The most well known warning that Rav Nahman of Breslov said about Torah scholars that are demons comes from the ליקוטי מוהר''ן חלק ב פרק א
אך צריך לידע ולהכיר את המפורסמים כי יש כמה מפורסמים שהם בשקר והם רק על ידי עזות כמו שאמרו חז''ל עזותא מלכותא בלא תגא
"...but one must recognize the famous spiritual leaders that are a lie, for there are many famous spiritual leaders that are fakes and they come to this by arrogance as the Sages said, 'Arrogance is power without a crown'"
This warning is almost universally ignored except by the Na Nach group. The reason they are especially careful in this is that Rav Israel Odessar gave it a particular emphasis and said about מפורסמים של שקר This basic idea: "פרוסם = שקר" [famous = lie]
But you can see elsewhere in the writings of Rav Nahman is that he does not mean they have no powers. Just the opposite. They have vast powers of the Sitra Achra but it all comes from the Dark Side.
[Even though Rav Nahman does not give many details I think it is usually fairly clear to what kind of Torah Scholar demon he is referring to.]
I think all Litvak yeshivas in Europe were immune to this problem since they were learning Torah for its own sake--not for money. But nowadays the problem seems to have gotten even inside the straight Torah world. So what is one to do? I try to play it safe and stay away from the religious entirely. They reason is once one has walked into any of their places, the dust clings to him even when he leaves.
אך צריך לידע ולהכיר את המפורסמים כי יש כמה מפורסמים שהם בשקר והם רק על ידי עזות כמו שאמרו חז''ל עזותא מלכותא בלא תגא
"...but one must recognize the famous spiritual leaders that are a lie, for there are many famous spiritual leaders that are fakes and they come to this by arrogance as the Sages said, 'Arrogance is power without a crown'"
This warning is almost universally ignored except by the Na Nach group. The reason they are especially careful in this is that Rav Israel Odessar gave it a particular emphasis and said about מפורסמים של שקר This basic idea: "פרוסם = שקר" [famous = lie]
But you can see elsewhere in the writings of Rav Nahman is that he does not mean they have no powers. Just the opposite. They have vast powers of the Sitra Achra but it all comes from the Dark Side.
[Even though Rav Nahman does not give many details I think it is usually fairly clear to what kind of Torah Scholar demon he is referring to.]
I think all Litvak yeshivas in Europe were immune to this problem since they were learning Torah for its own sake--not for money. But nowadays the problem seems to have gotten even inside the straight Torah world. So what is one to do? I try to play it safe and stay away from the religious entirely. They reason is once one has walked into any of their places, the dust clings to him even when he leaves.
