# The Writings of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov Torahs and prayers, comprising the two books "Kitzur Likutey Moharan HaShalem" and "Likutey Tefillot". מקור: https://rabenu.app/books/kitvey-en/ --- ## Introduction In this volume I have collected and arranged a shortened version of the practical elements of Likutei Moharan which was revealed with holiness and purity from the mouth of our great, holy, teacher, the hidden treasured light Moharan from Breslov, of blessed memory. He commanded me to write this volume for his main holy intention in all of the teachings and all the wonderful and awesome discourses he revealed to the chosen people was none other than the deeds for the learning (theory) is not the main thing etc. It could clearly be seen by anyone who merited to shelter under his holy wing that all his yearning and purpose of his desire was to bring people to correct deeds, to open their blind eyes and take prisoners out of their bonds, saying to them, ‘go out’, to extract them from there prison, the prison of physical cravings; they are trapped in the nets of vanities. His purpose is to teach them the pathways upon which to go and the deeds they should perform; the deeds a person should perform and live in, an eternal life. That was his intention in all his discourses and writings which he revealed and all the conversations, stories and things he said to people. Every single thing was for this intention. That was the reason he told me to collect from his wonderful writings and wonderful discourses for they contain very, very all encompassing and deep subjects and are full of wonderful advice and worthy forms of behaviour. There is no form of advice in the world which cannot be found within the holy words of Rabbeinu for all his words are of very, very great comprehensiveness. Someone who is intelligent about it can learn out from his words honest behaviour and proper advice for anything they need and whatever their soul asks for. The Rebbe’s words are as deep and as wide as the ocean but they will not be distant from a person. However not all people are equal and not every person can engage in this, therefore we will arrange most of the practical things that can be learnt from the words of the Rebbe according to their simple meaning. Therefore, I will write at the beginning of each Torah the subject of the teaching upon which the Rebbe built and founded his discourse in the big Likutei Moharan from the Torah or teachings of the Sages. They are from a holy place and flow from a source of living waters. Someone who wants to add may add, for someone whose understanding is complete can learn out many things from each Torah discourse in the big book. The words of the book are very deep and each Torah can be divided into several explanations and wonderful, awesome subjects; it is full of advice, worthy behaviour and very wonderful, awesome spiritual arousal in the service of G-d. This one should know, that most of this volume was shown to Rabbeinu and was found worthy in his eyes. Since it does not escape our eyes or the eyes of the community of Israel that, because of our sins, truth has become scattered into flocks and controversy has arisen with words of disagreement in our gateways, there is no one among us to reproach us who can put his hand on our scorn until a righteous teacher comes to our community. For this we have decided to put a barrier to our mouth and suffer our scorn putting our souls in our hands until a spirit comes upon us from above to renew our days like an eagle such that we know and pursue the knowledge of G-d, truthfully and straight forwardly, such as we have in our hearts; until Shilo (Meshiach) comes to gather together all those souls scattered in exile. May it be speedily in our days. Amen. **Rav Natan’s Introduction** Rav Nachman warned us any times, in various ways, to make prayers out of the Torah discourses. He said that, from this act, great delight is created in Heaven and he said that no such delight has ever come before the Creator as the delight caused by these prayers made from Torah discourses. He spoke of this time and again with several different people. However, he did not clarify fully what his holy intention was in this matter but we understood from his words that his main intention was simply that we try to delve into his holy, awesome Torah discourses which he revealed to us, to understand what he intended practically from each discourse (for this is the main thing – the learning is not the main thing but rather the deed, as has been stated clearly by us many times, that the primary intention of our holy, awesome Rebbe [Rav Nachman] in all the Torah discourses that he revealed was for the practical deed, that we try and make an effort and strengthen ourselves with tremendous might to observe, to do and to fulfill all that is said in each and every Torah discourse). We should consider our ways [ and perceive] how far away we are from the things mentioned in each discourse, then pray and plead to G-d, with many entreaties, requests and supplications, that He have mercy upon us and in His bountiful mercy, bring us closer to Him and that we merit to fulfill everything stated in that Torah discourse. Then we should pour out our hearts before the Holy One about all the things mentioned there, asking that we merit to fulfill them and ascertain them perfectly. A person who merits to engage in making prayers from Torah discourses, as mentioned above, can certainly always express himself before G-d and talk out everything that is in his heart by using each Torah discourse. Even though at first it may appear to him that this Torah does not speak about his own needs and about his own weaknesses and flaws, when he starts to talk using that discourse, G-d will certainly help him and he can put all he wants to say into it; everything that is on his heart he can express by using each Torah, for the words of our Rebbe, may his memory be blessed, are very, very all-embracing. Each Torah discourse comprises the entire Torah and the generality of Israel and the generality of all things in the world. Each person, whoever he is, whether on the very highest spiritual level or whether on the lowest spiritual level, no matter what, from the top of all levels to the bottom of all levels, each one can find himself in all his aspects within each Torah discourse of our holy, awesome Rebbe, may his memory be blessed. Therefore, by each Torah discourse, every person in the world, at all times, can somehow express himself. …Therefore, he who wants to have mercy on his soul and to really and truly consider his eternal purpose in life and who wants sincerely to come closer to the Holy One [should know] that it is well known and very clear that it is impossible to come closer to G-d, that is to say to break and nullify all the bad qualities and merit to all the good attributes and to progress in the pathway of G-d, other than by prayers, supplications, cries for help, imploring and shouting to G-d, for many days and years. All the tzaddikim and really kosher people merited to their spiritual levels only by this, by prayers and supplications as we have explained several times. However, to say many prayers and supplications is also very hard for a person because usually he does not have the words to speak out and express himself. By this method, mentioned above, of making prayers from Torah discourses, a person can easily express himself about everything that is in his heart, as explained previously. However, there are also many weighty obstacles against this also, for not every person is so familiar with the Rebbe’s words such that he can make prayers from the Torah discourses, and so it is with other numerous obstacles. Therefore I made a point of copying from the prayers that I wrote for myself, as the Rebbe told me. He said that it is good to record for oneself the prayers when one merits to [compose] a well arranged prayer so that one can say it on another occasion. That is what I did. Afterwards I saw that it is good to copy them in a general language so that they will be equally valuable [useful] to each person and then to give them to our followers so as not to ”withhold good from its owners,” I saw that the [the prayers] are of great generality and that they [speak of] matters which each person needs, every single person according to his spiritual level. Everyone needs them, from the greatest to the smallest. There is nothing that a person lacks in the matter of serving G-d that will not be found in these prayers. When I copied some of them and gave them to a few people they liked it very, very much and pleaded with me to copy all of the prayers for them. Although I was uncertain in my heart about this, nevertheless I gave myself into the hands of the Holy One alone; I relied on Him alone. According to His good desire and the desire of our Rebbe, so will I do. Any wise person, who really and purely wants to, will understand the virtue of these prayers. Prayers such as these have never existed in the world. They are full of good for the House of Israel – prayers, supplications, requests, entreaties, words of pardon and appeasement, confessions, claims, pretexts; great shouts, cries for help and imploring to G-d, to arouse His bountiful mercy upon us and asking that He bring us close to His service very quickly indeed. These prayers also contain great spiritual arousal that a person should use to speak to his soul, in order to awaken himself so that his life should not go by in a state of sleep, Heaven forbid. The power of speech has great power to arouse a person, therefore, when a person speaks out things, even though he knows them full well in his heart, he will arouse himself. By this he will strengthen himself, become full of determination and yearn even more to come closer to the Holy One, may His name be blessed, until he merits to really perfect repentance. A person who says these prayers regularly with truth and simplicity will certainly merit to the Eternal Life. It is good to do both things, 1) to engage in meditation every day and speak to G-d about everything that is in one’s heart, using one’s mother tongue and 2) to make prayers out of Torah discourses, as mentioned previously. It is impossible to clarify in writing all the details about what a person needs, especially since all sorts of changes occur to a person all the time. The Rebbe, may his memory be blessed, warned us several times to say many supplications and requests every day, all sorts of supplications such as these which can be found in the big prayer-books, or the prayer-books Sha’arei Zion, or in other places. Even more so one should use the Book of Psalms. And he who wants to fulfill the Rebbe’s holy words, to engage in saying prayers, to merit to the Eternal Life, his soul will certainly find these prayers very, very sweet [pleasurable] for there are no prayers in all the world in which a person can find himself such as these which talk of all virtues and all the things in the world, as a person can see for himself. Happy is the person who uses them. May G-d hear our cries for help and hearken to our voices and to our prayers. May we merit to always engage in prayers and supplications, whether those written and arranged which are in our possession or whether those that a person has to speak out by himself from his heart in his own language every day, as our Rebbe warned us many times, for this is the main thing, as is clarified in his holy books many times. By this, let us merit to really return to Him in complete repentance, as is His good desire, until we merit to rise up and be included in Him, in the light of the Ein Sof (The Eternal One) and “to behold the beauty of the Lord and visit His Temple” (Psalms 27:4). In the merit of our prayers, bring us our righteous Meshiach very speedily, in our days, for the principle weapon of the Meshiach is prayer, as is explained in the Torah discourse ‘Emor’ – “Say to the Priests” – (Likutey Moharan 2). One needs to strengthen oneself very much in the matter of prayers and supplications, no matter what happens, until G-d looks down and sees from Heaven. “After two days He will revive us: on the third day He will raise up and we shall live in His sight” (Hosea 6, 2) that we “may walk before G-d in the light of the living” (Psalms 56, 14). Amen and Amen. The one who waits for salvation, Rav Natan, son of Rav Naftali Hertz, Nemirov, son-in-law if the famous Rav, Gaon David Zvi. THE WRITINGS OF REBBE NACHMAN ## 1 ### Torah 1 - Happy Are Those Come and see the works of G-d: an amazing revelation concerning the mystery of the greatness of the godly sage, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. a) Rebbi Shimon bar Yochai promised that through him the Torah would not be forgotten from the Jewish People unlike what the rabbis said when they sat together in the yeshiva of Yavne (Shabbat, 138.) Rebbi Shimon answered them that it won't be forgotten, as the verse says, "For it will not be forgotten from the mouth of his seed." In the Zohar it says ( Nasso,124 ) "Through this book ,the book of the Zohar, the People of Israel will come out of exile." b) Understand this secret well. For this Rebbi Shimon brought a proof from the spell the name ("כי לא תשכח מפי זרעו")above verse. The final letters of the verse Yochai . That's to say by the seed of Yochai ( Rebbi Shimon, the son of Yochai ) the Torah will not be forgotten. c) Know, the secret of Rebbi Shimon himself is alluded to in the verse," a holy one coming down from heaven " ( Daniel, 4,20 ),the initial letters of which spell the name Shimon. d) And now… there is "the flowing stream, a fountain of wisdom " ( Proverbs 8,4 ) the initial letters of which spell Nachman, who even the holy one ( Rebbi Shimon ) has to receive from. Understand. Prayer (47 For Lag B’Omer) Lag B’omer – Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai [This prayer is based on an awesome secret that Rav Nachman revealed about the greatness of Rashbi [Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai], may his memory be blessed. Rabbi Shimon promised the Jewish People that the Torah wouldn’t be forgotten because of him, for through the Zohar they will leave their exile. See the introduction to Lekutey Moharan. It is good to recite this prayer by the holy grave of Rashbi if one merits to come there. However, wherever you say it, you won’t lose out, for the radiance of the soul of the tzaddik spreads throughout the world, as is brought in the Zohar.] Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, “holy one coming down from heaven,” holy candle, sublime candle, great candle, precious candle, you promised to the Jewish People that the Torah won’t be forgotten because of you, for, through the Zohar , they will leave their exile. Even in the midst of the concealment when God is completely concealed, in these days of the coming of the Messiah, You promised that, even so, the Torah won’t be forgotten from our seed, as is written: “I will surely hide my face in that day for all… that they have done… this song will testify as a witness that it will not be forgotten from the mouth of his seed.” Behold, the days have arrived in which we have no pleasure. Our exile and servitude have been long. Every day we become weaker. We’ve become orphans, without a father. There is no one to stand up for us. Now, in the midst of the strong end of this better exile, the sparks of Messiah have already begun to shine. They have been shining since the days of the divine Ari (Rabbi Isaac Luria Ashkenazi), may his memory be blessed. Your people, Israel, desire and long for the Blessed One very much. Everyone desires to fear Your Name with a wonderful and strong yearning such as has never been known. I have come to the end of all generations and I am still with You. We still hold onto You and long to serve You with great desire. But, even so, our distance from You in these times is immeasurable. We have sunk in deep mire without foothold. We’ve come into the depths of the waters – its flow has flooded us… In my oppression, who am I to tell of the troubles of Israel? You alone know the standing and condition of Israel in these, the last of days. However I’ve come to tell and cry about myself and my soul, about my immense distance from the Holy One; about the immensity of my many blemishes and transgressions and grievous, willful sins. About these I cry. Tears flow down from my eyes. I know of no way to gain back the power of holiness, nor how to merit to complete repentance. I don’t know on which path to start to abandon my evil ways and deplorable thoughts, or how to rectify such faults and blemishes. Woe, what has happened to me ?! What has happened to me? Maybe You’ll take pity. Maybe You’ll have mercy. No one can stop the Lord from saving me even at this time. Therefore I’ve come as a impoverished man at the door, poor and wretched, afflicted and oppressed, confused and crazed, to shout out and cry before the glory of Your holiness. “Rebbi, Rebbi, Rebbi!” My father, my father, chariot and horseman of Israel,” flame of the candle of Torah – awake, why are You sleeping? How can you bear the suffering of Israel? Rise and awake together with all the true tzaddikim and look at the bitterness of the suffering of our souls… Tzaddikim, foundations of the world, rise and come to our assistance in this time of trouble. Take pity and have mercy upon all of the congregation of Israel, including myself, the sinner, who is blemished and full of sins, from head to toe. You know all the hardships that have befallen us from the day of our exile from the Land of Israel until now. You know what has happened to the People of Israel, in general and specifically, what has happened specifically to each individual, in particular what has befallen me since the emanation, formation, creation and making of my higher soul, spirit, soul and body. You know all that has befallen me in each reincarnation and, in particular, what has happened to me in this body, everything that has happened to me since I came into existence up until today. That which I still remember and that which I’ve forgotten – all the reams of blemishes I’ve committed in just one day, according to the place where they reach in relation to the source of my soul. Certainly, even more so, that which I’ve blemished in all these days from when I was born until today [specify the blemishes in detail]. Who can tell, who can measure? What can I say? Master of the World, put into the heart of this holy and awesome tzaddik [who rests here] and into the heart of all the true tzaddikim that they not conceal themselves from me. Let them stand up for me and speak on my behalf. Let them search and find in me good points, to turn things to my merit. May they advocate well on my behalf so that You bring me closer to You, with compassion. Give me a new heart and place a new spirit within me, so that I merit to really awaken from now on to return to You, truthfully and wholeheartedly! All you who rest in the dust, pray for me, for one who is sunken in deep mire without a foothold. Rabbi, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, remember this and take notice, that we’ve merited in these generations to hear awesome wonders of your greatness and learnt how it’s alluded in the Torah that through you the Torah won’t be forgotten. The verse you brought is itself proof - “for it will not be forgotten from the mouth of his seed" – In Hebrew the final letters spell out Yochai. Your holy name itself is alluded to in the verse. “Holy one coming down from Heaven”, whose initial letters spell Yochai. You alone know the secret of these things. You alone know the greatness of the promise you gave us, that through you the Torah won’t be forgotten from Israel. You know how Moses prophesied this beforehand in his holy Torah. Therefore I’ve come, holy Rabbis, to remind you. Have pity on me. Don’t look at the evil that I’ve committed up until today, in thought, speech and deed. Have mercy upon me. Don’t take notice of all that I’ve transgressed. Don’t be angry at me, G-d forbid. From now on think of ways that I won’t be pushed away from the Holy One and from yourselves, Heaven forbid, for nothing can prevent the Lord saving me even at this time. I have no strength now other than in my mouth. This is also from God whose kindness and truth haven’t left me. They have given strength to someone as tired as myself to sat these few words. In this I have put my trust, that you, the tzaddikim, will have mercy on me and act so that I merit to truly return to the Holy One (and to come safely to the Land of Israel very soon, to say all this, and more than this, on your holy tomb). In His mercy, may the good Lord hearken to your prayers, help, protect and save me and all Israel for your sakes. May G-d return me in perfect repentance before Him quickly. May He hold me and not let go of me; don’t leave me or abandon me under any circumstances until I merit to really return to Him and to be as He wills, from now on, forever. Through the strength and the merit of the true tzaddikim, let me rectify in my lifetime all that I’ve blemished. Upon them alone I can rely to arrange these words before them and before the Holy One, the Merciful One, Who knows hidden things… “Bring my soul out of prison so that I may praise Your Name; the tzaddikim will surround me; for You will deal bountifully with me.” 1. HAPPY ARE THOSE a) By learning Torah all our prayers and requests are accepted, the charm and importance of Israel is raised and exalted in the eyes of all those we need, whether materially or spiritually. b) Studying Torah with all one's strength gives strength to the Kingdom of Holiness and strengthens the good inclination to overcome the evil inclination. c) When you engage in the study of Torah you will be able to understand the hints and meanings contained in all the things in the world and use them to attach yourself to the Holy One. Then, even if you find yourself in a grim and dark place where you think it hard to draw close to G-d, there also true wisdom will radiate to you to enable you to come close to G-d even from there. d) Nobody sins unless he is overcome by the spirit of folly. Therefore, each individual, according to the sins and blemishes he committed, literally becomes mad. This is why most people suffer from several kinds of madness. The remedy for this is to study Torah with all one's strength, for it comprises of all the Names of G-d. By this, you subdue the evil urge and drive out the madness and spirit of folly that became attached to you through your sins. e) One also merits through learning Torah to be saved from the deceitful cunning of the evil urge, for usually it doesn't entice a person to sin immediately, but rather, at first it disguises itself as a mitzvah etc. When you learn Torah you acquire true wisdom and merit to avoid all this. f) The main reason why our prayers are not accepted is that the words lack charm. Therefore each person has to try to have charm and truth in his words. This you acquire by learning Torah; then all your prayers are accepted. g) A Jewish person always has to look at the intelligence in each thing and to connect himself to the wisdom and intelligence that exist in each thing in order that they will enlighten him and bring him closer to the Holy One, for the main vitality in each thing is only from the intelligence and wisdom in it, as it says, " the wisdom gives life". Intelligence is a great light which enlightens a person in all his paths, like the sun. Then, when a person comes to a place that is dim and dark, Heaven forbid, even so, when he merits to look at the wisdom and life force in each thing, then this wisdom will enlighten him and bring him closer to G-d. This is an aspect of what Joseph merited to when he overcame his temptation by looking at the wisdom in each thing. h) It is impossible to merit to this light of wisdom other than through Malkhut meaning by taking upon yourself the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven, truly, with complete faith; you have to limit your knowledge and disregard all your wisdom completely, as if you haven't any independent wisdom at all, while loathing all extraneous intellect and wisdoms. You should long for and desire just to receive light and vitality from the true intelligence and wisdom which are from the sublime, holy Intelligence which is the main vitality in each thing, as explained previously. i) The main struggle between the good urge and the evil urge is only in this, for the good urge encourages a person to loathe all extraneous wisdoms and intellect and all the physical desires which are complete folly and real foolishness and that you should attach yourself only to the light of holy wisdom. The evil urge, however, entices a person to the opposite, as it says, "the fool doesn't desire wisdom". This is like Esau who scorned the portion of the first born which represents the wisdom and intellect of holiness. Thus, each person has to give strength to the good urge to overcome the evil urge, as the Sages said, "A person should always enrage the good urge against the evil urge." To achieve this you have to engage in learning Torah with all your strength. j) When you merit to all the above, a great unification is made in all the worlds and the light of the moon becomes like the light of the sun. Then you merit to acquire charm and by this all your prayers and requests are accepted. k) The evil urge wants to make a person literally crazy, Heaven forbid, for a sinner is a madman, as the Sages said, "A person doesn't sin unless the spirit of folly enters him." But how can it come and suddenly make him mad, Heaven forbid. So the way of the evil urge is to disguise itself as a mitzvah and thus mislead a person to think he is performing a mitzvah. Afterwards it misleads and entices him even more until he actually performs real sins on purpose, Heaven forbid. This is exactly like the madness of a madman whose mind is confused and crazed until he says about bad that it's good. However, even so, there still remain some sparks of intelligence and knowledge such that, even in his folly, also he understands and senses that he shouldn't do such things. Nevertheless, he still does them. Because of this, two tactics are needed to cure the madman. Firstly, one has to hit them in order to stop them from sinning on purpose; thus, at least, it won't be easy for them, in their madness, to do things that they themselves also understand to be crazy and foolish. Secondly, one has to put an amulet on them in order to drive out the evil spirit from them which confuses and unbalances their mind, Heaven forbid, making them turn the straight path upside down and say that evil is good etc. So also with the curing of a person from the madness of the evil urge, he also needs these two aspects. First, to subdue all of his deliberate evil so as not to do at least what he himself understands to be evil and a real sin, Heaven forbid. Then he needs to have the spirit of evil and folly driven out of him which disguises itself as mitzvoth and misleads him as though he were urging him to do a mitzvah. We merit to all this fully only through studying Torah which includes both of these tactics. l) The main way of attaching yourself to this holy intelligence in all things is by pure simplicity which is an aspect of what it says, "Ya'acov was a pure, simple man" for he merited to ascertain this light of the intellect to perfection. ### Prayer for Torah 1 Master of all. Ruler of everything. You created Your Nation, Israel in order that they merit to the true ultimate purpose, the eternal purpose, to have dominion over the angels. This is the purpose and the true goal of each Jew; he was created for this to have dominion over the angels. But You, my Father, know how far away I am from this purpose. In Your awesome wonders, carve a path under Your Throne of Glory and return me to You in complete repentance, with all my heart in such a way that from now I will truly, pursue this holy purpose for which I was created. Merit me to really ascertain this ultimate purpose. Master of the Universe, You know all the hidden things, looking at and examining all the generations until the end. You know the immense jealousy of the angels have towards us because of our ability to ascertain this ultimate purpose which is to have dominion over them. The angels are particularly jealous of Jews who are weak, like us nowadays, and in who he fire of physical desire burns. The evil urge of man exists in his heart since his youth, we have become accustomed to these desires and this had led to sins and iniquities. Oh G-d to where can we escape. I pass through This World for only a very short time, like a passing shadow, like dust in the wind. What will I answer to He who sent me. What will I do when the day of judgment for me comes. Please G-d, You are good to everyone, merit me, in Your bountiful mercy, to have the strength to acquire and maintain this ultimate purpose of having dominion over the angels for always. Help us Give us understanding to merit to hold onto the Throne of Glory which is the source of all Jewish souls. In Your bountiful mercy let us merit guard the fear in our heart and let us welcome the three Festivals – Pesach, Shavuot and Succot – with tremendously great happiness and joy, with great and absolutely perfect fear, love, holiness and purity, as is Your good desire. May I honour them with all sorts of honour and delight, with food and drink and delicacies and specially fine clothes. Let us pray with devotion, with great happiness and spiritual arousal. May we merit by the three Festivals to rectify and renew all the three brains that are in the three vacuums of the skull, which correspond to wisdom, understanding and perception, such that we merit by this to break and nullify all the three desires - the craving for money, the craving for sex and the craving for food. They are our enemies; by them we have lost, what we have lost, we have come to what we have come! Please Lord, I plead with You Lord, take pity and have mercy upon us. Have mercy upon our souls. Have mercy on our babies and children. Have mercy on us and on all those dependent upon us. Have mercy on Your honour. From now on, grant us merit, strengthen us, encourage us and gladden us with holy happiness in such a way that great holy strength and might be drawn upon us. Thereby let us merit very soon to break and nullify all these three cravings. Let us draw holy perception into our hearts by the holiness of the three Festivals. By this, let us merit to rectify our hearts and nullify from our hearts all these three cravings so that no impression of them remains in us at all. May we merit to welcome the Festival of Pesach, the time of our freedom, with great holiness. By this, may we merit to attract a consciousness and perception in order to break the craving for money. In the merit of the holiness of the Festival of Shavuot, let us merit to draw consciousness and perception in order to break the craving for sex. In the merit of the holiness of the Festival of Succot, the Festival of Ingathering of the harvest, let us merit to consciousness and perception in order to break the craving for food. Please Lord, take pity and have mercy upon us. In compassion fulfill all our wishes for the good. You, in Your bountiful mercy, revealed to us these good and holy pieces of advice about how to escape from all evil. You informed us of this good, straightforward advice that we can break all the three principal cravings by welcoming the three Festivals with holiness, as is fitting. However, You know the evil of our hearts and stubbornness, the confusion and turbidnes of our minds and the greatness and the greatness of our weakness, such that this advice is itself difficult for us to fulfill. We do not know any way or strategy, or in what manner, we can merit to welcome the three Festivals properly. Lord over all, it is revealed before You how far away we are from the holiness of the three Festivals for we have blemished all Your holy Torah, especially the holiness and happiness of Shabbat and the Festivals. We have blemished the three Festivals themselves very, very much. Please Lord, please inform us of Your ways so that we know how to find grace in Your eyes and know how to impress our requests upon You, such that we merit to really come close to You. Let us merit to fulfill all the really good pieces of advice which You revealed to us by Your true tzaddikim until we merit to really return to You wholeheartedly. Take pity and have mercy upon us; please, arouse Your mercy upon us; please, please, arouse Your mercy upon us, Merciful King, have mercy upon us. You, who are good and do good, wish us well. In Your very great mercy, return to us because of our Patriarchs who fulfilled Your will. In Your bountiful mercy, grant us merit that we welcome all the three Festivals with tremendously great, infinite happiness and joy. Let us merit to the real happiness of the Festivals, as is Your good desire. Have pity and mercy upon us for we do not know any path by which to merit to the happiness of the Festival other that by Your great power alone. Sanctify us in Your commandments and may our portion in life be in Your Torah. Satisfy us from Your good bounty and gladden us in Your salvation. Purify our hearts to serve You truly. Lord, our G-d, give us Your holy Festivals of Assembly as an inheritance with joy and delight such that we merit, through power of the holiness of the three Festivals, to break and nullify all the three evil desires which are the craving for money, the craving for sex and the craving for food. Let us be really holy and pure. Extract us from the darkness and gloom and bring us to light and great and great brightness. May we draw the holy perception into the heart so as to rectify, refine and purify the heart from all these three cravings. Fulfill in us the verse which says: “Know therefore this day and consider it in your heart, that the Lord is G-d in heaven above and upon the earth below: there is none else”. Your compassion is great so save us; help us to rectify and purify the blood within us. Merit us to subdue the impure blood which is in the left chamber of theheart so that we clean and purify our hearts from any impurities in the blood that we have had since nursing impure milk from our mothers. As a result, merit us to overcome completely the craving for women until we achieve a real holiness of the brit. Help us and our offspring such that we all really guard the brit while rectifiying and purifying all the three attributes that we mentioned previously. By this, merit us to guard and preserve perfect fear of G-d in the heart. Then merit us very speedily to the building of Jerusalem. Let us serve You there with true fear, as always used to be the case many years ago; constant fear of Your glorious and awesome Name, Lord, our G-d. And through this great fear and awe in our hearts, may we create an angel which will transmit prophesy to the vessels of prophesy. May an abundance of prophecy be drawn down into the world. Guard us and save us from being appointed to positions of authority so that we have no craving or desire for such an appointment, whether it carries significance or not. Don’t burden us with the needs of the community. Rather merit us to serve You with real love and fear, with great simplicity and purity, for Your Name’s sake, alone, without any ulterior motives or confused thoughts at all. So, have mercy on us for You are full of compassion. Bestow upon us good from Your true goodness. Merit us to perfect prayer so we can pray before You with all our heart and soul. Let us not take lightly our prayers because they are of the greatest importance in the heights of heave. May we, put all our hearts into our prayers rather than reciting the words out of rote; help us not to feel that prayer is a burden, Heaven forbid. In Your bountiful mercy, merit us to strengthen ourselves withal our power in numerous ways so that we can pray before You perfectly, with real concentration and the proper intentions in our heart. Help us to redeem our prayer from the great and bitter exile into which it has fallen now because of all our iniquities. Save us, for Your Name’s sake for You are full of compassion and harken to the prayers always of the Jewish People. So, let the words of prayer always flow smoothly in our mouths. Then, in the merit of our prayers, may we subdue, break and nullify all the natural cures of the doctors thus revealing the truth to the world that no doctor in the world knows anything about curing any illness. Rather, all the cures in the world come about only through the word of G-d alone. By rectification of three good traits (complete belief, guarding the brit and honouring people), let us merit to perfect prayer. Help us to pray before You properly, in absolute perfection until we merit by prayer to draw complete healing upon ourselves and our offspring and to all Your nation, the House of Israel (in particular so and so, son of ….). For You are G-d, King, the faithful and compassionate Healer. May we merit by our prayers that all the grasses and herbs of the field, all of them as one, return and give all their strength into the words of our prayers; for that strength is a word of the Blessed One which is their heavenly source. May the power of all the cures from all the grasses and spices in the world be included in our prayers and let our prayers be in great perfection, comprising all the good from all the powers of all the herbs of the field and their kind. Give us merit to raise them all before You as a pleasing aroma, to return them to their highest source through our prayers which are comprised of them all. By this, may we merit to draw the powers of all the cures in the world into brad and water and all things that we eat or drink until we acquire a complete cure for all our illnesses and pains through anything in the world, without any physician or doctor at all; just You, Yourself, in Your honour, cure us completely, as is written: “for I am Your Healer”. May we merit to receive from You a complete cure at the time of the onset of illness, at the time when the illness is closed and hidden within us and we know nothing of it, for You alone know all the mysteries with us. Have mercy upon us, in Your great compassion, and provide a cure prior to the affliction; cure us before the onset of the illness, at the time when some ailment starts to spread and from which something may develop, Heaven forbid. You, in Your compassion alone, cure us from all this, for we know no advice or strategy or any cure for any illness, affliction or pain, whether it is at a time the illness is hidden or whether when it is already revealed, Heaven forbid. In all these situations we have no hope of any use; ‘they are worthless’, “together they are lighter than vanity”, they will not help or save, for they are worthless! We rely only upon You; we wait and hope for Your healing for You are a faithful Healer, a true Healer a charitable Healer, with loving-kindness and compassion. Help us, save us and protect us. Distance us, always, from physicians and doctors! Subdue, overthrow and degrade all the doctors with all their cures, for You know that they damage the world very, very much. By mistake or intentionally they harm many people, every day and every hour. Save us from them, our Father in Heaven, guard us from them; us and all our offspring and their offspring and all the offspring of Your Nation, the House of Israel, form now on, forever. Give us merit to receive all the cures in the world that there are no cures in the world except by prayer alone. May we merit to fulfill that which is written: “And He said: If you will diligently listen to the voce of the Lord, your G-d and you do that which is right in His sight, and you listen to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon you that I brought upon the Egyptians; for I am the Lord who heals you”. In Your bountiful mercy and immense loving-kindness, have compassion upon us that we merit to welcome the holy Rosh HaShana with great holiness and purity, with fear and love, with happiness and great joy, for, in Your mercy, You chose us from all the nations and sanctified us in Your commandments. You did for us this great act of loving-kindness and gave us this wonderful gift which is the holy Rosh HaShana, a holy, awesome and very fearful day in which our Kingship will be exalted, Your throne will be established in loving-kindness and You will sit upon in in truth. In Your bountiful mercy and immense loving-kindness You fixed for us the great and holy day of Rosh HaShana, the great and awesome day of judgment, on the first day of the month of Tishrei which itself is a great and wonderful act of loving-kindness from You, O Charitable and Merciful One. You think from afar to better our end, You are good and do good to the wicked and to those who are good; You gave us a cure and balm prior to our ailment, for You know that we are only flesh and blood; from clay we are formed…You fixed for us the holy day of Rosh HaShana, the great and awesome days of judgment, on the first day of the month when You Yourself ask atonement, so to speak, as the Sages, may their memory be blessed, said, ‘Bring an atonement for Me for My having reduced the size of the moon’. You Yourself regret, so to speak, Your actions, that You made the moon smaller, this being where all our sins are drawn from. Therefore You gave us an excuse to come and confess before You, to regret our actions on the great day of judgment, which is Rosh HaShana, for You also regret and ask atonement then. Therefore we have come before You, Lord, our G-d and G-d of our fathers, G-d of loving-kindness and compassion; let us merit in Your immense mercy and loving-kindness that we welcome this tremendous act of loving-kindness on the holy day of Rosh HaShana, may it come to us for the good. Have mercy upon us for the sake of Your Name. May we merit to welcome the holy day of Rosh HaShana with great holiness for You know that in these generations, called the Footsteps of Messiah, we have no hope other than the holy Rosh HaShana when we gather together in all the dwelling places of Israel. You, who know the hidden, who searches out the hearts, Master of loving-kindness, full of compassion, teach us and show us how to draw great loving-kindness upon ourselves in such a way that we merit to truly return to You wholeheartedly. We have sinned by error, committed iniquity and willfully transgressed before You a very great deal and belittled Your honour very much; we have followed the cravings of our heart and drawn upon ourselves the evil desire, we have blemished and spoiled that which we have spoiled until according to the holy rule of judgment, we should have no advocate of merit. Because of this we have come before You to beg and prostrate ourselves before the mercy of Your Throne of Glory; we raise our eyes towards You Lord, our G-d and G-d of our fathers, and ask that You act for the sake of Your simple mercy and loving-kindness and that You Yourself sit in our judgment, for judgment is G-d’s. Give no strength or permission, Heaven Forbid, to any person in the world, nor to any court, whether in the world above or the world below, nor to any angel or seraph, nor to any creature in the world, to judge and sentence us, Heaven forbid. “Far be it from You to act in this manner’. Rather, may You alone sentence and judge us in Your bountiful mercy and great loving-kindness. ‘Let our sentence come forth from before You; let Your eyes behold (in righteousness) that which is upright’. You alone know our place for ‘You alone know how to always judge us all on the side of merit. “Your mercy is great Lord, grant me life according to You (usually merciful) judgment”. You know the place of each and every one of us, Your Nation Israel; You know how he was born and how his higher soul was drawn into This World, and where he has been, physically and spiritually, up until today. You are full of mercy and tend always towards loving-kindness. Our Father in Heaven, true merciful One and Lover of kindness have pity upon us in this time of trouble when “children are come to birth and there in no strength to give birth”. Act in loving-kindness with us out of charity, for You will not lack. From now on let us merit to be really as Your will, to turn aside from evil and to always do that which is good in Your eyes. In Your bountiful mercy, draw upon us always the holiness of Rosh HaShana; pardon and forgive us for all our willful transgressions, sins and error of iniquities. Fill in the blemish of the moon so that it will have no decrease in its size and may its light be as the light of the sun, as the light of the seven days of Creation, as it was before its waning. Favor us and help us to merit to hold onto the Throne of Glory, the root of the souls of Israel, until we have the strength to worship on Rosh HaShana, to always draw and radiate upon ourselves and all Israel the holiness of Rosh HaShana. May we merit to always judge each person on the side of merit, to push the entire world into the scale of merit, to find merit in each and every one according to his place. May we truly know the place of every one according to his place. May we truly know the place of every single person and draw merit, loving-kindness and mercy upon every one in the community of Israel, Your holy nation, which You chose – even upon the worst of the worst and the least of the least! Open for us the light of knowledge so that we merit to find merit in everyone. Have mercy upon us, always guard and save us so that we will not speak evil against any Jew in the world, Heaven forbid! In Your mercy, save us from speaking evil, even the slightest suggestion of evil and may we not even begin to condemn any Jew, Heaven forbid. Rather may we merit to always find the merit, loving-kindness and good in every single individual, even in the lowest of all places, the very worst and least and let us always push everything to the side of merit. Compassionate One, fulfill all our wishes for the good. Grant our requests for the good as speedily as possible. Take pleasure from all of the Jewish People, from the greatest to the most insignificant; they are all precious and cherished in Your eyes. Everything is in Your power. Our distance from You has become immense because of our many sins. Even so, You can raise us and elevate us; You can draw upon us holiness and purity thus bringing us back to You in complete repentance before You. You can bring us really close to Your service until we reach all that we have asked from You. Amen. So may it be Your will. 2. THE DAYS OF CHANUKAH (a) The days of Chanukah are days of thanksgiving which is an aspect of the delight of the World to Come. (b) The main delight of the World to Come is to give thanks and praise the Holy One, to know and recognize G-d; by this we become near and close to Him, for however much more we know and recognize Him, we become even nearer to Him. For all other things will be nullified in the future; only this aspect of giving thanks and praising and knowing G-d will remain. This will be the entire delight of the World to Come. (c) Studying halacha, especially when one merits to innovate new ideas in them, this is also an aspect of the delight of the World to Come. (d) By giving thanks to the Holy One and by studying halacha, childbirth comes easily. Similarly, one is saved through this from all kinds of trouble. (e) When a person is in distress. Heaven forbid, then truth has been blemished. Therefore, he has to guard himself especially from being caught in some kind of mistake or lie because of the distress, Heaven save us. (f) Through disturbing a Torah scholar from studying a person becomes ill in his legs. (g) When a person merits to give thanks and to praise G-d at all times for whatever happens to him, especially when he comes out of some distress, Heaven forbid, and similarly by studying halacha, through this he merits to the three columns of truth. That's to say, he merits to pray with truth which is the essence of perfect prayer. Secondly, he receives the Torah of truth from a true Rebbe who teaches him the straight path in his true Torah. Thirdly, he merits to true match-making, meaning that the Holy One will arrange for him and his children to find their true marriage partner. And this truth will radiate and complete the four parts of speech (explained in the next paragraph). Through this he will merit to draw the blessing, holiness and joy of Shabbat to the other days of the week. As a result, the simple unity of G-d is revealed within all the many differing events; he can then truly believe and know that all the differing events stem from the Simple One, may He be blessed. This aspect is very precious indeed in all the worlds on High. Even to the Holy One this is a very precious, important and wonderful thing. (h) The four parts of speech are: firstly, there is a word of charity. Man is defined as a speaker and this power of speech stems from charity, for charity and loving-kindness is also a definition of man. The definition of man as a speaker is that he bestows kindness to others. Someone who doesn't give charity or bestow kindness blemishes the power of speech very much; he similar to an animal and is not a human being at all. Man is only so called by his giving charity and bestowing kindness. Secondly, there is a word of repentance, meaning that one speaks many words of repentance before the Holy One. Thirdly, there is the speech of the wealthy who are close to the government; the Holy One grants them a special charm in their words enabling them to nullify any harsh decree and to bring about favours and salvations for the Jewish People. Fourthly, there is speech of the Kingdom of Holiness, meaning that the Holy One will bring us our righteous Meshiach so that we shall merit to hear his holy, pure and awesome words from his holy mouth. (i) The essence and perfection of the power of speech is through truth. (j) Supporters of the Torah, who give their money to Torah scholars, have very great merit. By their money which supports Torah scholars the latter can engage in studying Torah and give birth to halachic decisions and Torah innovations. This means that they have a part in the Torah which is born and revealed by these Torah scholars. All the money they give to Torah scholars, even though it may be missing temporarily from them, even so, by the halacha which is born and innovated as a result, through this a bounty of loving-kindness comes about and then what the doners lack is returned and restored. Then they merit to the delight of the World to Come which is an aspect of filling the lack (see inside) and to all the three lines of truth which radiate into the four parts of speech and to all the rectifications mentioned previously. (k) Through the prayers that the People of Israel pray with truth, they are called by the name El, for the Holy One is called El when referring to His strength. For He is all-powerful and omnipotent. By prayers we take to ourselves this power from Him, for we nullify His decrees; then the Jewish People are called by the name El. (l) By means of lighting the candles of Chanukah and by reciting Hallel and praises of G-d during Chanukah, which is the essence of the delight of the World to Come, as explained, we merit also that the three columns of truth will radiate into the four parts of speech, as mentioned, and perfect the power of speech. By this we will merit draw the holiness and joy of Shabbat into the other six days of the week. In consequence, His simple unity will be revealed within the different events that take place, as explained above. Happy is he who merits to such a Chanukah, to draw down all these awesome rectifications. (m) Someone who merits to perfection of the power of speech through all these awesome rectifications can bring about with his speech anything he wants, that's to say he can change the laws of nature according to his will through the perfection of his speech. (n) When a woman is having difficulty in giving birth, there is a special power to help her by reciting ‘A Psalm of Thanksgiving’ (Psalm 100) again and again. 2. ## 2 ### Torah 2 - Say To The Cohenim a) The main weapon of a Jewish man is prayer and all the wars a person has to win, whether those against the evil urge or other wars with those who place obstacles or cause controversy, all of them are to be fought by prayer; all one's vitality comes from prayer. So, whoever wants to merit to the real holiness of the Jewish People has to pray a great deal, making requests and speaking to his Maker. This is the main weapon to win the war. b) Someone who guards the covenant merits to prayer whereas one who blemishes the covenant, prayer is taken from him. c) One has to put aside charity before praying and by this one merits to pray fluently. Also, by charity one is saved from extraneous thoughts while praying. You will be able to pray without swerving to the right or left but rather you will measure all your words with judgement. d) It is impossible to merit to perfect prayer other than by guarding the covenant perfectly. Therefore each person has to connect his prayer to the true tzaddikim of the generation for they know how to raise each and every prayer to the place where it needs to get and thus build the stature of the Shechinah. By this they bring closer the coming of the Moshiach. e) Studying Torah and prayer strengthen each other and radiate to each other. Therefore we must engage in them both particularly. All the Torah that a person studies, to keep and perform, all the letters are sparks of souls which become clothed in the letters of the prayer and are rejuvenated there in the aspect of 'ibbur', ( extra spiritual power) .By this the light of prayer is perfected even more. However, the main form of perfection is by connecting and bringing one's prayer to the tzaddik of the generation. f) If a person does a lot of praying and talking to G-d in his own words for many days and years and nevertheless feels himself still very far away from the Holy One and it seems to him that G-d is hiding His Face from him, Heaven forbid, he shouldn't mislead himself into thinking that G-d doesn't listen to his prayers and conversations with Him at all, rather, he should believe with perfect faith that G-d hears and listens attentively to every single word of every prayer and supplication and conversation, for no word is ever lost, Heaven forbid. On the contrary, every single word makes an impression in the World Above, slowly and surely, arousing G-d's mercy each time even though he still hasn't finished the building of holiness which he needs to enter. Over the days and years, if he isn't foolish and doesn't weaken his resolve in any way, strengthening himself and making more and more of an effort in his prayers, G-d's mercy will be aroused until He turns toward him and shines on him His Face (Divine Providence) and fulfills his wishes and desires through the power of the true tzaddikim and will bring him closer to Him with mercy and great compassion. g) It is not fitting to think about receiving reward for anything because all our good deeds and all our prayers are all from G-d .As a result, even if a person merits occasionally to some salvation or slight feeling of closeness, he shouldn't think that this is through his Torah learning or prayers or good deeds, for everything is from the Holy One. Without G-d's great charity he would already have sunk in whatever he was sinking, may Heaven save us. h) The main evil urge is concerning sex. That is the main form of impurity. So, we need to know that the main test of each individual in This World is in this craving. Happy is he who wins the war. i) The true tzaddik of the generation is an aspect of the great light. He shines and enlightens prayer which is an aspect of the small light. ### Prayer for Torah 2 “How good to praise You O G-d and to sing praises to Your sublime Name”. I will bless G-d at all times, always His praises will be in my mouth”. Master of the Universe, Who is full of goodness, merit us to always give thanks to You. Help us and save us; merit us to real good, to the delight of the World to Come which is giving thanks to Your great and holy Name. May I recite many blessings, thanks, songs and songs of praise to Your great and holy Name. Let me give thanks to You and bless You for all the acts of loving-kindness, goodness and wonderful miracles that You have performed for me during my lifetime, for all Your miracles that are with us every day and for Your wonders and acts of goodness at all times, evening and morning and noon. Who can praise or tell of me of the myriad occasions when You bestowed upon us and our predecessors, goodness’s, miracles and wonders. All the pens ink and scrolls of paper in the world would not suffice to tell of one drop in the ocean of all the wonderful great and awesome miracles which You performed for us and for every individual Jew upon who You extracted from impurities and filth and brought mercy. You perform great and awesome deeds every day and think of ways to bring us closer to Your service. Even if our mouths were full of song like the sea and our tongues sang joyfully as the numerous waves of the sea, even if our lips sang praises like the expanses of the heavens and our eyes shine as the sun and as the moon and our hands outstretched as the eagles of the sky and our feet are as swift as deer, still we could not sufficiently thank You, praise You or glorify and bless Your Name, our King, for even one thousandth or hundred thousandth of all the wonders, miracles and goodness’s that You have performed for us and our forefathers. Behold, I give thanks for the past and shout out for the future, merciful One. Arouse Your mercy upon me. Have compassion on me and save me. Merit me to keep and perform all the words of Your holy Torah, which the true tzaddikim revealed and informed us about. Speedily, hasten our redemption; extract us from all the troubles and evils which surround me. So, in Your bountiful mercy, merit me to study Torah laws every day, without fail, all the days of my life. Let no day pass without my studying halacha. Through this, merit me to the delight of the World to Come, to know and recognize You for always. Help me to clarify the true halachic decision; Be with me always. Draw upon me unearned loving-kindness, the loving-kindness of David. Merit me to study Torah in order to understand the halacha from it until I can understand the halacha of every Torah commandment with complete truth and clarity. May I understand new things with regard to the halacha. Bestow upon me full, holy understanding such that I will come to know and recognize You. Let me always be very close to You, thanking and blessing You at all times. Merit me to really cleave to You, in This World and in the World to Come, forever. Save me from any distress and trouble for You know that the troubles felt in my heart are very numerous and weigh heavily upon me. Father in Heaven I am in distress. I no longer have the strength to suffer. All the blood in my body collect together and pressure my heart. They weigh down my heart. All the blood in my limbs and veins search and ask for advice and strategies how to escape and be saved from the harsh decree of Hell and the harsh decree of the future and how to be saved from sins, iniquities and willful sins, from all the trials and tribulations in the world, Heaven forbid. Spread over me, from Your holy dwelling place salvation and compassion. Save me, from now on, from all the troubles. I have no-one to depend upon other than You, my Father in Heaven. You guard me. Save me and help me; merit me that the blood which floods my heart will return to flow as normal. Act towards me with love at all times. Merit me to always thank You for all the acts of loving-kindness that You performed for me and will perform for me in the future. Have mercy on us and upon all the Jewish People. Merit us to be supporters of Torah scholars and those who really serve G-d. Let us be able to provide them with all that they need so that they can continue to engage in studying Torah and the service of G-d without financial worry, confusions or disturbances such that they will be able to bring forth Torah innovations. As a result, bestow upon us great loving-kindness, great bounty, a good livelihood and great, holy wealth. Have compassion and great mercy on those women who are to give birth among the Jewish People. Save them from anguish and harm. Help them and save them in Your bountiful and awesome loving-kindness. May they all give birth easily, without any difficulty in childbirth. Merciful One, have compassion over them. Bring out the new-born child peacefully, without any harm. Merit the Jewish People to raise their sons and daughters for many years to serve and fear You. May no women have a miscarriage so that the Jewish People multiply as the sand of the sea which cannot be counted. In Your bountiful compassion and true loving-kindness, help us and save us so that we merit to draw a radiance of truth and make it shine into our speaking, making it perfect in holiness. Guard us and save us so that no world of falsehood leaves our mouths, even by mistake. Rather, may all our words be truthful for ever more. Let us draw the three lines of truth which are prayer, Torah and honourable matchmaking. Please help us to pray before You with all our heart and soul, so that it is perfect as You really desire. Be wit us at all times and save us so that we can speak out our prayers with real truth without any ulterior motives, extraneous thoughts or confusions at all. Let the words of our prayers and supplications be with the purest truth, a truth that You desire. Then listen to all our prayers for You only desire the truth, as it says “G-d id close to all those who call Him in truth”. And may we merit that, through our prayers, we can run the world as we desire while nullifying all the harsh judgments which have been decreed against us, Heaven forbid. Whether before the decree or after, give Your power and strength into our hands so that we have the power to change the laws of nature and to control the world. Let the People of Israel have the godly power to guide all the worlds as is Your holy desire. Merciful One. Fulfill all our wishes for the good until we merit to a radiance of the three lines of truth in our speech and bring all its four aspects to perfection. May we always donate a lot of charity so that we can achieve the voice of charity. Draw upon us Your mercy and remove from our hearts any feeling of cruelty. Merit us to rise from the level of animal to that of a man who has compassion. Inspire us to have real compassion for others and to donate charity to deserving poor people. Master of the World, merit me to complete repentance before You. Help me to say many words of repentance. Send us worthy words within our mouths that will find favour in Your eyes. May we arouse our hearts before You so that we can pour out our hearts like water and achieve complete repentance. Return us and we will return. Grant me a genuine voice of repentance. Help us to be as You desire from now on. Merit us to perfect the speech of the rich and those close to government. Help and guard all the ministers, advisers and those with influence over the leaders who work to rescue and bring salvation to Jews. Bestow upon their lips words of grace so that they will find favour in the eyes of the country’s leaders, their ministers and advisors so they can nullify the plans of our enemies. Give them grace and intelligence in such a way that they will merit to negate all the harsh decrees and bring about good decrees for the Jewish People, Your Nation. Turn the hearts of the country’s leaders and advisors in our favour. Only You know the lowly status and condition of the Jewish People nowadays. Many nations rise against us. They plan all the time how to harm us. We have no-one to rely on other than our Father in Heaven, for You are with us forever in every generation. Have mercy on us in this impoverished generation before the coming of Meshiach. Everything is Your Hand alone. Merit us to the voice of the kingdom of Holiness and bring us Meshiach very speedily in our generation. Rule over us for always and let us hear his holy, pure and awesome words from his holy lips. Have mercy on us for Your Name’s sake. Merit us to the radiance of truth in the four types of speech so that our power of speech will be perfect, with holiness and truth. May we have perfection of the holy language, which is connected to Shabbat; let us have words of truth which contain blessings and holiness. Nullify subdue and break the power of the languages of the nations so that they have no hold on or dominion over the People of Israel. Merit us to the perfection of the holy language so we can draw the holiness and joy of Shabbat into the six weekdays. Help us and redeem us; merit us to receive Shabbat with great holiness and immense joy, great happiness and a good heart. Let no worry or sadness enter our hearts during the holy Shabbat. Remove from us and distress or sighing. Rather allow us to be extremely happy every Shabbat with real, holy joy, as You desire. Furthermore, enable us to draw the holiness of Shabbat into the six weekdays, such that we can be happy all the time, even during the weekdays. May we rejoice in You always. Please help us on all occasions to have the joy of Shabbat during the weekdays until we merit to Your Simple Oneness becoming revealed in the world. Let everyone know and believe that all the differing events stem from the Simple Oneness of the Holy One. May every work of Your hands, know that You are his Maker and let every breathing thing say, ‘G-d, G-d of Israel, You are Kind and Your kingdom has dominion in all places’. Reveal Your Simple Oneness to all the world through Your Nation the Jewish People, whom You chose as one nation among the many upon the face of the Earth. Then reveal Your Simple Oneness and also in all the Worlds Above, such that Your Simple Oneness becomes revealed in all the differing events below, in This World by means of the Jewish People. As a result of this, nullify all kinds of controversy from the world and draw great peace throughout all the world. May we merit to perform the commandment of lighting the Channuka light as is fitting , in all its details and exactitudes, all its intentions and all the 613 commandments dependent on it. May we fulfill all the commandments of Channuka with great happiness; let us praise You and bless You and say the complete Hallel with very great happiness, with great spiritual arousal, with great holiness and purity. In Your bountiful mercy You established for us the eight days of Channuka which are a delight of the World to Come, to give thanks and to praise Your great Name. In Your bountiful mercy, let us merit to fulfill Your commandments in truth until we merit to really draw upon ourselves a delight of the World to Come at all times, which is the giving thanks to Your great, holy Name. Especially let this be so in the holy days of Channuka which are days of thanksgiving such that we really merit to come closer to You, to know and acknowledge You, for He is good, as it says: “Give thanks to the Lord for He is good; His loving-kindness endures forever”. Let us merit to draw the holiness of Shabbat to the six days of the week such that we merit to always be happy as is really Your good desire. Psalm 100: “A Psalm of thanksgiving; call out to G-d all the earth. Serve G-d with gladness, come before Him with joyous song. Know that G-d, He is G-d; He made us and we are His, His People and the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving, His courtyards with praise; give thanks to Him, bless His name for G-d is good, His loving-kindness endures forever and His faithfulness is from generation to generation”. (This Psalm is good to say for a woman having difficulty in childbirth. One should say it several times for reciting ‘A Psalm of thanksgiving’ has a specially strong power to help in childbirth so that the woman give birth easily. Amen.) 3. REDEMPTION OF THE SOUL After paying a redemption in order to sweeten the harsh decrees, then there is permission for the doctor to cure but not before hand for the main power to cure is though the redemption. 3. ## 3 ### Torah 3 - The Frog a) By holy song one raises and builds up the Kingdom of Holiness and one merits to be raised up. So also, the opposite, the cantors and singers of the Other Side blemish the holiness and lengthen the exile. Through them people stumble and can't move, like birds caught in a trap. Therefore each person must be very careful not to hear songs from an unholy singer who doesn't intend to sing from the sake of Heaven at all but rather only for money, honour and fame. Hearing him sing causes damage to the service of G-d. So also the opposite, to hear songs from a kosher, worthy singer is beneficial for the service of G-d. b) The rectification so that one won't be damaged by the voice of an unholy singer is by learning Talmud at night (after midnight). c) By holy song a person can merit to an aspect of prophecy for the main way to attach yourself to G-d is by song, as will be explained. d) By learning Torah after midnight, a thread of loving kindness is drawn upon you so you can be protected from thoughts of learning for ulterior motives. You also rectify the sound of unholy song so it won't hurt you, for it is very harmful for the service of G-d, and you merit to raise holy song so you can attach yourself to the Holy One by songs and tunes. Through this a person builds and raises the Kingdom of holiness, thus meriting to importance so that he can control anything he wants, even achieving a degree of prophecy. e) When a person rectifies the voice of song and merits to a degree of kingship and rulership, then he can rule anything he wants; he can bring death to this one or give life to that one. However he has to be very careful to judge each person on the side of merit so he won't destroy the world, for the Holy One desires loving kindness and desires the continuance of the world. f) When you hear the sound of joyful song and attach yourself by this to the Holy One with a broken heart, through this the sound of song is elevated even though the singer isn't worthy and, as a result, the Kingdom of holiness is raised. To merit to this completely, the rectification is by learning after midnight the Oral Torah which is the Gemorra. ### Prayer for Torah 3 Healer of the sick Jews, true Healer, faithful and compassionate Healer, have mercy upon us and upon all Your Nation, the House of Israel. Preserve us and save us so that we should not come to any illness or ailment, according to Your holy, true and just decrees, I plead with You, merciful One, in Your great compassion, preserve us and save us so that we should not make a mistake, Heaven forbid, and put ourselves into the hands of physicians and doctors, for they are all worthless and (offer) nothing but vanity. For You know the truth, that there is no physician who knows to cure the illness and ailment really properly, even the expert doctors who are eminently well learned in their field of knowledge, for there is no wise and expert doctor who can know to determine correctly the medicine which is special to the cure of that patient; according to Your judgment when You decreed that the patient; according to Your judgment when You decreed that the patient should not be cured other that by a certain person and certain medicine. Therefore it is completely impossible that the patient be cured other that specifically by these factors which were decreed concerning his cure. Who is the wise man who can know all this? Even more so is this true since most of the physicians and doctors are ignorant of science and are not well-learned in the science of healing, for it is a very great, deep wisdom and there are immeasurable numbers of differentiations and changes which make it usually impossible to determine the real truth. In one small movement they do much damage and sometimes they spoil and cause more harm than they cure. They kill and murder people with their own hands! Several peoples’ lives have degenerated because of them, for more people have died through physicians and doctors than have died by themselves, as is known before You, Master of the World. True doctors admit by themselves that it is impossible to know that science perfectly; they have admitted unashamedly that it is better to avoid doctors and medicines. Master of the World, You are full of mercy. Creator of cures. Master of wonders. You know that the world has already sunk very much, for many days and years, into this mistake of engaging in medical cures, until it has become very difficult to extract people from that confusion, particularly since, because of the great anguish and pain of those who suffer illnesses, Heaven forbid, they give themselves over into the hands of the doctors, requesting a cure or medicine for their affliction. However, more or less everyone’s hopes were in vain, for the doctors did not succeed in removing their disease from them other than through Your Great Compassion and loving-kindness, when Your mercy became so strong as to remove their disease and treat their wounds. Therefore I come before You, who are full of mercy. True Healer, have compassion upon us and give us insight to understand and become wise at any time that we have need of some cure for ourselves or our family. Heaven forbid, so that we should not go searching for doctors, but only searching and requesting always for the Face of G-d. Strengthen our hearts to trust in You, Your tzaddikim and those who really fear You. Help us and save us so that we merit always to give money for the redemption of our souls. Provide for us always with really kosher, fearful people, who will have the power to perform a redemption of the soul from the money given to them, in a way that will ‘sweeten’ (diminish the severity of) the judgment upon us and our offspring and our household, by the redemption of the soul made on our behalf. You will be full of compassion for us. Cure us completely, spiritually and physically. Heal us Lord and we will be healed. Save us and we will be saved, for You are our song of praise. Bring a complete cure to all our afflictions, all our pains, all our illnesses (inn particular the sick person so and so…..) For You are G-d, King, faithful and compassionate Healer. We have no dependence on any cure of any doctor in the world! Only upon You do we rely, G-d, I plead with You, cure us out of Your abundant compassion and loving-kindness, for You alone know the great anguish and pain of all who suffer illnesses or pains. You, who are full of mercy, have mercy upon them Don’t hide Your Face from them. See and care for them in their oppression and pain. Be full of compassion for them, to heal them and cure them, to give them strength and revive them very quickly. Fulfill the verse which is written: “And the Lord will take away from you all sickness and will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt which you know: upon you; but I will put them upon those who hate you”. And it is said: “And you shall serve the Lord, Your G-d, and He will bless your bread and your water; and I will take sickness away from your midst”. And it is said: “And He said, If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord, your G-d and will do that which is right in His sight and will hearken to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon you which I brought upon Egypt; for I am the Lord that heals you”. Amen. May it be His will. 4. "AND I HAVE COMMANDED THE RAVENS" (Kings,1:17) (a) The main task in giving charity is to break one's cruelty and turn it into mercy by volunteering to give charity for if someone is compassionate by nature and gives charity out of compassion, this is not considered as working on oneself. Therefore, anyone who has a generous heart and wants to fulfill the mitzvah of charity properly, first has to go and pass through this aspect. That's to say, first he has to break the cruelty within him which is part of his nature and turn it into mercy by giving charity. This is the essence of the task of giving charity, as mentioned. Through this, also the anger of G-d will be turned into favour. (b) All the mitzvot and good deeds and all the service of G-d are an aspect of birth for the main generations of tzaddikim are their good deeds. And like a woman before giving birth has to suffer several birth pangs and contractions and she screams out a number of cries of 'ouch' and 'oh' etc. Similarly, in the service of G-d, when one wants to do something to serve G-d or to repent, it is actually necessary that he undergo many struggles. Then he has to scream out several cries of 'ouch' and 'oh', groan a lot and make all sorts of movements etc. especially in the beginning when it is very difficult, for all beginnings are difficult. Then one needs even more to cry out and groan etc. before starting some new beginning. Also afterwards, after making the beginning, serving G-d doesn't come easily and one needs several struggles and contortions, as mentioned, before one merits to perform some action that is really splendid for the beginning is very difficult, as explained. Therefore, do not get confused by all that occurs to you for it is necessary to go through it all. "According to the distress, so is the reward." (c) Charity widens all of the openings into the realm of holiness. When a person enters a certain path and way of serving G-d then he has to make an opening and enter in that path. That is why all the beginnings are difficult. But by giving charity, he widens the opening. And even when there already is an opening, the charity widens and opens even more all the entrances to holiness. So, before any mitzvah or service of G-d, it is good to give charity in order to widen the entrance of holiness that one needs in order to do this service of G-d so that it won't be too hard and too much of a strain for him to enter there. (d) The beginning of charity is very burdensome and difficult. But the benefit of charity is very great indeed. The needs of the body are very numerous, and even those things that are really necessary are also many, such as food, drink, clothing and accommodation, and they are very great obstacles to a person in the service of the Creator. By means of giving charity we nullify all these obstacles for, by charity, we merit to have G-d's loving-kindness bestowed upon us such that we need no business or craft to get a livelihood. The work will be done by others while he engages in the service of G-d. (e) The immense loving-kindness is impossible to receive for we haven't the ability to accept such great goodness. We need to make a vessel and channel through which to receive the bounty. Through fear of G-d the vessel and channel is made to receive the bounty of loving-kindness. (f) When it becomes revealed that everything occurs through Divine Providence, as G-d wills, without any laws of nature at all, this creates fear of G-d; for then we know that there is reward and punishment it becomes feasible to fear G-d. But, when a person falls into disbelief, as if everything occurs according to the laws of nature, then fear of G-d is not feasible, Heaven forbid. (Ed. See Job, Ch.15, when Eliphaz says to Job that he blamed it all on the Constellations and therefore he annulled fear of G-d.) (g) Revelation of G-d's will is by the Festivals for each holy Festival calls and announces and reveals G-d's will, that everything occurs only according to His will and there is no force of nature at all. For on every single Festival G-d performed awesome wonders with us which are the opposite of the laws of nature. In Pesach He took us out of Egypt with awesome wonders. On Shavuot He gave us the Torah with awesome wonders. In Succot He surrounded us with clouds of glory. By all these awesome signs and wonders He performed for us in all of these three Festivals, it became revealed that everything happens only according to G-'s will without any laws of nature at all. However, one has to incline one's ears and heart well to hear this holy call; as a result he will merit to the joy of the Festival. Every person, according to how well he merits to hear in his heart this holy call of the Festival, how everything occurs only according to G-d's will, so he merits to the joy of the Festival. (h) There are evil creatures which trample and tear to pieces their prey; they are the wise men of the laws of nature (scientists) who want to show through their mistaken wisdom that everything occurs according to nature, Heaven forbid. They trample and tear to pieces many of the son's of our nation. There are many Jewish souls who have sunk in this, Heaven preserve us. These souls are like birds caught in a net. Therefore, anyone who has mercy on his soul has to run away and escape with his soul from them so that his soul won't be trampled on and torn to pieces, Heaven forbid, by them. Their pressure is very great and the voice of their roaring rises and overcomes the voice of the Festival which calls and cries out and reveals the will of G-d. Therefore, Heaven forbid that we should look at all in those books of philosophy, even in those books written by famous rabbis, for there is no greater harm than that. (i) Because of the old people in the generation, who live to a ripe old age, but who haven't perfection (in knowledge or holiness), belief in the laws of nature becomes stronger, Heaven forbid, for a person has to add holiness and knowledge of G-d every day that is added to his life. Every additional day has to shine even more with extra holiness and knowledge of G-d. Only then is a person called a truly holy old sage. However, when a person blemishes his days and fails to add holiness and knowledge each day, even though he may be old, he is not called an old person at all; on the contrary, he is called 'short-lived'. When the holy knowledge of these old people falls, the knowledge and wisdom of the laws of nature (natural sciences) derive sustenance and become stronger in the world. (j) The rectification for this is to give charity, for by giving charity we rectify the blemish of these old people of the generation who live to an old age but are unworthy. Through this we merit to nullify the source of the natural sciences and to hear the voice of the holy Festival which calls and reveals that everything is according to the will of G-d. Then we merit to the joy of the Festival. Therefore we have to give a lot of charity before each Festival in order to merit to the perfect joy of the Festival. Through this, by hearing the voice of the Festival calling and revealing the will of G-d, as a result he will merit to fear of G-d. By means of this he will be able to receive the bounty of G-d's loving-kindness such that he will have no need to deal with any business for a living. All his work will be done by others; he will be able to devote himself to the service of G-d without any disturbances because of a livelihood. This means that the benefit of charity is very great both for himself, for he can devote himself to the service of G-d without disturbance, and in general for the whole world, for belief in the will of G-d becomes revealed. All the souls that have already been trapped in the natural sciences like birds caught in a net will fly out of their trap and go out from there in peace by this charity. (k) Sometimes, even when one has subdued the wise men of the laws of nature, they still return and plant a doubt in our belief in G-d's will; then we need to give a lot of charity again, for charity always subdues and belittles the wisdom of nature and reveals that everything that occurs is only according to G-d's will. (l) Charity is a cure for all afflictions. 4. ## 4 ### Torah 4 - I Am G-D, Your L-Ord a) It is proper for those who cleave to the true tzaddik to know that everything that happens to each person is for his benefit. When a person knows this, it is like a foretaste of the World to Come. To this one merits by saying a confession in the presence of a Torah scholar. Then you will merit to know that everything that occurs to you during your lifetime is all for the good, for it is all because the Holy One loves you. This is the main element of perfect knowledge, when a person doesn't kick against or get confused by troubling experiences which befall him but, rather, just believes that everything is for the sake of his eternal good. b) When a person says a confession in front of a true Torah scholar, he raises the Kingdom of Holiness to its spiritual source. Through this, he nullifies the rule of the nations from over us and comes to know that all his experiences are for his ultimate benefit. Then he will be able to say the blessing "Who is good and beneficent" over everything (not just the apparent good). This is like experiencing the World to Come. c) The main rectification of all iniquities is through the true tzaddik. Anyone who wants to merit to the ultimate, eternal good has to make every effort to come close to the real tzaddikim and their followers and to speak out all he feels, all his confession, in the presence of the tzaddik. In this way all his sins are forgiven. The sins of a person are engraved in his bones, for every sin has a certain combination of letters and when he sins a negative letter combination is etched on his bones according to the letters of the prohibition that he transgressed. This brings the spoken word of the prohibition he transgressed into the realm of impurity. In turn, this brings the Kingdom of Holiness into the exile of the power of evil. As a result, this evil combination, etched upon his bones, takes revenge against him. But, by saying the confession in front of a Torah scholar, these letters are removed from his bones and everything is rectified. d) By the great humility of the true tzaddikim, who make themselves become like nothing, they have the ability to atone for our sins. e) Someone who wants to progress on the pathway of holiness has to break all his bad attributes which stem from the four basic elements ( fire, air, water and earth). He has to say a confession in front of the Torah scholar, expressing all his heart, then the Torah scholar will clarify for him a path (how to serve G-d) in accordance with the root of his soul. f) There are three steps in becoming attached to tzaddikim through which everything becomes rectified. They are as follows: Firstly, when you see a tzaddik, this breaks the bad characteristics within you, which stem from the two elements of inanimate(earth) and vegetation(water); in other words, the traits of sadness and laziness and their derivatives, together with evil passions. Then one merits to joy and speediness. g) The second step is to give charity to a Torah scholar. By this, you are saved from bad traits stemming from the two elements of animal (air) and human( fire) which are idle chatter, slanderous gossip, pride and their derivatives. h) The third step is when you say a confession in the presence of the Torah scholar, as a result of which he will guide you on a straight path according to the source of your soul (and its specific needs). This is the main thing and saves a person from everything negative. i) By idle chatter and slanderous gossip a person is brought to a state of poverty. Pride also leads to poverty. However, by giving charity to a Torah scholar this is rectified and you merit to wealth. j) Prior to confessing to a Torah scholar, even though you were close to him and gave him money, you still can’t know which path you are to follow. For there is a path that may seem right, but its end leads to death (Proverbs,14,12). However, through confessing to a Torah scholar he will guide you on the proper path, according to the root of your soul, and everything will be rectified. k) Every time you come to the Torah scholar you should tell him whatever is in your heart. By this you will be encompassed in the Infinite One. Then you will merit to know that all the events of your life are for your ultimate good and you will be able to say the blessing ' Who is good and beneficent' over everything. This is a foretaste of the World to Come. l) By humility one can reach the level of ridding oneself of all worldliness and to be encompassed in the Infinite One, knowing that whatever happens is for one's own good, which is a foretaste of the World to Come. m) The very greatest, chosen tzaddikim draw a radiance of the Light of the Infinite One upon all those who come close to them and are included in their name. This is why we see that sometimes a person becomes enthused while praying and he says several words with great fervour. This is due to G-d's compassion for him; the Light of the Infinite One was opened to him and it shines on him. When he sees this radiance, even though he himself might not see it, his 'mazal' (guardian angel) sees it. So immediately his soul is enthused to great attachment to cling to the Light of the Infinite One. And, to the degree that the Infinite One is revealed, according to the number of words that were opened and radiated, so he recites these words of prayer with great devotion, self-sacrifice and the nullification of all his senses. To all this we merit through the greatest, true tzaddikim, for only they come to know G-d from the Light of the Infinite One. Only they can radiate within us the pleasantness of this radiance, to each one according to what he feels in his heart. n) When a person nullifies himself to the Infinite One, as above, he is in a state of " and no man knows" such that he himself is unaware of his own existence. But this has to be performed like "running and returning" in order to preserve his existence so that he won't pass away before his time, Heaven forbid. For the Holy One wants us to serve Him, therefore we have to remain here in This World until G-d comes Himself, so to speak, to take our soul. Then a person will become totally encompassed in the Infinite One, according to the degree he deserves. o) As a result of cleaving to the Infinite One, by running and returning, in order to stay alive, afterwards when he is in the state of returning, returning to his consciousness and physical self, there still remains an impression of this wonderful light of attachment. Then this impression shows his knowledge of the Oneness of the Infinite One and His Goodness such that he can now know that everything is for the good, everything is one; this is a foretaste of the World to Come. And to all this you can merit by making a confession before a Torah scholar. p) By a Jew arousing himself to repentance as a result of his feeling a slight impurity which confuses him while praying, his repentance causes the worst evil doers, who have ceased to be considered Jews because of their countless sins, to be turned into a basis for holiness; they return in repentance and they also help those who serve G-d to build structures of holiness. Amen. So may it be. ### Prayer for Torah 4 Master of the World, merit me, in Your bountiful compassion, to give lots of charity every day at any hour of the day. Give me the strength and courage to subdue my evil urge and my hard heart so as to break the feeling of cruelty in my heart and to turn it into compassion. Let me feel kind so that I will want to donate charity. Merit me fully to a degree that is beyond my natural desire. Merit me to give with both hands, without any reluctance, with great joy and goodness in my heart. May my hand be open at all times, ready to give to deserving poor people, anything they lack. So, please arrange for us worthy, deserving poor people in order for me to merit to give them charity. Guard and save us from poor people who are not honest. Please G-d, help me to begin to give lots of charity as You expect of me and in the merit of this open up all the openings and gateways of holiness. You know my heart, Master of the World, how difficult it is to make any kind of real beginning in the service of G-d. Every kind of service that I want to begin is very difficult and burdensome for me such that I lack the strength to persevere. You know how very many groans, shouts from the depths of the heart we have to let out before we merit to any kind of beginning in the service of G-d. And because of the immense burden involved, I still have not really begun to serve You. Many days and years of those designated to me have already passed and I still have not finished making a beginning in Your service. Nevertheless, I still hope, wait and yearn and wish for Your salvation at every moment. All the time my soul is till within me I hope for a real and complete salavation. For that I will cry and shout out to You. Have mercy on my impoverished, weak and pained soul. Master of the World, strengthen my hands. Let me start from now on to enter into Your service, from day to day adding real holiness, purity, wisdom and understanding every day. May each day radiate more with the light of holiness. Similarly, in the merit of holy charity and in the merit of the true tzaddikim, the elders of wisdom, let us subdue, break, uproot and nullify the root of the nourishment of the brazenness of the serpent which is the source of the belief in the natural sciences. Then merit us to uproot, destroy and nullify the belief in nature and atheism from the world. Help us to extract their life-force from them through the giving of charity by the Jewish People. Merit us to elevate and clarify holy understanding and all the fallen days of the old-aged seniors who lack perfection and who do not add holiness from day to day; through them the serpent draws its power which is the root of belief in natural sciences. So, Merciful One, pleas help us to subdue these elders by the giving of charity. Save us from the hands of our enemies and persecutors. Have mercy on us, help us and save us so we merit to sanctify all our days in great holiness. Help me, my Father in Heaven, merciful Father, to start from now on to really enter into Your service and merit me to add the light of holiness and understanding every day. May every day of my life radiate with greater holiness and understanding than the previous day. At the end of my life , merit me to come before You with all my days in a state of utmost perfection such that they are worthy to clothe my neshama before Your Throne of Glory. Sanctify me with Your sublime holiness at all times so that I can add holiness and purity from day to day. Let me be counted among the elders of holiness whose desire is to come close to You. Guard me and save me from the blemish of the elders who lace perfection; bring me close to the true tzaddikim, the elders of holiness for You have already begun to bring me close. It is not worthy of You to desert me now, so merit me to really sanctify and purify myself in Your holiness. I await Your salvation. Return me in complete repentance before You very speedily until I merit to become as You desire. Have compassion on me Help us, in the strength and merit of the true tzaddikim, to arouse and reveal and radiate the light of the source of desire which is the desire of all desires. Then may this subdue, break, uproot and nullify the poison of the brazenness of the serpent, from the world which is the belief in the laws of nature. Reveal to the world that there is no nature at all; everything occurs only according to Your will. Let everyone believe that You created the physical world from nothing. There is not nature at all. Give the true, holy scholars of Torah the power to attach all the desires (in the events that occur) to the Source of Desire until we all continually yearn to serve You with a very strong desire. Merit us to hear the call of the holy Festival Days which call to us and reveal Your holy desire. For in Your bountiful compassion You performed for us great and awesome miracles and wonders, wonders upon wonders, on all the Three Festivals. These are the appointed Festivals of G-d, holy convocations. For in Pesach You took us out of Egypt with awesome wonders, in a war and with Your strong hand and outstretched are. And on Shavuot You gave us Your holy Torah, revealing awesome signs with thunder and lightening. You spoke to us face to face and spoke to us from within the fire. Nothing like this has ever been seen or heard on earth. On Succot we remember the clouds of Glory which encompassed us in the Wilderness for forty years. Seven clouds of Glory. You have performed many wonders for us. In Your bountiful mercy, merit us to celebrate the Three Festivals with great joy, holiness and purity. May we hear on every Festival the great voice of the Festival calling us, declaring and revealing Your desire in everything so we recognize that there is no nature at all. You desired to exile us among the nations for our own good, to atone for our sins and You will soon extract us from this exile, while taking vengeance for all the Jewish blood spilt. By this we will really be happy on the Festival, as commanded. And You shall be happy on Your Festival . We will have joy beyond end in Your Salvation. So, uproot, break, cease and nullify the roar of the enemies, the evil animals who trample and devour many of our people with their natural sciences. Many of the Jewish People have fallen prey and been trapped in this foolish belief in nature. This belief in nature and atheism has spread throughout the world like never before. My Father, merciful Father, draw us to Your will so that all our desire and yearning will be just to merit to come close to You and Serve You. Let me never look at the vanities of This World nor let my mind or desire chase after money. When a person dies neither silver nor gold accompany him; only Torah and good deeds accompany him. Have mercy on me; guard and save me at all times from falling into old-age; don’t let my service of You become old and stale but rather merit me to always renew myself every day and every hour. Save me the old-age of the Other Side. Don’t caste me into the period of old-age and when my strength runs out, don’t desert me. Help me to always wish and yearn for the utmost perfection as is fitting for a Jew. For this I was created. May I never weaken or lose my holy desire. Rather, strengthen me continually so that I can always renew my holy desire, more and more, starting each time from anew to yearn and long for You and Your service. In Your great compassion bring a complete cure to all our illnesses, all our pains and all our afflictions. Cure physically and spiritually all the afflictions of Your Nation, Israel, through all the remedial aspects of their cures. In the merit and strength of charity, have mercy upon all those who are sick among Your Nation, Israel, to whom You sent Your afflictions because of our many sins. Help them, that the head of the infection open; draw and extract all the impairments and all the bad, unhealthy fluids and all the polluted and spoiled blood from within the afflictions of Your Nation, Israel, in the merit of the true tzaddikim, the elders of holiness who acquired real wisdom, and in the merit of the three Festivals, “Feasts of G-d, holy gatherings” which call and reveal the Desire of G-d. By this, may we merit to purify, clean and wash all the blood until all the blood be clear, fresh and pure, in order that all the blood in all our 248 limbs and 365 sinews can circulate properly at great speed, as it should. Draw upon us from Yourself, great loving-kindness and by this, may we merit that the head of all our afflictions and infections be closed in such a way that all of us, together with all Your Nation, Israel, merit to a complete cure from Heaven for all our afflictions; as we do not rely at all upon any natural cure or cause, but rather in You alone we trust, and we wait and hope for Your cures, for “You heal the brokenhearted and bind up their wounds”. I plead with You; please cure all our afflictions in all aspects, physically and spiritually, for You are G-d, Kin, faithful and merciful Healer. May the words of my mouth and the contemplation of my heart find favour before You, my Rock and Redeemer. 5. BLOW THE SHOFAR FAITH (a) The main thing is faith and each person has to look at himself and examine if his faith is perfect; he has to strengthen himself at all times in faith for, as a result of a blemish in faith, wondrous afflications come upon a person against which no medicine helps, nor prayer or the merit of ancestors. All the medicines are made with plants and they only grow through belief. Also the main power to cure that is in each and every plant is according to the growth process of each plant, which is according to its place and time. That's to say, one has to cut them in the proper place since when they grow in that place they have power to cure but not if they grow in another place. Similarly one has to cut them at the time that is right for them, for there is a plant whose entire power to cure is when it is cut before it reaches a third of its growth and not afterwards. Whereas another plant’s maximum curative power is only when it has grown fully and withers by itself but not prior to this. By faith, order is made regarding the plants so that we cut them in their right place and time in order for them to have the power to cure. However, when faith falls, the result is that we cut the plants themselves needed for medicine but not in the right place or the proper time. Thus they have no power to cure. Furthermore, the primary revelation of the merit of our ancestors, needed in order to cure, is also dependent on faith alone. And the main reason why prayer has the power to bring a fulfillment of one's requests is also only because of faith. But when a person's faith falls, then the cries of 'ouch' and the groans of the sick person are not beneficial even when they would normally have mercy on him from Heaven because of his prayers. When his faith falls, even this doesn't help. (b) When a person falls from his faith and even his crying out without words is of no avail then he has to cry out from the depths of his heart, in the aspect of "From the depths I called to You G-d."- from the depths of the heart. By this, very deep advice is revealed such that each person can give advice to his soul as he needs. As a result, faith grows and is rectified and then all the above mentioned things, which are cures, the merit of ancestors and prayer etc., come back and become rectified. (c) The main way to increase faith is in the aspect of "And Your faith in the nights", that's to say however much more part of the night is pushed off and a portion of the night departs, one comes closer to the light of day, so faith grows more, until, in the light of day, faith grows to perfection, as it says "They are new every morning; your faith grows greater" (Lam.3:23). Then is the time of the main growth of healing, in the aspect of "Then your light will break forth like the morning and your health shall spring forth speedily" (Isaiah,58:8). Similarly, by revelation of advice, which is also an aspect of the revelation of light out of darkness, faith also grows and this brings about the main cure, as explained. (d) As a consequence of the fall of holy faith, false beliefs are created and strengthened. So also the opposite, when we raise and rectify the holy faith this weakens and makes false beliefs fall; then the other nations withdraw and leave their false beliefs and come to our holy faith and they become converts. And sometimes converts are created in potential, meaning that although they don't actually convert in practice, nevertheless, wherever they are they recognize the Holy One. They know and believe that there exists the Unique and Infinite One, may He be blessed. Yet, sometimes actual converts are really made when they come and actually convert. (e) These converts are troublesome and cause damage to the People of Israel for they instill pride in us. (f) By this pride that enters us as a result of the converts, the false leaders of the generation receive the sword of pride, an aspect of "the sword of your pride" (Deut. 33) and then they take pride in themselves over the generation without justification for they weren't granted their high status from Heaven at all. These leaders have the power to even punish anybody who doesn't want to subdue himself to their rule. The truth is that this is not called punishing but rather, damaging, for they are destructive forces. All this power they receive through the sword of pride. (g) Through the pride of these leaders of the generation, the craving for sex becomes stronger in the world, Heaven forbid. This leads to the wasting of semen, Heaven forbid, which is an aspect of "Whether his flesh was sealed"(Lev.15:3); this is the seal of the Other Side on a person so that he can't get out of it. It is impossible to be saved from this other than through the power of the defenders of the generation who are the tzaddikim and kosher Jews called the 'defenders of the land'. They have a great war in this issue. They raise the aspect of "flesh was sealed" to the aspect of the seal of holiness which is associated with tefilin, as is known, for they are a sparkling of the brains in order to know and make known the Holy One's presence in the world. By this, a person draws upon himself a radiance of the Seven Shepherds which correspond to the seven heads of the two letters 'shin' on the tefilin which represent the brains. For the main rectification of the brain is according to the breaking of this craving. That's to say, when unclean thoughts begin to overcome a person very strongly indeed and could lead him to a nocturnal emission, Heaven forbid, which is an aspect of "flesh was sealed", then he has to strengthen himself very much to break and drive out these evil thoughts and draw upon himself holy thoughts. Through this he raises the "flesh was sealed" to the aspect of tefilin which are the seal of holiness and the sparkling of the brains. From these 'defenders of the land' each person has to draw strength to overcome these evil thoughts and to turn them into brains of holiness, as mentioned. Thus a person has to know that however much more these evil thoughts overcome him yet when he fights against them, fleeing from them and breaking them, he creates a much greater rectification. He raises the holiness from out of the husks and draws the aspect of the holiness of the tefilin which are the sparkling of the brains, to know and make known G-d's presence in the world. When these thoughts overcome him more and more yet he fights against their spreading in order to break them, this makes an aspect of the rectification of the tefilin even more; just for this purpose such evil thoughts and ideas were sent to him in order that he overturn them, turning them specifically into the rectification of the tefilin, as explained previously. (h) When a person merits to a rectification of the brains, each and every one has to limit his brain so as not to let it go beyond its own limit. Even in the realm of holiness and in the sparkling of godliness, one must not let the brain go outside its limits, Heaven forbid, so as not to become severely damaged. (i) By performing the mitzvah of tefilin, we draw upon ourselves a sparkling of the brains, as mentioned, and we also draw upon ourselves, by the tefilin, a proper limiting of the brains, as mentioned. (j) By breaking the craving for sex, we merit to holy words which have the power to revitalize and restore those souls who fell and need to be revived and restored with all kinds of explanations which restore the soul. Through the rectification of the brit we merit to a rectification of the brains and this leads a person to have holy words which can revitalize and restore the soul. (k) When one breaks lewd thoughts and merits to a rectification of the brains, through this one merits to have a dream through an angel; then one is called a man. So also the opposite, when the brains are not pure then the dream comes through a demon, Heaven forbid, and then the person is like an animal. (l) Even when the angel has a part in the dream, nevertheless it is sometimes blemished by this aspect of a dream through a demon, Heaven forbid, because of the foods that the person ate. Then he can come by this to the impurity of a nocturnal emission, Heaven save us. The way to avoid this is to be happy, to strengthen oneself to be happy all the time. By joy, one gives strength to the angels who receive the bounty of the foods and subdue the demons so that they will not draw sustenance from the bounty more than is appropriate for them. Through this we are saved from the impurity of an emission, Heaven preserve us, which comes sometimes as a result of the foods when the angels lack strength, for the main strengthening of the angel is by means of joy. (m) In the month of Nissan the power of the angel is strengthened (see inside). This means that Nissan is the time for the rectification of the brit. By happiness we draw the holiness and joy of Nissan into the whole year and we merit to a rectification of the brit and to be saved from any nocturnal emission, Heaven forbid. (n) However, sometimes also because of rabbis and 'dayanim' (judges in religious courts) who are not kosher and who distort justice, a person comes to the impurity of an emission, Heaven forbid. The rectification for this is the connecting of the Holy Chariot. (Ed. In the Lekutei Halachot, Rosh Chodesh, 5:7 it explains that the connecting of the Chariot means to connect and join one's mind together to one place, only to the Holy One and His holy Torah, as it explains in the Tikkunim that bad thoughts are an aspect of impure creatures, and holy thoughts are an aspect of the creatures of the Holy Chariot. See there.) This is the reason that the rabbis of ancient times established to recite before going to bed "in the Name of G-d" etc. "On my right, Michael" etc. for this is the connecting of the Chariot. This has the special power to save a person from the above-mentioned impurity which comes about through the distortion of justice by the 'dayanim' who are not kosher. (o) Rosh Hashana is an aspect of the rectification of faith. By the great ingathering of all the holy communities who gather together on Rosh Hashana, especially those who gather around the true tzaddikim, all the different facets of holy faith are collected and gathered together; then faith is rectified perfectly. Also the brains sparkle and are rectified on Rosh Hashana; so also during all the Ten Days of Repentance, through our repentance, we draw this sparkling of the brains associated with tefilin , an aspect of the seal of holiness, as explained. On Yom Kippur the rectification of the seal of holiness, which is the rectification of the sparkling of the brains, is completed. Then, during Succot, we draw upon ourselves happiness which elevates the foods so that they will not spoil our dreams and lead to the impurity of a nocturnal emission, Heaven forbid, caused by the foods. On Shemini Atzeret we draw down a rectification to justice and that saves us from the blemish of an emission, Heaven save us, which comes about through the 'dayanim' who are not kosher. Also specifically, on Rosh Hashana itself, all of the above is rectified through the blowing of the shofar with the notes: tekiah, teruah, shevarim. By the first note, tekiah, we merit to rectify faith; by teruah we merit to draw upon ourselves the holiness of the tefilin which is the sparkling of the brains. And by the shevarim we rectify the dream and the power of justice and this saves us from a nocturnal emission in all its aspects. (p) By the gathering of a true rebbe with his students all these rectifications are brought about as well; that's to say faith is rectified. For faith is an aspect of "an inhabited land" (Ex.16:35), the opposite of "an unsown land" (Jeremiah, 2:3) which alludes to a lack of faith which spoils the growth process of the plants. The true rabbi looks after all the facets of faith of each Jew in order to gather and raise them. That is why studying with the rabbi is called a 'yeshiva' (literally 'sitting') which alludes to the gathering of all the facets of faith, an aspect of "an inhabited land". Furthermore, through the gathering of the rebbe and his students the brit is rectified and this elevates the brains and rectifies sleep so that it will be in holiness and purity; then we are saved from the impurity of nocturnal emissions, whether caused by foods or by rabbis who are dishonest, as explained. Furthermore, all the five senses of the brain are rectified by coming to the tzaddik who is the true rabbi (teacher). Just by the power of sight itself, that one sees the tzaddik, the sense of sight is rectified. For the sight itself of seeing the rabbi (tzaddik) is a very great thing. By hearing ethical teachings from the rabbi one rectifies the sense of hearing. And by the effort and overcoming the difficulties that each person has in traveling and coming to the tzaddik, for it is impossible to come to the rabbi and draw and derive sustenance from his holy wisdom other than by these efforts, one rectifies the sense of smell. And by meriting to taste and to feel the taste of the pleasantness of his words one merits to rectify the sense of taste. By means of the expenses, that each person spends his money and the efforts of his hand in order to come to the rabbi, this rectifies the sense of touch. And the main time of gathering around the true rabbi is on Rosh Hashana for then all the five senses are rectified. All the above-mentioned rectifications are carried out in a wonderful way. For the rectification of the five senses through the rabbi with the students and the rectification of the five senses through Rosh Hashana itself radiate and strengthen each other. (q) By fasting one merits to joy. According to the number of days one fasts, so one merits to a corresponding level of joy. And the main rectification of dreams is by joy. Therefore the custom is to fast after a bad dream in order to draw happiness for this is the main rectification of the dream. Thus someone who doesn't want to fast because of a dream, the people who solve his dream say to him: 'Go and eat your bread in joy!' For the main rectification of the dream is through joy. (r) Each person has to throw away all his cleverness and serve the Holy One in simplicity and purity. His deeds have to be greater than his wisdom, for studying is not the main thing, rather deeds. Needless to say the wisdoms of ordinary people are really nonsense and foolishness which certainly have to be thrown away completely, but even real wisdoms, and even someone who has a truly great mind, when he comes to serve G-d he has to throw away all his wisdoms and engage in serving G-d in simplicity and purity. He has to even conduct himself and do things that appear to be mad for the sake of the service of G-d, for, at times, one has to do things that appear to be mad in order to fulfill G-d's will. One has to be prepared to roll in all kinds of dirt and filth for the sake of serving G-d and performing His mitzvot. And not only for an actual mitzvah but even for anything which reflects G-d's will for that is also called a mitzvah. He has to be prepared to roll in all kinds of dirt and filth in order to perform G-d's will and provide Him with pleasure. When one's love is so strong for G-d, then one is in the aspect of a precious son who is very much cherished by the Holy One. Then the Holy One will have mercy on him and allow him to search in the treasury of the King, even in the most hidden away treasuries, until he merits to have revealed to him why ‘a tzaddik suffers, while a wicked person prospers’. He then merits to grasp the secrets of the Torah and to elevate and rectify justice which has fallen into the depths. ## 5 ### Torah 5 - With Trumpets a) Every person has to say to himself that the entire world was created for my sake (Sanhedrin,37). Therefore each individual must look into and consider at all times how to rectify the world and provide whatever is missing and pray on their behalf. b) A person has to perform each mitzvah with such great joy that he has no desire for any reward in the World to Come. Instead, all he wants is that the Holy One provide him with the opportunity to perform another mitzvah as a reward for the previous one, for he takes pleasure from the mitzvah itself. By achieving this level he can then know what has been decreed against the world and whether it is before the decree has been issued or after, and upon whom the decree has been issued, Heaven forbid. Then he knows how to pray for the world's sake, for, after the decree, the tzaddikim have to veil their prayers with stories. To all this we merit when we perform a mitzvah with great joy stemming from the mitzvah itself, as explained. c) The essence of joy is in the heart but it is impossible for the heart to rejoice unless a person removes the crookedness which is in his heart so that he will have a straight heart. Then he will achieve true joy. The crookedness in the heart is straightened by thunder which corresponds to prayer recited strongly, with fear and love of G-d and with great concentration. d) To merit to this joy is by means of praying powerfully and with great fear and love. e) A person has to pray with all his strength, releasing his voice in prayer with great power. By this his voice will strike his brain and then he will be able to concentrate while praying. In other words, his heart will hear what he says and through this he will merit to straighten the crookedness in his heart such that he achieves real joy. Then he will perform the mitzvoth with great happiness just from the mitzvah itself. As a result he will merit to be able to veil his prayer in tales of events and thus nullify all the harsh decrees even after they have already been issued. f) Whoever hears the blowing of a shofar on Rosh Hashana from a man who is G-d fearing and pious will certainly not be afraid of thunder throughout the year. g) To merit to achieve this aspect of thunder perfectly, one has to clear the mind from all kinds of secular wisdoms, extraneous and undesirable thoughts. h) One has to be very careful to clear the mind from secular wisdoms and undesirable thoughts – of 'chametz' (sour thoughts). He mustn't sour his wisdom with unholy wisdom and physical cravings for they stupefy and cause impurity to the mind such that it becomes impossible for him to concentrate while praying or to be happy. He also has to guard himself against worldly fears so that he won't be afraid of anything other than G-d alone. As a result of worldly fears it is impossible to concentrate while praying and it prevents joy. The main thing is to guard the mind so it shouldn't become sour and think about undesirable things and physical cravings, for they are like 'chametz'; they are from the realm of death. You have to be angry at these thoughts which are from the side of death, the realm of evil, and to drive them out of your mind and your thoughts so that they won't approach you. You have to guard yourself a lot so that these thoughts won't enter your mind, Heaven forbid. You also have to combine love and fear of G-d, for only then will you be able to purify your mind and pray with great concentration with all your strength so that it will be like thunder. By this you can achieve happiness. i) A Jew has to guard himself from worldly fears so that no fear in the world will affect him. Rather, when some fear or fright comes upon him, he has to remember at once fear of G-d and His great awesomeness. You have envelope yourself in fear of G-d constantly, throughout the whole day. As a result you will be able to pray with all your strength and recite the words out loud with great power such that it will be like thunder. Then you will be able to hear clearly (in your heart) what you speak out. By this you will achieve joy, to perform all the mitzvoth with great happiness just from the mitzvah itself. This will enable you to know how to nullify any harsh decrees, even after they have been issued, G-d forbid. j) You have to combine love and fear of G-d in order to merit to all the above, for the main form of strengthening yourself is through love of G-d. Even so, you have to start with fear of G-d. k) Someone who wants to have compassion on himself on himself has to strengthen himself so he won't hear or take notice of any arguments between the true tzaddikim, rather, he must believe in them all. On the contrary, when he hears arguments between the tzaddikim he has to learn about himself and look at where he is in the world spiritually. Hearing these arguments comes to rebuke you for having blemished the drops in your mind. For it is certain that if you hadn't blemished your mind, you wouldn't have heard these arguments between the tzaddikim and you wouldn't have had doubts about them in your heart. The main purpose of these arguments is only for you, in order that you understand and remember this, where you are in the world; the powers of evil are trying to drive you away from the true life, the true tzaddikim. Hearing the argument is because you have blemished the drops of your mind about which it says, "None that go to her return; nor do they regain the paths of life." (Proverbs,2,19). If someone is foolish and doesn't understand this, then he will really be distanced, thus losing his world. However, someone who really wants to have mercy on himself through this specifically will be awakened spiritually and ask himself where he is in the world. He will understand that this is a test for him which he has to stand up to by not hearing or thinking about that argument. He has to come closer to the true tzaddikim as a result. This will be his main rectification for all eternity…for really he deserves to be distanced because he blemished his mind; he blemished so much it would be impossible to approach (tzaddikim and the realm of holiness) other than by this test specifically. The truth is that the Holy One desires to show loving kindness and wants to bring close those who were far away, even though they don't deserve it. That is why they have to undergo this test. l) The extraneous and undesirable thoughts are from the side of death, like chametz and they chase after a person's mind in order to enter it. So, you have to rebuke them and argue with them so as to keep them out of the mind. By this you are saved from chametz and the realm of death and you acquire expanded intellect, which is an aspect of matza and true life. (Now it becomes obvious that through the commandments of nullifying chametz and eating matza during Pesach, we merit to all of the above.) m) The controversy between the real tzaddikim is also only for this purpose, to drive away the side of evil to prevent it from coming into the realm of holiness. Therefore, this controversy between them is an aspect of 'matza' (meaning 'argument'). ### Prayer for Torah 5 5. Help and save us; merit us to really perfect faith; Father in Heaven, save us from any blemish to faith. In Your bountiful compassion guard and save us from wondrous illnesses, that defy all cures, caused by the lack of faith. Even all the voices of prayer and groaning do not help, Heaven save us. Everything is blemished and spoilt by the deficiencies in holy belief which is the foundation of the entire Torah and all the worlds. Please, Awesome and Holy One, You are full of mercy, so merit us to shout out to You in truth from the depths of our hearts, from the deepest depths, when we need to call out to You. Help us to cry out in such a way that we arouse upon ourselves the wonders of Your mercy and loving-kindness, You wonderful and awesome graciousness and salvation. Then merit us to arouse and uncover true advice, deep advice from the depths of the darkness in which we are trapped because of our many, sins. Reveal to us and bestow upon us advice from far away so that we can increase our holy belief. Grant us good advice; save us and all Jews from doubts and confusion. Rather, may we always merit to complete advice, speedily and easily, true advice, as You desire in such a sway that we have true, eternal success, physically and spiritually, in body, soul and money. In this ephemeral world advise us how to follow Your paths of goodness which will bring us closer to You. In the merit and strength of the true tzaddikim, enable us to draw down spirituality of godliness and constrict it into vessels. Through our holy deeds, merit us to create holy bodies that will be proper vessels to, collect within them this holy, spiritual godliness as You desire, with great holiness. In Your great mercy, grant us a plentiful income before we need it, in an easy, permissible, honourable way, without anguish. Let us not come to taking loans from people. Save us from debts. Please G-d, help us, provide for us an income for we have no-one upon whom to rely and we know no way to attract an income for ourselves. Therefore, we caste our prayers upon You, Father in Heaven and ask that You grant us all that we lack. Bestow upon us great bounty before we need it, with great holiness and purity, without great efforts and confusions in such a sway that we can return to You with complete repentance. Merit us to eat with great holiness and purity just enough to sustain the body, without physical cravings. Let us make do with only a little food. By this, include us among the tzaddikim who eat only to nourish their souls. Merit us, as a result, to refine and polish our souls until we take delight in G-d and in the sublime lights in the World Above. Merit us to raise the fallen belief and rectify all the blemishes to holy belief. Help us to believe in You and in all the true tzaddikim with a really firm, genuine belief, without any confusions, musings or extraneous thoughts. By this, merit us to draw down a complete recover to all sick Jews (especially so and so….). Please heal them both in soul and body. Nullify and remove all the wondrous illnesses and faithful illnesses from upon any Jew in the world. Send a complete cure from Heaven to all those Jews whom You have already inflicted with these wondrous illness that know no remedy because of blemished faith. Please G-d, have mercy on them and on us, for Your sake; have mercy for Your sake alone. You alone know how much we need Your mercy. Please grow plants and grasses so that they will have the power to cure Jews who are sick. Merit each person to eat or drink what he needs for his cure, even without his realizing. Give each person his food at the appropriate time in such a say that it contains within it the power to cure bodily and spiritually. No doctor in the world knows how to match the strength of the cure to that of the illness. Only You know, for You are the Cause of all Causes. Help us and give us the power to strengthen and increase holy faith in such a forceful way that all the false beliefs in the world will be nullified and destroyed. They will all fall and give honour to Your holy, precious Name. As a result, let many converts continually join Your Nation, the Jewish People. Help these righteous converts to purify themselves from their previous contamination and filth. Guard us and save us from any of that impurity becoming attached to us, especially from pride and self-importance. Merit us, to real and true humility so that I really feel my own lowliness. Father in Heaven, Merciful Father, protect us from the sword of pride of the false leaders of the generation who ascribe greatness to themselves. This greatness was not designated from Heaven at all. They pride themselves for no reason as leaders over the Jewish People. Master of the Universe, save us from these false leaders; they are just damagers. Let them have no power to damage us, Heaven forbid, in any way at all, not materially or spiritually. Father in Heaved, we have only You to rely on, so subdue, uproot and nullify their authority. Take the sword of pride from their hands; remove falsehood from the world and reveal the truth. Merciful One, Holy and Awesome G-d, our G-d and G-d of our Fathers, may it find favour before You to bestow upon us Your sublime holiness. Help us to subdue and break our evil urge so that we serve only You. Let us break our physical lusts entirely, especially the craving for sex. Provide for us guardians of the land; the true tzaddikim, who will guard us and nullify from us this evil lust, until we break and nullify the seal of the husks. By this, enable us to rectify the seal of holiness to merit to holy brains, such that my brains sparkle with ever increasing wisdom and understanding in great holiness. Bestow upon us the holiness of tefillin from their source. They are the sparks of the holy brains within holy vessels, according to the virtue and spiritual level of each individual. So, may it find favour before You, G-d our G-d and G-d of our Fathers, that You have mercy upon us and merit us to holy dreams, dreams through a holy angel, true dreams, without any bad or frightening dreams. Save me from vain dreams, dreams through a demon. Let me purify my power of imagination so much that even when I sleep there remains a big impression of my holy brains which is an aspect of an angel. Merit me to calming, good, true dreams. May my mind be so attached to You, Your Torah and tzaddikim that I merit to see the light of the face of tzaddikim in dreams and to hear words of the living G-d from them. And when I awake, merit me to remember all the holy things I saw or heard in my dream. Furthermore, help us and save us so that all our foods and drinks will be very pure and refined, without any dross at all, that is to say from any mixture from the demons. Then, let our eating always be in great, happiness and holiness. By this may we give strength to holy angels; then they will bestow upon us plenty and a good income without holding it back or allowing the demons to grasp it. Merit us to sanctify our thoughts so that we are always happy. As a result, save us from the contamination of a nocturnal emission and enable us to break the craving for sex. Draw upon us the holiness of the brains of the protectors of the land, Moshe and Seven Shepherds. Thus, draw upon us the holiness of tefillin from their holy source. Help us to attract upon ourselves and upon all Israel the holiness of the month of Nissan, the first of the months of the year. Just as in this month, You took Your Nation, Israel, our of the exile of Egypt, called “nakedness of the land”, which is the aspect of blemishing of the brit, so, in Your bountiful mercy, save us and redeem us in every generation, in every year, every single soul of Your Nation, Israel. Save us all in the strength of the holiness of this month, the first of the months of the year, in the holy month of Nissan, the month of the salvation and redemption of the soul; save and redeem our souls very soon from the pit, from the clinging mire; extract us from the depths of the sea. Save our very miserable souls from a nocturnal emission. Heaven forbid, so that we never stumble in this iniquity, neither ourselves nor our descendants nor the descendants of Your Nation, the House of Israel, from now on and forever whether unintentionally or on purpose, by force of circumstance or from free will. Our Father, our King, take pity and have mercy upon us. Our Father, our King, have compassion on our babies and children. Help us to draw the holiness and happiness of Nissan to all the days of the year. Let us merit to always be happy, to always bring laughter, happiness, power and joy to all the holy angels. Let there be honour and majesty before them, power and joy in their place throughout all the year, just as in the month of Nissan. May we merit always to give strength and force to the holy angels by our happiness. May the holy angels be strengthened with tremendous power. Let the power of evil sprits and husks be nullified and let them not sap from the holy bounty that descends to us such that we merit to have refined foods and drinks and by this, merit to be saved from the impurity of a nocturnal emission, Heaven forbid. Let us always be holy and pure. Merciful One, have mercy on us, guard and save us, together with all the Jewish People from rabbis and judges who are not upright in their deeds. You know the damage they cause us because of our iniquities. We lack the strength to subdue them. So, please, have mercy on us, King of Justice, merit us to holy judgement. Save us from those rabbis and judges who spoil judgement. They spoil the sublime seat of judgment where holy love dwells. This causes the attribute of love to fall into the physical world and can turn into the lust for sex which, in turn leads to the defilement of a nocturnal emission. Therefore, please save us from this, merit us to separate holy love and elevate it returning to its source in holiness. Merit us to rectify judgment perfectly with great holiness and purity. Be with us constantly. Guard us against any blemish to the tefillin and brain. Let no bad dampness or oil in the body rise to the brain for they are an aspect of the droplets from Esav and Yishmael. Rather, merit us to a complete rectification of all the fallen aspects of love. May we rectify holy love by taking upon ourselves with love the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven. Help us to receive the holy and awesome Rosh HasShana with great holiness and purity. As a result, merit us to really perfect faith. Let us gather together all the parts of the sparks of holy belief by means of the holy gathering of many Jews on Rosh HaShana. By this merit us to rectify holy brains. Help us to draw upon ourselves in great holiness all the five senses that stem from the brain. Draw great holiness upon our senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch from their sublime, holy source in holiness. Bestow upon us Your Divine Providence throughout the entire year and let us perform many mitzvot so that You can taste them on Rosh HaShana. Stretch out Your arm to receive those who repent. Return us in complete repentance before You. Have mercy on us; help us to repent even further during the ten days of repentance. Merit us to rectify during these ten days all that we have sinned and blemished throughout the entire year, especially with regard to blemishes of the brit. Please have compassion on us so that we can sanctify ourselves with great and awesome holiness during these ten days of repentance. You gave us these days as a gift at the beginning of the year so that we have the power to really, repent perfectly before You. Therefore, please don’t let us lose this precious gift, Heaven forbid. Merit us to guard these holy days properly so that they remain without blemish. By this, we can rectify and perfect the seal of holiness. Then help us to receive and take upon ourselves the awesome and holy fast Day of Atonement with great holiness and purity, in the utmost perfection. Merit us to cry with joy in Your great Name and to confess before You all sorts of confessions while detailing all our sins, iniquities and wilful sins. May we feel real regret from the depths of our hearts such that we leave these bad deeds behind us completely. In Your great compassion pardon, forgive and atone for us all our sins and let us rectify all the seals of holiness. Merit us to receive the festival of Succot with great holiness, purity and immense joy for the sake of Your great and holy Name. Let us be very happy during Succot, the time of our joy. Merit us to perform the mitzvah of sitting in a Succah and of shaking the four species of the lulav with great joy and perfection with all their details and intentions. By this, let us give strength to the holy angel. As a result, merit us to dream through the power of an angel and by refined, pure foods such that all our dreams are for the good. And in the merit of the holiness of Sh’mini Atzeret, help us to rectify holy judgment. Through this, save us always from any blemish to the brit or nocturnal emission, Heaven forbid. Protect us from the rabbis and judges who are not worthy. Nullify their authority from the world and grant us the rabbis and judges who will judge with utter truth. Have mercy, for Your Name’s sake. Fulfill all our wishes for the good. Therefore, grant us a genuine tzaddik and leader. Help us to come close to true tzaddikim who have yeshivas with very honourable, kosher students. By these gatherings of students of true tzaddikim may we gather and rectify all the pieces of holy belief that have fallen. So, Merciful Father, have mercy upon us so that