10 May HALLUCINATIONS
The Kotzker Rebbe zt’l said, “The yetzer hara is like a paper lion. Try ripping it up, and you will see.” The yetzer hara seems powerful, like a tall mountain, like a mighty lion, but if you want, you can easily overcome him because his strength is imaginary.
The Degel Machaneh Efraim (Vayelach) writes a mashal his grandfather, the Baal Shem Tov zt’l taught: A king created illusionary walls around his palace so that people won’t come to him. The walls appeared like fire, like rivers, but they were just illusions. One of the king’s sons thought, “How can it be that our compassionate father doesn’t want to see his children and meet his friends? These walls must be illusionary. There are no barriers at all.
The king is testing us to see who truly wants to come to him.” That clever son passed through the first river barrier and the illusionary wall of fire, etc., until he stood before the king. But some fools were afraid to cross the barriers. And some passed the barrier of water but were afraid to pass through the barrier of fire, and so on. Those who broke through all barriers reached the king and came to the
highest levels. The same occurs to us. There are barriers that frighten us and give us the desire to give up. But if we recognize that the obstacles aren’t real and break through them, we will come to the King and reach very high levels.
Chasidim of various rebbes traveled together in a wagon, and the discussion was that money is essential for avodas Hashem. It is impossible to buy the four minim, a mezuzah, and to do Hashem’s service without money. A Tzanzer chasid was present on the wagon, and he said that his rebbe, the Divrei Chaim of Tzanz zt’l, taught him that it is possible to serve Hashem without money. The lack of money is merely an illusionary barrier, which causes people to think that they can’t serve Hashem due to the barrier. But if they will genuinely desire to do Hashem’s will, they will find a way. Somehow, the illusionary barrier will fall away.” There are many other kinds of barriers, but with a strong resolve to serve Hashem, they all fall away. Nevertheless, you can’t tell this truth to everyone. People see the barriers, they are terrified of them, and you just can’t tell them that it is nothing at all. On this topic, we share the following lessons: Reb Gad’l Eisner zt’l once said, “There are bachurim who feel there are high walls surrounding them, preventing them from getting where they want to go. What does an unqualified educator do? He takes the students by the hand, walks with them outdoors, and shows them there are no walls blocking them. But this approach doesn’t work for long. The student will find new walls blocking him. An experienced educator will pretend to see the walls and barriers, too, and together with the student, will break through the obstacles.
People, especially the youth, have illusions that prevent them from serving Hashem and studying Torah. Among other illusions is the fear that if they devote themselves to studying Torah or to yiras Shamayim their friends will laugh at them. What should their rebbe’s and educators tell them? One approach is to tell the students that it’s all foolishness, childish fears, and there are no barriers at all. But the students feel that the barriers are real. A wiser approach is to tell them, “I understand your struggle. It is very hard. Nevertheless, you can fight and break through and do what’s right.”
A chassid who suffered from hallucinations came to the Yesod HaAvodah of Slonim zt’l and said that whenever he serves Hashem, black demons come and try to strangulate him. “They will kill me if I continue serving Hashem,” he said.
The Yesod HaAvodah asked, “Do the demons wear a gartel?” The manthought and then answered with certainty, “Yes, they wear a gartel.” The Yesod HaAvodah told him, “The next time they come to you, say my name out loud, grab them by their gartels and bring them to me.” Sometime later, the Yesod HaAvodah met this man again and asked him how things were coming along. “A wonderful thing happened,” he said. “As soon as I said your name, the demons disappeared, and they never returned!”
The Nesivos Shalom zt’l repeated this story and explained that the Yesod HaAvodah understood that it wouldn’t help to tell him that his hallucinations weren’t real because they were very real to him. So he told him to grab onto the demon’s gartel. He spoke his language, the only language he could hear, and from that place, he was able to help him overcome his hallucinations. A bachur became insane, and he was telling people who they were in a previous gilgul. He would tell someone, “
In your previous lifetime you were Reb Shimon bar Yochai,” or “You were Reb Akiva Eiger,” etc. People found this humorous, so they would purposely go to him and ask, “Who am I?” and he would tell them about their previous lifetimes. The boy’s parents were very embarrassed with their son and went to Rebbe Henoch of Alexander zt’l, renowned for his cleverness and wisdom. The Rebbe called for the bachur. When the bachur arrived, the Rebbe asked him, “Who am I?” The bachur thought for a moment and replied, “You are the Alexander Rebbe.”
The Rebbe said, “I am a Rebbe, so I also know all the secrets you reveal. But a Rebbe must remain silent. You must promise me that you won’t reveal what you know.” The boy promised, and he kept his promise. Once again, we see the effectiveness of going down to someone’s level to raise them up. The fears, barriers, and hallucinations are falsehoods, so they can easily be overcome with common sense and a strong desire to serve Hashem. But when one isn’t prepared to recognize that the barriers aren’t real, you should show them that, even so, the challenges are surmountable, and if they want to, they can serve Hashem.