In “Seven Pillars of Faith” R. Yitzchok Breiter clarifies the meaning of seven basic ideas or themes which are at the root of all of Rebbe Nachman’s teachings. The concept that underlies the whole work is that of Hashgochoh Protis, “Individual Supervision”, which means that G-d lovingly supervises every single details of the life and growth of every Jew individually.
But if everything is under God’s control, what is our role as free agents? And if everything in the world, and everything we experiences, comes to reveal Godliness, how are we to take all the contradictory messages we are constantly getting? R. Yitzchok explains how we can steer our way through these paradoxes – by understanding that it is our own ego-bound outlook that causes God to be concealed from us. Our only way to rise above this is through Teshuvah, which we come to by following the teachings of the True Tzaddik.
