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A Person’s Will Purifies Him entreaties, requests and pleas that He have compassion heaven judges a person for not having wanted to be like Hillel.
on us and give us merit, and bring us close to Him in Even if he could not accomplish that, he was still able to want!
His vast compassion, so that we will be privileged to
In light of what I have explained—that the essence of a person’s
freedom of choice lies in his will—I will now present an important fulfill everything that is discussed in each teaching. May To Want the Entire Torah
resultant principle, which is that Hashem judges a person in we pour our speech forth before Hashem, may He be
accordance with his will and not in accordance with his deeds. This blessed, regarding everything that is discussed there, A mishnah states, “This is the way of Torah: eat bread with
principle is derived from the fact that the conditions of a person’s asking Him that we may be privileged to apply these salt, drink water in measure, sleep upon the ground, live a life
life come from Hashem, his drives come from Hashem, and all [directives], realize and reach them completely. of suffering, and toil in Torah. If you do so, ‘You are fortunate,
of his deeds come from Hashem. Therefore, a person cannot be and it is good for you’ (Psalms 128:2). You are fortunate in this
judged for these factors, because they are not under his control. The entire will of the righteous is that we desire to realize all of world and it is good for you in the world-to-come” (Avot 6:4). This
The only element that is truly under his control and not dependent their elevated teachings, because the principal factor is not learning mishnah has a practical halachic ramification for every Jew. Even
on any other factor is his will. A person can literally change his will these teachings but translating them into deed. If in actuality you if a person cannot live like this, he can aspire to do so. Therefore,
at any moment. Therefore, heaven’s principal question to a person cannot apply what is written there, then want and yearn until you he is obligated to want to live in accordance with this mishnah in
is, “Why didn’t you want…?”—because wanting is something merit to attain it. Our prayers to be able to implement Rabbi its simple meaning: that even if he had nothing, he would want to
that is up to him. Who can stop him? Therefore, the essence of Nachman’s teachings are so elevated that Rabbi Nachman said that dedicate himself entirely to Torah.
heaven’s judgment concerns a person’s will. they cause great delight in heaven, a delight that had never before
arisen before Hashem. A person should have the same approach to the entire Torah
A proof for this contention may be found in our sages’ ruling and to all of the statements of our sages that initially appear to be
that “if a man tells a woman, ‘Marry me on condition that I am This is very problematical: why do these prayers result in such beyond him. Do not think that a requirement is too much for you.
righteous,’ then even if he is completely wicked, she is married to great delights? The person reciting them did not actually do Do not say that it is not meant for you. Even if you cannot live this
him, because it is possible that he had a thought of repentance” anything. He only wanted and yearned. This proves clearly that a way, you can want to. And if you want to, heaven will view you
(Kiddushin 49b). person’s will and yearning constitute the essential factor that heaven and judge you as such.
desires. Even if in actuality he is still very far from what he wants,
That is how you must relate to every Torah lesson that you hear
A Wicked Person Who Is Righteous his prayers on these teachings, which express his desires, create the and to every text that you read. When you learn about something
essence of delights in heaven that had never before arisen.
that you understand to be Hashem’s will, do not focus on whether
Let us think about what the Gemara is telling us. Imagine a truly When Rabbi Nachman told his students how to turn his teachings or not you can live that way, but first of all desire it!
evil person, someone who has spent his life robbing and stealing, into prayers, he used the example of the fifth teaching in Likutei
raiding and killing, and who is terrorizing an entire city. Now he Moharan. This is a very elevated teaching in which Rabbi Nachman That is the meaning of Rabbi Nachman’s request that people
approaches a modest and pious maiden, the daughter of the city tells that a person can know whether or not a judgment has been “make prayers of his teachings”—i.e., a person should want and
rabbi, and asks her to marry him. When she replies that she only decreed in heaven, and he discusses other extremely awesome levels pray to be able to fulfill everything that he learns about, even if he
wants to marry a righteous husband, he tells her, “No problem! of awareness. His students told him, “We do not need to pray for knows that it is far beyond him. As Rabbi Natan explains (from the
Marry me on condition that I am righteous.” If she does so, the this now, because we are very far from this level.” When they introduction to Likutei Tefillot):
halachah states that she is indeed married, because it is possible that looked at this accomplishment and saw how far it is beyond them,
he had a thought of repentance. they abandoned their will to attain it! Rabbi Nachman told them, Let us be strong with all our might to guard, do and

If we were to look at such a situation with our own eyes, what “Read the teaching to me.” They read: “‘Every person must say: keep everything that is stated in every teaching [of Rabbi
Nachman]. Let us consider our ways: how far we are
would we say? How can this man claim to be righteous? He is The entire world was created only for me’ (Sanhedrin 37a). Thus, from all of these matters mentioned in every teaching.
completely wicked. He doesn’t have the faintest idea of what it since the world was created for me, I must constantly concern
myself with and focus on the rectification of the world, and on Let us pray and petition Hashem with a multitude of