The Battle Within: What Is Your Unique Mission in This World?

“...and Hashem, your God, will deliver him into your hand.”

This parashah teaches us about the ongoing battle every Jew faces against the enemy within: the yetzer hara, the evil inclination.

During the month of Elul, these days of repentance, help me understand that my entire existence in this world is a “battle against your enemy.”

Help me remember the purpose of my soul’s descent from the lofty World of Souls to this lowly world, a world filled with hardships, tests, and desires.

The Torah tells us, “When you go out.” From the moment the soul leaves the higher worlds and enters this world, its purpose is to confront its enemy. It must begin the battle for which it descended, so that it can fulfill its unique calling and purpose here.

Please help me remember this throughout my day: that I came into this world to fulfill the higher mission You entrusted to my soul, and that every creature and all of creation were brought into existence for a higher purpose.

Help me remember in every situation that I came into this world to reveal Your Godliness and to break through the limitations of my own nature.

Help Me Recognize My Unique Battle

Every person has a unique role and mission, and that is why they came into this world. You gave me a sign by which I can recognize my particular role: when I see that the yetzer hara overcomes me with extraordinary force in a certain area, that is my particular enemy. That is the point I must repair, and it is where I must direct the main force of my battle.

So help me focus my strength on the places where the yetzer hara challenges me most intensely.

Help me cleanse my heart and overcome difficult tests. Help me feel that You look at me with longing. You sent me into battle, and You give me the strength to win. You look down at me from above, hoping that I will not forget to fight. And naturally, the one who fights is the one who wins.

The primary weapon with which You equipped me is prayer. Help me pray about every character trait and every battle. Be with me, help me, and give me the strength to fight Your war. Show me what my unique battle is, and help me devote myself to it completely.

Help me connect to serving You as a daughter whose deepest desire and aspiration is to do Your will, not only as a servant who acts out of fear and awe of judgment.

For judgment on Rosh Hashanah is approaching: “Today He will bring all creatures of the worlds to judgment, whether as children or as servants.”

Help me serve You as a daughter and understand that my mission in this world is to battle my inclination, both in matters that are permitted and in matters that are forbidden.

On Rosh Hashanah, when all creation stands in judgment and all creatures are judged over whether there is still a need for their existence, the judgment of a Jewish person is twofold. We are judged as part of all creation: Are we fulfilling the higher purpose for which we were created? And there is also an individual judgment, in which we are judged as people with free choice: Are we choosing and acting according to Your will and fulfilling Your mission on earth?

Give Me the Courage to Go Out to Battle

“When you go out.” You ask us to leave ourselves completely behind, to rise above our emotional traits and natural tendencies. As Rambam wrote about one who goes out to war: “He should place his life in his hands and not be afraid or fearful.”

This is what You ask of us in our personal battle with the yetzer hara as well.

“When you go out.” Father, You ask me to act first and not wait for the yetzer hara to attack me. Then You promise me: “Hashem, your God, will deliver him into your hand, and you will take his captives,” because You are the Creator of the world and a Man of war.

Most of all, help me believe in the ultimate victory, even when it seems beyond reason.

“When you go out... and you see horse and chariot, a people greater than you, do not fear them, for Hashem, your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt, is with you.”

Help me believe with complete faith that my strength, and the strength of every Jew, is greater than any enemy. Help me believe that no force can defeat me and that victory is within reach. For one who comes to purify oneself is assisted.

There is no power in the world stronger than the power of a Jew when You are with us. As it is written: “Hashem, your God, goes with you to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.”

Entering the New Year With a New Mission

You gave us this parashah during the month of Elul, before the renewal of the new year, because each year stands on its own and represents a renewal of creation. I, like every person, have a unique role and a particular area that must be repaired within the renewed creation of this coming year.

“When you go out...” This year, as I enter the new year, I go out to battle my unique enemy, the point of evil within me that I am called upon to overcome.

Help me enlist in Hashem’s army and devote myself fully to the fight, because my central task as the new year approaches is to transform my reality and my natural tendencies, and through them, to transform the reality of my life.

Above all, help me remember the promise of the holy Zohar and the sign by which I can know whether I have won: “Who is victorious? The one who holds the weapons of battle in his hand is the victor.”

The weapons of battle are my desires and my prayers. Help me hold tightly to them throughout the month of Elul, at the close of the year, and into the month of Tishrei, at the beginning of the new year.

For if I continue to hold onto them, that itself is a sign that I have won.

Points for Reflection and Personal Prayer

Are you fulfilling the higher purpose for which you were created? One sign is experiencing an inner sense of joy in serving Hashem.

Are you choosing to do Hashem’s will in order to fulfill your mission in this world?

“When you go out.” Hashem asks us to rise beyond ourselves. Are you trying to overcome your natural tendencies? When? In which particular tests?

Think about your unique qualities. Are you bringing them from potential into action?

Consider your specific challenges. Which character traits are particularly difficult for you? Where do you struggle most in your relationships with other people? And where do you struggle in your relationship with Hashem?

Use these questions as a starting point for your own personal prayer. Ask Hashem to help you recognize your unique battle, use the strengths He has given you, and enter the new year ready to fulfill the mission for which your soul came into this world.