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Master of the Universe, truly merciful Father, You know that all our life-force is dependent on the tzaddikim, our holy teachers, may their memories be blessed. We have to talk to them and receive their holy words from anew each time. But now, what shall we do? Teach and guide me how to shout out and plead in such a way that now also I can draw their immense holiness upon myself through the impression of their holiness that they left in the world, in their holy books and precious students. The tzaddikim, now, are even more present in the world, as it says in the Zohar for the main perfection of the neshama is that when it passes away far, far away into the world Above, it will also be in the world Below in order to arouse, awaken and revive all the Jewish souls, even those who dwell in the pit of Hell and beneath it, so that they never despair for any reason.
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Please have pity and mercy upon Rachel and her tears which she spills profusely at our distress and the anguish of our souls. Rachel cries over her sons who were exiled from the table of their Father and from their country. She cries every night, with tears on her cheek. There is no-one to comfort her because of our sins. Master of the Universe, have mercy on us. Who will rectify our souls? Who will return us in complete repentance? Who will arouse us from our sleep so that we really return to You? Woe to us in these generations. Nevertheless, we know that, even now, these tzaddikim are engaged in the rectification of countless souls, both the souls of the living and those of the dead.
God, You are holy and Your Name is awesome. Your Name is bound up with the name of the true tzaddikim. Merit us, in Your immense compassion, to really know who is the ‘Master of the House’ over the whole world now, and who draws strength from all the true tzaddikim of previous generations. In Your great pity, merit us to really come close to him and to always be really merged in the name, splendour and glory of the true tzaddikim. May we attach ourselves and cleave to them with a really strong bond which is unbreakable, in such a way that we can look truly at ourselves from now on, especially all our attributes and cravings which stem from the four base elements (earth, water, air and fire). Help us to refine and purify them from all evil so that we can return in full repentance. Merit us to strengthen ourselves so as to break and nullify all our bad characteristics and physical cravings, which stem from the four base elements, so that we can purify and sanctify ourselves with the utmost perfection. As a result, enable us to perceive the exaltedness of the Holy One and to see His awesome wonders. Then, may we draw upon ourselves holy and pure brains from the holy name of the tzaddikim in such a way that we can merit to add holiness upon holiness until we become completely good.
O Lord, My God, you know. To converse and pray a great deal before You is impossible other than by Your great compassion and salvation, for I have no word in my language to express myself well before You about all that is hidden and concealed in my heart. May I merit to find grace in Your eyes from now on, so that You open for me, from anew, the gates of prayer, the gates of supplication and request, the gates of real rhetoric, the gates of meditation, the gates of conversation and holy speech, the gates of grace and supplications. As a result, may I merit from now on to express myself before you with new words of supplication, favour and appeasement each time, in such a way that I can pour out my heart like water before You, and can prostrate myself before You with real yearning, with real self-sacrifice, to ask from before You to save my soul because of all the sins, iniquities and wilful transgressions that I’ve committed so greatly against You all the years until now. What can I say? “I will drive off sleep (in prayers) because of the bitterness of my soul.” “Would that my head were waters and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night” over the distress of my soul, which I cause in vain because of a slight craving that passes away like a shadow. I’ve rebelled against You in the way that I have. I have come to what I’ve come to; I’ve lost what I’ve lost. Woe is me! Woe is my soul! Oh, what have I done? “If it weren’t for Your Torah, my delight, I should have perished in my affliction.”
Therefore, I have come before You, who are full of mercy, that You grant me new, sincere words from the source of holy speech in such a way that I merit from now on to pour out my speech before You at all times, with words of grace and sincere supplications so that I merit to find favour and appease You and so that from now on, in Your bountiful mercy I will walk in Your statutes and observe Your commandments. May I merit, from now on, to renew those days that passed in darkness and in the gloom of the banished. Let me not return to folly again. You, who are full of mercy, help me and save me; You who are full of salvation.
Open the eyes of my intellect and mind in the way of the truth and true simplicity, so that I merit to know very well the true, right path for how to make pleasing , sincere prayers out of the Torah discourses, as is Your desire and the desire of those who fear You – the true tzaddikim who revealed these new interpretations of the Torah in the world. Let me make these prayers in such a way that they bring great delight before You, until Your mercy is really and completely aroused. Really return me to You. Help me grasp the holy intention of the true tzaddikim wherever I learn in their holy books and to arrange beautiful and holy prayers on all the things that are really stated or alluded to in their holy words so that I may implement them very soon.
May I pour out my conversation before You about every single Torah lesson that the true tzaddikim revealed to the world. Let me progress in Your service sincerely with all the words of their lessons so that I may walk in the path of holiness for some time in the light of one of their new interpretations of the Torah and to plead, beg, pray and talk before You during that same period until I manage to reach and grasp that way of serving God which is spoken of in that Torah lesson and to really fulfill everything that is stated there. May all my service during that same period be according to that Torah lesson. Afterwards, let me progress for a certain amount of time with another new interpretation of the Torah until I’ve progressed with all the new interpretations that have been revealed in the world and to really grasp their intention and to merit to implement them perfectly. If I am very, very far away from this at the moment, still, in Your eyes nothing is distant, for nothing is beyond You. Yes, “You can do everything and nothing can be withheld from You.” You do new things all the time that have never been done before. Help me. Help me. Save me. Save me for now I have no strength other than to spread out my hands to plead for mercy. This also I don’t really manage to do properly. Just from afar I will hope and look forward at all times to Your complete and true salvation. Do with me that which is good in Your eyes for I don’t know anything – How to talk or what to say or by what path I will merit to achieve all that I have asked from You. Nor do I know how to find the real point at all times. This is the point which relates to my heart at a certain time and through which I could merit to behave at all times, at every moment, as is Your good desire; then I could arrange a sincere prayer and pleasing conversation before You and attach myself sincerely to the true point which relates to my heart at this time. By this I could return to You and could always be really as is Your good desire.
Unique One, Eternal One, strong and bold One, strengthen and encourage me always in prayer and conversation before You. Lord, open my lips so that my mouth may declare Your praise. “Accept, I beseech You, the free will offerings of my mouth. O Lord, and teach me Your judgements.” “Preparations of the heart are in man and the answer of the tongue is from the Lord.” Show me what to say; give me wisdom to know what to ask; inform me how to appease You; really teach me the paths of meditation and conversation with You, the master of compassion. May I use the language which I usually speak so that my conversation before You will always be just like speaking to a friend. Teach me by which path I may merit to triumph over You so that You return Your Countenance to us and return us in complete, sincere repentance before You. For You have already revealed to us that it is You desire that we merit to triumph over You.
