“Only Today” – Based on the teachings of Rabbi Nachman

If you are Jewish, then according to our Torah you are not allowed to buy the course on Shabbats and Israeli holidays, thank you!

“This ideology was the basis for the booklet “Only Today”, and if one were to look upon it well, and with much care, he would find that it directs a person towards a very good and prolonged existence. ”  (Quote from the end of the lesson written below).

The day is the most beautiful present G-d bestows upon a person.

If a person is wise, he receives inspiration from each and every day, and enriches it with true and eternal good.

As a person pervades his day with good, so will he think that it is far too short, and will then wish for the day to have an extra twenty four hours or so.

A person who is foolish, however, considers every day to be a yoke and a burden, and it seems to him as if the day is as long as the exile.

He thinks of his yearning for the day to pass, for this day does not cause him any joy.

This concept can be illustrated with an example: The day is analogous to a large balloon.

One whose lungs are strong and robust can easily blow it up and fill it completely.

A person whose lungs are weak, and furthermore does not desire to fill the balloon, will allow the balloon to remain small and empty.

The same is true with the day –  A person who desires to pervade the day with good, will expand the day and cause it to seem very precious.

Conversely, one who does not wish to fill the day, will in effect constrict, and shorten it. It we were to observe an individual who does not seek to fill each day with true and eternal good, we would then perceive that such a person has achieved a fulfillment of the curse “In the morning you shall say, ‘who will give us night’, and in the nighttime you shall say, ‘who will give us morning.

A person such as this, does not wish to arise from bed in the morning when he awakens, for he is already filled with animosity towards the forthcoming day.

He thinks of how fortunate it would be if he didn’t have to rise and face the day.

He lies in this manner for some time until he realizes that he cannot remain in this state.

Finally, he convinces himself to rise from bed, and drags his feet as if he were a dying man, G-d forbid.

His life is one great delusion, as he thinks constantly of all his problems and difficulties.

After a span of time has elapsed (in which he may have managed to put on a ‘Tallis’ [the fringed garment], ‘Tefillin’ [Phylacteries], and pray the morning prayers) he returns to bed, believing that he must rest some more to alleviate the burden of his difficulties (as if the bed were the answer to his problems).

In the afternoon, he awakens once more, and seeing that his problems have not ceased to exist, hopes for night to arrive, for then, all the world is quiet and hopefully matters will be much improved.

When nighttime does arrive and he wishes to sleep, he is unable to, for he has slept most of the day.

He then recapitulates all of his difficulties, and ponders upon the fact that this does not allow him to sleep.

He then hopes for morning to come, at which time he would be able to rise from bed.

In this manner, his life revolves, day and night, with each day’s curse being more intense than the preceding one, G-d forbid.

A person who has but a bit of wisdom and equanimity, however, will manage to avail of each hour of the day a bit of good, in learning Torah, and praying to G-d, in doing good deeds, and speaking of G-d to a friend.

He considers a great loss every single moment that passes, and keeps a very watchful eye upon his watch, as if it were a burglar.

For he perceives how the watch is stealing his time.

A person who takes care of his time, and utilizes every day and hour in doing good, truly merits to live a prolonged life. Furthermore, whenever our holy Sages cited the remuneration of a good deed as being a long life, they meant that each and every day of his life will be greatly prolonged.

For he will utilize each and every day very well, filling it with meritorious actions.

This then causes each and every day to be very much prolonged, both in this world and the next.

A person, however, who is very far from all of this, and curses each day, saying that this day is not for me, lives a very constricted existence, and upon him is stated the verse, “A person whose days are short is satiated with anger”, for nothing remains of his day.

The Midrash says upon the words, “A generation comes, and a generation goes”, “Not a day goes by in which there is not six hundred thousand births and deaths”.

Every single day is similar to an entire generation, the distinction is, that to one individual, the day is alive and flourishing, for he sees before his eyes an entire generation full of new and exciting revelations.

To a different individual, on the other hand, the day is dismal and lifeless, for it has passed without any accomplishments along the entire twenty four hour duration, save maybe one half hour in which he did succeed to live.

This entire matter can be esoterically inferred from the words, “A generation comes, and a generation goes.” For the initial letters of the Hour words that make up the Hebraic version of the aforementioned verse, are: “Bet”, “Heh”, “Vov”, “Dalet”.

These four letters (Hebrew letters) make up the word “BeHOd” (In Hebrew) – meaning beauty.

By switching the letters around a bit, it also comprises the word “BeDoVoH” (In Hebrew) – meaning melancholy.

A person who follows the aforementioned course, and inspires himself  with each and every day, then lies in beauty and splendor, and furthermore, senses the grandeur and reverence of G-d upon heaven and earth.

Conversely, one whose day is to him a curse, G-d forbid, and wishes to be free of it, lies in the midst of melancholy and despondency at all times, and does not gain any inspiration or elevation from this day.

This matter cannot actually be explained to another, for these matters are similar to the ones King David commented on, saying “I know” – ‘I’ alone know, for it cannot be explained to another.

It is all determined by each and every individual’s perceptive qualities.

One person senses a new vigor and inspiration every single hour, while another sees and perceives nothing.

All of this falls under the generalization of our Sages, when they said that “Sound, sight, and

smell, cannot be desecrated” (in regards to defiling the possessions of the Holy Temple).

These senses are intangible and can therefore not be misused.

Likewise, the above concept is a very subtle and sublime matter, which most people do not begin to apprehend.

A person who is sincerely devoted to G-d, says that he hears sounds from above, and that he is revealed the esoteric mysteries of the Torah.

Others do not see anything at all, and even say that the former is a liar and a fantasizer, etc.

The one who is sincerely devoted to G-d, sees very lofty and sublime visions, which no one else has ever seen, and fills his nostrils with the aroma of the Garden of Eden with every single breath.

Others, do not sense anything at all, and even more, do not believe that there are such things at all.

How then is it possible to explain this matter to them? It is totally impossible.

The same is true regarding the importance and preciousness of each and every day of a person’s life.

One who wishes to draw near to G-d, and accept the precious present of this day that G-d has bestowed upon him, will leap above and overcome all of the snakes and scorpions that have surrounded the holiness of the day.

He will succeed in arriving at the concealed light hidden within .

He will sense a truly renewed existence which he has of yet not experienced.

On the other hand, one who does not have any desire or inspiration to draw near to G-d, and it seems to him as if he is incapable of overcoming all of these distortions, will remain empty and forlorn, and is a very pitiful human being.

This ideology was the basis for the booklet “Only Today”, and if one were to look upon it well, and with much care, he would find that it directs a person towards a very good and prolonged existence.