ADAPTED FROM HIS AUDIO SHIUR ON EIN YAAKOV, LESSON 124A

CREATING TEFILLAH OUT OF TORAH

Highest Priority

Rebbe Nachman explains what the highest quality hisbodedus is. What should a person speak about with highest priority? What should he ask HaShem for? How should he ask HaShem? Rebbe Nachman says there is nothing greater in hisbodedus than a person first learning a chapter of a sefer, let’s say Rebbe Nachman’s sefer, Likutey Moharan, in which Rebbe Nachman speaks about certain mitzvos, certain middos, qualities, and then converting that learning, that Torah, into tefillah. To translate Torah into tefillah is the highest degree of hisbodedus possible. Rebbe Nachman speaks about this in Likutey Moharan Tinyana, Torah Chaf-Hei.

Likutey Tefillos

Reb Noson further encourages creating tefillos from Torah. Originally, Rebbe Nachman spoke about this in general, about how wonderful it is to have tefillos made from toros. Later, he hinted to Reb Noson, who had an unusual talent in writing, to create a Likutey Tefillos on the Likutey Moharan. He encouraged Reb Noson to write a Likutey Tefillos, a sefer of tefillos, of prayers about every torah in Likutey Moharan. This message was hinted to Reb Noson by Rebbe Nachman.

Although it is good to use the Likutey Tefillos because it is tefillah on Torah, it is best for a person to first learn the torah in Likutey Moharan and then to say the tefillah on it. This is what is meant by making Torah into tefillah or making tefillah out of Torah.

Rebbe Nachman stressed how important, beneficial and valuable this process and method of hisbodedus is. When a person brings a sacrifice that is burnt on the Mizbei’ach, the smoke causes the aroma to rise. This is a “rei’ach nicho’ach laHaShem” (Vayikra 1:9), a pleasant aroma for HaShem. That means, kivyakhol – so to speak – HaShem gets pleasure from the aroma of this korban.

We Can Offer Our Words

Today, “Uneshalmah parim sefaseinu” (Hoshea 14:3), with our lips we bring korbanos. We do not have a Beis HaMikdash. We cannot bring sacrifices on the Mizbei’ach. We can offer as a sacrifice, our words, our words of tefillah to HaShem. Our tefillah today is like a korban and this is a pleasant aroma to HaShem. Rebbe Nachman said that from creation till the present day, there is nothing to match the pleasure, kivyakhol, that HaShem gets out of tefillos that come from toros. Nothing else can bring as much satisfaction to HaShem. It is that valuable. Hisbodedus is the best thing a person can do to reach out to HaShem, and the highest level of hisbodedus is converting Torah into tefillah. First learn a torah from the Tzaddik Emes and then daven to HaShem to be zokheh to understand and to fulfill that torah.

GIVE YOUR SOUL THROUGH DAVENING

Mesiras Nefesh in Davening

Rebbe Nachman says there is another kind mesiras nefesh, giving one’s life through davening. A person who davens to HaShem with kavanah puts feeling into his davening. This means he puts his nefesh, his soul, his life, into the words he is saying. Chazal bring on this the posuk, “ki alekha horagnu kol hayom” (Tehillim 44:23), HaShem, for your sake are killed every day. We die a death every day. What is this? This is tefillah. In tefillah we give our lives to you. We put our lives into our words (Tikkuney Zohar #21, 59a). “Kol atzmosai tomarnah” (Tehillim 35:10), we invest every part of ourselves into the words we daven to HaShem and this is mesiras nefesh. We give our lives to HaShem through davening.

What Makes This So Difficult?

At times there is a terrific mental strain to contain one’s mind, to harness the mind from wandering off and straying to different thoughts. A person who wants to daven with kavanah will meet a lot of difficulty. There are a lot of meniyos, a lot of obstacles on the way. The mind has a tendency to wander off. You have to keep pulling it back. You have got to hold a leash on it and keep pulling at that leash, not to allow the mind to wander off in the middle of tefillah. The whole Shemoneh Esrei takes only a few minutes, but in those few minutes it is so difficult to concentrate that it is actual mesiras nefesh. It is extremely difficult for a person to strain himself with all the effort it takes to put his whole body and mind and soul into that concentration, to see that it is one single, pure thought throughout the tefillah. This constitutes mesiras nefesh about which the Torah says, “ki alekha horagnu,” HaShem, we die for Your sake to even yearn for this concentration in tefillah.

It’s All in Your Head

What stops a person from succeeding in concentrating? Each person has meniyos, and the main meniyah, the biggest obstacle of all, Rebbe Nachman says, is the meniyas hamo’ach, the obstacle that is created by your own mind. A person’s own mind is the biggest obstacle of all, because the person begins to imagine that he is standing before HaShem, trying to concentrate, putting all of his effort into the davening, but does not succeed. Can it be that Heaven is rejecting him, is pushing him away, chas veshalom? This is what a person might imagine and this means that he is then creating a monster in the form of a forbidden type of kashya – a question that is asur and tamei – forbidden and impure. He is forgetting that ever single tefillah is heard. Meniyas hamo’ach is when the mind begins to imagine things that are wrong and even harmful. This is the greatest obstacle because this is what really repels a person, drags the person down, chas veshalom, and takes him away from his closeness to HaShem. A person must remove that meniyah from his mo’ach. He must remove that mental germ which attacks his brain and which does so much harm. This means to remove that kashya.

Scream to HaShem for Help

Rebbe Nachman says that if suddenly, through no will of his own, a person experiences questions or doubts about HaShem chas veshalom, he can use these doubts to actually strengthen his connection with Hashem. How? Through crying out to HaShem, “Please, HaShem help me, HaShem listen to me.” When he pleads with HaShem aloud, even quietly, the doubts are immediately dispelled. This is because hearing one’s own voice speaking to HaShem instantly purifies the mind and removes doubt. This is the ultimate achievement in hisbodedus and in all tefillos.

Rebbe Nachman said that he himself reached great heights simply through hisbodedus. He was speaking of levels beyond our mental conception because these heights were above the spiritual realms we know of. He also assured as all tzaddikim throughout all the generations reached their madreigos only through hisbodedus (Likutey Moharan II, 100). Therefore, Rebbe Nachman strongly advises that every Jew should see to it daily, without fail, to have hisbodedus for any period of time that he could, and with the hisbodedus, coupled with this pure faith, a person will surely succeed becoming closer to HaShem.