רְצִיצָא דְּמָיֵת בְּבֵיעוּתֵהּ, הֵיכָא נָפֵק רוּחָא

Likutey Moharan, Torah twenty six: retzitza d'mayis, a chick that dies in its shell.

A riddle from the Gemara: when a chick dies inside its shell, where does its spirit go out? The answer: where it came in.

The chick, an efroach, is the tzaddik: in his days the tzaddik will flourish, yifrach.

The question is about the tzaddik who gives over his whole soul in prayer: where must he give it most?

Where it came in: where stray thoughts enter him. Those he must raise up, and there he must give over his soul.

Our own reflection: the thought that breaks into your prayer is not only a disturbance. It is the place to pray hardest.

Likutey Moharan, Torah twenty six: retzitza d'mayis, a chick that dies in its shell. One of the shortest Torahs in the book: a riddle from the Gemara, and a teaching about prayer.

The Gemara tells that the Sages of Athens put riddles to Rabbi Yehoshua. One was: a chick that dies inside its shell, where does its spirit go out? He answered: where it came in.

Rebbe Nachman reads the chick as the tzaddik. A chick is an efroach, from the same root as the verse: in his days the tzaddik will flourish, yifrach.

So the riddle becomes a question about prayer. Notice the play on words: the shell, beyusa, sounds like bausa, an entreaty. The tzaddik makes himself as if dead, giving over his soul in his prayer and entreaty. At which point in the prayer must he give over his soul most of all?

The answer: where it came in. That is, wherever stray thoughts come into him in the middle of prayer. These are where sparks of holiness wait to be raised, and he must raise them up, as is known. There, more than anywhere, he must give over his soul.

Our own reflection: when a stray thought breaks into your prayer, you have not failed. You have found the very place where the prayer needs your whole heart.

— Part 1: Where It Came In —

Likutey Moharan, Torah twenty six: retzitza d'mayis, a chick that dies in its shell. A short shiur in one part: the chick, the tzaddik, and where in prayer to give over the soul.

A word on method. Gold is Rebbe Nachman's own words, from Likutey Moharan, Torah twenty six. 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 one of the shortest Torahs in the book, just a few lines. It opens with a riddle from the Gemara about a chick that dies inside its shell. Rebbe Nachman reads the chick as the tzaddik, turns the riddle into a question about prayer, and finds the answer in the place where stray thoughts come in.

The Torah opens with the words of the Gemara: A chick that dies inside its shell: where does the spirit go out? And he said to them: through where it came in.

Our explanation. The Gemara in Bechoros tells that the Sages of Athens put riddles to Rabbi Yehoshua, and this was one of them. The shell is sealed, so how can the spirit leave? He answered: the same way it came in. Rebbe Nachman now reads each word of the riddle as a teaching about prayer.

Rebbe Nachman begins: A chick: this is a young bird, an efroach. This is the aspect of the tzaddik, as in the verse: in his days the tzaddik will flourish, yifrach.

Now the riddle becomes a question: For they asked him: the tzaddik who makes himself as if dead, and gives over his soul in his prayer and his entreaty, at which place in the prayer must he give over his soul most of all?

Our explanation. Every part of the riddle now has a meaning. The chick is the tzaddik. Dying is giving over the soul completely in prayer. And the shell, in Aramaic beyusa, sounds like bausa, an entreaty. So the question is no longer about a chick, but about a person pouring his whole soul into his prayer: where does that matter most?

And he answered them:

Through where it came in. That is, where he has to raise up sparks of holiness; that is, where stray thoughts come into him, and he must raise them up, as is known. There he must give over his soul.

Our explanation. Where it came in means the place where a stray thought breaks into the prayer. Rebbe Nachman calls this the place of raising sparks of holiness, and says 'as is known': the strange thought is not only an intruder, it holds something holy that is waiting to be lifted up. That is exactly where the tzaddik must give over his soul most of all.

Our summary. The chick is the tzaddik, who will flourish. He gives over his soul in his prayer and entreaty. And the place to give it most of all is where it came in: where the stray thoughts enter, for there the sparks of holiness wait to be raised.

Some reflections of our own, not a quotation. A stray thought in the middle of prayer is not a reason to stop or to give up. It may be the very place where the prayer needs your whole heart.

This has been Likutey Moharan, Torah twenty six. Retzitza d'mayis.