Life Lessons from Rebbe Nachman: The Good Notes

(1) Of David.
Do not be vexed by evil men;
do not be incensed by wrongdoers; (2) for they soon wither like grass,
like verdure fade away. (3) Trust in the LORD and do good,
abide in the land and remain loyal. (4) Seek the favor of the LORD,
and He will grant you the desires of your heart. (5) Leave allaLit. “your way.” to the LORD;
trust in Him; He will do it. (6) He will cause your vindication to shine forth like the light,
the justice of your case, like the noonday sun. (7) Be patient and wait for the LORD,
do not be vexed by the prospering man
who carries out his schemes.
(8) Give up anger, abandon fury,
do not be vexed;
it can only do harm. (9) For evil men will be cut off,
but those who look to the LORD—
they shall inherit the land. (10) A little longer and there will be no wicked man;
you will look at where he was—
he will be gone. (11) But the lowly shall inherit the land,
and delight in abundant well-being. (12) The wicked man schemes against the righteous,
and gnashes his teeth at him. (13) The Lord laughs at him,
for He knows that his day will come...

(1) Know, a person must judge everyone favorably (Avot 1:6). Even someone who is completely wicked, it is necessary to search and find in him some modicum of good; that in that little bit he is not wicked. And by finding in him a modicum of good and judging him favorably, one genuinely elevates him to the scale of merit and can bring him to repent.

(2) This is the aspect of “In yet a little bit the wicked man is not; you will reflect upon his place and he will not be there” (Psalms 37:10). That is, Scripture warns to judge everyone favorably. Even if you see that he is completely wicked, you must search and seek the little bit of good in him, wherein he is not wicked. This is:

(3) In yet a little bit the wicked man is not—You must seek the “yet a little bit” of good that he still has within him, because in that place he is not wicked. For although he is wicked, how is it possible that he does not still possess even a little bit of good? Is it possible that throughout his life he never once did some mitzvah or good deed? And by your finding in him yet a little bit of good wherein he is not wicked, and your judging him favorably, you genuinely elevate him from the scale of guilt to the scale of merit, until, as a result of this, he returns [to God] in repentance.

(4) Thus, this is “In yet a little bit the wicked man is not.” By finding in the wicked person “yet a little bit” of good, as a result:

(5) you will reflect upon his place and he will not be there—That is, when you contemplate and consider his place and level, he is no longer there in his original place. For by finding in him yet a little bit of good, some good point, and judging him favorably, we genuinely move him from the scale of guilt to the scale of merit.

(6) This is the explanation of “you will reflect upon his place and he will not be there,” as explained above. Understand this.

(1) 2. Likewise, a person must find [some good point] within himself. It is known that a person must take care to be happy always and to keep very far away from depression {as has been explained in our works a number of times}.

(2) It may be that when he begins examining himself, he sees that he possesses no good whatsoever and is filled with sin, and that as a result the Evil One wants to push him into depression and sadness, God forbid. Even so, it is forbidden to fall on account of this. Rather, he must search until he finds in himself some little bit of good. For how is it possible that throughout his life he never once did some mitzvah or good deed? And even if when he begins examining this good thing he sees that it, too, is filled with flaws and contains no purity—i.e., he sees that the mitzvah or holy deed that he merited doing is itself comprised of impure motives, external thoughts and numerous faults—nevertheless, how is it possible that this mitzvah or holy deed contains not even a little bit of good? For in any case, despite this there must have been some good point in the mitzvah or good deed that he did.

(3) Thus, a person has to search and seek to find in himself some little bit of good in order to revive himself and to attain joy, as explained above. By searching until he finds a remaining little bit of good in himself, he genuinely moves from the scale of guilt to the scale of merit and can return [to God] in repentance. This, in the aspect of “In yet a little bit the wicked man is not; you will reflect upon his place and he will not be there,” as explained above.

(4) That is, just as has been explained above, that we must judge others favorably, even the wicked, and find in them some good point, and by doing so move them from the scale of guilt to the scale of merit, in the aspect of “in yet a little bit… you will reflect…”—the same applies with regard to oneself. A person has to judge himself favorably and find in himself some remaining good point, in order to give himself the strength to avoid falling completely, God forbid. On the contrary, he will revive himself and bring joy to his soul with the little bit of good he finds in himself—i.e., that once in his life he merited doing a mitzvah or good deed.

(5) Likewise, he must go on searching until he finds in himself yet another good thing. And although this good thing too is mixed with much impurity, still, he must extract some good point from there as well. Indeed, he must go on searching and gathering further good points.

(6) And it is through this that melodies are made. As explained elsewhere, the aspect of playing a musical instrument is the aspect of gathering the good ruach from the ruach of gloom, depression; see there. {The principle is that music of holiness is extremely lofty, as is known. In essence, music is made through the separation of good from evil; by selecting and gathering the good points from the bad, melodies and songs are created. Study there well.}

(7) Therefore, by not letting himself fall, but reviving himself by searching and seeking until he finds in himself some good points, gathering and separating those good points from the evil and impurity within him—through this melodies are made, as explained above. Then, he is able to pray and sing and give praise to God.

(1) 3. God’s way is to always focus on the good which people do. Although there is also some not good mixed in with it, He pays no attention to this, as it is written (Numbers 23:21), “He does not look at wickedness in Yaakov.” Certainly, therefore, it is forbidden for a person to look negatively at his fellow man, to find specifically that which is not good and to search for the shortcomings in the other’s religious devotions. On the contrary, he is obligated to focus only on the good.