Azamra / Rabbi Nachman: Who He Was - Part 29
אזמרה
Source: https://ajew.org/reader/azamra/1/29

Segment 1
EN:
Here, in this Torah-lesson Rabbi Nachman is revealing a new construct and practice of judging favorably, that is, even when there is no excuse for a person's conduct, one must not judge the person at all by that bad which he did, rather one must judge the person by some favorable point he has.

Segment 2
EN:
Elsewhere, Rabbi Nachman himself uses the standard understanding of judging favorable, e.g. in Character – The Aleph Bet Book of the Traits, Rabbi Nachman says it is forbidden to judge a wicked person favorably and one who does so is wicked, and that it is forbidden to judge homosexuality favorably, that is referring to trying to find justification for the persons conduct, to that end Rabbi Nachman warns that in certain cases it is forbidden to do so, whereas here Rabbi Nachman made it very clear, in the actual Torah-lesson and in other talks pertaining the lesson, that he is addressing even the most wicked sinner, not to judge his general conduct favorably, but to find some good vantage point to view him, and to look upon him and judge him with that favorable angle.

Segment 3
EN:
This approach of judging favorably was actually layed out in the famous awesome book Tomer Devorah which instructs a person to follow the ways of HY. In the first chapter of TD it explains the thirteen Divine Attributes of the Crown, the sixth attribute is that He desires kindness, and TD explains this to mean that HY chooses to look at the good side, and he cites the Talmud which presents a winning view of women based on two good roles and functions they serve, and this TD should be done with everyone. In attribute eight, TD says not to pay attention to the bad in others just to the good. [In attribute twelve, TD says that even the evil and wicked people deserve mercy because they are children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, BH this will be addressed in a special chapter of in depth study]. In the thirteenth attribute, TD says that even if one can’t find anything positive in someone, even still there must be some point of good that this person did or had at some time even if it was in infancy, and consequently there is no one to be found who is unworthy of grace, mercy, and prayer for their wellbeing! This is exactly what Rabbi Nachman told Rabbi Nussun, as brought down in the afterword.

Segment 4
EN:
It is fascinating to note a connection between these two different approaches of judging favorably. The Talmud (Shabbos 127b) says, “Someone who judges his friend meritoriously, is judged (from Above) meritoriously.” The commentaries point out that in Heaven there are no doubts as to what a person’s motives and actions were about, so the Pehleh Yoa-aitz (entry of cheshuda), explains that it must mean from Heaven they will judge him according to the good that can be found in him. Thus the Talmud established a cause and effect, where by judging favorably by giving the benefit of the doubt, one incurs for himself the judgement by the good that can be found in him.

Segment 5
EN:
See also the afterward to this Torah-lesson which raises the issue of not judging at all. ↑

Segment 6
EN:
The verse says, "I will sing to Hashem in/with my life, I will sing to my G-d "bi-oadee," most simply understood, "as long as I still exist," i.e. as long as there still remains a bit of me. It can also readily be rendered as, "with my utmost," i.e. with my very last bit. ↑

Segment 7
EN:
A teenoak is an infant who is yoanaik - suckles. However in the context of this term, also known by its acronym ta.sh.ba.r., it refers to very young children who are still innocent and devoid of sin. It could be that they are called sucklings in terms of their rudimentary education, just like the English idiom, spoon feeding, these very young children are being nurtured in their education and upbringing with care, and refinement, and complete dependence, like an infant suckles milk from his mother. ↑

Segment 8
EN:
From this can be understood the ruling of the Talmud (Shabbos 119b) that the studies of the teenoakoas shel bais rabbun cannot be held up even for the building of the Temple, because behold they are already drawing their breath from the Temple! ↑

Segment 9
EN:
The charts have some typos and touchups which will be fixed up and revised soon B.H.. ↑

Segment 10
EN:
In the preface to the Torah-lesson I presented an allusion to the fact that the Torah of Azamru is the way to holiness from the verse, "With this Aaron shall enter the Holy, with a cow for a sin offering and a ram for an elevation offering." With a cow – bipahr – being an allusion to Torah 282 of Azamru. Based on what Rabbi Nussun wrote I suggest that the ram for the elevation offering is an allusion to the Torah-lesson of A-yay (for in fact, when Isaac asked, "A-yay…" where is the sheep for the elevation offering, it was a ram that was found and brought up. The cow "of cattle" = Na Nach Nachma Nachman, "For an elevation offering" with the inclusive = The MayUman! ↑

