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Come and see the works of G-d: an amazing revelation concerning the mystery of the greatness of the godly sage, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai.

a) Rebbi Shimon bar Yochai promised that through him the Torah would not be

forgotten from the Jewish People unlike what the rabbis said when they sat together in the yeshiva of Yavne (Shabbat, 138.) Rebbi Shimon answered them that it won't be forgotten, as the verse says, "For it will not be forgotten from the mouth of his seed."

In the Zohar it says ( Nasso,124 ) "Through this book ,the book of the Zohar, the People of Israel will come out of exile."

b) Understand this secret well. For this Rebbi Shimon brought a proof from the

spell the name ("כי לא תשכח מפי זרעו")above verse. The final letters of the verse

Yochai . That's to say by the seed of Yochai ( Rebbi Shimon, the son of Yochai ) the Torah will not be forgotten.

c) Know, the secret of Rebbi Shimon himself is alluded to in the verse," a holy one coming down from heaven " ( Daniel, 4,20 ),the initial letters of which spell the name Shimon.

d) And now… there is "the flowing stream, a fountain of wisdom " ( Proverbs 8,4 ) the initial letters of which spell Nachman, who even the holy one ( Rebbi Shimon )

has to receive from. Understand.

Prayer (47 For Lag B’Omer)

Lag B’omer – Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai

[This prayer is based on an awesome secret that Rav Nachman revealed about the greatness of Rashbi [Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai], may his memory be blessed. Rabbi Shimon promised the Jewish People that the Torah wouldn’t be forgotten because of him, for through the Zohar they will leave their exile. See the introduction to Lekutey Moharan. It is good to recite this prayer by the holy grave of Rashbi if one merits to come there. However, wherever you say it, you won’t lose out, for the radiance of the soul of the tzaddik spreads throughout the world, as is brought in the Zohar.]

Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, “holy one coming down from heaven,” holy candle, sublime candle, great candle, precious candle, you promised to the Jewish People that the Torah won’t be forgotten because of you, for, through the Zohar , they will leave their exile. Even in the midst of the concealment when God is completely concealed, in these days of the coming of the Messiah, You promised that, even so, the Torah won’t be forgotten from our seed, as is written: “I will surely hide my face in that day for all… that they have done… this song will testify as a witness that it will not be forgotten from the mouth of his seed.” Behold, the days have arrived in which we have no pleasure. Our exile and servitude have been long. Every day we become weaker. We’ve become orphans, without a father. There is no one to stand up for us. Now, in the midst of the strong end of this better exile, the sparks of Messiah have already begun to shine. They have been shining since the days of the divine Ari (Rabbi Isaac Luria Ashkenazi), may his memory be blessed. Your people, Israel, desire and long for the Blessed One very much. Everyone desires to fear Your Name with a wonderful and strong yearning such as has never been known. I have come to the end of all generations and I am still with You. We still hold onto You and long to serve You with great desire. But, even so, our distance from You in these times is immeasurable. We have sunk in deep mire without foothold. We’ve come into the depths of the waters – its flow has flooded us… In my oppression, who am I to tell of the troubles of Israel? You alone know the standing and condition of Israel in these, the last of days. However I’ve come to tell and cry about myself and my soul, about my immense distance from the Holy One; about the immensity of my many blemishes and transgressions and grievous, willful sins. About these I cry. Tears flow down from my eyes. I know of no way to gain back the power of holiness, nor how to merit to complete repentance. I don’t know on which path to start to abandon my evil ways and deplorable thoughts, or how to rectify such faults and blemishes. Woe, what has happened to me ?! What has happened to me? Maybe You’ll take pity. Maybe You’ll have mercy. No one can stop the Lord from saving me even at this time. Therefore I’ve come as a impoverished man at the door, poor and wretched, afflicted and oppressed, confused and crazed, to shout out and cry before the glory of Your holiness.

