הַדַּעַת מְשַׁדֵּךְ כָּל הַשִּׁדּוּכִים, כִּי כָּל הַשִּׁדּוּכִים

Likutey Moharan Tinyana, Torah eighty nine.

Every match joins two opposites, and daas, true understanding, is what stands between them and joins them.

So when the two sides are very far apart, it can be hard to find one's match.

The remedy: come to the man of daas and hear Torah from his own mouth. Then daas goes out from potential into action, and can join even great opposites.

For when the tzaddik teaches Torah, he joins words of Torah from distant places. He is a matchmaker.

Our own reflection: when a match feels far away, go and hear Torah, and let it bring understanding.

Likutey Moharan Tinyana, Torah eighty nine: daas makes every match. A short Torah about shidduchim, and why we go to hear Torah from the tzaddik himself.

Rebbe Nachman opens: daas, true understanding, arranges every match. Why? Because every match is a joining of two opposites, and daas is the one that stands in the middle and brings opposites together.

So all the matches in the world come about through the bar daas, the person of understanding in the world. And sometimes it is hard to find one's match, because the two sides are very far apart, opposites to an extreme.

The remedy is to come to that person of daas and hear Torah from his mouth. As long as daas stays hidden, in potential, it cannot always join two sides that are very far apart.

But when he speaks Torah, daas goes out, as the verse says: from His mouth come knowledge and understanding. Once daas moves from potential into action, it can join even great opposites.

Even the word shidduch hints at this. Its letters begin the words of the verse: the lips of the kohen guard daas, and Torah they seek from his mouth.

Why Torah specifically, and not just his ordinary words, which also hold daas? Because the Torah is called a bride, as the Sages read: not morasha, an inheritance, but me'orasa, betrothed. And the Torah too holds two opposites, two kinds of letters.

Words of Torah are poor in one place and rich in another. When the tzaddik teaches, he gathers words of Torah from scattered, distant places and joins them, and from that joining a new insight is born. So when the tzaddik teaches Torah, he is making matches.

That is why one must hear Torah from his own mouth. Through it, one can find one's match.

Some reflections of our own, not a quotation. When a shidduch feels far away, don't only search; go and hear Torah from a true teacher. Understanding is what joins opposites, at home and in learning.

— Part 1: The Matchmaker of Daas —

Likutey Moharan Tinyana, Torah eighty nine. A shiur in one part: daas makes every match, and why we hear Torah from the tzaddik's own mouth.

Gold is Rebbe Nachman's own words, from Likutey Moharan Tinyana, Torah eighty nine. Grey is a verse or teaching he quotes. Green is our own explanation. The Hebrew is the public-domain text from Sefaria; the English is our own paraphrase.

Rebbe Nachman opens with a short, bold statement: Daas makes all the matches. For every match is two opposites, and daas is what mediates between two opposites. Therefore all the matches in the world come about through the bar daas, the person of understanding, who is in the world. And so it is sometimes hard to find one's match, for sometimes the two sides are very far apart, utter opposites to each other; therefore it is hard to find one's match.

Our explanation. Daas is more than knowing facts. It is the understanding that connects: it takes two things that seem opposed and finds how they belong together. Rebbe Nachman teaches that every match in the world is like this, two opposites joined, and so it all depends on the daas of the true tzaddik, the bar daas of the generation.

So what can be done? The remedy for this is that he should come to the bar daas to hear Torah from his mouth, and through this he can find his match. For as long as daas is only in potential, then sometimes it is impossible to join the two sides, when they are greatly opposed to each other, for sometimes they are very greatly opposed, as said above; and then daas cannot join them as long as it remains in potential.

He continues: Therefore one must hear Torah from his mouth, for then daas goes out, as in: from His mouth come knowledge and understanding. And then, when daas goes out from potential into action, it can make the match, even if they are greatly opposed to each other.

Our explanation. Something in potential is real, but it is still waiting. Daas that stays inside the tzaddik's mind is real, but it cannot yet join two sides that are very far apart. When he speaks Torah, the daas goes out into the world and acts, and then even great opposites can be joined.

Now a hint in the very word: And this is hinted in the letters of shidduch: they are the first letters of the verse, 'For the lips of the kohen guard daas, and Torah,' and so on. And this is 'they seek it from his mouth': for one must seek the Torah from his mouth specifically, in order to bring daas out from potential into action, as said above.

Our explanation. The verse in Malachi reads: ki siftei kohen yishmeru daas v'Torah, for the lips of the kohen guard daas, and Torah. Rebbe Nachman points out that the first letters of these words form the word shidduch. The word for a match carries inside it the lips of the kohen, daas, and Torah sought from his mouth.

Why Torah, and not just any word of his? Therefore one must hear Torah specifically from his mouth. Even though the simple words of the bar daas also contain daas, still one must hear Torah specifically. For the Torah is called a bride, as our Sages said: do not read morasha, an inheritance, but me'orasa, betrothed. And it too contains two opposites, for it has two kinds of letters.

And here is the heart of it: And when the tzaddik says Torah, he is a matchmaker. For words of Torah are poor in one place and rich in another, and one must join words of Torah from place to place. For he joins words of Torah from scattered places, far from each other, and brings them together, and through this the new insight is made.

He concludes: It turns out that when the tzaddik, the bar daas, says Torah, he is making matches. Therefore one must hear Torah from his mouth specifically, and through this one can find one's match, as said above.

Our explanation, step by step. Every match begins with two sides that seem far apart. Daas, understanding, is what stands between them. When Torah is heard from the tzaddik's own mouth, that daas goes out into action. And then the two are joined, a shidduch.

Some reflections of our own, not a quotation. If you are looking for a match, don't only search; go and hear Torah from a true teacher, in person. Learning itself is matchmaking: joining ideas from far places into something new. And the same understanding is what keeps opposites joined, at home too.

This has been Likutey Moharan Tinyana, Torah eighty nine.