The Sharpest Lawyer

Translated from Rabbi Arush’s feature article in the weekly Chut shel Chessed newsletter. The articles focus on his main message: “Loving others as yourself” and emuna. 

The New Draft Law 

Have you heard about the new draft law? Let me tell you about it. Every enlisted soldier counts the days left until he  will be discharged and sent home. Especially if he is a combat soldier. 

Well, the new draft law, or to put it better – the new discharge law – demands that every soldier must appear before a panel of senior officers on the day of his scheduled discharge. The officers examine the records of the soldier, including a report of his activities from every single day of his service. They watch videos showing his behavior at all times, even when he was totally alone. They listen to his every word, and they even examine his facial expressions. 

If the soldier earns a perfect score and he served with the proper attitude and motivation, and he completed every mission assigned to him, he will be discharged with honors. 

If they find his service faulty, however, they send him back to begin his army service all over again. He is stripped of his rank and put back into a rookie class where he will have to go through all the back-breaking basic training from the beginning. 

Can you imagine such a thing? Can you imagine how scary it would be to stand in front of such a panel of judges, knowing that after all you went through over the past three years they might decide to force you, with drawn bayonets, to do it all over again? 

An Escape Route 

Fortunately, Hashem was kind enough to put into the minds of the high military brass to give each soldier a chance. That is, they permit each soldier to bring with him a defense lawyer to represent him. The lawyer, who knows everything about these tribunals, knows how to rebut the counts that the judges bring up against the soldier. If he is successful, the soldier will be spared the horrors of repeating his years of service, and he might even be commended for excellent service! 

How much are this lawyer’s services worth? A fortune, obviously. How much would you be willing to pay to gain three years of life instead of three years of humbling harassment? And it might not be limited to three years, because you will then have to appear again before the panel of judges, who might sentence you to a third stint! 

Yes, this new law gives the bar association an entire new division of services, special for soldiers hoping to be discharged from the army. Of course, some lawyers will be more successful than others, and the better record a lawyer has in successfully representing his client, the more he can charge. 

The One and Only 

Suppose that there is one lawyer who is so talented that he succeeds every single time. He can promise his clients 100 percent success. There would be a long, long line of potential clients who are willing to give everything they have to retain this lawyer. If the soldier’s parents are wealthy, they would reserve his services from the first day their son is drafted. They know that faults can be found in even the best, most heroic soldiers, and that an expert lawyer is an absolute necessity. This lawyer, however, wins every case, even when the soldier has almost no merit. For this lawyer, representing an average soldier is child’s play, a piece of cake! And he has never let a client down. 

This lawyer’s name is Rebbe Nachman. And the frightening law that he deals with is: reincarnation! 

Reincarnation Insurance 

It is not an easy world that we live in. Dangers lurk in every corner. There are very few special individuals who go through life and are still clean when they leave this world. As the pasuk (verse) tells us, “There is no righteous man on earth who performs good things and who does not sin.”¹ 

When souls complete their terms, which stretch over many decades, they appear before a panel of judges. Even if they were good souls and tried their best to do what they were supposed to do, the Court will find faults of one sort or another, and then they might sentence that soul to another term. He will then be reincarnated, sent back down to earth for another frightening lifetime. 

Who knows what might happen then? What if he is born to a nonobservant family and brought up without any connection to Torah and mitzvot? Who knows what culture he will be fed, or which enticements will draw him even further from Hashem? What sort of parents will raise him, and in what sort of environment will he grow up? 

Reb Noson of Breslov was the prime disciple of Rebbe Nachman, and he perpetuated Rebbe Nachman’s teachings. He said that when a soul is sentenced to be reincarnated, it will respond by saying that it is willing to endure every possible punishment, to have everything in Gehinnom thrown at him, in order to be spared the horror of being reincarnated. 

Regarding himself personally, Reb Noson said that he would agree to be reincarnated on one condition: that in his new life he will be given the opportunity to visit the grave site of Rebbe Nachman in Uman, at least once in his life, to give a coin to tzedakah (charity) while there, and to recite Tikkun Haklali at the site. That would make all the danger and suffering of reincarnation worthwhile! 

Incalculable Rectifications 

Reb Noson was incredibly proficient in the wisdom of Kabbalah, and he certainly knew all there is to know about reincarnation. He did not take the dangers of being reincarnated lightly. A soldier being sentenced to serve a second stint is next to nothing compared to the threat of reincarnation. 

