Wednesday, August 23, 2023

Essential obligation of every Jew is to unquestionally accept everything the tzadik of the generation says - Rav Nachman

 Likutei Moharan (123) 1. The essence and foundation on which everything depends is one’s binding oneself to the tzaddik of the generation:accepting his word in whatever he says, “This is how it is,” in matters small and great; not deviating, God forbid, from his word “to the right or the left” (Deuteronomy 17:11), as our Sages teach: even if he tells you that right is left… (Sifri, op. cit.) ;casting off from oneself all pseudo-wisdoms;and dismissing one’s knowledge as if one had no intelligence other than what one receives from the tzaddik and rav of the generation, because as long as one retains some of one’s own intellect, one lacks completion and is not bound to the tzaddik. 2. When the Jewish people received the Torah, they possessed great pseudo-wisdoms. For then, the mistakes of those who served idolatry at that time stemmed from great pseudo-wisdoms and philosophies, as is known. Had Israel not cast off from themselves the pseudo-wisdoms, they would not have received the Torah. They might have denied everything, God forbid. All that Moshe Rabbeinu did with them would have been of no help to them. Even all the signs and awesome wonders which he performed before their very eyes would not have helped them. Today, as well, there are heretics who deny [God] based on the foolishness and error of their pseudo-wisdoms. 3. But Israel is a holy people. They saw the truth and cast off the pseudo-wisdoms, and “believed in God and in His servant Moshe” (Exodus 14:31). Through this, they received the Torah. Thus, Onkelos renders “a nation naval (foolish) and unwise” (Deuteronomy 32:6) as “a nation that received the Torah and did not act wisely.” They received the Torah primarily because they “did not act wisely”—i.e., because they cast off from themselves all the pseudo-wisdoms, as above. 4. This is NaVaL: an acrostic for LeV Netivot (thirty-two paths). These encompass the entire Torah—the true wisdom, vis-à-vis which all pseudo-wisdoms are nullified. Thus, NaVaL is an aspect of Torah, which is called “NoVLot (an incomplete version) of the Upper Wisdom” (Bereishit Rabbah 17:5). {Come and see that, now, this Aramaic translation is clear and in place. For it is really surprising, and everyone wonders about this: What reason is there for naval to be translated as “receiving the Torah”? But now, how sweet are these words of the Aramaic translation.} 5. Now, the essential devotion is to be ‘simple and upright, God-fearing and diverted from evil’ (cf. Job 1:1), without any pseudo-wisdoms. Thus King Shlomo, of blessed memory, though it was written of him that “he was wisest of all men” (1 Kings 5:11), he said, “For I am more brutish than a man and have not the understanding of man” (Proverbs 30:2). Likewise, Asaf said (Psalms 73:22), “I was brutish and unknowing, like an animal I was with You.” It is also written (Proverbs 21:30), “There is no wisdom or understanding or counsel against God.”

21 comments :

  1. Is there such a thing as a perfect tzaddik?

    How do we know who that tzaddik is?

    What if the rabbi who claims that X is a tzaddik, is himself a rasha?

    If the claimed tzaddik tells you to follow a golden calf, do we accept?


    BTW , that was theory. I fact, the steipler gaon said that his chavruta, Rav berland, was a pure tzaddik. So what he did with married and unmarried women is therefore justified, and unquestionable.

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  2. Was rav shach obligated to accept everything the Lubavitcher rebbe said?

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  3. "an account that is addressed more than once with differing testimonies, when Rabbi Hutner was heard saying that the Lubavitcher Rebbe was the tzaddik ha’dor, according to one account, and in the words of another, the Rosh Yeshiva affirmed his great friendship,"

    http://www.5tjt.com/rabbi-hutner-and-the-rebbe/

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  4. The only statement in the whole article I agree with is.
    Rav Hutner was a very complex person as was the Rebbe saying anything else as definitive is total nonsense

    "And even if you disagree with the author’s conclusions, one thing is certain—both Rabbi Hutner and the Rebbe were great people and leaders in their time, and that is worth celebrating."

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  5. Do you know whether they maintained their friendship throughout? Some rumours that this also dissolved as the rebbe evolved his messianism.

