The Tzaddik Who Will Bring Us to the Tree of Life

The entire work of a person during these days—the days of Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Hoshana Rabbah, Shemini Atzeret, and Simchat Torah—is to merit the "Tree of Life," which is the service of Hashem.

After Adam HaRishon sinned, the path to the "Tree of Life" was blocked; Hashem placed the "flaming sword which turned every way" and the Cherubim to guard the way leading to the "Tree of Life." Since then, for everyone who wishes to enter the "Tree of Life" (the service of Hashem), obstacles and delays stand before them, caused by the Cherubim and the "flaming sword which turned every way."

Rashi explains: "The Cherubim" (=angels of destruction), "the flaming sword which turned every way" (=which threatens him from entering the Garden again)—it threatens and frightens him from entering the "Tree of Life." A person is afraid to study Torah, afraid to rise for Chatzot (midnight prayers), to perform Hitbodedut, to go to the field, afraid to travel to the graves of tzaddikim, afraid of Arabs. What is this, Arabs?! Arabs do not exist at all, as it is written: "Behold, the nations are as a drop from a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance"; they do not exist at all, they are not present at all.

Reb Noson explains that during these days, we must open the path to the "Tree of Life." During these holy days, we must overcome, break through, and reveal the path to the "Tree of Life"—the path to the service of Hashem. As long as a person is in the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, they have obstacles, fears, doubts, and confusions; they do not know the advice for their soul. Through Emunat Chachamim (faith in the Sages), one merits entering the Tree of Life, as Reb Noson says: "And complete advice in the service of Hashem is impossible to merit except through the true tzaddikim of the generation" (Likutei Halachot, Sukkah 3). A person must find a tzaddik who can bring him directly to the "Tree of Life," who will bestow upon him the intellect from the Tree of Life, and bring him into the "Tree of Life." Then, he will have no division of counsel, no confusion, and no fears, and he will merit to overcome all the obstacles and delays that come from the Cherubim and the "flaming sword which turned every way," and he will enter into the service of Hashem.