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136 | A New Light
and are past hope, heaven forbid. That is all correct in actuality.
But with will and with prayer, there are no limitations. You carry
out your obligation of intent and allow the Creatorto do His part.
When you do the work of the will, you can be entirely protected,
holy and pure even in this generation, even if you are on the lowest
level. Not only do you withstand all of the tests, but along with
yourself you rescue the entire generation and the entire world.
That is because when a Jew rises in holiness, level by level, he raises
all of the worlds as well. As Rabbi Nachman of Breslov teaches,
“When a person who was on the lowest level rises a level, he causes
a second person right above him to rise a level. And that second
person causes the person above him to rise a level, and so forth and
so on, higher and higher” (Likutei Moharan I 25).
Who Does Not Want?
These awesome tzaddikim, Moses, Joseph and David, who
attained a perfect will, also attained perfect prayer. They reveal to
us the secret of the power of diligence and tenacity in prayer, and
what can be achieved and attained by means of prayer. They are a
living model for the work of the will.
We have learned that in order to induce a true change we need
extremely strong spiritual intentions. But intention is not enough.
We must express our spiritual intentions with our mouths, translating
them into long prayers on spirituality. As Rabbi Nachman states:
“Know that it is not sufficient for a person to yearn in his heart
alone. A person must express his longings with his lips. That is the
basis for the institution of the prayer service. This is because the
yearning in the heart creates a potential soul and ‘vowels.’ But
when a person expresses his yearning with his mouth, that soul is
actualized.”
The midrash states: “Open for Me an opening of repentance like
the eye of a needle, and I will open portals for you through which
carriages and wagons can pass.” The opening is the heart and the
will. Everyone has will—everyone makes these openings. So why
doesn’t the Holy One, blessed be He, open portals for us as He
promised? Rabbi Simchah Bunim of Peshishcha states that although
Chapter Five: | 153
impossible. And it is impossible to describe to you what sort of life
awaits you when you use this tool and begin to act and transform
yourself. You will see the way to the Garden of Eden!
Acquire and Progress 5
Rabbi Nachman’s famous and fundamental teaching on how
a person may attain rectification is called “One Who Is Awake
at Night” (Likutei Moharan I 52). This contains the most basic
instructions about the service of the will, and the present book is
based on that teaching.
In this teaching, our holy rabbi, Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, states
that the proper way for a person to nullify all of his cravings and evil
traits is to first focus on one evil trait or craving that has dominated
him and work on it for a long period of time, praying at length,
until he nullifies it. Then he should choose another trait and engage
in much prayer until he nullifies that one—and so on for evil trait
after evil trait, and evil craving after evil craving, until he is cleansed
of all evil intentions, and he has a strong will and many wondrous
vessels of prayer. And then there is no end to the abundance that
he will receive. Rabbi Nachman does not term this “the work of
the will,” but this is in fact the work of the will about which I am
speaking: that a person set aside time every day to be strong in his
will and in his prayers until he sees a change in himself.
Practically speaking, Rabbi Nachman innovates here a way
within a way. Overall, the way of hitbodedut is an astounding
method by means of which we attain tremendous and infinite
benefit. And within that hitbodedut is a wondrous way of engaging
in self-rectification. I call this teaching, which is presented “One
Who Is Awake at Night,” the work of the will.
Rabbi Nachman states: “It is only possible to attain nullification
by means of hitbodedut. When a person engages in hitbodedut and
speaks to his Maker, he is able to nullify all of his cravings and
evil traits until he succeeds in nullifying all of his physicality,
and he is absorbed into the root of his being.”