In this and future pieces, I would like to describe and demonstrate a way of learning the writings of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, specifically his magnum opus, Likutei Moharan. This approach is called b’iyun, which implies learning in depth. Specifically, learning Rebbe Nachman b’iyun implies following the trail of the references that he brings and studying them fully, complete with common (and even not-common) commentaries on those references. In doing so, a person is likely to find layers and layers of meaning, rich and complex readings of those sources, and a fuller picture of what it is that Rebbe Nachman was attempting to communicate.
For example, if Rebbe Nachman refers to a verse in Exodus, a person might look up the verse and read the entire chapter in which that verse occurs, in addition to Rashi and Ramban and other commentaries on that passage, plus notable passages in the Talmud, Midrash, and Zohar relating to that passage. It clearly takes a lot of time. It is often quite rewarding. All the cool Breslovers do it.
I am still experimenting with ways to present this material. One way is to simply provide the additional sources pertaining to the references he brings. I will be using another way: to provide one or two sources related to the references he brings, along with a commentary of my own relating to how these sources fit together. In addition, I will tell you what it means to me and how it moves me and makes want to holler.
With that, you should know that this is by far not even close to some sort of definitive reading of the original text or the network of additional sources that surround it.
Rebbe Nachman taught, in Lesson 49 of the first section of Likutei Moharan:
כִּי קֹדֶם הַבְּרִיאָה הָיָה אוֹר הַקָּדוֹשׁ־בָּרוּךְ־הוּא אֵין סוֹף,
Before the creation, the Light of the Holy One was ein sof (infinite, without end or limit)
וְרָצָה הַקָּדוֹשׁ־בָּרוּךְ־הוּא שֶׁיִּתְגַּלֶּה מַלְכוּתוֹ, וְאֵין מֶלֶךְ בְּלֹא עָם, וְהֻצְרַךְ לִבְרֹא בְּנֵי אָדָם, שֶׁיְּקַבְּלוּ עֹל מַלְכוּתוֹ.
But the Holy One wanted His Malkhut (Kingship) to be revealed, and there can be no king without a nation. Thus, God was required to create human beings who would accept the yoke of God’s Kingship.
וְהִתְגַּלּוּת מַלְכוּתוֹ אִי אֶפְשָׁר לְהַשִּׂיג אֶלָּא עַל־יְדֵי הַמִּדּוֹת, שֶׁעַל־יְדֵי הַמִּדּוֹת מַשִּׂיגִין אֱלֹקוּתוֹ, וְיוֹדְעִין שֶׁיֵּשׁ אָדוֹן מוֹשֵׁל וּמַנְהִיג. וְצִמְצֵם אֶת הָאוֹר אֵין סוֹף לַצְּדָדִין, וְנִשְׁאַר חָלָל פָּנוּי, וּבְתוֹךְ הֶחָלָל הַפָּנוּי בָּרָא הָעוֹלָמוֹת (כמבואר בע"ח בתחילתו בהיכל א ענף ג), וְהֵן הֵן מִדּוֹתָיו.
Yet it is impossible to perceive a revelation of God’s Malkhut except through the measurable attributes. Through the attributes we perceive God’s Godliness and know that there is a Lord, a Ruler, and an Authority. God thus contracted the Light of Ein Sof (the Infinite One) to the sides, leaving an emptied space. And within this Chalal Hapanuy (Hollowed or Vacated Space) God created the worlds, which are themselves the measurable attributes.
RGG:
In this lesson, among others, Rebbe Nachman refers to R’ Yitzhak Luria (a.k.a. the Ari)’s description of the beginning of a world that is, as it were, separate from, or independent of, God’s obvious Presence. In this telling, God “lacked” only one thing - to be recognized and served as King by beings who could also choose otherwise. Of course, God could simply overwhelm those beings with clear and obvious revelations of God’s God-ness, but that would not achieve the goal that those beings choose to recognize and accept God’s Godliness freely. As such, God was “forced” to make a space in which God’s Presence would not be obvious, and this space would be the field of interaction and relationship in which people could choose to recognize God and serve God.
