Ikar hateshuva — shyishma bizyono yidom v'yishtok. Hear your humiliation. Be still. That is the way back. Shiur 2 in the weekly Torah series on the Lost Princess of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, at the Sephardic Center on Avenue P in Brooklyn. With R' Nachman Fried. This shiur picks up right where Shiur 1 left off — and walks through the spiritual lull between Shavuos and Rosh Hashana, the moment the words slipped from the King's mouth, and the moment the viceroy stood up uninvited and asked, give me a servant, give me a horse, give me money for the journey. The Rebbe is teaching us, in every detail, who the tzaddik is — and who we are. What we cover: The Rebbe is for everyone — vos art es mir az einer bentcht zich b'kavana un nisht visen az es iz fun mir. What does it bother me if someone bentches with kavana and doesn't know it's from me? The Rebbe never cared if you became his chassid. He cared if you connected to Hashem. The post-Shavuos void — why the Torah deliberately leaves us with no Yom Tov between Shavuos and Rosh Hashana. The trigger we're trying to distract from is underneath the boredom — and Hashem put it there on purpose. The three beliefs — Hashem, the tzaddik, and (the one the yetzer hara works hardest to break) YOU. The ladybug-in-the-pool story. You are relevant. You can't make peace with terrorists — my father olav hashalom, the yetzer hara's real address (not Ibiza — your head), and why the doubt about your own relevance is the yesod of Amalek. Ego = Edging G-d Out — how every time we let our strength protect our weakness, we lay down another iron layer between us and the chelek Eloka mima'al inside. The avoda — yishma bizyono, yidom v'yishtok. Hear your humiliation. Stay quiet. Stay present. That is the kli the light is waiting to fill. The story moves — the broiges, the words that slipped from the King's mouth (vnishtguter zol dir nemen), the lost princess vanishing, and the moment the viceroy stood up without being asked. That uninvited amad is the tzaddik. That uninvited amad is the tzaddik in you. Compassion needs Da'as — feeling someone's pain is rachmanus. Acting on it is l'rachem. The bridge between them is da'as — and da'as is what lets you see the godliness inside the table, the chair, the meshulach at your door. Why he asked for a servant, a horse, and money — chavruta + nefesh habahamis (to ride, not to be ridden) + parnassa for the road. We were the viceroy. We agreed to come down here. We said yes. The action plan — bli neder, one moment of humiliation this week. With your wife if you're married. With a partner. In business. One time. Hear it. Stay. Don't run. That's how the chomah stays standing and the Lost Princess can be heard again. — 📺 More shiurim: Kollel Toras Chaim on YouTube — @KollelTorasChaim 💬 Join the WhatsApp updates: Kollel Toras Chaim Torah Updates 📍 Live weekly: Sephardic Brussels Center, Avenue P, Brooklyn #LostPrincess #RebbeNachman #Breslov #AmadHaSheini #SephardicCenter #YishmaBizyono

Kchu imachem devarim v'shuvu el Hashem — take words with you, and return to Hashem.Likutey Moharan, Torah Daled (Torah 4) — Shiur 3, learned be'iyun. We go deeper into Os Daled: what da'as really is, and the Baal Shem Tov's secret that the repair you're looking for is already hidden inside the very thing that's broken.What we cover:The recap — me'ein Olam Haba — yediya shleima is knowing shekol me'ora'osav hem l'tovaso, that everything is for the good. Two modes today — HaTov Vehameitiv (the good revealed) and Dayan Emes (the broken) — and the future where it's all HaTov Vehameitiv.Letters are energy — the osiyos Hashem used to create the world are energy points; our words and our experiences become entangled tzerufim. Vidui devarim is taking the broken, jumbled letters of your story and rearranging them back to Hashem.The Baal Shem Tov's chiddush — nega and oneg — mehapech nega l'oneg. It's not a cute wordplay: nega (the deepest stuckness) and oneg (the highest delight) are built from the same letters — ayin, nun, gimmel — only the arrangement differs. So stop hunting for new "letters" outside yourself. Go into the very letters affecting you and rearrange them. The fixing is always already there — that's a core revelation of pnimiyus haTorah.Shame and the Tell-Tale Heart — why we can't find Hashem in our darkest places: shame tells us a part of our story is "unintegratable," so we bury it. (A striking mashal from Poe's Tell-Tale Heart — the buried thing keeps beating until it surfaces.) The cure: honesty before Hashem — You created me, You know me, it's all from You anyway — which lets us integrate and elevate the broken serufim.What da'as actually is — ikkar ha'da'as hu achdus shel chasadim u'gevuros. Da'as isn't knowing about opposites — it's the integration of them. The three mochin: chochma (the flash), bina (the unpacking), and da'as ha'mispashet — drawing the mind down into lived, embodied, emotional experience, where it's never clean, always chesed and gevura mixed together. Full da'as is holding them as one. V'yadata hayom v'hasheivosa el levavecha.Rebuilding the self — the aveiros engraved on the bones; kol atzmosai tomarna — through dibbur and vidui devarim we destroy the broken tziruf and rebuild a malchus d'kedusha: a healthy self-perception. Your thoughts are a language too — reorient the narrative, in vulnerability rooted in the safety of being loved no matter what.—#LikuteyMoharan #RebbeNachman #Breslov #BaalShemTov #Daas #ViduiDevarim #Torah4

