New Openings

A Sacred Time – Tammuz #8

The three weeks is the hardest part of the year for the Jewish people. It is much harder to hold onto a deep connection to Hashem during this time. What are we to do when we feel under attack, when everything seems to be going wrong?

When Reb Nosson was going through real distress during this exact period, he said: “Our only source of vitality is the Rebbe’s teaching about focusing on the windows of expansion within the place of constriction. This is expressed by King David as, ‘In the straits, You opened it wide for me.’”

Learning to focus on the wondrous and numerous expansions G-d generously grants within my difficulties is a process. We all know that it could have been much worse. Rebbe Nachman’s lesson takes this much further. Appreciating these expansions as G-d’s gifts to me melts my distress away, and not only due to my attitude change. I start to appreciate that one purpose of hardship is to arouse me from my spiritual slumber. When I begin to live with emunah, the hardship itself loses its psychological sting; I might be in pain, but I don’t have to suffer.

Dear G-d. Please help me believe that my pain is necessary right now for me to engender genuine closeness to You. Let me really see the many expansions that You provide! Help me realize that nothing is coincidental; help me find serenity even if my pain is not yet gone.