How to Gain Simplicity, Part 1

Take a Leap Forward 

Everyone dreams of changing their lives for the better, of leaping forward. Too many good people, however, feel that they are stuck where they are. They feel that they ought to be accomplishing a lot more, but that they are advancing too slowly, if at all. We have all heard of people who managed to advance considerably, who did something at one point in their lives that raised their status by several levels all at once. Some of them had such success in the spiritual realm, in their Torah learning, their davening, their middot (character traits), their shalom bayit (peace in the home), or the way they bring up their children. For others, it was in the material realm, such as their health or their finances. 

 

In all these cases, the leap forward is based on one thing: a change in perspective. Each of us has a particular concept of his life, but we fail to realize that this is what is holding us back and making us “stuck.” All our efforts for progress tend to go in a circle without really expanding much at all. 

 

The Moment My Life Changed 

One of the nicest, most special things about hitbodedut is that it is an amazing opportunity to catch yourself “in the act.” You can identify your mistaken perspective. If you don’t just stop life and give yourself the chance to examine your every thought, word, and deed, you will never notice the different forces that act on you in this world. 

 

In an essay published in this newsletter last year, I told you about something that happened to me when I first began to follow the path of hitbodedut, something that changed my entire perspective and opened all the gates of avodas Hashem for me. In this issue, I hope to explain more about how I put the change into action. 

 

If you are a newcomer to Torah and mitzvot, you probably don’t realize that you are still being held captive by the ideas you believed in before you did teshuvah. When I was still far away from Torah, I did everything the way I understood that they should be done. When I realized that Torah and emunah are the true way of life, I continued on the same path, fulfilling the mitzvot the way I understood that they should be done. This was my motto: “Whatever I understand, I do, and whatever I don’t understand, I don’t do.” 

 

When did I realize how arrogant and stupid this kind of thinking was? Well, of course it was while I did hitbodedut way back then, while I was just beginning. I examined the way I was thinking and I said to myself, “Do you realize what you are saying? That you know better than your Creator! That you know better than generation after generation of Torah leaders! What kind of crooked thinking is that?” 

 

It was then that I changed my entire approach to Torah and to teshuvah (repentance). I realized that now that Heaven directed me to know Who the Creator is, I don’t have to understand any more than that. I don’t have to give my consent to the things Hashem wants from me. From now on, my goal is not to understand the Creator, but to figure out what He wants me to do and to make my life match His Will. 

 

Basis of the Entire Torah 

I have told this story in this newsletter in the past, and I described it as my personal  kabbalat  haTorah  (receiving the Torah). Receiving the Torah depends on this, on declaring naaseh v’nishma (we will do and we will listen). First of all, do what you have to do, and after that you can try to understand it. Whatever you succeed in understanding, good. Whatever you still can’t understand, that’s alright, but no matter what, you must continue fulfilling everything. You cannot expect to understand the Creator. 

 

This week’s parashah – Chukat – is about the parah adumah, the mitzvah that is least understood in the entire Torah. The ashes of the burnt cow are used to purify people from the most potent  tumah  (impurity) – tumat meit (impurity of a corpse). At the same time, those ashes make people who were tahor (pure) become tamei (impure).  

 

It doesn’t seem to make any sense, but the Torah declares, “This is the decree of the Torah!” It means that we must fulfill the mitzvah despite our lack of understanding, and this is the basis of the correct approach to the entire Torah. Rashi commented, “Since the satan and the other nations taunt the people of Yisrael, saying, ‘What kind of mitzvah is this? What sense does it make?’, the Torah states that this is a chukah, a decree from Hashem, and we have no permission to question it.” 

 

Rebbe Nachman taught that Bnei Yisrael were given the Torah because they were willing to cast their common sense aside. He warned, “Whoever follows his own common sense and his own wisdom is bound to make many mistakes and end up doing horrible things, chas v’shalom.”¹ He added that all the most terribly wicked people in our history started that downward slide by following their own wisdom and ideas. 

 

So What Do We Do? 

Alright, so we can’t follow our own common sense, but what do we follow? How are we supposed to fulfill what the Torah expects of us? Well, the simple answer is to follow Hashem’s “common sense,” His infinite wisdom. And what is that? It is the Torah and the halachah (Jewish law). We are expected to obey the dictates of the Torah without questioning them, to follow the directives of our Sages who have transmitted to us the traditions of Sinai. 

 

As soon as Hashem enlightened me and released me from the bonds of the error of fulfilling only what I understand, and once I made up my mind to fulfill whatever Hashem tells me to do, I took a simple step – I bought a copy of  the  Kitzur Shulchan Aruch. I bought a little one, and I kept it with me at all times. I learned from it every day, and I fulfilled everything that I read in the sefer. I based all my daily habits on the halachot found in that sefer. 

 

It was that simple. Whatever I learned, I did. I didn’t try to outsmart the halachah, and I didn’t move away from it to the right or to the left. Is there a time limit for Keriat Shema? Then that was it, there was no longer any such thing as missing the time for Keriat Shema. And since the ideal time for it is just before sunrise, then I get up to daven at that time, no matter what is going on in my life. 

 

Just as this is the approach for halachah, the same applies to Rebbe Nachman’s advice. He prescribed a daily hour for hisbodedut? Then that’s what we do. Midnight means midnight. His advice is sealed in concrete. 

 

The Little Black Book 

Another thing I did was to get a little notepad and keep it with me at all times. Whenever a question in halachah came up, I stopped right there and wrote it down. I did this every time I had a question, whether it came up during my learning or as I was doing something. In those days, I used to  daven  Shacharit every morning in the  minyan  of  Harav Yaakov Mussafi, zy”a, who served as Av Beis Din (Head of the Rabbinic Court) of the  Eidah Hachareidit HaSepharadit in Yerushalayim. I went over to him every morning after davening and opened my little notepad. He came to expect it. I will never forget how his face beamed as I approached him, and this happened every day. “Do you have any questions?” he would ask me, and he would patiently answer each one. 

 

I absorbed each halachah thirstily, and I committed to writing every answer that the Rav told me. I had a single goal – to fulfill what it says, the way it says it. I wanted to make my life one that is faithful to  Hashem.  I wanted to style my life, my every movement, my every thought, word, and deed, according to Hashem’s Will. 

 

When I look back on my life after all these years, I have no doubt that this was the pivotal change of my life. When I set out to learn the halachot daily and to clarify them, all the gates of avodat  Hashem  opened up for me. This was my spiritual springboard. 

 

Rebbe Nachman raised the banner of serving Hashem with temimut (simplicity). He declared, “The main principle of Judaism is to serve Hashem with simplicity. There is no need for anyone’s wisdom.”²  Rabbeinu taught us that he wanted all his followers to learn halachot every day, and he warned us never to veer from the halachah or to try to bend it. Anyone who had the privilege of knowing the Breslover Chassidim of the previous generation saw that they meticulously fulfilled every halachah without trying to outsmart or avoid it. 

 

Next week, with Hashem’s help, we will learn about more advice for serving Hashem with genuine temimut. 

 

---

Editor’s Notes 

¹ Likutei Moharan II, 12:1 

² This quotation is in several places: Likutei Moharan II, 12:1; Likutei Moharan II, 104; Sichot HaRan #101, Likutei Etzot (Simplicity)