7.
Master of the Universe, Shepherd of Israel, You have performed great loving-kindnesses for us in every generation; You have given us true leaders in each generation who have taught us the true path and what we should do. Have mercy on us in this generation and send us a faithful shepherd and true, compassionate leader, who can guide us with compassion and mercy like Moshe. Let him have true mercy upon us, to extract us from sins; for this is the main compassion for the Jewish People.
This is the greatest of all forms of compassion, for You know the tremendous holiness of our souls in their source. They are carved out and drawn from a very sublime, fine and holy place. In our source we are completely distant from sin; no sin or blemish relates to us because of the great delicateness and spirituality of our source. It is impossible for us there to bear the burden of even one sin and certainly not all the many iniquities and sins and great, awesome blemishes into which we have become trapped.
Merciful One, You know the immense compassion we need nowadays both generally and individually, for every one of us. My sins have overwhelmed me with their burden. Behold from Heaven how great the pain of sin is for a holy pure, Jewish Soul which is so very delicate and spiritual. You know that all the suffering in the world is counted as nothing in comparison to the suffering of the soul of a Jew when it falls into sin or blemishes, Heaven forbid. How much more so when the sins are many. Oh, who can bear the weight of such a burden.
In Your immense compassion and loving-kindness please send us as speedily as possible a true leader who will be truly great in his compassion. Let him know how to use his compassion and how to have mercy on each individual. May he instill in us holy knowledge, teaching us, through his advice, a clear path until, in his great strength, he can extract us from all our sins and iniquities and drive out from us any spirit of folly which has become attached to us. Save us so that we will no longer sin and do that which is evil in Your eyes.
Guard my soul and save it, for You alone know how great the mercy is that a person needs in This World. Many days and years have already gone by and we still have not turned back from our mistakes.
Master of the Universe, Lord of Compassion and forgiveness, in Your loving-kindness, arouse the first true leader, Moshe, together with the true tzaddikim who are included in his soul, so that they will stand up for us and help us, finishing what they started by bringing us close to our Father in Heaven; return us in complete repentance before You. I will raise my voice and cry out to them saying: ‘Tzaddikim, foundations of the world, true shepherds and leaders of Israel, rise and stand up to assist us in this
time of distress. You yourselves taught us that there is no perfection for the soul in being only in the World Above after leaving This World. The main perfection of the soul is to be far above while, at the same time, being way down in This World as well, shining into the people living in this lowly world and mercifully removing them from sins. The soul should radiate holy understanding within them, informing them that
G-d is all powerful on earth.
Please bestow upon us real fear of Heaven in such a way that we merit every day to talk with our friends and children about the fear of Heaven. And, may our words and understanding remain in their hearts. Let only our words of truth enter their hearts, so that they are heard and retained firmly within them until they really return to You. So, merit us all to radiate this true fear of Heaven in our children and students. And may they also have many children and students into whom they radiate this holy understanding which we received from the mouths of our holy teachers and wise men.
Furthermore, may it find favour before You G-d and G-d of our Fathers, that we merit to ascertain all-encompassing lights. In other words, merit us to the comprehension to understand and internalise into the depths of our minds all the understanding and intellect that we could not grasp until now. As a result let us rise from one spiritual level to another, higher and higher in holiness and purity. All the time may we instil holy intelligence and understanding into our children and decent students. And merit us to ascertain new all-encompassing perception, internalising the all-encompassing lights within our minds. Our Father, Merciful Father, have compassion on us; give us in our hearts, Binah to understand, comprehend, listen, learn, teach, observe, perform and fulfil all the words of the teaching of Your Torah with love until we merit to ascertain the sublime, all-encompassing lights which are the main delight of the World to Come.
