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Have You Looked Up At The Sky Today?

by Yehudis Golshevsky
Have You Looked Up At The Sky Today
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BRI’s NarrowBridge.Org sends out twice weekly inspiration providing a regular dose of hope, meaning and courage. These emails include small doses of Rebbe Nachman’s wisdom, enabling us to get through the week in a more spiritual way. 

Rebbe Nachman of Breslov taught…

For Rebbe Nachman, living in tune meant awareness—being aware of the transient nature of this world and the eternity of the next.
From his window facing the marketplace Rebbe Nachman spotted one of his followers rushing by.
“Have you looked up at the sky this morning?” the Rebbe asked.
“No, Rebbe, I haven’t had the time.”
“Believe me, in fifty years everything you see here today will be gone. There will another fair—with other horses, other wagons, different people. I won’t be here then and neither will you. So what’s so important that you don’t have time to look at the sky?!”
(The Empty Chair, p. 14*)

 

What does this mean to me?

This story is actually part of a much longer anecdote, and in it Rebbe Nachman refused to give a poor relation of his student a blessing without offering an explanation as to why. The poor man was blessed in any case, and quickly rose to great wealth. Years passed and the man had been transformed completely; in days past, when he traveled to Breslov, he always ran to hear a word of Torah from Rebbe Nachman. Now, his only interest in the town was the fair held in the market square. Too embarrassed to even visit his Rebbe, he would run past Rebbe Nachman’s house, avoiding the tzaddik’sgaze. But, one market day, Rebbe Nachman spotted him beneath the window and tapped on the pane to get his old follower’s attention.After the conversation recorded up above, Rebbe Nachman turned to his student—the one who had given the man a blessing when Rebbe Nachman refused to do so—and said, “You see what your blessing did? You took a sincere servant of G-d and turned him into a person who doesn’t even have the time to look at the sky!”

 

A prayer:

O G-d,
Help me fix within my mind
the enduring truths of life.
Let my every action be directed
toward life’s ultimate goals.
For how can I face You,
my Creator,
without having invested all my days
in preparation for that Moment
when I will meet you?
(The Gentle Weapon, p. 18**)

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*“The Empty Chair: Finding Hope and Joy – Timeless Wisdom from a Hasidic Master, Rebbe Nachman of Breslov” by Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, Adapted by Moshe Mykoff and The Breslov Research Institute, 1994. Permission granted by Jewish Lights Publishing, Woodstock, VT, www.jewishlights.com.

**“The Gentle Weapon: Prayers for Everyday and Not-So-Everyday Moments – Timeless Wisdom from the Teachings of the Hasidic Master, Rebbe Nachman of Breslov” by Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, Adapted by Moshe Mykoff & S.C. Mizrahi with the Breslov Research Institute, 1999.  Permission granted by Jewish Lights Publishing, Woodstock, VT, www.jewishlights.com.

Feedback:

I love your emails and find them both practical and spiritually lofty at the same time. Thanks so much.
YK

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