66.
“If our sins testify against us, O God, act for Your Name’s sake.” For the sake of Your Name, God, forgive us our sins for they are many. Therefore, we have nothing to say. We have no way to come before You; we have nothing to rely on other than Your Name. In Your Name we have come before You. You called Your Name upon us. But for Your Name’s sake, for Your Name is joined to ours, and for the Name. Please have mercy upon us; sweeten, lighten and nullify all the harsh decrees from upon us and from upon all the Jewish People, especially any hard and bitter decree which is about to take place. Have mercy, for Your Name’s sake. Have mercy on us, for the sake of the truly great tzaddikim who suffered greatly and repented completely for the sake of the Jewish People. The tremendous suffering that they experienced for our sake is certainly worthy to protect, atone and forgive our sins and iniquities, from beginning to end. Only You know the immense and awesome power of their wonderful repentance which they did for the sake of all the Jewish People and their many sins. Nowadays we are so weak that we have nothing to depend on other than the power of the repentance that the tzaddikim did for us.
Act for You Name’s sake and sanctify Your Name. Be with us to help us so that we merit very soon to return to You sincerely and wholeheartedly, especially during the very, very awesome, holy and frightening days of Elul, Rosh HaShana, the Ten Days of Repentance and the Day of Atonement which, altogether, are the forty days of grace in which You were appeased by Moses, our teacher, may he rest in peace, and you gave him the second set of tablets, until, on the last day, You became completely appeased and said to him happily, “I have forgiven, according to Your words.” This day was fixed as a day of forgiveness and pardon for all generations. It is the holy, awesome and sublime Day of Atonement – One day in the year. You did everything for the sake of Your great and holy Name in which we are named. Have mercy upon us, help us and save us, so that we merit to welcome these holy and awesome days in great holiness and purity.
May we merit to return in perfect and sincere repentance. May we really and wholeheartedly take upon ourselves to walk in Your paths and to fulfill Your commandments and sincerely engage in learning Your Torah all the days of our lives; to pray with perfect devotion and to pour out our hearts like water in the presence of Your Countenance. May our eyes flow with rivers of tears because of our sins, iniquities, wilful transgressions and our many troubles, until we merit to really appease You, so that You pardon, forgive, and atone for us for all our sins of error, iniquities and wilful transgressions that we’ve committed before You. Uproot, break and nullify all the decrees that are not good for us, whether those that have already been decreed or those that they want to decree, Heaven forbid, until we always merit to glorify and sanctify Your Great Name. Just as You answered Moses, our teacher, when you said to him on Yom Kippur, “I’ve forgiven!” so, be reconciled and appeased to Your nation, Israel, on Yom Kippur. Answer, and say to them, “I’ve forgiven!” Say it in great happiness and joy such that You name be glorified forever, until we merit that the day after Yom Kippur be really and truly worthy of being called “The Name of the Lord” through the Name of the Lord being glorified on that day for eternity by the pardon and forgiveness of Yom Kippur and by the nullification of all the harsh decrees and troubles from upon us. Then, specifically, Your Great Name is perfected, as You informed us by Your holy sages, may their memories be blessed and may their merit protect us.
67.
(a) The true tzaddik is the splendour and beauty and charm of the entire world; he is the master of all of the entire world; he is an aspect of the master of the Holy Temple for he shines his light to the Temple and to the entire world. For he is the light, splendour, beauty and charm of all the world. And when this tzaddik's name becomes famous and glorified in the world, this causes G-d's Name to be made greater. However much more his name is magnified and glorified, so G-d's Name is magnified and glorified in the extreme. And whoever becomes included in this true name, which is the true splendour and charm of all the world as mentioned, meaning that he comes close to him and becomes included in his name, by this his eyes are opened and he begins to look at himself and all his attributes, how good or flawed he is in them, and then to repent on any bad attributes in which he blemished. Then he will merit to behold the greatness of the Creator, may He be blessed, and to look at how to rectify the world; he will merit to draw upon himself holy and pure brains from this holy name of the true tzaddik.
(b) The opposite, Heaven forbid, is also true; when the name of the true tzaddik disappears and departs from the world, and falsely famous leaders become magnified and publicized even though they do not contain the Name of G-d at all, by this, the Name of G-d is diminished and disappears, so to speak. Then, people with well-known names and of darkness are glorified and things occur in the world which only names of impurity help them, Heaven forbid. As a result of this, fires spread in the world, Heaven save us. And the light of the eyes disappears, as mentioned previously. This is an aspect of the burning down of the Holy Temple which was also caused by the departure of the radiance of light, and through this the lights of fire were strengthened (see inside). This means that when the true tzaddik departs from the world, this is an aspect of the burning of the Holy Temple and then all the Jewish People are considered to be wandering about outside in exile, Heaven forbid.
(c) In these days, when the exile has already been long, and G-d yearns every moment to return to us and to rebuild our Holy Temple, it is fitting for us not to delay the building of the Temple, Heaven forbid, but rather to make an effort towards its becoming built. Therefore we have to be very, very careful to rise at midnight every night and to mourn very much over the destruction of the Temple for maybe in the first reincarnation I was the cause of the Temple's destruction, and even if not, maybe I am now delaying its reconstruction through my sins and this is also considered as if I had caused its destruction. About this you should cry and mourn a lot every night at midnight, then it will be considered as if you were taking part in the re- building of the Temple. As a result you will merit to come close to the truth, meaning you will come close to the true tzaddikim, G-d fearing and kosher Jews who are the main splendour, charm and true beauty of the world. {Editor's note: It appears that this is the intention of the proximity of the following verses: "At midnight I shall rise to thank You etc” and "I am a friend to all those who fear You", as mentioned.} Through this your eyes will be opened enabling you to look at yourself and at all of your attributes; then you can repent on all the bad attributes and merit to know and recognize G-d's great Name.
(d) By rising at midnight and mourning over the destruction of the Holy Temple one is saved from fires.