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of the Holy One, blessed be He, for something such as children, prayer with wholeness of faith that Hashem wants to bestow is the 2.Hashem is also all-powerful in the spiritual realm. That means
life, and income, that is in the hands of heaven. If Hashem, may perfect prayer that emerges out of wholeness of faith. Moreover, that He can save everyone spiritually. What a person has done and
He be blessed, wishes to, He gives him what he requested. If not, there is an additional and wondrous depth to this way of prayer:
He does not—with the exception of the fear of heaven. If a person such prayer is really entirely on behalf of Hashem, as in the verse, the level he is on make no difference.
asks Hashem, may He be blessed, with all his heart and soul to fill “[Hannah] prayed on [behalf of] Hashem” (Samuel I 1:10). That is
his heart with the fear of heaven, then certainly Hashem will not because Hashem deeply wants us to change and comport ourselves
send his prayer away empty, but He will immediately give him the way that the son of the king should act. Therefore, we pray on 3.The fact that Hashem is all-powerful in the spiritual realm
the fear of heaven.” The Chidushei Harim states that Hashem will behalf of Hashem. We pray that His will should be actualized and means that He can give us everything in a single moment without
“immediately” give this to him. That means that the person will realized. We pray that the intent of Hashem—Who so much wants
receive the fear of heaven right away! and yearns and waits for His sovereignty and faith to be revealed, any time limitation at all, despite all principles and all rules.
for His name to be enhanced and sanctified, and for awareness,
From here, we see the principle that prayer to attain spiritual thoughts of teshuvah and all goodness to pour down abundantly on I will explain these axioms one by one.
matters must be accepted, and such prayer bears fruit immediately, the house of Israel—will be actualized, revealed and maintained in
because that is the Creator’s true will. Practically speaking, a the world! First Part: The King Who Desires Life
person’s entire role is only to pray to attain the fear of heaven.
That is his entire portion (as was already explained in the previous This is another reason that such prayer brings about salvations Some people ask: “How can I know whether or not it is Hashem’s
chapters). Thus, the Chidushei Harim explains here in his holy and that it is called “perfect prayer”: because it is prayer without will to rescue me?”
language: “That which is in the hands of a person is the following: any personal interests, prayer that is 100 per cent for the sake of
as a result of his will and yearning with all his heart and soul to performing Hashem’s will. What constitutes imperfection of prayer? The question itself testifies to a lack of faith on the most basic level,
fear Hashem, Hashem, may He be blessed, gives him that fear of Prayer is imperfect when it contains self-interest and personal will. and it testifies as well to a foolish conception of our relationship
Hashem. [But although it is drawn down by the person], it comes But in this kind of prayer, a person has no personal will. His entire with the Holy One, blessed be He, and the relationship of the Holy
from Hashem, may He be blessed. As the verse states, ‘Would that intent is only to want what Hashem wants, to want Hashem’s will One, blessed be He, with us.
[lit., who would place] their hearts would be like this, to fear Me’ to be actualized.
(Deuteronomy 5:26): they should have the will to fear Hashem and As I have already explained, Hashem’s will is the purpose of
place the fear of Hashem in their hearts. This is in the hands of a Therefore, this prayer is called prayer with wholeness of faith. existence. There is no alteration and change in Him and in His
person: by means of proper prayer and entreaty, he will certainly Wholeness of faith means that a person knows that “there is no will. Everything about Hashem is considered more than something
have an effect and attain the fear of heaven.” And these words other than He” (Deuteronomy 4:35). That means that there is no “necessary,” because “will” is on a greater level than “necessity.”
speak for themselves. “I.” If so, on whose behalf is a person obligated to pray in this Hashem is all-powerful. No will of the Holy One, blessed be He,
world? On behalf of other people? On behalf of himself? There can be actualized. The Creator’s every intent brings about a reality
Similarly, Rabbi Yehoshua of Belz teaches, “It is presumed that are no other people, there is no himself. There is only Hashem. that nothing can prevent.
all prayers of Israel will be accepted and will not return empty. But Therefore, all prayers are only on behalf of Hashem. A person’s
there is a distinction to be made: if a person prays for matters prayer refers only to the will of Hashem and not to his own will, The First Axiom: Hashem Wants to Rescue Us
of heaven, he is answered immediately. But regarding matters because his own will is the will of Hashem.
of the body, it is possible that his prayer will be prevented from
being fulfilled.” Prayer on behalf of human beings is a lack of faith. But if that is The first axiom is that the entire will of our Father in heaven,
the case, how do we pray? An example: if a person is ill, that is the Father of compassion, Who is good and does good, is only to
From the words of Rabbi Yehoshua of Belz, we see that everything because he has sinned. The true will of Hashem is that he will do do good and give life. Hashem’s true will is that everyone will live
that we said here—that Hashem wants to give us immediately, teshuvah and rectify the spiritual cause of his illness, and then he and do teshuvah—including a person who is very far from Him, a
and therefore we can ask Him, “Give me right away, this very will recover. Thus, prayer must be on behalf of Hashem so that He person who deserves punishment, even if his decree of judgment
minute”—is true only regarding spiritual matters, because in the was sealed in heaven. Therefore, the Gemara says (Rosh Hashanah