As I write this, I already sense the risk that this sounds dry and technical. Not that all material must presented with great fanfare and exciting words and intriguing titles, but I do know that the balance between precision and excitement often tips in one direction or the other. But please know that the process being described here is alive, and it matters, and it is in play at every moment. We are perpetually challenged, and invited, to see and find meaning and growth, relationship and devotion, through everything that happens to us and through us and with us in this Empty Space. The problem, it seems, is that we are likely to be generally underwhelmed. We don’t see fireworks (or plagues, or miracles). Rather, we see ordinary, pedestrian events and occurrences, and we will need to choose to also see this object or event or occurrence as being connected to the Divine. That’s because God’s Presence within them seems partial, small, or frustrating.
Such is the price of God’s desire to be known and encountered in the pedestrian, ordinary world.
The work, as we will see, is to approach such events and occurrences with a positive and open mind, reminding ourselves that this, too, is an opportunity to encounter and serve God. Once we have that thought in mind, and approach the situation accordingly, then those events and occurrences become alive and infused with a deeper saturation of Divinity than they were before - or, that deeper saturation of Divinity becomes apparent. So it turns out that our willingness to make it into an encounter makes it into an encounter.
Rebbe Nachman Continues:
וְהַלֵּב הוּא הַצַּיָּר שֶׁל הַמִּדּוֹת, הַיְנוּ הַחָכְמָה שֶׁבַּלֵּב, כְּמוֹ שֶׁכָּתוּב (שמות ל״א:ו׳): וּבְלֵב כָּל חֲכַם לֵב וְכוּ'.
And the heart is that which forms the measurable attributes - specifically, wisdom in the heart, as is written, “And in the heart of every wise-hearted person etc.” (Exodus 31:6)
RGG:
The meaning, depth, and potential contained within these nodes of encounter - these measurable attributes - is not simply a function of our desire for them to be meaningful. In fact, they are designed by God to facilitate a certain kind of encounter (and it may well be that, within that encounter, there is a huge or infinite number of possible outcomes).
Here we have a description of the mechanism by which these nodes of encounter are created. Meaning, God might decide that God wishes to encounter me through, say, a flat tire or a broken washing machine. Ordinarily these are not places in which the flames of my religious fervor are likely to be roused, but, just the same, I manage to pry my closed heart open and to remember this, too, is an opportunity to encounter and serve God.
But not all flat tires are the same, and not all broken washing machines are the same. Where was I going? Who was with me? What was I thinking at the time? What was I trying to wash? When was the lat time I got a flat tire? What’s in your wallet? The exact details of this seemingly unfortunate event are created by God through God’s heart. Or, more specifically, through the wisdom-chochmah that is in the heart.
Ordinarily the heart is associated with a certain function of mind-consciousness called binah. Chochmah, which is not binah, refers to abstract facts and realities - the ‘wisdoms’ include math and physics. It carries a sense of how things work, or ought to work, in an ideal world. Binah, on the other hand, implies an openness and sensitivity to the reality on the ground. It is an ability to perceive and respond to the uniqueness of the moment, rather than simply to implement eternal and objective principles to this moment, as if this moment were the same as all other moments. So the “chochmah in the heart” implies an interaction between the two - an ability to apply eternal and objective concepts and truths within unique situations. That God designs these nodes of encounter through the “wisdom of the heart” implies sensitivity to the specific moment.
Wisdom-chochmah in the heart is indeed a strange formulation. But even stranger is the reference that Rebbe Nachman uses - and this is where iyun begins. The reference made here is to the construction of the Mishkan, the traveling wilderness Temple that the Israelites used as they traveled to the land of Israel.
Here is the section of the Torah in which this verse occurs.
