Shuvu Bonim

   The main reason for the creation of the world was to reveal the fear and the kingdom of Hashem, “fear of Hashem is pure and stands forever” (Tehillim 19:10). A person needs to know that the only thing that exists is fear of Hashem. One must be in awe of Hashem and fear Him. He shouldn’t fear anyone else, no person—not Haman, not Pharaoh, not the Nazis. He should only fear Hashem. It is completely forbidden to fear any minister or nobleman or any robber or thief or terrorist. The entire creation is His Kingdom which reveals the kingship of Hashem in the world. The entire creation exclaims, “Hashem is King. Hashem was King. Hashem will be King forever.” Other than Hashem, nothing exists. Terrorists do not exist. Murderers do not exist. Nothing exists.
   Rabbeinu says that the first thing in serving Hashem is not having any fear. This is the number one crucial teaching of Rebbe Nachman, that we should have no fear whatsoever. The Rebbe has no use for cowards, no use for the faint-hearted. What is there to be afraid of? There is a G-d in the world. Hashem is alive and exists. There are tzaddikim, like Moshe Rabbeinu and Yehoshua bin Nun. They have complete control here in this world. They are in charge of everything. If a person wants to have success in serving Hashem or in anything at all, then first of all he needs to be fearless—he shouldn’t have a drop of fear in him. The Megaleh Amukos (Rav Nosson Shapira) says that fear is the biggest tumah that there is in the world. When a person has fear this means that he has no faith. He must uproot it at it’s source.
   Rabbeinu says in Torah 249 “The most important part of a person’s strength is in his heart. One who is strong in heart and has no fear of any person or thing is able to perform wonders and acts of strength and achieve victory in all his battles, simply through the strength of his heart.” A man must be courageous, undaunted under any circumstances. Only thus will he be victorious in all his battles. This is the aspect of “Who is considered a strong person? The one who conquers his evil inclination,” (Avos 4:1). The primary battle is to overcome the bad thoughts one has in his heart, as well as looking at forbidden sights in the street. And that is why it is written about Shimshon, (Shoftim 13:25), “He was filled with the spirit of Hashem....between Tzaraah and Eshta'ol,”

   To be continued...

Prayer

Master of the Universe, please help me to have complete and total faith in You, that I should have no fear or even the slightest anxiety from anything whatsoever, even from the harsh and calamitous decrees that are constantly, even daily being renewed against Your people, Israel. Please help me to have a perfect and absolute faith in You, that You are willing and able to send us an unmitigated salvation at any time, just as You did for our forefathers ‘in those days, at this time!’ That You can save us with unlimited and infinite wonders and miracles at all times.

B'Ohr Pnei HaMelech
Not for a split second do the Tzaddikim forget about Hashem...

People live in the world thinking that the whole world was only created in order for them to eat, drink, dress in fine clothes, organize their life, etc. etc. In short, everything is for their pleasure. A person needs a house, he needs an income, then children, that his children should be successful, successful in their learning, that the boys should attend the most reputable cheders, the girls should attend the finest schools, that he should be able to marry them off in honor. Even if he takes into account that Hashem is also in the picture, that he is also supposed to consider how to give Hashem pleasure from all this, as we say before the performance of each mitzvah--(I am performing this mitzvah) in order to elevate Ha Kadosh Baruch Hu and His Shechina… even so, this is not something that a person pays a whole lot of attention to! To understand and believe that in truth, every single movement that we make is really supposed to be solely for the honor and glory of Hashem! It turns out therefore that the best possible situation that one can be in is one of total disaster! A person who is flourishing and triumphant in everything he puts his hand to, he is in the greatest danger. Because the greatest danger one can be in is that his situation is so good that he forgets about Hashem. One can literally remove Hashem from the picture completely, as it says “and you ate and you were satisfied, and your heart grew proud within you.” Hashem says, “I am apprehensive of giving you too much of the good life, too much prosperity and success, because you will simply forget about Me completely, not bother to pray, etc.” Which is why, when one sees that he is enjoying success in all his endeavors, he needs to be extremely anxious.
There are, however, people who are exceptionally successful, and still they don’t forget about Hashem. The reason is because all their worldly success has no effect on them. It is distasteful and even repugnant to them. Not only do they receive no pleasure from it, but it even gives them an empty feeling in their heart. They are lacking nothing, yet they feel that they have nothing. They seemingly have everything, a husband, a wife, a nice home, a good income, successful children, a flourishing and prosperous lifestyle, and yet it all means nothing to them. The reason for this is that the neshama needs something else, something extra. Unfortunately, however, this is not generally the case. We are mostly in the aspect of, “but Yeshurun waxed fat and kicked” (Devarim 32:15). Having too much success is dangerous. Only when one is lacking something does he really pray, only then does he beg Hashem to provide him with his deficiency. He does not even realize that this is the moment Hashem has been waiting for all along, waiting in anticipation for him to appreciate that he is missing something, since only then do we genuinely pray to Hashem and cry out to Him wholeheartedly.