Arouse Your compassion upon Your sons and, together with all those who desire and long to express themselves before You, grant me holy words drawn from the ten types of song by which King David composed the Book of Psalms which was written from the words of his holy conversations that he poured out all the time to God. For You know that we don’t know any path of the ten types of song. We only rely and resort upon the power and merit of King David, may he rest in peace, and in the power of all the tzaddikim who composed songs, praises prayers and conversations to be recited before You until they merited to ascertain all the ten types of song with ultimate perfection. In their strength alone I also rely, together with all those who desire to express themselves before You. May we also merit to speak holy, sincere words, which are drawn from the ten types of song as You desire. Let us pray a great deal and always express ourselves before You, sincerely and wholeheartedly, in such a way that by these holy words and prayers we may always defeat You, so that You very quickly begin and finish redeeming us, bringing us a complete redemption after which there will be no exile; a redemption of the soul, of the body and of our property, generally and specifically. Let us turn away from evil completely and always do that which is good in Your eyes, to be always permanently attached to Your holiness and to rise every time from one spiritual level to another with great holiness, as is really Your good desire. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing before Your Countenance, O God, my Rock and Redeemer.
Master of the World, who hears forever His people, Israel, protect us and save us so that we won’t be attracted to the songs of wailing and sadness which the wicked usually sing, for it’s the way of the world to be drawn to them very much. Have mercy upon us; protect us and save us from such songs for You know how very many spiritual faults and blemishes are caused by such songs and how much damage they do to good Jews, Heaven forbid. Have mercy upon me; in the strength and merit of the true tzaddikim; come to my aid and protect me at all times so that I be rescued from them. Let us merit to always gladden our souls in holiness and purity by tunes and songs of happiness which draw the heart towards You, to You worship, Your Torah and to true tzaddikim. Help us, in the strength of the true tzaddikim, to raise all these songs of the wicked through the holiness of Shabbat. Grant us strength to raise them and turn them into happiness when we sing them on Shabbat. May the merit of Shabbat protect us so that they won’t have any power to draw upon us sadness and sighing, Heaven forbid. On the contrary, let us merit to clarify them and raise them, turning them from sorrow and sighing to joy and happiness… May I merit to sing many melodies, songs, and songs of praise every Shabbat and on Festivals, with great happiness and joy, with a joyful and happy voice, with tunes of depression. Gladden our souls in Your salvation and purify our hearts in order to truly serve You.
O Lord, our God and God of our fathers, who chooses David His servant and his ancestors, who chooses songs of praise, may it be Your will that in Your great mercy and loving-kindness, You remember the Divine Presence who’s wandered from her place like a bird wanders from its nest. Raise the Community of Israel from its decline. In Your bountiful mercy, help us so that we merit to raise the voice of song in order to have the strength to arrange before You melodies, songs and songs of praise, in a voice of gaiety and joy. May we sing our melodies and songs in a pleasing and sweet voice, all the days of our lives, just as You like. Help us to learn Your holy Torah for its own sake both by day and by night. Grant us merit to learn the Written Torah by day and the Oral Torah by night.
Master of the World, in Your bountiful mercy, grant us the strength to overcome sleep so that we can drive sleep from our eyes and learn all the Oral Torah by night, as it says: “Rise, sing in the night in the beginning of the watches.” By this, draw upon us a thread of loving-kindness. Help us, through this, so that if we hear a voice of song or the tune sung by anybody in the world, it won’t have any strength to damage us or confuse us from serving You, Heaven forbid even if they are blemished voices stemming from birds caught in a trap (from souls trapped in the realms of impurity). Just grant us the strength to raise them, clarify them and return them to the realm of holiness. In Your bountiful mercy, arouse the rose of Sharon to sing in a pleasing, joyful voice. O Lord, quickly reign alone over all Your works. May the verse be fulfilled which says: “Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises. For God is the King of all the earth; sing praises with understanding.” Return the Priests to their service, the Levites to their rostrum, to their songs and to their melodies, and Israel to their dwelling place, the Holy Temple. Grant us holy intellect and wisdom to merit to always draw upon us the yoke of Your Kingdom. Let us reveal Your Kingdom and Lordship to all peoples. Speedily establish the Throne of David and bring us, very quickly and soon, Messiah the son of David, “the sweet psalmist of Israel.” “Then our mouths will be filled with laughter and our tongues with singing.” Then we will sing before You all our lives. May the verse be fulfilled which says: “The Lord is ready to save me; therefore we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of the Lord.” May this be speedily in our days Amen.
Please bring me speedily to the Land of Israel, the good holy Land. Draw Your perfect supervision over all the Land of Israel and over all the world. Renew Your world with the holiness of the Land of Israel in which all things happen according to Your Providence alone… Arouse a new song in the world, a song of wonders, as it says: “A Psalm. Sing to God a new song for He has done wonderful things…” We will give thanks to You by a new song for our salvation, for the redemption of our souls. Let us merit to sing psalms, praises and tunes before You, new tunes, songs and praises, songs of wonders beyond the laws of nature until we merit to take pleasure in the Lord, and hear the song and the melody which will be revealed in the future – a single, double, quadruple song, included in Your special Name (of 72 letters) and played on seventy-two chords which corresponds numerically to ‘chesed’ – which means loving-kindness.
Master of the World, grant me life; let me live and not die. Grant me a godly portion in the Next World. Grant me merit, grant me merit; be gracious to me and save me so that I may hear the voice of this song and melody which will be revealed in the future when You will renew Your world. You, who are full of mercy, who is good and does good – help me from now on so that I may strengthen myself and close my eyes and ears from looking at and listening to This World. Let me not look at the vanities of This World at all, nor listen to the voice of This World at all. May I never say anything which isn’t about Your Name and Your worship. From my words let there come song, praise and exaltation to Your great and holy Name. Let no vanity from the vanities of this world attach itself to me. Let me merit to subdue all my body, hands and legs to You so that I shan’t do anything with them that is devoid of Your worship. Rather, may my eyes, ears, mouth, heart, mind and thoughts; my whole body and hands and legs; the 248 limbs and 365 sinews; all the senses and strength, be attached to You and really cleave to You with a very strong bond of connection. Let them all be subservient to Your worship, for ever and ever, for all eternity, until I merit to hear in the future the voice of this holy and awesome melody which will be revealed in the future and which will be played upon 72 chords. Blessed is he who will merit to peep through the cracks to see and hear the dance of the tzaddikim when this great and holy melody will be played before them… It is impossible to perceive or grasp in the mind at all the pleasure and sweetness of this melody. Which You alone know. Help me and let me merit to turn away from evil speedily and always do that which is good in Your eyes. Let us merit to come closer to the true tzaddik who has already merited to the voice of this melody.
Master of the World, You informed us that every wisdom in the world has a special song and melody. So also, every form of belief has a special song and melody. Therefore, take pity and have mercy upon us. Save us so that we never hear a special song or melody belonging to a foreign wisdom, especially any wisdom or atheism or any false belief, Heaven forbid.
