The Baal Shem Tov had an only son and daughter. He greatly praised the level of his daughter, Udel, since all day, her heart was directed Above. Her only yearning and desire was to please God. Every Jew should merit such a high level, that his heart be constantly directed towards God.
There is a fundamental element to serving God called ratzon, desire. One’s desire to come close to God and please him should always be strong and powerful. Although everyone desires to do what God wants, not all desires are equal. Within one person, even during each moment, there are tremendous differences and distinctions in desire. Nonetheless, the guiding principle is constantly to desire and yearn for God.
Reb Noson says that it is impossible to describe in writing the greatness of one’s desire and yearning to do the Will of God (Likutey Halachot, Arev 3). He explains that the entire reason a soul is forced to descend from the upper worlds into this physical world is only for the sake of desire. It is only here that one can merit complete and perfect desire.
God wants the Jewish people to receive the true complete good, which is worth more than anything. Since the ultimate good is attaining the level of complete desire, the soul is coerced to come here in order to attain a strong desire for God. The farther away from the object of love, the greater the desire. While the son is with his father, even though his love is very strong, one cannot say that he desires and yearns for his father, since he is right next to him. But, when the son travels away from his father, he then begins to miss and strongly desire him. The further away the son is from his father, the stronger his yearning and desire. This is why the soul must travel and leave her elevated place to enter this physical and material world. It is only here, in a world of free choice, that we can achieve completion and perfection of desire. When one overcomes the distance and arouses his inner desire for serving God, then precisely through this, he perfects his soul.
Rebbe Nachman states that the soul, the neshama, is hewn from beneath the Heavenly Throne. The soul constantly yearns for her root and wants to be connected to her source. Reb Noson discusses at length in Likutey Halachot the definition of a “soul root.” He explains that the souls of the Jewish people have an exalted origin. This is the place of the Upper Will and Desire called “Desire of Desires,” and is the spiritual root of the Jewish people. Every soul returns there, and it all depends upon desire.
MATERIAL DESIRES
However, there are many other material desires that a person confronts while existing in this world. Reb Noson writes that this is all for the best, since God can be found within all of these other desires as well. Without these material desires, we would be overwhelmed by our natural desire for God. We wouldn’t want to be here at all. The desire of the soul to return to her source is so all-consuming that existence within a body would be impossible even for a short time. Therefore, for example, God created us with a need to sustain ourselves through eating and drinking. This allows the soul to exist in the body in spite of its innate and intense desire for God. Food attracts a person: the taste, sight and smell of food entices us to eat it. If there were no pleasing smell, good taste and appearance, we would be disgusted by it. Therefore, God created these characteristics. Furthermore, since God created every detail of existence, the world contains fallen holy sparks that originated in Upper Desire, another term for “the Will of the Creator.” If a person wants to use everything according to the Creator’s Will, then he eats and drinks according to the Torah. This means eating only permitted food and making the proper blessings before and after eating. The “fallen” desire is then elevated to its holy root, and rather than being pulled down spiritually, a person’s desire for God is elevated to a higher level. Therefore, any material thing for which a person has a desire or craving is all for the best, since it enables the world to exist. This is all the Will of God, and a wondrous thing. These are deep concepts that form the basis of Judaism.
THE MITZVOT & DESIRE
Fundamentally, we must believe that God created everything according to His Will and Desire, and that there is nothing that obligates Him. Preceding Creation, there was only God’s Unlimited Light, called the Ain Sof. It then arose in His “thought” to create the world. It is known that the souls of the Jewish people preceded the world, as well. He first created their souls, and afterwards He created all the worlds for their sake (see Likutey Moharan 17). The Ain Sof is the root of ratzon, God’s Will and Desire, and is clothed within all of the details of Creation.
Reb Noson explains that it was out of God’s chesed, lovingkindness, that He gave us the 613 mitzvot of the Torah. The mitzvot intentionally involve material things. The essence of every mitzvah is that it is an articulation of the Creator’s Will, which is ultimately why we fulfill it. For example, He desired that the seventh day be the Sabbath, and that we observe it according to the laws written in the Torah. The 613 mitzvot are an expression of God’s chesed, because through their observance, one can attain a strong desire for God.
In this light, the Torah and mitzvot that God gave us were not given in order to make our lives burdensome. Rather, the opposite is true. We can rejoice in them, since God gave them to the Jewish people in order to benefit us. Through upholding the Torah and mitzvot, all physical desires can be repaired and elevated to their Source. When we believe in God and understand that everything was created according to the Divine Purpose, then our own desire to please God will be awakened.