Master of the Universe, Merciful One, guard my soul; save me from all kind of questions of doubt about faith. Merit me to believe with perfect faith without any questions or philosophical investigations. Keep away from my mind, thoughts and heart all sorts of confusions, questions of doubt and philosophical investigations about Your holy paths. Rather, merit me to real simplicity. Help me to serve You with really great simplicity, with complete faith until I merit to pass over all the wisdoms in the world. Shine upon me a radiance of the sublime desire; may I desire, long for and yearn for You really, with a tremendous desire, a desire beyond measure. Merit me to life of the World to Come, a day which is entirely good and unending. In Your bountiful mercy, enable me to feel this life of the World to Come while in this World. Merit me to ascertain the expanded consciousness of the World to Come, which is called, ‘days’, in This World. Bestow upon us the bounty of the sublime, holy Crown, where You purify us from all sins, iniquities and wilfull sins and turn all our sins into meritorious deeds.
Therefore, Merciful Father, have compassion upon us. Shine upon us the light of holiness of the true tzaddikim who radiate throughout all the worlds, both those above and those below, to those on high spiritual levels and those on lowly spiritual levels. The tzaddikim make known to Jews on a high spiritual level that they still know nothing about the Holy One, while awakening and arousing all those Jews on the lowliest level, who dwell in the dust, in the lowest of places; they show these Jews and radiate into the knowledge that the earth is full G-d’s glory. They strengthen all these fallen souls who have fallen because of their great sins. They teach them that they must never despair under any circumsnces, for the world is full of G-d’s glory. No matter where one is, even in the pit of Hell, one can find G-d and come close to Him, for there is no place which is void of Him. There is no despair in the world at all.
In Your bountiful mercy, help us and save us so that You shine upon a radiance of Your holy desire at the time of our eating, Merit us to a good portions in the realm of Your holy Kingdom. Then, draw upon us a good, plentiful livelihood, for myself and all my family, for those dependent on us and for all the Jewish People.
Master of the Universe, You know how we struggle to find a livelihood nowadays. Our income has become very limited, especially for those kosher Jews who want to enter the path of holiness and really serve You. There are many who are prevented from the service of G-d because of the lack of an income and the burden of making a living. Have mercy upon us for Your Name’s sake. Bestow upon us a good income and plentiful good bounty. We know no way or natural means by which we can draw down a good livelihood, so we rely on You alone. Arrange our livelihood before we need it in such a way that the burden of making a living does not bother us or confuse us. Let the Kingdom of Holiness rise and receive bounty for all Jews from the hands that contain wisdom. Supply an income for each individual according to what he really needs for the sake of the service of G-d in such a way that we all merit to truly serve You.
Help us to break the craving for food completely and to sanctify our eating with great holiness. Let us eat for Your Name’s sake alone. Enable us to draw upon ourselves holy fear of G-d which approaches and comes to a person at the time of eating. Just help us to break all the cravings of the imagination, animal cravings and merit us to attach our thoughts to the true, eternal good which is to delight in G-d and satiate our souls with the Worlds of Delight. So, let our eating be with great awe and fear of G-d. Help us to draw upon ourselves a radiance of the sublime desire at the time of eating. Then, let us desire, long and yearn for You with a truly very great desire, beyond measure, with total nullification such that w fail to know even that which we desire that will be revealed in the future, in the World to Come.
Merit us, in Your bountiful compassion, to the holiness of Chanukah. Help us every year to have our requests and wishes answered on the holy Yom Kippur; pardon and forgive us for our sins and the sins of the Jewish People. Remove our guilt every year. Please merit us, through the atonement and forgiveness of Yom Kippur, to receive the holiness of the holy days of Chanukah which are the time of the rededication of the Temple. Merit us to draw upon ourselves during the days of Chanukah, the holiness of the Holy Temple. Have compassion upon us and build for us the Holy Temple, the House of our Splendour, speedily in our lifetime, so that we may bring our obligatory sacrifices which will purify us from our sins and bring us forgiveness.
Merit us to bring the continual offering every single day, morning and evening and by this, forgive us for all our sins. I has been almost two thousand years since the Temple was destroyed. We are like orphans. Please have mercy upon us and redeem us from this exile. Redeem our souls from all the sins and iniquities, from all the blemishes, physical cravings and bad attributes. Rebuild our Holy Temple and let it stand forever.
