57. Will Bring Him Closer to His Will

I heard on Yitro 1, February 5, 1944

About the verse, “will bring him closer to His will,” our sages said, “How so? He is coerced until he says, ‘I want.’” We must also understand what we pray, “Let there be a will,” since more than the calf wants to eat, the cow wants to feed, so why do we need to pray, “Let there be a will above”?

It is known that in order to extend abundance from above, one must precede an awakening from below. We must understand why we need an awakening from below. Because of this, we pray that there will be a will above. It means that we must evoke a desire from above to impart below.

It is not enough that we have a desire, but there has to be a good will on the part of the Giver, too. Even though above there is a general desire to do good to His creations, He still waits for our desire to awaken His desire.

In other words, if we are unable to evoke His desire, it is a sign that the desire on the part of the receiver is still incomplete. Hence, precisely by praying that there will be a will above, our desire is made to be a genuine desire, to be a fitting Kli [vessel] to receive the abundance.

At the same time, we must say that all that we do, both bad and good, everything extends from above (which is the meaning of private Providence), that the Creator does everything. Yet, at the same time we must regret the bad deeds, though it, too, extends from above.

The mind asserts that we must not regret, but justify the judgment, that the bad deeds come to us. Nevertheless, it is to the contrary; we must regret that He does not let us do good deeds, which is certainly a result of a punishment, meaning that we are unworthy of serving the King.

If everything is guided, how can we say that we are unworthy, since there is no act below? For this purpose we are given bad thoughts and desires that distance us from the work of the Creator, that we are not worthy of serving Him. For this reason, there is a prayer for this, that this is a place of correction to be worthy and capable of receiving the work of the King.

Now we can see why there is a prayer regarding some trouble. This trouble must have come as a punishment, and punishments must be corrections, since there is a rule that the punishment is a correction. Thus, why do we pray to the Creator to cancel our corrections, as our sages said about the verse, “And your brother is ignoble in your eyes,” that your brother is afflicted? We must know that the prayer corrects a person even more than punishment. Thus, when prayer appears instead of punishment, the affliction is lifted and the prayer is placed in its place in order to correct the body.

This is the meaning of what our sages said, “Rewarded—through Torah; was not rewarded—through suffering.” We must know that the path of Torah is a more successful way and yields more benefits than the path of suffering. This is because the Kelim [vessels] that will be fit to receive the upper light are broader and can yield Dvekut [adhesion] with Him.

This is the meaning of “He is coerced until he says, ‘I want.’” It means that the Creator says, “I want the deeds of the lower ones.”

The meaning of prayer is what our sages said, “The Creator craved the prayer of the righteous,” for by the prayer, the Kelim are made fit for the Creator to later give the abundance, since there is a fit Kli to receive the abundance.