א וַיְדַבֵּ֥ר יְהוָ֖ה אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֥ה לֵּאמֹֽר׃
ב רְאֵ֖ה קָרָ֣אתִֽי בְשֵׁ֑ם בְּצַלְאֵ֛ל בֶּן־אוּרִ֥י בֶן־ח֖וּר לְמַטֵּ֥ה יְהוּדָֽה׃
ג וָאֲמַלֵּ֥א אֹת֖וֹ ר֣וּחַ אֱלֹהִ֑ים בְּחָכְמָ֛ה וּבִתְבוּנָ֥ה וּבְדַ֖עַת וּבְכָל־מְלָאכָֽה׃
ד לַחְשֹׁ֖ב מַחֲשָׁבֹ֑ת לַעֲשׂ֛וֹת בַּזָּהָ֥ב וּבַכֶּ֖סֶף וּבַנְּחֹֽשֶׁת׃
ה וּבַחֲרֹ֥שֶׁת אֶ֛בֶן לְמַלֹּ֖את וּבַחֲרֹ֣שֶׁת עֵ֑ץ לַעֲשׂ֖וֹת בְּכָל־מְלָאכָֽה׃
ו וַאֲנִ֞י הִנֵּ֧ה נָתַ֣תִּי אִתּ֗וֹ אֵ֣ת אָהֳלִיאָ֞ב בֶּן־אֲחִֽיסָמָךְ֙ לְמַטֵּה־דָ֔ן וּבְלֵ֥ב כָּל־חֲכַם־לֵ֖ב נָתַ֣תִּי חָכְמָ֑ה וְעָשׂ֕וּ אֵ֖ת כָּל־אֲשֶׁ֥ר צִוִּיתִֽךָ׃
ז אֵ֣ת ׀ אֹ֣הֶל מוֹעֵ֗ד וְאֶת־הָֽאָרֹן֙ לָֽעֵדֻ֔ת וְאֶת־הַכַּפֹּ֖רֶת אֲשֶׁ֣ר עָלָ֑יו וְאֵ֖ת כָּל־כְּלֵ֥י הָאֹֽהֶל׃
And in English:
1 The LORD spoke to Moses:
2 See, I have singled out by name Bezalel son of Uri son of Hur, of the tribe of Yehudah.
3 I have endowed him with a divine spirit of skill, ability, and knowledge in every kind of craft;
4 to make designs for work in gold, silver, and copper,
5 to cut stones for setting and to carve wood—to work in every kind of craft.
6 Moreover, I have assigned to him Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan; and in the heart of every wise-hearted person I have given wisdom, that they may make everything that I have commanded you:
7 the Tent of Meeting, the Ark for the Pact and the cover upon it, and all the furnishings of the Tent;
What’s remarkable about this reference is that the Mishkan is the space we make for God! Amidst a lesson that is speaking of the space that God makes for us is a reference to the space we make for God! Hopefully without jumping the gun, it is remarkable that, yes, God makes space in God’s self for this Other, this world of ours. And now, here we are, quite likely full of ourselves and our narratives and stories about what is happening, and we need to carve our some space within that story to make room for God. That is something of what was happening in the Mishkan.
Not only that: Rebbe Nachman uses this verse to describe the tools - the wisdom in the heart - that God uses! These two spaces are made in the same way. We share a craft with God - the craft of space-making. We must learn how to use the “wisdom in the heart” to create a space in which we can serve God, just as God uses this tool to create a space in which we can serve God. The same combination of wisdom and sensitivity will be called for.
The Mishkan-system consists of two primary components: the mishkan itself which is the space-structure, and the keilim - vessels that go inside the mishkan.