Segment 11
EN:
It should be noted, that although Azamru and A-yay are definitely the bread and butter of Breslov, they follow the main tradition that Rabbi Nussun received from Rabbi Nachman, the way of the Torah. Rabbainu however had another way, which Rabbi Nussun witnessed but could not comprehend whatsoever, how he dealt with those who had completely fallen from the Torah. This was the way Rabbainu befriended the enlightened Jews of Uman who had sworn to never even mention the name of G-d lest they be nagged with any remorse. Rabbainu would converse with them and even play chess with them, while refraining from telling them Torah. Rabbi Nussun who had such awe from Rabbainu it was difficult for him to even open his mouth to speak with Rabbainu, was completely confounded upon seeing this. He asked Rabbainu how it was even possible, to which Rabbainu answered with a parable of a King who had wise men with whom he took counsel, and a friend with whom he would play chess (See all of this at length in the addendum to The Life of Our Leader Rabbi Nachman 181). When Saba Yisroel ate on the fast of the 17th of Tamuz and as a result fell into utter despair and depression, not even any of these powerful Torah-lessons were able to revitalize him, and Rabbainu sent him the Petek, which revealed to him this other way of Derech Eretz ("The Way of the Land" – referring to good character, and esoteric ways of the Tzadik, revealed in Likutay Moharan, volume 2, Torah 78) which precedes Torah, as explained at length in Likutay Nanach. ↑

Segment 12
EN:
In Siach Sarfay Kodesh (2:527) an extremely similar story is recorded, and being that the accuracy and authenticity of SSK is very weak, and that of Koachvay Ohr extremely strong, it can be assumed that SSK was an attempt at this citation. Even still I will present a quick rough translation here:

Segment 13
EN:
Rabbi Nachman Tulchin accompanied Rabbi Nussun on his travels, and once Rabbi Nussun told over the Torah of Azamru in the city of Brod with great fervor, and Rabbi Nachman of Tulchin listened in rapture, and exclaimed silently to himself, "Certainly, certainly." Rabbi Nussun heard him, and challenged him, saying, "Azoy , azoy . Reb Nachman! Is it so simple? How many people did you draw close to Hashem Yisburach with this Torah-lesson?" It was understood from his words that it is possible to return all of Israel to their Father in Heaven with this Torah of Azamru. ↑

Segment 14
EN:
Saba expounds a little more on this in volume 3, letter 194, see there at length, here is the main point, at the end: "And through his utter humility and his deep wisdom, when he sees in them some good point whatsoever, even though he is extremely far from the holiness of the Torah, (the tzadik) lowers himself to them, to arouse them and draw them close to Hashem Yisburach." ↑

Segment 15
EN:
It should be noted that Saba is primarily drawing from the Likutay Moharan, volume 2, Torah-teaching 82, where Rabbainu revealed that Moshe Rabbainu would bond with the very lowest sinners, and Saba is explaining that teaching with the Torah of Azamru. ↑

Segment 16
EN:
Thus in Likutay Moharan, Torah-teaching 6, at the end, Rabbainu asserts that even when a person is G-d forbid being assailed by another, he should judge his assailant favorably, by deciding that he himself was deserving of this and had it coming. This shows that the main construct is for the beholder’s perspective to be good, and this builds the paradigm of Kesser (-crown), where everything is good. Even though justifying what he is undergoing should not seemingly give his assailant the status of a very righteous person, that is not his concern, his concern is only to establish a working good paradigm in which he lives. However, Rabbainu does write there that by doing so he gives his assailant to be a precious jewel in the crown of Hashem, and that needs much further study [See Likutay Moharan, Torah-teaching 136, that by judging him favorably, he will actually rise to that justified position, but that in turn will initiate a judgement upon him whether he is in fact worthy of this elevated position, and that judgment can be like burning coals poured over his head]. ↑

Segment 17
EN:
Thus what Saba wrote there, "until every one of Israel is beautiful and pleasant in his eyes," need not refer only to the utopian goal of this Torah-teaching, to turn everyone completely good, a goal strongly dependent on the true tzadik, rather as explained above, that even a simple beholder can latch on to some good aspect of any Jew, and only associate with that aspect, even if this means that his relationship with that person will be very shallow or artificial, on the contrary, that is exactly the point, the strength of his relationship with people should be based on the good he sees they are projecting. But all in all, in the beholder’s world, everyone will be beautiful on the level he has chosen to associate with them. ↑

Segment 18
EN:
Even still every person has a point in which he is a tzadik, not just for himself – as explained above regarding applying this Torah, but even with regard to others, see Likutay Moharan, Torah-teaching 34. ↑

Segment 19
EN:
This is even more apparent in what Saba wrote in Blossoms of the Spring 3:215, brought here further down. ↑

Segment 20
EN:
From this we see that even finding the good points is reliant on the tzadik. The good point is referred to as "oad" , has the numerical value of "yesod" – foundation (80), the aspect of the tzadik. It is also similar to the name of the tzadik Yosef (to add), see Likutay Moharan 7:5. ↑