Will, Prayer and Deed: How They Meet in the Teaching of Rabbi Nachman

The talk in Chayei Moharan 111 opens with a dismissal: "Wisdoms are nothing". What remains is the heart and the limbs, and the talk spells out both. The heart: "that one's heart should always long and yearn for His service, blessed be He". And at once prayer is added: "one should always pray for this, especially in the language of Ashkenaz (Yiddish) in which one is accustomed to speak", that is, in the language a person speaks in daily life (Chayei Moharan 554). And it continues:

A close reading of the talk reveals an order. The longings are the starting point, prayer is persistence in them over time, and the deed is the person's own share, "whatever he can". And notice what one prays for here: not for something external, but "that God, blessed be He, bring him close to His service", that is, that the will itself be fulfilled. And the assurance at the end, "through this he will certainly draw close to His service, blessed be He", is said of all three together and not of any one of them alone.

Sichot HaRan 51 says sharp things about all human service: "No angel or seraph can boast of being able to serve Him, blessed be He". And what does count? "Rather, the main thing is the will: that one's will should always be strong and firm to come close to Him, blessed be He" (Sichot HaRan 51). And further on in the same talk:

The words "in the course of this" are the key. The will does not replace prayer, study and commandments; they are done within it. One may understand that this is the difference between a will that is the main thing and a will that is an excuse: the longings are the frame, and the deeds fill it. It is also said there that even within one person, "at every time and every moment there are great distinctions between his wills". From this it appears that the will is not a fixed possession acquired once, and it must be strengthened again and again.

Sichot HaRan 27 holds both sides in the same talk. It actually opens with action: a person must be very zealous, "for the main thing is action: to study much, to do many mitzvot, to pray and plead much" (Sichot HaRan 27). And then comes the qualification:

And immediately after: "the Merciful One desires the heart" (Sichot HaRan 27). It appears that there is no contradiction here between "the main thing is action" and "the desire and the yearnings themselves are very great things": each is said of a different situation. When one can act, action is the main thing. When one cannot, compulsion exempts, and the longings are not a consolation prize but a service in their own right, one that a person must "accustom himself" to.

Sichot HaRan 12 adds a third situation, between ability and compulsion: someone who wants, tries, and does not succeed. Of them it says: "this very toiling and yearning after it is an aspect of sacrifices". And so too in prayer: one who does not merit to pray properly, "the toil itself, that he exerts himself with all his strength" is itself the aspect of sacrifices (Sichot HaRan 12). Not only the will counts, but also the attempt that did not reach its end.

The page Will and longing brings from Likutei Moharan that longing in the heart is not enough, and one must bring it out with the lips. Likutei Etzot, in the entry on will and longing, summarizes that same teaching and gives it a practical direction: this is "the virtue of conversation between oneself and one's Maker", in which one speaks "with a full mouth his good yearnings and wills, that is, what he lacks in the service of God" (Likutei Etzot, Will and Longing 2). And the conclusion:

This is our explanation, not the wording of the source. The will in the heart is still potential, the deed is actuality, and speech in prayer is what carries one into the other. That is why, in the talk in Chayei Moharan, prayer stands in the middle, between "one's heart should always long" and "he should do deeds". And that is also why it stresses the language one is accustomed to speak: such prayer is hitbodedut, a personal conversation in which a person says in his own words what he wants and what he lacks.

And what if even the will seems far away? Sichot HaRan 52 says that even when it seems that God, blessed be He, "withdraws and distances Himself", "he must also pray and cast prayers after Him, blessed be He" (Sichot HaRan 52). It appears that prayer does not wait for the moment when the will is strong; it is itself a way of holding on to it.

Even after the allowance for compulsion, the sources return again and again to the same phrase: whatever he can. At the end of Sichot HaRan 12:

And the continuation there speaks precisely to someone who feels he is not succeeding: "even though it is very hard for him and it seems to him that they do not let him at all", nevertheless "he must do what he can" (Sichot HaRan 12). The division is clear: the possible deed is the person's task, and the outcome is handed over to the Creator.

And Likutei Moharan II, 48 says that even this little is not lost: "all the movements and steps by which you detach yourself and move each time a little away from materiality toward His service, may He be blessed, all of them gather, join and bind together and come to your aid in time of need" (Likutei Moharan II, 48:2). On the strength to keep going on this path, see Strengthening in the teaching of Rabbi Nachman.

What does all this look like in life? Sichot HaRan 27 warns against the panic that seizes someone who reads in the books about many kinds of service: "do not be alarmed", and one must "go calmly, step by step, little by little". The image there is a fire, in which "because of the panic people grab what they do not need" (Sichot HaRan 27).

Rabbi Nathan tells about himself in Chayei Moharan: Rabbi Nachman set him a session of five folios a day, and after about half a year the obstacles overpowered him and he could not keep it, and he was distressed about this. And what he understood from the conversation with him: it is impossible to press the hour, "he should do patiently what he can, and look forward and wait for the salvation of God until he finishes" (Chayei Moharan 435).

One could apply this as follows, as a suggestion and not a promise: choose one thing you truly want; say it in personal prayer, in your own words, as Chayei Moharan advises (Chayei Moharan 554); and take one step toward it, as much as is possible today. And if today nothing at all is possible, remain in the longing and do not give it up, as Sichot HaRan 27 says, that one "should accustom himself to yearn" (Sichot HaRan 27).

Likutei Etzot, in the entry on money and livelihood, summarizes Sichot HaRan 51 and joins will and deed explicitly: a person should "set all his will, desire, longing and aim only on the eternal purpose", "for the will itself is very precious, for the main thing is the will" (Likutei Etzot, Money and Livelihood 51). And at once:

One can read this sentence as a summary of the whole article. Two things remain, and both together: "the good will" and "whatever good he snatched". Will without deed remains a hope, and deed without will remains a habit. And prayer, as we saw in Chayei Moharan, is what holds the two together "for many days and years". On prayer itself, fixed and personal, see Prayer in the teaching of Rabbi Nachman.