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that we must give thanks with all our heart and with joy, that must
be balanced with the faith that Hashem wants to save us. In that
book, I wrote that I once instructed some people not to pray at all
but only to give thanks, and they were saved from their problems.
I did that because I knew that if they would entreat Hashem even a
little, they would immediately fall from the faith that everything is
for the good. We may not allow our prayer and outcry to weaken
our faith that everything is for the good. Equally, we may not allow
our faith that everything is for the good weaken our faith that
Hashem wants to save us.
This chapter on the topic of whole and true faith teaches that we
must balance two opposites and focus on the subtlest notes of faith.
At times, this means that we must accept two points that seem to
contradict each other. Each has its own time and place in which to
serve Hashem. When we walk on the path of giving thanks, we must
follow that path to its end, until the force of our thanksgiving and
wholeness of faith impels us to see that there is nothing to ask for,
because everything is absolutely good. But when we walk on the
path of prayer and crying out to Hashem, we must follow that path
with all our might, so that when we cry out, we must not think of
anything but being saved. It is true that we must cry out to Hashem
from the midst of our thanks, and repeat our thanks. And we must
be aware that there is no contradiction between the two, because
Hashem wants to save and rescue us, and He is waiting for our
vessel, which is our powerful and mighty prayer. Therefore, when
we pray, there is no place for accepting our circumstances, but
only for absolute will and an uncompromising outcry to Hashem
to save us.
There are two types of thanks. There is a thanks in which a person
believes that Hashem wants to save him, and he knows only this:
that his vessel to draw down that salvation is his giving true thanks
with all his heart. Thus, his thanks is a wonderful personal practice
that helps him reach the depths of faith, and he will be saved.
That is called, “I said Thank You, and I was saved.” But there is
also a thanks that is a resigned acceptance of heaven’s decree, a
resigned acceptance of one’s fate, a type of quiet despair, a feeling
that “there is nothing I can do—therefore, I accept my fate with
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These two failings are actually one: a person does not believe that
Hashem is all-powerful in the spiritual realm!
First Axiom: Hashem Can Save Everyone Spiritually
Know that Hashem is all-powerful in the spiritual realm. That
means that Hashem can do everything without any exception.
Hashem made Moses, and He can make you and everyone else
into a Moses. When I made this observation in my classes, my
students told me that it seems obvious. I said that it might indeed
be obvious—but how many people really believe that Hashem can
make them into a Moses? The fact that they do not strive to reach
the level of Moses is proof that they do not believe that this is
actually possible.
The Rambam writes explicitly that everyone can be a person as
righteous as Moses. Similarly, Rabbi Nachman of Breslov states
that he can make everyone like himself, literally. Therefore, dear
reader, know and believe this. Beseech Hashem at length to give
you complete and absolute faith that just as He made Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob, just as He made Moses and Aaron, Joseph and
David, just as He made all of the tzaddikim and helped them
become tzaddikim, gaonim and shepherds of Israel, just as He made
Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, the Ari, the Baal Shem Tov and Rabbi
Nachman of Breslov, so can He do the same with you, and bring
you as you are, even if you are the most sinful and reprehensible
person in the world, to the highest levels.
Hashem casts down the proud and elevates the humble. He can
raise the impoverished from the trash heap and seat him among
princes. He can guide the greatest sinner to do complete teshuvah
so that he will be completely righteous and among the greatest
people of the generation. Hashem can transform all sins into merits,
and no one can impede Him. He can do so, and He wishes to do
so. Now the choice is yours to believe this with complete faith and
to desire it with a complete heart!
Therefore, every time you engage in the work of the will and focus
on a particular detail in the service of Hashem—such as no longer