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for holiness, learning Torah, giving thanks, singing in joy, and
more. You will find your every good intent within the psalms, and
you will awaken that good intent as you recite them. That is the
central element of reciting psalms: to relate them to yourself and
interpret all of King David’s battles in regard to your own personal
war, which is the war against the evil inclination and its battalions
(Likutei Moharan II 125). Therefore, Rabbi Nachman tells that he
himself “would at times recite only the verses of psalms that express
entreaties, requests and outcries to Hashem, may He be blessed.
He would recite only those verses and not the rest. He would recite
all of these verses of the entire book of Psalms in one session”
(Shivchei Haran 10). In this way, the recitation of psalms is not mere
reading, but an awesome service of the will that purifies a person
and washes away his evil so that he truly attains repentance!
If we are already reciting psalms, it is a pity to do so only with
our mouths and without the work of the heart and will. Such an
approach is why people learn Torah for years and do not change,
recite the book of Psalms thousands of times and do not change,
recite the prayers in the siddur day after day and do not change,
and visit the gravesites of tzaddikim and do not change. They could
live alongside the gravesites of tzaddikim for 50 years and yet still
possess all of their evil traits, without having lost a single gram.
To Open the Gates
I am not speaking about the virtues and importance of learning
the Torah or about the virtues and importance of traveling to the
gravesites of tzaddikim and reciting psalms. Certainly, “fortunate
is the person who grew up with the Torah and who toils in the
Torah” (Berachot 7a); fortunate is the person who travels to the
holy gravesites; and fortunate is the person who fulfills even one
mitzvah or does anything that has to do with serving Hashem, even
if he does it on the lowest level. Regarding any of this, he will be
rewarded, because the Holy One, blessed be He, does not deprive
anyone of his reward (Bava Kama 38b). But a Jew has a goal, our life
in this world has a goal, and the holy Torah has a goal. Every Jew
must become a fiery flame of holiness and faith; every Jew must
be clean and entirely pure of all cravings and bad traits; every Jew
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must be a pillar of Torah, prayer and kindness. Why, then, is this
in actuality solely the level and inheritance of an elite few? The
reason is not because it is hard to attain this; the reason is that only
a few people know about the importance of the work of the will.
Therefore, only a few work upon this most central and elevated
level. I call this “the secret of life” because only a few know of it.
Therefore, we must be aware that the essential virtue of reciting
prayer and psalms and of visiting the gravesites of the tzaddikim is
that they all comprise golden opportunities for the work of will.
That is the time when the great King, the King of the world, invites
you to the house of His hidden treasures, and you may take as
much as you want. “As much as you want” can be read to mean:
in accordance with how much you want. You take an amount that
corresponds to how many times you repeat and verbally express
your intentions. Every time you express your will, you receive
redemption. We must be wise and utilize opportunities for proper
service, and certainly not waste them on nonsense.
The work of the will is not difficult. “The matter is very close
to you, in your mouth and in your heart to do it” (Deuteronomy
30:14). A person must have intention in his heart and express that
intention with his mouth, in his own words. Everyone can do this.
But corresponding to the importance of what is an easy and simple
service, a person’s evil inclination does everything to hide this
wondrous thing from him. Therefore, the will remains a secret to
the majority of people in the world. Even for those who know that
the central factor is the will, how to apply it remains a secret, and
so they remain far from doing so. How do we reveal this secret?
How do we open the gate to the great treasure that is the will?
Invest a Little and You Will Receive without End
Precious children of Israel, open your hearts so that the great
secret may be revealed to you. There is a simple exercise that has
the power to place the greatest power in the world—the power
of the will—in your hand. That is not my personal insight. This
has been the way of all the tzaddikim, who reached awesome,
transcendent levels with the power of their will.