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Chapter Seven: Wisdom. A person who wants to get out of debt should learn In the trait of joy. Help me always remember that
the Garden of Wealth and My Covenant of Peace. In addition, it is a great mitzvah to be joyful. May the evil
Learning that Leads to Action My Covenant of Peace is a wonderful and essential book for inclination never persuade me to be depressed,
every man who wants to work on the principal matter in life: the
whatever may be. May I always remember that
rectification of the covenant (sexual rectitude). A man is sent to this when a person is joyful he succeeds in everything.
world principally to withstand the test of licentiousness and attain Most important, he succeeds in his prayer so that
the rectification of the covenant. And this book is an encompassing it is accepted, and he attains faith and everything
When a person learns Torah, he must make sure and complete guide to that topic. good in the world. Therefore, advise me and teach
to receive and derive “judgments of truth” from me how to be joyful. Help me keep every piece of
everything that he learns—i.e., [guides to] upright The Prescription advice on how to be joyful. Help me see only the
behavior—whether for himself or for others over
whom he has authority. This applies to every individual A personal library of such books is like a wonderful pharmacy good in my life and rejoice in every good point in
in accordance with his degree of authority over other that has medicine for every disease and problem. The prescription myself. Give me the proper awareness with which
people, whether they are many or few. is to take a book on the topic that you are working on and learn I can be joyful always. Help me engage in a great
a page a day or more, with a ruler and pen or pencil so that you deal of prayer and pleading on this topic every
A person attains the ability to do this by means of his can mark every point that you want to review, and copy sections day.
faith in the sages. By means of that, he can receive that you will read every day. Then, at the beginning of your every
and derive judgments of truth and upright behavior session on the work of the will, remind yourself of these central This is an excellent and straightforward demonstration of the fact
from everything that he learns in the Torah, so that points that you have summed up and delineated. For instance, if that when we learn and then contemplate what we have learned,
he and those under his influence will know how to act you are working on attaining joy, when you begin your work of the we are inspired to do the work of the will. And the more clear and
regarding every matter. will, tell yourself: vivid our learning, the more we arouse our will and we approach
the work of the will with enthusiasm.
I realize that my primary work in life is to acquire the
Likutei Eitzot: Talmud Torah (based on Likutei Moharan I 61)
trait of joy, because that is the central requirement for We Learn and We Achieve
attaining everything good in life, in the physical and
spiritual realms. As a result of my working to attain joy, When a person does the work of the will using this approach,
it will be easy for me to acquire everything else that I with daily learning and prayer, he will certainly see changes and
“Great Is Learning, for It Leads to Action” (Kiddushin improvement in himself. As time passes and he continues to
40b) want. Therefore, I must remind myself over and over that
attaining joy is my essential task, and that it is forbidden learn more deeply, to study more texts and to attain a deeper
Now that you understand that all that you lack in order to change to me to be dormant and inactive. I must work every understanding, he will gain an inner sense of faith, upon which all
joy depends. That is because, besides all other advice, the core
is the work of the will, you must learn how to build and arouse our day to learn about this topic, practice the advice that advice to attain constant joy is to believe with complete faith that
will. I learn and engage in much prayer until Hashem will everything is for the good (as explained in In the Garden of
have compassion on me, distance me from depression as Wisdom). At times, a person undergoes difficult tests. The only
You must know that you arouse your will by learning the Torah much as possible and help me attain joy on every level,
(as I will explain). The learning I am speaking of is not restricted so that I will always be joyful. approach that illuminates and helps him is the faith that everything
is for the good, in its simple sense: that everything is for the good.
to the learning engaged in by masters of Torah and scholars. It is He believes and knows that every experience that he goes through
the kind of learning that is relevant and accessible to every person And I also realize that my being able to experience comes to him from Hashem with love and for his good, with the

constant joy depends on my faith that everything is