אות-ד

The essential mitzvah of k'rias Sh'ma [the recitation of Sh'ma] — which is the faith of will [emunah haratzon], that all is conducted only through His will, may He be blessed — is to draw upon oneself this holy faith anew each day, in the aspect of: "Each day let them be in your eyes as new" [Rashi on Deuteronomy 6:6]. To draw upon oneself the holy will [ratzon d'k'dushah] and to bind all one's thoughts and heart and mind to this will — so that all his yearning and longing and will should always be only toward the true eternal purpose — and to add each day anew to strengthen oneself in the holy will, each time more and more. And even if something passes over him — let him not weaken the will in any way. The essential thing he must believe is that every single day things are renewed completely — therefore one must wait and wait until the day of his salvation arrives, for Hashem, may He be blessed, causes new salvations to sprout each day. For whatever new day comes adds and renews additional holiness from above — for Hashem, may He be blessed, maintains His world only for this reason, and in His goodness renews daily the act of Creation, in order to arouse us to renew ourselves each day with new and powerful wills toward Hashem, may He be blessed. And this is the aspect of the purification of the impure, which depends on days — for some require only the "setting of the sun" [before being declared pure], meaning their complete purification and salvation depends until the following day comes. And some require seven days for their purification. And when Israel went out from Egypt they counted seven complete weeks until they merited to receive the Torah. And the essential thing is to strengthen oneself through all those days in which one has not yet attained the wholeness of one's purification — which is the aspect of receiving the Torah — even so, one must strengthen oneself each day with new, powerful wills, and be very, very strong in this through whatever passes over him — until he merits the day of his salvation and complete purification. And there are those whose essential completion of purification will only come after their sun has fully set — that is, after their passing from this world. This is the aspect of "and the sun sets and he becomes pure" — and afterward he will eat from the holy things, which is his good portion in the World to Come that he will immediately merit after his sun sets. He will not need to undergo reincarnation and suffer what must be suffered by one who did not prepare himself at all during his lifetime and did not strengthen himself to draw upon himself the above holy wills each day. For on that last day, all the good he snatched in this world is gathered together — every good will that he had each day all the days of his life — and that alone is his hope and remainder forever. (ibid., Ois 41–42) There are those who have transgressed to such a degree that they have fallen into the aspect of hester b'soch hester [concealment within concealment], and because of this it seems to them that they no longer have any hope, G-d forbid. For when one transgresses and repeats, it becomes like something permitted to him — this is the aspect of one concealment. But when one transgresses even more, G-d forbid, Hashem, may He be blessed, hides Himself in the aspect of concealment within concealment, and then it is very hard to find Him, may He be blessed. But through engagement in Torah one can arouse even such a person and inform him of Hashem, may He be blessed, that he still has hope — until he returns to the truth and draws close to Hashem. For truly, through the power of the true Tzadikim, one can always draw close to Hashem, may He be blessed, at any time, however one is and wherever one is. (ibid., Ois 56)