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42 | A New Light
“I Have Sent Forth Your Prisoners from the Pit”
A prisoner in jail, even if he is in a dungeon or tied down in
chains, can keep the entire Torah, because his will is always entirely
free, and with his thought he can yearn and want to keep the
entire Torah, and in this way choose goodness. That is considered
as though he is keeping the Torah and performing the mitzvot
perfectly, commensurate with his situation. Even in this difficult
circumstance, in which he is prevented from fulfilling Hashem’s
will, his will remains entirely free. You must know where your free
will truly lies and not be discouraged if you cannot keep the will of
Hashem in actuality. Your job is to do what you can and to want.
That is so regarding every difficulty in life, because practically
speaking every person is a prisoner. Everyone is incarcerated in the
prison of his cravings and habits. In the Ramchal’s words (Mesillat
Yesharim, Chapter 3), he is “incarcerated in the prison of his [evil]
inclination.” One person is a prisoner of overeating, another is a
prisoner of anger, another is a prisoner of laziness, and so forth—
and how much more those who are addicted to every sort of
Gehennom such as cigarettes, alcohol, drugs, gambling and the
internet—they are certainly imperiled prisoners in the dungeons of
their terrible cravings. And there are people whose jail cell is the
pressure of their lives, of their family and work obligations. Within
the parameters of every sort of limitation, what is wanted from you
is your will—and that is always available to you.
When a person does not know that the principal factor is the
exercise of his will and that his will is always free, he suffers the
essence of exile and imprisonment. As a result, he is far from
investing effort in wanting and yearning. Then his will itself is
imprisoned. As the Ramchal eloquently states (ibid. 9): “A person
who is habituated to these behaviors is not master over himself to
do their opposite whenever he wants, because his will has been
incarcerated in the prison of habit, which has become second
nature.” Thus, the imprisonment of will is the sole imprisonment
that exists in this world, because when a person’s will is imprisoned,
he is imprisoned in all sorts of ways, and he cannot free himself. But
when his will is free, he is entirely free, because with his will he can
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will—and a person’s will is always in his hands. “So why didn’t you
want?”
When Rabbi Natan was later asked if he had really said this, he
replied, “I said it, and I didn’t say it.” He meant that everyone will
have to give a reckoning of his life. But then he will see that had
he recited these prayers, his reckoning would be less. Why would
it be less? That is because a person is judged in accordance with his
will. If he had prayed and expressed his will to attain holy matters,
he would have succeeded in attaining some of them through the
power of his prayer, because “in the way that a person wishes to
go, he is led.” And even regarding those matters that he would not
attain, if he had wanted and prayed for them, he will be judged
in accordance with what he wanted, and he will receive reward as
though he did attain them.
“You Test Him at Every Moment”
Essentially, we must know that the statement that heaven’s
judgment concerns a person’s will is not only speaking about what
will happen to him after he passes away, because heaven judges a
person in this world every year on Rosh Hashanah. In addition, as
the mishnah states (Rosh Hashanah 16a), the entire world is judged a
few other times of the year as well. Furthermore, a baraita teaches
(ibid.): “Rabbi Yossi says that a person is judged every day. As the
verse states, ‘You visit him every morning’ (Job 7:18). Rabbi Natan
says that a person is judged every moment. As the [same] verse
states, ‘You test him at every moment.’”
The holy books teach there are 24 heavenly courts, and at every
hour of the day and night one of these courts judges a person for
his deeds. If he is judged favorably, he experiences joy, blessing
and well-being. But if he is judged negatively, he feels depressed
and heavy, experiences suffering, and faces obstacles. Although a
person’s principal judgment occurs on Rosh Hashanah, that is only
in regard to the core of the judgment: whether he will live or die,
how he will earn a living, how much he will earn, and other such
general matters. But regarding how each day and hour will pass,
whether for the good or not, depends upon heavenly judgment