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If a person feels that his Garden of Eden is beginning to break But it is very important to emphasize that all of this refers only to implement and live the advice and approach that are described
down, he should immediately understand that he lacks knowledge. to the words up to the end of the blessing, but not the end there. If he lacks knowledge, he will not understand what he learns,
As I sing in my classes: “Either faith or Gehennom.” With faith, itself, because it is forbidden to recite the words of the end and he will even disagree with what he learns. Therefore, when a
a person lives in the Garden of Eden, because he knows that of the blessing more than once. person recites “He Who graciously gives knowledge,” he must have
everything that occurs in his life is for his benefit, that there is no evil in mind his wish to understand every holy book that he learns in
and that everything is for the good, whereas without faith a person For instance, the fifth blessing of the Shemoneh Esrei reads as line with the truth of the Torah.
lives in Gehennom. If a person’s Garden of Eden is weakened, that follows: “Return us, our Father, to Your Torah, and bring us close,
means that his faith is weakened. He must perfect it, and he must our King, to Your service, and return us in complete teshuvah With Some People, Nothing Will Help
ask Hashem for the knowledge that he lacks. Every day, a person before You. Blessed are You, Hashem, Who desires teshuvah.”
undergoes constrictions and needs—these inspire him to draw down Note carefully that it is permitted to repeat the words from “Return We can see this in actuality. Hashem has given me the opportunity
the knowledge that he needs for that day. And the rectification and us, our Father,” to “in complete teshuvah before You” as many to help Jews who come to me asking for advice regarding all sorts
healing for all of his constrictions and needs consists of engaging at times as you want. You may repeat them all as a unit, or you may of problems.
length in the blessing of “He Who graciously grants knowledge.” repeat each section separately. Every person should do as he feels.
It makes no difference. But as for the conclusion of the blessing, There are some who, after I advise them with a few short sentences,
Thus, a person can solve all of the problems in his life “Blessed are You, Hashem, Who desires teshuvah,” you may say immediately understand what they have to do. They leave happy
with the help of the blessing, “He Who graciously grants it only once at the conclusion of the blessing. That is to say, after and satisfied. They take the proper actions and pray at length,
knowledge”! you have repeated the first part of the blessing for as long and for and they solve their difficulties. These people have awareness and
as many times as you want, recite the conclusion beginning with the knowledge, and so it is easy to help them.
“May It Be Willingly Accepted” word “Blessed” only once, and then continue to the next blessing.
But if a person lacks such knowledge, it makes no difference how
In His compassion, the Holy One, blessed be He, hears and “And Please Make Sweet” much one talks to him and encourages him. That barely lasts half
answers a person’s prayers according to both his words and his an hour, and then he immediately reverts to his confused state.
intentions. Therefore, we conclude the Shemoneh Esrei with the In every blessing that you want to say at length, you may do so Whatever one tells him falls on deaf ears, because he lacks proper
verse, “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my only until the words, “Blessed are You, Hashem…,” because it is knowledge. What can you do with such a person? How is it possible
heart be willingly accepted by You, Hashem, my Rock and my forbidden to repeat these words. If the name of Hashem appears in to help him?
Redeemer” (Psalms 19:15). First, we ask Him to accept the “words the middle of the blessing, it is no problem to repeat it a number
of my mouth”—the words that we have spoken with our mouths. of times (up to the words, “Blessed are You”), because you are There are many people who, although they do not know me at
And then we ask him to accept “the meditation of my heart before saying Hashem’s name in the course of a supplication. For example, all, have heard my disks or learned my books, and their lives have
You,” the thoughts of the heart that accompany every word. These as you pray and plead, you may repeat a number of times the become a Garden of Eden. These are people who have knowledge
latter are revealed to Hashem because every deep feeling and sentence, “Heal us, Hashem, and we will be healed, save us and we and implement what they learn. Although they don’t come to
every intention is heard in heaven like the actual words of will be saved, because You are our praise.” me personally, after they read one of my books, hear one of my
prayer and beseeching, since the feeling and intentions are disks or sit in one of my classes, they immediately understand the
the essence, the inner being and the life of the prayer. I witnessed one of the tzaddikim of the generation as he said solutions to all of their questions. They are invigorated, they go to
the blessing on the Torah, and he repeated the words, “Hashem work and they pray, and their lives flow smoothly and become a
Every time you repeat the words with new, deep feeling, Hashem our God, please make the words of Your Torah sweet in our Garden of Eden.
considers that a different request. Therefore, when you engage in mouths…,” very many times (up to the word “blessed”), because
the work of the will in the Shemoneh Esrei during the blessing of this is an awesome and wonderful prayer for oneself and for one’s Only Hashem Graciously Gives
“He Who graciously grants knowledge,” you build thousands of offspring (as I wrote in Successful Children). And only after he
repeated this over and over did he recite the conclusion once: On the other hand, some people learn Torah and pray for years,