Will Power

Living Emunah By Rabbi David Ashear

There's a well-known saying found in many of the sifreh Acharonim , אין דבר עומד בפני הרצון , which literally means nothing can stand in the way of a person's will. Rabbi Menashe Reizman cautioned that misinterpreting this statement can lead to giving people false hope and letdowns. On the surface, this statement seems to be saying that if a person wants something badly enough, with perseverance, he'll eventually get it. But as we know, only Hashem decides if a person gets what he tries to get. A person can try from here until tomorrow, but if Hashem doesn't want him to achieve his goal, he won't achieve it. Everybody is given a different mission in life. Some people are meant to become great Rosheh Yeshiva . Some people are meant to become great baaleh tefilah . Some people are meant to become great in chesed and community service. Not everyone is capable of becoming a Rosh Yeshiva, because Hashem didn't give everyone the brain capacity for it. Of course, everyone is encouraged to become the best they could be, but there are no guarantees when it comes to results. So what does אין דבר העומד בפני הרצון mean? Rabbi Nachman of Breslov explained, אין לך דבר שמונע ממך לרצות - there is nothing that can stop a person from having a will to succeed. Even if a person is not capable of achieving something due to the limitations that Hashem gave him, he can still yearn and dream to become a certain type of person. Results are not in our control, but our will is in our control. A person should want to become great in all areas of Torah and mitzvot. He has to wish that he can pray like the greats of all time. He has to wish that he can learn Torah like the greats of all time. He has to wish that he can have the middot of the greats of all time. And the list goes on. We are always obligated to do what is in our control, and a major part of that is getting ourselves to want greatness. If someone is not capable of sitting for many hours straight learning Torah, he can still serve Hashem with his will to want to do that. We must put in our full effort and try to accomplish our goals, but we should not get discouraged if we aren't successful. If we wanted it and we tried hard, we were automatically successful. And if it has been determined that in a certain area something is beyond our capabilities, we can still continue to serve Hashem in that same area with our yearning alone. We once mentioned the Panim Yafot in the name of the Arizal, on the pasuk in Yeshayah perek 54, רוני עקרה לו ילדה . The barren one should rejoice, כי רבים בני שוממה מבני בעולה because she has more children than the ones who are able to have children. How do we understand this? How could a barren woman be better off with children than a woman who has children? The answer is, the barren woman yearns for children, and she has the purest intentions. She begs Hashem for a child, just so she could raise it in the ways of Torah and mitzvot. She dreams of having the perfect child that she's going to invest so much time and energy in, a child that will bring Hashem so much satisfaction. This desire of the barren woman is producing the holiest neshamot that actually come down into this world. The physical bodies may be from other families, but the holy neshamot they are producing and they will be rewarded for all eternity for what their pure intentions have produced. Nothing can ever get in the way of a person's will. As we approach the Yamim Nora'im , it is an opportune time to work on desiring greatness, to want to be the best in all areas of Torah and mitzvot, and b'ezrat Hashem, Hashem will see our pure intentions and efforts and bless them with siyata d'Shamaya .