So Pure, So Awesome

Compiled and edited by Ziv Ritchie
 
 
Pure means open, I’m open to receive. Impure means not open to receive, not ready, closed up.
 
One of the things given to Chava [Eve] in order to fix the mistake of eating from the Tree of Knowledge is going to the mikva [ritual bath]. The Tree of Knowledge is knowing and doing things on the outside, though closed up on the inside.
 
Water is open to the inside.
 
In Hebrew, mayim is water. Before creation, there was only Oneness. After creation, G-d and the world are two-ness. Water has the deepest depths of Oneness.
 
First, I want you to know, there are two kinds of closeness. One kind of closeness is when I’m standing face to face with you; Mamash, you look at me and I look at you. This is very close, but it’s not the closest. The closest is when I’m so close to somebody that I can’t even see him anymore.
 
In the mikva, you close your eyes. When you kiss someone, you’re so close to them that you have to close your eyes to really see them on the inside. In the mikva, you close your eyes because you’re so close, you see so much, so deep.
 
Reb Nachman says that when Mashiach is coming, the world will be filled with G-d knowledge like water in the ocean. When Mashiach is coming it will be like being under the water of the mikva, so very deep, so awesome. Mashiach knowledge is like water knowledge.
 
Reb Nachman says there are two levels: G-d is first [rishon], like G-d is the first and the last, and G-d is One [echad].
 
We say, “Shema Yisrael HaShem Elokeinu HaShem Echad [Listen Israel, the Lord is our G-d, the Lord is One.]” This is so important. I want you to know, in the deepest depths, that earth is on the level of G-d is first, and water is on the level of G-d is One.
 
Under the water we know that G-d is One.
 
The Hebrew word “mayim” [water] has no plural – water and waters, there is only mayim. Water accommodates more water gladly.
 
What is so special about water? What is water all about? The Gemara says that, in a mikva, if only one hair is sticking out of the water, then the mikva doesn’t work. You must be completely immersed in the water. Inside knowledge…
 
Before Adam ate from the Tree of Knowledge, he was mamash so very connected to Above. This doesn’t come from outside knowledge, from a book. This is mamash inside knowledge.
 
What’s the difference? ‘One and one equals two,’ this is outside knowledge. ‘One and one is One,’ this is inside knowledge. The Tree of Knowledge is outside knowledge.
 
I want you to know, when you’re in the water, completely covered with water, you have inside knowledge.
 
G-d cursed the snake; the snake is on the earth. Growing things are in the earth; a seed planted in the earth needs water to grow. Water connects the seed to the inside of the earth. So inside us we also need the water of inside knowledge to nurture our growth.
 
Water tells the earth, “Open your inside. Open inside.”
 
Pure means open to receive, and impure means not open to receive.
 
Sweet holy knowledge is coming to us from heaven, but we need to be open to it, to be pure to receive it, so we must go to the mikva.
 
A pure person is someone who is so very open.
 
The more I connect, the more I remember. In Hebrew, the word “choshech” [darkness], is almost the same word as “shocheach” [forgetting].
 
You know what the Tree of Knowledge is? Why does it bring death into the world? Because it is disconnected from the inside.
 
You know what death is? Death means the soul is not connected to the body.
 
You know what water is? When G-d created the world there was separateness. You know what “G-d is hiding from the world” means? G-d is One, and the world is two.
 
You know what happened to Adam and Eve after they ate from the Tree of Knowledge? They became two, but Paradise is one.
 
Torah does not specifically mention that water was created, because after creation it would be two, but water is still one.
 
On Shabbat you know that G-d is One; Shabbat is peace and blessing. Always go to the mikva before Shabbat.
 
Reb Nachman says that mikva comes from the word tikvah which is hope. Water is anti-death because dying and giving up hope are like the same thing.
 
Reb Nachman says that mikva is the water, the river that comes out of Paradise. Mikvah water is pure on the level of Oneness.
 
Why, in order to be kosher, is water from the mikva to be untouched, [not via a secondary implement]? Because it must be untouched water, coming straight down from heaven. Mikvah water is pure and untouched on the level of Oneness.
 
 
* * *
Excerpt from “Rebbe Nachman Says”, The Teachings of Rabbi Nachman of Breslev as Taught by Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach z”tl
Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach’s books are available online at the Breslev Israel Store.