ספר שיחות מוהר"ן אות - שח

RAK: See Yemei Moharnat 35.

And in any case, what does it matter — all this constant crying that earlier times were better than these? For Shlomo [the king] already cried out about this and refuted their words. He said (Koheles 7:10): "Do not say that the earlier days were better than these — for it is not from wisdom that you ask about this." And although Rashi explained there that it is all according to the merit of the generations — even so, Torah has many faces,[483] and a verse never loses its plain meaning.[484] For Shlomo the King, peace be upon him, who was wiser than all men, said in his wisdom and holy spirit that this is great foolishness — what people say that earlier times were better than these. For people always say this. And in truth we see that every time the world grows wealthier and conducts itself on a grander scale with more expenses than in earlier times.

And in truth — what does it matter? On the contrary, if the world is now in greater straits, one must flee to Hashem Yisburach and engage in Torah and service. For there is no place to flee from the troubles and suffering of this world except to Hashem Yisburach and to the Torah — for "man is born to toil" (Iyov 5:7). And as it is written in the Midrash (Sanhedrin 99b): "Man is born to toil — fortunate is one whose toil is in Torah." The meaning: since however it will be, whether one is rich or poor, etc., even so one will certainly have toil and anger all one's days — for the troubles and sufferings of every person are very many. As it is written: "And all his days are vexation and pain," etc. (Koheles 2:23). And as it is brought in the Shla"h (vol. 2, 138a) in rhyme: "There is no moment without misfortune, no hour..., no day..." etc. Therefore certainly fortunate is one who flees from the toil of the misfortunes of this world to the toil of Torah. And then certainly fortunate is he and it is good for him in this world and in the World to Come.

But as for one who says that earlier times were better than these — and in the greatness of his worry and preoccupation and pain about livelihood and money, ever increasing — through this he will accomplish nothing, only spending his days in pain and worry and anger and suffering, and wasting himself from Torah and prayer, etc., because of worries and conversations and such foolishness. And in the end (Koheles 5:14): "He will carry nothing from his toil." For (Koheles 6:4): "In vanity it comes and in darkness it goes," etc. For in truth one who has eyes to see and a heart to understand the truth in truth will understand with his mind and see that also in the earlier times the world was full of worries and preoccupations about livelihood. As we see in all the books that were composed hundreds of years ago — most of them write in their introductions that they had many troubles in their times and lack of money and the harsh difficulty of livelihood most oppressive of all — and even so they composed many holy books. For (Koheles 1:9): "That which was is that which shall be," etc. And the general rule: also in earlier times the world was full of livelihood worries — as Shlomo the King, peace be upon him, wrote (Koheles 2:23): "And all his days are vexation and pain," etc. And it is written: "Man is born to toil, short of days and full of agitation," etc. And similar verses many of them. And even then it seemed to everyone that in times of such straits one must worry only about livelihood — and through this their days were lost and they went from the world without delight. And even so in every generation there are found righteous and God-fearing and upright people who did not attend to this and fled from the toil of this world to the toil of Torah and service and merited it for themselves and for their generations — fortunate are they.

And so too now — certainly free choice exists, and certainly there is power now too, for each and every person, to flee from such worries and sad conversations — to flee from them and to trust in Hashem and to accept upon oneself the toil of Torah in place of the bitter toil of worry about this world. And certainly Hashem Yisburach will provide for him — for Hashem Yisburach supports the world always, then as now. On the contrary — Hashem Yisburach manages the world more beautifully each time.

The general rule: this world is full of worries and sorrows and pain and suffering always — then as now — as was decreed from the sin of Adam the first (Bereishis 3:17): "In anguish shall you eat of it" (Bereishis 3:19): "By the sweat of your brow shall you eat bread." And there is no place to flee from this anguish and these worries that shorten and consume the days of man — there is no place to flee from them except to Hashem Yisburach and to the Torah, as mentioned above.

