Lost! Perhaps many years ago we took a wrong step. Heeded ill advice. We weren’t aware then of where it would lead us. Yet every step led us further and further away. And with every step, with every act that distanced us from God, we lost — we “shed” — a part of our soul (Likurey Moharan 1I, 88). And now… we are lost! Unable to find our way back… (Likutey Moharan t, 206).
The Tzaddik! He towers far above the meandering paths of this world (Mesilat Yesharim 3). He knows to where we have strayed. He can see those lost parts of our soul strewn along these paths. To find ourselves, to find the lost parts, we must go to him. Study his teachings. Put them into practice (Likutey Moharan I, 188).
The Afikoman! Lost! It’s gone!… No! The children have taken it. They’re just hiding it. And now they’re demanding a ransom….
What do they want for it?… Never mind. We must have that Afikoman!
is it? It’s not lost! Just hidden! It is we who don’t know where it is. But the children.., they know!
The soul! Lost? Gone?… No! Nothing is ever lost. Someone knows where it is. The “Children!” — the child within — has taken it. Our immaturity has misled US (Likutey Halakhot, Sheluchin 5:3). The soul? — ‘ it’s just hidden. But how are we to get
The emotional price seems so taxing!
it back? Never mind! I must find my soul! I will go to the Tzaddik. He will teach me
how to be honest with myself. He will show me how to deal with the “children” (Likutey Moharan, I, 4; Ibid., 188).
…And in the End, we will find the Afikoman. We will find the Hidden Matzah… the Hidden Awareness… the Hidden Parts of the Soul (Likutey Halakhot, Birkhat HaPeirot 5:7-9).
Breslov Haggadah
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