May we merit to sing joyfully and play holy melodies before You; to glorify Your Name with songs and melodies drawn from Your holy belief which, themselves, have the strength to remove from denial and perplexities in the heart and all sorts of confusion of the mind. Let us really arouse and draw the heart towards You, to Your Torah and to Your true worship. “Awake my glory; awake psaltery and harp; I will awaken the dawn.” Grant us, draw upon us and reveal to us holy songs, songs of praise and melodies stemming “from the earliest beginnings of faith.” stemming from the sublime melody and song of Moses, may he rest in peace, from whom all the songs and melodies of the world derive. By this, let us merit to really perfect belief.
Please Lord, Merciful One, full of compassion, have pity On my very wretched soul. Always come to my aid; strengthen and encourage my soul with all sorts of boldness and might in such a way that my good and holy soul overcome the body, its cravings and bad characteristics, until I merit to rid my soul of all sorts of cravings due to the body and its attributes. Let me purify and sanctify my soul and body by all sorts of purity and holiness and let me merit to extract my soul from all the cravings and evil characteristics which stem from the four basic, materialistic elements of the body.
In Your great compassion, extract me and raise me from the aspect of the animal to the aspect of man, from body to soul, from matter to form, from darkness to light, from foolishness to wisdom, from extraneous wisdoms and thoughts to the wisdom of the holy Torah, from forgetfulness to remembrance. Bestow upon me the power of memory from You and may I always remember well all the words of Your Torah and Your service, whether those that I learn from holy books or those I've heard, or will hear in the future, from my rabbis, my teachers and my friends. Let me merit from now to always remember well, through the power of holy memory, all the holy words that relate to fear of the Lord, to His worship and His Torah. Let me not forget anything of that which I have learnt. May I always remember very, very well my final end and let me always recall why I came to this lowly world. During all the days of my life, let me never forget what will be at the end of my life and after, when my end comes. May I member this every single day, for all our days and years are vanity, like a fleeting dream, like a passing shadow, as a cloud which vanishes, like a wind which blows, like dust which flies. It is impossible to escape death in any way at all. What will we think before the Lord and what will we do on the Day of Judgement? “Remember, don’t forget how you angered the Lord, Your God” from the days of your youth until today. There is no forgetting before the Throne of His Glory and nothing is hidden from His eyes! Help me and save me so I’ll always remember this, such that, from now on, I will merit to have mercy upon myself, to rescue my soul from the Pit, to prepare provisions for my ‘journey’.
In Your bountiful mercy, let me merit to forget all sorts of extraneous thoughts, improper thoughts and extraneous wisdoms and all the evil thoughts and crookedness of the heart which attached themselves to my heart and mind because of my many iniquities. Let me forget all sorts of thoughts that confuse me and distract me from Your true service. In Your great compassion, grant me merit to remove all of these things from my mind and heart completely so that I forget them completely from now on, forever. Now let me always remember You when I sit at home or when I travel, when I go to sleep and when I get up. May I always really attach my thoughts to You and to Your worship with fear and love, with great holiness and purity, with perfect truth and belief. May I merit to really attach my heart and thoughts to You. to Your Torah and Your commandments, with great cleaving, with a very strong and mighty attachment, such that I merit to always remember very well all the words of Your Torah and Your worship. Let me never ever forget even one word of Torah or of worship, rather, let me merit to always remember them, in This World and in the World to Come.
Our Father in Heaven, in Your compassion, fulfil our wishes. Save us from the power of illusion, from ‘death of the heart’ (a lack of sensitivity), from forgetfullness and the evil eye in all its aspects. May we merit to a holy power of memory so that we always attach our minds to the World to Come, both generally and specifically, every single day, in every single place we may be. Let us not lose our world, Heaven forbid, for no reason. Let us remember our Creator while we are still young. Let us merit to remember all the words of the Torah; let us not forget anything from what we’ve learnt, nor anything we saw or heard from Your true sages. May we always remember the World to Come until we merit to truly return in repentance to You, to be always as You desire.
Master of the World, who remembers the forgotten things, You are He who is Eternal. There is no forgetfulness before the Throne of Your Glory. Help me and save me for Your Name’s sake., so that I merit to remember very well all the words of the true tzaddikim from whose mouths I heard or from whose books I read. Let me merit to remember very well by means of the power of memory, every single word that I heard from their mouths or read from their written works. You know the immense loftiness and sublime virtue of every one of their holy words, even about worldly matters. It's impossible to set a value to them, for all their words are truthful and just. He who merits to really accept their words and engrave them well - in the power of his memory receives his face and mind and soul from the tzaddik, and then the light of the face of the tzaddik, his mind and his soul, are engraved in the mind of the receiver and listener, especially when one hears from them holy words of Torah. Several times a spark was ignited in my heart because of the immense, wonderful holiness of their awesome words which shine upon the earth and its inhabitants a very, very wonderful and awesome light which is beyond estimation. However, because of my many iniquities, forgetfullness has overcome me and the shining light of their words has been forgotten. Consequently, I’ve become as distant from You as I have. I have forgotten that which is good for me; I’ve forgotten their holiness. “I’m as forgotten from the heart as a dead man. I’m like a broken vessel.”
Therefore, I’ve come before You, Master of mercy, who recalls the forgotten things, to ask that from now on You have mercy upon me and grant me the merit to remember all the words of truth that I’ll hear from the mouths of true tzaddikim or that I’ll learn from their holy books. Remind me of all that I’ve heard already but forgotten. In Your mercy, bring it all back to my memory and let me never ever forget again something that I've learnt. Let this be so all the days of my life. Come to my aid and save me very soon so that I may perform that which the Sages warned us to do, which is to picture in the mind at the time of learning the image and face of the Tanna or the tzaddik whose holy words I am learning. It should be as if the Tanna or tzaddik were standing before me. So also, when I tell others of his words of Torah, let his holy image be pictured before me until it's considered as if the Tanna or tzaddik himself speaks with them and they hear his words from his holy mouth; then let his holy words complete their mission perfectly. May the tzaddikim finish all the rectifications that they began to draw into the world, to really return all the world to Your worship and to Your Torah. Let me merit to review every word and every true innovation of the holy Torah, one hundred and one times at least, so that I remember every word very well. Let me never forget anything that I've learnt, even one word, such that the face, intellect and soul of the true tzaddikim whose words I am learning will all be engraved and pictured in my mind, intellect and soul, and so that I will really taste the pleasantness and sweetness of their very lofty words. Shine into my mind and soul the light of the sparks of their radiating words. Shine a very, very, lofty and awesome light so that I merit to return to You in repentance very soon. Let me throw away all the idols of silver and gold and let me not follow my evil arbitrariness and stubbornness of heart. Let me draw myself away from the vanities of This World, its cravings and delights. Rather, may I direct all my aim in life, longing, desire and hope towards the Eternal World to Come. Don't let me exchange the permanent world for a world which passes as a shadow and is gone.