And we have already spoken that this is what our Sages o.b.m. said in the Mishnah (Avos 6:4): "Such is the way of Torah: bread with salt shall you eat, and measured water shall you drink, and on the ground shall you sleep, and a life of hardship shall you live, and in the Torah shall you toil. If you do this, fortunate are you and it is good for you — fortunate are you in this world and good for you in the World to Come." And common people object: how is "fortunate are you in this world" applicable — since one must endure such hardship of eating bread with salt, etc.? And it has already been explained in some books with various strained interpretations by way of homily. But in truth — one who has eyes and a heart to look at the matters of this world in truth, one who has truly merited to draw from the awesome teachings and discourses and stories of our holy and awesome Rabbainu, may the memory of the righteous and holy one be for a blessing — for him the Mishnah is explained with complete simplicity, and one can explain the matter to any person with a true intellect who is somewhat familiar with the good conduct of the world.

For all the wealthy and the great magnates acknowledge that this world is full of sorrows and sufferings. For their worries and sufferings are very, very great at every time and every day and every hour — as our Sages o.b.m. said there (Avos 2:7): "Increase possessions — increase worry." And although common poor people do not understand this and it seems to them that if they had wealth they would have no worries — in truth they are greatly mistaken, as is perceptible to the senses, and as our Sages o.b.m. said. And the poor and the householders also certainly have many worries, as mentioned above. Therefore there is no place to flee from the sufferings of this world — which is full of pain and suffering of various kinds — whether in the matter of livelihood, or in the matter of pain and suffering from one's wife and children, and women think they have suffering from their husbands, and there is also actual physical pain and suffering — for many suffer from remarkable illnesses and afflictions, the Merciful One protect us, in the world. Whether from all these and their like — there is no place to flee from all of this except to the Torah.

For whoever desires to be well in this world, to live comfortably without pain — is full of troubles always. For everything he hopes for good comes to the contrary. And even if he sometimes has some imagined good — it is certainly always mixed with sorrows, as is perceptible to the senses to one who looks at the truth.

Therefore in this world "there is no wisdom and no understanding and no counsel" (Proverbs 21:30) to live comfortably — except when one truly accepts to suffice with the absolute minimum and to live a life of hardship, as they said in the Mishnah mentioned: bread with salt shall you eat, etc. For then precisely — when one accepts upon oneself all the straitness and the life of hardship and to endure everything and to toil in Torah as it says there: "and in the Torah shall you toil" — then precisely one has true vitality even in this world. And fortunate is he even in this world. As it says there: "if you do this, fortunate are you in this world" — certainly. For he will have no suffering from the many misfortunes of this world that are very great for every person — since he accepts everything for the sake of the Torah, and all his life and goodness is the Torah, which is true good. And then certainly his life is true life, and fortunate is he even in this world.

But one who desires the pleasures of this world, to live comfortably in this world — his life is certainly very bitter and very hard. For even the slightest breath disturbs him (Sotah 5a). For immediately when something contrary to his will comes upon him, he has pain and suffering. And it is impossible that everything should go according to his will — even if he were a magnate and lord and ruler, for this world is full of suffering as mentioned. Therefore there is no place to flee from the toil of this world and its sufferings — except to the toil of Torah. To accept upon oneself to go in the way of Torah — to eat bread with salt, etc. And then fortunate is he and good for him. Fortunate is he in this world certainly. And the matters are well understood and clear to one who is somewhat familiar with the sufferings of this world and its many worries, and who looks at the truth. And see about this in the discourses of Rabbainu, o.b.m., printed with the Stories, above — and see in the story of the Wise Man and the Simple Man, etc.

