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Chapter Two: | 25 32 | A New Light
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and they serve Him with trepidation, awe and fear. Nevertheless, of the deed, that comes from Hashem, may He
Hashem has no satisfaction from them. His satisfaction comes from be blessed. As the verses state, “All of our deeds You
a human being who has the ability to choose between the good of performed for us” (Isaiah 26:12) and “What does Hashem
the Creator, which is the true good, and evil that appears as good, your God ask of you but to fear” (Deuteronomy 10:12).
which is a counterfeit good that is in actuality complete evil that That [intention] occurs in the heart, as the Gemara states
entices and surmounts a person. A person is placed in a world filled
with a great deal of delight, excitement, pursuits, distractions and on the verse, “The heart is missing” (Proverbs 17:16; Yoma
aspirations, so that out of the midst of all of this he will choose the 72b). But as for deeds, they are within the parameter of
Creator. There are many delights that a person can attain without “everything being in the hands of heaven.”
effort. Nevertheless, he chooses to exert himself and toil in order to
come close to the Creator. Also, “When a person comes to pollute Commentary: Rabbi Tzadok states that all actions, including a A New Light
himself, the way is opened for him.” It is easy to do evil, and the person’s deeds, come from Hashem. All that Hashem wants from
evil inclination gives immediate satisfaction. On the other hand, “a a person is his will and intent. Based on this premise, Rabbi Tzadok
person who comes to be purified is told to wait.” Doing good takes reaches the incredible conclusion that we must always bear in mind By
time, and we do not always see immediate results, because “today that the essence of the role that a person plays and the essence of
we do them, and tomorrow we receive their reward” (Eiruvin 22a). his efforts consists of his desire and will! Rabbi Shalom Arush
Coming close to the Creator requires much self-sacrifice, toil, effort
and difficulties that are directly opposed to a person’s nature. And Rabbi Tzadok incidentally provides a wonderful definition of the Translated by Yaacov David Shulman
it is precisely when he nevertheless chooses the true and eternal concept of “the fear of heaven.” He states that the fear of heaven
good of the Creator that the name of the Creator is elevated, and means intent. Therefore, all of the traits in a person’s heart are
the extent of His goodness and compassion is recognized. nothing but various sorts of intent. That being the case, our sages’
statement that “everything is in the hands of heaven except for the
So we learn that the Creator in His compassion wants to benefit fear of heaven” (Berachot 33b) means that the only thing within a
His creatures with total goodness, with a true and complete delight person’s control is his will and intent.
both in this world and in the world-to-come. The Creator wants
people to receive His goodness as a result of their free will And even if a person intended to perform a mitzvah
and their deeds. That is because all delight—that of a person and but he was thwarted so that he did not do it, Scripture
that of the Creator—exists only because free will exists. That is the considers him as though he did it, as the Gemara states
secret of free will. And with this knowledge, a person can always (Shabbat 63a). And that is because he did his part
find encouragement. with his thought and intent. If not for the Gemara’s
words, we would think that a person’s thought and will
A person’s spiritual level matches the extent to which he are effective only if he succeeds in joining them to a
overcomes his evil inclination. Every tzaddik had an evil inclination deed.
that he worked to overcome—that is how he became a tzaddik. Had
he lacked an evil inclination, he would now possess no importance Commentary: Rabbi Tzadok here explains the Gemara’s statement
and no significance. in Berachot (6a) that “if a person intended to perform a mitzvah
but he was thwarted, Scripture considers it as though he did it.”
Once, Rabbi Natan was encouraging one of his students about This statement strongly supports the notion that the essence of
some matter, and offered the patriarch Isaac as an example. The what is wanted from a person is his will and not his deed.
student asked, “How can you compare me to Isaac?”