What makes our galus different from all the other galuses? If the people who suffered through pogroms, Cossacks, expulsions, poritzes, and all the miseries of the past 2,000 years of Galus, somehow ported into 2026 and took a look at our lives, our lifestyles, our rights, privileges, security, and establishments, I imagine their jaws would drop. They would ogle at Yidden catching a mincha in the airport, eating kosher food in the lounge, and boarding large steel bird-shaped objects that hurtle them in the air to Eretz Yisroel. If they saw Yidden being able to travel in comfort to and from the Kotel, they likely wouldn’t be able to relate to our experience of galus, at all. Our galus is so different from the galus of previous generations.
Our experience today is characterized primarily as “galus hada’as.” Our mindsets, clarity, consciousness, and awareness are in galus. We may know Ein Od Milvado, but we are more dysregulated than ever. We know everything in this world is Elokus, but we feel lost, confused, lonely. At worst, we are anxious, depressed, and compulsively doing things we are aware that we shouldn’t be, but don’t have the yishuv hadaas, the calm, centered, grounded, clear-headedness, to stop. Many of us are numb and disinterested. We feel like we work hard, and also feel like whatever we do is hardly working. Hashem’s concealment is so thick that multitudes go through their lives hardly noticing the concealment.
But here is the reassuring fact that is and always has been. Hashem creates the refuah before the makkah. He always prepares the remedy before the malady. Hashem gave us the prescriptions to heal the storm in our heads and hearts in these end-of-days.
One of these cures, as Rebbe Nachman of Breslov taught us, is hisbodedus. The practice of being alone and talking to Hashem. Sharing with Hashem what’s on your heart and speaking to Him as if He is your best friend.
Hisbodedus is the answer to a distracted generation. How so? Its power lies in its simplicity — talking to Hashem about where we are holding right now. The answer to being pulled in a million directions is in the daily practice of bringing all of ourselves to the table when we talk to Hashem. It helps us gather all the scattered pieces of ourselves back to center, back to Hashem. During hisbodedus, we let ourselves be fully present, fully us with no agenda, no script. The answers we do desperately crave in life are acquired by being alone, undistracted, with only ourselves and Hashem. Talking about whatever. Literally whatever. Unfiltered dialogue with Hashem.
The nisyonos nowadays are insidious and subtle. The galus is sophisticated and thick. It would make sense if the way to get through it would also be complex. But it’s not. Rebbe Nachman taught that hisbodedus originates from a very high place in Hashem’s will called “Keser,” and it is simple and accessible to all of us. Honestly, it almost seems like an open miracle how convinced we are that we don’t have time or ability to do hisbodedus. Or we think “it’s not for me.” But our tzadikim teach us that hisbodedus is for everyone. All types, all backgrounds, all ‘levels.’ The level of resistance and skepticism we have to the simple truths of hisbodedus are the successful manipulations of the yetzer hara. They indicate how hard he works to prevent us from attempting it.
Hisbodudus can sound like anything. A helpful framework for it is to spend some time on gratitude, spend some time on requests, and then spend some time in quiet, listening out for Hashem.
I am trying to prioritize a daily check-in with Hashem, after carpool, outside. Some mornings, I can’t wait to get the kids dropped off, so I can drop myself off at the park and let it all out to Hashem. I spend a lot of time bringing up what’s stressing me out right now. What I want to get His Siyata Dishmaya with (hint: this article). What I am grateful for. During hisbodedus, I end up sharing with Hashem things I’ve never articulated out loud to any human being, not even myself. It’s really freeing. I ask for help, for guidance, and clarity. I try articulating where I see Hashem’s involvement and how I appreciate His closeness and little kisses.
And then I head home, ready to tackle the day and this article with a little more centeredness. A little more groundedness. And feeling a lot more grateful and supported. Goodbye Galus Hada’as for this little moment. I can’t wait till you’re gone forever, and we can all experience the steady awareness of Ein Od Milvado and Hashra’as Hashechina for good.
This article was found in Nekuda Tova Issue 89.
