6.18.2011

Determination and Effort Counts Like Sacrifices

When people want to become righteous and enter the service of Hashem, they often have to go through a lot of confusion and tremendous opposition. Due to the great confusion and opposition they can not even settle their minds to see how they should act and move forward. Everything they want to do related to the service of Hashem, is hard for them to do properly. Know, that this in itself that they trying hard and determined to do an act of holiness or to purify themselves with some purification, even if they do not end up finishing it properly, the effort and determination by itself is the same concept as the offering of sacrifices.

When a person is trying to pray and they do not allow him. When they confound him with all types of confusion and he needs to put in great effort just trying to pray. In such cases, even if he did not merit to pray properly, the effort, determination and self sacrifice that he put into the prayer with all his energy, are in itself a concept of sacrifices.

This is the same with all other actions of Holiness and purification that a person does to purify himself. Even if he does not merit to purify himself as properly as he wished, the actual suffering and confusion that he had to undergo in his attempt to purify himself, although it did not work out, this in itself is the same concept as sacrifices.

Therefore a person must always try to do his part and place great effort into serving Hashem according to his abilities. Whatever a person can do, he should do. Even though it is very hard appearing to him that they are not allowing him to proceed and that he is being greatly distanced. Even if he is not able to properly perform any action of Holiness, still he must do whatever he can and Hashem should do what is fitting in his eyes.
(Sichos Haran 12)

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