Now consider a passage in the Talmud Berachot 55a, which actually contains the line Rebbe Nachman quoted from Exodus 31:
[וידבר] ה' אל משה לאמר ראה קראתי בשם בצלאל וגו' אמר רבי יצחק אין מעמידין פרנס על הצבור אלא אם כן נמלכים בצבור שנאמר ראו קרא ה' בשם בצלאל אמר לו הקדוש ברוך הוא למשה משה הגון עליך בצלאל אמר לו רבונו של עולם אם לפניך הגון לפני לא כל שכן אמר לו אף על פי כן לך אמור להם הלך ואמר להם לישראל הגון עליכם בצלאל אמרו לו אם לפני הקדוש ברוך הוא ולפניך הוא הגון לפנינו לא כל שכן אמר רבי שמואל בר נחמני אמר רבי יונתן בצלאל על שם חכמתו נקרא בשעה שאמר לו הקדוש ברוך הוא למשה לך אמור לו לבצלאל עשה לי משכן ארון וכלים הלך משה והפך ואמר לו עשה ארון וכלים ומשכן אמר לו משה רבינו מנהגו של עולם אדם בונה בית ואחר כך מכניס לתוכו כלים ואתה אומר עשה לי ארון וכלים ומשכן כלים שאני עושה להיכן אכניסם שמא כך אמר לך הקדוש ברוך הוא עשה משכן ארון וכלים אמר לו שמא בצל אל היית וידעת אמר רב יהודה אמר רב יודע היה בצלאל לצרף אותיות שנבראו בהן שמים וארץ כתיב הכא וימלא אתו רוח אלהים בחכמה ובתבונה ובדעת וכתיב התם ה' בחכמה יסד ארץ כונן שמים בתבונה וכתיב בדעתו תהומות נבקעו אמר רבי יוחנן אין הקדוש ברוך הוא נותן חכמה אלא למי שיש בו חכמה שנאמר יהב חכמתא לחכימין ומנדעא לידעי בינה שמע רב תחליפא בר מערבא ואמרה קמיה דרבי אבהו אמר ליה אתון מהתם מתניתו לה אנן מהכא מתנינן לה דכתיב ובלב כל חכם לב נתתי חכמה:
Rabbi Yitzḥak said: One may only appoint a leader over a community if he consults with the community and they agree to the appointment, as it is stated: “And Moses said unto the children of Israel: See, the Lord has called by name Bezalel, son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah” (Exodus 35:30). The Lord said to Moses: Moses, is Bezalel a suitable appointment in your eyes? Moses said to Him: Master of the universe, if he is a suitable appointment in Your eyes, then all the more so in my eyes. The Holy One, Blessed be He, said to him: Nevertheless, go and tell Israel and ask their opinion. Moses went and said to Israel: Is Bezalel suitable in your eyes? They said to him: If he is suitable in the eyes of the Holy One, Blessed be He, and in your eyes, all the more so he is suitable in our eyes. Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥmani said that Rabbi Yonatan said: Bezalel was called by that name on account of his wisdom. When the Holy One, Blessed be He, said to Moses: Go say to Bezalel, “Make a tabernacle, an ark, and vessels” (see Exodus 31:7–11), Moses went and reversed the order and told Bezalel: “Make an ark, and vessels, and a tabernacle” (see Exodus 25–26). He said to Moses: Moses, our teacher, the standard practice throughout the world is that a person builds a house and only afterward places the vessels in the house, and you say to me: Make an ark, and vessels, and a tabernacle. If I do so in the order you have commanded, the vessels that I make, where shall I put them? Perhaps God told you the following: “Make a tabernacle, ark, and vessels” (see Exodus 36). Moses said to Bezalel: Perhaps you were in God’s shadow [betzel El], and you knew precisely what He said. You intuited God’s commands just as He stated them, as if you were there. 13 Rav Yehuda said that Rav said: Bezalel knew how to join the letters with which heaven and earth were created. From where do we derive this? It is written here in praise of Bezalel: “And I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship” (Exodus 31:3); and it is written there with regard to creation of heaven and earth: “The Lord, by wisdom, founded the earth; by understanding He established the heavens” (Proverbs 3:19), and it is written: “By His knowledge the depths were broken up and the skies drop down the dew” (Proverbs 3:20). We see that wisdom, understanding, and knowledge, the qualities with which the heavens and earth were created, are all found in Bezalel. 14 On a similar note, Rabbi Yoḥanan said: The Holy One, Blessed be He, only grants wisdom to one who already possesses wisdom, as it is stated: “He gives wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to they who know understanding” (Daniel 2:21). Rav Taḥalifa, from the West, Eretz Yisrael, heard this and repeated it before Rabbi Abbahu. Rabbi Abbahu said to him: You learned proof for this idea from there; we learn it from here: As it is written in praise of the builders of the Tabernacle: “And in the hearts of all who are wise-hearted I have placed wisdom” (Exodus 31:6).
Note, in the discussion of appointing a leader, the imagery of a decision or commitment that has to be made below, in a mundane and relatively uninformed situation, before some insight comes from above (God’s approval).
