When What We See Becomes the Whole of Reality
It is written in Parashat Ki-Tavo (Devarim 28:34): וְהָיִיתָ מְשֻׁגָּע מִמַּרְאֵה עֵינֶיךָ אֲשֶׁר תִּרְאֶה (And you will be driven mad from the sight of your eyes that you will see). The Torah has been describing terrible suffering throughout this section, but this pasuk says something very specific. It does not simply say that a person will become overwhelmed by what happens to him. The pasuk says that he will become overwhelmed from the sight of his own eyes – from the visible reality that stands before him. In other words, the intensity or overwhelming nature of suffering is not only from the suffering itself, but from what his eyes tell him about that suffering.
So we must ask a serious question. What happens when everything that a person sees appears to testify against the goodness of Hashem? A person looks at his life's circumstances – loss, confusion, injustice, pain – and his eyes seem to present a complete picture of reality. And in that picture, there is no obvious opening through which he can see Hashem's goodness. The Torah tells us that what a person sees can become so overwhelming that he can become literally crazy. But why should the sight of his eyes have such power over him?
R' Nachman explains why very precisely (Likutei Moharan 65:3): אַךְ עִקַּר הַצַּעַר שֶׁיֵּשׁ לָאָדָם מֵהַיִּסּוּרִין שֶׁעוֹבְרִים עָלָיו, חַס וְשָׁלוֹם, הוּא רַק מֵחֲמַת שֶׁלּוֹקְחִין מֵהָאָדָם הַדַּעַת, עַד שֶׁאֵין יָכוֹל לְהִסְתַּכֵּל עַל הַתַּכְלִית, שֶׁהוּא כֻּלּוֹ טוֹב, וְאָז מַרְגִּישׁ צַעַר וּכְאֵב הַיִּסּוּרִין (However, the main tzar [distress, grief, pain] that a person has from the suffering that passes over him, chas v'shalom, is only because they take away the person's da'at, until he is unable to look at the tachlit, which is entirely good, and then he feels the tzar and pain of the suffering). R' Nachman does not say that the suffering is imaginary, nor does he deny the reality of what a person is going through. He says that the essence of the tzar that a person experiences comes when he loses his da'at and can no longer look beyond what is happening in front of him toward the tachlit. At that point, what his eyes see begins to define the whole of reality because he has lost the da'at necessary to see beyond it.
The words 'from the sight of your eyes' now begin to take on a much deeper meaning. The problem is not simply what a person sees, but that what he sees can become, in his mind, the whole of reality. In a sense, we have two kinds of sight. Our eyes show us what is happening physically in front of us, while our da'at allows us to look beyond that immediate appearance toward the tachlit, the deeper reality that is not yet visible. When that inner vision, the da'at, is taken from us, we can become trapped inside what our physical eyes see.
But what exactly is this tachlit that our da'at is supposed to see? R' Nachman explains there: וְדַע, שֶׁבְּחִינָה זוֹ, הַיְנוּ בְּחִינַת אֶחָד, זֶה הוּא בְּחִינַת הַתַּכְלִית, כְּמוֹ שֶׁכָּתוּב (זכריה י״ד:ט׳): בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא יִהְיֶה ה' אֶחָד וּשְׁמוֹ אֶחָד. וּבַיּוֹם הַהוּא, הַיְנוּ הַתַּכְלִית. וְהוּא בְּחִינַת כֻּלּוֹ טוֹב, כִּי אֶחָד הוּא כֻּלּוֹ טוֹב (And know that this aspect, the aspect of One, is the aspect of the tachlit, as it is written [Zecharyah 14:9]: 'On that day Hashem will be One and His Name One.' And 'on that day' indicates the tachlit. And it is the aspect of entirely good, for One is entirely good). R' Nachman then brings the teaching of Chazal in Pesachim 50a that today we make two different blessings, one berachah over what appears good – בָּרוּךְ הַטּוֹב וְהַמֵּטִיב [Blessed is the One Who is good and Who does good] – and a different berachah over what appears bad – בָּרוּךְ דַּיַּין הָאֱמֶת [Blessed is the true Judge] – but in the future we will recite 'Blessed is the One Who is good and Who does good' over everything.