Ikar ha-da'as hu achdus shel chasadim u'gvuros — true knowledge is the unity of kindness and restraint. Likutey Moharan, Torah Daled (Torah 4) — Shiur 2, with Rabbi Rietti. We finish the recap of paragraphs alef–gimel and walk paragraph daled be'kius, on the way toward zayin. Recorded the week of Matan Torah — the ultimate achdus. What we cover: Recap — the glimpse of Olam Haba — me'ein Olam Haba is from ayin, an eye: not a taste but a glimpse. The complete da'as that everything — the good and the "bad" — flows from one source, Hashem, who is only good, rooted in ahavah, chesed, and achdus. Vidui devarim before a talmid chacham — why this is not a Breslever chiddush: sources in Shas, Nach, and the Rambam (Hilchos Teshuvah, perek alef). And why vidui (from hoda'ah — to admit / to thank) is not the Catholic "confession." Seif daled — "u'kshe'yeida kol zos" — when a person knows all this, it is called yediya shleima. And ikar ha-da'as is the perfect unity of chasadim u'gvuros — chesed and gevura combined. (Why da'as is the joining of the two, not a sefira of its own.) What gevura actually means — not "power" but restraint. Mai gevuraso shel HaKadosh Baruch Hu? — Eizehu gibor? Ha'kovesh es yitzro. Hashem's gevura is erech apayim — His patience, holding back even with the reshaim. The highest demonstration of His gevura is that He withholds full puranus. Puranus and onesh — re-translated — puranus means payment, not "punishment" (Loshon Hakodesh has no word for punishment). Onesh = ayin (an eye that sees) + nash (to fall) — being shown how I have fallen. Mida k'neged mida is built to let a person see his own mistake. Examples in halacha — the eved ivri who stole and is treated with such chesed that he learns to care; the arei miklat (48 cities of the Levi'im); and the mitzvah of road signs at every junction in Eretz Yisroel. How Rebbe Nachman learns a pasuk — quoting pesukim and Gemaros "out of order" as drush; bittulah shel Torah zu hi kiyuma vs. yesoda — and why the kiyum (a building standing) depends entirely on the yesod (the foundation), per the Maharal. 📚 Likutey Moharan, Torah 4 — ongoing series with Rabbi Rietti #LikuteyMoharan #RebbeNachman #Breslov #Torah4 #Daas #Gevura #BRI #RavChaimKramer

K'chu imachem devarim v'shuvu el Hashem — take words with you, and return to Hashem. Likutey Moharan, Torah Daled (Torah 4) — Seif Vav, learned be'iyun. A review of the first seifim and then a deep walk through the mechanics of how vidui devarim before a talmid chacham elevates the malchus back to its source. What we cover: The review — me'ein Olam Haba — B'shem ahalel davar, b'Elokim ahalel davar: praising Hashem with both the shem rachamim and the shem din. Now we say hatov vehameitiv on the good and dayan emes on the bad; le'asid lavo it will all be hatov vehameitiv — Hashem echad u'shmo echad. Malchus in galus — the malchus de'kedusha is hidden among the nations, who are yonek from it (why they too call Him Elokim). Our avodah is to elevate that malchus back to k'mlo kol ha'aretz Elokim. Devarim = malchus — every davar, every event in olam hazeh, is devarim. K'chu imachem devarim — take the malchus hidden inside the words and bring it back to Hashem through dibbur, the vehicle with which the world was created (Anochi Hashem Elokecha — the aseres hadibros). Echad is ahava — yediya sheleima is the unification of the chasadim and the gevuros; echad is gematria ahava — revealing Hashem's love even inside the midas hadin (es asher ye'ehav Hashem yochiach). Why we need vidui — the bones — aveiros are nechkak, engraved on the atzamos (va'tehi avonosam chakuka al atzmosam). Every aveira re-scrambles the tziruf of the osiyos of Hashem's dibbur — turning lo yihiyeh lecha into yehi lecha — and carves the broken format onto the bones. The mechanics of vidui devarim — kol atzmosai tomarna: dibbur rises from the bones. Talking it out floats up the engraved osiyos; the talmid chacham rebuilds them into their original tziruf, removing the interference between Elokim and Havaya so the malchus can be reconnected to its shoresh. The rayah from Yehuda — Shema Hashem kol Yehuda: Moshe carried Yehuda's vidui, and it is nechshav as if Yehuda was misvadeh before the talmid chacham (Yehuda = malchus). The avodah in practice — vidui to Hashem (ashamnu, bagadnu…) in the presence of the tzaddik; bringing a struggle to a tzaddik for help is itself a form of vidui devarim. Fire against fire — the source of malchus is fire and the Torah is fire; the yetzer hara comes with fire and interferes. Vidui devarim before the talmid chacham (who is ikar Torah) brings the fire of Torah to extinguish the fire of the yetzer hara. Aveiros break the bones; mitzvos reconnect them. Ashreinu. #LikuteyMoharan #RebbeNachman #Breslov #Torah4 #ViduiDevarim #Malchus

