“And cleave to Him” (Devarim 11:22). Rashi says, “But surely is He not an all consuming fire? But rather, what it really means is: cleave to the scholars and sages, and I will consider it as if you were cleaving to Him.”

   Rabbeinu says that first of all, a person needs to believe in all the tzaddikim and all the Admorim and in all the Rashei Yeshivos. He needs cleave to all of them! He should believe in all of them, hold from all of them, and love all of them. Each and every Jew has a point yiras shamayim (fear of Heaven) that his friend doesn’t have. One prays better. Another is holier. One does more acts of chesed (kindness). Another is more learned and understands things more deeply. When you believe in all of them, cleave to all of them, and admire all of them, that is when you are doing the positive mitzvah of “cleaving to Him.”

   One must appreciate the unlimited virtues of all those who are great in Torah learning and of all the Gedolim in all the generations. In particular in this generation one must be attached at all times to the tzaddikim of the generation. They all are worthy, and they all keep guard over the modesty and holiness of Am Yisrael. The Rebbe wants us to love them with a deep, profound love—all the Admorim, all the Rabbis that have established kehillos, that bring people back in teshuva, and that guard the purity of our educational system—Hashem loves them! The tzaddikim of today are extremely precious! They keep guard over the precepts of the religion, the boundaries of Torah, and we need to love them and connect ourselves with them because they are Hashem’s emissaries.

   If you spoke against a group of Jews or about some individual Jew, then that’s it! You lost everything! You lost all holiness—everything. If you believe that Hashem exists, then how can you speak against someone who Hashem loves? Hashem loves all the tzaddikim—Hashem loves all of Am Yisrael! Do you think that Am Yisrael is composed of just the 10 people you like? Hashem loves everyone! You need to learn out from the fact that, just as Hashem loves everyone, similarly, you also are supposed to love everyone. Making fun of another Hasidic group is not the way of Breslov! Breslov stands for not speaking against anyone, not making fun of anyone. Quite the contrary, Breslov means loving everyone. Is Breslov your own personal chassidus? Do you think that you understand what Breslov is? Breslov means believing in everyone, in all the tzaddikim, in all the Hasidic groups, in all the Rabbanim, in all the Rashei Yeshivos, and also believing in each and every Jew. Breslov means believing that I am the most simple Jew of them all, absolutely the lowest, and that I am happy that I am connected to the tzaddik that is doing the tikkunim for the roots of all the souls. And also that I hope that I will remain with this tzaddik until I reach 120 years old!

   The Rebbe explains in Torah 17 that it is possible to crown HaKadosh Baruch Hu every day. “Every single Jew is a diamond in the crown of HaKadosh Baruch Hu.” But when we find fault in a Jew and speak out against him, even in the slightest way, we diminish the crown of HaKadosh Baruch Hu. We decrease the diamonds that are in HaKadosh Baruch Hu’s crown. We belittle HaKadosh Baruch Hu’s crown. But when we look for the virtues in every Jew and reveal his good points, we build HaKadosh Baruch Hu’s crown anew, because each and every Jew is a diamond in the crown of Hashem. But with every virtue or good point that that you find in a Jew, you are building the crown of HaKadosh Baruch Hu, because every Jew is a diamond in the crown of Hashem. With each diamond and each good point, with each and every virtue that you find in any Jew, you are setting another precious gem in the crown of Hashem.

   The No’am Elimelech says (Parshas Devarim) that there is a world in Heaven called “All of Israel.” Each Jew needs to be included in this place, because there is no person who doesn’t sin or fail to guard his eyes or his hands, etc. But if he is included in “All of Israel” with every Jew and especially with all of the tzaddikim of Am Yisrael, then all of his sins are forgiven. You need make yourself part of Am Yisrael and to love everyone—you need to love each Jew and shouldn’t have any complaints about any Jew. It is forbidden to think badly of any Jew or harbor any ill will against him, even if he oppresses you or embarrasses you. Then, if you connect yourself with each and every Jew, you rise to the place called “All of Israel” and at that moment all your sins are forgiven!

Prayer

   Master of the Universe, please help me to be worthy of being included among the souls of your nation Israel, until the Redeemer will come to Tzion. I should merit setting all the kinds of precious stones in the crown of the King of Kings, all the types of princely gems, until this crown start to influence the nations of the world and it will penetrate their hearts and they will come to convert. Because Israel the Torah and Kudsha Berich Hu are all one, and when Israel will become a unified nation, each person will become included in his friend—and thereby included in the 13 Middos of Mercy.

B’Ohr Pnei HaMelech

   In the time of Yosef HaTzaddik there were seven years of plenty followed by seven years of hunger. The greatness of Yosef HaTzaddik was that he knew how to interpret the dream correctly and to gather the harvest during the years of plenty to be eaten during the years of hunger. And this is a metaphor for what a person needs to do throughout his life. People tend to have a lot of health and vitality in their youth, and though each person must certainly face a number of challenges and difficulties, in general, the years of one’s youth are filled with hope and joy. Rebbe Nasan instructs that every Jew should gather all the good that he has during the good years when he is invigorated and happy and successful. He should gather this good together and store it inside his soul—values, memories, and things that will give him strength to carry on throughout his lifetime. And when he will find himself undergoing a test, and suddenly he won’t be able to pray well and he won’t be able to speak to Hashem, and maybe he won’t feel well, because all kinds of unpredictable things happen to a person in life. But if you prepared during the good years and you collected all kinds of wonderful things—whether it is learning, or acts of kindness, or joy, or anything that will fill your soul with a connection to Hashem—if you built this connection with Hashem, this is called utilizing your years of plenty to save your strength for other times. A person can suddenly fall into depression, or not be able to concentrate during prayer, he has no strength for anything. Therefore, during the times when everything is positive and going well, don’t feel complacent and think that now you can manage on your own, that you don’t really need to say Tehillim because, baruch Hashem, no one is sick in your family. Baruch Hashem, I am doing all right. Don’t fall into this trap. Rather, conserve the positive thoughts. Then, when you don’t have time to pray and you don’t have time to do acts of kindness, then, at least, have it in your thoughts. Be careful with your thoughts—make them holy. Build a nest within your heart and mind—a nest for HaKadosh Baruch Hu. A Temple for Hashem. You should add to this Temple all the time, strengthen it and build it up during all your good years. Then, when you find yourself facing a serious problem, then you will have from where to take from, from where to draw strength from, from where to build from, from where to gain mental stability, and awareness. Things like these are essentially a pathway for your heart, a pathway to the source of life.