In other words, the tachlit is not simply 'the end' in the sense of what happens later. It is the deeper reality in which the apparent division between good and bad disappears in the unity of Hashem. From our present perspective, some things appear good and others bad, some as kindness and others as judgment. But the tachlit is Echad – absolute unity – and therefore entirely good. That is the deeper reality our da'at allows us to see.
And what is a person supposed to do when what his eyes show him becomes unbearable? The answer sounds almost paradoxical: כְּשֶׁרוֹצִים לְהִסְתַּכֵּל עַל הַתַּכְלִית, שֶׁהוּא כֻּלּוֹ טוֹב, כֻּלּוֹ אֶחָד – צָרִיךְ לִסְתֹּם אֶת עֵינָיו, וּלְכַוֵּן הַהִסְתַּכְּלוּת אֶל הַתַּכְלִית (When one wants to look at the tachlit, which is entirely good, entirely One, he needs to close his eyes and direct his vision toward the tachlit). R' Nachman then explains what this means: הַיְנוּ שֶׁצָּרִיךְ לִסְתֹּם אֶת עֵינָיו מֵחֵזוּ דְּהַאי עַלְמָא לְגַמְרֵי … וְאָז יוּכַל לִרְאוֹת וּלְהַשִּׂיג אוֹר הַתַּכְלִית הַזֶּה, שֶׁכֻּלּוֹ טוֹב (That is, he must completely close his eyes to the vision of this world … and then he will be able to see and attain the light of this tachlit, which is entirely good). The first kind of sight – physical sight – can trap us inside what appears to be happening in front of us. The second begins with a kind of limited, intentional blindness: we close our eyes to the sights of this world so that we can see beyond the immediate appearance toward the tachlit.
Now we can see how closely R' Nachman's teaching fits our pasuk in Parashat Ki-Tavo. Both identify physical sight as the problem. The Torah warns us that we can be driven mad from the sight of our eyes, and R' Nachman explains the inner reason why: without the da'at to see beyond those appearances toward the tachlit, what our eyes show us can become the whole of reality. The Torah describes the danger; R' Nachman explains its mechanism and gives us the way out. Sometimes the only way to truly see is to stop looking.
Interestingly, Parashat Ki-Tavo itself goes on to describe this second kind of sight. Near the end of the parashah, Moshe says (Devarim 29:3): וְלֹא־נָתַן יְיָ לָכֶם לֵב לָדַעַת וְעֵינַיִם לִרְאוֹת וְאׇזְנַיִם לִשְׁמֹעַ עַד הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה (And Hashem did not give you a heart to know, eyes to see, and ears to hear until this day). Obviously, Moshe is not saying that the Jewish people lacked physical eyes or ears until that moment. Rather, he's describing an inner capacity to perceive what had been in front of them all along. Rashi explains the words לֵב לָדַעַת (a heart to know): לְהַכִּיר אֶת חַסְדֵי הַקָּבָּ"ה וְלִדַּבֵּק בּוֹ (To recognize the kindnesses of Ha-Kadosh, baruch Hu, and to cleave to Him). Moshe therefore places da'at together with true sight, and Rashi tells us that this da'at means recognizing the chasdei Hashem.
So Moshe Rabbeinu is expressing from within Parashat Ki-Tavo itself the same distinction that R' Nachman develops. Earlier, the Torah warns that a person can be driven mad by what his physical eyes see. Here, Moshe places 'eyes to see' together with 'a heart to know,' teaching us that a person can physically see everything in front of him and still fail to see what is really there. And this is exactly the problem R' Nachman has been addressing: when physical sight becomes the whole of reality, we lose the da'at that allows us to see the tachlit.
