Page 78 - 20780

78 | A New Light
for a few hours, that will be considered like the work of a few days
or months; if he works for a few minutes, that will be considered
like the work of a few hours—which is very good, but not enough.
It is a great pity when a person who has such a golden opportunity
squanders it. He has entered the king’s treasure house but he has
not filled sacks of precious stones and pearls for himself.
From here, we see that just as it does not suffice to learn Torah
and lead a life of Torah and mitzvot in order to change oneself
profoundly, so too it is not enough to travel to the gravesites of the
tzaddikim, because the sole factor that truly changes a person is the
work of his will.
A Window of Opportunity
If a person does not do the work of the will, then even his prayers
will not change him. And the proof is that there are millions of fine
Jews who have prayed three times a day and asked Hashem for
knowledge, asked Him to help them completely return to Him, and
asked Him to place their portion among those who truly trust in His
name. But they did not become tzaddikim, nor servants of Hashem,
nor even true penitents. That is because the essence of prayer is the
work of the will. Without that, prayer is like a body without a soul.
Prayer is our window of opportunity to express our intentions
and to work on our will. Our holy sages took supernal, wondrous
intentions, arranged them, and put them into the words of prayer
and blessings. The entire goal of prayer is to bring about the good
intentions in a person’s mouth. If a person reads the siddur dryly,
that is certainly not prayer. But even if he thinks about the words
but he does not arouse his will, then he takes out of his prayer
exactly what he put in. No prayer will return empty and no word
will be lost. Therefore, his prayer will have an effect and influence
in heaven in accordance with its power and quality. But this prayer
will not change him.
However, when we understand the secret of life, which is the
work of the will, then our prayer turns into the most precious gift,
the sweetest time. It is our opportunity to dedicate ourselves to the
Chapter Three: | 83
that Hashem, Who teaches Torah to His nation Israel, has given me
over the course of the years: the practical work of translating these
elevated ideas and bringing them down to comprise tools of action
that are accessible to everyone, from the person sunken into the
49 gates of impurity to the refined rabbinical scholar who seeks a
practical way to transform himself and rise from level to level.
You must be aware that even if you learn 1,000 books on the
importance of the will, if you do not devote specific time to this,
everything will remain theoretical and will not lead to any practical
change. Therefore, if you want to attain true will that brings about
real change, you must set aside all of your activities, all of your
industriousness, all stimuli, everyone you know, everything! At the
very least, for half an hour every day, devote time to the work of
the will. During this time, think about your life, think about what
kind of a person you would want to be. Consider how you want to
progress, and begin to want: to want, yearn and pray for progress
in those areas that are truly important to you, in accordance with
your state of being and your situation. The main thing is that, of the
most significant and important matters that are the foundations of
your life, you choose one item that is especially urgent and resolve
firmly that you will devote half an hour of intentions and prayers
to it every day.
You will certainly see a difference! You will see changes great
and small. You will attain achievements that you had thought
to be impossible. And in consequence of seeing results, you will
feel encouraged to continue working in order to acquire and
attain additional achievements, because there is nothing more
encouraging than seeing results! This work of the will brings
results. It has real consequences. When we see results of our
work, that gives us tremendous confidence: it strengthens our
faith in Hashem, our faith in ourselves, our faith in the power of
repentance, and our faith in the power of prayer and in the proper
way of service—the service of the will. As a result, we receive a
tremendous impetus to continue this work until we attain every
exemplary trait.
And doing so will in fact be easy. Hashem did not give the Torah
to the ministering angels. He did not send us here powerless. Rather,