FROM ‘REBBE NACHMAN’S SOUL’, ADAPTED FROM HIS AUDIO SHIUR ON SICHOS HARAN 5 AND SICHOS HARAN 6

Blind faith sees more clearly

Parshas Bereshis teaches that HaShem created the world in six days and completed Creation with Shabbos. But Shabbos is not only a remembrance of the first Creation: through Vayekhulu and our Emunah, a Jew testifies to Creation and renews the world for another week.

Emunah, believing in HaShem and in the tzaddik emes, is above all else. Rabbeinu zal shows that Emunah is so important, Moshe Rabbeinu himself taught us the basis of it. What is meant by “blind faith”? We describe faith with the exact words used in the Zohar HaKadosh, “Olimta shapirta d’leis lah aynin,” [Zohar Mishpatim 95a] a beautiful maiden who has no eyes. Let’s analyze that carefully because there is a fantastic halakhah based on it. Faith is the greatest beauty, but it has no eyes; you cannot see that which you believe in. If you see it, it is no longer faith, it is knowledge. What is so beautiful about this faith? The beauty is that a person who has pure faith can see it as clearly without his eyes, and even more clearly than a person with eyes who sees something he knows.

How can we prove that faith means something that you do not see, yet it is as though you actually see it? Is it possible to prove this legally? Yes. HaShem created the world in six days and the seventh day was a day of rest. Creation was completed in six days; on the seventh day, there was no longer creation – it was complete. The Gemara asks: What happened on the eighth day? What happened after Shabbos was over? What sustained Creation? HaShem created each day until on the seventh day, there was a world. Wasn’t the world destined to disappear unless there was another Creation taking place?

Shabbos renews Creation

The Gemara answers: Of course. We find in Vayekhulu the words, “Asher bara Elokim la’asos,” [Bereishis 2:3] that HaShem created la’asos, to continue creating. The world was not created and completed to last; it was created in order to continue creating. It cannot exist without a continuous series of creations. The last letters of the words barA ElokiM la’asoS (ברא אלוקים לעשות) spell emes (אמת), truth. This is the truth about Creation.

The Gemara says that the world is created again and again. As soon as Shabbos ends, there must be a new Creation to sustain the world. The first Creation was done by HaShem Himself, as in “Vayekhal Elokim,” [Bereishis 2:2] Elokim completed. HaShem Himself completed all Creation. But the Creation that takes place every week—to create a world for another week—is done by the Jews who observe the Shabbos. If a Jew observes the Shabbos, “asher bara Elokim la’asos” – the Jew has created the world for another week through the Shabbos. [Shabbos 119b; see also Ohr HaChaim, Bereishis 2:3]

Seeing through the eyes of Emunah

On Friday night, we testify that the world, the heavens and the earth, were created and completed. When a Jew testifies to that fact, he is himself creating Heaven and earth.

According to Jewish law, it is legally impossible for a witness to testify about something he did not see. [Shulchan Arukh, Choshen Mishpat 28:8] He is not a kosher witness unless he actually saw the act that he is testifying about. Here we have a legal testimony, so legal that a Jew is actually creating something through this testimony. A Jew states, “Vayekhulu hashamayim veha’aretz,” [Bereishis 1:1] I testify that HaShem created the heavens and the earth. How can a person testify that he saw this action take place? “My Emunah, my faith, is so pure that of course I’ve seen it.” We see here that faith is better than actual sight. And this is what we mean by “blind faith”; it is the most powerful vision that exists, more than the sharpest eyesight. No 20/20 vision can compare to pure, blind faith.

Reb Noson says that we find the prophet Yechezkel having a vision, seeing the angels in Heaven. His statement is: “Niftechu hashamayim va’ereh mar’os Elokim,” [Yechezkel 1:1] the heavens were open before me, and I observed, I saw with my eyes, the sight of the heavenly holiness, the sacredness in Heaven. This I saw. Reb Noson asks, “How did he see? How would one see this?”
The answer is, “Niftechu Hashamayim Va’ereh Mar’os Elokim (נפתחו השמים ואראה מראות אלקים).” The initial letters of these words make up the word EMUNAh (אמונה), faith. With faith, he was able to see it.

