Courage is rarely dramatic. More often, it is the quiet resolve to continue when clarity is absent and the path ahead is only partially visible. It is the choice to take the next honest step without knowing where the staircase ends, to remain present even when certainty refuses to arrive. This kind of courage does not always announce itself with definite confidence; often it whispers through persistence despite uncertainty, through the simple decision not to retreat from the unknown.

In moments like these, doubt is not a sign of weakness but proof that you are moving beyond what is comfortable or familiar. The soul stretches most when it cannot rely on sight alone, when it chooses to believe in what it cannot see. You learn to move forward by a faith and trust that is not rooted in open outcomes, but in the belief that showing up still matters. Each step taken without reassurance quietly strengthens you and reshapes who you are becoming.

There is a hidden dignity in continuing while unfinished questions linger. The world may celebrate bold leaps, but it is the steady heart that endures and overcomes ambiguity that ultimately builds lasting strength. When you remain committed in the fog, you cultivate a resilience deeper than confidence – one that does not depend on favorable conditions to survive and thrive.

And later, when the path finally does clear, you may realize that the greatest victory was not reaching certainty, but learning how to move and progress without it. You may then come to see that what you were searching for at the end of the road was quietly being shaped within you all along. What once felt like a search for purpose reveals that the journey itself was the purpose, formed in each step taken forward, even when the destination remained unseen.

Inspired by the teachings of Rebbe Nachman (1772-1810)

Us Against Them? The Jewish Answer to Antisemitism

Antisemitism is on the rise, but the way to oppose it is the opposite of everything we've telling ourselves.

https://nirmenussi.substack.com/p/us-against-them-the-jewish-answer?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=529330&post_id=182618656&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=ccrm2&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email

There’s something happening beneath the chaos and the rapid, unprecedented change.

Life is getting tighter.

It’s like we’re being quietly trained to stay within a narrow band of emotions, opinions, options, beliefs, and behaviors – many of them not even our own.

It’s hard to notice this, in part because we’re bombarded with endless noise.
But there’s another reason as well.

It’s not that you’re weak, or asleep. And it goes far deeper than psychology or mindset.

It goes all the way back to the beginning, in the Garden of Eden, when the story of exile actually began.

Exile didn’t start when Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden. It started when they ate from the Tree of Knowledge and suddenly saw themselves from the outside for the first time.

Think of an elevator dropping from a high floor to a shuddering stop on the ground.

They fell, in an instant, from vast, illuminated presence and multi-dimensional awareness to a closed and cold state of self-observation colored by vulnerability, incompletion and fear.

This ushered in the shame, fear, and self-conscious inner judgement that every human being now carries at their core.

These emotions are not only painful
They disconnect us from the truth, trust, and aliveness of our souls.

And once you start seeing - judging - yourself from the outside, you stop being yourself from the inside.

It's a short step to forgetting who you are and where you came from.
It makes you feel far too finite to be safe in a very unpredictable world.

That’s why predictability has become a survival strategy for pretty much every human being. But survival strategies come with a cost.
And predictability is also a cage.

Every oppressive system — ancient or modern — knows this.
They’ve all operated on one principle: “If we can predict you, we can control you.”  And the world we’re living in today has perfected this far more than any Pharaoh or empire ever dreamed of… and force is barely necessary anymore. 

Instead, the control is built on:

• AI algorithms

• social pressure

• leveraging childhood conditioning

• creating relentless financial strain

• increasing pressure to be acceptable, agreeable, and not make waves

• and trauma that gets treated as a disease
  

At this point, many of us are starting to sense that we’re living a life shaped by something outside of ourselves… but we don’t know how to get back in.

Here's what I believe to be the missing piece.
You begin to reclaim your freedom when you understand that the control grid is not just “out there.”
It’s inside you as well.

Without a doubt, there is a control grid in the world — technological, informational, financial, military, medical, and cultural. 
But it works only because of the internal one.

Your identity — the “me” you think you have to be in order to function, to be accepted, to be minimally safe - is an internalized, personalized version of the larger control grid.