we merit to serve You always with truth and simplicity without any cleverness at all. Help us to discard all cleverness in order to serve You in holiness. Merit us to caste ourselves into all kinds of clay and garbage for the sake of performing Your holy mitzvoth. Even for a simple easy thing which You really desire let us throw ourselves and roll into all kinds of filth just in order to give You pleasure. Thus may we perform all the mitzvoth, with great strength and real self-sacrifice. In Your bountiful mercy, fulfill all our wishes for the good. Draw and radiate upon us all these rectifications in a perfect way, whether we have mentioned them or not. Merit is very speedily to serve You in truth and with perfect faith, with great joy and genuine humility, as You desire, from now on and for always. Amen, Sela. 6. BY GOOD PERSPIRATION By perspiring for the sake of something in holiness, one merits to joy and also to be cured. ## 6 ### Torah 6 - Call Yehoshua a) Every individual has to minimize his own honour and increase the honour of G-d; one shouldn't pursue honour, but rather, flee from it, then one will merit to Divine honour. People will then not investigate the honour one receives asking whether one is worthy of it or not. On the other hand, someone who chases after honour doesn't merit to this divine honour, therefore, even when he is honoured, everyone investigates and inquires after him, asking ' who is he whom people bestow this honour; they cause controversy against him, saying that he is not worthy of this respect. b) Through humility we achieve repentance, for the essence of repentance is when a person hears himself being insulted and remains silent, without answering, bearing all the insults and the spilling of his blood while feeling his own worthlessness and insignificance and his many blemishes; he understands that that certainly it is fitting for him to suffer all these insults that come to him. This minimizes the blood in the left chamber of his heart; it is like slaughtering the evil urge. Through this, one merits to Divine honour. c) Before repenting, a person hasn't any existence; it is as if he still hadn't come into existence in the world, for it is better that a person had not been created than if he had. But when he comes to purify himself and to repent, then he prepares an existence for himself. Therefore, repentance is an aspect of 'I will be', 'I prepare myself to be'. d) Repentance is also an aspect of Kheter (crown) for Kheter comes from the word 'waiting', as it says, "Wait (khatar) for me a little" (Job,36). This is similar to repentance, as the Sages said (Yoma,39) "He who comes to purify himself, from above, they help him. Like a person who comes to buy a fragrant perfume; they tell him to wait." That's to say, a person has to know when he approaches to purify himself and repent, that they will tell him to wait. On the one hand, he has to hurry a great deal to save his soul, to escape from the darkness. Even so, he shouldn't panic when he sees his distance from prayer and from all things in holiness. There is a necessity to wait until one merits to a complete rectification and to progress from one spiritual level to another, according to the guidance of the true tzaddik, for it is impossible to enter the realm of holiness in one step. e) One has to always be involved in the trait of repentance, for even when a person says "I have sinned, committed iniquity and wantonly transgressed", even this he cannot say without extraneous thoughts. This means that one has to repent on one's previous repentance, on the "I have sinned, committed iniquity and wantonly transgressed" that one said. f) And even if you know yourself that you made perfect repentance, even so, you have to repent on the pervious repentance because when you repented the first time you did it according to your perception then, but afterwards, when you repent, you certainly recognize and perceive the Holy One on a higher level. Thus, it turns out that according to your present perception, your previous understanding was certainly less spiritual and therefore flawed. This being the case, you have to repent about having made worldly and mundane the sublime godliness of the Holy One. Happy is he who merits to such repentance. g) The true tzaddik is always repenting, for even when he knows he has achieved perfect repentance, it is still only according to his previous perception which is now considered to be mundane in comparison to his present understanding of the exaltedness of the godliness of the Holy One. So the tzaddik behaves all his life, going from one level of perception to a higher one, repenting each time on his previous level of understanding. This is an aspect of the World to Come which is all Shabbat, all repentance, for the essence of the World to Come is perceiving the Divine; every moment when one perceives more, one repents more about the previous level. He who has a brain in his skull can understand through this the greatness of the Creator, praised be He, and the greatness of the tzaddikim. Happy are they and those who follow in their path. h) Whoever wants to return to G-d has to be very familiar indeed with how to go in the paths of repentance so that nothing in the world will cause him to fall or become distant (from G-d) whether at the time of spiritual ascent or at the time of a fall. Whatever happens, a person has to strengthen himself, hold on and fulfill the verse which says, "If I ascend to Heaven, You are there and if I make my bed in Hell, here You are." Even in the pit of Hell you can come close to G-d, for there also He is to be found, as it says, "If I make my bed in Hell, here You are." i) When a person wants to progress on the paths of repentance, he has to have two forms of expertise. In other words he has to know how to run and how to return, to enter and to exit… That's to say, if he wants to return to G-d, he has to strengthen himself in the paths of G-d at all times, whether when ascending or at the time of descent. This means that even if you merit to some sort of spiritual ascent, whether big or small, even so you mustn't stop there; don't make do with this. One has to be very knowledgeable in this, to know and believe that you have to go further and further. This is an aspect of knowing how to run. Also the opposite is true. Even if you fall, Heaven forbid, to wherever you fall, even into the pit of Hell, there also don't ever despair in any way, whatever happens, rather just search and ask for the Holy One; strengthen yourself in every situation, in whatever way you can for the Holy One is present always, even in the pit of Hell. From there also a Jew can attach himself to G-d. This is an aspect of knowing how to return. It is impossible to merit to repentance other than when one is familiar with these two ways. The truth is that it is a very great expertise to merit to know that one constantly has to strive and make an effort in the service of G-d and to anticipate every moment to reach a higher spiritual level, while at the same time not falling for any reason. Whatever will be, Heaven forbid, one must not get discouraged at all, but rather, fulfill the verse which says, "If I make my bed in Hell, here You are." When a person has these two forms of expertise then he can progress in the paths of repentance. Then G-d's right hand is outstretched to accept his repentance and he merits to G-d's glory. By this he becomes a man who sits on the throne. Happy is this man. j) Repentance needs to meet three conditions – to see with his eyes, hear with his ears, understand with his heart and so repent. For a person has to focus his eyes and heart to his ways and consider his ultimate purpose, concentrating his heart very well on it; he must listen carefully to all the words of our holy rabbis; then he will merit to real repentance. k) The main essence of repentance is through humility, that a person has to make himself into nothing, like a desert to be trod on, paying no attention to the controversy or insults directed at him; he just holds on to the attribute of silence and is among those who hear themselves ridiculed and yet do not retort. Then he is called a true Sage and merits to repentance which is an aspect of kheter (a crown). By this one merits to true, eternal honour which is G-d's glory, and to a good portion in the World to Come. This is the main element of a person's repentance and rectification for all his sins; thus he will merit to be included in the aspect of man who sits on the throne from where judgement spreads out to all the Peoples of the world. l) A person has to try and always search after any merit or good that is possible to find in a Jew and judge each person on the side of merit, even of those who oppose him and insult him; then he will always be saved from controversy. By this, he makes a precious crown (kheter) for the Holy One with several kinds of precious stones. ### Prayer for Torah 6 6. May it find favour before You, G-d, our G-d and G-d of our Fathers that You merit me to be constantly happy. Help me so that I merit to perform all the mitzvoth and holy deeds with great strength such that I will perspire at the time I perform them. By this, may all the impure blood and poisons within them come out of my body. May they all be released from the body by the good perspiration created when performing holy deeds. As a result merit me to subdue the spleen which contains the unclean blood and which is the cause of sadness, Heaven forbid. Then I can be constantly happy, driving out and nullifying sadness or depression from within me. Let them have no control or hold over me at all. Rather, merit me to be constantly happy. Have mercy upon us and upon all the Jewish People. Guard us and protect us from all kinds of illnesses and pains, from all kinds of weaknesses. Have compassion on all the sick Jewish People who are already bedridden. Speedily send them good perspiration so that all the poisons of the unclean blood will leave them. Through this heal them and give them a full recovery. Send them and us really great joy. Merit us to draw upon ourselves constantly the joy of a festival by holy perspiration when we put all our strength into performing each mitzva or any holy deed You desire from us. Then, merit us to always be happy as on a festival. Let us take joy in You always, every single day, in that You chose us from all the nations and raised us above all the languages, satisfying us in Your mitzvoth and bringing us close our King to Your Service; in You great and holy Name You called us. Master of the Universe, You know how much sadness damages us, Heaven forbid, But what can we do, sadness and depression overcome us each time with greater force, beyond measure. This is all because of our iniquities. You have already warned us that we must strengthen ourselves to be constantly happy. Each person must, however he is, must distance by trace of depression and force himself with all his strength to always be happy. Therefore, I have come before You, Merciful One, to ask that You have compassion upon us at all time. Help us to use all kinds of advice and paths to gladden our souls in such a way that we drive away any sadness. Let us draw upon ourselves everyday the joy of a holy festival. Merit us to contemplate upon and believe in the deeds and wonder of G-d that He performs for us every day, great and awesome wonders and miracles, in order to strengthen us so that we will never fall, Heaven forbid. You have already revealed to us understanding how to see something of Your loving-kindness, wonders and favours, even if only from a distance, that are wit us every day and at every hour. “This is the day G-d has make; let us rejoice and be glad on it”. So merit me to always be really happy. Amen. So may it be. 7. "HE THAT HAS MERCY ON THEM WILL LEAD THEM" (Isaiah,49:10) (a) Someone who is merciful can be a leader of the Jewish People. The main mercy is when the Jewish People, the holy Nation, fall, Heaven forbid, into sin, may G-d have compassion. This is the greatest mercy of all. For all the severe suffering in the world is considered as nothing against the immense burden of sins, Heaven save us. For the Jewish People are a holy nation; according to their great holiness from their source, and their immense spirituality and delicateness, they are not able to bare the heavy burden of sins at all even for one day. The true leader is very merciful and has compassion over the Jewish People who are a holy people striving to extract them from sinning. The truth is how do they come to sin; it is only because they lack understanding that G-d exists and rules over the world, for "a person doesn't sin unless the spirit of folly enters him." Therefore all the compassion of the true leader of the Jewish People is to instill within them understanding and fear of G-d in order to extract them from sinning, Heaven preserve us. He is the one who strives to settle the world, that the world be settled with people, that's to say, people who have understanding. For the essence of man is his understanding; someone who lacks understanding is not considered part of the community and is not called by the name man at all. He is just an aspect of an animal in the guise of a man. (b) Even when the time comes for a Jewish soul to pass away and it rises to the place where it rises to, this is not the ultimate purpose or perfection that his soul only cleaves to the world Above. The main perfection is of the soul is that when it is Above, it remains Below as well. Therefore, a Jew has to leave after him a blessing, a son or a student, in order to leave his understanding in the world Below when he passes away into the world Above. For through the holy understanding that remains after him, in his sons or students, he will save other Jews from sins, for generation after generation. Someone who has a small understanding of G-d, knows that even though G-d has seraphim, chiot and ophanim etc. who serve Him, nevertheless, the main pleasure and delight of G-d is only when, in this lowly world exalt and sanctify G-d's Name. Therefore, a Jew has to endeavour to bequeath his holy understanding to his sons and students so that they will radiate his understanding in the world for generations in order to save the Jewish People from sins for ever and ever. Through this it will be considered as if he himself actually remained in the world. (c) Every Jew has to perform this, to have mercy over the Jewish People and to remove them from sinning. He has to know and make known that G-d exists and rules over the world and there is no purpose in this world other than to perform His will. Nothing remains of a person after his death other than this understanding which he radiated in his fellows. And when a Jew talks to his fellow about the fear of G-d and radiates in him his holy understanding that he received from his rabbi, some word that talks to his heart and makes him cease sinning, then his fellow is considered to be his student. So also the opposite, when his friend shines his understanding into him, then he is considered to be the student in relation to his friend. Then, when his time comes to pass away from the world, his soul will be clothed in these words that he radiated into his friend and it will be considered as if he himself actually remained in the world. This is the main perfection of the soul. Every Jew is obligated to strive to perform this "for the world was created to be settled, not to be left waste." Just as a Jew is commanded to have children in the world in order to sustain the species, so too he is commanded to instill understanding and fear of G-d in people. Without this he is not considered a man at all, as explained previously. (d) When a person wants to speak to his friend of fear of G-d, he has to have mercy also on himself and cease sinning; and his words should reflect his fear of G-d in order that his words will be heard. Also so that his words will be retained by his friend, meaning that his words should not instantly leave the heart of his friend. (e) By engaging in talking to one's friend about fear of G-d, one merits to ascertain the lights of an all-embracing understanding, that's to say one merits to ascertain and to understand what he did not ascertain and understand previously. Also he merits to ascertain each time, according to his level, a more lofty all-embracing understanding. (f) Above everything are the sublime, all-embracing perceptions of the wise man of the generation. When this wise man of the generation instills his understanding in his students and strives to talk to them about the fear of G-d, by this he ascertains the lights of his all-embracing understanding which are an aspect of the World to Come. The World to Come is above time, for all of the time of this world, everything that was and that will be, is all accounted as absolutely nothing against one day or even one moment of the World to Come which is a day that is entirely long; there it is above time and there no time exists at all. The arrangement of time there is an aspect of perceptions of the all-embracing understandings. There are perceptions which are an aspect of days and there are perceptions which are an aspect of years. Perceiving these all-embracing concepts is the main pleasure and delight of the World to Come. They are an aspect of "How great is Your goodness that You have stored up for those who fear You" (Psalms, 31:20). Happy is he who merits to ascertain them. (g) The wise man and tzaddik, who merits to these all-embracing perceptions, as mentioned, has to be able to study with those on a high level and with those on a low level. That's to say, he has to show those on a high spiritual level that they know nothing at all in the understanding of G-d, in the aspect of 'What have you seen; how have you examined' etc. And on the contrary, with those on a low spiritual level, who are, because of their sins, literally resting in the midst of the earth, in the lowest of levels, one has to show them that G-d is still with them, near them and close to them, and to strengthen and encourage them so that they should not despair, Heaven forbid, in any way at all. The true tzaddik is not called a tzaddik unless he has this strength to teach those on a high level and those on a low level, as mentioned. He has to join them together, to show those on a low level also something from the teaching of those on a high level. Furthermore he has to show those on a high level something from the teaching with those on a low level and to sustain everyone through his great strength so that they will all have fear of G-d (see inside). (h) This wise man of the generation has to know how to talk to each and every individual, to make a limit to his words, keeping silent when he has to keep silent so that the listeners won't enter into questions of faith and weak explanations that mustn't enter into them (see inside). (i) The true rabbi alludes to things through making signs with his hands to his students. When the rabbi studies with his students and instills in them understanding and fear of Heaven, there are things that are impossible to explain to them explicitly so he makes a limit to his words, as mentioned, and alludes things to them through hints which are in the aspect of 'hands'; he hints to them and makes signs to them with his hands. Through these signs livelihood is drawn down. (j) Someone who wants to draw a livelihood to those dependent on him has to be a man of valour and not the opposite (called an 'unfortunate') for he needs to have some control over people. By this he will be able to draw down a livelihood. (k) Malkhut (Kingdom) receives its livelihood from the hands and those hints mentioned above, which are in the sea of wisdom, and which the wise man strives to allude to his students. In these hints the all-embracing perceptions radiate for in these hints are clues to the sublime intellect of the wise man. He isn't allowed to reveal openly these perceptions to his students so that he won't draw down very lofty all-embracing perceptions which he shouldn't draw down. These all-embracing perceptions are an aspect of 'the ultimate knowledge, which is to know that one doesn't know'. Therefore, he who is also a man of valour receives from him this livelihood. As a result he can merit, while eating what he earned, to a radiance of desire. That's to say, specifically at the time of eating, a tremendous desire shines upon him so that he will desire, yearn and long for closeness to the Holy One with an incredibly great, boundless desire, beyond any knowing, until he knows nothing at all about what he wants; he just has a simple desire, with a tremendous yearning for G-d, for all his eating is drawn from the all-embracing perceptions which are also an aspect of 'the ultimate knowledge, which is to know that one doesn't know'. To all this one merits by means of the true tzaddik and his students who derive sustenance from his holy understanding. Therefore each person has to have mercy on himself and plead before the Holy One, shedding tears profusely, to merit to find such a true merciful leader who can extract him from sinning and merit him to all the above-mentioned qualities. (l) The Jewish People are a very holy people; in relation to their great spirituality and delicateness they cannot bear the burden of sins for even one day. Because of this they need the Holy Temple, for the 'tamid' sacrifice of the morning used to atone for the sins of the night and the 'tamid' of the twilight used to atone for the sins of the day. Consequently, Moshe sacrificed his soul for the People of Israel to ask from the Holy One to forgive them for their sins. He knew that it was impossible for them to bear the burden of their sins even for one day. Therefore, someone who has stumbled into a sin, Heaven forbid, has to repent and ask forgiveness and atonement from the Holy One, for the sin is a heavy burden for the Jewish soul; it cannot carry this burden even for one day. (m) Each person, according to what he merits to accomplish on Yom Kippur when reciting "Please forgive...", so he merits to the holiness of Chanukah, which is an aspect of the Holy Temple. The main holiness of the Temple that one draws on Chanukah is to merit to holy knowledge, to know and make known that G- d is the L-rd. "Someone who has knowledge it is as if the Holy Temple was built in his days." One needs to merit by this knowledge to depart from one's sins, as above, and to draw this knowledge into one's sons and students for all generations. And to merit through this to the holy, all-embracing perception, which is the main delight of the World to Come. This perception is drawn by lighting the holy oil of the Chanukah candles. One also merits by lighting the holy oil to a livelihood which comes from the source of desire. Then one can merit, at the time of eating, to a radiance of immense desire such that one desires and yearns for the Holy One with tremendous desire, beyond measure. A person will obviously understand that a Chanukah like this is impossible to experience other than by coming close to the rabbi and leader who is truly merciful, as explained previously. Happy is the person who merits to find him. (n) When one delves into and talks about a Torah innovation that the wise man of the generation innovated, the sea of wisdom is aroused and revealed. From there the Malkhut receives its livelihood. And Malkhut is the source of fear. Through this, the fear of G-d of the wise man who made the Torah innovation is aroused. Then his words are heard and retained for generations. By all this, great fear and awe of the Holy One descends on upon all those who study in depth the wise man’s innovation. ## 7 ### Torah 7 - These Are The Judgements a) The main form of redemption depends on faith, for exile is primarily a result of the lack of faith. b) Prayer is an aspect of faith for one believes that there is an Innovator who has the power to renew everything according to His will. Therefore, a person who believes, prays to the Holy One to fulfill his requests. By this he can bring about miracles, above and beyond the laws of nature. c) The essence of faith, which is prayer, an aspect of miracles, is only in the Land of Israel. There is the main place for prayers to rise and there a person can, through his prayer, bring about what he wants and create true miracles and wonders in the world. d) Faith, prayer and miracles and the Land of Israel are all one aspect. All of them are inter-dependent. e) If one causes a blemish in the Land of Israel, which reflects faith and prayer, then one descends into exile. The main blemish is that prayer descends into exile and it becomes impossible to pray properly and bring about miracles. f) Some people cover over all the miracles by explaining them as nature. When these atheists, who don't believe in miracles, cease to exist and faith becomes much stronger throughout the world, then Meshiach will come for the main essence of redemption depends on this, that's to say, on faith. g) It is impossible to achieve faith other than by truth (that's to say, the essence of faith is only when the intellect doesn't understand, for when one understands, faith doesn't apply. This being the case, when a person doesn't understand, where will he acquire faith from to believe in what he has to believe. So, essentially, faith depends on truth. When a person wants to look at the real truth, he will understand automatically that he has to believe with pure faith in the Holy One, in true tzaddikim and in His holy Torah. Even though this is impossible to understand properly with our crude intellect, nevertheless, by looking at the truth with a true eye, he will understand, even from far away, that this is certainly the truth though we cannot understand it intellectually. Therefore, we have to strengthen ourselves with perfect faith. Understand well. ) h) One cannot reach truth other than by coming close to true tzaddikim and by following their advice, without swerving to the right or left from their words. As a result, truth will be etched within such a person; then he will merit to faith, prayer, the Land of Israel and miracles. By this, the Redemption will come. i) Advice that we receive from tzaddikim is like a holy marriage, for we get drops of their intellect by this advice that we accept. This means that it is an aspect of rectifying the brit. On the other hand, accepting advice from those who oppose or obstruct the tzaddikim is like blemishing the brit, for they entice and lead people away from the point of truth. Consequently, someone who has blemished his brit has to guard himself a great deal from this mixed-up advice of those who oppose the truth, in order that he not lose his whole world in a moment, Heaven forbid. j) One has to stay far away from the advice of common people because most of their advice is bad and very spoilt. This is even more so with the advice of those evil people who oppose the truth. All the sins and blemishes come from them so one has to keep very far away from them indeed. Their advice is like that of the Primaeval Serpent, so when one accepts their advice it instills poison within you. This is like marriage to the husks of evil, as it says," The Snake beguiled me" (Genesis, 3, 13). Such advice is an aspect of blemishing the brit which distances a person from truth, holy faith and the Land of Israel. Therefore one has to very careful not to follow their advice, Heaven forbid. Rather, one has to attach oneself to true tzaddikim and their followers whose advice is entirely a seed of truth (Jeremiah, 2, 21). Taking their advice is an aspect of rectifying the brit and through their advice one merits to everything good, to truth, faith, prayer and the Land of Israel and to bring about miracles in the world. k) The craving for sex primarily depends on the eyes. The mitzvah of tzitzit acts as a guard and correction for this and, by this we are saved from bad advice. It merits us to receive true advice from the true tzaddikim. Consequently, we have to be careful about this mitzvah of tzitzit; when you wrap yourself in the holy tzitzit and make a blessing you should have in mind that it should merit you to a protection of the brit and to good and truthful advice. By this, you should merit to faith, the Land of Israel and to bring the redemption closer. You should also merit to prayer and to bring about miracles and wonders in the world. As a result of this holy mitzvah, may you also have a good income, for this depends mostly on rectifying the brit. Finally, through this, you should merit to understand very well whatever Torah you learn such that all its wisdoms will be revealed to you like an arranged table. l) Prayer, which is faith, has a special power to help the memory and saves you from forgetting which stems from flaws in faith. m) Before coming close to a tzaddik, one is in the aspect of "makes the heart fat, stops up its ears and seals its eyes" (Isaiah, 6, 10). That's to say, one's heart is closed, one's ears blocked and one's eyes blind from seeing the truth and awakening to repentance. However, when you attach yourself to tzaddikim and take their advice, then your heart, eyes and ears are opened ,as it says,' see with their eyes etc. which are the three brains. Then he will repent and be healed such that he sees hears and understands the truth and merits to repent. n) Through blemishing the brit (sexual sins) a person loses his income. o) It is especially good for a sick person to look at the tzitzit. ### Prayer for Torah 7 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. ## 8 ### Torah 8 - I Saw A Candlestick Of Gold a) The sighing of a Jew is very precious for it represents fulfilling that which is lacking. That's to say, when there is a lack in something and a person sighs about it, by this he fills the lack. b) All the things that a person lacks, whether income or health etc. can only be filled by the true tzaddik or rabbi whom he follows, for filling these lacks is only by sighing etc. as mentioned. Through sighing one draws the spirit of life to fill the gap which one sighed about. However, this spirit of life one can only receive through the tzaddik of the generation who cleaves entirely to the Torah which contains the source of the spirit of life. This means that one has to attach oneself to the tzaddik. c) The evil ones who oppose and cause controversy against the true tzaddikim receive their spirit of life from the rabbi of the husks, for there is an evil rabbi and Other Side ( forces of evil ) which are parallel, as it says, " For G-d has made the one as well as the other " ( Ecclesiastes, 7, 14 ). That being the case, they are very strong during their time because the spirit of life they draw from the rabbi of the husk is a stormy spirit which is very great for a while, but only for a time, for eventually it ceases and is lost. In the meantime it creates a storm in the body and soul of people who take hold of it. That is why evil people are referred to as dead even when living because they haven't a true and holy life force, for this is drawn into the world only by the true tzaddikim. d) The true tzaddik atones for sins by sighing because by this he draws the spirit of life to fill that which is lacking, like it says, "the wise man will atone" (Proverbs, 16, 14). e) It is forbidden to provoke evil doers and those who oppose the truth. Only the perfect tzaddik can take them on because he has already separated and driven out completely all the evil of the four basic elements, which include all the attributes of a person, to such a degree that he is certain that no stumbling block or sin will befall him. A tzaddik like this and those who follow him can provoke the evil doers. However, someone who hasn't nullified the evil within him completely and it remains in potential, even though he has no sin, is not a perfect tzaddik and therefore mustn't provoke the evil doers. Such a person may be hurt, Heaven forbid, by the length of time of their spirit which they receive from the Other Side for it is very strong during its designated time, may G-d preserve us. On the other hand, the perfect tzaddik can lower himself into the pipeline through which the evil doers receive their spirit of life and he can break, subdue and throw down to the earth all those evil doers. f) To reach this level of separating the bad from the good one has to learn Torah and pray. That's to say, by learning the Jewish codes of law (Halacha) and clarifying the halachic decisions, we can separate and distinguish the good from the bad. Thus we drive out and nullify the evil from the four basic elements (earth, water, air and fire) from which a person's attributes stem. This is the main rectification of Man. To merit to clarify the halachic decision one needs to pray. When a person prays for something, even though his request may be fulfilled by this prayer, the request still remains in potential. Only by learning Torah the process is completed and turns from potential to actuality. Then his will is done and his request fulfilled and he merits to throw down to the earth those who oppose (truth) and cause controversy. g) The spring of Torah wisdom stems from prayer, so the main clarification and determination of the Halacha can only be achieved through prayer. Then it is considered as if one has renewed the world and one merits to separate the good from the bad in all the four elements and this rectifies everything. As a result, one merits to throw down to the earth those who oppose truth. h) Tzitzit are an aspect of the spirit of life of holiness and through them we fulfill all the deficiencies; by sighing we subdue the spirit of life of the husks, the stormy spirit, the spirit of impurity and drive out the evil from the good in all one's attributes. As a result we subdue those who cause controversy and the evil doers, throwing them down to the earth. i) The tzaddik hears all the sighs of those attached to him for from him life is drawn to each individual; he is the "the man in whom is spirit" (Numbers,27), as the Sages said, "He knows to go against the spirit of each person", drawing and replenishing the spirit of life of each and every individual. ### Prayer for Torah 8 8. Like a Shofar I will raise my voice and cry out. Master of the Universe, Unique Master, who reigns over everything, have compassion on us and send us a tzaddik to reproach us in the proper way. Guard us and save us from those leaders who are not worthy to reproach, for not every person knows how to reproach. When the reproacher is not worthy he can weaken our souls by his improper reproach. Therefore, I have com before You, G-d our G-d, G-d of our Fathers, Who loves the Jewish People, have mercy upon us for Your Name’s sake and send us a saviour, a tzaddik who can reproach us openly from deep love. Let his reproach be for the good, like that of Moshe. As a result, let him give and add a sweet fragrance to our souls so that it strengthens and encourages our souls until we draw down bounty and blessings to all those worlds dependent on our souls. Then merit us, through this good reproach, to return in complete, genuine repentance from love of G-d. Bestow upon the tzaddik who reproaches us, the voice of Moshe which is the sound of the song that will be sung in the future, the song which is simple, double, triple and quadruple song, which is embodied in Your great and holy Name. So, merit us to arouse, reveal and draw upon ourselves this voice which waters Gan Eden, the voice of this holy song that will be sung in the future when the world is renewed. By this voice all the fragrances grow, together with holy fear. Therefore, draw upon us perfect fear, sublime fear, fear of G-d’s exaltedness. May I feel this holy fear upon me at all times, in all my 248 limbs and 365 sinews. Let my fear of You show in my face such that I will not sin. Merit me to true humility so that I become truly encompassed in You. So, please in Your endless mercy and great loving-kindness, have mercy upon me; merit me to nullify and break the craving for food completely. May I subdue the food of the body while constantly strengthening the food of the soul. Master of the Universe, You know the great weakness of our souls; they have become weakened very much because of our many and immense sins. We have no more strength to suffer. Merciful One, have pity on our souls, spirits and neshamot. Strengthen them with fear of Heaven and water them with the water of Gan Eden. Draw upon them the good fragrance of Gan Eden such that all our bad deeds will turn into merit. Let a good fragrance rise up before You from our deeds. Help us to subdue, break and nullify the heel of the Other Side which is the craving for food and drink, sustenance of the body. So, have mercy upon us for Your Name’s sake and save my soul. From now on may all our eating and drinking be only for the sake of preserving the soul, at it says “A tzaddik eats to nourish his soul.” Arouse Your compassion and great loving-kindness, and merit us to pray with all our heart and soul. Bestow mercy and grace upon us, like a father upon his son. May our words and prayers find pleasure before You so that we arouse Your true compassion upon us. What can I do, my Father in Heaven, I am seriously trapped in the vanities of This World. I do not know how to save my soul. I rely upon You alone. You have already performed for me many favours and great, wonderful acts of loving-kindness beyond measure. My Father in Heaven, from now on, merit me, speedily, to perfect prayer with real, heartful intentions. Merit me to always pray before You with mercy and supplications, in such away that I merit to return in complete repentance. Save me, in Your bountiful mercy in the realm of holiness. Save me from cruelty, from anger and from being over stringent with people. On the contrary, merit me to be good and to do good to others, as You really desire. Bestow upon me a sense of compassion so that I will always have mercy over others. Let me sanctify my mind and thoughts at all times with great holiness. I will not let any unholy or inappropriate thoughts enter my min. Save me always from restricted brains. Bestow upon me at all times expanded consciousness and may my lmind increase constantly in great holiness and purity. In You bountiful mercy, merit me to refine, purify and sanctify all my three brains in the skull, which are wisdom, understanding and knowledge, until these three brains will act as barriers against the evil and all-inclusive desire for sex. Have mercy upon us; send us a genuine tzaddik, a strong man, with great strength who will be zealous for the sake of G-d. Let him pray before You in the aspect of judgment, with great power and holiness. He will make judgment with You, like Pinchas when he was zealous for G-d against Zimri. Help us, the merit of this tzaddik’s prayer to subdue, break and nullify the craving for sex from us and from all the Jewish People, from now on and forever. In Your great love, please have mercy on the Jewish People. Give strength to the prayer of this powerful tzaddik whose prayer is in the aspect of judgment. Let his prayer be lodged in the throat of the Other Side and husks until the Other Side and husks have to throw up and spit out from their depths all the holy sparks that they swallowed; all the knowledge, compassion and prayers, with all kinds of holy sparks; that were swallowed because of our innumerable blemishes and wilful sins, especially blemishes to the brit. May the Other Side be forced to spit out all the sparks from its inners, very hastily. Then let many genuine converts become added to the Jewish People until all the nations will recognise Your Kingship and know that G-d alone rules over all the earth. This should reveal and publicise to all the world Your G-dliness and Lordship. Even those far away should hear of this and approach, recognising the power of Your Kingship. “So grant honour, G-d to Your People, praise to those who revere You, good hope to those who seek You and eloquent speech to those who hope to You” (Amida Prayer Rosh HaShana). Merit us that Your great honour be exalted by us at all times. Let Your glory be extolled and upraised in the world until, by this revelation of Your holy honour, You bestow a bounty of prophesy in the world. Return a bounty of prophesy to us which we lost through our sins until we all merit to be worthy to receive the bounty of prophesy and the dwelling of the Shechinah among us. Have compassion on us in Your bountiful loving-kindness and cure us completely from all our blows, illnesses and pains. Send speedily from Heaven a complete cure to all the sick Jews (especially so and so…) a cure of the body and soul. We have no hope or anyone to depend on at all apart from You for You are the genuine healer, the faithful and merciful healer. Please merit us, in Your great mercy, to come close to true tzaddikim who have an aspect of the spirit of prophesy, a real spirit of holiness, such that, through them, we merit to clarify and rectify our power of imagination. Then it will not confuse us, Heaven forbid, with delusions and evil confusions. Rather let us merit to a power of imagination which is very clear, pure and refined in the most perfect way. As a result merit us to perfectly clear and straightforward faith, as You really desire, without any element of confusion at all. Save us from rabbis and leaders who are false, who are an aspect of false prophets. Prevent them from confusing our minds with all kinds of delusions, Heaven forbid. Refine and purify us from the poison of the Serpent. Keep us away from all kinds of false beliefs. On the contrary, merit me to always be pure and simple with G-d, to behave with the utmost, genuine simplicity, with really perfect faith, as You desire. Help and save me so that I merit to hear the sound of the song and tune that will be sung in the future when You renew the world. Merciful One, the Good One, Who bestows good, help me from now on to be strong and block my eyes and ears from all sights and sound of This World so that I will not look at the vanities of the world at all and will not listen to the sounds of the world at all. Le me never speak words other than those that relate to Your Name and to Your service. Songs and praise of Your great and Holy Name should come from my mouth. Merit me to turn my throat away from this world so that no vain breath so this world enters my mouth. Rather, merit me to subdue all my body, my hands and legs, to You so as not to make any movement which is without the service of G-d. Let all my limbs and sinews, my senses and strength all be really connected and deeply attached to You, servants to Your Service for ever and ever, for all eternity, until I merit to hear in the future the soul of this holy and awesome song that will be sung and played on a harp of seventy-two strings. Happy are the ears that will hear this. May we merit to welcome Rosh HaShana with very great holiness and purity and with great perfection. In these holy days of Rosh HaShana may we draw upon ourselves the holiness of the prayer of the truly strong One, a prayer in the aspect of judgment, with all the holiness and rectifications brought about this, until we merit to perfect all the three brains in the head so that they from three partitions spread against sexual craving; let them protect us by true perception and intelligence such that this craving will have no control or hold over us at all from now on – forever. Rather, may I and all Your Nation, Israel, merit to be truly holy and pure, to abstain from this craving completely. May we merit to perfect prayer and let our prayers always be considered as prayers of mercy and entreaties before the Holy One, may He be blessed. Grant us mercy, that we have real compassion upon deserving poor people and upon all those in need of mercy, as is Your good. Help us inspire many of the people in the world to repent and convert, as is Your good desire. And help us glorify Your honour and publicise Your Divinity in the world, until we merit through great holiness to the real spirit of prophesy and to clarify the power of illusion that it be clear, refined and purified within us, with great purity and clarity, in such a way that we merit to arrange descriptions and praises to Your great and holy Name with tremendous holiness, as is fitting. May we bless Your holy and exalted Name by every blessing or praise and may our belief in the renewal of the world become stronger and stronger until we merit to the renewal of the worlds as it will be in the Future. Let all the world be guided by providence and wonders alone, in a completely supernatural way. May a new song be poured into the world, a song of wonders: “break into song O mountains,” and subdue the heel of the Other Side which is the heel of Esau, the wicked one. May the voice of Jacob become stronger and stronger and overcome the hands of Esau. Fulfill the verse which says: “And his hand took hold of Esau’s heel.” Draw upon us the river which goes out from Eden to water the Garden and by this may we merit to raise a fine fragrance before You; let us merit to always really complete fear, in particular on these holy days of Rosh HaShana which are the days of fear. Have mercy upon us and draw upon us phenomenally great awe, fear and dread, especially at the time of hearing the sound of the shofar and let us merit to feel very great fear in our hearts. Bestow upon us Your fear, dread and awe and upon all Israel and all the creatures of the worlds and ‘may allYour works fear You and all creatures prostrate themselves before You so that they may all form one united group to do Your will with a perfect heart/’. Our Father, Our King, in Your mercy let us merit to receive and draw upon ourselves the holiness of Rosh HaShana in absolute perfection, with happiness and the utmost holiness of thought, with great fear. May we merit to perform the commandment of hearing the sound of the shofar with great holiness and perfection, as is fitting, with all its details, exactitudes and intentions and the 614 commandments dependent on it, with great awe and fear, as is written: “Shall a shofar be blown in the city and the people not be afraid?” And it says, “Blessed is the people who know the sound of the shofar, they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of Your Countentance. In Your Name they will rejoice all the day; in Your righteousness they will be exalted. For You are the glory of their strength and in Your desire our horn shall be exalted. For the Lord is our defence and the Holy One of Israel is our King.” And it says, “With trumpets and the sound of the shofar make a joyful noise before the Lord, the King.” And it says, “Blow the shofar on the New Moon, on the day of the veiling of the moon for our feast-day. For it is statute for Israel and a judgement to the G-d of Jacob”. May we merit to arrange before You our recital of Your Sovereignty, our recital of Your Remembrance and our recital concerning the shofar with great devotion and perfection until we merit to appease You so that You bring us Messiah, our Righteousness One, “and You filled him with fear of the Lord.” Hasten and greatly speed our redemption; build for us the “the House of our holiness and splendour.” Let us return to our Land with joy and song and may we serve You in fear “as in the days of old and as in former years.” “Return to us O Lord and we will return; renew our days of old.” “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing before Your Countenance, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.” Amen and Amen. ## 9 ### Torah 9 - "To Wherever The Spirit Will Go" (Ezekiel,1,12) a) The tzaddikim, the true leaders of the generation, are an aspect of "spirit", as it says (Numbers 27:18), "A man with spirit in him", who knows to counter the spirit in each individual. The People of Israel are an aspect of 'heart' for they are "the heart of the entire world" (Zohar, Pinchas, 221B). And the leaders of the generation need to blow, in the aspect of their spirit (wind), onto each Jewish person; (see Lekutei Moharan, Pt.1, Torah 8), the spirit of every Jew, in order to blow away the dustiness, meaning the depression and sadness that falls upon them, Heaven forbid. By this (sadness) a Jew, who is an aspect of "heart", cannot ignite and enflame his heart to serve G-d. Through blowing away the dustiness, the true tzaddikim enthuse the hearts of Jews to serve G-d. b) Also, sometimes a person burns overly much to serve the Holy One beyond his limit and this is also not good. This is an aspect of a "storm wind" and is called 'breaking through'. The true tzaddikim also oversee this, in order to subdue the storm wind so that it won't burn beyond the proper measure, rather, every Jewish heart will be enthused to serve the Holy One, as is fitting, with a balanced temperament. c) There are also wicked people who are an aspect of the Erev Rav (the mixed multitudes) and when they fall on the heart, meaning when they influence the Jewish People, this is also an aspect of dustiness. For just as when dust falls on a candle and the particles of fire in it become separated from the element of fire then they cannot glow and through this the candle is extinguished. So, when we blow at the candle the 'wind' blows away the dustiness from the candle and the particles join together again and the flame begins to glow. However, sometimes by blowing at the candle we separate the flame from the candle and this extinguishes the candle. Similarly the leaders of the generation need to blow away all the aspects of dustiness, as mentioned, from the heart, that's to say from every individual Jew, so that the particles of fire in each Jew join together again. Then the People of Israel are joined together and become an aspect of 'heart'. Each individual becomes an aspect of 'heart' for each place where the aspect of 'heart' is needed and then once again becomes enthused in the service of G-d, as is fitting. ### Prayer for Torah 9 9. In Your great grace, You created Your world for the sake of the Jewish People who are the heart of the whole world. You gave them a heart to know, understand, yearn and long for You continually. In general the Jewish People have hearts that burn in a flame of love to cleave to You. “My love is strong till death… its flames are flames of fire the flame of G-d. Many waters… cannot extinguish the fire of this love” (Song of Songs 8,6). But because of my immense and innumerous sins as You know, depression and sadness have overcome me a great deal. As a result, dustiness and heaviness have fallen upon my heart such that I cannot burn with enthusiasm in Your service as I should. And if, sometimes, in Your mercy, a spark of Your g-dliness shines within my heart, I haven’t the vessels to receive this spark, them my heart burns up too much. On the other hand, sometimes the heart is blocked up completely because of sadness. So, may it find favour before You, G-d, our G-d, G-d of our Fathers, that You shine upon us the merit and power of the true tzaddikim and by this, grant us joy. In their great strength blow their holy spirit upon us and let this blow away from our hearts all forms of depression and sadness, all forms of dustiness and heaviness that falls upon our hearts. Then let us really burn with enthusiasm in the service of G-d. Guard us and save us from the stormy wind so that our hearts will not burn up with over-enthusiasm beyond its proper measure, Heaven forbid. We do not know how to behave with regard to this spark of enthusiasm in the heart; we do not know how to measure what is appropriate. Sometimes the heart is blocked completely while sometimes it burns up beyond the proper measure. We have no one to rely upon apart from our Father in Heaven and upon the strength and merit of the true tzaddikim. Each tzaddik is called a man with spirit within for he knows how to go against the spirit of each individual (in order to balance and rectify him). Help us and merit us, please that the spirit of the tzaddikim will blow upon each one of us, a spirit of holiness and purity in such a way that we merit to really perfect joy, as You desire. Let each Jew’s heart burn with enthusiasm in Your service, for all eternity, with tremendous enthusiasm in the proper measure for each individual, according to his aspect of truth. Only You know how to measure this. Let us, Your Chosen Nation, the heart of the world, all cleave to You with real, holy enthusiasm such that we all become embodied with You for ever and ever, for all eternity. ## 10 ### Torah 10 - " For You Shall Go Out In Joy" (Isaiah,55:12) a) The fact that the world is far away from the Holy One and fails to come close to Him is only because they don't have calmness of mind and do not collect their thoughts. The main thing is to endeavour to calm the mind and consider well what the purpose is of all the physical cravings and all the other worldly pursuits, whether the cravings that enter the body or whether the cravings that are outside the body (i.e. mental desires) such as honour and so on. Then a person will certainly return to G-d. b) The main way to calm the mind is through joy, for, by joy, a person will be able to control his mind as he desires and calm his mind to think about his eternal purpose; joy is the world of liberty. So when a person connects joy to his mind, his mind is at liberty and not in exile, then he will be able to calm his mind, as explained. c) But, because of depression and sadness the brain and mind are in exile and then it is hard for a person to collect his thoughts and return to G-d. It turns out that sadness is a very great obstacle to the service of G-d whereas, through joy, a person becomes liberated and escapes exile, as it says "For you shall go out in joy" (Isaiah 55:12). And the opposite is also true, by exile the mind is not calm, as the Sages said (Megilla 12B) about the People of Amon and Mo'av that their minds are calm because they never went out to exile, as it says, "Mo'av has been at ease… neither has he gone into exile"(Jeremiah 48:11). Therefore his good reasoning remained etc. d) It is explained later in Torah 48 and this is the wording; "Know that as soon as a person wants to enter the service of G-d and wants to be a kosher Jew, immediately it becomes a very serious sin for him to be sad, Heaven forbid, for sadness is the Other Side and the Holy One hates depression and sadness a great deal, Heaven preserve us. (Editor's note: See Tikkunei Zohar at the beginning of page 59 where it says that one needs to protect oneself from saddening things, {meaning when one makes a pilgrimage on the Festivals} for this is Lilit, darkness and sadness etc. for it is a serious blemish. About this the verse says "Anyone who has in him a blemish is forbidden to bring a sacrifice" (Lev.21:18) and whoever is sad is called someone with a blemish, Heaven save us.) e) A person has to strengthen himself to become happy by any means possible, to strive to search for and find in himself some good point in order to come to joy, as explained about the verse, (Psalms,146:2) "I will sing praises to my G-d with the little that remains in me" (see Torah 282). At least a person has to be happy in that he merited to be from the seed of Israel and wasn't made a gentile. This is certainly a wondrous joy and beyond measure; being born a Jew has no flaw because it is the act of G-d Himself. In all other actions in the world the Evil One can mix into them sadness and depression, but as to this joy, that I was not created a gentile, in this there is no element of depression since it is the action of the Holy One Himself. For, regardless, however a Jew is, the very fact that he merited to be from the seed of Israel and not created a gentile is reason for great joy without end. It is fitting for a Jew to always take joy in this, all the days of his life no matter what befalls him. He should be accustomed to say joyfully with his mouth and in his heart, "Blessed is our G-d Who created us for His honour and separated us from those who go astray, and Who gave us the Torah of Truth etc. and Who sanctified us with His commandments and brought us close to His service and in Whose great and Holy Name we are called etc. f) Also, quite often a person has to make himself happy by words of nonsense and words of joking. Because of the many troubles that a person suffers, each person with his body, soul and property, it is usually impossible for him to make himself happy other than by words of nonsense, making himself like a madman in order to be happy. (Copier’s note: See Ketuvot,11A: One person used to behave like a madman in order to make a bride and groom happy, as Rashi explains. In Eruvin, 54B it says "Because of one's love of G-d, a person is always mad about it"; Rashi explains: ‘Due to this love you should make yourself mad and foolish’ etc.) All the vitality in the body and soul are dependent on this. Also in the World Above a great Unification is made by the person connecting the joy to his brain and mind, for then the brain is liberated and he will have calmness of mind. This is an aspect of 'clarity of mind' (Shabbat,77) which is a great thing. May G-d always merit us to this. Amen, so may it be. (Editor's note: See Ta'anit, 22- Eliyahu told Rav B'roka about two brothers who were destined to inherit the World to Come. So the latter asked them: What are your deeds to deserve it? They said to him that they are jovial and they get other people out of their sadness by making them (happy.) ### Prayer for Torah 10 10. Master of the Universe, merit me as quickly as possible to calmness of mind in This World and this body. Help me to calm my mind very, very well to think about the ultimate purpose of the world with all its cravings and dealings, whether the physical cravings that enter the body or whether those outside the body such as honour and status, hate, envy etc . Merit me to look at my ultimate purpose with real calmness of mind. Let the world not delude me at all. You know, that all our distance from You is because we do not think calmly at all. If we merited to think calmly about the bitterness of This World with all its cravings and delights that pass away like a shadow, and all the distress, anguish and suffering which are an integral part of them and far greater that the enjoyment, we would see the loss is far greater that the gain and then we would merit to calm ourselves very well and certainly return to You in absolutely genuine repentance for the truth is that even in This World we can see how it is all vanity and worthless, even more so in relation the World to Come. In the end, we have to give back the pledge to its owner and the body will return to the earth and the worms. We will be forced to make an account to the King of Kings, the Holy One, for all our actions. We will be reminded of everything there. Nothing will be reminded of everything there. Nothing will be overlooked from what we have done. There will be no place to escape to. But the truth is that our distance from You, is only because we do not calm our minds really and truly. However, You revealed to us, through Your holy Torah that the main way to achieve this calmness of mind is by being happy. You also know my great distance from happiness, therefore, I have come before You, G-d, my G-d and G-d of my Fathers, Master of Joy to ask that You have mercy on me and all the Jewish People and in Your great, hidden and eternal compassion, You draw upon us true joy from Heaven, in such a way that I merit to always be happy and join the happiness to by brain. May I redeem and fee my brain, mind and thoughts from their prison and great, bitter exile to which they have bee exposed for months and years, since I remember myself, due to my bad thoughts, confusions, foolishness and crooked heart. These thoughts enter the brain and heart all the time and cause the brain and heart to become crooked. It is unbearable. The main exile of the mind is because of depression and very bitter sadness which overcome us. We cannot calm our minds, neither can we control our brains as we want for we are continually overcome with sadness. That is the main reason why we have become distant from G-d and done what we have done, sinning as we have. Every person knows in his heart his own great distance from G-d. However much more we become distant, the depression and sadness overcome us more. Further more however much more the sadness and depression overcomes us, Heaven forbid, our confusion increases until we become unable to think calmly. Oh, how we have destroyed our temple of wisdom and burnt down the palaces of our intelligence; we have exiled our minds to various places of exile. Master of the Universe, the distress of our hearts has greatly increased. We have no understanding of how to speak and how to calm ourselves in this ephemeral world by thinking of our ultimate, eternal, true purpose. However, in Your immense compassion, because You desire our final good, You have give us a cure before the fatal illness by sending us tzaddikim in each generation who, through their great power, have rectified what they rectified. They have taught us various true and wonderful ideals so that we can gladden our hearts at any time. They warned us and encouraged us to strengthen ourselves so that we remain happy constantly for example, they taught us to be happy at having been born a Jew. In Your immense mercy, Yu have saved us with wonderful and awesome miracles from opposing true tzaddikim and genuinely kosher servants of G-d. Therefore, I have come before You to plead with You, Merciful One, that I merit to always be happy by finding good points within myself. You merited me to perform many mitzvot every day, reciting blessings and prayers, morning and evening; I engaged in studying Your holy Torah with its mitzvot which straighten and gladden the heart. Enable me to speedily calm my mind by thinking about the ultimate purpose of all the cravings and dealings of This World. As a result, please merit me to really return toYou in repentance from now on and forever. 11. When a person prays in the field, then all the grasses and plants of the field join into his prayer and help out, giving strength to his prayer. This is an aspect of "And Yitzchak went out to pray in the field" (Gen.24:63). His prayer was with the help and strength of the grasses of the field. Therefore in the curse it says "The earth will not give forth its crop". That's to say, the crop of the earth will not give strength into one's prayer. "Crop" ('yebul') alludes to the initial letters of the verse "And Yitzchak went out to pray in the field"- U'Yitzchak Yetzei La'suach B'sadeh." ## 11 ### Torah 11 - I Am The Lord; That Is My Name a) By talking out words of Torah this will shine (clarify) for a person all the places (aspects) where he has to repent so that he will merit to perfect repentance. And so on each time, by each act of repentance he will progress from one level to another until he leaves the lowly levels and reaches a deep understanding of the Torah. b) When a person is very careful and guards himself so as to respect G-d perfectly, being scorned and abhorred in his own eyes before the glory of G-d, he will merit to words enlightened with Torah such that they will shine him the way to repentance which is complete. Then he will come to a deep understanding of the Torah. c) However, it is impossible to merit to these enlightening words other than by breaking one's pride and self importance. One's learning mustn't be for the sake of honour or out-arguing others, Heaven forbid, or in order to receive a rabbinic position or public status. This depends on guarding the brit. d) Pride is an aspect of idol worship and by this one loses the power of speech to be able to speak enlightening words; one cannot open the mouth. When Torah is spoken from such a mouth, not only won't the words shine to bring him back in repentance, the Torah itself will become crude and dark in his mouth, Heaven help us. e) Pride and sexual desire are inter-dependent. When a person guards himself from sexual blemishes he will be saved from pride. Then he will merit to a light which will illuminate for him a path to repentance until he merits to achieve a deep understanding of the Torah. f) The main feeling of bitterness, bother and strain of making a living stems from sexual blemishes. Someone who is careful to remain pure, even when he performs the 39 forms of work and business, they are an aspect of the handicraft of the building of the Tabernacle which allude to the 39 holy lights ( Isaiah,26,19 ) .On the other hand, if someone blemishes the brit then poverty chases after him and he draws upon himself the burden, effort and great bitterness of making a living which is a reflection of the 39 lashes ( the Torah punishment for certain sins ), Heaven save us. g) Guarding the brit has two aspects; there are those who have relations during the week but, even so he is careful to do it according to the laws of what is permitted. He guards himself from sinning, Heaven forbid. This needs very great care and is called 'the lower unification'. By this he merits to achieve the Halacha in the Torah, the secrets. On the other hand, someone who has relations only from one Shabbat to another, this is called 'the sublime unification' and through this he merits to understand kabbala, secrets of the secrets. But even in the latter case, he needs to be very careful to do it with holiness and to be included in those who guard the brit. Even more so is this true with simple people who do it during the week; they certainly have to be extremely careful to guard themselves so as not to blemish the brit, Heaven forbid, or at least not to transgress a Torah law. When a person guards the brit in both these aspects then he merits to honour G-d perfectly and achieves all the virtues mentioned above such that he finally reaches a deep understanding of the Torah. h) There is a type of humility which is the ultimate form of pride, that's to say a person acts humbly because he knows that pride is to be despised very much. Therefore he is humble in order to receive honour. Thus, it turns out that he is humble in order to achieve self esteem and honour. So, a person has to be clever in his ways and distance himself from pride a great deal, to the ultimate degree, as the Sages said, "Be of a very, very lowly spirit" ( Perkei Avot ) . Self esteem is an aspect of the seven houses of idol worship which caused Israel to be exiled from the Land of Israel. As a result of this we still haven't returned to our Land because we chase after honour and after self esteem, Heaven save us. ### Prayer for Torah 11 11. Master of the Universe, merit me to always spend lots of time in secluded meditation and prayer. Enable me to regularly go out into the fields every day, among the trees and plants. There allow me, to speak a great deal to my Maker, explaining everything that is in my heart. Then, all the plants in the field, the grasses and trees, etc, will become aroused and give their strength and vitality into my conversations and prayers. Let this then complete my prayers and bring them to perfection by all the power and spirituality of the plants becoming included in my prayers, up to their sublime source. As a result, merit me to open my heart and pour out prayers and supplications to You, Merciful One. I will pour out my words to You until I merit to pour out my heart like water in the presence of G-d. I will raise my hands in prayer to G-d, praying for my soul. ## 12 ### Torah 12 - “Where Is The Place Of His Honour?” a) When a person follows his intelligence and wisdom he can fall into bad mistakes and obstacles and come to great evils, Heaven forbid, as many have stumbled and fallen a great deal through their wisdom; they have sinned and caused many others to sin, may G-d take pity. It was all as a result of their evil wisdom. The essence of Judaism is to go in purity and simplicity without any wisdom, to look at each thing he does that G-d should be there without considering at all his own honour. Only if G-d's honour is enhanced by the action he should do it but if not, he shouldn't do it. Then he will certainly never stumble. b) When a person falls from his spiritual level, sometimes his fall and descent is very, very great, Heaven forbid. He may fall into very despicable places which are called an aspect of filthy places; and he falls into doubts and despicable, very evil, strange thoughts with many confusions; and his heart becomes dizzy. For the husk makes his heart crooked and surrounds it with crookedness and enormous confusions (and the heart is confused). And even though in such places it is impossible to find G-d, even so, there also there is a great rectification by searching and requesting from there G-d; one needs to ask and request 'Where is the place of His honour?; where is His sanctity?; where is His purity? However much he sees himself as far away from G-d's honour, he should feel regret and ask and search more and more 'Where is the place of His honour?' By this itself, that he regrets, asks for, searches and yearns for G-d's honour, shouting out, asking and searching 'Where is His honour', through this itself he ascends tremendously for he merits by this to rise to a very sublime holiness, which is an aspect of "Where"(see inside). This is the essence of repentance that a person always search and ask 'Where is the place of His honour?' Through this the fall turns into a great ascent. This is an aspect of what it says in all the holy books that a fall is for the sake of the ascent. See inside and understand well for it is very deep. ### Prayer for Torah 12 12. Master of the Universe, You have already promised us in several ways and warned us that there is no such thing as despair at all. Maybe G-d will perform one of His wonders and bring me back to repentance with all my heart. Merit me to fully search for You until I speedily find You and come close to You. Help me, for I rely upon You. Please enable me to ask for and search after Your glory until I really find it. Your mercy upon us is so great that You informed us from afar of this lofty Torah by which we can find You even in the very deepest decline through searching and asking ‘Where are You?’ Where is my holiness? Where is my purity? Where is my soul, my spirit and neshama? Where is G-d, my G-d, the G-d of our Fathers Who took us out of the land of Egypt? Where is the place of glory? By asking all this we can merit to turn my decline into a great ascent. So, merit me to escape from and rise up from all the places of filth into which I have fallen because of my many iniquities. May I then return to You in complete repentance, truly with all my heart, as You desire. Help me so that all my deeds will only be for the sake of Your honour. Let me not consider myself or my honour at all, nor any other worldly reason. Rather, let me only have Your honour in mind in whatever I do. Through Your bountiful mercy, merit me to raise, exalt, glorify and magnify Your great honour. May all of the Jewish People merit to truly serve You with great simplicity all our lives, without any cleverness at all. Please G-d, merit me to be counted among the tzaddikim who sustain the world which was created with Ten Sayings. Help me! Help me! Be gracious to me. I have gone astray like a lamb. Search for Your servant. If I do not merit to search for You as I should, then please search for me with Your bountiful mercy and awesome loving-kindness. Extract me from all the physical cravings, especially the craving for sex. Have mercy and compassion on me. Please, do not hide Your countenance from Your servant for I am in distress. Answer me as promptly as You can. Merit me from now on to really sanctify and purify myself. Let me feel godliness upon me at all times. Be gracious to me so that I can really know with all my heart and at every moment, that the earth is full of You glory. Your Kingship extends to all places. Let me never forget You, whether by day or night, at home or outside, when eating or drinking. In my thoughts, speech and actions, in all my movements, every moment, merit me to feel Your godliness and kingship over me for it fills all the world. Help me to really come close to You. Purify and sanctify me from all the filth and dirt that I have brought upon myself through my many sins over the years until now. Raise me speedily from filth to purity, from the mundane to the holy. Bring me out of the darkness into light. Fulfill in us the very: “I will sprinkle pure water upon you that you may become cleansed; I will cleanse you from all your contamination and from all your idols.” (Ezekiel 35,36). Our Father, our King, reveal Your glory and Kingship over us. Appear and reign over us very soon before the eyes of all living beings. Have compassion over Your great honour which is desecrated among the nations as a result of our many iniquities. Return us in complete repentance before You in such a way that we merit to raise and exalt Your great and holy glory. May Your glory fill all the earth and let every breathing thing give honour to Your Name. Master of the Universe, reign over all the world in Your glory. Let every created thing know that You are its Maker and may every creature understand that You are its Creator. G-d, G-d our G-d, G-d of the Jewish People, performer of wonders alone, be blessed. Blessed is His glorious Name forever. May all the earth be filled with His glory. Amen and Amen. 13. When there is controversy against a person and he is chased after, he can come closer to G-d through this, for they pursue him and each time he runs every time to G-d; for G-d is in every place so however much more they oppose him they cause him to come closer and closer to the Holy One. ## 13 ### Torah 13 - Happy Is The People. Providence a) When we break the craving for money, we draw down complete Divine Providence. To break it we have to give charity, for charity cools down the feverish craving for money. This also breaks the desire to be wealthy and to govern others.One merits to do business with faith and to happy with one's portion. Then one has pleasure from what G-d granted and doesn't have the driving urge to become very wealthy. As a result, one is saved from the curse of "in the sweat of your brow you will eat bread" (Genesis, 3, 19). This curse is fulfilled when a person becomes so embedded in the craving for money that he is always busy making great efforts and doesn't derive any pleasure from the wealth he has, Heaven save us. However, by giving charity one is saved from this and it is considered as if you had burned an offering of incense in the Temple. b) The craving for money is really a form of idol worship. All the time that this worship of money exists in the world G-d's anger exists in the world. To the degree that this craving is nullified, so G-d's anger is nullified and His loving kindness is drawn into the world. In turn, this draws holy Knowledge into the world which is an aspect of building the Holy Temple. Furthermore, nullifying this craving for money is a kind of revelation of the Meshiach for when he is revealed, all the desire for money will be nullified. c) When one breaks this craving for money by giving charity one sweetens all the harsh decrees and is saved from all kinds of trouble. Then one is called a wise man and can raise Jewish souls and renew them, bringing Torah to the world. This is a reflection of the revelation of Torah there will be in the future, Torah from the most hidden and loftiest world of the Ancient of Days. A Unification of the Holy One and the Shechina is also created. d) By this, the wise man takes the souls (of those who come to hear him speak) and rises with them until he brings down new Torah. This rectifies the two Chariots, the Higher Chariot and the Lower Chariot. e) All those who come to the wise man of the generation, each one of them has some good desire. The tzaddik raises all these good desires and, in so doing, he renews the souls of these people. By this, he reveals Torah which he says in their presence. Thus, it turns out that each one of them has a part in the Torah according to his desire and this leads to a renewal of his soul for the good. So, each person has to strengthen himself and arouse himself to come with good and strong desires and longings for G-d in order that his soul be renewed as much as possible. We also heard that the main time to do this is when the wise man is preparing himself to say Torah; then each person has to examine his deeds and ask for good desires for G-d. He has to pray for this so that the wise man can hold him and raise him from his present place ( spiritually) and renew for the good according to his present desires. f) From this you can understand the big difference that exists between being present when the tzaddik says Torah to hearing from someone else; when he is present he has a part in that Torah and his soul is renewed, apart from other differences as well, as explained elsewhere. g) When one comes to the tzaddik, one draws upon oneself complete Divine Providence. This is because the tzaddik brings down Torah innovations and bringing Torah into the world brings with it complete Divine Providence, for the Torah contains cantillation notes, vowel points, crowns and letters which parallel the three colours in the eye and the pupil. Therefore, through his Torah, the wise man brings the power of sight of G-d's Divine Providence upon us. Each person, according to his nearness to the Torah, draws G-d's Divine Providence upon himself to a greater degree. h) When a person wants a physical craving, this is a blemish and causes bitterness to his soul; then it is like what it says, " bitterness of the soul" (Shemuel,1,1,10) and "her soul grieved" (Kings,2,4,27) . This is a distracted mind which doesn't radiate and is then a "hungry soul" ( Psalms,107,9).To correct this one has to come to the tzaddik of the generation; he will rectify and raise even the blemished desires together with the good ones that a person has. So, by coming to the tzaddik, one fulfills the verse which says, "he … filled the hungry soul with goodness." (ibid) and "satisfy your soul in drought"( Isaiah,58,11). Then he can renew and correct his days of youth that passed in darkness. Through this, he acquires the status of Man. i) The people who come to the wise man of the generation, he collects their souls, their desires, and raises them in an aspect of 'pregnancy' ; he renews them for the better and then returns their souls to this world whilst revealing to them Torah. These souls reflect the Living Angels in the Holy Chariot. Their bodies reflect the Ophanim, the Wheel Angels (see Ezekiel,1,15). The soul of the wise man and his holy mind represent the Throne and He who sits on the Throne. The Torah he draws down also has these aspects of Living Angels, Ophanim, Throne and He who sits on the throne. j) However, one has to ask for and search after such a tzaddik, to plead with G-d a great deal to merit to find a wise man who collects the souls , raises them and renews them like in a new birth, while as a result, bringing down new Torah. Only such a tzaddik can rectify and raise up the soul from all its blemishes caused by physical cravings. The tzaddik does this with two intellects alluded to in the two letters 'shin' (engraved on the houses of the teffilin), one with three heads and one with four heads. k) However many more souls come to the true tzaddik to receive Torah, so this minimizes and nullifies the evil air created on the earth by all the atheistic questions about the suffering of tzaddikim in contrast to the success of evil-doers. By the multiplicity of the souls who collect around the true tzaddik, the air full of these questions of doubt is nullified. l) These people who travel and come to the true tzaddik should feel increased love for each other, become spiritually aroused and talk to others about serving G-d. This itself is a sign that their intentions were good when they were with the tzaddik and they have begun to be renewed for the better. m) There are souls who are very,very blemished and even when they come to the tzaddik, even so they are still immersed in physical cravings; they still haven't moved from the mundane to the holy even as much as a hair's breadth. Souls such as these certainly can't be raised and renewed for the better like in 'pregnancy'. However, there are tzaddikim , who are so great, wonderful and awesome, that even blemished souls like these they can raise and renew for the good. So, whoever knows that his soul is very blemished and wants to have compassion on his life by returning to G-d, he has to ask and plead a great deal from G-d that, in His compassion, he merit to come close to such a tzaddik who is so powerful and strong that he can raise his soul and renew it for the better. Happy is he who merits to find a tzaddik like this. ### Prayer for Torah 13 13 – 14. Master of the Universe, You know everything that has happened to me from my youth until not. Very great controversy overcomes me all the time, materially and spiritually. G-d, how numerous are my tormentors, as is revealed to You, O Master. You have already taught us that, by controversy, a person can fall away from the service of G-d, Heaven forbid. I know that I am guilty; my evil deeds are criminal, nevertheless all my thoughts and intentions are directed to knock on the doors of mercy, so You will open for the gateways of holiness to bring me close from wherever I am. All my thoughts about the controversy against me are for the good. Thus the true tzaddikim have taught us – never to give up on mercy. Maybe, perhaps, the time will come when I will find an opening and channel through which I will be able to stop performing bad deeds and thinking indecent thoughts. Now, my Father, what can I do against those who mock, accuse and persecute me very much above and below. You know when a person has tormentors in the world below, he also has accusers in the world above. Many fight me in the heavens and constantly offer accusations against me. They do not allow me to come close to You. And even if I admit to You, Merciful One, with shame and disgrace, that their accusations are not without reason for I am certainly not worthy of coming close to You because of my many sins, nevertheless, I have no where to run to; where can I escape and run to; other than You alone. You are my shelter in the time of distress. Therefore, I have come before You, Father in Heaven, Who has mercy on the poor, For You search out to protect the persecuted ones. Merit me to come closer and closer to You. Act for Your Name’s sake. Help and save me so that I can always run and escape to You at all times. Merit me to throw down and subdue my enemies. Shelter me and save me from my enemies and persecutors, materially and spiritually. I have no-one to rely upon other than our Father in Heaven and upon the power of the true tzaddikim in whose footsteps I yearn to follow. Let no opposer have the power to prevent or delay me, materially or spiritually, from coming closer to You. May they be unable to distance me from truly serving You. May the words of my mouth and the musings of my heart find favour before You, G-d, my Rock and Redeemer. He Who makes peace in the Heavens, please make peace dwell upon us and all the Jewish People. Amen. 14. Just as a person has enemies in the world Below, so he has enemies in the world Above. ## 14 ### Torah 14 a) Because there are true tzaddikim of very great stature and it is their custom to speak of great things and wonders (they performed) for they can really perform great things and serve G-d with any thing in the world, even through eating and drinking etc.; and there are tzaddikim who can perform a redemption by their eating. Because such tzaddikim exist, there are also liars who glorify themselves as also having performed similarly great things and wonders. Some of them are leaders of the generation and mislead the public as if nothing is beyond them; everything is in their hand. All this is because there are true tzaddikim who really have this power, therefore these liars copy them, as a monkey before a human, and they are called false prophets. However, the truth is that they are doing a favour to the true tzaddikim. For there are wicked and fornicators who give charity and their charity damages the true tzaddik. Therefore it is a favour that these liars exist for, by this, these wicked people turn to them with their charity. The Holy One makes the wicked stumble that they will give their charity to these liars. As a result, the true tzaddik is saved from their charity. b) The true tzaddik receives his holy power of speech from the givers of charity. ### Prayer for Torah 14 Have compassion upon us for Your sake, for the sake of Your honour; help me and save me so that I merit from now on to really and wholeheartedly arouse myself to Your devotion and Your fear. Let me merit from now on to return in perfect repentance before You. Let me adorn myself and others, to speak to their hearts and reveal to them the truth; returning them in complete repentance before You, in order that Your great and holy glory be extolled by me. When those most distant from You really come close to You, this is the prime aspect of Your glory, for then the Name of the Holy One, may He be blessed, is made known and honoured in all the worlds, above and below. Therefore, have mercy upon me and bring me close to You, even though I am very far from You. Transfer merit through me so that others who are far from You will come close to You because of me. May Your great glory be extolled and sanctified by me, even though I am far away from You. Help me, support me, strengthen me and encourage me so that I merit to raise the glory of holiness from the indignity of exile and may I always raise and extol Your great and holy glory. Help me so that I merit to raise the glory to its source, which is awe of G-d. Bestow upon me Your holy awe so that I merit to always fear You, to fear this glorious and awesome Name. Help me to achieve perfect fear, to achieve real awe of Your grandeur. In Your bountiful mercy, let me really and wholeheartedly honour those who fear the Lord. May we really nullify ourselves before them and really give them all the honour. Let this be in such a way that the blemishes to fear be rectified by us and we merit perfect fear, without any blemish at all. Fulfill in us the verse which says: “Fear the Lord His righteous ones, for there is no lack to those who fear Him.” By this, may we merit to real perfection let Your fear always be upon our faces so that we shall never sin at all, for evermore. By this fear, let us merit to peace, peace within ourselves by the body being nullified and included within the holy soul. As a result , let us always really perform Your will. May we merit to perfect prayer so You always hearken to our prayers. Draw peace into the world. O Lord, our God and God of our fathers, may it be Your will that, in Your bountiful mercy, You have mercy upon me and nullify completely the attribute of pride from me. Let there be no element of pride in my heart at all. May I really and truly know my own baseness and let me merit to completely nullify myself, such that I see myself even less than my very base level. Please Lord, in Your compassion, help me so that nothing can confuse my mind or mislead me, Heaven forbid, by any foolish thoughts of any pride or self-importance. In my oppression, immense pressure and great distance from You, the troubles of my soul have grown a very great deal, for a long time already. "I looked and there was no one to help and I wondered and there was no one to support." I have no choice other than to always cry out to You, to hope for Your compassion, Your salvation and Your loving-kindness. If, Heaven forbid, because of my immense distance from You there comes into my confused mind, Heaven forbid, this nonsense and confusion of pride and self-importance, then my hope is lost, Heaven forbid, for how can a worthless person such as myself merit to any good? I am full of the sins, iniquities and willful transgressions that I've committed against You from my youth until today, in thought, speech and deed, unintentionally and on purpose, by force of circumstance or willfully. Please Lord, teach me what I should cry out to You. Inform me how to plead before You, wholeheartedly, in such a way that I can effectively make my request and be heard in mercy before You. Help me to return in perfect repentance to You, and to be as You desire from now on. Let me never stray from Your will or from Your commandments, whether to the right or left. Let me merit, in Your bountiful mercy, to break and nullify the attribute of pride completely. May no aspect of pride or haughtiness enter my mind at all as a result of things that usually cause pride, whether wisdom, good deeds, strength or wealth. Rather, let me merit to really be humble and lowly in all of these things, so that I shouldn’t become proud or haughty as a result of them. However, I know Lord, that I am ignorant. I am empty and lack all these things. "I am more brutish than any man and haven’t the understanding of man." I have no strength or boldness, in body or soul. My house is empty of wealth; I have no wisdom or boldness, I have neither physical wealth nor spiritual wealth of good deeds. According to my present worthlessness and lowliness and my very, very lowly spiritual level and my immense distant from You, I certainly shouldn’t need to pray at all to nullify my pride. However, You know the evil of our hearts and the turbidness of our minds and the confusions of our thoughts until, even in the midst of our distance from You, they confuse and mix up our minds very much with this nonsense and confusion of thoughts of self-interest and pride, such that the war is on all sides. As You know, they leave us no way of escaping to You, Lord our G-d and G-d of our fathers. However, even so, I still await, look forward to, wish for and really hope for Your salvation, at all times, in your bountiful mercy. We know that You are full of mercy at all times. You search the hearts and kidneys and know all hidden things. You know that in the inner most depths of our hearts we desire and long very much to really come closer to you, to always really fulfill Your will without any thoughts of self-interest or confusion. Therefore, have mercy upon us for Your sake, our Father in Heaven, Master of all. In Your bountiful mercy, grant us merit so that we nullify and drive out from us the attribute of pride, completely and utterly. Let me merit, in absolute truth, to all the aspects of humility, to be really lowly and humble before every person in the world, before great, ordinary or insignificant people, even before the most insignificant of all. In my many iniquities I've become more insignificant than the most insignificant people. Let me merit to know and feel my true lowliness, in all my limbs, until I merit to be really humble, lowly and insignificant in my own eyes, even more than my lowly and insignificant spiritual level. May I merit to really reach absolute self-nullification, as You desire. Please Lord, I know that my words are confused and my language full of blemishes. I don’t know how to arrange my prayers and supplications before You, but I rely upon You, for you hear all prayers. You, who are full of mercy, have compassion upon me and let me merit to be as You desire, from now on, for ever. Help me so that I merit to real humility. Help me from now on to leave my evil ways and confused evil thoughts which confuse me and prevent me from going on the good, straight path. Help me to draw back from these evil thoughts. Grant me strength to drive out, throw away and nullify all these thoughts which bother my mind. These are my accusers and they’ve caused me to become distant from You. Rise to my assistance; purify and sanctify my thoughts and let me merit from now on to attach my thoughts to You in truth and simplicity forevermore. Please Lord, have pity on my soul. In Your bountiful compassion, command the removal of the filthy clothes in which I have clothed my soul because of my bad deeds, my sins, iniquities and willful transgression that I’ve committed before You. These filthy clothes, produced by our sins, they are what prevent and delay us from rally returning to You. You know Lord, our G-d, how very great and many are the efforts we have to strive to make, before succeeding to break these obstacles, veils and iron curtains which separate us from holiness. You know how very far away we are from You because of this. Therefore, please arouse Your mercy upon us; take pity and have mercy on our souls, spirits and higher souls. Command Your holy angels to remove the filthy clothes from me and to clothe me in festive attire so as to nullify all the obstacles and iron curtains which separate, veil and make barriers between myself and holiness. It is impossible for now to do anything properly and perfectly in the realm of holiness as You know. All these veils and obstacles, let them be completely nullified so that I merit to really return to You, so that I merit to really turn away from evil from now on and to always do that which is good in Your eyes. Master of the World, let me not to want engage in any business concerning matters of this world other than for the sake of my higher soul. So also may all my prayers be intended for the complete rectification of my higher soul. Even in those prayers where the needs of the body are mentioned, such as the blessing ‘cure us’ and ‘bless for us…this year’ – even there may my intention be only for the cure of my higher soul, its needs and its perfection. May I truly believe and know that when the spiritual side becomes rectified so the material side will automatically become rectified. By this, grant me automatically all the bounty, good and blessings that I need materially. Let me merit to sincerely believe in You, with perfect faith. Let me believe that You are good to all, that’s to say, good for all the things a person needs, whether a cure, or an income and such like. Whatever a person lacks, You are ‘good for all’, fulfilling all a person’s wishes and supplying all that he lacks when he sincerely prays for them with mercy and entreaties. May all our efforts be only in asking from God. Let us only pray before You with mercy and with entreaties for anything we need and not chase after all sorts of other means. Why should we strive for such means, for usually it is very difficult to achieve them, such as the medicines needed to cure and, so also, all the matters related to livelihood etc. Isn’t it better to ask and plead before You for everything, for You are always present and very close to us. You can fulfill all our wishes very simply, for nothing is beyond You. And so, may all our efforts be always to multiply our prayers and entreaties. May we merit to always pray in very great devotion until, by this, the all-embracing peace be drawn into the world, peace in all the worlds, such that all the worlds approach perfection. So also, may peace be drawn into the world between all beings so that they have compassion for one another and that there may be harmony between them. By this, draw loving-kindness and compassion automatically on all beings, as the Sages said, “Anyone who has mercy on others, in Heaven they will have mercy upon him.” Fulfill the verse which says: “The Lord is good to all; His mercy extends over all His works.” May it be Your will, Lord, our G-d, the G-d of our Fathers, that You grant me and to all Your Nation, the House of Israel, the ability engage in studuing Your holy Torah with holiness and purity, by day and by night, until we merit, by studying the holy Torah, to awaken the roots of the souls of Israel that were in the mind of G-d at the beginning of creation and which are rooted in the letters of the holy Torah. Help us Lord that our studying Torah will radiate and awaken the roots of the souls of Israel. May these souls radiate and sparkle one to another until the souls of the wicked and sinners of Israel among them are awakened and sparkle such that the radiance of the roots of their souls reach them; let them all be aroused to complete repentance and truly return to You. By this sparkling of the souls let souls of converts be created and born until those who are distant will convert and recognize the power of Your Kingship and all really serve You. If, however, in my poverty of mind, I am very distant from studying Torah in holiness such as this, distant from awakening the souls of others to repentance, at least, in Your immense compassion, have mercy upon me and merit me by studying the holy Torahto be included within the soul of the true tzaddik of the generation who studies Torah with such holiness, that I become aroused by it. May my soul shine and sparkle in its source among the rest of the holy souls of the Children of Israel, , in the Supernal Thought of the Holy One, may He be blessed.Then let the radiance from the root of my soul reach me, until that I merit to truly return to You in complete repentance. May I merit to have tranquility within myself. Cure me, spiritually and physically, in such a way that I merit to be complete, truly perfect, without any defect or blemish! Master of the World, I know that I am very for from perfection and I am full of very many defects and flaws, from head to toe. There is no soundness in me. “There is no soundness in my flesh because of Your anger; nor is there any health in my bones because of my sin.” All my limbs are full of blemishes that I caused to my soul by my many iniquities and sins. Because of this I am far away from truly serving You. I cannot even perform one act of worship. I do not merit to recite any prayer perfectly, as I should, for ‘anyone who has a blemish in him may not approach’. Since I am far away from prayer, by what can I merit to come close to You? My Father in Heaven, Master of the World, who is full of mercy, I know for sure that despite this You listen to the voice of my cry for help from far away. Therefore, I will raise my voice and call to You, my Father, my Father, my Master, my Master, my King and my God, I will pray to You, call to You, cry to You for help. I will plead to You, prostrate myself, bow and kneel before You. I spread my hands out to You in prayer. Take pity and have mercy upon me. Have compassion upon me. Care for me from Your holy dwelling, with love and very great compassion. Cure the pain of my very miserable soul. Remove all blemishes from me that I introduced to my soul from every limb, for it’s Your way to use broken utensils. You do great things and immeasurable, countless wonders; You revive the dead in great mercy. In Your great strength You raise up and gather the pieces of broken utensils, the broken pieces. In Your loving-kindness, You join and fix them and You renovate them as they had originally been, making them even stronger. Not even one spark is lost or distant from You,, Heaven forbid, for in Your Hand there is strength and might and it is in Your Hand to make everything greater or stronger. Charitable Healer, stir Your compassion upon me and cure me. Remove all blemishes and defects from me, from my body and soul, my spirit and higher spirit. Send a full cure to Your Nation(and in particular to… etc.). You are a trusted healer and merciful one, Healer of broken hearts and Binder of the wound of their sadness. Cure me Lord and I will be cured. Save me and I will be saved, for You are my song of praise and I will merit to be completely whole, without any defect or blemish. Grant me completeness within myself so that I will be able to subdue, break and negate my body, until all the desires of the body and bad characteristics will be nullified from me completely; until my body becomes negated to the soul, and the body will have no other craving or will at all, apart from the desire of the holy soul, which is as You desire. May there be tranquility between my soul and my body, until my body becomes holy and purified, becoming merged within my holy soul. May I merit to perform all the commandments and all the things that have in them Your desire, with great happiness and good will, physically and spiritually. Let both body and soul be truly united as one, with great love and peace, so I truly perform Your Will with great happiness always. Then really merit me to completely perfect holiness; May I be fitting to arrange my prayer before You in ultimate perfection. So my prayer is set before You as incense and perfect sacrifices, offered up before You by a flawless and complete person. ## 15 ### Torah 15 - The Hidden Light a) Someone who wants to taste the hidden light, that's to say, the secrets of the Torah that will be revealed in the future, has to raise the attribute of fear to its source. This one achieves through judgement, which is an aspect of private meditation between yourself and your Maker when you speak out your heart before the Holy One, judging yourself with regard to all your affairs. This removes from upon you all kinds of extraneous fears and, thus, raises holy fear from its fall, for when a person doesn't judge himself, then they judge him in the world above and the result is that fear becomes clothed in all the things of the world; they become messengers from above to make judgement against this person, as decreed, meaning that he can receive his punishment through all the things in the world. We often see that when a person deserves a punishment and suffering, Heaven forbid, it often comes about by a simple cause, by a small thing that one wouldn't have dreamt could cause such a sickness and suffering as this. But this is all because the decree from above has taken the form of this thing in order to carry out the judgement he deserves. When a person doesn't judge himself this happens, but if he judges himself then the decree is nullified in the world above and he doesn't have to afraid of anything; his decree doesn't materialize because he himself cancelled it in the world above. Fear isn't clothed in anything to arouse him for he arouses himself. This raises fear to its source so that it will only be fear of G-d and not fear of any physical thing. By this, a person merits to the hidden light. b) Whoever wants to taste from this hidden light should pray and speak to G-d a great deal in a quiet place and judge himself regularly if his affairs and actions are fitting and whether it is proper to behave like this against the Holy One who bestows him so much good at all times; "he conducts his affairs justly"( Psalms,112,5). A person should judge himself about everything. By this he will remove from himself all sorts of fears and be saved from fallen fears such as fear of government officials or bosses, animals or thieves or anything else in the world. Rather he will fear and be in awe only of G-d. Through this he will raise fear to its source in holy understanding. He will merit to full understanding, to know Who to fear, to fear the awesome G-d alone, fear of His exaltedness. Then he will merit to understand the revealed aspects of the Torah and attain true humility. This leads to the ability to pray with self-nullification such that one nullifies all one's being and material existence while praying; one prays without any self interest. You must nullify your materialistic aspects completely, as if you weren't in the world at all, as it says, " we are killed all day long." ( Psalms,44,23).Then one can ascertain the hidden secrets of the Torah which is the hidden light which will be revealed in the future. All this one merits to through personal prayers. c) The essence of understanding is in the heart for even the gentiles have understanding but it is without the heart. The main understanding is in the heart, as it says, "The L-rd has not given you a heart to understand." (Deut.29,3). And there, in the heart, is the place of fear. That means the essence of understanding is in the heart and not in the mind alone. That's to say, a person has to connect his understanding to within his heart such that awe and fear of G-d's greatness overcomes him and arouses him to truly serve G-d. Then he will merit to a sublime, holy fear, fear of G-d's exaltedness so that he knows Who to fear. All this one achieves through meditation and self- judgement and , by this, one merits to the hidden light. Happy is he who merits to this. d) When we call G-d using human descriptions, He is close to us in all that we call to Him; this is an act of loving kindness on G-d's part. If not for this loving kindness, it wouldn't be proper to call or refer to Him with such terms, descriptions, praises, words or letters. From this itself, a person should arouse himself and pray with great enthusiasm while remembering the greatness of the Creator, each person according to what he feels in his heart. He is far more sublime and exalted than all these descriptions and praises; it is just His love, mercy and great loving kindness that gave us permission to address Him in these terms and to pray before Him in order to cleave to Him. This being so, it is fitting to say these words and descriptions wholeheartedly, with great concentration and self-sacrifice since we merit, through His great love, to call Him with these terms. e) There is an aspect of a Snake that entices a person to pray for his own benefit, like a dog that barks ' give me life and food ' or other benefits. One has to overcome this and try to pray without any ulterior motive, as if one doesn't exist in the world. By this, one merits to the light which is hidden away for tzaddikim. f) The Holy One craves for the prayers of Israel, so when Jews pray before Him they satisfy His desire. Then He receives pleasure from us, like a woman (whose essence is to receive), as it says, "a fire-offering of pleasing odor to the L-rd" (Numbers,28,8). By the pleasing odor He receives, He becomes an aspect of a woman ( 'isha') as alluded to in the word 'burnt offering ( 'ishei'). This is like it says," a woman will surround a man" (Jeremiah,31,21). The Holy One becomes revealed, so to speak, like a garment. That's to say, previously He was hidden, but now, through prayer, He becomes revealed. The Holy One and the Torah are one, so, by prayer, Torah becomes revealed meaning the secrets of the Torah. g) It is only possible to understand the secrets of the Torah when you "make your face black like a raven's" (Eruvin,54) and act ruthlessly to one's young like a raven. This is a form of self-sacrifice, as is written, "We are killed all day long" (Psalms,44), when one prays with total self-nullification of the physical self. h) The secret aspects of the Torah are called 'holy' and "no common man shall eat thereof" (Leviticus,21,10). Only those who are His holy ones and those close to Him will eat. They are an aspect of the holy Temple. ### Prayer for Torah 15 15. Unique Master, Merciful One, G-d of truth, in Your bountiful mercy, guard me and save me from liars and hypocrites. Have compassion on me and save me so that no element of falsehood, not even a false movement, attach itself to me. Let me never say a word of falsehood or hypocracy; Heaven forbid. May it never enter my mind to claim or take honour from, accomplishes that are beyond me. Don’t let me deceive myself or others. Master of the Universe, You know the immense exaltedness of the holiness of the true tzaddikim. Their splendour and greatness is very precious. All their words are true and just. Great and wonderful things have been heard from their mouths. It is their custom sometimes to speak of their own greatness and awesome wonders, with truth and simplicity. All their words are true and exact. By hearing these wonders from their mouths, we can understand something of the greatness of the Holy One Who gave His wisdom to those who fear Him. He gave strength to the tzaddikim to ascertain perceptions of godliness like these that they talk about. But You left us with a possibility of erring. There are liars and deceivers who parallel the tzaddikim but who are like a monkey in comparison to man. They also talk of their wonders, as if noting is beyond them. But it is all falsehood and deceit. So, I have to pray before You that You guard and protect us from these liars and deceivers who dress up in a tallit that is not theirs. Let them have no power or control to harm us at all, whether materially or spiritually. Bestow upon us true knowledge so that we can distinguish the true tzaddikim and their followers. Let us always choose the truth and may our portion be with them forever. Help us to give lots of charity to deserving poor people. By this let us break any cruelty in our character. Come to our help; give us power, through our charity to unite blessings and holiness in all the worlds to the loftiest heights. And, as a result of the charity, merit us to nullify and break the craving for illicit sex from us. Separate us from the liars and deceivers. Let us not stumble into charity to undeserving poor people. Through this, guard us from blemishing this unification of blessing and holiness which prevents the craving for illicit sex from overcoming us. You, Yourself Guard my charity so that the forces of the Other Side will not take my nourishment from it, Heaven forbid. All my intention in giving charity is just to perform the mitzvah of giving charity in order to give you pleasure for You commanded us in Your holy Torah to give charity. Therefore I give all my charity according to the opinion of the true tzaddikim and they will elevate my charity, rectifying it and creating exalted unification in the loftiest heights with the utmost and sublimist holiness. As a result, You will have great pleasure and delight from my charity. Through the power and merit of my charity, enable me to break the craving for illicit sex completely and to merit to truly rectify the brit. Furthermore, in Your bountiful mercy, arrange events for the good so that the wicked, fornicators will give all their charity to liars an deceivers. And may the tzaddikim be saved from receiving any blemished charity, from them. Thus the tzaddikim will not lose their holy power of speech which they receive by way of those who donate charity. I pray to You G-d at this special time that in Your abundant loving-kindness You will answer me. 16. See inside for the answer to the question that they asked where they asked: Why, when a person asks (prays) for an income is he not given it immediately even when it is already prepared for him but, rather, receives it only by intermediate (natural) causes, each person according to his own efforts. ## 16 ### Torah 16 - Rebbe Yochanan a) 'Sometimes ceasing to learn Torah is the way to keep it' (Menachot,99), for someone who wants to engage in learning Torah and serving G-d constantly will find it impossible to maintain this cleaving to the Holy One and His Torah without a break. One has to cease occasionally. Now and again one has to let the mind go out from the realm of Torah in order to engage in mundane things so as to prevent the powers of confusion from the Other Side becoming too strong and nullifying one's wisdom completely. Consequently one has to rest sometimes. However, when Meshiach comes then one won't need to cease from one's intense attachment to G-d. b) The tzaddik who learns intensely sublime wisdom has eyes that radiate like the sun. This is an aspect of "our eyes shine like the sun and like the moon." Sometimes they shine like the sun when we concentrate on holy wisdom, and at other times they shine like the moon when we stop ourselves from letting the mind wander in holy wisdom, for the moon doesn't shine other than when the sun disappears. In the future, through the two Meshiachs (Yoseph and David), we will be redeemed from all the nations, who stem from Esau and Ishmael, the two clouds which cover the eyes (Zohar,3,252). Then one won't need to cease from cleaving to G-d and the verse will be fulfilled which says, "The light of the moon will be as the light of the sun" (Isaiah,30). ### Prayer for Torah 16 16. “The eyes of all look to You with hope and You give them their food in its proper time. You open Your hand and satisfy every living thing with its desire”. Master of the Universe, grant me an honourable living before I need it, in such away that I will only do good in Your eyes and be You desire You know how much making a living confuses me and weakens my mind from becoming stronger in Your service. Master of the Universe, I know that I am far away an honourable income for I have blemished a lot and damaged my own income. But, I have come before You, merciful One, like a beggar at the door who goes from door to door. I open my hands and ask for an undeserved gift, a gracious present from You alone, in Your immense loving-kindness. Arrange my income from Heaven and give me all my needs and needs of my household prior to our need, for our eyes look with hope only to you, Master of the World, First of all First Causes, arrange form me an income in such a way that comes easily without great efforts or confusions. Let our income be drawn down upon us with great speed and for the good. Let it be abundant. Merit us to clarify our income with great holiness. May we eat and drink with great holiness. May we eat and drink with holiness and great purity such that our food and drink are clarified with holiness, like the Katoret, creating holy words of blessings and thanksgiving. You can arrange causes for the good so that our income comes with great speed, with no delay. Then bring us Meshiach, speedily in our lifetime. May he rule over us and over all the Jewish People and over the entire world. Amen. G-d may it be. ## 17 ### Torah 17 a) Through the joy of Shabbat a Jew merits to liberty and then the mind is perfected and he is not confused. By this he merits to fear of G-d with understanding, without any foolishness. And he raises all the fallen (material) fears so that he will have no fear of any material thing- not from any minister or lord etc. rather he will only fear G-d alone. b) A Jew has to be very careful indeed to be happy and of good heart on Shabbat. For the virtue and holiness of Shabbat is very great and very precious, as clarified in all the holy books, especially in the book 'Reishit Chochma' in the beginning of the chapter 'The Gateway of Holiness'. It is fitting to learn this chapter and take to heart well all the things said there about the tremendous virtue of the holiness of Shabbat in order that one's heart will be enthused to receive Shabbat with tremendously great joy, for the essence of the commandment of honouring the holy Shabbat is the joy, meaning to be very happy on the holy Shabbat without showing, Heaven forbid, any sadness or worry at all on Shabbat. A Jew has to maximize the delights of Shabbat with all kinds of delight, whether eating, drinking or clothing, as much as he can, for the eating on Shabbat is entirely holy, entirely spiritual, complete Godliness; it rises to another place altogether from the weekday eating. Happy is he who strives to be happy on Shabbat, for the main way to honour Shabbat is with joy, as explained above. c) It is the way of G-d to look at all the good things that we do even though they also contain bad elements; He doesn't look at this . Even more so, a Jew mustn't look at his fellow negatively by finding in him specifically things that are not good or looking for and finding in his fellow blemishes in his service of G-d. On the contrary, he must look only for the good. ### Prayer for Torah 17 17. May it be Your will O Lord, our G-d and G-d of our fathers that You help us and in Your loving-kindness grant us merit to welcome Shabbat with great happiness and joy, with gladness, song gaiety and rejoicing. Protect me and save me so that not sadness or melancholy, sorrow or sighing or worry come to my mind on the holy Shabbat. Rather may I merit to be happy with all my might on Shabbat, with all my heart, with all my soul and with all my possessions, with a happiness that has no end, just as it is fitting to rejoice on such a holy and awesome day as Shabbat. May we arouse might, gladness and phenomenally great happiness beyond measure in the worlds, as is brought in the holy Zohar and other holy books describing the intense happiness and joy on Shabbat. Master of the World what shall I say, what shall I speak? However much I start to pray and plead for it, I certainly know how far I am from this happiness. According to the greatness of the virtue of this commandment and holy attribute and according to its usefulness for all the things associated with holiness, so, to the same degree, is the immensity of my distance from it, to the ultimate degree. I am especially far from the happiness of Shabbat, upon which nearly everything is dependent, for it is the primary means of coming closer to You. However, You knot the tremendous number of obstacles to this and how very greatly they overcome and challenge me each time, preventing me, Heaven forbid, from the happiness of Shabbat. Father in Heaven, have pity upon me, my Father, merciful Father. Always gladden me in Your salvation. Help me and save me and let me merit to rejoice a lot, with great happiness, every single Shabbat. Let it be a hard and fast law. May I merit to be happy all the day, from the moment it enters until the time it goes out, such that I draw the happiness f Shabbat to the six work-days, and until I always rejoice during the weekdays with true happiness. May my eyes really see Your Salvation such that my heart rejoices and my soul is glad. May I merit, by the happiness of Shabbat, to raise the attribute of fear to holy perception so that I have perfect fear of You with perfect perception, without any folly whatsoever. Master of the World, Frightening and Awesome One, help me, save me and grant me very speedily the merit to fear of Your greatness, to holy fear with perception, drawn from the happiness of Shabbat. You, who are full of mercy, Redeemer, Saviour, Freer and Rescuer, redeem me and save me; bring me out of servitude to freedom, from slavery to redemption. Let me merit to happiness of Shabbat and in Your bountiful mercy and great loving-kindness, let me merit to welcome Shabbat in great happiness and in great wealth and honour and a minimum of iniquities. Help me to honour Shabbat with all my might; with all sorts of happiness and joy. May I merit to have many delights of Shabbat through all sorts of pleasures, whether it is by having many types of food and delicacies and drinks or whether by fine clothes, that is, by trying to merit to beautiful clothes in order to honour Shabbat. The main thing is that You have mercy upon me, that You help me and save me to merit to be happy with all my heart on Shabbat, with a truly great happiness and joy such that I merit by the happiness to go from servitude to freedom, from slavery to redemption and such that, by the happiness and freedom of Shabbat, I merit to perfect and make greater my perception, to the ultimate degree of greatness and perfection as is truly Your good desire. By this, may I merit to perfect fear, that my fear by with perception, without any foolishness at all. Help me and save me so that by holy perception I can life up and raise to You alone, O Holy One, all the fallen fears, so that I have no ‘fallen’ fear and will not be afraid or have fear of any creature in the world, nor minister or lord, nor any person or evil animal or robbers, nor anything in the world; rather, from You alone I will truly fear and be afraid. May fear of You be on my face so that I do not sin. Master of the World, let me merit to truly perfect fear, to fear of Your awesome and glorious Name; the Lord, our G-d my a fear Him alone and trust Him. Let me not be afraid of anything in the world. Fulfill in me the verse which states: “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” It says, “The Lord is mine; I will not fear: what can man do to me?” And it says: “In G-d I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do to me.” And it says: “Behold, G-d is my salvation: I will trust and will not be afraid, for the Lord G-d is my victory and song, and this has been my salvation. Therefore draw water joyously from the wellsprings of salvation.” Master of the World, You, who are full of compassion and who does good to all, let me merit to really taste the flavour of the delight of Shabbat. Let me merit to the happiness and freedom of the holy Shabbat, to nullify all the servitude of the weekdays and to have complete calmness of mind, without any confusion of the mind at all. May no thought of any business, work or trading, nor any worry or bother at all enter my mind on Shabbat. Rather, in my eyes, may it be as if all my work is completed. May I really merit to the tranquility, delight and happiness of Shabbat; the calmness of love and generosity, the calmness of truth and belief, the calmness of peace and tranquility, quiet and security, the complete calmness that You desire on this day. “Gladden the soul of Your servant; for unto You, O Lord, I lift up my soul.” In your bountiful mercy always gladden me, especially every Shabbat and on the Festivals. There is no one who can gladden my soul other than You alone; I am gladdened only by Your tremendous loving-kindness and hidden compassion and by the merit and strength of Your real tzaddikim, who at all times, are the aspect of Shabbat. “Sanctify us in Your commandments and grant our portion in life to be in Your Torah’ satisfy us from Your bounty and gladden our souls in Your salvation; purify our hearts in order to serve You sincerely. In Your love and favour, O G-d, our G-d, let Your holy Shabbat remain our inheritance and may all Israel, who sanctify Your Name, rest thereon.” “You will show me the right path of life: in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” May it be Your will that the words of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart be pleasing before Your countenance, O G-d, my Rock and my Redeemer. Master of the Universe, it is Your way to be patient with the wicked and the good. You always incline towards loving-kindness. You desire only to look at the good that You find within us. I rely upon Your glancing at and taking notice of the very small, good points within me. As a result, subdue and nullify the great evil within me. Give the little good within me the strength to overcome the evil so that I merit to really return in complete repentance before You. Do this out of Your great love for us. Do not hold back good from me from now on. Have mercy over me and all Jews. Grant me perfect, holy knowledge such that I can cleave to Your holy ways. Let me never look at the bad in any Jew in the world. I do not want to notice any bad deeds or attributes in other Jews. Merit me to judge every individual Jew to the side of merit. In Your bountiful mercy, open my eyes and mind. Grant me holy knowledge in such a way that I can search for and find merit and good in every Jew, even the worst of the worst of them. Have compassion and mercy upon me and upon all Jews for Your Name’s sake, for the sake of the true tzaddikim and for the sake of Your holy Torah. Do it for Your sake, not for ours; do it for Your sake and redeem us so we can return in complete repentance before You. Have mercy on my soul, for years have already passed by. It is near thee nd of the day so do not desert me, my G-d and Redeemer. Lord come quickly to my aid and save me. 18. It is a great danger to be famous and to lead the public. This goes without saying if he is not fitting at all and wears a tallit which is not his; but even real servants of G-d, among the greatest rabbis of the generations, they face awesome dangers in leading the public, for in leading the public and in their Torah innovations they can actually break the prohibitions against stealing, fornicating and killing, on every occasion, at every moment, Heaven forbid. ## 18 ### Torah 18 - Rebbe Yochanan - Treasure Chest a) Everything has a purpose and this purpose has another purpose which is much higher. And the main and ultimate purpose is the delight of the World to Come. That is the final purpose of all creation and of all created things. However, this ultimate purpose can only be ascertained and grasped in the mind by the tzaddikim. Nevertheless, each Jew, according to the source he has in the soul of the tzaddik, receives from him this perception of the ultimate purpose and this, in the degree to which he breaks his anger with mercy. By this, he can merit to reach and ascertain this purpose which exists in all things in the world. This is the main thing. b)A person has to break his anger with mercy. That's to say, when he is aroused to anger he should not act on his anger with ruthlessness, rather, quite the contrary, he should strengthen his sense of mercy a great deal to overcome this desire to be angry and thus moderate (sweeten) the anger with compassion. By this a crown is made for the humble who run away from honour and positions of leadership. (Then they eventually receive the honour and leadership out of necessity. Then they are forced to receive the honour and leadership against their will.) c) To the degree that faith is minimized, the Face of G-d is hidden and His anger increases, Heaven forbid. Then the tzaddik runs away from leadership and honour and the world lacks true leaders. However, by breaking the anger with mercy one sweetens the anger. As a result the true tzaddikim receive honour and leadership. Then the world merits to true leaders who have mercy on the world and lead them properly, bringing each individual to ascertain the ultimate purpose. d) Sometimes there is a lack in the world that faith lacks perfection. Because of this G-d's anger and the hiding of His Face is not recognized significantly. But when this descends into the physical world and comes to tzaddikim, then they hide their faces from the world and do not want to take leadership and be leaders. Since this anger is minimal and only for a fraction of a moment, the tzaddikim don't explain their hiding as a result of this anger but rather, as a result of their own worthlessness, saying that they are not worthy of leading the world. The truth is that they do not know or sense the anger of G-d which is so very small. But when G-d's rage and anger are sweetened through mercy, the anger within the tzaddikim is also sweetened with mercy. Then, the feeling of compassion overcomes them and they have mercy over the world and agree to take leadership; thus, the world merits to a true leader who will lead them with compassion. e) Through nullifying the anger with mercy, one merits to faith. In turn, this leads to a sweetening of harsh decrees. The opposite is also true. By perfect faith we merit to compassion and to break the Heavenly anger. f) A person must not take upon himself any public position or leadership unless he has absolutely perfect faith, for the essence of leadership is compassion which is itself primarily dependent on the removal of idol worship, even a minute element of it. For example, even if a person believes generally in G-d but he says "a deer stopped me on the way" and he believes in this or something similar as a bad omen, this is called 'the path of the non-believers'. This is not perfect faith and therefore he also lacks compassion, so he must not accept any position of leadership. Even though he thinks he has compassion on the world and therefore he wants to be a leader, the truth is that he really pursues his own honour; he explains his pursuit as being compassion. By such leadership the world can come to idol worship and atheism, Heaven forbid. But, from Heaven, G-d has mercy and does not let leadership stay in this person's hands. g) By the love of Torah scholars, the Kingship and leadership are established firmly. When a king or leader feels hate towards the Torah scholars, know that this is a sign from Heaven that he will be removed from power, for nothing has permanence without wisdom. h) The perfection of the letters of the alphabet and the perfection of the power of speech is through faith. ### Prayer for Torah 18 18. In Your bountiful mercy, please merit me to really acquire the true paths of humility, as You desire. But I am ignorant, I know no way to find the true paths of humility. You have already revealed to us that, You do not wish us to be content with ‘small brains’, with minimum perception. We have to force ourselves with all our strength in all types of service, especially during prayer, to escape from these ‘small brains’ and reach expanded consciousness. On the other hand, You have revealed to us, how despicable and hateful pride is. It is abhorred by G-d, as it says “Every haughty heart is an abomination of G-d” (Proverbs 15,5). It is considered as idol worship. So, now please teach and guide me how someone as ignorant as myself can find the true path of how to behave in such a way that I can pray with all my heart, in joy and with expanded consciousness. Let me raise my heart in the ways of G-d. Nevertheless, may I have no element of pride in my heart or any ulterior motives in mind. Rather, merit me to true humility, as You desire. Grant me the humility of Moshe who was humbler than any other person on earth. Master of the Universe, You know all the innumerous confusions I have about this, especially when praying, for I do not know any clear path to acquire servility and humility while not falling into false humility, which is called flattery. Help me never to let my mind fall but, rather, let me be strong, with holy boldness, in anything I need to strengthen myself in. May I always strengthen myself with joy and happiness. Help me to know how to relate to other people. I know I have to be strong and bold as a leopard against all those who oppose, obstruct, confuse or weaken my resolve to follow the paths of the true tzaddikim, especially in this generation, in the heels of Meshiach. In this, a person must not be humble, servile or lowly against them. On the contrary, one has to be as bold as a leopard against them so that they cannot obstruct me or cause my resolve to falter. You know how much mercy and salvation I need in order to merit to all this for I am really far away, in the extreme from true humility. Humility is greater that all else. Because of my immense distance from You, even to pray for this is almost impossible for me. However, nothing is beyond You. You can merit me also to true humility in such a way that I will see myself as lower than everybody. Let me recognize my own lowliness and yet be firm and strong in my resolve against those who confuse, weaken or prevent me from serving You. Please merit me to draw upon myself the holiness of the humility of Moshe our teacher. Protect me and save me from false servility and humility which is not what You desire. Father in Heaven, answer my prayers for You alone are my hopes. To You alone, I call. To Your salvation alone I wait expectantly. I am poor and destitute, G-d quickly come to my aid. You are my aid and shelter. G-d, please don’t delay. Amen and Amen. 19. The main form of serving G-d is only through complete purity and simplicity, without any wisdoms or philosophical inquiries. This is the essence of the real ultimate purpose (of life). And the truth is, it is a severe prohibition to be a philosopher, Heaven forbid, and to study philosophical books. Only the very great tzaddik can pursue this, to learn the seven wisdoms (see Lekutei Moharan,Pt.1, Torah 64). For there is a stumbling block in each and every wisdom which is an aspect of Amalek for Amalek was a philosopher and inquirer and he came to deny all faith. And by this stumbling block one can come to fall, Heaven forbid. But the very great tzaddik, who is an aspect of Moshe, our teacher, when he enters these seven wisdoms he holds himself and remains in his place by way of faith, in the aspect of "The tzaddik lives by his faith"(Chabakuk,2:4). For "A tzaddik falls seven times and yet rises up again"(Proverbs, 24:16). That's to say, the great tzaddik goes through these seven wisdoms and even though people can slip and fall in them because of the stumbling block, an aspect of Amalek, nevertheless "he rises" by way of faith, as mentioned. This is "A tzaddik falls seven times and yet rises up again" – "Sheva y'pol tzaddik v'kam- the final letters spell A-m(a)-l(e)-k who is the stumbling block of the seven wisdoms through which people fall, Heaven forbid. The tzaddik stands and rises and strengthens himself through faith. But for simple people it is a great prohibition for them to delve into books of their philosophy. And even Jewish books that talk about philosophical ideas mustn't not be looked into at all; they cause a lot of damage to our holy faith which is the foundation of everything. Thank the Lord that now there are now many very holy books full of ethical teachings regarding fear of G-d, without any philosophy at all. They are not based on the understanding of the Greek philosophers, may their names be wiped out. Rather, the foundations of these holy books are in the loftiest of holy places, base on the words of our Sages in the Gemorra and Midrashim and especially based on the words of Rebbi Shimon bar Yochai and his students. Study them carefully, again and again. Learn them specifically and not those books which have mixed into them the understanding of the gentiles who deny all faith and who are an aspect of Amalek. Be hasty to save your soul from them and their kind; then you will retain your soul for the treasury of eternal life, for ever and ever, for all eternity. ## 19 ### Torah 19 - A Prayer Of Habakuk a) The craving for sexual pleasure is the embodiment of all the evils stemming from the seventy nations, for each nation has a special evil associated to it. In other words, each has a certain bad attribute which they are deeply involved in and from which they draw strength. But the desire for sex is the overall evil for within it lies each evil of each nation, which includes all the physical cravings. All of these cravings burn together in a person and become a bonfire which is the fire that burns in a person to crave sex. However, the Holy One separated us from the nations and raised us above all the languages so we have to separate ourselves from all their evil, from all their cravings, which are unique to them and do not belong to us at all, especially the craving for sex which is the all inclusive evil of all the nations. This is the main difference between us and the other nations that we separate ourselves from the desire for sex. This is the main holiness of the People of Israel. A Jew has the strength to remove his mind from this craving and thus to break it. This is the essence of our holiness. b) The main essence of holiness is holiness of the brit. To this we merit by the holiness of the tongue and speech which we sanctify with holy words. That is why our language is called the Holy Language, for wherever you find an element of sexual blemishes, there you find holiness. To reach perfection of the holy language is by speaking many words of holiness, words of Torah and prayer and conversations with G-d. (Even though one may talk to G-d in English, this is also included in holy language for it is preferable to speak to G-d in one's own language. The main thing is to guard one's tongue and sanctify it with holy words.) To take care and guard one's tongue is by not saying bad, blemished things such as loshon hara, lies, idle talk etc. for they blemish the holy language. This is the main way to subdue and break all the physical desires, especially the craving for sex which is the main thing which needs to be broken. c) Guarding the brit (sexual purity) is an aspect of a spirit of holiness, holy language, by which we nullify the spirit of folly that causes blemishes to the brit, Heaven forbid. d) The main way of making and rectifying holy language depends on "fear of G-d which is His Treasury" (Isaiah, 37). e) Guarding the brit and the perfection of the holy language are inter-dependent, for one cannot exist without the other. To the degree that one speaks many holy words, so one merits to guard the brit and vice versa. The opposite also. Someone who blemishes the brit loses his holy language whereas one who has holy language also guards the brit. f) All forms of disgrace, shame, and insults come to a person because of his blemishing of the brit. So also, the opposite. By guarding the brit one merits to honour. . g) The craving for sex is the general evil and is an aspect of the Primeval Serpent who tempted Eve impregnated her with poison which is the stormy spirit, the spirit of folly, a foolish woman. It tempts the spirit of holiness, which is the holy language, that represents the guarding of the brit, and instills poison. This is what it says, "Sin crouches at the door" (Genesis, 4). The door alludes to the opening of the mouth with holy language. The sin refers to the Serpent who crouches in order to draw strength from it by blemishing the holy brit (through sexual blemishes). The main power of the evil urge to make a person sin is by this craving. h) Nowadays, by our many iniquities, the wisdom of oratory in holy language has fallen greatly such that most orators are ignorant people who are immersed in the craving for sex, the all-inclusive evil, the opposite of holy language. They are as it says, "Your orators have transgressed against me" (Isaiah, 43, 27) .By the lucidity of their oratory they attract the heart of some young Jews until they lead them into complete atheism. This is what it says, "The lips of a strange woman drip honey and her mouth is smoother than oil." (Proverbs, 5, 3). All this stems from the Serpent that tempted Eve (who represents the power of speech of holy language) and poisoned her, Heaven forbid. i) The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is the language of Targum ( Aramaic ) which is the intermediary between the holy language, the wise woman who is completely good, and the language of the seventy nations which is all evil, for all their languages are now completely evil. When they want to draw power from the holy language, they cannot do it other than through Targum. The main way of building and perfecting the holy language is only by pushing down the evil in Targum while elevating the good in it to the level of holy language. By this we perfect the holy language and all the seventy languages fall (as the Sages said ) " one language falls on another". This is what it says, " And the L-rd G-d caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man" (Genesis,2, 21 ). Sleep ( "tardema" ) has the numerical value of Targum,as the Ariz'l explains. "Fall" (v'yapel") alludes to the initial letters of the verse " pe l'hem v'lo y'deberu"( " they have a mouth yet do not speak") because sleep is an aspect of the language of Targum which is the prime means by which we build the holy language, represented by Eve. We do this by raising the good in Targum and pushing down its bad. As a result, all the seventy languages fall, as it says," they have a mouth yet do not speak". j) The main form of dream is during sleep. The dreams are according to what you eat, for in every thing there are letters with which this thing was created. When you sleep the vapours from what you ate rise to the brain and the letters in all the foods combine to create a dream. Someone who has perfect holy language knows the letters contained in each thing so he can solve dreams,like Joseph,the tzaddik. He merited to perfect holy language which comes primarily through sleep which is Targum. He merited to clarify the good from the evil in it so he knew to find the good and the truth in the dream, in the Targum. k) This is an aspect of a nocturnal emission, Heaven forbid, when the spirit of folly ,the seventy languages, rises through Targum and by sleep,to draw strength from the holy language,from the spirit of holiness,from the holy brit. Someone who has perfect holy language cools down his heat (evil urge) by holy language, but someone who lacks this perfection the stormy spirit of the seventy languages cools him down( spiritually) by causing him a nocturnal emission during sleep, Heaven forbid, as it says " he met you on the way" ( Deuteronomy,25, 18 ) for "met" has the same meaning as' coldness' in Hebrew. " On the way" alludes to what it says " the way of an adulterous woman" ( Proverbs,30, 20 ) which is when the stormy spirit passes through Targum, the husk of Nogah, and draws strength from the holy "chashmal", holy language. When one perfects holy language by clarifying Targum and sleep,one is saved from nocturnal emissions during sleep. Therefore we must cool down our heat (urges) by holy words which reflect perfection of the holy language. Through this a person is saved from emissions, Heaven forbid, and one won't be cooled down by the stormy spirit, as mentioned above. l) Washing in hot water on the eve of Shabbat is an aspect of rectifying the brit. So also is reading the weekly Torah portion twice with Targum once. m) Through raising the good in Targum and perfecting the holy language with which the world was created, one breaks and nullifies the craving for sex. As a result, one strengthens and arouses the power of the letters of holy language which is in each thing; the letters are the power of G-d instilled in all the Act of Creation. n) Someone who merits to this, merits to eat and drink and draw pleasure as is proper. For the essence of what one eats, drinks and derives pleasure from has to be from the sparkling of the letters in each thing, as it says, " When Boaz had eaten and drunk, his heart was glad."