Why are you surprised? Torah has the power to elevate a person from the worst impurities, even from the defilement of the Covenant!
“They left Me and have forsaken My Torah” (Jeremiah 16:11). Were it that they left Me and kept [studying] Torah. Its light would have brought them back in repentance (Eichah Rabbah, Pesikhta 2).
Torah has the power to elevate a person from the worst impurities, even from the defilement of the Covenant (sexual immorality). When someone questioned this, the Rebbe answered: “Why are you surprised? Brit (the sign of the Covenant) corresponds to Yesod. Torah corresponds to Tiferet” (Tzaddik #573). (Yesod, the ninth of the Ten Divine Emanations (Sefirot), is positioned on a lower level than Tiferet, the sixth Sefirah.)
An angel is created from every word of Torah studied. This angel has the power to subdue and eliminate the power of the Other Side (Likutey Moharan I, 20:7).
Nobody sins unless overcome by a “spirit of folly” (Sotah 3a). The sins and spiritual damage a person may have done literally make him mad. This is why the majority of people suffer from all kinds of quirks and idiosyncrasies. The remedy is to study Torah intensively. The Torah consists entirely of the Names of the Holy One, and it has the power to crush the evil inclination and banish all the madness and folly which cling to a person because of his sins (Advice, Torah Study 4).
Nobody sins unless overcome by a “spirit of folly” (Sotah 3a). The sins and spiritual damage a person may have done literally make him mad.
Elsewhere, the Rebbe says that the Torah which you study “forcefully” gives power to the Kingdom of Holiness and helps a person overcome his foolishness (Likutey Moharan I, 1). Studying forcefully or intensively can have a few meanings: 1) despite difficult circumstances and in the face of many obstacles: illness, under financial or emotional stress, etc.; 2) when there is no desire to study and one forces oneself; 3) with full concentration or audibly (Rabbi Eliyahu Chaim Rosen).
It is often quite obvious that people’s personal idiosyncrasies cause them to become eccentric and sometimes even crazy. Yet, they manage (if only barely) to cling to a drop of sanity and not lose their minds completely. This is somewhat surprising, because logically, commensurate with the amount of sins a person has committed, and thus the amount of “folly” he has within him he should be completely crazy. Still, God has mercy and He leaves each person that “little bit” of clarity he needs to return to a saner way of life – i.e. God. This can be achieved through the Tzaddikim. They have attained a great level of wisdom and knowledge and can draw that wisdom down to each person’s level to help cure him (Likutey Halakhot, Netilat Yadayim li’Seudah 6:37). More specifically, this wisdom is the Torah and advice which the Tzaddikim reveal to us.
The Torah that one studies “forcefully” has the power to rectify one’s speech. Rectified speech brings modesty and prayer (Likutey Moharan I, 38:4-5).
Torah has the power to crush the evil inclination!
(Editorial credit: John Theodor / Shutterstock.com – for the main picture)
Studying Talmud at night can help a person overcome his impure motives (Likutey Moharan I, 3).
Originating Torah insights is a great rectification for all of one’s sins (Likutey Moharan II, 105).
A person who finds it impossible to study Torah – be it that he never had the opportunity to learn and doesn’t know how; or he has no books to study from; or he is travelling – yet his desire to study and serve God is vey great: creates a book of Torah in Heaven from this great desire alone (Likutey Moharan I, 142).
The Rebbe said that he wanted very much to instill the importance of daily Torah study in people, so that everyone would have a set amount to study every day, without fail. His reason was that the power of Torah is so very great, that even a person who habitually commits the worst sis – can be extricated from the deepest trap! (Rebbe Nachman’s Wisdom #19).
(Taken from the book Crossing the Narrow Bridge: A Practical Guide to Rebbe Nachman’s Teachings, chapter 7 – Torah Study)