Additionally, in light of the lesson Rebbe Nachman is teaching so far, this passage in the Talmud becomes a meditation on order: which goes first? Recall that this lesson is concerned with question of whether the move we make - realizing that “I can serve God here” - precedes the insight - “Now I see how God is manifest here.” What comes first - making a space for God (Mishkan) or seeing the light of God (the vessels)?
That question is mimicked in this passage in the Talmud, as explained by the talmud commentary called Ben Yehoyada:
בן יהוידע: מקשים איך יאמר להפך, ונראה לי בס"ד כי משה רבינו עליו השלום ראה והשיג סוד ארון ושלחן ומנורה שהם פנמיים שרומזים לאורות עליונים תחלה, ואחר כך ראה והשיג סוד גוף המשכן שהוא קטן וחיצוני להם, כי כן סדר ההשגה והראיה, והוא שמע מהקב"ה שאמר לו בריש תרומה [שמות כ"ה ט'] ככל אשר אנכי מראה אותך את תבנית המשכן ואת תבנית כל כליו וכן תעשו, ויש לפרש וכן תעשו קאי ארישא דקרא, והכי קא"ל כפי הראיה האלהית הסודית אשר אני מראה אותך במשכן וכליו כן תעשו כסדר הזה, ולפי זה צריך לעשות תחלה הכלים העליונים שהם ארון ושולחן ומנורה שרומזים לאורות העליונים, ואחר כך גוף המשכן, כי ההשגה וראיה הסודית שראה משה רבינו עליו השלום היתה של אלו תחלה, ולכן משה רבינו עליו השלום אמר לו עשה ארון וכלים ומשכן, שפירש דבריו יתברך על פי אופן הנזכר, אך באמת דבריו יתברך יש בהם פירוש אחר, דקאי וכן תעשו על סוף הפסוק, שהזכיר המשכן קודם באומרו את תבנית המשכן ואת תבנית כל כליו, וכן תעשו על פי הסדר הזה שאני מזכיר אותם עתה המשכן תחלה ואחר כך הכלים, וזה הפירוש השיגו בצלאל מחמת הטעם שראה בהכריח, כלים שאני עושה להיכן אכנסם, ומאת ה' היתה זאת שיתעלם פירוש זה תחלה מן משה רבינו עליו השלום כדי שיזכה בו בצלאל העוסק במלאכת הקודש
… it seems to me that Moshe, our teacher, peace be upon him, first saw and understood the secret (mystical meaning) of the Ark, the table, the Candelabrum, that they are inner, that they hint to Supernal Lights, and afterward he saw and understood the secret of the body of the mishkan, which is small and external to the vessels. Moshe saw that this is the proper order of realization and seeing, and he heard from the Holy One Who said to him (Ex. 25:9] “Like everything I am showing you, the plan of the mishkan and the plan of all its vessels - so shall you do.”…. And this is what he was saying to him: “According to the Divine, secret vision that I am showing you of the mishkan and its vessels, so shall you do, in that order.” According to this, he ought to first make the Supernal vessels, which are the Ark and the Table and Candelabrum, which hint to Supernal Lights, and afterward the body of the Mishkan, for Moshe’s vision was in that order. So Moshe told Bezalel to make the vessels and the Mishkan, “and so shall you do according to this order that I am describing.” But the truth is there is another explanation of God’s words - “and so shall you do” apply to the end of the verse, which first mentions the mishkan and then mentions the vessels… and Bezalel grasped this second meaning because he saw that it must be so. “These vessels that I am making - where will I put them??!” And this was by God’s design that this understanding of the verse be hidden from Moshe so that Bezalel, who was tasked with making the mishkan,
Ben Yehoyada calls attention to the deeper implications of the question of order. It seems that Moshe can see the light (represented by the vessels). Metaphorically, he sees the already-available relationship with God. He just needs to make a context in which to have that relationship. Us? We don’t see the light so good. But this passage in the Talmud, and Rebbe Nachman by bringing this passage in the Talmud, is telling us that, actually, the process works in reverse. We first have to create the context, and the the light will become apparent. If we build it they will come.
There is so much more here than I have described. Make your own connections. Spend some time with that passage in the Talmud and consider how it works with Rebbe Nachman’s teaching. Look at them as commentaries on each other. Enjoy.