בָּרוּךְ הַבּוֹחֵר בַּעֲדַת מִי מָנָה, אֲשֶׁר

Likutey Moharan, Torah sixteen: Rabbi Yochanan mishta'ei, Rabbi Yochanan related.

At sea, Rabbi Yochanan saw a fish lift its head from the water. Its eyes were like two moons.

The fish is the tzaddik. His home is the higher wisdom, but at times he must step out into the matters of the world.

Inside his wisdom, his eyes shine like the sun. Stepping out, they shine like the moon, with reflected light.

He must step out because the nations are clouds over the eyes. But through the two Messiahs, the light of the moon will be like the light of the sun.

Our own reflection: even when you step away from learning, carry some of its light with you.

Likutey Moharan, Torah sixteen: Rabbi Yochanan mishta'ei, Rabbi Yochanan related. A short Torah about a great fish, eyes like the sun and the moon, and the day the moon will shine like the sun.

It opens with a joyful preface, picking up the last words of Torah fifteen: come and see how great is the strength of this tree. The strange tales of the Sages, it says, hide holy counsels from the most hidden level of the Torah. Listen, and your souls will live.

Then the tale, from the Gemara. Rabbi Yochanan was travelling on a ship and saw a fish lift its head out of the water. Its eyes were like two moons, and it spouted water from its two nostrils like the two rivers of Sura.

The fish is the tzaddik, and the water is the higher wisdom where he lives. But no one can roam there every moment. At times he must step out to deal with the world, and the Sages teach that sometimes setting the Torah aside is what keeps it standing.

Open eyes stand for wisdom. Inside his wisdom, the tzaddik's eyes shine like the sun. When he steps out, it is like sunset, and his eyes are left like moons, for the moon shines once the sun has gone. As we say on Shabbos: our eyes shine like the sun and like the moon.

Why must he step out? Because the nations, included in Esav and Yishmael, are two clouds that cover the eyes. If he did not step back at times, they could overpower his eyes and cancel his wisdom altogether, Heaven forbid.

But the fish's two nostrils are the two Messiahs. The nations, the rivers of Sura, those who turned aside, will be drawn to them to learn the word of Hashem. All will speak a clear language, and the light of the moon will be like the light of the sun. Then the tzaddik will never need to let go of his clinging.

Our own reflection: when you must step away from learning, the light does not have to go out. Let it shine in you like the moon, until the day it shines like the sun.

— Part 1: Eyes Like Two Moons —

Likutey Moharan, Torah sixteen: Rabbi Yochanan mishta'ei, Rabbi Yochanan related. A shiur in two parts. Part one: the great fish, and eyes that shine like the sun and like the moon.

A word on method. Gold is Rebbe Nachman's own words, from Likutey Moharan, Torah sixteen. Grey is a verse or a teaching of the Sages that he quotes. Green is our own explanation, not a quotation. The Hebrew on screen is the public-domain text from Sefaria, and the English is our own paraphrase, kept close to the Hebrew.

Here is the map. This is a short Torah, and it opens with a preface praising the teachings on the tales of Rabbah bar bar Chanah. Then the tale itself: a fish whose eyes were like two moons. Rebbe Nachman explains why a tzaddik must sometimes come up out of his higher wisdom, why his eyes then shine like the moon and not the sun, and what the two Messiahs will change, until the light of the moon is like the light of the sun.

The Torah opens with a preface in Aramaic and Hebrew, which follows on from the end of Torah fifteen. Blessed is He who chose the congregation of Israel, beyond counting, who has helped us until now to hear such wonders on the sayings of Rabbah bar bar Chanah. Come and see how great is the strength of this tree! Now, with the permission of the King above, lovely words will rise up before you continually,

He continues: abundant good, hidden and stored in the holy sayings of the lions of the house above, the reapers of the field who told these tales, in which holy counsels are hidden that come from the Torah of the Hidden Ancient One. Come and see the works of Hashem, wondrous is His way. The tree grew strong, its height reached the heavens, it was seen to the ends of the earth, its fruit plentiful and its look lovely. Listen and your souls will live, and draw water with joy from the wellsprings of salvation.

Our explanation. This preface is not Rebbe Nachman's teaching itself but a joyful opening, written in the style of the Zohar, and it picks up the words that closed Torah fifteen: come and see how great is the strength of the tree. The 'reapers of the field' are the Sages, and their strange tales are said to hide holy counsels drawn from the most hidden level of the Torah. Then come the words: the language of our Rebbe, of blessed memory.

