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entire process of the redemption from Egypt, the splitting of the love.” This second kind of faith is deeply lacking in its awareness
Sea of Reeds, the giving of the Torah, and all 40 years that the that Hashem wants to save us. It marks a serious imperfection in
Jews were in the wilderness. a person’s service of Hashem, because instead of being inspired
to serve Hashem, he gives thanks out of a stoical sense that his
Whenever I experienced a problem—whether in incidents of situation is Hashem’s will, it is the best that he can expect, and
sickness and danger, or in incidents involving legal matters and the there is nothing more that he can do. That is called, “I said Thank
like—I always prayed for a change in nature. I always believed that You, and I slept.”
in the blink of an eye Hashem can remove a growth from a person’s
body, that He can give children to someone who is infertile, and What is the proper balance? Regarding regular problems of life
that He can transform people’s hearts. Thus, even a young person and even difficult but not immediate problems, we must walk on
who has left the way of Hashem can change in a single moment and the path of an immense amount of gratitude and thanksgiving, so
do teshuvah. If a woman wants a divorce so badly that she cannot that our prayers will not cast us away from our faith. But regarding
be persuaded to work on the relationship, it is possible to pray and urgent and burning problems that threaten immediate danger, it is
in so doing transform her heart so that she will want to remain with clear that there is no time for gratitude and thanksgiving. Instead,
her husband. I always believed and taught that if a defendant in we must cry out unequivocally with the faith that Hashem wants
a court case does teshuvah and prays, it is possible that the judge to save us.
will absolve him of even the most serious charges. And I always
witnessed instances in which I was saved and I witnessed absolute Outcry
changes of nature, because complete faith is the vessel with which
to receive all salvation. You must review the following idea until it becomes an integral

part of your life: Hashem is all-powerful, and He wants to rescue
All of this refers to the physical realm. But now I realized that
in the spiritual realm I had not believed sufficiently that Hashem is every person in every circumstance, immediately. If your faith in
all-powerful. It is true that I believed and knew that my spirituality this is not strong and certain, it is deeply flawed. Therefore, your
prayers will be weak. Because your faith is not absolute and it is not
is in Hashem’s hands, and I prayed for spiritual growth at length marked by complete intent, it cannot suffice to save you.
for hours upon hours, over the course of days and years. But when
Hashem showed me this new light, I suddenly understood that I was A person’s completeness of prayer is expressed in his outcry to
still lacking greatly in the faith that Hashem is also all-powerful Hashem, because that outcry conveys the wholeness of his faith and
in spiritual matters. the wholeness of his will, as all of the will in his heart completely
enters his prayer. Such a prayer is a perfect vessel that draws down
This lack is expressed in two principal ways (as I have written):
all salvation and immediately tears up every decree of judgment.
First, a lack of faith that Hashem can transform even the lowest Therefore, the baraita quoted above, in which Rabbi Meir teaches
person into a Moses, that Hashem can make everyone into a that complete prayer brings about a person’s salvation even after all
Moses. hope is lost, is followed immediately by Rabbi Yitzchak’s concluding
words that “it is a good thing for a person to cry out to Hashem,
Second, a lack of faith that Hashem can in a single moment nullify whether before the decree of judgment or after.”
a person’s every craving and give him every spiritual attainment for
which he prays—without delay, instantaneously. Take note that even after heaven decrees judgment, it is possible
to nullify it. What is the nature of the prayer that Rabbi Meir