“Rebbi, Rebbi, Rebbi!” My father, my father, chariot and horseman of Israel,” flame of the candle of Torah – awake, why are You sleeping? How can you bear the suffering of Israel? Rise and awake together with all the true tzaddikim and look at the bitterness of the suffering of our souls… Tzaddikim, foundations of the world, rise and come to our assistance in this time of trouble. Take pity and have mercy upon all of the congregation of Israel, including myself, the sinner, who is blemished and full of sins, from head to toe. You know all the hardships that have befallen us from the day of our exile from the Land of Israel until now. You know what has happened to the People of Israel, in general and specifically, what has happened specifically to each individual, in particular what has befallen me since the emanation, formation, creation and making of my higher soul, spirit, soul and body. You know all that has befallen me in each reincarnation and, in particular, what has happened to me in this body, everything that has happened to me since I came into existence up until today. That which I still remember and that which I’ve forgotten – all the reams of blemishes I’ve committed in just one day, according to the place where they reach in relation to the source of my soul. Certainly, even more so, that which I’ve blemished in all these days from when I was born until today [specify the blemishes in detail]. Who can tell, who can measure? What can I say?

Master of the World, put into the heart of this holy and awesome tzaddik [who rests here] and into the heart of all the true tzaddikim that they not conceal themselves from me. Let them stand up for me and speak on my behalf. Let them search and find in me good points, to turn things to my merit. May they advocate well on my behalf so that You bring me closer to You, with compassion. Give me a new heart and place a new spirit within me, so that I merit to really awaken from now on to return to You, truthfully and wholeheartedly! All you who rest in the dust, pray for me, for one who is sunken in deep mire without a foothold.

Rabbi, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, remember this and take notice, that we’ve merited in these generations to hear awesome wonders of your greatness and learnt how it’s alluded in the Torah that through you the Torah won’t be forgotten. The verse you brought is itself proof - “for it will not be forgotten from the mouth of his seed" – In Hebrew the final letters spell out Yochai. Your holy name itself is alluded to in the verse. “Holy one coming down from Heaven”, whose initial letters spell Yochai. You alone know the secret of these things. You alone know the greatness of the promise you gave us, that through you the Torah won’t be forgotten from Israel. You know how Moses prophesied this beforehand in his holy Torah. Therefore I’ve come, holy Rabbis, to remind you. Have pity on me. Don’t look at the evil that I’ve committed up until today, in thought, speech and deed. Have mercy upon me. Don’t take notice of all that I’ve transgressed. Don’t be angry at me, G-d forbid. From now on think of ways that I won’t be pushed away from the Holy One and from yourselves, Heaven forbid, for nothing can prevent the Lord saving me even at this time. I have no strength now other than in my mouth. This is also from God whose kindness and truth haven’t left me. They have given strength to someone as tired as myself to sat these few words. In this I have put my trust, that you, the tzaddikim, will have mercy on me and act so that I merit to truly return to the Holy One (and to come safely to the Land of Israel very soon, to say all this, and more than this, on your holy tomb). In His mercy, may the good Lord hearken to your prayers, help, protect and save me and all Israel for your sakes. May G-d return me in perfect repentance before Him quickly. May He hold me and not let go of me; don’t leave me or abandon me under any circumstances until I merit to really return to Him and to be as He wills, from now on, forever. Through the strength and the merit of the true tzaddikim, let me rectify in my lifetime all that I’ve blemished. Upon them alone I can rely to arrange these words before them and before the Holy One, the Merciful One, Who knows hidden things… “Bring my soul out of prison so that I may praise Your Name; the tzaddikim will surround me; for You will deal bountifully with me.”

1. HAPPY ARE THOSE

a) By learning Torah all our prayers and requests are accepted, the charm and importance of Israel is raised and exalted in the eyes of all those we need, whether materially or spiritually.

b) Studying Torah with all one's strength gives strength to the Kingdom of Holiness and strengthens the good inclination to overcome the evil inclination.

c) When you engage in the study of Torah you will be able to understand the hints and meanings contained in all the things in the world and use them to attach yourself to the Holy One. Then, even if you find yourself in a grim and dark place where you think it hard to draw close to G-d, there also true wisdom will radiate to you to enable you to come close to G-d even from there.

d) Nobody sins unless he is overcome by the spirit of folly. Therefore, each individual, according to the sins and blemishes he committed, literally becomes mad. This is why most people suffer from several kinds of madness. The remedy for this is to study Torah with all one's strength, for it comprises of all the Names of G-d. By this, you subdue the evil urge and drive out the madness and spirit of folly that became attached to you through your sins.

e) One also merits through learning Torah to be saved from the deceitful cunning of the evil urge, for usually it doesn't entice a person to sin immediately, but rather, at first it disguises itself as a mitzvah etc. When you learn Torah you acquire true wisdom and merit to avoid all this.

f) The main reason why our prayers are not accepted is that the words lack charm. Therefore each person has to try to have charm and truth in his words. This you acquire by learning Torah; then all your prayers are accepted.

g) A Jewish person always has to look at the intelligence in each thing and to connect himself to the wisdom and intelligence that exist in each thing in order that they will enlighten him and bring him closer to the Holy One, for the main vitality in each thing is only from the intelligence and wisdom in it, as it says, " the wisdom gives life". Intelligence is a great light which enlightens a person in all his paths, like the sun. Then, when a person comes to a place that is dim and dark, Heaven forbid, even so, when he merits to look at the wisdom and life force in each thing, then this wisdom will enlighten him and bring him closer to G-d. This is an aspect of what Joseph merited to when he overcame his temptation by looking at the wisdom in each thing.

h) It is impossible to merit to this light of wisdom other than through Malkhut meaning by taking upon yourself the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven, truly, with complete faith; you have to limit your knowledge and disregard all your wisdom completely, as if you haven't any independent wisdom at all, while loathing all extraneous intellect and wisdoms. You should long for and desire just to receive light and vitality from the true intelligence and wisdom which are from the sublime, holy Intelligence which is the main vitality in each thing, as explained previously.

i) The main struggle between the good urge and the evil urge is only in this, for

the good urge encourages a person to loathe all extraneous wisdoms and intellect and all the physical desires which are complete folly and real foolishness and that you should attach yourself only to the light of holy wisdom. The evil urge, however, entices a person to the opposite, as it says, "the fool doesn't desire wisdom". This is like Esau who scorned the portion of the first born which represents the wisdom and intellect of holiness. Thus, each person has to give strength to the good urge to overcome the evil urge, as the Sages said, "A person should always enrage the good urge against the evil urge." To achieve this you have to engage in learning Torah with all your strength.

j) When you merit to all the above, a great unification is made in all the worlds and the light of the moon becomes like the light of the sun. Then you merit to acquire charm and by this all your prayers and requests are accepted.

k) The evil urge wants to make a person literally crazy, Heaven forbid, for a sinner is a madman, as the Sages said, "A person doesn't sin unless the spirit of folly enters him." But how can it come and suddenly make him mad, Heaven forbid. So the way of the evil urge is to disguise itself as a mitzvah and thus mislead a person to think he is performing a mitzvah. Afterwards it misleads and entices him even more until he actually performs real sins on purpose, Heaven forbid. This is exactly like the madness of a madman whose mind is confused and crazed until he says about bad that it's good. However, even so, there still remain some sparks of intelligence and knowledge such that, even in his folly, also he understands and senses that he shouldn't do such things. Nevertheless, he still does them. Because of this, two tactics are needed to cure the madman. Firstly, one has to hit them in order to stop them from sinning on purpose; thus, at least, it won't be easy for them, in their madness, to do things that they themselves also understand to be crazy and foolish. Secondly, one has to put an amulet on them in order to drive out the evil spirit from them which confuses and unbalances their mind, Heaven forbid, making them turn the straight path upside down and say that evil is good etc.

So also with the curing of a person from the madness of the evil urge, he also needs these two aspects. First, to subdue all of his deliberate evil so as not to do at least what he himself understands to be evil and a real sin, Heaven forbid. Then he needs to have the spirit of evil and folly driven out of him which disguises itself as mitzvoth and misleads him as though he were urging him to do a mitzvah. We merit to all this fully only through studying Torah which includes both of these tactics.

l) The main way of attaching yourself to this holy intelligence in all things is by pure simplicity which is an aspect of what it says, "Ya'acov was a pure, simple man" for he merited to ascertain this light of the intellect to perfection.

Master of all. Ruler of everything. You created Your Nation, Israel in order that they merit to the true ultimate purpose, the eternal purpose, to have dominion over the angels. This is the purpose and the true goal of each Jew; he was created for this to have dominion over the angels. But You, my Father, know how far away I am from this purpose. In Your awesome wonders, carve a path under Your Throne of Glory and return me to You in complete repentance, with all my heart in such a way that from now I will truly, pursue this holy purpose for which I was created. Merit me to really ascertain this ultimate purpose.

Master of the Universe, You know all the hidden things, looking at and examining all the generations until the end. You know the immense jealousy of the angels have towards us because of our ability to ascertain this ultimate purpose which is to have dominion over them. The angels are particularly jealous of Jews who are weak, like us nowadays, and in who he fire of physical desire burns. The evil urge of man exists in his heart since his youth, we have become accustomed to these desires and this had led to sins and iniquities. Oh G-d to where can we escape. I pass through This World for only a very short time, like a passing shadow, like dust in the wind. What will I answer to He who sent me. What will I do when the day of judgment for me comes.

Please G-d, You are good to everyone, merit me, in Your bountiful mercy, to have the strength to acquire and maintain this ultimate purpose of having dominion over the angels for always. Help us Give us understanding to merit to hold onto the Throne of Glory which is the source of all Jewish souls.

In Your bountiful mercy let us merit guard the fear in our heart and let us welcome the three Festivals – Pesach, Shavuot and Succot – with tremendously great happiness and joy, with great and absolutely perfect fear, love, holiness and purity, as is Your good desire. May I honour them with all sorts of honour and delight, with food and drink and delicacies and specially fine clothes. Let us pray with devotion, with great happiness and spiritual arousal. May we merit by the three Festivals to rectify and renew all the three brains that are in the three vacuums of the skull, which correspond to wisdom, understanding and perception, such that we merit by this to break and nullify all the three desires - the craving for money, the craving for sex and the craving for food. They are our enemies; by them we have lost, what we have lost, we have come to what we have come! Please Lord, I plead with You Lord, take pity and have mercy upon us. Have mercy upon our souls. Have mercy on our babies and children. Have mercy on us and on all those dependent upon us. Have mercy on Your honour.

From now on, grant us merit, strengthen us, encourage us and gladden us with holy happiness in such a way that great holy strength and might be drawn upon us. Thereby let us merit very soon to break and nullify all these three cravings. Let us draw holy perception into our hearts by the holiness of the three Festivals. By this, let us merit to rectify our hearts and nullify from our hearts all these three cravings so that no impression of them remains in us at all. May we merit to welcome the Festival of Pesach, the time of our freedom, with great holiness. By this, may we merit to attract a consciousness and perception in order to break the craving for money. In the merit of the holiness of the Festival of Shavuot, let us merit to draw consciousness and perception in order to break the craving for sex. In the merit of the holiness of the Festival of Succot, the Festival of Ingathering of the harvest, let us merit to consciousness and perception in order to break the craving for food.

Please Lord, take pity and have mercy upon us. In compassion fulfill all our wishes for the good. You, in Your bountiful mercy, revealed to us these good and holy pieces of advice about how to escape from all evil. You informed us of this good, straightforward advice that we can break all the three principal cravings by welcoming the three Festivals with holiness, as is fitting. However, You know the evil of our hearts and stubbornness, the confusion and turbidnes of our minds and the greatness and the greatness of our weakness, such that this advice is itself difficult for us to fulfill. We do not know any way or strategy, or in what manner, we can merit to welcome the three Festivals properly. Lord over all, it is revealed before You how far away we are from the holiness of the three Festivals for we have blemished all Your holy Torah, especially the holiness and happiness of Shabbat and the Festivals. We have blemished the three Festivals themselves very, very much.

Please Lord, please inform us of Your ways so that we know how to find grace in Your eyes and know how to impress our requests upon You, such that we merit to really come close to You. Let us merit to fulfill all the really good pieces of advice which You revealed to us by Your true tzaddikim until we merit to really return to You wholeheartedly. Take pity and have mercy upon us; please, arouse Your mercy upon us; please, please, arouse Your mercy upon us, Merciful King, have mercy upon us. You, who are good and do good, wish us well. In Your very great mercy, return to us because of our Patriarchs who fulfilled Your will. In Your bountiful mercy, grant us merit that we welcome all the three Festivals with tremendously great, infinite happiness and joy. Let us merit to the real happiness of the Festivals, as is Your good desire.

Have pity and mercy upon us for we do not know any path by which to merit to the happiness of the Festival other that by Your great power alone. Sanctify us in Your commandments and may our portion in life be in Your Torah. Satisfy us from Your good bounty and gladden us in Your salvation. Purify our hearts to serve You truly. Lord, our G-d, give us Your holy Festivals of Assembly as an inheritance with joy and delight such that we merit, through power of the holiness of the three Festivals, to break and nullify all the three evil desires which are the craving for money, the craving for sex and the craving for food. Let us be really holy and pure. Extract us from the darkness and gloom and bring us to light and great and great brightness. May we draw the holy perception into the heart so as to rectify, refine and purify the heart from all these three cravings. Fulfill in us the verse which says: “Know therefore this day and consider it in your heart, that the Lord is G-d in heaven above and upon the earth below: there is none else”.

Your compassion is great so save us; help us to rectify and purify the blood within us. Merit us to subdue the impure blood which is in the left chamber of theheart so that we clean and purify our hearts from any impurities in the blood that we have had since nursing impure milk from our mothers. As a result, merit us to overcome completely the craving for women until we achieve a real holiness of the brit. Help us and our offspring such that we all really guard the brit while rectifiying and purifying all the three attributes that we mentioned previously. By this, merit us to guard and preserve perfect fear of G-d in the heart. Then merit us very speedily to the building of Jerusalem. Let us serve You there with true fear, as always used to be the case many years ago; constant fear of Your glorious and awesome Name, Lord, our G-d. And through this great fear and awe in our hearts, may we create an angel which will transmit prophesy to the vessels of prophesy. May an abundance of prophecy be drawn down into the world.

Guard us and save us from being appointed to positions of authority so that we have no craving or desire for such an appointment, whether it carries significance or not. Don’t burden us with the needs of the community. Rather merit us to serve You with real love and fear, with great simplicity and purity, for Your Name’s sake, alone, without any ulterior motives or confused thoughts at all.

So, have mercy on us for You are full of compassion. Bestow upon us good from Your true goodness. Merit us to perfect prayer so we can pray before You with all our heart and soul. Let us not take lightly our prayers because they are of the greatest importance in the heights of heave. May we, put all our hearts into our prayers rather than reciting the words out of rote; help us not to feel that prayer is a burden, Heaven forbid. In Your bountiful mercy, merit us to strengthen ourselves withal our power in numerous ways so that we can pray before You perfectly, with real concentration and the proper intentions in our heart. Help us to redeem our prayer from the great and bitter exile into which it has fallen now because of all our iniquities. Save us, for Your Name’s sake for You are full of compassion and harken to the prayers always of the Jewish People.

So, let the words of prayer always flow smoothly in our mouths. Then, in the merit of our prayers, may we subdue, break and nullify all the natural cures of the doctors thus revealing the truth to the world that no doctor in the world knows anything about curing any illness. Rather, all the cures in the world come about only through the word of G-d alone.

By rectification of three good traits (complete belief, guarding the brit and honouring people), let us merit to perfect prayer. Help us to pray before You properly, in absolute perfection until we merit by prayer to draw complete healing upon ourselves and our offspring and to all Your nation, the House of Israel (in particular so and so, son of ….). For You are G-d, King, the faithful and compassionate Healer. May we merit by our prayers that all the grasses and herbs of the field, all of them as one, return and give all their strength into the words of our prayers; for that strength is a word of the Blessed One which is their heavenly source. May the power of all the cures from all the grasses and spices in the world be included in our prayers and let our prayers be in great perfection, comprising all the good from all the powers of all the herbs of the field and their kind.

Give us merit to raise them all before You as a pleasing aroma, to return them to their highest source through our prayers which are comprised of them all. By this, may we merit to draw the powers of all the cures in the world into brad and water and all things that we eat or drink until we acquire a complete cure for all our illnesses and pains through anything in the world, without any physician or doctor at all; just You, Yourself, in Your honour, cure us completely, as is written: “for I am Your Healer”.

May we merit to receive from You a complete cure at the time of the onset of illness, at the time when the illness is closed and hidden within us and we know nothing of it, for You alone know all the mysteries with us. Have mercy upon us, in Your great compassion, and provide a cure prior to the affliction; cure us before the onset of the illness, at the time when some ailment starts to spread and from which something may develop, Heaven forbid. You, in Your compassion alone, cure us from all this, for we know no advice or strategy or any cure for any illness, affliction or pain, whether it is at a time the illness is hidden or whether when it is already revealed, Heaven forbid. In all these situations we have no hope of any use; ‘they are worthless’, “together they are lighter than vanity”, they will not help or save, for they are worthless! We rely only upon You; we wait and hope for Your healing for You are a faithful Healer, a true Healer a charitable Healer, with loving-kindness and compassion. Help us, save us and protect us. Distance us, always, from physicians and doctors! Subdue, overthrow and degrade all the doctors with all their cures, for You know that they damage the world very, very much. By mistake or intentionally they harm many people, every day and every hour. Save us from them, our Father in Heaven, guard us from them; us and all our offspring and their offspring and all the offspring of Your Nation, the House of Israel, form now on, forever.

Give us merit to receive all the cures in the world that there are no cures in the world except by prayer alone. May we merit to fulfill that which is written: “And He said: If you will diligently listen to the voce of the Lord, your G-d and you do that which is right in His sight, and you listen to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon you that I brought upon the Egyptians; for I am the Lord who heals you”.

In Your bountiful mercy and immense loving-kindness, have compassion upon us that we merit to welcome the holy Rosh HaShana with great holiness and purity, with fear and love, with happiness and great joy, for, in Your mercy, You chose us from all the nations and sanctified us in Your commandments. You did for us this great act of loving-kindness and gave us this wonderful gift which is the holy Rosh HaShana, a holy, awesome and very fearful day in which our Kingship will be exalted, Your throne will be established in loving-kindness and You will sit upon in in truth. In Your bountiful mercy and immense loving-kindness You fixed for us the great and holy day of Rosh HaShana, the great and awesome day of judgment, on the first day of the month of Tishrei which itself is a great and wonderful act of loving-kindness from You, O Charitable and Merciful One. You think from afar to better our end, You are good and do good to the wicked and to those who are good; You gave us a cure and balm prior to our ailment, for You know that we are only flesh and blood; from clay we are formed…You fixed for us the holy day of Rosh HaShana, the great and awesome days of judgment, on the first day of the month when You Yourself ask atonement, so to speak, as the Sages, may their memory be blessed, said, ‘Bring an atonement for Me for My having reduced the size of the moon’. You Yourself regret, so to speak, Your actions, that You made the moon smaller, this being where all our sins are drawn from. Therefore You gave us an excuse to come and confess before You, to regret our actions on the great day of judgment, which is Rosh HaShana, for You also regret and ask atonement then.

Therefore we have come before You, Lord, our G-d and G-d of our fathers, G-d of loving-kindness and compassion; let us merit in Your immense mercy and loving-kindness that we welcome this tremendous act of loving-kindness on the holy day of Rosh HaShana, may it come to us for the good. Have mercy upon us for the sake of Your Name. May we merit to welcome the holy day of Rosh HaShana with great holiness for You know that in these generations, called the Footsteps of Messiah, we have no hope other than the holy Rosh HaShana when we gather together in all the dwelling places of Israel.

You, who know the hidden, who searches out the hearts, Master of loving-kindness, full of compassion, teach us and show us how to draw great loving-kindness upon ourselves in such a way that we merit to truly return to You wholeheartedly. We have sinned by error, committed iniquity and willfully transgressed before You a very great deal and belittled Your honour very much; we have followed the cravings of our heart and drawn upon ourselves the evil desire, we have blemished and spoiled that which we have spoiled until according to the holy rule of judgment, we should have no advocate of merit.

Because of this we have come before You to beg and prostrate ourselves before the mercy of Your Throne of Glory; we raise our eyes towards You Lord, our G-d and

G-d of our fathers, and ask that You act for the sake of Your simple mercy and loving-kindness and that You Yourself sit in our judgment, for judgment is G-d’s. Give no strength or permission, Heaven Forbid, to any person in the world, nor to any court, whether in the world above or the world below, nor to any angel or seraph, nor to any creature in the world, to judge and sentence us, Heaven forbid. “Far be it from You to act in this manner’.

Rather, may You alone sentence and judge us in Your bountiful mercy and great loving-kindness. ‘Let our sentence come forth from before You; let Your eyes behold (in righteousness) that which is upright’. You alone know our place for ‘You alone know how to always judge us all on the side of merit. “Your mercy is great Lord, grant me life according to You (usually merciful) judgment”. You know the place of each and every one of us, Your Nation Israel; You know how he was born and how his higher soul was drawn into This World, and where he has been, physically and spiritually, up until today. You are full of mercy and tend always towards loving-kindness. Our Father in Heaven, true merciful One and Lover of kindness have pity upon us in this time of trouble when “children are come to birth and there in no strength to give birth”. Act in loving-kindness with us out of charity, for You will not lack. From now on let us merit to be really as Your will, to turn aside from evil and to always do that which is good in Your eyes.

In Your bountiful mercy, draw upon us always the holiness of Rosh HaShana; pardon and forgive us for all our willful transgressions, sins and error of iniquities. Fill in the blemish of the moon so that it will have no decrease in its size and may its light be as the light of the sun, as the light of the seven days of Creation, as it was before its waning. Favor us and help us to merit to hold onto the Throne of Glory, the root of the souls of Israel, until we have the strength to worship on Rosh HaShana, to always draw and radiate upon ourselves and all Israel the holiness of Rosh HaShana. May we merit to always judge each person on the side of merit, to push the entire world into the scale of merit, to find merit in each and every one according to his place. May we truly know the place of every one according to his place. May we truly know the place of every single person and draw merit, loving-kindness and mercy upon every one in the community of Israel, Your holy nation, which You chose – even upon the worst of the worst and the least of the least! Open for us the light of knowledge so that we merit to find merit in everyone. Have mercy upon us, always guard and save us so that we will not speak evil against any Jew in the world, Heaven forbid!

In Your mercy, save us from speaking evil, even the slightest suggestion of evil and may we not even begin to condemn any Jew, Heaven forbid. Rather may we merit to always find the merit, loving-kindness and good in every single individual, even in the lowest of all places, the very worst and least and let us always push everything to the side of merit.

Compassionate One, fulfill all our wishes for the good. Grant our requests for the good as speedily as possible. Take pleasure from all of the Jewish People, from the greatest to the most insignificant; they are all precious and cherished in Your eyes. Everything is in Your power. Our distance from You has become immense because of our many sins. Even so, You can raise us and elevate us; You can draw upon us holiness and purity thus bringing us back to You in complete repentance before You. You can bring us really close to Your service until we reach all that we have asked from You.

Amen. So may it be Your will.

2. THE DAYS OF CHANUKAH

(a) The days of Chanukah are days of thanksgiving which is an aspect of the delight of the World to Come.

(b) The main delight of the World to Come is to give thanks and praise the Holy One, to know and recognize G-d; by this we become near and close to Him, for however much more we know and recognize Him, we become even nearer to Him. For all other things will be nullified in the future; only this aspect of giving thanks and praising and knowing G-d will remain. This will be the entire delight of the World to Come.

(c) Studying halacha, especially when one merits to innovate new ideas in them, this is also an aspect of the delight of the World to Come.

(d) By giving thanks to the Holy One and by studying halacha, childbirth comes easily. Similarly, one is saved through this from all kinds of trouble.

(e) When a person is in distress. Heaven forbid, then truth has been blemished. Therefore, he has to guard himself especially from being caught in some kind of mistake or lie because of the distress, Heaven save us.

(f) Through disturbing a Torah scholar from studying a person becomes ill in his legs.

(g) When a person merits to give thanks and to praise G-d at all times for whatever happens to him, especially when he comes out of some distress, Heaven forbid, and similarly by studying halacha, through this he merits to the three columns of truth. That's to say, he merits to pray with truth which is the essence of perfect prayer. Secondly, he receives the Torah of truth from a true Rebbe who teaches him the straight path in his true Torah. Thirdly, he merits to true match-making, meaning that the Holy One will arrange for him and his children to find their true marriage partner. And this truth will radiate and complete the four parts of speech (explained in the next paragraph). Through this he will merit to draw the blessing, holiness and joy of Shabbat to the other days of the week. As a result, the simple unity of G-d is revealed within all the many differing events; he can then truly believe and know that all the differing events stem from the Simple One, may He be blessed. This aspect is very precious indeed in all the worlds on High. Even to the Holy One this is a very precious, important and wonderful thing.

(h) The four parts of speech are: firstly, there is a word of charity. Man is defined as a speaker and this power of speech stems from charity, for charity and loving-kindness is also a definition of man. The definition of man as a speaker is that he bestows kindness to others. Someone who doesn't give charity or bestow kindness blemishes the power of speech very much; he similar to an animal and is not a human being at all. Man is only so called by his giving charity and bestowing kindness. Secondly, there is a word of repentance, meaning that one speaks many words of repentance before the Holy One. Thirdly, there is the speech of the wealthy who are close to the government; the Holy One grants them a special charm in their words enabling them to nullify any harsh decree and to bring about favours and salvations for the Jewish People. Fourthly, there is speech of the Kingdom of Holiness, meaning that the Holy One will bring us our righteous Meshiach so that we shall merit to hear his holy, pure and awesome words from his holy mouth.

(i) The essence and perfection of the power of speech is through truth.

(j) Supporters of the Torah, who give their money to Torah scholars, have very great merit. By their money which supports Torah scholars the latter can engage in studying Torah and give birth to halachic decisions and Torah innovations. This means that they have a part in the Torah which is born and revealed by these Torah scholars. All the money they give to Torah scholars, even though it may be missing temporarily from them, even so, by the halacha which is born and innovated as a result, through this a bounty of loving-kindness comes about and then what the doners lack is returned and restored. Then they merit to the delight of the World to Come which is an aspect of filling the lack (see inside) and to all the three lines of truth which radiate into the four parts of speech and to all the rectifications mentioned previously.

(k) Through the prayers that the People of Israel pray with truth, they are called by the name El, for the Holy One is called El when referring to His strength. For He is all-powerful and omnipotent. By prayers we take to ourselves this power from Him, for we nullify His decrees; then the Jewish People are called by the name El.

(l) By means of lighting the candles of Chanukah and by reciting Hallel and praises of G-d during Chanukah, which is the essence of the delight of the World to Come, as explained, we merit also that the three columns of truth will radiate into the four parts of speech, as mentioned, and perfect the power of speech. By this we will merit draw the holiness and joy of Shabbat into the other six days of the week. In consequence, His simple unity will be revealed within the different events that take place, as explained above. Happy is he who merits to such a Chanukah, to draw down all these awesome rectifications.

(m) Someone who merits to perfection of the power of speech through all these awesome rectifications can bring about with his speech anything he wants, that's to say he can change the laws of nature according to his will through the perfection of his speech.

(n) When a woman is having difficulty in giving birth, there is a special power to help her by reciting ‘A Psalm of Thanksgiving’ (Psalm 100) again and again.

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