You’ll Never Guess Where I Am… (3-Minute Mommy Peptalk)

You’ll Never Guess Where I Am… (3-Minute Mommy Peptalk)

A wonderful message from a tsaddik–for all of us.

Shalom JewishMOM!
I am in the village of Breslov in the Ukraine. My daughter and I are visiting the gravesites of holy tsadikim here.

To tell the truth, I’ve never understood why so many Jews come here to visit Uman and other holy places. You want holy? Isn’t Israel holy enough?! But I can say that now, I get it. At Rebbe Nachman’s grave I felt something I’ve never felt before, anywhere. I felt an intense feeling, which was very hard to pin down into words, but last night I sat down at Rebbe Nachman’s grave around midnight, and I tried to do just that. This is what I wrote, and I think it’s a message for me and also for every single person listening to this. I wrote, “Standing here, I feel calm, accepted, completely understood, loved. Why would I ever want to be anybody else when I am accepted this completely? And even the teensiest step I take to be better, to be a better wife, mother, or Jew, is met with the response “Really? You are already so great, and now you’re even doing something else?”

I tried to think how to explain this exact feeling, and I realized it was perfectly encapsulated in an experience I’d had in Uman the day before. My daughter and I came to Uman on our own, and on Friday morning I ran into a friend who told me she had come to Uman with a group. What group? She was with a group being led by Rabbi Michi Yosefi, a famous teacher of Chassidus, as well as the popular musician Evyatar Banai. To make a long story short, this group became our group for our stay in Uman. It was one of the most spiritually elevating experiences of my life–a workshop with Rav Michi, stories and singing with Evyatar Banai. I would say it was a dream come true, but I wouldn’t have even dreamed of something like this! The experience with this group that reminded me of how I felt at Rebbe Nachman’s grave was this: after the group leader said we could join the group, he asked that we pay a few dollars to join their Friday program. And when I handed him the money, he said to me, “I hope you understand why we need to ask you to pay something…” He looked sincerely pained and remorseful. And I was, like, Are you kidding?! You must be kidding! You are letting us join a program with Rav Michi Yosefi and Evyatar Banai and you asked us to pay a few dollars, and you are apologizing?!

And that, I felt at Rebbe Nachman’s grave, is how Hashem feels about us JewishMOMs. Hashem says: You are living as a Jew, keeping mitzvot, raising Jewish children, doing good deeds–and on top of that, you don’t think you’re good enough?! You’re trying to do even more? Be even better? Hashem, I knew, standing by Rebbe Nachman’s grave, is blown away by us. Please don’t forget it!
Have a great week!

3 comments

  1. Yes but don’t think you don’t need to do anything further either. As long as one is alive his mission is not over.Hashem Yisborach is not asking us to do a tremendous amount more than we have done until now. He is only asking that we do just a little bit more, and then a little bit more again. The main thing is to keep moving forward one step at a time.

    • JewishMom

      yes, and what I felt was that Hashem appreciates those small efforts SO much

  2. AWESOME! This is SUCH a vitally joyful message, B’H!

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