Now the tale itself, from the Gemara in Bava Basra: Rabbi Yochanan related: Once we were travelling on a ship, and we saw a fish that lifted its head out of the water. Its eyes were like two moons, and it spouted water from its two nostrils like the two rivers of Sura.

Rebbe Nachman begins: 'And we saw a fish': this is the tzaddik, who is called by the name fish, as is known.

He reads the whole line: 'That lifted its head out of the water, its eyes were like two moons, and it spouted water from its two nostrils like the two rivers of Sura': for it is impossible for the tzaddik's thoughts to roam always in the higher wisdoms. At times he must go outside and deal with the matters of the world, as our Sages said: sometimes setting the Torah aside is what keeps it standing.

Our explanation. A fish lives in the water, and the tzaddik lives in the higher wisdom. But no one can stay there every moment. There are times he must lift his head out, to see to the matters of the world. The Sages even say that sometimes setting the Torah aside is what keeps it standing.

Next: 'And when it lifted its head out of the water': that is, when he takes himself out of the higher wisdoms, then:

And the eyes: 'Its eyes were like two moons': opening the eyes is a name for wisdom, as it says, 'And the eyes of both of them were opened.' When he is busy with his wisdom, his eyes are like the sun. When he steps away from the higher wisdom, it is like sunset; and when the sun sets, his eyes remain like moons, for the moon shines only once the sun has gone.

Our summary of part one. The fish is the tzaddik, whose home is the higher wisdom. At times he must lift his head out, to deal with the world. Then his eyes shine like moons, with reflected light, and not like the sun. In the next part: why he must step out, and the day when he will no longer need to.

— Part 2: When the Moon Shines Like the Sun —

Part two: eyes like the sun and the moon, two Messiahs, and the day the moon shines like the sun.

We say it every Shabbos, in Nishmas: That is, 'And our eyes shine like the sun and like the moon.' Sometimes they shine like the sun, when we cling to wisdom; and sometimes like the moon, when we step back from roaming in wisdom.

Our explanation. When the tzaddik is inside his wisdom, his eyes shine with their own light, like the sun. When he steps out, the light is not gone; it is reflected, like moonlight after sunset. Even in worldly matters, his eyes still carry a gentler light from the wisdom he came from.

Now the water from the nostrils: 'And it spouted water from its two nostrils': these are the two Messiahs, to whom the nations will seek and draw themselves, as it says, 'And all the nations shall stream to it.' And that is:

He explains: 'The two rivers of Sura.' Sura stands for the nations, from idol worship, as it says, 'They turned aside, saru, quickly from the way.' And they are included in two nations, Esav and Yishmael. Through these two Messiahs, the two nostrils, as in 'The breath of our nostrils, Hashem's anointed,' they will be redeemed and drawn like rivers to them, to learn the word of Hashem.

Our explanation. Tradition speaks of two Messiahs, Mashiach ben Yosef and Mashiach ben David; Rebbe Nachman sees them in the fish's two nostrils, from the verse 'the breath of our nostrils, Hashem's anointed.' Sura sounds like saru, turned aside: the nations who turned from the way. In the end they will be drawn like rivers to learn the word of Hashem.

Why must the tzaddik step out at all? And the two nations, Esav and Yishmael, are two clouds that cover the eyes, so that they cannot always shine like the sun. For this reason the tzaddik must set aside his clinging, so that these nations do not overpower his eyes and cancel his wisdom entirely, Heaven forbid.

And the end: But through the two Messiahs, whose springs will spread outward, all will be turned to a clear language, and then it will be fulfilled: 'And the light of the moon will be like the light of the sun.' Then he will no longer need to set aside his clinging.

Our explanation. Now, the clouds over the eyes mean the tzaddik has to step back from his clinging at times, so as not to lose his wisdom altogether. In the future, when the springs spread outward and all the world speaks a clear language, the moon will shine like the sun: even his stepping out will be full light, and he will no longer need to let go. A note at the end tells us that from Torah fifteen until here is the Rebbe's own language.

Let us review the whole path. Rabbi Yochanan saw a fish lift its head from the water, with eyes like two moons. The fish is the tzaddik, whose home is the higher wisdom. At times he must step out to deal with the world, and then his eyes shine like the moon and not like the sun. He must do this because the nations are clouds over the eyes, and without stepping back his wisdom could be lost. But through the two Messiahs, the nations will stream to learn the word of Hashem, the light of the moon will be like the light of the sun, and he will never need to let go.

Some reflections of our own, not a quotation. Sometimes stepping away from learning is what keeps it alive. And even in ordinary hours, a person can carry with him some of the light he gained when he was learning.

This has been Likutey Moharan, Torah sixteen. Rabbi Yochanan mishta'ei.