Your Identity is simply the nuanced and multi-level set of rules you’ve internalized about who you’re allowed to be.

It tells you which parts of you are unacceptable, which desires are dangerous, which behaviors are inappropriate, which longings are unrealistic, and which dreams you should outgrow before you look like a fool.

Identity demands predictability — and this is the foundation upon which the whole control grid is built.

To reclaim your freedom, you must stop believing that the cage is you.

You don’t break the identity's control by fighting it.
You break it by refusing to lie to yourself — and refusing to listen to lies.

For this you need compassion - and the ability (and willingness) to see the truth without judgment and without shame.

If Adam and Eve had been able to stay with the truth instead of hiding, human history would have unfolded very differently.
But they were experiencing shame and fear for the first time. There was no precedent to what had happened to them. No wonder they panicked and hid.

We, on the other hand, have vast experience with emotions. And now, in these times, many techniques that teach us how to step back and see our emotions for what they are.

And once we are not ruled by inner fear and shame, our identity loosens its grip.
We regain the power to choose.

It is profound to realize this with your mind... and even more so when you start to practice it when you are triggered.

But real freedom doesn't come until this truth is made real in your nervous system. Only then do you stop thinking, living, and choosing as if you’re trapped in an invisible cage - and start to feelfree, sovereign, and alive.

That’s the one thing no control system (external or internal) knows how to handle. And when you begin to connect to the part of you that exists before identity, before exile, before shame or fear - no control grid can predict or define you anymore.

So here’s my invitation to you as we move into 2026, with the light rising and the world on fire:

Ask yourself these questions... and listen deeply for the answers that arise from beyond and within what you believe you know.
Feel what they bring up in your body.
Allow those feelings to flow. 
This is the first step to freedom that is embodied - the only kind that is actually free.

• Where have I been living in a cage that might not be real?

• What emotions have I been trying not to feel — and what would happen if I met them with compassion and love?

• Where have I decided that I have no choice?

• Which soul desires am I suppressing because they feel unpredictable?

• What version of me am I refusing to embody?

• And… what might happen if I decide to change this now?

Love and blessings for an joyous and miraculous 2026.  

‘Two Kings. One City.’

Which One Do You Want In Control?

——

🥜 In a Nutshell

Tanya teaches that we are not made of one unified inner voice.

We have two souls sharing one body.

And they are not coexisting peacefully.

They are at war.

The body is called a “small city.”

And the Divine soul and the animal soul are like two kings fighting for full control of that city.

Not partial influence.

Not occasional cooperation.

Rule.

Every thought.

Every word.

Every action.

The struggle we feel inside ourselves is not a flaw.

It is the battleground where we decide which king will rule our body and mind.

——

Keep reading for a deeper dive into today’s Tanya…

——

Yesterday, Tanya showed us that we have two souls, each with its own home and way of functioning.

Today, the Alter Rebbe removes any remaining confusion.

They are not living side by side.

They are at war.

The body is a “small city.”

And each soul wants its inhabitants, the mind, heart, speech, and limbs, to obey its will.

——

The Divine Soul’s Strategy

The Divine soul does not win by crushing the body.

It wins by filling it.

First, the mind is filled with ChaBaD,

* wisdom,

* ⁠understanding, and

* ⁠deep awareness of Hashem’s greatness.

From that clarity, real emotions are born.

* Awe in the mind.

* ⁠Love in the heart.

That love begins on the right side of the heart, the home of the Divine soul, and then overflows into the left side, where the animal soul’s desires live.

Not to suppress them.

But to overpower them with something stronger.

Love of Hashem replaces love of pleasure.

The same energy that once chased physical desire is redirected, and at higher levels transformed, into longing for G-dliness.

This is what the Torah means by:

“With all your heart”

with both inclinations.

——

No Neutral Ground

The Divine soul wants more than obedience.

It wants the body to become a ‘chariot’, an instrument with no agenda of its own.

Thought filled with Torah.

Speech filled with Torah.

Action filled with mitzvot.