Have mercy upon us, Mighty One, Merciful Father. Your compassion has the power to have mercy even upon me so that I will return in complete, true repentance before You. Bestow upon me holy understanding and drive out from my mind any spirit of folly or confusion. Let me, my offspring and anyone dependent on me, come to perfect understanding of Your godliness and Kingship. Nothing exists apart from You. You know the great mercy I need. I ask from You mercy like a beggar at the door. Do to me that which is good in Your eyes. Your mercy never ceases. Blessed is the Name of His glorious Kingdom, forever and ever. Let the whole world be filled with His glory.
Amen, Amen.
8. BLOW THE SHOFAR - REPROACH
(a) Even though reproach is a great thing and every Jew has the duty to reproach his fellow when he sees that he is behaving improperly, even so, not every person worthy is to reproach others, for when someone unworthy reproaches, not only doesn't his reproach benefit, he also arouses a foul smell in the souls of those who hear his reproach. As a result he weakens their souls and stops the flow of bounty from all the worlds which are dependent on these souls. It is impossible to reproach Jews about their sins other than someone who can, through his reproach, add and arouse a good fragrance in their souls. And this is impossible unless he merits to the aspect of the "voice which waters the Garden of Eden". From there, all the fragrances and fear of G-d grow. This is the voice of the song that will be sung in the future etc. (See inside).
(b) By nourishment of the body, that's to say, by the bodily craving for food and drink, one weakens the nourishment of the soul; one damages the fear of G-d which an aspect of the good fragrance and is the main nourishment of the soul.
(c) The brain and understanding of a person is a defense against the craving for sex. There are three brains in a person and each one is a barrier against this craving. What gives this craving strength is the spirit of folly, therefore each person has to know and remember this each time that lewd thoughts want to overcome him, Heaven forbid. He has to escape immediately from the spirit of folly and pursue understanding; he needs to put up the barriers of his brain against this craving, for true understanding is a defense against this craving like a real barrier. Understand this, for it is impossible to explain it; rather each person has to understand it by himself how to run away and remove his thoughts from this spirit of folly and to draw himself to understanding which is an aspect of a barrier set against this craving, as explained.
(d) The essence of prayer is when done with compassion and supplication. Compassion is primarily dependent on understanding. When the Other Side derives strength from compassion, Heaven forbid, (such as when it has mercy on a person with its false compassion, suggesting to him that he throws off the yoke of Torah to learn only foreign languages as a way to get a more profitable livelihood; or through its false mercy it entices a person to make his Torah study incidental while making his work central and permanent) then the true compassion is blemished and anger and cruelty are created. As a result one's understanding is diminished. Then the craving for sex is increased, Heaven save us, and prayer is in the aspect of harsh judgement (that's to say, a person has to pray from the side of harsh judgement; and not out of mercy and supplications and when he comes to pray he wants to get the prayer over with). Then the Other Side draws strength from the prayer and swallows it; then one needs someone with great power who can pray in the aspect of harsh judgement, meaning he can make judgement with the Holy One. The Other Side wants to swallow this prayer also but this prayer of the man of power gets stuck in the throat of the Other Side until it has to throw up everything that it swallowed. Furthermore, he extracts the essence of its actual life-force of the Other Side and this rectifies everything. This creates converts and G-d's honour is increased and extolled. In consequence, the power of prophecy spreads which leads to a clarification of the power of imagination. Then we merit to perfect faith through which we merit to the song which will be sung in the future. This is an aspect of the voice of the one who is worthy to rebuke. He then adds and arouses a good fragrance in the souls by way of his reproach.
(e) When one more neighbour joins the gathering of Jews, such as when there is a gathering of Jews who are engaged in praying and then one more soul joins them, then the 'houses' of prayer are greatly increased for the holy combinations (of souls and letters of prayer) are multiplied greatly; very many 'houses' are built in the realm of holiness in the world Above such that it cannot be expressed in words nor thought about in the heart. Immense and wonderful delight is created in the world Above and as a result, the sins are pardoned and forgiven; a cure is attracted and all kinds of illnesses are nullified.
