Page 250 - 20780

Chapter Six: | 255 250 | A New Light Chapter Six: | 231

Rav Kahane was a peddler selling his wares. In one of does not have a sense of urgency. He deeply wants to be saved, but to Hashem, you must return to being happy. You must wait, and
the houses he went to, a gentile noblewoman [a woman that desire is not truly burning in him. He is alive and breathing, you must accept that waiting patiently. However, when you are
who could threaten him with death if he would not obey and so everything is basically all right, and he will pray accordingly. engaged in the work of the will, believe that Hashem can give you
her] saw him and urged him to sin. Rav Kahane told her Then Hashem will respond to his prayer accordingly: Since he is what you request without any waiting. After all, you are not asking
that he must first prepare. He took the opportunity to go not in such a hurry to be saved, Hashem too isn’t in such a hurry. for a new car or a bigger apartment. You are not asking for extras
onto the roof of the building and leap. But it is difficult for a person to visualize his danger with 100 and luxuries. You are asking for life. When we ask for life, we do
not think about anything except for complete salvation, here and
percent intensity. It is very hard to experience a true feeling of now. It is a matter of life and death. Express your intentions to
Immediately, Elijah the prophet flew to him, caught danger when he is standing on solid earth and he has food and all Hashem with all your might. Cry out and pray from the depth of
him, and told him that he (Rav Kahane) had troubled good things in the house. And in spiritual matters, a person feels your heart that at this very moment you will receive what you are
Elijah to come to save him from a distance of 400 parsah that he is as filled with mitzvot as a pomegranate is filled with asking for.
(Kiddushin 40a). seeds. He learns Torah and prays, and he even spends an hour on
hitbodedut and half an hour on the work of the will. Therefore, he Stop Dreaming
We see from these stories that these tzaddikim literally felt that feels that he has “hit the jackpot” and that he is perfectly all right.
dying was preferable to commiting a sin. And we see a similar idea He thinks: “It is true that I am still sinning, that I still have cravings
as well in the famous story of Rabbi Matya ben Charash—who, and evil traits, that I am addicted to smoking, and that I get angry Even when we pray with all our might, we must wait, because
when he saw that he could not otherwise withstand a test, stabbed now and then. But that’s all right, it isn’t so terrible, and I have a acquiring great things such as nullifying a craving takes a few months.
white hot nails into his eyes to blind himself (Yalkut Midrashim). The lot of reasons to be happy….” His work of the will parallels that However, it does not take a few years. Rabbi Nachman too waited,
sense that transgressing Hashem’s will is simply inconceivable is feeling. His prayer is respectable, but not urgent. It is not fueled by but because he believed completely that Hashem wanted to save
not something straightforward and natural. But these men truly any feeling of deadly danger. It is as though he is praying, “Master him at that very moment, he waited only a short time and was able
felt this. As a result, their prayer was so strong and powerful that of the world, help me nullify my craving whenever You get around to quickly rise from level to level. On the other hand, a person
they were entirely cleansed of lust, and they attained tremendous to it….” who does not ask Hashem to save him “on the spot” because he
levels. The Talmudic sages were able to revive the dead and were does not completely believe that Hashem wants to save him at this
privileged to receive the revelation of Elijah the prophet. But we The truth is that it is proper to feel like that: to be happy in your moment will wait a great deal of time, since his prayer is not whole
must know that they were not born clean, holy and pure. There is portion and to look at the good in your life throughout the entire and absolute. And that is because he does not sense the danger he
no such thing. Every person, even the greatest tzaddik, is a human day. It is an excellent thing to rejoice throughout the day. But during is in. He accepts the idea that he will have to wait many years. The
being who comes into the world with cravings and evil traits. King the time of the work of the will, your job is to visualize that your fact that in the meantime he will sin does not upset him, because
David himself writes, “With iniquity was I formed, and with sin my every sin, evil trait, destructive craving, and everything else not in he thinks, “What more can I do? I am already doing the best I can
mother conceived me” (Psalms 51:7). All of the tsaddikim were keeping with Hashem’s will is literally, in its simple sense, death. In by devoting half an hour every day.” He would appear to be right.
human beings. The only way for a person to change is by engaging regard to your eternal purpose, you must feel that you are deadly But it is terrible that, although he is aware that he will transgress
in a great deal of prayer. The tzaddikim felt and lived the truth ill, in great danger, crushingly impoverished, about to die of hunger Hashem’s commandments over the course of the coming years, he
that every sin is death. Therefore, when they called out to Hashem and thirst. And all of your visualizations of being swept away and does not cry out with all his might.
to nullify a craving, they cried out as though they were crying out all of your visualizations in which you see yourself as destitute and
for life. In the stories told above, Rav Tzadok and Rav Kahane endangered do not suffice to describe your situation. The main thing is that a person must stop dreaming. He must
secured their attainments because they engaged in a great deal of awaken and seek immediate change. The main thing is that he must
prayer. As Rabbi Nachman says, all of the tzaddikim reached their If you can picture even 20 per cent of your adversity and danger, beseech Hashem to gain a truly strong intent and to begin to bring
levels only as a result of engaging in prayer and hitbodedut. And that is already a tremendous advance, and your prayers will be more about results quickly. The more a person proceeds on this path, the
certainly they prayed as though they were praying for their lives, forceful. How much more if you are able to picture the danger more he strengthens his faith and his will, and his service progresses
because they viewed every sin as actual death. Therefore, they more palpably and with more vivid imagery, because your imagery more swiftly. Therefore, Rabbi Nachman, who went on this path,
were prepared to die, in the most literal sense. generates a matching feeling and outcry, and corresponding to that told the following to his student, Rabbi Shimon (Sichot Haran 174):