However, because desire is clothed in physical things as well, the Other Side has a hold over them. Therefore, a person needs to be very careful not to fall into pride and physical desire. If he does, he creates a blemish in Holy Desire. This is why it is important to make do in this world with the minimum of material things, in order to prevent blemishing Holy Desire. Through simplicity and wholeheartedness, a person can fulfill God’s Will even through physical things, by using anything permitted by the Torah. When we possess Holy Desire, we fulfill God’s Will in order to please Him.
If one acts against the Will of the Creator, God forbid, by utilizing the material world outside of a Torah framework, then the forces of Unholiness are able to have a hold on the physical things. A person can then be distanced tremendously from God. One needs to be very careful about falling into physical desires and blemishing Holy Desire, the place where the soul yearns to be included in her root.
Additionally, anger flows from one’s blemished desires. When we are worthy to elevate all our desires to God’s Ratzon, then we live in tranquility, without anger or jealousy. We know that if God wants to give us something, He will give it. If he gives it to someone else, this is also His Desire. With this awareness, we can then experience all of the other person’s pleasure and happiness. Jealousy, hate and anger all come from blemished desire.
TESHUVA & DESIRE
Even when one stumbles by not acting according to God’s Desire, there is teshuva, repentance or return. The essence of teshuva is regret. This means that one believes he would have been better off if he had not acted in a certain way. In other words, he reveals that he really has no desire for what he did. Through teshuva, a person can repair anything. Desire, ratzon, is always the underlying factor: Our desire should always be for God, and to act within the Torah’s framework. Through this, we have the power to elevate all material desires to the Creator. We must greatly strengthen our fear and awe of God, and be careful to stay far away from anything forbidden. Every stumbling blemishes tremendously and creates distance from God. We are then drawn to other desires entirely, God forbid. However, again, within desire itself, everything can be restored to holiness to the extent that sins are actually transformed into merits. This is the unique life of a Jew, in contrast to the rest of humanity.
Therefore, it is forbidden to despair. Because the problem originated with blemished desire, through the very distance created through our misdeed, we can now come to an even stronger desire for God. The further someone is from God, the more he needs to awaken his desire for Him.
This is why sometimes one has no desire for God, Torah or prayer. Since he blemished Desire, he must now again awaken his desire for the right thing and express it with a settled mind through what is permitted. When a person realizes that this world amounts to nothing, he is not drawn after worldly materialism and cravings. Then within the distance itself, a person again begins to miss and yearn for God. Through regret and teshuva, a person has the power to repair all blemish by transforming his sins into merits, since the whole blemish was in his desire. Through the stumbling itself, he can arouse himself to an even greater level of yearning.
We spoke at the beginning about how the Baal Shem Tov praised the spiritual level of his daughter because her only desire was to please God. Likewise, it is vital to continually awaken and strengthen our own desire to do the will of the Creator. The truth is that everyone wants this, but in reality, one person cannot do everything. Sometimes one is prevented from doing something because of various circumstances, even if he is actually capable of doing it. However, there is no limit to how much one’s desire can be awakened. For example, with tzedaka, how much can one person give? We can only give according to our ability, but even if we don’t have what to give, we can use our strong desire to arouse others to give. Our Sages say, “Greater is the person who helps others to give than the one who gives,” since this shows the strength of his desire to give. Who can prevent someone from desiring or thinking that if all of the world’s silver and gold were his, he would give it to the Creator? A person can desire without limitation. Of course, since we live in a world of boundaries, we need to be very careful about how intense desire is channeled. Nonetheless, it is crucial that every single person knows that desire for God is the ultimate perfection and completion of a human being.
Even though there are people who waste their lives for the sake of physical desires, the Jewish people know that there is a Creator. We need to ensure that our entire desire is only for God. King David says in the book of Psalms, “My soul yearns, indeed it pines, for the courtyards of God” (Psalms 84:3). He wants God without limit, he yearns to give up his soul to God. He also says, “My soul thirsts for You, my flesh longs for You” (Psalms 63:2). A person’s soul can yearn for God without limit. Coming to this level of desire for God is the completion of Man.
Practically, there are a number of ways a person can work to attain proper desire. Foremost is the observance of the Torah, since desire is articulated through the mitzvot we perform. There is also the idea of expressing desire through song, which is the essence of the Book of Psalms. Then there is hitbodedut as a vehicle to express one’s desire and yearning to do God’s Will. Hitbodedut is speaking to God in simple terms in our own native language, pouring out our hearts to Him.
May God grant us understanding to see the richness of life in this world. We can be genuinely happy, without pressure or anger. If anger surfaces with all of its accompanying difficulties, again, the advice is to strengthen our faith in the fact that everything in the world comes from the Creator, Who governs every detail according to His Desire.
[Translated and adapted from a talk given in Tsfat, 5760 / 2000]
RELATED ARTICLE: SEEKING THE GOOD POINT
TZADDIK Magazine archive, Chanukah 5761 / 2000
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