( Ruth,3,7). His eating and drinking was from the radiance of the letters Elohim, mentioned 32 times during the description of the Act of Creation. These letters exist in each thing. This is reflected in the grace after meals (as explained in the Zohar,Vol. 2, pg. 218B )for the food is blessed by perfection of holy language, by arousing and radiating the letters that exist in each thing. o) Just by wisdom alone a person can understand and know the letters that exist in each thing. However, to feel and take pleasure only from the combinations of letters, as it says, "Boaz had eaten and drunk, his heart was glad", this is impossible to achieve other than by meriting to perfect holy language; that's to say, when he merits to break the craving for sex completely, thus perfecting the holy language, such that he brings about a new sparkling in the letters of each thing. By this, he merits … that his meal, the food and drink and all the pleasures will be from the sign of the letters marked in each thing. p) When a person reaches this level, his heart radiates, for the heart (lev) is so called because it is nourished by the very best of the thirty-two ( numerically 'lev' in Hebrew) references to Elohim in the Act of Creation. By the light of these thirty-two references to Elohim shining in his heart, his face shines with this light and becomes purified to such a degree that he can arouse others to repentance just by them looking at his face; they see themselves in his face like in a mirror and see how they are deep in darkness. Then, even without reproach or ethics, his fellow Jew will be aroused to repentance just by staring at his radiant face. q) Most people don't understand the need to travel to the tzaddik to hear his words for one can study ethics from a book. However, there is a great difference, for someone who hears from the tzaddik himself receives words of the holy language in perfection, that's to say, with fear of G-d .Through this he merits to nullify and subdue the general evil, which is the craving for sex, so that he merits to rectify the brit which is the all-inclusive rectification upon which everything depends. This rectifies all one's physical cravings and bad attributes. However, this is true only when one hears directly from the tzaddik himself. But someone who hears through someone else who heard the tzaddik and certainly when it is even more indirect, is very far from this perfection for it descends each time from one level to another. There is even more of a difference between hearing the tzaddik and studying from a book. A book is only for memory and memory comes from the power of imagination. Therefore, the book is a completely different matter altogether. It hasn't the virtue of being heard from the holy mouth of the tzaddik himself. r) When tzaddikim want to hear some word from the Holy One, they first of all make the word and build it by their good deeds. Afterwards they merit to hear things from G-d. This is what it says, "Who make His word, hearing the voice of His word." (Psalms, 103, 20).First they make the word, then afterwards, hear it. In this word, the Holy One speaks to them. When the tzaddik hears a word of Torah from the mouth of the Holy One, the word has perfection because perfection of speech depends on fear of G-d and fear depends on the ears. This is what it says, " I heard Your report and I was afraid." ( Habbakuk, 32). When one hears from the mouth of the tzaddik himself who hears from Your mouth, this is "Your report", from You; then I had fear. For the essence of fear is dependent on the ears; then the holy language acquires perfection. s) The Holy One created all the world for the sake of Man who has free choice. Man, specifically, has to rectify all things by separating the good in the Tree of Knowledge. By this he perfects and rectifies all things in the world. Therefore, he has to rectify the mila (be circumcised and keep pure) specifically in This World. This is an aspect of perfecting the holy language by clarifying the good within Targum, for when holy language comes from Above it still lacks this clarification and so lacks perfection which is achieved only through Targum. t) To raise the good from Targum comes about by rectifying all one's unintentional sins, for this leads to perfect holy language. This is because unintentional sin stems from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, when one's action is bad but one's intention is good. ### Prayer for Torah 19 19. He who supports the simple pure hearted, please save us. Merit us to serve You with truth and complete purity and simplicity with no cleverness at all. Guard and save us, through Your abundant compassion, from investigation secular wisdoms. Have mercy on me and all the Jewish People and grant us true simplicity. You know the paths of simplicity with absolute truth. Master of the Universe, I know and believe with complete faith that, even in the place where I am now, there is a pathway and good advice that can guide me in the paths of purity and simplicity in such a way that I can escape from what I have to escape from and return to You with all my heart. However, my sins have confused my mind and stupefied my heart. I know of no way to achieve simplicity other than by constantly shouting out to You. Just merit me to sanctify my thoughts all the time focusing it always on the point of truth and simplicity, without any cleverness at all. Merciful One, my eyes turn in dependence to You. Perform great loving-kindness for me even though I do not deserve it and help me to really repent and return to You. Have compassion on us and upon our children, together with all Jewish children; guard us and save us from all kinds of philosophy and secular wisdom. Let us not peruse or even glance at them at all. Merit us in the virtue of Moshe and all the true tzaddikim, who fought Amalek, to be saved from the husk of Amalek, who is a philosopher and it is epitomized by the secular wisdoms. May the hearts of the true, living tzaddikim be aroused, together with those of the tzaddikim who have passed away, on our behalf, to subdue, break and uproot the husk of Amalek and his cohorts. Prevent them from having any power to instill their evil ways and opinions into the hearts of the Jewish People, Heaven forbid. Please merit us, in You bountiful mercy, to really serve You by performing all the mitzvoth and studying Torah with purity and simplicity. By this, enable us to ascertain the true, eternal purpose. May our portion be together with the true tzaddikim. Help us and redeem us with Your immense compassion. Merit us to pray before You with great concentration, always, with all my heart and soul until our prayers become merged in Your Oneness. Master of the World, I am so far away from all this that I do not know how to pray for it. However, I believe with complete faith, by belief in purity and simplicity, that we can merit to all this within own lifetime. Merciful One, listen to the cries of my voice. My King and G-d, I pray to You. Save me. May the worlds of my mouth and the musings of my heart find favour before You, G-d, my Rock and Redeemer. 20. When a person enters into the service of G-d he has to wait and linger until he becomes known to the public. But by the controversy that exists in the world, a person may become well known prematurely. As a result this causes damage and loss to this person who is made famous before his time. Or damage is also caused to the pathway in the service of G-d that he wanted to reveal to the public. And then this causes death to the people involved in the controversy. Sometimes when the blemish is not so severe so then this causes poverty. This secret is clarified in the Torah in the verse: "When people struggle together" etc. See inside. ## 20 ### Torah 20 - Nine Rectifications a) All the Torah commentators receive (inspiration) from the holy soul whose every word is like 'coals of fire', as it says, "Such are my words, like fire" (Yeremiah,27). This soul is afflicted with suffering – "Eat bread with salt, drink water in measure, like the way of Torah." (Perkei Avot,Ch.6).When this soul falls from the level of "words of fire", its words become cold and then it passes away. As a result, the Torah clarifications drawn from this soul also pass away and the commentators cannot ascertain any clarification of the Torah and this leads to controversy against the tzaddikim. This is the main reason for controversy, when the world lacks a clarification which is an answer to questions and arguments. b) Someone who wants to draw down clarifications of the Torah, first of all has to draw upon himself enthused words like charcoals of fire. The power of speech is drawn from the Sublime Heart, the Rock of my Heart (Psalms,73). He has to pour out conversations and prayers before the Holy One until through his prayer, G-d's mercy upon him is aroused and the Sublime Heart is opened. For the main essence of mercy is in the heart from where enthused words are bestowed. Through this, the power of speech attracts Torah clarifications also from there. Therefore each Torah commentator first of all has to pray to the Holy One in order to arouse this Sublime Heart, to bestow upon him enthused words, like coals of fire. Afterwards he can start to clarify the Torah. c) When the true tzaddik lectures in public, before his Torah clarification, he connects himself to their souls and pours out prayer before G-d. Then his prayer is considered to be that of the public and is therefore certainly accepted, as it says, "G-d is mighty and despises not the many" (Job,36,5). By prayer additional holiness is added to the World Above and the Sublime Heart is aroused. This leads to his acquiring Torah explanations which he then gives over to the public. It means that each person present during his lecture has a part in the Torah which he reveals to them. However many more people are present there, the prayer of the Torah scholar (tzaddik), who connects himself to them, stems from many more souls. Then it adds much more holiness Above and arouses the Sublime Heart to a greater degree; in turn, this leads to a greater revelation of the Torah, everything according to the more numerous the people are. And this is the difference between learning from a book and learning directly from the Torah scholar, for in the latter case the learner certainly connects his soul to that of the tzaddik at the time he prays and therefore has a part in the tzaddik's Torah clarification. So also, all those people who are present during the Torah discourse have the evil within them subdued by the good of the tzaddik. According to the degree of their submission (to the tzaddik), so the enemies and husks around the Sublime Heart are also subdued. By this, the tzaddik removes them from under the control of the Side of Evil and returns them to the realm of holiness. d) When he prays before the Torah lecture he has to pray with supplications and plead from the Holy One, asking for an undeserved gift; he shouldn't ask for it in his own merit (as if he deserves it). Even though the staff of his strength (the special merit of his service of G-d) has been aroused, it is not worth using it to take pride in it, Heaven forbid; he should use his power only to subdue the evil in the crowd, for there are good and bad people in the public and he has to subdue the evil in the bad ones among them. Rather he should stand before G-d like a pauper and recite supplications without resting upon any self-merit. e) Because of this, a person should not insist on anything, but rather ask with supplications (out of humility); if the Holy One gives, good, but if not, one shouldn't insist that the Holy One do specifically what you want. f) In the merit of the Torah that they draw down, they merit to the Land of Israel. So also, those who are with the tzaddik when he draws down Torah innovations and teaches in public, have a portion in his Torah. Through this he can also merit to come to the Land of Israel, as it says, "He will give them the lands of the nations…"(Psalms,105). g) The Land of Israel is one of the three things that one acquires through suffering (B'rachot,5); it is impossible to come to the Land of Israel other than by suffering. The main suffering is in the form of obstacles from the evil; ones who speak badly of the Land. By drawing down Torah innovations, as explained, a person merits to subdue all the obstacles and suffering; to the degree that the Torah he draws down is perfect, so the rectification is greater. Similarly, he merits to subdue the obstacles, the sinners, and thus reach the Land of Israel. h) Whoever really wants to be a Jewish person, that's to say, to go from one level to another, higher one, it is impossible other than by the holiness of the Land of Israel, for all the spiritual ascents that a person has to ascend to holiness are only through the Land of Israel. i) In order to go to the Land of Israel, first one has to subdue the evil ones who speak evil about the Land. One has to punish them with sword and arrow. The power to do this one has to acquire from Edom who is appointed to administer all punishments and the sword, as it says, "You will live off your sword" (Gen.23). By the letters of the Torah that are innovated, spiritual forces are created who are the real angels who receive their strength from Edom. And these powers are according to the Torah innovation and its radiance, which increase according to the holiness added Above. The number of angels created depends on the quality of the Torah innovated. The opposite is also true. When the holiness is very little, the angels created are also lacking in strength so they haven't the power to receive strength from Edom; they only have strength to subdue the evil ones and cause them fear in their hearts. j) Sometimes even to subdue them they haven't the strength; all they can do is to arouse the strength of other nations against them, like now, in exile, when we haven't the power to punish the evil doers by ourselves. Occasionally the Holy One creates obstacles, suffering and controversy from evil ones against kosher Jews, people of truth, and the latter haven't the strength to stand up against them other than by using the laws of the nations. Also, according to the Torah, this is necessary. Then it is a great mitzva to make every effort, with all your energy and money, to cause their downfall by going according to their courts of justice, in order that holy judgement will rise out of the husks of the Other Side and the forces of justice will then be strengthened, as it says, "And justice goes out perverted" (Habbakuk,1,4), that's to say it will go out of its crookedness and be straightened. k) Occasionally even this strength is lacking and we can only silence the evil- doers, who speak out against the Land, so that they won't speak evilly before us and in the presence of the public. Even this power is missing sometimes when the quality of holiness is very minute. l) Because of the blemishing of the brit, the sword comes, as it says, "… a revenging sword, revenging the brit" (Levit.26). m) Shouting out loud is a rectification of the brit and one merits to a revelation of Knowledge, for previously, when the brit was blemished, so was the Knowledge. n) This is why we recite the Haggadah of Pesach out loud. The Redemption from Egypt was by the voice, as it says, "He heard our voices" (Numbers,20). That is why it is called Haggadah (literally meaning 'to speak out'), to teach that this is the rectification of the brit, as is written, "He declared to you His covenant" (Deut.4,13). And the main mitzva of Pesach night is in drinking wine, to teach that this is the rectification of knowledge, as the Gemorra says, "Wine …makes wise" (Sanhedrin,70) for the exile of Egypt was because of the blemish of the brit, as brought down in holy books, and this is the blemish of knowledge. The wine of the four cups of Pesach night is also a rectification of knowledge, which is the rectification of the brit. o) The Holy One is exacting in justice with the tzadddikim, like a thread of hair (Yevamot,151). When you blemish, even to a hair's breadth, there is no strength in their hands to draw down Torah, as explained previously. p) When one comes to the level of the Land of Israel one is called a strong hero; before reaching this level it says, "Don't let him boast when he disarms himself" (Kings,1,20,11) but afterwards, when one is victorious, one is called 'a man of war'. (Therefore, even nowadays the main victory in war is by coming to the Holy Land, in the simple meaning, just like Jews travel there now, to houses and dwellings that exist there. One has to be willing to come to the Land of Israel even in difficulties, even by foot, as it says about Avraham, "Go…to the Land" (Gen.12,1) meaning literally 'walk', you should be ready to walk there on foot.) ### Prayer for Torah 20 20. Master of Peace, King of Peace, bless us with peace. Bestow upon me and all my household a good life and peace. Save us from poverty. Master of the Universe, have compassion on us and upon all Jews. Protect and save us from arguments and controversy. You know how hateful controversy is and how great peace is. Teach me how to behave towards all other people so that I can always be at peace with them all, even with those who oppose me. Grant me true advice in my heart, as You desire so that I can know how to behave towards other people without there being any controversy. Rather merit me to always love peace and really pursue it. Have mercy on us; protect us, so that no controversy will cause a famous rabbi to be publicized before the proper time. You taught us the great blemish and loss which results, Heaven forbid, from this. Please defend and guard us always so that no Jew is made famous before his time. Rather let each individual progress on his holy path of truth, travelling and walking days and years with all his heart, adding holiness, purity and wonderful spiritual arousal, as is fitting. Merit us to take our time and tarry along the way to holiness as is needed. By this, may we gradually warm up our holy enthusiasm, as is fitting, until the proper time arrives to reveal, announce and publicise this holy path in the world, each person according to his portion in the holy Torah which stems from the source of his neshama. Let all the profound advice of the true tzaddikim and all their wonderful and original ways become revealed and enlighten the world. Protect and save us from all kinds of damage, distress and suffering, Heaven forbid, which are a result of this premature fame. As a result, merit us all, with our offspring, until the end of generations, to come close to You, really and truly, following the holy paths of the tzaddikim. Save us from poverty and hard times. In Your bountiful mercy, grant each one of us a good living and all our needs in a plentiful manner, before it becomes necessary. Let his bounty come with ease, without distress, in a permissible way, in an honourable way. Always shield us so that no controversy will cause a woman to miscarry, Heaven forbid. Furthermore, let no damage be caused to the holy pathway itself which the tzaddikim need to reveal in the world frequently and let no harm befall those who come to reveal the pathway. May no woman have a miscarriage (especially so and so…). Please don’t desert us in such an impoverished generation as this, Send us genuine leaders who will be worthy guides, as You really desire. Let no the community of G-d be like a flock without a shepherd. Have compassion and mercy upon us, Merciful One. Show me, G-d, Your holy paths. I desire the pathways of Your mitzvot. He Who makes peace in the Heavens, please make peace dwell upon and all the Jewish People. And say, Amen . 21. A person should learn halachic decisions both before and after creating Torah innovations. 22. About humility the public are mistaken a lot. One needs great understanding to know how to be humble. Not every person can be humble properly; only Moshe could be humbler than any man. The Sages called improper humility, flattery (Sotah, 41B. See there). 23. When a person is happy, then the depression and suffering are pushed aside. But it is even a greater virtue to strive to deliberately chase after the depression and turn it into happiness, like someone who enters the joy when, because of the intensity of the joy and happiness, he turns all his worries and sadness and depressions into joy. The understanding of the wise person makes it easy for him to find some relief even within all the troubles and suffering and worries so that he will be able to turn all the depression into happiness. This is the main perfection of happiness. ## 21 ### Torah 21 - Atik Is Hidden a) Enthusiasm of the heart is created by the movement of the mind. According to the speed of the movement of the mind, this instills the heart with heat; for by nature, movement generates heat. That's to say, when a person makes his mind think all the time about Torah and prayer, this warms and enthuses his heart in the service of G-d. It turns out that when you merit to a holy influx such that the mind functions at great speed and you don't need any introductory information, by this, the flame of the heart always rises by itself. (I added here part of Torah 156 "A pure heart", for that is how Rav Natan arranged it originally in the old Kitzur Lekutei Moharan and I didn't want to change it.) b) By this enthusiasm, one merits to drive out this spirit of impurity and foolishness and this purifies the heart. For in contrast to the enthusiasm and being enflamed to perform a sin, or have an evil craving, from which his heart is made impure, one has to enthuse and enflame the heart to cleave to the Holy One. The nature of fire is to drive out the air as we can perceive clearly from many things. Therefore one needs to enthuse the heart, as it says, "anything that passed through fire, must be cleansed by fire."(Numbers,31). When one prays and learns with enthusiasm, by this one purifies one's heart from any spirit of folly and one merits to a pure heart. This will enable you to speak to your Maker, with new words each time; this is an aspect of having a holy spirit literally. c) By movement one creates heat, that's to say, when one moves from one thought to another of the greatness of G-d and Torah, as mentioned. So too, the main heat of the element of fire is what it receives from the movement of the stars because the element of fire is close to the celestial 'wheels.' Similarly each 'wheel' receives from the 'wheel' above it. Therefore, by meriting the public, by bringing people closer to the service of G-d, or by judging each person favourably, which is also called meriting the public, this also generates heat and enthusiasm in serving the Holy One. This is as it says, "those who merit the public are like stars."(Daniel,12). He receives heat from what is above him and so too can transfer it to those below him, just like the stars do. d) Through this enthusiasm of the heart, one merits to purify the heart and fulfills the verse which says, "Create in me a pure heart, O G-d, and renew a steadfast spirit within me."(Psalms,51,12). What a person speaks between himself and his Maker reflects a level of divine inspiration, each according to his level of service. For, by starting this and forcing himself and preparing himself to speak to G-d, the Holy One sends him words in his mouth and this is an aspect of the divine spirit. From this, King David composed the Book of Psalms. One has to always renew oneself and plead with the Holy One each time with new supplications, to which one merits through a pure heart. (See Midrash Yalkut Tehilim,87). e) To achieve this intellect, which is a divine bounty, an aspect of divine spirit, as mentioned, one has to sanctify the mouth, the nostrils, the eyes and the ears. That's to say, one has to guard oneself from saying any lie, and to have fear of Heaven, which is the holiness of the nostrils; one needs faith in Torah sages, to believe in them and to listen to their words; by this one sanctifies the ears; and one needs to close one's eyes from seeing anything bad. By all this, one merits to that intellect and to perfect understanding upon which everything depends. f) These seven openings in the head are dependent on the brain; they arouse the brain so that it reaches the aspect of 'before', which is an aspect of 'face', as a result of sanctifying the 'seven candles'. The Holy Candelabrum alludes to the brain. The body of the candelabrum alludes to the holy bounty. This is like the succah, whose name comes from to 'annoint' (saccah) with the divine spirit. That came from the seven Clouds of Glory that were in the Wilderness. (The succah is a rememberance of them, as brought in the Shulchan Aruch, Ch.625). Therefore, by the mitzvah of succah, we merit to the divine bounty which is a form of holy spirit, the spirit of wisdom, called "holy"-Kodesh (Zohar,Pt.3:pg.61).That's to say, we merit to achieve great intelligence, an aspect of 'enveloping brains' which is like an intelligence which comes to a person without any introductory effort but rather through divine bounty. All a person's service of G-d in This World is for this, in order to achieve these enveloping brains, for they are the main delight in the World to Come. By means of the mitzvah of succah we merit to a pure heart and as a result we can explain ourselves well in conversation before G-d, as is proper; this is an aspect of a divine spirit. g) These 'enveloping brains' are such a very great intellect that the brain cannot stand them and they can't enter the brain, rather they envelop it from outside. Similarly, we see there are some deep wisdoms that the human brain can’t understand properly such as various perplexing ideas that confuse us like the dichotomy of Knowledge and Free Choice. The human brain cannot understand this contradiction. This wisdom envelops the brain but doesn't penetrate inside the brain; and the inner intellect draws its life-force from this 'enveloping brain'. h) Know that the main power of choice stems from our not understanding the seeming contradiction between Knowledge and Free Choice. Because of this a person has the choice to choose life or the opposite. However, when this 'enveloping brain' enters the brain, the human intellect will grow and the solution to the dichotomy of Knowledge and Free Choice will be revealed to the human intellect; then, free choice will be nullified. So it will be in the future that by the intellect expanding it will go beyond the level of a human being and reach the level of an angel; then there will be no more free choice. From this, understand not to be confused by the issue of Knowledge and Free Choice and other such ideas, for now it is totally impossible to comprehend; it is an 'enveloping brain' which cannot possibly enter the brain in This World which is a world of free choice. i) This is what the Sages said: "In the future every tzaddik will be burnt by the canopy of his fellow."(Baba Batra,75A) All these enveloping brains are like a wedding canopy, an aspect of holiness and a wedding ceremony; the intellect which envelops one person is within the brain of another. When a tzaddik reaches a level of perception which he didn't know previously and it's something new to him, he becomes enthused and he burns from the light of this perception, for holy enthusiasm comes from attaining new understanding, as mentioned, so the tzaddik is burnt by it. However, the tzaddik who is on a higher level than him doesn't consider this perception as anything so he isn't burnt or enthused by it at all; he just has to shelter and cover himself with another, higher perception in order to warm himself. The (wedding) canopy which is an aspect of the lights of the 'enveloping brain' is literally an aspect of a shelter and a cover which heats a person. The main root of heat and enthusiasm is from ascertaining these 'enveloping brains', as mentioned. This is like the seven days of celebration after a wedding ceremony, which are an aspect of the seven branches of the Menorah mentioned earlier. This is also like the seven days of mourning, Heaven forbid, during which we raise the soul of the deceased to the Light of the Face by these seven days. Therefore the mourner must make a tear ('kera') in his clothes for 'kera' has the same numerical value(370) as the three hundred and seventy Lights of the Light of the Face. This is the numerical value of twice Aleph Lamed (a Name of G-d) which is the Light of the Face. j) This is also the reason for the spitting in the face of he who refuses to marry his dead brother's widow about whom it says, "and she should spit in his face." (Deut.25,9). By the saliva of this spitting he is shamed and the main shame is in the face, shame that he didn't want to marry his dead brother's wife, which would have drawn the soul of his brother into the world so he could have continued to rectify the Light of the Face. For the blemish of the dead man who died without children is that he didn't leave behind a blessing (children) who would draw the Intellect of the Face into the world by their good deeds. k) Someone who blemishes the honour of the true tzaddik has the light of the intellect and understanding closed before him so he can't innovate or ascertain understanding in the Torah. He is considered as dead. l) When a person is humble and lowly and patient, and doesn't get angry when insulted, by this he sanctifies the nostrils perfectly. By being loyal "he conceals the matter." (Proverbs,11,13). When a secret is revealed to him he is careful to guard it, not revealing it to others. By this he sanctifies the ears and through all this he attracts a bounty of knowledge, as mentioned earlier. m) When a person learns Torah and doesn't understand anything new, this is because his brains have disappeared like an embryo, an aspect of Ya'acov, as it says, "He took his brother by the heel in the womb" (Hoshea,12:4). Then he has to shout out like a woman giving birth who shouts seventy cries to bring out the baby. Shouting is good for a person whether in prayer or in learning Torah. The seventy shouts are like the seven voices that David said on the water for each one was comprised of ten. Then it is as if the Shechinah is shouting and this gives birth to new brains. This is what the Sages meant by "the voice arouses the intent", that's to say, the brains. It says that "the voice is the voice of Ya'acov" (Genesis,27) meaning that when he is an aspect of Ya'acov, he needs the voices, the shouts, in order to extract the brains from their being hidden. This is like a birth, like being revealed. n) Someone whose Torah learning is without any new understanding should not teach it the way it is to the public, even though the Holy One takes pleasure from it, for his Torah is like Ya'acov, like an embryo. This is what it says, "Ya'acov G-d chose."(Psalms,135).When he is like Ya'acov, without brains, the Holy One chose this learning, but "Israel for His special charm." Israel contains the letters 'le' 'rosh', 'to me a head'. That's to say it alludes to a revelation of the brains and a drawing of the Light of the Face within the inner brain, as mentioned. To 'His special charm', this Torah, one can teach publicly to the Chosen People. o) The Holy One took us as a holy Nation, "a nation from within a nation"(Deut.4) when the Attribute of strict Justice accused us, at the time of the Splitting of the Red Sea, "these are idol worshippers and these are idol worshippers" (Midrash,Exodus,Ch.21). So His choosing us was like a charm that one gives as a cure; it is above nature, above human understanding. This is like the 'enveloping brain'; we don't understand the wisdom that it has a special power to cure. Someone who merits to these 'enveloping brains', to give birth to them and to internalize them, can understand the special power, then, certainly, fairness requires him to reveal it and help the specially Chosen People to understand this special power, thus bestowing his goodness to others. Every individual, according to his aspect, has this inner brain and enveloping brain. Whatever G-d has granted him to understand and internalize this enveloping brain, to understand and innovate some perception, this good he should bestow to others. p) All the troubles and suffering, exile and all the deficiencies that a person has, whether in making a living or children or in health etc. are all in relation to his lack of knowledge. When his knowledge is perfected then all the deficiencies will be filled. This is like the Sages said, "If you acquired knowledge, what do you lack, and if you lack knowledge, what have you acquired." (Nedarim,41). Even if those who completely lack knowledge seem to really have all good, everything they have is nothing. So also, the opposite, someone who has full knowledge, even if he really lacks something, in truth that deficiency is nothing because the main lack and the fulfillment of it is dependent on knowledge. q) In the future, the main essence of eternal life will be through knowledge; "all the world will be filled with the knowledge of G-d" (Isaiah,11) and everyone will be included in the Oneness of G-d through knowledge. Then they will live eternally like Him. For by knowledge one is included in Him and this is the main delight of the World to Come, as it says, "If I knew Him, I would live be Him." Because of knowledge he will lack nothing; everything will be good, as the Sages said (Pesachim,50). r) Even the gentiles will know G-d, but not like us. Everyone will know and understand that all the perfection and good that the gentiles have nowadays is really nothing, as mentioned. On the contrary, all their esteem and good is all for our benefit. In the future, when all the earth will be full of the Knowledge of G-d, even the nations will understand by themselves all this, even though now it is impossible to understand it for we can't deny what we see. Apparently, this is a great perception to understand that their greatness was in fact our greatness and for them a disgrace. Even so, this perception will be for us laughable and crude in comparison to the level of our knowledge which will become very great. s) Among Jews also there will be great differences between each tzaddik and tzaddik, and even more so between a tzaddik and a sinner; for each person will attain according to his service (of G-d) his efforts and toil and the bitterness he suffers in This World for the sake of the Holy One. And even though everyone will be purified, even the nations of the world, not everyone will be equal; there will be a big difference between them and us. So also between one Jew and another, because whatever will be an enveloping brain to one Jew will be an inner brain to someone else. Every tzaddik will be burnt etc.(see para.i); he will be burnt by the 'enveloping brain' of his fellow. Take good note of these things so that you will prepare yourself for the eternal life, "If you are wise, you are wise for yourself."(Proverbs,9,12). t) Knowledge has an enveloping brain and an even more all-encompassing brain. Knowledge is the main comfort in the face of all troubles. The essence of hope and the prime element of life in the World to Come and its delights is only the attainment of holy Knowledge which means to truly know the Holy One. u) The essence of a person is his knowledge and intellect; therefore, in the place where the mind thinks, that is where all the person is. For this reason one must flee very much from any bad thought so that you won't acquire your place there, Heaven forbid. You have to force yourself to think good thoughts in order to merit to ascertain knowledge of G-d; that way, you are really there and become included within G-d. The more one knows, the more one becomes united with one's source, that's to say, the Holy One, praised be He. Then one merits to the eternal life and to perfection of Knowledge and one is saved from all the deficiencies, as mentioned. v) From deficiencies in Knowledge come all the harsh judgements Heaven forbid. Also anger and cruelty come because of this, as it says, "Anger rests in the bosom of fools." (Ecclesiastes,7,9). For this reason a sick person is usually angry, because harsh judgement dwells upon him. Harsh judgement is a 'small brain' which leads to anger. However, by increasing Knowledge, we sweeten and nullify all the harsh judgements and cancel the anger and cruelty; we merit to compassion which is so great that it nullifies the anger even from the destructive animals, as it will be in the future, through the expansion of Knowledge, as it says, "The wolf shall dwell with the lamb." (Isaiah,11) Then we will bless on everything, "Who is good and does good." (Pesachim,50). For everyone will know that there is no evil in the world at all; everything is good and everything is one, for whatever happens to us, to each one of us, is all for the good. Furthermore, the essence of the Redemption will be through Knowledge, as was the Redemption from Egypt, for that was through Moshe who represents Knowledge. w) When a person thinks good thoughts about Torah and the service of G-d, he merits each time to know and ascertain more. As a result he is saved from any ambusher or accuser and all the damaging forces run away from him; he will not fear them at all and will thus be saved from all troubles. x) The month of Elul is the most opportune time to merit to Knowledge, to merit to ascertain the enveloping brains of the mind and to internalize them such that one gains other, higher brains which will enable you to understand what you previously didn't grasp. By this, one makes a new clothing to one's soul and one is saved from all the ambushers, accusers and troubles, as mentioned. That is "clothing, and she laughs at the time to come." (Proverbs,31:25) whose initial letters spell Elul, for the enveloping brain is like a clothing, in Hebrew 'malbush', which has the same numerical value as 'chashmal', meaning 'glow', which is so strong and pleasant that all the damaging forces are driven away. y) Whoever merits to true knowledge, to know the Holy One, for him there is no difference between life and death, for he cleaves to and is included in the Holy One, whether in life or death. It is just that now, while alive, his dwelling is here, among the living in This World; afterwards his dwelling will be with those who dwell in the dust of the earth. There is no difference for him because he is really included in the Holy One, so he lives the eternal life, like the Holy One, so to speak. He is included in G-d's Oneness and he is at one with the Holy One who lives forever, may He be blessed. ### Prayer for Torah 21 O Lord, our G-d and G-d of our Fathers, Who is full of compassion, may it be Your will to have mercy on us. Help us and save us speedily so that we can start from now to sanctify the seven candles – the two eyes, two ears, two nostrils and mouth. May I merit to sanctify my mouth so that no falsehood ever leaves my mouth nor any word that is blemished, Heaven forbid. On the contrary, let all my words be truthful, holy and pure. Let me sanctify my mouth with words of Torah and prayer. So also, help me make my eyes holy by closing them to all the evil in the world. Especially help me and save me so that I won't see anything leading to bad thoughts. From now on, rescue my soul from blemished sight. "Turn my eyes away from seeing any vanity." Please come to my aid so that I always incline my ears to words of Torah and of true Torah scholars. Let me have perfect belief in them. May their words really enter my ears and arouse my heart so that I return to You and always perform Your will. Protect me and save me so that I will never hear any improper word and certainly not let it enter my ears. Don't let me accept any word of evil or gossip or any kind of blemished speech. Rather, may I always hear the true tzaddikim such that my ears become sanctified. And may I merit to have real fear of G-d and by this to sanctify my nostrils. Protect me from any kind of anger. Take pity on us for we haven't the wisdom and understanding to know how to appease You after we have blemished these seven "candles" so much. Because of the great number of blemishes to the "candles", our minds have become very muddled and our intellects clouded. Our brains and understanding have become very confused. As a result we have all sorts of questions and doubts; crookedness in the heart has resulted, and my mind has become warped so that I can't approach anything in holiness as I should. Therefore, please G-d, have pity and merit us to arouse the mind by shouting out. Then, let us really sanctify the holy seven candles such that we draw on ourselves the Essential Light which is Divine Abundance, a stream of understanding leading to the holy state of expanded consciousness called enveloping brains. For this is why we were born, to ascertain You. ## 22 ### Torah 22 - A Seal Within A Seal a) There are such tzaddikim who are 'teachers of G-d', that's to say, they teach G-d, so to speak, by giving Him advice. They go as messengers of G-d to reprimand Israel and return them to the Holy One. Because of this they are called 'legs' because of the advice, as Rashi explains on the verse (Exodus,11), "The people who are at Your feet." – 'who walk in (follow) Your advice'. When the Holy One decrees a harsh judgement on the world and it has to be in accordance with the laws of the Torah, and since the tzaddikim are teachers of G-d, so to speak, He consults with them and reveals to them the judgement decreed on the generation. Then the tzaddik covers the words of Torah and seals them, as it says, "as a fountain sealed."(Song of Songs,4,12) so that the forces of evil will not take strength from them and so that the decree won't become cruel, Heaven forbid. These tzaddikim to whom the decree has been revealed, go and reprimand the generation in order to make them repent and return to the good, thus sweetening the harsh judgement. Even at the time they teach ethics they are careful to seal and hide the decree so that the forces of evil cannot draw strength, Heaven forbid. Because of this they are called a seal within a seal. This means a seal of the legs and an inner seal. These tzaddikim, teachers of G-d, who reprimand the generation increase peace in the world, as it says, "All your children will be learned in G-d's ways." (Isaiah,54) for they go to make compromise and peace between Israel and their Father in Heaven. b) It is impossible to receive reprimand and ethical teachings from these true tzaddikim other than by faith, for faith is like hands which receive the reproach. This is a higher seal than the previous one; that's to say, the seal of the hands, an outer seal. This seal needs extra guarding so that this seal won't get spoilt, meaning faith won't get spoilt, for by being spoilt, heaven forbid, they can spoil the inner seal as well and then the peace in the world becomes damaged, Heaven forbid. Then, by faith being spoilt, this leads to atheism and false beliefs and to several kinds of mockery such that a person doesn't listen to the reproach at all. By the reproach and ethics being damaged it leads to people being uprooted and having to wander in exile; it causes controversy in the world, the opposite of faith. It turns out that faith is the main thing, the essence of the higher seal of holiness which includes all holiness. Then, with faith, people will listen to and accept the reproach and return to G-d and He will have mercy. So, all the realm of holiness is protected by faith. c) It is impossible to merit to perfect faith other than by coming to the true tzaddikim of the generation. They draw down the main faith of Israel to the generation for they encompass all the leadership, faith and holiness. And the main tzaddik, who is an aspect of Moshe, and is called because of this the Faithful Shepherd, for he shepherds faith and rectifies it to bring it to perfection; he is one of the seven shepherds of each generation.(See Baba Metzia,87, about Rav Chia and his sons.) d) It is impossible to come to these shepherds and to approach the realm of holiness other than by boldness specifically, as the Sages said, "Be bold as a leopard."(Perkei Avot,ch.5) like it says, "You guided them in Your strength to Your holy dwelling." (Exodus,15) for there are shepherds from the Other Side and they are also the famous leaders of the generation who force people to lower themselves to serve them; their main power is through audacity, for audacity is "kingship without a crown." (Sanhedrin,105A). They are like dogs in their boldness, they are "the face of the generation which is like a dog" (Sotah,49B), as it says, "the dogs are bold of soul…they are shepherds."(Isaiah,56,11). Therefore it is impossible to be saved from them , from under their control, other than by having great boldness, by standing up to their evil audacity and by being strong willed against their will. So it is impossible to save oneself from all the obstacles, opposers and opponents of truth and to come close to truth other than by holy boldness. (See Shulchan Aruch, Ch.1). e) So also, a person has to have holy audacity against himself, that's to say, against the audacity of the body which is so bold and strong in its bodily cravings; it has no shame from the Holy One. Through the audacity of the body, the soul can't support itself and come close to the body to inform it of the soul's perceptions. For certainly the soul of a person always sees and perceives very sublime things, but the body doesn't know of them at all because the soul is far away from it due to its audacity since it is very strong with cravings. Each person has to have great mercy on the flesh of his body and make sure to purify it, to break its evil audacity of physical cravings in order to allow the soul to come close to the body and show it a reflection of each perception it ascertains so that the body will also know of it. Therefore, one needs holy boldness to stand up to the audacity of the body. This holy boldness comes by means of the voice of holiness. All the sounds of the voice, whether screams or sighs or the sound of a shofar, song or the words of true tzaddikim and all the other sounds of holiness, all of them reflect this holy boldness. Even the sound of the rattling of coins being given to charity, this is also the sound of holy boldness. By these sounds we break the audacity of the body. f) The essence of a man, what is called 'me', is the soul which is eternal. But it is far from the body and flesh because of their boldness and cravings. When a person breaks this boldness, the soul can approach the body for it won't be trapped in its delights. Then the soul will be able to return to its true virtue and delights through the delights of the body. It is a benefit for the soul to fall sometimes for when the body is pure and bright, the soul can raise itself and return to its proper level by way of the delights of the body. Since the body is also good and kosher and isn't trapped in physical delights, the soul can return to its true virtue. So also by the impression left in the body by the lights that the soul radiated in it previously; now the soul can by remembering, rise and return to its proper level. This it what it says, "from my skin I will see G-d." (Job,19:26). That's to say, a person can see from his body and flesh very sublime perceptions which the soul perceives at all times. And by the voice of sighing, which is holy boldness, the audacity of the body is broken and then the soul can come close and the bone will cleave to the skin, meaning that the soul will cleave to the body. That is what it says, "By reason of the voice of my groaning, my bones cleave to my skin." (Psalms,102). g) So, generally among people, there is an aspect of bone and flesh. The true wise man is the bone, like the soul of the people who are below him. When they are like the flesh to the tzaddik, then they hear the sound of sighing of the wise man, and this breaks their body. As a result, he can come close to them, as it says, "by the voice of my groaning etc." However, sometimes the audacity of the Other Side increases, in particular and in general. Therefore, at such a time, the true wise man is far away from them and cannot radiate within them and let them know of his wonderful perceptions; this is since they don't cleave to the wise man like the flesh to the bone. Similarly, the body is far away from the soul to such a degree that it isn't flesh to the bone and doesn't hear the sound of the voice at all, even when he sighs and shouts out to the Holy One. Because of its great distance it only hears the echo and so doesn't merit to break the boldness of the body. So also, the audacity of the people isn't broken by the sound of sighing and by the reproach of the true tzaddik because they only hear the sound of the echo. For when the voice of holiness is aroused, the voice of the Other Side is also aroused and that is the echo which arouses their sins and they shout their accusations, Heaven forbid. By serving the wise man, one becomes flesh to him and can cleave to him; through this one can merit to hear his voice such that the boldness of the Other Side is broken. In a similar way, when the body serves the soul by performing mitzvoth which require action, the body becomes flesh to the bone which is the soul; then he can hear the sound of his own sighing and shouting. As a result he will be able to break the boldness of his own body. This is how we reach perfect faith which includes all forms of holiness which we receive from the true tzaddikim of the generation. h) To achieve holy boldness one needs joy, for the main boldness and strength in a person, which allows him to approach the service of G-d, comes through happiness and joy, as it says, "For the joy of the Lord is your strength." (Nechemia, 8:10). i) Achieving joy is through Torah and prayer which are an aspect of 'we will do', meaning it's revealed, and 'we will listen', that which is hidden. This is an aspect of, "Everlasting joy will be on their head." (Isaiah,51:11). Those are the two crowns that were placed on the head of each Jew at Mt. Sinai when they said "we will do and we will listen", as the Sages tell us (Shabbat, 88). j) Each person has an aspect of the revealed and the hidden, which are an aspect of Torah and prayer. We all need to go from one level to another each time and to go from one world to another such that we merit each time to a new level of 'to do' and 'to listen' which is higher than before. Every time he has to turn the "listen', the hidden, which is prayer, an aspect of the words of Torah which surround each mitzvah but don't state explicitly how to serve G-d, which is an aspect of G-d's Torah, as it says, "the hidden things are to the Lord, our G-d." (Deut.29), this has to be turned into 'I will do' which is revealed and has become an aspect of "his Torah". Then he will merit to a new, higher level of 'to listen'. When a person comes to a higher level than before, what was hidden becomes revealed so he receives a new level of 'listen', of the unknown. So on, from one level to another. One has to learn Torah and pray a lot to G-d that He will reveal the unknown such that it becomes understandable. Afterwards one has to pray so that the higher level of the unknown become revealed to him. So on, each time from one spiritual level to another, higher and higher, each time asking from the Holy One to understand that which is more hidden until one arrives to the beginning of the point of Creation which is the beginning of the World of Atzilut (the highest world from before Creation, closest to G-d). There also there are aspects of the 'to do' and 'to listen' and there is the real Torah of G-d, so to speak. The truth is that in every world and at every level there is the Torah of G-d, so to speak, for when the Torah is beyond our understanding it is called G-d's Torah. However, in the aspect of 'to listen' at the beginning of Atzilut, there exists the real Torah of G-d for there is nothing higher than that, other than literally G-d's Torah itself. Then he can become included in the Infinite, blessed be He, such that his 'to do' becomes literally the Torah of G-d and his 'to listen' becomes literally the Prayer of G-d. For there exists the Torah of G-d, as the Sages said, "I fulfilled it first" (Jerusalem Talmud, Bikurim and Rosh Hashana). There is also the prayer of G-d, as our Sages said, "From where do we know that the Holy One prays (Berachot, 6); it says, "make them joyful in My house of prayer" (Isaiah,56,7). By this way one merits to joy, as mentioned. k) However, the main perfection of joy is by fear, for it says, "rejoice in trembling" (Psalms,2). Fear is an aspect of shame, that one feels fear and shame before G-d so you won't come to sin, Heaven forbid, as the Sages said (Nedarim,20). Shame is a very great virtue. That is B'reishit which includes the letters for fear ('yire') and shame ('b'shet') as it says in the Tikkunei Zohar,2. fear is an aspect of prayer, as it says, "who fears G-d will pray" (Proverbs,31), for one merits to prayer primarily through fear of G-d and shame. By praying with perfect intention and concentration one achieves prayer which contains everything. l) "In the beginning" (B'reishit) is one of the Ten Sayings with which the world was created (Zohar,T'rumah). It is a complete Saying. Therefore, faith is called Yerushalem because it was mainly built from B'reishit – fear and shame; that is full fear (yira shalem), a full Saying. This means that its building is mainly through fear, a full Saying, which corresponds to prayer. By prayer we merit to everything, to joy and then boldness, by which we can come close to the holy shepherds; this leads us to faith, which is Yerushalem, as it says, "a faithful city." (Isaiah,1,26). m) When one wants to progress from one level to a higher one, first there has to be a fall, for the whole purpose of a fall is to prepare for an ascent, as it says, " let this stumbling be under your hand." (Isaiah,3,7). 'There are words of Torah that a person can't understand fully unless he first stumbled in them' (Gittin,43). This stumbling is the descent. From this every person can understand how much he needs to strengthen himself in the service of G-d; he must never fall and become discouraged from all the falls and descents in the world. Rather, he has to strengthen and encourage himself while not looking at all this under any circumstances, whatever befalls him. Finally, he will merit that all the descents in the world will turn into great advances for the purpose of each fall is to prepare for a spiritual advance. There is a lot to be said about this subject because everyone always thinks that his own situation is so bad that this idea does not apply in his case. People think it only applies to those on high levels who constantly rise from one level to the next. But you should realize and believe that it holds true even for people on the lowest levels, the worst of the worst, for G-d is always good to all. n) By pride a person falls into captivity, as the Sages said. (See Megila,17) o) The attribute of arrogance is very bad indeed when not used for a holy purpose and especially when used against those who really fear G-d and similar cases, for "the arrogant go to Hell" (Perkei Avot,Ch.5:25). Avraham exchanged all the punishments for each thing for being subservient to the nations (See Midrash, Lech Lecha, Ch.42). However the punishment for arrogance remains just in Hell. However, one has to know that just as boldness is a very bad trait, nevertheless one has to have holy boldness specifically in order to stand up to the arrogant ones of each generation who prevent a person from coming to true tzaddikim and from entering the realm of holiness; for it is impossible to enter the realm of holiness other than by boldness, as the Sages said, "The Torah was given to Israel only because they are bold." (Beitza,25). p) The rectification of these two seals, which are a seal within a seal, is on Yom Kippur and Hoshana Rabba, as is known. All this is by the voices of holiness, for then the People of Israel shout out in prayer to G-d. That is why (the month of ) Tishrei has the same numerical value as twice 'seal' (alluding to the two seals) together with the two words. That is why Tishrei is called 'the month of the strong' (Kings,1,8) which alludes to their power and boldness. It is then that we blow the shofar for the sound of the 'tekiot' also represents holy boldness which breaks the arrogance of the Other Side, specifically and in general. So also do all the voices of holiness. Therefore Tishrei is the joy of Israel, for holy boldness comes through joy, as it says, "for the joy of the Lord is your strength." (Nechemia,8). This verse also talks about Rosh Hashana (Tishrei). q) A Jew has to feel very ashamed before G-d so that he does nothing against the will of G-d, Heaven forbid and certainly, even more so, not to sin. If he doesn't draw upon himself a feeling of holy shame in This World, he will certainly be ashamed in the World to Come and that is the most difficult of all punishments; the anguish and shame in the World to Come is very, very difficult, harder even than the bitter punishment of Hell, Heaven save us. Even every tzaddik will feel shame before his fellow who is greater than him spiritually. About this the Sages said, "Woe to such shame, woe to that disgrace." (Baba Batra,75) Even more so will sinners feel shame, Heaven forbid; it is impossible to even imagine in This World how great the anguish and shame will be in the World to Come, Heaven save us. When one merits to holy shame, one can achieve prayer, joy and holy boldness; then one can come close to and be included within true tzaddikim and receive from them really perfect faith. ### Prayer for Torah 22 Master of the World, have pity upon me. You know how much mercy my body needs for it is so very strong in its cravings for the things of this world that the body has become so distant from the soul such that the soul cannot radiate any of its perceptions to the body. Your good and holy intention in creating me and bringing me into this world was to enable me to perceive You in This World with the body and soul together. But I didn't have pity on my soul nor on Your honour nor the honour of the holy soul; I didn't strengthen myself against all the cravings of the body and its bad characteristics. The arrogance of my body has become so strong that it has no shame before the Holy One. I don't know what path or strategy or advice with which I can break the arrogance of the body. I don't even know how to start to fulfill the counsel of the tzaddikim. Master of the World, Master of the World, have pity on me for now I know no way other than to shout out to You at all times. In Your immense loving-kindness, save me from all the physical cravings of my body. Years have passed and I haven't even shouted out to You as I should have. The blemishes have grown stronger such that I didn't have the strength to shout out. I have no one to rely on other than You, my Father in Heaven. So, please have mercy upon me and save me, for the sake of my holy soul and Your great honour. ## 23 ### Torah 23 - You Have Commanded With Righteousness a) There is a face of holiness which is a bright face, an aspect of life, as it says, "In the light of the king's countenance." (Proverbs,16,15) which is happiness. This is an aspect of truth and faith. Therefore, by this we merit to longevity. On the other hand, falsehood shortens one's life, for falsehood is an aspect of a dark face which is the face of the Other Side, depression, idol worship, other gods, death and sadness, Heaven save us. b) Those people who fall into the craving for money and don't believe that the Holy One can provide them with an income easily and thus chase after an income with great effort, they eat their bread with sadness; they are full of sadness and depression. These people become attached to the face of the Other Side, as mentioned, which is a dark face, depression, idol worship, other gods, death and sadness, Heaven save us. However, those who carry out their business affairs with faith, strengthen their minds to be happy with their portion in life. They know and believe with truth and perfect faith that their main livelihood and wealth comes only from G-d. It is just G-d's desire that a person make some simple means to acquire it but the main livelihood and money of a person comes from the Holy One alone. Such people cleave to the light of the countenance of holiness which is the bright face, aspects of life and joy. c) Someone who has sunk into the craving for money which is idol worship, serves not only one idol but all the idols of all the seventy nations, for each idol worship of the seventy nations has its source in the desire for money. That is why the idol worship of each nation is engraved on their coins. About such people the Shechinah shouts twice seventy which are a hundred and forty screams, for this is the numerical value of the word 'money' ('m'mon' – 'm' 40, 'm' 40, 'o' 6, 'n' 50) with its four letters (136+4=140). These are the two kinds of voice that the Shechinah screams out, as it says, "Woe is my head, woe is my arm." (Sanhedrin,46). Each voice is an aspect of the seventy voices that a woman screams out while she is enduring the pains of birth. She has to scream seventy times before the birth (See Torah 21). That is what the Sages said, "a livelihood (m'mon, 140) is twice as hard as a birth (70 screams)" (Pesachim,118). d) Before a person earns money he has to go, pass through, be tested and purified by means of these hundred and forty screams and to shout out and pray a lot to the Holy One to merit to pass them without trouble and to be saved from them. For the truth is that every time a person earns money it is like a birth. All the bounty that a person receives is only from breaking the craving for money, for that is the Truth, and "truth stands and lasts" (Shabbat, 104). This is as the Sages taught, "the sustinence at your feet" (Deut.11: 7), "this is the money that puts a person on his feet"(Pesachim, 119) and they stand on truth. But lying doesn't stand; it is idol worship, the craving for money. This is what the Sages said, "Someone who changes his word, it is like he worshipped idols." (Sanhedrin,92). Therefore, by telling lies, which is a craving for money, there is no permanence to a person's livelihood. For idol worship is another god; it is barren and doesn't produce fruit. (Zohar,Pt.2,103). That's to say, the lie makes it appear that they are gaining money, but they are not gaining, and so they run after money even more. Even when they have money, temporarily, the truth is that they haven't got it at all, because they haven't got any pleasure from it because they can never get enough. However much more they earn, they feel that they are lacking even more. Afterwards they die as debtors. Therefore it is impossible for them to draw down abundance and earn holy money so that they are happy with their portion, (for this is the main wealth, as the Sages said in Perkei Avot, 4), other than by breaking the craving for money; this is an aspect of truth. A person's business affairs must be carried out with truth and faith in order to break and nullify all the thoughts, confusions and cravings for money which come to a person during his business affairs. Rather, all a person's intention should be that it is for G-d only, in order to serve G-d with the money that he earned, to give charity and support those who serve G-d through Torah and prayer and to raise his children to study Torah, etc. and other expenses for mitzvoth. e) Know that by guarding the holy covenant, one is saved from the face of the Other Side which is the craving for money, idol worship, a dark face and death, as mentioned. And one becomes attached to Godliness, as it says, "From my flesh, I will see G-d." (Job,19). Then he will merit to fulfillment and joy in the face of G-d, for the Face of the living G-d shines and radiates upon him. The main thing is to attach oneself to true tzaddikim who guard the brit in utter perfection, for then he will be saved from the craving for money. f) This being the case, when someone opposes the true tzaddik, and the Holy One wants to drive away the enemies of the tzaddik, so He makes them fall into the craving for money, and there is no greater fall than that, Heaven preserve us. Thus, the rule is that when there is controversy, whoever guards his brit more, can make his fellow fall into the craving for money. All Israel are called tzaddikim because they are circumcised (Zohar 1:93.). The main thing is the true tzaddik who guards his brit with total perfection; all those who are attached to him can make their fellows fall from their level and the fall is into the craving for money. Therefore one must be very careful when there is controversy against someone that one shouldn't fall into the desire for money, Heaven forbid. g) The craving for money is an aspect of what it says, "I find more bitter than death the woman" (Eccl.7:26) for this alludes to the spleen, which is Lilit, the mother of the Erev Rav, which is mockery and foolishness. For all the money and wealth of the rich who are not proper and don't give charity as they should according to their wealth, and are deep into the desire for money and the pressure of time, all their money and wealth is nothing; it is only mockery and foolishness, for the money plays with them like one plays with a baby with coins. Afterwards the money itself kills them. In the Tikkunei Zohar it says that "foolishness is another god, it laughs at them for their wealth in This World and, in the end, kills them; only the tzaddik escapes whereas the sinner is trapped in it (Eccl. Ibid). For the true tzaddik merits to wisdom and understanding and so knows how to escape from all this. Even the greatest people need very great wisdom and understanding in order to escape from the time consuming effort of making a living, so that they won't spend and waste all the days of their life on this; for most of the world are trapped in this.(See Baba Batra,165. Most of the world are trapped into stealing, for, as Rashi explains, they say to themselves in business affairs that it is permissible and stumble into theft.) As a result, they suffer very great bitterness all their lives by this and lose both worlds through this. Know that This World is full of bitterness, beyond measure, an aspect of "the world's bitterness" (Zohar Chadash,V'Yechi,241), and the main bitterness is the bother and worry of getting money and the craving for money and a livelihood, which comes as a result of blemishing the brit, Heaven save us. If it weren't for the power of the great tzaddikim who truly guard the brit, and who are called the covenant of salt of the world, the world couldn't continue to exist because of its immense bitterness, as mentioned, which is the craving for money. Therefore, each person, according to the degree that he is attached to the true tzaddikim, sweetens from himself this bitterness. On the other hand, a person who is far from the tzaddik and who himself is far from the rectification of the brit, as he knows within his soul, and especially if he opposes the true tzaddik and his followers, the bitterness of the world will overcome him more and more with its worry and efforts for money until he wastes all his life on it, Heaven save us. Take careful note of these things for many people have sunk into this. Maybe you can flee to true tzaddikim and save yourself from these stormy waters of craving money which is a result of the craving for sex; maybe they won't reach you. Then your soul will be a saved treasure and you will merit to true life, in This World and the World to Come. h) A holy livelihood is an aspect of what it says, "He who finds a wife, finds a good thing." (Proverbs,18,22). This is like the true tzaddik about whom it says, "Say of the tzaddik, he is good." (Isaiah,3:10). A livelihood is like a woman, as the Sages said, "Anyone who takes away from the income of his fellow, it is as if he came upon his wife."(Sanhedrin,81). There is no good other than light, as it says, "the light is good" (Genesis,1). This is the Esssential Light, belief in G-d, as it says, "G-d will shine upon you." (Isaiah,60). Faith is an aspect of the End of Days, for upon it rest all the other attributes, as is written (Makot24), "Chabakuk came and made everything rest upon one thing – a tzaddik lives by his faith (Chabakuk, 2)." This is the root and foundation of all holiness. By truth one comes to faith and this is an aspect of conducting business with faith to which one merits specifically by strengthening oneself and coming close to the true tzaddik. i) Through the mitzvah of mezuzah one can also nullify the craving and desire for money. By this, one's income comes easily. This is what the Sages said, that the Ten Commandments are in saying 'Shma' and the command of "Don't desire" parallels the command of "and you should write it on the doorposts" (See Jerusalem Talmud,B'rachot,Ch.1), for through the mitzvah of the mezuzah one nullifies the desire for money. Because of this one has to fix the mezuzah in the top third of the doorframe (Menachot, 33); the Sages said (Baba Metzia, 42) that a person should always divide his money into three. The top third of the doorframe corresponds to the third of the money in business. Most of one's faith has to be in business, as the Sages said, the first question in the World to Come is "Did you do business with faith?" (Shabbat, 31). This means that the main money in which one needs faith is the top third which is in business matters. j) All the mitzvoth that a person performs without money, meaning that he doesn't want to lose money for the sake of performing the mitzvah, is not a perfect mitzvah because it is not yet in the category of faith. But, when the mitzvah is so precious that he doesn't feel any lack of money and he spends freely on the mitzva, this aspect is called faith. For a person's main faith has to be in money affairs; when he breaks the craving for money, there is the Face of Holiness, as above. k) Those who are deep in the desire for money, however much more wealth they have, they are more sad, depressed and worried, as it says, "Whoever has more possessions, has more worries." (Perkei Avot,Ch.2). This being so, money shortens and wastes a person's days and life; nothing wastes a person's energy like worry and sadness, as the doctors know. Such a person is connected to the face of the Other Side, other gods and death which is sadness and idol worship, called 'debt' for it decides everything to the side of obligation. All those who are attached to it are always in debt like we see how the burden hangs on their neck and they are never satisfied with what they have but always borrow from others. It always seems to them that they are gaining a lot but they die in debt. Even if they don't die literally in debt to others, they certainly die in debt to their own cravings; it is idol worship that one wants a lot of money. We see that in reality even those who have money to support themselves and even the very rich, they chase after money all their lives with great efforts. They endanger themselves on the roads by traveling a lot and make huge efforts to make money as if they had a huge debt upon their head to pay back. The truth is that the debt is only to themselves, to their craving and idol worship which is tied to the desire for money so much that it is as if they had to pay back a huge debt. It turns out that they are debtors all their lives and die as debtors to their cravings. All their lives aren't enough to pay back the debt to their desires for they are without limit or bounds, as it says, "a person dies with only half of his desire in his hand"(Midrash Ecclesiastes,1). That is what it says 'they don't live half of their lives.' (Psalms,52). But "I will put my trust in You." But someone who is deep in the desire for money doesn't trust G-d for he serves idol worship. However, says David, "I will put my trust in You" that You can supply me with a livelihood very easily, and I will be happy with my portion so I won't be stuck in the craving for money. l) The truth is that there is another rectification to the craving for money which is to look at the source from which all money comes and all the bounty. By looking there this nullifies the craving. For in its source the bounty is totally a pure light and a spiritual delight such that one doesn't crave for the crude physical money in the world below. Who is the fool who will throw away this spiritual delight for the sake of a gross worldly pleasure. However, to acquire this way of looking one needs to rectify the brit, like it says, "from my flesh I will see G-d." (Job,19). First one has to sanctify the holy flesh, then one can look at the G-dliness. Because of this, the main rectification for the craving of money is by rectifying the brit; and when one rectifies the brit, then it is impossible to fall to the craving for money. ### Prayer for Torah 23 23. “Gladden the soul of Your servant for, to You, O Lord, I lift up my soul”. “May they rejoice and be glad in You, all who seek You.” “The righteous will be glad, they will rejoice with gladness.” “Serve G-d with joy; come before Him in song.” Master of the Universe, Merciful One, Master of Joy; joy is in Your house. Strength and joy is in His place. Merit me, in Your immense loving-kindness, to always be happy. You revealed to us, through Your true tzaddikim that happiness is from the Side of Holiness, whereas sadness is from the Other Side. All the holiness of a Jew is specifically from his happiness. The only cause for our becoming distant from You and for the physical cravings to overcome us is sadness and depression. But You, now how far away I am from happiness for I have spoilt and blemished a lot. Therefore, I have come before You, Merciful One, to ask that You help me; gladden me in Your salvation. Show me an d teach me how to turn all the sorrow and misery into happiness, so that the Other Side will have no power to instill in me sadness, Heaven forbid. Rather, merit me to overcome it by strengthening myself with joy. However much more the Other Side wants to make me sad because of my many sins, let m fortify myself and turn it all into joy by remembering that You made me a Jew , not a heathen and merited me to perform many mitzvoth every day. That specifically, is my happiness; even someone so far away and blemished as me can merit to be involved with holy and awesome things such as Torah and mitzvot. Gladden the soul of Your servant, for I raise my soul to You G-d. So, please enable me to really ascertain the paths of happiness in such a way that I can grab all the misery and turn it into joy. Thus, let me become continually stronger in my joy. By this, may I draw the spirit of life and holiness into the ten pulses within me. As a result, guard me and save me from all kinds of illnesses and pains, physically and spiritually. Cure me and all the Jewish People. Vitalize me with happiness and joy at all times for all cures stem from this, for whatever illness. Joy is the essence of a person’s vitality. So merit us to understand and ascertain the roads, pathways and trails how to achieve constant happiness. I will perform Your mitzvoth with joy and a heart of gladness until I merit to the joy of the future when we will see the great joy of the dance You will make for the tzaddikim in the future. Fulfill in us very soon the verse: “For G-d will comfort Zion, He will comfort all her ruins; He will make her wilderness like Eden; joy and gladness will be found there, thanksgiving and the sound of music.” (Isiah 51,3). “Be glad in G-d and rejoice, tzaddikim. Cry out in joy all the upright of heart” ((Psalms 32, 11). 24. It is a very great mitzvah to always be happy and to overcome and drive away with all one's strength any sadness or depression and thus, to just be happy at all times. This a cure for all kinds of illness for all kinds of illnesses, may Heaven have pity, all stem from sadness and depression. One must make oneself happy by means of all kinds of advice. Mostly this is specifically by doing or saying frivolous silly things, as clarified elsewhere. Even though a broken heart is also a very good thing, this is only when a person sets aside for himself an hour a day to break his heart and explain himself before G-d., as we have brought elsewhere, but during the rest of the day he must be happy for from a broken heart a person can easily arrive to depression, more so than he stumble (and sin) through happiness by coming to unruly conduct, Heaven forbid. Therefore, a person must always be happy except for one special hour when he will have a broken heart. 25. (a) Secluded, individualized prayer is the greatest virtue and a very proper and straight path to come close to the Holy One. Each person should set aside some fixed times (hours) every day and express himself before G-d in his own language (that's to say, in our country, English); for it is much easier to express yourself well when you use your own language. You should speak out whatever is in your heart before G-d, whether expressions of regret and repentance for the past or whether requests and supplications to merit to really come close to the Holy One from now on. And if you can't speak at all before G-d then shout out and plead to Him about this itself that you have become so distant from Him that you can't even speak before Him. Ask for mercy from Him that He will have compassion on you and open your mouth until you can express your needs before Him. Each person, according to how much he knows his own hearts afflictions, how far he is away from G-d, should express himself and tell everything before G-d. It is impossible to explain or estimate the immense virtue of this method. It is superior to all others and includes all the service of G-d for, by this method, one can attain the ultimate good in This World and in the World to Come for everyone can accomplish anything through proper prayer and supplications. All of the greatest tzaddikim only achieved their spiritual level through this method. Anyone who considers it carefully will understand by himself the great virtue of this path. Happy is he who merits to set aside for himself a special hour every single day for this, while being happy for the rest of the day. (b) It is also good to turn Torah study into prayers. See inside and understand. ## 24 ### Torah 24 - The Middle Of The World a) Know that there is a light which is above the lower soul (nefesh), the spirit ( ruach) and the higher soul (neshama) of the human souls. This is the light of the Infinite, blessed be He. It cannot be attained through the intellect. Yet, the mind endeavours to chase after it. It is through performing mitzvoth with joy that we can become worthy of attaining this light. We chase after it, only to encounter "that which holds back". This is an aspect of we can "reach and yet not reach". In this way nine palaces are created which are neither lights nor spirits or higher souls. It is impossible to remain attached to them. They cannot be known. Happy is he whose thoughts chase after this awareness, even though the mind has not the power to attain it. This is the ultimate knowledge of everything; an aspect of "the goal of knowledge is to know that we know nothing." b) By the joy of the mitzvot, the realm of holiness is completed and one raise the life-force and holiness from among the husks. This being so, when you perform a mitzvah with joy one raises the Shechinah from among the husks. c) A person has to keep very, very far away from sadness for the husks are an aspect of sadness and the power of the harsh judgements. When sadness becomes strong this is the exile of the Shechinah, for the Shechinah is the joy of Israel, as it says, "The joyful mother of the sons." (Psalms,113). The main way to nullify the husks and to raise the realm of holiness is through joy. d) By the offering of incense, we raise the sparks of holiness from among the husks and merit to joy, as it says, "…incense rejoices the heart." (Proverbs, 27:8) Therefore one has to recite the incense offering (passage in the morning and evening prayer) with great concentration, for the main way of raising all the holy sparks from the depths of the husks is by the incense offering, and by this one merits to joy, as mentioned. e) When a person performs a certain mitzvah, this mitzvah has the power to go and arouse all the worlds to the service of G-d. This draws a blessing to all the worlds. The main blessing from Above is intellect; when it comes into the world below each person receives it according to his desire. Therefore, someone who is strong spiritually should concentrate on directing his desire to receive a blessing of intellect. He also has to draw faith into this blessing of the intellect, for one mustn't rely on the intellect alone, as is known. f ) The inner essence of the blessings which are drawn down by the mitzvoth bring a blessing to that which arranges and steadies the brain. This is an aspect of Keter (crown) which comes from the word 'katar' meaning 'wait' like it says, "Wait (katar) for me a little" (Job,36:2). That is like when a person is asked some wisdom and he answers 'wait till I think calmly about it.' Then one also needs faith. g) This power of 'waiting' stands like a barrier before the brain and acts to hold back the brain's chase after the lights, for the brain chases after the light of the Infinite One, blessed is He. This power of 'waiting' is what arranges and steadies the brain and acts as a barrier between the brain and the light of the Infinite One. Through these two aspects of chasing and holding back, the brains strike each other and create a barrier. This is what properly arranges the brain and steadies it making a 'crown' (waiting). As a result of this, the nine palaces are created through which one perceives the light of the Infinite in an aspect of "reaching and not reaching"; that is to say the brain chases and reaches a perception, yet it doesn't reach or perceive. The nine palaces are created by the three brains (Chochma, Binah and Da'at) becoming joined during their chasing and their striking that which restrains, as mentioned. Since there are three brains and each one is included in the others, and three times three make nine, referring to the nine palaces. All this one merits to by performing mitzvoth with joy, as mentioned. h) The main way of raising the realm of holiness is by joy. In the future the husks will be nullified completely by the tremendous increase in joy. Israel will come out of exile through joy, as is written, "In joy they will leave…" ( Isaiah, 55). Through the nations themselves, against their will, all the husks will be nullified, for the nations themselves, and with their own hands, will lead the Jews out of exile through the great joy there will be, as it says, "Then the nations will say… we are glad." (Psalms, 127). May it be speedily in our lifetime. Amen. ### Prayer for Torah 24 How happy we are, how good is our portion in life; how pleasant is our fate. We merited to receive Your holy Torah and to fulfill Your precious commandments. Merit us to perform all the mitzvoth with tremendously great joy and to rejoice in You, as is fitting, every time we perform some commandment, for each mitzvah is a channel to express Your Unity. We attach ourselves to You and include ourselves in You, Lord our G-d, by performing each mitzvah. Every day and at all times You merit us to fulfill Your precious, cherished commandments. In Your great mercy, help us so that great happiness is drawn upon us from the Source of Happiness in His dwelling place, in the nine palaces. Let us perform the mitvot with great happiness and tremendous joy each day. Remove sadness from me and all worry and melancholy. Afterwards help me to reach really tremendous happiness in such a way that I will always be very, very happy especially when learning Torah or when praying. While performing a mitzvah let no worry or sadness creep into my heart as a result of my sins. Let no thoughts of business affairs enter my mind nor any thoughts about worldly matters so they won't spoil the joy in my heart from the mitzvah. Just remove them from my heart completely. Let me concentrate on the hour and moment where I am, and the mitzvah I am performing. By performing the mitzvot with great happiness, may I merit to raise the holy sparks from among the husks to where they fell because of my many sins, whether in this lifetime or a previous reincarnation. Let us clarify and separate all the sparks from the husks through reciting the incense offering with great concentration every day until all the husks are completely nullified and nothing is left of them. Help us to raise all the holy sparks to their source in the realm of holiness and thus remove the Shechinah from exile. Then reveal Your Kingdom over everything in the world so that true joy will spread throughout the world. Amen. ## 25 ### Torah 25 - Show Us Something a) Each person has to remove himself from the power of the imagination and rise to the level of intellect so that he won't chase after the imaginary cravings and animal desires but, rather, only follow his intellect. For the intellect distances the cravings completely and all the cravings are the opposite of intellect; they are just from the power of imagination and from the power of the animal soul; an animal also has these cravings and desires the se things. This is the reason why it was necessary to rest the hands on the sacrifice in the Temple and why one had to confess one's sins upon them for all the sins come from the power of the imagination which causes all the sins. Therefore all the power of imagination is upon the animal. Immediately after the resting of hands on the animal comes the slaughter. By slaughtering the animal as a sacrifice, one subdues and breaks the imagination which is what it says, "The sacrifices of G-d are a broken spirit." (Psalms,51,19). The breaking of the imagination is reflected in the sacrifices. Therefore, through the sacrifices in the Temple, from there flowed a spring of wisdom; one merits to wisdom specically by breaking the power of imagination. When the Temple will be built the verse will be fulfilled which says, "a fountain will issue forth from the house of G-d. (Joel,4,18). May it be speedily in our days. This is an aspect of the 'shamir' worm which disappeared with the destruction of the Temple (Sutah,48).By the shamir any stone (in the Temple) was subdued and broken. This is like breaking the heart of stone by going after the intellect, for one has to escape the desires of the heart, the imagination of the heart which is like the action of an animal. So, one has to break this heart of stone and follow the mind. b) There is a potential intellect, an intellect in actuality and an acquired intellect. First one has to break the imagination fir this establishes the real intellect; when this rises, the other falls. But this is still in the realm of the potential intellect. Then one has to use the mind, that's to say, inquire and think about how to serve G-d. By this, the intellect comes into actuality. This is like "choice honey" which existed at the time of the Temple. This is what it says, "Your lips are like flowing honey." (Song of Songs,4,11), meaning that one reveals the sweetness of the mind, bringing it from potential to actuality. This is reflected in speech. Afterwards, when a person has achieved all that the human intellect can attain, his intellect becomes what is called acquired intellect, and this is the main existence of a person after his death; this is what remains. That is what it says, that there were people of faith at the time of the Temple. (Sotah,48). Faith has the meaning of 'lasting' for this intellect is a person's lasting existence, meaning the holy intellect he gained by Torah and prayer. c) Know that in every world and world and on each new spiritual level there are powers of imagination and they are the husks before the fruit; they surround the holiness, like it says, "The wicked walk on all sides." (Psalms,129). When a person leaves one level and rises to another, then he has to pass through these illusions in order to reach the realm of holiness. So, as soon as he rises to a higher level these husks are aroused at the new level and surround him. Therefore, one has to subdue and break them, thus purifying the place from husks. This applies to every person in the world, even someone on the lowest of levels, Heaven forbid, and even if he is absolutely material. Nevertheless, when he wants to enter the service of G-d, he will certainly have to pass these stages going from one level to another, according to his own aspect. And each time he rises from one level to another then these husks will rise against him anew causing all sorts of illusions, cravings, confusions and obstacles such that they won't let him enter the gates of the realm of holiness which lead to the higher level. Because of this, many devout Jews, when they see that suddenly they are overcome by cravings, confusions and obstacles, make the mistake of thinking that they have fallen from their previous level because they didn't have these problems before. As a result they rest a bit and think they have fallen, Heaven forbid. However, the truth is that it isn't a fall at all, rather, because he now has to rise to a higher level. That is the reason why all these cravings, confusions, obstacles and crookedness in the heart become so strong to block him. The solution is that a person has to strengthen himself a great deal each time so that he won't become discouraged at all; eventually he will overcome them and break them once again. d) Know that when you break the obstacles that surround you, rise and enter the new, higher level, you are doing a favour to someone who is on that same level because you cause him to be pushed up to a higher level; no two Jews can be on the same spiritual level for all the souls are one above the other. This is called raising one's fellow. e) When the higher person rises, only his inner aspect rises; thus, when the lower person rises, his inner aspect becomes the outer aspect of the person above him. These inner and outer aspects are two kinds of service of G-d. Torah, prayer and mitzvoth are the inner aspect, whereas eating and drinking and other material needs of the body are the outer aspect. The outer service of the person on the higher level shines and is more praiseworthy than the inner service of the person at the lower level. For this reason, the inner service of the lower one becomes the 'clothing' and outer exterior of the higher person. f) It is impossible to subdue the husks at the new level other than by praise of the greatness of the Holy One. This is what it says in the 'Kavanot' (of the Arizal) about the prayer 'Hudu', that it was established in order to subdue the husks in the World of Yetzirah. The revelation of the greatness of the Holy One is by giving charity to a worthy poor person for then the Sublime Colours in the money of a Jew shine. Then, the grandour and splendour of G-d is revealed in the money, like it says, "Mine is the silver and mine is the gold." (Chagi,2). Through this, one subdues the husks and rises from one level to another. g) By giving charity from one's money, all one's money is rectified; its colours are revealed and shine so that all his money becomes "My silver and my gold." This is like what it says, "the garments of salvation, a robe of charity" (Isaiah61:10) Even the money that the nations take from us by force is considered charity for it says, "Your oppressor is charity." (Baba Batra,15). Know that the charm and splendour of the Sublime Colours becomes revealed only in the money of Jews, like it says, "Israel in whom I will be glorified."(Isaiah 49:3). Because of this everyone desires to look at it. This is the reason that the nations crave for the money of Jews, as if they have never seen money before, since the colours never shine in the money of the nations. They are called poor because they never have pleasure from their money but crave the money of Jews; that is where the charm and splendour dwells. Know that immediately the gentile gets the money from a Jew, the charm and splendour (of the Sublime Colours) disappears. That is why they demand our money again and again. They forget the money they took already because the splendour disappears when it comes into the gentile's hand. This is why they don't come close except when it is for their pleasure. These colours are the Lights and Colours of G-d's Four Letter Name (YHVH) as it says, "To David, G-d(YHVH) is my light" (Psalms,27)- this refers to the Lights and Colours; "my salvation" refers to the clothes of salvation, as mentioned and as it says (Zohar,Pt.2:90B) "His salvation is to G-d; looking". This alludes to YHVH (numerically 26,'ko') which is 'tel' (a mount) to which everyone turns and desires to look at. This is 'kotel' (The Western Wall). h) Another idea to subdue the husks is for a person to make himself happy and full of joy with the good point that he merited to be created a Jew and attached himself to the Holy One. Be happy that you merited to come close to true tzaddikim and their followers who guide you on the path of truth. Through this, whatever happens, you will have hope for eternity. And by this happiness you will break all the obstacles at every level and merit to enter the higher level. ### Prayer for Torah 25 25. “A prayer of the afflicted man when he swoons and pours forth his supplications before G-d. “Master of the Universe, help me express myself before You every day. Merit me to speak a great deal with my Maker, spending many hours on this every day, all the days of my life. Have mercy on me and open my mouth at all times; send me words of truth and holiness from Heave so that I can pray and ask from You new words all the time, and thereby, arouse Your abundant compassion upon me, bringing me closer to You. Merit me to go from one spiritual level to another all the time and constantly come closer to You. I still have not managed to explain myself properly before You, so I still have not been saved from my troubles, from the distress of my soul. Years have passed and I am still very, very far away from You. My immense distance from You is impossible to describe. My tongue has no words to explain myself properly before You all, that is hidden in my heart. So, in Your great, mercy and salvation, may, I find grace in Your eyes from now on. Open for me the gateways of prayer from anew, the gateways of supplications, private prayers and conversation. Open up the gateways of grace so that I can pour out my heart like water before You at any moment. Therefore, I have come before You, Merciful One, to ask that You grant me fresh words of truth from the Source of holy speech. Let me renew my days that passed in darkness and gloom. Please help me, for You are full of compassion. Help me to understand the intention of the tzaddikim wherever I study in their holy books. Then enable me to arrange holy and pleasant prayers based on their words and holy allusions. Merit me then to pour out my heart before You about every single Torah, discourse true tzaddikim revealed to us and follow the path of one of their Torah innovations, in all aspects of my service of G-d, for a period of about a month. During that month, give me the words to plead and pray about it until I am able to reach and achieve that which is talked about. Afterwards, merit me to go on to new levels and new Torah innovations. Even if I am now far, far away from this, in Your eyes nothing is distant. You renew the world every moment. Please help me and redeem me. I have no strength. From far away I hope and wait for Your salvation. Do with me what is good in Your eyes. I do not have words or know which path to take in order to achieve all that I have asked for . Help me to return to You and to be as You desire. Teach me the paths of private prayer and conversation with You in my own language. Let my prayers to You be like speaking to a friend. So, teach me the way to be victorious over You until You return Your countenance towards us. Return me in complete repentance before You really and truly merit us to speak holy words, which stem from the ten types of song, so that we can express ourselves truthfully with all our heart, until You begin and finish very soon to redeem us completely without further exile; a redemption of the soul, the body and money, generally and individually. Let us cease from doing evil and only do that which is good in Your eyes from now on. Merit us to continually go from one spiritual level to another with great holiness, as You really desire. May the words of my mouth and the musings of my heart find favour before You, G-d my Rock and Redeemer. 26. A Jew has to keep himself away from drunkenness and to be careful not to drink more than he can take for when one drinks too much and becomes drunk, then the powers of severity of the Other Side overcome him and make him angry and furious and then he can come to evil deeds etc. Heaven forbid. Know that Moshe is clothed in each and every individual Jew, in each of his limbs; he (Moshe) reminds every limb to perform the mitzvah that corresponds to this particular limb, for the 248 positive mitzvot correspond to the 248 limbs. But, by drunkenness, a Jew forgets them. ## 26 ### Torah 26 - Chick In Egg (1) a) The tzaddik 'kills' himself and sacrifices himself while praying, and similarly whoever sacrifices himself while praying should know that where extraneous thoughts enter, they have to be elevated, as is known. In that place (in prayer) he has to sacrifice his soul especially for, by this, he raises the holy sparks (that fell into those thoughts). ### Prayer for Torah 26 26. Master of the Universe, in Your bountiful mercy, merit me to really come closer to You and to serve You constantly with happiness and gladness. Save me from drinking too much wine or other alcoholic drinks. Let me never drink beyond the proper measure and thus prevent myself from every becoming drunk. You revealed to us the immense evil of drunkenness which causes a person to lose both This World and the World to Come, Heaven forbid. By becoming drunk a person forgets all the warnings of Moshe which we clothed in all the limbs of every Jew. They remind and warn us in every limb to keep and perform the mitzvoth which apply to each limb in particular. In Your immense compassion guard me from ever becoming drunk, even on Shabbat or Festivals or other holy times. You want us to gladden our souls sometimes by drinking a small amount of wine but help me to always measure how much to drink for that which is really necessary. By this measured drinking, may I expand and increase the loving-kindness in which our minds are clothed. As a result, enable me to really cleave to You. Therefore, merit me, all our community and all Jews, each according to his aspect, to know how to measure the right quantity of drink. As a result. Protect me and distance me always from becoming drunk. And even when You want us to gladden our souls with a little wine, merit me to only drink the amount which is really necessary. Just enable me to increase the loving-kindness but never to come to anger, harsh decrees or severity, Heaven forbid. On the contrary, merit me to increase my joy and cleave to You with great joy, as You desire. Open our mouths in songs and praises of Your Great Name. Help me to be as You desire in all my movements, in eating, drinking and other things. Let me do everything in the best way, as You really desire at that particular time, so I never swerve from Your desire to right or left, from now on and forever. Amen. Sela. 27. Someone who is a patron or leader and he leads honourably and honestly and he looks and observes how to spread the nettle of taxes and municipal rates upon each one of the public appropriately and honestly, to demand more from one person and alleviate the demand from another, as is fitting, by this he nullifies the four bad attributes; that's to say, idol worship, illicit sexual relations, the spilling of blood and slander. ## 27 ### Torah 27 - Chick In Egg (2) a) According to the peace in the generation one can draw all the world to the service of G-d, "to serve Him with one consent" (Zephania,3,9).For, by peace that exists between people, they can speak to each other and inquire from each other about the ultimate purpose of life and all its vanities. They explain to each other the truth, that in the end nothing will be left of a person other than what he prepared for himself towards the eternal life after death. Silver and gold, jewels and pearls don't accompany a person to the world of eternity, but rather, Torah and good deeds alone (Perkei Avot,Ch.6). By realizing this, everyone will throw away the falsehood of the idols of silver, and he will approach the truth, turning to the Holy One and His Torah and prayer. However, when there isn't peace, and certainly when there is controversy, Heaven forbid, people don't talk to each other about the true purpose of life. Even when they do meet and talk, their words don't enter the heart of their fellow because of the desire to win, controversy, hate and jealousy, for these things can't bear the truth. (See Torah, 122) This means that the main reason for most people's distance from G-d is the controversy that has become widespread in our days through our sins. May the Holy One have mercy on us. b) Through the guarding of the covenant one merits to true enlightenment which is called "the glory of the face", that's to say, the mind is refined by the wisdom of the Torah which one learns to explain with grace and beauty through the thirteen rules of interpretation. This is an aspect of "the glory of the old face" (Shabbat,152) as it says, "Honour the face of the old man" (Leviticus,19).This is an aspect of what it says that the face of Ya'acov was like that of Adam (Midrash,Ch.84). By the aspect of 'old man', the aspect of Ya'acov, one merits to peace, as it says, "Ya'acov came in peace" (Genesis,33). And the Sages taught that he came in peace; complete in his body, his money and his Torah (Shabbat,33). c) According to the degree that a person purifies his wisdom through the thirteen rules, as mentoned, so he merits through this to purify the voice of his song. For the voice is according to the wisdom of the interpreters of the Torah and the intelligence of the thirteen rules through which the Torah is interpreted. d) When one's voice becomes purified, then, by the voice of one's song alone without words, the Holy One saves you from all your troubles and by this one merits to peace and you can draw all the world to the service of G-d. e) By rectifying the brit, one merits to a voice, to purify the voice of one's song. Ya'acov, who guarded the brit, as it says, "the first of his seed" (Gen.49), merited to a voice, as it says, "The voice is the voice of Ya'acov" (Genesis,27). Then by his song and tune alone, the Holy One sees who is causing us distress, which nation from the seventy is causing us trouble. And He saves us from the trouble. Therefore, when there is a decree or trouble caused by a nation to Israel, Heaven forbid, it is good to sing the song (anthem) belonging to that nation which is causing us the suffering, G-d save us. That is what it says, "He saw their affliction when He heard their song" (Psalms106:44). That's to say their specific song and tune. By singing for the sake of Heaven we can arouse the mercy of the Holy One so that He sees our distress which stems from one of the nations and He saves us from them. f) By rectifying the brit, we merit to a voice, and from the aspect of voice we merit to peace, like it says, "Song of songs of Shelomo" (Song of Songs,1,1). 'To the king that peace is his.' That is why, immediately after the voice of song at the Red Sea the Israelites merited to the peace of Shabbat, as is written, "And they came to Mara" (Exodus,15,23) where they were commanded to keep Shabbat for the first time (Sanhedrin,56). That is what it says, "Miriam answered them, sing to G-d" for the initial letters of the verse spell out 'shalom', peace. Through the song they merited to peace. (See Zohar,Pt.3,176,B) g) Specifically in Mara they received the peace of Shabbat for it is the way of peace to be clothed in bitterness (Mara means bitter) like it says, "In peace I had great bitterness" ((Isaiah38:17). Similarly, all the medicines are bitter herbs, so is peace which is the cure for all things, like it says, "Peace for the near and far…. I will cure him." (Isaiah 57:19). Its way is to be clothed in bitterness. All the different forms of weaknesses are an aspect of conflict; there is conflict between the four basic elements when one overcomes another. A person has to see to it that he has peace for that is the cure. The same is true with the mentally disturbed for they have a conflict between their soul and body, as it says, "There is no peace in my bones because of my sins" (Psalms, 38). We have to get cures through bitterness. Sometimes the weakness is so great that the patient can't suffer the bitterness of the medicines, then the doctors give up on him and cause him despair. So also when the sins become strong, which are the mental sickness, the patient can't stand the bitterness of the cure, and then nearly all hope is lost, Heaven forbid. However, the Holy One is full of compassion, so when He sees a person who wants to return to Him, but he hasn't the strength to stand up to the bitterness of the cures, He has mercy on him and throws over His shoulder all the person's sins so that he won't need to suffer a lot of bitterness for the sake of a cure, just that which is according to his strength to take. This is what it says about Chezkiahu, the King, who praised the Holy One, saying, "In peace…You have cast all my sins behind Your back" (Isaiah,38:17). From here, every single person should learn if he wants to have mercy on his life and return to G-d, that, in most cases, when a person begins to enter the service of G-d and come close to the Holy One, all sorts of obstacles and suffering from all sides suddenly occur to him, each person according to his own set of circumstances; and it seems to him sometimes that he can't stand such bitterness, suffering and obstacles; many have fallen because of this and become distant again, Heaven forbid. But, someone who truly wants the truth has to know and believe that all the bitterness, suffering and obstacles that he suffers come from the great loving-kindness of G-d. According to his many sins he should suffer very much more bitterness for the sake of his cure, to such a degree that he wouldn't have the strength, in any manner, to stand up to it. Then he would lose all hope, G-d forbid. But the Holy One has mercy on him and doesn't send more bitterness or suffering than he can stand. However much he suffers, he certainly has to suffer and certainly he has the strength to suffer it, for the Holy One doesn't send to any person bitterness or obstacles that he can't stand up to and break, even though, according to his deeds, he should get more. h) The peace he needs in his body is between the four humours so that one won't overcome its fellow. He needs peace in his money, that this one shouldn't come and take the other's, as the Sages said (Ketubot,66). Peace in his Torah means without doubts which are an aspect of conflict. Then one will merit to fulfill the verse which says that "Ya'acov came in peace from the town of Shechem." One should take inspiration from this to "serve Him with one accord" (Tzefania,3) through peace. i) To achieve this level of bringing the entire world to serve G-d is possible only by rectifying the brit. When a person sees that he gets immoral thoughts about women, yet he breaks his desire and removes his mind from them, this is the main thing in his repentance and rectification of previous blemishes to the brit, each person according to his level. This is called 'complete', or 'balanced' repentance. Therefore, don't feel discouraged when these very despicable thoughts overcome you, for precisely by getting these thoughts and overcoming them is the main rectification and your complete repentance when you discard them. By this, you extract the holy sparks that fell into the husks by your blemishing the brit. As a result, you will merit to rectify the brit, purify your wisdom and voice, eventually meriting to peace and to draw the entire world to the service of G-d. ### Prayer for Torah 27 27. King of Kings, Who crowns Kings but to Whom the Monarchy belongs, all the leadership and authority in the world, from the great to the small, is all from You alone. As the Sages said, ‘even the head of garbage collectors is appointed from Heaven.’ This is as it says, “Yours G-d is the Kingdom and sovereignty over every leader.” So, have mercy over us, for Your Name’s sake. Grant us benefactors, leaders and rulers who are kosher and upright in every single tow. Draw upon them knowledge and true compassion so that they will have mercy on the impoverished and not overburden them with taxes. Let them use their leadership in a worthy manner, as You desire, and arrange the burden of taxes in an appropriate way, according to the wealth or poverty of each person. Exempt entirely those who deserve it, especially those who fear G-d and who have taken it upon themselves to dedicate their lives to Torah and prayers. Have mercy on them for Your Name’s sake. Plant in the heart of the leaders of each town and city the decision to release these servants of G-d from the yoke of having to make a living in order to pay taxes. Have compassion, G-d, on all Jews, who are scattered among the nations and ruled by them. The nations burden us in particular with their taxes. G-d, You know our hardships and toil. You know how our income has decreased to a minimum, because of our sins. It is especially hard nowadays for those who wan tot follow the paths of Torah and to come close to You. Most, if not all of them have difficulty finding even a minimum income. Who will stand up for us other than You great Name. Have mercy on Your nation, the Jewish People, in every town and city and grant us new, honest, kosher leaders and benefactors who will arrange the taxes in a truly fair fashion, as You desire. You revealed to us the immense virtue of meriting to decent, upright leaders. First, we merit to nullify the four evil attributes which are, blemishes in faith or disbelief, incest, killing and most serious slander. They are the primary sins in the Torah. You know how much we need to pray and plead to be saved from these four evil attributes, whether in deed word of mouth or thought, whether accidentally or intentionally. The blemishes caused by our sins are very far-reaching, as You know so please have mercy on us and give us respectable leaders who will arrange the burden of taxes in a fair way. As a result, save us all from these four evil attributes such that no speck of them attaches itself or thoughts. Just merit us to be holy and pure in the most perfect way. May we be completely clear from any of these four evil attributes. 28. There are differences between the types of Torah. There is Torah which is given to be written while there is another which is not given to be written. And whoever knows to distinguish between the Torah given to be written and that which is not given to be written, he can recognize a Jew even if he is standing among several nationalities of gentiles. 