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that we must give thanks with all our heart and with joy, that must These two failings are actually one: a person does not believe that states, the love of the Holy One, blessed be He, for the worst
be balanced with the faith that Hashem wants to save us. In that Hashem is all-powerful in the spiritual realm! sinner of Israel is thousands upon thousands of times greater than
book, I wrote that I once instructed some people not to pray at all that of a father for his only son who was born to him after decades
but only to give thanks, and they were saved from their problems. First Axiom: Hashem Can Save Everyone Spiritually of waiting, hope and prayer. As the holy Zohar states, “If people
I did that because I knew that if they would entreat Hashem even a only knew the love with which the Holy One, blessed be He, loves
little, they would immediately fall from the faith that everything is Know that Hashem is all-powerful in the spiritual realm. That the people of Israel, they would roar like lions to come close to
for the good. We may not allow our prayer and outcry to weaken means that Hashem can do everything without any exception. Him” (Shemot 5b).
our faith that everything is for the good. Equally, we may not allow Hashem made Moses, and He can make you and everyone else
our faith that everything is for the good weaken our faith that into a Moses. When I made this observation in my classes, my Normal parents in this world cannot give their son everything that
Hashem wants to save us. students told me that it seems obvious. I said that it might indeed they want to give him. But our Father in heaven has no problem
be obvious—but how many people really believe that Hashem can giving us everything we need in order to rectify ourselves and
This chapter on the topic of whole and true faith teaches that we make them into a Moses? The fact that they do not strive to reach fulfill our mission. All you have to do is open the door. When you
must balance two opposites and focus on the subtlest notes of faith. the level of Moses is proof that they do not believe that this is do so, you accomplish what the Creator most wants and desires,
At times, this means that we must accept two points that seem to actually possible. because His entire wish is that you will come to Him and desire to
contradict each other. Each has its own time and place in which to be accepted by Him.
serve Hashem. When we walk on the path of giving thanks, we must The Rambam writes explicitly that everyone can be a person as
follow that path to its end, until the force of our thanksgiving and righteous as Moses. Similarly, Rabbi Nachman of Breslov states I thought of another image as well: If the son of the king were
wholeness of faith impels us to see that there is nothing to ask for, that he can make everyone like himself, literally. Therefore, dear wandering about the streets in torn and filthy clothing, eating scraps
because everything is absolutely good. But when we walk on the reader, know and believe this. Beseech Hashem at length to give from the garbage, sleeping on benches, shivering from the cold and
path of prayer and crying out to Hashem, we must follow that path you complete and absolute faith that just as He made Abraham, reeking with putrid odors, how much pain the king would feel and
with all our might, so that when we cry out, we must not think of Isaac and Jacob, just as He made Moses and Aaron, Joseph and how much he would want to aid him and do everything to help him
anything but being saved. It is true that we must cry out to Hashem David, just as He made all of the tzaddikim and helped them get out of that situation and return to a normal life, and how much
from the midst of our thanks, and repeat our thanks. And we must become tzaddikim, gaonim and shepherds of Israel, just as He made pain the king would feel if his son did not want to leave but insisted
be aware that there is no contradiction between the two, because Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, the Ari, the Baal Shem Tov and Rabbi on living like a stray cat. Conversely, how much happiness the king
Hashem wants to save and rescue us, and He is waiting for our Nachman of Breslov, so can He do the same with you, and bring would feel when his son realized that he is headed in the wrong
vessel, which is our powerful and mighty prayer. Therefore, when you as you are, even if you are the most sinful and reprehensible direction, and asked for the king’s help and guidance.
we pray, there is no place for accepting our circumstances, but person in the world, to the highest levels.
only for absolute will and an uncompromising outcry to Hashem The same applies to every Jew who is stained by sins, cravings,
to save us. Hashem casts down the proud and elevates the humble. He can bad traits and addictions, and who is far from the normal life that
raise the impoverished from the trash heap and seat him among Hashem wants him to live, a life of sweetness with Torah, prayer and
There are two types of thanks. There is a thanks in which a person princes. He can guide the greatest sinner to do complete teshuvah the fear of heaven, and who lives in the garbage, in Gehennom—
believes that Hashem wants to save him, and he knows only this: so that he will be completely righteous and among the greatest because living in this world without faith is worse than Gehennom,
that his vessel to draw down that salvation is his giving true thanks people of the generation. Hashem can transform all sins into merits, and to be far from the Torah and the fear of heaven is not a life.
with all his heart. Thus, his thanks is a wonderful personal practice and no one can impede Him. He can do so, and He wishes to do How much Hashem wants to help every Jew, and how pleased He
that helps him reach the depths of faith, and he will be saved. so. Now the choice is yours to believe this with complete faith and is by every Jew who realizes that he is living a mistake and wants
That is called, “I said Thank You, and I was saved.” But there is to desire it with a complete heart! to improve. Even if his path to a normal life is very long, Hashem
also a thanks that is a resigned acceptance of heaven’s decree, a wants to help him and do everything to shorten his path and make
resigned acceptance of one’s fate, a type of quiet despair, a feeling Therefore, every time you engage in the work of the will and focus it possible for him to do complete teshuvah.
that “there is nothing I can do—therefore, I accept my fate with on a particular detail in the service of Hashem—such as no longer
Thus, when we possess complete awareness that Hashem wants to