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354 | A New Light
he “I,” he will repent completely and easily. A person’s complete
repentance means that he knows that there is no “I.”
Also, the phrase “before You” connotes Hashem’s compassion.
When a person truly repents, he receives complete knowledge.
And what is that knowledge? It is the awareness that everything
is an expression of compassion and that there is no evil in the
world. That is referred to in the words, “Bring us back in complete
repentance before You”: so that we will know that everything is
compassion.
“The Lips of the Righteous Will Know What Is
Accepted Willingly” (Proverbs 10:32)
When we recite the sixth blessing, “He Who is gracious, Who
is exceedingly forgiving,” we must be focused on the theme of
knowledge. When a person sins, he harms himself, in that he grows
distant from Hashem and even cuts himself off from Hashem. He
loses holy will, which is the essence of his delight, and so he suffers.
Why does he harm himself? Because he lacks knowledge. After
all, does a person who has knowledge want to harm himself? A
person who sins lacks wisdom and knowledge. Thus, our sages said:
“A person does not commit a sin unless a spirit of foolishness has
entered into him” (Sotah 3a).
Therefore, in this blessing we request, “Forgive us, our Father,
because we have sinned.” This means: “Why should You forgive
us? Because we lack knowledge and wisdom, and we are complete
fools. And the proof is that we have sinned—because if we had
knowledge, we would not have sinned. And since it is impossible
to judge a person who lacks knowledge, have compassion on us,
forgive us, and give us knowledge. Forgive us for the fact that
we have not pursued and sought only knowledge all our lives.”
Whoever wants and pursues the knowledge of Hashem clings to
Hashem and does not sin. And even if he does sin, through that sin
itself he will come closer to Hashem. Thus, all sins are due to a lack
of knowledge, and in essence Hashem forgives us for not having
known that our goal is to attain knowledge.
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feeling is not prayer. The entire value of prayer in a congregation
lies in the fact that the congregation is composed of three types of
people: the righteous, the intermediary and the wicked. In Hebrew,
these are called tzaddikim, beinonim and resha’im—the first
letters of which form the word tzibur, “congregation.” The prayer
of the tzaddikim in the congregation has great power because it is
recited with mighty intention. When it rises, it raises with it all of
the prayers of the rest of the congregation. But when no one is
praying with intention, when all of those praying are, as described
by the Gemara, dismissive of prayer, they only create phantoms.
Then, even if they pray for days and years, all of their prayers will
remain below, because there is no one present to raise everyone’s
prayers. That is not called praying in a congregation, but reading
in a congregation. Such prayer does not rise to heaven. It does not
even reach the ceiling but it falls to the floor, from which it does
not have the power to get up.
This is reflected in the phrase, “to assemble and stand up for
their souls” (Esther 8:11). “Stand up” refers to prayer. As our sages
state, “The word ‘standing’ indicates prayer” (Berachot 6b). “To
assemble” refers to the congregation that assembles for prayer. The
connection between a “congregation” and prayer is found in the
phrase: “In congregations, bless God” (Psalms 68:27). Finally, the
“souls” refer to a person’s intent, which is the soul of his prayer. In
other words, we must arouse the work of the will with all our heart
and soul in order to pray with true and complete intent.
The time of prayer in a congregation is “a time of willing
acceptance.” As the Gemara says, “What is the meaning of the
verse, ‘and I, my prayer to You Hashem, at a time of willing
acceptance’ (Psalms 69:14)? What is ‘a time of willing acceptance’?
That is the time that the congregation prays” (Berachot 8a). This
means that this is a time especially suited for heaven to willingly
accept prayers, because at that time no hostile forces block prayer.
But that is only when the congregation is praying, not when the
public is reading. Therefore, the time of prayer in the synagogue is
a time to arouse intentions, so that we can build vessels to receive
the abundance that is sent at that time. Accordingly, “a time of
willing acceptance” may also be understood as a time to arouse our