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prayers were relatively weak, because every person thought, “This to Hashem, Who is all-powerful, to nullify your waiting period or
apparently won’t happen to me.” In the end, people always died. to shorten it, so that this hour in which you cry out will constitute
Yet that did not arouse even the sick to cry out properly to live. your waiting period, and you will be saved immediately. Did our
sages say that when “a person comes to be purified, he should wait
Every year, the chance of dying increased, and the chokehold and continue sinning”? Did our sages say, “He is told, Wait another
tightened around the necks of the remaining men in the wilderness. 50 years”? No. Just wait an hour, two hours, three—until you
Presumably, their feeling of danger increased and their prayers grew bring about your salvation and you will be completely aligned with
stronger. Yet nevertheless the decree was not nullified. Even in Hashem’s will regarding the goal for which you are praying.
the next-to-last year, when 30,000 men remained, and they knew
that one out of every two would die—a ratio of 50 percent—they Similarly, according to the spiritual principles, we must sense our
certainly prayed with all their might. Yet nevertheless they did not spiritual danger. Believe that Hashem is all-powerful and can help
nullify the decree. Only in the last year, when there was no hope you sense the spiritual peril at this very moment.
left of surviving, was their prayer effective, so that it nullified the
decree entirely. However, even if a person is cognizant of that danger, he still has
a problem insofar as that at the moment that he is tested he forgets
I was very surprised. Why, in the next-to-last year, when the the danger. Thus, he must ask Hashem to help him remember the
percentage of those to die was extremely high, didn’t they cry out danger throughout the entire day—not only when he is praying for
with all their might and nullify the decree? Then too they vividly that awareness. When a person prays half an hour every day, with
felt the danger. From here, we see that a person’s prayer must be the passage of time he becomes increasingly aware of that danger,
absolute. If there is even a small point that weakens his prayer, the and remembers it with ever-greater frequency. You must believe
prayer cannot nullify the decree. As long as there was a chance that that Hashem, being all-powerful, can help you gain this awareness
they would remain alive, they did not cry out decisively! They did immediately. And you must believe that you require this awareness
not feel the deadly danger with absolute certainty, because they immediately, because without it you are in urgent and deadly peril.
had a 50 percent chance of surviving. Therefore, you must cry out to Hashem and seek this awareness at
this very moment. Your ability to cry out to Hashem depends on
This illustrates all of the points that were made before: that even your faith that He wants to save you and give you this awareness of
if we pray out of a sense of terrible danger, our prayers are not the danger from this moment on.
same as the outcries of a person who faces a 100 percent certainty
of death. The latter type of prayer is perfect: the prayer of a person The same idea applies to every principle and rule that weakens
who feels immediate danger and who believes with complete faith prayer. You must not allow these to affect you. To the contrary,
that Hashem wants to save him—in consequence of which he cries you must take them into your prayers. Transform them into prayers
out and brings about his salvation. Only a person who prays to God and seek salvation at this very moment, believing that Hashem is
to nullify his cravings as though he is struggling for his very life can all-powerful, wants to save you and can do so immediately.
nullify them very quickly!
Therefore, perfect faith in the work of the will means that you
Guarding Life believe that Hashem wants to save you at this very moment—
even if that runs counter to all of the spiritual principles.
Consider the following. A person wants to acquire the perception Perfect faith in the work of the will means that you cry out to
that every time he opens his eyes and sees an immodest sight, that Hashem every day with the knowledge and complete faith that

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