Rabbi Jonathan Rietti continues the series on Likutey Moharan, Torah 4, with Shiur #15 — mapping the three levels of Vidui Devarim and answering, head-on, the charge that Breslov's practice of confession was borrowed from the Church.
Rebbe Nachman taught that the only way to take back the malchus we hand over to the nations is Vidui Devarim before a talmid chacham amiti. That teaching earned Breslov the nickname "Viduniks" — and 200 years of criticism from within Klal Yisrael. In this shiur R' Rietti shows that vidui devarim is not just older than Catholic confession, it is a mitzvas asei d'Oraisa that runs from the third chapter of Bereishis straight through the korbanos of Vayikra.
Covered in this shiur:
• The three levels: vidui before HaKadosh Baruch Hu, vidui before a tzaddik / talmid chacham, and vidui at the tzaddik's kever
• Rabbi Tovia Singer and the FBI counterfeit-detection analogy — why you don't need to be a bokie in Christianity to answer it
• Adam HaRishon: "Ayekah" as an invitation to say one word — "Chatati" — and what the world would have looked like had he said it
• Chava's missed moment, and Rashi/Midrash on why Hashem asked questions He already knew the answers to
• David HaMelech before Nasan HaNavi: one word that lifted a death sentence
• Kayin: the first depression in the Torah, and the difference between "Lamah" and "Madua"
• Yehuda and Tamar: how "Tzadka mimeni" earned the crown of malchus and the Davidic dynasty
• The Golden Calf: Moshe Rabbeinu doing vidui on behalf of Klal Yisrael — "mecheini na misifrecha"
• Korbanos: semicha and vidui in front of the kohen, thousands of times a day, for over a thousand years
• "Ashrei hador shehanasi shelo mevi kapara al shig'so" — why we want leaders with the courage to admit a mistake
• Reb Zusha's talmid, the search for "the tzaddik whose followers do vidui," and the scene outside Rebbe Nachman's room
• The Baal Shem Tov's talmid who refused to confess three times — the story behind Torah 4
• Q&A: If you can go straight to Hashem, why go through a tzaddik? Avraham Avinu and "v'nivrechu becha kol mishpechos ha'adamah"
• Hisbodedus, Rebbe Nachman's openness about his own falls, why there is no yeridas hadoros for the individual, and emunah vs. daas
Next week b'ezras Hashem: the Rambam's lashon in Hilchos Teshuvah, and vidui before a talmid chacham when the tzaddik is no longer in this world.
Recorded live at Breslov New Hempstead, August 16, 2026.
CHAPTERS
0:00 Intro, dedication, and review of Torah 4 §1–3
4:00 Vidui devarim before a talmid chacham amiti
5:17 "Viduniks" — the criticism of Breslov
6:10 Catholic confession: 1,700 years vs. 3,338
7:17 The three levels of vidui devarim
8:24 There is nothing original in Christianity
9:41 R' Tovia Singer and the FBI counterfeit-bill test
13:38 The first vidui in the Torah — Adam HaRishon
15:00 Moshe Rabbeinu transposing Yehuda's vidui
16:44 A tzaddik who is mechaper for his generation
17:57 Why we shied away from the tzaddik for 1,800 years
21:45 "Ayekah" — an invitation to a conversation
24:57 Adam blames Chava; the blame game
29:33 David HaMelech: "Chatati LaShem"
31:46 Kayin's korban and the first depression in the Torah
34:39 "Lamah" or "Madua"? Which direction the question faces
38:33 Kayin kills Hevel — the second invitation, refused
42:20 "Tzadka mimeni" and the crown of malchus
45:43 The Golden Calf — Moshe's vidui for Klal Yisrael
50:54 Korbanos: semicha and vidui before the kohen
54:14 "Ashrei hador shehanasi shelo mevi kapara"
58:35 Reb Zusha and the Viduniks
60:25 The Baal Shem Tov's talmid who refused to confess
63:39 Q&A: Why go through the tzaddik at all?
68:03 Hisbodedus, and Rebbe Nachman's honesty about falling
71:07 No yeridas hadoros for the individual
73:49 Emunah vs. daas — the pilot analogy
77:11 Closing
📖 Source text: Likutey Moharan, Torah 4 (Anochi Anochi Hu Mochachem)
🎧 Part of the ongoing Likutey Moharan series with R' Jonathan Rietti — subscribe for weekly shiurim.
💬 Questions or comments? Leave them below.
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