Rabbi Nachman of Breslov Truth About Serving HaShem from LOVE (8 Minutes)

0:10The other very famous Hasidut that's confused all the time is Breslov. We're sitting here in Breslov. We're learning in Breslov because Rabbi Nachman of Breslov was Kodesh Kodashim. But unfortunately, some people that call themselves Breslovers are crazy. They're not Breslovers. They just call themselves that. They just wear a costume. So just the other day, somebody sent me a letter and said to me, "Listen,

1:17Where'd you get it from? Like, where do these people get this stuff from? People think that Breslov is a bunch of people that breakdance in the middle of the street. They go, Emunah, Emunah. What Emunah? I'll tell you something that was a chiddush for me. I mean, I've read some of the works by Rabbi Nachman, but this was new for me. I only learned it today with my Rav. It's very interesting because today most people don't even know what Breslov truly represents, even some Breslovers themselves. It's like almost like we skip over the essence. So in Sichot HaRan, Rabbi Natan, his Talmid Muvhak, his main Talmid, wrote his books. In Sichot HaRan, Rabbi Nachman says the following in Perek 5. He says the following: Now everyone knows Breslev, they know happy Emunah, Emunah, happy Emunah, happy Emunah, breakdance, go to Uman, breakdance more. Okay. People always talk about Yirat Shamayim; it's like, no, you should be a Breslover. Should be a Breslover. I said, okay, you should be a Breslover too. Why? Because this is what he says. Rebbe Nachman says, he says, the main key to serving Hashem, the main key...

2:32Fear of punishment forms the foundation, the very beginning, before you discuss anything about emunah (faith) in Hashem (God). Before you begin anything, even before you recite Shema Yisrael, you should know the bare base, the first step you take on the journey of 5,000 steps to reach shamayim (heaven). The first step is yirat ha'onesh, which means having a pure fear of Hashem punishing you. This is what the Rambam (Maimonides) has been emphasizing. Why? This is because without the fear of pure punishment, we're not talking about the fear that you're not going to reach a high level of chassidut or become a talmid chacham. No, no, we're talking about pure gehenom. Without fear of gehenom, whether in this world or the next world, You cannot even begin serving Hashem. If you can't begin, it's not even step one; everything you're doing is tainted, everything you're doing is perverted, without having the very basic level. You know who you're dealing with here.

3:41He says here, even the tzaddikim need this. It's not just for the regular people. Don't think I'm only talking about all the baalei teshuva who are breakdancing. No, he says. Why? Because people that serve Hashem out of love are very, very few. What is he talking about? His generation. His talmidim. Imagine us, his talmidim. He says there are very few people that exist in the world who serve Hashem out of actual love. Again, he repeats it. He repeats it ten times just on this page. The key is to know that there must be a fear of onesh, of pure punishment. What about it? Not every person reaches that level of Yirah. You know, some people say, "Yeah, but what about, you know, the highest level of Yirat Shamayim?" Okay, we understand Yirat Shamayim. He says that not everyone achieves that high level. Why?

5:04Most people, the highest level they can reach is just fearing of punishment. All these higher levels of emunah and loving Hashem and so on and so forth, even in his generation, a couple of hundred years ago, he says very few people ever get there. So all of these people, these speakers, or whatever they are, that are telling the public, "You should really focus on loving Hashem. You know, you should be like Rebbe Nachman." I don't know what Rebbe Nachman they're talking about, because this Rebbe Nachman doesn't talk about it. He doesn't say that. He says, you want to serve Hashem? Start with fearing punishment, pure fear. Why? Because once you fear punishment, that means you have an idea of who you're dealing with. He's not your buddy, and... He's your G-d. Why don't you know what you're dealing with? Maybe you can get to loving Hashem and so on and so forth. But don't think that loving Hashem is the standard. Because even he says most people, it’s completely not relevant to them. And he continues: Why?

6:15He says, why is Yirat Hashem, why is fear of the punishment critical? It's the only thing that can break a person's ta'avot (desires) and get them to go in the way of Hashem. Meaning, the only way that a person can begin their teshuva is through pure fear. of bad things happening. It could be bad things in this world, like losing money, losing health, losing a wife, losing kids, losing whatever you value, or it could relate to losing something in the next world. The point is that fear is the only way to start you up. This is from who? Rabbi Nachman, not from your own understanding. They didn't ask me before they wrote this. Continuing, you can see it yourself. The point is that today there's a lot of confusion when you're taking these holy rabbis' Torah and perverting it in so many different ways. It eventually becomes idolatry, becomes something else. Realistically, most of those people, they don't know what they said. They don't learn anything. You ask some of these people anything about Parashat HaShavua, anything about anything, they don't know anything. There's no real understanding. They know things that are superficial and...

7:35The Rebbe said this, the Rebbe said this, and most of the time, the Rebbe didn't say anything of what they’re saying. So it's very important to know the difference between tamei and tahor, because if a person is taking his zealousness for his rabbi, and he loves his rabbi so much, too far, he could literally turn his mitzvah into a chillul Hashem. And that's a very, very difficult problem to have when we arrive at Shamayim after 120 years. To arrive with a tank full of Chillul Hashem is a serious, serious problem.