Page 226 - 20780

226 | A New Light
Second Axiom: Hashem is All-Powerful, He
Transcends Time, and He Is Beyond All Rules and
Principles
An additional point—one that is very important in contributing
to your faith that Hashem is all-powerful—is the belief that at
this very moment Hashem can save you and help you become
completely clean in the area that you are working on. Time does
not exist for Hashem. He is all-powerful. Therefore, He can give
you everything right now. I explained before that the power of
your prayer depends upon your faith. Therefore, I must delve into
the fundamental topic of faith, because faith fulfills the power of
prayer.
You may ask: how can I at this very moment leave behind my
sin, desire or addiction, or receive spiritual salvation, since doing so
takes time, and a person needs to build vessels, and so forth? I will
explain briefly, and afterwards go into greater detail. You receive
salvation in accordance with your faith. If you believe that Hashem
is all-powerful, and that right now He can give you wisdom,
understanding, knowledge, intellect, faith, intent and power, and
build all of the vessels for you, then in accordance with what you
believe, you will receive. If you believe that Hashem can give you
all that is necessary in this moment, that is what you will receive.
This brief explanation requires much elaboration and in-depth
explanation.
I explained earlier that there are points of truth that weaken a
person’s faith and prayer. The evil inclination works especially hard
to weaken a person’s faith that Hashem is all-powerful and can save
everyone in a single moment.
It is true that you require salvation immediately, and it is true
that the Holy One, blessed be He, wishes very much to save you
immediately. But Hashem wants everything to be with free choice,
that everything will come about as a result of your preparing the
appropriate vessels, that everything will be realized as a result of
your intent, that you will be led where you want to go. Therefore,
Chapter Six: | 255
Rav Kahane was a peddler selling his wares. In one of
the houses he went to, a gentile noblewoman [a woman
who could threaten him with death if he would not obey
her] saw him and urged him to sin. Rav Kahane told her
that he must first prepare. He took the opportunity to go
onto the roof of the building and leap.
Immediately, Elijah the prophet flew to him, caught
him, and told him that he (Rav Kahane) had troubled
Elijah to come to save him from a distance of 400 parsah
(Kiddushin 40a).
We see from these stories that these tzaddikim literally felt that
dying was preferable to commiting a sin. And we see a similar idea
as well in the famous story of Rabbi Matya ben Charash—who,
when he saw that he could not otherwise withstand a test, stabbed
white hot nails into his eyes to blind himself (Yalkut Midrashim). The
sense that transgressing Hashem’s will is simply inconceivable is
not something straightforward and natural. But these men truly
felt this. As a result, their prayer was so strong and powerful that
they were entirely cleansed of lust, and they attained tremendous
levels. The Talmudic sages were able to revive the dead and were
privileged to receive the revelation of Elijah the prophet. But we
must know that they were not born clean, holy and pure. There is
no such thing. Every person, even the greatest tzaddik, is a human
being who comes into the world with cravings and evil traits. King
David himself writes, “With iniquity was I formed, and with sin my
mother conceived me” (Psalms 51:7). All of the tsaddikim were
human beings. The only way for a person to change is by engaging
in a great deal of prayer. The tzaddikim felt and lived the truth
that every sin is death. Therefore, when they called out to Hashem
to nullify a craving, they cried out as though they were crying out
for life. In the stories told above, Rav Tzadok and Rav Kahane
secured their attainments because they engaged in a great deal of
prayer. As Rabbi Nachman says, all of the tzaddikim reached their
levels only as a result of engaging in prayer and hitbodedut. And
certainly they prayed as though they were praying for their lives,
because they viewed every sin as actual death. Therefore, they
were prepared to die, in the most literal sense.