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importance of mastering the trait that he is working on. In short, Therefore, when you begin the work of the will, you must re-
when something is important to a person and it burns within him, ignite your simple and whole faith that Hashem is waiting for you,
he can apply the work of the will to it, which includes engaging in that He wants to give to you immediately and that He is capable
forceful prayer. of doing so. If you notice that you lack this whole faith, cry out
to Hashem about that itself. Spend a few minutes daily doing the
One of my students told me that he listened my disks, Peace work of the will on this topic. Ask Hashem: “Give me the faith that
in the Home, The Honor of the Woman and First Aid more You want to give me everything spiritual immediately, at this very
than 100 times. Every day he listened to a disk, and this energized moment, and that it is Your entire will that I immediately change
him, allowed him no rest, and strengthened his will to work on and rise from level to level, until I reach the highest levels. And
himself. He devoted at least half an hour of his hitbodedut to the give me the faith that You are all-powerful and that You can save
work of the will on the topic of attaining peace in the home, and me immediately.”
this changed his life completely. Now he listens to disks on other
topics, but every few weeks he listens to these disks again. Thank Remind yourself that every sin and craving, every minute during
God, he remembers the material, applies it and prays for peace which you are disconnected from Hashem, constitutes nothing else
in the home. He has succeeded in becoming a loving husband, than death. Hashem does not want you to die. He wants you to live
and he sees with his own eyes how his work on attaining peace in and cling to Him. That is His intention and His honor. You must
the home has given him great energy in all other areas of serving pray for His intention to be realized, because that constitutes His
Hashem. Thus, his perseverance in listening to the disks has led him honor.
to engage in a strong work of the will, and his efforts have resulted
in very significant results. When you feel that this wholeness of faith is alive in your heart,
continue to the essential stage of hitbodedut. Tell Hashem: “You
Proper Learning want to give me immediately, and You are all-powerful. If so, what
is the obstacle that gets in the way? The obstacle comes from me:
from the fact that I lack a strong and forceful will, and I lack whole
The learning under discussion here is not regular Torah learning
from a text or in a Torah class, which presents ideas or halachot. It and true prayers. I do not have the ‘hands’ to receive. Although
You give, I do not have the vessel to accept—the vessel of the will.”
is learning of another sort entirely. It is learning whose entire goal is
practical application (as has been discussed and illustrated above). If you see that your will is weak, cry out to Hashem about this. In
As the Ramban states, “When you learn, search [in the material] this way, you engage in the work of the will. Ask Hashem to give
for something that you can implement.” you the wholeness of will immediately. Tell Hashem: “Please give

me a strong will right now so that I will not want to experience my
In this type of learning, amount of material covered makes cravings and I will not want to sin, but I will only want You….”
absolutely no difference. Rather, the emphasis is on knowledge
gained. That is to say, it is even acceptable to learn just a little, Dedicate your half hour to asking Hashem to give you a strong
because the central point is to gain mastery of the topic. Another and forceful will and to asking for the nullification of your craving.
central point is the quality and clarity of the learning, and the Hashem wants to nullify that craving. The true problem is not the
aspiration to derive proper modes of behavior from it and the craving but your lack of will. You must recognize the level you are
maximum amount of enthusiasm to acquire intent and to pray. on. You still do not feel that every sin and craving is a matter of life
Most important, you must review the material every day and attain and death. Therefore, you cannot ask to attain a spiritual level for
the enthusiasm to engage in the work of the will. which you do not have a true desire.