(f) Every true leader in each generation has an aspect of the spirit of prophecy. Nowadays also when prophecy has been nullified and there is no actual prophecy, nevertheless, the leader has to have some spirit of holiness which others do not have; this is an aspect of Divine inspiration and the spirit of prophecy. This aspect of the spirit of prophecy of the tzaddik, who is the true leader, brings about the main clarification of the power of imagination. This leads to the primary perfection of holy faith, for the essence of pure faith is according to the clarification of the imagination. Therefore, everyone has to search a great deal for the true leader and to come close to him in order to merit to perfect faith, that's to say, belief in the innovation of the world; that the Holy One created the material world from absolutely nothing. This innovation of the world is impossible to understand with any human logic, only with belief, which one merits to through the true tzaddik, as explained previously. Do not imagine that you can merit to this easily, to come close to a true leader, for the truth is that one needs to search and plead a lot to find him. One has to ask a lot from the Holy One to merit to find a true leader so that he merit to perfect belief through him; for there are many false leaders and when people attach themselves to them as a result on the contrary they come to false beliefs. Consequently we have to search a lot for a true leader, as mentioned above, in order to merit to perfect faith through him; this is the most important thing. The entire world depends on this. By this a person will merit to the renewal of the world of the future such that he merits to the tune and song that will be sung in the future when the Holy One renews His world. This is the song that will be sung on seventy-two strings and where all the good fragrances and fear of G-d grow from. This song is the main reward of the tzaddikim in the World to Come. Happy is he who merits to this.
(g) By coming close to the true tzaddik, the venom of the Serpent is removed from a person. But, on the other hand, the false leader causes this venom to increase, Heaven forbid.
(h) Through faith one merits to loving-kindnesses and by this the world will be renewed in the future. Nature will be nullified and the world will function by means of wonderful, Divine providence, beyond the laws of nature. Then the new song will be sung, as mentioned above.
(i) On Rosh Hashana one has to force oneself to pray with the utmost strength and to attach one's prayers to the true tzaddik who is the man of great power who can pray in the aspect of 'harsh judgement' as we need to pray on Rosh Hashana. By this we merit to extract from the Other Side all the life-force that it swallowed from the holiness of the Jewish People. For because of the prayer of the man of power, the Other Side is forced to throw up and spit out from its midst all the prayers, compassion and holy understanding that it swallowed. As a result, one merits that G-d's honour is increased through the converts to Judaism and this merits us to a spread of prophecy and to holy faith and for the false beliefs to be nullified. By this, we merit to the renewal of the world in the future which is an aspect of nullification of the laws of nature. The world will then function in the aspect of the holiness of the Land of Israel, with wonderful Divine providence alone. In consequence we will merit to the voice of the song and tune that will be sung in the future which is the main delight of the World to Come.
(j) By the sounds of the shofar – tekiah, shevarim and teruah – all the above-mentioned rectifications are also carried out. Through the tekiah we merit to a revelation of the honour of G-d; by the teruah we merit to the spread of prophecy which comes as a result of the revelation of G-d's honour; by the shevarim we merit to nullify the false beliefs and to rectify the holy faith. We also merit through the shevarim to holy trust in G-d, in the aspect of "The eyes of everyone wait for You" (Psalms, 145:15). All the other rectifications mentioned previously to which we merit are all alluded to in the subject of Rosh Hashana and Tishrei (see inside).
(k) There are worldly vanities of foolishness, like it says, "They are vanity, the work of delusion" (Jeremiah, 51:18), an aspect of idol worship. We have to get out of these vanities and to merit to holy vapours of Torah and prayer. This is an aspect of converts through whom the honour of G-d will become revealed and all the rectifications mentioned previously will take place.
(l) All the descriptions and praises with which we picture G-d are an aspect of imagination. But in our innermost intellect, the Holy One is completely abstract beyond any praises or descriptions. Therefore, when one's imagination is clarified and rectified then one can arrange praises and descriptions of G-d. But when the imagination is not rectified then a person does not know at all how to describe the Holy One, so to speak.