torah 4 shiur 1 This shiur discusses the spiritual process of attaining "complete knowledge" (yediya sheleimah), which is the profound realization that every event in a person's life, whether perceived as good or bad, is ultimately for their benefit. Drawing on the teachings of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, the text explores how this level of consciousness serves as a "glimpse of the World to Come," a state where the divine names of mercy (Havayah) and judgment (Elokim) are recognized as a unified expression of God's love. The shiur identifies the core challenge of how an individual can elevate "holy sovereignty" (malchus) from its state of exile and rectify the spiritual damage caused by sin, which the Rebbe posits is literally engraved upon a person’s bones. To address this, the text highlights the essential practice of verbal confession to a Torah scholar (viduy devarim lifnei talmid chacham), explaining that through the power of speech, one can dismantle the "bad combinations" of letters imprinted by sin and restore the world’s physicality to its divine source. By using the biblical example of Yehuda’s bones being settled through Moshe’s intervention, the shiur illustrates how admitting one’s shortcomings to a Tzaddik allows a person to bridge the gap between exile and redemption, transforming judgment into a visible manifestation of divine kindness.

Eilech V'anaseh — *Let me go and try.* A new weekly Torah series on the Lost Princess of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, beginning at the Sephardic Center on Avenue P in Brooklyn. With R' Nachman Fried. This is Shiur 1 — the introduction to the story and the series. Rebbe Nachman said his Torah is *kodesh* and his stories are *kodesh kodashim*. The Lost Princess is the first and most relatable of the thirteen stories — the one that maps onto every life. What we cover: • **Why the Rebbe started telling stories** — five years before his passing, the Rebbe said: "I have told you Torah and I see it is not doing what it needs to do." Then he began the stories. *Stories don't put you to sleep — they wake you up.* • **A kabbalistic foundation** — *tzimtzum*, *ohr ein sof*, the ten Sefiros, *Kudsha Brich Hu* and *Shechinah*, the unification of back-to-back becoming *panim b'panim* — face to face. • **The three characters** — The King is HaKadosh Baruch Hu. The viceroy is the tzaddik and the part of *you* that takes responsibility. The bas melech is the neshama — the *chelek Eloka mima'al*, the part of you that came from above. • **The story begins** — six sons and one daughter, the king who loved her most, the moment of anger, and the words that flew. *V'nizraka mipiv dibbur* — and a word slipped from his mouth. The Lost Princess vanishes, and the viceroy stands up. • **"Try your best" / Eilech V'anaseh** — a personal story from my father, a*lav hashalom*, who insisted he be buried under the tree in Tveria. *Try your best.* The words that became the name of our learning group. • **Why *lo tov* and not *ra*** — the Rebbe doesn't say the *bad* should take you. He says *lo tov* — the *not-good*. Because there is no such thing as bad. There is only the absence of good. Even the place that looks beautiful — the ballroom, the music, the festivity — can be *lo tov* when there is no real good inside it. • **The "broiges"** — who got angry first, the king or the daughter? The Rebbe deliberately doesn't say. Because in every close relationship — with self, with others, with Hashem — *broiges* will come. That's part of being in relationship. • **The action plan** — the lost princess is the real you, separated from the performance you have built over decades. Start the work of meeting the inner child, the lowercase-t traumas, the buried feelings. Recognition is the first step home. — 📺 More shiurim: Kollel Toras Chaim on YouTube — @KollelTorasChaim 💬 Join the WhatsApp updates: Kollel Toras Chaim Torah Updates 📍 Live weekly: Sephardic Center, Avenue P, Brooklyn #LostPrincess #RebbeNachman #Breslov #EilechVanaseh #SephardicCenter

