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speaks respectfully and calmly—as the Ramban writes in his Epistle, Chapter Six: that everyone will work hard until he attains and acquires one goal
“Accustom yourself to always speak calmly”—she uses her speech after another. That is the only way to truly come close to Hashem.
only to pray to Hashem and bless Him, to teach faith, to thank When a person experiences difficulties, he knows that he needs
Hashem, to appreciate people, to invigorate them, make them happy Cause a New Light to Shine on Zion Hashem, and he prays, seeks and entreats, and he thanks Hashem
and bless them. That shows that she has rectified her speech. Then for every success. If everything went easily for a person, he would
her mind sends her a signal of satiety. As Rabbi Nachman writes The Perfection of the Work of the Will forget Hashem and grow far from Him, because he would be filled
in Sefer Hamidot (Emet 7): “Truth brings satiety.” She never feels with pride.
the desire to eat, but she only eats when she understands that she
needs to. A person should eat based on understanding, and not on We are dealing with the work of the will, which is the ability Therefore, you must know that the purpose of our existence is
desire and appetite. When a person eats based on understanding, to have an effect, to transform ourselves and truly come close to to be close to Hashem. When we do the work of the will and we
he is in control. He prays before he eats, he recites the blessing over Hashem. As I explained earlier, the work of the will consists of want what Hashem wants day after day, that is called being close
the food with feeling, he only eats as much as he requires, and he regular, extended and stubborn prayer day after day on a single to Hashem, whether or not we succeed. We wait and look forward
only eats healthy foods. Because the woman feels sated, she is calm. topic until you see real, actual change. In this chapter, with the help to Hashem’s salvation. And so we must rejoice in the fact that the
As a result, she can easily relate pleasantly to her husband, to her of Hashem I will describe a new path in the work of the will, a path Creator created us finite, so that we can work on only one thing at
children, and to everyone around her. that is a new light, a very great light in serving Hashem. a time, and even that requires much work and toil, because that is
the only way to truly bring ourselves close to the work of the will
This is a very pragmatic chapter. But before coming to the
A Person’s Purpose practical part, I must delineate a number of important principles and prayer.
on which that practical guidance is based. If a person only takes Therefore, it is forbidden to despair, even though you are aware
Both men and women must set aside a significant amount of time the guidance without having deeply internalized the fundamentals that the work is long and progress is slow. You must continue on
every day to work on acquiring the trait of faith. That is because of faith and intent that this chapter will discuss, the practical aspect your way and work on issue after issue with a great deal of patience,
faith is the purpose of all creation, as I explain at length in my book, will have no value for him. He will be like a monkey imitating a doing your part. Whoever is living with this purpose, whoever wants
In the Garden of Faith. Every living soul must work on advancing human being. That is because this chapter is dealing with a deeply to come close to Hashem and bond with Hashem, is never broken
in his faith. Everything that happens in every person’s life at every internal process that is at the core of the work of the will, which is and never despairs—because what does it matter to him that the
moment is a test of faith and an opportunity to acquire faith. All a person’s inner essence. Therefore, this is not a chapter to be read work will take long? Every day he is bonding with Hashem in the
of a person’s imperfections come from a lack of faith. Therefore, a lightly, but a chapter that demands much attention and work so work of the will, and he has already attained the principal element,
person has a very holy obligation to engage in the work of the will that you will truly internalize these principles. which is faith.
in order to acquire the trait of faith.
What Is the Secret? This is a fundamental point that must be foremost in the
Since I am already on the topic of the trait of faith, I will quote consciousness of everyone who goes on the path of the work of the
a passage that provides wonderful encouragement regarding the will: we need a great deal of patience, a great deal of steadfastness.
great obligation to work on and acquire the trait of faith, by the The Gemara in Rosh Hashanah (18a) says: This process will certainly take time. And everyone must do his
mashgiach, Rabbi Yechezkel Levinstein:
We learned the following in a baraita. Rabbi Meir used part and tell the Holy One, blessed be He:
A person’s purpose is to recognize his Creator, to to say: Two people were on their sick beds with the same I want to rectify everything, all of my evil traits.
renew this awareness in his heart at every moment, and illness, and two people were on trial for the same capital I want to get rid of all of my cravings, all of my
to attain new meaning in his faith—and not distract his offense. One sick person recovered, and the other did bad habits, all of my turmoil. I do not want to
mind from this for even a moment. Faith is like air for the not. One defendant was saved, and the other was not. commit any sin, I want to keep all of the mitzvot
body. At every moment we must inhale faith. Everything Why did one recover and the other did not? Why was perfectly and I want to repent completely. But
one saved and the other was not? The answer is that one