The joy of Kol Ha’Olam Kulo

Chevra, as is our custom, we will gather tonight at 5.45p to welcome Shabbat and welcome back Rabbi Laurie! Here are the coordinates for our gathering:

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A very narrow bridge
I struggle with depression. And sometimes I feel sorry for myself for being depressed. And then I feel ashamed for feeling sorry for myself given my privilege. So it goes. The lyrics of Kol Ha’Olam Kulo speak to me. “The whole entire world is a very narrow bridge and the main thing is to have no fear at all.” The lyrics are attributed to Reb Nachman of Breslov (1772 – 1810), someone who had a lot of reasons to be depressed but ended up founding a Chasidic sect that’s known worldwide for promoting unrestrained joy.

Yet another melody for Kol Ha'Olam Kulo.

Reb Nachman was born into Chasidic royalty. His great grandfather was the Baal Shem Tov, the founder of Chasidism. As a student, Reb Nachman had an insatiable thirst for learning and was marked early on for greatness.

He was married at thirteen and lived with his in-laws. Reb Nachman attracted followers eager to learn from him. Soon though, tragedy began to over take him at every turn.

Of his eight children, four died before they were even two years old.
His wife died soon after their last child was born.
Nachman had trouble holding a job as a pulpit rabbi. He tended to speak his mind without regard to synagogue politics.
His house burned down.
He died from consumption when he was 38-years-old.

Even after his death, Reb Nachman has had difficulties. His acolytes make an annual pilgrimage to his grave in Ukraine on Rosh Hashanah and, when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union, many followers were turned away or arrested. After the Soviet Union fell apart, the pilgrimages scaled back up. Recently, about 30,000 people descend on Uman, a city of 90,000, to pay their respects. It’s hard to say how current events will effect the next pilgrimage.

So, without a doubt, Reb Nachman had some perfectly good reasons to be depressed.

Honestly, Reb Nachman’s description of life as a very narrow bridge doesn’t strike me as particularly optimistic and actually smacks of existentialism. Usually in Torah, the world is described as wide, not narrow, full of possibilities and choices, both for doing good or not. Instead, Reb Nachman describes a narrow route without an opportunity to turn right or left. We just press on. It reminds me of what Samuel Beckett wrote, “You must go on. I can't go on. I'll go on.”

I’ve had the privilege of having Shabbat dinner with a Lubavitcher rabbi, an adjacent Chasidic sect, and can personally attest to the honest, unalloyed joy around the table. It was infectious. The Breslov sect takes that joy and turns the dial up to eleven.

Who would have thunk it?

Here are some quotes from Reb Nachman:

Even if you can't sing well, sing. Sing to yourself. Sing in the privacy of your home. But sing.
Always wear a smile. The gift of life will then be yours to give.
Let the good in me connect with the good in others, until all the world is transformed through the compelling power of love.
Get into the habit of singing a tune. It will give you new life and fill you with joy. Get into the habit of dancing. It will displace depression and dispel hardship.
Always remember, joy is not incidental to spiritual quest. It is vital.
If you never want to see the face of hell, when you come home from work every night, dance with your kitchen towel and, if you're worried about waking up your family, take off your shoes.
It is even good to do silly things in order to cheer oneself up.

The Ministry of Silly Walks.

When there are harsh judgments on the Jewish people, God forbid, through dancing and clapping ones hands, the judgments are sweetened.
When a person knows that everything that happens to him is for the best, this is a taste of the world to come.

But my favorite quote from Reb Nachman was one I first saw in the Reform Makzor:

Just as your hand, held before the eye, can hide the tallest mountain, so this small earthly life keeps us from seeing the vast radiance that fills the core of the universe.

Brain chemistry has something to do with my depression and my meds help ensure I’m not frozen in black sadness. My environment — personal, political, and professional — contributes to my issues. But now and then, I’m able to slip my hand from my eyes and I can discern G-d’s plan for me, and Hashem points me in the direction of that very narrow bridge. Being afraid doesn't help me across. When I lower my hand, beauty is revealed and joy rushes into my heart until it overflows.

And may it be for you a blessing. See you tonight!

All my love,
brian.