"And he led the flock to the edge of the wilderness" (Exodus 3:1)

At first glance, this appears to be a simple description of a faithful shepherd seeking pasture for his flock. However, our Sages see a deep spiritual journey here: Why "to the edge of the wilderness" (literally: behind the wilderness)? Because Moses our Teacher was not satisfied with the ordinary desert; he sought the most desolate and distant place, where no human foot treads and no voice disturbs. Specifically there, in solitude and disconnection from this world, a person can truly draw close to their Creator, free themselves from material illusions, and understand that physical reality is a fleeting imagination.

The message is clear – if you want to reveal the "diamond inside," you must stop polishing the box and start polishing the soul. These are the holy words of Morinu HaRav Eliezer Berland shlit"a: What does "behind the wilderness" mean? What is the meaning of "And he went behind the wilderness"? Did Moses go looking for good pasture? Superior grazing land? Rabbi Avraham ben HaRambam says – Moses went looking for a desert beyond the desert; he was not satisfied with a mere wilderness. He sought a desert that was far removed from all other deserts, a wilderness where no one passes, no human passes there, no foot treads there. Only there could he reach his perfection, to truly cleave to Hashem, to know that there is nothing besides Him, to know that he has no connection to this world, no connection to anything, and to reach the Supreme Nullification (Bitul HaElyon).

A person must be stripped of all materiality, knowing that there is no materiality, there is no world at all; this world is a dream, it is an imagination. The holy Zohar says (Parshat Shelach Lecha) – In the Future to Come, no trace of this world will remain, nothing at all, not even a hairsbreadth! Nothing! No houses, no assets, no problems, no troubles—nothing of this world will remain. As long as a person still retains a memory of this world, he cannot come to his tikkun (rectification). Rather, only if he is chastised and purified from desires, from the imaginations of this world, until he forgets everything, so that he has no trace of this world! A person cannot enter the World to Come if he possesses anything of the body, anything of this world. Because in the World to Come there are no houses, no food, nothing; everything is completely different. The body transforms into a soul; not a single point of this world will remain.

It is told of R' Shimshon of the "Yar" (Forest) – who was a Breslover Chassid who served Hashem day and night with great strength and enthusiasm – that he suddenly passed away. He came in a dream to R' Avraham Bernyu, the grandson of Rebbe Nachman, and related to him the entire order of his histalkus (passing): "R' Nosson came to me and took me to our holy Rebbe. The Rebbe said to me – 'Who says you are a Breslover Chassid? You were in Uman, you went up to the Tziyun (grave), you had mesirus nefesh (self-sacrifice)? That is all true, but being a Breslover Chassid is not so simple, it does not come easily. I have a ledger; let us check the records.' The Rebbe took the ledger and said... 'It is fine, you are registered in my ledger, you are a Breslover Chassid, but you still have a scent of this world!' As long as a person has some point of this world, some affinity for this world, some scent of materiality, of worldly desire, he cannot reach his place in Heaven. 'Two angels came and took me to the Nehar Dinur – the River of Fire – and immersed me... The magnitude of the suffering and pain in this immersion was beyond any measure at all; there is no such suffering in the entire world. However, the magnitude of the delight that follows the immersion is also beyond measure. After the immersion, R' Nosson returned with me to Rebbe Nachman zt"l. Rebbe Nachman answered me and said: We still sense this world in you; go immerse a second time.' It is forbidden for there to be any faith in this world here, any connection to the world, any belonging to the world. Until all the scent of the world, all the filth of this world, leaves a person, he cannot enter the World to Come. 'And R' Nosson returned with me to immerse a second time. When I returned to the Rebbe, the Rebbe said to me: Indeed, you have been purified.'"

We want eternal life. The body is just a box; the body is merely a container for the soul. Why did Hashem create a body for us? It is only so the soul does not ascend above before its time. The soul has nothing to do here in this world; it always wants to return above to its root. It has no connection to this world – to eat again, to drink again, it is already fed up with it! A person must eat because otherwise the soul will flee; the moment he does not eat, the soul will depart and return to its root. The soul does not want to be here! 120 years is already the maximum for it; it has no more strength, it is already begging to leave here, it wants to go. Until 120 years, it still holds on, but it only holds on through food, so one must always tend to the body's needs. But in truth, the body is just a box for the soul. It is like a diamond inside a box, and there is someone who worries about the box all day, renovating the box –

You polish the box all day, worrying about it, but there is a diamond inside! The main thing is the diamond! The main thing is the soul! Renovate the diamond! Polish the diamond! You are a Divine thing, why are you polishing the box?! So it will have a shine? You polish it all day, but in the end, it won't even have a shine from all the polishing, because nothing will remain of this body, of this box. This box covers something; there is a diamond inside! Search for the diamond. Every person has two paths, as it is written: "See, I have set before you today life and good, and death and evil"... "and you shall choose life." Does a person need to be told not to choose death?

It is written "life... and good... death and evil." Who is foolish enough to choose evil? Who chooses death? Rather, this is a sign that here in this world, everything is confused, everything is upside down. Death appears to be life; materiality and desires appear to a person as the good life, while Life – the Torah and holiness – appear as death. Therefore, the Torah says: Be careful! It is possible that what you think is life is actually death. Be careful! You could die. "And you shall choose life" – choose the Torah, holiness, purity.

Each and every person has long, long wars. There were so many who entered into holiness and the service of Hashem, and there were many who could not cope with the tests, who could not hold on. The moment bad thoughts and desires come, a simple person breaks; he says, "Maybe this war isn't for me." Do you have another way?! "And you shall choose life" – there is good and there is evil... there is no middle ground, there is no such thing as "this isn't for me." If you do not choose life, you are choosing death! You can deteriorate, you can leave the Torah, stumble into forbidden sights, etc. Therefore, you must choose life.

Because in truth, if a person wants to draw close to Hashem, if he only wants it, then nothing stands before the will. Nothing can stand before the Divine will; whatever a person wants, he will achieve. As R' Nosson brings in Likutey Halachos – that people who wanted to become rich would travel to diamond mines, traveling to distant places, into jungles, among Indians, into deserts, and most people would be killed on the way. They traveled with mesirus nefesh (self-sacrifice) just to earn a kilo of gold, a kilo of diamonds. So for the Holy One, Blessed be He, for holiness, a person won't perform mesirus nefesh? Let him learn from the Sitra Achra (the Other Side) how people exert themselves in the Sitra Achra. People in universities sit at night, study all night, do not sleep, for a few things of vanity, of a fleeting world. So for holiness, will we not study Torah? Will we not exert ourselves?