**The Recognition** — The viceroy lies in the corner; it is the bas melech who rises and crosses to him. "Do you recognize me?" — and why recognition itself is its own avodah.• **Why the Soul Knows the Way Out** — She is trapped, yet he asks her how to escape. She is the chelek eloka mima'al — the part of you that never forgets the way home.• **The Tzaddik Is Made by Falling** — There is no such thing as a tzaddik who was born finished. What makes a tzaddik is getting up one more time — and taking responsibility for others, the way the viceroy took on the king's pain.• **Fitting Your Life Into Hashem** — We try to fit Hashem into our lives instead of fitting our lives into His. Why the bas melech can never be found in the corners of a schedule built without her.• **The Remedy: Kovea Makom** — Choose yourself a place — and choose the place you are actually in. Modeh Ani as the doorway into five minutes of hisbodedus.• **The Last Day: Don't Fall Asleep** — The last day is Erev Rosh Hashanah; its final minute is the first minute of the new year. The apple, the spiritual slumber, and the cost of checking out when you are closest.• **Amalek Is Safek** — Amalek's gematria is safek. Doubt is the engine of yeush — and the Rebbe's answer: make a tefillah out of the doubt itself.—📺 More shiurim: Kollel Toras Chaim on YouTube — @KollelTorasChaim💬 Join the WhatsApp updates: Kollel Toras Chaim Torah Updates#LostPrincess #RebbeNachman #Breslov #EilechVanaseh #Hisbodedus

Torah Daled. shiur 2.w reb joey After reviewing Nekudah Beis — the secret unity of Havayah and Elokim, and the work of elevating Malchus from its exile among the akum — we move into Os Gimmel, where Rabbeinu Nachman gives a very specific eitzah in avodas Hashem: וידוי דברים לפני תלמיד חכם, verbal confession before a Torah scholar. We explore why Malchus is rooted not in Binah but in Chochmah, and why this hidden circuit between Ani and Ayin is the heart of every Torah in Likutey Moharan. Speech is Malchus. When our letters fall into tzirufim ra'im and life feels stuck, congealed, and concealed, dibbur is the elevator back up — not because the Tzaddik needs to hear our chataim, but because the Talmid Chacham receives our words at the level of the aleph-beis, the raw osios, and rearranges them in chochmah. Along the way we touch on: - Why Elokim and akum emerge from tzimtzum, and how dinim are sweetened only at their source - He'emanti ki adaber — speaking your emunah into being - The Baal Shem Tov's derech of tzirufim chadashim, turning nega into oneg - Why the path through Chochmah comes before Kesser, and why Kesser without Chochmah becomes kares - Vidui Devarim as the antidote to shame — Bushah vs. the swampland of identity-level shame - Rav Pinchas Koritzer on why Ashamnu is said in the plural - Trauma, the body, and the unspeakability that vidui breaks open A shiur about coming back to Hashem through your own most uncomfortable words — and discovering that Malchus was always rooted in Chochmah, that you were never as far as you thought. Recorded with Joey. #Breslov #LikuteyMoharan #RebbeNachman #Chassidus #ViduyDevarim #Torah

# General OverviewThe text presents a journey through Torah Dalet in Likutei Moharan as a slow, careful stroll into the meaning of “Anochi Yud-Kay-Vav-Kay Eloheicha.” It teaches that Hashem is the constant power behind all powers, that everything that happens to a person is באמת for good, and that this recognition is a glimpse of Olam Haba. It also explains that restoring Malchus to Hashem happens through vidui devarim before a talmid chacham, and it supports this with examples from David HaMelech, Sarah Imeinu, Har Sinai, Yetzias Mitzrayim, and the future time of bayom hahu when Hashem will be one and His name one.# Anochi Yud-Kay-Vav-Kay EloheichaThe Torah begins with “Anochi Yud-Kay-Vav-Kay Eloheicha,” meaning Hashem is the constant one, the power of all powers, and the one who took the Jewish people out of Mitzrayim from the house of slaves. The speaker says “Asher hotzeiticha” implies joy and that Hashem happily brought the people out of Egypt. The pasuk is identified as the mitzvah of emunah and knowing that Hashem exists and powers every element in creation.# Keshe'adam yode'a and the Vision of Olam HabaThe first paragraph explains that when a person knows that everything that happens to him, both good and what appears bad, is really for his benefit, that state is a glimpse of Olam Haba. The speaker says bechina means a connection, and that Rav Nachman’s connections are anchored in pesukim chosen very carefully. He says “me’ein Olam Haba” means a glimpse, not a taste, and that this awareness comes from knowing Hashem is only good.# B'Hashem Ahalel Davar and David HaMelechThe text brings the pasuk “B'Hashem ahalel davar, b'Elokim ahalel davar” from Tehillim and explains that David HaMelech praises Hashem both in mercy and in judgment. David’s greatness is that he gives thanks in every circumstance and does not separate between good and bad. This attitude is presented as the pattern chosen by Rabbeinu Zal because David transformed suffering into praise.# Bayom Hahu and the Revelation of UnityThe phrase “bayom hahu” is explained through the Gemara in Pesachim as the future day when “Hashem will be one and His name one.” The speaker says that in the present world people experience good and bad separately because da'at is fractured, but in the future all will be seen as one complete truth. He connects this to Har Sinai, Yetzias Mitzrayim, and the idea that the final revelation will remove the split between how things appear and how they באמת are.# Malchus the Nations, and Avodah ZarahThe second section explains that it is impossible to restore Malchus to Hashem until Malchus is lifted from the nations. The speaker identifies Avodah Zarah as the attribution of power to anything outside Hashem and says the nations currently hold Malchus only because of Jewish aveiros and galus. He says the future will bring the fulfillment of “ki Melech kol ha'aretz Elokim,” when all kingship returns to Hashem.# Vidui Devarim Before a Talmid ChachamThe next section states that Malchus can be repaired only through vidui devarim before a talmid chacham, who has the bechina of Moshe Rabbeinu. The speaker says this is tied to the pasuk “kchu imachem devarim,” which he reads as words of teshuvah and admission. He explains that sins are etched into the bones and that speaking them before a tzaddik removes and elevates them, returning the broken Malchus to its root.# Sarah Imeinu and Complete Trust in HashemThe text ends with Sarah Imeinu as the model of complete emunah, because Rashi says all of her years were equally good. The speaker explains that even in her hardest רגעים she remained faithful to Hashem, and he cites the Chida, the Malbim, and the Chiddushei HaRim to show that her silence and laughter are part of a life of constant gratitude and trust. Her life becomes the clearest example of being able to say “hatov vehametiv” for everything, even until the last second and into techiyas hameisim.

