One in a Thousand

Translated by Rabbi Lazer Brody

We constantly hear talk about impending war, but a person’s mind is the real battlefield. So, when Rebbe Nachman refers to the “power of imagination,” he is alluding to the yetzer hara (evil inclination), who does his very best to mislead a person by way of illusions and doubts to the point where truth is no longer apparent. Right becomes wrong and wrong becomes right. King Solomon warns of this when he says, “Grace is deceitful, and beauty is vain” (Proverbs 31:30). King Solomon reminds us that a woman’s beauty – other  than our wife’s – is nothing but a grand illusion and complete vanity. In this very verse, he’s telling us about the illusion and deceit. Yet, people still fail heed him, for they've fallen prey to the “power of imagination”. The yetzer hara makes a person believe that looking at a woman other than one’s wife is true beauty. So what advice can we give such a person who has fallen for this deceit?
 
The Rambam teaches us that only one in a thousand wins the battle against these illusions. Rebbe Natan notes that this is the deeper meaning of the small aleph of the word Vayikra at the beginning of this week's Torah portion. Why must the scribe write a small aleph, half the normal size? Rashi and the Midrash give several explanations, but Rebbe Natan says that the letter Aleph alludes to Eleph (one-thousand), for only one in a thousand is courageous enough to stand up and fight his evil inclination. People are afraid because it seems nearly impossible to win. They ask, "Who nowadays can refrain from looking at women? No way!" What makes a person believe these illusions? The answer is quite simple: people lack self composure and therefore fail to clarify the truth. In short, they suffer from a lack of prayer.
 
Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Binder z”l(one of the last generation's prominent Breslever leaders) said that self composure is akin to hitbodedut. The most important aspect of self composure is to stop to think before we do or say something in order to determine the truth. When we know what Hashem wants from us and know what we must do, there are no more doubts. When truth is firmly established and clarified in our minds, we are no longer vulnerable to the yetzer hara’slies and temptations. We achieve this through hitbodedut (personal prayer), a person’s main weapon in overcoming illusions, fantasies, and falsehoods.
 
Hashem has given us a wonderful gift called hitbodedut, where we have the privilege to a private audience with the King of Kings, the Holy One, blessed be He. Stop and think about this for a minute. Do you know what it means to have the privilege of speaking to Hashem each day, whenever you want? He’s willing to stop everything to listen! How could someone not take advantage of this?!
 
Rebbe Nachman teaches us that personal holiness is a prerequisite for strength of prayer. But what comes first, the chicken or the egg? In truth, the first thing a person must pray and beg Hashem for to rectify is his own personal holiness. This is the main area where the power of imagination reigns. Without personal holiness, a person is a slave to the Sitra Achra (dark side)!
 
However, this is no reason to despair, Heaven forbid, for Hashem is a Compassionate Father and He knows how much we truly desire to come close to Him. The solution to this problem is quite simple; that is, if the person doesn’t allow the grand illusionist to deceit him. All one needs to do is spend a half-hour each day –from his daily hour of personal prayer –in begging Hashem to nullify these evil passions and power of imagination from him. He should speak his heart out to Him, telling Him how much he truly desires to be an upright individual and be free from the power of imagination. Even if the only words that come from his mouth are, “Hashem, please nullify them (the evil thoughts and illusions).” This prayer is very precious.
 
In this way, a person will merit ridding himself of these false beliefs and illusions, and embrace the true beauty of the Holy Torah, emuna and prayer. Then, he will merit experiencing the World to Come in this world. This is the reason why it’s called: “The World to Come”, because it’s always coming to us and we can experience it right here in this world! How? By developing a personal relationship with Hashem through personal prayer and emuna. May Hashem help us to see the great gift of personal prayer and thereby rid ourselves from the “power of imagination” so that we can serve Him in truth, Amen!