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NarrowBridge.Org: Let Loose!

by Yehudis Golshevsky
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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. 

If you would like to receive these emails click here.

Rebbe Nachman of Breslov taught…

Rebbe Nachman said: “When you pray, hold nothing back from G-d. Pour out your heart with honest openness, as if you were speaking to your very best friend.”
(The Empty Chair, Prologue*)

 

What does this mean to me?

For me, this is the essence of hisbodedus, the practice of speaking regularly to G-d in the language with which you are most comfortable. Rebbe Nachman said these words to Reb Nosson just after he had come to Breslov to see Rebbe Nachman for the first time—to learn from the new “young Rebbe” who had moved to town a few weeks earlier. Reb Nosson had a great yearning to grow spiritually but felt blocked; locked in by his family circumstance, by his duty to the family business, by the negative opinions of those who were close to him.
Several days after arriving in Breslov, Reb Nosson had an opportunity for a private talk with Rebbe Nachman, during which he poured out everything that was bothering him. His new mentor said, “…And more than that, it is good to speak it out with G-d.”

Discovering my personal relationship with G-d is “more than” finding even the best confidante. A relationship is only built through investing time and energy, and this is just as true of my relationship with G-d. There’s a big difference between a friend that I enjoy seeing and speaking with the once or twice a year that we get together, and a friend with whom I speak every single day. I want G-d to be that second kind of a friend; the one that I speak with regularly, honestly, completely openly.

 

A prayer:

G-d,
I want to break down
every barrier
that separates me
from You.
I want to lay out before You
the parts of myself I love,
and the parts I despise;
the parts of myself that are healthy,
and the parts that need healing;
the parts I feel secure enough to speak of,
and the insecurities
I haven’t the courage to share.

(The Gentle Weapon, p. 29**)

We encourage hearing your feedback and may anonymously publish great remarks. Please send email to: [email protected]

*“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 cannot thank you enough… When i read Reb Noson’s bio-all I wanted to do was to be able to take down his enemies. It was when i finished that sefer that i really begun to understand what an iron rotzon and fearless one Reb Noson is.
Kol Tov and keep up the good works!
Anon.

This is one of the essential teachings concerning ALL of us. Not being able to let go, we are stuck, we cannot do hisbodedus because all those burdens of the past are haunting us. Taking the Tzaddik’s hand we can cross the narrow bridge. We can free ourselves, forget about the negative things in the past torturing us and reach the ONE who matters.
PS.: Not being able to forget the seemingly negative things of the past, which sometimes make us angry and, consequently, sick often is nothing else but being on an ego trip, which means, strictly speaking, being idolatrous (G’D forbid). Just give it a thought …..
YW

Shalom. Is so refreshing to the neshamah to read these words, they come to my soul and heal all the pain and the loneliness. It is good to know that Hashem is with me–“no fear”.
Thank you!
NG

As I read this, I am sitting in a hospital operatory waiting for two
doctors to perform a biopsy. Imagine the gift of Reb nachman’s words.
Many thanks.
MS
Ps. I got very favorable results

 

 

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