LIKUTEY MOHARAN TINYANA 7:10 — EATING L'SHEM SHAMAYIM — RABBI RIETTIIn this shiur on Likutey Moharan Tinyana, Torah 7, Seif 10, Rabbi Rietti unpacks Rebbe Nachman's striking teaching that the main ratzon for Hashem and yiras shamayim is davka b'sha'as achilah — specifically at the time of eating.TOPICS COVERED:• Teshuva and the Power of Change — A correction of the Rambam citation: ein lecha davar she'omeid bifnei ha-teshuvah. Teshuva sits outside nature, can rewrite the past, and when done me-ahavah turns aveiros into zechuyos. The word lecha makes the possibility deeply personal — available to every person.• Avraham Avinu and Food as Kiruv — How Avraham brought the world under one Hashem through meals, wells, and hospitality. Sefer HaMiddos and Midrash Rabbah (via Rav Atia) on how Birkas Hamazon makes Hashem known in the world. Avraham's chiddush: if the guest refused to thank Hashem, Avraham charged for the meal — forcing the guest to think about the true Source of all chessed.• Birkas Hamazon, Receptivity, and Gratitude — Why benching is positioned after eating: satiation creates calm and openness. Rav Avigdor Miller on why Birkas Hamazon includes Bris, Torah, and Eretz Yisrael — gratitude at satiation is the proper moment for the most important "business" of all: thanking Hashem. Every benching brings Hashem into the world as a real metzius.• Thought, Speech, and Reality — Rebbe Nachman's principle that nothing a person does, says, thinks, or even moves is ever lost. Rav Nosson in Hilchos Shechita on how the act and bracha of shechita elevate the animal. Why the spiritual configuration of food and water itself is shaped by the person's thought and speech — and why eating is a lifelong avodah.• Eating, Children, and the First Mitzvah — Sefer HaMiddos: l'fi achilosav shel adam kein banav u-vnosav. The first command in the Torah — mikol etz ha-gan achol tochel — is the mitzvah to eat from Hashem's world. The prohibition on the Etz HaDaas comes only afterward — a warning that the wrong use of eating changes everything.• The Effect of Aveiros and the Future Geulah — How Adam's sin altered creation itself, including the taste of fruits and the productivity of the land. Tehillim and the Radak on how the land in the Geulah will give its produce fully because aveiros will cease. Pure produce in the future as a sign of a repaired world.• Yitzchak Avinu and the Blessing Through Food — Why Yitzchak sought tasty food before blessing Eisav: he wanted to bless from a state of joy and satisfaction. V'nivrechu vecha kol mishpechos ha-adamah — one tzaddik as conduit for all blessing in the world. Yitzchak's derech as the blessing that comes through the ecstasy of eating.• Berachos: Baruch and Atah — Baruch as "thank you," Atah as direct intimacy with Hashem — not distant formality. Melech ha'olam as ruler over both the revealed and the hidden worlds. She-hakol nih'yeh bidvaro — everything comes into existence through His word. The bracha is for the person, not for Hashem.• Malchus, Gevurah, and Eating L'shem Shamayim — Why the highest malchus is self-control, especially over eating — the first and most constant taavah a person faces. The danger of kochi v'otzem yadi. Hashem hiskin mezonosav before creating Adam — meaning everything is already prepared. True malchus is giving sovereignty to Hashem while ruling oneself enough to eat l'shem shamayim.• Shulchan as Mizbei'ach — Likutey Moharan: shulchano shel adam mechapeir k'mizbei'ach. The table atones and can remove kesilus ha-seichel. When a person eats with gratitude and asks Hashem for daas, he can fix foolishness itself and grow in wisdom. B'chol derachecha da'eihu — Hashem can be served in eating, drinking, walking, talking, every moment.• Practical Kavanah During Meals — Rabbi Arush: the ikar birur ha-achilah is to think about Hashem during the meal and how good He is. The Shulchan Aruch's halacha not to be angry during a meal — anger enters the food and then the body. Thoughts, words, music, and Torah at the meal all leave their imprint on the food. Mayim acharonim chova as a practical minimum.• Megillas Esther — Putting the King First — Esther's words: im matzasi chen b'einei ha-melech. Rav Atia: Hamelech is Hashem. Esther invites the king and Haman together — meaning even when the yetzer hara is present at every meal, the king must be placed first. Doing this consistently is how a person eventually removes the sitra achra from the taavah and does only the King's ratzon.• Serving Hashem in All Actions — Shulchan Aruch (Reish Lamed Alef): all of a person's intent should be l'shem shamayim — eating, drinking, marital life, every action. Weighing each action against whether it brings one to avodas Hashem. The fulfillment of b'chol derachecha da'eihu in the most ordinary daily activities.• A Closing Story — A listener shares how, before becoming frum, she invited a woman to her Shabbos table and handed her a siddur to say Birkas Hamazon. The woman was deeply moved, borrowed the siddur, later returned it — and eventually became the speaker's wife and the mother of his children. A living illustration of how a single bracha at a single meal can change a life.

