On Disagreement

I'm teaching on disagreement at the Shul this Shabbat.
All welcome.

Sources are here

And some lovely sources they are too.

What I am not going to try to post is this stunning piece from Likkeutei Moharan, Reb Nachman.
I think it is utterly stunning.
It's a little technical, designed for those with a background in Rabbinics and a soul able to handle Hasidic exegesis, but stunning.

Hope you enjoy it

Likutei Mohoran 64:4

And know that machloket is the behina  of the creation of the world, for the essence of the creation of the world is by means of the vacated void (as is mentioned above), for without this everything would be ain sof, and there would be no place for the creation of the world. Therefore [God] made a tzimtzum to the sides and made the vacated space, and in that place [God] created all of creation. These are the days of hamadot, by means of speech, as mentioned above – by means of the speech of the Divine were the Heavens made – and this is also the behina of machloket, for if every talmid hacham was ached there would have been no space for the creation of the world.

Rather it is only by means of the machloket between them – when they are disagreeing one with the other, and each one is pulling themselves to a different side, by means of this there made between them the behina of the vacated void which is the behina of the tzimtzum  of the light to the sides, for this is the creation of the world by means of speech as is mentioned above. For all the words that each of the speak, it is all for the sake of the creation of the world which is made by their hands from the vacated void that is between them. For talmidei hachamim create everything by means of speech, as it says (in a discussion in the Zohar on Isaiah 51) and say to Zion – you are my people [ami], do not read ‘ami’ rather ‘ími’ – with me. Just as I create the heavens and the earth, with my words, so shall you. So too one should be careful not to speak too much, only what is necessary for the creation of the world and no more. For by means of the multiplication of the light – for the vessels were not able to suffer the multiplication of the light – they were shattered – and through the shattering of the vessels the husks gained life…

And this is the explanation of the Mishna, ‘All my days I grew up amongst the hachamim, and I found nothing better for the body than silence, and the exposition of something is not the essence, rather the action, and anyone who speaks too much will err.’

Between the hachamim – that is the behina of the vacated void that exists and is created between the hachamim by means of the disagreement and machloket which lies between them…For by means of machloket  the behina of the vacated void is created, and for the midst of the vacated void, the whole world is created…

All my days I grew – that is my days and my middot – this is the behina of the creation of the world.

Between the hachamim – specifically the hachamim in the midst of the vacated space, for here is all the world created.

I grew – that is my days and my middot, from small to great.

and I found nothing better for the body than silence – for in the vacated void there is nothing better than silence, as is mentioned above, for it is forbidden to enter there, unless one is the behina of silence, which is the behina of Moses, (as is mentioned above). And this is nothing better than silence, for once a person grasps that behina – the behina of silence – as it says, there is nothing better than silence, therefore their days and middot  have grown there, in the vacated void. And this is

and the exposition of something is not the essence, rather the action – for all the words and the explanations of these hachamim, their essence is not the explication alone, rather the action, for they make and create, by means of their words the world (as is mentioned above) – don’t read ami (my people) rather imi (with me). And so

And anyone who speaks too much will err – for the multiplication of the light gives life to the husks, (as is mentioned above).