Have mercy upon me for Your Name's sake and let me merit to a real, holy memory, so that I remember well all the words of the holy Torah. Let me merit to be consistent in my learning, to learn Your holy Torah day and night. Let me review each thing one hundred and one times such that I remember very well every word of the Torah, every innovation, explanation and counsel that You revealed to us in Your holy Torah, which is full of holy and awesome advice and lights. Through the power of memory may I remember them all very well all the days of my life, forever, until the day that You will peacefully gather me to You. Let me merit to come there (before You in the World of Truth) with all the words of the Torah. Let all the words of the Written and Oral Torah be attached, engraved, included and united in my mind and soul. In Your compassion let me be considered among those who fear You and engage in learning Your Torah, about whom it says “Blessed is he who comes here with his learning at hand’s reach.” Have mercy upon me for Your Name’s sake, for in my oppression I know my own lowliness and worthlessness and how far away I am from all this. However, I rely upon Your bountiful mercy, for You are good and do good to all. You desire that we pray and plead before You for all the really great, eternal favours. On this I rely. Blessed is the Lord, God, the God of Israel who alone does wonders. May His glorious Name be blessed forever and let His glory fill the Earth.
Amen. Amen.
O Lord, our God and God of our fathers, may it be Your will that You help me, protect me and save me from evil speech. Let me never blemish my power of speech. Let no evil word about another Jew ever leave my mouth. May I never search for the sins in others. Rather, help me and direct my heart so that I always merit to search after any merit or good that is possible to find in each and every Jew, even the worst of the worst. Let me merit to strive after this, to look under the surface and find some merit even in the least of the least. Always be with me and help me so that I succeed to always find in them some element of merit and good. Let me always judge every person on the side of merit. In Your bountiful mercy, save me from the great and very serious transgression of speaking evil and the even more serious transgression of gossip, which is considered equal to the three most serious crimes in the Torah — worshipping idols, adultery and the spilling of blood. The crime of speaking evil is equal to all three of them together!
Master of all the World, have mercy upon me for Your sake and be with me whenever I speak. Let me merit to guard the openings of my mouth so that no evil speech or hint of evil speech against any Jew will come out of my mouth. Let me not say anything that isn’t fitting. Save me from all sorts of evil speech — speaking evil of someone, gossiping, speaking nonsense, joking, flattery, lying, disclosing secrets that shouldn’t be revealed, vulgarity, or speaking words of Torah or worship in a place or at a time that is not proper. Save me from all sorts of speech that are not good, from all sorts of foolish speech which blemish holy speech, for holy speech is he spirit of the mouth of the Holy One.
May I merit to always be good to everybody and never search for the flaws in people, Heaven forbid. Rather, let me merit to always try with all my strength and might to always find merit and good in each individual from Your Holy Nation, Israel, even in the least of the least, even in the most insignificant, even in those who oppose and persecute me. In Your compassion, may I merit to always judge them on the side of merit. Grant me intelligence and perception of how to always search and find merit or good points in them.
Save me from “the end of all flesh”, from all sorts of people who are the brazen ones of the generation, who always investigate and search after flaws in people and who always want to find a flaw or blemish in each and every person. Master of the World, You know all that has happened to us until now, everything that happens to us all the time, every day, every hour. Many have risen against us. The truth is, I know Lord, my God and God of my fathers, that I myself was the cause of these things by not guarding myself and by blemishing the covenant of the mouth and the covenant of the flesh. Through those blemishes, words were drawn to those who oppose us so that they have the power to speak against us, denunciate us and accuse us, Heaven forbid.
However, You, O Lord our God, have already promised that You desire mercy and You do great good; You want the wicked to repent, You don't want them to die. You hate and utterly despise all those who. Heaven forbid, want to arouse harsh judgement, to denunciate or accuse Your Nation, Israel, especially at the time when we are rebuked by You because of our sins, iniquities and wilful transgressions. Even though we really sinned before You, even so You don't want that people will accuse us, Heaven forbid. You choose, bring close and cherish whoever has mercy on Israel at such a time; whoever engages in praising their merits at such a time; whoever sacrifices himself to pray for them, to appease You on their behalf just like Moses, may he rest in peace, who sacrificed himself for Israel and always prayed for them even at the time when they did what they did. You, in Your mercy, always hearkened to his prayer. You cherished him very much because of this.
Save me from the hands of my enemies and persecutors. My Father in Heaven, save me, please, Redeemer and Saver. Save me, rescue me and redeem me physically or spiritually, from all sorts of haters, denunciators and accusers. Have mercy upon me for Your sake, for the sake of our fathers, for the sake of all the true tzaddikim upon whom we always trust. Grant us strength and might in the merit of the true tzaddikim; help us and save us so that we merit to subdue, and throw down to the earth all those who oppose the truth... Your mercy is very great. Do with us as You want, as is Your will. Who could say to You 'What are You going?' But who appointed them as a prosecutor or judge to judge us, Heaven forbid, and to accuse us? Who requested this from them?
Master of the World, hearken to the cry from the depths of the Pit of Hell and from even further down. Hear my bitter cry, my wailing and sighing. Awaken to my suffering and my persecution, for I myself persecute myself more than anyone. Others persecute me very, very much. Be gracious to me and help me to subdue the Other Side, “the end of all flesh”, under the power of holy speech... Uproot all the mouths and tongues of those who accuse, denunciate or speak evil against Israel, against those who desire to really fear Your Name. Make them repent of their evil ways and let them really search in their hearts for the truth. May the truth be revealed in the world.
Master of the World, who desires mercy, who is full of compassion, who looks at the wicked person and desires his righteousness, who always judges every person on the side of merit. You, who are great in loving-kindness and do much good, who rules His world in loving—kindness and His creatures in mercy, help me and grant me worthiness to go on the true path in such a way that I merit even now to search and find in myself some merit or good points, to always judge myself on the side of merit. Let this be in such a way that I merit to gladden myself at all times and really place myself onto the side of merit and thereby merit to really perfect repentance. By this, let me pray with great concentration, with liveliness and great happiness and immense joy. Let me merit to really fulfil the verse which says “I will sing the praises of God as long as I live”, with the little bit extra good I find in myself.
In Your bountiful mercy, let me merit to always judge every person on the side of merit even when I see a totally wicked person. Even so, let me search and search until I find some good points in him, until I merit to judge him on the side of merit and really place him in the scale of merit and, by this, really and truly bring him to perfect repentance. Master of the World, in the merit and strength of the true tzaddikim, who always speak well of Israel, who busy themselves and strive to search for and uncover and find some merit and good in every one of us, even the worst of the worst, in their merit and strength let us also merit to really reach this level. May we merit to come close to these true tzaddikim who are always engaged in this, to search and find good points in every Jewish individual, even in the sinners of Israel. Through their wisdom they search and find good points in everyone. They collect these points and join them together one by one to make an account and so place these people in the scale of merit. The tzaddikim build from these sinners wonderful and awesome structures of holiness and raise great pleasure before You, such pleasure as has never been raised. They merit to make holy songs and tunes by gathering all this good from these places. Master of the World, full of mercy, grant us merit to come close to these tzaddikim.
