Nachal novea; makor chochma -
A flowing river; the source of wisdom (Mish. 18:4)
There are twelve major and distinct formulas of prayer, which bring
about twelve different types of unions between Hashem and the Shechina.
The supplicant acquires his zivug based upon the type of union between
Hashem and the Shechina he made through his prayers The sea was divided
into twelve separate corridors, corresponding to the type of zivug the
twelve tribes made through their twelve different formulas of prayer.
This indicates that the spiritual energies of prayer which enable one to
find his mate and the forces associated with the splitting of the red
Sea are the same. Hence our sages compare finding one's zivug to the
splitting of the Red Sea.
Rabbi Nachman explains how Abba Binyamin's words relate to the above
saying of the sages, associating prayer with acquiring one's zivug
(mate), with sustenance, and with the splitting of the sea. As mentioned
above, the words MaTeH, tribe and MeeTaH, bed are interchangeable, thus
the latter part of Abba Binyamon's statement has a double meaning, "(and
about my MTH (bed, when I have marital relations or tribal prayer), that
it should be positioned between north and south," alludes to both
marital relations and prayer. So, Abba Binyamin's declaration is a
restatement of our teaching--finding one's marriage partner is dependent
upon prayer, just like the splitting of the Red Sea was. Rabbi Nachman
explains how Abba Binyamin's statement alludes to the sages' other
saying, that attaining a livelihood is as difficult as the parting of
the Red Sea: The word mateh can also refer to sustenance, as the verse
says, "When I (Hashem) break your mateh (staff) of bread [referring to
one's livelihood]." (Lev. 26:26) So, mateh, tribe, and mateh, sustenance
are interchangeable and our verse can mean that just as the twelve
tribes bring about a union of Hashem and the Shechinah through prayer,
which provides Hashem with sustenance so to speak, in turn the
supplicant receives his sustenance. Thus Abba Binyamin's request that
his prayer be close to his bed actually has a triple meaning. He was
concerned that his prayer should ascend via the gate of his tribe, and
that he bring about the appropriate unifications needed in order to
provide him his livelihood and his zivug.
Since the Tzaddik HaEmes is familiar with the pathways of prayer, he is
able to control, events on earth, as the verse says, "And I (Ya'akov)
have given you (Joseph) one sh'chem (portion) over and above your
brothers, which I took from the hand of the Emorite (a Cannanite tribe)
with my sword and with my bow." [Sh'chem refers to the double portion
given to the firstborn, which Ya'akov had wrested from the hands of his
older brother Esau, who is here called "the Emorite". Ya'akov's sword
and bow are figurative tools which enabled him to gain the birthright
and blessings. The "sword" represents sharp wisdom, and the "bow"
represents prayer, which propels the supplicants plea to Hashem
(Rashi)]. (Genesis 48:22) This indicates that Ya'akov, the Tzaddik
HaEmes, was able to dictate earthly events through his prayers. Rabbi
Nachman explains how. The word sh'chem is spelled with the Hebrew
letters shin, chuf, and mem. The shin stands for shafel (lowly). This
world is often referred to as olam ha'shafel, the lowly world. The chuf
stands for kochav (star), referring to the realm of the stars that
channel Hashem's great light, influencing events on earth. The mem
stands for malach (angel), and refers to the realm of the angels,
through which Hashem's great light is channelled to an even greater
degree than via the stars, to influence earthly events. Rabbi Nachman
says that Ya'akov's prayers activated spiritual energies that channeled
Hashem's great light through these three worlds, enabling him to
manipulate events to wrest the birthright from his brother, the evil
Esau.
Rabbi Nachman's teaching implies that one of the major reasons why the
Torah recorded the incident of the splitting of the Red Sea is teach us
about prayer and its great importance. The Red Sea episode graphically
illustrates that although a situation may seem hopeless and beyond human
control, there is always one recourse that can change the apparently
inevitable--appealing to Hashem through prayer. Most people, however,
pray only as a last resort. Rabbi Nachman emphasized that prayer should
be a person's first consideration. He said, "What people do at the end,
I want you to do at the beginning!" (1 Siach Sarfai Kodesh 293)
The Rebbe and his attendant came to a certain Jew's home and entered it
to pray. Suddenly, as soon as they had concluded their prayers,
something started banging at the windows and crashing against the roof
of the house, threatening to bring it down. Rebbe Levi Yitzchak told his
attendant to go outside and say that the Rabbi of Mezlechav [the Rebbe's
city of residence at the time] commands them to be quiet. But the
attendant was terrified to go outside and face whatever it was that was
smashing the house. Rebbe Levi Yitzchak handed his staff to his
attendant and his fear completely disappeared. He went outside and said
what the holy Rebbe had instructed him. As soon as he did this, the
noise and the banging completely stopped. Then the attendant went inside
and asked Rebbe Levi Yitzchak for an explanation of all the days strange
events.
