ADAPTED FROM HIS AUDIO SHIURIM ON SICHOS HARAN 22 AND SICHOS HARAN 256

Cling To The Tzaddik

As Sefer Bamidbar opens with the encampment around the Mishkan at its center, we’re reminded that holiness draws everything toward it—if we allow ourselves to be pulled.

Rebbe Nachman explains that the tzaddik emes is like a magnet. He has a magnetic force that draws a person to him (Likutey Moharan I, 70). If you simply let your mind go and don’t battle it, you’ll find yourself drawn to the good side. But then there is the ko’ach hamachri’ach, the repelling force, which draws a person away from kedushah, away from the tzaddik emes, away from the Beis HaMikdash. The Beis HaMikdash is called a Mishkan. Mishkan (משכן) comes from the word MoShKheNi (משכני), the magnetic force of the Mishkan which draws all holy things to it.

These opposing, repelling forces are, in most cases, not just the satan himself, but individuals: atheists and skeptics with all types of poisoned minds who cannot sit still, who try to draw people away from faith, chas veshalom. This is the constant battle a person must fight to thwart the repelling force and allow himself to be pulled closer to the tzaddik emes by the holy magnetic force. For this reason, Rebbe Nachman says: It’s a very big zekhus for a person to be really and truly close to and bound to the tzaddik emes.

A Person Must Remain Alert

Never let yourself fall into a semi-sleep, because if you stop concentrating even for a minute, that could give the satan the opening he is looking for. This is a call for alertness. A person should always remember this point. This is the yesod, the foundation, upon which a person’s life as a religious Jew is based.

Greatness of Akdamus

Rabbeinu Z”L spoke about the special tefillah called Akdamus, which is said on Shavuos morning after Shacharis, just before leining, after staying up all night. The chazzan says the Akdamus and the congregation joins in. This is a very special tefillah. Rabbeinu Z”L praised the greatness of Akdamus to the very utmost. Rabbeinu Z”L said that because the Jews, in general, have so much good and spiritual wealth in Torah and tefillos and so on, they cannot really feel the value, greatness and beauty of the holy tefillah of Akdamus which is said on Shavuos.

Akdamus is a special, deep tefillah about the praises of HaShem, about the future of greatness of Heaven with the coming of Mashiach, the se’udas livyasan, and so on. But it is not just a tefillah. It is also a song.

There is a special niggun (tune) with which Akdamus is sung and this niggun is universal. It is not just said or sung with a random tune. There is one special tune, and only that tune is used throughout the whole world. That this tune remained unique and fixed through all this time testifies that the tune is as holy as the words themselves. That niggun is part of the tefillah of Akdamus. Rabbeinu Z”L said that if a person would know the greatness and importance of Akdamus with its special tune, then he would know he has some inkling of what kind of an awesome chiddush this tefillah is.

When Rabbeinu Z”L spoke about this, he began to sing some of the words of Akdamus with the niggun. He said that Akdamus is a song of desire, a desire of the closeness, the yichud, of the heavenly chasan and kallah. That is why both the words and the tune are so holy and precious. Rabbeinu Z”L sang a few bars of the tune, and it is known that Rabbeinu Z”L had an unusual talent for negginah. When he sang, especially this song of desire, it was something that ruled the hearts of every one of the listeners. The people who were zokheh to hear Rabbeinu Z”L say Akdamus with the tune were mesmerized.

Only Once a year

This sichah was said on Shavuos in the morning after Shacharis was over. Rabbeinu Z”L, of course, davened vasikin, and usually there is a second minyan that is also an early minyan, but after vasikin is finished. Rabbeinu Z”L was sitting at the table, eating the Shavuos meal, a dairy meal as is the custom. During the meal, they could hear the second minyan davening. When they heard the chazzan singing Akdamus, Rabbeinu Z”L spoke about the greatness, the holiness and the importance of this song.

We can learn a few things from this sichah. We learn, first of all, about how important and vital Akdamus is, and how holy the tune is. A person should be careful during the time that it is sung, to stand with the utmost respect and to sing along with the niggun, pronouncing the words clearly. It is said only once a year. How fortunate is the person who is zokheh to say it, especially at the vasikin minyan.