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heaven judges a person for not having wanted to be like Hillel. means to be righteous. He doesn’t wear a kippah, not to mention
Even if he could not accomplish that, he was still able to want! the fact that he is totally alienated from all of the commandments.
He has no concept of the commandments of the Sabbath, nor
To Want the Entire Torah does he know how to put on tefillin. In addition, he is completely
devoid of any good character traits. Viewed in his entirety, he is
A mishnah states, “This is the way of Torah: eat bread with a composite of evil habits, a being completely comprised of sins
salt, drink water in measure, sleep upon the ground, live a life and evil. Therefore, if he marries a woman on condition that he
of suffering, and toil in Torah. If you do so, ‘You are fortunate, is righteous, that condition renders the marriage null and void,
and it is good for you’ (Psalms 128:2). You are fortunate in this because there is no way that he can be called righteous. Clearly, this
world and it is good for you in the world-to-come” (Avot 6:4). This marriage has not taken place!
mishnah has a practical halachic ramification for every Jew. Even But what does the holy Gemara state? The holy Gemara looks at
if a person cannot live like this, he can aspire to do so. Therefore,
he is obligated to want to live in accordance with this mishnah in the situation through Hashem’s eyes and views it differently than
we would. If this man marries the woman on condition that he is
its simple meaning: that even if he had nothing, he would want to
dedicate himself entirely to Torah. righteous, then even if he is completely wicked, the marriage is
valid (at least, provisionally), because it is possible that he had a
A person should have the same approach to the entire Torah thought of repentance.
and to all of the statements of our sages that initially appear to be Because we cannot look into a person’s mind and heart, we cannot
beyond him. Do not think that a requirement is too much for you.
Do not say that it is not meant for you. Even if you cannot live this know whether he really had a thought of repentance. Therefore,
the law is that the woman is provisionally married to him. But if
way, you can want to. And if you want to, heaven will view you
and judge you as such. Elijah the prophet would come and confirm that he indeed had a
thought of repentance, then the marriage would be completely
That is how you must relate to every Torah lesson that you hear valid—even if this man had no concept of what it means to be
and to every text that you read. When you learn about something righteous and what being righteous requires of him.
that you understand to be Hashem’s will, do not focus on whether
or not you can live that way, but first of all desire it! One Small Intent

That is the meaning of Rabbi Nachman’s request that people What is the meaning of the statement that the man “had a
“make prayers of his teachings”—i.e., a person should want and thought of repentance”? That means that from this moment on he
pray to be able to fulfill everything that he learns about, even if he wants to live in conformity with Hashem’s will. If he has one such
knows that it is far beyond him. As Rabbi Natan explains (from the thought, he is considered righteous. From this, we must conclude
introduction to Likutei Tefillot): that heaven judges a person for his will. In consequence of this
man’s good will, he is no longer in the category of a completely
Let us be strong with all our might to guard, do and wicked person. Rather, at this moment heaven considers him to be
keep everything that is stated in every teaching [of Rabbi righteous.
Nachman]. Let us consider our ways: how far we are
from all of these matters mentioned in every teaching. And this is the halachah as codified in the Shulchan Aruch
Let us pray and petition Hashem with a multitude of (Shulchan Aruch: Even Ha’ezer 38:31). The Shulchan Aruch