wisdom – to know that this is how it is. The Tsaddikim understand what’s going on here. They see only the Divine light in everything. We attach ourselves to them, and they bring it down to intrinsic wisdom that we can connect to. This is what we learn in Likutei Moharan and Likutei Halachot, and this is what friends should talk about, “Why are you drawn after depression and being discouraged and feeling distant from Hashem? With a bit of intrinsic wisdom you see that Hashem delights in us. You can pick yourself up, you’re raising up sparks – pieces of Divinity that have fallen.” This is intrinsic wisdom.
 
In mitzvot there is both chochmah and intrinsic wisdom. The chochmah is the holiness itself, which we may not be able to grasp, but there is also the intrinsic wisdom, that we can understand. Whatever a man has to go through. Remember that there are sparks to elevate in everything you eat, as the Rebbe brings many times. Take this to heart. This isn’t too lofty a concept. Accept it, and connect to it. This is how we connect to the chochmah and intrinsic wisdom of each thing.
 
The purpose is that “the intrinsic wisdom in each thing should shine to him, so that he sees how he can come close to Hashem through that thing.” Because each person has his own unique darkness, and he needs his own unique type of intrinsic wisdom that he can connect to and take to heart. A person has to know that he has to go to Yeshiva, even if he feels like he’ll die, because if he doesn’t go to Yeshiva, he’ll for sure die. Or a person understands that if he doesn’t give up his anger and arrogance, he’ll suffer more because he’ll get into an even bigger fight, the pain of which will be far more than the pain of giving in now. A bit of intrinsic wisdom.
 
A person has to check – “Why am I unhappy? This isn’t life! I must cheer myself up! I do have mitzvot.” What will bring you closer to Hashem in whatever you’re doing?
 
A person needs to come close to Hashem, to escape his feelings of being distant, his sleepiness and apathy. They are people who become enthused. They want to do everything with holiness. This is “with this thing” – whether it be eating, sleeping, business – “This thing will bring me closer to Hashem than anything else, even if I have to sit in the shop all day. Why? Because I give myself over to Hashem, right in this thing that I’m doing.” Just like someone serving Hashem – he ensures that everything he does is serving Hashem. When he eats, it’s not just in order to have strength to serve Hashem, but he serves Hashem with the eating itself. He looks to the pnimius, to the deeper dimension of everything he does.
 
We can see how in these few lines, we have the essence of Judaism. This is what a person needs to get to, this is what he needs to yearn for and want. That his life, however it may be, whatever he goes through, he knows that if something isn’t working, “This is what I’m really lacking – I forgot to look beneath the surface. This is the advice and the way to go.