Let us merit to be included in them and to hear the holy prayer of these awesome tzaddikim, who alone know how to pray for all of Israel; who alone know how to pray in front of the congregation and fulfill their obligation, collecting all the good and all the good points from each one of the worshippers. Merciful One, only they know how to pray before You with all this good, to turn the attribute of strict justice into that of mercy. In Your great loving-kindness and immense mercy, let us merit to be included in the prayers of these tzaddikim and let them always pray on our behalf. Don't rest until You have mercy upon us, upon every individual. Gather us to You, homewards, and really enter us into the scale of the just. Always gladden our souls and return us in complete repentance before You, from now and forever.
Master of the World, let us merit to really enter into the scale of merit in such a way that from now on I may merit to return in really perfect repentance before You. Through the merit of all the true tzaddikim who existed in each generation and in the merit of the true tzaddikim in this generation, let me merit to Your help; save me, teach me and show me true advice at all times so that I merit to gladden my soul at all times by this teaching (of finding merit in everyone). Don’t let sadness or depression enter me or touch me at all. Rather, let me merit to always be happy because of each and every good point to which I’ve merited during the years and because of having caused You some pleasure. Show me and teach me perception and understanding in such a way that I merit to gladden the souls of Your People, Israel, and to judge them on the side of merit until everyone merits to really return to You in happiness. Fulfill the verse which says; “Let the sinners (sins) be destroyed from the earth and let the wicked be no more. Bless the Lord, O my soul. Praise the Lord.”
Master of the World, Your way is to be patient both with the wicked and the good; this is Your praise. You, who are full of compassion, who is good and does good to all, whose way is to do good to Your creatures, You always tend towards mercy. You don’t desire to gaze and look at the evil and transgressions that we commit, Heaven forbid. Rather, in Your immense loving-kindness, You gaze and take note of the little good that You find within us, as is written: “No one has seen iniquity in Jacob, neither has anyone seen perverseness in Israel. The Lord his God is with him.” So, hear O God, hearken to the voice of my prayer. Therefore I still pray before You, I still look forward to Your real salvation when it will come, so that I merit to truly return to You. I still haven’t been saved. I know that I myself am what prevents it, but I rely upon Your great goodness that You will peek at, gaze upon and take note of the very, very few good points that are still within me. Don’t see or look at the immense and grievous evil that is within me, so that by this You will subdue and nullify this immense evil in the face of the little good that is within me...
Have mercy upon me and upon all of Israel; grant me perfect, holy perception in such a way that I merit to cleave to Your holy ways and not look or gaze at the evil of any Jew in the world! Let me not look at all at his bad deeds and evil characteristics. Rather, let me judge everyone on the side of merit, to look only at the good of each Jew and not to look at his evil at all. In Your bountiful mercy and loving—kindness, open the eyes of my mind and grant me perfect perception of holiness in such a way that I look, search for and find good and merit in every Jew, even in the worst of the worst. Let me look just at the good in each one and not look at the evil in them at all. Grant me a good eye to look at each Jew in a positive way. Let me perceive the good in him but not the evil. May I not notice the evil at all, in order that I be good and honest with the Lord and with people. Let me “find peace and good understanding in the sight of God and man” in such a way that I can discuss with every Jew, in absolute truth, the real purpose of life. Let me receive their good point in order to arouse myself to return to the Lord. And, may I shine in them from my good point to bestow them with the truthfulness of the perception of my good point and to inform them of all the good hidden within me from the holiness of Israel. Take pity and have mercy upon me and upon all Israel for Your Name’s sake, for the sake of Your true tzaddikim, for the sake of Your holy Torah. Don’t leave us or desert us in this impoverished generation. Send us true leaders, fitting to really lead us, as is Your good desire. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart find favour before You., Lord. my Rock and Redeemer. May He who makes peace in the Heavens make peace for us and for all Israel.
Amen.
Please act with loving—kindness towards us and help us — by Your meriting us to guard the brit- to really be included amongst those Jews called tzaddikim. Just as You helped Joseph when he had a trying experience and saved him by giving him the strength to overcome his urge, so also grant us holy intellect, wisdom, understanding and perception, holy strength and might, in such a way that we can escape from all sorts of blemishes of the brit; help us so that we can overcome our urges. Let us merit to always have our minds attached and fastened to Your holiness, without even a moment’s break so that we have strength to arrange our prayers properly before You, without any obstacle, delay or confusion, such that our prayers will be accepted by You. Arouse Your compassion upon us and return Your Countenance towards us. Quickly and speedily redeem us. Bring us our righteous Messiah. Do it for Your sake, not for ours. Help us so that our prayers be arranged suitably. Grant us intellect and perception so that we can organize our prayers correctly. Let us not stumble in the words of our mouth by turning to the right or the left of the just and true path in prayer...
May we merit to always strengthen ourselves very much with regard to prayer. Let us never despair, Heaven forbid, from shouting out, crying and praying. Rather, let us merit to believe with perfect faith that even though our exile has lasted so long and all Jews cry out to You every day and pray and cry a great deal that You shine Your Countenance upon us and that You rebuild our Temple and redeem us once for and all, yet we still haven’t been redeemed — even so let us know and believe with a firm and perfect belief that no prayer ever gets lost or is wasted, Heaven forbid. On the contrary, all our prayers are certainly raised and established by the tzaddikim in each and every generation and from those prayers they build up the stature of the Divine Presence, so to speak, until its full stature is completed. Then Messiah will come and complete it and establish it in perfection...
In Your bountiful mercy, speedily bring forth the horn of Your servant David. Make haste and hurry our redemption and let the spark of Messiah shine in the world. Arouse the heart of Messiah, Your servant, the son of David, so that he accepts our prayers and raises them as a fragrant offering before Your Throne of Glory. Let all the prayers. with all the good fragrance of each plant of the field which is included in them, be included in: ‘“The breath of our nostrils, the Messiah of the Lord. “Let them all rise as a sweet fragrance before You. Hurry and make haste to redeem us by way of our righteous Messiah. Let him certainly come and not delay. Quickly and speedily redeem us, once and for all.
Arouse Your bountiful mercy upon us. Hurry and make haste to redeem us. Send us very soon our Messiahs: Messiah the son of David and Messiah the son of Joseph. May the two of them join and combine together so as to subdue and throw down into the soil all the seventy heathen nations and all the Other Side. Let the wisdom of the two Messiahs be revealed to the world and may their springs of wisdom spread outward. “And the Land will be full of knowledge of the Lord, just as the waters cover the Land to the sea.” Let every created thing know that You are its Creator and let every formed thing understand that You are its Maker. By the wisdom of the two Messiahs may all the nations return to worship and fear You. Fulfill the verse which says: “Then I will turn upon the nations a clear voice to all call upon the Name of the Lord, to serve Him as of one accord.” “Then You will remove the dominion of tyranny from the Land.” Let the Kingdom of the wicked quickly be uprooted, broken, finished, destroyed, subdued and overthrown, speedily in our days. Then nullify and remove all the clouds that cover the eyes, so that we may merit to always cleave to You and to Your holy Torah without any pause or break at all. Let no obstacle or confusion have power to confuse our minds at all. Rather, may we always cleave to You, all the days of our lives, for ever and ever, for all eternities...
You chose us from among all the nations, loved us and wanted us. You raised us above all the tongues and sanctified us with Your commandments. You, our King, brought us close to Your service and You called Your great and holy Name upon us. O Lord, our God, with love You gave us Your holy Torah through Your loyal prophet Moses. You commanded us not to swerve from that which the true tzaddikim will tell us in each generation. In Your bountiful mercy, You graced us in each generation with several true tzaddikim and Torah scholars who taught Israel the true and proper path, and who left behind them a blessing of holy and awesome books in order to illuminate all the world and to reveal to us the paths of Your holy Torah and in order that we merit to fulfil all the words of Your Torah with love. By this, let us merit to draw upon ourselves, upon every single one of us, the holiness of the spirit of our righteous Messiah whose spirit hovers over the face of the waters, over the face of Torah, over the holy books of the holy Torah. This holy spirit of Messiah is clothed in each and every Jew, according to his level of holiness and purity. The main factor in holiness is the holiness of the brit, for the spirit of Messiah is very strict with regard to guarding of the brit. Due to his great holiness and purity he is vengeful even about the slightest whiff or indication of a sexual blemish, for he can’t bear any blemish of the brit, even the most subtle. “The breath of our nostrils, the Messiah of the Lord.” All his desire is to incline our hearts towards Him, may He be blessed, and that we merit to really guard the brit, as is His desire... Help me and save me, in Your bountiful mercy, so that I merit to rectify, in my own lifetime, all the blemishes to the brit that I’ve caused during the years until now, whether by accident or on purpose, whether by force of circumstance or by choice. Have mercy upon me and, from now on, save me from all sorts of blemishes of the brit, in thought, speech and deed...
Help me and grant me merit so that the holiness of the spirit of Messiah, which dwells upon and hovers over the holy books of the holy Torah, shine upon me. In his merit and strength, let me merit to completely leave behind any improper sexual desire. Let me not come to any bad thought or sight that’s connected to this particular desire. May I close my eyes from seeing any evil. Save me from any kind of blemish of the brit. In Your bountiful mercy protect me from even the slightest trace of improper sexual desire...
Help us and grant us merit so that these few books left to us by the true tzaddikim can spread out in the world. Let their fountains of wisdom spread far and wide and fulfill their task effectively. May the spirit of Messiah be drawn into the world. Let a spirit of vengeance come about in order to purify Israel from the poison of improper sexual craving. May we, and all of Your Nation, Israel, break and nullify this craving altogether
Master of the World, in mercy, fulfil all our wishes for the good. My mind is too limited to be able to clarify all my many needs and requests, both physical and spiritual, especially I with regard to the guarding of the brit which is the foundation of everything. I haven’t even started to explain the minutest part of that which I need to. I should have to prostrate myself and plead before You a great deal about the past, the present and the future. However, everything is revealed and known to You, therefore please consider it as if I had detailed it all. Help us and save us, for Your Name’s sake, so that we merit to sanctify ourselves in great holiness, especially with regard to the guarding of the brit... Purify our hearts in order to serve You truly... Do it for Your Name’s sake. Do it for the Name of Your sanctity. Do it for the sake of Your Torah. Hasten and bring our redemption very soon; bring us very speedily our righteous Messiah. Fulfill very soon the verse which says: “... He acts with loving-kindness to His Messiah, to David and to his seed, for ever.”
Amen and Amen.
Help us, grant us merit and be gracious to us so that we merit to sweeten and soften Your anger against us and all Your Nation, the House of Israel. In Your plentiful compassion and loving-kindness, let us merit to very quickly break our attribute of anger. Don’t let us be angry about anything in the world. Rather, let us break, nullify and sweeten all sorts of anger against us and against all of Israel. Don’t be angry with us. Let us merit to refine, sweeten and purify the 'smoke' of the anger such that it becomes a pleasing fragrance, an airy fragrance, a spirit of holiness. By this, let the spirit of Messiah be drawn upon us. Bring us our righteous Messiah. Very soon, make haste to redeem us, once and for all...
In Your bountiful compassion, protect me and grant me merit so that there be no delay in the coming of Messiah because of me, Heaven forbid. You know that we’ve already caused the delay of the Messiah several times because of our evil deeds. We’ve lengthened the exile by our many transgressions. Say to our troubles, ‘Enough!’ From now on, protect us and save us from sins, iniquities and wilful transgressions, from evil contemplations and thoughts and from all sorts of confusion of the mind. Let us merit to pure thoughts, to holy, refined and proper thoughts. You, who are full of compassion, really bring me closer to You and let me merit to turn my badness into complete good, to real good, to eternal good. Let me merit to be eternally firm in Your worship, in Your Torah and in fear of You, truly and wholeheartedly. Grant me merit to come close to real tzaddikim, to those who are really pure and straightforward in their hearts. In Your mercy, grant us a real leader, a loyal shepherd, just like Moses, may he rest in peace, who was a loyal shepherd. Let him bear us until he brings us truly to within holiness and repentance. Quickly and hastily redeem us and bring us our righteous Messiah. Help us to be as You desire, all the days of our lives...
“Return us, O Lord, to You and we will repent. Renew our days as of old.”
In the merit of holy speech and in the merit of the holy Torah, save me from all sorts of sins, iniquities and wilful transgressions and from all the evil cravings. Drive out the spirit of folly from me. Let me merit to draw upon myself the spirit of life, the spirit of sanctity through the cord of holiness which is attained by holy speech”. Let us merit to raise the Kingdom of holiness from its exile and let each and every one of us reveal the elements of the holiness of Messiah which are rooted in every single Jew. Draw upon us a good long life and let us merit to eternal life. Have compassion upon us and save us. Let us merit to stand and rise up at the time of the resurrection of the dead, together with all the tzaddikim, the devout, the pure and the kosher Jews. Let us merit to perfect the speech of the kingdom of holiness. Bring us very speedily, in our lifetime, our righteous Messiah. Let him reign over us forever, and let us merit to hear his holy, pure and awesome words straight from his holy mouth.
Master of the World, who gives the Torah, have mercy upon us and let us merit to engage in learning Your holy Torah for its own sake, with great diligence and perseverance. Grant us merit to learn a great deal every day. Help us so that every holy book we learn we are able to explain well, in a way that we understand. Let this be in such a way that we merit to arouse and draw upon ourselves the spirit of Messiah which is “the spirit of God that hovers over the waters”, waters which represent the Torah. Messiah suffers many illnesses and is afflicted with great suffering because of our wilful transgressions and iniquities, this being in order to atone for us and to save us from all the troubles. By this he gives us a chance to survive. Have mercy upon him and upon us and let us merit to engage a great deal in learning Torah. Let us explain well each thing that we learn in a language that is understood, especially when learning with friends or with students, such that our words enter their ears and hearts.