Rebbe Levi Yitzchak began, "On the road we were met by a spirit that had
passed away several hundred years ago. When he was alive, he had
committed an abundance of the worst types of sins. Because of his
degenerate behavior, the heavenly court would not allow him to enter
purgatory to be rectified. Instead, he was given over to the angels of
destruction to afflict him. When the spirit saw that I would be
traveling on the road today, he decided to halt the horses, so that I
would rectify his soul. Therefore, I told the spirit that he should meet
us at this house, where we would stop to pray. As soon as we entered
this house, the spirit entered along with us. However, the angels of
destruction stood outside, for they had no permission to enter this
house. When the angels of destruction saw that the spirit was in the
house for a long time, they began to make a riot and started to bang on
the windows and roof in order to force the spirit to return to them.
They were forced to be silent when I ordered them, through you, to
stop.
"Out of curiosity, the attendant wanted to see what the spirit looked
like. The holy Rebbe assented and waved his handkerchief over his
attendant's face. As soon as this happened, the attendant fainted on the
spot. It took great pains and effort to revive him. The Rebbe asked his
attendant what he had seen that caused him to pass out. The attendant
responded, "I saw the image of a man who was blacker than the blackest
black and his face was turned to the wall." Rebbe Levi Yitzchak
explained, "He became blackened from the endless beatings he had
received from the angels of destruction. The reason why his face was
turned to the wall was that he was too ashamed to allow you to look at
his face because of the terrible sins he had committed [that were etched
on his face]."
Several years passed. One Friday night, Rebbe Levi Yitzchak and his
attendant were about to begin their Sabbath meal. The holy Rebbe said,
"Today we have with us a very distinguished guest. The spirit that we
encountered several years ago has come back to thank me for helping him
rectify his soul." Again, the attendant wanted to see what the spirit
looked like, now that it was completely rectified. Rebbe Levi Yitzchak
then said, "You are not able to look at him, because his soul has
attained such a high level of purity that the bright light emits could
damage your eyes." (Sepurim May'Olam HaEmes pp. 336-338)
Rabbi Nachman says, through its prayers, each tribe activates the
spiritual energies of the constellation with which it is associated.
When a constellation is activated, its spiritual energies cause
vegetation and everything associated with that constellation to grow
[because each star contains a diluted form of Hashem's infinite light,
which nourishes the world with life]. As the verse says, "there shall
shoot forth a star from Ya'acov (Jacob) and a tribe stands up out of
Israel." (Numbers 24:17) The phrase in this verse, "stands up" alludes
to the Amidah prayer [which is recited while standing]. Thus, the verse
associates the energies of prayer with the energies of the stars.
Therefore, when a tribe of Israel stands up to pray, it arouses its
respective star and the spiritual energies of the star radiate forth,
causing things to grow. Our sages teach "There isn't a blade of grass in
the world below which doesn't have a star and an angel above that strike
it and tell it, 'Grow!'" (Bereshit Rabba 10:7) This teaches us that
prayer, when accepted by Hashem, gives the supplicant the power to
control nature and all other things normally beyond human control. These
include the splitting of the Red Sea, making a living, and finding a
marriage partner. (Mai HaNachal) Our sages teach "providing a person
with his livelihood is as difficult as splitting the Red Sea." (Talmud:
Pesachim 118a); and "providing a person with a marriage partner is as
difficult as splitting the Red Sea." (Talmud: Sotah 2a) `In comparing
splitting of the sea, which was accomplished through prayer, to securing
a marriage partner and a livelihood; our sages are telling us that those
things which are normally beyond human control can come under our
control through prayer.