29. When a halachic question arises in a Jew's house as a result of the mixing of a prohibited food in a permissible one and there isn't enough in the permissible food to nullify the prohibition (i.e. sixty times more the quantity), this means that the person is being shown from Heaven that he has blemished a Unification in the World Above. ## 28 ### Torah 28 - Build Us A House a) There are opponents who ridicule and abuse those who really fear G-d and this is because they receive Torah from scholars who lack integrity and who are called "Jewish devils"(Zohar,Pt.3,253). These "Jewish devils" receive their Torah from devils who have a 'fallen Torah' from fallen thousands. It says that Shelomo "spoke three thousand parables: and his poems were a thousand and five" (Kings1 5:12) which Shelomo merited to from the side of holiness. But these devilish scholars get their Torah from the husks and because of that they always have wonderful parables which the public like; all their discourses are full of similes and parables with wonderful explanations. However, there is nothing to be gained by these scholars for they haven't the power to guide people on the proper path. On the contrary, people fall into all kinds of big, atheistic questions as a result. Because of this they do not fulfill that which it says, "He honours those who fear G-d" (Psalms,15:4). On the contrary, they abuse and embarrass them and all the opposition to tzadddikim comes from them. Therefore we have to stay far away from listening to Torah from these Torah scholars who are not respectable, as explained above (See Chagiga,15; Moed Katan,17 and Ta'anit 7). , " b) The way to rectify this is by the aspect of 'worm', which is 'faith', as it says, (Lamentations,4,5) "brought up" ('emunim' alluding to emuna, faith) "on scarlet" ('tola', meaning 'worm'). That is similar to Avraham who represents loving –kindness and faith, an aspect of "I will not entirely remove my steadfast love from Him, nor be false in my faith" (Psalms,89:34), for, by faith, which is an aspect of the right, one can overcome one's enemies, like it says, " the saving strength of his right hand" (Psalms,20:7). One can defeat the opponents and break and nullify the idol worship together with the atheism and abuse which comes from them. c) To acquire loving –kindness, which is an aspect of faith, is only through taking in guests who are Torah scholars. The Sages taught us (B'rachot,10) from the verse, "A holy man passes by us always" (Kings,2:4) that someone who takes in as a guest a true Torah scholar is considered to have brought a Permanent sacrifice ( a 'Tamid', which means 'always'). By serving Torah scholars one merits to loving-kindness, as the Sages said (Ketuvot,96). That is why the 'tamid' was a sheep for it rectified the 'thousands' (elufim), an aspect "I was like a gentle (eluf) lamb" (Jeremiah,11:19) which alludes to being subservient to one's rabbi and serving him. This is 'tamid' (numerically 444) which is four times 'eluf' (111) , the rectification of the 'thousands', as above. d) That is what David meant, "I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men and despised"(Psalms,22:7). The rectification for this reproach and disgrace is a 'worm', meaning to nullify one self before the Holy One. Through this, we overcome the opponents and nullify the disbelief and atheism that comes from them. By taking in righteous Torah scholars as guests, one merits to loving kindness which is an aspect of the holy 'worm' which corresponds to the Tamid sacrifice. Then one merits to rectify and raise the hidden good in the Torah of the Torah scholar who is a Jewish devil by clarifying it and throwing away the evil and husks from it. . ### Prayer for Torah 28 Master of the World, compassionate Father, help me to emulate the attribute of loving-kindness of Avraham, whose house was open to guests. Let me host true Torah scholars and tzaddikim and receive them with great love and respect, with tremendous joy. By serving them properly, may I merit to the trait of loving-kindness, and perfect my faith and humility so that I really feel my own worthlessness, like a worm. Have mercy on me, for Your mercy is boundless; save me from all the Torah discourses that stem from fallen Torah, from the Jewish devils. Always guard me from such Torah innovations so that I never hear such Torah which comes from the husks. Rather, let me always hear Torah from true tzaddikim whose Torah is really pure, acquired through their great holiness and tremendous perceptions which are very sublime, Divine Inspiration. Let me put all my trust and belief in them so that I can really take pleasure in their holy words and achieve a deep understanding of them. Eventually, may I merit to real Torah innovations and use them as a foundation to build true structures of holiness in Torah learning and prayer. Through this, may we clarify the good from the bad and throw away all the evil and husks which hide Your true Torah. ## 29 ### Torah 29 - The Man Who Wanted To Marry a) Speech which isn't heard or accepted is not called speech at all. To rectify speech that it be heard and accepted is by praising, by praising the true tzaddikim. This is the general correction of speech. b) When speech is without understanding, it doesn't contain good and then it isn't heard or accepted. But, by praise of the tzaddikim, one's understanding is raised and this instills good into the speech. When one receives speech from understanding it contains good; everyone desires good and for that reason it is heard and accepted. c) The correction of speech, which is the 'Kingdom of the Mouth', is by the aspect of "white clothes" (Eccl.9). One has to guard one's clothes very much so as not to abuse them; you have to look after them properly so that they don't get stained or dirtied. Clothes are an aspect of Kingdom, then King of Honour, for Rebbe Yochanan called his clothes, "my honour"(Shabbat,113). This means that someone who abuses his clothes is like a rebel against the Kingdom. Then the judgement of the Kingdom judges him. Whoever is greater than his fellow has to guard his clothes more because in Heaven they deal with him more strictly. For this reason the Sages said that a Torah scholar who has a stain on his clothes is deserving of death, Heaven preserve us. (Shabbat,117). d) If a person doesn't guard his clothes and gets a stain on them, through this he causes a separation between the Shechinah and the Holy One, Heaven forbid. As a result the disgraceful maid servant takes control, which means the Kingdom of Evil. This causes menstrual blood to the Shechinah, Heaven forbid, and this makes finding a livelihood much harder. e) The wicked, according to the prohibition that they transgress, arouse and cause menstrual blood to the Shechinah. This causes a separation between the Holy One and the Shechinah, Heaven forbid. To rectify all the sins in detail is very complex and difficult for a person; it is impossible to rectify them because there are very many details and fine points in each prohibition. Therefore, a person has to rectify generally, all inclusively, and this is by rectifying the brit. By this, one automatically rectifies all the prohibitions that one transgressed. This rectifies even the very narrow and fine places (the sinews) where one can't reach other than by a general correction; this throws (arrows of) rectifications even to these places. f) By this all inclusive rectification, which is the rectification of the brit, one elevates the brain. The essence of rectifying the mind is through rectifying the brit and this is the main way that Israel come closer to their Father in Heaven. g) Finding a livelihood without effort depends on this for, by the rectification of the brit, one merits to the aspect of Manna, an aspect of the bread of a livelihood from Heaven. On the other hand, when a livelihood comes with great effort, this is because the person hasn't performed the all inclusive rectification of the brit. (See the Zohar,Pt.3,pg.244A). h) All the time that a person hasn't rectified himself in this all inclusive way, speech is forbidden, as it says, "I was dumb with silence" (Psalms,39:3). By this the Schechinah is in an aspect of menstrual blood, Heaven forbid. From this menstrual blood of the Shechinah comes silence (in Hebrew, blood, 'dam', contains the same letters as silence, 'dumia'). This is because the essence of speech depends on the rectification of the brit, as it says, "and he declared his covenant to you." (Deut.4:13). Then it is impossible to speak and reveal Torah; whoever speaks then transgresses the prohibition of "don't go gossiping among your people" (Leviticus,19,16). He is "a talebearer who reveals secrets" (Proverbs,11:13). However, by the all inclusive rectification, speech is permitted and one can open one's mouth and reveal enlightening words of Torah. i) Epilepsy is caused by the blemishing of the brit, Heaven forbid. Therefore, by rectifying the brit, one is cured from this illness. j) When a person hasn't rectified himself generally and completely, he has to stay away from drinking wine because this leads to all of the sins. It also damages a person's livelihood and he is impoverished. However, someone who merits to the all inclusive rectification, on the contrary, he raises his brains through drinking and rectifiers himself even more. k) Someone who doesn't do business with faith and is deep in the craving for money, and steals from his fellow, he arouses and causes menstrual blood to the Shechinah, like blemishing the brit, and he loses his livelihood, Heaven forbid. l) The main way to rectify business affairs is to have in mind, every pace you take and in every word you say during business that your intention is to earn money in order to give charity. This is the general rectification of business matters, like it says, "Sow for yourselves charity" (Hoshea,10:12). This alludes to the white sperm (Tikkunei Zohar,52B) and that is an aspect of rectifying the brit. Through giving charity the brains are elevated and one gets an easy income. m) Therefore through charity one can talk and speak out enlightening Torah ideas, as the Sages said, "In your mouth- this is charity." (Rosh Hashana,7). This is what it says, "The tzaddik gives with good grace" (Psalms,37:21) ; this is an aspect of the rainbow covenant, for the tzaddik guards the brit. n) The rule from all these things is that one has to first make a general rectification that applies to him in order to fix and elevate the brains and draw from there whiteness, to fix and whiten all the blemishes. This is impossible other than by an all inclusive correction that is applicable to him such as doing business with the intention of giving charity. As a result of this, one elevates the brains and then everything is automatically corrected. That's to say, by the general rectification of all things, one raises the brain and draws all the whiteness. This is an aspect of 'the whiteness of the fluids of the brain that flow from Lebanon' (Zohar,Pt.3:72). By this, automatically, all the small details are also rectified. o) A woman whose menstrual blood is excessive and she has no regular period, even though wine hurts her, being an aspect of increased blood, even so, her cure is to drink the wine that a true tzaddik looked at, for his holy eyes are an aspect of 'hairs' which are an aspect of extraneous matter from his holy brain. This draws the white fluid of the brain which whitens the blood, the menstrual blood, and thus it is rectified. p) The thoughts in the mind of a person are according to his traits. In accordance to whatever trait a person is holding to, so the thoughts in his mind alternate and pass by, as it alludes to in the verse, "Seven locks of my head" (Judges,16,13). The locks of hair allude to the brain for hairs are excrement from the brains. When the seven attributes pass through the mind and hit the hairs, the power of sight is damaged for there are seven layers. (See introduction to Tikkunei Zohar,12). The opposite is also true; by rectifying the seven layers of the eye, one rectifies any blemish to the seven types of thought which are the hairs, an aspect of the correction of the brains. ### Prayer for Torah 29 29. Master of the Universe, Merciful One, bring me closer to Your service; return me in complete repentance before You. May I focus my heart on live and fear of Your Name. Please help me to make holy unifications every moment. Merit me to improve my deeds and to sanctify my thoughts with Your sublime holiness until I can perform lofty, holy and pure unifications in all the worlds. For this I was created, to unify and join all the worlds together with all Your holy Names in such a way that Your Unity and Oneness will become revealed and spread its radiance to all the world; everyone will know of You, from the insignificant to the great. So, G-d, my G-d, G-d of our Fathers, Who performs wonders at all times, please be with me and continually guard me so that I will not experience in myhouse any inadvertent mixing of prohibited food into permissible food. Save me from any mixture which becomes prohibited and by this, guard me from causing any blemish in Your Unification in the World Above. In addition, any blemish I have caused to the Unifications of Your holy Names as a result of my bad deeds, let them all be rectified through Your compassion. Merit me to have all my sins turn into meritorious deeds. In Your great and wonderful loving-kindness, You bestow and shine upon us continually the power and merit of the true tzaddikim who perform sublime unifications with complete perfection. They reveal and make known Your Unity and Oneness to al the world. We depend on their strength so that our innumerous, immense sins will be nullified completely and through their tremendous holiness and righteousness, our sins will turn into meritorious deeds. Master of the World, One and Only, have mercy on us for the sake of Your Holy Name. Merit us to really know You and make Your Name known to all the world. Let all the peoples’ of the earth know that the Lord is our G-d; nothing exists besides Him. May His glory fill all the earth. Amen. Amen. 30. When a new holy book comes into the world there are innovations that are created by tears. For a Jew has to cry before creating Torah innovations, as explained in Torah 262. Then these tears, from which the new book is made, stand up against harsh decrees of the nations and nullify them. ## 30 ### Torah 30 - A Garden Of Knives a) Perception of godliness is impossible to gain other than by many 'contractions', from cause to effect, from the Sublime Intellect to the Lower Intellect. This is like a teacher who first gives introductions and easy to grasp ideas in order that they will be understood before coming to the ultimate purpose which is the Sublime Intellect. Therefore, each individual has to ask and search and pray a lot to merit to find and come close to a true tzaddik who is an honest Rebbe, a great and awesome teacher, who is so great that he can instill this Sublime Intellect and make it understood; that is to say, he can give perceptions of godliness to people. This is the main purpose of life. b) A person has to search for the very greatest of teachers, for one needs the very greatest of Rebbes who can explain this great intellect of perceptions of godliness even to him on his level. However much lower one's level is and however more distant one is from the Holy One, one needs a correspondingly greater Rebbe like we see with the generation that left Egypt; they were on the forty-ninth level of impurity therefore they needed an awesome and mighty Rebbe like Moshe. Similarly, the sicker a person is, the more he has to have an expert doctor. This being the case, a person shouldn't mislead himself by saying that it is enough for him to be close to a simple, kosher Jew who is considered G-d fearing and is somewhat respected; don't say, 'why should I ask for big things and specifically search for the biggest tzaddik; it's enough that first I be like an ordinary pious Jew.' (Some people mistakenly claim this.) Don't make a mistake by saying this, rather, each person, according to how he really feels in his soul his own worthlessness and distance from the Holy One, has specifically to find and come close to a really great and true tzaddik who can cure his soul. The very greatest Rebbe is a wonderful craftsman who can 'clothe' and contract this Sublime Intellect, these perceptions of godliness, even to those who are very small and far from holiness. ( Editor's note: See Sanhedrin,32: "The Rabbis taught, "Righteousness, righteousness pursue", means search for the best Jewish court of law. Rebbe Eliezer went to Lod to find Rebbe Yochanan ben Zakai. See the explanation of the Meharshah, who says that it's known that Rebbe Yochanan was the greatest Rabbi of the generation. The Or Hachaim on this verse says that it comes to warn us that we should always search for the greatest rabbis of each generation and not make do with the small ones even if it means making a big effort. ) c) This is an aspect of hairs, for the radiation of light from the brain comes out in the hair. The Sublime Intellect, which is perceptions of godliness, is clothed in the Lower Intellect. These hairs represent measures (in Hebrew, hair and measure are the same letters) which are letters of the Torah as it says in Tikkunei Zohar,70. For the mitzvot are the wisdom of the Creator; every mitzvah has its own measure and limit and letters and words etc which are contractions. These contractions contain the wisdom of the Creator and they are an example of this 'clothing' mentioned before by which we can get a perception of godliness. Every single letter in the Torah and every mitzvah is a contraction. That means that we obtain perception of godliness through them. ( Editor's note: That is what the Mishneh in Chagiga means when it says that 'there are Jewish laws that are like mountains dependent on a hair.' That is to say, they are dependent on small clues in the Torah, so they are like a mountain, in importance, dependent on a hair, a contraction and clue.) d) To merit to this Lower Intellect is impossible other than by hating the desire to profit, hating money to the utmost degree. For the Lower Intellect is an aspect of black hair (Tikkun,70) which is like the black of the eye (the pupil). That is what it says, "I am black but beautiful." (Song of Songs,1). The reason is that the black of the eye collects and contracts all the big things which are included and seen in it. This is how one sees and perceives the thing one observes. So also, this Lower Intellect, the 'blackness', contracts the pleasantness and beauty of the Sublime Intellect. The black hair is from the side of Kingdom as well as the hate of money. For the Lower Intellect is an aspect of Kingdom, the lower wisdom of each world, which governs that world. However, by the love of money, this Kingdom falls into the realm of blackness of the Other Side, melancholy and sadness. As a result, the intellect falls into foolishness and sadness, an aspect of "with sadness you shall eat bread" (Gen.3). And he falls from that intellect into foolishness and sadness. Then the husks and the Other Side surround it from all sides with evil. This is an aspect of "And the people went about and collected" (Numbers,11:8) "Went about" (in Hebrew, 'shatoo') alludes to (sh'toot) "with foolishness" (Zohar, II: 63-64). This is the opposite of wisdom and causes a person to follow his desire for money. e) Each person, according to the aspect of the lower wisdom that he has (since each person has an aspect of Kingdom, lower wisdom), must draw life-force into it. The essence of this life-force comes from the Light of the Face, as it says, "In the light of the King's countenance" (Proverbs,16:15). That is why we are commanded three times a year to "appear before the Face of G-d" (Deut.16:15). This is in order to gain the Light of the Face which shines during the three Festivals and which bestows life-force to the intellect; by this we achieve perceptions of godliness. It is through the joy of the three Festivals that we merit to the Light of the Face, for the essence of the Light of the Face is joy, as it says, " A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance" (Proverbs,15:13). f) However much more one performs mitzvot during the whole year, so one merits to joy during the three Festivals because our main joy is from the mitzvot. And the root of joy is in the heart. Each person, according to what he feels in his heart of the Greatness of the Holy One and His Unity, is fitting for him to feel very great joy with each mitzvah he performs because he merits to do the will of G-d, the Creator and Eternal One. The main joy of each mitzvah that is done throughout the year is felt in the heart, as it says, "You put gladness in my heart" (Psalms,4:8). The heart of the entire year is the three Festivals, an aspect of "These are the Festivals of G-d" - 'eleh mo'adeh Yhvh' (Numbers,23), the initial letters of which spell e'm'y, alluding to 'em l'bina' and bina liba (literally, understanding in the heart) and joy, as mentioned, which gathers in the heart; they are the three Festivals, therefore they are days of joy. Each person must be very strong in this, to draw upon himself this holy joy of the mitzvot which is the joy of the three Festivals, all through the year. Even more so is this true of the Festival itself that a person has to be very happy indeed, like it says, "Rejoice in your Festival" (Deut.16) for then all the joy of the mitzvot is focused; we can't measure or estimate this happiness, as each person can realize in his heart. By this joy of the three Festivals, we merit to perception of godliness. This is why it says that "each person must go to see the face of his rabbi on the Festival." (Succah,27). This is in order to receive the Light of the Face and give vitality to the aspect of Kingdom. g) The main intelligence is only the true intelligence of the true tzaddikim who, through this intelligence, merit to perceptions of godliness and who are able to instill these perceptions into all those who follow them. All the secular wisdoms are total foolishness in relation to this true intelligence. Sometimes, through our iniquities, this intellect falls into the foolish wisdoms of the nations and the Other Side, Heaven forbid, and then this causes their wisdoms and rulership to overcome us. This means that they draw strength from holy Kingdom, an aspect of the lower intelligence, which exists in each world of the Four Worlds and which is an aspect of the wisdom that governs the world. All the wisdoms of all the nations are under the lower wisdom of holiness and draw strength from it. Who could stand the huge noise of the cries and screams when this aspect of Kingdom, which is wisdom, falls into the realm of the Other Side! This is what it says, "The cry of him who rules among fools" (Eccl.9:17). When the fool (the evil urge who is called the "old, foolish king" (Eccl. 9), an aspect of the Kingdom of the Orther Side) wants to get clever, he draws into his foolish wisdom the true wisdom which is the intelligence of perceptions of godliness. Then they say that only they are clever and no wisdom is like theirs, but it is a mistake for all their nourishment is from the fall of holy intelligence. About this, the Holy One Himself cries out, so to speak, as it says, "The Lord shall roar from on high" (Jeremiah, 25:30). "Because of His habitation", relates to the Kingdom which falls, Heaven forbid, into exile among the Four Kingdoms of the Other Side which are the four exiles. h) Every person has to see to it that he cuts, separates and raises the holy wisdom from among the four exiles and to return it to its source. To this one merits by giving charity and doing kindness, for this raises the intelligence from exile and subdues the ruling power of the nations. Therefore, each person, according to his level, has to make a constant effort to extract the Shechinah, meaning the intelligence, from exile by performing kindness. By this we subdue the secular wisdoms and are saved from the yoke of the Kingdom of Evil; then we merit to perceptions of godliness. i) Corresponding to the four Kingdoms of holiness of the Four Worlds (Atzilut,B'ria,Yetzira,Asiah, as is known), from Avraham, the man of charity, came four sons about whom the Torah spoke- the wise son, the wicked one, the one who was simple and the one who didn't know to ask. Yitzchak represents the wise one "who gladdens his father" (Proverbs,10). Esau is the wicked one and Ya'acov is the simpleton, as it says, "Ya'acov was a simple man" (Gen. 25). Yishmael is the son who doesn't know how to ask, that's to say he doesn't know how to repent and to ask forgiveness from the Holy One for those sins that he doesn't know about, which is the main repentance, like it says, "What I didn't steal, I must return" (Psalms,69,5). All this is what it says about Avraham that he established the morning prayer (Shachrit) for the initial letters of 'shachrit' allude to the initial letters of the four kinds of sons. They correspond to the Four Kingdoms mentioned previously. Shachrit also alludes to the blackness (shachrot) which is the Lower Intelligence, as above. Avraham merited to rectify it because he hated money as it says about the money from Sodom which he despised; he didn't take "even from a thread to a shoe lace" (Gen.14). He always performed charity in order to raise the Kingdom of Holiness from among the Other Side. For this reason he ran after the four kings in order to subdue them for they are the aspect of the four kingdoms of the Other Side. j) Parallel to these four, there are four mitzvot on every Festival in order to raise the four aspects of the holy Kingdom from among the Other Side and to nullify them. On Pesach we drink four goblets of wine; on Shavuot we received the Torah which was repeated four times ( G-d to Moshe,Moshe to Aharon, Aharon to the Elders and from them to all Israel) as it explains in Eruvin,54; in Succot there are the four species ( palm branch, myrtles, willows and etrog ); all these correspond to the four aspects of the Kingdom of Holiness which we have to raise to the Light of the Face by the joy of the mitzvot which are gathered together on the Festivals. To achieve this, a person must return in repentance during the Festival out of joy; by this we bring the Redemption closer. k) The main way to reveal this loving-kindness (charity) is by accepting reproach and ethics from true tzaddikim even though sometimes their reprimand is by way of abusing and disgracing us. Through this we merit to give charity and perform loving-kindnesses. l) We have to accept this reproach from the true tzaddikim even though they may disgrace us sometimes. We have to judge them on the side of merit for "a person is not to be blamed during the hour of his anguish"(Baba Batra,16); they suffer a great deal because of us. All our affairs and mundane conversations are certainly bad by their standards. Even what is really good for us, such as our prayers, which by our standards are good, are also bad to them, for our prayers disturb them a lot for our prayers contain all sorts of extraneous thoughts and confusions. These prayers, with all their confusions come to the tzaddikim to be elevated by them, therefore if they reprimand us sometimes in a degrading manner, we must accept it, as explained. m) Mixed up ideas and confusions are called 'folly',(in Hebrew the same word as 'praise', 'tehila' or prayer) as it says, "His angels He charges with folly" (Job,4,18). They are so called because they come to a person especially during prayer and reciting praises. They come for two reasons: or they come to be rectified, for now is the time to rectify the holy sparks which need rectification; alternatively, they come to confuse a person in his prayer because he is not worthy to pray. One has to make a very big effort to overcome these confusions and extraneous thoughts which arrive during the prayers, for all the foolishness and confused thoughts that a person occasionally has, and the mixed up mind that a person has throughout the day at certain times, whatever it is, comes back to him specifically during his prayers. These thoughts come into his heart while he is praying and confuse him a lot. They come and go up into his heart at that time specifically. For this reason one has to be very strong and overcome all these thoughts. Yet with all this, the prayers come to the tzaddikim to be elevated, an aspect of "For My praise I will refrain for you" (Isaiah,48:9). All the praises come to the tzaddik who is an aspect of Meshiach, an aspect of the nostrils, an aspect of "The breathe of our nostrils, Meshiach of G-d" (Lam.4:20). For Meshiach smells the truth, as it says, "And his delight" (literally 'smell') "shall be in the fear of G-d" (Isaiah,11:3), that's to say, prayers, an aspect of "who fears the Lord, shall be praised." (Proverbs,31:30). That's to say, he smells and feels the prayers that he receives from each person, each one according to his level, for all the confusions of each person are within the prayers. n) The tzaddik knows which prayers come from pious Jews and which come from other people. By this he knows to reprimand them, for according to the boldness and the Torah of each person he knows if the person's prayer was worthy or not. There are two kinds of boldness; boldness of holiness and boldness from the Other Side. It is impossible to merit to Torah other than by holy boldness, to be bold like a leopard, against those who cause dissention and stand in the way as it says in the Shulchan Aruch,Orach Chaim, par.1 that he shouldn't be ashamed before the mockers. According to one's holy boldness, so one merits to Torah and to draw down true Torah innovations into the world. The opposite is also true, to the degree that a person has evil boldness, he draws Torah from the Other Side. Then, according to the Torah, and according to one's boldness, one merits to prayer, for prayer also comes from holy boldness, that a person is bold enough to ask from the Holy One everything that he needs, even to ask for wonders. If a person wanted to feel ashamed of his deeds in the light of the greatness of G-d, he certainly wouldn't be able to open his mouth to pray at all. Therefore, according to the holy boldness that he has against those who cause obstacles, he merits to true Torah, as mentioned above; so also he merits to intense prayer. So, the tzaddik, by seeing the boldness and Torah of each person, knows from the prayer that confused him where the boldness came from and knows who to reprimand. o) From the voice of a person one can know his aspect of Kingdom. For there is an aspect of Kingdom to every person and it is noticeable in his voice, like it says, "It is not the voice of mastery" (Exodus,32,18). Therefore, Shaul understood from the voice of King David that he is strong in the aspect of Kingdom. He asked, "Is this the voice of my son, David" (Shmuel,1:21). He was surprised by the strength of David's voice and understood that it is actually the voice of a king; Shaul wanted to raise his own voice above that of David but couldn't. That is what it says that "Shaul raised his voice and cried" (ibid). His voice was low, an aspect of the sound of low crying, so he said to David, "I know that you will certainly rule" as the king. This he knew by the voice of David. In Your bountiful mercy and great loving-kindness, have mercy on us and save us so that we can welcome the three Festivals- Pesach, Shavuot and Succot- with great holiness and immense joy. Let us honour the Festivals with all sorts of honour, with special food and drink, clean clothes and rest from work; with a good feeling in the heart and great happiness. Let us pray with great devotion as is proper, without any confusing thoughts. Especially let me be happy with all the mitzvot that are focused in the Festival so that I can take this happiness with me throughout the entire year. Merit us to be very, very happy and phenomenally joyful during the Festival that You chose us from all the nations and raised us above all the tongues. Please have mercy on us and help us to perform the four mitzvot of each Festival with absolute perfection so that we merit to the Light of the Face and can raise the Shechinah out of its exile among the Four Kingdoms of evil. Through all this joy of the holy mitzvot, may I repent perfectly, even in regard to sins that I wasn't aware of or have forgotten. As a result of all this happiness and holiness throughout the year, enable me to always gain perceptions of godliness and be aware at all times of Your exaltedness. (Prayer 30) Your greatness, G-d is beyond measure for no mind can grasp You at all. However, because of Your great mercy and grace, You wish to bestow good to Your creatures. You constricted Your godliness in several stages to make it perceivable to us, from the first cause down to the caused, from the upper intellect down to the lower intellect. You bestowed strength to the true tzaddikim to ascertain Your godliness and know Your exultedness. You have graced them with understanding, wisdom and intellect so that they are capable of instilling perception of godliness in our lowly minds. When You began to reveal Your godliness through Moshe, extracted us from 49 Gateways of Impurity and yet instill in us the perceiption of 49 Gateways of Holiness. He brought us closer to Your service and gave us the Torah and its holy mitzvot which are all constrictions which enable us to perceive Your godliness, for every letter and mitzvah of Your holy Torah provides us with the power to achieve knowledge and to ascertain Your godliness. By the greatness of Moshe and his immense virtue, he was able to instil in even the very lowliest of Jews perceptions of godliness. So now I have come before You, G-d, my G-d and G-d of my Fathers. Please teach me and show me in which path and which advice I also can merit to perceiveYour godliness. I was created for this purpose You know, I was only created and brought into this lowly world in order to pursue this ultimate purpose of ascertaining perceptons of Your godliness. Master of the World, You know that no-one can instill in us perceptions of godliness other than the truly great and unique tzaddikim of the generation. We know ourselves, our immensely low spiritual level and distance from holiness, therefore we need a true spiritual leader of the most sublime stature. However much more a sick person becomes weaker, so he needs a greater doctor. In Egypt when we were in the depths of the 49 Gateways of Impurity, no one could help us other than Moshe. Now that we have fallen into this great exile, in body and soul, into greater depths that in Egypt, we have no –one to help us other that the greatest of tzaddikim who is an aspect of Moshe. Please, help and save us. Forgive me for my many sins. Grant me good advice and save me for Your Name’s sake. Merit me to come close to You, from now on, no matter what happens. And, by this, enable me to gain perceptions of Your godliness with truth, perfect faith, holiness, great purity and real humility. Protect me and save me from the craving for money so that no desire for money enters my heart at all. Rather, let me hate the power of money with the utmost hate. Likewise, save me from the bother and struggle to make a living so that my mind will not become confused. Let me not put my mind into any worldy business. On the contrary, may my mind, heart, soul and body always cleave to You and yearn for You. Let me really long to perceive Your exaltedness with perfect faith until I achieve perfect holy wisdom, the upper wisdom and lower wisdom and can thus continually gain true perceptons of Your godliness. Merit me to new, genuine perceptions and knowledge of Your exaltedness with a real desire for holy faith. Grant me knowledge, understanding and intellect so that I will be able to instill perceptions of godliness in many other people, with holiness and great purity as Your desire. Merit me, in Your great compassion to reveal and publicise Your godliness, exaltedness and lordship to all peoples of the world. And so, in Your great compassion, extract us from this bitter exile, an exile of body, soul and holy money. They have all sunk in this very great and bitter exile. Please raise the Shechinah and the Community of Israel from their exile, from among the four kingdoms. It has already been many years that the true kingdom of holiness, which means in all four worlds, have fallen from its throne because of our many sins. It has been given over to the rule of the four kingdoms.As a result, we have been exiled from our Land, materially and spiritually. We have gone from one exile to another. Our strength has run out; our hands are powerless. Because of this personal exile has overcome each one of us. This is the exile of the soul throught the physical desires of this world and its vanities. All this happens to us because we are among the nations; we have learnt from their deeds. Let Your cries, roars and immense shouting be heard over the exile of the Shechinah and the People of Israel. Hear the cries and screams of the Shechinah and the People of Israel who cry out with a bitter voice about the distress of our souls when the nations overcome us each day. It is not enough they want to rule over us in body and money; they also want to overcome us with their mistaken, foreign wisdoms. Many of our Jewish brothers have already been caught in their evil net and trap. Please, please save and rescue us and our brothers together with all the seed of the Jewish People from their net which is now spread to catch us. There was never ever anything like this in previous times. Grant us perfect faith so we can make You King over us, our souls and all our limbs and sinews at all times. Have mercy on us, for who can stand to hear the screams of the Holy One and the Shechinah. May our hearts always shout out to You until You haver mercy on us. Master of the Universe, Your Kingdom is forever. Your rule exists in each generation. Have compassion over Your Kingship which spreads through all the four worlds. Redeem, extract and elevate the Shechinah and Your Kingship from among the nations. Raise Your holy Kingship and the Jewish People from the exile of the four kingdoms. Speedily, uproot, break and subdue the kingdom of evil during our lifetime. Furthermore, uproot, break and nullify all the foreign wisdoms, philosophies and atheism from the world. Please have mercy on us and send us true tzaddikim who will always reproach us in an open way but with love hidden within it. Let our hearts and ears accept their reproach even if it is sometimes harsh. Despite this, may we accept their words of reproach with love and great joy. Merit us, as a result, to repent fully and reveal to us Your great love for us through the good reproach from the tzaddikim. Then, as a result of our merging in the attribute of loving-kindness, merit us to cut, separate and elevate the kingdom of holiness from out of the four kingdoms of the Other Side. In Your bountiful mercy and great loving-kindness have mercy upon us, save us that we merit to welcome all the three Festivals – Pesach, Shavuot and Succot – with great holiness and phenomenally great joy. Let honour all the Festivals and Holy Days with all sorts of honour, might and glory; with special food and drink, clean clothing and rest from work; with good heartedness, great happiness, tremendous devotion in prayer and wonderful spiritual awakening, as is proper for a Jew to pray and behave on a Holy Day. Grant us help to perform many commandments during the year, in great holiness and tremendous happiness. Let the happiness of all the commandments throughout the year gather together into the holy heart (of the year) which is the three Festivals. By this, may we really merit to the happiness of the Festival, as You desire, as it says: “And you shall rejoice in Your Festival”. Let us be very, very happy and phenomenally joyful in all the three Festivals. “We will be glad and rejoice in You”, that You chose us from all the nations and raised us above all the tongues, until we merit to rise to see and be seen in the radiance of the Countenance of the Lord. Let us be worthy to fulfill all the commandments that are customary in each Festival by which we raise the Divine Presence which is like the letter ‘daled’ [having the numerical value of four] to the light of the Countenance (Or Ha Panim). These commandments are – on Pesach, the four cups of wine; on Shavuot, the receiving of the Torah which is ‘the system of learning each thing four times for each individual’; and on Succot there are four species together with the Lulav (palm branch). Please Lord, have mercy upon us and let us merit to really fulfill perfectly all these awesome commandments at their appointed time, their exact time, on every single Festival, together with all the rest of the holy, awesome commandments on every Festival. Please help us fulfill them in absolute perfection, with very, very great happiness and joy, with fear and love in such a way that we merit to raise the Kingdom of Holiness to Or Ha Panim which radiates during the three Festivals. Let us merit to return in perfect repentance before You as a result of the happiness on each of the Holy Days. In Your bountiful mercy let me repent perfectly even with regard to the transgressions that I do not know or that I do not remember. Master of the World, You know how far I am from the holiness of the happiness of the Holy Festivals. Take pity and have mercy upon me out of Your bountiful compassion. Out of Your immense loving-kindness, may we welcome the Holy Days with great holiness and immense happiness until we raise the Kingdom of Holiness from out of the four kingdoms and thus raise it to the radiance of the Countenance of the Lord…May I achieve this holy happiness at all times until I merit to a perception of Your Divinity and knowledge of Your exaltedness together with a real, wholehearted yearning for Your belief, with happiness and good –heartedness, great holiness and purity. Grant me a holy boldness towards You so that I merit to strengthen myself and make a great effort to pray with all my boldness and might. May I strengthen and encourage my heart so as to hope for You and look forward to Your compassion. Let me be shameless towards You so as to always ask, pray and plead before You for all that I lack in my service of the Lord. Let me never be too ashamed or disgraced before You to ask for great and awesome things, to ask that You perform incredible wonders for me. Master of the World, everything is revealed before You; You know the immense and numerous confusions which happen to me most of the time and how mixed-up my mind is when I begin to pray and plead before You, such that I cannot even say one word of prayer properly. All the confusions that I have at various periods or during the whole day, come into my mind specifically at the time of prayer and want to nullify my prayer. Because of this, my prayer is very mixed up with all sorts of wasteful, disorganized, strange and extraneous thoughts and with so very, very many confusions as to be beyond number. I do not know what to do! Because of the immense confusion that I have I do not know any way to stand up against these many confusions. I have no one upon whom I can rely for support other than my Father in Heaven. Take pity, have mercy upon me. Save me. Save my prayer from all sorts of disorder of the mind, from all sorts of extraneous thoughts, bad thoughts and confusions that exist in the world. Help me and let me merit to bind my thoughts to the words of prayer in a very strong, firm knot, until I merit to pray with devotion. May my prayers, entreaties and requests be pure and firm, refined and clean from all dross and waste. Spare me and have pity upon me; do it for Your sake, not for my sake. I have no hope other than my prayer and entreaties. …Help me and save me from now on, from all sorts of evil thoughts and bad reflections, from confusions and disorder of the mind. May my thoughts always be pure and clean, holy and pure. And may I merit to purify and sanctify my thoughts to the utmost, especially at the time of prayer, such that no confusion or extraneous thoughts or any thought which is not to do with prayer, even if if it is a holy thought, come to my mind at all at the time of prayer. Rather, may I merit to be in great awe and fear throughout all the prayers when I pray. Let me not hear any person or anything in the world other than You alone. May I pray with great devotion in the utmost perfection. May I merit to connect my prayer to all the true tzaddikim in our generation and to all the true tzaddikim who rest in the earth. Let them receive my prayer, refine and purify it and save it from every foe, ambusher and accuser on the way. Let them raise it up as a sweet fragrance before Your Throne of Glory together with all the prayers of Your Nation, Israel. May it rise up to be a crown for Your head. Take pity on me. Be gracious to me. Have mercy upon me and save me. Let me merit to a holy boldness so that I may always strengthen myself at the time of prayer and let me discard any shame so that I will not be ashamed before You. Then may I be bold and ask of You all sorts of the greatest requests in the world that relate to truly serving You. Bring me closer to You in all sorts of ways; perform with me incredible wonders – raise me from the lowest of the low levels of spirituality to the most lofty, holy attributes. May I quickly merit to reach all the highest levels of holiness so that I merit to ascertain Your G-dliness in the most sublime manner, like the true prophets and great, awesome tzaddikim. May I keep the path of our forefathers who trusted in You and did not feel ashamed of asking all the great things from You as is written: “Our fathers trusted in You; they trusted and You delivered them.” They shouted out to You and were saved; in You they trusted and were not ashamed. For You know that, according to Your immense greatness and lofty majesty and our great lowliness and worthlessness, it would not be possible to even start to stand before You and ask for anything, even the smallest thing in the world – for who am I that I should merit to pray before the Lord, my G-d and G-d of my Fathers. You know Lord, You are very great and Your Name is exalted by every blessing and song of praise. How can we bold and insistent to ask such great things for You; especially a person such as myself, blemished, despised and rejectied of men as I am!! However, in Your bountiful mercy You taught us by Your true tzaddikim and informed us of Your good ways that You desire to perform loving-kindness and do much good. You grant us a holy boldness form Yourself and You want us to be bold and ask from You great and awesome things. You want us to plead and beg of You a great deal, for days and years, until we merit to be victorious over You, so to speak; to have our requests answered mercifully by You, as it is written: “I am the Lord, your G-d, who brought you out of the land of Egypt: open your mouth wide and I will fill it”. 31.THERE IS A WELL a) All the heavenly constellations are directed by charity and it is through charity that all the blessings are drawn into the world. However, only on Shabbat are the blessings perfect for Shabbat is an aspect of faith. The main importance of charity is that it expresses faith. Therefore, the main radiance of the light of charity like the sun and its perfection is only on Shabbat which represents faith, and faith is the source of all blessings. b) The perfection of all things is faith, for without faith all things are lacking. So also with the Torah, which is understanding; its perfection is only by faith for all the Torah stands on faith as the Sages said, "Chabakkuk came and established everything on faith" (Makot,24). So also, the perfection of the constellations which represent charity, is through faith, since the main thing is faith. c) By keeping Shabbat, which is an aspect of faith, charity is perfected and one merits to all the blessings. That is the reason that the Tanna began the Gemorra Shabbat with the mitzvah of charity (a poor man standing outside takes charity from the householder). This alludes to all of the above; the fact that the perfection of all things is charity and by keeping Shabbat one merits to faith. (This is what it says in the Shabbat song of L'cha Dodi, that Shabbat is the source of all blessings.) d) The main deed of the charity is what the poor person does for the householder (See Midrash Ruth, Rashi there). This corresponds to the movement of the constellations, as the Sages said (Shabbat,151) , "because of this thing (i.e. charity) there is a wheel (system of constellations) that revolves in the world." There are two directions of movement: the main one is from west to east, which is the natural one. Then there is the movement which is by force, from east to west when the constellation of the day spins and returns from east to west, pulling with it all the constellations. The poor person represents the west, as it says, "From the west I will gather you" (Isaiah,43), for the poor man gathers charity. The householder who gives represents the east, as it says, "From the east I will bring your seed" (ibid). Seed alludes to charity as it says, "Sow your seeds of charity"(Hoshea,10). The main movement is from west to east, from the poor person to the householder. e) The main way to sustain and bring vitality to one's faith is only by guarding the brit. Therefore people travel to tzaddikim for the holy Shabbat for the main holiness of the true tzaddikim is through their perfect guarding of the brit in all aspects. For this reason we travel to tzaddikim for Shabbat to receive from them the holiness of Shabbat which is faith, which itself is the perfection of all things. f) All the constellations and the conducting of the world, meaning "the laws of Heaven and Earth"(Jer.30), are all dependent on the guarding of the brit. This includes all the blessings and bounty that come from them. g) All the suffering that a person has while on the road is all because of a blemish to the brit. For this reason, the Sages said that a man should have relations with his wife before he begins to travel (Yevamot,62). This is so that he won't be in an aspect of "All flesh corrupted his way" (Gen.6:12): that's to say, by guarding the brit he won't have any suffering on the roads. h) So also, a person has to give charity before he goes on the road like it says, "Righteousness will go before him, and walk in the way of his steps." (Psalms,85:14). By giving charity one lights the star (of the person on the road) for charity radiates in all the constellations. By this, one nullifies any delay on the road for the delay stems from the delay in the stars that don't shine perfectly. As a result, a person is saved from any delay or suffering on the road. (See Torah 264: Charity is also a rectification for the brit) i) There are two aspects of guarding the brit. One is the Upper Covenant which is the firmament which separates the upper and lower waters, an aspect of a free man. By this one merits to freedom and makes generations. The second type is guarding that which is permitted from that which is not permitted. Every person has to have these two aspects of the brit, meaning to be a tzaddik and a scholar. Someone who has the first type of guarding the brit is called a tzaddik. A scholar is he who learns the rules of what is permitted and what is prohibited and keeps the rules. When a person merits to guard the brit at both these levels he is similar to an angel of G-d and merits to perfect faith; by this, he attracts and draws down all the blessings and bounty. j) Through guarding the brit, one reveals the attribute of loving-kindness 'in the mouth of the brit' (Zohar,3:142A) which is love and longing for the Holy One. Holy longing is a very precious thing indeed. Longing makes souls which are vowel points to the letters of the Torah, an aspect of 'points of silver'. That's to say, by the longing, vowel points, which are an aspect of souls, are made. This is what it says, "My soul longs and faints" (Psalms,84:3) From the very longing and fainting for the Holy One my soul is made. k) The vowel points are the vitality and movement of the letters, therefore they are like a soul. Just like the vitality and every movement of a person come from his soul, and without it he would be a lifeless form, so also with the letters, they have no life or movement without the points for through this the letters move themselves, become joined and combined. These vowel points are made by the longing for G-d which is an aspect of souls and the mating and joining together of the vowels is an aspect of the joining of souls.Then, by the points, the letters themselves join and combine, like the joining of bodies. This is the secret of the confession (literally, 'falling on the face', said after the Amida in the morning prayer), the intention of which is to raise the soul, called the raising of 'feminine waters' and create a unification for the longing for G-d is itself an aspect of raising 'feminine waters' which makes the soul which rises and makes a unification and mating. The main making of the soul is by longing for G-d, each person according to his level, as he longs to reach a higher level. This is what creates the soul in potential. l) By longing the uniting is made. By longing for something the soul is made. Then the object returns the longing to the person. This also makes soul and the two souls unite. Longing for the object is the feminine aspect and this makes a feminine soul and the object's longing for him is the masculine desire and makes a masculine soul (Zohar,Pt.1,85B). Afterwards they come to the aspect of pregnancy and birth as the Zohar explains. New souls are thus completed and go out to act in the world. The letters of the Torah activate everything; they are the vitality of each thing and direct the entire world. But they have no power to act other than through the vowel points which are the aspect of longing. If a person longs for evil he makes evil vowel points which join and combine with the letters and create evil results. But, on the other hand, if he longs to return to G-d in repentance, he makes good vowel points and this moves the letters and they join together so that they bring about good deeds in the world. m) The holy Shabbat is an aspect of faith and the holiness of the brit, through which a person merits to love and holy longing and good yearning and this makes holy souls. Therefore, at the beginning of Shabbat a Jew gets a holy longing when he reminds himself of the loss of his extra soul after Shabbat as the weekdays begin. Thus the Sages said, "When Shabbat comes, a person says, woe that my soul is getting lost" (Betza,16). That's to say, by longing for this soul, this itself creates the extra soul of Shabbat. For the main coming about of holy souls is through holy yearning, as mentioned. n) Each person, according to his yearnings, from which souls are made, makes vowel points for the letters of the Torah. At first they are a simple light, (as explained in Torah 36) for from the Mouth on High there comes out just a simple light. But in accordance with a person's longings, he creates a shape to the letters which were previously only a lifeless form. By the points from the yearning, vessels are made. If a person has holy cravings and longings he shapes the letters of the Torah and explains them for the good; he makes vessels with which to receive good. But if he yearns for evil, then he creates vessels to receive evil, Heaven forbid. According to what he longs for, he shapes and accomplishes in the world, for the Torah contains good and bad, like the Sages said, " it contains the elixir of life and that of death"(Yoma,72) and this is what it says, "The righteous walk in them but the transgressors stumble in them" (Hoshea,14:10). o) But, to bring the soul from potential to actuality one has to speak out the yearnings. By this one finishes the making of the soul and it goes from potential to actuality, like it says, "My soul went out when he spoke" (Song of Songs, 5:6). This is also like it says, "He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him and hear their cry and save them" (Psalms, 145:19). For through the desire, which is the yearning, the soul is created in potential and then his desire and will is created in, an aspect of "He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him". Then "their cry", when they speak out their longings, by this He "will hear their cry and save them" for speaking out completes the soul bringing it from potential to actuality and then the letters combine and create a vessel (See Torah 34 'for speech is the vessel to receive bounty') to receive good and the fulfillment of their desire in actuality. For according to the soul he makes in potential or actuality so vowel points are made for the letters and patterned such that they make and actuate his request and desire.Similarly, the daily prayers are arranged like this, that one has to speak out with the lips holy yearning and then the soul is made in actuality. The essence of the soul is the power of speech, an aspect of "And Man became a speaking soul" (Gen.2) which Unkulus translates as "the talking spirit". p) This is the virtue of conversing with one's Maker, speaking out one's good yearnings and pining to get out of one's evil and to merit to real goodness. A person has to pray to G-d about this that He have mercy on him and fulfill his good desires. Speak out about all that you lack in the service of G-d that you want and long for it to be fulfilled by the Holy One. Through this he will merit to accomplish with his prayers what he wants, and bring good into the world and one draws good and blessings into all the worlds; it also arouses several Jewish souls to repent. For this reason a person has to train himself to converse with his Maker a great deal every day; this is a very precious thing and can cause to bring the entire world back to the path of good. q) When a person merits to guard the brit on these two levels, he merits to love of G-d and to holy longings. He gives shape to the letters of the Torah for the good which is an aspect of the elixir of life. Then the letters of the Torah themselves ask him to speak them out so they will be shaped for the good. As a result of this, all one's eating and meals will be an aspect of the "Show Bread" and "his table will affect atonement like the altar." Then all the stars and the constellations and all the non-Jews will exert themselves for his livelihood. r) The point in general is that yearnings and cravings for holiness are very precious for, through them, when spoken out, the soul comes about and is completed, as mentioned. Sometimes this holy soul which comes out is re-incarnated in a wicked person and this causes him thoughts of repentance such that he may return to the good. The opposite is also true, bad yearnings can cause evil consequences, Heaven forbid. The soul created by bad longings can be re-incarnated into a tzaddik and cause him to sin, Heaven forbid. That is what it says, "There is a vapour" (Eccl.8:14) meaning the vapour of the mouth from where souls come out. For this reason there are tzaddikim to whom deeds like sinners come. This is because they receive the re-incarnated souls of the wicked made from evil longings and this can lead the tzaddikim to thoughts of sinning such that they may eventually sin, Heaven forbid, or they may rectify that soul. So also with the wicked, the opposite, deeds like tzaddikim come to them. They can certainly get thoughts of repentance when they get a holy soul made from holy yearnings which may lead them to repent or to spoil that soul . This is why re-incarnation is called 'gilgul' (literally meaning a spinning wheel) for the souls that come from speaking out, spin around the world (going from the tzaddikim to the wicked and vice versa.) s) A Jew reaches perfection when he is both a tzaddik and a Torah scholar, for if he isn't a scholar, the Sages said that "an ignoramus isn't pious." And just being a scholar is surely nothing, for a person can be a scholar but also completely wicked, Heaven forbid, for "if one doesn't merit, it becomes the elixir of death." Therefore, one has to be a scholar with regard to the Torah and righteous in good deeds (that's to say, a tzaddik, as explained in the Zohar, Pt.3:213). Then he will be like an angel of G-d and shape the letters of the Torah for the good. Someone who makes the mistake of thinking that learning alone is everything, this is like Acher who "cut the branches" (separated the Torah from G-d), Heaven save us. t) Even a perfect tzaddik, who is a tzaddik and scholar, sometimes falls from his level, as is known, for it is impossible to always remain on one level. Then, if he wants to strengthen himself with the aspect of being a scholar, which remains even then, this is not good; rather, he has to strengthen himself with fear of G-d and his good points that still remain in him. u) Because of these two aspects that are found in the rabbi and tzaddik: the aspect of being a scholar alludes to the aspect of 'angel' which is the angel called Mattat, a reflection of the Mishneh; and the aspect of tzaddik, who is similar to his Maker to be righteous in good deeds, an aspect of the 'Lord of Hosts'. Since the Rabbi contains both of these powers, he contains both the elixir of life and of death. Therefore, it is possible to come close to him and find in him indications that he "cut the branches" or, the opposite, that he "entered and left the Orchard in peace". There are four types of people who approach the true tzaddikim, like the four who entered the Orchard (Chagiga,14).There are those who learn a straight path from the tzaddik and become pious such that , in the end, they become tzaddikim, an aspect of Rebbe Akiva, who entered and left in peace. Then there are those like Ben Azai who 'looked and was damaged', meaning that his heart became so enthused by the great light that the tzaddik shone into him that he couldn't control his enthusiasm and therefore went out of his mind. Then there are those who 'look and die' like Ben Zoma; he was enthused far beyond his level such that he died (not wanting to return to This World). They were both tzaddikim, and also about them it says, "tzaddikim walk in them, but…" However, there are those who come with crookedness and complaints in their heart; they can find in the tzaddik what they want, that's to say, the desire to deny all faith, become distant and fall away completely from the tzaddik, even opposing him and making fun of him. This is like Acher who "cut the branches". This is an aspect of "the sinners stumble in them". These four levels are what is called 'tzaddik, sinner, servant of G-d, not a servant'. That is what the verse says, "See the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between he who serves G-d and he who does not serve." (Malachi,3,18). All these aspects are found in each individual who wants to enter the service of G-d and come close to the tzaddik and the Rabbi of the generation. This is because the tzaddik has to have these two powers that are in the Torah, the elixir of life and the opposite, Heaven forbid. This is in order to enable the one who approaches to receive as he wants, tzaddikim walk in them etc. as mentioned. ### Prayer for Torah 30 30. King, Who saves and guards us, nullify and remove from over us all the harsh decrees that all the world’s rulers, ministers and advisers are planning. Turn their hearts in our favour. You alone know what they are thinking about us all the time. They have risen up against us. Master of the Universe, You alone know our condition and status nowadays among the nations. They consider us thorns in their side. We are considered as lambs to the slaughter. In each and every country they plan decrees against the Jewish faith. In every generation they rise against us to destroy us, but the Holy One saves us from their hands. So, Merciful One, Who loves the Jewish People, remember all the holy tears before You, until they merited to many Torah innovations. As a result, they wrote many, pure, holy, wonderful and awesome books from these Torah innovations, all through those profuse tears. Have mercy on us; arouse the power of the really holy tears so that they stand up for us against and nullify the harsh decrees of the nations. Unique Master, Merciful One, Redeemer of Israel, Helper of the Fathers, Protector and Savior of their descendents in every generation, spread Your compassion over Your People who You chose, especially in these days of distress before the Coming of Meshiach. Awaken and arouse the merit and power of these awesome and holy tears, innumerous, boiling tears which burn like flames. These are the tears of that all the holy tzaddikim have cried before You from time immemorial. Let their tears stand against the evil tears of Esau and by this, cancel all the evil decrees of the nations against us. Uproot, break, crumble and nullify through the power of tears of the tzaddikim all those decrees. Help and save us so that we can engage in studying the books of the true tzaddikim, by day and night. Merit us to understand all the worlds of their holy Torah and to really perform their words. May their books spread throughout the world and their springs of wisdom flow out. As a result, let the power of their holy tears cancel, break and uproot all the evil plans and decrees of the nations, against us. Undo their thoughts. Do it for Your Name’s sake. We have no-one to rely on other than Our Father in Heaven and upon the power and merit of the holy tzaddikim. Our Father and King, cancel all their evil and harsh decrees from upon us. Rise to help us; redeem us for the sake of Your loving-kindness, 31. Through song you can recognize in a person if he has taken upon himself the yoke of Torah. 32. (a) Every Jew, according to his purity and holiness, has the aspect of Meshiach. And he has to guard himself a great deal so as not to spoil this aspect of Meshiach which he has. The main thing is to guard oneself from fornication; he has to guard himself a lot even from causing even a smell of fornication, for it blemishes the aspect of Meshiach that he has. (b) The spirit of Meshiach becomes a spirit of jealousy and this goes to be zealous in any place where there is a blemish of fornication and even in a place where there is no real fornication, only a superficial blemish; there also it is zealous of this. For, because of the immense holiness and purity of the aspect of Meshiach, it cannot bare even the slightest blemish of sexual impurity and it is very zealous about this. May the Merciful One save us. (c) When the union between a kosher husband and wife is without the slightest blemish and their union is according to the halacha, with the greatest holiness, then their union creates a Supernal Unification . Then their union is very precious indeed. (d) The spirit of zealousness of Meshiach dwells on the faces of the Torah, meaning the holy books which reveal the faces of the Torah; this is an aspect of "The spirit of G-d hovers over the surface (faces) of the water" (Gen.1:1), water alludes to the Torah. Behold, by the spirit of jealousy, the peace between a kosher husband and wife can also be spoilt for their union is, nevertheless, in This World. Therefore, because of this, the great tzaddikim hide their holy manuscripts and sometimes burn them so that automatically the spirit of zealousness of Meshiach which dwells upon their books will be removed. As a result, the peace between a kosher husband and wife will not be damaged, Heaven forbid. Now a book is an aspect of the Name of G-d (as brought in the Zohar, B'reishit:37B), an aspect of "My Name" which is written in holiness. Then in the World Above they learn 'even more so' (as brought in Shabbat 116): "Just as My Name is written in holiness (in the Temple and in holy books) and the Torah says (Numbers, Ch.5 in the case of the Sotah) to wipe out the Name in order to bring peace between a husband and wife, so, even more so, the books of the heretics that bring about hate and rivalry between the Jewish People and their Father in Heaven, should be wiped out , destroyed and uprooted from the world. It turns out that the destruction of the holy books of the true tzaddikim brings a benefit to the world, that, by this, many books of the heretics are also destroyed and uprooted. Then the people can come closer to the Holy One by this. ## 31 ### Prayer for Torah 31 Help me and merit me at all times to holy desire and to always long and yearn for You; let me yearn to serve You with fear and love. "My soul thirsts for G-d, for the living G-d; when shall I appear before G-d." But You know how far away we are from You and from everything in holiness, so we have no support other than to long, yearn and desire You while waiting for our salvation. In Your compassion You revealed to us through the true tzaddikim that desire and yearning themselves are of great value. Therefore I have come before You to ask that You merit me and accustom me to go all day with holy longing and yearning for You, with all my heart. Save me and guard me; rescue my soul from all sorts of bad longings and evil desires, all kinds of cravings for the vanities of the world. From now on, don't let any of these cravings and thoughts enter my heart. In Your bountiful mercy, help me to speak out my good desires with all my heart and soul. Give me the words to express myself before You so that I can pour out my soul honestly and purely. Let me speak with great intense longing for You so that I can make many holy souls by my yearning. By this, grant me the ability to make vowel points to the letters of the holy Torah such that they become vessels to receive and shape the bounty to the good. Merit us to the elixir of life! Please guard me against any bad soul being re-incarnated in me so that I won't come to sin or have evil thoughts, Heaven forbid. Rather, may many holy souls be created from my holy longing so that they arouse even the sinners to repent and bring the world back to the path of good. ## 32 ### Torah 32 - Lord Open My Lips a) By the dancing at a wedding one sweetens the harsh judgements. The heart is an aspect of Binah (Understanding) as it says, "the heart understands" (Tikkun Zohar Hakodesh, Petach Eliyahu). Through joy of the heart one dances, as it says of Ya'acov, "Ya'acov raised his legs." (Gen.29). Rashi explains that his heart lifted his legs. The legs correspond to the attributes of Netzach and Hod. When you dance with your legs out of the happiness in the heart, you should have in mind to draw the light of the heart, the five letters 'aleph' in (the expansion of G-d's Name) Ehyeh, in Binah, into the bride, who is called 'na'ar' (numerically 320: n,50;a,70;r,200) before marriage, missing the letter 'hei' (Zohar,Pt.2:38), an aspect of the 320 harsh judgements which is the numerical value of five times 'din' (64), 'harsh judgement'. By drawing down the light of the heart the bride becomes 'na'ara' with the final 'hei' which becomes five times the Name 'Adonai' (Lord) 65, an aspect of "Lord open my lips" (Psalms,51:17). For, by the lips, which are Netzach and Hod, an aspect of the legs, the bride is opened and sweetened, being called 'na'ara', such that she becomes ready for the uniting in marriage which is alluded to by "Lord". ### Prayer for Torah 32 32. You chose us from all the nations; You love us and raise us above all the languages; You sanctified us with Your mitzvot and brought us close to Your service. In Your bountiful mercy, You have graciously granted us seven true tzaddikim in every single generation who have left behind them holy, awesome books in order to enlighten the whole world and to reveal to us the ways of Your holy Torah, so that we can perform all Your mitzvot with love. By this, may each one of us merit to draw upon himself the holiness of the spirit of Meschiach whose spirit hovers over the waters, over the face of the Torah, over the holy books of the holy Torah. This holy spirit of Meshiach is clothed in every Jew, according to the level of his holiness and purity. The essence of each Jew’s holiness is the holiness of his brit for the spirit of Meshiach, searches out and is zealous about the guarding of the brit. Even a slight smell of sexual blemishes he is zealous about; because of his great hoiness and purity he cannot bear even the slightest, most delicate, blemish. The spirit of Meshiach is very zealous about any blemish to the brit. All his desire is to turn the hearts of the Jewish People to G-d and that they guard the brit, as You desire. In Your bountiful compassion, help me to rectify speedily in my lifetime all that I have blemished in the brit until today, whether accidentally or on purpose, by force of circumstance or willfully. Have mercy on me and guard me from new or from any blemish of the brit, whether in deed, speech or thought. You created me with a pure heart, G-d; renew a proper spirit wit in us. Don’t discard me from before You and don’t take from me the spirit of holiness. Merit me that the spirit of Meshiach should shine upon me for his spirit hovers over the holy books of the holy Torah. In the merit of this spirit, enable me to escape from the craving for illicit sex, completely. Keep my thoughts completely pure and protect me from any sight which arouses this craving. Have mercy and guard me from even the slightest smell of illicit sex. Please, please guard and protect me from this for I put my trust in You. Have great mercy upon us. Help us that the holy books of the true tzaddikim will spread out through the world. You know, Master of the World, how many holy books from tzaddikim throughout the generations have been lost because of our many sins. So, let the remaining books of the tzaddikim spread and enlighten the face of the world so that all Jews will return to You, to serve You truly all the days of their life. Stand by us to assist us; uproot, break, crumble, destroy, subdue and nullify from the world all the books of the atheists and all philosophical books which tend towards atheism for they damage the Torah and our holy belief. In the merit and power of the books of the true tzaddikim which were burnt and lost to the world, arouse in Your mercy, all the tzaddikim in the World Above and in the world below. Please make peace between Yourself and the Jewish People. Don’t remove Your love from us an draw peace over Your nation, the Jewish People, forever. Let there be a great, wonderful peace between one person an another and between each husband and wife, without any hate, jealousy or arguments between people, especially between husbands and wives who are religious for their unity is very precious and creates an upper Unification when the Shechinah dwells between them. Please help them so there will be no hate or jealousy between them, especially in the merit of the awesome, holy books which were burnt and lost to the world. Let the spirit of Meshiach be drawn into the world and may this create a spirit of zealousness to purify all Jews from the poison of the craving for illicit sex. Do all this for the sake of Your Name for the sake of Your holiness and for the sake of Your Torah. Speedily bring us our Redeemer, bring us Meshiach. Amen. 33. All the occasions of happiness (celebrations) such as a wedding or circumcision are only momentary and if one looks at the end, there is no happiness at all for the end of man is …etc. However, if one looks at the ultimate end, then one should be very happy, for the very end, that's to say, the ultimate purpose, is very good etc. See inside. 34. A person needs to focus his mind and always look at the root of everything where it is the root of all blessings and happiness together. Then he will be able to be extremely happy. For when you look at the root of everything, which is entirely good, then all the blessings and all kinds of happiness become combined together and shine with very great light. ## 33 ### Torah 33 - Who Is The Man Who Desires Life a) A person has to search for peace, as it says, "seek peace" (Psalms,34,15), so that there be peace between Jews. Each person has to have peace in his attributes so that he won't have differences in them or in his reaction to different occurrences. He should always find the Holy One whether in good events or bad, like it says, "In G-d I will praise His word; in the Lord I will praise His word."(Psalms, 56:10). b) Peace is achieved through Torah and through tzaddikim for both of them are called peace. By this, one can come to love G-d in every situation, whether good or bad, and to love one's fellow. Then there can be peace between all Jews so that they love each other. He will not panic or be confused by anything in the world, rather, he will know and believe that whatever happens to him each day, whether good things or suffering, troubles, worries and unpleasant events, Heaven forbid, are all for his eternal good. Specifically by all this he can come close to G-d if he truly wants. Even if he has suffering from his fellow, he should accept it and try to judge him on the side of merit, finding in him good points. Then he can turn it all into the good and say in his mind that his friend didn't mean it so badly as he first thought, and similar examples. Try to search for and ask for love and peace with all his friends and all Jews. Through this he will merit to love and peace in every place and situation so that he will have peace with everyone and everything. c) You must know that "All the earth is filled with the glory of G-d" and there is no place without Him- He fills all worlds and surrounds all worlds. Even when doing business with the non-Jews you can't use the excuse that it is impossible to serve G-d because of the grossness and materiality that falls upon you every time when you do business with them. In all material things and all the languages of the nations you can find godliness, for without godliness there is no existence to anything at all, like it says, "You give life to them all" (Nechemia,9,6). The only thing is that this life-force and godliness that exists in all things is in a very contracted form, being just enough to give essential life and no more. However much more the thing is on a lower level, the godliness there is more restricted and hidden with more layers of 'clothing'. d) So, you have to know that even if you are trapped deep in the dwelling of the husks and you are on the lowest spiritual level such that you think it is impossible to return again to G-d because you have become very distant indeed from Him, even if you have fallen into atheism, Heaven forbid, even so you should know that from your situation also you can find godliness for He gives life to everything, as it says, "And You give life to all things". From there you can attach yourself to the Holy One and return in complete repentance for He is not distant from you, rather, in your place there are many 'clothings'. e) The further a person goes from one level to another, and come closer to the Holy One, the more he can know Him with more understanding, for the higher the level he reaches, the fewer the veils and contractions become and he can come closer to the Holy One. Then he can love himself with the Hoy One with a greater love. f) There are good days and bad days. Days are called 'measures', as it says, "The measure of my days." (Psalms,39,5). The measures are the Torah for the entire Torah is full of measures of the Holy One, because it talks of love and fear and other attributes (in Hebrew 'attributes' and 'measures' are the same word). The worlds were created through the Torah, the letters of which give life to all things. It is just that the life force is very constricted, according to how low the level is. This means that the good days, the Torah and its letters, can be found even in the bad days which are the languages of the nations and their bad attributes. That is what it says, "On the day of good, be joyful; but on the day of adversity, look and consider." (Eccl.7:14). A person has to look very, very well then he will certainly find good days in the bad days by subduing his evil urge, that's to say the bad days, and overcoming it. Then he becomes like an angel of the Hosts of G-d (See Zohar, Pt.1:90A). Then he can collect letters of the Torah even from material things. Even when he talks to the non-Jews or sees their attributes he will know that there are letters of the Torah and holy life-force hidden and 'clothed' in them. The evil that dwells and veils the good, meaning the letters, will then fall and be nullified and the holy letters will stand out, be seen and shine clearly. g) This is what it says, "we will do and we will listen" an aspect of "perform His bidding, listening to the voice of His word." (Psalms,103:20), meaning that first you make and build the letters of the Torah so they will stand out and join together (Yoma,71) and then one listens, one hears voices from above. That's to say, the letters of the Torah receive vitality and greater light than they had at first when they were 'clothed' in the languages of the nations and the bad days for then they received only a minimum of life force, enough to exist in that place (as brought in the Pri Etz Chaim in the kavanot of Purim, Ch.6). h) It is known that in the Torah, meaning the measures and days, G-d's love exists, as is written in the Zohar (Pt.1,46A) on the verse, "The Lord will command His steadfast loving- kindness in the daytime" (Psalms,42:9), G-d's kindness, meaning love, goes with all the days; the attributes are contractions to His godliness so that we can perceive Him, as it says in the Zohar (Pt.2,42B) "in order to know Him". The Holy One hid and 'clothed' His godliness in the measures of the Torah because of His love of the People of Israel. That is why there are 613 mitzvot, for G-d measured in His mind that by each mitzvah and contraction we would be able to gain a perception of Him and to serve Him. It turns out that in every measure and measure of the Torah's measures there is G-d's love for Israel, meaning that He loves Himself being with Israel. It turns out that when a person unveils the Torah from the clothing of husks through subduing his evil urge, he becomes close to peace, like it says, "All her paths are peace" (Proverbs,3:17) which refers to the Torah. i) There are two aspects in the Torah, the revealed and the hidden, the latter referring to the Torah from Atik which is hidden and will only be revealed in the future to come. This corresponds to two types of love- one is the love in days which is in actuality; the other love is in potential which is the love that existed between Israel and their Father in Heaven before the world was created when they were still only in the mind of G-d and that was above time and measures, which is the inner essence of the Torah. In the future the Holy One will unveil this inner essence of the Torah from all the coverings which conceal His godliness, coverings of the inner, hidden Torah. Then this Torah from Atik will be revealed. As a result, peace will spread through the world, as it says, "They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord" (Isaiah, 11:9). Love within understanding will be revealed. But, nowadays, this light of the Torah has been hidden. This is as the Sages said, "G-d saw that the light was good" (Gen.1:4) – "it was good to hide it" (Chagiga, 12). There are also tzaddikim who are called good as it says, 'Say of the tzaddik that it will be good with him" (Isaiah, 3:10). They are also called 'light' – "Light is sown for the tzaddik" (Psalms, 97:11). They are also hidden, for the world is not yet worthy of using them. In the future, when this love in understanding is revealed, "One day will be known as the Lord's" (Zechariah, 14:7), for love is called 'day' as it says, "the Lord will command" (Psalms, 42:9) "neither day nor night" (Zechariah,14:6) for that love is above time and attributes. At that time the hidden tzadikim and the hidden Torah will be revealed and then great peace will be revealed in the world such that all the opposites will join together, like it says, "The wolf will dwell with the lamb…" (Isaiah, 11:6). j) Even the attributes themselves, each one is, relatively, an aspect of Understanding to the one below it. For example, the lowest level of the World of Yetzirah is considered Understanding in respect to the World of Asiah below it. Similarly, there could be a person whose love of the Holy One in attributes and time is considered love in Understanding, which is above time, with regard to the person who is on a lower level than him. k) Every person is able to taste the light of the love in Understanding even now within time, each person according to his level. This is by attaching his heart to his understanding. For every Jew knows that G-d exists, so it is certainly fitting that he nullify all his cravings and bad attributes in the light of this understanding. However, the wicked are under the control of their hearts (Midrash Rabba, Noach, Ch.34) and all the attributes and cravings are in the heart. Therefore, each person has to see to it that he attaches his heart to his mind so that he can control his heart. Then he can subdue his heart's cravings to the mind's understanding, knowing of G-d in general that the glory of G-d fills all the earth, and by this break and nullify all the cravings. By knowing this and knowing the Torah all the traits in his heart become included in his mind's understanding and then they receive the light of the love in Understanding. As a result he can attain the hidden light in the Torah and the hidden tzaddikim, according to his level. l) Through the mitzva of holding the Lulav (palm branch) and its other species one merits to reveal holy Understanding to the entire world, to make known that the earth is full of the glory of G-d; one reveals that G-d exists in every place, even in all the languages of the nations. One comes to recognize the Holy One and come close to Him even in the lowest of levels. One learns to attach the holy understanding to the heart so that the heart is under control and to attach himself to the Holy One with love. Then one comes to the light of love in Understanding which is the hidden light. Then the hidden tzaddikim and the hidden Torah will be revealed and great peace will spread throughout the entire world. ### Prayer for Torah 33 May I merit to always cleave to You and to recognize Your great love, Your love for the People of Israel whom You chose from all the nations and raised above all the tongues. That great, true love You have for Your People is clothed in the commandments with which You sanctified us. It is love and compassion which is infinite. Because of Your truly great love for us, You contracted Your godliness, so to speak, and clothed the love in the holy Torah and commandments which You granted us in love. Every mitzva is a contraction and holy measure so that we can perceive You and come to serve You with love and fear. So, have pity on me and let me perform each mitzvah with real love such that I can ascertain something of the hidden Torah which will be revealed in the future. In that Torah dwells the love that is between Israel and the Holy One from before the Creation, a love which is above attributes and above time, a love which is immense. It is impossible to ascertain fully the light of this love other than by true tzaddikim who subdue and break all their bad attributes and cravings until their heart is in the control of their understanding. Our Father, our King, in Your great mercy, help me to come close to You and to the true tzaddikim so that this light of love will shine in me as well. To achieve this, please help me to break, remove and nullify all the cravings and bad attributes I have in my heart until in the end I can taste the light of this holy love in Understanding. By this, let me have some perception of the hidden light in the Torah and the hidden light in the tzaddikim. ## 34 ### Torah 34 - You Shall Be For Me A Kingdom Of Priests a) The fact is that the tzaddik always has the ability to make things happen as he wills, as the Sages said, "a tzaddik rules" etc. 'who rules me, the tzaddik' (Moed Katan,16). The main rule he has is to shine into and arouse the hearts of Israel to serve G-d. Therefore, the main advice for us is to attach ourselves to the true tzaddikim and to talk with them about the service of G-d, for from them a person can receive the strength and radiance and arousal to come close to the Holy One such that one returns in true repentance to G-d. b) This is like it says, "Joseph was the ruler" (Gen.42:6). Joseph was the source of the generality of the souls of Israel. They are the branches from him and receive from him. He is an aspect of the vowel point called 'melaypum' ( a single dot in the middle of a 'vav') for the tzaddik guards the brit as is fitting and the brit is a vehicle for the Sephirah of Yisod (when referring to Yisod, G-d's Name, YHVH, is vowelised with a dot in the V). The word 'melaypum' literally means 'full' (melay) 'mouth' (pum). That alludes to the fact that the mouth of the tzaddik is full of godliness, full of reference to the Holy One. His words are certainly perfect and with fullness. For that reason he can attract bounty for Israel, as it says, " and He will bless you as He promised you." (Deut.1:11). That's to say, according to the words, so is the bounty. It is not enough just to think even though G-d knows our thoughts. We specifically have to pray clearly with our mouths for speech is the vessel of bounty. If one's words are perfect and full then one can receive in them plentiful bounty. Therefore, we have to pray for everything that we lack, whether spiritual or material. Specifically we have to open the mouth in order, through this, to draw bounty. c) Every single Jew has this aspect of "a tzaddik rules", an aspect of a full mouth, as it says, "All Your People are tzaddikim" (Isaiah, 60:21). This is because every single Jew has a point of special value that is unique to him, like the Sages tell us of Abba Omna (Ta'anit, 21) about whom the Rabbis said that 'your deeds are not .like Abba Omna.' This point which is unique in a person and better than his friends has the power to influence, enlighten and arouse the heart of his fellow so his fellow has to accept this arousal and this aspect from him, like it says, "they receive one from another" (Isaiah, 6:3- See Aramaic translation there). Before the Giving of the Torah, rulership was in the hands of the Holy One, as it says, "I am the Lord your G-d who took you out of Egypt" (Psalms, 81:11). Then, everything was "I". But after the giving of the Torah it says, "Open your mouth and I will fill it." This is an aspect of 'a full mouth', an aspect of "Joseph is the ruler", meaning that G-d gave the rulership over into the hands of Israel, to each individual according to his aspect. d) The 'melaypum', which is a vav with a dot, alludes to the Sephirot of Chochma and Binah. The dot alludes to Chochma(Wisdom) which is just a point and the beginning of a spring of water. Binah is a stream which flows from the spring; it is like a vav (a straight line, like a stream). This aspect of 'melaypum' exists both generally and specifically. The tzaddik is the dot, for the tzaddikim are called the wise ones of the community; Israel are like the vav, for they are the supporters of the Torah, so they are called the "hooks of the pillars" (Ex.38), "hooks" being called "vavim". In addition, this exists within each Jew. The dot alludes to the mouth, as it says, "My mouth spoke wisdom" (Psalms, 49:4); the vav alludes to what it says, "The meditation of my heart will be understanding" (ibid), for the heart alludes to Binah, as the Zohar says, "Binah is the heart." The heart also represents the Tablets (of the Torah) whose shape is a vav, for their length and breadth was six by six (vav having the numerical value of six) as the Gemorra says (Babba Batra,14). This is what it says, "Write on the tablet of your heart" (Proverbs, 3:13). e) When the heart is deep in foul loves this is an aspect of fallen and broken love, for the evil urge and the husks stem from the broken vessels, as the Arizal explains in Etz Hachaim (in the chapter on The Breaking of the Vessels). For the broken vessels of Chessed fell into Binah in the World of Beriyah, that's to say, the Binah of the heart. The Light of Chessed remains in the Yisod of Atzilut, which alludes to the tzaddik who is the foundation (yisod) of the world. This means that the evil types of love come from the breaking of the vessels of Chessed. That is why Unkulus translates "disgrace" (Gen.34:14) as "Chessed", for the disgrace was from the evil love created by the breaking of the vessel of Chessed. This is like we see clearly, "Love covers all sins" (Proverbs, 10:12); even if someone sins willingly against his fellow, he doesn't insult him, for his love covers over his sins. But, when the covenant of love between them gets spoilt, that's to say, the vessel of Chessed gets broken, then he will disgrace him for from this break comes disgrace. This disgrace is an aspect of an "uncircumcised heart", like it says, "Insult has broken my heart" (Psalms, 69:21); this is like having 'broken tablets'. The rectification for this is to attach the heart, the vav, to the 'yud', the aspect of tzaddik, for in Yisod of Atzilut, the aspect of "the tzaddik is the foundation of the world", the light of Chessed remains and there dwells holy love. So one has to make the dot shine to the vav, the heart, then all the evil desires become nullified, for all sins are covered by love. Consequently, every individual has to speak a lot to his Maker in order to cause the dot, the aspect of "my mouth will speak wisdom", to shine to the vav, which is an aspect of "the meditation of my heart will be understanding". In this way he can attach his heart to the point that is relevant to his heart at that time and this breaks the disgrace that dwells in his heart and that breaks his heart. f) Each person also has to speak to his friend about fear of Heaven, in order to receive inspiration in his heart from that good point which his friend has more than him; for that good point is like a tzaddik in relation to him and it shines into and enlightens his heart which is called 'vav'. g) All these good points are branches of the tzaddik who is an aspect of Moshe who is the general point of all the souls of Israel. Therefore, at first everyone has to receive from this tzaddik, for, above all, the man thing is to attach oneself to the tzaddikim and speak with them about fear of G-d; they will then enlighten and arouse your heart through their all-encompassing holy points. Afterwards you have to also speak to your friend about the fear of Heaven, as mentioned, so as to receive one from another. So too, each person should receive from within himself by speaking between himself and his Maker. By these three aspects (tzaddik, friend and self) one nullifies the disgrace, evil loves and uncircumcised heart. That is what it means," love covers over all sins", for where holy love dwells, all the evil cravings are cancelled. This holy love is called Cohen or priest. Thus, we find that the priesthood was first given to Avraham who is called "my loved one" (Nedarim,32). Love dwells where there is a covenant of peace; for this reason the People of Israel are called "a kingdom of priests". And when the priesthood was given over to Pinchas, he was told, "Behold I give him My covenant of peace" (Numbers, 25:12). For the priesthood is an aspect of love, like Avraham, who resides in the place of the covenant of peace, that's to say 'tzaddik foundation of the world', for the light of Chessed remains in the Yisod of Atzilut. h) Sometimes one can receive the good point of one's friend by speaking to him about mundane things. Then one can receive the light and spiritual arousal to serve G-d from this point through the outer clothing of these words. ### Prayer for Torah 34 34. Make me hear joy and gladness. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, Master of the Universe, You know how far I am away from real happiness in both body and soul. I have spoilt a lot beyond measure. What can I say? How can I justify myself? Because of all this, it is very hard for me to draw on myself happiness. You have bestowed upon me many good things, beyond number. You merited me to be a Jew and helped me to perform mitzvoth and to study Your holy Torah. All this gives us hope and eventually You will certainly rectify us and this is an eternal goodness. Even the lowliest Jew should be happy with this, nevertheless it is still hard for me to happy with my body. To reach perfect joy, in body and soul, I cannot because I know that I have blemished and sinned a lot. Therefore I have come before You Merciful One, Master of joy, to ask that You help me in You wonderful ways, so that, even so I can really be happy perfectly, in body and soul, for nothing is beyond You. G-d, You are great to save. You can arrange Your awesome wonders to that I also can always be happy. Father in Heaven, You know how much I need distance myself from sadness and depression in the extreme. So, my Merciful Father, please have mercy on me; help me to always look at the ultimate end in such a way that I will gladden my heart. By this, merit me to be saved from all evil and to drive out all bad thoughts, confusions and evil ideas, including all the physical cravings and bad attributes. Let me drive out and nullify all this by the happiness and joy I feel. For this is the main form of encouragement. In Your compassion, help me to merit to look at the sublime source of all the forms of happiness and goodness, the place where all the joy comes together and radiates. As a result, let me be really happy with all the good things and various types of joy together, as one. May the joy in my heart increase infinitely and let all the sparks from all the different kinds o goodness and joy together radiate one joy to another until the light of holy happiness shines with a great, awesome light, a great light which is very wonderful and pleasant, beyond measure. By this merit us to really return to You, with love and great joy in body and soul. Merciful One, help me, Joy of Israel, to really feel this joy in my heart constantly. Let me rejoice and be happy in You, in Your true tzaddikim and in Your holy Torah in such a way that I can come out from gloom to light and freedom. Then merit me to return to You truly, with all my heart from now on. G-d, be my strength so I can overcome all bad thoughts and evil physical cravings. Let me always have holy and pure thoughts without any confusion at all. I will rejoice in Your salvation. May the words of my mouth and the musings of my heart find favour before You, G-d, my Rock and Redeemer. Amen and Amen. 35. Those who study Torah deserve to know what will happen in the future. 36. As soon as a book is made there are coverings and concealments which cover and conceal its wonderful, pure light. The pages of the book's binding hide the book etc. 37. (a) The main, ultimate purpose of life is only to serve G-d and to walk in His paths for His Name's sake, in order to merit to know Him. This is the Holy One's desire. Anyone who serves Him for the sake of the World to Come is considered to be filling his stomach, meaning that he wants to satiate himself in the World to Come. Even though, it is really certainly much better to serve G-d even for the World to Come than to pursue This World, Heaven forbid. Furthermore, someone who serves G-d even for the World to Come is certainly wiser than a person who strives all his life for This World, for the former chooses for himself a world that exists for eternity. Nevertheless, the main, ultimate purpose is only to serve the Holy One in order to merit to know Him; this is perfection. That is the Holy One's desire. (b) When a Jew doesn't sanctify himself and runs after cravings and luxuries and wants to hoard money, spending his days in efforts to leave an inheritance to his children, this money that he bestows to his children is like someone who dirties himself with filth and then takes the filth to cover over the dirt, as explained inside. See there. And even someone who wants to leave his merits to his children, this also isn't the perfect purpose. The perfect tzaddikim do not choose all this at all but, rather, they choose to fulfill G-d's desire. ## 35 ### Torah 35 - Happy Are The People Who Know To Blow The Shofar a) Know that repentance means to return the thing to the place it was taken from, an aspect of 'zarka' (the cantellation sign ~, as explained in the Tikkunim, 21, 43). That's to say, return it to its source. The source of all things is Wisdom, as it says, "You created all things in wisdom" (Psalms, 104:24). Therefore, each person has to guard his wisdom and mind from exterior wisdoms called 'the daughter of Pharoah'. 'Daughter' alludes to a wisdom that is not really wisdom at all, as the Sages said (Menachot, 110). Pharoah has the meaning of nullification, as it says, "prevented the people" (Ex.5:4). Unkulus translates that as "nullified". That's to say 'worthless' wisdoms are those outside the Torah. The main wisdom is to acquire perfection and that is only by godly wisdom. All the other wisdoms are just worthless; they are not wisdoms at all. b) Therefore, each person has to guard his mind and thoughts very much so that no extraneous thought, superficial wisdom, strange thought or, much more so, evil idea will enter his mind. For all the blemishes, sins and iniquities, Heaven forbid, stem only from these blemishes to the mind, as a result of not guarding the thoughts properly and letting them go out of the bounds of holiness. On the other hand, when a person is careful and guards his thought well, which is the wisdom in his mind, this is the main rectification and repentance for all the sins (Editor's footnote: As it says, (Isaiah,55:7) "Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the Lord and He will have mercy on him") for he strengthens himself to overcome and drive away all these extraneous thoughts from his mind and intelligence. The mind is the neshama (holy soul) so when he sanctifies his mind, meaning his neshama, he raises and returns everything to the mind and this is the essence of repentance. c) Every Jew has 'a portion of G-d from on high' which is an aspect of holy wisdom. For this reason they are called "first", as it says, "Israel is holy to the Lord, the first-fruits…" (Jer.2:3). However, at birth, the wisdom is very limited in each person. Then, when he begins to use it to consider how to serve G-d, his mind begins to grow and develop, like it says, "And Sh'lomo's wisdom excelled." (Kings 1,5:10). But, when a person lets extraneous thoughts, which are worthless wisdoms, enter his holy mind, then the holiness of his mind contracts according to the space that the extraneous thoughts take. Around such a thought, all the bad, lowly traits and cravings collect and become joined. d) So, the main thing is to guard one's thoughts and mind from these extraneous thoughts and wisdoms from which the entire evil urge is built, Heaven forbid. The evil urge is an aspect of the Primeval Serpent which attaches and wraps itself around the realm of holiness. This is why it is called a large city ('city', in Hebrew 'krach', contains the letters as 'wrap around'- 'korech') for it always tries to attach itself, especially, to the greatest rabbis of the generation, more than other people, as the Rabbis taught (Succah,52) on the verse, "though he has done great things" (Yoel,2:20). This is because the Torah scholars have the greatest understanding; the evil urge wants to cause them to sin, Heaven preserve us. Therefore, the main thing is to guard against bad thoughts. e) When a person preserves his mind from these extraneous thoughts, this is not enough, he has to rejuvenate his mind as all times for, by this, he renews his soul, for, as we saw, the mind is the soul, as it says, "The soul of the Almighty gives them understanding." (Job, 32:8). The Sages taught (B'rachot, 10) that the soul nourishes and gives vitality to the body and the soul itself is the intelligence, as it says, "Wisdom gives life…" (Eccl. 7:12) f) Renewal of the mind, meaning renewal of the soul, is by sleep, like it says in the Zohar (Pt.1,pg.19; Pt.2,pg.213B) on the verse, "They are new each morning" (Lam.3:23) – 'the soul is new every day' etc. When the mind becomes tired, sleep refreshens it, as we see clearly. During sleep, the mind, meaning the soul, enters the realm of faith and that is what the verse says, "They are new each morning; great is your faithfulness"(ibid). That's to say, by sleep, our faith grows bigger. This is the meaning of the blessing we say every morning, "Who gives strength to the tired". First we were tired but now we have gained strength. g) There are several aspects of sleep. There is physical sleep which gives a rest to the brain; there is also an aspect of sleep, relative to cleaving to G-d, through learning when one learns the simple interpretations of the Torah (Zohar,Pt.3,244B) as the Sages said of the verse, "He has set me in the dark places." (Lam.3:6) – ' this is the Talmud Babli' (Sanhedrin,24). This is an aspect of faith. A person who is always involved in cleaving to G-d tires his mind because of the immense effort of cleaving, so then he should learn simple Torah interpretations. h) Through faith one receives brains, meaning the soul, from the Light of the Face, like it says, "The light of the king's countenance" (Proverbs, 16:15). There are several aspects of the Light of the Countenance. Some people receive intellect from the face of the Torah, for there are seventy faces to the Torah. Others receive from the light of the face of tzaddikim, that the tzaddik shows them affection, which leads them to receive a new intellect and a new soul from the holy face of the tzaddik. For the essence of intellect comes from the Light of the Countenance, as it says, "A man's wisdom makes his face shine" (Eccl.8:1). i ) There is a further aspect of sleep which is through doing business with faith. When dealing with buying and selling with faith, then the brain, his soul, enters the realm of faith and is renewed there. His brain is revitalized from its tiredness and attracts a new intellect from the Light of the Countenance. The main thing then is to guard one's faith very well. Then, when the brain gets tired, he can renew it through faith by one of these aspects of sleep; it could be simple physical sleep, for then the brain renews itself as is understood. But the main thing is faith; before going to sleep one has to attach himself to faith which is why we say 'Shma on the bed' before going to sleep. Therefore one has to say it with concentration in order to connect his soul to faith and enable it to enter the realm of faith during sleep. Then his soul is renewed as it says, "They are new each morning, great is your faithfulness." As a result he can merit through his sleep to receive a new intellect and soul from the Light of the Countenance. So also, someone whose mind tired through his efforts to cleave to G-d, has to engage in learning simple things in the Torah and also has to enter the realm of faith. That's to say, because his mind begins to get confused such that he can't continue to cleave to G-d with his mind and understanding, he has to put aside his mind and perception completely and to connect himself to faith with simplicity while learning simple things with simplicity and perfect faith. The truth is that even when the mind cleaves to G-d at whichever level he is at, then also the main existence of the mind depends on faith, for a person shouldn't rely on the mind alone. However, when the mind is put aside, one has to rely on faith alone, by one of these aspects of sleep. So when sometimes business is an aspect of sleep to renew the brain, there also the main thing is faith. For when he conducts his business with faith, his soul, which is his mind, enters the realm of faith and is renewed there. j) It is impossible to perform business with faith other than by knowing well all the laws of buying and selling so that he won't stumble in any of the laws of business. That means that when he deals with buying and selling he is involved in the laws of business. k) When doing business faithfully one has to guard one's faith very much so that the forces of evil don't overcome him and cause him to blemish his faith, Heaven forbid. Therefore one has to strengthen oneself very much when doing business and behave like Rav Saffra and fulfill the verse which says, "Speak the truth in your heart" (Psalms,15:2) – that even if you have decided in your heart, don't change your word (Makkot,24). Through this, one draws 'Chashmal' (which has the numerical value of 'malbush', meaning 'clothing' and is the holy light which acts as a barrier between good and evil, as seen in the Chariot of Ezekiel). This is a 'clothing' from the world of Binah, for Binah is the heart, and is called Mother (Proverbs,2,3). Then it is like a mother who covers and protects her young. The heart creates Chashmal, a clothing and protection around faith so that the external forces of evil won't be able to draw power from it. By this, a person can guard his mind and soul and faith and then be able to renew his mind and soul within the faith of his business affairs. l) When a person performs his business with faith it is like bringing a Tamid sacrifice and an incense offering (Ketoret). This is because his mind is an aspect of Chochma, Binah and Da'at and when he connects his mind to faith and the simple Torah, which is an aspect of Yetzirah, as a result, the faith becomes stronger and raises the holy sparks from out of the husks; this is the secret of the eleven spices of the Ketoret. By this, all the husks and nations and countries around the holy faith, called Jerusalem, "the faithful city"(Isaiah,1:21), fall away, and this is an aspect of cutting off the seed of Amalek which is one of the three mitzvot that Israel were commanded upon entry into the Land of Israel (Sanhedrin,20). That's to say, by raising the sparks, one subdues Amalek. Through this, when one rises, the other falls; this is the mitzvah of appointing a king, which alludes to faith and Kingdom. Through this one merits to the mitzvah of building the Holy Temple and Jerusalem, that's to say, faith. As a result, one's brain is renewed and elevated, which is an aspect of building the Temple. This is what the Sages said, "Someone who has understanding it is like the Temple was built in his days"(B'rachot, 33). This is an aspect of the Light of the Countenance, a renewal of the mind and of the soul. m) Chashmal is an aspect of the straps of the tefillin which envelope Kingdom, that's to say, faith. 'Strap' has the numerical value of 370. This alludes to the fact that through this Chashmal, which is "speaking the truth in your heart", one guards the faith. The soul, that's to say the brains within it, receives from the Light of the Countenance which is formed of the 370 lights of the Sublime Face drawn from the rectification of truth. Therefore, the straps of tefillin guard a person's faith. n) Even if a person is not a Torah scholar and doesn't receive by himself new brains by conducting his business with faith, since he doesn't learn Torah which is the essence of the brain and intelligence, even so, he also brings about a big rectification by his buying and selling with faith, for, by this, he does a favour to his fellow Jew who is from the same source; he causes his fellow's brains to be renewed through his business with faith. His fellow will have new brains in order to learn and cleave to the Creator. o) This is an aspect of the blowing of the shofar on Rosh Hashana. Rosh Hashana is an aspect of sleep, as is known, an aspect of business with faith. The blowing of the shofar comes to awaken those sleeping which is a revitalizing of the brain, meaning the intellect and the soul of each person by receiving from the Light of the Countenance. This is why the face of the shofar-blower turns red because he arouses the lights from the Sublime Face. Through this, each person, according to his level, merits to receive new intellect and a new soul from the Light of the Countenance. ### Prayer for Torah 35 Please help me to sanctify my mind at all times, to guard it from extraneous thoughts and evil reflections. Let me keep far away from any alien ideologies and worthless wisdoms. I know that however much I let them enter my mind, its holiness becomes diminished and around this all the bad traits and cravings build themselves. I can't describe how much I have blemished until now, so, in Your great mercy, guard me and sanctify me such that I can drive away all these evil thoughts that I became used to. Drive out all the confusions from my mind such that I merit by a little sleep to give sufficient rest to my brain. Let my mind and soul be renewed and revitalized after its tiredness. Let me sleep with great holiness and purity. Have mercy on me and command Your angels to let my soul enter the realm of faith when I sleep. Then renew my soul and mind within belief. Fulfill in us the verse which says, "They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." May I always merit to receive a new soul from the Light of the Countenance through holy and pure sleep. To achieve this, help me to recite Shma before sleep with great and awesome holiness and self-sacrifice. In Your bountiful mercy, help us so that we merit to conduct our business affairs with true faith. Save us from all kinds of dishonesty. Help us so that all our intentions when doing business will be to make money in order to give charity to honest Jews especially those who learn Torah. In every single word we say and every single step we take during business, and every movement, let us have in mind that we want to do Your will and give charity from our profits to really deserving poor people. For this reason, grant us a good income. Have mercy upon me and all Israel and let us merit to conduct our business with great faith. Let us never break our word or change it even for the sake of a big profit. Like Rav Saffra, let us fulfill the verse which says, "He speaks the truth in his heart". May we keep to the price we decided on in our hearts whether in selling or buying something. During the trading let our thoughts always be connected to Torah, especially the Torah laws regarding business. As a result, in Your bountiful mercy, grant us the protection of the light of Binah, of Chashmal so that no outside, evil forces will be able to damage my faith. Let us receive a new intellect and a new soul from the Light of the Face. Enable all Jews to be connected together so that even the business affairs of a simple non-learned Jew conducted with faith will do a favour to the true Torah scholars by enabling their minds to be revitalized from the Light of the Countenance. ## 36 ### Torah 36 - My Enemies Come Upon Me To Eat My Flesh a) Every Jewish soul, before it receives a revelation in Torah or the service of G-d, is first tested and purified in the exile of the seventy nations, that's to say, with their physical cravings. For every single nation from the seventy has a unique bad trait which other nations don't have; because of these bad traits they are far away from the seventy faces of the Torah. The husk is prior to the fruit so someone who wants to eat the fruit has to first break the husk. Therefore, before acquiring a revelation of understanding, which is a revelation of Torah that is the main true understanding and wisdom, the soul must pass through exile, meaning it has to go into the traits and cravings of the seventy nations in order to first break them and afterwards to attain a revelation in Torah and the service of G-d. When the soul comes into this exile it has to shout out and cry out with many voices to the Holy One for these voices are included in the seventy voices. This is very much like the woman giving birth who shouts out because of the bitterness of the pain of child-birth; she shouts seventy voices which correspond to the seventy words in Psalm 20: "Hear me in the day of trouble" (See Zohar,Pt.3, 249). Without this it is impossible for her to give birth. Now the revelation of Torah and the service of G-d is like a birth; one merits to it by the seventy voices that one shouts until G-d has mercy and merits a person to overcome and break all the cravings. b) Know, that the main trial and process of purification in which a Jew is tested is only the craving for sex, for that includes all the bad traits and cravings of all the seventy nations and their languages. Whoever breaks this craving can easily break all the others. Therefore, when a person comes to the test of this exile, each person according to his aspect, then he has to raise his voice and cry out seventy voices to the Holy One, and not less than them. He has to shout out a lot until G-d has mercy on him and he merits to overcome and break this craving together with all the other cravings. This is the general rectification which includes all others. c) Each person, according to his general rectification and his distance from the craving for sex, is close to a revelation of Torah, and so too the opposite, Heaven forbid. When he stands up to the trial and breaks the husk which is prior to the fruit, since the main thing is to break this craving, then he will merit to give birth to new brains. As a result, the secrets of the Torah will be opened to him and they will reveal to him the secrets. So, each Jew, to the degree that he stands up to this trial and breaks this craving, merits to a correspondingly great revelation in Torah and the service of G-d. According to his rectification, so he merits to the seventy faces of the Torah. d) The rectification for thoughts of illicit sex that come to a person, is to recite the Shma until "Echad"( One), and "Blessed be the name of the glory of His Kingdom, forever and ever." For the craving for sex comes from filth in the blood, that's to say, from the spleen, which represents Lilit, who is the disgraceful maidservant, the mother of the Erev Rav (the mixed multitudes), who symbolise the Kingdom of Evil. The opposite of this is the Kingdom of Heaven, an aspect of the mistress, the woman who is G-d fearing; she is an aspect of the Sea of Sh'lomo that stands on the twelve cattle which are the Twelve Tribes (Zohar,Pt.1,pg.241). By accepting the yoke of Heaven while reciting the twelve words of the two first verses of Shma which correspond to the Twelve Tribes, for both in the first two verses of the Shma and the names of the Tribes there are forty nine letters, a Jew includes his soul in the Twelve Tribes and this separates his soul from those of the Erev Rav which come from the harlot, who is the disgraceful maidservant, as mentioned, from whom this craving stems and which includes all the evil traits of all the nations and the seventy languages. For this reason we close our eyes when accepting upon ourselves the yoke of Heaven in Shma thus showing that we are an aspect of "the beautiful girl who has no eyes" (Zohar,Pt.2, pg.95) meaning that she hasn't any aspect of that craving which includes all the evil traits of the seventy languages. e) All the time that a person only has a bad thought occasionally, it is enough to recite the two verses of Shma. However, if he is used to such thoughts about this general craving, Heaven forbid, and can't separate himself from it, then he must recite Shma with tears as well, for tears are an excretion from the bile (the source of melancholy), and the bile is the spleen, which is an aspect of the Kingdom of Evil, a woman of evil. When a person sheds tears all the excretions, that's to say, all the cravings that stem from impurities in the blood from the spleen, are expelled and pushed away; then his soul becomes included in the Kingdom of Heaven. So, he has to arouse himself to cry and shed tears when saying the two verses of Shma. f) When a true tzaddik reveals something in the Torah, he draws down new souls; these new souls come to each person who hears his Torah, to those who are close to him and who attach themselves to his Torah, each one according to his level and his understanding. g) This is a fundamental rule that it is impossible for anyone to ascertain or grasp the words of the tzaddik if he hasn't already rectified the covenant properly. On the other hand, by blemishing the brit one's brain and understanding are damaged such that he can't grasp or understand at all the words of the tzaddik. He can stumble in them if he follows the crookedness of his heart and the foolish doubts that occur to him in his mind about the tzaddik. About such a person it says, "The ways of the Lord are straight, tzaddikim walk in them but the transgressors stumble in them" (Hoshea,14;10). The Torah of the tzaddik is formed according to the grasp of each person, according to the vessel he has, which is his brain. This means that when a person has rectified the holy brit as is fitting (i.e. he is free of the craving for sex), his brain is perfected, as the Zohar says (Pt.2,110) –' the Yisod (brit) extends as far as Abba and Ema' (literally, Father and Mother, meaning Chochma and Binah, which refer to the first two letters-yud,heh- of G-d's Name) which allude to the brains. Then a person can understand the words of the tzaddik and his soul is renewed from the revelation of the Torah. However, to another person, the opposite can happen, Heaven forbid, This is what it says, "Transgressors stumble in them". For, according to the rectification of each person, so is his grasp and understanding. h) This is a major rule, for "from the mouth of the Most High do not both good and bad come?" (Lam.3:8) but rather a simple light. But according to the aspect of the vessel that receives the light, that is how the light within it takes shape. If the person is perfect, he will receive full lights, but, if the opposite, Heaven forbid, he will receive lights that are lacking, as it says, "The curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked" (Proverbs,3,33). Because of this, Bilam advised Balak to trap Israel through the craving for sex in order to spoil their vessels; for the craving for sex damages the brain such that a person can literally become mad, Heaven save us. Therefore expert doctors say that castration is a cure for madness. That is what it says, that Yisod extends as far as Abba and Ema, an aspect of "My Name-Yud Heh-(Chochma and Binah), testifies to their purity". ### Prayer for Torah 36 Master of the World, Master of the World, rescue my soul from the bitter exile among the seventy nations, from all their evil intentions and cravings, especially this craving for sex. Your intention was for the good, to test us and purify our souls in this exile, for it is impossible to acquire any Torah revelation other than by standing up to this test and breaking this desire. But I have come into the depths of exile; not only didn't I rectify as I should have, I have blemished a great deal. Have mercy on us and in Your bountiful compassion give us strength, in the merit of Moshe, to break, uproot, destroy and nullify from the world the husk of Bilam who represents the husk of the craving for sex. Draw upon us at all times the holiness of Moshe and the true tzaddikim and let us escape very soon from the exile of the bad traits and cravings of the seventy nations. May I merit to be included in the seventy faces of the Torah and in the Twelve Tribes of Israel through reciting Shma with great concentration and great self-sacrifice. As a result, let me always discover new and true interpretations of the Torah and gain insight into new ways to serve You. Awaken my heart while accepting the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven until I merit to shed tears in the first two verses of Shma. By this let me subdue the Kingdom of Evil and all cravings for sex. Drive out all the spirit of folly and madness which has become attached to us and, in Your great mercy, grant us a perfect perception of the Torah and the words of the tzaddikim. Please G-d, take pity and have mercy on me; fulfill all my wishes with mercy. Help me to achieve very soon all that I have requested from You. ## 37 ### Torah 37 - Seek The Lord And His Strength a) The main reason for the Creation was in order to know G-d (Zohar,Pt.2,42) as it says, "I created it for My glory…" (Isaiah, 43:7). b) The body, in relation to the soul, is considered material, an animal, foolishness and darkness; an aspect of death and forgetfulness. It is like extraneous wisdom in comparison to the wisdom of the Torah which is the level of 'Man', as it says, "This is the Torah, a Man" (Num.19:14). Torah is an aspect of form, light, wisdom, memory and life. Every person has to subdue the materiality of his body, the aspects of death and foolishness of the body, which are the cravings; that's to say he must separate himself from all the cravings. c) This is achieved by fasting which weakens the four basic elements of the body from which all the cravings stem. The materiality, foolishness, forgetfulness and darkness are subdued and nullified, while the intellect, form, and memory are strengthened and raised. This nullifies the harsh judgements and darkness and draws loving-kindness into the world. The main rectification of the fast day is by giving charity. It also subdues the extraneous wisdoms in relation to the Torah wisdom. One also merits to a good income. d) There are two types of charity, charity in the world at large and charity in the Land of Israel. Charity that is given to the Land of Israel is greater and of more value than that of the rest of the world. There are also two types of Torah. There is no comparison between Torah that stems from the breath of a mouth of a sinner to that which comes from the breath of a mouth that has not sinned (Shabbat,119). For the harsh judgement is not sweetened, nor does the world continue to exist, other than on the breath of the children who have no sin. By them, the Patriarchs are revealed and they protect the world. By giving charity to the Land of Israel, you include yourself in the air of Israel, which is an aspect of holy breath without sin. This is the main way to nullify harsh judgements and darkness, forgetfulness and foolishness from the world. In turn, this leads to the subduing of extraneous wisdoms so that one merits to the wisdom of the holy Torah, to memory and light. e) Therefore, every person has to ask and search a great deal for a pious, honest and G-d fearing Torah teacher and to ask a lot for this from the Holy One. This is crucial so the teacher won't spoil the holy breath of the children who learn Torah, upon whom the world rests. (Because of our sins, there are now schools that teach young Jewish children secular wisdoms which are foolishness and darkness etc. including foreign languages (as brought in the Lekutei Halachot, Pesach,7) and they cause impurity to the holy breath of the children, as we can see later on when they become atheists and non-believers. Happy is he who distances himself and his children from them. Our duty is not to send our sons to such places; it is forbidden to have any connection to them at all.) f) One has to be careful to honour an elderly Torah scholar who, through no fault of his own, has forgotten his learning (Sanhedrin, 96). By the honour that we give him, we cancel his forgetfulness and his soul is revealed, which means his memory of Torah. Then the harsh judgements and darkness are nullified and we draw into the world, light, loving kindness, life and the wisdom of the Torah. This is because the root of Torah is the honour of the Holy One, as it says, "I created it for My glory…" (Isaiah, 43:7). About this, the Sages taught us, "There is no honour other than Torah"(P.Avot, Ch.6). g) The main reason for the lack of income in recent generations is only that the ritual- slaughterers are not worthy. A ritual-slaughterer who is pious actually feeds and provides income for all Jews; he raises the soul that is re-incarnated in the animal to the level of 'speaker' (i.e. Man).This he achieves by the blessing that he recites over the slaughtering when said with great concentration. The slaughterer has to have in mind to raise the soul that is in the animal's blood. By this, the soul rises to the Shechinah, then the Shechinah unites (with the Holy One) and this brings an income to Jews. This is why the knife of the slaughterer is called 'ma'akhelet' which literally means 'feeder' (see Gen.22:6) because the worthy slaughterer 'feeds' all Israel. On the other hand, when the slaughterer is not worthy and even has undesirable thoughts when slaughtering, and doesn't focus his mind when making the blessing, he stands as a killer of souls and there is great anguish to the animal soul which cries out bitterly. Then his knife is a "sword of the wilderness" rather than a "sword of G-d"(Isaiah,34:6), a sword of the Shechinah and of speech, because it doesn't raise the re-incarnated soul, but, rather, pushes it down from the aspect of 'animal' and it doesn't find rest. Woe to such a slaughterer; woe to the soul who killed a soul and passed it over to its enemies; like this the Shechinah lacks the power to provide income. Through this, "We get our bread with the peril of our souls, because of the sword of the wilderness"(Lam. 5:9). With a great effort and bother we manage to get a little income because of his sword of the wilderness (which gave the soul in the animal over to the husks whose domain is in the desert, as is known.) h) As a result of these slaughterers, the soul becomes subdued to the body and the material; then the bodily cravings become stronger. However, through the pious slaughterers, the soul is raised and the body is subdued, which is an aspect of animal and foolishness; an aspect of extraneous wisdoms. Thus, the soul and the form (spirituality) are elevated; they represent the wisdom of the Torah, and, by this, plentiful income is drawn into the world. This is what it says, "He has given food to those who fear Him" (Psalms, 111:5) and "Feed me my portion" (Proverbs, 30:8). In both verses food is referred to as 'teref' which alludes to 'trefa' meaning ritually unfit meat. This teaches that when Israel are careful to avoid ritually unfit meat, they merit to an income. i) This is what it means, "be careful of the sons of ignorant people (to honour them) for from them Torah comes (Sanhedrin, 96). For it is known that precious souls are trapped in the husk of Nogah. The husk wants them to sink there so it puts the seed of such a soul into the sperm of an ignorant person; then this soul will become dirtied. It turns out that the sons of the ignorant are often precious souls, but they are like birds that are trapped in a net. How do we know of their beauty, only by their Torah, when we see that they are Torah scholars. By this, we know that they are precious souls. Therefore, we have to be careful to honour them because by this we reveal the Torah that is hidden within them. For the root of everything is the honour of the Holy One, as it says, "I created it for My glory" (Isaiah, 47). And the soul, which is the Torah, yearns to be included in its root, which is honour. Through this, Torah comes from them, the soul is raised together with the form and loving-kindness, etc. Then the cravings of the body and its materiality will be pushed off and all the harsh judgements nullified. Amen. So may it be. ### Prayer for Torah 37 37. Master of the Universe, merit us to serve You and walk in Your paths of holiness only for the sake of Your glory and the holiness of Your Name and in order to know and recognize You, for this the main purpose. May we have no other intention in serving You other than to fulfill Your desire. Certainly we should have no intention in our service of gaining success in This World and it is also not correct to serve You in order to merit to the rewards of the World to Come. Rather, our only intention should be to fulfill Your desire and to know You – to behold the pleasantness of G-d and contemplate in His palace. Protect me from all evil cravings, especially from the craving for money. Let us have no desire, yearning or craving for money at all, not even to leave money to our offspring. Merit us to know and understand that even thought holy money is very lofty and is clothed with very sublime holiness nevertheless the money form the craving of This World is pure waste-matter. It is not enough for a person to chase after the waste-matter of money all his life, he even thinks to leave this filth as an inheritance to his sons. Lengthen our days and years in goodness and pleasantness and merit us to serve You truly all of our life and let our merits remain for our children after us. Merit us sot that all our service of You will be genuine, not for the temporary success of This World and not for the hope of reward in the World to Come, not even to leave our merits to our children. Rather, may all our intention be only to serve You in order to fulfill Your desire, to know and recognize You, to behold the pleasantness of Your radiance, so to speak. 38. (a) Sometimes the light of the tzaddik is very, very great such that it is impossible for the ordinary, small person to receive this great light of the tzaddik in the place where the tzaddik is because of the overwhelming light. Therefore, the tzaddik is forced to lower and subdue himself and to go to the place of the small person. In this way the light is reduced somewhat so that the small person can receive it. This is an aspect of "in the place of his greatness, there you find his humility". (b) The main thing that the tzaddik has to shine into his students is to increase their understanding and remove them from petty thoughts, bringing them to profounder understanding; sometimes, to do this, he shines into them by the radiance of his face when he consoles them, and he shows them his laughing face. But sometimes they cannot receive his light by this so then he has to radiate into them by means of their suffering. He has to chastise them and insult them in order to nullify them and thus receive his light. This is an aspect of (what it says in the Zohar) "When the wood doesn't catch light, we hit it". (c) The fact that the tzaddik has sometimes to lower himself and nullify himself somewhat from his greatness in order for the small person to receive, as mentioned, all this is only temporary; afterwards he returns to his true stature. However, by this, he rectifies and raises the small person entirely. There are many differences in the matter of the tzaddik lowering and subduing himself before the small person for the latter to be able to receive his light. Sometimes it is enough for him to make a superficial movement, but occasionally he has to go and travel to the small person. Each case is different. ## 38 ### Torah 38 - Pharaoh'S Chariots a) A person should constantly examine himself to see if he is attached to G-d. The tefillin are the sign of attachment. (See Ch.Ag. Meharsha,B'rachot,6. "The Holy One wears tefillin.") b) It is impossible to reach this level of tefillin other than by sanctifying one's speech and rectifying it, for it is an aspect of ruling with the mouth, an aspect of 'sea' and of G-d's Name Adonoy, like it says, "Adonoy, open my mouth" (Psalms,51:17). When a person blemishes his speech, which is the spirit of the mouth of the Holy One, then, through this blemish, the spirit of his mouth becomes a raging storm wind. For there are 27 letters in the Hebrew alphabet and each one includes ten, altogether, 270, which is the numerical value of 'ra', evil. Thus, Adonoy, the power of speech, becomes 'Adonoy, ra' (65 and 270), which together have the numerical value of 'sa'ara' (s,60;a,70;r,200;final a,5), meaning storm. This storm wind is the Great Accuser, from whom stem all the accusations and the trials, like it says in the Zohar (Pt.1,119B) about the verse, "After these words", and like it says, "He causes a storm in the body of a person" (Tikkunei Zohar,Tikkun,18). All the accusations and evil spoken against a person stem from this storm wind which is an aspect of "the end of all flesh" (Gen.6,13), for it aims to make an end of and a finish to all flesh. c) People who judge others harshly and who are always searching for flaws in others, they are from the Other Side, which is an aspect of "the end of all flesh", who always searches to make an end and to destroy people, Heaven forbid, to arouse harsh judgement, and to slander and accuse. The essence of their strength comes from blemishing the power of speech. Therefore, in order to subdue and nullify this, we have to rectify our speech. d) Every person must see to it that he subdues this aspect of "the end of all flesh", bringing it under the control of holy speech. That's to say, he has to take from it all the speech that fell into the realm of evil by blemishing the faculty of speech and elevate speech to its root and rectify it; then he merits to reach the aspect of tefillin which reflects cleaving to G-d. e) One must elevate speech to its root which is the arm, which includes five fingers on the left hand; they correspond to the Five Strengths, which are the Five Openings of the mouth that create speech, like it says, "tell of Your acts of strength" (Psalms,145:17). The beginning of the elevation of speech is from its beginning, from the best of the truth in the speech, which is called its beginning. There are several types of truth, as the Sages said, "Truth has become flocks and flocks…" (Sanhedrin, 96). It also says, "The beginning of Your words is truth" (Psalms, 119:160). That's to say, you should speak to the Holy One and express yourself very sincerely with strength and might. For, when the storm wind becomes overwhelming, it is impossible to speak clearly, for the storm wind confuses a person. When this happens, one has to change the way he speaks and when he rectifies this he won't be confused. f) A person can rectify speech by learning Torah in poverty, hardship and all sorts of darkness and suffering that occur to him, Heaven forbid. When a person strengthens himself then to learn Torah, he draws upon himself a thread of loving-kindness, as the Sages taught us (Chagiga,12) about someone who engages in learning Torah at night, for night is the time when "the end of all flesh" has control. Through this, all the accusing forces that control speech are driven away together with all that person's opponents and all the forces of impurity. Thus, speech is rectified and elevated to its source. Then his power of speech comes out with song, praise and thanksgiving to the Holy One that he has merited to pray and give thanksgiving and praise to G-d and to express himself well before Him, with fervour in the heart. g) As a result, he will merit to converse with his Maker with mighty enthusiasm, for every person has to train himself to converse with the Holy One with tremendous sincerity. He has to express himself such that he arouses his heart to really serve G-d and speak with G-d with heat in the heart and sincerity, words to arouse himself to repentance until he sees his own worthlessness and the greatness of the Creator; until he really feels great shame before G-d. Previously he had thrown all his sins over his shoulder without thinking about them, but now, when he knows his sins, he feels great shame about the awesomeness of his sins against the Master, King and Source of all the worlds! At first the shame isn't yet visible on his face because the sins stupefy the intellect and the mind by the spirit of foolishness that enters him. Therefore, before meriting to repent completely, a person hasn't enough understanding to feel proper shame in relation to the awesomeness of his sins and the greatness of G-d against whom he sinned. But afterwards, when he repents, and removes all the foolishness this adds intelligence; then he feels the shame much more until the shame is apparent on his face. This shame is an aspect of the light of the tefillin which reflects his attachment to the Creator. This is what it says, "Moshe's face shone". By this shame, all a person's sins are forgiven and he comes to cleave to the Tree of Life. h) Through this we can understand if a person has fear of G-d, that's to say, shame, as Chazal say in Nedarim (20A). After rectifying the sin, when we look at his face, fear and shame falls upon us. That means we draw upon ourselves understanding of the greatness of the Holy One. This is what the verse says, "Then you will understand the fear of G-d" (Proverbs, 2:5). You will be able to understand if he has fear of G-d. "And find the knowledge of G-d." That's to say, that when you will also find within yourself knowledge of the greatness of the Holy One, which is shame and fear, this is an aspect of "And all the nations of the earth shall see that you are called by the Name of the Lord" (Deut.28:10), 'these are tefillin' (B'rachot,6). "And they will fear you" (ibid); there will be drawn upon them also fear and shame which is an aspect of tefillin which are called "glory" (B'rachot,11) which alludes to the generality of all the colours, like it says, "Israel in whom I will be glorified" (Isaiah,49,3). Israel contain the Sublime Colours. That is what we see that when a person feels shame, his face turns to several colours. i) Therefore, the Sages said that someone who sins but then feels ashamed, he is forgiven immediately (B'rachot,12). This is because the sin instills a spirit of folly in a person, but when he feels ashamed this returns his intellect, as we saw, "Then you will understand the fear of G-d", which is a form of shame; that is the essence of repentance. Through this one merits to the light of tefillin which is an aspect of light shining from his face. On the other hand, someone who has arrogance shows by this that his ancestors weren't present at Mt. Sinai (Nedarim, 20) and we can be certain that he transgressed the prohibition of adultery (Ta'anit,7). He is attached to the venom of the Serpent from which Cain came, who took the twin sister (the wife) of Hevel, his brother. Any Jew who stood at Mt. Sinai had this venom extracted, but this wasn't the case with the other nations. That is what the Sages alluded to when they stressed that his ancestors' feet stood at Mt. Sinai, for the Serpent had no legs, as it says, "On your belly you will go" (Gen.3:14). Such a person is attached to the tree of death and descends into Hell. For Adam blemished the Tree of Life which is like tefillin, as it says, "G-d decreed that all the dead will be resurrected" (Isaiah, 38:16). When a person attaches himself to the Tree of Death, "he is driven out of the Garden of Eden"(Gen.3:24), for it says, "The arrogant go to Hell" (P.Avot,Ch.5). When Adam repented it says, "G-d made them coats of skin" (Gen.3,21) and this alludes to tefillin (Tikkunei Zohar, pg. 105), light shining from his face. It turns out that by shame, an aspect of the light of tefillin, he is forgiven for all his iniquities and merits to attach himself to the Tree of Life. But, someone who is not ashamed of tzaddikim and pious Jews who fear G-d, they have evil arrogance and descend into Hell. And when a person repents, and feels ashamed of his sins, he is forgiven and drives out the spirit of folly from within him and thus merits to the light of tefillin which is an aspect of the Tree of Life. j) This is what the Tana said, "A pine fell in our place" (Bechorot,57) for it is known that the true tzaddik is called "a pine in Lebanon" for he serves G-d with great attachment and wonderful intellect. When he falls to a lower level than he is at now, even though this is a high level in relation to other tzaddikim, that is what it says, "he fell in our place", meaning he fell in his perception of G-d, who is called "the Place of the world", to "our place", our level of perception. Even though it is a high level, in relation to himself it is a fall. The Tana praised the tzaddik of the generation who felt ashamed of this level as if he had sinned. It is considered as if he had fallen and he repents on this as if he had sinned. By this he comes to such great shame that it is like the light of the tefillin; his intellect and brain are renewed much more such that he gains greater knowledge and recognition of the greatness of G-d… So it is with each person, by renewing his intellect in Torah, he gains greater recognition of G-d's greatness and feels more shame about his sins and that is the essence of repentance; then he merits to the light of tefillin and attachment to the Tree of Life. k) Each person must draw upon himself the holiness of Shabbat, an aspect of shame, (B'reishit, yira boshet- fear and shame- an aspect of yira Shabbat) which is an aspect of fear of G-d, the light of tefillin, and by this to sanctify the days of the week, as it says in the Mechilta, "remember the day of Shabbat" –' remember it from the first day of the week.' The degree to which he sanctifies the days of the week, so he drives out the venom of the Serpent, the end of all flesh and the storm wind, as explained previously. Through this he raises the speech to its source. By sanctifying the days of the week from the 39 types of work, the 39 curses, which the Serpent caused, one can imagine that the mundane days of the week are like 'My holy day' (Shabbat). ### Prayer for Torah 38 38. Master of the Universe, merit us to come close to true tzaddikim and to visit them regularly. By this, merit us to receive a great radiance from them in our brains, minds and understanding. As a result let us escape ‘small brains’constricted thinking and rise to reach expanded consciousness. By this, let all the harsh decrees be sweetened from upon us and from upon all Jews. Arouse compassion in the hearts of true tzaddikim so that they will bring us, closed and shine their countenance upon us, comforting us with words of comfort and love. Let them show us a pleasant, happy and friendly face. Then, help us to accept their words with love and great willingness. And even if they sometimes talk to us harshly and chastise or insult us, let us not have doubts abut them. Rather, we should know and really believe that this is all for our good. Because the tzaddik sees in us that the boldness of the body, wit its physical cravings, has overcome us and we are not capable of accepting his holy radiance and he cannot shine unto us, then he has to rebuke us in order to ignite the flame of holiness within us. When we occasionally travel to them to be close to them, even so we cannot receive their holy radiance because it is too great for us. So, have mercy on us; arouse great compassion upon us in the heart of the true tzaddikim, until they clothe themselves in great humility, to such a degree that they bring themselves down to our very lowly level. When they constrict their great light within holy ‘garments’ then even people as lowly as ourselves can then receive their light. Arouse such compassion in their hearts that they see it is not enough for them to remain in their own homes, rather they will take the trouble, for our sake, to go and travel to our dwelling places. In this way, their light is restricted even more so that we can all accept. Therefore, please have compassion on us, in the merit of our Fathers. Don’t let the efforts of tzaddikim with us be wasted, Heaven forbid. They nullify their own service of G-d which is very sublime indeed and reduce themselves in order to rectify us. So, please be kind and merciful with us in the merit of the true tzaddikim who are constantly engaged in trying to rectify Jewish souls. Let us at the least subdue our stubbornness and really negate our mind against the holy mind and knowledge of the true tzaddikim. As a result merit is to really come close to them and receive their holy radiance. So, arouse compassion in their hearts in such a way that they reduce themselves to our level in order to bring us close with love. Maybe there is hope to receive their radiance with perfection, despite the blemishes to our minds. Shine their holy radiance into our souls, spirits and neshamot, in our brains, intellect and hearts until our hearts are enthused to serve You with great enthusiasm, fear and love. Amen, so may it be. 39. (a) Every single thing was created only for the People of Israel. And the People of Israel themselves were created primarily for the aspect of Shabbat which is the ultimate purpose; Shabbat is the ultimate purpose of the Creation of the heavens and earth, for the ultimate purpose is the world of souls, the world which is entirely Shabbat. There the souls will ascertain the Holy One properly, without any veil of separation. Each one will indicate with his finger and say "This is G-d; we have longed for Him", as the Sages said (Ta'anit, 31). This ultimate purpose is impossible to perceive completely other than by the neshama passing through This World which is lowly and was created in the six days of creation. This is truly one of the wonders of the Creator, may He be blessed (see inside). A person has to deepen his contemplation in order to know and recognize the greatness of the Creator through every detail of the creation which he sees, its form and characteristics and the details of its limbs and structure etc. One has to serve G-d with this knowledge until one comes to the ultimate purpose of this particular thing. This is an aspect of Shabbat, as mentioned previously. These people of little worth, like we are nowadays, for we are all on a low spiritual level, it is impossible for us to reach this knowledge so we have to yearn long for it very much. Oh that we had a leadetr of the generation, a trustworthy shepherd who could enlighten us with the above mentioned knowledge and perception so that we merit to come to this ultimate purpose. (b) What the Sages said: "It would have been better for a person if he had not been created" refers only to This World because according to all the troubles and suffering that each person experiences in This World it would certainly be better if he hadn't been created at all. However, in the World to Come it is certainly better that a person was created for, specifically through this, we come to the ultimate purpose, as above. ## 39 ### Torah 39 - I Gave Grass In Your Field a) When a person feels some hunger, that the desire to eat overcomes him, he should know that he has enemies, as the Sages said, "Because a person is made poor (feels a lack) down below (in this world), he is made poor in the world above" (Sanhedrin,103). Therefore, he has to destroy and break the animal within him which desires to eat, for the essence of hunger is the animalistic element in a person. By this, he will be saved from his enemies. b) Hunger also reflects controversy, "the reproach of famine"(Ezekiel,36,30), that's to say, the craving for food brings controversy, that they reproach and disgrace him, and also the opposite. This hunger is an aspect of uncircumcised skin, as it says, "It is a disgrace for us" (Gen. 34). For there are three husks that surround the brit of peace. But, when you break this disgrace, the craving for food, the covenant of peace becomes revealed and one merits to peace in the world below. Then, there is also peace in the world above in the Heavens. As a result, the bounty increases and becomes revealed in the world. (This is what the verse says, "He makes peace in your borders and fills you with the finest wheat."(Psalms,147,14). ) c) When you have relations with your wife with holiness and you break the animal soul which craves for the physical, imagining that an angel forces you to engage in relations, by this your children will not die when young. The death of young children, Heaven forbid, is because of the animal soul. d) Also, you should see to it that the main time for having relations with your wife is on the night of Shabbat in order that your children live a long time. ### Prayer for Torah 39 39 Master of the universe, king, leader, ruler, merciful one, You had compassion on us and sent a saver and redeemer, Moshe, our teacher, who took us out of the darkness unto a great light and gave us the Torah. He enlightened our eyes and taught us the true, holy faith. In his greatness he was able to enlighten even the lowest of the lowly Jews like we are today. He revealed to everyone Your greatness and might so that they could grasp in their minds the true ultimate purpose of life which is to know and recognize You, through all created things, and to come close and cleave to You. Have compassion on us and teach us what to do now. Who can we turn to for help? Where is the holy shepherd? Our lowliness and weakness nowadays is so immense, who can help us other than a true leader who is as great as Moshe. Only he can instill on us holy understanding such that we can come to the true ultimate purpose, to know and recognize You through the created world. But how can we merit to find such a leader? Where is he? Where is the advice that will enable us to find him? Even though there are famous tzaddikim, they admit that they haven’t the power of Moshe to enable every individual to ascertain this ultimate purpose for which we were created. However You have promised that even in the depths of our descent in this exile, bodily and spiritually, You will not desert us nor despise us. You promised to our forefathers to always help and redeem us in each generation. Where is Your compassion? Where are Your wonders? Why should Your people be like a flour without a shepherd? Have compassion and mercy upon us; merit us to pray and plead a great deal before You, to shout and cry out with a tremendous bitter shout, while shedding profuse tears until You take pity on us and send us a real, compassionate leader and shepherd like Moshe who can rectify us and bring us to return us to you. Let him radiate and instill in us a perception of his holy understanding such that we also ascertain the ultimate purpose from all created things. Merit us to really recognize You and to come close to You, cleaving to You for all eternity. Help us to receive Shabbat properly, with happiness, great joy and wonderful attachment to You, as You desire, until we come to ascertain the purpose of the creation of the heavens and earth. Let me come to know and recognize You in this world, as you and your tzaddikim desire from us. Merciful one, open our eyes so that we see the absolute truth and how to behave now in order to search for and find a true leader who can bring us in our lifetime to this ultimate purpose. We have no one to rely upon other than our father in Heaven. We are of physical substance and You are our maker. So, merit us to find this true leader and shepherd who is like Moshe. Do that which is good on Your eyes with us. We caste our prayers upon You until You will look down on us from Heaven. Speed and hasten our redemption; bring us mashiach, who is my servant David, the shepherd. 