GEN1357 He used to say: Do His will as you would your own, that He may do your will as though it were His. Negate your will before His, that He may negate the will of others before your will. Pirkei Avot II:4   Imagine that it is cold and raining outside, and you are schedule to attend a class in humash [Torah] this evening. You hestitate to go. Perhaps you had better stay home this one time, you think. Suppose, however, that a customer were waiting to see you, from whom you expected a large order. Would the weather stop you? In the case of the class, the Almighty’s will is involved. In the case of business, it is your will. The Mishnah earnestly advises: Do His will with the same devotion and enthusiasm that you have when you carry out your own will.  Yet more than this: If you want to know how strong a will can be and how thoroughly it can be fulfilled you can learn this best from the wicked. When Jacob returned to Canaan, he sent word to his brother Esau: “I lived with Laban…” [this verse] Rashi interprets this with a paraphrase, “With the wicked Laban I lived, and I kept the 613 commandments [of the Torah]; and I did not learn from his evil deeds.” Torah Shelemah on the verse §31 and note, for Midrashic sources Scholars have wondered why Rashi found it necessary to add that Jacob “did not learn from his evil deeds.” Surely, if Jacob continued to observe the 613 commandments, obviously he was not influenced! But perhaps Rashi means to imply something quite different: that Jacob is being self-critical. I have indeed lived with Laban, admits Jacob, and I have observed this man’s complete and thorough dedication to evil. When he decides to steal a horse, he rises like a lion in the middle of the night. Neither cold nor snow nor danger deters him from his self-appointed task. Yet, alas, I who observed all this, continued to perform my commandments with much less devotion and much less enthusiasm. To my sorrow, I did not learn this sense of self-sacrifice from Laban; I did not learn to emulate his devotion. Would that I could apply his zeal, his whole-heartedness to my good deeds. Attributed to R. Israel Ba’al Shem Tov SINAI1 141-2