Renewal Without Repetition

Parshas Bereshis is the beginning of Creation, but Creation is never merely repeated. Rabbeinu zal says that HaShem never repeats any action twice: every day, every mitzvah and every neshamah brings something new into HaShem’s world.

Rabbeinu zal makes a revelation and says: “HaShem never repeats any action twice.” This is a strange statement, and yet it is actually written in the Kisvei Ha’Arizal: “There is never anything repeated in Creation.” [Eitz Chaim, Heikhal Adam Kadmon 1:5] When the sun shines in the morning, it is not the same sunshine that you had the day before. When the sun sets, it is not the same sun setting. It is not the same world; it is not the same life. The changing of atoms takes place every single second, rendering everything completely new.

We find this in the statement “HaMechadesh betuvo bekhol yom tamid ma’aseh bereishis,” [Morning liturgy] HaShem renews Creation daily. It is not that HaShem repeats, but rather, He renews a new kind of world every single day. Even though it looks the same, it is actually new. This is the world that we see.

Creating angels

In the world that we cannot see, when a person does a mitzvah he creates by “remote control.” For example, when you say a berakhah before eating, what has happened? As far as you can see, nothing. But what you did not see is the new entity that was created. With your words you created an angel. Every mitzvah a Jew does creates an angel.

Of course, an angel is invisible, but it does exist. It is a Heavenly being. But it doesn’t end there. There are different worlds, Heavenly worlds, with spiritual light that is stronger and clearer than today’s best light bulb. As we go higher and higher, the light gets brighter. There are special lights up there that no earthly light can compare to. These lights are a conglomerate of different colors. These lights are not always on, but when a Jew does a mitzvah, they are illuminated. [Zohar Terumah, 166a. See also Likutey Moharan I, 275]

The Zohar HaKadosh says that part of the pleasure of Gan Eden is seeing these different colored lights. [Zohar Terumah 150a] Obviously, we cannot describe this or conceive it with our mortal minds; it is something of unearthly beauty.

These lights are lit through the actions of people below. A whole world in Heaven is created through a person’s mitzvos. Each berakhah and each section of davening causes a different part of the Heavens to illuminate, and each day, the illumination is different. With every action that a Jew does through his mitzvos, the whole setup of the heavenly stars in the world is changed. It revolves and rotates in a different form, a different pattern. [See Eitz Chaim, Heikhal Adam Kadmon 1:5]

Gilgulim

When a person passes away from this world and he comes before the Heavenly Court, it may happen that he is short on the number of mitzvos he should have performed. In order to repay this debt, he is sent back down to earth to be reborn. He must go through the aggravation of going through youth again. He thought he had graduated; he thought he was finished with this stuff, but now he must go back to school. He must look for that same wife and start the same routine with all the suffering and confusion of this world. This is called a gilgul, reincarnation. Due to a lack of a few mitzvos, he must go through an entire lifetime again.

Rabbeinu zal says the above scenario is how people perceive reincarnation. But what many do not realize is the fact that a person’s soul consists of many parts, and when a person has not fulfilled his mission, he may need just a tiny portion to complete it. So rather than send down his entire soul to earth to be born as a regular person, only a part of his soul is sent down. [Sha’ar HaGilgulim, Hakdamah 2] This means that people today are not really one soul but a combination of many souls. This means that one who was sent down again as a gilgul has a number of small parts of other souls attached to him.

There are different names for the parts of the soul – nefesh, ruach, neshamah, chayah and yechidah. Because of this combination, the same item is never repeated again. Even in the case of a gilgul, it is not exactly the same soul that comes back to earth. You cannot say that this exact person who lived in the last generation has now been reincarnated. It is not exactly the same person. It is part of that person, ninety percent of this one, five percent of the other, and so on.

The Gemara illustrates this idea through comparison with human acts. When a human being creates a mold of any kind and wants to produce duplicates, they are all identical. In the case of HaShem, He made one mold, kivyakhol. He created Adam HaRishon, and the rest of the world, all of civilization, came from him, from that one mold. Since that time, there has never been another human being exactly like Adam HaRishon. There have never been two humans that are exactly alike. Even the term “identical twins” is a misnomer. There cannot be two people who are exactly identical. This is the greatness of HaShem. There never existed an exact duplicate. There is always something new in creation [Sanhedrin 37a].