THE LOST PRINCESS — SHIUR 10Do You Recognize Me? The Bas Melech on the Wrong ThroneIn this shiur we walk one of the most powerful moments in Rebbe Nachman's Lost Princess: the viceroy enters the castle, lies down in a corner — and the bas melech, now seated as queen beside the false king, peeks out, sees him, gets up from her throne, and walks over to ask Ha'atah Makir Oti — do you recognize me? This is the recognition moment, and the Rebbe builds it slowly, beat by beat, with teachings that go to the deepest places of inner work.TOPICS COVERED:• He Eats. He Lies in the Corner. He Forgets He Came for Her — How temptation doesn't always make us sin. Sometimes all it has to do is make us stop searching.• The Other King — Melech Zaken u'Chsil — Koheles' name for the yetzer hara as the old foolish king. Why the yetzer hara isn't just a voice — he is a kingdom with streets, foods, a chair shaped exactly for you.• The Bas Melech as Queen of Lo Tov — She isn't just lost. She has been enthroned. The fallen self has built a court around her absence and given her the second seat at the table — with full ceremony, with music, with a crown.• Hetzitza Ha-Malkah — She Peeks Out — Even on the wrong throne, the bas melech inside is peeking. The voice that says maybe. The peek-see-recognize staircase of self-recognition.• Va'amda Mikisei — She Gets Up From the Throne — The unthinkable thing she does. Letting go of the comfort in the discomfort. The throne we have built inside lo tov, and the leap of standing up from it.• Why He Didn't Recognize Her — The viceroy had already seen her on the throne. So why does she still have to ask? Because she had become so lo tov, she no longer looked like the bas melech.• My Father the King — Why she says "father" first and "king" second. The pain is the father. The power is the king.• Blame as the Comfortable Throne — The most refined kind of ego — the ego of being wronged. Why blame, when factually correct, is the most comfortable throne we ever sit on. And why the avodah is not to drop the blame, but to loosen it.• V'nizrak — Already Softening — The moment the bas melech, even from her throne in lo tov, uses a word that already begins to forgive. The seed of return.• Eich Ani Yachol L'Hotzi Otach? — How can I take you out? — The viceroy's question that opens the next chapter of the search.

