Renewal

 

Even if there were good things in the past, even it the preceding days were filled with positive memories, real progress and uplifting, one must nonetheless turn over the page and start anew.  A man who dwells on his triumphs is lulled by them and then grows old.  Rebbe Nachman said, “It is forbidden to be old!”

How much more is this so, if the previous page was soiled, spoilt by sins and blemishes.  How much more do we need to turn it over forcefully!  We will leave remorse to a more propitious moment (as this will be discussed in the next chapter.)  For now, we have not yet recovered from the shock, the depression caused by our fall.  How can we look at things in the right perspective?

 

If we were to sink into excessive remorse, it would quickly degenerate into intolerable guilt and self-blame.  Then, in order to be rid of these burdens, as a deplorable reaction, we might well give up everything . . .

 

Let us turn the page immediately.  What counts now is to extricate ourselves.  We must save what is essential.  For the rest, we will see later.  Let us say to ourselves, let us say to God:  “Right now, for the first time I am going to begin to draw near to You!”

 

This method is so powerful, so clear, so true, that it guarantees success for anyone who applies it.  If we take it to heart.  Gradually it will become a reflex, so much so that, like the great Sages, we will be capable of beginning our lives anew several times a day.  The Chassidim tell us that every thought (even if disguised in the most pious remorse) that would prevent us from doing so must be considered negative.

 

Until we succeed in applying this principle constantly, we will endeavor to at least put it into practice at the important turning points of time:  at the beginning of a new year, a new month, a new day.  In the Hebraic calendar, the day begins at nightfall.  Let us then meditate a few moments and say to ourselves:  “A new day is about to begin, I am a new person who has just come into the world.  I am going to begin to serve my Creator.”

 

It is not without reason that the Talmud affirms, “The convert who embraces the faith resembles a newborn.”  Indeed, at whatever level we are, it is our function to revert to faith, and that is possible only if we consider ourselves as being born anew.

 

 

How vigilant we must be, and how attentive, if we are to seize the essential moments in which our personal mission is presented to us . . .  A stagnant, routine existence quickly loses its meaning.  A man who lives such an existence can hardly attain his goal.

 

We can do so if we renew ourselves constantly and if we don’t allow our intuition to become dulled.  Our main efforts, therefore, if we wish to succeed in making our existence a work of value, will be focused on renewing ourselves at each moment.

 

* * *

 

 

The fact of undertaking any project and realizing it to the best of our abilities will depend on the amount of encouragement that we will be given by our neighbors or by ourselves.

 

The furtherance of our holy heritage depends on how much each generation will succeed in transmitting motivation to posterity; the art of making the right remarks as a transmission too is therefore imperative.  Being to some degree responsible for one another, we are enjoined by the Divine Law to contribute to our companions both encouragement and constructive remarks: “You shall rebuke your neighbor and you will not bear guilt for his sake” (Vayikra XIX).  These remarks are meant to increase the recipient’s mental energy; for that reason they are called “Food for the Soul”.  Alas, after being influenced by two thousand years of western moralism, we naturally lean towards Esav’s mode of thought.  Deeply entrenched in the mental realm of rigor, Esav’s mode of thought generates mostly caustic repression which in turn produces negative reprimands.  Instead of feeding and stimulating our souls, rigid moralization cause causes excessive responsibility and guilt; it paralyzes.  It awakens the rankness of our sins and suffocates our spirit.  As a result of suffocation, the heavenly inflow that was revealed through our spirit is extinguished, for the loss of all of those who were deriving strengths from it.  Such moralizing doesn’t help; rather, its result is the exact opposite.

 

In his late teaching, on September 29, 1810, Rebbe Nachman, delivered instructions on the topic “rebukes” (Likutey Moharan II/8); due to its importance, this lesson is considered his testament.  The earthshaking insight that is developed there, is meant to snatch the last generation from the clutches of Western Culture and its repertoire of guilt complexes.  Moreover, when we need to rebuke someone, including ourselves, since exile has so weakened us, the appropriate solution will be to strike up a new song.  That is, to instill hope into the recipient’s heart and show him how much we believe in his ability to renew himself, to start all over again and to literally be reborn.

 

In fact, every being addresses it’s praise to the Lord, each in its own way.  These praises are all inscribed in Chapter of Song and constitute the musical background of the universe.  Melodic vibrations circulate an imprint the rhythm of life, to the tune that the Creator assigned them.  This is the channel that provides each individual with adequate energy; song of the world, a poem of nature . . .

 

What if a person has already failed and no longer connects with his own tune as part of the song of nature?  He will certainly need to adjust his spiritual nutrition to his actual situation.  A sick or destitute person or a fallen soul, all urgently need a proper remedy.  The best way to cure any illness is to inject some new energy into the weak parts.  The idea of a new song which will regenerate and rescue the sick individual, is mentioned in the holy Zohar. This is what true leaders have continuously done for the past four thousand years; renewing the faith, regenerating a song, creating musical accompaniment for the Divine message.  The Messiah will reveal this song to its full extent (simple, double, triple, quadruple) and will heal the entire cosmos with it.  Meanwhile, our unique longing for it, can bring forth a preliminary resonance, a prelude that sensitive souls can grasp and spread to their brethren.

 

Do not think, dear reader, that we have dismissed the idea of remorse, of repentance and of soul-searching. On the contrary, the aim of the concepts we are discussing, the very object of this work, is the true return to God.  This is only possible, however, if we take into account our actual condition: a disrupted generation.  In the following chapter we will discuss remorse.  Where and when to express contribution constructively and how to convert the fruitless weight of guilt into a beneficial sense of responsibility.

 

 

(Used with permission from COURAGE by Israel Isaac Besancon. Published by Shir Chadash Publishers).