Chizuk from the Mishkan

The Toras Kohanim explains that when Moshe erected and took down the Mishkan throughout the week of miluim, this symbolized that he erected all seven future placements of the Mishkan: in the desert itself, at Gilgal, in Nov, in Givon, and in Shilo, as well as the first and second Batei Mikdash.
The Beis Yisrael, zt”l, explained this in a very powerful manner. “Despite the Toras Kohanim, the exact purpose of Moshe erecting and taking down the Mishkan seven times is still unclear. After all, what as the point of this elaborate symbolism?
“It seems to me that Moshe made a spiritual impression in each of these Mishkenos. This impression enabled us to keep going despite these destructions. To bring this down to Jews in every generation, there are always difficulties and hardships facing us both in spiritual and material concerns. Moshe himself erected and took down the Mishkan to imbue in us the ability to start again and keep moving no matter what challenges and falls we may face. Even if we are weakened in avodah and put upon from within and without, we will always be able to get back up again. As the verse states, 'שבע יפול צדיק וקם'—‘A tzaddik falls seven times and gets up.’”
Rav Nosson of Breslov, zt”l, explains in a similar manner. “Moshe himself put up and took down the Mishkan to give it the power to imbue holiness in even the most desolate spiritual wilderness. The Mishkan was erected all over the wilderness where we wandered, a place of snakes and scorpions. This gave us the strength to start again, no matter the form of spiritual desolation in which the person is caught. No matter where a person finds himself, he can always start again and reconnect to Hashem.
Rav Mordechai of Lechvitz, zt”l, taught a similar lesson. “Chassidus depends on understanding the importance of every spiritual action. It follows that one who loses track of the vast greatness of every good act has lost touch with what it means to be a chassid.
He concluded, “To put it bluntly, one who cannot daven minchah with enthusiasm immediately after committing the worst sin, chas v’shalom, has not yet stepped on the doorstep of true chassidus!”

The Power of Longing

Rav Nosson of Breslov, zt”l, explains that all avodah is predicated on lighting a fire in one’s heart and understanding that we can accomplish whatever spiritual goal we set for ourselves. In the words of the Alter of Kelm, zt”l, “Greatness of the heart is a foundation of every Jew’s avodah, since everything, both material and spiritual is predicated on it. Consider the manner in which the Mishkan was fashioned. How could these Jews, who had been slaves all their lives, craft such beautiful workmanship? The answer is that their hearts was filled with a fiery desire to build the house of Hashem. This was so powerful that they cried, ‘Yes, we can!’
“This took such surprising courage in the sense of strong-heartedness that Moshe himself was surprised to see it. As the verse states, 'וירא משה והנה עשו ככל הצוה ה''—‘And Moshe saw that, behold, they had done as all that Hashem had commanded.’ The word ‘behold’ is superfluous. It serves to express Moshe’s wonderment that such untrained laborers achieved results.
“Where did this strength come from? It emerged from the fiery longing in their hearts to do the will of Hashem at all costs. This desire stems from one’s understanding, since there is no longing without awareness. Yet arousing this fire also depends on how we act on our holy desire. As we push ourselves to act we will achieve siyaata d’Shmaya and expand our yearning and achieve more and more amazing results.”

The Dangers of Drink

Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, zt”l, warned against falling prey to the mistaken notion that drinking copiously could possibly aid one in serving Hashem. With the exception of Purim and the four cups on Pesach, he held that drinking more than an occasional small amount is very spiritually detrimental.
In the words of the Kochavei Ohr: “One must guard vigilantly against his evil inclination’s tendency to ‘don a tallis of righteousness’ and push him to sin by skewing his common sense and convincing him that the sin is actually a mitzvah. One of the most prevalent examples of this is the tendency of the evil inclination to push one into drinking. Drink is like a powerful magnet drawing him to indulge even though in his heart he knows that drinking will not enhance his avodah, quite the contrary. Even on Shabbos and Yom Tov, with the exception of Kiddush, there is no reason to drink much at all. Some people believe that on Simchas Torah abundant drinking is worthwhile but this too is a fallacy.
“One Simchas Torah, Rebbe Nachman gave his two main students, Rav Nosson, zt”l, and Rav Naftali, zt”l, a very small amount of whiskey to drink. When Rav Nosson remarked, ‘A little is also good,’ Rebbe Nachman corrected him: ‘When it comes to hard liquor, only a little is good!’
The Kochavei Ohr concludes, “Since this is the proper attitude for Shabbos and Yom Tov it is obvious that during the days of the week drinking is even more detrimental. Although being joyous is very important, regarding joy induced by alcohol the verse states, 'ולשמחה מה זה עושה'—‘What does such joy accomplish?’ Such happiness is not true simchah shel mitzvah. On the contrary, this is nothing more than light-headedness and foolishness!”