40. (a) Someone who knows of the Land of Israel, who has really tasted the flavour of the Land of Israel, he can recognize in a Jew if he was in the presence of a tzaddik on Rosh Hashana or not, for someone who merits to be with a true tzaddik on Rosh Hashana, wherever he looks the air becomes an aspect of the air of the Land of Israel. Therefore, someone who knows the taste of the Land of Israel, each person according to his spiritual level, must feel the taste of the Land of Israel when he meets and gets together with this person who was with a true tzaddik on Rosh Hashana, for the air becomes an aspect of the Land of Israel because of this person. (b) The main virtue of the holiness of the Land of Israel is only through the Divine Providence in it, because the Holy One looks at it always, as it says, "The eyes of the Lord, your G-d are always upon it, from the beginning of the year" etc. (Deut. 11:12). "The eyes" allude to wisdom. By this, the Land of Israel is sanctified and its air makes wise. (c) The true tzaddik, who strives to bring Jews closer to G-d, is the main splendour that the Holy One receives from the People of Israel (which is an aspect of the Holy One's tefillin) for, through him, Jews come closer to G–d and His pride is aroused. Therefore, someone who looks at him (the tzaddik) ,primarily at the time of the gathering of the public, when people come to hear the word of G-d, especially on Rosh Hashana which is the time of the biggest gathering, for then the splendour is the biggest as a result of the gathering of many people who desire to come close to G-d, and then the splendour and charm of the tzaddik becomes greater and is added to, for he is the main splendour, as mentioned. And whoever looks at this true tzaddik, this is an aspect of looking at and seeing the light of the tefillin of the Holy One and then, as a result, that person receives (an aspect of tefilin and 'brains') and merits to reach perfect faith. Faith is dependent on the mouth of a person and then, wherever he looks he draws an aspect of the holiness of the Land of Israel, an aspect of the air of the Land of Israel makes wise. ## 40 ### Torah 40 - These Are The Journeys a) All the journeys and traveling of a Jew are because of the blemish to faith, which is an aspect of idol worship. For if a person were to believe with perfect faith that the Holy One could provide him with all his needs where he is, he wouldn't travel at all. (See the explanation of the Lekutei Tefilot here. Through faith and trust, as is fitting, a person would not need to make any efforts or journeys for a livelihood.) By traveling, a person sometimes rectifies the exile he caused to the Shechinah in the world above. (The punishment of exile is the rectification itself, as is explained in other places.) Therefore, the journeys are an atonement for the blemish to faith. They rectify and sweeten the anger of G-d from the world. They draw G-d's mercy into the world. b) The blemish to faith, which is an aspect of idol worship, prevents rain fall. Then there is no plenty or peace and people don't help each other, and they have to travel from place to place for their income. c) Also a drought comes as a result of idol worship; when there is no wheat, there is no Torah. By neglecting Torah learning we cause exile and the need to travel on the roads, as it says, "My people have gone into exile because they have no knowledge" (Isaiah,5,13). ### Prayer for Torah 40 40. Master of the Universe, You created Your world as You desired, for the sake of the Jewish People; in order to take pride in them in each generation, in Your great goodness, You chose the Jewish People from among all the nations and the Land of Israel from among all the countries as an inheritance for the Jewish People. You know that the air of Israel makes a person wise; it is the place prepared for the holiness of the Jewish People who can acquire true wisdom there by knowing You with wonderful understanding and perfect faith. You know the true virtue of the Land of Israel whose holiness is beyond measure. Even I, after all my sins and blemishes when have left my mind confused and dirtied, still see from my great distance, the immense virtue of the holiness of the Land of Israel. We have heard this from the mouth of the tzaddikim and read in their holy books that all the holiness if a Jew depends on the Land of Israel. Please unique master, in your great compassion, fulfil my wishes and merit me to come to the Land of Israel as soon as possible. Let me pass through and jump over all the obstacles in peace without any evil occurrence. Help me to achieve holiness and purity in Israel in such a way that I return to You, truly coming close to You. Master of the Universe, merit me despite my lowly disgraceful spiritual level, to come to the Land of Israel, as soon as possible, in the merit of the deeds and Torah of all the tzaddikim who revealed to the world the holiness of the Land of Israel. Father in Heaven, You granted me, in Your loving kindness, the merit to pray for this, to come to the Land of Israel. I now ask that You do an even greater favour and perform a wonder with me; teach me the true and straight path so that I cease doing bad deeds and stop having blemish thoughts. Merit me to really attach myself to You in such a way that I will merit to renew myself completely and start again from anew in the service of God, as if I was born today. Master of the Universe, remember the pride and delight You received from the tzaddikim who were in each generation and from all the Jewish people, including this generation. From the tzaddikim, their followers and kosher Jews all the holiness of the Land of Israel is drawn unto the world. So, merit us to have a portion in this pride and delight You receive. Then, let us return to You as you really desire until the Shechinah takes pride in me all the time. From this, the holiness pierces the eyes and draws the eyes of Your divine providence upon the Land of Israel. The great holiness of the Land of Israel stems from this Divine providence and, because of that the air of the Land of Israel makes wise Your holy eyes of wisdom and knowledge are constantly drawn to the Land of Israel, as it says,” A land that the L-rd, Your God, seeks out; the eyes of the L-rd Your God, are always upon it, from the beginning of the year to the year’s end.” Therefore have mercy on me and all the Jewish People; reveal to us the holiness of the Land of Israel so that we really long and yearn to reach the Land of Israel. Let us pray to You a lot about this, for you are full of mercy. Enable us to reach the Land of Israel very speedily and with ease. In Your bountiful compassion merit us every year to travel to true tzaddikim for Rosh Hashanah. Let me be counted among those kosher, pure Jews who gather around the tzaddikim on Rosh Hashanah. You alone know the true virtue of Jews gathering around tzaddikim on Rosh Hashanah. Only You know how much great pleasure and awesome delight You receive every Rosh Hashanah from this holy gathering of Jews around true tzaddikim. Please let me be counted among such Jews, let no obstacle prevent me, nor any delay stop me. Merit me, in Your great compassion, to look at the holy faces of the tzaddikim, especially on the holy days of Rosh Hashanah when You take most pride on us. Then their faces shine very much with the general pride and delight of all the holy gathering which is around them. Please God enable me to behold the splendour and majesty of their holy and awesome faces so that a radiance of this splendour is drawn upon us and gleams from our eyes. Then let the place become sanctified with the holiness of the Land of Israel such that anyone who knows of the feeling of the Land of Israel will feel its holiness in every place where Jews come together. He will be able to recognize and distinguish which of us merits to be in the gathering around true tzaddikim on Rosh Hashanah. Master of the Universe, merciful one, have compassion on the Shechinah which cries out bitterly about our deeds. Who can bear her bitter cries. Therefore, from now on, save us and guard us from bad deeds and end evil thoughts. Merit us to return to You in repentance. Help us to rectify only those that we have blemished in our eyes by having looked outside the realm of holiness. May we draw upon ourselves the eyes of God so that we can see the splendour of God and the pride He takes in tzaddikim. Please, help us to search for and find the true tzaddikim who belong to the source of our souls and enable us to travel to them regularly, especially on Rosh Hashanah which is the main time for the holy gathering around the true tzaddikim. As a result, merit us to repent completely and to behold their holy faces. By this merit us to rectify anything we have blemished in our eyes since our youth until now. Then, draw upon us the light of the holy splendour which exists in their holy faces. Anywhere where we look, may it draw down the holiness of the Land of Israel. Merciful One, have mercy on us for Your Name’s sake. Merit us to really arouse our hearts towards You. Let us sense and know very well the awesome, sweetness of the wonderful holiness of the Land of Israel. Merit us from now on to long and yearn for the Land of Israel with a heart aflame with enthusiasm. May we pray for this a great deal until we make our wishes become fulfilled. Help us, my God; save us for Your Name’s sake for our eyes only look to You. Hear our prayers for You hear the prayers of every mouth among Your nation, the Jews. May the words of my mouth and the musings of my heart find favour before you God, my Rock and my Redeemer. 41. Sometimes the Holy One performs wonders through 'poskim' (rabbis who decide the halacha). Because the public accept their opinion regarding what is permitted or prohibited, so also in the World Above their opinion is accepted when they decide regarding a certain matter. This is an aspect of "his wonders and the judgements of his mouth"(Chronicles,1:16) 42. "For I am the Lord, your healer." – "Ki ani YHVH rofecha" (Ex. 15:27); the initial letters are those of "amen ken y'hi ratzon" – "Amen so may it be Your will." 43. 3. Because of the weakness of the heart, fears descend on a person, for the essence of strength is in the heart. Those weak of heart are the ones who are afraid. That is what it says, "The person who fears and is soft of heart", as Rashi explains, "fears" etc. for 'as a result of the soft heart, he fears'. 44. (a) When a person falls from his faith, Heaven forbid, the best advice is to speak about faith with his mouth; he should say clearly that he believes etc. The very fact that he speaks out words of faith is itself an aspect of faith. Also, by this, he merits to achieve perfect faith, for faith depends on a person's mouth, meaning that he has to speak out his faith, as mentioned, as it says, "I will make known Your faith in my mouth"(Psalms,89:2). (b) The opposite is also true-one has to be very careful not to speak out any thing about atheism or heresy, Heaven forbid, even by way of joking. That's to say, even if in one's heart one really believes but one says something atheistic in the name of someone else in order to ridicule him. This is also strictly forbidden for it damages one's own faith. About G-d it is forbidden to say any jokes even for the sake of amusement. Furthermore we must be very careful not to look into philosophical books at all because they damage and blemish our holy faith a great deal. This warning has already has already been clarified elsewhere but it needs to be repeated several times so that a person will not lose all his World to Come in an instant, Heaven forbid. (c) We also need to keep far away from all kinds of cleverness that exist in the service of G-d itself. For example, a person can think and be very particular about details, all the time querying if he has fulfilled his duty or not in what he did; he searches for unnecessary stringencies. These kinds of 'cleverness' make a person fall a lot from the service of G-d. All this is confusion and imagination from the forces of evil in order to obstruct a person from his service of G-d. 'The Holy One does not level complaints against a person' etc. (Avoda Zora, 3A). About these people the verse applies which says, "And you shall live in them and not die in them."(Levit. 18:5). These people get no vitality at all from the service of G-d and mitzvot which they perform because of the stringencies and their depression. The greatest wisdom of all wisdoms is not to be 'clever' at all, but rather to serve G-d with purity and simplicity. The main thing is that "The Merciful One wants the heart" (Sanhedrin,106B: Zohar, Tetzei,pg.281). ## 41 ### Torah 41 - Dances a) Dances as a mitzvah are, for example, when you drink wine on Shabbat or on a Festival, or at a holy wedding or at any mitzvah meal. This is when you drink moderately, for the sake of Heaven, to merit to take joy in G-d Who chose us from all the nations. Then you are aroused to joy by this such that the happiness spreads into your feet and you come to dance from joy. Through this, you drive out the forces of impurity that take hold in the legs and this sweetens and nullifies all the harsh judgements; then one merits to receive all the blessings. This spiritual enthusiasm to dance is an aspect of a "fire offering of pleasing odour to the Lord". But, someone who dances with the enthusiasm of the evil urge, this is called "a strange fire" (Lev.10:11) and the wine he drinks is the wine of drunkenness through which the forces of evil take hold, Heaven forbid. b) This means that holy dances sweeten the harsh judgements like giving a redemption that a tzaddik performs by putting his hands on the money called 'pillars' or 'legs', alluding to strict justice for 'heel' (172) has the numerical value of twice Elohim(86x2). He draws into his legs the source of harsh judgements, from Binah, to sweeten them through with the 42-Letter Name in Binah. Forty two alludes to three 'hands' (Hand is numerically 14)- ' the great hand', 'the strong hand' and 'the high hand' that he draws there. The forty- two letter Name has seven names of six letters each. Have in mind to draw these six (vav, in Hebrew means 'six' and also 'hook') hooks to the pillars. This is what it says, "the hooks of the pillars and their joints shall be of silver." (Ex.27:10). By the joints being connected to the hooks of the pillars, one creates silver which alludes to loving-kindness which sweetens the harsh judgements. For this reason it is good to habitually give a redemption to a tzaddik so that they will sweeten and nullify the harsh judgements from upon him. That's to say, even when you don't have any problems, nevertheless it is good to frequently give a redemption in order to sweeten the harsh decrees so that he won't come to have any suffering, G-d preserve us. c) Filling the throats of Torah scholars with wine also has the effect of sweetening the harsh judgements like a redemption.That is what it means that Torah scholars increase peace in the world (B'rachot, 64). Through them we draw the 42 Letter Name which allude to the 370 Lights together with 8 white lights which altogether add up to the numerical value of 'b-shalom', (b,2;sha,300;l,30;o,6;m,40) 'in peace'; this is an aspect of Binah. (See Etz Chaim,Ch.13-14). Torah scholars are called Netzach and Hod, Legs, for they are the pillars of the world since they give advice to people, as it says "People derive benefit from his advice and wisdom" (Perkei Avot,6). ( Advice, 'aitzot', has the numerical value of 560- ai,70;tz,90;ot,400, which is the same as 'talmid chacham'-Torah scholar-552, with its eight letters). This is what it says, "May He grant you your heart's desire" (Psalms, 20:5). When is this, when "all your counsel is fulfilled" by filling the throats of Torah scholars with wine which alludes to Binah, the wine of joy, a heart which understands; it is considered like wine offerings (Yoma,71). (Prayer 41) May it be Your will, O Lord, our G-d and G-d of our fathers, that You have mercy upon me an let me merit to always be happy, that I always b e made happy by the happiness of performing a commandment. I will always rejoice and be happy in You and in Your salvation, for all the acts of loving-kindness You have done for us, that You chose from among all the nations and raised us above all the tongues and sanctified us in Your commandments and our King, You have brought us near to Your service. Your great and holy Name You called upon us. In Your mercy, may I merit to always remember the great favour and loving-kindness and to be happy in this at all times, every day and every hour, especially on Shabbat and on Festivals. The multiplicity of acts of loving-kindness and favour which You do for at all times are immeasurable and beyond value. How great is Your goodness which You performed for me. “How can I repay the Lord for all His benefits towards me?” If all the seas were ink, all the lakes quills, all men scribes and all tongues offering praise, they would not manage to clarify or tell one in thousands or tens of thousands of favours and acts of loving-kindness and saving and the very great awesojme acts of salvation, the many wonderful miracles and phenomenally incredible wonders that You, Lord of Hosts, performed charitably for us and that You saved our souls from all the hardships and troubles. “Many, Lord my G-d, are the wonderful works You have done and Your thoughts which are towards us. None can compare to You; if I would declare and speak of them they are more than can be numbered.” Therefore, I am certainly obligated all the time to remember Your continual favours and acts of loving-kindness which constantly happen to me all the time as anew and to always be happy in Your salvation. I plead with You, merciful Father, help me and let me merit to always be happy. May I always awaken myself to be in great happiness especially every Shabbat and on Festivals. Let me merit to enthuse my heart very much by holy happiness with great enthusiasm and spiritual inspiration, with great longing, desire and wishing for Your Name and to serve You truly with great belief, holiness and purity. Let the enthusiasm of the heart be drawn into my legs, until I merit to raise my legs with great happiness. May I merit to dance with great holiness and happiness, especially on Shabbat and Festivals, days on which You performed miracles for Israel. Save me always from drunkenness; protect and save me, in Your mercy, so that the wine I drink causes no drunkenness or enthusiasm of the heart and dancing which stem fro the Other Side, Heave forbid. May I have no flame of the desire for any craving whatsoever. Let me merit to the wine “which gladdens G-d and people”. Whenever there is an obligation to drink wine or alcohol of some kind, as on Shabbat with really great holiness until I merit to dances of holiness and by these dances, with an enthused heart of holiness from the wine which gladdens, may I merit, in Your mercy, to sweeten them and remove all the harsh judgments from upon us and from all Your Nation, the House of Israel, from now on and forever. Draw down peace into the world and nullify all kinds of controversy from the world. Merit me to regularly give money to true tzaddikim of the generation as a redemption (pidyon). Then arouse Your compassion upon us from the source of the ‘holy hands’ in Binah – they are the great hand, the strong hand and the raised hand. Through Your mercy, arouse the power of Your 42 – letter Name alluded to in the prayer ‘Ana B’Koach’. As a result, sweeten all theharsh decrees in their source from upon us and from all Jewish people from now on, at all times. Please send a complete cure to all those of Your People who are sick (especially so-and-so). Merit me to lift my hands and legs for G-d on High, Master of heaven and earth. Let me do this with perfect truth and faith, great, holy enthusiasm in the heart and tremendous joy as You desire. Draw sublime protection upon me which stems from the supernal Chashmal. Please purify me and my clothing, materially and spiritually. May, I fill the throats of true Torah scholars with the wine of joy so that they achieve great happiness. Bestow upon me a plentiful income, then I can give lots of money to genuine tzaddikim as a pidyon for myself and my family, until all the harsh decrees become sweetened at their source. Let peace spread throughout the world and fulfill the verse “The Lord will give strength to this nation; the Lord will bless His People with peace. 42. HE SAW THEIR AFFLICTION a) Through song, the harsh judgements are sweetened for the voice of song has three components – fire ( heat) water and air which correspond to the three colours of the rainbow. They are the three Patriarchs,the three bright colours which clothe the Shechinah which is reflected in the rainbow.(see Zohar,3,215 and Chagiga,16). When the rainbow is clothed in bright clothing this is the fulfillment of the verse "I will look upon it to remember the everlasting covenant." (Gen.9:16). Then the king's wrath was pacified." (Esther,7:10). One who sings the letters of prayer, which is the Shechinah, as it says," L-rd, open my lips" (Psalms, 51:17) so his speech is called L-rd and called a rainbow (keshet) from the word request (b'kashti) ,as Rashi explains on the verse (Gen.48:2): " with my sword and my bow" (b'kashti). Through the voice of song in prayer, when it is very clear and pure, one clothes the Shechinah,the letters, in bright clothing, then the Holy One sees it and "the king's wrath is pacified." This is what Rashi says on the verse "When He heard their song" (Psalms,106)' in the merit of the Forefathers'. ..then " He relents in His great mercy" (Psalms, 106:49) and the harsh judgements are sweetened. b) Also by belief in the Torah Sages, when one believes that all their words and deeds are not simple, but rather, contain deep secrets, one clothes the rainbow, as above, and the harsh judgements are sweetened. The tzaddik is an aspect of a rainbow, like Rebbi Shimon bar Yochai said to Rebbe Yehoshua ben Levi who in his days a rainbow was seen (K'tuvot,77 and in the above mentioned Zohar). He radiates light to the Shechinah in all his deeds, removing its grim clothing to adorn it with clothes of bright colours, secrets of the Torah, for the light of the Torah is called a secret. Through this "I will look upon it, to remember the everlasting covenant." This removes from it the anger of its words," the king's wrath is pacified"" and the harsh judgments are sweetened. c) Also by preparing beautiful clothing for the tzaddik, one brings about the above rectifications. d) In addition, by blowing the shofar on Rosh Hashana the harsh judgements are sweetened, for the notes we blow – teKiah, SHevarim, Tekiah- which are called 'kesh"t, allude to the Patriarchs. They are the three Names of the unification in Shma, the L-rd, our G-d, the L-rd. (Prayer 42) Hear, G-d, my song; hearken to my prayer. Help one, Lord my G-d, to pray with great concentration and happiness. Merit me and help me to arrange my prayers before You with real emotion in my heart, with a voice of joy and song. Let me sing out the words of my prayers so that it will sound beautiful. May it be very pure and refined with great clarity until I clothe the Shechinah with a radiant covering. By this arouse all Hear, G-d, my song; hearken to my prayer. Help one, Lord my G-d, to pray with great concentration and happiness. Merit me and help me to arrange my prayers before You with real emotion in my heart, with a voice of joy and song. Let me sing out the words of my prayers so that it will sound beautiful. May it be very pure and refined with great clarity until I clothe the Shechinah with a radiant covering. By this arouse all Your compassion over the Jewish People. Behold our troubles, distress and weakness in body, soul and money. Remove Your anger from us. Remember the convenant with our Fathers, Avraham, Yitzchak and Ya’akov; in their merit, have mercy on us. Hear our prayers and listen to our cries. See our songs before You, fulfill the verse: “But He saw their distress when He heard their song (Psalms 106,44). Sweeten and nullify from upon us a blessing of plenty, of life and peace. So also, in Your great compassion, bestow upon us Your holy belief. Merit us to believe in tazddikim with the utmost perfection. Help me to believe that all the words and deeds the true tzaddikim are not simple at all, rather they contain secrets. By this may I remove the coverings of darkness from the Shechinah and clothe her with radiant coverings which are the secrets of the Torah. As a result, sweeten and nullify all the harsh decrees from upon us and all the Jewish People. Merit us to hear the sound of the shofar on Rosh Hashanah from a respectable and G-d fearing shofar blower. May the sound of the tekiah, shevarim and teruah raise before You until it arouses the merit of Avraham, Yitzchak and Ya’akov. Behold their merit.By this, quieten Your anger until it is alleviated and nullified from upon us. Return to us and shine Your countenance upon us. Our Father our King, help us to achieve all that we have asked for from You. Let me skip and jump over all the vanities of This World, with all its physical cravings very speedily and easily. May I then really attach myself to You very strongly so that I will serve You constantly, by day and night. Do this for Your Name’s sake, for the sake of Your loving-kindness, for our needs are very numerous. 43. KEEP AWAY FROM THE WORDS OF A WICKED PERSON a) Know that the words of a wicked person who is knowledgeable, generate the craving for sex in the person who listens. One has to be very careful not to hear his words, for they are poisonous words of immorality; he lets out from his mouth vapours filled with the poison of craving for sex; the person who hears his words, breathes in and takes into his body these vapours. Therefore, Bilam who was the Da'at of the husks, parallel to the holy Da'at of holiness, as our Sages taught 'In the nations of the world there arose one like Moshe and this was Bilaam' (Zohar, 21B) who generated poisonous vapours of sex in Midian, as it says (Numbers, 31:16): "These caused the Children of Israel, through the words of Bilam…" In other words, they sinned specifically through the words of Bilam, for his words revealed his Da'at. When they returned from the war with Midian, it says that "they brought a sacrifice to G-d, to atone on our souls before G-d." About this, the Sages taught, ' this atoned for our sin, but not for our bad thoughts' (Shabbat,64). (Prayer 43) Lord, our G-d and G-d of our Fathers, help and protect us from becoming attached to the wicked. Guard me so that I will never hear the words of wicked people who have knowledge. Their words are poisonous vapors of sexual craving which induce such desires in the listener. Please, G-d, have mercy on me; distance me from hearing such words. You know that I am only flesh and blood; it is impossible for me to protect myself from them. Therefore I caste all my burden upon You. In, Your bountiful, mercy, protect me. Keep me distant from the wicked. Let m not talk with them at all and never listen to them. Even if I must talk to them, with Your great strength, guard me. Hide me in the shadow of Your wings in such a way that I am saved from the poison of their words. Don’t let their poison enter me. May the evil of their words not harm me. Sanctify me with Your sublime holiness, Merit me to really guard the brit. Have mercy on us and be with us at all times. Help us and save us. Subdue, break, uproot and nullify the husk of the evil Bilam from the world for he is the essence of the blemish of illicit sexual desire. Draw upon us and all the Jewish People the holiness of Moshe and all the true tzaddikim who really guarded the brit. Save us from any kind of blemish to the brit, from all sorts of evil thoughts, confusions and mixed up understanding. Rather, merit us to the holiness of the brit and to the really utmost perfection of holy understanding. Merit us to really attach ourselves to true tzaddikim, to the holy Torah and to the Holy One. Let this attachment be really strong and firm, with simple perfect faith, for now and forever and ever. Sanctify and purify us from all forms of impurity and filth, especially from the blemish to our understanding. We have no-one to rely upon other than our Father in Heaven. Fulfill in me the verse “I will throw over you, pure waters and you will be purified from all your impurities. May the words of my mouth and the contemplations of my heart find favour before You, G-d my Rock and Redeemer. 44. CLAPPING HANDS IN PRAYER a) The reason that we clap hands during prayer is because there are 28 joints in the hands which correspond to the 28 letters in the first verse of the Torah about Creation. Everything was created through them and they are called "The power of His hands to declare to His nation, to give them the inheritance of the nations." (Psalms,111:6). When we clap our hands we arouse these 28 letters and, by this, we get strength in our hands to purify the air of the lands of the nations and to drive out the impure air. Their lands then return under the control of the Holy One and He has the power in His hands to give them to whoever He wants. Then the air where a Jew prays is purified and the place draws pure air like that of the Land of Israel. It means that, by this, the prayer is in the air of the Land of Israel. b) Therefore a Jew has to fix a regular place to stand when praying, for even if he stands and prays in a place where a tzaddik prayed, even so, he isn't used to this air so it is very difficult to pray there. Even more so is this true if he hasn't a fixed place or sinners prayed there in that place. c) This is what it means, "the daily prayers were established as against the Tamid"- the daily burnt offering (B'rachot,26). In other words one has to see to it that one prays in the air of the Land of Israel, meaning to rectify the extraneous thoughts in prayer. That is "prayers are…against". Their rectification is by the aspect of the Land of Israel about which it says, "The eyes of the Lord your G-d are in it always"(Deut.11:13). 'Always', in Hebrew, is 'tamid', alluding to the tamid sacrifice. d) This is what it means, "In the hands of the prophets I have imagined" (Hoshea, 12:11). By clapping hands, the words that are spoken are in the Holy Land. "Prophets" alludes to the power of speech (as Rashi explains,Ex.7; see Orech Chaim,Ch.102,para.3 and the Taz). This also leads to the nullification of killing and destruction from the world,(See Torah 46) an aspect of, "I gave peace in the Land… and the sword will not pass through your land" (Lev.26:6). By clapping the hands in prayer, the air becomes that of the Land of Israel and the person is dwelling in the air of the Land of Israel where he has a G-d; thus, thoughts of idol worship and atheism are nullified. They are "against" faith, which is prayer, as it says, "His hands were faith"; the Targum Unkulus translates this as "his hands were spread in prayer". The rectification of these bad thoughts is through the 'tamid', by the Land of Israel and by clapping hands, as explained above. e) Another explanation is that the 'tamid' refers to the male lamb sacrifice (kevess). This is an aspect of what it says, "Lambs shall provide your clothing" (Proverbs, 27:26). About this the Sages taught that it refers to the sheep (or what is hidden) of the Compassionate One (Chagiga,13). That's to say, through prayer, secrets of the Torah are revealed. f) A further explanation is "prayer…against" refers to extraneous thoughts which are "against" and called a 'flood' for they flood the mind with confusions during prayer. Their rectification is by giving charity to the Land of Israel for then he is included in the air of the Land of Israel about which the Sages taught that the Flood didn't cover the Land of Israel (Zevachim,113). That is "prayers were established as against the tamid", that's to say, their rectification is by the Land of Israel. In addition, the mind of the person praying is purified, for "the air of Israel instills wisdom" (Baba Batra,158). This is "I will look upon it" (Gen.9:16) meaning the Land of Israel. By this, the covenant of the world is aroused and rectified. This alludes to the Eighteen Blessings of Prayer, an aspect of Tzaddik, Life (in Hebrew, 'chai', numerically 18) of the World. (Prayer 44) O Lord, our G-d, the G-d of our Fathers, Avraham, Yitzchak and Ya’akov in Your bountiful compassion, please help us at all times to pray before You with all our heart and soul, with tremendous concentration, real holiness, purity and perfect faith. Let us pray with fear and love, with pure and refined thoughts. Save us form all kinds of extraneous thoughts. May we sanctify the place where we stand to pray so that it will have the holiness of the land of Israel. Arouse my heart when I pray so that I merit to pray with great and awesome inspiration, until I am aroused to clap my hands while praying. Merit me to raise my hands to G-d and clap my hands with great enthusiasm during my prayers, with joy and wonderful inspiration, forth sake of Your Name alone. By clapping one hand on the other, may I arouse the power of the hands of the Holy One. They are the twenty-eight joints of the Supernal Hands alluded to in the twenty-eight letters in the first verse of Bereishit. Through this may we purify the air of the place where we pray so it will be an aspect of the air, the Land of Israel which makes wise. That is the holy air of the Land of Israel to the place where we pray. Everything is Yours. You created the world as You desired. Out of Your good will You gave strength to the Jewish People to, conquer the Land of Israel from the seven nations and to cleanse it from the impure air of the nations. So, merit us, in any place where we pray, to purify the air by clapping our hands. By this let us purify our prayers, refining them from all kinds of extraneous or atheistic thoughts. Save us from all this and merit us to give charity for the Land of Israel. Let us support respectable poor people who live in Israel until we ourselves merge into the air of the Land of Israel. As a result, may we drive out all our extraneous and confusing thoughts which prevent us from serving You, truthfully, for they come to us during the time of prayer. We have no strength to bare this. Help us to have pure and clean prayers so that they rise up to Your Throne of Glory. Then merit us to sublime Torah perceptions, to understand its secrets. As our prayers rise throughout all the worlds, take great delight from them. Please do not conceal Your Countenance from us. Never close Your ears to our cries and prayers; never desert us G-d, come to my help and save me. 45. CLAPPING HANDS IN PRAYER a)//By clapping hands in prayer one arouses the wings (lobes) of the lungs where the power of speech stems from. When one claps the five fingers of the hand against the other hand, this creates fifty gates of Binah, an aspect of the Jubilee (the fiftieth year), for five times five (fingers) is twenty five, times two (two hands) is fifty. This is also why the Torah refers to the Leaving of Egypt fifty times; through the power of the Jubilee (the fiftieth year), we left Egypt. There the power of speech was in exile, but, by the redemption ('ha'geula'- numerically fifty) from exile, the holy mouth and power of speech were created, like it says, "Who has made man's mouth?" (Ex.4:11). Then the mouth receives words from the lobes of the lungs. (Prayer 45) G-d, our G-d, G-d of our Fathers, merit us to clap our hands while praying and by this may we arouse the holy wings which are the fluttering lobes of the lung. Then we will be able to speak out holy words of prayer and requests. By striking the five fingers of the right hand against the five fingers of the left hand may we arouse the supernal lights to strike each other until they are united. Then, let the fifty gateways of Binah become activated, for they are the Great Jubilee. Through this, bring us the Redemption which is perfect both materially and physically. Merit us to extract the holy power of speech from the exile such that we can prepare and rectify our mouth.s in holiness. As a result, let us receive holy words and pray before You at all times with a mouth full of holy, pure words. May our words then find favour before Your Throne of Glory. Please fulfill all our wishes for the good. 46. MY SOUL IS CONTINUALLY IN MY HAND a)//Clapping hands in prayer is like a union, putting the bed in the direction of north to south (B'rachot,5) which are an aspect of the two hands. (See Torah 9 that through proper prayer one merits to one's marriage partner and to a livelihood.) b) This also causes a sweetening of the harsh judgements, for the right hand is 'the great hand' and the left hand is 'the strong hand' and when both hands clap they join together and that is the 'high hand', altogether three hands, three times YHVH, for the expanded form of the Name contains ten letters, with the four letters, that is fourteen, which corresponds to the fourteen joints in the fingers of one hand. By the three hands, which are three times YHVH, we sweeten the three times Elohim which represent the harsh judgements, for they stem from the words that leave the throat; throat, in Hebrew 'garon' (g,3;r,200;o,6;n,50) has the numerical value (259)of three times Elohim (86x3, with the word itself is 259). c) By clapping hands one is also saved from forgetfulness and one merits to a good memory. This is because one sweetens the harsh judgements, Elohim, in the hands when clapping one hand on the other. This is an aspect of what it says, "My soul is continually in my hand" (Psalms, 119:109). The soul is an aspect of prayer and speech, like it says, "My soul went out when he spoke" (Song of Songs, 5:6). Through this, "And Your Torah I didn't forget". The initial letters of this verse have the numerical value of 336, which is three times YHVH (26) and three times Elohim (86). This represents sweetening the harsh judgements which are the state of contracted consciousness from which forgetfulness stems. Then one comes to expanded consciousness which is memory and speech, a revelation of the mind. Therefore, at the time of prayer one can know if one now has expanded consciousness or not. c) This also leads to the nullifying of controversy, for all arguments stem from the aspect of Korach, from the aspect of darkness, an aspect of the left side. Aharon (who pursued peace) represents light and the right side. By clapping hands the two are joined and united. That is what it says, "Clap your hands all you peoples" (Psalms, 47:2). This verse alludes to the unity of peoples, as Rashi explains there. (Prayer 46) By the clapping of our hands while praying enable us to sweeten all the world’s harsh decrees. Let us arouse the three holy Supernal hands until we nullify all the judgements that stem from the three Elohim in the throat. Merit us to draw down three times the Name YHVH to sweeten those judgments from now on. Help us to push off our ‘small brains’ of limited consciousness. As a result, take away any forgetfulness we may have had; grant us holy brains of expanded consciousness which will provide us with holy memory. Then we will be able to remember all the Torah we studied. Let me never forget anything that I have learnt. Merit us to nullify all kinds of controversy from the world such that the left becomes merged in the right and great peace is drawn into the world. Have mercy on us and merit us to pray with great concentration and enthusiasm with all our hearts and souls. Help us to pray with tremendous fear of G-d and self-sacrifice, with very great joy. Let our thoughts be pure and proper without any extraneous intentions or confusion. So, please in Your bountiful compassion, merit us always to holy thoughts, especially when praying. Enable me to pray with great enthusiasm in the heart until I arouse and elevate my hands to G-d and clap with great holiness whilst praying. Strengthen us and speed our redemption until we speedily reach the Land of Israel. Bring Moshiach and redeem us permanently; speedily in our lifetime. Amen. 47. YOU SHALL EAT IN PLENTY AND BE SATISFIED a) Someone who has sunk into the craving for food, know that he is far from truth; know also that harsh judgements dwell upon him. This is also a sign of poverty. He will also come to be disgraced and shamed, as it says, "When one who is despised is exalted among people" (Psalms, 12:9). About this the Sages said, "someone who is in need of people's gifts, his face changes colour" (B'rachot,6) to several colours. b) Someone who breaks the craving to eat, the Holy One performs miracles through him. c) The Radiance of the Countenance is a rectification and Truth (the seventh rectification of the 13 attributes of mercy). This is an aspect of Ya'acov, as it says, "Give truth to Ya'acov" (Michah, 7: 20). It also alludes to tefillin which are called 'pe'er', splendour, like it says, "Put on your turban (pe'er)" (Ezekiel, 24:17). For Ya'acov is the attribute of Tiferet (Pe'er,Splendour) which includes all the colours and is an aspect of Truth and Life. The essence of wealth and all the good bounty stems from Truth, like it says, "Truth stands" (Shabbat, 104) – "the world at their feet, this is money upon which it stands" (Pesachim, 119). But when a person blemishes the tefillin, Heaven forbid, he comes to poverty and contempt; his life is in the balance, Heaven save us (B'rachot, 24). So also, when he blemishes Truth, he comes, Heaven forbid, to poverty and receives insults. On the other hand, whoever cleaves to the attribute of Truth, his income is plentiful. d) Therefore, anyone who is sunk in the craving to eat, is far from Truth for this is an aspect of 'a hiding of the Face', like it says, "I will hide My Face from them and they shall be eaten" (Deut.31:17). However, if Jews are careful not to eat a lot, just enough to satisfy their souls, then they merit to the aspect of "G-d shines His Countenance", that the Holy One shows them His Face(B'rachot,20). Then they receive sustenance from the attribute of Truth. The opposite is also true, even if a tzaddik who has left physical cravings behind him, falls from his level and falls into the craving to eat, this is a sign that he spoke some kind of lie and, because of that, there is severe judgement hovering over him; it is also a sign of poverty. e) Behold, all the world is nourished from the bounty of the Land of Israel (Zohar,Vol.2,pg.156B) as is known. Israel itself receives its bounty from Truth, which is the attribute of Ya'acov. This is an aspect of heaven, formed of fire and water, which reflects the generality of all colours, an aspect of tefillin, called life (Menachot,44). Therefore, the Land of Israel is called the Land of the Living. This is why it says that "the eyes of the Lord, your G-d are always in it" (Deut.11:12) for "He that tells lies shall not remain in My sight" (Psalms,101:7); the Land of Israel is the attribute of Truth, therefore G-d's eyes are always in it. Its praise is that "not because of poverty you will eat bread in it" (Deut.8:9) but, rather, because of having broken the craving to eat. Since Israel represents Truth, and one is free of the craving for food, one chooses to only eat bread. f) Consequently, on any potential trouble so that it should not come, we declare a fast for the trouble, Heaven forbid, is an aspect of the hiding of G-d's Face, a reflection of harsh judgements. So, we establish a fast in order to break the craving to eat; this leads to a revelation of His Face which means a sweetening and nullification of the severe decrees. Thus, all the troubles are cancelled. g)When we eat from the bounty of Truth which comes through the Land of Israel, and afterwards we speak out the praises of the Holy One, in the strength of this, we become like 'partners with the Holy One in the creation of new heavens', an aspect of the face of Ya'acov; 'and a new earth', represents the Land of Israel, as it says, "And say to Zion, you are My nation" – don't read it "My nation" ("imi") but rather 'with Me' ("imi"), in partnership (Zohar,Vol.1,5). It turns out that we change the functioning of the Celestial Wheels and the Constellations in the heavens by our holy and truthful words said in Torah and prayer. This is what it says, "You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied" (Yoel, 2:6), meaning that you eat only in order to satisfy the soul and by this "you praise the Name of G-d"; then you will be partners with the Holy One in the creation of heavens and earth; that is "Who has dealt wondrously with you" (ibid), meaning you will be able to do wonders. "You will not be ashamed" (ibid), because you are an aspect of Truth, the generality of all holy colours and you don't need to be ashamed of (your face) changing colours as a result of fallen attributes, of needing the charity of people when a person's face changes colour from shame. Therefore, "My people shall never be ashamed" (ibid). (Prayer 47) Our Father and King, Mighty One, Creator, Redeemer, Maker; Holy One, the Holy One of Jacob; our Shepherd, the Shepherd of Israel – help us and save us by Your great mercy and loving-kindness, so that we merit to nullify and break completely the craving for food. May we be content with a little to eat, with that which is vital alone. Let us eat with great limitation and precision and be satisfied from it. Remove, drive out and negate the hunger from within us such that we nourish ourselves and satisfy our souls by eating only a little…….. Let the little that I eat be with really great holiness and purity, for Your Name’s sake alone, without any bodily desire at all. As a result of my eating with great holiness, let me merit to always give thanks and praise to Your great, holy Name. Let me always speak words of truth, glorifying my Maker and the name of His glorious Kingdom such that I merit by this to be included among the true tzaddikim and wonder-workers who create new heavens and earth by their true words and perform great wonders in Heaven and upon Earth. In Your bountiful mercy, help me and grant me the merit to be included within Jacob’s attribute of truth. Let me always speak truthfully and let no untrue word ever leave my mouth, whether accidentally or on purpose, whether by force of circumstance of by desire. Protect me and save me so that I never stumble by saying something untrue , even by mistake. Let me merit to distance myself totally and utterly from any untruth, as is written: “Keep distant from any false matter.” In Your plentiful compassion, help me to be a truthful person in all matters. Let me behave in a truthful way and speak truthfully from my heart. May I never diverge or turn away, to the right or to the left, from the center of the point of truth. You, who are full of compassion, and gracious to the poor, performing acts of great loving-kindness and much goodness, grant me an undeserved gift, a present out of loving-kindness – the attribute of truth. Fulfill the verse which says: “You will grant truth to Jacob and loving-kindness to Abraham, which You have sworn to our fathers since olden days.” By this, grant me the merit to pray in the Land of Israel, the Land of Life. Let us draw upon ourselves and upon all of Israel, the bounty and blessing from there; a good bounty, blessing, compassion, life and peace, good income and everything good. Please, have mercy upon me and save me. Merit me to achieve all that I have asked from You – may I break the craving for food completely and then acquire the attribute of truth. Let me come to the Land of Israel peacefully. Save me from poverty and from a sense of locking things. Draw upon me, my family and all the Jewish People blessings, a good income from now on and always. May they take pleasure from us in all the worlds above. Do not hide Your Countenance from us rather, have compassion on Your Nation. Sweeten all the harsh decrees and nullify them from upon us. Save us from all troubles. Shine Your Countenance upon us. Amen. Amen. 48. BECAUSE YOU TRANSGRESSED AGAINST ME a) The Hebrew vowel Tzere alludes to what is written, "G-d formed (yitzer) Man" (Gen.2:7) for this relates to Binah where a foetus is formed, as it says, "If ('im'- alluding also to 'imma', mother) call to Binah" (Proverbs, 2:3). This is an aspect of a Succah, as is written, "You have formed me (tesuccaini) in my mother's womb" (Psalms, 139:13). This is similar to when we pray with all our strength, when we put all our strength into the letters of prayer, like it says, "All my bones shall say" (Psalms, 35:10). This is an aspect of the succah, as it says, "With bones and sinews You formed me (tesuccaini)" (Job, 10:11). These words are an aspect of the twenty eight letters of the Act of Creation, with which the world was created. The Ten Sayings through which the world was created receive their strength from these twenty eight letters. And these words of prayer that we recite with all our strength, they are themselves the words of the Holy One, an aspect of "I will place my words in your mouth" (Isaiah,51). The Ten Sayings are an aspect of loving- kindness, like it says, "For I said: The world is built on loving-kindness" (Psalms, 89:3) which is an aspect of succah which is an aspect of the embrace of the right hand, as is written, "and with the shade of my hand I covered you", by " I will place my words in your mouth", as mentioned. b) However, the words that are not holy cause the arousal of a succah of idolatry, as it says, "Whose mouth speaks lies and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood" (Psalms,144,11). This is the embrace of the Other Side. Then the right hand of falsehood becomes stronger and the exile among the nations deepens; we become distant from the holiness of the Land of Israel. As a result, truth becomes hidden together with the true Rebbe. Arguments and controversy become dominant and then the Shechinah quarrels with the Holy One (see Tikkunei Zohar, 21:,44) about her children who are in exile, who have been driven away from the table of their Father and have left their homeland. c) Therefore, the succah has a special power to enable people to have children, meaning also praying with all one's strength and the Land of Israel: all three have this special power to enable one to have children. All of them are one aspect and are interdependent. We merit to come to Israel through praying with strength and through the mitzva of succah, for the main essence of the Land of Israel is through the power of His deeds etc. which is an aspect of prayer with strength. d) Similarly, all three save us from arguments and controversy, an aspect of "conceal them in a succah from quarrelsome tongues" (Psalms, 31:21) so that the tongues of the idolaters won't become overpowering but rather, the verse will be fulfilled that says, "Then I will turn all peoples to a pure tongue" etc. (Zephania, 3:9). There will be one tongue to serve Him with one accord. Then the falsehood will be discarded and the truth will become dominant and become revealed in the world; then everyone will merit to know of the true Rebbe of the generation. He will be revealed and become famous. By this, everyone will return to G-d, even the nations of the world, to serve Him with one accord. May it be speedily in our days, Amen. (Prayer 48) In Your great mercy and bountiful loving-kindness, may I merit to fulfill properly the commandment of sitting in a succah, in all its details, exactitudes, intentions and 613 commandments that are dependent on it. May I perform it in happiness, good-heartedness and perfect devotion, as is fitting. Let us merit, that by the commandment of sittingin a succah there be drawn upon us all the Seven Clouds of Glory that enveloped the Children of Israel in the Desert. Spread the shelter (succah) of Your peace. Grant us merit to ascertain a special state of enlightenment, to ascertain a special state of enlightenment, to ascertain Ruach Hakodesh – the spirit of Diving Inspiration – by performing the commandment of sitting in a succah properly, with holiness,, purity and happiness. By this, protect us and save us from every enemy, ambusher and all sorts of foes that we have physically and spiritually, who hate us. Remove Satan from before us and behind us and let us take shelter in the shade of Your protection. Master of the World, let us merit to sit in the succah of the Leviathan, to also be in the community of tzaddikim of whom the Sages of blessed memory said, “In the future, the Holy One will make a Chuppah for tzaddikim in the Garden of Eden and every single tzaddik will be burnt by the canopy of his fellow.” Let us merit to receive the true radiance and sparkling of holiness from the lights of these holy canopies in This World as well…… Help us and save us in Your bountiful mercy and immense loving-kindness, so that we merit to always pray before You sincerely with all our strength, as it says, “All my bones will say, Lord, who is like You?” May we merit to put into the words of prayer all the strength we have in our bones, sinews and flesh and all other powers of body and soul. In Your mercy let me speak our every word of holy prayer with really pray with strength and devotion, for You, G-d, are truth and Your word is true and You exist forever. You desire the truth. You know how far away I am from even one word of prayer. Not only can’t I pray with real strength and devotion as is fitting, because of my many iniquities, but I am totally distant from prayer ……. I have blemished my speech very much. I have not guarded the openings of my mouth. I have spoken many bad things during my life up until today, such that it is beyond estimation or number. I have spoken useless things, lashon hara, gossip, frivolous things, lies obscenities and all sorts of other bad things. Even the things I say to do with the holy matters are all very, very blemished such that, if I think about it, I have never spoken even one word without some blemish. Because of this the “strife of tongues” has become very strong such that many rise against us, very many indeed….. Send Your hand from above; rid me and deliver me out of the great waters, from the hand of the heathens whose mouths speak vanity and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood.” Oh, woe is my soul for I caused all this by my many iniquities. I have lengthened the exile and blemished the fallen Succah of David. Not only have I not tried to raise the Succah of David,but my many iniquities. I have lengthened the exile and blemished the fallen Succah of David. Not only have I not tried to raise the Succah of David, but, by my many iniquities I have continued to pull it down further. I have made stronger the succah of the gentiles and the languages of the heathens, until by my many iniquities, the Divine Presence and the community of Israel are in a great exile. They have been exiled from the table of their Father and driven out of their land. Help me to sanctify myself in all kinds of holiness especially in speech and marital relations. May I never ever say an untruth or any thing inappropriate. Rather, merit me to guard my tongue so that I can pray before You with all my strength and really great concentration. Let me merge in You when praying to a degree that all the words of my prayers become the words of G-d. As a result, let my prayers arouse the twenty-eight letters of the creation (in the first verse of Bereishit) with which the world was created. By this, bestow upon us Your great loving-kindness. Spread over us the Succah of peace and caress us wtih Your right hand. Merit us to take shelter in Your holy shadow. Protect us and save us from all our enemies and persecutors, materially and spiritually. Hide us in the shadows of Your wings. Help us, in Your great love for us, to perform the mitzvah of sitting in a Succah, at proper time in all its details and proper intentions with all the 613 mitzvot that we are dependent on it. Let us do this with a good heart and great happiness. As a result, uproot, nullify and subdue the succot of the nations whose mouths speak lies. Remove falsehood from the world while strengthening the truth. Pause the Succah of David which has fallen. In Your bountiful mercy, let us merit to children, living and enduring to serve and fear You and uphold Your Torah (when you want to pray for someone who is suffering the anguish of raising children. Heaven forbid, mention him/her here and say in particular…..son/daughter of…..etc.). Have great pity and compassion upon us and bestow good and long lives to our sons and daughters and all our descendants (especially to the boy, son of….etc. and the girl…..daughter of …etc.). Have mercy upon them and upon us in the merit of their fathers and give them good and long lives. Lengthen their days and years. I pleaded with You, please take pity and awaken Your compassion upon them and say to their troubles, ‘Enough!’ “O Lord, do good to those who are good and to those who are upright in their hearts.” “Peace be within their walls, tranquility within their palaces,” without breach, defection, or an outcry in their streets, for generations and generations of their generations forever. “Though their beginning was small, their end will be very great,” as when the heavens and earth are new, so may their seed and names endure. Save them and all the children of Your Nation, the House of Israel, from the evil eye, from mishap, from all sorts of affliction and illness and send them from Heaven, a complete cure to all their 248 limbs and 362 sinews, so that they merit to endure and live with health and so that they “spend all their days in prosperity and their years in pleasures.” From them, may we merit to bring forth many generations. Have mercy upon them and upon us for Your Name’s sake; raise them to Torah, marriage and good deeds for many years. “They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fertile and fresh.” Compassionate One, our needs are very great but we lack the ability to express them in detail You know all our needs. Please have mercy on me so that I can really return to You with all my heart fulfilling You with all the days of my life. Reveal the truth in the world until all the peoples of the world return to You, to serve You with real fear and love. Fulfill the verse very speedily which says: “Then I will turn upon the nations a pure language, so they will all proclaim the Name of G-d, to worship Him with one accord.” (Zephania 3,9). 49. HE SET UP A TENT … FOR THE SUN a) Every single Jew is a holy portion from Above and the main revelation of godliness is in the heart. This godliness in the heart of a Jew is an aspect of the Ein Sof (The Infinite One), for the light of its flame reaches to the Ein Sof. That's to say, there is no end and no limit to his yearning. Since the enthusiasm of the heart of a Jew is so great, it should be impossible for him to do anything or to reveal any good attribute in the service of G-d. The infinite burning enthusiasm in the heart would preclude any limited action. This is a reflection of the beginning of the Creation of the World when there was no place to create because there was only the Light of the Infinite One, may He be blessed. But the Holy One wanted to reveal His Kingship and this we can grasp only by perceiving His Attributes which are the worlds that He created. Through them we are able to ascertain His Godliness and to know that there is a Master, Ruler and Leader to the world. Therefore, He constricted His Infinite Light to the sides (so to speak) until a vacant space remained in which He created the worlds. Consequently, in a similar way, each Jew must constrict and limit the light of the flame of his heart, which would otherwise reach infinity, so that he can serve the Holy One within the proper bounds. The Holy One wants us to serve Him with good attributes, for, by this, we reveal His Kingship. b) When a person limits this enthusiasm in the heart so that it won't burn too much, then a vacant place is left in the heart, as it says, "My heart is hollow within me" (Psalms, 109:22), then, within the heart, his good attributes become revealed. This is the secret of the Creation of the Worlds which was within the Vacant Space, as mentioned previously. The Creation was primarily through Wisdom, as it says, "You made them all in Wisdom" (Psalms, 104:24). Similarly, the main way to serve G-d is by achieving good attributes and performing good deeds and this one can attain only by guarding the wisdom in the heart; that's to say, one has to guard the thoughts of one's heart where the good and evil urges function, like the verse says, "The thoughts of his heart…" (Gen.6:5). Therefore, the heart is the 'tzayar' (shaper) of the attributes; the wisdom in the heart is like the "strength of my heart" (Psalms, 73:26). This is also what it says, "And (G-d) vayitzer – formed." (Gen.2:7). 'Vayitzer' is written with two letters 'yud' which allude to the two urges (yetzarim) for good and for evil. Good thoughts are the good inclination whereas bad thoughts are the evil inclination. So, a person builds or destroys himself depending on how he guards the thoughts of his heart (See Torah 35). c) When you are careful to avoid bad thoughts and think only good thoughts in your heart about how to serve G-d, then your heart becomes an aspect of "the strength of my heart" and "my heart is hollow within me". This leads to performing good deeds and having good attributes which become apparent within the hollow of the heart. This reveals that you have taken upon yourself completely the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven. d) When the heart becomes hollow (vacant) then it is open to acquire holy wisdom. By this, a person rectifies the Creation which exists only though wisdom. This reflects the good thoughts. On the other hand, by thinking bad thoughts, Heaven forbid, which are the foolishness of the heart, "the foreskin of your heart", which Unkulus translates as "the foolishness of your hearts" (Deut. 10:16), this stupefies the heart. In turn, this stupefies the Vacant Space of the Creation which exists through Wisdom; it spoils the Creation and is considered as if you had destroyed the world. However, on the contrary, when one thinks good thoughts, this rectifies the world; by purifying the heart and driving out any bad thoughts, thinking only good thoughts, one merits to be able to renew the Act of Creation and perform miracles in the world. This is a reflection of what it says, "Someone who wants to pour libation wine on the altar should fill the throats of Torah scholars with wine" (Yoma,71A) for their throats are like the pits under the altar that were hollow and descended all the way down to the depths (Succah,49A). This parallels "my heart is hollow within me" for the 'depths' alludes to the heart and the wind pipe, as brought in the Zohar. The 'depths' ('tehom') also alludes to miracles, for everyone expresses wonder ( t'mahim) as it says, (Ruth,1:19) "All the town were amazed" ("tehum"). Therefore, the tzaddik, whose heart is open with wisdom, like it says, "My heart is hollow within me" and "the strength of my heart", he can renew the Act of Creation and perform miracles, as is written, "in His goodness He renews every day the Act of Creation" (morning prayers). "in His goodness" refers to the tzaddik who is called "good", like it says, "Say of the tzaddik that he is good" (Isaiah,3:10). The Sages said, "engravings, the handiwork of a craftsman" (Succah, ibid) – this alludes to the hollow pits. This is the craftsmanship of the Holy One, an aspect of the Creation of the world, which is an aspect of the heart of the tzaddik, as explained above. ( See Torah 41, the mitzvah of pouring libation wine reflects the nullifying of harsh judgements; that's to say, the miraculous changing and nullification of Nature ('hateva') which has the numerical value of Elohim (G-d's Name of strict judgement). Through the wine, the vacant space of the heart is opened, as it says, "my heart is hollow". This is an aspect of what it says (Yoma, 15) ' Wine and fragrances made me wise'. ) e) This is what is written, "serve Him with all your hearts" (Deut.11:13). 'What is called service in the heart, this is prayer' (Ta'anit, 2). For the essence of prayer depends on the heart, meaning that you put all your heart into it and connect your thoughts very well to the words of prayer so that your heart won't be far from the words; rather, let your heart listen carefully to what you say. Through this, G-d's Kingship will be revealed and exalted and, as a result, the Kingdom of Evil will fall. Then, a great vitality, plenty and wealth – endless blessings – will be drawn to the People of Israel. As a result there will be a Unification, Above and Below, and we will merit to a revelation of the Hidden Torah of the Ancient One. For prayer is an aspect of the Kingdom of David, as it says, "I am prayer" (Psalms,109:4). Prayer in the heart is a revelation G-d's Kingship within the vacant space in the heart. f) This (Kingship/ prayer) is the aspect of 'heh' (the last letter of G-d's Name YHVH ). When a person stupefies his heart with foolishness, and "there is no poverty other than from knowledge" (Nedarim, 41) he then falls into 'dalut', meaning the state of poverty; the aspect of the letter 'dalet'. But when he sanctifies his thoughts, there being no sanctity fewer than ten (Zohar,2,129), this is the aspect of the letter 'yud' (numerically ten) that he draws into the letter 'dalet' so that it becomes 'heh'. This reflects what it says "she" (an allusion to the letter 'heh') "is the olah" – burnt offering ( Levit. 6:2) and it is the aspect of "who is this that ascends (olah)" (Song of Songs,8:5) – who ascends together with this; who raises the upper house (Binah) with the lower house (Malkhut), through raising the power of prayer, which represents Kingship, an aspect of Jerusalem, the lower house. The Holy One will enter Jerusalem above by our building Jerusalem below, which is prayer (Ta'anit, 5). Both of them, the union above and the union below, are an aspect of Aviv (spring) called Nissan, when the Tabernacle was completed and when the future Temple will be initiated (see Ezekiel, 45:18). Aviv corresponds to the two houses, as above, for it is spelt 'aleph' (Binah) with 'bet' (beit means house) and 'yud' (alluding to wisdom) with 'bet'. g) This union will awaken the song of the Future, as it says, "The song will be for you as on the night that the festival is sanctified" (Isaiah, 30:29) – (for prayer is an aspect of faith, as it says, (Psalms,106:12) "they believed in his words and sang his praises." ) They will sing on the night of Pesach a simple, two-fold, three-fold and four-fold song. They are the Ten Types of Song (in Psalms) which are an aspect of 'heh' which is 'dalet' with 'yud'. This will come about by the revelation of His Kingship like a 'shir' (song), an aspect of "'sarah' (she ruled) over the entire world" (B'rachot,13). This reflects the Kingdom of David who is "the sweet singer of Israel" (Samuel,2,23:1). This is an aspect of the succah of David which has to be raised (Amos, 9:11). Succah alludes to 'sarah' who was anointed with the spirit of holiness (Megillah,14). Sarah is Malkhut(Kingship) and prayer which will be elevated and established from its lowliness and constriction, like "the small light" (Gen.1:16), the falling of his counsel (Sanhedrin,22) to the level of greatness, " the two great lights" (Gen.1:16). Then one will merit to full counsel and to complete repentance. h) This is an aspect of teshuva (the letters teshuv- heh), literally, return the 'heh', meaning that one has to make the 'dalet' into a 'heh'. The essence of teshuva depends on the heart, as it says, "with his heart, he will understand and repent" (Isaiah,6:10) , that's to say with the thoughts of the heart one has to overcome and escape from bad thoughts; one has to think good thoughts all the time. Take to heart very well what your ultimate purpose is and what your end will be. Think about ideas and strategies how to merit to return to the Holy One; by this you will merit to repentance. Then you will manage to ascertain the Torah of the Hidden Ancient of Days, the hidden inner meanings of the Torah which are the main delight of the World to Come, the delight of Shabbat. And Shabbat is also the aspect of repentance, as it says, "Then Shabvta – you will return- to G-d, your L-rd." (Deut.30:2). It says in the Tikkunei Zohar (Tikkun 21 and 41) 'And it is called Kabbalah when it is between the two arms of the king.' The two arms are the months of Nissan and Tishrei which are days of repentance, for in Nissan we will be redeemed (Rosh Hashana,11A) as redemption occurs only through repentance, as it says, "A redeemer will come to Zion and to those who repent" (Isaiah,59:20). In other words, the main knowledge of the secrets of the Torah, which are the wisdom of the Kabbalah, will be known in the future through our repentance. i) This is also the aspect of tzitzit and its sky-blue thread called t'khelet (the main element of the mitzvah of tzitzit is the t'khelet (as mentioned in Sutah, 17; Chullin, 89 where Rashi explains they merited to a blue thread which is the tzitzit and see Lekutei Halachot, Tzitzit, 5, par.3) "which consumes and utterly destroys" (Zohar, 1,51). The t'khelet reveals the Kingdom of Holiness and this subdues and nullifies the Kingdom of the Other Side, of Evil. Israel, who cleave to the Kingdom of Holiness, receive their vitality from there, for the main essence of vitality is from there, as alluded to in the saying "David, King of Israel is alive and endures" (Rosh Hashana,25A). This is because the t'khelet is an aspect of "the soul of David longed – 'tekhal' (Samuel,2,13:39). This alludes to 'khalah', meaning to put an end, as it says "I will make an end-khalah-of all the nations" (Jer.30:11), devouring everything etc. Melody also comes from the t'khelet like it says, "From the corner of the earth we heard song" (Isaiah,24:16). Specifically from the corner, for it is like the t'khelet (about which it is written, "on the corner, attach a thread of t'khelet" (Deut.11)). This is an aspect of the letter 'heh' which is written with a 'dalet' and 'yud'. 'Dalet' (whose numerical value is four) alludes to the four corners of a garment which require tzitzit, whereas the 'yud' (numerically, ten) alludes to the Ten Types of Song, an aspect of "the song". The main strength of a bride-khalah- who is an aspect of 't'khelet', she receives from "the Supernal Mother (Binah) who lends her garments to her daughter" (Zohar,1,2A). For Binah is the source of all harsh judgements, so, through her, they are also sweetened. This process turns the 'dalet' into a 'heh' which then channels bounty, great wealth and endless blessings to Israel. By performing the mitzvah of tzitizit with care, we merit to all this. j) This is the meaning of the verse "He set up a tent in their midst for the sun" (Psalms, 19:5). The tzaddik is called 'sun' as is written, "The sun shines" (Eccl.1:5). "Shining" alludes to his holy perceptions which he achieves only through the People of Israel, as the Sages teach that we learn from Moshe when G-d tells him, "Go down, for your people have become corrupt" (Ex.32:7). G-d says, "I gave you greatness only for the People of Israel" (B'rachot,32A). This is the meaning of "a tent in their midst", for the tent -'ohel' – alludes to shining, as it says, "when He shone –'b'hilo'- his light" (Job, 29:2). "In the midst of Israel" means that when the Jewish People, Heaven forbid, delve into secular wisdoms of the other nations, the tzaddik falls from his level of perception for it becomes shrouded and covered. However, when the Jewish People leave these non-Jewish wisdoms, the tzaddik then emerges from the chuppah and covering which he had until now; this is like "a groom emerging from his chuppah" (bridal canopy). k) The custom of a bride to send a tallit to the groom (before the chuppah) has a strong reason, as explained in Kabbalistic books. So also the custom of shouting 'Shabbat' and words of mirth (called 'elah', alluding to "she is the olah"). It all belongs to wedding customs, according to the secret truths of the Torah. (See elsewhere for an explanation of the wondrous customs that we perform at a wedding; covering the bride's face, throwing confetti/ wheat over the groom; the groom's speech being interrupted; giving presents for his talk; the merry-makers making summersaults etc. Everything is from G-d. This is not the place to explain.) l) One has to be "like a warrior eager to run the course" (Psalms,19:5), for even when one merits to repent and to rectify what one spoilt, nevertheless one still has to make up the service of G-d that one could have done during the time that one was far from G-d and under His reprimand. Therefore, one has to run fast and be very speedy in the service of G-d in order to make up for any service which is lacking which could have been performed in that period that one spoilt. (Prayer 49) Rock of my heart and my holiness; Rock of all the worlds and Creator of all things: Master of all created things and Lord of all souls, who knows hidden things, You know my heart, You know the immensity of the burning holiness of the light of Your Divinity which abounds in my heart. We are a part of the Divine from Above and Divine Presence of Your Divinity is within our hearts. Therefore, let my heart take pity upon me and let it sound like a harp. “My soul longs for, even faints for the courts of the Lord: my heart and my flesh cry out for the living G-d.” The burning coals of my heart burn and yearn for You. Many waters cannot extinguish this love, nor rivers flood it, for the light of my heart is connected to and enjoined to Your great Infinite Light. Therefore the light of the flames of my heart is also infinite, for there is not end, no measure to my yearning for You, My longing, craving and desire for You is strong and bold, beyond limit or reckoning. The truth is that according to the immense light of the flames of the heart, which is infinite, it should be impossible to worship You at all, for the light of the holiness of my heart burns and enflames towards You with a powerful desire and a strong will to cleave to You and to always be included in You, forever. However, You revealed to us by Your holy Sages that this is not what You desire; this was not Your holy intention in creating us, for You know that we are flesh and blood and we cannot always be attached to You. You desire our worship and our good deeds, therefore You decreed that we should not destroy ourselves by going beyond the limits in order to rise u to You, that we should not have a burning desire for You that oversteps the limit. You decreed that we should restrict the light for fervour in our hearts; we should make a vacant space in our hearts, as it says: “My heart is made vacant within me,” so that, by this, we merit to attract into our hearts all the good, holy attributes and to really draw upon ourselves the yoke of Your worship. Let us walk in paths of goodness, cleave to Your holy attributes and serve You in the right measure and appropriate level. By this, let us merit to accept upon ourselves the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven and to reveal Your Kingdom to all peoples of the world, for this was Your intention in creating Man, that he reveal Your Kingdom in the World. Therefore, O Lord, my G-d and the G-d of my fathers, G-d of Abraham, G-d of Isaac and G-d of Jacob, G-d of all the true tzaddikim, G-d of the first and last generations of Sages, G-d of all Israel, have mercy and loving-kindness upon me, on someone so blemished and confused as myself. Teach me and guide me in Your truth and instruct me so that I merit to a true understanding of how to behave in this matter, in what path and in what way I can restrict the light to a suitable measure and level, as is really Your good desire. You know that I need to always yearn for You, to really long for You, to run toward You…….. You need to arouse Your true mercy upon me (mercy) which is hidden with You; You need to carry me on the wings of eagles, to bring me to You, to bring me closer to You, very quickly and soon…. However, despite this need, I have to limit the light of the fervour of my heart, as is revealed before You, my Father in Heaven. It is obvious and known before You how many blemishes I caused because of my over-enthusiasm. Therefore, I have become You, my Father, my Lord, my Lord, Redeemer of Israel and Rock of my heart. Here I throw myself before You. I give over to You alone, my body, soul, my spirit and higher soul. I give over my heart to You alone. Show me and teach me how to behave with regard to the craving and fervour for You and how to restrict the fervour, in such a way that I merit to return in really perfect repentance, to progress in Your holy paths and to cleave to Your good attributes. Let me always accept upon myself the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven, with perfect love and desire with dread and fear, with holiness, and great purity, so that I can really serve You in utter truth, in the proper measure and at the proper level, as is really Your good desire. May I merit to sanctify myself very much in the two holy months that are the beginnings of the year – Nissan and Tishrei – for they are days of repentance. May I merit every year to return in complete repentance and to sanctify myself in those months with extra holiness and great happiness. Let me always draw upon myself great holiness and complete repentance from these two months so that it lasts the whole year. Let me merit to arouse and reveal the ten kinds of song and speedily to arrange before You, every day, many songs and praises with a voice of joy. And, may I joyfully sing praises to Your great and holy Name, by song, praise and melody; with songs of praise, sung powerfully and joyfully, with all the ten kinds of holy song until we now sing the song that will be sung in the Future…… Let me merit to know and perceive secrets of the holy Kabbala such that I merit to ascertain and know the most hidden and sublime Torah of the Ancient of Days which will be revealed in the Future. Merit me to perform the mitzvah of tzitzit perfectly in all its details and stringencies, with all the 613 mitzvot that are dependent on it, with a good heart and great happiness. May it find favour before You to help us perform the mitzvah of wearing the blue thread in the tzitzit. Have mercy on us and build Your city again speedily during our lifetime. Bring wearing the blue thread in the tzitzit, uproot and break to pieces the kingdom of Evil from the world. Let us and all Jews always cleave to You and thereby take upon ourselves with love the yoke of the kingdom of Heaven. Then draw upon us the bounty of living a good we unite them above and below so that the four letters of Your holy Name become united. Grant us the joy of a mitzvah by helping us really gladden the hearts of kosher brides and bridegrooms. Let us sing and dance gladly before them with wonderful holy joy and great purity. Through this, enable us to unite the Supernal Bride and Groom. May we unite them above and below so that the four letters of Your holy Name become united. Merit us to come close to true tzaddikim. Help me and all other Jews to escape the mundane wisdoms of the nations. Protect my mind from tending towards these natural wisdoms. Rather let my thoughts always cleave to You and to Your holy Torah, forever. As a result, may the light of true tzaddikim increase and rise such that they will continually achieve sublime new Torah perceptions. Then, in Your bountiful loving-kindness, give us the opportunity to receive and enjoy their great and holy light. Grant us the holiness of Shabbat and may we feel tremendous joy throughout Shabbat stemming from real fear and love of G-d, faith, holiness and great purity. And in the strength of Shabbat and its holiness let us break and nullify from within us the craving for money so that we have no desire for money at all. Father merit us just to long for the ultimate purpose of life. Compassionate One, have mercy on us and fulfill all our wishes from now on and enable us to drive our, destroy and nullify all bad thoughts from our hearts. Draw upon us holy, pure, thoughts so that we can start from now on to serve You truly as is Your desire. By this, merit us to quickly reach complete perfection. Return us to You, G-d, and we will return. Renew our days as of old. May the words of my mouth and the musings of my heart find favour before You, my Rock and Redeemer. Amen. 50. RESCUE MY SOUL FROM THE SWORD a) Anyone who blemishes the covenant ( by illicit sexual cravings) cannot pray in the aspect of "all my bones will proclaim" (Psalms,35:10), meaning that he cannot taste the sweetness of the words of prayer, for this aspect is called "all of my bones proclaim". Only by rectifying any blemish to the brit can a person taste this sweetness in prayer. b) Someone who blemishes the brit is in the aspect of defiled waters, impure seed. Then he is unable to pray as "all my bones proclaim". As a result a dog descends to devour his sacrifice, meaning his prayer, which is an aspect of Marah, a sword, an aspect of Hell. However, when he rectifies the brit, his prayer becomes sweet waters, pure waters, holy seed and, thus, his words are sweet and good. When they leave his mouth and are heard by his ears, the sweetness of his words enters his bones and then his prayer becomes an aspect of "all my bones proclaim". Then a lion descends to devour his sacrifice (his prayer). c) Each person, according to how much he rectifies his brit, and according to his attachment to true tzaddikim who guard the brit, so too, to a similar degree, he can taste the sweetness of the words of prayer. d) Whoever blemishes his brit has to guard himself from dogs and the sword. e) Know also that the arrogant people of the generation, it is they who are the dogs; they stand up and oppose the prayers of a Jew who has not yet rectified his brit completely. f) From this you will obviously understand how great the iniquity is of those who obstruct the prayers of Jews and want to confuse his prayers, for they are really called dogs, as it says, "the dogs are brazen" (Isaiah, 56:11). And even though this Jew who prays hasn't yet merited to rectify his brit and because of this the opposition comes upon him, like "a dog descends" etc., even so, these obstructers are not absolved from their punishment because of this. They uproot their souls from holiness and bring it upon themselves to actually be called dogs since they disturb a Jew's prayers even though the person hasn't rectified his brit completely. Certainly he has to make an effort to pray with all his strength, even though he is like he is, and he can't feel the sweetness of the words of prayer. Nevertheless, the very fact that he makes an effort to pray is itself very precious (as explained elsewhere). But the dissenters are real dogs and their iniquity is greater than can be borne. g) A tzaddik's eating is very precious for he eats only to satisfy his holy soul. For this reason he shouldn't fast. On the other hand, someone who needs to fast should certainly do so; for him it is a mitzvah. h) The illness of bones breaking, Heaven save us, is caused by the craving for sex. (Prayer 50) In Your great love, save me from the bitterness of the Angel of Death which has two sharp sides. Save me from the cruel angels of destruction which are called dogs. They devour the soul of a person who blemishes the brit, Heaven forbid, and lead him to hell while barking, ‘give, give!’ Save me from the bitter waters from the impure waters. Please have mercy. Help me and save me from now on not to blemish the brit whether by sight, hearing or other senses. Let me not follow my heart or eyes, whether accidentally or on purpose, whether by force of circumstance or by choice. Father, grant me the strength to break my evil urge and conquer my physical cravings. Bestow upon me good desire. May my heart be under my control. I am like a beggar at the door, I plead for my soul until You have mercy on me and bring me back in really perfect repentance. Whatever You do to me, do it with Your bountiful compassion in such a way that You save me from now on from all kinds of blemish to the brit. Drive out and distance from me the spirit of folly and madness; nullify them completely from now on and forever. Please pardon and forgive me for my blemish of the brit I have committed since my youth until today. You are full of grace and forgive abundantly. Gather together all our dispersed souls from the four corners of the world. Merit me from now on to sanctify myself with really great holiness and purity. Let me never again do that which is evil in Your eyes, rather grant me the ability to always add holiness upon holiness day by day. So also may it find favour before You, G-d, my G-d and G-d of our fathers, that You always help me to pray before You with immense concentration, with all my heart and soul, with the utmost truth. May I concentrate on the intention of each word of my prayers such that no word leaves my lips without the proper intention. Let me hear very clearly each word of my prayers and supplications in all sorts of songs and praises which I merit to arrange before You each day until I feel the sweetness and pleasantness of the holy words of prayer. Grant me the feeling of the sweetness of each word of prayer in my bones. Fulfill in me the verse “All my bones shall say, G-d who is like You who saves the poor from the stronger and the poor and destitute from he who robs him”. Out of love, raise my prayer before Your Throne of Glory. Send down a lion from the Holy Chariot on high, to be nourished by my prayer whilst raising it before Your Throne of Glory. In Your mercy, save my prayers from the brazen ‘dogs’ so they cannot tear up my prayers, Heaven forbid. In the power and merit of the true tzaddikim, who engaged in prayers all their lives, merit us to sanctify and purify ourselves with great holiness for the power of the holiness of the tzaddikim can protect us. We can then pray with great concentration, with self-sacrifice and tremendous happiness. Fulfill all our wishes, for the sake of Your great and holy Name. We are called in Your Name for Your Name is part of our name. May all my eating be with great holiness and purity without any physical craving from the body. Rather let me satisfy my soul with the little I eat in great holiness. Consider me to be like the tzaddikim who eat to satisfy their souls. Master of the Universe, I have raised my hands to You in prayer, asking for an undeserved gift from You. I have shouted out from the depths. Hear my prayer. Please don’t ignore my cries. Send me help from on high. Extract me from all kinds of filth and impurity. Sanctify me in all kinds of holiness. Merit me to repent in all kinds of ways. Grant me a good life, long life, eternal life. Speedily bring me to the Holy Land. Rectify me in any aspect that I need. Don’t discard me in my old age; don’t desert me when my strength runs out. Don’t discard me from before You and don’t take Your holy spirit away from me. Amen. Amen. 51. RABBI AKIVA SAID a) Lying damages the eyes, both physically and spiritually. b) When a person lies this causes a strengthening of the impurities in the blood which leads to melancholy and tears; this, in turn, spoils the eyes. It is impossible to lie until ones blood has become unclean. Truth, on the other hand, cannot be spoken before one has purified ones blood. c) Lying is evil and reflects impurity. As a result, a person removes the Divine Providence from upon himself. However, by telling the truth, a person draws a complete Divine Providence upon himself. d) Truth is one, whereas falsehood is many. It is impossible to speak the truth about something other than by oneness, meaning the way it is; for example, silver is silver alone and gold is gold alone etc. Falsehood, however, means multiplicity, for one can say lies without end such as silver is copper, or tin or lead and so on, and endless other names. Therefore, eventually the truth will certainly be revealed and all its opposition will be nullified, for the latter stems from the endless number of lies. In oneness there is no controversy. The truth is oneness and will certainly remain in existence forever for it reflects the Unity of G-d. All forms of falsehood, which is opposition, will be eliminated. Truth will stand for ever, for "the Truth of G-d exists for ever." e) When you want to be included in oneness, such that after Creation becomes encompassed within the aspect of 'before the Creation' and everything is one, that everything is goodness and holiness like it was prior to Creation, then guard yourself from lying; speak only truth and really be a person of truth. By this, you will be encompassed in the Oneness, for Truth is one. (Prayer 51) G-d You are the G-d of truth. In Your bountiful compassion, save me from falsehood at all times. Protect me so that no word of falsehood ever leaves my mouth, whether by accident or intentionally, by force or circumstance or by desire. Guard me so that I never stumble into saying something false, even by mistake. Grant me truth. Raise me from impurity to purity, from the profane to the holy. Through Your sublime holiness sanctify me with truth. Bestow on me an undeserved gift of truth and love. Return me to You in perfect repentance. From now on, let me go from evil to good, from impurity to purity, from falsehood to truth. Merit me to the absolute truth. Draw Your Divine Providence upon us. Look down on us with Your graceful eye until we become truly absorbed with You. Let after the creation become united with before creation through Your Divine Providence. Then, everything will be completely one, totally good and holy, entirely true. Save me from all sorts of opposition and let there not be found within me any element of resistance to anything holy or to any righteous person. Rather enable me to unite with all that is holy and good. By this, may I feel true love and unity with all pious people and true tzaddikim so that I become included in them and united with You my G-d and G-d of of our Fathers. Then merit me to cleave to You with truth and to become included in Your Oneness from now on and forever and ever. Please, Lord, protect me from any blemish to the power of sight. Always sanctify my eyes. Let me never again look at anything that spoils the eyes. Father, let me just use my eyes to study Your Torah and look at Your true tzaddikim until my eyes become really holy and pure. Help me to rectify all the blemishes to my eyes and may I never lose the light of my eyes even in old age. This will enable me to drive sleep from my eyes and study Torah day and night without any harm coming to my eyes. May my eyes shine like the sun and moon. Unique One, draw me really close to You. Drive out and nullify falsehood, evil and impurity from the world. Fulfill in us the verse which says “Then I will sprinkle pure water upon you, that you may become cleansed: I will cleanse you from all your impurity and from all your idols.” Amen. Amen. 52. HE WHO AWAKES IN THE NIGHT a) Each person has to see to it that he becomes encompassed in his source. To achieve this, one has to nullify oneself. It is impossible to come to self-nullification other than by secluded private prayers and meditation in a secluded place. By these prayers between oneself and one's Maker one can nullify everything and cleave to the Holy One, thus becoming encompassed in one's Source. b) The main time for these meditative, private prayers is at night (after midnight) when everyone is sleeping. Furthermore they should be in a place outside the city or town, a secluded place that is not frequented by people even during the day. By this he can empty his heart and mind of all worldly affairs and nullify everything until he eventually nullifies himself completely. That's to say, first he should pray a great deal until he cancels one bad attribute and then another until he negates himself completely, such that no impression of pride or materiality remains. In his own eyes he should consider himself to be absolutely nothing. He has to work at this until he merits to real self-nullification, then, by this, all the world will be encompassed together with him in his Source. In other words, everything, together with him, becomes included in the Unity of the Holy One. (Prayer 52) “With my soul I have desired You in the night; with my spirit within me I will seek You early.” I have remembered Your Name, O Lord, in the night and have kept Your Torah law.” By night, on my bed I sought Him who my soul loves; I sought him but I did not find him.” “I remember my song in the night: I commune with my own heart and my spirit has diligently searched.” Master of the World, Master of all the World, Lord of all, One and Unique, who was, is and will be. You created Your world with Your good will for the sake of Your holy Nation, Israel. For them Your created all the worlds in order to draw the souls of Israel into the world so that they would really do Your will and rule over the world, and so that by their good deeds, they would be able to rise and thus raise all the worlds from the very midst of the World of Asiyah (Making) to the beginning of the World of Atzilut (Nearness) – to raise and lift them up to their sublime root, so that all the worlds be included in Your Simple Oneness, may it be blessed and extolled forever, for all eternities. For You are He who was before You created the world and You are He who is after You created the world. O Lord, our G-d and G-d of our fathers, may it therefore be Your will that You have mercy upon me and come to my aid. Let me merit to always meditate a great deal until, by the meditation, I can nullify myself completely such that all my being be nullified entirely and I become really included in Your Oneness. Grant me merit, in Your bountiful mercy and arrange for me a special place and special time for meditating. May I choose for myself the best place and the best time for meditation. The best place is a lonely pathway and the best time is at night when people are sleeping. May I merit every single night to meditate in a special place, to go on a lonely pathway where people do not even go during the daytime. There may I meditate at night and speak freely before You about everything that is in my heart. May I merit to clarify and explain myself before You wholeheartedly and explicitly such that my heart really be aroused towards You with great longing, with great, immense crying, with bitter weeping; crying over my sins and confessing my many iniquities and willful transgressions, while really regretting them wholeheartedly. Let me make a wholehearted, sincere and firm resolution not to return again to foolishness. May there be no deceit in my spirit at all. If I have committed evil may I not add to it. Let me merit to arouse Your bountiful mercy upon me so that You graciously grant me an undeserved gift and from now on always come to my aid. In Your compassion, guard me and save me from sins, iniquities and willful transgressions and from all evil desires. In Your bountiful mercy, great mercy, immense mercy, save me and guard me at all times, especially from the blemishing of the brit – which is the entire Torah – such that I merit by meditation at night to nullify myself completely, to nullify every single bad attribute and every single evil desire until I become completely clean of all these desires and bad attributes. May I merit to really and truly nullify all sorts of pride and haughtiness until I achieve the ultimate nullification, as I Your good desire, such that I be really included in Your single Oneness, and let the existence of ‘after the Creation’ be unified with and included in ‘before the Creation’. In other words, let that which has potential existence unite with that which has actual existence. May we be always be really attached, united and included in You. Let us not separate from You, even for the slightest moment. Reveal Your Single Oneness in the world; let every created thing know that You are its Creator; let every formed thing know that You are its Maker. Let everything that has breath say, ‘Lord, G-d of Israel, is King and his Kingdom is over everything’. Help me! Help me! Please, please grant me the ability to meditate a lot and talk a lot with my Creator at night on a lonely pathway, until I really merit to the ultimate nullification, until I really become included in You, together with all the worlds. May we all return to You sincerely and wholeheartedly. By day we will not rest and by night we will not be quiet, until we merit to find You at all times. May we merit to fulfill sincerely and perfectly the commandment “in Him shall You cleave” as is Your good desire. Take pity and pardon us; take pity and have mercy upon us; take pity and grant us all that we have asked for before You. Let us merit to nullify ourselves sincerely until we all become included in You, O Lord, our G-dand G-d of our fathers; for this alone You created all the worlds, as You revealed to us by Your true tzaddikim…..May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart by pleasing before Your Countenance, O G-d, my Rock and my Redeemer. 53. 'HEH' THE KNOWLEDGE a) Through actively trying to bring people closer to the Holy One and to the true tzaddikim, one can merit to have children. b) A person has to attempt to achieve perfection of Knowledge, meaning he has to acquire holy knowledge, as much as is possible for a human being to know and perceive until it is impossible to know more. This is impossible to attain other than by involving himself with people, to bring them closer to the service of G-d. This brings his knowledge to completion and through this he will merit to have children. He can even grant barren women the merit to actually have children. c) This is the reason why tzaddikim work so hard and pursue people to bring them close to the service of G-d; it is not to increase their own honour, Heaven forbid, but, rather, in order to perfect their own Knowledge. (Prayer 53) In Your bountiful mercy and immense loving-kindness, let us merit to raise many worthy students and may we radiate into them true, holy knowledge, to guide them on the straight pat (the path upon which our fathers have always gone) and let us inform them the way they should go (in life) and what they should do, according to what we received from our holy sages, may their memory be blessed. May I shine into them true and just advice, in order to awaken them and raise them from their sleep and introduce into them knowledge and fear of Heaven, in such a way that they merit to truly return to You in repentance, with all their hearts, all their souls and all their money. “I will teach transgressors Your ways and sinners shall return to You”. Save me and guard me, in Your bountiful mercy, so that with regard to bringing people closer to You, no ulterior motive or extraneous thought entire mind, Heaven forbid, such as the desire to increase my own honor, Heaven forbid. Rather may all my intent be really for Your honor, in order to fulfill Your Will. Give strength to those who are tired, such as myself, to suffer and accept willingly (with love) all the bother and effort that is needed in order to bring people closer to serving You. May I merit to chase after those distant from You with all my strength and bring them closer to serving You, and let all my intent be really only for Your Name’s sake in order to perfect my mind to the ultimate degree. By this, enable us to give birth to children, living and enduring in holiness and purity, for Your Name’s sake and for the sake of Your service. Multiply our seed as the sand of the sea and as the great many stars of the sky. Have mercy upon us and give us strength so that we merit to remember sympathetically in our prayers those who are sterile. In Your great compassion, teach us how to pray for those who are barren, to remember them for the good with regard to salvation and mercy. Listen to our prayers and harken to our cries, so that all those who are sterile be remembered for the good very soon indeed. May they give birth , in Your mercy, to live, to strong children; multiply Your nation, “the sons of Israel like the sand of the sea which cannot be measured or numbered.” Just as Your compassion was great upon our first Patriarch, Abraham and his wife, the Matriarch Sarah, who You remembered for the good and visited them in their old age and gave them Isaac and promised them to multiply his seed as the stars of the sky, so also have compassion on all the barren women among Your nation, the House of Israel, whose eyes are turned only towards You, and grant them seed which will endure, to serve You and fear You. Remember them for good and in Your mercy, fulfill their wishes. Fulfill their requests and listen to their prayers; may they conceive very, very soon and merit to give birth to strong babies in whom their fathers and mothers can be happy. May they merit to raise them to Torah, marriage and good deeds for many, good years. Master of the World, take pity and have compassion upon us; be tempted, pleased and appeased by our prayers. Listen to the voice of our entreaties. In Your bountiful mercy, perfect our minds so that we merit to know You in This World also, in a completely perfect way, to publicise Your greatness and might to all the people of the world. Let us inform the coming generations of all the works of the great, awesome Lord which we heard from our fathers and holy sages. “Generation after generation praises Your works and proclaims Your Almighty acts.”…. the father to the children shall make known Your truth.” May we merit to really fulfill the verse which says, “Teach your sons and your sons’s sons” that all the people of the earth may know that the Lord is G-d and there is none else.” 54. IT WAS AFTER TWO YEARS a) A person has to guard his memory very well so as not to fall into forgetfulness. That's to say, one has to constantly recall the World to Come. (Obviously those things that cause forgetfulness generally apply here, all the more so that which the Sages said require the hands to be washed to prevent a person from going out of his mind, meaning that it becomes impossible for him to understand and expand his mind in a measure that it would not go out of the boundaries of holiness). A G-d fearing Jew should habitually remind himself of the World to Come immediately upon rising in the morning, when he opens his eyes, before doing anything else. This is in general. Afterwards he should do this in particular, meaning that he should expand his understanding of every thought, word and action. He should carefully look at and contemplate all the causes and things that the Holy One arranges for him and brings upon him each day, for each and every day is different in thought, word and deed. One has to know that the Holy One endlessly constricts His G-dliness from Infinity until the central point of the physical world where man stands. G-d arranges for each individual person, thoughts, words and deeds, according to the particular day, place and person and enclothes within them hints in order to bring him closer to serving Him. Therefore, one has to look at all this and expand one's understanding and intellect such that one recognizes and comprehends the hints that the Holy One sends in order to come closer to Him each time, wherever one is. For in all matters, work and business affairs, the Holy One arranges every day detailed hints. Consequently, a person has to expand his understanding and look carefully at all this, to understand G-d's hints. b) However, one has to be careful to limit one's mind so as not to deepen one's thoughts in this too much. This is in order not to go beyond the limit of holiness. In other words, a person mustn't let his mind drift into philosophical queries and other confusions, but rather, he must limit his mind's expansion in accordance with the level of his human intellect. So also, he mustn't look into this beyond his spiritual level. ('For example, when something bad is heard or seen, for simple people this is a hint that they have blemished in this matter. For those at a higher level, it may imply that they have blemished in a related issue. Those on a very high spiritual level should take this as a hint that they must sweeten the harsh judgements from which this bad thing stemmed. And so on…each person receives hints according to his standing, his particular aspect (task) and spiritual level.' B'ibey HaNachal.) c) Someone who knows and understands the hints from all things, even from mundane things, nevertheless, he mustn't occupy himself only with worldly matters, rather, he too has to have the characteristic of contentment, contenting himself only with those things that are absolutely necessary. Those who lack this quality of being content with little, and deliberately accustom their household to luxuries, as is the custom nowadays, among many people, because of our sins; about them it says, "The curse of G-d is on the house of the wicked" (Proverbs, 13:33) for they are always lacking a lot, as it says, (ibid) "the belly of the wicked always lacks". The tzaddikim, however, who possess this contentment with whatever G-d grants them, as the verse says, "A tzaddik eats to satisfy his soul" (ibid), for them the light is full and by them all the good bounty is bestowed to the world. d) Also from this contentment itself one has to set aside some charity. By this, one creates a unification between the tzaddik and the Community of Israel, as explained. e) For the common people who do not have the intellect to understand these hints, all this takes place automatically through sleep, tzitzit, tefillin and learning Torah (or reciting Shma for an unlearned person), prayer and doing business. Sleep is an aspect of attaching one's thoughts to the World to Come for, when asleep, the soul ascends (to the World Above). Tefillin alludes to the expansion of the intellect, to understand the hints. Tzitzit represent constriction, for by the mitzvah of tzitzit, we draw upon ourselves this rectification of not letting the mind go beyond its limit when it is involved in expanding itself to understand the hints. Therefore, tzitzit we wear before tefillin for, firstly, we have to rectify the mind so that it doesn't go beyond its limit. Afterwards we can expand the mind to understand the hints from the Holy One; this is the aspect of the tefillin. Torah represents the quality of contentment, for Torah is the Tree of Life, containing sustenance for everyone. Learning Torah itself also requires the quality of contentment for sometimes a person gets confused by wanting to learn too much; he sees there is a lot to learn and wants to learn everything on one leg (immediately). That is why he becomes confused and, occasionally, this leads him to stop learning completely. Consequently, also in the Torah a person needs this contentment. (Editor's note: From this a person can understand how much so this applies to physical needs. Because if with spiritual acquisitions he needs contentment, how much more so with worldly needs. The Sages give an example of this regarding blessings over the Torah-B'rachot,35- and this is included in what the Sages say in Perkei Avot,1: "And Make a fence around the Torah") So the Sages said, "It is not incumbent upon you to finish all the work" (Perkei Avot,2:6). Prayer is an aspect of the legs of holiness, clothed in this world, as explained. f) Doing business is an aspect of the Unification of the tzaddik and the Community of Israel who, together, are called 'business' ('give and take'). This unification is created by conducting business with faith (and honesty), for in all business affairs merchandise and items pass from one person to another, all according to the holy sparks within these objects. Sometimes an object has to leave the possession of one person and enter the ownership of another only then to return to the former; it is all according to the holy sparks in that object and according to the portion of nefesh, ruach and neshamah that each person has at a given time. For this reason one must never try to force things before their time in any matter, especially in selling or buying at a certain time that one wants, for each object has its own time, in accordance with the clarification of holy sparks within it and in accordance with the parts of the nefesh, ruach and neshamah in the purchaser (which cause him to be attracted to that object which has sparks connected to his soul). By business transactions with honesty and faith, he raises and rectifies those holy sparks while completing and giving radiance to his nefesh, ruach and neshamah. Then the tzaddik is united with the Community of Israel (which is the Unification of the Holy One and the Shechinah) and they are called 'giving and taking'. g) In order to guard the memory one has to protect oneself so as not to fall into having an evil eye which parallels the death of the heart. This, in turn, causes forgetfulness; the memory is blemished and the heart dies within him such that he can't remember his ultimate, eternal purpose. One has to remember this every day and attach one's mind to the World to Come. However, because of the evil eye, he doesn’t notice this. h) There are several aspects to the evil eye. A person can look evilly at the success of his fellow and this can have several aspects to it. So you have to guard yourself very much so as not to look with negativity at all at someone else. So also, you have to pray a lot to the Holy One to be saved from the evil eye of others. Someone who doesn't feel that he can stand up against the evil eye and subdue it needs to flee from it. On the other hand, someone who can rectify it should do so. (Editor's note: In the way that Ya'acov did to subdue the evil eye of Esau with words. He told him that it is not fitting to hate him because of the blessings and so on; and he sent Esau a present in order to satisfy his evil eye.) i) Similarly, a person needs to guard his eye from the power of imagination. Even a person who has a good eye has to guard himself against this. Like we see, even someone who has good vision can make a mistake when he sees something from a distance; what he appears to see is the opposite of the truth etc. So it is with the mind's eye in several aspects. For example, occasionally it seems that his fellow tends not to tell the truth (as the Sages said about Korach: "He was wise so what make him act so foolishly, his eye caused him to err." Similarly with the mistakes of N'vat and many other great people.), or is acting against him unfairly etc. and because of this he holds something against him in his heart. This can arouse controversy. Then it seems to him that when he argues back it is with good cause (for the sake of Heaven). But the truth is, it all stems from a mistake from the power of imagination, that he imagines and makes up lies about his fellow. So also, there are several aspects to the mind's eye straying from the truth through mistakes from the power of imagination. Imagination can even mislead even a person with a good eye. Therefore, one has to guard oneself with special care from the mistake of the power of imagination. j) To this one merits by being very careful not to speak or listen to slander, for slander intensifies the imagination and blemishes the memory which is dependent on the rectification of the eyes. The power of imagination is on the animal level because animals as well have the power of imagination. Furthermore, when a person's knowledge leaves him, he falls from the love of G-d to the love of animality, that's to say, to all of the physical cravings that stem from the power of imagination which overcomes him by way of slander. k) As a result of the evil eye and slander, a person doesn't merit to leave after him a male son to inherit him. l) The power of the imagination attempts purposely to reside in the mouth of those who study Jewish law, as explained. If they innovate a good Torah insight it is by likening one word or idea to another (by using the power of imagination). However, these innovations make earning a living more difficult, for just as all bounty and blessings come to the world through true Torah innovations, as the Rebbe explains, so too when these innovations come from the power of imagination, this leads to famine in the world, Heaven forbid. m) The power of imagination overcomes a person when he is sad, for it is a spirit of gloom, a spirit of evil, and, by this, forgetfulness envelops him. Therefore, one has to be happy and this is the main way to subdue the imagination and to remember the World to Come. n) Listening to music from someone holy playing an instrument for the sake of Heaven has a special power to bring a person to joy and to subdue his imagination, thus meriting him to remember the World to Come. He can also acquire The spirit of prophecy and a divine spirit; then he can pour out his heart in prayers like water in the presence of G-d. Therefore, a person has to always be happy. o) When a person prays privately at night (after midnight) which is its main time, and rises at midnight, he merits to all of the above. He can then think all the time about his ultimate purpose and his final end in the World to Come. Eventually he can return in perfect repentance and merit to look carefully at all the things that G-d arranges for him and thus understand that all events contain hints meant to bring him closer to G-d. This is the main essence of true calmness of mind. The essence of a person's existence in this world all the days of his life, and whatever happens to him every day, everything is for this purpose alone. p) By performing the mitzvah of lighting Channukah candles one draws upon oneself holy knowledge, which is an aspect of holy oil, which is an aspect of memory, meaning to recall the World to Come, generally and specifically. q) Whoever has a good eye merits to truth and through this is enabled to really cleave to the Holy One. (Prayer 54) Our Father in Heaven, in Your compassion, fulfill our wishes. Save us from the power of illusion, from ‘death of the heart’ (a lack of sensitivity), from forgetfulness 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 have 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. In Your great mercy, let me merit to holy happiness so that I will always be happy. Give me strength in my hands so as to collect and separate the good spirit from the spirit of dejection, the evil spirit, the spirit of sadness. Grant me merit to have the ten types of holy song, until I merit to purify and separate the power of illusion and merit to subdue and nullify the evil within illusion and to separate and raise the good in it to the realm of holiness. May I merit to subdue, break, drive out and remove from myself the evil spirit, the spirit of folly, of sadness and depression. Let me merit very speedily to a good spirit of holiness. “For You are my G-d; Your spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness.” “Create in me a pure heart, G-d and renew a right spirit within me. Don’t cast me away from Your Presence and don’t take away Your holy spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and uphold me with Your generous spirit.” G-d, G-d of the Spirits, Ruler in the Heavens and Below, grant me a good spirit. ‘Lord, G-d of the spirits of all flesh’, bestow upon me a good spirit, a spirit of holiness, “the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord, “ a spirit of holiness and purity, a spirit of holiness and joy. Be gracious to me; redeem and let me merit very speedily so that I will be worthy to really purify and sanctify myself and so that I merit to break the power of illusion, to remove and drive it out from myself. Grant me strength, counsel and might to break and cancel from myself all the illusory desires and animal cravings. Let me merit to always be happy; let us rejoice and be happy in Your salvation. I will sing many songs all my life about the House of the Lord. May I really merit to raise my voice, sing and play music to Your Name and Your serviced, as is Your good desire. May I always merit to awaken and reveal all the ten types of tune. Give me merit to hear music, song and a voice stemming from happiness of a commandment, coming from a good, pious musician who knows how to play on the harp and other musical instruments, tunes of holiness drawn from the harp of David. Let him have a beautiful voice and know how to play well in such a way that, by his playing an instrument, the good spirit- the spirit of prophesy, the spirit of divine inspiration, the spirit of happiness and joy – be separated from the spirit of sadness – the spirit of depression and the spirit of evil – until we merit to a really good spirit and to always be happy. May we merit to repent completely with a truly broken heart which stems from happiness and tunes of holiness until I merit to “pour out my heart like water before the face of the Lord” in my entreaties and requests. May I merit to explain all that I have to say before You, with all my heart and soul, with great crying stemming from happiness. Master of the World, let us merit to perform the commandment of lighting the Chanukah light perfectly, at the proper time and may it be considered before You as if we had fulfilled this commandment in all its details and exactitudes, as if we had in mind all the holy intentions included in the commandment of lighting the Chanukah light. Let us merit, by this, to draw upon ourselves the radiance of the sanctity of the holy brains from their holly, sublime source, in the aspect of “drawing much holy oil to light a candle”; such that we merit by this to expand our perception and understanding and to deepen our thoughts, to understand all the holy allusions that You indicate to us in every thought, work and deed that You arrange for us at all times, according to the person, the place and the time. In all of them You suggest to us by holy allusions how to come closer to Your service and specifically, how to attach our thoughts to the World to Come, until by this we merit to raise and establish the aspect of the ‘legs of holiness’ that are clothed in this world in all the things in the world. Say to my soul, remember that there is a World to Come. There is no permanence to This World. This World passes in the blink of an eyelid, like dust in the wind, like a dream that flies away. The only permanent life that a person has is in the World to Come. So, have compassion on me and guard my memory very well so that I will remember for certain every day, the World to Come. Help me to attach my thoughts only to the World to Come, generally and specifically. Every day as soon as I open my eyes, let me remember immediately the world to Come, the world of permanence, for all eternity. This world is nothing only vanities His only purpose is to enable us to pursue and gain the World to Come. Then let me remember this in detail by coming to understand all the signs that You send me in every place and at all times, to bring me close to You. In Your great loving-kindness, You constrict Your godliness from the world of Atzilut, the upper point of creation, to the central point of this physical world of Asiah, in order to send me signs and indications how to come close to Your service. Master of the Universe, G-d, my G-d, You know how limited my mind is and how little I understand of all this, therefore I pray to You that I will have to rectify through mundane affairs or mitzvoth, will come about automatically. Help me to draw upon myself great holiness before I sleep. By this merit me to sleep with great holiness and purity. Then, while asleep, let my soul rise up and cleave to the World to Come. Merit me to perform the mitzvot of wearing tzitzit and tefillin while reciting Shema and praying with the utmost perfection, with all my heart, in joy and purity. Help me to study Torah ever day in great holiness and joy. After this, let me carry out my business affairs with perfect faith such that I clarify and rectify the holy sparks that exist in all things that I buy or sell. By this, let me rectify my nefesh, ruach and neshama and bring them to completion. Grant me the ability to cause a unification of the Holy One and the Shechinah through the business that I conduct with true faith. As a result of this bestow upon me a holy memory, so I attach my mind to the World to Come. May it find favor before You, G-d, our G-d and G-d of our Fathers, that You guide us in Your Divine Providence. Behold us with Your merciful eye. Guard us from the evil eye so that it will have no control over any person in the world. Rather, let us always look favorably at other people. Merit us, in Your bountiful mercy, to always cleave to Your holy attributes so that we will always have a good eye. Protect us from any other person’s evil eye in such a way that we will suffer no harm, materially or spiritually. Save me and protect me from the evil eye for it leads to forgetfulness which is a result of the death of the heart, the ‘breaking’ of the heart. Help me never to forget the eternal world even when I am in this world, before it is too late. May the merit and strength of the true tzaddikim guard us against the evil eye for their lives they fought, subdued, broke and nullified all the evil eye at its source. Draw upon us the light of Meshiach speedily in our lifetime and save us from all our troubles. Please G-d, our G-d, G-d of our Fathers, save me from speaking evil about any Jew in the world. Protect me so that I will not damage my mind. Grant me holy, spiritual, love instead of fallen worldly love. Give me the strength to break the power of imagination which is the power of animalism. Then enable me break all my animal cravings. Let me never be misled into mistakes by the power of imagination. In Your great mercy, let me merit to holy happiness so that I will always be happy. Give me strength in my hands so as to collect and separate the good spirit from the spirit of dejection, the evil spirit, the spirit of sadness. Grant me merit to have ten types of holy song, until I merit to purify and separate the power of illusion and merit to subdue and nullify the evil within illusion and to separate and raise the good in it to the realm of holiness. May I merit to subdue, break, drive out and remove from myself the evil spirit, the spirit of folly, of sadness and depression. Let me merit very speedily to a good spirit of holiness. “For You are my G-d; Your spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness.” “Create in me a pure heart, G-d and renew a right spirit within me. Don’t cast me away from Your Presence and don’t take away Your holy spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and uphold me with Your generous spirit.” G-d, G-d of the Spirits, Ruler in the Heavens and Below, grant me a good spirit. ‘Lord, G-d of the spirits of all flesh’, bestow upon me a good spirit, a sprit of holiness, “the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord,” a spirit of holiness and purity, a spirit of holiness and joy. Be gracious to me; redeem and let me merit very speedily so that I will be worthy to really purify and sanctify myself and so that I merit to break the power of illusion, to remove and drive it out from myself. Grant me strength, counsel and might to break and counsel and might to break and cancel from myself all the illusory desires and animal cravings. Let me merit to always be happy; let us rejoice and be happy in Your salvation. I will sing many songs all my life about the House of the Lord. May I really merit to raise my voice, sing and play music to Your Name and Your service, as is Your good desire. May I always merit to awaken and reveal all the ten types of tune. Give me merit to hear music, song and a voice stemming from the happiness of a commandment, coming from a good, pious musician who knows how to play on the harp and other musical instruments, tunes of holiness drawn from the harp of David. Let him have a beautiful voice and know how to play well in such a way that, by his playing an instrument, the good spirit – the spirit of prophesy, the spirit of divine inspiration, the spirit of happiness and joy – be separated from the spirit of sadness – the spirit of depression and the spirit of evil – until we merit to a really good spirit and to always be happy. May we merit to repent completely with a truly broken heart which stems from happiness and tunes of holiness until I merit to “pour out my heart like water before the face of the Lord” in my entreaties and requests. May I merit to explain all that I have to say before You, will all my heart and soul, with great crying stemming from happiness. Master of the World, let us merit to perform the commandment of lighting the Chanukah light perfectly, at the proper time and may it be considered before You as if we had fulfilled this commandment in all its details and exactitudes, as if we had in mind all the holy intentions included in the commandment of lighting the Chanukah light. Let us merit, by this to draw upon ourselves the radiance of the sanctity of the holy brains from their holy, sublime source, in the aspect of “drawing much holy oil to light a candle”; such that we merit by this to expand our perception and understanding and to deepen our thoughts, to understand the holy allusions that You indicate to us in every thought, word and deed that You arrange for us at all times, according to the person, the place and the time. In all of them You suggest to us by the holy allusions how to come closer to Your service and specifically, how to attach our thoughts to the World to Come, until by this, we merit to raise and establish the aspect of the legs of holiness’ that are clothed in this world in all the things in the world. Return us to You, G-d and we will return. Renew our days as formerly. May the words of my mouth and the musings of my heart find favor before You, G-d, my rock and Redeemer. 55. ABBA SHAUL SAYS a) To see the downfall of the wicked is impossible other than through the aspect of the Land of Israel, as it says, "Sit at my right hand while I make your enemies your footstool" (Psalms, 110:1). The Land of Israel is called "right hand", as the Sages said. (See Rashi, Parshat V'Yishlach on the verse "And his father called him Binyamin" b) Even nowadays in exile when the Land of Israel is under the control of the Other Side such that its holiness cannot be revealed, nevertheless, it is possible to reveal and draw this holiness by the sparkling of the merit of the Patriarchs, as it is written, "I will remember My covenant with Ya'acov…and I will remember the Land" (Levit.26:42). By this radiance of the merit of the Patriarchs, the holiness of the Land of Israel is revealed and, by this, we can merit to see the downfall of the wicked. Not only is a person saved from the wicked, he also sees in the wicked person what he wanted to see in him. c) For the wicked draw the evil eye upon their enemies, as the Sages said, (B'rachot,7B) "Not only this, but he sees in his enemies, like it says, 'Your judgements are far removed from him' (Psalms,10:5)." By finding merit in the wicked person, he is saved from the evil eye of that wicked person. The fact that the wicked are exonerated in judgement, as it says there "Your judgements are far removed" and G-d's judgement is withdrawn from them, this is all for the benefit of the tzaddik. The Holy One also finds merit in the wicked person in order to save the tzaddik from from the evil eye. The Holy One holds onto the attribute of Judgement and when He removes it from ruling over the wicked person, by this, G-d's hand becomes revealed and this creates a shadow in which the tzaddik is hidden, as the verse says, "I have sheltered you with the shade of My Hand" (Isiaiah,51:16). Then the eyes of the wicked in this bitter exile are dimmed a lot, like a filmy mirror, and through the shadow, the light of their eyes is dimmed so that their poison (in the eyes) cannot cause harm (to those whom they see). However, the light of the eyes of the tzaddikim, which is weak nowadays, as is written, "Who is blind like the perfect one?" (Isaiah,42:19), by means of the shade becomes stronger, just like those with weak vision who cannot see well in bright light and need shade in order to see. By the shade, the light of the eyes of the tzaddik is strengthened and he can see long distances; he can see and understand the righteousness of the Holy One even when He exonerates the wicked in judgement; this is the justness of G-d, like it says, "I will not let a wicked person escape judgement" (Exodus,23:7). d) By seeing the justness of G-d, his faith is strengthened and any crookedness which was formerly in his heart becomes straightened such that he is able to pray, for the essence of prayer is through faith, that one believes that G-d's control is over everything, even to change the laws of nature; furthermore "G-d never fails to pay the reward that is due to any of His creatures" (Psalms,118). He can then strengthen himself and pray for his needs. This is an aspect of the red heifer, for the heifer/ cow represents prayer, as it says, "our lips (prayers) will replace the cows" (Hoshea,14:3). This alludes to "the red cow without blemish…upon which no yoke has been placed" (Numbers, 19:2). All this is an aspect of seeing and understanding the justness of G-d which weakens the power of harsh judgement and removes it from the wicked person for the benefit of the tzaddik for, by this, his faith is strengthened and he can pray, as explained. e) This is an aspect of dust and ashes, mentioned in relation to the red heifer, for prayer needs the aspects of dust and ashes. At the time of prayer a person has to subdue the evil, both specifically and generally, to the power of good, like it says, "You will crush the wicked for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet " (Malachi,3:21). The evil in particular alludes to the physical body and its coarse materiality which should be nullified when praying, like the pious men of long ago who used to prepare themselves for prayer by divesting themselves of all corporeality. The evil in general refers to the prayers of the Jewish sinners who pray with him. He has to nullify their evil and turn it into a basis for holiness. This is the aspect of ashes in prayer. Dust in prayer means attaching yourself to the souls, spirits and neshamot of those who dwell in the dust, arousing them through your prayers, as it says, "Awake and sing out, you who dwell in the dust" (Isaiah,26:19). This is in general. In particular it means also arousing the parts of one's own soul, spirit and neshamah which have already been reincarnated and rectified. This is called prayer in public ('tzibur') for the letters 'tzibur' are the initial letters of tzaddikim, benonim (intermediate) and r'shaim (the wicked). The intermediate refers to the person praying; tzaddikim are an aspect of dust and the wicked are an aspect of ashes, as explained previously. f) Each person has to rectify in his prayer three things; firstly, the one praying has to have his prayers rectify and elevate all those who have fallen into false beliefs, raising them to true faith, which is prayer, and thus establishing in their hearts complete faith. Secondly, he has to concentrate very well in his prayer so that by the intentions of his heart in prayer he can rectify the hearts of those whose intellect outweighs their deeds and who haven't the strength in their hearts to contain their intellect such that it leads them so sin even more. These are the philosophers who lack a pure heart and therefore cannot receive a really holy intellect, as is fitting. The main way of strengthening the heart is by good deeds but when their intellect is greater than their deeds, then their hearts become weak and are lacking. This is especially true of those who are adulterous and engage themselves in learning philosophy, for this causes them great damage; because of their sexual immorality their hearts are blemished, as it says, "The adulterous sinner lacks a heart" (Proverbs, 6:32). Their heart is unable to contain their intellect and to distance them from sins and they cannot cleave to G-d which is the true intellect. (This does more damage to them and to the rest of the world than snakes and scorpions and all sorts of other destructive forces in the world for, by their philosophizing, they vilify and blaspheme against G-d and against the holy Torah, especially the Sages of the Gemmora as well as the tzaddikim of later generations, as is well known. May the Merciful One protect the remnants of the People of Israel from them and their followers. One just has to nullify one's intellect to the men of truth who follow the path of truth as they received from our Sages, may their memory be blessed.) g) A person must also turn all the humiliations he suffers into glory, as it says, "In His chamber, all declare 'glory'" (Psalms, 29:9). When a person stands in the chamber of the king and nullifies himself completely, he sees only the King. Then it is surely obvious that if he hears any humiliation or insult, he will interpret this as coming to glorify the King; for how can someone come into the midst of the chamber of the King and insult the King! He wouldn't think these vilifications are intended against him, for who is he, for hasn't all his material being been nullified such that only the King Himself is present. These words are certainly meant to express the glory of the King. Then he reflects on these words in order to interpret and combine them, turning them into glorification of the King. The metaphor is clear, for when a person prays he is standing in the chamber of the King. All this a person has to rectify in his prayer. These three things, mentioned previously, correspond to the three things connected to the red heifer, namely, cedar wood, hyssop and scarlet wool, as explained. h) By proper prayer the light of the merit of the Patriarchs shines and by this we draw upon ourselves the holiness of the Land of Israel even during the present exile. This enables us to see the downfall of the wicked. Not only is a person saved from their evil eye, but he sees in them what they wanted to see happen to him. All this is activated by finding merit in the wicked; then we can pray. This also merits the tzaddikim, who do good, to the Countenance of G-d. Previously, before the destruction of the wicked, this Countenance of G-d was hidden in order to destroy the evil doers, but now G-d's Countenance becomes revealed to those who do good. i) Not every person can rectify these things in his prayer and thus subdue the wicked, only the very great tzaddikim, who are an aspect of Moshe. Even he has to strengthen himself a great deal to stand up against the major evil doers and to nullify and destroy them. j) The mitzva of challah (putting aside a tithe from the dough) is an aspect of the inheritance of the Land of Israel, as explained, for this mitzvah has us merit to draw upon us the light of the merit of the Patriarchs which allows us to reveal the holiness of the Land of Israel even nowadays. k) In general, tall people are foolish, whereas short people are intelligent. This is understandable. (See the Rebbe's explanation in detail) (Prayer 55) Lord of Israel “I will lift my eyes unto the hills, from where will my hope come. My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” Master of the World, G-d of Abraham, G-d of Isaac, G-d of Jacob, for the sake of the merit of our fathers, let me merit to comer very, very quickly to the Land of Israel. Help us, deliver us and grant us that the holiness of the Land of Israel be revealed now also in this bitter exile ….Even so, in the merit of our Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, reveal its immense holiness at this time also. By this let us merit to subdue our enemies … and remember the convenant of our Patriarchs for our sake. Therefore, help me and teach me the right path in such a way that I will be rescued from the evil prison in the eyes of my enemies. Let me cleave to Your holy attributes and judge all the enemies on the side of merit at all times. Then, spread out Your great, holy hand to cover and shelter us from the prison of their evil eyes so that they will have no power in their eyes to harm us at all. Save us, in Your bountiful mercy, so that we merit in our prayers to attach ourselves, both specifically and generally, to the souls, spirits and higher souls of those who dwell in the dust. May we merit to arouse and awaken them in our prayers so that they all pray together with us. May we attach our words of prayer to those in general who dwell in the dust and to specific tzaddikim. Let us merit to arouse and awaken in our prayers all the parts of our soul, spirit and higher soul that have already been reincarnated and rectified. May we also arouse and awaken all the holy souls, spirits and higher souls of all the tzaddikim in the earth, who are holy dwellers in the dust. Let us awaken them all so that they pray with us and in their merit, hearken to our prayers at all times and listen to our voices and take heed of our cries. Have mercy upon us for their sake, not for our sake, as it is written: “To the holy ones that are in the earth and to the glorious in whom is all my delight.” So, have mercy upon us and come to our assistance. In Your immense loving-kindness and great power and by the strength and the merit of the true tzaddikim, let us merit to rectify in our prayers all the three evil voices of the wicked: first, the voice of foolishness and the stupidity of those who fall into false beliefs; secondly, the voice of blasphemy and the insults of the philosophers and ‘apirkosim’ (those who deny the existence of G-d); thirdly, the voice of contempt of those who insult and disgrace the people who really fear G.d. By our prayers, may we merit to subdue, break and nullify all sorts of false, foolish and vain beliefs and all superstitions. May we break and nullify them all by our prayers and may we raise to a true and holy faith all those who have fallen to false beliefs. And, by the way of our prayers, let them fix in their hearts perfect faith. May we merit to put all our hearts into our prayers and to pray before Your with incredibly great devotion, with a sincere intent of heart, until we merit by this sincerity to rectify the heart of the theorists and philosophers so that their hears can contain their minds, so that their minds should not lead them astray to sin. May we turn their hearts to the truth so that they all return to Your holy pure and simple faith. Grant us merit and help us to eliminate all the insults and disgrace that we have from our enemies and those who hate us, materially and spiritually. By our prayers, may we turn all the insults into honour. During prayer may we nullify ourselves completely and utterly so that we can enter and stand in the hallway of the King. May we nullify our being completely so that we then see nothing other than the Blessed Kind; by this, let us merit to a holy intelligence, to turn all the insults into honour. May we consider carefully all the words of the insulters and abusers so that we can refine them and explain them in such a way that words of honour for the Holy One come out of them. May we pray with great perfection to the ultimate degree, such that we achieve by our prayers all the rectifications that were performed by the red heifer which Moses, our teacher, burnt in the wilderness and such that You remember the covenant with our fathers. Please help us to really repent completely and very speedily until we become included in the tzaddikim who always do good. Let the countenance of G-d be revealed to us, so to speak, through the holiness of the Land of Israel. Save and guard us, together with our offspring, so that no evil eye can overcome us from any source. Rather, merit us to always praise and give thanks to You. I will thank You G-d, our G-d, for every single breath. All my limbs will praise You. Let all souls praise G-d. Halleluyah! 