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164 | A New Light
Then you will no longer need any explanations, because you will
see changes occurring right before your eyes.
This is like explaining the taste of ice cream to a person who
has never in his life eaten ice cream. You can explain it to him for
hours, but he will not understand. Even if he thinks he understands,
he does not really understand. But let him taste once, and he will
immediately understand everything, and he will not need any
explanations. The same applies to the work of the will. “Taste and
see that Hashem is good” (Psalms 34:4). A person who meets with
the Creator every day and dedicates time to the will sees, feels and
understands this in the clearest way. But if a person does not do so,
no amount of explanations will help him.
To summarize: everyone must every day engage in the
work of making a personal accounting, repenting, giving
thanks and praying. That is the most wondrous advice in the
world. But the main jewel in the crown is the work of the
will. During the time of hitbodedut, you must dedicate at
least half an hour a day to pray to attain one goal until you
see fundamental changes.
Mark the Target
Rabbi Nachman described the spiritual work that he engaged in
as a youth (Likutei Moharan II 115):
He related that he encouraged himself a great deal in
his spiritual practice and he allowed nothing at all to
disturb him. His approach was to choose some upright
practice in serving Hashem. He would then begin to
implement that practice and way that he had chosen. He
implemented this practice for a period of time. Whenever
he had any thoughts that distracted him from acting in
that way so that he would act in another way, he would
not heed these thoughts at all, but he would push them
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That is the faith that Hashem wants to rescue us, save us and heal
us. Without full faith in this, our prayers will be very weak.
Wholeness of will makes it possible for a person to cry out to
Hashem from the heart. But in order for that outcry to be complete,
he must have wholeness of faith, because (as I have explained at
length elsewhere) a person’s prayer is accepted in accordance with
his faith, since “faith is prayer” (Likutei Moharan I 9). The more
whole a person’s faith, the more effective is his prayer. “Complete
prayer” is an outcome of wholeness of faith. When a person’s faith
is whole, his prayer is strong and absolute. It has powerful intent.
What does wholeness of faith mean? Regarding the basic principles
of faith, everyone is equal. It is clear to everyone that there is
no other than Hashem, that only Hashem can rescue us, and that
there is no other being to turn to, that our sole counsel is to pray
and cry out to Hashem. However, that is not yet wholeness of
faith. Wholeness of faith means that you believe that Hashem
loves you and wants to rescue you, and that it makes no
difference whether or not you are worthy! You believe in
Hashem’s compassion, in Hashem’s love for you as you are.
It makes no difference what you have done. You believe in
Hashem’s will to save you.
The student who almost drowned and cried out to Hashem,
“You have to rescue me!” expressed the faith that Hashem wants
to save everyone and give everyone life. He had a very strong will
because he was in a life-threatening situation. And that constitutes
the wholeness of the will (as will be explained). He sensed the truth
and believed that Hashem wants him to live (as will be explained
at length). As a result, he attained the perfect prayer about which
the Gemara speaks—the prayer that is certainly accepted and
effective—and such a prayer immediately tears up every heavenly
judgment in all situations, literally.
I contemplated these matters and prayed a great deal to Hashem
to illuminate my eyes, and Hashem helped me see that the case of
this student in distress who cried out, “Hashem, You must rescue
me!” involved a great deal in terms of the complete faith that I
am speaking about here. That is because Hashem wants to rescue