Rabbi Nachman explains how prayer is able to change nature, and how it
enables the supplicant to find his marriage partner. When the Children
of Israel pray, they bring about a union between Hashem and His
Shechinah [the Divine Presence--that part of Hashem hidden within the
creation]. It is every Jew's duty, through his service of Hashem, to
unify this world (the Divine Presence) to Hashem, as the verse says,
"Praise [a form of prayer] the One who rides upon the aravot
(firmament)." (Psalms 68:5) The word ARaVot has the same root as the
word AReiV, blended or intermixed. The Zohar teaches that the reason why
this hidden firmament is called aravot is because it is a synthesis of
fire and water, which is a blend of all of the spiritual energies.
(Zohar 165a) The Shechinah contains all of the mixtures of the
multi-colored spiritual energies associated with the aravot. In our
verse the One who is praised is Hashem. So, the verse can now be
understood as follows: Prayer causes Hashem to ride upon the aravot, the
Shechinah [which refers to spiritual union between Hashem and the Divine
Presence]. Rabbi Nachman explains that the extent of Divine union that
one brings about through his prayer determines what type of zivug
(coupling) one is granted. The Hebrew word zivug, coupling, applies to
both physical and spiritual unions. Although the word usually applies to
marriage partners, it has a much broader connotation, and includes
friendships, business relationships, inanimate objects and one's
environment. Thus, Rabbi Nachman teaches that the way a person offers
his prayers directly determines the type of unification he brings about
in heaven, and in turn affects all of his relationships and encounters
in life. (Mei HaNachal)
Rabbi Nachman now explains how prayer is able to change nature, which is
related to the sages statement comparing the splitting of the Red Sea to
earning one's livelihood. The verse says, "They guarded His testimonies
and He gave them a law (chok)" (Psalms 99:7) Testimony alludes to prayer
as the verse says, "The tribes of Hashem, a testimony for Israel, to
give praise [a form of prayer] to the Name of Hashem." (Psalm 122:4) The
Talmud teaches that testimony in court can only be given when standing.
(Talmud: Shavuot 30a) As mentioned above, standing applies to prayer. So
in other words, through prayer we testify to the unity of Hashem. The
verse says, "He made it stand as a chok (law). (Psalms 105:10) The
Talmud states that the word chok denotes livelihood (Talmud: Beitza
16a), while standing refers to prayer. (Talmud: Berachot 6b) The verse
can now be read, "They guarded His 'prayer' [they brought unification of
Hashem through their prayers] and He gave them a 'livelihood'." That
our prayers bring about a unification of Hashem--uniting this world and
the upper world--means that, as it were, they sustain Hashem. To the
extent that we sustain Hashem with our prayers, so he, in turn, gives us
sustenance. When the sages compare earning a livelihood to the
difficulty of splitting the Red Sea, (as mentioned above) it is
synonymous with the twelve pathways of prayer, showing us that just as
the Red Sea was split through the twelve forms of prayer, so too,
sustenance and livelihood are also determined through prayer. [Note:
When one receives his wants or needs without prayer, as a gift emanating
from Hashem's endless mercy, it is devoid of blessing and inhibits the
recipient from connecting with Hashem, which further entrenches his
state of lack of faith. The reason for this is that without effort in
prayer, one is blind to Hashem's hand in his success and is aware only
of his own physical efforts in attaining his goals. Therefore, the
recipient remains ungrateful and Hashem's involvement in his success
goes unnoticed.]
The Red Sea split because of the effectiveness of prayer. Why were the
prayers of the Jews so effective? What secret method did they employ?
Every word mentioned in the Torah contains timeless and valuable lessons
that apply to all people in each generation. The purpose of mentioning
this incident in the Torah is to teach us something about how to better
increase the effectiveness of our prayers. Rabbi Nachman, who discovered
the Torah's hidden message, explains the secret that the Jews at the Red
Sea knew. That the Red Sea was split into twelve different segments and
that each tribe traversed the sea through its own unique lane teaches us
a very valuable lesson about prayer. As mentioned above, each tribe
represents and is associated with a unique form of prayer which
activated the unique spiritual energies of that particular tribe. Every
Jewish soul is connected to, and spiritually nourished by the essence of
one of the twelve tribes. Therefore, Rabbi Nachman says that to maximize
our prayers' effect in nourishing our souls, it is essential that our
prayers enter through the gate in heaven corresponding to our tribal
root.
