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262 | A New Light
That is the meaning of the verse, “And now, behold,
the outcry of the children of Israel has come to Me”
(Exodus 3:9). Our rabbis taught that this refers to a person
who prays, weeps and cries out until he can no
longer murmur with his lips. This prayer is whole.
It is in the heart, and it never returns empty.
Rabbi Yehudah said: Great is an outcry, for it tears
up the decree of heavenly judgment against a person
regarding his entire life.
Rabbi Yitzchak said: Great is an outcry, for it rules
over the trait of supernal judgment.
Rabbi Yose said: Great is an outcry, for it rules in this
world and in the world-to-come. As a result of crying
out, a person inherits this world and the world-to-come.
As the verse states, “They cried out to Hashem in their
distress; He rescued them from their straits” (Psalms 107:6).
We see explicitly from the holy Zohar that a powerful outcry and
insistent appeal constitute perfect prayer. And that is the secret of
the heavenly acceptance of prayers that never fails.
When We Cry Out, Hashem Hears
There are many ways to pray. As our sages state, “There are
ten terms for prayer: imploring, outcry, groan, song, encounter,
out-of-distress, calling, prostration, seeking justice and seeking
graciousness” (Devarim Rabbah 2:1). In the course of the work of
the will, we must make use of all of the ways and languages of
prayer and pleading. However, an absolute outcry to Hashem is the
strongest approach and way that always works—even if the person
is the most abject of creatures.
It is possible to learn this from Psalms: “The face of Hashem is
against those who do evil, to cut off their memory from the land”
(Psalms 34:17-19). Nevertheless, when even these wicked people
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called us His children? Whatever we may be, Hashem
calls us His children. “Even if it is right in Hashem’s eyes
to reject me from being on the level of His child, heaven
forbid, I must do my part to make myself like His
child….”
Rabbi Nachman adhered to this approach in the most
straightforward way. Regarding every spiritual salvation that he
wanted to attain, he truly felt that without it he was not alive.
Therefore, he cast himself down before Hashem, with his hands and
feet stretched out, and he pleaded for every goal that he wanted
to attain, and he felt that if he did not get it he was not a Jew at
all, and so why should he live? Thus, he was once found “lying
on the ground with his hands and feet stretched out. Although at
that point [in his life] he was extremely weak, so much so that he
was living by a miracle and he was on the verge of dying at every
moment, until his final hour he did not abandon his admirable way
of acting with simplicity” (Sichot Haran 164).
To Conquer the “Conductor”
We must believe completely that Hashem wants to give to us.
Every Jew who does the work of the will is basically like Choni the
Circle Maker. He tells the Holy One, blessed be He: “Nothing else
interests me. I will return here day after day and plead before You
for half an hour until You save me. I am prepared to pray for this
until my final day.” When a Jew is insistent that he will not abandon
the work of the will until he receives and is saved, he can strongly
request of Hashem and tell Him, “I need to be saved immediately,
right now.” Because he has such a powerful will and utter devotion,
he will not abandon his goal until he attains it. All that he lacks is
proper prayer, complete prayer, the belief that Hashem wants to
give to him and that his function is to “force” Hashem to do so, as
it were, and conquer Him, as it were. Therefore, he tells Hashem:
“You want to save me immediately, now, and I need to be saved
immediately, now. Therefore, You must save me!”
As Rabbi Nachman says, we must conquer Hashem, as it were.