Azamra / Rabbi Nachman: Who He Was - Part 7
אזמרה
Source: https://ajew.org/reader/azamra/1/7

Segment 1
EN:
Another important point concerning the way of Azamru, specifically when it is applied to oneself, is pointed out by Rabbi Nussun[18] and quoted in the holy book Aitzoas Hamivoa-aroas (Hischazkus-encouragement, article 19), that this way can be likened to the Red Heifer[19] which purifies those impure of contamination of the dead, but makes impure those who are pure[20], he does not elaborate but it can readily be understood, that if one turns a blind eye to his faults, and satisfies himself with some little good he has, this would be very destructive. Thus one must be extremely diligent and on guard to only utilize the method of Azamru to extract oneself and keep oneself out of the dark realm of sadness and evil, and to build on the good, but as he rises he must contend with fixing himself up completely, even as the goodness becomes dominant.

Segment 2
EN:
In conclusion I will present a few excerpts from the holy awesome book Blossoms of the Spring which pertain to this Torah of Azamru.

Segment 3
EN:
Blossoms of the Spring 1:11 (in other editions see 1:10):

Segment 4
EN:
"In the end of the final times, when the sitra-achra (evil realm) intensifies profusely, then the main rectification will be through the true tzadik who is the aspect of Moshe Messiah, who judges all favorably, and finds good points even in the most forsaken and alienated, and he arouses the hidden and concealed good in the places distant from Hashem Yisburach, and he raises the good from depth of the abyss of the kleepoas (-evil husks). For this is the main avoadu (job/devotion) of the tzadik, that he endeavors to heal the sickest people by means of his great power, that he can make such wondrous vessels and constrictions, with wondrous wisdom, in such a way that it is possible to enlighten even in them hasugoas (conceptions) of the Divine, in order that they too can draw close, and specifically through this there will be the essential rectification and redemption in the final end of times."

Segment 5
EN:
Blossoms of the Spring 3:215 (in other editions see 2:3,6):

Segment 6
EN:
"Even in these later generations, when the "hastura shebisoach hastura " has intensified infinitely, the main rectification is by the great tzadik, who can arouse the good points of Israel; even in the execrable who are full of sins, even in them the tzadik searches and finds in them good points, until he imbues in them that they too shall be bring joy to their souls, and through this they extract them from sins and defects, and they return them in repentance.

Segment 7
EN:
"The tzadik arouses the mercy of Hashem Yisburach, that He should look just upon the good points of Israel and He shall not look upon our bad whatsoever, until he imbues in our hearts His enormous mercy, until joy is drawn upon us, through which the essential repentance is rectified."

Segment 8
EN:
Blossoms of the Spring 3:145 (in other editions see 2:24):

Segment 9
EN:
"…who merited to bind himself with attachment to the true tzadik, who has the power to descend down down, to the depth of the depth, to the most low and distant places, and to break and nullify all the evil which took hold of even the apostates and complete heretics who fell to the deepest of depth of the lowest abyss, and to extract them from there, and to raise them to the holiness (to the utmost ascent), and to turn around for them all the descents to the tachlis (utmost/purpose) of ascents, and he cull, and collects, and gathers all the good points that are in them, and imbues in them thoughts of repentance, and strengthens them and arouses them, that however they are, and in the place that they are, even still, they shall search and seek Hashem Yisburach (until they too ascend) until, through this power, he will turn around for them all the descents to the tachlis (purpose/ultimate) ascent."

Segment 10
EN:
Blossoms of the Spring 3:442

Segment 11
EN:
"The true tzadik always judges (one of the nation of) Israel favorably ("millamed zichoos"), even the worst of the worst and the lowest of the low, because in all of them there are found many good hairs, what they draw themselves sometimes, a hairbreadth from bad to good, and these hairs gather together and are braided and interlaced, and there is made from them the light of the holy tzitzis, which are the aspect of the extremely awesome supernal kindness, the root of all the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy, where all the sins are forgiven and turned around to merits."