DIRECTING IT THROUGH THE PROPER TRIBAL ROOT
Through prayer, we cause our souls to ascend to their spiritual roots.
Then, they are no longer considered individual souls, but a composite of
all the souls of its entire root. The awesome power derived from this
"collective soul"is infused into one's prayers which gives the
individual soul all the nourishment it needs to flourish. However, Rabbi
Nachman says that it takes considerable merit for a person to be able to
navigate his prayers through the pertinent tribal gate. The Talmud
alludes to a solution to this dilemma, "Abba Binyamin said, 'All my days
I was concerned about two things, about my prayer that it should be
close to my meetah (bed); and about my meetah [when I have marital
relations], that it should be positioned between north and south.'"
(Talmud: Berachot 5b) The word MeeTaH--bed, has the same root as the
word MaTeH--tribe. [Note: According to the laws of Biblical
interpretation, words that are derived from the same root are
interchangeable.] Therefore, Abba Binyamin's words can mean that he
wanted to ensure that his prayers would be successful, so he made
certain that they were directed through the gate of his own particular
tribe. This is consistent with our teaching--the reason why the Jews
were successful in splitting the sea with their prayers was that the
prayer of each tribe entered its own gate, which is alluded to by each
tribe traversing the sea through its own corridor.
Tu B'Shvat, The New Year for Trees, Monday, February 5, 1996 (ask your
Rabbi about a Tu B'Shvat seder) Rabbi Nachman explains how to get
prayers to enter their appropriate gate, thus making them more
effective. Ya'akov (Jacob) produced the twelve holy tribes, thus he
embodies all the gates of prayer. Ya'akov knew the gates of prayer
pertaining to the root of each tribe, as the verse says, "And Ya'akov
gathered his feet onto the bed (meetah)." (Genesis 49:33) "his feet"
refers to prayer, as the verse says, "Righteousness will go before him
and walk in the way of his steps [i.e. his feet]." (Psalms 85:14) The
Talmud says that "'Righteousness will go before him('--before going to
do anything, one should first pray (righteousness); and only then 'walk
in the way of his steps'--take care of one's needs." (Talmud: Berachot
14a) Our verse can now be understood to mean that when Ya'akov gathered
his feet [i.e. prayer] onto the bed (meeteh) [which is interchangeable
with the word mateh, tribe], he thus gathered each one of his prayers,
to its appropriate root, as they pertained to each one of the twelve
gates of prayer. Since Ya'akov was the Tzaddik HaEmes (the leading saint
of the generation) and it was he who gathered all of the prayers,
navigating them through their appropriate gates, Rabbi Nachman concludes
that this teaches us that to ensure that our prayers enter through their
proper gates, we must bind our prayers to the Tzaddik HaEmes.
The following verse alludes to the idea of attaching oneself to the
Tzaddik HaEmes, "His soul [Ya'akov, representing the Tzaddik HaEmes] is
bound up with his soul [Benjamin, who represents the common Jew]."
(Genesis 44:30) The Jews at the Red Sea attached their prayers to the
Tzaddik HaEmes to make them more effective, and so can we, today to
better enable us to secure our needs. [Note: One attaches himself to the
Tzaddik HaEmes simply by saying before one's prayers, "I attach myself
to all of the true Tzaddikim in our generation and to all of the true
Tzaddikim that lie in the dust and in particular to the Tzaddik HaEmes."
Although this declaration may seem insignificant, don't be fooled. Words
have tremendous power and can accomplish great things. For more
information, the source material covers this topic in much greater
depth.] (1 Lekutai MoHaran 9:2, 4)
Through spiritual channels, especially channels of prayer, solutions can
be found to seemingly hopeless situations(The famous and holy Rebbe Levi
Yitzchak of Berditchev was traveling in a coach together with his
attendant, pulled by a good team of horses. Suddenly, the coach came to
an abrupt halt, with the horses unable to move the wagon from its place.
No matter how much the driver whipped the horses, they were unable to
move the wagon. The surprised Rebbe Levi Yitzchak stuck his head out the
window and said, "Go! Wait for us in the next village, at so and sos'
house and there I and my attendant will pray the afternoon prayer. As
soon as the holy Rebbe finished his sentence the horses were able to
move and continued on their way.