R' Nachman develops this idea further in another Torah (Likutei Moharan 4:1): כְּשֶׁאָדָם יוֹדֵעַ שֶׁכָּל מְאֹרְעוֹתָיו הֵם לְטוֹבָתוֹ, זֹאת הַבְּחִינָה הִיא מֵעֵין עוֹלָם הַבָּא, כְּמוֹ שֶׁכָּתוּב (תהילים נ״ו:י״א): בַּה' אֲהַלֵּל דָּבָר, בֵּאלֹקִים אֲהַלֵּל דָּבָר (When a person knows that everything that happens to him is for his good, this aspect is a taste of Olam ha-Ba, as it is written [Tehillim 56:11]: 'In Hashem I will praise the matter; in Elokim I will praise the matter'). David ha-Melech praises Ha-Kadosh, baruch Hu, whether the Divine conduct appears to him through the Name associated with rachamim or through the Name associated with din. In both cases, he praises. That is already a taste of Olam ha-Ba because he is no longer allowing the immediate appearance of the event to determine whether it is ultimately good. Whether he experiences chesed or gevurah, David ha-Melech understands that it's really all just Echad, ultimate good.
This does not mean pretending that suffering does not hurt or denying the reality of what we are going through. It means seeing the present from the perspective of its ultimate purpose. When we know that everything that happens to us is for our good, we are already beginning to live from the perspective of Olam ha-Ba.
R' Nachman now takes this one step further (Likutei Moharan 4:4): וּכְשֶׁיֵּדַע כָּל זֹאת, נִקְרָא יְדִיעָה שְׁלֵמָה, כִּי עִקַּר הַדַּעַת הוּא אַחְדוּת שֶׁל חַסָדִים וּגְבוּרוֹת, זֶה נִקְרָא דַּעַת, הַיְנוּ שֶׁלֹּא יַחֲלֹק בֵּין חֶסֶד לְדִין (And when a person knows all this, it is called complete knowledge, for the essence of da'at is the unity of chasadim and gevurot. This is called da'at, meaning that he does not divide between chesed and din). This brings us back to where we began. The problem is that without da'at, we divide reality into separate categories – this is good, this is bad; this is kindness, this is judgment. Complete da'at sees beyond that division and recognizes that chesed and din are part of one Divine reality.
Finally, R' Nachman reveals what stands at the root of that unity: אֶחָד גִּימַטְרִיָּא אַהֲבָה … הַיְנוּ הֵן ה' שֶׁהוּא רַחֲמִים, הֵן שְׁמוֹ שֶׁהוּא בְּחִינַת אֱלֹקִים, בְּחִינַת דִּין – כֻּלָּהּ לְטוֹבָתְךָ מֵחֲמַת אַהֲבָה שֶׁהַקָּדוֹשׁ־בָּרוּךְ־הוּא אוֹהֵב אוֹתְךָ (Echad has the same gematria as ahavah [love] … meaning, whether Hashem, which is rachamim, or His Name, which is the aspect of Elokim, the aspect of din – all of it is for your good because of ahavah, for Ha-Kadosh, baruch Hu loves you). So the deepest reality behind both chesed and gevurah is not merely that they somehow work toward the same good. Their common root is ahavah. What appears to us as two opposite forms of Divine conduct comes from the same place: the love of Ha-Kadosh, baruch Hu for us.
We can now return to the pasuk with which we began (Devarim 28:34): וְהָיִיתָ מְשֻׁגָּע מִמַּרְאֵה עֵינֶיךָ אֲשֶׁר תִּרְאֶה (And you will be driven mad from the sight of your eyes that you will see). At first, we understood this as the Torah describing the overwhelming force of what a person sees in front of him. But now we can understand the warning much more deeply. When the visible world becomes the entirety of our reality – when what our physical eyes see is all we can see – we lose the da'at that allows us to look toward the tachlit. And that deepens the tzar.
R' Nachman gives us the avodah. Do not deny what you see. Do not pretend that suffering is not suffering or that pain is not pain, but refuse to believe that what you see is all there is. Close your eyes to the surface of this world and direct your inner sight toward the tachlit. There, what appears divided into good and bad is revealed as entirely good; chesed and gevurah are seen as Echad; and beneath them both is the same root – ahavah. That is the deeper sight that can save a person from becoming overwhelmed by the sight of his own eyes.
