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pride. True success occurs only when we do the work of our true changes nature. You will not need persuasion and explanations, prayers—i.e., they do not progress. They pray for many things—or
mission, which is related to us, which is in our realm. That is the because you will have already seen the dramatic power of prayer in if they pray for one thing, they do so for just a few days. They do
work of the will. your own life. “From my flesh I see God” (Job 19:26). not maintain their focused prayer for a sufficient amount of time to
acquire what they want. Instead, they leap from topic to topic and
The Symbol of Prayer from trait to trait. Thus, they do not gain anything. In the end, they
despair and fall entirely from this elevated practice, ceasing the
Like Moses who passed away at the time of the will of wills, so too If you wish, I can turn you into tzaddikim like myself. practice of hitbodedut altogether, because they do not see results.
King David and the righteous Joseph passed away at the time of the However, when we spend half an hour on one topic we see results,
will of wills, because they too attained a perfect will by means of Sichot Haran 163
the power of prayer. Regarding King David, one does not need to and that bolsters our adherence to the entire path of hitbodedut.
When we do hitbodedut, for half an hour we engage in the work of
enumerate at length the proofs that he was entirely prayer. He says the will. That half an hour of work on the will we desire to engage
of himself, “I am prayer,” his book of Psalms testifies that he is the
archetype of prayer, and he spent entire nights in songs and praise: in the practice of hitbodedut, and it becomes our regular practice.
“To You I call out all the day” (Psalms 86:3). The great innovation Do Not Let Go of One or the Other Rabbi Baruch Shalom Halevi Ashlag, the son of Rabbi Yehudah
that we learn from King David is that all repentance depends on Leib Ashlag, author of the Sulam, defined and summarized this in
prayer. There is no way to repent without praying. As the Gemara It is important to emphasize the following. Clearly, an hour of precise language:
teaches, King David taught all generations a path of repentance for hitbodedut every day, in whatever fashion a person does it, is
the individual—and that path of repentance is the book of Psalms something very good and a formidable achievement. A person who The difficulty preventing a person from being able to
(as stated in Likutei Moharan II 73). does hitbodedut will attain all of the tremendous gifts promised him
and bring about extraordinary and awesome rectifications. Even pray is that his will is divided into a number of
King David testifies that all of his ability to choose freely was in this world, he will see a marked improvement in all areas of his components…. That is why the holy books state that
made possible only by the help and power of Hashem: “You guide service of Hashem. when a person takes the initiative to pray regarding some
my destiny” (Psalms 16:5)—meaning, “You placed my hand upon topic, he should only pray for one thing. One may ask:
the good portion, saying: Choose this.” Why did Hashem help But only when a person does the work of the will can he attain a What is wrong with requesting two things? After, nothing
him choose? That is because he was entirely a being of prayer. He fundamental transformation, a literal change of his nature: success is lacking in the house of the King! But the answer is that
engaged perfectly in his free choice with prayer, which was in his in nullifying his evil inclination, his evil traits and his cravings. As this advice relates to the [limitations of the] person: a
hands. He was entirely a being of prayer. And so he was led in the Rabbi Nachman teaches, “A person should engage a great deal person only has a finite amount of will, and he must
way that he wanted to go. in prayer and talking [to God] until he succeeds in nullifying [a devote the entire power of his will to the topic of his
problem]” (ibid.). prayers, and not disperse his will among a few topics.
To Purify the Entire World If a person were strict about praying every day without exception

for everything he needs, he would certainly see a marked change. Everyone has a measure of will that the Holy One,
So too the righteous Joseph was entirely a being of prayer. When But since everyone goes through various phases every day, typically blessed be He, has given him in accordance with his
he was imprisoned for 12 years, what did he do? He did not have a person prays every day for different things in keeping with those needs. By way of illustration, let us say that a person
books, and he could not learn in such a filthy place. But the speech phases, and so he does not engage in consecutive and ongoing work possesses ten kilograms of will. If with one kilogram of
of prayer accompanies a person everywhere. As Rabbi Nachman on one topic. And as mentioned above, even when he focuses on his will he wants money, with another kilogram he wants
states, “Just as a mother always accompanies her children and does one topic, after a period of time he grows distracted and goes on
not forget them, so too speech, which is the level of the Shechinah, to something else, and so he does not acquire anything. honor, and so forth, his will is divided into a number of
always accompanies a person.” Therefore, Rabbi Nachman says parts, each of which is weak…. A strong will is a single
will! For instance, a person sitting in jail has only one will: