How Can I Discover My Personal Mission?

Each one of us wants to know and feel that we are realizing our inner potential, and able to derive the utmost from life. The experience of a missed opportunity understandably creates an unpleasant sense of regret.

The Torah teaches us that the path to achieving our life's purpose is by living a life faithful to the Torah and its commandments. Every Jewish man and woman who is faithful to Hashem and living in accordance with the Torah is fulfilling what is required of them.

And yet, each one of us has a specific mission, a particular aspect in the service of Hashem that requires correction. In addition to observing Torah and commandments, there is a specific point for each of us to focus on and rectify. Rabbi Tzadok HaKohen of Lublin writes in his book ‘Tzidkat HaTzadik,’ "For each person is created to rectify a specific matter where their soul is particularly unique."

How do we know what our specific mission is? Rabbi Zamir Cohen explains in one of his lectures that the answer is written in the books of the Arizal, and we are to check which commandment we are most drawn to, and which sin is the hardest for us to overcome. "The commandment we are most drawn to suggests that the soul yearns for that, because that is exactly what it lacks and what it primarily comes to correct," the rabbi explains.

"A sin to which a person is most drawn- the greatest temptation they face- indicates that which the person primarily comes to correct. The explanation is that there is an angel, known as the evil inclination, Satan, and the Angel of Death, trying to cause the person to fail. This angel knows exactly which sin each of us is here to rectify in our current incarnation, and he focuses there. He tries to make us fail specifically in that sin, because he knows that is what you came to correct" the rabbi adds.

Each of us has a certain "do good"- a positive action- that the heart feels the need and desire to do- a passion or special talent that can be used in the service of Hashem and for multiplying goodness. If Hashem has graced us with a special ability, we must use it for holiness and goodness. We all also have a certain "turn away from evil"- a negative action- where we tend to fall the most. This is our central challenge, where the evil inclination applies the most force to prevent us from achieving our personal rectification. Precisely there, we must find within ourselves the most strength to overcome, in order to fulfill our purpose. Rabbi Tzadok HaKohen of Lublin writes in his book ‘Tzidkat HaTzadik’: "Everyone knows that in the area where they were created with the strongest tendencies—they are especially suited to become pure and refined in those very things. And in the areas where they often stumble or sin, they should understand that they are actually uniquely equipped to become especially pure and wholehearted in that exact thing. And this is what our sages meant when they said (Gittin 43a): 'A person does not truly grasp the words of Torah unless they have stumbled in them'—meaning, through the very mistake or failure, the person comes to understand that this is their personal mission: to repair and elevate that specific thing".

From the "do good" – the commandment we are most drawn to, we must fulfill with greater intensity, and from the "do not do" – the sin which is the hardest, we must work to overcome, since this indicates the primary rectification for our soul.

Also read:

From the series '70 Difficult Questions in Judaism' – "Why did Hashem create me? Is there meaning to life?"