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[fivetranslations-blog]

"The capacity for two people to be together becomes possible through a loving, generous spirit. When two sit together and are capable of sitting in silence, that very silence between them creates a presence that is stronger than the spoken word. The same is true in prayer, where words make an "impression" when spoken in calmness...Calmness projects that a person is at peace with his message, that he possesses self-confidence and that he is offering something both harmonious and complete. And what's more, calm speech expresses the desire [of one] to give to another, and not to rule over the other nor to coerce him to believe this or that.” Rav Shagar, “The Revelation of God’s Will in this World and the Question of the Life’s Essence,” Shiurim al Lekutei Moharan Vol. 1

"Jews believe that “There is nothing besides God” – meaning that not only is there no other God, but that there is actually no other reality outside of God – and that the entire world is a revelation of God. We must consider that every aspect of this world is not only a thing in and of itself but is actually a revelation of God. Thus we consider the children of Israel as something more than just children. Our very children are actually creation and renewal and the revelation of divinity – as well as [the embodiment of] the Israel’s eternity. And similarly, the study of Torah, whether it’s the teaching of Torah to children, or even a single person teaching Torah to his friend, or offering a word of advice – we ought not consider these simply as moments of education or growth, but rather as supernal revelations of divinity. Because transformation and growth is a type of birth – a person is transformed and renewed into someone now with access to wisdom and Torah and how to be in this world. Thus the rabbis teach, “Anyone who teaches the child of his friend Torah, it is as if that young person becomes his own child.” It’s all Transformation – It’s all Creation – It’s all the revelation of divinity – Because, “There is nothing besides God" and there is no thing in which God is not present." Piaseczno Rav, Eish Kodesh, Parshat Chukat, 1941

  "We are not tzaddikim or hasidim in the typical sense. Elements of Rebbe Nachman's advice in which he directs his disciples to exist with a simplicity and purity are hard for many of us to square with our lived experience. Our own lives are different from the simplicity of Jewish life in the past. Today, many of us carry a [post?]modern consciousness characterized by duality -- an existence that is not unified (and in this sense, not "religious"). Our outlook is composed of and influenced by different spiritual and physical worlds... And thus today the question of absolute faith raises substantial challenges for many of us. For us, faith must now be something without the possibility of certainty. We therefore engage in a practice of total submission to reach a reimagined fortitude of faith -- a practice not characterized by rejecting doubt out of hand (for that would not actually be "total submission"), but rather characterized by the capacity of an individual to integrate doubt alongside faith. Such a capacity creates a consciousness which enables one to transform doubt into a vehicle capable of purifying faith from its elemental form." Rav Shagar, "Prayer in a World of Doubt", Shiurim al Lekutei Moharan Vol. 1, pg. 332-333

  “When Hashem spoke to Moses from the burning bush Hashem cried out, “Moses! Moses!” like a man carrying a massive burden who cries, “Hey, you! You! Quickly come and help me get his burden off my back!” And sometimes Hashem says “I am with them in their suffering” and Hashem suffers alongside His people. But sometimes when the travail becomes too great, and it’s impossible that any person could survive on her own strength, and she only manages to get by because somehow Hashem makes it possible to continue onward, in these cases the burden is carried on the back of Hashem – for it is truly unthinkable that any one of us could manage to bear such a burden. And in those moments Hashem cries out to His people Israel, desperate for help to remove the burden from His back. But then in every generation there is a moment when the suffering of a people is truly too great for them to bear, and many are extinguished and those who survive manage to do so with strength that isn’t theirs for in fact Hashem has borne the burden upon Hashem’s own back. And the people scream for help and Hashem screams for help and everyone hears but few act.” (Based on words of the Piaseczno Rav, Eish Kodesh, Parshat Vayishlach, 1940)

  "At first, the letters [of the Torah] are found "technically" within the particulars of Halacha, with a constricted vitality. But as a result of the process of “restraining the inclination” the letters begin to pop, and the constricted light present within them appears and enables the illumination of new insights. What is “the inclination” in this case? In my eyes, it is an individual’s fear of diverging from the recognized path [in order] to arrive at a higher expansiveness – the radicalization of the Torah. The “religious inclination” wants to remain in the recognized zone, to be “in order”. But for the sake of the truth, intimate contact with God requires a breaking out beyond the boundaries, and it becomes no longer possible to remain in the territory of the normative, the well mannered, and the already known.” Rav Shagar, "Revelation of the Good, Love, and Peace", Shiurim al Lekutei Moharan Vol. 2, pg 28