Question & Answer With Rabbi Dovid Sears - Tikkun HaKlali

A Simple Jew asks:

Hisbodedus provides a person with the opportunity to break out of the confines of a set liturgy and express himself in a unique and purely personal manner. Yet, Rebbe Nachman of Breslov's prescription to say Tikkun HaKlali seems to do the opposite. I have found it incredibly difficult to recite Tikkun HaKlali on a regular basis and often just recite it at times of need or when I feel I have slipped.

Rabbi Dovid Sears answers:

Hisbodedus and things like Tikkun HaKlali (i.e., tikkunim in general) have very different purposes. Hisbodedus is a means of connection and dialogue with Hashem, as well as a way of spiritual transformation (see Likkutei Moharan I, 52 and II, 25 for the basics).

Tikkun HaKlali is a specific "remedy" for spiritual damage; expression of feelings is something one invests into the recitation of the words -- but despite the importance of the subjective element, it is only one aspect of the tikkun. These ten psalms are a remedy that was never revealed to the world previously. And the Rebbe warned us that it would be difficult to follow this simple piece of advice (Sichos HaRan 141). (I try to say it every day, in keeping with a common Breslover custom, but missed yesterday. And now you're asking me this question!)

Another point that is often overlooked: the "set liturgy" is not something that we are just "stuck with" according to Reb Nachman. He is not saying that he would like to drop davening from the siddur, but it is too late!

In fact, he devotes many lessons to the inyan of davening be-ko'ach, with powerful concentration and feeling, and with transcendence of ego (which he sometimes calls "be-mesirus nefesh., but that's what he means). These are all different ways of working through our inner darkness and entering the light.

A Simple Jew responds:

When saying the same 10 kapitlach of Tehillim each and every day, how are you able to bring a new vitality to your recitation of Tikkun HaKlali?

Rabbi Dovid Sears answers:

It is like davenning from the same Siddur each day. This is always a challenge. But if you go into the avodah with clear intention about what you are doing, this will imbue the words with life.

Another key is simple concentration: refusing to "bite the bait" of distracting thoughts and fantasies, and just doing what you are doing through and through. The truth is that past and future don't exist. Only the present exists (Sichos HaRan 409). When approached this way, saying Tehillim or davenning from a printed book is always new!

A Simple Jew responds:

As you noted above, Sichos HaRan 141 states that it may seem extremely easy to say just ten kapitlach of Tehillim but it is actually very difficult in practice. Do you think that what Rebbe Nachman was alluding to is the fact that while a person can certainly say all 10 kapitlach of Tehillim once or twice, he will find it very hard to keep a proper perspective of what he is accomplishing with each day's recitation and may easily slip to the point where he stops following this practice altogether?

Rabbi Dovid Sears answers:

I think we all have different maniyos, or obstacles, and as the Rebbe says, the greatest of them all is maniyos ha-mo'ach, mental obstacles. For one person, the problem may be you stated; for another, it might be just slowing down enough to find the time to say the words, even without so much presence of mind (which is still worthwhile, even if not the optimal way to say Tehillim). A person may have different obstacles to overcome at different times in his or her life. But the answer always goes back to being "A Simple Jew" and just doing what you have set out to do!