Even the scholars and investigators of the nations of the world acknowledge all this — that this world is always full of suffering, as is explained in their books many times about this. And they said: there is no good in this world except endurance [seivel].[485] That is: in this world one must accept upon oneself to endure everything that comes upon one, etc. But all their words are of no avail to the world without the holy Torah that we the children of Israel have merited. For no person merits to accept upon himself the endurance of the sufferings of this world, and to not be disturbed by the troubles of this world — except through the holy Torah. For when a person truly settles within himself the truth to truth — that this world has no purpose whatsoever — for even if this world were full of goodness and wealth without any suffering or pain or worry at all, even so it would be vanity and emptiness, for time passes and goes in the blink of an eye.[486] (Psalms 144:4): "And our days are like a passing shadow" — not like the shadow of a palm tree, etc. And as it is written: "The years of our lives number seventy... and the best of them is toil and sorrow — for it passes quickly and we fly away." All the more so since this world is also full of pain and sorrows and sufferings and worries and preoccupations without measure — from great to small, from the greatest of the greatest wealthy men to the most utterly poor among the poor — all are full of worries and preoccupations of their livelihood expenses and other various sufferings and troubles and mishaps, as is known to all. And even emperors and kings and great princes are full of worries and sufferings and many fears without measure — as is known to one who is familiar with them and their ways. And all this is known and explained even to the scholars among the nations of the world. And even so — no one escapes from this except when one chooses one's portion in Torah and holy mitzvos and is willing to suffice with the absolute minimum of this world in order to engage in Torah and spend one's days on the Torah and the service. Then precisely one can flee from the toil of this world — to be rid of the toil and labors and preoccupations and the bitterness of soul of the worries of this world — and to live true life in Torah and the service of Hashem, which is the essence of true life in this world and in the World to Come.

And certainly the words of the holy Mishnah are correct and faithful even according to their plain meaning. For one who chooses to endure in this world — to eat bread with salt, to drink measured water, to sleep on the ground, to live a life of hardship — for not everyone even has bread with salt and measured water in abundance, and therefore one needs with all of this to be willing to live a life of hardship — but all this one accepts upon oneself in order to engage in Torah, as it says there: "and in the Torah shall you toil." Then: if you do this — certainly "fortunate are you in this world" — certainly. For certainly one has true vitality — since one accepts upon oneself to endure all the sufferings of this world. And one has merited to grasp the truth that this world was not created for comfort and pleasure. On the contrary — one who wants to take pleasure in this world is full of suffering and anger and pain, as mentioned above. Rather one flees from the toil of this world to the toil of Torah, which is our life and the length of our days. Then — not only will one merit the World to Come, which is the eternal world that all this world is not worth even a blink of an eye against it — but also in this world fortunate is he, fortunate is his portion. For in this world there is no good like endurance — but it is impossible to accept the endurance of the sufferings of this world except when one flees to the toil of Torah and holy mitzvos, as mentioned.

And the matters are very explained and understood to one who truly desires and does not wish to deceive himself. For one who mocks such matters mocks only himself — meaning he does not wish to accept our true counsel and turns his back on them. For he only wants to sink in the mire of the depths of this world — and who can prevent him? Let each one take his own path. (Psalms 20:8): "But we — in the Name of Hashem our G-d we will call out."

And as Rabbainu, o.b.m., said about one person with whom he spoke at length — and Rabbainu's, o.b.m., intention was to extract him from the places in which he was sinking in endless waters. But that man gave a rebellious shoulder and hardened his heart and did not receive the words of Rabbainu, o.b.m., into his heart — even though he himself also understood that the words of Rabbainu, o.b.m., were true and wondrous. But he did not want to receive them. Rabbainu, o.b.m., answered and said: This man is like one who is drowning in water and going to ruin — and someone comes and extends his hand and wants to extract him from there. And he gives a rebellious shoulder and turns his back with insolence and does not want to allow himself to be grasped to be extracted — and flees from the one who comes to save him. And for the one who heeds — may it be pleasant for him in this world and in the World to Come.

Tam veNishlam — Completed and Concluded — the book Sichos HaRan, with the help of Hashem Yisburach.

The transcriber said: So as not to leave the page blank, we present here some discourses of Moharnat, o.b.m., from the book Kochvei Or:

Chayai Moharan, His Sojourn in Uman, 31.