Pure Heart

3 Nissan 5782

“This inability of one’s divine service to ascend to the sefirot applies not only where one’s motive for engaging in Torah and mitzvot is actually shelo lishmah (’not for its own sake’), i.e., for some ulterior motive, heaven forbid, in which case one is actually serving himself, not G‑d, and his service surely cannot ascend ’to stand before G‑d.’” (Likutei Amarim, middle of Chapter 39)

The Alter Rebbe goes on to say that mitzvos done out of habit also cannot ascend to Heaven. However, the original point stands. Mitzvos done out of some ulterior motive, heaven forbid, can not ascend. Not only can they not ascend, but they are also deemed as serving oneself, not G‑d.

“The priest must take some of the blood.” (Vayikra 14:14)

The cure for misusing the power of speech, which causes tzara’as, is using speech in excess for good things, like the study of Torah out loud. This generates an excess of positive energy which cancels out the negative energy from before. “However, in order for our study of the Torah to indeed elicit Divine energy and infuse it into creation, we must study it with pure motives, namely, in order to fulfill G‑d’s will and disseminate Divine consciousness, rather than for personal interest or as an intellectual pursuit. Therefore, just as a priest had to officiate at the purification process of a person formerly afflicted with tzara’as, our study of the Torah must be overseen by our inner ‘priest.’ The priest in the Tabernacle (and later, in the holy Temple) personified total self-nullification to G‑d; similarly, we should strive to study the Torah with a pure and humble heart.”

“You have given him his heart’s desire, and You have never withheld the utterance of his lips.” (Tehillim 21:3)

When we dedicate ourselves to using our power of speech only in a holy way, Hashem finds great favor with every word we utter. We are thus granted the power to request anything from Hashem, for ourselves in prayer and as blessings for other people, and we can be assured that it will not be withheld. This is indeed a lofty level, however, it is accessible to all, simply through guarding the words that exit our mouth and using our speech for Torah study.

We have reliable reports from firsthand witnesses of the tremendous power in the words uttered by Holy Tzaddikim, even in recent times, like the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rav Kanievsky, and the Baba Sali. However, it does not take a perfect Tzaddik to make holy blessings. The Holy Baal Shem Tov would distribute apples and nuts to children so he could answer “Amen” to their blessings with incredible devotion (Keser Shem Tov 286). Anyone who has a pure mind and pure speech, like the children the Holy Baal Shem Tov would answer “Amen” to, has tremendous power in his prayers and blessings.