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8 | A New Light
Contents
Foreword .............................................................9
Chapter One: The Highest Torah .............................10
Chapter Two: The Secret of Free Will .......................16
A Person’s Will Purifies Him .....................................44
Chapter Three: The Secret of Life ............................61
Chapter Four: The Laws of Life ............................. 100
Chapter Five: The Business of Life ......................... 139
Chapter Six: Cause a New Light to Shine on Zion...... 184
The Wholeness of Faith: To Recognize Hashem .............. 200
The Perfection of the Will- Saves Us from Death ............ 241
Chapter Seven: Learning that Leads to Action ........... 298
Chapter Eight: “And I Will Pour Out My Spirit” ...... 324
“He Who Graciously Gives Knowledge” ...................... 338
Counsel and Encouragement for Prayer ...................... 377
Chapter Nine: “If I Give Sleep to My Eyes” ............. 392
Prayers for Holy Sleep .......................................... 467
Addendum: Is Sleep on the Sabbath a Delight? .............. 496
Closing Words ................................................... 501
Chapter Two: | 25
1
and they serve Him with trepidation, awe and fear. Nevertheless,
Hashem has no satisfaction from them. His satisfaction comes from
a human being who has the ability to choose between the good of
the Creator, which is the true good, and evil that appears as good,
which is a counterfeit good that is in actuality complete evil that
entices and surmounts a person. A person is placed in a world filled
with a great deal of delight, excitement, pursuits, distractions and
aspirations, so that out of the midst of all of this he will choose the
Creator. There are many delights that a person can attain without
effort. Nevertheless, he chooses to exert himself and toil in order to
come close to the Creator. Also, “When a person comes to pollute
himself, the way is opened for him.” It is easy to do evil, and the
evil inclination gives immediate satisfaction. On the other hand, “a
person who comes to be purified is told to wait.” Doing good takes
time, and we do not always see immediate results, because “today
we do them, and tomorrow we receive their reward” (Eiruvin 22a).
Coming close to the Creator requires much self-sacrifice, toil, effort
and difficulties that are directly opposed to a person’s nature. And
it is precisely when he nevertheless chooses the true and eternal
good of the Creator that the name of the Creator is elevated, and
the extent of His goodness and compassion is recognized.
So we learn that the Creator in His compassion wants to benefit
His creatures with total goodness, with a true and complete delight
both in this world and in the world-to-come. The Creator wants
people to receive His goodness as a result of their free will
and their deeds. That is because all delight—that of a person and
that of the Creator—exists only because free will exists. That is the
secret of free will. And with this knowledge, a person can always
find encouragement.
A person’s spiritual level matches the extent to which he
overcomes his evil inclination. Every tzaddik had an evil inclination
that he worked to overcome—that is how he became a tzaddik. Had
he lacked an evil inclination, he would now possess no importance
and no significance.
Once, Rabbi Natan was encouraging one of his students about
some matter, and offered the patriarch Isaac as an example. The
student asked, “How can you compare me to Isaac?”