In praise of self-isolation
By Jonathan Montlake, The Conservative Woman:
AS A student in a Jerusalem institution for advanced Biblical studies, I have been reading this 200-year-old book in Hebrew, and the passage below seemed particularly appropriate, so I translated it into English.
Likutei Halachos is an eight-volume work written by a student of the rabbi that we follow, Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, which we spend a lot of time going through, and this piece seemed so appropriate.
Excerpt from the book Likutei Halachos, written by Rav Nasan of Breslov about the year 1810 (Laws of the Evening Prayer, 4:17)
‘This [Noah concealing himself in the Ark, which is the attribute of Yom Kippur] corresponds to the concealment that one has to seclude and hide himself away at the time when the attribute of Judgment is at its full force, Heaven forbid! Meaning, that when [God’s attribute of] Judgment overcomes [His attribute of kindness], the only response is for one to completely surrender and nullify himself. This nullification is best accomplished by closing his eyes away from seeing any sight of this world. Therefore, one must hide and conceal himself inside his house and to not leave it, in order that his eyes will not wander and see the sights of this world. He should only sit concealed and hidden in his house, because there is the most ideal place to nullify himself to God, which is the only way to mitigate the harsh judgments.
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