Chizuk and Chanukah

[This post is a response to Theresa and Shorty in the comments]
No one is "unworthy," even though we all make mistakes at times. If we keep getting up and doing what we can we will fulfill our spiritual mission in the world.
The main thing is to beg Hashem to light up our life and show us His will. Easier said than done but Rav Nosson writes that even five minutes (or thirty seconds) a day is also very efficacious. As Rebbe Nachman explains the verse: "Hashem is close to all who call to Hashem in truth." Every sincere prayer said with as much truth as a person can muster immediately brings one close to Hashem no matter what level he is on, as implied in the verse.
Feeling unworthy is just an illusion; a tactic of the yetzer to paralyze us and prevent us from finding the way out of spiritual darkness through sincere prayer. Even if we can't say a word, we can surely cry out: "Help me!" Or at least, "Help me." Another gem of Rebbe Nachman is that if we feel distant for whatever reason we should talk out such feelings with Hashem. This often becomes a prayer truly from the heart, the precursor to many more.
We need to learn to ignore discouraging feelings and all negativity which bring on such feelings, until a time when we have a lot of joy and "merit to see the evil of our sins." This means that we finally see our importance, but we realize that such actions are not appropriate for a son or daughter of Hashem. This feeling of importance is the foundation of all divine service, as Rabeinu Yonah writes. One who feels insignificant, is not only denying the truth, he or she feels unable to make a difference and does much less. Why should we allow the negative to disable us? Although such feelings are the result of our sins which obscure the divine, we need not allow such negativity to hold us back. We can always reconnect through heartfelt prayer in truth on whatever level we are on.
As with anything precious, learning how to navigate past the negativity takes time, but every effort is worthwhile in and of itself.
Hashem should help us feel the light of Chanukah and forge a joyous connection to Hashem through prayer during this special time!

The Power of Prayer

Our sages teach: “The prayer of the tzaddikim is like a pitchfork because it overturns Hashem’s attribute of judgment into mercy.” The Divrei Torah zt”l asks, “Why should prayer effect any change at all? One would think that since Hashem orchestrates events, shouldn’t we just learn to accept His will instead of trying to overturn it?” He answers that since we have been commanded to pray, Hashem’s true will is that we use prayer to change our fate. We can see this in the image of the pitchfork.
A pitchfork is not used to move hay from one place to another, but rather to turn the hay and expose it to the air. Similarly, Hashem sends challenges our way not to make our lives difficult, but so that we will be goaded to turn to Him in prayer and remove the challenges. The heavenly decree is meant to last only as long as it takes us to “turn it over” to mercy through prayer. This sometimes needs to be done many times, just as the hay needs to be turned a number of times before it is dry.
The Chofetz Chaim zt”l writes, “The sole reason for all the difficulties which have come upon us is that we have not prayed enough. If we had prayed more, we would have been answered. The three daily prayers are simply not enough. One should pour out his heart to Hashem with intensity several times a day. The reason why the three regular prayers are not enough is because we are so used to them that it is difficult to say them with intensity. But a prayer from the depths of the heart will surely be answered.”
Rav Nosson of Breslov wrote the same thing long before.
Rav Nachman of Breslov zt”l explained that this is like someone traveling on the highway; since bandits also know the “high road,” he must take precautions. “But one who forges a new path through the wilderness need not fear highwaymen. The regular prayers are the “high road”—easy to travel, but unsafe. Personal prayer is a newly-trod path—no heavenly accusers lie in wait to prevent one from pouring out his heart to Hashem!”