By this, let the spirit of Messiah be aroused upon us. He suffers greatly for us. He lowers himself and dresses himself in several common, everyday appearances in order to be with us, in order to revive us and establish us in the midst of this long, powerful and bitter exile. Our Father, merciful Father, have mercy upon us, help us and save us, in his merit, in his strength. Save us from all the troubles and from all the harsh decrees, whether those that have already been passed against us or those that they wait to decree, Heaven forbid, for the “power of endurance fails.” Rock of Israel, rise and come to the assistance of Israel. Speedily save us in these troubled times through the strength and merit of our righteous Messiah, the holy one of Israel. Fulfill in us the verse which says: “Now I know that the Lord saves His anointed (Messiah); He will hear him from His holy heaven with the saving strength of His right hand.” And it says, “Great deliverance He gives to His king and shows loving-kindness to His Messiah, to David, and to his seed for ever.” And it says, “The Lord is their strength and He is the saving strength of His Messiah.” “Save us Lord: let the King hear us when we call.”.
Amen and Amen.
“At midnight I will rise to give thanks to You because of Your righteous judgements.” You, who are full of mercy, who awakens the sleepers and arouses the slumberers. Take pity and have compassion upon me; in Your bountiful mercy, let me merit to rise every single night of my life at exactly midnight. Let me merit to awaken from my sleep at exactly midnight, with tremendous speed and without any laziness or difficulty at all. Don’t let sleep or slumber overcome me, Heaven forbid. Don’t let anything prevent me from this.
In Your bountiful mercy and great loving-kindness awaken the northern wind which blows through the harp of King David at midnight, and from there let there be drawn upon me a spiritual arousal, so that I always awaken from my sleep at midnight.
“Awaken, my glory; awake psaltery and harp; I myself will awake at dawn.”
Master of the World, You warned us in several ways to always rise at midnight, as is written in the holy Zohar where there are awesome warnings about this. However, You know that the obstacles have multiplied and overcome each one of us, preventing us from this such that most nights we haven’t managed to rise at midnight. Therefore, Master of all, abundantly strong to save, I have come before You; give me advice how to merit to this, to always rise at exactly midnight which is immediately after six hours from the beginning of the night, both in summer and winter. Let me awake then with great speed and say the Midnight Prayer; to mourn and wail over the destruction of the Holy Temple; over the exile of the Torah whose secrets have been passed to external forces; and over my many and enormous sins, iniquities and wilful transgressions which have caused all this and lengthened the exile so much. Maker of all, it’s clear to You how very much I have lengthened the exile because of my many transgressions, both generally and specifically. Oh, Oh, woe is me! What can I say? What can I speak? How can I justify myself? Behold, I stand before You in great guilt. What’s passed is passed. Let me merit from now on to truly return to the straight path. Let me not lose any night of my nights by not rising at midnight. Always be with me; help me and guard me so that rising at midnight won’t harm me in any way at all. Let me not suffer any headache or any harm from this.
My Father in Heaven, raise me and hasten me. Grant me merit from now on to always rise at exactly midnight, every night, whether on a weekday or Shabbat or Festival, whether at home or travelling, and to recite the midnight prayer and then learn a lot of Torah. Help me and save me so that I merit by reciting the midnight prayer to sweeten and nullify all the harsh judgements from upon myself and all my family and all Your Nation, the sons of Israel. Let me look at the heavens every morning and, by this, help me to draw upon myself holy perception, a refined and pure perception, a true perception by which I can merit to really return to You, to be really as You desire, from now on and forever. Let there be drawn upon me every morning a thread of loving—kindness from the “morning of Abraham”. May You fulfill the verse which states: “The Lord will command His loving—kindness in the daytime and in the night His song shall be with me; a prayer to the God of my life (who gives life).” And it says, “Your loving - kindness O Lord is in the heavens; Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.” And it says, “They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.” May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing before Your Countenance, O God, my Rock and my Redeemer. Amen and Amen.
You, who are full of compassion, have mercy upon me. You are abundant in loving-kindness and truth, who greatly does good, who greatly pardons the sinners and forgives the wilful transgressors, who acts charitably with every one; in Your immense loving—kindness help me and save me, strengthen me and give me courage in Your wonderful ways so that I merit from now on to rise every single night at midnight and to recite the Midnight Prayer; to mourn, wail and cry a lot over the destruction of the Holy Temple, over our sanctuary and splendour, the House of our lives and the length of our days, our charming Temple, the beauty of our ornament, the excellency of our strength, our glory, our Splendour, our majesty, our holiness. Oh, woe, what has happened to us, that by our iniquities we've caused the destruction of the Holy Temple, the dwelling place of Your strength, the place of Torah and prayer, the place of the revelation of Your Divinity, where we could draw upon ourselves perception of Your Divinity to know and recognise You also in this material world and to attach ourselves to You forever and ever.
Master of the World, Master of the World, what’s passed is passed, for the Holy Temple has already been destroyed and because of our iniquities the tzaddikim have already passed away. What happened, happened. On this we should certainly cry. "For these things I weep; my eye, my eye runs down with water.” In my many immense and very weighty iniquities — in essence, quantity and quality — I’ve caused the delay of the building of the Holy Temple. Who knows, maybe also in the first reincarnation I was the cause of the destruction of the Temple! Woe to me because of my sins! Woe to me because of my iniquities! Woe to me because of my wilful transgressions that I committed in this reincarnation and in previous reincarnations! Oh. woe! What did I do that someone disgraceful and despicable as myself caused the destruction and held up the building of the Holy Temple and delayed the redemption of Israel and their return to the land. Woe is me! I destroyed the Temple through my iniquities! I burnt the Holy Palace! I caused the exile of Israel among the nations! I’ve lengthened the exile so very much by my evil and bitter desires!
Master of the World, Master of the World, do it for the Your Name's sake; sanctify Your Name, for the sake of the honour of Your Name. May Your Great Name be glorified and sanctified in the world by us. Full of mercy, Master of all, who knows the hidden things. You know everything that is done in this world in these generations. You know how, by our many iniquities, the world has become very, very mixed up and confused beyond measure or estimation, for all the true tzaddikim, the glory of the generations, have passed away in our days because of our many iniquities. You alone know the greatness of their immense virtue, power and holiness. Your Name is enjoined in theirs, so that however much we glorify their name, Your Name is glorified more and more. But, by our many iniquities, they have passed away before the proper time. Oh, look what’s happened to us in these generations! And yet, because our minds are so stupefied there is no one who perceives this pain, this great distress and calamity, nor knows how far it reaches or how far this great blow has spread — incredible blows such as these. A marvel and a wonder, a blow that’s not recorded in the Torah: the death of true tzaddikim who have passed away in our generation because of our iniquities, sins and wilful transgressions! Oh! Oh! Woe! Woe to us for that which we’ve lost through our iniquities! Alas for that which is lost and isn’t to be found. “The tzaddik has perished and no man takes it to heart; men of loving-kindness are taken away but no one understands that the tzaddik is taken away because of the evil."