“No foreign influence shall pass through.”

Not because the animal soul disappears,

but because it no longer runs the city.

——

The Deeper Truth

Even the pressure of the animal soul has a purpose.

Like the Zohar’s parable of the harlot sent to test the prince, the challenge itself secretly wants to be defeated.

The struggle exists for your victory.

——

The Message

One body.

Two souls.

One city.

Your inner conflict is not a sign of failure.

It is the arena where your sovereignty is decided.

The question is never whether there will be a battle.

The question is:

Which king is ruling right now?

When the mind fills with truth,

the heart follows,

and the whole city becomes a home for holiness.

Here Are Three Truths About Hashem

That Make It Safe to Breathe and Relax

———

1. Hashem is all-powerful.

Nothing is too big.

Nothing is stuck.

Nothing is beyond His ability to fix, move, heal, or transform.

2. Hashem is all-knowing and infinitely wise.

He understands your life better than you ever could.

He sees every variable, every hidden factor, every future outcome.

He doesn’t just know what is happening.

He knows what is best and how to bring it about.

3. Hashem is infinitely loving and caring.

He cares about you more than the kindest human ever could.

More than anyone who loves you.

Even more than you love yourself.

When these three truths are real to you, worry has nowhere to live.

You can breathe more easily.

You can let go.

You are not carrying this alone.

What you are carrying can be released into Hands that are infinitely stronger, wiser, and kinder than your own.

There is truly no need to worry!

Life doesn’t always unfold the way we imagine it will. Along the way, we may stumble, lose momentum, or drift from the path we once felt so sure about. But a detour is not a dead end. What matters most is not how far we may have wandered, but our willingness to find our way back, one small step at a time.

You are not the sum of your past mistakes. Each day arrives with the invitation to realign, and to begin again with clearer intention and renewed resolve. Guilt and fear may try to convince you to stay where you fell, but they have no authority over your future. Progress, even when slow and uneven, is still progress.

The past is not a compass for your future. Missteps are meant to guide your next steps, not prevent them. Give yourself permission to chart a new course, informed by experience but not imprisoned by it. Every choice forward, no matter how small, loosens the grip of yesterday.

The past has its place – it shaped you, taught you, and may have even broken you a little. But healing doesn’t happen by staring in the rearview mirror. Growth begins when you find the courage to pursue what you deserve. Rebuilding can happen quietly, piece by piece, one honest step at a time. Setbacks aren’t the end of your story – they’re the chapter where your comeback begins.

Inspired by the teaching of Reb Noson of Breslov (1780-1844)

The wheel of time continues to turn, and once again we find ourselves on the precipice of a New (Solar) Year. ⌛ One of the best practices to implement during this time is self-reflection both to celebrate your personal growth and reorient to newfound desires and dreams.

To initiate this practice, we encourage you to use the comment section below to tell us one lesson you learned in 2025 and one blessing you're looking forward to in 2026.

Let's hear it. 👇🏼

Rabbi Natan of Breslov teaches:
One of the most powerful ways to neutralize an evil eye is not to confront it.
Not to expose it.
Not to fight it.
But to look at the person with a
Good Eye.
The evil eye feeds on judgment.
It survives on reaction.
It grows when you engage.
Kindness cuts off its oxygen.
This is not weakness.
This is spiritual authority.
When you refuse to lower your vision, the evil eye has nowhere to land.
So yes—kill the evil eye with kindness.

Dip First

By Tzvi Freeman

The Baal Shem Tov once said that he would rather be buried in the ground and return to the earth than rise to heaven in a fiery chariot like Elijah.

Why?

Because through an initial dip downward, you can reach much higher. And the lower the dip, the higher the reach.

So if it seems to you at times that life is pulling you down, burying your soul in mundane, earthly matters rather than letting you soar freely to the heavens...

...know that in all these mitzvahs here on earth you are gaining the power and momentum to rocket upward beyond the heavens, higher than you could imagine.

In the view from above, everything is always moving only upward.

Torat Menachem Hitvaduyot, vol. 5, pg. 192