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  6. You know there's that old story. Rav Schach is walking along the street and he runs into the Rebbe.
    The Rebbe says "Did you hear? I'm Moshiach!"
    Rav Schach says "Who told you?"
    "The Rebbe responds "Eliyahu haNavi!"
    "No I didn't!"

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  7. Reminds me of the old story of the Rebbe who learned way into the night until he fell asleep at his shtender. In the morning his students crept in to admire his steadfastness. "Such a tzadik. He never stops learning!" "Such a tzadik. Lives on just what he needs to and gives the rest to charity." "Such a tzadik. Always has room at his Shabbos table for one more."
    And then the Rebbe lifts his head and mutters "But of my modesty you say nothing?"

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  8. Wow what a profound story it must be true!

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  9. You like to smear people? We nweed to change the olsd advice - if you have the facts to support your view present them otherwise bang the table so - you would advise telling obvious smears instead

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  10. If I have facts, I present them. If I don't, I pretend I'm with the mainstream media and report my position as truth anyway.
    Anyway, you clearly missed the point of the story. If there was one tzaddik in the world, then we would know to listen to him. Now you have dozens or hundreds and they make contradictory claims. The Rebbe was a tzaddik and presented himself as the putative Moshiach. Rav Schach was a tzaddik and announced that this was heresy. Who do I listen to? Or do I just say "Whatever, leave me alone" and just do my own thing?

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  11. Someone's in a bad mood today.
    It's a story. I never claims it was true, it's just a story to make a point.

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  12. In biblical times, we had the Navi of the generation. Even a tzaddik would need to listen to the navi.
    In general, Torah people - rabbonim, talmidim, and baalei batim work hard on observance of Torah. So we look to rabbonim, and the gedolim who regular rabbonim follow - for guidance.
    That does not mean we negate our intellects. Rambam says we must perfect our intellect. And Gra teaches that we must not accept something we are not convinced of.

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  13. this was a joke not a story. As far as i am aware, they did not meet, unless it was in pre-war Europe.

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  14. Here is something I have noticed over the years, but apparently it went on centuries ago as well.


    The rabbis tell the baalei batim how terrible it is to be heavily involved in work, business, earning a living etc and that this is bad for your health and family life.
    The same rabbis are earning their parnassah from the same community, essentially, or if they are in a yeshiva from the donors of the yeshiva.
    The rabbis end up seeing that their lifestyle and expenses, esp of having a family, paying off a mortgage and marrying off their daughters is prohibitive on their wages. So they end up fighting and struggling with their baalei batim and employers to get more income, retirement plans etc. I have seen this a number of times. some have been downsized from the outreach organisation, for example. Some have fought with their own shul and threatened to go to court or Bet din.


    I am not sure how this works with the Tzaddik - but many giants in Europe had batltes with their congregations, were ousted and had to travel to different countries to find work.

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  15. How does one find out who the tzaddik of the generation is?

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  16. you have to ask someone who is not a Tzaddik

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  17. Lubavitch also used this argument - the rebbe was a great tzaddik, which even rav Moshe and rav soloveitchik vouched for, as did rav Kadouri, rav eliyahu ztl.
    They argued that the Tzaddik intervened in the gulf war, protecting Israel from scud missiles. Hence we had to accept him as Moshiach.
    There was even a meah rabbonim declaration of his meshichus.
    Rambam writes in iggeret teiman, what he heard from his father Maimon, and Ibn migash. Several stories of gedolim, tzaddikim, who made true predictions, and performed miracles. They claimed to be Moshiach. But they were not.
    Nothing is new under the sun.

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  18. Essential obligation of every Jew is to unquestionally accept everything the tzadik of the generation says - Rav Nachman

    Said the guy who considered himself the Tzadik Of The Generation. Hmm.....

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  19. It's a circular argument - why was he the Rebbe? Because he was such a big tzadik? How do you know he was such a big tzadik? Because he was the Rebbe!

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  20. Ask him, he'll tell you.

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  21. He was the rebbe because his backers convinced the other guy who became rebbe to back down.
    why was he a tzaddik? Had some good references from others he impressed, as well as his followers. Not everyone agreed.

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