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In spirituality as well, there is one strategic central point on which Bull’s Eye not told him to stop, he would have continued to pray until he
we must focus our prayers until we succeed in overcoming the would have nullified the decree, and he would have entered the
evil will. That is the craving for licentiousness, which is called the A person’s will is called “yearning,” kisufin. The word kisufin is land. The Gemara learns from Moses (Berachot ibid.) that “when a
“inclusive evil.” Locking in on this goal and investing all of the work related to kesef, “money.” Imagine that you have a sum of money person prays at length, his prayer does not return empty,” because
of one’s will there is a long-term project. But it opens the way to to invest. If you want to put it all in one property, you buy it and “the gates of prayer are never locked” (Devarim Rabbah 2).
easily conquer all the other fronts. you proceed further. But if you want to buy many things at once,
the money will not suffice and you will not buy anything. The key to Moses was entirely a being of intention. He is the representative
Rabbi Nachman himself acted in this way. He said that he did not properly using the work of the will is to calm your mind and choose and model of the perfection of the will. The numerical value of
try to work on all cravings, but solely on one until he saw results— one issue to focus on. That focus will allow you to properly utilize the name “Moses” (adding one for the name itself) is equal to that
and he chose this craving in particular (Sichot Haran 16). the power of your will to attain goals, to succeed and to progress. of the word ratzon, “will.” Therefore, he passed away at minchah
Your will is the tool with which to transform every matter and issue. time on the Sabbath, which is a time of “the will of wills.” As
He was extremely and extraordinarily holy in his When the tool of your will is focused, it becomes complete, and Rabbi Natan states, “The ultimate perfection of the level of Moses
separation from the lust [of licentiousness], absolutely you attain your goal. But when your will is diffused, you want many our teacher is that he was integrated into the will of wills” (Likutei
separated, with supreme and awesome holiness. He things, but with a weak will. Therefore, there is nothing to draw Halachot: Arev 3). That is because “Moses our teacher, peace be
said that if he would only surrender in this one area deliverance to you, and even after years pass you will be frustrated upon him, is the best of the human species. Who is greater than
the evil inclination was willing to allow him everything because you have gained nothing. Regarding that, our sages said: Moses, the rabbi of all of the prophets and of the true tzaddikim
else. But, on the contrary, he was willing to surrender “If you try to grasp too much, you will grasp nothing; if you grasp in all of the generations? In the end, when he passed away, he
everything else aside except for this [craving], which he just a little, it will remain in your grasp.” certainly attained the ultimate level of perfection that cannot be
comprehended. And the entire essence of his extraordinary level
was determined to break.
Prayer is called the weapon of a Jew. As Rabbi Nachman says, is that he succeeded at the time of his holy passing away to be
That is to say, the evil inclination would be happy to “A Jew’s fundamental weapon is prayer” (Kitzur Likutei Moharan 2). absorbed into the will of wills.”
allow him to break all other cravings as long as he would If a person focuses his prayer on one issue, he is like someone who The Torah tells and describes Moses’ prayer on behalf of the
aims his weapon and shoots—then he successfully hits his target.
surrender just one [craving] to it—presumably, the But if he does not focus his prayer on one issue, his chances of nation of Israel: “He pleaded … I prostrated myself … I entreated
universal lust, because the essence of the evil inclination hitting the target are very low. He has a weapon, but he is not … I prayed ….” That reflects all of the decades during which he
inheres in this lust. But he, may his memory be for a using it properly. Therefore, Rabbi Nachman says, “A person who prayed and cried out to Hashem in order to successfully align
blessing, said that, on the contrary, he would give up attains the sword [of prayer] must know how to handle it and not himself with His will. Throughout his entire life, he lived with the
breaking every other [craving] but this lust, which he turn it to the right or to the left [of the target]. He should ‘aim at fear of heaven. Throughout his entire life, he lived with prayer and
wanted to break entirely. a hairsbreadth and not miss’ (Judges 20:16)” (ibid.). crying out to Hashem. All of his life, he engaged in the work of the
will. Therefore, he became clean and holy, and he attained perfect
This was how he conducted himself from the beginning. To Find the Issue humility. All that he did in life and all that he attained he did with
His entire goal and efforts were initially focused a great deal of prayer, and he always requested only an undeserved
gift, so that he would never feel pride.
only on breaking this universal lust. At first, he Another military metaphor is that of a commander leading a
paid no attention at all to breaking the craving battle that is raging on a few fronts, who perceives that his troops But when we do not proceed with prayer and intentions, only
of eating. On the contrary, at first he ate a remarkably are mired on all of these fronts. What should he do? He should with “my power and the might of my hand,” only with our own
large amount, much more than other people…. choose one strategic front and concentrate all of his resources actions, then even if we succeed and withstand tests, woe to that
there. He will conquer and overwhelm that front, which will raise success, woe to that shame. That leads a person to pride and to a
An inseparable part of the work of the will is focusing on just one the soldiers’ morale and open the way to progress on the other sense of self. Thus, without the work of the will, it is impossible to
topic. When people lack that focus, they do not succeed in their fronts as well. succeed: either we fall and despair, or we succeed and fall prey to

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