General OverviewThe text presents Sefiras HaOmer as a process of building victories, separating from the yetzer hara, and preparing to receive the Torah. It emphasizes Rav Nachman’s message of chizuk and Reb Nosson’s teaching that Hashem lifted Klal Yisrael from the lowest level in Mitzrayim by faith in Moshe and by חסד, not through a gradual ladder but in an upward leap. It also presents Lag Ba’omer, Rav Shimon bar Yochai, and Pnimiyus haTorah as sources of hope, inner meaning, and the ability to see holiness even in a distant Jew.The Yetzer Hara and Rav Nachman’s ChizukThe other king is the yetzer hara, who has thousands of years of experience and knows how to trap a person at the moments of inspiration and change. He brings negativity, failure, and the feeling of being a total failure. Rav Nachman gives hope and chizuk so that a person knows that even after challenge, falling, or failure, he is not a failure and can begin again.Hashem Taking Us Out of MitzrayimHashem took Klal Yisrael out of Mitzrayim לא על ידי מלאך ולא על ידי שליח אלא הקדוש ברוך הוא בכבודו ובעצמו. He took them out of מ"ט שערי טומאה, from the lowest possible level, when they were ba'alei aveirah and could not go lower. The text אומר that Hashem’s great kindness brought them out when they had no merit on their own.Rav Noson on Faith and Sudden ElevationRav Noson says in Likutey Halachos that the merit for leaving Mitzrayim was ויאמינו בהשם ובמשה עבדו, the faith in Moshe Rabbeinu and in the tzaddik. That faith itself caused Hashem to take them out shelo keseder, not by normal gradual ascent but in a sudden leap from negative forty-nine to positive forty-nine. The text compares normal spiritual growth to climbing a ladder step by step, while Hashem instead lifted them like on a magic carpet.Sefiras HaOmer and Seven Weeks of RefinementAfter leaving Mitzrayim, Hashem brought the people down to zero and told them to begin working on their middos. The seven weeks of Sefiras HaOmer correspond to the seven sphiros, and each sphirah contains all the others within it. The counting is a process of cleansing and preparation for the real unification and for becoming a ממלכת כהנים וגוי קדוש on Shavuot.Netzach, Yesod ShebeNetzach, and Counting VictoriesThe text identifies the present day as Yesod shebeNetzach, with Netzach meaning everlastingness and victory. Reb Nachman is associated with Netzach through nitzachti ve’anatzayach, and Netzach has the gematria of Nachman. The whole sphirah of Netzach is presented as counting victories, and the day’s counting becomes a way of recording moments of connection, desire for connection, and even the victories that come after failure.Lag Ba’omer, Yaakov and Lavan, and the Boundary Against EvilThe text connects Lag Ba’omer to Gal Ed, since Gal backwards is Lag. Reb Nosson links this to Yaakov Avinu fleeing from Lavan Harami, who represents deceit and the internal force that justifies negativity and buries a person in numbness and self-deception. Yaakov and Lavan make a treaty of separation, and Lag Ba’omer is described as the point in the Omerwhen enough victories have been collected to create a boundary between האדם and the yetzer hara in order to receive the Torah.Reb Shimon bar Yochai, Hidden Spirituality, and Pnimiyus haTorahThe text then turns to Reb Shimon bar Yochai as the figure who saves Torah and Klal Yisrael through Zohar and Pnimiyus haTorah. It says there will be times when Jewish spirituality becomes hidden and inaccessible, and Reb Shimon responds through inner Torah. His grave in Meron is described as one of the most visited in history, and his hilula is portrayed as uniquely powerful.The Inner Meaning of Torah and the Final Message of HopePnimiyus haTorah is described as the soul of the Torah and as eitzos, advice for navigating the world and revealing Hashem within it. The mitzvos asei and mitzvos lo sa’asei are presented as guidance for moving through nature and cause-and-effect while still reaching connection to Hashem. The final message is that Reb Shimon sees the glory of glories in every Yid, even in the most distant one, and gives hope and encouragement by believing in the pintele Yid and in that person’s connection to the Eibishter.

In this shiur on Likutey Moharan Torah 4, Reb Joey unpacks Rebbe Nachman's teaching that knowing everything is for your ultimate good is itself a taste of Olam Haba.TOPICS COVERED:• Learning Torah from a Tzaddik — Why receiving Torah from a true Tzaddik is more than information transfer. The Shekhinah speaks through the Tzaddikim, and the reader receives the tikunim the Tzaddik had in mind when teaching.• Segulas HaTorah vs. Ha'aras HaTorah — Rav Pomeranchik's chiddush: the illumination of Torah that requires full understanding vs. the healing segulah of Torah that works even without it (the Zidichover and Komarno's approach).• The opening pasuk — Anochi Hashem Elokecha — How the Torah is rooted in the verse "I am Hashem your God who took you out of Mitzrayim," with its dual revelation of the names Havaya and Elokim.• Me'ein Olam Haba — the central teaching — When a person knows that everything happening in their life is l'tovaso, that consciousness is itself a taste of Olam Haba.• Two perspectives on Olam Haba — The chitzonius understanding (a future world preempted in the mind) vs. the pnimius understanding (Olam Haba is ever-present, lemalah mizman, accessible now).• L'tovaso, not Gam Zu L'Tovah — Why Rebbe Nachman emphasizes "for my good" specifically — more personal and more demanding than the familiar "this too is for the good."• The Slabodka teaching — Drawn from the Alter of Slabodka via Rav Avraham Eliya Kaplan: every person has a chelek in Olam Haba available now, and one can enter Gan Eden in this lifetime.• The double gift of the taste — The calm of the moment plus the indelible memory of having tasted it — ammunition for the next moment of concealment.• Two names of Hashem — Havaya and Elokim — Havaya is rachamim, the ever-present compassionate presence. Elokim is din, teva, the world appearing to run on its own. Both must be praised: ba-Hashem ahalel davar, b'Elokim ahalel davar.• Why concealment exists — The Izhbitzer's chiddush that the natural order working is itself the biggest chillul Hashem. But the concealment is intentional — it's what makes bechira possible.