But there is something else that Reb Noson understood well, while we have no inkling of it – the greatness and spiritual powers of Rebbe Nachman! Rebbe Noson knew that Rebbe Nachman guaranteed that every Jew who comes to his grave site, gives a coin to tzedakah, and recites Tikkun Haklali will be granted his complete tikkun.² And if he guaranteed it, you can count on it. His promise is as strong as steel. It is a 100 percent guarantee! 

So now, if you have been given such a wonderful promise to be saved from the threat of reincarnation, it ought to be worthwhile to do whatever it takes to take advantage of it. Imagine! A guarantee that this incarnation will be your last one! And as I wrote to you last week, it is so much better if you come to Rebbe Nachman on Rosh Hashanah, when his powers are enhanced many times over. 

On Rosh Hashanah, the whole world gathers together to be with the tzaddik buried in Uman. Rebbe Nachman said that this gives the tzaddik tremendous power to effect tikkunim and to bring yeshuot (salvation) for his followers, and in fact for all of Klal Yisrael and for the entire world. Whoever joins this sacred gathering multiplies these  tikkunim  exponentially (by tens of thousands!), as Rebbe Nachman explained at great length in the Torah he taught during the last Rosh Hashanah of his life, which essentially was his will and testament.³ 

Let No One Be Left Behind 

My dear Jewish men and women! We are all witness to how the entire world is losing stability, and how calamities are occurring everywhere. We can feel the footsteps  of Mashiach right outside beyond the wall, and we are all waiting anxiously for him to reveal himself. Wars are taking place all around us and within our own borders. The Jewish people are waking up to a new spiritual revolution, while falsehood and impurity are preparing for the final, decisive battle. Gog and Magog are right here! 

There is only one solution – to go to Rebbe Nachman and proclaim, along with myriads of other Jews, in complete unity and unison, that Hashem is King! Then, all the world’s wickedness will vanish in a puff of smoke.  Evil governments will cease to be, and Hashem will bring honor to His nation and build His Palace. 

Rebbe Nachman cried out, “Let no one be missing!”⁴  He takes full responsibility. He has the power, and he said that we can rely on his power. Our lives are on the line, and so we all run to him. He is our insurance policy. It is up to us to do teshuvah, and it is up to us to make the choice, but we rely on the promise given to us by Rebbe Nachman, who said, “Come to me, and you will receive everything you need to achieve your tikkun during this incarnation.”⁵ 

It’s Worth Whatever It Costs 

Money is not the problem. It is true that a trip to Uman is expensive, but look how much you will gain from it. Besides, Rebbe Nachman said that he would take care of the expenses and make sure that we get it all back with interest. Estimates are that Israel’s current Prime Minister has spent several million shekels, maybe more than ten million, on his defense team for his court case, and it has been going on for several years now. In our case, for a paltry few thousand shekels you can spend a few days in Uman and be assured of being found innocent for the entire year. And for the same price, Rebbe Nachman will take care of your wife and children and everyone else in your family. 

If you haven’t yet arranged your trip, you can still get a last-minute ticket. Pick up the phone and make your reservation. And, dear Jewish women! If your husbands had to face a crucial criminal trial, you would not tell him, “How can you leave your family and go somewhere else?” You would understand clearly that he must go and prove his innocence. This applies even more to Rosh Hashanah, when not only is your husband on trial, but you, your children, and all other Jews are being tried. So don’t hesitate! Send your husband off with a smile. You will be doubly rewarded. 

As Rebbe Nachman said, “Of course, you certainly depend on my Rosh Hashanah, but that’s not all. The entire world depends on my Rosh Hashanah!”⁶ 

Editor’s Notes: 

¹ Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) 7:20 

² Chayei Moharan (The Life of Moharan), Section 225 

³ Likutei Moharan II, Torah 8 

⁴ Chayei Moharan, Section 403 (or Tzaddik #40) 

⁵ Chayei Moharan, Section 305 mentions the necessity of the tzaddik for one’s tikkun; Section 280 mentions “this incarnation” and refers to a chilling warning Rebbe Nachman gave regarding the necessity of drawing close to the ultimate Tzaddik. 

⁶ Chayei Moharan, Section 405