Torah Way to Enlightenment_000_Author's Preface

Man is comprised of a body and a soul, and it is his avodah (inner work) to divest himself of his guf (body) and to reveal his neshamah (soul).

The direct path to achieve this is through emunah (faith in the Creator), exerting oneself in learning the holy Torah, carrying out the mitzvos as carefully as possible, and fixing one’s middos (character traits). This is the way which our great leaders traversed throughout all the generations.

However, only a few have truly achieved their life’s task through doing all of this, and because this was so, they sought additional ways to achieve it. This sefer has come to explain one of those ways that were added on throughout the generations: hisbodedus (inner solitude).

Yet, the reader should be wise and ‘use his head’ properly. Don’t turn what is secondary into priority, and don’t neglect the priorities. The matters discussed in this sefer are only secondary to our main tasks, which are: to have emunah, learning Torah diligently, doing all the mitzvos, and fixing our middos.

Thus, the reader should be aware that only few great leaders traversed the paths described in this sefer; in addition, the learning of this sefer should only be regarded as secondary to one’s Torah learning. We are stating this specifically because there will be readers here who will think that the learning of this sefer must become top priority in their life, while the truth is really the opposite: the matters of this sefer are only secondary to our main tasks in life.

We were very doubtful about putting out this sefer, as most people do not need it, and in addition, many people are prone to be mistaken about the matters of this sefer and misunderstand it. However, since there are many people who learn about these matters, it was seen to fit to produce this sefer, so that these matters can be given the proper guidance that they require.

The purpose of this sefer is therefore not meant to deliberately cause people to become interested in these matters. It is simply coming to give guidance to those who would anyhow learn about these matters. We hope that this sefer will indeed help those who need that guidance.