Rav Nahman of Breslov held that one ought to do "Hitbodadut" (private conversation with God) the whole day every day. Not just an hour per day. You can see this in his major book the LeM vol II. chapter 96.ורצונו הוא שתהיה לאדם התבודדות כל היום כולו ולבלות כל היום על זה. אבל בגלל לא כל אדם יכול לקיים את זאת לכן הוא מצווה שתהיה "His desire was that a person should have hitbodadut the whole day and to spend the whole day on this. But because not everyone can fulfill this the minimum he requires is that one should have at least one hour hitbodadut.
This makes a lot of sense to me from several aspects. One is that it is hard to say that any kind of learning makes one righteous. Some people find this out the hard way. They are love bombed and enticed into the religious world and then imagine that this is a righteous and good world because of people learning Torah. Yet at some point reality hits them. So they see that learning Torah even sincerely does not really get one over the finish line clean and proper. The is too much room for self deception and deception of others. Tora tells one how to act but that does not mean that people that use it to make money actually follow it.
They see at some point that to find some way to come to righteousness it is not enough to learn Torah. Clearly something else is needed. So I think Rav Nahman was right about this. Not that it is possible to do all day but at least to spend time talking with God as a friend talks with another and to ask for guidance and help.
This makes a lot of sense to me from several aspects. One is that it is hard to say that any kind of learning makes one righteous. Some people find this out the hard way. They are love bombed and enticed into the religious world and then imagine that this is a righteous and good world because of people learning Torah. Yet at some point reality hits them. So they see that learning Torah even sincerely does not really get one over the finish line clean and proper. The is too much room for self deception and deception of others. Tora tells one how to act but that does not mean that people that use it to make money actually follow it.
They see at some point that to find some way to come to righteousness it is not enough to learn Torah. Clearly something else is needed. So I think Rav Nahman was right about this. Not that it is possible to do all day but at least to spend time talking with God as a friend talks with another and to ask for guidance and help.
