A reflection on self-worth and Rebbe Nachman’s teachings on finding the good point within.
Read the notes on this shiur: outline, sources, and more from Yaakov Lemmer →
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The opening of this shiur, in Yaakov Lemmer’s own words — taken from the captions, so names and Hebrew terms may be approximate.
"The land is beautiful," they said. "It flows with milk and honey." And then they said the words that changed the entire trajectory of Jewish history. The knee of Benehu Kechadvim. "We were like grasshoppers in our own eyes. Not in the eyes of the enemy, in their own eyes." That is the most [music] important line in this week's parsha, parsha Shlach. The Gemara tells us that Hashem's response was essentially, "I could have forgiven you for being afraid of the giants. [music] But you said you were like grasshoppers But you said you were like grasshoppers in your own eyes. You believed it about yourself. That is the sin. [music] Not the fear, self-erasure. Rebbe Nachman of Breslov spent [music] his entire life fighting the grasshopper voice inside of his own head. He spoke openly about his darkness, [music] his own depression, his own feelings of unworthiness in a way that no other Godol before him had ever spoken. He wrote about periods of profound [music] distance from Hashem. He described the crushing weight of self-doubt. He didn't hide it or pretend it wasn't
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- 0:00"The land is beautiful," they said. "It flows with milk and honey." And then they said…
- 0:31But you said you were like grasshoppers in your own eyes. You believed it about yourself.…
- 1:01He didn't hide it or pretend it wasn't there. And from the depths [music] of that…
- 1:32a grasshopper and feed it, grow it, and let it become the only voice you hear."…
- 2:02grasshopper. You never were. And we are not letting you disappear into that voice. This is…
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