56. ON THE DAY OF FIRST FRUITS a) Every individual Jew has an aspect of kingship and rulership, according to his aspect. One person rules over his household while another rules to a greater extent; and there is one who rules over the entire world. This aspect of kingship exists in each person, openly or in a revealed manner. So each person has to be very careful not to use this kingship and rulership for his own needs and enjoyment, but rather, only for the service of G-d, that's to say, to caution and reproach all those who are under his control in order to return them to G-d. If he rules only in his house, he has to warn and reprimand them with regard to serving G-d; and if he has more extensive control, he has the duty to caution and reprimand more and more people, according to the power of his rulership that he has. b) Each person, according to his rulership over others, is punished for their sins when he isn't careful to reprimand and caution them properly; his days are shortened, Heaven forbid. About him it says, 'Woe to authority which buries its possessor' (Pesachim,87). However, when he warns and reproaches them in the service of G-d, he draws upon himself vitality and longevity. c) However, it is impossible to reprimand and warn them properly other than by learning Torah. By this, one can reprimand any Person, even those very far away, even if one doesn't know what reprimand they need, for, through learning the Torah, we merit that even those far away from us will hear the voice of Torah which announces and cries out at all times – "Until when will the foolish love foolishness" (Proverbs,1:22). As a result of this they will repent and return to G-d. d) Also by engaging in the learning of Torah we merit to longevity, for, by learning Torah we call, so to speak, to the Source of Life, may He be blessed and draw vitality and longevity from Him. Therefore, we must learn Torah out loud, specifically. Speaking out the words of Torah, for, by this, we merit to call to G-d and attract longevity and vitality from Him. e) There are two kinds of concealment, for there is concealment and there is concealment within concealment. When the Holy One is hidden within one concealment it is also hard to find Him, but it is possible to struggle and carve a path until one finds Him; this is because at least one knows that the Holy One is concealed. However, when the Holy One is concealed within a concealment, meaning that the concealment itself is hidden from a person, then he doesn't know at all that the Holy One is concealed from him and then it is impossible to find Him since the person doesn't know anything about G-d. Know, someone who repeatedly sins, Heaven forbid, falls into one concealment and then, even though it is hard to escape and return to G-d, who is concealed from him after his sins have become like something permitted, even so, he, at least, knows about the concealment and recognizes that the sin has become for him like something permissible. Therefore he can instill this knowledge in his heart that he has fallen into concealment such that G-d and the Torah have become hidden from him and he relates to a sin as being permissible. By this, he can search for G-d and carve a way out. However, if he continues to perform more sins, Heaven forbid, then he will fall into a concealment within concealment until the Holy One and the Torah become so hidden from him that he doesn't know anything about the prohibition. He then doesn't realize that the sin has become permitted in his eyes. All the evil things are like a perfectly straight path, as if there is no prohibition at all. Even so, there is no despair in the world at all, despite having fallen into this double concealment, for there also the life force from G-d exists, clothed within the surface reality. Without this life force, nothing could exist. Even within the power of the husks and sins, within the double concealment, life force comes from the Holy One. When someone merits to Knowledge, all the concealments are nullified and he merits to hear the great voice of the Torah which declares and admonishes constantly, "How long will you fools go on loving foolishness." Then he will merit to return to G-d. To gain this Knowledge is by engaging in learning Torah, for, by this, we can also arouse him from within this double concealment and make him aware of the presence of G-d, teaching him that he also has hope, until he finally returns to the truth and comes close to the Holy One. Through the power of the true tzaddikim we can come close to G-d at all times, whatever the situation, wherever we are. Even if has done what he has and has fallen to where he has fallen, Heaven forbid, G-d's life force is certainly enclothed there as well, for He gives life to all things. Thus, a person can return to G-d from any place and merit to hear the voice of the Torah, as mentioned above. For the reason we don't hear the mighty voice of the Torah is because of the many concealments created by our many sins; then G-d becomes concealed from us doubly as a result of our iniquities, in an aspect of "On that day I will doubly conceal my Face…" (Deut.31:18). However, by learning Torah we can uncover the concealments such that cause even those who are very far away from holiness to hear the Torah admonishing, until, eventually everyone will return to G-d. f) There are some people who have become distant from the Holy One, as if they had fallen away and jumped away from the Place of the World(G-d). Others have been close to G-d for a while but have already forgotten about this. Still others continue to remember the Holy One even now, but they have lost their heroism and they haven't the strength to overcome their evil urge; however, by learning Torah, everyone will return to G-d. g) In very lowly and distant places from G-d, there, specifically is enclothed a very sublime life force, the hidden Torah. Therefore, anyone who falls very far has to know that even where he is, and especially from there, he can come very close to G-d, for there is a very sublime Torah hidden in that place. So, when one merits to return to G-d, this sublime, hidden Torah will become revealed. h) Through the craving for money, the Kingdom of Evil grows stronger, Heaven forbid. This Kingdom of Evil constantly pursues the Kingdom of Holiness whose life force is from Knowledge (Da'at), which is the Torah. The Kingdom of Evil is the opposite of this, for it always craves to collect money and to devour holy sparks which are concealed within the money and which, in their source, are Supernal Colours. So, each person, according to the degree that he breaks the craving for money, draws himself closer to the Torah and to holy Knowledge; he also extracts the holy sparks from the realm of the Kingdom of Evil. All this is through the power of the true tzaddikim who really engage in learning Torah. They have the strength to subdue the Kingdom of Evil and to extract the holy sparks and all the money from there, making Torah insights from them. Therefore, one must strengthen oneself very much in order to break the craving for money. i) According to the craving for money a person has, so his Knowledge, life force and longevity become lessened. The result is that he doesn't hear the voice of the Torah admonishing him and constantly calling to return to G-d. Because of this he is forced to struggle to make a living and acquires his income with much effort and difficulty. However, when he is strong and increases his Knowledge, thinking only of Torah and breaking the craving for money, then his income will come easily. He will merit to hear the clues and proclamations of the Torah, which are the good thoughts aroused in a person's heart at all times to return to G-d, until he merits to really come close to G-d. j) The spirit of depression comes from struggling and chasing after money; this is the venom of the Serpent. This causes all one's limbs to be heavy and the pulse becomes weakened. However much his pulse is weakened, his limbs become heavier and then his pulse becomes weaker still, and so on, back and forth, until his soul departs, all as a result of the bother of craving for money, for this is the main reason for worries and depression. k) By holy sighing, when one sighs out of longing to return to G-d, the pulse is cured and life force returns. Thus one is saved from the spirit of depression, which is caused by the effort and bother of making a living, and merits to Knowledge and to receive words from Heaven. l) The ease of making a living is in direct relation to the increasing level of Knowledge of a person. However much he lacks Knowledge, so he will have to make a greater effort to make a living. m) According to the growth of a person's Knowledge, so peace multiplies, for controversy, anger and cruelty stem from the lack of Knowledge. Therefore, however much one increases one's Knowledge, anger will be nullified and mercy, loving-kindness and peace will grow. So when one learns Torah, one attracts Knowledge and cancels anger, drawing to oneself also mercy, peace and healing. n) Immersing in the mikve redeems from all troubles, purifies from all forms of impurity and from sins, for the mikve draws Knowledge and very sublime loving-kindness. Then one merits to earn a living easily, to healing, life force and longevity. This arouses people to serve G-d. Controversy and anger are nullified and one merits to peace, mercy and expanded Knowledge. o) Immersing in the mikve on Shavuot is a very sublime loving-kindness and a great compassion; it is wonderful Knowledge, for Shavuot is a very fine and supernal Intellect which represents very immense loving-kindness and compassion, for compassion is dependent on Knowledge. Happy is he who merits to receive the holiness of Shavuot, in particular the mikve of Shavuot, which is the Fiftieth Gate (of Understanding) from which holiness and purity are drawn down upon the People of Israel. p) Peace depends on Knowledge, whereas controversy is the opposite of Knowledge. However, there is controversy which exists for the sake of Heaven which is really very great Understanding, a greater Knowledge than peace, for really this controversy is great love and peace. In Egypt, when Knowledge was in exile, there was certainly no controversy fro the sake of Heaven, for this depends on Knowledge. But afterwards, when they were redeemed from Egypt by Moshe, who personifies Da'at (Knowledge), then they merited to the Knowledge of controversy for the sake of Heaven which is really the ultimate form of peace. (Prayer 56) Master of the Universe, King of all Worlds, who rules over everything., The hidden G-d, Compassionate One. You alone know the immense power of the concealment of godliness which has become dominant in these days before the coming of Meshiach. You have hidden Your countenance from us. You have hidden Yourself from us very much by one concealment within another, so much so that we do not even realize that You are hidden. We don not recognize You at all. Sins, in our eyes appear to proper behaviour. Now, our Father in Heaven, what can we do and what can we rectify? This is especially true of me for I am impoverished. I ask that You help me to reveal the immense concealment within concealment. You have hidden Yourself a great deal from me to such a degree that I have forgotten my goodness and holiness. My Father in Heaven – have compassion on me. See my weakness in the face of my enemies and raise me from the gates of death. Master of the Universe, Master, I have no mouth with which to speak and no forehead to raise my head. I have no word in my language. G-d, You know everything. help me to reveal the immense concealment within concealment. You have hidden Yourself a great deal from me to such a degree that I have forgotten my goodness and holiness. My Father in Heaven – have compassion on me. See my weakness in the face of my enemies and raise me from the gates of death. Master of the Universe, Master, I have no mouth with which to speak and no forehead to raise my head. I have no word in my language. G-d, You know everything. You had Your countenance and I was confused. Please don’t hide Your face from Your servant for I am in great distress. Answer me speedily. I call out to You and plead with You. Help me. I know no way how I can reveal this immense concealment within concealment which includes thousands and tens of thousands of concealments. I know no way to escape from them and how to save my soul from the trap. In Your bountiful mercy You thought from afar to better our final end. You promised that by learning the holy Torah we will merit to find You at all times, even in these, the End of Days, in the midst of one concealment within another, as is written: “I will surely hide my face on that day…….. this song shall testify before them as a witness; for it shall not be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed.” Therefore I have come before You, Lord, my G-d and G-d of my fathers, You who are full of compassion, full of pardon, who is good and does good for all, who has mercy on all creatures., for Your mercy is upon all Your works. In Your bountiful mercy, let me merit to engage in Your holy Torah for its own sake, day and night, with great holiness and purity, in such a way that I merit by learning Torah to reveal the concealment which is in the concealment to always find Your Divinity, at all times and in every place. Let absolutely nothing have the strength to conceal You Divinity, Providence and Majesty from me. Help me and save me so that I can engage in the holy Torah and speak out the words of the Torah perfectly. Give us strength to call You, the Life of lives, by the holy Torah, which is Your Name. By this, grant us merit to receive and draw upon ourselves from You a good long life, for You are the Life of lives. You give life to all the worlds, from beginning to end, through the holy Torah, which is Your Name. The Torah is our life and the length of our days. Make us worthy to receive this life gradually and in the right quantity by the holy measures and vessels made by the chapters, verses, weekly portions, words, intonations, vowel points, ornamental crowns on the letters and the letters of the holy Torah. By them, let us merit to good, long lives, mercy, peace and holy perception. Master of the World, who is close to all who call Him truthfully, let us merit to call You truthfully, in such a way that You answer us very soon. We will call You and You will answer us; we will pray to You and You will grant our request. Grant us perception, understanding and wisdom from You and let us be worthy, by engaging in holy Torah, to draw from You a good life, lengthy days and years. Let it be in such a way that we merit to know that You are always present, at all times, in every person and every place, even in the very midst of one concealment within another, there also You are present. For You Yourself are hidden within all the concealments in the world, even the concealment within a concealment, even in the thousands of thousands and tens of thousands of tens of thousands of concealments without end. There also You are present, for there is no place voice of Your presence!. You give life to all. Without You there is no life-force at all to anything in the world. Even all the husks and impurities in the world, all the (evils of the) Other Side and all the concealments in the world which hide Your Divinity, none of them have any life-force or strength other than what they receive from You Yourself, may You be blessed for Eternity. You rule everything and Your Kingdom reigns over all. Apart from You nothing has strength. No concealment in the world can conceal or hide You, may You be blessed. In Your bountiful, allow us the merit to know all this with perfect perception, with truth and faith, until, by this I reveal the concealment which is within the concealment and turn it into knowledge, such that holy Torah be made out of all the concealments. May the holy Torah that is hidden there in the midst of a concealment within concealment be revealed. Grant us the merit to have revealed the secrets of the Torah, to understand and ascertain the secrets of the Torah such that we merit to hear roars and calls in a very, very great and tremendous voice! “She cries in the chief place of concourse…… How long, you foolish ones, will you love foolishness?” Because of our many iniquities we do not hear this voice of proclamation. Therefore, have mercy upon us, for Your Name’s sake. Let us merit to engage wholeheartedly in the holy Torah with great holiness until we merit to hear the great voice of proclamation of the holy Torah, the voice of the words of “the living G-d and everlasting King,” “a great voice that goes on continually….”. The Torah itself reproaches us in a revealed way from a concealed love, as is written: “She opened her mouth with wisdom and on her tongue is the law of loving-kindness.” May we merit by this to return to You sincerely, very quickly and soon. Bring us close to Your service and return us in complete repentance before You. Help us and save us and let us merit to reveal and raise combinations of letters of the holy Torah from amidst the concealments and turn them into the realm of holiness, to return them to their original dwelling place and combine them into words of holiness, until, by them, new, truly wonderful and awesome interpretations of the Torah be revealed. Reveal to us the secrets of the Torah, the wonders and hidden things in Your holy Torah which You stored away and hid for those who fear You. Grant us the merit to know and distinguish between that which is forbidden and that which is permitted, between the holy and the secular, between the impure and the pure, between the kosher and non-kosher. Help us to cut ourselves off completely from evil and anything forbidden and may we really attach ourselves to the realm of holiness with perfect faith. Let us turn aside from evil and always do that which is good in Your eyes, as is truly Your good desire. Let us merit to perfect, holy knowledge until we clothe ourselves and others in perfect, sincere repentance before You. By our engaging in the holy Torah, let us arouse others to perfect repentance, even those who are very far away from us. May we bring them out of darkness to light, from the secular to the holy. In Your bountiful mercy, save us from the craving for money. Help us to break the desire for wealth and its power. Let me never covet money nor crave to collect it, for it is not ours. Father may we put all our desire into studying Torah so that we acquire holy wisdom and understanding while cleaving to Your holy mitzvoth. During our lifetime, let us rectify everything that we blemished because of the craving for money. Merit us to elevate all the holy sparks which the husks swallowed as a result of our sins. Then the husks will spit out all they have swallowed until all the holy sparks and all their life-force are returned to their holy sublime source. Help us to reveal all the supernal colors within the silver, gold and copper, with holiness and great purity, until they shine, as You desire. Bestow upon us the attribute of compassion so that we will really have compassion on the needy and give them a lot of charity. Then,You will have mercy on us from Heaven. Draw down a good income, blessing, compassion, life, peace and holy understanding. Cancel all controversy from the world. Spread compassion and peace throughout the world so that there will be a great peace between Jews and between all the Peoples of the world. Help us and save us that we merit to purify and sanctify ourselves at all times by immersion in the mikve. Let us draw upon ourselves great purity and holiness by immersing in the mikve, so that we purify ourselves from all impurities, from all the sins, iniquities and wilfull transgressions that we have perpetrated and committed before You every since our youth until today. Draw upon us great holiness by the holy mikve. By this, grant us great perception and bountiful mercy. Help us and give us strength by immersing in the mikve to sweeten all the harsh judgments in the world from upon us, from our offspring and from all Your Nation, the House of Israel. May we nullify all the troubles and all the evil decrees by this. Always save us by our immersing in the very holy and awesome mikve. Fulfill in us the verse which says:”O the Hope (mikve) of Israel (Lord,) Saviour in the time of trouble”. Let us merit to draw upon ourselves the holiness of the mikve of the holy Festival of Shavuot, the time of the giving of our Torah, when Israel came close to You and merited to receive the holy Torah by immersing in the mikve. May we all merit on the Festival of Shavuot to immerse ourselves in the sublime mikve, the mikve of the Fiftieth Gate of Holiness which is very great mercy, sublime loving-kindness and very great understanding. Help us so that we merit to draw upon ourselves the holiness of the mikve throughout the year. Grant us merit to purify and sanctify ourselves at all times to leave very quickly the Fifty Gates of Impurity and to enter into the Fifty Gates of Holiness. Fulfill in us very quickly the verse which says: “Then I will throw pure water upon you and you will be pure from all your impurities and from all your idols I will cleanse you.” 57. THEY ASKED REBBI YOSI SON OF KISMA a) The rule and the main thing is that a person has faith in Torah scholars and is careful to honour them and hold them in awe. And even if it seems to him that they are acting against the Torah, Heaven forbid, a person has to believe that they are certainly doing what is right in accordance with the Torah, for the Torah was given over to the Sages to explain as they see fit. So a person has to put aside his intellect and knowledge and just depend on the Sages. b) All cures are dependent on the Torah, as it says, "a healing for all his flesh" (Proverbs,4,22). The Torah was given over to the Sages and we are commanded to listen to them and not to stray from what they say, whether to the right or the left. Anyone who ridicules them and doesn't believe in their words, because it seems to him that this is not according to the Torah, as a result is inflicted with an illness that has no cure and dies from it, like the Sages said, "Maybe a snake of the sage has bitten him for which there is no cure" (Shabbat, 110B). c) When we fall from faith in the Sages, the rectification for this is by a vow - one should make a vow and carry it out immediately. By this you will return to faith in the Sages and merit to a complete cure. Then the light of the Patriarchs shines in you and you merit to the delight of Shabbat which is an aspect of eating in holiness. Through this, one merits to nullify anger and to subdue one's enemies, causing them to fall. As a result, the Gateway of the Other Side (the Forces of Evil) will fall; the Meshiach will come and build the Gateways of Holiness. d) By anger, the great accuser, Esau/Edom, is aroused and from this sublime accuser, accusers in the world below are activated. They oppress a person who gets angry and take control over him for, by his anger, a person's wisdom departs from him and the image of G–d is removed from upon his face; his face then falls, like it says, "Why are you angry? Why is your face fallen?" (Gen.4: 6). He ceases to have the face of a human being. (See Jerushalmi, Niddah, brought down in the Pri M'gadim, Yoreh Deah, Ch.13, par.18: "He's totally a human yet his face is like an animal. He stands and reads in the Torah . They tell him; come and be slaughtered etc.) Then he goes from the level of being a human to that of an animal. Consequently, his enemies take control over him and his adversaries oppress him, for in their eyes he seems to be an animal and therefore they have no fear of him. e) The rectification of anger is to fast, for, by fasting a person subdues the anger and this is the main virtue of a fast. Therefore, on a fast day, the Evil One entices a person more than usual and arranges for him to get angry and thus spoil the fast, Heaven forbid. One has to guard against this, to guard oneself very carefully against the fire of anger on a fast day, for the main thing of a fast is to subdue one's anger. By the fast a person rectifies his face and restores to himself his wisdom which is the image of G-d that shines in his face; then all will fear him and his enemies will fall in front of him. f) Someone who merits to the delight of Shabbat, in other words, to eating in holiness, doesn't need to fast for he accomplishes through his eating that which is achieved by fasting (to subdue one's enemies). This is the merit of enjoying Shabbat. g) Eating on Shabbat is very precious and holy for it becomes holiness and complete godliness without any impure elements of waste at all. The Other Side has no part whatsoever in Shabbat eating, for Shabbat eating is entirely holy. By Shabbat eating, anger is nullified and all powers of wrath and all adversaries flee from her (Shabbat) and vanish; then everything is love and peace. h) To nullify or subdue one's enemies it is enough only to fast, or eat on Shabbat, but to achieve real peace one has to also give a lot of charity, especially on a fast day, as the Sages said, "The reward for fasting is charity" (B'rachot,6b). One also has to give charity to poor people for Shabbat or to invite them to eat at your table on Shabbat, then you will merit to bountiful peace, peace that has a mouth. For sometimes there is peace but without a mouth, that's to say, there is peace between people but they can't speak to each other, like it says, "They couldn't speak peacefully to him" (Gen.37:4). However, by Shabbat eating with charity one merits to a vocalized peace, meaning that the peace is perfect and people speak to each other, in the aspect of "For the sake of my kin and my companions, I will now speak peace" (Psalms,122:8), for the mouth is perfected through the great light (that shines) at the time of eating on Shabbat. In Your bountiful mercy You chose us from all the Nations and raised us above all the languages; You sanctified us in Your commandments our King, and You brought us closer to your service. O Lord our G-d, You gave us Your holy Torah, the Written Torah and the Oral Torah. You commanded us to have faith in Your tzaddikim and true Torah scholars such that we should come close to them and cleave to them in order to fulfill anything they say, as it says, “Do not swerve from that which they tell you, neither to the right or the left.” Therefore, may if be Your will G-d our G-d and G-d of our Fathers, that You fix You holy belief in our hearts and in the hearts of all Your People, the House of Israel. Merit us really and truly to the utmost complete faith in the Sages. May we come close to them and ……. the dust of their feet, drinking their words thirstily. By flawed belief in the Sages, which I have had from my youth until today, by slighting their honour, I have generally blemished Your holy Torah which was entirely given over into thehands of the true Sages to expound as they please. By this, I blemished the holy angels who were created through the Word of the Lord by the letters of the Holy Torah. I transgressedthe prohibition of ‘do not turn “ (to the right or theleft of what the wishe men of your generation instruct youto do)”. I removed the power of my hands from the holy angels, the right and left hand, through which the angels receive abundanc from above and bestow abundance to all the grasses and all things in the world. By the flaw in our belief in wise men, the hands of angels have been removed until they have no power to receive or bestow. Because of this it is impossible to receive a cure. We have caused affliction, Heaven forbid, which is not written in the Torah, an affliction without a cure! I plead with You Lord, in Your great loving-kindness, pardon, forgive and grant atonement for me and for all Your Nation, Israel, with respect to all these blemishes that we have caused to belief in holy wise men, for You know the secrets ofour hearts. It is not in rebellion or treachery that we blemished this belief, but rather from the fouling of our wisdom and belief, but rather fromt eh fouling of our wisdom and minuteness ofour knowledge. I plead with You, Lord, give us merit from now on in Your mercy to rectify all this in such a way that we merit from now on to total, true belief in wise men as You desire. For You know, Lord our G-d, the greatness of our weakness at this time. We have no supprt except to depend on the truly wise and righteous Sages. Therefore, let us merit to believe in all the wise and righteous men who are truly worthy and not to say anything against their honour, Heaven forbid. Let us not degrade any Jew in the world. Spare us! Favour us! Please pardon us! Hold our tongues from evil and our lips from deceit. Help us and save us so that we merit to raise the fallen belief and merit to completely and truly rectify belief in the sages. By this, give power again to the hands of the holly angels to receive and then bestow to all the grasses and all the things in the world. Send speedily a complete cure to all our afflictions of the body and soul. Heal us and we will e healed. Save us and we will be saved, for You are our song of praise. By the holiness of Shabbat may the healing of the soul and the healing of the body be drawn to us and to all Israel. Cure us of all our pains and of all our illnesses and bring a successful and complete cure to all our afflictions (in particular to the sick person so and so……son/daughter of…….) G-d, please, please cure us, for You know the pains of our body and soul. Cure us, Lord, and we will be cured. Save us and we will be saved, for You are our song of praise. Draw upon us, through the holiness of Shabbat, the radiance of the highest form of repentance. May we merit very speedily to truly return in complete repentance before You. Give us merit to repent with love for You, as is Your good desire. O G-d, G-d and G-d of my Fathers, please save me and merit me to the real perfect delight on Shabbat. Merit me to receive every Shabbat with great holiness and great joy and happiness, delighting in the holy Shabbat with all kinds of pleasure such as eating plenty of delicious foods at Shabbat meals. Let me not worry at all about the costs of Shabbat and Festivals. Just merit me very soon to eat with holiness, delighting in Shabbat. By this, may we merit in Your mercy, to subdue, break and nullify all our enemies. My Father, merciful Father, have compassion upon me for You are good and do good to all. Help me and save me sot that I merit very soon to break and nullify the attribute of anger from myself. Save me from anger, from cruely and from strictness. Let me never be angry or irritated by anything or strict with anybody in the world In Your bountiful compassion, merit me to give lots of charity, giving generously to desrvering poor people. By this may peace spread throughout the world until we achieve really perfect peace. Grant us a peace which is expressed in our speech so that there will be peace between one person and another and they will speak together with love and peace, words of truth and righteousness, thereby arousing each other to the service and fear of G-d. Please redeem us speedily and bring us Meshiach. May G-d, bless His nation with peace. 58. THREE CAME FROM ONE a) The true tzaddik, who has the perfection of Knowledge, is an aspect of Moshe and is comprised of the three Patriarchs. He attracts three forms of bounty – food, drink and clothing, which correspond to the aspect of manna, a water-well and holy clouds (which miraculously appeared for the People of Israel in the Wilderness). The tzaddik always fights the war of G-d, for he fights against the husk of Haman/ Amalek which causes Jews to blemish the brit. The tzaddik subdues this husk and all those who oppress and pursue the weakest Jewish souls; the tzaddik strengthens these Jews and teaches them how to enter the service of G-d; he leads them to the aspect of rectifying the brit. By this he merits to a double bounty, like the two loaves of Shabbat and like the Mishneh Torah (The Book of Deuteronomy, in which Torah laws are repeated a second time); he merits to new Torah innovations on Shabbat – from one comes two. He also merits to a cure of the soul and the body. Through this, the world is aroused to repentance with love (of G-d). Then all the kosher Jews of the generation are cured of their suffering which they experienced previously. They become honoured in the eyes of the public. Each one, according to his spiritual level, receives beauty and splendour and grows in stature in the eyes of the public. And according to the esteem and honour he has relative to his spiritual level, so he can receive the power of renewal in Torah, which is the hidden Torah which the tzaddik bestows on Shabbat. b) The main way to maintain Knowledge (through which the three forms of bounty are drawn, as mentioned previously) is by three aspects. First, one has to teach one's wisdom to others, and to bring them under the wings of the Shechinah. Second, one's fear of sin must precede one's wisdom. Thirdly, one must be careful how one makes known one's wisdom so it won't be belittled, but rather, "the words of the wise man's mouth are gracious" (Ecclesiastes,10:12). Then he will merit, through Knowledge, to all the above-mentioned things. c) The fact that the wise man bestows a double portion of bread, that's to say, Mishneh Torah, and everything else previously mentioned, is through Shabbat, because the tzaddik is an aspect of 'Shabbat the entire week', for Shabbat bestows bounty to all levels and sends its radiance, thus curing the soul and the body. d) By subduing the husk of Amalek, which is the blemish of the brit, one merits to rectify the brit and to receive Shabbat. Then Shabbat bestows bounty to all the other worlds and, by the radiance of Shabbat, the world is aroused to repentance from love and all the above. When the people of the generation don't guard their mouths, then they can't receive the aspect of Shabbat, as above, for Shabbat depends on guarding the mouth in the aspect of "nor speaking of vain matters" (Isaiah,58:13) which is said about Shabbat. Then this radiance of repentance becomes spoiled so when greatness and honour comes to the kosher people of the generation, they stumble into pride which is an aspect of the exile of the Shechinah. Therefore, the kosher people need to contemplate a lot about the majesty and greatness which come to them, so that they won't stumble in pride and self-importance, Heaven forbid. ## 44 ### Prayer for Torah 44 44. “My mouth was filled with Your praise, all day long with Your splendour.” “I will sing forever of God’s kindness, I will make known Your faith to every generation with my mouth.” Master of the universe, have compassion over me and all Jews; merit me to always have complete faith in You. Let no thought of disbelief, doubt, or confusion enter my mind. On the contrary, may I regularly speak out words of faith expressing my explicit belief in You, God, our L-rd, that you are unique and eternal, exiting before time and without end. Through Your desire, you created a world from absolute nothingness. You control and guide all the worlds, as You desire. You chose us from all the nations and sanctified us with Your commandments. You have given us prophets, Tanaim, holy Sages and true tzaddikim throughout the generations until today so, have mercy on us for Your Names sake. Strengthen and intensify our holy faith in You constantly. You know that all our vitality is from our holy faith, for it is the foundation of all the Torah, as it says, “All Your commandments are faith.” And as it says, “And a tzaddik lives in his faith.” It is the foundation of all the worlds as is written, “All His deeds are faith.” I have sinned and spoilt a lot so all my hope and vitality is in faith alone. Please have mercy on me and merit me to such a powerful faith every moment that I really return to You in repentance with all my heart. You know the great strength of true faith; it can extract me from all the places and blemishes into which I have fallen, as a result of my bad deeds. Master of the Universe, return and revive me; let Your people rejoice in You. In my present situation grant me perfect advice in such a way that I will begin to really return to You. Merit me to revive myself through my holy belief so that I can cleave to You at all times. Let me be really close to You always, in all places and on all spiritual levels that exist. For all the earth is full of Your glory. You rule over everything and give life to all things. You fill all worlds, surround all worlds and no place is vacant of Your presence. Please grant me faith so that it will revive me throughout whatever occurs to me. Let me always come close to You and cleave to You in whatever place I am until I truly return to You very speedily, with true perfection, rectifying whatever I have blemished and spoilt for nothing is beyond You. Have compassion on me, merciful One; never caste me away from faith although I may deserve it because of my sins. Merit me to always behave with purity and simplicity without any cleverness at all. Master of salvations, do not caste me away from You nor take from me the spirit of Your holiness. Help me, for Your Name’s sake; save me for the sake of Your compassion, for the sake of Your immense loving-kindness which never cease. May the words of my mouth and the musings of my heart find favour before You, God, my Rock and Redeemer. 45. The tzaddik is an aspect of Shabbat, an aspect of the inner point of the circles which are an aspect of the six workdays of the week which themselves are an aspect of the circles around the inner point (See Zohar, Vayakel, 204B). The Evil One overcomes a person and arranges obstacles for him; he doesn't let a Jew come close to the inner point, meaning the tzaddik, from whom everyone draws sustenance. However, all the time that a Jew is within the community of the People of Israel (i.e. he has faith) this is still an aspect of being within the circles and he hasn't gone out of the circles completely; then he still has hope to come close to the inner point, as mentioned. 46. (a) Every Jew has the power of self-sacrifice, each day. For example, when he gives money to charity, the money is the soul for he gives his soul (in order to earn it) and gives it for G-d's sake (to charity). In other words, he sacrifices his soul. So also in prayer; it says in the Midrash Ha'Ne'elam (Chayei Sarah,124B) that this is an aspect of "for Your sake we kill ourselves all day long" etc. (Psalms,44:23) for one needs to battle a lot with the thoughts, confusions and strategies (of the Evil One) and to flee from them. It comes out that this is self-sacrifice. (b) All the obstacles that a person faces in the service of G-d, even though it seems to him that the obstacle is very great and it is impossible to break it, the truth is that it is not so, for there is no person who has an obstacle that he cannot break if he really wants to. The Holy One doesn't send to anybody obstacles other than those he has the strength and ability to stand up to; if he wants, to overcome them, as is fitting. If he looks well he will be able to understand that G-d is hidden also there within the obstacle itself, as explained elsewhere. Therefore, there is really no obstacle in the world at all for all the obstacles are only illusions. (c) The greatest obstacle of all is that caused by the person’s mind. That's to say, when his heart is divided (uncertain) and he does not apply his heart and mind well enough to understand the extent of the significance of the holy thing he wants to do; for example, when he wants to travel to the true tzaddik, and he has many obstacles; if his heart and mind were strong enough regarding the truth that all his vitality and immortality after his death depend entirely on this, for himself and his descendents, certainly no obstacle would prevent him (from traveling to the tzaddik). All the obstacles would be considered in his eyes as nothing in relation to this. But the primary obstacle is that of the mind, meaning that his mind is not strong enough strong to know that on this alone depends all his immortality. And even when he merits to come to the true tzaddik, overcoming all the obstacles that he had against his coming, he may nevertheless have questions about the tzaddik such that his heart is divided- this is the greatest obstacle of all. So also with prayer. In the beginning he faces several obstacles to prayer but afterwards when he overcomes them and comes to pray, his hearty is crooked and he gets all kinds of questions about G-d, Heaven forbid. This obstacle is the biggest of them all. The rectification for this , when he has queries about G-d or about the true tzaddikim, is to shout out to G-d with a strong voice from the depths of the heart. (d) The main thing is to have a strong and courageous heart. Then he will have no obstacle, especially material obstacles such as those caused by money, or by his wife, his children, father-in- law or father and mother; and certainly not from other people who prevent him, by their words and mockery, from coming close to the truth. Without doubt all this is completely nullified and as nothing to one who strengthens and fortifies his heart in (the service of) G-d. ## 46 ### Prayer for Torah 46 46. Master of the World, full of compassion, who loves his Nation, Israel. You know how great and numerous the obstacles are that prevent us from the path of eternal life. They stand against us, each and every one of us in particular, like walls of iron, like flooding streams, like rivers of fire which surround us from all sides. Because of the multiplicity of obstacles we’ve become distanced from You, as we are now. But in Your bountiful mercy, You informed us that you also are hidden within the obstacles, because of Your great lover for all Your Nation, Israel. He who has sense can approach within the darkness of the cloud and mist, within the force and power of the obstacles, and find the Holy One there. For there, within the obstacle itself, the Holy One is hidden and concealed! But what will I do for I lack sense? Because of my lack of perception I’ve been standing far away for some time now. I don’t strengthen myself to come closer to You because of the many obstacles that separate me from You like real walls. The truth is that I know a little and I believe with perfect faith that I have the ability to break these obstacles and nullify them, for, in truth, they are not barriers at all! However, even so they overcome me and spread out before me such that I don’t know how to break them or nullify them. Therefore I’ve come before You, who are full of compassion, who graces man with perception, to ask that You show me, teach me and inform me of perception, understanding and wisdom, of real intelligence and true advice at all times, in such a way that I merit to really come closer to You than I am now. Let me pass over and jump over all the obstacles that stand before me. Let me merit to know and really believe that all the obstacles are only a trick of the eyes and an illusion, and that he who strengthens his will and faces them with great desire and a strong will to come close to the Holy One will nullify them completely as a result. May I nullify and break all the obstacles in the world, whether those which come from other people or those stemming from the cravings of my materialistic body, or all the different obstacles in the world that prevent us from the path of holiness, from the path of truth. May I merit to break, nullify and drive them all out by Your giving my heart the strength and courage to conquer my evil desire. Let me strengthen my heart with great boldness and great encouragement to stand against them. May I not dread or fear them at all and may I merit to win the war without being harmed. Have mercy upon me, redeem me and save me from the obstacles stemming from the mind. These are all the questions, doubts and confusions that make the mind question the tzaddikim and kosher people in the generation, or to question your attributes, Heaven forbid. These obstacles of the mind are bigger than all the obstacles in the world. Yet he whose mind and hearts are strong with perfect belief in God and in true tzaddikim, no obstacle in the world can stop him. However, when one’s mind and heart are separated from the Holy One and from tzaddikim, Heaven forbid, and questions arise in the heart against them, then these obstacles are the hardest of all. Therefore I’ve come to shout, cry out and call to You, for I have no hope to escape from them other than by calling out to You. Help me, redeem me, save me and rescue me from all sorts of questions, doubts, confusions and obstacles of the mind so that I won’t take notice of them at all and so that they won’t come again at all to my heart, mind or brain. Rather, may I merit to always know and believe in the truth, to have a perfect faith which is strong and proper, without any doubt or confusion or tendency to stray at all, until I merit to become strong and overcome all the obstacles and physical barriers from other people or from the cravings of the body. Let me strengthen myself and be bold to stand against all of them, to enter the real paths of the Lord and to come close to You and to tzaddikim and really kosher people. May I serve You with truth, fear and love, turning away from evil and doing good, and let me very quickly start and finish all the things connected with holiness which are really You desire. Have mercy upon me at all times whenever any questions or doubts come to my heart causing me to cry out and to call to You from the depths of my heart, with a strong voice so that, in Your bountiful mercy, You will answer me immediately. I will cry out and you will answer ‘here I am.’ I have no one to rely upon to help me stand against all the obstacles other than You, our Father in Heaven. Upon you alone I rely, on Your great loving-kindness I trust, that you will show me and teach me how to overcome, how to enter into the thick of the force of the obstacles and to come close to You by virtue of the obstacles themselves. In them the Holy One Himself is hidden, for his greatness has no bounds and His thoughts are very profound. All that You cause to happen to a man, even those things which seem to be obstacles and delays upon the path of holiness, every one is for the good and is a wonderful salvation. Have mercy upon us, show us, strengthen us, encourage us. Grant me and all Israel strength and courage in the heart, given from Heaven, so that from now on I won’t dread or fear anything in the world. Let me rather be like a warrior ready for war at all times, without any fear of any craving or any thought or any confusion, unafraid of any person or anything at all in the world such that I need to be saved from or to escape from. Let me never return to my folly nor cause any blemish at all, whether by thought, speech or deed, or whether by the power of sight or any of the other senses. Strengthen me and encourage me to skip over all the obstacles, to break and nullify them all, so I can really enter into the into the realm of holiness and begin from now on to really and truly come closer to You, as is Your good desire. My father in Heaven, have mercy upon me and in mercy, fulfill all my wishes, for I have no hope other than in prayer and supplications and in the great strength of the true tzaddikim. That which is good in Your eyes do to me and for me. Have mercy upon me for Your Name’s sake. Don’t desert me. Don’t leave me. Help me and save me, You who are full of compassion. Please make it be that I walk in Your statues and keep Your commandments from now and forever. Answer us, for we are in dire straits in this bitter exile of which the main thing is the exile of the soul caused by the cravings of the body, confusions of the mind and the many obstacles from other people. All of them have become habitual. They’ve come up to our necks in order to prevent us, Heaven forbid, from the path of life. Grant us real wisdom, understanding and perception in such a way that we merit to stand against them all, without glancing at them at all! Help us to really come close to holiness, to always find You within the very midst of the force of the obstacles, for in Your bountiful mercy and great love of Your nation, the House of Israel, You are hidden and concealed within these obstacles. Help us to always find You within the thick of the concealment and the obstacles. May the words of my mouth and the contemplation of my heart find grace before You O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. Amen and Amen. 47. It is a great danger to say over words of Torah. On needs a very great effort and great skill to be able to measure one's words exactly in such a way that no-one will hear anything other than what he needs and no more. For when a person hears more than what his mind and understanding can grasp, the husks draw sustenance from this (see inside). The true tzaddik has great fear when he says over Torah, greater than the fear of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. 48. (a) A person needs very great encouragement so as not to become discouraged , Heaven forbid, when he sees that many days and years have passed and he has struggled making great efforts, shouting out each time, pleading and praying to G-d, asking to be helped in the service of G-d, yet he still remains very far away and therefore it seems to him as though G-d does not want him at all. Against all this he needs great encouragement to strengthen himself a lot so as not to look at all this at all, for all this occurred also to the true tzaddikim. And if they had not strengthened themselves a lot to ignore all this, they would have remained in their original place (their previous spiritual level) and would not have attained all that they did. Therefore, my dear brother, strengthen and encourage yourself a lot. Hold on with all your strength to remain persistent in your service of G-d. Don't worry and don't take any notice at all of all this, as mentioned. (b) If you are very, very far away from G-d and it seems to you that you really blemish every moment against Him, contrary to this, know on the other hand that a person like this who is so gross, every single movement that he takes to cut himself off, slowly and surely, from his grossness, thus turning to G-d, is considered very great and precious indeed. Even a very small step in which he cuts himself off from this grossness in order to come close to the Holy One is like him running thousands of miles in the Worlds Above. About this he should be very happy. He should distance himself from sadness a great deal, for sadness does a lot of damage. (c) As soon as a person wants to enter the service of G-d, then immediately it becomes a great sin for him to feel sad, Heaven forbid, for sadness is the Other Side (the power of evil) and the Holy One hates it. (Editor's note: See Torah 24. "It is a great mitzvah to always be happy. For just as sadness is a great sin, so also, to the contrary, happiness is a great mitzvah. Fortunate is the one who merits to always be happy; for it is a cure for a person both physically and spiritually.). (d) A person has to be very stubborn in the service of G-d without easing off even a little from his service of G-d that he started, no matter what happens to him. Remember this very well, for when you start a little in the service of G-d you will need this advice a lot. It is a necessity for a person to experience countless ups and downs. Sometimes he is deliberately made to fall from the service of G-d. For all of this he needs great encouragement to sustain himself in the service of G-d just by means of stubborn determination. One needs very, very great determination with this. (e) Sometimes a person is already at the entranceway of holiness but he retreats because the Other Side and the Evil One overcome him then with very great and awesome power, Heaven preserve us. They don't let him to go through the entranceway. Because of this he loses spirit and retreats completely, Heaven forbid. That is the way of the Evil One and the Other Side; when they see that a Jew is really close to the gates of holiness and is about to enter, then, specifically, they attack him with great strength, Heaven save us. Therefore, he then needs tremendous encouragement to stand up against them, remaining in his place without paying any attention to the falls and downs that occur to him. Rather, he needs to do what he can in the service of G-d. Eventually, with the passage of days and years he will enter with certainty the gates of holiness, with G-d's help, for the Holy One is full of mercy and greatly wants our service. Know that all the movements and steps that you take to cut yourself off each time, even a little, from your grossness for the sake of serving G-d, they all gather, join and connect together and come to your assistance when you need it, that's to say, when, Heaven forbid, there is distress or a time of trouble, materially and also spiritually, during the midst of the strong attack of the Evil One, Heaven save us. (f) Know that there is a tree upon which leaves grow that each leaf needs to grow for a hundred years. And presumably during these hundred years, certainly a lot occurs to it, yet, even so, afterwards, at the end of the hundred years, the tree fires off with a great noise like a cannon. The moral lesson derived from this metaphor is obvious. (g) And know – a person has to cross a very narrow bridge in This World. And the main thing is not to become afraid at all. A person has to strengthen himself and make himself happy a lot whether it is by finding in himself some merit or good point. For how is it possible that he hasn't performed some good during his life. Or similarly, he should make himself happy by remembering that he wasn't created a gentile. Also he should dance and jump in order to become happy until, by this, he merits to repent and then all his intentional sins will turn into meritorious deeds (see Yoma 86B). ## 48 ### Prayer for Torah 48 48. Master of the Universe, You informed us, through Your holy Sages, of blessed memory, that a person has to strengthen himself very, very much in the service of God and always be happy, without being afraid at all. One mustn’t let one’s mind fill from happiness in any form. For as soon as a Jew wants to enter the service of God, it immediately becomes a great sin to feel sad, Heaven forbid. Sadness is from the Other Side and the Holy One hates it! You have to know that in this world, you must pass over a very, very narrow bridge and the main thing is not to become frightened at all. The tzaddikim encouraged us with their words many times not to despair under any circumstances. Rather, we have to start from anew each time in the service of God. Therefore, please have mercy upon us and merit us to put into practice all their words. Let s know and behave with perfect faith that You desire to bring us close, not to push us away, Heaven forbid. All the experiences that suffer and which seem to distance us from You, are really only the means of bringing us closer. So, may we start again in the service of God on every occasion without our minds falling and becoming weakened by whatever occurs to us. Either way that’s true. If a person hasn’t yet started to make an effort in the service of God, then he certainly has to strengthen himself and decide to at least start from now. If not now, then when? One has to believe that one will certainly receive assistance from Heaven to serve God for someone who wants to purify himself, from Heaven they help him. On the other hand, if a person knows that he has already made efforts in the service of God and he is still very far away and he still hasn’t entered into the realm of holiness, then he certainly mustn’t imagine that he is being distanced from Above, Heaven forbid, as if the Holy One does not desire him, his Torah and mitzvot. Therefore, let us know and believe that everything is for the sake of bringing us close, especially after tzaddikim have already revealed to us that they also experienced feelings of being distanced. Nevertheless they didn’t weaken in serving God but rather strengthened their hearts to continue and progress. So, even more so, we should believe in the words of these tzaddikim and put our trust in them. Let us start from now to serve God while being truly humble. Specifically through this, merit us to always be happy and vitalize ourselves with every small movement that we manage to cut ourselves off from the materialism of this world even if it is only a small point, for this makes a very big impression in the worlds above. Let us not be upset al all by any experience of failure. On the contrary, when the Evil One attacks us and strives to make us fall, Heaven forbid, let us remember that we may be very close, and only a moment away from entering the gateways of holiness. All the efforts we have made however small, to sever ourselves from materialism and physical cravings, should join together to help us overcome the Evil One. And by finding in ourselves good points, we should merit to strengthen and gladden ourselves so that we never fall away from our spiritual level until we return to the Holy One and all our sins become turned into meritorious deeds. Amen. 49. In relation to the greatness of G-d and His immense exaltedness, any slight movement or glance that is improper and demeans the honour of G-d, would be appropriate to bring upon a person whatever he deserves, Heaven forbid. However, the Holy One is full of mercy and He is full of compassion over all the world. (i.e. an aspect of "he rules the world with loving-kindness and has compassion for His creatures.") He wants the existence of the world very much. Therefore a person has to encourage himself in the service of G-d in whatever way he can even though he is like the way he is. He should depend on the bountiful and unlimited mercy of G-d, for certainly G-d won't desert him despite his having transgressed whatever he transgressed. The past doesn't exist; the main thing is from now on not to transgress again – he should be passive and at least refrain from blemishing both in deed and thought. And whatever happens to him, automatically he shouldn't think about it or consider it at all. Know, the main form of perfect repentance is when a person passes through those places and experiences in which he was previously but now turns away from them and doesn't repeat those deeds and thoughts through which he blemished. This is the essence of perfect repentance. It is a great virtue when a person still has the evil urge for then he can serve G-d specifically with the evil urge, overcoming from within the heat of his evil inclination and using it in some form of service of G-d. That's to say, he stops and holds back this heat at the time of physical desires and transfers it to prayer and to the service of G-d, praying with warmth and enthusiasm in the heart. (Editor's note: See Lekutei Etzot, Hitchazkoot, 37: It says there that without the evil urge a Jew's service of G-d is not considered as anything. Because of this the Holy One lets the Evil Urge overcome a person so much even though this brings him to what it brings him. Even so it is all worthwhile to G-d because of the one good movement in overcoming the Evil Urge when it attacks him and he runs away from it. This is very precious to G-d, more than if he had served Him for a thousand years without the Evil Urge etc. See inside.) 50. A person's thoughts are entirely under his control; he can turn them in whatever direction he wants. It is totally impossible to have two thoughts at the same time. Even if at times one's thoughts fly away and wander into improper things, it is still within one's power to redirect them, even against their will, onto the true path to think worthy thoughts. This is just like a horse which turns off the road and tries to go in the wrong direction. The rider controls the horse with the reigns and forces it to go in the right direction. Similarly, a person can catch his thoughts and force them back onto the right path. ## 50 ### Prayer for Torah 50 Master of the Universe, we certainly know that in relation to Your immense grandeur and infinite exaltedness, our slightest movement or glance, which is inappropriate to Your glory, should bring in its wake some form of retribution, Heaven forbid. However, You are full of compassion and do not desire the destruction of the world. Therefore, merit us to strengthen ourselves in serving You for we rely on Your boundless compassion. Even if we experience difficult things that happen to us, let us always know and believe that You will never leave us, as long as we take upon ourselves to repent. The main thing is that from now on we shouldn’t repeat our mistakes. Merit us to complete repentance and, when we experience again the same circumstances in which we stumbled previously, Heaven preserve us, let us turn our backs completely to any temptation and thus subdue our evil urge. May we nullify our desire, entirely to Your desire so that we never blemish again. Merit us to serve You with our two urges. That’s to say, help us to take all the passion and enthusiasm of the evil urge which burns in our hearts , without using it for any physical pleasure of the body, and turn it into passion and enthusiasm in studying Torah and praying, as is fitting for a Jew to have. By this we may fulfil the verse, “And you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart”, with both your urges. Amen, so may it be. 51. The evil urge ensnares a person again and again arousing him to do whatever he does. And even if he doesn't listen to the evil urge, even so, it traps him again for a second, third, and fourth time and more. But if a person is firm in his mind and doesn't pay attention to it at all, then the evil urge will leave him and go away. Similarly, during prayer, thoughts come to a person to confuse his prayer several times but if he is firm and doesn't take any notice of them at all then they go away, as explained elsewhere. 52. Don't become confused when you have questions about the true tzadddikim. The true tzaddikim are similar to their Maker and just as a person has questions about the way G-d runs the world, so it is inevitable that he will have questions about the tzaddikim. Concerning questions about G-d's providence, know that because of His immense exaltedness it is impossible to ascertain His understanding. If G-d's ways were according to what we think of as being necessary, Heaven forbid, then His understanding would be just like ours, Heaven forbid. Therefore it is good and appropriate for the Creator that He is exalted and far above our understanding. 53. The greatness and preciousness of the power of thought is beyond measure; really perfect things are made from it which will cause the worlds to exist always, for ever and ever. Wisdom is even more precious for the power of thought is only what comes into the mind whereas wisdom is what constructs with its wisdom buildings in a person's intellect and that is very precious. The main thing is that it should be with truth. Even a simple Torah innovation is also a very great thing. This also has to be with truth. The opposite is also true. When it is without truth, other, negative things are also made from it. 54. Free choice is in the hands of a Jew to do whatever he wants, as he chooses. With non-Jews there are things that they have to do, but a Jew, everything that he does, such as even traveling to a certain place etc. contains the service of G-d; and therefore he always has free choice about everything. 55. The profit to be made in This World is immeasurable. That's to say, what a Jew can gain in This World. He doesn't even have to invest from his own money, only that which the Creator has prepared for him; he can accumulate great gains such as ‘no eye has ever seen’ etc. 56. When a person has a heart, there is no place that will prevent him from serving G-d. He cannot excuse himself by saying that in such and such a place it is impossible for him to engage in the service of G-d. For when a person has a Jewish heart, all the places in the whole world belong to him. ## 56 ### Prayer for Torah 56 Master of the Universe, master of all, whose rule extends to every place, You are the place of the world; the world is not Your place. Have mercy on me, for Your Names sake. Please grant me a really holy and pure heart so that I can serve You and fear You with a true Jewish heart until my heart becomes a dwelling place for Your glory. Let the presence of Your great and holy glory be drawn into my heart for it dwells in every Jewish heart as it says, “And I will dwell within them,” The main dwelling of godliness is in the heart, as it says, “God is the rock of my heart and my portion forever.” Have compassion on me and help me so that my heart will be full of godliness such that no place in the world can confuse or obstruct me from Your service or from fearing You. Just merit me to recognize and find You in all the places in the world and at every level, for no place is void of your Godliness. Enable me to become merged within You with all my heart. Then, let all the places in the world become nullified to You completely and totally until they will have no power to confuse me, Heaven forbid, from anything in the realm of holiness. Rather, enable me to ascertain and find You, cleaving to You, in all the places in the world. So, teach me and guide me at all times how to behave regarding travelling from place to place so that everything will be al You desire. According to the word of God I will travel on each trip, both in general and in every detail. In whatever place, let me find You and really cleave to You. Let me not get confused by any place in the world. Have mercy on me, for Your Names sake. Fulfil my heart’s wishes for the good. Merciful One, purify my heart to serve You in truth. Unite my heart to fear Your Name. Create a pure heart for me, O God, and a steadfast spirit renew within me. May the words of my mouth and the musings of my heart find favour before You, God, my Rock and Redeemer. Amen. 57. Through the wonderful and awesome Torah innovations that the great and true tzaddik reveals, the lowly Jew's status grows; everyone runs after him and comes to him to hear him because of the great noise created by the great and true tzaddik's Torah innovations which he reveals. Also on the Other Side there is one who grows because of this. 58. However much greater the level of the great tzaddik is and the more he has the ultimate humility, being really like nothing, so the more he can supervise and overlook the world, not like some people who incorrectly claim that because of the greatness of the tzaddik he is far away from the world. (See inside). 59. Sometimes a person acts with speed and gains by it whereas another person acts with speed and loses by it. That's to say, someone who has been a tzaddik from his youth and has always followed the straight path when he is very fast, he loses because of this. For when he progresses gradually from one mitzvah to another he can ascertain also the holiness which exists between one mitzvah and another. But when he runs very quickly to the next mitzvah he passes over and skips over that perception of holiness mentioned previously. (See inside). But someone who has to repent, has to be deliberately extremely fast, to hurry up and run a lot to escape and save his soul. It is forbidden for him to linger at all in order to stand and collect his thoughts. He has to run and skip over what is necessary to skip over and to jump to the holiness with great haste. Such a person who is fast, gains. 60. (a) When there are wars and the spilling of blood in the world this causes drought, Heaven forbid, and this leads to higher prices, Heaven save us. (b) Someone who gives over Torah in public and students who are not worthy hear him, this also leads to drought. (c) By honouring the Torah, rain comes. (d) When a person gives over Torah in public and unworthy students hear him, his punishment is that he is arrested and imprisoned. ## 58 ### Prayer for Torah 58 May it be Your will G-d, our G-d of our Fathers, who graciously grants knowledge to man, in your bountiful compassion, have mercy on me and bestow upon me wisdom, understanding and knowledge from You. Merit me to complete holy knowledge such that I will have strength through this to draw down the three types of bounty which are food, drink and clothing; they are included in the knowledge of Torah. Help me and merit me to have knowledge included in the three Patriarchs, Avraham, Yitzchak and Ya’acov. And may I merit to the Torah of chessed, learning Torah in order to teach it, instilling holy knowledge in friends and students so that I can ‘make many souls’, bringing them under the wings of the Shechinah; let me bring them really close to serving You. Bestow upon me fear of Heaven and fear of sinning. May my fear of Heaven be prior to my wisdom. Give me inspiration in my words when I speak with people to bring them close to You. And the merit of the three Patriarchs and in the strength of the merit of Moshe and all the true tzaddikim, bestow upon me Your help and salvation. From now on merit me to guard the brit truthfully with great holiness and purity. Arouse the compassion of the true tzaddikim so that they will have mercy upon us and those who are weak like us; let them fight for us, subduing, breaking and nullifying all the persecutors and pursuers who fight us at all times. May they subdue, finish and nullify from us all the husk of Amalek who is the source of the blemish of the brit. In Your bountiful mercy let us merit in Shabbat to reveal new, true and holy interpretations of the Torah, this being an aspect of a double portion stemming from one source. May the new interpretations give You pleasure and find favour before You. May we merit to bestow a double portion of bread (lechem mishne) on Shabbat which represents Mishne Torah (an extra copy of the Torah, as in Deuteronomy 17, 18). Grant us a double portion and let us merit to draw a double bounty, a mishne Torah on Shabbat. By the holiness of Shabbat may the bounty be drawn to all the worlds. Help us and save us so as to welcome the holy Shabbat with great happiness, with fear and love and with great holiness and purity; let us give delight in Shabbat by all sorts of pleasures. By the holiness of Shabbat may a cure of soul and body be drawn upon us and upon all of Israel. Cure us from all our pains and ailments. Let a perfect healing come to all who are afflicted (in particular to……….son/daughter of……..etc). Please, please cure us for You know our physical and spiritual pain. Heal us Lord and we will be healed, save us and we will be saved because You are our praise. Through the holiness of Shabbat, draw upon us the radiance of sublime repentance, repentance through love and may we, very soon return in complete and sincere repentance before You. Let us merit to repent out of love, as is Your good desire. Draw grace, loving-kindness, splendour and beauty and glory to all the really pious people of the generation. Grant them grace, loving-kindness and mercy in Your eyes and in the eyes of all who see them. Heal them from all their ailments and pains. May they be honoured in the eyes of the public and by all this, may a vessel and sign be made in them to accept the Mishne Torah, the double portion of new interpretations of the Torah on Shabbat. May we all merit to sanctify our mouths at all times with great holiness. Save us from pride and arrogance. Raise the Divine Presence from Her exile into which She descended because of the blemish of pride which comes as a result of the iniquity of speaking evil, Heaven forbid. Have mercy upon us for Your Name’s sake and help us from now on to rectify all this. Guard us and save us from now on from the very severe inquity of speaking evil and from all sorts of blemishes of speech. May we merit to sanctify our speech with every sort of holiness. By this, may we merit to receive the radiance of the holy Shabbat, in perfection, from the really wise ones of the generation. Save us from all sorts of pride, arrogance and haughtiness and let us merit to really perfect humility. Let us merit to real life, a life of holiness, and to a complete healing in body and soul and to complete repentance stemming from love, which is drawn from the holiness of the holy Shabbat. Satisfy us from Your bounty and grant us merit to taste the holiness of Shabbat which gives life to all the worlds, as is said, “Those who taste its happiness merit to eternal life.” Grant us a long and good life, a life of fear of Heaven, a life in which we merit to turn away completely from evil, to return in really complete repentance. Let us serve You sincerely and whole-heartedly, with real humility all the days of our lives, from now on, forever, until we and our offspring merit to eternal life, to that day which is completely Shabbat and eternal tranquility. Amen. Forever. Selah. ## 59 ### Torah 59 - The Holy Palace a) Someone who always endeavors to bring people closer to the service of G-d has to guard himself so that the husks won't take hold of him, nor the evil of those people he deals with. The way to achieve this is by the aspect of judgement, meaning that he has to see to it that he continually judge himself about everything he does whether it is worthy or not; he has to reprove and criticize himself about everything he does, whether it is proper or not. By this aspect of judgement the heart is enthused and this flame of enthusiasm burns the husks, preventing them from attaching themselves to him. Then it subdues them also from taking hold of those souls whom he brought close to the service of G-d. b) This person who tries to make souls and bring them closer, he builds an aspect of a holy palace. Even though there are very many souls who have fallen from their holiness and who no longer exist, even so, from those who remain attached to fear of G-d through him, by this alone he will be referred to as holy. The Holy One is honoured very much by bringing these people, who were distant from holiness, into the service of G-d. This is the main honour of G-d, when those who were very far away now come close to Him. c) By means of bringing souls closer to G-d and through secluded individualized prayers, conversing between himself and his Maker, while judging himself on everything he does, he merits to keep Shabbat which means nullifying the evil and the husks. About him the prophet says, "And I will give them in my house and within my walls a memorial and a good name better than sons and daughters" (Isaiah,56:5). "Memorial" means that he will have the strength to create disciples and to draw within them the spirit of wisdom. "Name" means he will merit to a good name such that all the souls (he brought closer to G-d) will desire to become included within his soul and name, in the aspect of "the desire of our soul is to Your Name and to Your rememberance" (Isaiah,26:8). This is certainly better than sons and daughters, for sons and daughters are only a few, whereas he who merits to establish Torah scholars merits to have many souls included in his soul; it is as if he gave birth to them – they are many and receive life-force from him. (Editor's note: This is like Elkana said to Chana: "Aren't I better for you than ten sons" (Shmuel 1, 1:8). This is because Elkana brought merit to the public, as the Sages taught. And through their love they both became as one soul. And those souls that he brought close to G-d were also included in Chana's soul.) d) The main way of guarding the name, which means protecting the soul, is by preventing himself from anger, for anger blemishes the soul. When he guards himself from anger even when he has an anger-provoking experience, he overcomes his evil urge, shows patience and conquers his anger, then he merits to great wealth. As a result his name and soul grow in importance and he merits to a good name and to have all the souls crave to be included in his soul. He also merits to bring many souls closer to G-d which is the main form of honouring Him. e) Anger damages wealth. When the evil urge entices a person to be angry, he should know that at that moment Heaven is about to bestow upon him a sum of money but the evil urge wants to spoil the this flow of wealth. By spoiling the flow of wealth, because of anger, a person damages his name and soul, as explained. However, when he guards himself from anger, he will merit to wealth; his name and soul will be made great and he will establish many disciples, bringing many souls closer to the Holy One, as above. f) Know, there are some wicked people whom it is forbidden to bring under the wings of the service of G-d, for they cause the people who try to bring them closer, to fall from their level. There isn't enough power in the judgement (mentioned above) to subdue their evil; this leads to great damage in several aspects, as explained. Therefore, the person who wants to bring souls closer to G-d, needs to pray a lot to G-d to merit to know whom to reject and whom to bring close. ### Prayer for Torah 59 The holy Sages decreed that every individual Jew is duty-bound to endeavour to bring others close to serving You, for every Jew is responsible for his fellow. However, You know the many obstacles to this and the strength of the evil that causes strife to any person who is engaged in bringing people who are far away from holiness to come to serve You; the evil in these people wants to take hold of those who bring them close, Heaven forbid. Therefore I have come before You to plead such that You have mercy upon us. Merit us to a good name. Guard us always from the sin of anger. Let me never be angry at anything or with any person. Save me from tearing my soul to pieces in my rage. May I never bow down to a false G-d, for it says that one who becomes angry is like an idol worshipper. Guard me from all kinds of anger with the utmost protection and pardon, atone and forgive me for all that I have blemished against You through the iniquity of anger from my youth until now. As a result bestow upon me bountiful, holy wealth; may our names and souls be enhanced by this until many souls will want to merge into ours and through this really come close to You. By this, may the name and soul of holiness be made greater forever. Out of Your mercy protect us from evil-doers who must not be brought under the wings of Your service for they can bring us down from our spiritual level. Let us not deal with them at all. Master of the World, full of compassion and lover of justice in Your bountiful mercy let me merit to holy justice, so that I merit to judge myself at all times with regard to everything I do. Let me think about my ways and to calm my mind very well every single day in order to judge myself, whether about the past or about the future, until I merit to bring judgment into the light and choose for myself a straight path upon which to progress. May all this be in such a way that I merit to perform Your will and really preserve Your statutes and judgments. Let me not diverge from true, straight judgment and let me not lead myself astray. Heaven forbid. But rather, let me consider and judge all my deeds with absolute truth in order that I merit to really return to You, as is Your good desire. In Your immense loving-kindness, take pity and have mercy upon me and let the good urge be my judge. May I meditate every day and look at myself very, very well; let me be compassionate and judge myself about everything I have done since my youth until today. Let me think of advice and strategies how to save my soul from the Pit. And let me make a really wholehearted and firm decision to always keep and fulfill Your commandments, statutes and judgments until my heart becomes really, greatly enthused towards You as is Your good desire, and until I merit to such fervour of the heart that all the evil that has a hold of me be destroyed, burnt and eradicated, whether it is evil within me because of my evil deeds or whether it is the evil of others that has become attached to me through my engaging in talking to them about fear of Heaven in order to bring them closer to Your worship…. Behold I stand before You full of shame and disgrace. Do whatever You will with me out of Your bountiful compassion and great charity. Return me before You in truly great repentance. Save me from any blemish of the brit. May no bad thought at all come to me. Sanctify me always with Your sublime holiness. Guard me and save me from the falsehood of charm and the vanity of beauty so that I will not act with false charm when sitting, walking and eating or when I speak to people. Merit me me to guard the oils in the body and thus save me from impatience and shortness of breath. Rather, let me have deep breaths and draw upon myself a holy spirit of life at all times, at every moment. Guard our mind always with the holy oils so that our minds will burn with great and holy contemplation. May our brains and minds progressively grow in great holiness. Then merit us to great and holy wealth to such a degree that we merit to sublime contemplation which is very great, holy and awesome and is drawn by means of the great, holy wealth. ## 60 ### Torah 60 - Rebbe Shimon Opened a) Know, there are pathways of Torah which require very great contemplation, but to reach such contemplation it is impossible other than by tremendous wealth. The Tribe of Yissachar had this power of contemplation, as it says, "The sons of Yissachar had understanding of the times" (Chronicles,1,12:33). They did not merit to this other than by wealth, in the aspect of "Yissachar is a strong ass" (Gen.49:14) which the Targum translates as "rich in property". Therefore, all the prophets were wealthy, as the Sages said. So also, there have been very great and awesome tzaddikim who were very wealthy. This is especially true of those through whom the Torah passed, like Moshe our teacher who gave over the (Written) Torah to the People of Israel, and Rebbi, who arranged and sealed the Mishniyot and Rav Ashi who arranged and sealed the Talmud – they were all very wealthy, as the Sages tell us, for great wealth is needed for this contemplation. b) To achieve such holy wealth is by longevity, that's to say, by seeing to it that every day and every hour will be longer and broader than what came before, with extra holiness and purity. Every single day begins for each person very narrowly, meaning that the day is very hard for him because of all the service of G-d that he has to do on that day. So a person has to be very strong each day in order not to fall when he sees the burden of the service of G-d needed each day. He has to start again each day, starting from the narrow, cramped and very difficult point, according to how he can overcome. Afterwards he can broaden and progress in his service of G-d. Every hour that then passes he can increase and broaden with additional holiness. So too each day of his life he should be sure to add more holiness than the day before, and similarly for always. This is the main form of longevity through which a person merits to holy wealth. That is what it says, "Avraham was old, advanced in days" (Gen.24:1), that's to say he had longevity. As a result, "G-d blessed Avraham with everything" meaning with holy wealth, as explained above. c) By means of fear of G-d we merit to longevity, an aspect of "Fear of G-d prolongs days" (Proverbs,10:27). That's to say, fear leads to additional holiness every day through which the days become longer and broader, as explained. d) There are several kinds of false charm which people show when standing, eating and talking with people, as well as other things; each thing has its own special charm. A person is trapped in this when he is not careful about the craving for the vanity of the beauty of women, for one depends on the other, as it says, "Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain" (Proverbs,31: 30). In consequence, a person comes to poverty, as it says, "Lust not after her beauty in your heart…for by means of a harlot a man is brought to a morsel of bread" (Proverbs, 6: 26). This is an aspect of "Wealth gotten from vanity will be reduced" (Proverbs,13:11). Fear is the opposite of this as it says, "False is charm and beauty is vain, a woman who fears G-d is praiseworthy" (Proverbs, 30:31). It turns out that by fear one is saved from the craving for false charm and the vanity of beauty which leads to poverty. By this (fear) one merits to holy wealth through which one merits to this contemplation. e) The main contemplation of the intellect, when rectified, that allows one to contemplate, depends on the moisture and oils in the body. By the craving for sex and the vanity of beauty, one's breathing is halted. Breathing is the main life force of a man. By craving for sex, the moisture of the body dries up and this spoils the power of contemplation of the brain and the intellect. Therefore, all the madmen become so through the craving for sex, as is known. So also other men who are not really mad but suffer from a great lack and confusion in their knowledge, everything stems from the craving for sex which dries up the moisture and oils of the body which in turn spoils the intellect. f) Perfection of fear has three aspects and each aspect includes all three. The first aspect is fear of Heaven; this is by contemplating the greatness of the Creator in one's Wisdom, Understanding and Knowledge; all these three brains need to be full of fear of G-d. The second aspect is awe of one's rabbi. This is achieved by learning from him. One has to draw this fear into all the three portions of learning, an aspect of "The Torah of three parts" (Shabbat, 88). The third aspect is awe of one's father and mother which needs to be drawn into the aspect of "House and riches are the inheritance of fathers" (Proverbs, 19:14). This fear should be applied to the three pats of wealth that are an inheritance of the fathers. This is an aspect of what the Sages said, "A person should always divide his money by putting one third into ground property, one third into business and one third at hand" (Baba Metzia,42). g) In all the Torah the word 'wealth' is mentioned only three times – regarding Sodom it says, "Don’t say I have made Avraham wealthy" (Gen.14:23) ; about Rachel and Leah it says, "For all the wealth which G-d has saved" (Gen.31:16); and thirdly, about the mitzvah of shekalim, it says, "The rich shall not give more" (Ex.30:15). These correspond to the three portions of wealth mentioned above. The third in business parallels what it says about Sodom, for in Sodom it says, "Forgotten by foot-travellers" (Job,28: 4) meaning that they wanted to cancel all trading there, for "foot" alludes to business, as it says, "Zevulun, rejoice in your going out" (Deut.33:18). Therefore one specifically needs one third in business and trading; one third in ground property parallels the wealth mentioned with regard to Rachel and Leah, for the truth is that the main reason for wealth is only in order to contemplate in the Torah; without this contemplation, wealth is just a waste product – it is then just for women and those with childish minds like them. This is what Rachel and Leah said, "All the wealth" etc. that is not for our contemplation or that of our sons, meaning just for women and those with childish minds, rather, it is for you, "and everything that G-d tells you to do, do it"; that's to say, 'you need the wealth for contemplation of the greatness of G-d'. Corresponding to this, one needs one third in ground property, an aspect of a woman being referred to as 'the ground of the world' (Sanhedrin, 74). One third at hand, parallels to what is mentioned regarding the shekalim where it says "to atone for your souls", an aspect of "in whose hand is the soul of all living things and the spirit of all flesh of man" (Job, 12:10). (Editor's note: Previously he wrote that the fear of G-d has to spread through all the portions of wealth…therefore the fear has to spread through the third of business affairs so that he will conduct them with proper faith; by fear in the third of ground property a person has to remind himself that if he doesn't use the wealth to contemplate in the Torah, he will be like a woman or those with a childish mind. The third at hand, in cash, is in order to give a lot of charity; then he has to remember that the evil urge wants to overcome him to make him not have mercy on the poor person. But his soul is in the hand of the Holy One so he has to donate a lot of charity to atone for his soul.) h) Revelaton of fear is by causing barren women to give birth. However many more barren women are caused to give birth, so fear is revealed that much more. Therefore, on Rosh Hashana Yitzchak was born (from Sarah who was barren) for he represents the power of the revelation of immense fear, an aspect of the fear of Yitzchak. When Sarah gave birth, many other barren women also gave birth together with her, as the Sages tell us. By this fear, one merits to longevity, an aspect of "old age" (said of Avraham). Therefore Sarah said, "I have born him a son in his old age" (Gen.21:7). Through the birth of Yitzchak, which is the revelation of fear, longevity was drawn into the world, an aspect of "old age", as mentioned above. (Editor's note: It says "Avraham was old and G-d blessed him with everything". "Everything", the Sages tell us, has the numerical value of 'son'. By the blessing of a son, representing the power of revelation of fear of G-d, he merited to longevity. And the above text already explained, according to the simple meaning, that he was blessed with holy wealth.) i) Causing barren women to give birth is achieved by awakening people from their sleep. There are people who sleep their days away even though it seems to others that they are serving G-d, learning Torah and praying; nevertheless, they are in an aspect of sleep and all their service of G-d remains in the world below for it is without vitality or intelligence. The Holy One does not have pleasure from their service and it cannot elevate itself into the world above. Some people fall into an aspect of sleep through physical cravings and bad deeds. Others are good, kosher Jews but their fall is through eating. Occasionally when a person eats a food which hasn't yet been clarified (elevated) to the level of human food, by eating it a person loses his face, meaning that he loses his wisdom and intellect, like it says, "A man's wisdom shines in his face" (Eccl.8:1). (See original text.) Then he falls into an aspect of sleep and has to be aroused from his sleep. However, it is impossible to arouse him unless he first wakes up a little by himself – one needs arousal from below meaning that he has to arouse himself. It is just that when he does arouse himself, if others didn't continue to awaken him, he would remain even longer in sleep, so, as soon as he wakes himself up one has to show him his face and clothe the face (of Torah) in stories. There are seventy faces to the Torah and they are an aspect of seventy years (of a person's life). One has to deliberately clothe the faces (of Torah) like a blind man is cured – first they need to close him (in a dark room) and severely limit the light so that it won't hurt him from seeing it suddenly. So also with a person who was in sleep and darkness a long time, when they want to show him his face and arouse him from his sleep, they have to clothe for him the faces in stories so that the sudden light won't hurt him. (See the original text for two more reasons for this.) There are several aspects to this when clothing the faces. Some people cannot be awakened by seeing their own face, so they need to be shown a face spiritually higher than the level of their own face which departed from them when they fell asleep. Some people have fallen from all the seventy faces of the Torah; their fall is so great, Heaven forbid, that it is impossible to awaken them through any of the seventy faces which represent seventy years; only stories from ancient times can awaken them for all the seventy faces receive life-force from these stories; by these stories of ancient times, even someone who has fallen from all the seventy faces, Heaven forbid, can be awoken. Happy is he who merits to come to such a tzaddik who can awaken him from his sleep through wonderful rectifications like these so that he won't waste away his life in sleep, Heaven forbid. By this, barren women are caused to give birth for, previously, when people were in an aspect of sleep, they were deaf; they didn't hear the wise man's (tzaddik's) words of arousal and, as a result, they could not speak even one word to G-d; 'a regular deaf person can neither hear nor speak' (Chaggiga,2). Now that the wise man arouses him and he hears his words, he can then speak out holy words before the Holy One. Because their speech was very limited by them for such a long time while they were deaf and dumb, now, when the words come out it is with great power, in an aspect of "Mighty ones who perform his word" (Psalms, 103:20); this strength enters the limbs that are the vessels of birth, an aspect of "my might and the beginning of my strength" (Gen.49:3). Then one has to see to it that the means of speech be close to the tools of birth, which are the kidneys, in order that they be able to receive the power of speech, meaning that the words be uttered with truth, so as not to be in the aspect of "You are near in their mouth and far from their inner limbs/kidneys" (Jeremiah, 12:2). This leads to barren women giving birth. It turns out that through the true tzaddik, who arouses the world from their sleep by means of stories from ancient times, barren women are caused to give birth. As a result, great fear is drawn into the world and we merit to all the rectifications mentioned previously. j) When a person is engaged in awakening people from their sleep, he has to guard himself from unworthy students in order that their evil won't harm him. However, it is impossible for someone of flesh and blood to guard himself against unworthy students hearing him, therefore he has to teach his students as if he made them his friends and as if he made them words of Torah, as the Sages said (Sanhedrin, 99). Then the Holy One will guard him so that his words will not be written in the memory of the unworthy student, but, rather, be forgotten. k) Those in the generation with trust in G-d are an aspect of the tools of birth, therefore the kidneys, which are the means of birth, are called "b'tuchot" (Psalms, 51:8), for all the births and all the bounty is drawn through trust. So, by hearing and learning holy stories of great tzaddikim, which arouse people from their sleep, by this they begin to speak to the Holy One with great strength and truth until this power reaches the limbs of birth, as above. By this, holy trust becomes stronger, barren women give birth and we merit to all the rectifications mentioned previously. l) There is trust of the Other Side, an aspect of "Trust in an unfaithful man” (Proverbs, 25:19). Through the holy connecting of couples for the sake of giving birth, which is an aspect of trust, an aspect of kidneys, which are the tools of birth, as explained above, an aspect of "The heart of her husband safely trusts in her" (Proverbs, 31:11), through this the trust of the Other Side is broken like broken pottery. This is alluded to by breaking a china plate at the time of the engagement celebration, an aspect of "trust in oppression and perverseness…he shall break it as the breaking of a potter's vessel…there shall not be found in the bursting of it a shred" (Isaiah, 30:12-14). Let us explain it a bit further. The main virtue of trust is to trust in G-d and do good deeds, as it says, "Trust in G-d and do good" (Psalms, 37:3). (Thus the trust of the Other Side is broken like a broken china vessel.) That's to say, one shouldn't become confused in one's learning and service of G-d because of worries and the bother of making a living, rather, one should just engage in Torah and the service of G-d and put trust in the Holy One that He will provide an income all your life. If you are not holding by such trust of removing yourself completely from dealings regarding This World, but, rather, you want to engage in business affairs or a craft as well, then at least fix regular times to learn Torah and pray on time etc. Don't worry and don't get confused because of the worry of making a living; just trust in G-d. Also regarding giving charity, performing deeds of loving-kindness and spending money on performing mitzvot, have trust in G-d that He will replenish you with whatever you lack. Because of this thing, G-d will bless you! And even if you know that your deeds are not as proper as they should be, you shouldn’t fall from your trust because of this, saying 'who am I to put trust in G-d and depend on Him after I have spoilt my deeds so much.' Just have trust in the loving-kindness of G-d which never ceases and Whose mercy remains forever, that He will have mercy on you and provide a livelihood for you also, as it says, "For G-d is good for all." Don't bother yourself with the worries and efforts of making a living because of seeing your own worthlessness, rather, strengthen your trust nevertheless, knowing that your intentions are for the sake of Heaven. All this is holy trust. But, Heaven forbid, should you perform some injustice, or even more so, some theft or deceit, forgery or lie, like trading outside the country which the government doesn't allow, and then put trust in G-d that He will save you and help you to complete the deal without it becoming known. This is trust of the Other Side, an aspect of "trust in the unfaithful man", as mentioned before, an aspect of "trust in oppression and perverseness". Such trust is as broken pottery which has no hope (of repair). Even a person who engages in business way above his means and takes many loans from various people, trusting in G-d that He will help to complete the deal, this is also trust of the Other Side. On the contrary, he has to have strong trust that even if he doesn't engage in such big business deals, even so, the Holy One will provide for him fittingly. The wise person will understand a lot from our words about how to escape from trust of the Other Side which is against the Torah; rather, he should strengthen himself with holy trust even if he is however he is. m) Blowing the Shofar on Rosh Hashana is an aspect of awakening from sleep for thus we arouse the people of the word from their sleep so that they will not spend their lives in sleep, Heaven forbid. By this they speak out words with great strength, thus drawing trust and causing barren women to give birth; great fear is attracted and, by this, people are saved from the craving for sex and from the vanity of beauty and the charm of falsehood. Then one merits to holy longevity, as above. Through this one merits to immense holy wealth which enables a person to contemplate deeply in the Torah. All this one merits to by the blowing of the shofar on Rosh Hashana by true tzaddikim who know how to bring about all these rectifications. ### Prayer for Torah 60 60. O Lord, our God and God of our fathers, may it be Your will to nullify all wars and all the spilling of blood from the world! Bestow a great, wonderful peace upon the world. “Nation will not lift up sword against nation, neither will they learn war any more.” Rather, let them all recognise and know the absolute truth, that we haven’t come to This World for controversy and strife, Heaven forbid, and not for hatred, jealousy, provocation and the spilling of blood, Heaven forbid! We’ve only come to This World in order to acknowledge and know You, may you be blessed forever. So, have mercy upon us and fulfill the verse which says: “I will give peace in the land and you will lie down and no one will make you afraid. I will rid evil beasts out of the land and neither will the sword pass through your land.” In Your compassion, raise all the vapours from the earth for the good so that they turn into rain which brings blessing. Master of the Universe, have compassion on us; bless us with success from our efforts. Grant us an abundant living, with holiness and purity. Anything that we lack, bestow upon us before we come to need it. Guard and protect us always from taking loans for they bother and confuse the mind a great deal. From now on, please help us and save us; enable to pay back any debts we have already. Merciful One, Who bestows sustenance and a living to each person, let us never have to take loans from people. So, merit me to be counted among the worthy students of the true tzaddikim for, in Your bountiful loving kindness, You have merited me to hear and receive much holy and awesome Torah from the mouth of tzaddikim. Have mercy upon all Jews and help us, through the holy Torah, to draw Your godliness to wherever we are. You love the Jewish people therefore You give permission to the true tzaddikim, through their Torah innovations, to draw Godliness into our brains and intellect. We can catch and capture You, so to speak, in our minds which is an aspect of ‘a king imprisoned in chains,’ an aspect of “you rose to the heights and took a captive.” For Your Name’s sake, help and save us, let the tzaddikim finish their work of rectifying us by revealing to us Your Godliness. Merit us to attach our minds to Your holy Torah, day and night, very firmly indeed so that we can draw down and grasp Your Godliness in our brains and minds, with great holiness and purity, with faith, fear, dread and awe. Merit us, by all our Torah innovations, to always draw upon ourselves, and into our brains and intellect, our hearts, two hundred and forty-eight limbs and three hundred and sixty five sinews so that all our body becomes a vehicle for Your Devine Presence. Let me never step outside the realm of holiness even by a hairs breadth. Help me not to have extraneous thoughts, Heaven forbid, rather, let me cleave to You and Your holy Torah to such a degree that I can instill in others knowledge of the truth of Your Godliness. Enable me to instill in their brains, minds and hearts Your Godliness such that their eyes and hearts will open up to really feel the pleasantness of the Torah and the sweetness of Your radiance. Let all the Jewish People come to recognise You very soon. Guard and protect us from teaching students who are not worthy for You know that we are only flesh and blood and don’t know how to take care and avoid this. Have compassion on the honour of Your holy Torah so that it won’t reach students who are not worthy and who shouldn’t receive it. Please have mercy on them and return them in repentance before You in such a way that they can receive the pleasantness of Your holy Torah. Prevent falsehood from having the power to cover over and hide the truth, Heaven forbid. Guard and protect us all the days of our life from the punishment of imprisonment and captivity. Have mercy over the Jewish People, especially over those who have already been captured or imprisoned; hastily, release them calmly, without harm, for You know their distress, pain and sorrow. They need immense mercy so extract from them darkness and death; break their chains and bring them into the light, into freedom. God, You release the imprisoned, so say to the imprisoned, ‘Leave!’ “As for me, may my prayer to You, God, be at an opportune time; O God, in Your abundant kindness, answer me with the truth of Your salvation.” “God will give might to His nation, God will bless His nation with peace.” Amen and Amen. 61. The main perception of time stems from limited understanding. However much greater the intellect is, time becomes lessened accordingly. This is like a dream when the intellect departs leaving just the power of imagination. Then, in a quarter of an hour, all of the seventy years can pass, for it seems in a dream that several long periods pass in a few moments. Afterwards, when he wakes up and his intellect returns to him, then he sees with his intellect that all the times and years that passed in the dream were really only a few moments. Seventy years in reality are seventy years according to the person's intellect. So the truth is that in the sublime intellect which is far above ours, what we considered to have been seventy years in reality is also only a quarter of an hour or less, it's just we don't understand this. This is like in a dream; if someone were to come then and say that these years were only quarter of an hour, we wouldn't believe him. So too there is an intellect that is so sublime that all time is nullified entirely. Therefore Meshiach, who has experienced whatever happened to him since the day of the Creation of the World, and suffered whatever he suffered, after all this, in the end, the Holy One will say to him, "Today I have given birth to you" (Psalms,2:7). All this will be because of the tremendous and immense virtue of the intellect of Meshiach which will grow greatly. Therefore, all the time since the days of the Creation of the World will really be for him absolutely nothing and it will be actually as if he were born today. ## 61 ### Torah 61 - Rebbe Shimon Rejoiced a) Through belief in Torah sages, a person's brain becomes purified and he merits to clear intellect. As a result of this he merits to ascertain and apply true judgements from whatever he learns; true judgements, that's to say, correct behaviour in the service of G-d. He will know how to behave in each thing, whether for himself or for others who conduct themselves according to his opinion. However, when he blemishes his belief in Torah sages, a person is sentenced to weariness of the flesh, that's to say, bodily wastes, as the Sages said, "Someone who mocks the words of the Torah sages is sentenced to boiling excrement, as it says, (Eccl.12:12) 'much study is a weariness of the flesh'" (Eruvin,21). Then the putrid vapours rise to the brain, mixing and confusing his mind such that he can't get any true judgement or true proper behaviour from his learning. On the contrary, he concludes things that are the opposite of the truth, like Do'eg the Edomite who learned a crooked judgement saying that David was not fit to be (considered) part of the community of Israel. This was because his learning was an aspect of bodily wastes. (See the original text for a full explanation.) b) There are leaders who, are called by the name of Rabbi, but their learning is from bodily wastes and refuse. They cannot even guide themselves and even more so others. Nevertheless they take greatness to themselves and chase after leadership in order to guide the world. Each person has to see to it that he doesn't give support to them and not to give them any strength or stature, so that they will not be called rabbis. For they themselves are not so much to blame; they have a big evil urge to guide the world. However, those who give them strength and status and cause them to be designated as rabbis through their support, these people will be held accountable for this in the future. c) By giving status to a rabbi who is not worthy, the power of the written word of the Jews is weakened and this gives power to writing of the hand of the nations. Because of this they decree that there will be no power to our writings, rather, only their writings have power and so Jews will have to learn their writing. As a result of this, they decree that Jews will be exiled from the places where they have already settled to places where no Jews have ever been. This is an aspect of exile from the Land of Israel. By this, our knowledge of the movement of the constellations in the heavens has been taken from us; that's to say, the knowledge of all the changes and future events that occur to us through the constellations. This is the secret of the method of intercalation which is passed over to the nations. For the neshama controls the movement of the constellations (see the original text). Who knows their workings like the leader, but this neshama needs to have a body which is pure and clean. In a place where Jews have settled, the air has been sanctified in the aspect of the air of the Land of Israel (see full text). Then all the fruits and grains that grow there and which sustain man, they are the source of his sperm from which the body is woven. It is all an aspect of "the fruit of the Land" (Isaiah, 4:2). Then it is fitting to receive a great neshama which controls all the motions of the constellations. As a result he will know the movements of the constellations which is the aspect of the secret of the intercalation, as above. But when the Jews are driven out of the aspect of the Land of Israel, then they cannot form holy bodies and cannot receive a great neshama. Therefore, through this, the secret of the method of the intercalation is taken from us. All this occurs because we give authority to rabbis who are not worthy. However, when the Torah sage, who is worthy to be given authority and is ordained as a rabbi, by this we bring a radiance and strength to our writing. Then all the judgements of all their behaviour are all determined by our writings. Then, through Jewish writing, the air becomes sanctified in an aspect of the air of the Land of Israel and, in turn, this rectifies everything, as mentioned. d) Also by blemishing one's faith in Torah sages, a person never has perfect advice; he is always in doubt and his mind is torn between two directions. By this blemish he is sentenced to boiling excrement, as mentioned, and his heart becomes filthy like a toilet which is a place for the advice of women, as Rav Ilish said (Gittin, 45). Then all his ideas are foolish and he doesn't know how to complete any idea in his heart about how to behave with regard to anything. e) Whoever mocks holy books based on our holy Torah, he will also be sentenced to boiling excrement. He will not merit to derive correct behaviour from his learning. His advice will always be split until he returns in perfect repentance; then everything will be rectified. f) For anyone who has already sunk into these bodily wastes, there exists water which purifies from this filth; in the aspect of "I will sprinkle pure water upon you, and you will be pure…from all your idols I will cleanse you" (Ezekiel,36:25).These waters are an aspect of controversy, called (in Aramaic) 'plugta', as alluded to in the verse "peleg Elohim" (a river of G-d), "full of water" (Psalms,65:10). For by the controversy which comes upon a person, he returns in repentance and rectifies any blemish in the faith of Torah scholars. The main reason that a person suffers controversy is because of his lack of faith in Torah scholars. According to the degree of the blemish, so is the amount of controversy that he experiences. Therefore, through the controversy, a person can contemplate how he has blemished his faith in Torah sages and then repent by increasing faith in Torah sages. In so doing, everything mentioned above will be rectified. There are tzaddikim of the generation whose faith is certainly perfect, nevertheless there is controversy on them. This is an aspect of "he bore the sin of the many" (Isaiah, 53:12); they suffer the anguish of controversy because of the blemish in the faith of Torah scholars of the general public. Through the controversy which comes upon them, they rectify the people's lack of faith in Torah scholars. g) When a person is aroused from the controversy that comes to him and repents on any blemish in his faith towards Torah scholars, this leads to the sweetening of any harsh judgement in any place where there is some kind of constriction and severe judgement. There are several holy books now that are according to the holy Torah, both the Written and Oral Torah, and so there will be more books in the future, and the world needs them all; it is forbidden to mock any of them, as mentioned. In the beginning, when he didn't have faith in Torah scholars, all these books were like nothing to him, because he mocked them. But when he returns in repentance, having been aroused by the controversy that came upon him, because of a blemish in his faith towards Torah sages, then these books once again become important in his eyes. This is an aspect of "and my adversary would write a book" (Job, 31:35). By the controversy and argument that he experienced, a book was created. There are tzaddikim of the generation whose faith is certainly perfect, even so, there is controversy on them, because they do not believe in themselves. They don't believe that G-d takes delight from the Torah innovations that they innovate. As a result of this they weaken in their efforts to write their innovations in a book. Someone who merits to create Torah innovations by himself and his intention is for the sake of Heaven, has to have faith also in himself, to believe that the Holy One has great pleasure from his innovations, as mentioned. If he doesn't believe in his own innovations, then this is also a form of blemish in faith towards Torah scholars and then he will also suffer controversy; he will, as a result, repent and his innovations will regain their importance in his eyes, leading him to return to innovate Torah ideas and write them down; from this a book is created. Behold, all the sweetening of harsh decrees is through the intellect, which is called 'kodesh' (holy), as is known. Every harsh judgement and constriction has a particular intelligence which can be sweetened by it. However, there is a Supernal Wisdom in which all the constrictions and harsh judgements are sweetened. The Torah stems from this Supernal Wisdom (as it says in the holy Zohar,Pt.2,62). But the Torah cannot receive from this Supernal Wisdom other than when it has perfection. Perfection of the Torah is by the Oral Torah, therefore, through the new books written when a person suffers controversy, the Torah becomes perfected. Then it can receive from the Supernal Wisdom, which is an an aspect of an all-encompassing intelligence, an aspect of "the Holy of Holies", an aspect of the Foundation Stone, which bestows all the wisdoms and intelligences. Through this, all the harsh judgements are sweetened. g) By means of traveling to true tzaddikim on Rosh Hashana, we sweeten all the harsh decrees in the world. This we need on Rosh Hashana, so we travel specifically for Rosh Hashana. h) In addition, by many Jewish souls coming to the real tzaddik and uniting together, in great love, great joy and immense happiness come about. (Prayer 61) Let us merit to have children, living and enduring for Your service, for fear of You and for the Torah. Help us so that our eating and marital relations be in great holiness until we merit to give birth to very pure, holy bodies that will be fitting to receive very great higher souls, holy souls which will have great perception; such that they will merit to ascertain in This World the secret of intercalation (harmonizing of lunar and solar calendars by inserting a day or month) and to know the secret of the cycle of the heavenly spheres and all the matters and changes brought about by them, as is Your good will. Lord, full of compassion, have mercy upon us, help us and save us, Your Nation, the House of Israel, so that we all merit to have children and raise the holy souls drawn to us at all times by holy honour. May our wives give birth very easily, without any difficulties in childbirth at all. Let us merit to raise our children in contentment and peace without any anguish of parenthood at all. In Your bountiful mercy, grant us fear and love so that we truly fear and love Your Name and by this, bestow upon us power of the Holy Heavenly Hands – Mighty Hand and the Great Hand. By this, may we merit to give birth to and raise the soul in contentment and tranquility without any difficulty in childbirth and without any parental anguish at all. Great in advice and mighty in deed. Your eyes behold all the ways of mankind,” who knows and understands their thoughts and secrets. You save and redeem them from all their thoughts and secrets. You save and redeem from all their oppressors. Have mercy upon me, for Your Name’s sake; help me and save me very speedily so that I can perform Your will. Provide me with good advice; grant me perception, understanding and intellect so that I may merit to know how to give counsel to my soul wit regard to everything in the world. May I merit to always have perfect advice. Let me never be in doubt about anything. Do not split my advice into two so that it is ambiguous. Heaven forbid. Grant me “the spirit of wisdom and understanding; the spirit of advice and might: the spirit of knowledge and fear of G-d.” Have mercy me and save me; let me merit to real belief in the sages, as You desire, so that I believe in all the true sages with really perfect, wholehearted belief. Let me never swerve from their words of advice, whether to the right or to the left. By this, let me merit to the holy judgment, to really judge myself. Bring my judgment out into the light. Grant me merit to always learn Your holy Torah for its won sake, to learn, to teach, to observe, to do and to fulfill with love all the words of Your Torah. Enlighten my eyes in Your Torah. Grant me holy wisdom, understanding and perception in order to gain insight and understanding from all my learning of Your holy books. Let me understand and learn rules from them all, with regard to really good and just behavior. Let me not swerve or turn away from the truth, whether to the right or left. Rather, let me merit to know how to behave with regard to everything by my learning the holy Torah. Take pity and have mercy upon my poor, wretched soul. Save me from foolish advice, from the advice of women, from weak advice, from ambiguous advice. Now I am in doubt all the time and do not know how to give perfect advice to my soul about how to behave with regard to anything. Every time I desire to find a good counsel how to really come closer to You, I do not succeed. Because of this my advice is ambiguous and I have many doubts. Sometimes it comes to my mind to do a certain thing and to behave in a certain way and I even have many arguments and proofs that I must behave like this but, when I have finally decided to do this, when I begin to do it, so other ideas come to mind which contradict the first piece of advice. I get lots of reasons and proofs that I have to do exactly the opposite, such that my advice is split into two and is always hanging in the balance without my knowing how to decide one way or the other. Even if, sometimes the advice clearly points in one direction I do not merit to always have strong firm advice. My advice is very weak. All the time my heart gets doubts and confusions which weaken my advice and continually overturn my mind and heart, making me think that I should not do it like this…. Because of all my many immense sins, iniquities and wilful transgressions, I come to foolish, weak, ambiguous advice. My Father in Heaven, have mercy upon me, my Father in Heaven, I do not know with what words of pleading for mercy or what words of crying or which words of sighing and shouting out to You I must use so that You will answer me and come to my help. In Your bountiful mercy, rectify all this by Yourself, for I have not the strength to rectify this. Even one point of all this is beyond my ability to rectify. I rely only upon You. Full of mercy, help me. You who are full of salvation, full of saving, full of good advice, provide me with good advice from You. Let me merit to perfect advice and let me fulfill it in such a way that I may now escape from all that I need to escape from. Yours is advice and wisdom; Your advice is faithful and Your deed truth. You are righteous and honest, close to those who call Him truthfully. Have mercy upon me for Your sake. Take pity upon my soul, upon all my children and all those dependent upon me. Grant me perfect, true and proper advice and let me merit to carry it out in such a way that I can save my soul from the Pit. Let me merit to always progress in the path of truth without any confusion of the mind at all, so that I may serve You with really perfect worship, all the days of my life, the life of my children and their descendants, from now on, forever. Have mercy upon us and save us. Our Father in Heaven, Master of All, Lord of Peace, King to whom peace belongs, draw upon us blessing, life and peace. Save us from all sorts of controversy and strife. Protect us and remove from us any enemy, plague, sword, hunger or sorrow; remove Satan from before us and from behind us. Please save us from our enemies and persecutors, whether material or spiritual. Save us from all those who oppose us or hate us, from all the slanderers who speak evil against our soul. Save us from all the accusers and close their mouths. May the counsel and thoughts of those who rise against us be thwarted and frustrated. In Your bountiful mercy, guard us and save us so that the controversy will not harm us, either materially or spiritually. Rather, grant us by the controversy to repent perfectly with regard to all our sins, iniquities and willful transgressions, especially any blemish regarding belief in the sages, for I have blemished the honour of the true sages and their holy books. I did not really believe in them completely; I treated their words as something not binding; they were not important in my eyes. Please Lord, in Your bountiful mercy, let me merit to rectify all this so that I have pity on my soul and look at myself well. Let me understand and learn how much I have blemished my belief in the sages by the fact that there is controversy and opposition to me. May I repent perfectly in this respect and rectify all my deeds from now on. Let me merit to fulfill the words of the true sages, without straying to the right or left….. In Your bountiful mercy and Your immense loving-kindness, help and save me. Have pity upon me and save me from sorrow; remove from me all sorts of sadness, worries and melancholy, especially sadness and worries caused by the burden of making a living. In Your great mercy, remove and cancel these feelings from me, for due to my many iniquities, due to the immense feeling of burden, sadness and melancholy which dominated my heart because of my evil desires, the yoke of the burden of making a living has been added to all this, such that the spirit of my heart has become stupefied and the spirit of the pulse in my heart cannot flow smoothly through all my limbs as it should. Because of this my hands and limbs are very weighty and due to this immense burden the spirit of the pulse has become even weaker, so it continues in a vicious cycle until, due to the immense heaviness and weakness and blocking of the heart by great sadness, my soul almost leaves the body, Heaven forbid. Master of the World, You know all this, You know my bitter and impetuous heart. The bitterness of my heart reaches to the heights of the heavens, until “the strength of the bearers of the burdens is decayed”. “Woe is me, my mother, that you gave birth to me”. On these holy days of Rosh HaShana, write us down for a good and long life, for a good, sweet year and that we merit to really fulfill Your desire and always accept the yoke of Your kingdom upon us. Let us merit that our souls be joined together with great love among the souls of the true tzaddikim until we merit by this to great happiness and tremendous joy, as is written: “The light of the righteous rejoices”. Especially on these holy days of Rosh HaShana may we merit to tremendous happiness, as is written: “….eat the fat and drink the sweet; send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared, for this day is holy to our Lord; do not be sorry, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” And it says, “Blessed is the nation that knows the joyful sound (teruah); they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of Your Countenance. In Your Name they shall rejoice all the day; in Your righteousness they shall be exalted.” 62. AND G-D LED a) Through the Jewish people's eating, a unification of the Holy One and the Shechinah, face to face, is brought about. But the eating has to be from food after it has been separated from any hold of the husks which became mixed up in the foods as a result of the eating from the Tree of Knowledge. For, by the food which contains this mixture, a person can come to sin; and by sins, a separation between the Holy One and the Schechinah is caused. b) Clarification of the foods is through faith. When a person has perfect faith he may be able to cause a unification of the Holy One and the Shechinah by his eating, as above. This is an aspect of "graze on faith" (Psalms, 37:3), an aspect of eating with faith. c) The limiting of the human mind by the Holy One, so that it can understand, means that is a great mitzvah to sharpen the intellect to understand each thing completely. About this it says, "Know what to answer the heretic" (Perkei Avot,Ch.2). However, there are philosophical questions of faith that the human mind cannot understand or answer; only in the future the answer will be revealed, so, in the meantime, it is forbidden to delve into them. Anyone who relies on his intellect and delves into and investigates these questions, about him it says, "None will go into there and return" (Proverbs, 2:19). For in a question such as this, one mustn't rely on the intellect; rather one must rely on faith. d) Even regarding those questions that have an answer, sometimes the paths of the intellect are blocked and he cannot answer to the heretic in his heart. This is an aspect of "their heart is divided" (Hoshea, 10:2) meaning there is a conflict in his heart between the two inclinations. For knowledge is from the good urge in his heart, whereas the concealment of knowledge is from the evil urge in the heart; and it is this concealment that is itself the heresy and the difficult questions that the evil urge asks so that a person's heart will fall into evil. The rectification to this is to learn halachic decisions, for the source of this dissent is from the dissent in holiness, that's to say from the disagreements between the Tana'im and Amori'im of the Gemorra. From their dissent the dissent of the evil urge materialized in the world. But by learning halachic decisions, a person becomes connected to holy peace; then the controversy of the evil urge in his heart is nullified and the gates of intellect are opened for him so that he will now how to answer the heresy in his heart. All the time that he doesn't merit to sharpen and open his intellect, he must rely only on faith even regarding these questions, for faith is the main thing. e) Peace-Shalom- is alluded to in the initial letters of 'o'da ma sha'tashiv l'apicoris' – 'Know what to answer the heretic'. By learning halachic decisions, which represent peace (deciding between different opinions), one merits to know how to answer the heresy in one's heart. f) Furthermore, by learning halacha, one merits to pray properly with all one's heart. For the main obstacle to prayer, that one doesn't pray with the proper intentions, is only because a person hasn't got perfect faith and his heart is divided from G-d. The truth is that if a person were to know and believe with all his heart that all the world was full of G-d's glory, and the Holy One stands over him at the time of prayer, hearing and listening and paying attention to every single word of prayer, he would certainly be very careful to concentrate on all his words and he would pray with great enthusiasm. It is only because his heart is divided and isn't strong in this knowledge with all his heart, because of this he isn't so careful and doesn't concentrate well in his heart during prayer. And all this stems from the questions and heresy in his heart, as above; that they are the controversy of the evil urge in the heart. Therefore, by learning halachic decisions, one nullifies the dissent of the evil urge at its source, as above. By this, one merits to pray properly, with all one's heart in truth. This is what it says, "I will give You thanks with uprightness of the heart" (Psalms, 119:7). Specifically in the heart, with the two inclinations; and when is this? "When I learn Your righteous judgements", as explained previously. g) The main perfection and adornment of faith is by bringing those far away from G-d closer to Him. To perfect the faith, that's to say, bringing those far away closer to the Holy One, first one has to raise the sparks of the letters of speech. To rectify this is through a fast, for all the physical cravings are an aspect of husks and bodily wastes; this is because without these cravings the body could still exist. When these cravings overcome a person, this reflects the husks overpowering the holiness. The prime cravings are to eat and drink for and all the other cravings are drawn after them. When they overcome a person, they draw the power of speech into exile, to the narrow straights of the throat and to the back of the neck such that he can't say anything to G-d, like it says, "My throat is dried" (Psalms,69:4). By the fast, that he starves himself from moistening the narrow straights of the throat. He fulfills "Cry aloud, spare not" (Isaiah, 58:1); so that then he is able to speak out to G-d and pray with proper concentration. As a result, the voice then turns itself and gathers holy sparks from among the husks which then remain without life-force. Then the nations, who draw their vitality from the husks, when they see that they have no life-force, throw away their faith and all turn to the Jewish faith. By this, one perfects one's faith and merits to complete faith and thus to clarify the foods. Through one's eating one is able to unite the Holy One and the Shechinah, face to face. h) Faith applies only to things that one doesn't understand their reason. Even though, for the believer, the thing he believes in is apparent as if he actually sees it with his eyes, this is because of the intensity of his perfect faith. i) Faith is renewed for a person every morning, as it says, "They are new every morning" (Lamentations, 3:23). However, during the day, because of the bother of worldly affairs, this faith becomes concealed. j) Because their faith is not perfect, many people stumble into the mistake of making the causes, intermediaries between themselves and G-d. That's to say, they believe in G-d but they believe also in the intermediary means, saying that one needs the cause. They believe, for instance, that the cause of making a living is trading, and say that the cause of the trading is the main thing as if without this, Heaven forbid, the Holy One wouldn't be able to provide a livelihood. Similarly the cause of the cure is the medicine and they make that the main thing, as if, Heaven forbid, without this, the Holy One couldn't cure. This isn't so, for the Holy One is the Cause of all Causes, the First Cause of all First Causes; He needs no intermediary cause. When one uses any one of these intermediary causes, one has to believe solely in the Holy One and not make the means the main thing. k) The main element in each thing is the beginning, for all the beginnings are difficult since one goes from one extreme to another. However, after the beginning, one enters into somewhat of a routine, it becomes less difficult. Therefore, the work and fear of a person each day is according to the beginning; for every day he has to go backwards and take strength from the beginning which was then very difficult for him. This being the case, one has to start every time from anew because perhaps the beginning was not as it should have been, meaning that all one's service of G-d isn't as perfect as it should have been, for everything is according to the beginning. So, one has to strengthen oneself and arouse one's heart to start anew each time with great enthusiasm and a new, increased strength in the service of G-d, as if one had never started before. All this is in order that his service of G-d be proper, according to the strength of the beginning, as mentioned. Every time one has to have this suspicion that maybe one hasn't yet started properly and thus increase one's strength to start anew from now on. l) Every time that one comes to the tzaddik one also has to see to it that one comes anew, not with the feeling that you were already by him and now you are coming a second time; you have to feel that you are now coming for the first time. You must start each time from anew, for the main thing is the beginning, as mentioned. m) Controversy leads to heresies and through this one also cannot pray properly, as explained. However, when there is peace, all the heresies and apostasy in the heart of each person are nullified. For when there is peace and people get together to speak with each other, each one can bring his friend back from his evil opinions extracting the heresies and disbelief from his heart. But, because of controversy, a person does not get together to speak to his friend returning his mind to the truth; even if they speak together one doesn't listen to the words of his fellow. This is because of his desire to be victorious in the argument. It turns out that the main faith depends primarily on peace. Prayer (62) Lord, our G-d and G-d of our Fathers, plant faith in You firmly within our hearts and the hearts of all the People of Israel faith in You. Merit us to have really strong, proper and whole-hearted faith without any doubts or confusion at all. Let our faith be so firm that we have the impression of actually seeing the thing we believe in. May we merit to serve You always, with all our hearts. Help me to drive out all kinds of disbelief from my heart and mind. So also, help me, in Your bountiful compassion, so that I merit to study books of Halacha with great persistence. Help me to learn a great deal of Halacha every day; open my mind and prepare my heart so that I can study with great speed and understand the Halachic decision very clearly. Assist me to clarify and to know how to decide what is the true Halachic decision. By this may I draw peace into all the worlds until it spreads into this world as well. Place peace among all Jews forever and nullify all kinds of controversy from the world. Let peace multiply in the world until each person can talk with his fellow and explain to him the ultimate Truth. Merit us to believe in You and in Your genuine tzaddikim so that we can really serve You with all our heart, with all of our desires. Merit us to know with complete knowledge and with a full heart that all the world is full of Your glory. You, Yourself, in Your glory stand over us when we pray. You hear and listen to every word of prayer. Let us feel Your G-dliness at all times especially at the time of prayer. As a result of this, give us great spiritual arousal so that we pray with tremendous enthusiasm and with immense concentration, reciting each word with great care in order to have the proper intentions. In Your great mercy, give us merit to rectify the spoiling of speech and help us to separate and raise all the sparks of the letters of speech that fell into a great exile among the husks of the Other Side because of our iniquities, because of our having followed the stubbornness of our hearts and having chased after the craving for food and drink. We used to fill ourselves with excessive food, eating and drinking, that which is not necessary for the body’s survival, until by our many iniquities, by the blemish of the craving for food and drink, the three ministers of Pharaoh, which are the three husks, overcame us – the Minister of Drinks, the Minister of Bakers and the Minister of Cooks, which are (symbolic of) the windpipe, gullet and veins. By this, the yoke of the exile of Pharaoh and Egypt, which is the narrow straights of the throat, has overcome us: holy speech is drawn to the nape, to the narrow confines of the throat, until the throat becomes parched and one cannot say anything worthwhile before You. Master of the World! Master of the World! You know the desires of my heart; You know me from the beginning to end. You know my disgrace, shame and reproachfulness; al my oppressors are before You. I know of now way nor of any advice for how to behave with regard to eating with holiness, in a way that I can merit to really be saved from the blemish of the craving for food and drink. Master of the World, my needs are many, regarding everything, and in every single matter concerning worshipping the Lord, until my need for salvation in incredibly great in all matters. Therefore, I have no word to express myself and I cannot speak at all for I do not know where to start to speak and to illucidate myself. The truth is that I know myself that I am culpable from beginning to end. There are several blemishes I have caused by the craving for food and drink because I did not make any effort to drive away that craving from myself, until by this, my speech became very blemished and the parts of my speech fell into a very great exile, so much so that I do not merit to say anything fitting and worthy. I still have not started to really and properly call You at all. “I have become weary in my calling, my throat parched and my eyes have ceased from hoping for my G-d”. Master of all the World, I am immeasurably distressed. I do not know any way, suggestion or scheme at all to rescue my wretched, miserable soul from the Pit, for I have no strength other than in my mouth and this also is precluded from me. “For there is no word in my vocabulary. Yes, Lord, you know it all”, for the parts of my speech have fallen into a very great and heavy exile. Oh, Lord! I am very distressed. Behold I call to You out of distress, from the restriction of the throat, from the depth of the exile. “From the depths I called You, Lord. Lord, hear my voice; let Your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications”, “You heard my voice; do not hide Your ear from the sighing and my cry”. In Your great power and immense loving-kindness, help me so that I merit to truly and completely break the craving for food and drink. May I be content with little, with eating very sparingly only that which is vital for me. May I eat with great holiness and purity without any craving or enjoyment of the body at all. Help us to always engage in studying Your holy Torah and to serve You wholeheartedly. May we feel that our service is new every single day. Let us start anew each time as if we had never started to serve You. This is especially true of someone like me who is of so little worth having never really started to serve You. And even when You enable us to serve You really properly, merit us to always start again from anew each time so that we renew our youth like an eagle with Your Torah and holy service. Let us not fall at all to a feeling old age and a lack of strength. In Your bountiful mercy, let us merit to faith and real, wholehearted trust. Let us cast before You alone all our please for that which we lack and may we always be very strong in our perfect trust in You. Do not let us put our hope in any cause or intermediary factor but, rather, let us know and believe that everything comes about by Your Divine Providence alone; whether it be income, children, health or any other things in This World. With regard to them all, may we not use or put faith in any natural cause at all. Rather, let us know, believe and really put our trust in your ability to arrange our income in a perfect way, without any intermediary cause such as business deals etc. So also, You can send us complete healing without us going to any doctor or using any medicines for You are the Lord, our G-d the First of all causes, the Cause of all causes. Even when according to Your will, we are forced to engage in some cause, some natural means, in order to acquire an income etc., let us merit to believe in You alone and not make the means the primary thing. Heaven forbid. In the merit of true tzaddikim give us strength to nullify, by our prayers, that which has been decreed because of fortune. Let us overturn and change the process of nature by our prayers and supplications, such that everyone will see and really believe that there is no law of nature at all. Rather, everything always takes place according to Your Divine Providence…..Pardon and forgive us and all of Your Nation, Israel, for all the blemishes we have caused to Your holy belief by our putting faith in natural causes. From now on, strengthen our hearts and the hearts of all Your Nation, Israel and all the people of the world, so that we all merit to know and believe that You are the Lord, G-d in the Heavens and upon the Earth. Everything happens only by Your Divine Providence. All the causes are from You alone. Lord, G-d, return the radiance of Your Countenance and let us be saved. May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart find favour before You, G-d, my Rock and Redeemer. Amen and Amen. 63. THE SECRET OF MILA a) The brit (sexual organ) is called in Aramaic, 'ama', an aspect of the measurement of length called 'ama' which consists of six tephachim, an allusion to "Seraphim stood above him; each one had six wings" etc. (Isaiah,6:2). { Editor's note: It seems the meaning is that the brit is called Yisod, which is the sixth Attribute and includes all the other Attributes, as explained in Torah 29. Therefore, when one rectifies the brit, one automatically rectifies all the six Attributes. That is 'ama' of six tephachim. This is because the six tephachim are an aspect of the six days and the six days are an aspect of the six Attributes.