Smile and Say “Cheese” for Hashem

Translated by Aaron Yoseph

We’ve been exiled so many times. Egypt, Babylonia, Rome, Germany, Russia, America, England. We’ve been all over, and we’re still here. Hashem created everything just for us. He can’t leave us. We know that this is the reality. If we can overcome our depression and despair, this time of the year during the Shovevim is the best time to come close to Hashem. We can find Him here, in the darkness of the middle of the night.

But we don’t understand emuna. The Rebbe tells us that this is possible for us. We can trust in Hashem. The Holy Temple – the Beis HaMikdash – opened up our eyes for us. Back then, we could see the truth. We had brains. We could see how much Hashem delighted in us, each of us, with even the smallest of mitzvot. The Beis HaMikdash opened our eyes. Today we don’t have it, but the Tsaddikim bring us the holiness of the Beis HaMikdash. Learning our holy Rebbe Nachman’s books is the next best thing to being in the Beis HaMikdash…

The Rebbe shows us and tells us that we have to refresh our emuna every day, because we’ll face a battle in it every day. Don’t cover over the truth. See where Hashem did help you. Thank Hashem. Emuna brings us to prayer. The more we acknowledge, the more we thank Hashem, the more miracles we see. The main thing is not to ignore or hide the miracles.

Why is it so hard for us to stay strong in emuna? The Rebbe gets to the root of the problem. Emuna is truth. The truth is clear – Hashem hears our prayers, Hashem is with us, He’ll help us. But the truth is so incredible, it’s so awesome, that it’s too much for us to grasp. The truth is that Hashem is here, and he wants to see you smile. Yes, go ahead – say “cheese” for Hashem because He’s taking your picture right now. This is the truth. But nowadays truth has become relative – according to what you can take, but then that isn’t really the whole truth.

This world is so lowly – yes, but the truth is that Hashem wants it like this. The truth is that Hashem delights in you. When our emuna gets weak, we have no strength. True, you have no strength, but the truth is that Hashem is watching, and every tiny bit that you pick yourself up, given’s Him great delight. So it’s very worthwhile making that little effort.

Getting close to Hashem is about seeing the truth. When we see the truth, we can always find advice. The Torah is truth. The Tsaddikim are truth. I’ll go with them till the end. Things are only able to confuse us because we aren’t connected to the truth strongly enough. The truth is doing teshuva out of love, just for Hashem. To learn something and rejoice in the fact that Hashem delights in it – that’s true learning!

When we have the truth, we have emuna. Otherwise, when we have a headache, we aren’t feeling well, things didn’t go as we wanted – we get stuck. With truth and emuna, we know that things are however Hashem wants to be. We feel no need to fight against reality. The Rebbe teaches us what emuna is. It’s truth. It’s Hashem’s light. When we’re careful in observing the mitzvot of the Torah, we get the desire for the truth.