Master of the World, Master of all, although because of our transgressions we’ve caused the destruction of the Holy Temple and the passing away of true tzaddikim, help us from now on. Help us so that we at least merit to rise every night at exactly midnight and break our hearts crying profusely over our immense sins that have caused all this such that we remain as orphans without a father, like those who have gone astray but are not searched for, like those far away without means to come close — with no one to stand up for us. Master of the World, have mercy upon us for Your Name’s sake; behold our lowliness and disgrace. Look from the Heavens and see how we have become an object of scorn and derision (among the nations). Not enough that we are abused and belittled among the nations who plan every day to finish us, yet You save us from their hands, but even worse is that amongst Your Nation, Israel, strife has become rampant. Great dissension has been created among the Torah scholars so that their hearts split one from another and each one is scorned and despised in the eyes of his fellow, until "the power of endurance fails."
Master of the World, Full of Mercy, awaken Your compassion upon Your sons. Have mercy upon us. Take pity, pardon and have mercy on the remnants of Your Nation, the House of Israel. Full of Mercy, how can You restrain from having mercy on oppressed souls, on the souls of Your Nation, Israel, which ‘roll in the markets, the roads and the tops of streets’. They are very, very precious souls, but they have been poured out into the tops of streets. Over them, over every single soul, Jeremiah the prophet bemoans with many lamentations, as is written: "How is the gold become dim! How is the most fine gold changed! The hallowed stones are poured out at the head of every street. The precious stones of Zion, comparable to fine gold, how they are esteemed as earthern pitchers, the work of the hand of the potter!"
Master of the World, Master of the World, You alone know the immense preciousness, glory and holiness of these precious souls, precious stones that are now poured out into the heads of streets without anyone to collect them and bring them home; for, because of our iniquities the true tzaddikim, who are called ‘the head of the house’ since they are masters of the world, have passed away. When they are in the world and their names are glorified in the world, then the world has a master, then we are all called members of the household. However, ever since they passed away because of our sins, their holy and awesome glory, splendour and charm have disappeared such that we must travel and we are tossed backwards and forwards; precious- souls from Your Nation, Israel, roll at the tops of streets. The great tzaddikim, called ‘masters of the house’, ‘masters of the world’, have passed away!...
In Your mercy, let us merit to rise at exactly midnight every night and to mourn the destruction of the Holy Temple which was destroyed because of our transgressions. By this, let us merit to arouse Your mercy so that You comfort and gladden us very soon. Give glory instead of ashes to those who mourn Zion. May we merit to subdue the lights of devouring fire and turn them into the radiance of light. Let the Holy Name, the Name of the Lord, the name of the true tzaddikim overcome the name of impurity, the names of external forces. Let falseness be nullified in the face of truth. May the holy and awesome glory, splendour and charm of the true tzaddikim be revealed, glorified and publicised throughout the world. Let us merit to be included in their name and in the splendour of the glory of their holiness such that our eyes be opened to the truth and we look at ourselves really well. Let us examine our four basic elements, then sanctify them, purify them and refine them from all the evil desires and bad attributes that stem from them. May we clarify them and turn them from evil to good. Bring us to all the good attributes and good deeds. And let holy and pure minds be drawn upon us by the true tzaddikim until all our four minds and the four elements be included in the holy and awesome primary element. This is the tzaddik himself, for he is the pillar of the world, ‘the river that flowed out of Eden to water the garden’. May everything be included in Your special, glorious, holy and awesome Name. Hasten and quicken our redemption; build the Temple of our holiness and glory. May Your Name, our King, be made great, sanctified, blessed, praised, glorified, exalted and extolled in the mouth of every person; at all times forever, for eternity.
68.
The main perfection of the tzaddik is that he can show to someone who is above others and it seems to him that he is on a high spiritual level, that the opposite is true. So also someone who is below others on a very low spiritual level, the tzaddik can show him that he still has no reason to lose hope, for even from where he is he can cleave to G-d and return to Him; there is no despair in the world at all (see Torah 7). We have already spoken about this that when a person sees that he is very far from the Holy One it is fitting for him to revitalize himself with this itself that at least he knows that he is far away from G-d. Previously he was so far away that he didn't know at all that he was far away. Now that at least he knows his distance, this itself means that he has come closer. In this itself it is fitting for him to revitalize himself and to return to G-d.
69.
See inside about the custom to give a blessing to the man who brings the drinks to the guests, such as at a wedding etc.
70.
However much greater a person is, he needs to look for his needs at a greater distance. Therefore, Moshe, who was on a very great level, had to search for a wife from Midian; his need was far away because of his greatness.
71. " THE BONDS HAVE FALLEN FOR ME IN PLEASANT PLACES" (Psalms,16:6)
(a) The essence of the mind and wisdom is only in the Land of Israel. Even Jews outside of Israel receive and draw nourishment to all their mind and wisdom from the Land of Israel. Every Jew has for himself a portion in the Land of Israel and according to his portion in the Land of Israel so he derives sustenance and receives his wisdom from the Land of Israel. But when we blemish the honour of G-d, Heaven forbid, we fall from the 'brains' of Israel and the 'brains' that remain are an aspect of those outside of Israel. By this, controversy and arguments are caused for the 'brains' of outside of Israel are an aspect of controversy.
(b) All the Creation was only for the sake of G-d's honour. Therefore everything was created only for man, for all the enhancement of the honour of G-d depends on man specifically. Therefore, when some honour comes to a Jew he has to be very careful not to take anything of it for himself. Rather he has to see to return and raise all the honour to the Holy One; by this he rectifies and sustains the entire world, for all the world and its fullness was only created for the sake of G-d's honour.
(c) The 'brains' of the Land of Israel are an aspect of the pleasantness of the Torah, an aspect of peace whereas the 'brains' of outside Israel are an aspect of 'saboteurs', an aspect of controversy. By giving charity, especially charity to the Land of Israel, one creates a vessel to receive the bounty of this pleasantness. From the sublime pleasantness comes the power of giving birth, meaning that a person merits to children through whom the honour of G-d is revealed even more, for the primary revelation of the honour of G-d is through man, as mentioned previously. Therefore, by this, the 'brains' of outside Israel are rectified, for all their flaws were through blemishes to G-d's honour. Consequently, they can certainly be rectified by revealing the honour of G-d. However, Heaven forbid, when the 'brains' of outside Israel are damaged extensively by having blemished a great deal the honour of G-d; then they cannot be rectified.On the contrary, these 'brains' of outside Israel also blemish the 'brains' of the Land of Israel which represent peace. As a result controversy is also created in the Land of Israel. This is the explanation for the controversy that now exists outside the Land of Israel and inside it.
(d) When we don't blemish the honour of G-d we merit to the 'brains' of the Land of Israel which are an aspect of pleasantness; then we merit to feel the pleasantness of the Torah. For there is pleasantness in the Torah and this is the main thing, to merit to feel this pleasantness that there is in the Torah. Happy is he who merits to this.