Segment 12
EN:
Blossoms of the Spring 3:294

Segment 13
EN:
"The Bal-duvur (-litigator-evil inclination-Satan) desires to completely knock down his resolve, so he reminds him, from wherever he is, his abundant sins and enormous transgressions, and how he is full of defects and damages, all the time, and how he became so distant from Hashem Yisburach, until it seems to him that there is no hope, and he (the bal-duvur) shows him each time (that it is) as if there is no hope Heaven forbid, and therefore he holds himself back from boring any more tunnels to return to Hashem Yisburach, Heaven forbid. And all of this is the work of the bal-duvur, because this is not the way of humility whatsoever, just the bal-duvur on connives over him to knock him down completely Heaven forbid (and therefore great exerting is necessary etc.). And due to the utter darkness, it is extremely difficult for him to enliven himself, to find in himself the good points in him to enliven himself, and therefore great and enormous exertion is necessary to cull the good, that is, to remind himself of every single good point that he finds in himself of the holiness of Israel, especially what he merited with the good points in him – to bring joy to his soul, to remind himself: Behold, even still I am of the stock of Israel, that He did not make me a gentile etc., and sometimes I do some mitzva; and (even) if it is the way it is, behold nevertheless it has some good point, which one point of the slightest of the very slightest mitzva – the whole world isn't worthy of it!"

Segment 14
EN:
Na Nach Nachma Nachman MayUman!!

Segment 15
EN:
The Mechanism of Azamruh

Segment 16
EN:
In depth understanding of the mechanism of reverting someone to the good by finding a good point

Segment 17
EN:
This chapter has been added two years after the first publication of this book. Thanks to a few breakthroughs which HY blessed me, I realized that I hadn’t been reading the Torah-teaching with enough attention and accuracy which resulted in the standard mediocre understanding. Here I present what I think is very clearly the proper reading and understanding of this teaching, and some of the points discussed previously will be clarified naturally. Really the whole book should be edited and revised according to this proper understanding, but since I have never encountered anything but that previous mediocre understanding, which I think is standard, for the meantime I will leave it as is.

Segment 18
EN:
In Likutay Moharan, Torah-teaching 282 Rabbainu revealed that finding and concentrating on a good point in someone influences that person to revert to be entirely good. The original way I understood this is that, first of all, by grasping the good point, this gives the person better leverage to repent (-this is written explicitly), and secondly, by continuingly finding more good points (-also written explicitly), the good is built up until it completely takes over. However, upon closer examination it becomes clear that Rabbainu only spoke of finding additional good point when he addressed the person finding good points in himself, and with regard to the Shuliach Tzibor – the Tzadik, finding good points in others, but not with regard to the initial principle that everyone should judge one another by a good point that can be found in them. Rabbainu wrote, that by putting the other person in this positive vantage, the person can then repent. Then, as an additional construct, Rabbainu wrote about a person finding in himself more additional good points, whereby he builds a melody of song and praise to Hashem. The melody is specifically from one’s own good points, and this specifically is what is stated in the verse, “I will sing to Hashem with ‘my’ utmost/last bit.” Also, the Shuliach Tzibor – the Tzadik, who builds the melody from the good points of the public, can only do so by virtue of having all those good points included in himself. This concurs with what Rabbainu taught (Likutay Moharan II, Torah-teaching 1, and see Parparous Lichuchmuh there) that when one judges a person, he makes a Rosh Hashana for that person – that is, a day of reckoning, something one would wish only their enemies, something to be avoided by all means. This follows the dictum of our Sages, do not judge a person until you realized his place. No judging! Only the Tzadik who has this Divine attribute of being the place of the world, can judge others. Also in the Story of the Clever Man and the Simple Man, the hero refuses to regard others, and proclaims, “That is his business and this is mine, and furthermore (“vi-oad” – the same word used in Azamra, the utmost/last-bit, this is remarkable, even though Rabbainu actually delivered the story in Yiddish with the word: vayeter) why should we speak about others?” Thus, in the Torah-teaching of Azamruh, Rabbainu is not instructing to judge and examine people for their good points, only, to find some good positive vantage of each person by which to regard them. Only with regard to oneself, Rabbainu says, even after you have found a positive vantage with which to view yourself, and put yourself on course to repent, keep looking and finding and building more and more good points, because this forms a melody to thank and praise Hashem.

Segment 19
EN:
Thus Rabbainu wrote, that by finding some remaining good point even in the most wicked person, this actually extricates him from being damned and puts him in a position of merit. Rabbainu did not write that by judging favorably this starts a procedure and a sequence of events which will lead to the extraction, Rabbainu wrote that immediately by finding the positive vantage, that itself aligned the person in a position of merit. Then, from that position of merit, the person can repent and return completely to Hashem. What remains is only to understand how this works.

Segment 20
EN:
This is actually one of the Divine Attributes, as pointed out in the footnotes at the beginning of the Torah; Hashem chooses to view a person by their merit, and we are commanded[21] to follow the ways of Hashem. Thus, in the same way Hashem, when He looks at a person only their good points, is inherently setting this person in a position of merit, because everything is based on how Hashem sees it, so too a person, who is created in the Divine Image and commanded to resemble Hashem in His ways, has this power to decide a person’s good status simply by viewing that person in a positive light.