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person. Who is “His pious one” referred to in the verse? That is
King David, who was entirely prayer: “And I am prayer” (Psalms
69:14). Therefore, he requested, “Guard my soul because I am
pious” (Psalms 86:2). Be one of those who engage in much prayer
and request of Hashem, “Guard my soul.”
There is No Favoritism
Hashem certainly wants everyone to reach the level of Moses.
But know that the tzaddikim did not become tzaddikim because
of favoritism. Rabbi Nachman would get angry when people told
him that he reached his level because he was a descendant of the
Baal Shem Tov and other holy tzaddikim. He became heated and
exasperated. It was important to him that people know the simple
truth: “I arrived and achieved because I worked and toiled.” He
said that whoever he might have been born to, he would still have
reached the highest levels because of the amount of work that he
engaged in—because that is the most significant factor. That is all
there is to it. There is no favoritism. The tzaddikim worked, and so
they attained. They prepared many vessels and Hashem filled the
vessels for them. Do you want to become a tzaddik? Set aside time
to prepare vessels. Stand in prayer day after day, and you too will
achieve. Hashem will certainly fill the vessels for you, in keeping
with the spiritual rule that “the Master of your work is faithful to
pay you the wages of your work” (Avot 2:14). We see from three
great tzaddikim who are the pillars of the world that everything that
they achieved and accomplished was because of the power of the
work of prayer and intention.
“And Moses Pleaded”
Moses was entirely a being of intention and prayer.
We see in the Torah that Moses was entirely a being of prayer.
When he saw a heavenly decree against the nation of Israel, he
stood in prayer for 40 consecutive days and nights without eating
and drinking. And when he truly wanted to enter the land of Israel
with all his heart without compromise, he prayed again and again,
515 times, until Hashem Himself told him to stop. Had Hashem
Chapter Five: | 157
In spirituality as well, there is one strategic central point on which
we must focus our prayers until we succeed in overcoming the
evil will. That is the craving for licentiousness, which is called the
“inclusive evil.” Locking in on this goal and investing all of the work
of one’s will there is a long-term project. But it opens the way to
easily conquer all the other fronts.
Rabbi Nachman himself acted in this way. He said that he did not
try to work on all cravings, but solely on one until he saw results—
and he chose this craving in particular (Sichot Haran 16).
He was extremely and extraordinarily holy in his
separation from the lust [of licentiousness], absolutely
separated, with supreme and awesome holiness. He
said that if he would only surrender in this one area
the evil inclination was willing to allow him everything
else. But, on the contrary, he was willing to surrender
everything else aside except for this [craving], which he
was determined to break.
That is to say, the evil inclination would be happy to
allow him to break all other cravings as long as he would
surrender just one [craving] to it—presumably, the
universal lust, because the essence of the evil inclination
inheres in this lust. But he, may his memory be for a
blessing, said that, on the contrary, he would give up
breaking every other [craving] but this lust, which he
wanted to break entirely.
This was how he conducted himself from the beginning.
His entire goal and efforts were initially focused
only on breaking this universal lust. At first, he
paid no attention at all to breaking the craving
of eating. On the contrary, at first he ate a remarkably
large amount, much more than other people….
An inseparable part of the work of the will is focusing on just one
5 topic. When people lack that focus, they do not succeed in their