THE LOST PRINCESS LESSON 9Meeting Failure: What happens when the tzaddik — the one searching, the one who never gives up — finally finds what he's been looking for, and then loses himself anyway? In this shiur on the Lost Princess, we explore the moment the viceroy enters the palace and gets swept away by its beauty, forgetting entirely why he came. The princess has to wake him up. This is not a story about perfect heroes. It's a story about falling — and getting back up. About how the greatest spiritual growth doesn't come from never failing, but from meeting your failure honestly, learning from it, and pushing forward with even greater yearning and commitment than before. Because the lost princess isn't only out there. She's inside each of us — that truest, deepest part of ourselves that longs for real connection. And she never stops calling to us: long for me, yearn for me, keep me alive inside you — because that longing is exactly what will give you the strength to face the next failure and not be swept away by it. She is waiting for us to stop getting distracted and come find her.

The rise of the real me vs the pretend me A Sefiras HaOmer talk delivered on Day 18 — Chai, the day of Netzach ShebeTiferes (eternal victory within beauty). The speaker opens with the central question: what does Yetzias Mitzrayim have to do with us today? The answer: everyone has a Mitzrayim — a personal meitzar, a place of narrowness and pressure. Just as Hashem pulled us out of Egypt at the very last millisecond before we hit the fiftieth gate of impurity, He can pull any one of us out of our darkest place. That rock-bottom national moment was actually the founding of Klal Yisrael — and it gives every Jew the power to climb out of their own depths. The forty-nine days of Sefirah are the work that follows that rescue. The Korban Omer was brought from barley — animal food — because the avodah of this period is purifying our animalistic nature, one middah at a time. We tend to lead with our strengths and hide our vulnerabilities. Sefirah flips that: the real, eternal self — the self that will rise at techiyat hametim, as Rav Nachman teaches — is forged precisely in the places where we met our weaknesses and didn't give up. The talk closes with a personal story about saying ayey mekom kevodo — "where are You, Hashem?" — in a moment of total vulnerability, and experiencing an inexplicable, complete release. The takeaway: the victories that define us aren't the exciting moments the world chases. They're the quiet, hard-won moments of genuine growth — and those are the only ones that truly last.

Opening: The Ish Chayil (Man of Valor)The speaker opens with a personal morning meditation (hisbodedus) inspired by the verse: "Whoever wants to be a provider must gird his loins" (מי שרוצה להיות מפרנס צריך לחגור מתניו). He interprets this as a call to stop being passive (a "shlemazel") and instead become an ish chayil — a spiritual soldier. The true test of a soldier is not when things go well, but when things are difficult. He commits to responding with generosity to anyone who reaches out that day, seeing this as the path to achieving authority (memshalah), livelihood (parnassah), and ultimately divine will-illumination (ha'oras haratzon).Core Torah Concept: Havayah within ElokimThe central teaching is built around two divine names and their relationship. The name Havayah (the transcendent, infinite dimension of G-d) must be recognized within Elokim (the name representing nature and divine governance of the world). The Rebbe's formulation — "Hashem hu Elokim" — means that the infinite is present within the finite and natural world. The deeper level, however, is the reverse movement: revealing through Elokim that "there is a G-d who rules the earth" (שיש אלקים שליט בארץ). This is accomplished by returning into the material world with elevated awareness.The Framework of Ayyeh and M'loThe teaching is structured around a dual awareness of "Ayyeh" (Where is He? — the infinite beyond) and "M'lo" (the fullness/presence below). This parallels the relationship between teacher (ben) and student (talmid) and between the upper realms and the lower. True service is not retreating into spiritual awareness alone, but re-entering practical life — work, providing, daily challenges — armed with this consciousness. The mistake is to separate the spiritual (shamayim) from the material (aretz).Forgiveness, Renewal, and Chanukah HaBayitThe speaker explains why people struggle to re-enter the material world after spiritual growth: they carry unresolved guilt from past failures, lacking the renewal (Chanukah HaBayit — rededication of the Temple) that only comes through sincere forgiveness (selach na). He draws on Moshe Rabbeinu's prayer of selach na after the sin of the spies (meraglim), whose sin caused the destruction of the Temple, which in turn removed the daily atonement mechanism. The Rebbe reveals that genuine repentance and asking for forgiveness is the personal equivalent of rebuilding that atonement — enabling one to return to the same areas of past failure with renewed energy.Practical Conclusion: The ExperimentThe speaker closes with a call to action: approach the coming day with selach na (forgiveness), then proceed through the chain of awareness — Ayyeh, M'lo, Ben, Talmid — and confidently re-enter the mundane world. The promise is that doing so will reveal G-d's governance in nature, bring true livelihood, and ultimately lead to such overwhelming blessing that one cannot even say "enough" (dai) — a state beyond all limitation.