Rebbe Nachman: âItâs inevitable that there will be opposition to someone who returns people in repentanceâ
Rebbe Nachman says that thereâs no other way! Anyone who is involved [and successful] in kiruv rechokim, in drawing people who are distant back to Torah, will inevitably have opposition!: âKnow! When the Holy One takes notes of a soul that is capable of getting people to repent and of making converts, then He Himself, as it were, seeks and arranges for that [soul] to have opposition. This is because converts are not accepted in the messianic era or in the days of Shlomo (Yevamot 24b). Under such circumstances they do not convert out of love, but rather because they witness the eminence of the Jews. [Sincere] GeRim (converts) are mainly those who convert at a time the Jews are suffering from poverty and oppression, as it is written (Isaiah 54:15) âwho GoR (dwelled) with youââin your poverty (Yevamot, ibid.). âIt is therefore a necessity that someone who gets people to repent and makes converts suffer opposition, in order that he have no tranquility. For then, anyone who draws close to him is sincere; then he can make bona fide converts, not [converts who are] motivated by peace and contentment, as explained above. âThis is the explanation of âYaakov settled in the area of his fatherâs meGuRay (dwelling)â (Genesis 37:1). The Midrash states: âhis fatherâs meGuRaYââhe made converts, as his father had (Bereishit Rabbah 84:4); as if is were written âmiGiyuRaY (of the converts) of his father.â âThis is the explanation of what our Sages, of blessed memory, said: âYaakov settledââYaakov sought to dwell in tranquility, but he was beset immediately by aggravation regarding Yosef. That is, because Yaakov made converts, the aspect of âhis fatherâs meguray,â he was unable to settle in tranquilityâin order that the converts should be sincere. Had he had tranquility, he would not have been able to make converts, for converts are not accepted in the messianic era, as explained aboveâ (Likutey Moharan 228).