} b) The true tzaddikim and leaders have various ways of behaving towards those who come close to them. Sometimes the tzaddik shows himself as very close to the public, whereas sometimes he covers and hides himself from them and distances himself from them very much. Not only does he distance himself from them so that they cannot approach him, but also they have doubts and queries about him such that their minds become crooked and confused from how the tzaddik behaves towards them. All of this is for the benefit of those who come close to him. Consequently, don't let your thoughts get confused about this, for everything is for your good. c) However much more you come close to G-d, you have to know that you are still very far away. If you think and imagine that you are already close to the Holy One and have knowledge of G-d, this is a sign that you know nothing , for if you knew even a little of the Holy One, you would know that you are very far away from Him and don't know anything at all. This is a matter that cannot be spoken about or explained, for the exaltedness of the Creator is beyond measure. d) Sometimes the tzaddik takes suffering upon himself for the sake of the world. That's to say, he doesn't want the bounty or Divine Providence that should have come to him, but rather, takes upon himself suffering. He chooses spiritual bounty and Divine Providence. That (material) bounty that went away from him spreads among the public. e) There is a Serpent which is an aspect of "wise men spreading evil", the researchers of philosophy and atheism. Through their evil words , such as slander, gossip, lies, mocking, flattery, embarrassing words, obscenity, idle talk and other evil speech, especially slander against the tzaddikim and kosher Jews, they create wings for the Serpent so it can fly and harm the world a lot, Heaven forbid. In other words, their evil wisdom and atheism becomes stronger and flies (from one place to another). This is an aspect of the Primaeval Serpent, which by evil speech, as mentioned, damages the world a great deal. However, by holy speech we create wings of holiness. When these holy wings are as they should be the Serpent will not have wings created by evil words, as explained above; then they cannot harm the world so much. {Editor's note: It seems that the meaning of the six wings mentioned in paragraph a) is that it refers to the six Attributes that are included in the brit. Through holy words, we make and rectify all of the holy Attributes. Also, the contrary, through evil words we strengthen the bad Attributes of the evil wise men. We give them strength to harm the world with their evil wisdom, Heaven forbid. May G-d protect us from them and may we always merit to holy words.} Prayer (63) Guardian of the brit and of loving kindness, have mercy on me for Your Name’s sake. Merit me from now on to guard the holy brit such that I will not blemish the brit at all. May I sanctify myself with the utmost holiness in what is permissible. Let me rectify in my lifetime all the innumerous and immense blemishes that I caused to the holiness of the brit during my lifetime. No one needs Your compassion more than someone who causes blemishes against You specially with regard to spoiling the brit. Master of the World have mercy upon me and upon all those who are far away from You who need great compassion. Do it for Your names sake and for the sake of the true tzaddikim who guard the brit. Merit us from now on to complete repentance so that we will not return to our folly. May the tzaddikim rectify everything we have blemished in the holy brit. For we have no power to rectify even one blemish. We rely solely upon the merit of the tzaddikim and upon their great power. Merit us in Your bountiful compassion to come close to true tzaddikim who guard the brit with the utmost perfection. Have mercy on us and make them known to us. Merit us to know to which of the tzaddikim to come close so as to receive from them real holiness and purity. Then merit us to complete repentance and to turn away from all the evil. Let us only do that which finds favour in Your eyes. Please G-d, do it for Your Name’s sake. Do not allow our sins to make us become distant from the tzaddikim. Rather let us be strong with perfect faith always. Help us to believe that all their ways are very straight and proper. They are truly righteous in all their ways and in every movement. It is just that we cannot ascertain their awesome and sublime level. Merit us that the tzaddikim will have mercy upon us bringing us closer each time. May they lower themselves to us, while clothing and covering their great light, in such a way that we can merit to see their wonderful light revealed. Let them bring themselves close to the public so as to have mercy upon us with great love and compassion and may their thoughts always be to bring us close and not to drive us away, heaven forbid. By this may we always be able to cleave to them forever. Therefore merit us not to struggle against the suffering we have to undergo as is Your will. Let us draw upon ourselves the Light of Your Countenance, drawing good bounty into the world at all times. May the true tzaddikim protect us for they suffered greatly for the sake of the Jewish people. Have mercy upon them and grant them all forms of good. Save them and their offspring especially from all kinds of anguish and suffering, from all kinds of worries and fears. Cure them from all kinds of illness. So have mercy upon us and save us. Merit us to guard our mouths and tongues from all kinds of evil words. Let me never say a falsehood, slander, gossip, mockery, flattery, idle chatter or obscenities nor anything that would cause another Jew to be ashamed. Master of the World, Who is full of compassion, have mercy upon us; guard us and save us from all these kinds of blemished speech. My G-d guard my tongue from evil and my lips from speaking deceitfully. By this subdue, break, crumble, uproot and nullify all forms of evil wisdoms of the philosophers and deniers of faith for their evil wisdom damages the world, very much. Their words are like a serpent. Save us from all their evil wisdom so that it does not reach us. Hide us in the shadow of Your wings. Do not let their atheism and philosophical investigating fly into our mind and heart. Weaken their evil wisdom in all of its aspects and reveal to the world the true wisdom of the genuine sages. Turn all the nations to a clear language to call out to G-d and to serve Him with one accord. 64. COME TO PHAROAH a) It is a severe prohibition to delve into philosophical books for there are several difficult questions that stem from the Vacant Space (see inside) to which no answer at all can be found; only in the Time to Come will the answer be revealed, because only then the secret of the constriction of the Vacant Space will become known. This in itself will be the reward of the tzaddikim who will ascertain and understand what had previously been impossible to understand in This World. However, in This World, it is impossible to find an answer to these questions through any human intellect and whoever delves into these philosophies, stemming from the Vacant Space, will sink and become lost there. About these people it says, "None shall go into there and return" (Proverbs,2:19); it is impossible to find the Holy One there and to answer these questions and the perplexities within them with any kind of intelligence. Only the People of Israel, through their faith, pass over all these philosophies and all the perplexities in the world. This is because they have faith in G-d and in His holy Torah without any investigation or philosophy; only with pure faith. Because this, the Jews are called 'Ivrim' – Hebrews, for, by their faith they pass over ('ovrim') and transcend all kinds of investigations and philosophies. They don't need to investigate at all for they know the absolute truth as a result of their perfect faith that they believe in the truth according to what we received from our fathers and our holy rabbis. By this they pass over and transcend all the philosophies, all of them. b) Know, there are great tzaddikim who are obliged to delve into these philosophies. This is even though they also cannot reveal the godliness that is in the Vacant Space, nor answer all the questions and perplexities that stem from this Vacant Space, for all this is impossible until the Time to Come, as explained. Even so, through their delving into these philosophies, they raise and extract from there several souls who have fallen and sunk there. This is because by the great holiness of the tzaddik, when he studies these philosophies, he subdues the power of perplexities and investigations that come from these philosophies. Since everything craves for its source, so when the tzaddikim deal with these philosophies, all of the souls who fell into them begin to desire and become enthused to cleave to the neshama of the tzaddik who removes them from there. c) Through the song of the true, great tzaddik he raises the souls of those who fell into atheism, as above, which has no answer. { Editor's addition: That is what the Sages said that David raised the yoke of repentance… by tunes and songs of King David, he returned all the Jewish souls in repentance even those who fell into the perplexities of the Vacant Space. Therefore, the Rebbe said that saying Psalms has the special power of bringing a person to repentance.} d) The existence of controversy between the true tzaddikim is drawn from the aspect of the Vacant Space (see inside). It is impossible to understand this through human intelligence, therefore it is forbidden to think about this controversy. Rather, one has to believe that these and these are the words of the Living G-d; but we cannot possibly understand this. We have to strengthen ourselves in faith alone. Prayer (64) Master of the World, who performs great wonders beyond understanding and wonders beyond number. Master of the Universe You fill all the worlds and surround all worlds. You are above all worlds, below all worlds and between all worlds. There is no place void of You. Through Your good will bountiful mercy You created the world from before time in order to reveal Your compassion in the world. You consctricted Your G-dliness, so to speak. You removed Your great, infinite Light to the sides thus creating a void space. Within this space You created all the worlds from beginning to end all in order that acknowledge Your existence in the world. Guard us and save us from all kinds of disbelief and atheism. Let no query or doubt from the investigations of the philosophers come into my heart to confuse me. These doubts and queries stem from the void and have no answers. Out of Your bountiful compassion, send us true tzaddikim of very great stature, who are an aspect of Moshe our teacher. Give them strength to enter these philosophical ideas stemming from the vacant space such that they can break, nullify and uproot them completely. May they extract all the Jewish souls that have fallen into these enquiries in the vacant space and let the great tzaddik have the power to arouse and reveal the sublime tune and song, the chosen song of all songs of the world, for by this song he can extract all the souls that have fallen into the queries and confusions stemming from the vacant space. He alone knows the extent of the mercy they need. 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. 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. May I merit to be included within the soul of Moses, may he rest in peace, for he is the aspect of remaining silent. Let me merit to accustom myself to remaining silent and thereby to fulfill what the Sages, of blessed memory, said: “A fence around wisdom is silence”. They also said: “I found nothing better for the body than silence”. “May I also be ‘silent’ (utterly calm) in my mind whenever I need to be silent verbally. Whenever thoughts and confusions come to my mind, especially confusions regarding faith, may I be dumb and remain silent. Let me be like a deaf man who does not hear like a dumb person who does not open his mouth. Do not let me turn my mind and incline my thoughts to answer anything in my mind with regard to all the mistakes and confusions, crookedness and perplexities that come into the mind and heart. Rather, grant me merit me to be mute and keep quiet completely, in my mind also and may I rise and be included in the Supreme Silence Above, which is the source of holy belief. By this, may my belief, my mind and my heart be strengthened to perfection with great strength and holy boldness. As a result, nullify automatically all the perplexities, confusions and doubts in the world. Distance from me all sorts of strange thoughts and improper contemplations in the world, just by the holy trait of keeping silent; whether they be thoughts of disbelief or of adultery and other cravings; whether they be improper thoughts at the time of prayer or when learning Torah or any other evil, improper thoughts or confusions or crookedness in the heart which prevent a person from real holiness. May they all become distanced and nullified from me completely, in utter nullification, just by true silence. You know our weakness at this time and that we have no council or strategy against them, we cannot give any answer to these many confusions, whether small or big, that stand against us and surround us at every moment, all the time. Really we just depend on You and upon the strength and merit of the true tzaddikim who are the aspect of keeping silent. Let us merit to be enjoined in them and to truly follow in their footsteps. Let us draw upon ourselves the radiance of their holy silence. Our eyes are set towards You alone. Let us hope and long for Your mercy which is hidden away for Your creatures…. I spread out my hands in prayer all day. “I will lift up my eyes to the hills; from where will my help come? My help comes from the Lord who mad heaven and earth”. Fulfill in us the verse which says: “And Moses said to the people, ‘Fear not, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord which He will show you today: for the Egyptians who you have seen today you will never ever see again. The Lord will fight for you and you will keep silent”. Do not forsake me Lord, my G-d; do not be far from me. Make haste to help Lord, my salvation”. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart find favour before You, my Rock and my Redeemer. Amen and Amen. 65. BOAZ SAID TO RUTH a) There is a Supernal Field where all the neshamot grow and these neshamot need a Master of the Field who will involve himself in their rectification. Anyone who wants to have mercy on his soul, so that it won't be without clothes, wandering around outside the field, has to ask and plead a lot from the Holy One all the days of his life to come close to this tzaddik who is the Master of the Field; he looks over each individual in order to bring him to his ultimate purpose which is all one and all good, as explained in paragraphs b and c, for it is impossible to reach this good, eternal ultimate purpose other than through this tzaddik who is the aspect of the Master of the Field. b) The main perfection of prayer is when one merits to come to the ultimate purpose to make one from all the prayer. For when a person is about to pray and begins to say the first word, such as 'baruch', as soon as the first letter leaves the mouth, for example, 'b' from 'baruch', then the letter asks and pleads from the nefesh of the person praying not to become separated from it. It doesn’t let the nefesh go on and speak more; it hugs and caresses the nefesh and asks her not to depart from it. This is even more so when one finishes a word, for then the whole word hugs and holds onto the nefesh and doesn't let her go away to speak other words of prayer. For when a person is about to pray and say words of prayer, he gathers up beautiful blossoms, flowers and roses. This is like a person who goes in the field and gathers beautiful roses and flowers, one by one, until he makes one garland , then, afterwards, he picks another flower and another, collecting them into another garland, joining them together; so he goes and picks and gathers several beautiful, pleasant garlands. Similarly, when he goes in prayer from one letter to another until several letters are joined together, thus he forms a word of speech. Afterwards, he goes on and joins several more letters which form a second word, and so on. After this the two words join together and he goes on and collects more letters until he finishes one blessing. Following this he gathers more and more, progressing from the Avot to Gevorot and from Gevorot to Kedushot and so on. Who can describe the immense beauty of the gathering and garlands that a person picks and gathers in the words of prayer. When a word leaves the mouth it leaves from the nefesh and comes to be heard in the ears; then the word asks from the nefesh not to let her go further; it hugs and caresses her in order that she won't leave it, as mentioned. "For how can you leave me? Do you not see the virtue of my beauty, the radiance and splendour of my beauty, for am I not the word 'baruch'? Please listen to what you say and let your ears hear what you speak out. How can you go on to gather more very desirable, precious charms? How can you leave me and forget me?" At least, in every place where you go, see to it not to forget me and not to depart from me. Therefore, the main perfection of prayer is when one merits to make one from all the prayer such that when one says the last word of the prayers one should still be thinking of the first word of the prayer. Like this, one never departs from the first letter of prayer even at the end of the prayers; then the prayer is perfect. However, to merit to this is impossible other than through the great and true tzaddik who is the aspect of the Master of the Supernal Field, who can bring each individual to his true ultimate purpose which is all good, all one. By this, he will merit to make one from all the prayer and this is the main perfection of prayer, as mentioned. c) When a person merits, through the Master of the Field, to look at the ultimate purpose, then he has no anguish or suffering from anything in the world. The truth is that there is nothing bad in the world, rather, everything is entirely good. The main feeling of distress when a person has suffering, Heaven forbid, is only because his understanding is taken from him such that he becomes unable to perceive the ultimate purpose which is entirely good. If he were to merit to look at the ultimate purpose, he would have no feeling of distress at all from this suffering, for the intention of the Holy One is certainly for the good; or it comes to remind him to repent or it comes to cleanse him of his iniquities, thus enabling him to merit to the Eternal Life. Therefore, the suffering is a great favour; it would be fitting for him to be full of joy at the great favour that G-d performed for him through this suffering, if he merited to perceive the ultimate good purpose in it. d) A person has to train himself each time in the aspect of nullification, to look at the real ultimate purpose which is good and eternal. This is impossible other than by closing the eyes from any glimpse of This World, not to look at all at the physical cravings and vanities of This World. This is because it is impossible to perceive and become included in the ultimate purpose other than by closing the eyes, by blocking one's eyes completely from glancing at This World, even if one has to press the eyes closed with the fingers; then one will have no suffering or feeling of distress from anything. However, it is impossible to be in this state of nullification permanently for then one would go beyond the definition of a human being. So, this nullification must be in the aspect of 'running and returning' for then the impression of the nullification radiates to the understanding a light of sweetness and pleasantness, a sparkling of godliness which one person cannot possibly describe at all to his fellow. By this, great joy is drawn upon a person and this leads to a flow of Torah innovations which enable him to rejuvenate himself in times of suffering and during difficult events which he experiences, Heaven forbid. Then he will merit to taste and feel, even while in This World, something like the World to Come. e) In truth, at the time of nullification to the ultimate purpose which is all good, all the suffering is cancelled, as explained previously. However, it is impossible to maintain this nullification permanently; the nullification must be in the aspect of 'running and returning', as mentioned. When the intellect comes back from this nullification, returning to the brain, it is beyond the brain's ability to receive this intelligence which is an aspect of nullification, for it is an aspect of the Ein Sof, the Infinite. This inability is the reason why the brain feels the distress of the suffering. The suffering even becomes much stronger than previously; it is like two people, who are fighting with each other. When one sees that his adversary is overcoming him, he then makes a bigger effort to resist and subdue that adversary. But afterwards, the suffering becomes weaker and he takes consolation in it through the Torah innovations he merited to as a result of the suffering. This is because, through the nullification to the ultimate purpose, he ascertained that all the experiences of suffering are great favours. This leads a person to be full of joy which, in turn, is a vessel for the Torah innovations (see inside). Then, through them, the suffering becomes cooled. This is an aspect of "Blessed is the man whom You chastise, o Lord, and teach him from Your Torah" (Psalms, 94:12) for, by means of the suffering, he merits to innovations in Torah. (Editor's note: This verse ends "to quiet him down during the bad days". This is because through Torah innovations the suffering is lightened.) f) The sign that you have achieved something through the suffering, and accepted them properly, is that you merit afterwards to Torah innovations. This is a sign that you merited to nullify yourself to the ultimate purpose through the suffering and, even though you must return yourself from the nullification, even so, from the impression that remains from this nullification you become full of joy and merit to Torah innovations. Prayer (65) Unique One, who was, is and will be, in Your plentiful compassion, grant me the merit to really be included in Your Oneness, Please, You who are full of mercy, help me and save me so that I can gather together all my strength and might in order to close my eyes and seal them against looking at This World at all. Let me shut my eyes very tightly so as not to look at all at the vanities of This World and its desires! May I be in This World just like a blind person, not seeing, looking or gazing at This World at all. Rather let me merit to direct my eyes, my understanding and my intelligence to always perceive the true purpose of life, the eternal purpose, such that I merit to really know and understand Your true goodness. Let me be worthy of really understanding that there is no evil in the World at all, for everything is goodness and loving-kindness. You do great good for everyone all the time, at every moment. Your intention is always for the good, for You desire to make us worthy and to bring us to the true purpose in life, the eternal life. Let me merit to always be happy. Please, Awesome and Holy One, save me from the time of trouble. Be with me at all times. Help and save me any time when, according to Your good judgments and ways of justice, You send me suffering, Heaven forbid. Give me strength and intelligence to look at its true purpose, to look at the ultimately good purpose of the suffering. Help me to really be included within You at the time of suffering. Let me nullify myself completely and seal my eyes completely from looking at This World. With immense willpower, may I close my eyes and seal them against the cravings and vanities of This World such that I merit to behold that which is distant, to perceive the good and eternal benefit which I will be worthy of by my suffering; thereby may I nullify completely all my suffering. Please G-d, whose goodness never ceases, let me merit from now on to Your true goodness. Provide for us from Your eternal goodness. Help me and grant me to be really and completely included in the Unique One, with proper, total self-nullification, as is Your good desire. Let me understand that everything is good and that there is no evil in the world at all; all the troubles and suffering that exist in the world are all great favours! By this understanding, may I nullify all the troubles and suffering in the world. Let me be worthy of accepting, with great love and happiness, the suffering which has come to me. Let me negate all the suffering by really nullifying myself to the good purpose which lies behind it. Then, afterwards, when we return from that state of self-nullification, do not let the suffering have the power to overcome us, Heaven forbid. Rather, help me merit then to negate the suffering by perception of the Torah. Through happiness, let us merit to ascertain and receive the light of the holy impression left in our minds from our perception of and negation to the ultimate purpose, which is all good, all one. Then, let this impression shine into the vessels of the brain an ability to ascertain the secrets of the Torah. So have mercy upon us and save us so that we merit to pray with perfection. Enable us to unite with all the prayer such that all our prayers, supplications and requests become merged together in the ultimate unity in a way that will give us strength every day to arrange as many songs, praises and prayers before You with the utmost perfection as You desire. Please,You who desire the prayers of the Jewish People, You know the immense beauty and splendour of the holiness of the words of prayer, every single letter of the words of prayer, that we merit to recite before You. Who can describe the splendour of the words that we collect and gather together like wonderful and awesome flowers and plants collected from the holy and supernal fields. If we understood the immense, holy value of each word of prayer we would not be able to separate ourselves from the first word and go on to further words of prayer. The connection between the words of prayer and the soul is so immensely strong that the word does not want the soul to go on further to other words.. I have come before You, Compassionate One, Master of all deeds and of all souls to ask that You have great mercy over Jewish souls, especially over my poor soul. Give us a true Master of the Field who can work to rectify our souls, spirits and neshamot. May he have the strength to rectify the souls of the living and of the dead bringing into the holy field all those souls who are outside. Let him involve himself in their rectification and needs, planting, watering and growing them so that they give much fruit while distancing one plant (soul) from another so that it will not damage or weaken its fellow. Guard and protect this master of the field so that he can rectify us and all the field. And may this master of the field in Your immense loving kindness watch and look at each and every Jewish soul who is far from the ultimate goal and bring him closer to the true, ultimate goal so that each one will merit to shut his eyes and mind from even glancing at this world in any way. Then he will be able to always merge, through the ultimate self nullification, in the aspect of running and returning within the true eternal goal which is all oneness and goodness. You, who are good to all, help us to nullify all our materiality completely and merge into your Unity which is always entirely good. Then may our prayers be perfect, holding onto your Oneness from beginning to end. Fulfill in us the verse which says: “And then G-d will be King over all world.On that day G-d will be One and His Name will be One. 66. LET THERE BE A DOUBLE PORTION OF YOUR SPIRIT UPON ME a) It is a very great thing to be present at the passing away of the tzaddik, even if one is not his student, for at that time a great radiance is revealed. This is a great benefit to anyone present and through this they merit to longevity. However, the students who are then present receive the most powerful radiance. They can then merit to receive a double portion of the soul of their rebbe, providing that they are attached to him firmly, like branches of a tree, such that they themselves feel all their rebbe's ascents and descents, even when they are away from him. Then it could be that when the student rays with concentration, he will be able to bring from potential to actuality, deeds and acts of righteousness greater than his rebbe. But, in truth, it is all in the strength of his rebbe. b) The students are from the same source as their rebbe, the tzaddik. They are dependent on him like branches of a tree, since the tree draws life-force from its source and the branches draw their life-force through the tree. In this there are several aspects. Some students are an aspect of the branches while others are an aspect of leaves, and so on. Therefore they can receive a double portion at the time of the passing away, as mentioned (see inside). c) There are several aspects to the passing away, for there is also an aspect of the passing away of the name, that he passes away (sacrifices) his name and fame; this is also an aspect of a passing away of the soul, for the soul is the nefesh, an aspect of "a living soul is its name" (Gen.2: 19). In sacrificing his name there is an aspect of real self-sacrifice (see Torah 260). There is also a passing away from one spiritual level to another. According to the aspect of the passing away, so the students, who are present at the time, can receive some kind of aspect of this category of a double portion. And at the time of completely passing away, then the receiving of a double portion is at a greater and more sublime level. Therefore, the student has to try to see the face of his rebbe on each opportunity, for maybe now is the time of some aspect of his passing away. When the student accustoms himself to this, he can merit to an aspect of a double portion in the spirit of his teacher. d) The main essence of all the mitzvot and sins, is when we bring them from potential into actuality, for the main perfection of a mitzvah is only when we merit to actually perform it. When we merit to bring it into actuality, this is an aspect of the creation of the world, literally, for we sustain the entire world. Likewise, the opposite is also true regarding a sin, Heaven forbid. In the beginning, when a person thinks about committing a sin, Heaven forbid, it is potentiality; afterwards, when he brings it into actuality by performing it, then he is completely wicked. He is considered to be dead for he kills himself and kills a whole world, Heaven forbid. The entire world was only created by this aspect, so that the creation came out from potential to actuality through the Holy One. Consequently, in each sin, Heaven forbid, a person blemishes the generality of all the worlds and the generality of all the Holy Names, Heaven save us, Heaven preserve us. There is no hope other than by repentance, because, through regretting the sin and discarding it, everything mentioned above is rectified. He returns and brings the rectification of all the worlds from potential to actuality. e) To bring out from potential to actuality is by means of the perfection of the power of speech, for whatever a person does, first has to come into speech, for all things have to pass through the aspect of thought, speech and action. All a person's thoughts that will become actualized in to deed need to come into speech at the time of thought; even though a person doesn't feel this, even so, it exists at a very delicate level, as it says in the holy Zohar. Through the power of speech one can then complete the action as it can go from potential to actuality. So one has to perfect one's speech in order to bring things from potential to actuality. f) Perfection of the power of speech is achieved by the aspect of the World to Come, for now the power of speech is deficient and imperfect because not everybody in the world uses it to call to the Holy One. However, in the future everyone will call out to G-d with speech, as it says, "Then I will turn upon the peoples a pure language that they may all call upon the Name of G-d" (Zephania, 3:9). Specifically, a pure language, for since everyone will call to the Holy One with their voice and, because of this, the power of speech will be perfect. All this will be in the future through the great revelation of the truth that there will be then. By this, everyone will see the greatness and splendour of the tzaddikim and kosher Jews. So also, the opposite, in the downfall of the wicked. For the main greatness of the tzaddikim and kosher Jews, who are attached to them, will be revealed only in the future, on the great and awesome Day of Judgement; then everyone will see their greatness and splendour. "How great is Your goodness that is stored away for the tzaddikim." Similarly, everyone will see then the downfall of the wicked, for then there will be a great Day of Judgement when Man will be judged on every action and on every single detail – nothing will be overlooked, even the smallest thing, for there is no forgetting in G-d's eyes; then a person will be reminded of everything. At that time everyone will see the difference between a tzaddik and a wicked person, between someone who merited to come close to and attach himself to true tzaddikim and those who opposed them. Through the immensity of this truth that will be revealed, everyone will return in repentance to the Holy One and they will all call out with the Name of G-d. By this, the power of speech will become perfect. g) But one has to draw this aspect of the World to Come into This World also. That's to say, that there should be a downfall to the wicked also in This World. This is achieved through truth, as explained. For the primary downfall of the wicked in the World to Come will be through the truth that will be revealed then (see inside). Therefore, when a person merits to pray truthfully, for the sake of the Holy One alone, without any ulterior motive for the sake of other people, by this he merits to draw an aspect of the World to Come into This World. That's to say, there will be a downfall of the wicked also in This World such that everyone will have to return to G-d. Through this, one draws into This World the perfection of the holy power of speech. Then one merits to bring out from potential into actuality all the things in the realm of holiness that one desires to do. h) Someone who feels dependent on other people for his livelihood or even has his own source of income but he has a craving for honour and esteem, is also considered as being dependent on others since he needs their respect and admiration. Because of this, he can fall into great falsehood in his prayer, meaning that he may make false body movements (such as swaying or clapping) for the sake of other people,( to make an impression on them), since he needs them for his livelihood or honour etc. Even a person who is bit more kosher, not being a complete hypocrite or liar, nevertheless, when he is dependent on people in some aspect, it is very hard for him to pray with complete truth. This is because even if he is ashamed to pray in really complete falsehood and wants to pray truthfully but sometimes he is over-sincere, that's to say, he deceives himself and makes some sort of movement or claps his hands etc. for some ulterior motive (to impress someone he depends on) for a livelihood or for honour etc. He fools himself and invents reasons in his mind why he really needs to make this movement in his prayer; he covers the lie with an appearance of truth. However, the Searcher of Hearts knows that this is not the truth. There is only one truth, to pray for the sake of the Holy One alone, without any ulterior motive. Therefore, anyone who is dependent on others in any way will find it very hard to pray in public. This is because among people, ulterior and false motives become covered with a veil of truth, as explained. Therefore, a person has to take care, at the time of praying and serving G-d that at least then he shouldn't feel dependent on people. Rather, he should truthfully put all his hopes and trust in G-d and not think at all about any other person or being. Then he can stand among thousands of people and pray sincerely, for the sake of G-d alone. This is "I will praise G-d with my life" (Psalms, 146:2). That's to say, this is when I live my own life and I am not dependent on others, for he who depends on others, his life is not called life, for his life is not his, since he lives as he does from others. But when I don't need anybody, and my life is my own, then I will be able to praise and pray sincerely before G-d. i) Through the yearning and longing to bring a mitzvah, or other things in the realm of holiness, from the potential to actuality, one draws vowel points to the letters one speaks. This enables a person to speak out his words perfectly from the narrow confines of the throat such that he calls and cries out a lot to the Holy One with the voice until he manages to bring the holy desire from potential to actuality. This is an aspect of (Song of Songs, 1:11) "points of silver" which alludes to the vowel points being made from 'silver'('kesef'), meaning 'yearning'. By means of the yearning and desire, one creates vowels to the letters of the words, to speak them out perfectly. Then one will merit to actualize the holy desire. j) All the obstacles that a person experiences are all for the sake of desire, in order that he have more desire for the holy action; this is how it is with people, the more that one prevents a person from something, the more he desires to do it. Therefore, when a Jew has to do something that is crucial to his Judaism, especially if he has to do something upon which all his Judaism is dependent , such as travelling to a true tzaddik, then he is given a desire from Above. The desire he is given is through the obstacle that is prepared for him, for by means of the obstacle, so his desire increases, as mentioned. Consequently, a person has to know that there is no obstacle in the world that he cannot break if he wants, for the obstacle is only for the sake of the desire. Once he will have a strong desire and very great longing, as is fitting for this holy thing that he should be doing; then he will certainly merit to complete it, and bring it from potential to actuality, for the obstacles are only in order to increase the desire, in order that through this desire specifically a person can merit to complete the action, as mentioned previously. k) Know, that however much greater the thing is that he desires, so, from Heaven, they arrange for him much greater obstacles in order that he increase his desire, for the desire is according to the obstacle. Therefore, it is fitting for a Jew to understand that when he has very very big obstacles that arise and spread out before him in every direction preventing him from coming close to the tzaddik, from this itself he should know and learn the great value of that which he desires to do. Because of this, the obstacles are so great. For against all things in the realm of holiness there are numerous obstacles, especially when he wants to travel to true tzaddikim, an act upon which all his Judaism depends, then the obstacles certainly grow strongest. However, there is an aspect of a point of truth between the tzaddikim when one wants to come close to them, upon which everything depends, then the obstacles spread out a lot and lie before a person in all directions. This in itself shows how important the thing desired is. So, one has to strengthen oneself until one has a very strong desire and yearning in accordance to the thing desired. In so doing he will merit to break the obstacles and attain his desire. This is the rule – there is no obstacle in the world that a person cannot break; it's only that he needs a very strong desire and yearning which corresponds to the thing he desires, as mentioned. l) Although it's not fitting for a person to excuse himself and find an excuse by saying that since he desires and yearns to perform something holy, but because there are obstacles and he is prevented by force of circumstance, therefore it is considered as if he had done it, as the Sages said," A person who thought to perform a mitzvah but was prevented and didn't do it, he is considered to have done it" (B'rachot,6). All of this is said only about someone who really wants to fulfill his obligation, then he is considered to have fulfilled his duty, for what could he do, for, after all he was prevented by force of circumstance. But someone who doesn't want to only fulfill his obligation with this mitzvah but, rather, he wants the mitzvah or good deed itself, if so what will it benefit him that, through the leniency, he is considered to have done it. This "as if" doesn't appease him. He desires, craves and yearns a great deal to perform the mitzvah itself and is not satisfied to be freed of it with an "as if". For really it is appropriate for a Jew to complete his desire with regard to anything in the realm of holiness, bringing it out from potential to actuality in perfection. Whoever has such a strong desire will certainly merit to fulfill his desire and to bring it from potential to actuality while at the same time breaking and nullifying all the obstacles and forces of circumstance. For all the obstacles come only in order to increase a person's desire, as explained. When he will have a strong desire, corresponding to the virtue of what he desires to do, then he will surely merit to complete anything in the world that he desires to do in the realm of holiness. m) Anger damages a person's livelihood (see Torah 68). By anger he becomes very distant from the truth, for when his income is pressing he feels dependent on others. Because of this he cannot pray sincerely, as mentioned previously. As a result, he is not able to complete his desire, to bring from potential to actuality all the mitzvot and holy deeds he needs to perform. n) When one overcomes and breaks the anger, the spirit of Meshiach is made and drawn into the world; the whole world is considered to have been brought into existence and created by such a person. Then he merits to a livelihood and to pray sincerely, for the sake of G- d alone, without ulterior motives such as for the sake of the respect of other people, Heaven forbid; and he merits to bring all the mitzvot and holy deeds he needs to perform, from potential to actuality. o) Shabbat is an aspect of truth. By this, the downfall of the wicked is drawn down and the greatness of the tzaddikim and kosher Jews is revealed. Through this, the holy power of speech is perfected and through this prayer is brought to perfection. (Prayer 66) Lord, G-d of the spirits who rules in the world Above and Below, in whose hand are all the souls of the living and dead, have mercy upon me in Your bountiful compassion and merit me to a good, a spirit of holy life. Draw upon a spirit of true holy life from the true tzaddikim who are our life and the length of our days. Merit me to come close to them and stand before them to serve them and provide for their needs. Let me be really attached to them with utter perfection like a branch to a tree. And when the time comes for them to pass away may we merit to hear them so that we receive twice as much.. Have mercy upon me and grant me truth in the ulitmate perfection. Grant me all my income from Your full and generous hand. Guard me and save me so that I do ot come to need the assistance of others for anthing in the world, nor need their livelihood. May I have no craving at all for any honour, pride, glory, importance or appointment of authority. Rather, let all my trust, expectation and hope be in You alone; in You I will always trust and support myself, for You will never desert me. Provide for me all the needs of my livelihood and all that I lack, even before I need them, in a generous way fro Your holy hand. Don’t bring me to the need for handouts from people or for their loans. Have compassion on a poor and needy wretch such as myself, who is far from an income. Help me, speedily and soon, to remove and pay back all the loans and debts that I have owed until now. My Father, Merciful and Righteous, Shepherd of Israel, “who gives food to all flesh since His love endures forever.” Open Your hand to a poor needy wretch such as me; fill all that I lack materially and spiritually. Help me to remove very soon all the debts that I already owe. From now on, save me from debts and loans! Have compassion upon me for Your Name’s sake and in mercy, fill all my wishes for the good and provide me with my livelihood from You, not a forbidden one; in contentment, not in anguish; in such a way that I merit to truly do Your will. You who are full of compassion, let me merit even now to the attribute of perfect truth. Let us merit to absolute truth as You desire and reveal the truth in This World, such that the wicked will have a downfall even in This World…. Help us to draw perfection of speech from theWorld to Come into This World… You know the immensity of the many obstacles that we have that we have to all the holy things we have to do. There is nothing connected with holiness that is without many obstacles, that we have to all the holy things we have to do. There is nothing connected with holiness that is without many obstacles, especially when we have to do a major thing upon which all our Judaism depends, such as coming close to true tzaddikim. Even more so is this the case when we want to come close to the point of truth which is between the tzaddikim. Then all the obstacles and delays become stronger and mulitply very, very much, beyond number or measure. They spread out and put many barriers before us and do not let us come close to the point of truth. However, You have already informed us that there is no obstacle in the world at all! All the obstacles are only for the sake of desire, in order that the desire, craving and longing to do Your will all become stronger. However much the obstacles become stronger, so we need to overcome them such that our desire will be greater and greater, so that by the strengthening of desire, all the obstacles will be broken and we will merit to ascertain the desired holiness. For this I have come to ask of You, O Lord my G-d, who desires our good; rise and come to our aid; let us merit to holy desire so that we long for, desire and crave for You and Your holy service with really great and strong desire and longing. May the desire and longing become progressively stronger, day by day, hour by hour, until the desire becomes strong enough to break the obstacles that need to be broken, until the desire overcomes the obstacles and thye all become nullified by strong desire and longing such that we will not want to excuse ourselves by claiming that force of circumstance or obstacles prevented us. Let us not be satisfied with knowing that if force or circimstance prevents us, it is considered as if we performed the commandment or good deed just because we desired to do it but were prevented. Please Lord, help us that we should not excuse ourselves by this, for we do not want to fulfill our duty by claiming we were prevented and have it thereby considered as if we had done it. We do not want ot excuse ourselves with any obstacle or force of circumstance. Rather, grant us such strong desire and longing that we be worthy to always turn matters of holiness from theory into action. Every time that we arouse ourselves to do something in holiness, whether big or small, be with us and help us to have a new and strong desire and longing. Let the deisre and longing not weaken at all. Rather, let us become stronger and bolder all the time; to long for, desire and crave for holiness with a wonderful desire and intense longing. In accordance with the power of the obstacle or force of circumstance, so let the longing and desire become stronger until we merit to break all obstacles and delay which stand in the way of all matters of holiness in the world, until we merit to turn the theory into action with regard to all our desires in heavenly matters. Everything that we want to begin doing in the service of the Lord let us do wholeheartedly and successfully, until we actually do all that You really desire. Master of the World, Lord, G-d of Truth, who desires truth and who is close to those who call Him in truth – rise to my assistance; give me strength, might, wisdom, understanding, intelligence and advice in such a way that I merit to break, nullfiy and drive out from myself all the bad thoughts, all the lies and all the extraneous motives which come into my mind at the time of prayer, to confuse my prayer, Heaven forbid. You know how numerous, immeasurable and immense the obstacles are which hold back my prayer, especially when I stand to pray among many people, for then very, very many improper motives and lies enter my mind. I do not know what to do or how to act for I desire and yearn very much to pray in absolute truth, for G-d alone. What can I do? My iniquities have caused improper motives and tremendous confusions to arise within me and they confuse my prayer very much with bad thoughts and very numerous, differing confusions. All sorts of improper motives, both the crude and suble, the obvious and hidden automatically come to my mind, in amy aspects, such that it is impossible to detail them. Every single day and during every prayer, the improper motives, confusions become very much stornger, such that I cannot even say one word of prayer proerly, with absolute truth. Take pity and have mercy upon me; help me to complete truth so that I will not need money from others in any way at al.. Let me have no desire or craving for the honour, praise or money of people nor anything else of theirs. Rather, may I know and believe in absolute truth, that everything comes for You….. 67. G-D BUILT THE RIB a) When new honour comes to a person he needs to be very afraid of this, for sometimes the honour comes to him for the sake of the passing away of his soul, Heaven forbid. Therefore one has to be very careful to receive the honour with great holiness for the sake of G-d alone, without using the honour for one's own needs or pleasure at all in order that one won't be damaged, Heaven forbid, by the honour and that one's soul will not be taken. For the soul is very precious and one needs to take great care over it and protect it a lot. One needs to pray a great deal to the Holy One not to be hurt by the honour and that one's soul will not pass away because of this; for honour is the source of all souls and when the soul passes away it passes away into honour which is its source. b) However, usually honour comes for a good purpose, for when a new soul comes to a person it comes clothed in honour. Therefore, when he merits to receive honour properly he can receive a new soul through the honour which came to him. c) By craving for food, honour is blemished and he mars the honour of G-d. This leads to an aspect of G-d's Countenance becoming hidden; harsh judgements increase, Heaven forbid, and then honour falls upon the brazen-faced people of the generation who take all the honour; then all the leadership, rulership, government and honour is in the hands of the idol worshippers, evil-doers and brazen ones. As a result, when Jews need to act boldly in order to preserve our holy religion, we need to receive strength from these brazen ones etc. but when we break the craving for food, then we elevate the holy honour and prevent the brazen ones from receiving any official standing, control or honour. This is an aspect of the elevation (revelation) of G-d's Countenance which is a nullification of harsh decrees. d) Through giving charity one attracts loving-kindness, nullifies harsh decrees and rectifies any blemish to honour which causes a hiding of G-d's Countenance, as explained; thus one elevates honour and the Holy Kingdom from among the forces of the Other Side. The blemish of the craving for food becomes rectified and honour returns to those who really understand who the true leaders are. e) Therefore, we give charity when saying, "You rule over everything" (in the morning prayers) in order to elevate the honour and rulership from the realm of the Other Side into the realm of Holiness. f) When honour returns to those who understand, meaning to genuine leaders, then, when their rulership starts, controversy is aroused. g) As a result of the split among those who hate the people of real understanding, as mentioned, the former are able to exist longer. But when the haters join together then the excretions of the mind draw nourishment very fast; it is from there that the haters draw their vitality, and thus they fall away quickly. h) When new honour comes to a person, a holy soul is clothed within it, as mentioned previously, so one has to strengthen oneself in the holy attributes of fear and love of G-d. By this, one will merit to give birth to and bring up the new soul which came to him through honour, as mentioned (see inside). i) One needs to pray with all one's heart until one feels the words of prayer in all of one's limbs. But when a person prays without his heart in it, then the soul becomes distant from its source and then his soul is tired and his limbs are confused with fright; he has no vitality in his soul or in his limbs. Furthermore, as a result of praying without one's heart in it, one causes, Heaven forbid, wisdom to depart from the elders and the wise men. j) By means of giving honour to an elder who has forgotten his learning, one attracts cool waters, an aspect of waters of understanding, which revitalize his tired soul; that's to say, one rectifies the blemish of praying without one's heart which is what caused the soul to be tired. k) Through true tzaddikim, cool waters, from the waters of understanding, are attracted and revitalize one's tired soul. Then one merits to pray with all one's heart, with great intent and concentration such that all one's limbs hear very well the words of prayer; then one's prayer becomes an aspect of "All my limbs will say" (Psalms,35:10), meaning that one prays with all one's strength and mind that are in one's limbs. This is the main form of the perfection of prayer. l) This is the difference between someone who learns from a book as opposed to someone who learns directly from the true tzaddikim. For a person who learns from a book does not know how much he needs to learn in order to revitalize his soul, but when one hears from the mouth of the tzaddik, then the tzaddik bestows upon a person cool waters in the proper measure, according to the person's spiritual level. (Prayer 67) Merciful One, full of compassion. Merciful One, full of compassion. Have mercy on Your great and holy honour. Grant us merit and help us to raise and return all honour to the realm of holiness. In Your bountiful mercy, let us merit to always give plenty of charity; let us give a lot of charity to deserving poor people, with happiness, real good-heartedness and in great perfection as You desire. By this, may we draw the Light of the Countenance into honour. Bless us all together in the Light of Your Countenance and draw upon us Your abundant loving-kindness which is included in Your Great Name… Help us merit to raise the honour and the Kingdom from the aspect of justice to charity. Help us and save us so that we may extract all the honour from the brazen-faced ones and so that we may return all the honour to those with undertanding and perception of holiness. Let all the greatness and honour be returned to the tzaddikim of the generation and those really kosher Jews of the generation who are called the true face of the generation. So have mercy upon us and upon all of Your People Israel; always make peace between them. Cancel all sorts of controversy and strife from among us and let there be no jealousy, hatred or provocation, or any argument or strife against the kosher Jews who wish, desire and long to really serve You, especially the true tzaddikim and sages. Controversy, strife and accusation have greatly increased among the Torah scholars, because of our many iniquities. “There was no peace to whoever went out or came in.” All the world is full of controversy and strife! You know that controversy and strife damages us a lot in trying to serve You truly. There is specially great controversy and strife, which becomes stronger all the time, against those who were distant from You and have now come to return to You, have come to draw closer to Your great Name to truly serve You. Most of the controversy against them and against those who engage in bringing them closer to You is without reason and about nothing.! Please Lord, Full of Mercy, Master of Peace, King to whom peace belongs, save us from controversy and strife. Let us merit to a pure and refined mind, perception and intellect without any dross at all. Let us merit to a quiet and serene mind. Let our minds not be confused at all. Nullify all the waste and extraneous matter in the mind for we have no knowledge of how to fight our adversaries and those who persecute us without reason, nor do we know how to react to them. Our intentions should be good, for the sake of Heaven. We desire to really service You and to return to You very soon, in perfect repentance. We do not want any controversy and strife at all!! You, who are full of compassion, have mercy on the oppressed of the flock, on a people dragged and plucked out, a poor and wretched nation. Have mercy, redeem and rescue such weak ones from controversy and strife, for we have no one on whom to rely other than our Father in Heaven. To You alone we have cast our prayers for aid. We rely only upon You. Our hopes are dependent on You, until You graciously answer us. Take pity and have mercy upon us; fulfill our wishes for the good. Let us merit to always give a lot of charity to truly deserving poor people as You desire. Grant us merit to give charity when we pray, at the moment when we recite the verse: “You reign over all,” and by this let us merit to raise G-d’s authority, honour and kingdom from the husk. Let us raise and extract all Your honour, greatness and authority from the wicked heathens and the brazen ones of the generation and may we return all Your honour and Kingdom to the realm of holiness. Let the honour return to the real tzaddikim and sages of holiness who really understand. Let us be worthy of breaking the craving for food and to draw G-d’s Countenance to honour. By the honour of holiness help us so that many holy souls will come. Let us merit to perfect fear and love. By this, let us merit to give birth to and raise children without any difficulty at childbirth and with out any anguish at all in raising them. Master of the World, let us merit to raise all the honour to its source in holiness. Let the soul never become distant from honour at all. 68. THE SEVERITY OF THE PROHIBITION OF ANGER a) The soul originates from a very sublime place where money also stems and evolves from. For the beginning of the place where money evolves from is an aspect of holiness and holy abundance; only later on does it materialize in the world below and turn into money. This is what it says about the money of a hired daily worker, "His life depends on it" (Deut.24:15). Therefore, the soul craves for money because the soul comes from the same place as where money stems from. However, one mustn't desire the physical money itself, as already explained regarding the great disgrace of craving money, rather, one must crave for and love the place where money stems and evolves from, as mentioned. b) Know, it is proper for all Jews to have money but there is one attribute that causes us to forfeit and lose it. This bad attribute is the attribute of anger. Anger causes money that a person should have had to be damaged and lost. Know that when the evil urge entices you to become angry, you should know that at that moment Heaven is bestowing upon you a sum of money, but the evil urge wants to spoil that abundance by arranging for you to get angry for by this it damages the abundance and the wealth (see inside). c) Know, even if a person has already received the abundance and it turned into money and he already has the money, even so, the Evil One sometimes irritates a person until he becomes so angry that he loses even the money that he already had. May G-d save and protect us from this disgraceful attribute. Amen. So may it be His will. (Prayer 68) May it be Your will, O Lord, our G-d and G-d of our Fathers, that in Your bountiful compassion, You have mercy upon me and do good for me from Your true goodness. Save me and guard me at all times form the very severe iniquity of anger. You know that his evil quality of anger and irritation has taken holf of us since we were young. We have laready become accustoemd to this iniquity very much. I have transgressed time and time and time again, beyond counting, until it had become like something permitted. You know the immensity of the blemishes that I have caused by this very severe iniquity of anger which is an alien god, and is really ildol worship, as it says: “There shall be now strange god in you; nor shall you worlship any alien god.” By this iniquity the soul is actually torn to pieces, as it says: “He tears his soul in his anger.” There are many other immense blemishes caused by this in all the worlds. “Lord, G-d, You know” that because of my many transgressions, I now know no way to save my soul from this severe iniquity to which I have become accustomed very much. Master of the World, who is good and does good to all, take pity and have mercy upon me. Teach me the ways of Your goodness in such a way that I merit to hold onto Our holy virtues, to always be good and to completely break the characteristic of anger, impatience and irritation so that there will not be any element of anger in my heart at all. At any time when the evil urge wants to provoke me to become angry, Heaven forbid, may I merit to know and believe with perfect belief that at this moment they [in Heaven] want to bestow upon me great wealth. The evil urge wants to spoil this bounty of wealth, Heaven forbid and to turn it into anger so as to tear my soul to pieces, Heaven forbid. By this belief may I merit to strengthen and encourage myself, to overcome, break and nullify my anger completely and to turn it into compassion. May I merit by this to great holy wealth, which is the root of all souls and let the Evil One have no power to spoil the bestowing of wealth by anger and rage, Heaven forbid. Rather, may we merit to have drawn upon us the wall of wealth, as it says: “The rich man’s wealth is his strong city and as a high wall in his own domain.” May the wall of wealth protect us and guard as from all sorts of anger and rage which is like an unwalled, undefended city, as it says: “He who has no rule over his spirit is like a city that is broken and without walls.” Master of the World, You know how very much I have lost by anger. You know how many souls I have lost, how much wealth of holiness I have lost and how many worlds I have blemished by this. Master of the World. Master of theWorld, because of the fouling of my mind, anger and irritation are aroused and overcome me all the time until my heart has become soured by great crookedness and confuses me very, very much. I do not know what to do. Because of my many iniquities, I do not have patience to arrange my prayers before You so that You will save me from this very severe and aweful iniquity through which some people have been expelled from two worlds, from This World and The World to Come, Heaven forbid. As You know, I do not know what to say other than, Save me! O King, save me! My Father and Lord, save me!. My King. My G-d. Let me merit to break and nullify the attribute of anger completely and let me merit to holy wealth which is the root of all souls. 69. THE SEVERITY OF THE PROHIBITION OF STEALING a) The prohibition of stealing is very severe for if a person steals money from his fellow, through this he is also stealing his children. That's to say, a thief takes his victim's children and if he hasn't yet got children, the thief may steal from him so that he won't have any. And even if the victim already has children, the thief can harm him such that his children may die, Heaven forbid, because of the money he stole from him. b) By stealing from one's fellow, a thief can come to bad thoughts of cleaving to and yearning for his victim's wife. c) Furthermore, sometimes the thief may lose his own marriage partner through the theft; sometimes the thief can steal from his victim the latter's marriage partner. d) It is also possible that a person has stolen money even though he stole nothing with his hands. He stole by his coveting, desiring and longing for his fellow's money. By this alone he can rob him. This is the severe prohibition of "Do not covet", for coveting itself is a very severe prohibition. Covetousness itself has the power to steal from a person his money, the soul of his sons and daughters, just like a real, physical theft. e) By giving charity a person can rectify any stolen money that he has; that's to say, stolen through coveting. Actual stolen money has no rectification until it is returned to its owner. And if a person stole money of the community such that it is impossible to return, he should use it for the needs of the general public, as the Sages said. f) If a person sees that his livelihood is very limited, he should use his money for charity for, by this, he rectifies his money so that he will have plenty of money and a good income. g) Someone who marries a woman for the sake of money is stupid and a fool; he blemishes and loses his mind. By this, he will have children who are not worthy, as the Sages said (Kiddushin, 70). h) Because of the craving for money one creates haters and, according to the intensity of the craving for money so the strength of the haters increases. And when the craving for money becomes very strong this creates people who hate without reason. i) The craving for money makes a person's mind turbid and confused such that he becomes foolish. And so, however much more he craves for money, his mind becomes more and more turbid. j) Every person has excretions from the brain from which the hairs of his head stem. The wise man and the tzaddikim also have excretions from the brain, an aspect of 'hairs' ( in Hebrew, 'sa'ar'), but for them they are 'gateways' ( in Hebrew, 'sha'ar') with the vowel point over the 's' on the right making it into the letter 'sh'. The excretions of his brain are an aspect of gateways through which he opens up the gateways of wisdom and knowledge to the service of G-d. Because his brain shines far too brightly for the public to receive from, he has to disguise and lower himself to small, lowly matters so that the world can receive from him; then he can open for them the gateways of wisdom and understanding, thus bringing them closer to G-d. k) The brains of the tzaddik are an aspect of tefillin. And the fact that the tzaddik lowers himself sometimes to small, lowly matters in order that the world can receive from him, which is for him an aspect of excretions of the brain, as mentioned previously. This is all reflected in the straps of the tefillin. (Prayer 69) Let me merit to holy wealth which is the root of our souls. Help me to break the craving for money completely and let me not desire or yearn for money at all; even more so, may I not desire other people’s money at all. Rather, may I long for the root of the holy souls and merit to honour the wealthy as is Your good desire. Let all my love for the wealthy and all the honour that I give them be really for the sake of Heaven, for the holiness of the root of the souls that You bestow upon them which is from where they receive their wealth. May I have no craving at all for material money, rather, may my soul always crave for Your Name and Your remembrance. So, in Your bountiful mercy, have pity on me; always guard me and save me from the very severe sin of theft. Let me not steal from my friend even as much as the smallest coin. May I not covet or desire my neighbour’s house, animals, servant or maid, silver or gold, jewelllery, clothes, household utensils or anything that belongs to him. Whatever happens let me always be careful not to desire them or any part of them. Master of the World, You know how many souls have sunk in this sin of craving for money; by which some of them have fallen to actually stealing and some of them have fallen to great coveting and craving for the friends’ money which is also considered real theft. Master of the World, protect me and save from this; protect my soul and save me from all sorts of theft: whether actual theft, such as stealing even a small coin from my friend, even inadvertantly or by mistake (I would rather relinquish my own money): or whether stealing by coveting or craving, Heaven forbid, by which one can also steal, G-d forbid, as You informed us through Your holy Sages. Save me from all this! Let me merit to be unsoiled by any sort of theft in the world! Help me so that I will not look at what my friend has at all, nor yearn for or covet anything at all that belongs to him. Save me and protect me, with Your bountiful mercy, so that no one in the world will have the power to steal from me at all, neither by actually taking nor by coveting. Even more so, let him have no power to touch my soul, Heaven forbid, or the soul of my wife, my sons or daughters and descendants. Just grant strength to my soul and to all th souls dependent on me, so that we merit to stand strong against all the thieves who rise against us like killers of souls, G-d forbid and let us subdue them or throw them down into the dust, ‘to extract from their mouths all that they have swallowed’. Let them have no power to touch us or our money at all. May we merit to always give a lot of charity and by this may we profit in all our business dealings; arrange our income even before we need it. Grant us great wealth from the side of holiness - wealth, honor and life. Master of the World, You know the lack of a livelihood which exitst nowadays such that ‘the power of endurance fails’, for our lives hang in the balance; we do not know any way to acquire an income other than relying upon You alone, for from whom shall I ask bread or an income and all my needs, which are very great? From You alone, for You support and nourish all living things from the great horned buffalo to the small eggs of lice. Have mercy upon me and save me. Generously provide me with an income from Your benevolent and full hand and let me not come to the need for handouts from people or for their loans. Help me to remove all the debts that I already owe and from now on, save me so that I will not need any debt or loan at all. Come to my help so that I may soon merit to rectify the blemish of all the thefts that I have perpetrated from my youth until today. May I merit to return all the stolen money or objects that I stole, or the money from exploitation that I gained unjustly, whether inadvertantly or on purpose, whether by force or circumstance or willingly. All the disputes in money matters which, by mistake or oversight, caused some of my friends’ money to be left in my hands from some trading or debt etc., whether I still remember or whether I have already forgotten, may I reslove and pay back the owner very quickly indeed. In Your mercy, grant me a lot money in such a way that I fulfill my obligations and pay off anyone whose money or possessions I touched in any way in the world. And if, Heaven forbid, I still have in my hands some stolen object or money or debt whose owenership is unknown to me, help me in Your great mercy, so that I merit to use these items for the needs of the community as You commanded us by Your holy Sages. In doing so, may I merit very soon, in my lifetime, to rectify and return all the stolen objects or money or debts that are in my hands. For You know the severity of the prohibition of theft which is considered as if one steals the victim’s soul and the soul of his sons and daughters, as if one commits adultery with a married woman! You, who are full of compassion, spare me and take pity on my soul; help me to rectify the blemish of all the stolen objects or money or dets in my hands. Open my hand and make me generous; help me and let me merit to give a lot of charity to many deserving poor people in such a way that I merit to rectify by this the blemish or the stolen objects or money in my hands that came about by covetousness, that I used to covet and crave for my friends’ belongings until I stole from him. Please, Lord, let me merit to rectify this by giving charity. 70. AND ON THE EIGTH DAY a) There exists a true tzaddik who is the foundation of the world, as it says, "And the tzaddik is the foundation of the world" (Proverbs, 10). This tzaddik is unique in the world for he is the foundation of the world; all things are drawn from him and even all the tzaddikim are only branches from him, each one according to his aspect. One is an aspect of a branch from him while another is an aspect of a branch from the branch. This unique tzaddik is humble and lowly and makes himself like the dust of the earth. By this he has the power of attracting, meaning that he pulls all the world toward him in order to bring them closer to G-d and to His holy Torah. This tzaddik draws all the bounty into the world. b) He is also an aspect of the Tabernacle which had the power of attraction, drawing godliness to the place where it stood. So also this tzaddik. He has this power of pulling godliness to the place where he is. c) Likewise, the honour that each person has, whether he is insignificant or important, he receives only from this tzaddik, for all the honour and importance exist only in the hands of the tzaddik and everyone else receives from him. This is also true regarding the renewal of honour , for every time a person is appointed to a new position, the leadership and honour are renewed; this all comes from this tzaddik, according to how he raises each time the Tabernacle from which all honour stems. d) That the general public are far away from this tzaddik and are not all drawn to him is because of the force of compulsion which acts counter to the power of attraction of the tzaddikim. There are people who, through their words and actions, stop this natural pull of the tzaddik and compel people to distance themselves from the true tzaddik. The main way this force of compulsion becomes stronger is by pride, haughtiness and honour for they make a person fear that his honour will be lessened and degraded if he comes close to the truth. Therefore, anyone who wants to know the absolute truth should really humble his mind and remember his real worthlessness and lowliness; he should remember everything that has happened to him until now. When he really feels his lowliness then the truth will certainly be revealed and the power of the attraction of the tzaddik will overcome the force of compulsion; he will then be drawn at great speed to the true tzaddik. e) When one give charity to this tzaddik who makes himself like the dust of the earth, the person becomes blessed instantly, for this is an aspect of sowing in the earth seeds that will grow and multiply many times over, like it says, "Sow righteousness for yourselves; reap according to loving-kindness" (Hoshea,10:12). f) However much more a person humbles himself, he has more power of attraction, that's to say, he has more power to attract the Divine Presence into the world below such that it dwells with us. This has been G-d's desire since the day He created His world. So also he has the strength to attract people to him and to bring them close to the service of G-d. In addition, he can draw good bounty and blessings to the People of Israel. He also merits to be drawn towards and come close to the true tzaddik, as mentioned. (Prayer 70) Master of theWorld, Master of the World, G-d of truth, You know the tzaddikim who have the power to bring everyone close to You. They have immense power to attract the entire world to them, their holy Torah and their wonderful advice and paths. Many good things could grow from this for all eternity. The rectificaton of all the worlds and the final complete Redemption dependent on this. But, You know Master of the World, the immense and innumerous power of those forces that compel and distance them from coming to tzaddikim. This power overcomes us at every opportunity. Master of the World, G-d, Master of War, You know the awesome war that each generation experiences all the time. On the one side, there is the power of afttraction of the real tzaddikim who draw all the world to the service of the Creator for eternity. But on the other side, there is this power which pulls against and separates or distances people from the tzaddik. Many souls have sunk in this war. Master of the World, help us and save us, in the merit of the genuine tzaddikim who really have the power of attraction. Let their strength become far greater than that of the forces pulling people away from the tzaddikim and the service of G-d until this force falls and becomes nullified. It is the source of all the obstacles, temptations, seductions, doubts, controversy, questions and all the physical cravings and bad traits – all the obstacles in the world. May they all fall and be nuillified compeltely in the face of the power of attactions of the true tzaddikim until eventually everyone will throw away their idols of silver and gold and all their cravings. Then they will all run after and pursue the true tzaddikim. Merit us to come close to them and to hear their holy Torah and to study their holy books such that we put into practice their words and advice in a perfect way, as You desire. So, merit us to break and nulify all our evil cravings and traits nullify so that we can nullify ourselves completely. Let us achieve true humility. We the dust of the earth, so we merit to also have the power of attraction. Merit us to attract Your G-dliness and holiness to us and to attract the entire worldto Your holy faith, to true tzaddikim and Your service and holy Torah. Help us succeed to give charity to true tzaddikim who are really humble, like dust. By this, may our charity blossom immediately. Merit us to bounty in plenty, to blessings, mercy, life and peace, children, life and a livelihood. Guard us and save us so we will not stumble upon unworthy poor people. Rather, in Your mercy, do not let our charity reach the hands of undeserving poor people. Merit us to give a lot of charity to deserving poor people and to true tzaddikim. Help us, for Your Names sake. Have mercy upon us in Your bountiful compassion and merit us to achieve all this very soon. Grant us merit and help us to run away from honour with absolute truth. Draw upon us holy honour, truly for Your Name’s sake, honour which is drawn from the true tzaddik who has a magnetic power of attraction which always erects the tabernacle. All the real honour of holiness is within him; all of Israel, from the small to the great, all receive their honour and greatness from him. Let us merit to holy honour such that Your great honour always be revealed, glorified and sanctified in the world. Reign over all the world very speedily with Your honour. Let Your honour fill all the earth. Fulfill the verse which says: “ I am the Lord, that is my Name; and my honour I will not give to someone else.” “Tell of His glory among the nations and his wonders among all the people.” “They will speak of the glory of Your kingdom and talk of Your power.” “Blessed be His glorious Name for ever and let the whole earth be filled with His glory. Amen and Amen.” 71. FAMOUS RABBI a) It is very hard to be a famous rabbi, for whoever is famous needs to accept upon himself a lot of suffering for the sake of the many. However, there are those rabbis who are forced by Heaven to be famous. 72. STRENGTHEN ONESELF…AGAINST THE EVIL URGE a) If a person arouses himself to do teshuva, then when wants to enter into the ways of G-d, to travel to the tzaddik, a bigger yetzer hara (evil urge) overcomes him each time. Therefore, one needs to strengthen oneself more each time with renewed strength against the new evil urge which overcomes a person on each occasion. This new evil urge causes sometimes that when a person is aroused to travel to a tzaddik or to true servants of G-d, he has, at first, a great desire but, afterwards, when he starts to travel his desire weakens and sometimes, when he arrives to the tzaddik, his desire falls away completely. All this stems from an aspect of the above, for as soon as he is awakened to travel to the true tzaddik, he kills the evil urge he had previously and so, later, when he wants to travel, a new evil urge comes into being to him which is stronger than before, as it says, "Anyone who is greater than his fellow, his evil urge is also greater" (Succah,52). Therefore, whoever wants to really bring himself close to the Holy One needs to strengthen himself anew each time against the new evil urge which renews itself on each occasion. b) There are several aspects to the evil urge. Most of the world have an evil urge which is lowly and very crude, a real spirit of folly. Whoever has the minutest clarity of mind and who can sense in his heart even a little of the greatness of G-d, for him this evil urge is certainly great folly and madness; even the temptation of the craving for sex is for him foolishness such that he doesn't need to strengthen himself at all to overcome it. Rather, he has an evil urge which is far higher than this. But the evil urge of most people is really great foolishness for someone who just possesses true intelligence. c) There are those whose evil urge is an aspect of a thin delicate husk. This evil urge only bothers a man of valour of somewhat considerable status. However, this is still not the evil urge of the true tzaddikim, for their yetzer hara is actually a holy angel. d) Also in the matter of bringing oneself close to G-d there is a big yetzer hara. That's to say, sometimes a person has great enthusiasm, beyond the proper measure, which is from the evil urge. This is an aspect of "In case they cross the boundary to go up to G-d" (Exodus, 19:21). One has to plead for mercy in order to be saved from all of this. e) Someone who has harsh decrees upon him, Heaven forbid, and has some trouble, Heaven preserve us, has to see to it to muster up courage and strengthen himself especially in order to be saved from the evil urge. At such a time the yetzer hara overcomes a person more than usual, for the main source of all the evil urges is Gevurot (Powers of Severity) and harsh decrees. f) Some people have indecent thoughts, Heaven forbid, which overcome them especially at the time of prayer. There are people who, whilst praying, see apparitions before their eyes, as if it was an image of idol worship or other evil images. These images then confuse such people a lot when they pray and they have great suffering from these images; they want very much to overcome and remove these images from their minds so they shake their head from side to side. But know, the more suffering they have and the more a person struggles to remove them from his mind, then these confusions and evil images grow even stronger. Such is their nature; the more one thinks about them to push them off, they attach themselves to a person even more. Therefore the main advice is not to pay any attention to them at all and not to care at all about what images or thoughts appear before you; don't listen to them at all, just do what you have to do, whether learning Torah or praying or business matters. Don't take any notice of them at all and don't stare behind you to see whether they have left you or not, just do what you have to do in whatever you are involved in and by this they will automatically disappear. However, this is just a temporary piece of advice, for the moment. The main thing is that a person has to sanctify and purify his body and go to true tzaddikim who will teach him the paths of truth. Then these images will leave a person completely. g) Sadness is very damaging and gives strength to the evil urge to overcome a person. Sadness also gives strength to those afore-mentioned confusions. Therefore, one mustn't let oneself be sad because of these confusions, nor be afraid or in awe of them at all. Rather, one must strengthen oneself a great deal to make one's soul happy by using all the paths of advice which are explained elsewhere, each one in its place. For the main form of strengthening oneself is through happiness and joy, an aspect of "The joy of G-d is 'your strength' (Nechemia, 8:10). When you strengthen yourself with joy, these evil images will automatically leave you; just don't put it to the test by looking behind you each time to see if they have already disappeared. Rather, remove your mind from them completely, as explained previously. Understand. (Prayer 72) You know that it si impossible to perceive the true good in each level otehre that by breaking the power of the evil urge, who blocks and entices us in every level, as the Sage’s said: ‘Whoever is greater that his fellow, his evil urge is greater.’ Master of the World, Master pf the World, You are good and do good at all times at every moment; Your goodness and compassion never cease even for a moment. You knowth great strength of the harsh decrees that want to overcome us on every occasion, Heaven Forbid. For they strengthen themselves and are jealous of a Jew whose heart burns to serve G-d. Cut a pathway each time, for us to return to You and truly recognise You. My Father in Heaven, Who has mercy on the poor, Who looks to guard the persecuted. Teach and instruct me…. to find a path and advice how to strengthen myself against all the evil urges each time. Teach me to become wiase with true wisdom and to strengthen myself in all sorts of ways, at all times and at every spiritual level; in all the ascents amd descents in the world. May I have patience and control my spirit, thus conquering my evil urge in such a way that I merit to subdue, break and nullify all kinds of evil urge and all kinds of forces that prevent me from truly serving You. May I merit to walk in Your holy paths to turn aside fromevil and always do that which is good in Your eyes. Master of the World, Master of the World, Your great goodness is very sublime, far above all the loftiest holy levels. You Yourself ae entirely good, without any element of harsh decree (din) at all. You are entirely good without any element of din at all, even the ‘din’ which is holy and pure. You are far above this in a very wonderful and awesome way which is impossible to grasp. However, You Yourself give life to all harsh decrees, from the ultimate sublime source of holy and awesome din to the end of the emanation of all the harsh decrees where filth and total waste (husks) take hold of htem. You give life to them all. All these harsh decrees the evil urges take hold of from the very lowest level to the very highest level, until the Sublime Crown which is the secret of the source of the evil urge of the great holy and awesome tzaddikim. These decrees all receive their vitality from You, for without You no one can raise his hand or leg. They have no strength or vitality whatsoever other that from You. Master of the World, Master of the World, Master of the World… reveal to me some true advice so that I will merit to carry it out and truly repent. Teach me a path, both materially and spiritually, in such a way that I merit to overcome the eveil urge, the obstacle; delay and confusion of any moment at any spiritual level, whether at the time of ascent or descent. Only You know how many thousands and myriads of obstacles, temptations and incitements rise up agains us every day from anew, as the Sages said: ‘Every day a person’s evil urge overcomes him and wereit not for G-d’s assistance he would fall into the evil urge’s hands.’ Have mercy upon me for Your Name’s Sake. Help me and save. Merit me to be stubborn in the service of G-d. Let nothing confine or frighten me such that my spirit fall or I become distant from You, Heaven Forbid. Let me not take notice of any negative thoughts that bother me and want to weaken my resolve. You, in the merit of the true tzaddikim, who pray for us, please have mercy upon us. Let us overcome any worrying thoughts. Rather, let us strengthen ourselves studying Torah and by praying… May I return to You in genuine repentance from now on. Letme take joy in Your salvation. Sweeten from over me and for all Jews all the harsh decrees. Break, crumble, subdue, nullify and put an end to all the evil urges at all times and at all levels. Nullify the evil urge of most of the world which stems from actual filth in the blood and is true folly. Furthermore nullify all the forms of the evil urge of the most pious Jews which is an aspect of dybbuk (evil spirit), Heaven save us. Similarly, save us from the evil urge of the tzaddikim which si actually and angel. At all levels, save us. Merit me to strengthen myself every day from anew to start to come close to You through Torah and prayer. 73 ATTACH THOUGHTS TO WORDS OF PRAYER a) Through prayer with concentration, attaching one’s thoughts to the words of prayer very strongly, one merits to ascertain the innermost, hidden meanings of the Torah. Such prayer brings bounty and blessings to the world, therefore, the Holy One craves for such prayer, for He desires to bestow His Good upon His creatures. 74 EXALTED, O GOD, ABOVE THE HEAVENS a) There are some types of suffering that a person experiences which stem from decrees of holiness, which is an aspect of suffering from love, an aspect of “One who G-d loves, He reproaches” (Proverbs,3:12). This is an aspect of becoming distant that is a beginning to coming close (to G-d). However, there is a type of suffering which stems from harsh decrees of impurity, Heaven forbid. A sign for a person to know whether his suffering is from the side of impurity or the side of holiness is prayer. That’s to say when the suffering doesn’t prevent a person from praying then he can know that the suffering is from a holy decree, an aspect of suffering from love. b) Prayer is an aspect of Countenance (see unabridged version for explanation). When prayer gets cancelled this is an aspect of a concealment of the Countenance (of G-d), Heaven forbid, as it says, “You hid Your Countenance and I was afraid” (Psalms, 30:8). c) By striving to study Torah until one merits to know and understand it, one cures one’s soul and raises it to the place of its source; one sweetens all the harsh decrees. One plants a Tree of Life in the World Above where everything is health. In addition, one sustains and renews all the worlds and reveals the Glory of G-d in the world which is the main purpose of all man’s service of G-d – in order that the Glory of G-d be revealed. d) When someone engages in studying Torah but cannot understand it, this is also very good for all the words rise above and the Holy One is happy with them. From them an aspect of Aravei Nachal (willow branches) is created. e) The Festival of Hoshana Rabbah is an aspect of words of Torah without understanding, because a person cannot yet understand. Simchat Torah is an aspect of speech with understanding, meaning that one merits to know and understand the wisdom of the Torah which is a cure for the soul (see inside). (Prayer 74) May it be Your will O G-d, our G-d.and G-d of our Fathers, that You help me and save in Your immense mercy so that I merit to cure my evil completely and to elevate it to the place of its source in holiness and great purity. Enable me to engage in study in Torah for Your sake both day and night. Have mercy upon me and nullify form over me all kinds of harsh decrees in the world. Guard me and save me always from very harsh decrees which stem fromt eh Side of Impurity, from the Poison of the Serpent. Do not deal with me according to my sins but rather guard my soil and save me from these very harsh decrees which come throught the Other Side. Give me understanding and holy intelligence to study Torah truthfully in such a way that I sweeten all the holy decrees that come through the holy path which is an object of the Strengths of Yitzchak. These holy decrees are for the good. Master of the Universe I believe that all the harsh decrees and suffering that we experience, the Jewish People in general and each individual in particular at any time, all the obstacles, confusions that hinder us from serving You. They are all sent from You for our good. And even if we think that they are bad, Heaven forbid, You think of them for our good; You reprimand, discipline and purify us for our own good. Because the immense materiality and coarseness of our bodies we cannot even accept Your holy decrees, for the suffering confines us a great deal. Wehave not the strength or patience to accept the harsh decrees without becoming distant from You. This is especially true about my poor and miserable self. I coul not stand up to the slighest test or suffering. Have mercy over me in Your bountiful compassion. Sweeten and nullify all the harsh decrees from upon me and all my family and all those associated with me. Draw upon me and upon all the Jewish People a new heart, an new and holy spirit; let me completely forget my wicked ways and evil confusing thoughts. Merit me from now on to think only about Torah and prayer, with holiness and great purity so I can cleave all the time to You, to the true tzaddikim and to Your holy Torah. By this, merit me to cure my soul from all its immense pains and fatal illnesses which are beyond measure. 75. BLESS US LORD a) The attribute of wanting to be victorious, wanting controversy and war stems from the blood in a person’s body that hasn’t yet served G-d. For every person has to see to it that he serves G-d with every drop of blood in his body. That’s to say, he should speak a lot in Torah and in prayer, then he will merit to peace and to nullify all the attribute of wanting to be victorious or to cause controversy. b) By words of Torah and prayer a person raises all the fallen sparks and all the fallen worlds are rectified and rejuvenated; it is considered as if one had created heaven and earth and all the worlds from anew. Therefore one has to speak only holy words, not other words, in order to raise the sparks and to rectify all the worlds. By this one brings closer the coming of Meshiach. c). One has to speak a lot of Torah and prayer until one’s body becomes completely nullified, like it is absolutely nothing. To this one merits through the attribute of fear of G-d and then one can achieve peace which attracts all the blessings. ### Prayer for Torah 61 67. 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. . 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. ## 66 ### Prayer for Torah 66 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. ## 71 ### Prayer for Torah 71 71. “Portions have fallen to me in pleasant places.” In Your great mercy, please help me and merit to holy brains, refined and pure brains, Jewish brains and brains of the Lord of Israel. Save us from blemished brains, from the brains of outside Israel. Grant us wisdom, understanding and knowledge of holiness, from You. Save me to go and travel quickly to the Land of Israel, the Land of Holiness, the Land of Life, where the main wisdom and brains of holiness exist. Raise me very soon from outside Israel to the Land of Israel. Please perform this wonder for me. Merit me and help me to rectify during my lifetime any blemish to Your glory. I know I have blemished Your glory a lot through my evil physical cravings. They have caused me to stumble into sins and iniquities which I have committed since my youth until now. I have blemished Your great and holy glory and this has led my brain to be blemished, like the brains of outside Israel. I have become distant from the holiness of the brains of the Land of Israel. Master of the Universe, king of Glory, Who created the world in Ten Sayings so that Your holy honour will be revealed, increased and extolled in the world. This is the purpose and source of all creation, as it says; “Everyone who is called by My Name and whom I have created for my glory whom I have formed and made.” In Your bountiful compassion, let me always run away from honour and, when You send me some honour, help me and save me; give me strength to overcome any desire to take the honour for myself. I don’t want to take any pleasure from it. Rather, merit me to raise all the honour to the Holy One, the king of all honour, the source of honour. Let me receive the honour in holiness and purity, only to increase the honour of God for this is what sustains the world. Master of the Universe, grant me the strength to merit to all this land to be able to stand in the palace of the King. Let me throw off everything and travel to the holy Land of Israel very soon and there may I recognise the greatness of the creator and the greatness of the Holy One. So, I have come to pray and ask from God to help and strengthen my heart so that I merit to yearn and crave to come to the Land of Israel. Therefore, please have mercy on me; merit me to give a lot of charity, especially for the sake of the Land of Israel and the poor people who live there. When I give such charity let me have no ulterior motives such as my own honour. By giving charity to these poor people in Israel, may me merit to open the paths in our hearts and, thereby, to receive the flames of holy compassion. In other words, let our hearts burn with enthusiasm and yearning for You with great love and strong desire. Furthermore, merit me, by this charity, to crate a vessel to receive the bounty of sublime pleasantness, with great holiness and purity. Let me feel the wonderful pleasantness and sweetness that is in Your holy Torah to such a degree that all the physical cravings become nullified, especially the craving for and love of women. Rather, may my intention in having children always be for Your Name’s sake, to fulfill You mitzvot in order to raise children to serve and fear You. Merit us to have generations of descendents who will study Your Torah and perform You mitzvot. May they always perform Your will and increase Your glory in the world. By this, may they fulfill the intention of the creation which is to reveal Your glory in the world. As a result merit us to the brains of the Land of Israel, which are called pleasant; and to rectify all the brains from outside Israel which are called ‘spoilers’ (because they cause controversy). May these foreign brains become nullified from the world. Then great peace will reign in the world between one person and another, between husband and wife, and especially between those who fear Your Name. Merit us to always feel the pleasantness and sweetness in the words of Your holy Torah. “They are more desirable than gold, than even much fine gold; and sweeter then honey.” It says “Its ways are ways of pleasantness and all its pathways are peace.” Blessed is the Name of His glorious kingdom for ever and ever, and may His glory fill the entire world. Amen and Amen. 72. ETERNAL LIFE (a) By meriting to see oneself with the true tzaddik one receives greatness and a position of power, but the essence of greatness is humility. This is like we find with G-d, 'in every place that you find the greatness of the Holy One, there we find His humility'. The main resurrection in the future, when the dead will rise and come to life and live the eternal life depends only on the humility of each one. That's to say, that only the humility of each person will come alive and arise to life in the future. For the essence of the wonderful delight which is the eternal life of the World to Come is impossible to receive except for the real humility and lowliness of each person. To the degree that he really nullifies and lowers himself, so he will merit to live and receive the delight of the World to Come. (b) By seeing oneself with the true tzaddik, one's mind and understanding are made to shine and, as a result, one receives greatness and a position of power according to that shining of the mind. Then one merits to make appropriate Torah innovations, according to one's mind. (c) Through Torah innovations shame is drawn upon each person, for a person has to feel very, very ashamed of himself. A sin is certainly a shameful thing, Heaven forbid; it has no connection to, nor is it fitting at all for a Jew. According to the holy source of a Jewish soul, it is certainly not becoming for him to have a sin. However, even when he wants to perform a mitzvah, he should also feel great shame, for what merit does he have to merit to perform the mitzvah. How can he dare to enter the palace of the King to perform a mitzvah. He should also consider in his mind before Whom he is doing the mitzvah and also the greatness of the virtue of the mitzvah, for the immense preciousness of each mitzvah is beyond measure. It is certainly fitting that great shame descend upon a person when he comes to perform a mitzvah; how can he come to grab the tefillin which are the crown of the King and put them suddenly on his head. Certainly it is fitting that great shame fall upon him. If a person had a sense of shame he would feel shame before the Holy One even to put food in his mouth, for what merit has he to deserve the food. One merits to shame primarily by seeing oneself with the true tzaddik for then one's mind shines and receives greatness and merits to make Torah innovations, as mentioned. This is like the time of Matan Torah when Moshe drew down the Torah for the Jewish People for about that it says, "In order that His fear may be on your faces" etc. which our Sages explained (Nedarim,20) refers to shame. (d) By means of shame one merits to repentance for the essence of repentance, which is not to sin again, comes from shame, as it says, "in order that fear may be on your faces" (which is shame) "so as not to sin". Repentance is an aspect of the eternal life of the World to Come, as it says, "Return and live" (Yechezkiel, 18:31). The essence of life will be only the humility of each person, as mentioned. And therefore through repentance the humility of each person returns, is revived and arises. Rooted in all the 248 limbs of every Jew is the humility of Moshe but this humility and lowliness is hidden in each person in an aspect of 'death' so he doesn't feel in himself this humility and therefore he becomes far from this feeling of lowliness. However, through his bringing himself close to the true tzaddik and seeing him, and even more so when he merits to hear Torah from him, and he merits through this to also make Torah innovations, and by this, he merits to shame and repentance. And he merits that this humility and lowliness in him come to life. Through this, each person sees and feels his own lowliness. (e) We have to pray and ask a lot from the Holy One to merit to true lowliness and humility for we do not know at all what true lowliness and humility is. Certainly the purpose is not to become disspirited and lazy (called an 'unfortunate') for humility is the essence of life of every single limb; it is the entire delight of the World to Come. The purpose of the World to Come is surely not to be disdained and lazy etc. Heaven forbid. Therefore we have to just ask from G-d that He help us to merit to genuine lowliness and humility which is the essence of life and the delight of the World to Come, as mentioned previously. (f) Through the true leader of the generation we merit to all these rectifications. This leader has to be set apart and very holy with a holiness and great separation from the desire of sexual immortality; then he is worthy of being a leader of the Jewish People. Just by his looking at Jews their minds will shine. He will dispense to each one a status which is appropriate for him and they will merit to Torah innovations, and to shame and repentance and humility, as mentioned above, which is an aspect of the eternal life of the World to Come. He also draws to every individual holiness and abstention from this sexual desire. But, when the Jewish People have no such leader, Heaven forbid, then all the world is confused and whoever wants to take leadership, takes it. (g) The general rule from this is that when one comes to a tzaddik and you hear Torah from his mouth one gets a sense of shame and one begins to feel one's own lowliness. This is a sign that you were in the presence of a true tzaddik. However, if someone comes to a famous leader and hears Torah from him and then feels self-importance as a result etc. (the opposite is understood automatically). ## 72 ### Prayer for Torah 72 72. Our Father in Heaven, Living God and King of the World, who revives the dead in great mercy, in Your immense compassion, let me merit to the revival of the dead. Help me from now on so that I be guided by my real humility which is rooted in every single limb. This real lowliness and humility is that of Moses, may he rest in peace, and is rooted in every single Jew in each and every limb. It is the principal element of the true life, the eternal life of the World to Come. However, because of my many iniquities, this lowliness is now in the state of death and I can’t feel this real lowliness, since I am so far away from You as I am. Master of the World, let me merit to all the real advice, strategies and paths of holiness in such a way that I merit to arouse and awaken and revive this real lowliness and humility which is rooted within me. You know how far away I am from lowliness and humility which is the main thing in life. Because of my many iniquities I do not know anything about what lowliness and humility is, or that it is the principal element of the true life of each and every limb. You have already informed us that You don’t want us to be degraded and lazy, for that is improper and invalid humility. Quite the reverse, You have warned us several times to be bold as a leopard etc. However, the truth is that I don’t know any way to achieve this other than by depending on Your compassion alone, that You will help me, save me and teach me the real paths of humility. Always revive me in Your eternal life and let me merit to really true humility. Master of the World, let me merit to holy shame so that I may always feel fear and shame before You and therefore never do anything against Your will. Even when I want to perform some commandment, may I feel great shame because of the holy and awesome commandment itself. What have I done to merit to perform a commandment, to relate to the great splendour, preciousness and awesomeness of the holiness of each commandment! The awesome holiness of each and every commandment is very, very great and sublime. Who can be bold enough to take pride in himself that he is worthy to perform a commandment before You, may You be blessed. Especially is this so considering our great distance from You, because of our many transgressions and wilful transgressions, as each of us knows in his soul. It is certainly fitting that great fear and shame come upon us and appear on our faces when we want to perform a commandment. Who am I that I should merit to snatch the holy and awesome tefillin which are the crown of the King, and put them on my very blemished arm and head! How can I enwrap myself in the clothing of a commandment, in the clothing of the King, in the holiness of the holy and awesome tzitzit! So also with the other commandments, for each and every commandment is very, very holy and awesome. Before whom do I perform the commandment? Before the King, the King of Kings, the Holy One, Mighty, Awesome and Glorious etc.! His greatness is unfathomable. If I merited even to the slightest true perception. then great shame would certainly descend upon me and appear on my face even when performing a commandment. Even to put food in my mouth should cause me great shame for someone who eats food which is not his feels ashamed to look in the face of he who feeds him! How much more so then is it fitting that I have shame and great fear such that I never transgress or sin or blemish, Heaven forbid, for a sin has no connection to a Jew at all — all the souls of Jews in their source are completely and utterly distant from sin. A sin has no connection to the soul of a Jew at all Master of the World, full of mercy, let me merit to come close to real tzaddikim and to hear from their holy mouths new interpretations and clarifications of the Torah in such a way that, by this, great fear of You and shame before You be drawn upon me. Let fear of You be upon my face so that I never sin again, from now until eternity. May that holy fear and shame to which the Community of Israel merited at the holy gathering on Mount Sinai, at the time of the Receiving of the Torah, always be drawn upon me. Master of the World, full of compassion, who desires our repentance, who beholds the evil person and wants him to be found righteous, in Your mercy, let me merit to really see my shame and disgrace such that, by this shame, I merit to return in really perfect repentance before You. "Return me and I will return for You are the Lord my God." Our Father, return us to Your Torah; our King bring us close to Your service. Return us in perfect repentance before You and, by repentance, let me merit to the true life, the eternal life... In Your bountiful compassion and in the merit of the true tzaddikim, grant us eternal life so that the humility of Moses, which is within each Jew and in each limb of the body, will live and guide us. For, because of our many iniquities, this lowliness and humility is obscured and hidden within us in the aspect of death. Therefore we don’t merit to real humility and we don’t feel our lowliness really and truly as we should. In Your bountiful compassion let us merit to the real life, the eternal life, that now also the aspect of the revival of the dead be drawn upon us so that the humility and lowliness of Moses which is clothed in each person, in each limb, guide us and be resurrected. Sole Master and truly humble One, let us merit to real humility, as is Your good desire. Grant us absolutely perfect humility which is an aspect of the life of the World to Come; an aspect of the revival of the dead; an aspect of the true life and eternal life of each and every limb; an aspect of real nullification to Ein—Sof, the Infinite One, may He be blessed. May this be in such a way that even in This World we merit to taste and to flavour the aspect of the life of the World to Come, an aspect of the real delight of Shabbat. Master of the World, our King, our God, great, mighty and awesome God, whose greatness is beyond measure, in every place where we find Your greatness we also find Your humility. Teach and guide us how to arrange prayers and requests for this, in such a way that we merit to please and appease You and that You grant us all to merit real humility, as is really and truly Your good desire. 73. (a) Someone who wants to merit to repentance should recite Psalms regularly because Psalms have a special power to arouse repentance. There are very many obstacles to repentance. One person may have no arousal to repent and even someone who is aroused to repent can be faced with several obstacles to it. For example, there are some people for whom the gates of repentance are closed to them while others may not know how to reach the gate which belongs to them, through which they have to pass in order to return to G-d and so on, other obstacles that prevent a person from repentance. So much so that he can waste all his life and die without repenting, Heaven forbid. Against all these obstacles reciting Psalms has the power to work even for someone who has no arousal to repent; by reciting Psalms he can merit to become aroused to repent and to reach the gate that belongs to his soul; he can open this gate until he merits to achieve complete repentance. Therefore, in Elul and the Ten Days of Repentance Jews engage in saying Psalms in order to merit through this to repentance. However, throughout the entire year we have to also engage in reciting Psalms in order to merit to repentance, as mentioned. (b) The forty- nine days of the Counting of the Omer correspond to the forty-nine gates of repentance which themselves correspond to the forty-nine letters contained in the names of the Tribes of G-d. Through these letters and gates we need to return to G-d. Shavuot corresponds to the fiftieth gate which is an aspect of the repentance of the Holy One Who needs to return to us in mercy, like it says, "Return to Me and I will return to you". To all these gates one merits to reach and to open by means of reciting Psalms, as mentioned. Therefore, during the forty-nine days of the Counting of the Omer a person has to be especially careful to recite Psalms with concentration in order to merit, by this, to reach all the forty-nine gates of repentance, as mentioned previously, for they correspond to the forty-nine days of the Counting of the Omer during which we have to purify ourselves from our filth and return to G-d so that G-d will return to us on Shavuot, an aspect of "And G-d descended on Mount Sinai." ## 73 ### Prayer for Torah 73 73. Master of the World, may I always merit to perfect repentance, especially during the holy days of the month of Elul which was when Moses our teacher, of blessed memory, opened up for us a paved roadway to repentance. This road is made up of two types of expertise — ‘running’ and ‘returning’ and of two Holy Names — the Tetragrammaton (YHVH) and Ehyeh. It includes the two holy points, the upper and lower, which are the essential perfection of repentance — the aspects of repenting and afterwards repenting for one’s original repentance, the aspect of repentance in This World and repentance of the World to Come. Therefore let us merit, during these holy days of Elul, to complete repentance. Let us merit to draw upon ourselves the holiness of Elul throughout the whole year, until we merit to always be in complete repentance before You and all the days of our lives to progress in perfection along all the paths of repentance. In Your bountiful mercy and great loving—kindness, accept all the aspects and levels of our repentance with great love and affection. Fulfill in us the verse which says: "We will search through and review our ways and return to God." "For Your right hand is outstretched to accept those who repent." ‘How many degrees of beneficence has the Almighty bestowed upon us? such that we’ve merited, really merited, to bountiful loving—kindness and great mercy, the faithful acts of loving-kindness of David... You sent us a saviour and teacher, "the annointed of the God of Jacob and the sweet Psalmist of Israel"; he is ‘David, the King of Israel, who lives and remains for ever,’ who wrote for us the holy and awesome Book of Psalms, five books, corresponding to the Five Books of the Torah. How great is the good You did for us. "How can I repay the Lord for all His favours towards me.” In Your bountiful mercy, You revealed to us that by reciting Psalms one merits to repentance, for You desire loving-kindness and want the wicked to repent, not that they should die. Therefore You preceded the cure to the affliction and granted us this holy Book of Psalms, which opens for us all the gateways of mercy, all the gateways of repentance. There are Fifty Gates of Repentance, corresponding to the Fifty Gates of Wisdom (Bina). Master of the World, Merciful Father, in Your bountiful mercy, grant us merit to engage in reciting Psalms all the days of our lives. Help me and all my family, along with the community of Israel, Your Nation, so that they and I merit to recite many Psalms every single day, with truly great spiritual arousal and sincerity. May I merit to set my heart to the content of the verses, to let my ears hear that which I speak out, in such a way that I merit to find myself, at whatever spiritual level, within the verses of the holy Psalms which are made up of all the souls of Israel and from all the spiritual levels in the world, from the most sublime down to the depths of the Pit. All those who have fallen or become distant (from God) to the utmost degree can all find themselves in the Book of Psalms. Every individual can arouse his heart in complete repentance by the reciting of Psalms, in order to return to the Holy One, may He be blessed. Everyone can arrive to his own gate of repentance, to that location which corresponds to his letter among the forty—nine letters of the names of the holy Tribes. These forty—nine letters correspond to forty—nine of the gates of Repentance through which we have to return to God, until, by this, we merit to have the Holy One return to us in complete repentance (so to speak) and that He will have compassion upon us, in bountiful loving-kindness and great mercy; He will help us and support us at all times to always come closer to God from wherever we’ve fallen and to return to Him in complete repentance, always repenting on the previous repentance. Please, please, my Father, merciful Father, You know that I’ve blemished very much all the paths of Your advice which You revealed to us by Your true tzaddikim. However, I know and believe, with perfect faith, that really it is impossible to spoil Your advice in any way in the world. Therefore I still stand firm and wait expectantly every moment for a complete salvation, that You will bring me closer to You and return me in perfect repentance before You by way of all the paths and the wonderful, awesome, pure and simple pieces of advice which You revealed to us by Your true tzaddikim, in such a way that I will merit from now on to always be as is Your good desire. Master of the World, let me merit to consistently recite many Psalms every day with great devotion and wonderful enthusiasm, with sincere intent of the heart, until I merit by this to feel the pain of my sins and to repent perfectly. May I merit to great happiness by the reciting of Psalms and to arouse upon myself all the ten types of melody with which the Book of Psalms was composed and is recited. They are a cure for ‘the princess’, who is the Community of Israel. You, who are full of compassion, let me merit to leave the exile of Egypt and all the exiles of the soul and body that are all referred to as the exile of Egypt. Grant me the merit to purify, refine and reveal the Forty—Nine Gates of Repentance by the reciting of Psalms which include all "the names of the Children of Israel who come to Egypt" There are forty-nine letters in the names of the Tribes which correspond to the Forty-Nine Gates of Repentance. By this, take me out of the Forty-Nine Gates of Defilement and let me enter into the Forty-Nine Gates of Holiness. Remove me from the distress of the throat, so that my throat not be parched, for I have already called You very much from distress, from the restrictions of the throat. Take me out of the confines of Egypt to a spacious place; raise me from the aspect of the land of Egypt, from the distress and confines of the throat, until I merit to open wide my mouth. Then fill it with all that is really, eternally good (words of Torah and prayer) in such a way that I merit to come closer to You and return to You in perfect, sincere repentance, with all my heart, all my body and all my possessions. “Turn to me and I will return, for You are the Lord, my God." Our Father, return us to Your Torah; our King, bring us closer to Your service. Return us in complete repentance before You, for You look and wait for the wicked and desire his being found righteous. You desire repentance, for You do not desire the death of the wicked, rather You desire that he ‘turn from his ways and live.’ Until the day of his death You will wait for him; if he repents You will immediately accept him. "You turn a person to destruction (much suffering)" until deep depression, “and say, ‘Return you sons of man.’ ” "Return us, O God of our salvation and cause Your anger towards us to cease.” "Return us to You, O Lord, and we will return; renew our days of as of old." Master of the World, "this is my comfort in my affliction”; the true tzaddikim strengthened and encouraged us with all sorts of reason and revealed to us that ‘there is no despair in the world at all’! On this alone I relied for support; on their great strength I depended. I still await salvation from where I am now. Therefore, You who are full of mercy, I will ask You at all times to save me by all the forms of holy advice that You revealed to us through Your true tzaddikim. Every single piece of advice has the power to help and save me also! Even if I’ve spoiled them all by my many transgressions, I know and believe that You still have much compassion and many ways of saving; You have ways of salvation and wonderful advice, which You revealed only to them and they, the tzaddikim, haven’t yet revealed them in the world. I still have some hope that by that advice I’ll merit to return to You and start anew, to fulfill all Your holy advice, with love and fear, in such a way that I merit to rectify everything, very speedily, in my lifetime, as is always Your good desire. You, who are full of mercy, let me merit to recite whole-heartedly many Psalms, with great devotion and wonderful enthusiasm until I merit that You bestow upon me at all times a radiance and great holiness from the Fiftieth Gate of Holiness which includes all the Gates of Holiness. In this way, remove me very speedily from all the Fifty Gates of Defilement and bring me into all the Fifty Gates of Holiness, for, our Father in Heaven, we have no one to rely upon except You. There is no place in which You are not present! Please, please help us from now on; grant us a complete salvation as is becoming to You, in such a way that I merit to be entirely renewed, so that I leave my bad ways and bad thoughts completely and never return to folly. “Create in me a pure heart, O God; and renew a true spirit within me." May I merit very soon, by the reciting of Psalms, to come to and reach the letter and Gate of Repentance belonging to my soul, corresponding to the root of my higher soul in the forty-nine letters of the Lord’s Tribes. By this, may I truly return to You whole-heartedly and serve You sincerely, with fear and love, with happiness and good-heartedness stemming from abundance. "Turn to me and I will return, for You are the Lord, my God." Master of the World, let me merit to regularly recite many Psalms every day with great devotion, wonderful enthusiasm and sincerity until I merit by this to feel the pain of my sins and to repent completely over them. May I merit to great happiness by the reciting of the Psalms and to arouse upon myself all the ten types of melody with which the Book of Psalms is said. They are a cure for the princess who represents the community of Israel. You, who are full of compassion, grant me merit to get out of the exile of Egypt and from all the exiles of the soul and body which are also referred to as the exile of Egypt. Grant me the merit to purify, refine and reveal all the Forty-nine Gates of Repentance by the reciting of Psalms that include all the names of the Children of Israel who came to Egypt. There are forty-nine letters in the names of the Tribes which correspond to the Forty—nine Gates of Repentance. By this, take me out of the Forty—nine Gates of impurity and help me enter the Forty-nine Gates of Repentance. Remove me from the distress of the throat, so that the throat be not parched, for I have already called You very much from the narrow confines of the throat. Take me out of the confines to a spacious place; raise me from the aspect of the land of Egypt, from the confines of the throat, until I merit to expand my mouth and then You will fill it with all that is really eternally good (words of Torah and prayer) in such a way that I merit to come closer to You and return to You in perfect, sincere repentance, with all my heart, all my body and all my money. Master of the World, please remember the wonderful and awesome loving—kindness that You did for us in bringing us out of Egypt with great strength and with a strong arm. You revealed to us the truth of belief in Your Divinity by a great, wonderful, pleasing light. You performed great and awesome signs and wonders in order to reveal Your Divinity, Your Oneness and Dominion, which extend over everything. Since then, You brought us close to You as a holy nation. You took us out of the Forty-nine Gates of Impurity and entered us into the Forty-nine Gates of Holiness which are the Forty—nine Gates of Repentance that are comprised of the forty-nine letters in the names of the Tribes of the Lord. In Your bountiful mercy, You commanded us to count forty-nine days of the Omer to correspond to this, in order to purify the souls of Your Nation, Israel, from their filthiness, so that we merit by this counting of the Omer to get out of the impurity and to reach purity, to leave the Forty-nine Gates of Impurity and to enter the Forty-nine Gates of Holiness. Master of the World, full of compassion, in Your tremendous loving-kindness let us merit to perform the commandment of counting the Omer with great holiness and wonderful and awesome spiritual arousal, so that we awake by the holiness of this awesome commandment and really return in repentance to You; let us merit to leave all our impurity and remove from within us all sorts of impurity and filth that has become attached to us through our bad deeds. Master of the World, Master of the World, deliver me by all kinds of salvation for You know the power of each commandment, how great its power is to extract us from the places into which we have fallen because of our many iniquities. Bring us closer to You. This is especially true of this commandment of counting the Omer, which is a preparation for the receiving of the Torah. which is the beginning of Israel’s coming closer to their Father in Heaven. You gave us this holy commandment in order that we get out of the Forty-nine Gates of Impurity and enter the Forty-nine Gates of Holiness. Grant me merit, from where I am now, to perform this commandment in absolute perfection, as much as is possible for someone such as myself to perform this commandment. Be full of compassion for me; help me and save me by this; extract me from impurity very quickly and bring me to holiness; bring me from the mundane to holiness, from sorrow to happiness, from servitude to redemption, from darkness to a great light, such that we merit on the holy Festival of Shavuot, on the fiftieth day, to have You return to us and open for us the holy Fiftieth Gate. Bestow upon us Your good from the Fiftieth Gate, with great mercy and sublime loving-kindness, so that we merit to rectify everything and always truly return to You… "May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing before Your Countenance, O God, my Rock and Redeemer.” Amen and Amen. 74. Purim is a preparation for Pesach. By the mitzvot of Purim which we perform we merit to be protected from chometz in Pesach. ## 74 ### Prayer for Torah 74 74. Worker of miracles and wonders in every generation, who fights our fights, who judges our judgements, who takes revenge for us, who pays back all our souls’ enemies and who separates us from our troubles, may it be Your will, O Lord, our God and God of our fathers, that, in Your bountiful compassion, You have mercy upon us and, in Your salvation and awesome wonders, help us to welcome and fulfill the holy days of Purim in their appointed time, as is fitting. May we merit to fulfill all the holy commandments that are customary on Purim, with great holiness and purity, with happiness and good—heartedness, with tremendously great rejoicing, song, joy and gaiety. Let us fulfill them in all their details, exactitude and intentions and the 613 commandments that are dependent on them. Master of the World, You have already revealed to us that all the miracles and wonders which You performed for our forefathers and because of which the holy Festivals were established — these miracles are performed, revealed and radiate in every generation, in every person, at all times. We need to attract the holiness of Purim and the holiness of all the Festivals and the radiance of the miracles and wonders that were done then and in every single year, in every generation and in every individual specifically. Therefore I have come before You, You who perform miracles and wonders in every single generation, every day, every period of the day, and every hour; teach me, show me, grant me the merit of the really perfect happiness of Purim. Let me merit to rejoice very, very much, with all my heart and soul, on the holy days of Purim, with a boundless happiness such that I merit by the happiness and holiness of Purim to draw upon myself and upon all Israel the holiness and purity which stems from the red-heifer which purifies from the uncleanliness of the dead. You commanded us to engage in reading this portion of the Torah which refers to the red-heifer, after Purim. You revealed to us that by Purim one merits to the purity of the red-heifer in order that we merit to be pure and to accept the holiness of the Pesach sacrifice in its appointed time. Master of the World, You know that because of our immense decline and fall into the depths of this bitter exile and the tremendous multiplicity of troubles that happen to each and every Jew, myself in particular, and the incredibly great depths of the sea that sweep over me and pursue me very, very much from all sides, I am in great trouble, very, very great distress beyond measure or estimation. I don’t know of any opening of hope to rectify or escape all this. Therefore for all these things I now need wonderful miracles and great, awesome acts of deliverance, just as You performed for the community of Israel in previous generations, wonderful and awesome miracles, such as in the days of Mordechai and Esther when the evil Haman, may his name and memory be wiped out, stood up against them etc. This miracle of Purim was greater than all the miracles You ever performed for us, as You revealed to us by Your holy Sages, may their memory be blessed, who said that in the future all the Festivals will be cancelled apart from Purim. Originally, all the beginnings were from Pesach, for all the Festivals are a remembrance of the leaving of Egypt, but now... Master of the World, Master of all the World, Master of wonders who sows the seeds of salvation, You know the truth, that the main miracle of all the miracles and wonders which You performed for us when leaving Egypt and in the war against Amalek in the days of Moses and in the days of Mordechai and Esther, and all the miracles and wonders that You performed for us in the days of Channuka, and in every generation, the principal miracle of them all is the salvation of the soul. For the primary jealousy and hate of all our troublemakers and persecutors, materially and spiritually, is only because we believe in You, O Lord, our God, and yearn to go in Your holy paths and to fulfill Your awesome commandments and to reveal and publicise the truth of faith in Your Divinity, Your supervision and dominion over the world. Only because of this, more than one nation has stood against us to destroy us; in every generation they stand against us to destroy us but the Holy One saves us from their hands. Therefore the primary miracle and salvation from all the troubles is that You express Your vengeance and You perform miracles and wonders in order that the Torah and commandments can continue to exist, that they shouldn’t be nullified from the world, Heaven forbid, as the haters and deniers want, may their names be wiped out. All of them are from the side of Haman and Amalek, may his name be wiped out. Now what can I say before You who sit in the Heavens? What can I tell You who dwells in the skies? After all these miracles and wonders, I myself persecute myself more than all the haters, for I haven’t overcome my desires, and I’ve even drawn upon myself the evil desire. I’ve done what I’ve done such that I’ve actually brought upon myself these troubles and this distress. They are more difficult and bitter than all the troubles for there is no distress as bad as that of the soul. The greatest compassion that there is, is to extract a Jewish soul from iniquities and blemishes. Master of the World, Eternal One, O true Lord, God, You alone know how far these things extend, for truthfully I am ignorant. I don’t know the power of the miracle of Purim, materially or spiritually, and I especially don’t know how to merit to draw upon myself the power of this miracle and salvation. You alone know everything. You allude to me from afar, by various sparks and countless signs, to come closer to You at all times. As for myself, because of my immense stubbornness, I still haven’t turned back from my mistake, but, in my bitter affliction, I find comfort in the fact that I am still determined to speak like this before You, that I utter to You from the dust and still hope for Your compassion and salvation. Master of the World, You alone know the power of the miracle that was in the days of Mordechai and Esther when they merited to be victorious in the war against Haman and Amalek and to wipe out their name and memory from the world and how they merited, by this, to draw a wonderful radiance and awesome salvation to each generation. Only You know how, now, all our life-force and hope to escape our exile in body and soul, is only by the power of this miracle. We stand out and wait for Your salvation. Just like You helped them then to subdue and break the husk of Haman-Amalek, to uproot, nullify and subdue his great poison and to reveal faith in Your Providence in the world, to return, fulfill and accept anew the holiness of Your holy Torah — so, stand up for us in every single generation until You are victorious in the war completely and utterly, wiping out the memory of Amalek and removing the spirit of impurity from the land. Really return us to You and extract us very quickly from out of this bitter exile. Therefore, Lord of wonders, I have come before You to ask that You take heed of and feel the great distress we experience, Behold our affliction and labour. Don’t look at our bad deeds. Perform for us wonderful and awesome miracles, miracles of Purim, such that things turn out for the good and that we merit to return to You very speedily indeed in our lifetime. Let us never go back to foolishness. Master of the World, living God, King of the World, who revives the living, have mercy upon us and revive us, give us existence, sanctify us, and purify us from the uncleanliness of the dead, which is the most severe impurity of all and which corresponds to thoughts of sexual desire that have become stronger and spread very much in the world such that we’ve drowned in the mire of the depths of the sea where it’s impossible to stand. I've come into deep waters where the floods overflow us." Through the strength of the holiness of the commandment of Purim, let us merit to accept and draw upon ourselves the holiness and purity of the pure red-heifer, to really purify ourselves, in This World and the World to Come, from the impurity of the dead. You, who are full of mercy, help us and save us in order to fulfill the commandment of Purim with holiness and such great happiness that we merit to really be careful from even the smallest quantity of chametz (leavened bread) during Pesach. Let us fulfill all the awesome commandments of Pesach in great holiness and awesome and immense happiness. Have mercy upon us for Your Name's sake. Let us merit, in Your mercy, to impress our wishes upon You. Help us and save us according to this lesson to really return quickly to You. Save us by the power of the holiness of the miracle and wonderful salvation of Purim so that we merit to change completely from evil to good and let us get out of the sorrow and darkness and reach happiness and great light. Help us and save us so that we can fast on the Fast of Esther, before Purim, with great holiness. Let us say the supplication in great devotion, crying out and shouting to You very much. Open my heart so that I merit to really feel the pain of my iniquities and the immensity of my distress which is beyond measure, such that I merit to shout out very strongly and bitterly, as is fitting for me to shout according to the multiplicity of my iniquities, my immense wilful transgressions and very, very great blemishes. Let me shout out to You until Your compassion is really aroused upon me. Speedily save me and redeem me from myself. Make me walk in Your statutes and heed Your commandments really whole-heartedly. My Father, my King. my Maker, my Creator, show me the way how to start from the aspect of the holiness of Purim, as You alluded to us by Your holy sages. Help us by way of a miracle and a wonderful, awesome salvation, by way of a wonderful and awesome innovation, in such a way that I merit from now on to return to You in really perfect repentance. May I merit to start anew, to really and whole-heartedly make a perfectly new beginning, with all my heart and soul, in truly serving You. Truly show me and teach me from where to start, in what way and by what advice I may merit to really return to You. Master of the World, "Great in counsel and mighty in deed," "direct us aright with good counsel from before You, and save us speedily for Your Name’s sake,” such that from now I merit to really perfect repentance all the days of my life. Let me not stray from Your will, either to the right or the left. Let me merit to learn, teach, heed, do and fulfill all the words of Your Torah with love and to carry out all the commandments and all the things concerned with holiness, to do each thing at its appointed time and on time. Let me do it well at its proper time, with great holiness and purity. Strengthen me at all times in happiness and joy and may I merit, in the merit of the strength of the true tzaddikim, to drive out and nullify from myself and from all Israel, the husk of Haman—Amalek, may his name be wiped out. Let me draw upon myself the holiness of the miracle and salvation of Purim. Have mercy upon us in every generation, in every year, that we merit to rejoice very, very much during the days of Purim with great happiness and incredibly great joy. Let us merit to fulfill the commandments of reading the Scroll of Esther with great holiness and purity, with phenominally great happiness. Let us consider the greatness of the immensity of the wonderful miracle and this awesome salvation and may we publicize this miracle before all people and assembly. May we merit to fulfill the commandment of becoming drunk on Purim, as the Sages of blessed memory commanded us. Help us and protect us so that the drinking and drunkenness of Purim shouldn’t harm us at all, neither physically nor spiritually, and that we shouldn’t harm anybody or anything by our drunkenness. Rather, let us merit by the drunkenness of Purim to reach great happiness and phenominally great joy, to reach the happiness of Purim when the immense and wonderful radiance of Mordechai shines out, a radiance unequalled throughout the year. Let me merit to be happy and good-hearted, to gladded other people also, to gladden all Your Nation, Israel, with the happiness of Purim, with very, very great joy indeed. We will rejoice and be glad in Your salvation with true happiness in such a way that You have contentment and satisfaction, such that You get great delight from our drinking and happiness on the holy day(s) of Purim. May we merit also now, every year, to the great miracle and wonderful salvation of Purim so that we can drive out, uproot and nullify from ourselves the husk of Haman—Ama1ek and his great poison. Let us wipe out his name and memory from the world. Let us purify ourselves from his poison and so reach great holiness and purity. May we draw upon ourselves the holiness of Mordechai and Esther. Let us merit to draw the holiness of Purim to all the days of the year, to always be happy in You with really great happiness and joy. By this, may we merit to the holiness and purity of the red—heifer and to the real holiness of Pesach. Let us merit to always be happy. Fulfill in us the verse which says: “For our heart shall rejoice in Him, for we have trusted in His holy Name." May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing before Your Countenance, O God, my Rock and my Redeemer. 75. Looking at the face of tzaddikim alone is a very great thing. Certainly when one merits to speak with him this is even better but just looking alone is very good and is very beneficial for achieving holiness. 76. Even a wanderer who travels back and forth and sometimes comes to places that are very far away from the service of G-d, such as the houses of the wicked and even of idol worship, even so as a Jew he has the power to raise and lift up all these places to G-d. Therefore, he has to do what he can to draw himself to the Holy One in any way he can in any place that he finds himself. ## 75 ### Prayer for Torah 75 Master of the World, merit me to the attribute of peace. Let me be a lover of peace and to always pursue peace. Guard me and save me through Your immense compassion from the trait of wanting to triumph over others and from controversy stemming from the other side. Let my heart be free from these traits which come from blood in the body which has not been used to serve the Holy One. Have mercy upon me and merit me from now on to study Torah and pray a lot. May I speak out many words of Torah and prayer every single day until I use every drop of blood in me to service G_d. May all the drops of blood within me become holy words of Torah and prayer until no drop of blood remains that has not served the Holy One. Father, merit me to serve You with all my strength throughout my lifetime with every drop of blood that I have. Let me verbalize so many words of Torah and prayer that my body becomes completely negated as if it is actually nothing at all. Please merit me to perfect fear before You at all times. Draw down and bestow in my heart fear, shame, dread and a great awe before Your constantly. By this, merit me to clarify, elevate and purify all the letters and sparks that fell into the world, as ‘broken vessels’. As a result of my sins and enormous iniquities, in this lifetime and in previous lifetimes. These sins lead to controversy, doubts, confusion and obstacles to Your holy service and from these stem all the physical cravings in the world. May I have the strength to elevate all the fallen sparks to You. As a result, may the Holy One and the Shechinah be united and through this, may a great and wonderful peace exist in the World Above and Below and in all the worlds. Let there be great love and peace between all the Jewish people and all created things in the world. ## 76 ### Torah 76 - And After These Things a) By trusting G-d, meaning that one watches and looks expectantly for the Holy One alone while relying on Him, one creates a vessel for bounty; then one merits that that the bounty and income come at the time and moment one needs them, like it says, “ The eyes of all wait for You” and through this “You give them their food in its right time” (Psalms,145:15), in other words when it is needed. b) There is an aspect of “My soul thirsts”. That’s to say like someone who is very thirsty who will drink even dirty water; so also in the service of G-d. There are people who are always in an aspect of thirst – they learn and serve G-d continually yet they are always ‘thirsty’ for their soul yearns continually for the service of G-d. But it is not in the right time or with intelligence because sometimes to cease from Torah is the way to preserve it, as it says, “It is a time to act for G-d, they made void Your Torah” (Psalms, 119:126). Their main thirst is in essence because they are in a state of ‘limited consciousness’ and they do not merit to a renewal of the mind. They are an aspect of those who cannot see or are blind in the service of G-d. The blind person lacks a feeling of satiation, as the Sages said. Therefore they cannot give satiation to their souls, or to quench their thirst in the service of G-d. This is the virtue of attachment to tzaddikim for, by this, one merits to serve G-d in an aspect of ‘seeing’ and ‘intellect’ which represent a boundary and proper time, not an aspect of thirst. Consequently, a Jew has to try to come close to tzaddikim, for even someone who constantly studies and serves G-d doesn’t know how to behave in his service without the advice of a tzaddik. c) Through repentance resulting from a love of G-d, no impression remains from a person’s sins. Then he can merit to pray and study with a pure intellect, which is an aspect of ‘expanded consciousness’. Then he will merit to pray as is fitting as well as studying and understanding without great effort; and he will merit to renew his mind every single day. 77. The rule is that whatever we do, whether prayer or studying Torah, it is all in order that the Kingdom of G-d become revealed. Prayer (77) “My soul thirsts for G-d, for the living G-d: when shall I come and appear before G_d.” Your mercy is great O Lord: quicken me according to Your judgments.” Master of the World, let me merit to repent sincerely and wholeheartedly before You. May I really repent out of love in order that You pardon me for all my iniquities, so that no impression at all remains of them. Let all my iniquities turn into meritorious deeds. Let me be worthy of a holy mind and intellect to a pure, refined intellect, free of any dross or waste, just like pure silver. Like silver that has been refined and purified seven-fold. May I merit to renew my mind all the time with great holiness and purity. Help me and save me at all times to learn and teach with a pure and refined mind. May I merit to understand very quickly indeed every book that I learn so that I need not peruse any further at all. May my mind progress and grow with great holiness, with tremendous speed, with purity and clarity. Help me merit to be very speedy in the service of Heaven and to understand everything in the words of Your holy Torah, perfectly and truthfully at great speed, without any confusion at all. In Your bountiful mercy, give me the merit, show me and teach me all the time to really know how to behave in each matter and in the matter of learning the holy Torah, how to set a quantity and limit to my learning so that I know when to learn and when to cease whit it is absolutely necessary. Let this be in such a way that my brain and mind exist with great perfection and great holiness, as is Your good desire. Do not let a lot of learning and engaging (in holiness) beyond the limit harm me, as it is written: “It is time to act for the Lord, for they made void ceasing from learning the Torah is its continued existence.” “But I am more brutish (ignorant) than any man; and I have not the understanding of a man.” I have no idea how to behave in this matter so that it really be as Your desire, for sometimes I cease from learning completely, more than is really fitting, and sometimes my soul burns and is enthused and longs very much to learn all the time, without even a break or ceasing at all. In fact this is not good either, for Your desire is to set a limit to each thing. Therefore I cast my supplication before You and spread out my hands in prayer towards You, my Father, merciful Father. You see, gaze, look upon and know the concealed, hidden feelings of my heart. In Your bountiful mercy and very great immense and awesome loving-kindness, grant me a holy mind. Guide me in Your truth and teach me at all times how to behave with regard to learning and with regard to all holy matters – when and how much to learn or teach, how much to do or engage myself in Your holy service. Let me know when to pause and break off for a little, according to the necessity, as is Your good desire, in order to give my brain a rest, so that I do not cease completely. Heaven forbid, by learning beyond the proper limit, as You know. Take pity and have mercy upon us for You know how many confusions and doubts there are in this matter, for each person is according to his spiritual level. We do not know what to advise our souls in this matter at all. Have mercy upon us for Your Name’s sake. Show me Your ways so that I merit to always determine and attune my behaviour in all matters in accordance to the ultimate truth. “Teach me Your way. O Lord. I will walk in Your truth: unite my heart to fear Your Name.” Lead me in Your truth and teach me: for You are the G-d of my salvation; for You I wait all the day. 78.”AND HE WILL GIVE STRENGTH TO HIS KING” ( Shmuel,1, 2:10) a) Holy speech, meaning words of Torah and prayer and fear of G-d, is very sublime and precious; for holy speech is an aspect of the Divine Presence, an aspect of the revelation of His Kingship and His faith. It is an aspect of the Spirit of Meshiach, a Spirit of Holiness, an aspect of the Resurrection of the Dead and an aspect of the Unification of the Holy One and the Shechinah. b) Speech is also an aspect of ‘Mother of the Sons’ meaning that like the mother always accompanies her sons, even into the filthy places, and doesn’t forget them, so also the power of speech accompanies a Jew at all times even into the filthy places in order to always remind him of the Holy One. That’s to say even if a Jew is situated in the lowest of spiritual levels, wherever he is, Heaven forbid, even so, through the power of speech he can forever remind himself of G-d’s presence in the world. In other words, even if he is where he is, when he strengthens himself even there to at least speak holy words of Torah and prayer, or to speak to G-d or to speak to his rabbi or friend about fear of G-d, he can always remind himself of G-d, even there in the places far away from the service of G-d which are like filthy places. Even if he fell to wherever he fell, Heaven preserve us, speech doesn’t let a person forget the Holy One. Understand well the greatness of the power of speech; it is a wonderful and awesome piece of advice to whoever really desires not to lose his world completely, Heaven forbid. c) Without studying Torah it is impossible to live for sometimes a Jew burns with enthusiasm to cleave to G-d beyond measure such that he could become entirely burned out, Heaven forbid, because of his excessive burning enthusiasm. However, by studying Torah he cools the fire of this burning so that it will be in the proper measure and he can continue to exist. The opposite is also true, Heaven forbid, for sometimes a Jew burns with the desires of this world so much that he can burn all his body, Heaven forbid, from the intensity of the burning fire of cravings. However, when he studies Torah it shields him and saves him; it extinguishes the burning fire within him so that he can live. So it is that the main essence of life we acquire through studying Torah. Prayer (78) May it be Your will G-d our G-d and G-d of our Fathers that in Your great compassion You help me and merit me to sanctify the words of my mouth always. May I constantly say holy words every day and pray a lot. Protect us and guard us so that no word escape our lips that negates Your will. Let us never blemish our speech. Rather merit us to sanctify our speech at all times and to speak abundantly holy words and Torah and prayer. My Father, compassionate Father, bring us close to Your holy Torah. Merit me to study and contemplate You Torah by day and night until I merit to cool down all my fiery passion by means of my words and Torah and prayer. For You know the degree to which my heart burns. Sometimes my mind becomes confused and this passion turns into a heart which burns for the physical cravings of This world. It becomes like a fiery furnace which wants to burn up my body and soul, Heaven forbid. Now I have no wisdom or advice other than to shout out to You until You bring me closer to You for Your sake out of Your bountiful compassion. Hover over me and protect me. Save me. Blow on my heart so that this will put our the fire of my evil cravings. Drive out from me the spirit of folly. Merit me to draw upon me the spirit of life, the spirit of holiness. May I fulfill the verse which says: “Let the Book of Torah not cease from your lips and you will study it by day and night”. And merit us to recognize You truly above and beyond all the worlds. 79. “TRUST IN THE LORD AND DO GOOD” (Psalms,37:3) a) Every Jew has to see to it that he causes no delay in the coming of the Meshiach. That’s to say, he has to rectify his deeds and repent perfectly so that he will not hold back with his sins the coming of the Meshiach. b) In every genuine tzaddik there exists a revelation of Meshiach. At least there is an attribute of Meshiach which is an aspect of Moshe meaning that he is very humble etc.; he truly knows his own lowliness while at the same time knowing the importance and greatness of the People of Israel. He is prepared to sacrifice his soul and his life-force for the sake of Israel. All this he merited to through such perfect repentance that all the evil was discarded entirely and he became totally good; this is also an aspect of Moshe Meshiach. c) Those Jews who are not yet regular in the service of G-d and their repentance is still not perfect, but rather, sometimes they happen to have thoughts of repentance and begin a little to serve G-d but afterwards fall away from this and then arouse themselves, changing like this each time from bad to good and from good to bad, they are an aspect of once impure, once pure, once defiled once kosher etc. this kind of repentance is like the six work days of the week for this person hasn’t a sense of rest. However, when he repents perfectly this corresponds to Shabbat meaning that he feels at rest in every aspect; the evil is pushed away completely and he becomes entirely good. By this he merits to really see his lowliness together with the importance and greatness of the People of Israel such that because of this he sacrifices his soul and vitality for their sake. This is an aspect of the attributer of Moshe Meshiach, as mentioned previously. d) Through the sanctity of Shabbat one merits to genuine humility. That’s to say, one sees one’s lowliness and recognizes the importance of the People of Israel; then one is willing to sacrifice one’s soul for them like Moshe, our teacher, may his memory be blessed. e) The main aspect of humility is that a person consider himself as being beneath his own lowly spiritual level, lower than what he is, like it says of Shabbat, “Remain every person in (under) his place” (Exodus,16:29) meaning, below his own level. At least he shouldn’t go out from his place, to above his own level. f) By means of humility and lowliness no-one can remove or push him out of his place; that’s to say, no-one can take away his income, Heaven forbid. Prayer (79) I have come G-d, my G-d and G-d of our Fathers to cast my entreaties before You. In Your immense mercy, please bestow upon me peace and quiet. Merit me to genuine complete repentance. Let me make my Torah study regular and holy from now on, so that I can serve You constantly by day and night with all my heart, using good and bad urges. Raise me from impurity to purify, from the mundane to the holy, from the six workdays to holiness of Shabbat. Merit me to receive Shabbat with great joy and immense happiness with all kinds of honour and delight for Shabbat, with tremendous holiness and purity as You want. May I become merged in the holiness of Shabbat and draw the holiness of Shabbat into the six work days. Merit me to the repentance of Shabbat and to rest from all mundane matters, turning away from all the cravings and vanities of This World. Woe am I for I have sinned. Oh what have I done! How did I not have mercy on my very precious soul. How was I so cruel with my soul, more than all the murderers vicious people in the world. Help me not to have any hidden pride in my heart, Heaven forbid. Save me from pride and haughtiness at all times. My Father in Heaven, merit me to the eye of Shabbat such that I can see my true holiness. You know my lowliness is beyond measure. Even so my mind becomes confused with extraneous thoughts and pride. Please return me in repentance. Save me from all forms of pride and merit me to true humility until I see my own worthless ness. As a result, let me see the greatness and importance of the Jewish People and sacrifice myself for them at all times. Guard me so that Meshiach will not be delayed because of me, Heaven forbid. Protect and save me from now on from sins, iniquities and bad thoughts and from all kinds of confusion of the mind. Rather, merit me to pure thoughts, holy thoughts which are really bright and proper. Let me constantly Serve You with true fear of Heaven in all my heart. Enable me to come close to genuine tzaddikim and to pure, straightforward Jews until they bring me into the realm of holiness and genuine repentance. 80. “THE LORD GIVES STRENGTH TO HIS PEOPLE” (Psalms,29:11) a) The essence of peace is to connect two opposites. Therefore, do not get confused if you see someone whose opinion is exactly the opposite from yours and it seems to you that it is impossible to sustain peace with him. So also when you see two people who are actually two opposites, don’t say that it is impossible to make peace between them. On the contrary, this is the main perfection of peace, to try and make peace between two opposites, just like the Holy One who makes peace in the Heavens between fire and water which are two opposites. b) To merit to peace is by means of self-sacrifice, for the sanctification of G-d’s Name (see inside). Through this a person merits to speak holy words of Torah and prayer. That’s to say, he will merit to put all his mind, wisdom and understanding into the words and connect his thoughts very well to the words until he understands and listens very well to what he is saying. This is the main holiness of the power of speech. G-d has great pleasure from such speech. To all this one merits through peace to which one merits by self-sacrifice in the sanctification of G-d’s Name. c) Even the simplest of Jews, even among the sinners of the People of Israel, when the idol worshippers want to force them to renounce their faith, Heaven forbid, they sacrifice themselves to sanctify G-d’s Name, as we have seen already several times. Therefore a Jew has to remind himself of this every day that he is willing to sacrifice himself in order to sanctify G-d’s Name. This is the main holiness of a Jew and through this he merits to peace, as mentioned above. d) This is a good idea, when you want to pray with concentration, for when a person sees that it is difficult for him to focus his mind in prayer because of many thoughts that confuse and bother him, then he should remind himself that he is certainly willing to die to sanctify G-d’s Name; because even the sinners of the People of Israel sacrifice themselves to sanctify G-d’s Name. By this self-sacrifice to sanctify G-d’s Name a Jew will merit to connect his thoughts to the words of prayer and thus pray with concentration. Even without this, the main perfection of prayer is to pray with self-sacrifice. Prayer (80) Help me and bring me salvation so that I am always ready to really sacrifice my soul to sanctify Your Name, especially at the time of reciting “Shma Yisrael” and praying. Merit me to fix in my mind very firmly, with a strong desire, readiness to sacrifice my soul to sanctify You name while burning with enthusiasm so I can overpower my evil urge and thus give over all my body, soul and all my money in order to sanctify Your holy Name. May I, by this, be able to always pray with great concentration in true holiness and purity. And let me put all my mind and thoughts with the words of prayer, connecting my thoughts to the words very firmly indeed. As a result please find pleasure in my prayers. G-d I need many wonderful forms of salvations all the time. In Your bountiful compassion open up Your fountains of salvation. May the salvation flow and renew itself all the time at every moment in such a manner that we are saved from what we need to be saved from. Sanctify and purify us, through these streams of salvation, from all the impurities, stains and blemishes in the world. Fulfill in us the verse which says: “And I will throw over You , pure waters and will You will be purified; from all the impurities and all the idols I will purify You”. Master of the World who makes salvations flourish. Fulfill our wishes for our good. Save us hastily and bring us salvation both materially and spiritually in whatever we need. And let this be in such a manner that I return to You and come closer to You in truth. 81. Sometimes a tzaddik talks with the public about mundane subjects. This is a great favour for them for there are people who are very far away from the Torah and understanding of it such that it is impossible to bring them close (to G-d) by means of words of Torah, but rather, specifically only by these mundane conversations when the tzaddik clothes the Torah within them. Also, sometimes it is a favour to the tzaddik himself; he has to sharpen his mind and revive himself by such a conversation. Then, automatically, this benefit will reach the person who spoke with the tzaddik the mundane conversation which revived him. 82. Disgrace is an aspect of foreskin, as is written, “We cannot…who is not circumcised, for it is a disgrace for us” (Gen.34:14). There are three layers of skin in the foreskin which are an aspect of the three husks: a storm wind, a great cloud and fire flaring up. By remaining silent about a disgrace, one pushes off these husks, for he doesn’t want to argue and disgrace his fellow. There is also a fourth skin which is very fine; this is an aspect of the husk called ‘noga’, an aspect of ‘chashmal’ (electrum), that’s to say ‘chash’ and ‘mal’. For to remain quiet and silent in the face of disgrace is an aspect of mila- circumcision. It’s known that sometimes ‘noga’ becomes included in holiness but sometimes it goes to the opposite side. Therefore, silence at a disgrace also has two aspects. Sometimes a person remains silent against his fellow in order to cause him more suffering. It turns out by this that he causes even more disgrace to his fellow. Then the silence becomes included in the husk of ‘noga’, an aspect of disgrace, as above. But those who hear themselves disgraced yet do not answer and act from love, meaning that they remain silent out of love, not wanting to embarrass or disgrace their fellow, then this silence, which is an aspect of ‘noga’, becomes included in the realm of holiness. This is what is written in the words of the Ariz’l; on the eve of Shabbat, the husk of ‘noga’ becomes included in holiness. Then the three husks of impurity also want to rise and take a hold on the holiness. So a holy fire descends and burns them so that they cannot attach themselves to holiness (See there in the writings of the Ariz’l). Therefore, the Sages said (Shabbat,88) about those who act out of love, as mentioned above, the verse says, “Those who love him are as the sun when it comes out in its might” (Judges,5:31). That’s to say, they are like a holy flame. By this, ‘noga’ is included within the realm of holiness, an aspect of ‘chash-mal’, for this silence is an aspect of nullification of the foreskin and the disgrace, as mentioned above. (Prayer 82) Master of the World, help me and save me so that I merit to remain silent and calm in the face of those who insult me. To those who curse my soul let me be sidlent. May I be among those who are insulted but do not insult, who hear their disgrace but do not reply; who act out of love and are happy in their suffering. Merit me never to have in mind to cause distress to others by my remaining silent to them. May all my intention in keeping silent be true love. Help me always to be very careful not to shame or disgrace my fellows not any person in the world, even those who insult me. So also, save me and merit me to overcome, break and nullify my evil urge, all my cravings and bad traits. Force my evil urge to be subservient to You such that I can drive away, break and subdue all te impure husks and forces of the Other Side which ixist in all worlds, whether the three completely impure husks (the storm wind, cloud and flashing fire) or whether the bad in the husk of Nogah. May I merit to destroy and nullify them completely so that I can separate the good in nogah and elevate it into holiness. Then let all the impure husks disappear and become nullified from upon me entirely so that they have no hold over me, Heaven forbid, for now on and for ever. Help me and guard me. Merit me to guard the brit. Nullify from me the husk of foreskin, the foreskin on the heart and the flesh. May I become truly merged in Your sublime holiness. Merit me to perform perfectly the mitzvah of wahsing in hot water and cutting my nails every eve of Shabbat in such a way that I can push off and nullify from me all these three impure husks so they will have no holk on me at all. Then let me separate and clarify the husk of nogah from all its evil and thus elevate its good into Your sublime holiness. All the husks will then descend and fall into the depths and become nullified completely. Merit me to accept upon myself additional sanctified time prior to Shabbat. Grant me an extra and pure neshama every single Shabbat. Then, amongst all the pious Jewish People, may I elevate all the worlds to far, far above. 83. The impurity of a nocturnal emission is caused by the husk called 'Lilit'. It takes nourishment from the six letters of the alphabet which, when you write them in full (as they sound) they contain the letter 'pheh'. (The letters are 'aleph', 'kaph', final 'kaph', 'pheh', final 'pheh' and 'kooph'.) Six times the numerical value of 'pheh' (80) is 480 which is exactly the numerical value of the name 'Lilit (L is 30; I is 10; l is 30; I is 10; t is 400). Then from the letter 'pheh' ;(spelt pheh- aleph) comes the letters 'aph' (aleph pheh, meaning 'anger'). This signifies how the harsh decrees become stronger and take revenge on a person, Heaven save us. The rectification for this is to give charity in a secret manner. By this one redeems the holy sparks from out of the husk. Then the anger (aph) will turn into the letter 'pheh'. This is what it says, "A gift in secret pacifies anger" (Proverbs, 21:14). That's to say it pacifies and changes the 'aph' (anger) to 'pheh'. (Prayer 83) Master of the World. Merit me to guard the brit perfectly. May I sanctify myself even in what is permissable such that my marital realtions will be an aspect of “if meritorious the Shechinah dwells between them.” You informed us that by blemishing the brit, by a nocturnal emission, one causes a strenghtening of the harsh decrees and G-d’s wrath in the world, Heaven forbid. This is an aspect of “if not meritorious, fire devours them”. Therfore let us give charity to worthy poor people especially in an anonymous manner and by this my all the harsh decrees which were created by a blemishing of the brit be sweetened. Fulfill in us the verse “Anonymous charity forces down the wrath”. Merit us from now on to be sa ved from all kinds of blemishes of the brit. 84. It says in the holy Zohar that 'There is no day which does not contain good and there is no good other than the Torah.' That's to say, every single day contains hidden good which are the secrets of the Torah that belong to that specific day. However, when a person wants to contemplate on and think about words of Torah, in other words the secrets of the Torah, but he is not worthy of this, then 'snakes and scorpions' come to confuse his thoughts such that he cannot reach a place which is free of them. These are the thoughts that come to a person and confuse him. By wanting and desiring very much to enter into the hidden good and to cleave to good attributes, the latter become gateways and openings to see and ascertain this hidden good in each day. Then each day becomes very long and large for him, for he sees and perceives the hidden good, meaning the hidden secrets of the Torah that belong to each day. This is the essence of 'lengthy days'. And the main way to merit to this is through yielding. When a person yields regarding his money this is the attribute of our Patriarch, Avraham. By this, all the 'snakes and scorpions', that's to say, all the strange thoughts that confuse a person's mind, fall away and become nullified. As a result, one's mind becomes pure and lucid and a person can reach the hidden good which belongs to him each day. 85. By the brains and the understanding that the Lord (YHVH) only is G-d etc., we rectify and magnify G-d's Kingdom, taking upon ourselves the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven (see inside). 86. TAKING A SMALL STEP ON SHABBAT c) The main way that the External Forces (of Evil) take hold during the weekdays is through the aspect of the 'legs'; that's to say, they don't let a person 'walk' (progress) in the paths of G-d. On the holy day of Shabbat we again receive the power of walking, an aspect of "if you restrain because of Shabbat your feet…" (Isaiah, 58:13). However, just like an infant when it begins to walk still needs support, so also a Jew who begins on Shabbat to walk in the paths of G-d needs support. This support is by means of truth which is included in the sanctity of Shabbat, as the Sages said, "Even an ignorant Jew is afraid to lie on Shabbat" (D'mai, Ch.4). Even so, he needs to receive power in his legs in order to be able to walk (progress) well. To this he merits by giving charity for the sake of Shabbat. That's to say, one gives charity to a Jew for him to buy his needs for Shabbat or one hosts a poor person at one's table on Shabbat. d) Charity is an aspect of the sun, as it says, "the sun is charity" (Melachi, 3:20). Charity that one gives during the weekdays corresponds to the sun nowadays whereas charity for Shabbat corresponds to the sun of the future which will be renewed, becoming like the light of the Seven Days of Creation. 87. Immediately when a person wants to walk on the straight path, he at least needs fear of G-d, that's to say, fear of Divine punishment. This fear is called 'tzeddek' (justice) which is an aspect of harsh decrees. As a result of this, in most cases, when a person begins to come closer to the service of G-d, harsh decrees and suffering are aroused and come upon him, Heaven forbid. However, afterwards when he reaches the truth, meaning fear of G-d's exaltedness, which is called faith, then all the harsh decrees become sweetened at their source and great loving-kindness and great mercy are drawn upon him. 88. WHO COVERS THE HEAVENS WITH CLOUDS (Psalms,147:8) a. The tzaddik's attributes of fear and love of G-d are in his hands into which he receives all the bounty and the blessings, to bestow them upon the Jewish People. He covers and conceals his love and fear so that accusing forces will not accuse him and thus steal all the bounty from him. b. However, when the tzaddik is very well known and the accusing forces know about him, they make a big effort so as not to let him bring down the bounty to the Jewish People. Therefore, the Holy One instills in the heart of another tzaddik to desire to arouse controversy against the former tzaddik. This covers him so that he can bring down the bounty. 89. "YOU HAVE MADE HIM SLIGHTLY LESS THAN THE ANGELS" (Psalms, 8:6) When a person knows that anything he lacks reflects a lack in the Shechinah he may certainly feel great, immense anguish and sadness. Then he will not be able to serve G-d with happiness. Therefore he should say to himself: Who am I that the King Himself tells me His lack? Is there any honour greater than this! By this her can attain great happiness and renew his brains. 90. By taking joy in G-d, all the deficiencies in the Shechinah are fulfilled. 91. A person needs very strong faith so that it spreads through all his limbs. Then he can merit to reach intellect by way of faith. That's to say, in the beginning one has to believe because one doesn't understand the concept. Afterwards he can then merit to understand intellectually. However, later on, there are more lofty things which he cannot understand by intellect. Then he must strengthen his faith by believing in what he does not yet understand by way of intellect until, eventually, he merits to understand these lofty concepts also. And so on ad infinitum. (Prayer 91) All Your commandments are faith. G-d of faith have compassionn over me for Your sake. Merit me to real faith. Help me and save me so that I strengthen myself with perfect faith constantly. Merit me to achieve higher and higher levels of faith until I reach , understand and ascertain in my mind things that I was unable to understand previously. Enable me to acquire complete faith so that it spreads through all my limbs. Master of the World grant me faith. Master of the World Youknow everything that happens in the world with regard to faith and thus is the foundation of everything especially to what occurs to the Jewish People, Your holy nation who are believers, the descendants of believers. Even so there are thousands and tens of thousands of levels in faith and all the troubles an d exiles that the Jewish People experience are because of blemishes in faith for it is the basis of all Torah as the holy Sages have revealed to us. Master of the World, merciful One. How can we rectify this . From where should we start to rectify it in Your bountiful mercy You sent us true holy and awesome tzaddikim in each generation who revealed to us wonderfuland sublime Torah innovations. They draw down and teach holy belief, eye to eye, to all people. But even after all this we have not retracted from our mistakes and this has caused us all the troubles that befall us. We are in great distress, both generally and individually. G-d of faith, have mercy on us. Save us. Hear my prayers. Listen to my pleading. In Your righteousness, answer me. Help me for Your Name’s sake. Strengthen me to know and believe in You every moment in such a way that I will be saved by this from all kinds of sins, iniquities and wilfull sins, from all kinds of bad thoughts and sorts of confusions, especially crookedness of the heart and thoughts against Your holy faith. Teach us to draw upon ourselves holy faith which our Fathers, Sages and tzaddikim achieved through their immense holiness. Merit us to draw upon ourselves their faith, goodness and righteousness which they acquired by their tremendous efforts and self-sacrifice. And the main thing is to continue to reveal holy belief to all the people of the world especially the holy Jewish People. So, merit me to constantly bring holy belief into my understanding such that the faith spreads to all my limbs. May my mouth always be full wit wordsof holy belief spoken really wholeheartedly. Fulfill in us the verse which says “Atzaddik lives by his faith.” Blessed are You, G-d, for ever. Amen. Amen. 92. By a person wandering back and forth, even within his house, he can sweeten harsh decrees and revive the dead. (See inside.) (Prayer 92) Master of the World, You informed us of the greatness of the holy tzaddikim who have the power to revive the dead by walkng back and forth in their house. By this they sweeten all the harsh decrees. Have mercy on us and let us come close to tzaddikim like these. Merit me to engage in studying Your holy Torah every single day so that I can cool down the fire which burns in my heart for all the cravings and vanities of this world. Rather, may my heart burn with great holiness, yearning of Your Torah and Your service in the proper measure. Let me cleave to Your Torah, so much that I become merged with it in Your Oneness and let me be numbered among the holy tzaddikim. And by walking back and forth in my house enable me to sweeten all the harsh decrees and draw down an aspect of the revival of the dead. 93. BUSINESS WITH FAITH a) By conducting business with faith, G-d's Name becomes loved by people because of you and you fulfill the positive commandment of "And you shall love" which is the root of all the commandments, as it says in the Tikkunei Zohar, Tikkun 20. b) Through this you can also reach a spiritual level which is above time and this allows you to pray with a clear, pure mind. (Prayer 93) Master of the World, merit us to perform the mitzvah of “And you shall love the Lord your G-d with all your heart” which is the source of all the mitzvot. May I engage in studying Torah a lot and serve Torah scholars. Merit me to carry out business affairs with faith such that the Name of Heaven becomes loved through me. By this, enable me to reach a spiritual level which is above time and to achieve expanded consciousness. As a result, merit me to pray with great concentration and a pure mind. 94. When you want G-d to bestow His loving-kindness on the Jewish People, believe that in all things there are holy sparks and join wisdom to faith (for by faith you reach intellect, as explained in Torah 91). Then you will have such a holy eye that whatever thing you look at in the world, you will raise the sparks which are the letters. And when you raise them you create holy words of speech through which the Holy One bestows abundant goodness to the Jewish People. This is all that G-d takes delight from. (Prayer 94) Merit me to holy eyes and a pure and very clear power of vision such that through this alone I will be able to look at something with wisdom and intelligence and with perfect faith. Let me believe that in each object there are letter and holy sparks. By this looking, may all the sparks rise that are clothed in the object so they return to their source in the aspect of “Engraved like a signet righ, Holy to G-d.” And from the letters and sparks may words be made and by these holy words bestow much good to the House of Israel for this is Your main delight, so to speak. Have mercy on all the letters and holy sparks which are in a deep exile and speedily redemm them for Your Name’s sake until Your glory is upraised and exalted. 95. When patrons and leaders of the generation take pride (in themselves), then the Holy One brings upon them people who oppose them and speak evil about them so that they will not be arrogant. (Prayer 95) You, Who make peace in the heavens, bring peace upon us and over all the Jewish People. Master of the World. Save me from all forms of controversy, from being abused and attacked. Help me to avoid feeling proud; may I never have a sense of pride in relation to any other person. Help all the benefactors and leaders of the generation to avoid pride, Heaven forbid. Don’t let them be haughty. Rahter may they consider themselves to be an aspect of “what” - non-existent and nothing. By this, save them from all kinds of controversy and insults and arrange for us benefactors and leaders who are pious and honest. 96. The extraneous thoughts that come to a person when praying, especially to a tzaddik who wants to pray with great concentration (and cleaving to G-d), are from the holy sparks which fell during the Breaking of the Vessels. These extraneous thoughts that come to each person are a reflection of the attribute and spiritual level that the person is at, just at that moment. The tzaddik has to know from which world and which attribute each extraneous thought comes from; he also has to know how to raise it to that world and attribute where he is now. However, sometimes the tzaddik wants to raise it, but cannot. This is because that particular thought is from an aspect of a sublime spiritual level to which the tzaddik hasn't yet reached. Therefore it is impossible for him to raise it. But how does it happen that he gets the extraneous thought before its time (before it can be raised)? This is because when there is a controversy against a certain tzaddik, then an extraneous thought which reflects the controversy falls into the mind of another tzaddik. Then, because the tzaddik wants to raise this thought, even though he doesn't, through the strength of his desire he breaks all the people causing the controversy. 97. Every Jew can take control through his prayer such that he can bring about what he wants. But the main thing which prevents this is pride, ulterior motives and extraneous thoughts. One person has pride because he is from an important family or because he has strenuously worked hard in the service of the Creator. Then he certainly cannot have control in his prayer. Therefore when a Jew begins to pray he needs to break all this, to forget his important lineage and all his efforts in the service of G-d. Rather, it should seem to him that he was born today and has yet to begin making any effort in the service of G-d. Also he should think he is alone in the world and has no important lineage. Furthermore, he should break and nullify other extraneous thoughts that come during prayer because of his earliest intentional sins or intentional sinful thoughts; then he will be able to control his prayer. This will fulfill the desire of the Creator, may He be blessed. G-d will have great delight from his prayer. By this he will draw down into the world all kinds of bounty. (Prayer 97) Master of the World, You know how far I am from proper prayer and supplications. The main reason is because of thoughts that bother me, both before and during the prayers.Thoughts of self importance and ulterior motives and many extraneous, bad thoughts and confusions. They are endless and innumerable. There ar emany prayers that are so mixed up with these thougths that I was unaware that I had recited words of prayer. Many words of prayer and blessings I just skipped over completely without noticing. What I recited is as if I had said nothing, for the words were far away from my heart. My heart was full of bad, extraneous and confused thoughts. Where will I hide and secret myself in the face of my great shame and disgrace which is so immense and bitter. The mouth cannot describe it nor the heart imagine it. I have com before You, Who listens to prayer and chooses the prayers of the Jewish nation out of compassion. You long for the prayers of Jews. For this You created the worlld. So, help us at all times to drive out these thoughts which bother and confuse us and merit us to pray before You with all our heart, with great concentration from the depths of our heart truly. May our thoughts be holy and pure so that our thoughts will be connected firmly to the words of prayer, with total unity. At the time of prayer let no ulterior intention or extraneous thought enter my heart, rather merit us to remove all these thoughts and the foolish vain ideas of self importance. Help me to forget about any importance stemming from the status of my family and may I never imagine that I have already struggloed and achieved a lot in the service of G-d. Rather, let me truly recognize my deficiencies and my lowly status so that I will not have any thoughts of pride or superiority. Grant the power to rule in our prayers such that we have the power to bring about what we want through our prayers, even to alter nature. Fulfill wishes of our heart for the good out of Your mercy. Take delight in our prayers always. Draw upon us Your loving-kindness at all times; sweeten and nullify from upon us and upon all of the Jewish People, all the harsh decrees in the world. Break and nullify all the harsh decrees whether those that have already been decreed or whether those that they want to decree, Heaven forbid. Master of the World, merciful One. Help us like You did for our Fathers. Protect and save us in every generation. See our weakness and fight our batttle (with the evil urge). Redeem us speedily, a full redemption, for Your Name’s sake. 98. A person doesn't see how far the blemishes of his sins reach. The tzaddik has the eyes of G-d, as it says, "The eyes of G-d are to the tzaddikim" (Psalms, 34:16). The tzaddik sees how far a person's blemishes extend. When the tzaddik wants to punish someone he gives that person his eyes so that he too will see how far his blemishes reach. Until then, this was hidden from the person. There is no greater punishment than when a person sees what he has blemished. 99. A Jew has to strengthen himself in prayer, whether he merits to pray with a feeling of cleaving to G-d or whether he doesn't merit to pray with this cleaving and the prayer isn't recited fluently, Heaven forbid. Even so, he should encourage himself even then to pray with all his strength and concentration, for when he merits in the future to pray with cleaving and the words of prayer are fluent in his mouth, as is fitting, then all the previous (imperfect) prayers will rise to Heaven together with this prayer that he prayed properly. Prayer (99) Lord, open my lips and let my mouth speak Your praises. Master of the World, merit me to pray before You with great concentration and tremendous devotion. Let my prayer be smooth and fluent in my mouth. Even when I do not manage to pray with real devotion as I should, nevertheless, merit me to put all my strength, concentration and heart into the words of prayer with maximum focus. May I truly believe and put my trust in Your great loving kindness. And when You help me to pray before You with great devotion, as is fitting, and my prayer is fluent, then may all the other prayers rise up together with this one that I merited to pray properly. By this enable me to always strengthen myself in the service of prayer. Fulfill the verse which says: “May my prayer come before You; give your ear to my song”. 100. The tzaddik who has acquired a great light from the light of the Torah and his deeds are at least commensurate to his perception in the Torah, then his righteousness and his Torah studying both co-exist comfortably. As a result he is calm and companiable with people. But a tzaddik for whom the light of the wisdom of the Torah he gained is much greater than his deeds, then the Torah makes the fire of the holy Torah boil within him, so it is impossible for him to be calm and companiable with people like the former tzaddik mentioned above. (Prayer 100) Master of the World, merit me to engage in studying Torah a lot. Enlighten our eyes in Your Torah. Help me to ascertain the great light from the radiance of the Torah. However, much more I ascertain each time in the understanding of the holy Torah, so merit me to add righteousness, piety and good deeds. By this, may I be pleased with others without showing any anger or strictness towards anyone at all. Rather let me be good to everyone. Even if I show to one individual some displeasure about something I consider to be improper, nevertheless let me speak to him positively and softly so my words will be acceptable and settle in his heart. Fulfill in me the verse: “The words of Torah scholars are calm.” “Let me find favour and good understanding in the eyes of G-d and of people.” 101. In every single person there is an aspect of a 'radiant countenance' which reflects knowledge and perception of the holy Torah in the aspect of the Elixir of Life; this is the sanctity of the Jewish People who, in the source, are very far away from bad attributes and physical cravings. Each person also has within him an aspect of the Seventy Nations who are an aspect of the Poison of Death, an aspect of a 'dark countenance' which is an aspect of darkness and the concealment of understanding. By a person exerting himself to study the Torah for the sake of Heaven until he merits to ascertain and understand the wisdom of the holy Torah, through this he abandons the aspect of 'dark countenance' and turns it into an aspect of 'radiant countenance'. As a result, his enslavement to physical desires and negative attributes, which stem from the Seventy Nations, who are an aspect of the 'dark countenance', is nullified. Then he is called a 'man', an aspect of "That is the Torah, a man" (Numbers, 19), an aspect of "You are called man" (Yevomot, 61), for the essence of the name 'man' we merit to through the holy Torah which is an aspect of a 'radiant countenance'; it reflects the distancing from and breaking of all the physical cravings and negative attributes. Through this a man merits to have the yoke of his enslavement to the Seventy Nations nullified, also in the physical realm, as the Sages said, "Whoever takes upon himself the yoke of the Torah" etc. (Perkei Avot,Ch.3). Prayer (101) Master of the World, unique Lord, Who gives the Torah. You revealed to us that all the strength of the other nations is from the Seventy Faces of Darkness. That is to say, by our being lax in studying Torah and not studying in depth as we should, as a result ,the paths of Torah are blocked and become darkened in our eyes. Then, all the physical cravings and bad traits overcome us Heaven save us, for they stem from the other nations whose strength is drawn from the Faces of Darkness. This itself leads to the governments becoming more forceful, Heaven forbid and they decree harsh judgments upon us, Heaven preserve us. But what can we do to rectify this. The burden of making a living, the strength of the evil urge and the many troubles make it hard for us to study properly. Even the little we study the darkness in our eyes and our blocked minds prevent us from studying or understanding properly. Mostly we do not understand even the simple meaning of things. We certainly do not understand the depth of things, not the pleasantness, inner essence or secrets of the Torah. For we do not merit to see the light of the face of the holy Torah. We are far, far away for the Seventy Faces of the Torah, from the Seventy Faces of Light which subdue the Seventy Faces of Darkness. When they are subdued automatically the governments of the seventy nations, whose strength comes from those Seventy Faces of Darkness, are broken and fall. But how do we merit to this. In Your bountiful compassion, have mercy on us and grant us a portion in Your Torah. Merit us from now on to be aroused to serve You. Let us start from now on to study Torah by day and night. Do not let m burden of making a living disturb us, rather let others work for us. As a result, may our main involvement be studying the Torah in this world and may it accompany us to the World to Come. In Your immense bountiful mercy, enlighten our eyes in Your Torah and open up our hearts so that me merit to understand well and with great speed any part of the Torah we study. Let us study all the books of Your Torah every day, Tanach, Talmud, Halacha, Midrashim, the holy Zohar and the Tikkunim; all the writings of the Ariz”l and those of the true tzaddikim. May we finish them and then study them again and again during our lifetime. Have mercy on us for Your Name’s sake and merit us to study consistently with holiness and persistence by day and night. By this, may we break, nullify and kill all the evil cravings and all the evil traits in our body. Merciful One, grant us intelligence and understanding to hear, study and teach, keep and perform all the words of Your Torah, with love. Merit us to put all our mind and thoughts into Your holy Torah at all times in such a way that the Torah will shine upon us the holy pleasantness of the light of its face. May it radiate upon us and protect us by all the Seventy Faces of the Torah which the true tzaddikim merited to ascertain. As a result, enable us to break and nullify all the physical cravings and bad traits from within us. In these troubled times have mercy on us, do it for Your sake, for the Sake of our Fathers and for the sake of all the holy and awesome tzaddikim who were in each generation. Then speedily break and nullify all the harsh decrees from upon us, whether those that have already been decreed or whether those that they want to decree against us Heaven forbid. Let no impression of them remain at all. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing before Your countenance, G-d, my Rock and my Redeemer. Amen. 102. Each person should be careful to pray in such a way that he can arouse and draw down bounty into the world. This depends on fear, for "whoever has fear of heaven, his words are heard" (B'rachot, 6). There are two kinds of fear, that's to say, there is a sublime fear which comes to a person sometimes when he wants. For fear like this there is no reward. There is another kind of fear which comes to a person from his own strength. This fear is an aspect of "A tzaddik rules in the fear of G-d" (Shmuel,II, 23:3). With fear like this, his prayer is heard and bounty descends into the world; the Kingdom of G-d then becomes revealed and magnified. Prayer (102) Master of the World, implant in our hearts always Your fear and awe. Merit us to be like ‘a tzaddik rules through fear of G-d’. That is to say, let us not have to wait for You to bestow upon us Your Sublime fear from Above. Please enable us to draw upon ourselves on every occasion Your holy fear. May we have fear before You, at all times, at ever moment, true fear and perfect fear; a sublime fear, a fear of Your grandeur. As a result, accept all our prayers with mercy and with favour. Listen always to the voice of our supplications, as the Sages said: “Anyone who has fear of G-d, his words are heard” (by G-d). Through our prayers, may we have the power to arouse bounty in the world. Bestow great bounty to the Jewish People. As a result, let all the husks of the Other Side be subdued completely under the Holy Shechinah. Then make all the evil blow away like smoke and remove the dominion of evil from the earth. Fulfill in us the verse: “And G-d will be King over all the earth and on that day G-d will be One and His Name will be One”. 103. Regarding that which Moshe called the descendants of the Tribes of Gad and Reuben "a band of sinners" (Numbers, 32:14) and the Targum Unkulus translates as "students of guilty men", see the full text. 104. The Midrash says that because Moshe called the descendants of Gad and Reuben "a ban of sinners" he was punished that his grandchild served the idol worship of Micah. See the full text for an explanation. 105. The essence of repentance depends on the Torah. That's to say, when a person studies Torah and exerts himself in it until he is able to deduce one thing from another and can innovate ideas for the sake of Heaven, this is complete repentance. He then returns and joins together all the letters and their combinations, which are his portion in the generality of worlds, to their source and to their proper place; he returns them all from the places to which they were expelled and dispersed. He becomes a new human being and then his mind is calm. He merits to arouse G-d's compassion in such a way that G-d Himself prays for him. That's to say, the Holy One, out of His simple mercy, arouses His great and infinite compassion. As a result, the person will have a great and complete salvation. Amen. Prayer (105) May it be Your will, G-d, our G-d, G-d of our Fathers, have mercy upon us. Help us to merit to engage in studying Your Holy Torah. May words of Torah never cease from my mouth and the mouth of our children, forever. Merit us to understand completely all the words of Your holy Torah with great speed. Then let lus understand one thing from another and create true Torah innovations, innovations that will find favour before Your Throne of Glory. By studying Torah may we achieve full repentance for all our sins, iniquities and willful sins that we have committed over the years. Let the light of the Torah really return us to the path of goodness and through studying Torah may we separate, collect and raise all the holy sparks and combinations of letters that have fallen from all the worlds into the husks because of us. They have scattered to where they have scattered and fallen where they have fallen. Have mercy upon us, upon all the holy sparks and upon all the holy letters which are separated and scattered among the nations and among the husks. Help us to return in true repentance to You. Please hasten to clarify, collect and redeem all the holy sparks from their exile. Return them to their place in peace and by this, Rectify the blemish of the worlds. Draw holy understanding and great mercy in the world. Nullify anger and cruelty from the world. Please, You Yourself, pray on our behalf. By Your simple mercy, arouse Your great plentiful mercy. You know Lord our G-d, that none can stand up for us other than You. Our Father, our King, pray for us. We have no one to rely on other than our Father in Heaven, so have mercy and compassion upon us. Save us for Your Name’s Sake. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing before Your Countenance, oh G-d, my Rock and my Redeemer. 106. When a person is in a state of 'constricted consciousness' he has to strengthen himself to achieve 'expanded consciousness'. Upon achieving 'expanded consciousness' he sweetens all the harsh decrees and brings upon himself loving-kindness and mercy. If he himself cannot achieve this 'expanded consciousness', the best advice is to enlighten others. By this, his own 'expanded consciousness' will be aroused. Prayer (106) You endow man with knowledge and teach the frail in sight. Grant us wisdom, insight and knowledge for You know how greatly a person needs mercy if he lacks knowledge in the service of G-d. You also informed us how all the harsh decrees and suffering, Heaven save us, are drawn upon us only because our brains of limited perception. Therefore, have mercy on us, and in Your bountiful compassion, merit us to strengthen ourselves each time and rise from there ‘small brains’to ‘expansive brains’ of understanding. Bestow upon us a bounty of knowledge and wisdom. Merit us also to give intelligence to others so that they will also have a radiance of true knowledge, thus raising me from the aspect of ‘small brains’ to ‘expansive brains’. By this alone may my own brains be aroused. Then sweeten and nullify from over us and all the Jewish People, all the harsh decrees. Fulfill in us the verse: ‘Draw Your loving-kindness to those who you know You:’ 107. When the evil urge becomes strong you instilling within you a sense of self-importance making you consider yourself to already be a tzaddik who "rules with the fear of G-d" and that G-d's desire is in your hands, so to speak, for "who rules Me, tzaddik", then one has to take to heart this itself and say, 'How can I rule when I have pride and the Holy One doesn't dwell with me?', as the Sages have said. 108. When a Jew is praying properly with concentration or he is speaking to G-d in personal prayers, as is fitting, and in the middle he falls from his spiritual level, this stems from a blemish in his faith. Then it is necessary for his heart to feel broken within him and for him to be ashamed of himself at having fallen and at being thrown down from heaven to earth. He should then have mercy on himself until he sighs about this. By this sighing he will return to his previous spiritual level. Prayer (108) Master of the World, merciful One, Who cures those with broken hearts, You know my broken and depressed heart. Have mercy on my broken heart for it is broken to smithereens; for my thoughts of my heart are scattered and dispersed to the ends of the earth. I am really responsible for all this but I did not have bad intentions. Master of the World, You know the hidden secrets of the world, You see into the chamber of our hearts. Before You all the hidden thoughts of the heart are revealed. You know how hard this itself is for me; it confuses and obstructs me a lot. Even if sometimes in Your great compassion You send me some words and I begin to explain to You all that is in my heart, after a while my heart becomes blocked in the middle of speaking. So also my heart suddenly becomes sealed. I do not know what to do. You seem to hide Your face from me. You have already revealed to us that this is caused by us blemishing our faith for this is considered to be like idol worship. Now, my Father in Heaven, what can I do to atone for this? Oh, what can I do to return Your face towards me. When will I merit to pure faith so that I can speak openly before You, as if face to face, like one speaks to a friend. Help me and save me so I can accustom myself to sigh, deep sighs from the depths of the heart about my vast distance from You because of my many sins, especially blemishes to faith. Merit me to truly feel my pain and immense suffering such that I really sigh from the depths of my heart. May my spirit be broken within me in a way that will arouse Your true compassion upon me. Open Your hand in mercy and good will and bring me back to You in repentance face to face. Father in Heave, faithful King, G-d of faith, You know everything that happens to us and to every individual regarding holy faith. In You great compassion, You planted Your faith with us, but because of the immense number of our sins we still get thoughts of blasphemy. This is the main form of our distance from You. It causes a concealment of Your face, which is the greatest of all our troubles and distress. Guard us and protect us from now on from all sorts of disbelief and blasphemous thoughts. Rather, merit me to believe in You Lord our G-d, in Your Holy Torah and in Your tzaddikim with total faith, a faith that is pure and perfect. May my faith be so strong that it is as if I see You, eye to eye. By this, may fear of You be on my face; let me feel shame, so that I will never sin again nor blemish in any way. Let awe, dread and fear of You, with great shame, descend upon me immediately knowing that You stand over me, and see my every deed , at all times and at every moment. And merit me, through the strength of my holy belief, to pray, plead and Speak openly before You with all my heart and with proper thoughts. Let my mind be connected firmly to the words of prayer without any extraneous thought. The, may all my words and conversations with You be as if face to face, like someone speaking to his friend. Have mercy upon me like a father over his son. Save me on every occasion by all kinds of salvation. May You be blessed for ever. Amen and Amen. 109. HOLY SIGHING a) Holy sighing is very precious, for by sighing about feeling distant from holiness, one breaks the cord of impurity and becomes attached to the cord of holiness. Similarly, if one sighs at lacking some physical desire that one craves for, the opposite takes place, Heaven forbid. b) When a Jew sighs about his sins or about how little he has achieved spiritually, this is better than several acts of self-mortification or fasts. Prayer (109) O Lord, our G-d and G-d of our fathers. Please help me to return in really perfect repentance before You. Master of the World. You know how greatly I have distanced myself from You because of many and immense iniquities and willful transgressions which reach to the Heavens. I do not know any way to return to You. My mind has become very confused, befouled and materialized because of the material and foul matter and evil cravings that have taken hold of me and attached themselves to me very much. Master of all the World, take pity and have mercy upon me; grant me good council, how to look for, search out and find some road, course or pathway, such that from now on I can merit to return to You. In Your bountiful mercy, let me merit to often sigh before You from the depths of my heart about my great distance from You. Let me merit to really come closer to You. May I really sigh about this at all times such that my body be broken by each and every sigh. By these sighs, let me merit to extract the spirit and air of the Other Side and to plant within me the spirit and air of holiness. Through this, may I uproot and cut the cord of impurity which has become tied to me because of my many iniquities. Help me, very speedily, to cut and break myself completely fro the cord of impurity. Let me cleave and tie myself, in a very strong bond, to the cord of holiness, for ever and ever, for all eternities. Break, drive out and nullify from me, from my body, my soul, my spirit and my higher soul, all sorts of impurities of the Other Side. In Your mercy, bring me close to the cord of holiness and tie me to it with a strong and firm knot from now on, for ever. From now on, draw upon me a good long life, by way of the cord of holiness. Be gracious and bestow upon us good bounty, blessings, compassion, life, peace and plenty; real life; life of holiness; life that has fear of Heaven; life in which merit to really perfect repentance, in which we always serve You and cleave to the Source of Life. Living G-d, our Portion in Life, our Rock, give us life in the light of Your Countenance; raise me so that I live a life of holiness. Take pity on me, help me and make my heart cleave to Your commandments. Let me merit to always cleave to You forever more. In Your mercy protect me and save me from sighs of the Other Side. Let no breath or sigh for the cravings and vanities of This World leave my mouth. Heaven forbid. Rather, may all my sights, yearnings and desires be only for Your Name, for Your worship, to really come closer to You. May I always cleave to You and may it be fulfilled in me the verse which says: “You who cleave to the Lord, you G-d, are all alive this day”. Amen and Amen. 110. The Torah is spiritual and a spiritual thing does not take up any space. Therefore, whoever is pure and his actions are upright and his intellect is spiritual, he can grasp the entire Torah and not forget anything. However, someone who materializes the words of the Torah, making them crude, he will come to forget the Torah, Heaven forbid. Prayer (110) Please G-d, save me in Your bountiful mercy, so that I merit to engage in studying Torah for its own sake, with great consistency and perseverance, by day and night. Be with me always to assist and save me so that I will not materialize or darken the words of Torah in my mouth, Heaven forbid. Rather, merit me to study Torah with great holiness and purity, nullifying myself and all my materiality at the time of studying. By this let me feel in my heart and mind the sweetness and pleasantness of the spirituality of the mind. Rather, merit me to pure thoughts, holy thoughts which are really bright and proper. Let me constantly serve You with true Fear of Heaven and wholeheartedly. Enable me to come close to genuine tzaddikim and to pure, straightforward Jews until they bring me into the realm of holiness and genuine repentance. 111. The initial letters of "The head of the People of Israel" ("rosh bnei Israel") spells out r-b-i (rabbi). And on the contrary, the initial letters of "The wicked will be cut off in darkness" (Shmuel, I, 2:9) – ('r'shayim b'hoshech idamoo') also spell out r-b-i (rabbi). 112. The rule which can be derived from this discourse practically is the great virtue of a word of truth in prayer. By this, G-d Himself will radiate light so that a person can see the openings in that are in the impurity so he can escape the darkness and come to great light etc. (This has already been referred to in discourse number 9. See there.) Here it is explained further such that an intelligent person will understand that he needs to pray all his life in order to merit just once in his lifetime to pray one word of truth before G-d as is fitting. Through this advice a person can become a really kosher Jew all his life, for, in whatever situation, he can always revitalize and sustain himself, through the truth which is the light of G-d Himself: because all the darkness won't block Him out. This is because of the fact that there is no impurity or force of the Other Side in the world without some openings through which it is possible to escape from there. It is only that we don’t see them because of the great darkness which exists there. However, by truth, G-d Himself will illuminate the place so he can merit to see and find the opening of hope even within the depths of his fall; he will be able to escape the darkness and reach light, thus really continually coming closer to G-d. Amen. 113. The Baal Shem Tov said that before the Heavenly Court sentences a person to a hard decree they ask the person himself being sentenced if he agrees; if so, the decree is then finalized, Heaven forbid. In other words they ask him about a similar case and he says what the punishment should be; then he is sentenced. This is like we find with King David to whom the prophet Natan told the story about the guest and the sheep (Shmuel, II, 12:1) and then David was sentenced to what he said. In all the words and accounts that a person hears he must be very careful not to decide someone's punishment; this is a danger to life, for accounts of events contain very sublime matters. 114. The matter of controversy against tzaddikim was already referred to in discourse number 88. See there. Here the Rebbe adds that sometimes there is a wicked person who opposes the tzaddik. All this is also directed from Above so that the tzaddik can draw down abundance. The wicked person, however, "wants to kill him but G-d does not forsake him" (Psalms,37:32-33). 115. Someone who was interested in material things all his life then later becomes enthused and wants to progress in the paths of G-d, the attribute of strict justice accuses him and doesn't let him come close to G-d; it arranges obstacles and when the fool sees obstacles he backs away. But someone who has sense brings himself closer to G-d especially at such a time for he looks and finds the Creator in the obstacle itself. In truth, the Holy One Himself is hidden in this obstacle. Prayer (115) You love judgment, therefore You agree so to speak, to arrange obstacles that prevent us from the path of life; this is what we deserve according to our deeds. But, You let us know through Your holy Sages that You love the People of Israel even more than You love judgment. Therefore, out of Your great love for us, You desire greatly that every Jew, even the worst of the worst, will come close to You and serve You with all his heart. You therefore, so to speak, hide Yourself within the obstacles such that someone with understanding can look in One obstacle and fin You within it. For, in truth, there is no obstacle in the world at all. By the obstacles themselves we can come closer to You if we really search for truth. But You know the poverty of our minds and their foolishness; such that it is hard and a burden for us to break even one obstacle at all for as soon as we see an obstacle we retreat. Therefore, please bring us closer to You in charity and as a gift out of loving kindness. Give us the strength to break all the obstacles that come from the aspect of harsh decrees and judgment. Sweeten and nullify all the harsh decrees from upon us and from me all the Jewish People. Do not let any obstacle prevent us from now on from truly coming close to You. Act charitably to us in judgment. Blessed are You, oh King who loves charity and judgment. 116. The person who gives charity is saved from sins. Prayer (116) Master of the World, merit me to give away a lot of charity to deserving poor people. Make us feel in our heart mercy towards the poo people and merit us to bestow upon them great loving kindness. By this have mercy upon us, as the Sages said: ‘Anyone who has mercy on others from Heaven they have mercy on him’. Save us from all kinds of spirit of folly and by this, protect us from coming to any form of sin. Merit us to perform Your will all the days of our life. Amen. 117. At the conclusion of Shabbat a revelation of Elijah the Prophet begins. This discards falsehood which is an aspect of the Serpent which brought death to the world. For this reason it is hard to sleep then, for sleep is also a reflection of death. ( See full text ). Another reason is because reciting Havdalah at the conclusion of Shabbat is an aspect of Understanding for "if there is no understanding how can one differentiate" (Jerusalem Talmud,B'rachot,Ch.5). Consequently, it is hard to sleep then, for sleep is an absence of understanding. Prayer (117) You informed us that every motzei Shabbat an aspect of the revelation of Eliyahu the Prophet begins. Therefore, have mercy upon us and merit us to receive the holiness of Shabbat properly. By this, merit us immediately after Shabbat ends to receive a true radiance of the revelation of the prophet. Merit us to perform the mitzvah of Havdala over wine every motzei Shabbat. As a result, enable us to receive radiance of true, holy understanding such that we merit to serve You with full understanding all through the week. Help us to distance all falsehood which stems from an aspect of the serpent who brought death to the world. Merit us to cleave to the attribute of truth which is an aspect of the elixir of life. So may it be Your will. Amen. 118. a) When you study Torah it is good to elucidate it in a language that you understand. This is a benefit for the world. b) Each tzaddik of the generation is a reflection of Moshe, the Meshiach. And when he makes Torah innovations it is an aspect of "the spirit of G-d" which is 'the spirit of Meshiach, hovering over the surface of the waters of the Torah' (Zohar, V'yeshev,pg.192). Just like Meshiach suffers evils for the sake of the Jewish People, to atone for them, so each tzaddik of the generation takes upon himself suffering for the whole of the Jewish People in order to ease their lot. Furthermore, the fact that we do not merit to ascertain the Torah innovations of the tzaddik in their fullness, in the loftiest heights, as uttered in the mouth of the tzaddik, but rather, it has to be elucidated for us through mundane means, in Yiddish etc., in everyday language that we are used to speaking, this is also an aspect of, "He was pained because of our transgressions" (Isaiah,53:5) – an aspect of "he is (worked) in pain because of us"(Zohar,Tetzeh,pg.280). This is true also of the tzaddik, an aspect of "he suffers evil to atone for us." Prayer (118) 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 G-d that hovers over the waters”, waters which represent the Torah. Messiah suffers many illnesses and is afflicted with great suffering because our willful 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 our righteous Messiah, the holy one of Israel. Fulfill in us the verse which says: “Now I know that he 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 forever.” And it says, “The Lord is their strength and He is the saying strength of His Messiah.” Save us Lord: let the King hear us when we call.” Amen and Amen. 119. On Shabbat Understanding is drawn upon each person. Through this the attribute of compassion becomes strengthened within him so that he has mercy on other humans, for compassion depends on Understanding. Then through his having compassion, Heaven takes compassion on him. ### Prayer for Torah 76 76. Master of the Universe, God of Israel, You know the immense bitterness of this exile, generally and for each individual. Because of our sins we have been exiled from our Land; we have been thrown out of our Land, we have gone from one exile to another. Each person has experienced several exiles and moves, physically and spiritually, like a bird that wanders from its nest. Our distress is so great, in body, soul and money, that even when we sit at home we wander back and forth because we have no rest from our persecutors and enemies, whether physical or spiritual. This is especially true nowadays in our bitter distress. Each person thinks about how he can hide or escape from these serious troubles. We have run out of the strength to suffer. Have mercy on me and upon all the Jewish people trapped in exile. In any place that we come to in exile, please be with us and Help us to raise and elevate all these places to You, your Torah and Your service such that even all the places that are very far away from holiness, will all cleave to You. Let all the places eventually be used to study Torah and pray. Fulfil in us the verse which says “And then he too will remain for our God.” Merciful one, redeem us speedily for Your Name’s sake. Rise to help us; redeem us for Your love’s sake. Blessed are You, our Lord, god of Israel, glorious kingdom for ever and ever and may His glory fill the entire world. Amen and Amen. 77. (a) Every single Jew, even a great tzaddik, has to have some anguish each day. Whoever has greater understanding, his anguish is more extreme. By eating in holiness and with fear of G-d we sweeten this anguish so that it won't become strong, Heaven forbid. (b) Through eating with holiness and fear of G-d, the mouth becomes an aspect of the stature of a person. He can merit as a reward for this, to a greater spiritual level; to an aspect of "the Divine Presence speaking within his throat". But as for someone who whose eating is not with holiness, his mouth that he eats with is in the category of an animal and indeed he is actually like an animal, Heaven forbid. (c) The main feeling of fear comes to and reaches a Jew at the time of his eating. Therefore he has to be very careful to eat with holiness and to draw upon himself the fear which comes to him at that time. By this he will merit to all the above. ## 77 ### Prayer for Torah 77 77. May it find favour before You, Lord, God, God of our Fathers that You come to my help and, in Your bountiful loving-kindness merit me to break the craving for food completely. Let me eat and drink with great holiness and purity at the proper time in the proper amount, as You really desire. Merit me to draw upon myself the holy fear which comes at the time of eating. Then I will be able to sit at the table at meal time with great awe and fear of You. By this, merit us, through Your immense loving-kindness, to sweeten and nullify all kinds of anguish and suffering and all the harsh decrees that befall us and to all the Jewish people. You know all the distress and suffering that occur to us, generally and individually, every day. Because of our very lowly minds it is hard for us to accept and deal with this suffering day by day. Have mercy on us, for Your Name’s sake. Help us from now on to arouse ourselves and draw upon ourselves Your sublime holiness. Let us draw upon ourselves real fear of Heaven so that it shows on our faces such that we won’t sin. And by this fear, especially at the time of eating, may we nullify or sweeten all the distress and suffering from over all Jews. As a result, merit us to rise from one spiritual level to another in holiness until we reach the level of a truly holy man until we become totally merged in the aspect of spiritual man. Let us have holy speech at all times for, by this, one is defined as man. Merit us to the aspect of the Shechinah speaking from our throats. May the words of my mouth and the musings of my heart find favour before You, god; my Rock and Redeemer. 78. (a) The great tzaddik also must be a simple person at times and to abstain from studying Torah and cease his holy perceptions for he has to deal with his bodily needs as well. If so, how does he draw vitality at those times for is it not so that the essence of life is the Torah. However, know that he draws vitality then from an aspect of the existence of the world from before Matan Torah. Certainly then also the Torah existed in reality for the Torah is eternal; but then the Torah that is included in the Ten Commandments unapparent and hidden within the inhabited world which itself was created through Ten Sayings. And the tzaddik, at the time that he abstains from the Torah, and is an aspect of a simple person, he receives his vitality from this aspect of before Matan Torah, that's to say, from the hidden Torah. By this, he gives vitality to all the simple people in the world, for all the simple people, even the wicked, and even, by distinction, other nations of the world, all receive their life-force only from the Torah which is the essence of life. But, the truth is that they are far away from the Torah, therefore they need the greatest simple person over them so that all of them will receive their life-force through him. Consequently, the great tzaddik is forced to descend and fall into simplicity to behave like a simple person for a period of time in which he draws vitality from the hidden Torah. By this he gives life-force to all the simple people in the world. Each person, according to how near he is to holiness and to the tzaddik, so he draws through him a higher level of life-force from the hidden Torah. So even someone who is a simple person, for example he cannot study Torah or he is in a place where he cannot study Torah, even so he has to strengthen himself even then with fear of G-d in any way that he can for everyone receives vitality from the hidden Torah through the great tzaddik who behaves with simplicity at times. (See inside). (b) Even someone who has fallen a great deal, Heaven forbid, and who is placed in the lowest pit of Hell, Heaven preserve us, even so he still has great hope through the great, true tzaddik, for through him a person can receive life-force from the realm of holiness in any place wherever he is. Therefore, despair really doesn't exist in the world. However a person is, even if he has fallen to the place where he has fallen to, Heaven forbid, since he strengthens himself in whatever he can, he still has hope to return and come close to G-d. The main thing is "From the depths of Hell I cried out." Even a cry from the depths of Hell is never lost. A person should shout out to G-d at all times regardless of whatever happens until G-d looks down and sees from Heaven. (c) Sophisticated wisdoms damage a person a great deal. Wise people become trapped in their own cleverness. We have to distance ourselves a lot from all kinds of wisdom that some people have. It seems to them that they know clever things in the service of G-d. Cleverness we don't need at all. The main thing is only purity and simplicity together with perfect faith in G-d and in the true tzaddikim. But in simplicity one also has to be careful to avoid being foolish. Nevertheless, cleverness we don't need at all. A person can come to great joy through his simplicity and faith. Happy is he who goes in the path of simplicity. (d) We have to ask a lot from G-d to merit to come close to the true tzaddik. For happy is he who merits to come close to the true tzaddik while he is still alive. Happy is he and happy is his portion in life. The Evil One pays a lot of attention to this and tries to confuse the world. For the Jewish People are now very close to the Final Redemption. They now have great desire and yearnings towards the Holy One unlike any other previous generation. So the Evil One deceives us and establishes in the world many famous, false leaders. Also between the true tzaddikim he has introduced controversy such that no one knows where the truth is. Therefore we need to beseech G-d very much to merit to come close to the true tzaddik. 79. By means of repentance a person merits to nullify time. For all the troubles, harsh decrees and foothold of the Other Side are only in an aspect of time. By this repentance we merit to hear the voice of holiness and to subdue the voice of the Other Side. This is an aspect of "When you are in distress….in the end of days" (Deut.4:30) – specifically in the end of days for this is an aspect of time. Then "You will turn to G-d, your Lord and listen to His voice" (ibid), that's to say, we will merit to return to G-d. By this we will merit to cancel time and all the troubles and to hear the voice of holiness. This is also an aspect of those mitzvot dependent on time; they are in order to raise the concept of time through their performance to the level of being above and beyond time. 80. In earlier generations there were tzaddikim who wanted self-aggrandizement for the sake of Heaven. Whoever wanted to merit to self-aggrandizement was the leader of the generation. But, nowadays that the self-aggrandizement is for the sake of the person's own honour , the Sages established that no person should run after self-aggrandizement but rather he should flee from it. 81. When a person studies Torah or performs a mitzvah with such joy that he dances with his feet because of the joy, through this all those who support the Torah financially are elevated. Similarly, this rectifies all the words of evil called 'foot' ('regel'), an aspect of what it says, "No slander ("regel") on his tongue." (Psalms,15:3). A person is also raised financially, for money is called 'regel', as it says, "All the property under their feet" (Deut.11:6). They also merit by this to have children who are also an aspect of 'foot', for 'a son is the thigh of the father' He also merits through this to faith which is also called 'foot' as the Sages said, "Habakook came and stood everything on one principle- a tzaddik lives by his faith"(Makkot,24). And similarly, all the things called 'foot' are elevated through dancing for joy. ## 81 ### Prayer for Torah 81 81. Master of happiness and joy, in whose dwelling is might and joy and before whom there is no sadness at all. In Your bountiful mercy, help me and save me that I merit to always gladden myself at all times. Teach me perception; inform me of an advised path in such a way that I merit to always overcome and strengthen myself against sorrow, sighing and sadness; let me distance them from myself and from all around me, preventing them from entering, holding or touching me at all, Heaven forbid. Rather, may I overcome them with all my might and always draw upon myself happiness and joy. I will rejoice and be happy in You, in Your great salvation, Your wonders and Your many and tremendous acts of loving-kindness which You have done for me and which You will do for me in the future. In Your wonderful loving-kindness You supported my fate that I be born from the seed of Israel, Your holy Nation, and You gave us the Torah of truth and implanted eternal life within us. "My portion fell in pleasant places; I have a goodly heritage." In Your bountiful mercy, let me merit to overcome and strengthen myself at all times, to always draw upon myself this great and wonderful happiness. May I strengthen myself with great happiness, so much so that the happiness reaches my legs and that I merit to dance from happiness, especially on Sabbaths of the Lord and Festivals of the Lord, holy convocations, Chanukah, Purim and the rest of the happy events stemming from commandments. Always be my help; gladden me very strongly until I merit to dance a lot from happiness. May I merit to engage in learning Torah and to perform all the commandments with such great happiness that the happiness reaches my legs and I merit to raise my legs. You, who are full of mercy, help me and save me so that I can always be happy. At all times teach me the paths of Your true advice. Remind me, encourage me and strengthen me at all times to arouse myself to always be happy and to remember at all times Your awesome, sublime favours which You have done for each one of Your People, Israel, and especially for me, at all times, in the evenings, in the mornings and at noon, ever since I was born, until this very day. Help me remember Your innumerable wonders and favours, those that are known to me and those that are unknown and concealed from me. You alone perform for me awesome wonders, miracles and eternal favours at all times in order to enliven and sustain me for eternity in the holiness of Israel. There is no favour or happiness greater than this, than the fact that every single Jew, even the least of the least, such as myself, merits to some good points every day by performing a commandment of the Creator, may He be blessed; they are our lives and the length of our days, for ever and ever, for all eternities. How fortunate we are, how good is our portion in life, how pleasant is our fate and how fine our inheritance. Let us merit to remember and to believe in Your great loving-kindness, Your wonders and favours which never cease; help me to always gladden myself by remembering this. Open my heart and my perception; brighten the eyes of my mind; at all times guide me and teach me all the forms of advice by which I can gladden myself at any particular period or hour, in such a way that I merit to always be happy and until I merit to dance a great deal each time because of happiness. Let me raise all the elements called ‘feet’ to the aspect of a heart of wisdom, an aspect of that "we may get a heart of wisdom." By this, may all the harsh judgements in the world be sweetened from upon us and from all Israel. May I merit through this happiness and dancing to rectify the blemish of bad speech that I’ve committed from my youth until today by many forms of bad speech, especially slander and gossip. Let me raise and rectify it all completely by holy happiness and dancing... Master of the World, in Your mercy, fulfill all our wishes for the good and let us be worthy of all that we’ve requested from You, so that we merit to always be happy... May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart find favour before You, O Lord, my Rock and Redeemer. Amen and Amen. Master of joy and gladness; strength and joy are in His place. In Your Presence there is no sadness whatsoever. Help me, in Your abundant compassion, and merit me to gladden myself at all times in such a way that I can strengthen myself to overcome any sorrow or sadness. Let me drive them away without allowing them to enter my bounds or the hold of me at all. Rather, give me the power to overcome them and draw upon myself happiness and joy constantly. I will rejoice and be happy in You, in Your wonders and immense loving-kindness that You have performed for me until now and which You will perform for me in the future. In Your wonderful love You created me a Jew, and gave me Torah; the eternal life You planted in me. So, enable me to always be strong and to draw upon myself this great and wonderful joy, so much so that the joy spreads to my legs and leads me to dance, especially on Shabbat, Festivals, Chanukah and Purim or on other occasions like weddings or a brit mila etc. Be with me always to gladden me so that I will dance a lot from joy. Merit me to study Torah and perform mitzvoth with great joy, to such a degree that it fills my legs and I raise the m in dancing. As a result, have mercy on us and strengthen those who support financially Torah studies. Fill their hands with God’s blessings so that they lack nothing and will be able to support Torah scholars in such a way that the latter will be able to study and serve god without any worries or confusions regarding money. By the joy and dancing, merit me to rectify any blemish in my power of speech. I have blemished a lot by evil speech sine my youth until now, especially by slander and gossip. Let me now rectify everything by holy happiness and dancing from now on, guard me and save me from any evil speech such as slander and gossip. Let me sanctify my speech with great holiness in the utmost perfection. Save me from any blemish in my faith. Merit me to raise and rectify all the flaws in faith through the holy joy and dancing. From now on, may my faith be really perfect, as is proper, as You desire. Furthermore elevate me financially as well. Grant me great, holy wealth so the I can study torah and serve You without any worries and without having to stop. Enable me to give lots of charity and to support others who really study Torah. Draw blessings and a good life to all our children and offspring. Save us and all our generation from the anguish of raising children. Merit us all to raise our offspring without any sorry or harm. Just help us to raise them calmly, in peace and tranquillity, to the study of Torah, to marriage and to good deeds, for many years, in Your service. Master of the Universe, fulfill all our wishes for the good. Merit us to achieve all that we have asked for from You. Merit us to always be happy. Gladden the souls of Your servant for I lift up my soul to God. Purify our hearts to serve You with truth. Fill us with Your goodness, gladden us in Your salvation. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and with a generous spirit sustain me. May the words of my mouth and the musings of my heart find favour before You, God, my Rock and Redeemer. Amen and Amen. 82. "WHEN YOU GO FORTH TO WAR" (Deut.21:10) (a) When a person sees that things are not going smoothly for him, he should know that he has pride and then repent; he should humble himself until he becomes an aspect of 'nothing' ('ma'). Then things will go smoothly for him. (b) The main time to perform repentance is in the month of Elul for they are days of Divine favour when Moshe went up to receive the second Tablets and opened a more accessible path to G-d. The path of repentance that Moshe made is this: a Jew has to connect himself to even the very lowest of the low of the Jewish People because even in such a Jew there is certainly a spark of godliness. By this Godliness he can unite and connect himself with him. Also, in every climb when he ascends spiritually, he must find G-d there. For sometimes, by rising to a new level, such as by becoming rich, a person forgets the Holy One. Even in the service of G-d we find that Elisha (Acher), after he rose to a new level, came to a complete denial of faith in G-d, Heaven save us. However, the truth is that it should certainly be the opposite. Know that this is an aspect of "His eyes were dimmed from seeing" for this is because he came very close to the light of godliness; for all the good, even materially, is godliness, as it says, "G-d is good for everything". And, by this, the light dims his eyes and harms him, just like a person who looks at the actual light of the sun; the intense light damages his eyes. Therefore you need to ask from the Holy One to bring you near to Him in a way that it will not harm you. (c) When you are in the aspect of 'nothing' and you draw godliness to yourself, meaning that you always connect your mind and thoughts to godliness, by this all your wars will be nullified and all the desires which oppose your will become nullified. ## 82 ### Prayer for Torah 82 82. God is the Master of war – His Name is god. God is mighty and strong; God is strong in battle. Master of the Universe, sublime and holy, master of wars, have mercy on me for Your Names sake; fight my wars for me. Because of my sins I have run out of strength. I haven’t the ability to stand up to my enemies, whether physical or spiritual. Woe am I. What can I say? How can I justify myself? It is an immense and awesome wonder that I can still speak to you like this and ask You to find on my behalf against all my physical and spiritual enemies. Therefore, I have come before You, merciful One, King of Glory, Who performs wonders – teach me how to be victorious over You so that You will fight my wars Subdue, break and nullify all my enemies. Nullify from me all my evil physical cravings and all my bad attributes. Help me to rescue my soul for Your Names sake. Save me and atone for my sins. We do not depend on our righteousness rather we caste our prayers upon You in the merit of Your bountiful mercy. How can someone so lowly as myself nullify the aspect of ‘disorder,’ and turn it into ‘order’? How can I attach myself at all times to the Holy One? How can I attach my mind to the Holy One so as to really cleave to Him? When will I be able to nullify myself, all my cravings and bad attributes to the will of God completely and utterly until I become like absolutely nothing and until I achieve the aspect of ‘man’ nothing. Let me really nullify myself until everything becomes ‘orderly’. Then all the desires of my enemies will become nullified to my desire which will really be Your desire. Master of the Universe, teach me the paths of true humility. Teach me how to break and nullify the pride from my heart and mind. The truth is that I know my own worthlessness. In the light of all my many sins, I shouldn’t have any thought of pride. I have sinned and blemished a great deal until now, even so I am not clean from thoughts of pride. I am very far away from true humility. Because of this I am far from the aspect of ‘order’, when things go well for me. I have nothing in life that runs smoothly. Everything is crooked and causes confusions. My mind gets confused from many things, especially the greed for an income. All this stems from the aspect of ‘disorder’ because I have blemished the attribute of humility and stumbled into pride, Heaven save us. I have come before You Lord, our God, and God of our fathers, to ask that You help me and save me, in the merit and strength of the path of repentance that Moses our teacher, may he rest in peace, and all the true tzaddikim in the world drew down and revealed to us. May I also merit to return in real, whole — hearted repentance before You, from now on. You know the wonders of the paths of repentance that they drew into the world. They (the tzaddikim) lowered themselves and attached themselves to the lowest of the low, even to the lowly such as myself, wherever I am. They still attach themselves to me wherever I am now. From their point of view it is quite possible to remove me from my exile, to raise me and really bring me into holiness, to raise me higher and higher. Have mercy upon me and grant me merit to always attach myself to holy tzaddikim such as these. Reveal to me the holy path, the paths of repentance which they draw into the world, in such a way that I merit from now on to return in truly perfect repentance before You and to really attach myself and glue myself to You always, in real humbleness and self-effacement to the ultimate degree. In Your mercy, guard me and save me so that no aspect of descent or ascent will have the strength to distance me from You, Heaven forbid, for sometimes a person is distanced, Heaven forbid, by You raising him up, such as by great wealth or other good which You grant him, or by great knowledge of Your exaltedness. This happens because an excess of light darkens the eyes and harms one, Heaven forbid. Therefore I’ve come to request from You that You protect me with Your hands; guard me and save me and shield me so that nothing will harm me. May I never ever distance myself from You in the aspect of descent, Heaven forbid, even in the deepest pit, even in the ten levels of filth, God forbid. There also may I merit to always find You, as it says: “His Kingship is in every place." "In the aspect of ascent also, when You have mercy upon me and raise me higher and higher, may I always merit to find You. May I always come closer to You in all aspects, whether in the good or in distress, Heaven forbid, whether in descent or ascent, as is written; “If I ascend unto Heaven You are there; and if I make my bed in the depths, here You are." By this, may I merit, from now on and forever, to really perfect repentance, especially during the holy month of Elul, which is a month of favour, when Moses ascended to receive the Second Tablets (of the Ten Commandments) and opened a paved way for us to walk upon. From now on, have mercy upon me, so that I merit to prepare to draw upon myself the holiness of the month of Elul, the holiness of the path of repentance which Moses, our teacher, together with all the true tzaddikim in the world, drew into the world through their wonderful and awesome ways. I have no hope other than this path which is known only to You and to the great, true tzaddikim. That which is good in Your eyes do with me. I will continually hope "until the Lord looks forth and beholds from Heaven." 83. (a) By means of rectifying the brit (sexual purity) one can speak out words of prayer like arrows from a bow. Then begins the growth of the horn of Mashiach. Then one comes to the holiness of Shabbat and becomes a free man and merits to the ultimate knowledge. As a result, he can discard his leprous body which is from the skin of the Serpent and wear the clothes of Shabbat. In other words, he will have a holy body from the Garden of Eden and then his fortune will rise and he will merit to wealth; his good urge will become strengthened and thus sadness and mockery will be nullified. Through this he will raise all those who have fallen to lowly, bad forms of love and fear. He raises them to holy love and fear and thus removes the darkness from their eyes. Then their eyes will see wonders and it will be considered as if he had created the world. By this he raises all the supplications and requests that we pray. We awaken the redemption which depends on the heart and nullify the yeast and chometz of the evil inclination of a person that remains from his youth. Then the heart can become enthused in the study of Torah with flames of love. 'Many waters', which are the extraneous forms of love and fear, will not be able to extinguish this holy enthusiasm. The Shechinah covers over with its wings the blood of the Jewish People with this love so that no evil seed, the waters of the Flood, will overcome them. To all this we merit through the rectification of the brit. (b) Yeast and chometz are in the heart of a person. They entice a person to have doubts about the Torah scholars of the generation, saying that 'this one is pleasant and that one is not pleasant'. By rectifying the brit we nullify this yeast and chometz. ## 83 ### Prayer for Torah 83 83. Master of the universe, from now on, help me and save me. In You bountiful mercy, do whatever You do, with wonderful loving-kindness; merit me from now on to really guard the holy brit. Return me to You in complete repentance over the past in the merit of the true tzaddikim who achieved completely perfect guarding of the brit. Merciful One, You revealed to us that all the rectifications in all the worlds and the entire Torah all depend on the rectification of the holy brit which is the foundation of every thing. However, because of the power of the evil urge, we have blemished the brit a great deal. Therefore I have come to plead to You mercy and salvation. Help me to achieve a really perfect rectification of the brit. Make my eyes and mind shine at all times in such a way that I merit to keep far away from this craving and thoughts associated with it. Help me to escape from them so that I can drive them out and nullify them from me entirely. Then, let me achieve a perfect rectification of the brit, as You desire. So, help me, in the merit of the power of all the true tzaddikim who rectify the brit completely. Then, let us merit to shoot arrows, Which are the words of prayer said in utter perfection. Merit us to always pray with tremendous concentration, with perfect faith and great energy and enthusiasm until we speak out holy words of prayer so forceful that the words will fly through the air like arrows rising far into the world above, activating all the rectifications in all the worlds above as they should. Merit us to the sanctity of the holy Shabbat so that we can engage in studying Your Torah, prayer and mitzvoth without the need to work for a living during the week. Merciful One, You granted us the wonderful gift of Shabbat from Your Treasury. You know the virtue of the sanctity of the holy Shabbat which sustains and drives life-force to all the worlds. You know how far I am away from the holiness and joy of Shabbat, so teach me how to merit to the joy of Shabbat on every single Shabbat. Grant me a taste of the holiness of Shabbat. Please God, Who alone has wisdom, teach me to know that I really don’t know anything. As a result, let me start from anew in the service of God every time, whether in time of ascent or of descent, Heaven forbid. May I not be confused or bothered by anything in the world. Don’t let my immense and innumerous sins weaken my mind, Heaven forbid. Just let me know that I really no nothing at all about what happens to me or what happens in the world. Just merit me to real wisdom, understanding and knowledge, to recognise the truth, that I am far away from true wisdom. Therefore, in Your bountiful mercy, help me to discard my leperous body which is from the poison of the snake. Then, merit me to wear the cloths of Shabbat, that’s to say, a holy body from Gan Eden. You alone know from where this coarse, material and filthy body is drawn. The immense coarseness and filth of this leperous body, from which I cannot clean myself, dirties my deeds and confuses my mind. Teach me how to arrange my prayers before You so that at least from now on I can discard my evil deeds and confused, despicable thoughts. Let me discard me leperous, coarse, dirty, materialistic body, to such a degree that I merit to cloth myself in a holy body from Gan Eden. Remove the darkness from our eyes until we see wonders. Fulfill in us very soon the verse which says, "As in the days when you left the land of Egypt, so I will show him wonderful things." Always draw upon me the holiness of Pesach. Help us always to recount and tell of Your wonders and Your true Torah. Let us merit to always talk and reveal the Torah of truth. Fulfill in us the verse which says, "The Torah of truth was in his mouth." Have mercy upon us. Save us and help us very soon to remove the darkness which covers the mouth of the depths, and to radiate the light of truth in the world until it be considered as if we created all the world. Master of the World, who gives the power of speech to the dumb, grant us speech to talk at all times of Your true Torah and wonders. "That the generation to come may know them, even the children who will be born; who will arise and tell their children." May we merit to inform our sons, the sons of our sons, and all Israel in their generations, of all the deeds and wonders of the Lord that He has done for us from the leaving of Egypt until this very day; as it says, "Teach them to your sons and your sons’ sons." You, who are full of compassion, let us and all Israel merit to the light of real eyes, to always look and see the truth. Let us always gaze and really see the wonders of the Lord. Open my eyes and the eyes of all the people of Israel and let us behold the wonders from Your Torah which You revealed by Your true tzaddikim. You alone know the wonders of their Torah that they revealed in the world. By the light of their eyes may all our requests and supplications that we pray rise to the Temple. By this, may the redemption that is dependent on the heart be aroused; as is written "For the day of the vengeance is in my heart and the year of my redeemed has come." By this nullify from us the leaven and leavened bread of the ‘desire of the heart of a man is evil’ which remains with us from our youth. This leaven and leavened bread in the heart entices a person to question the authenticity of the wise men in the generation and to say that one is pleasing and the other is not pleasing. Because of this, our hearts have opposed them, so the seventy-two tzaddikim in this generation have become hidden from us. We don’t know for certain even one of them. Have mercy upon us for Your sake. Remove, get rid of and nullify from us the leaven and leavened bread in our hearts such that we merit to believe in all the tzaddikim without questioning their authenticity at all. Let me not make any distinction between them, rather may they all be pleasing, dear and beloved in our eyes very, very much... Pardon and forgive me for all my sins, iniquities and wilful transgressions, really completely and utterly by this holy love. 84. (a) The main form of connecting with and cleaving to the Holy One is through prayer, for prayer is the gateway through which we enter to the Holy One and from which we come to recognize G-d. (b) Most often when a person prays he gets thoughts of pride and this is an aspect of the exile of the Shechinah. By praying with all one's strength one can overcome the extraneous thoughts of self-importance and nullify them. This extracts the Shechinah from its exile and rectifies it. It causes a unification of the Holy One and the Shechinah to be made. Also, by means of praying with all one's strength, G-d's oath to the Patriarchs becomes renewed and it is as if now He is swearing an oath to our Fathers. ## 84 ### Prayer for Torah 84 84. “Lord, open my lips and let my mouth speak Your praises.” Master of the universe, hear my prayer. You choose the prayers of the Jewish people. In You great compassion, merit me to always pray a great deal. May I pray with great concentration, strength and self-sacrifice. Help me to put all my strength into the words of prayer so that I can strengthen prayer, which is the kingdom of holiness, and thus subdue the kingdom of evil. By this, let me subdue, break and nullify all thoughts of self importance together with all the extraneous thoughts that come to confuse my prayer, Heaven forbid. You know that, by ourselves, we have no strength to nullify them. We depend on Your bountiful mercy and great loving-kindness. Have mercy upon me for Your Name’s sake. Just let me drive them out, get rid of them and nullify them completely from within me and around me. Don’t let these strange thoughts come into my mind at all and then, as a result, my prayers will be pure and proper; they will find favour before You. Merit me to refine my prayers and separate them from the hands of the husks and from the kingdom of evil until the prayers become completely rectified. Then, may they have the power to arouse You sublime love until we create a unification of the Holy One with the Shechina through our prayer. You revealed to us that the main way to attach ourselves and to cleave to You is through prayer, for prayer is the gateway through which we enter to the Holy One. From prayer we come to recognise Him. Have mercy on us for Your Name’s sake. Merit us to pray perfectly, with all our strength You taught us by Your holy sages, would that a person pray the entire day, so merit us to pray a great deal. Fulfill all our wishes through Your compassion. Let us pray with all our strength such that we nullify completely all extraneous thoughts. Merit us to perfect prayer until we come close to You and really recognise You. Then we will cleave to You with the utmost cleaving in a really perfect way, as You desire, for ever and ever, for all eternity. Fulfill in us the verse, “You who cleave to the Lord, Your God, You are all alive today.” May the words of my mouth and the musings of my heart fin favour before You, God, my Rock and Redeemer. Amen. Sela. 85. The Luz bone in the nape of the neck of a person which will remain after the decay of the body and from which the body will be renewed and rebuilt at the time of the Resurrection, this is our main consolation. (See inside). 86. When there is small-mindedness and blemished faith we need to perform difficult deeds such as to fast and so on. But when our faith is perfect, we can serve G-d in anything we do, for "G-d doesn't come with complaints against His creations." ## 86 ### Prayer for Torah 86 86. “Create in me a pure heart, God, and renew right spirit within me.” Don’t caste me away from before You and don’t take from me the spirit of holiness. Master of the Universe, merit me to believe totally in You and Your true tzaddikim. Grant us patience in all things. Don’t let anything at all confuse us and prevent us to serving You. Save us from all kinds of atheism, Heaven forbid. Save us from every form of blemished and diminished faith for they are an aspect of the lack of patience, Heaven save us. Master of the universe, You know what is happening to us in this lowly generation, how many spirited and physical enemies rise against us; they want to change our faith, Heaven forbid. They want to instill atheism in the Jewish People so that even kosher Jews have their faith blemished. This is an aspect of our lowliness and lack of self appreciation. Therefore, please have mercy on us; merit us to strengthen ourselves and our holy belief such that we come to believe in You and Your true tzaddikim with perfect faith really wholeheartedly. May we serve You by doing difficult things and really sacrifice our souls for the sake of the Torah and for Your service. Let us accept upon ourselves all the hard things (such as fasting or other self-mortification) in order to perform Your will (when we are threatened with forced conversion). Save us from all kinds of diminished faith for You have informed us that even tzaddikim sometimes have an aspect of this diminished faith. They don’t always have sufficient faith in themselves and their own Torah innovations. They don’t really believe that God takes great delight in their service and their Torah innovations. Occasionally they even neglect their Torah and service because of their lack of faith in themselves. Therefore, please have mercy on us and merit us to have really perfect faith in all its aspects such that we will need no fasts or other self-mortification. Rather enable us to server You with all things in the world. Amen. So may it be. 87. Because of a blemish to the brit it is hard for a person to find his marriage partner and even if he finds her she will oppose him; she will not do what he wants. By the special spiritual intentions of Elul blemishes to the brit are rectified. As a result, he will merit to find his marriage partner and she will do what he wants. (See the secret of the intentions of Elul, Lekutei Moharan, Pt.1, 6). ## 87 ### Prayer for Torah 87 87. Master of the Universe, merciful One, You revealed to us by Your holy sages that the main thing is the rectification of the brit. This is the main trial and test for each person in this world. Only for this a man comes to this world, to be tested with this expense. The entire Torah is dependant on this for guarding the brit is the foundation of everything. Now, after I have blemished so much, what can I say? I don’t know where to start speaking. However, You have already decreed, through the true tzaddikim, that we must constantly shout out to You. We must pray and plead to You, no matter what, whether we are ascending or descending. There is no measure to Your compassion and loving-kindness. Therefore, may it find favour before You, Lord, my God, God of our Fathers, that You enlighten my eyes in Your Torah. Teach me how to merit to understand the words of Your holy Torah. You have commanded us to have in mind the intentions of Elul in order to rectify the brit. But I am ignorant, I know no way to have these intentions in mind. Have mercy on me, for Your Name’s sake. Sanctify us with Your sublime holiness. Open my heart in the study of Your Torah. Help me to study and to understand the intentions of Elul and all the Torah discourses connected to this. Merit me to find a straight and proper path to come close to You at all times. Let me be familiar with the paths of running and returning, of ascending and descending so that I can follow the paths of repentance. Open Your hand to me, for Your right hand is open to receive those who repent. Let me draw down all the relationships that come about by these intentions of Elul until I rectify the brit completely, as soon as possible. In Your bountiful compassion, command Your holy angels, who hold shofars in their hands and who are appointed to search and dig for all the lost things that they make efforts to rectify our souls. Let them search after and dig for all the holy sparks that we have lost during our lives until today because of all our cravings and especially by our blemishing of the brit. Command them to search for all that we have lost in this lifetime and in precious lifetimes. Let them find everything very hastily and then return everything to us in such a way that our souls become rectified in the most perfect way, as You desire. Have mercy on the Jewish People, Your Nation who find it hard to find their marriage partner. And even when they find each other she is resistant to him and doesn’t desire him. There is no peace in their home, Heaven forbid, (especially so and so, who is suffering from this. Have mercy on him and all Jews who suffer this). Help them and save them so that each one speedily finds his true marriage partner. Grant them peace in their home. Let her not oppose him at all. Rather, change her desire into the desire of her husband. Let their desires be in harmony so that they live together with love and real peace. Have mercy upon us and save us so that we merit to always guard ourselves from eating any fruit before it ripens, and so that we pick no fruit before its time, for You revealed to us the immense loss and damage that can come to a person by this; one can lose one’s soul, Heaven forbid, by this. Master of the World, in Your great mercy and immense loving-kindness, have mercy upon us, guard us and save us from this. Help us and save us and let us merit to always recite the blessing on foods, especially the blessing on fruits, in phenominally great devotion. Let us not throw any blessing out of our mouths, Heaven forbid. Rather, let us always - overcome and strengthen ourselves with all our might, every time we want to eat some fruit or take some pleasure from This World, so that we recite the blessing with great devotion, as is proper; and in such a way that whatever we may eat or drink or enjoy won’t damage our souls at all, but the reverse. May we merit to perfect our souls and to add to their holy life-force and great radiance, by everything that we eat, drink or get pleasure from. Help us and save us so that all our eating and drinking and all our gaining pleasure be with great happiness and purity, for Your Name’s sake alone, without any pleasure of the body at all. May we be included amongst the tzaddikim who eat to satisfy their souls in holiness. 88. (a) One has to be very careful not to eat a fruit before it has ripened completely on the tree for one can lose one's soul through this. It is also forbidden to pluck a fruit before it has ripened just as it is forbidden to cut down a tree before its time. (b) When you make a blessing with great concentration and the proper fear of Heaven before eating a fruit, by this you can merit to save your soul from becoming lost through eating an unripe fruit. One has to be very careful when saying blessings over food and drink, especially with the blessing over fruit, for in fruit there are a lot of lost souls which need to be clarified and elevated. (c) Some people lose a lot because of their cravings. This is an aspect of "The desire of the wicked will be lost" (Psalms,112:10). Even someone who is a tzaddik occasionally loses, in an aspect of "There is a tzaddik who is lost in his righteousness" (Eccl.7:15). Even the tzaddikim who dig and search after losses sometimes also lose, as it says "Let them search and lose" (Psalms, 83:18). Know that there is an angel and under him several messengers and they all hold shofars in their hands; they search for and request losses all the time. They blow on the shofars- tekiah, teruah, tekiah. And when they find something lost it creates great noise and joy in the world above. 89. When someone cannot find his marriage partner, the rectification for this is for him to endeavour to hear Torah innovations from someone with real understanding. ## 89 ### Prayer for Torah 89 89. Almighty, blessed God, in Your bountiful mercy... have mercy on all those Jews for whom it is difficult to find a spouse (in particular so and so, son of so and so). Help them and save them very speedily so that each one merits to find his or her true, worthy partner from Heaven, without any delay and without any suffering at all. We don’t know at all, nor do we have any counsel or strategy how to find a spouse for each person. You know how difficult it is for a person to find his or her spouse, for all partnerships are from two opposites. Sometimes they are very great opposites such that it’s as difficult to match them as splitting the Red Sea! It is therefore impossible to join them and match them other than by the true understanding with which all the matchmaking is arranged. Therefore we need to hear Torah from the mouth of he who has true understanding, who produces wonderful innovations in Torah, who joins and matches words of Torah from one place to another by which all matchmaking is accomplished in the world. However, as a result of our many iniquities he has become hidden from us and we don’t know how to find this master of holy understanding in order to hear Torah from his mouth. Now, from where will our aid come? Therefore our eyes are turned to You alone; You who are full of compassion, who sits and arranges matches. Have pity on all Your People who need to find their spouse (in particular...). Send to each one very speedily his or her worthy true spouse from Heaven. Let her be as he wants and may she be a help to him. Unique Lord, Full of Compassion, who looks till the end of all generations, who governs His world in loving-kindness and His creatures in mercy, take pity and have mercy on the days of youth of the youngsters of Your People. Inform us of Your ways. How can we merit to know and find the true spouses of all those dependent on us? Grant us merit and help us, and in the strength and merit of great, true tzaddikim, who are the holy understanding of all the worlds, who drew and revealed a truly wonderful and great understanding in This World also, help us to quickly find the spouse of every individual of Your People. Let us speedily marry them off with good fortune, for a good, long life and peace. Let her be as he desires and not oppose him at all, Heaven forbid. Rather, let them live in love and peace, in holiness and purity as is truly Your desire. 90. In breaking a china plate at an engagement party (as is the custom) we hint to the groom and remind him that Hell exists. This is to remind him so that he will not become bound up after his physical craving but rather he should sanctify himself properly in his marital relations. It also hints to him that if his wife turns out to be evil he should not betray her nor should he divorce her for through her he will be saved from seeing the face of Hell, as the Sages promised. One must be very careful not to divorce one's wife. ## 90 ### Prayer for Torah 90 90. Have compassion on those of Your Nation, the House of Israel, who need to find their spouse, and let them merit very quickly to a partner in life, their true spouse, whom Heaven considers worthy. Let each one feel a sense of arousal towards You at the time of betrothal and when breaking the china vessel at the time of formal betrothal, and let them remember the final, ultimate purpose of marriage. Let each one remember the Gate of Clay that was in Jerusalem, which was the entranceway to Hell, so that he or she won’t betray his or her proper spouse. Let one never divorce the other, even if he or she suffers from the other, Heaven forbid, and let them remember the bitter punishment of Hell from which they will be saved by this, as the Sages said, "He who has a wicked wife won’t see Hell." This he has to accept with love and to remind himself that if his wife is good, as he wants, then he has to be very, very careful not to indulge his lust, Heaven forbid. Let him remember, certainly remember, that there is Hell, and let him have mercy on himself by sanctifying himself properly with the ultimate holiness at the time of marital intercourse, as is fitting for a Jew. Let him remember and never forget the bitter punishment of Hell which comes as a result of blemishing the covenant (brit), Heaven forbid, Heaven forbid! Have mercy upon me and upon all the seed of Israel; arrange things for the good in such a way that we merit to escape and save ourselves from Hell and from all sorts of punishments and harsh judgements in This World and the Next. In Your abundant mercy, have pity upon us in the merit and strength of the tzaddikim who brought us closer to You... May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart find favour before You, O Lord, my Rock and Redeemer. 91. "AND G-D SPOKE" (a) All the things and wisdoms in the world, whatever they are, have to be connected to the Holy One. And someone who does not connect them to the Holy One is an aspect of (Proverbs,16:28) "A whisperer separates the master" ( "master" in Hebrew 'aluf' alludes to G-d). This person separates things from the Master of the World and causes, Heaven forbid, a blemish in the moon and the exile of the Shechinah. For each person, whoever he is, has to connect his mind wherever he is to the Torah and to the Holy One. All this is rectified by coming close to true tzaddikim for they raise and connect everything to G-d through their speaking about mundane, worldly matters. Even the apparently mundane conversations of the true tzaddikim are very precious because specifically by this they connect to the Holy One even those who are very far away from G-d. Then all the harsh decrees are removed and all the wicked are subdued; we find all forms of light and all forms of perfection. (b) By binding oneself to true tzaddikim one merits to complete repentance and one's sins are atoned for. This leads to the sweetening and nullification of all the harsh judgements and, through this a unification is made between the Holy One and the Shechinah. ## 91 ### Prayer for Torah 91 91. Master of the Universe, Who is full of mercy, Who desires loving-kindness and abounds in bestowing good, You bestowed good to all, whether good or evil. You think about how to prevent the dispersed souls from becoming lost. Open Your eyes and see our helplessness. We have no one to stand up for us. What can we do now that You have taken the great tzaddik from us by his passing away. The tzaddik has brought us all closer to the Holy One but, because of our many sins, the sun, has set at midday and we are left as orphans without a father. Merciful One, teach us to cry and mourn the loss of the true tzaddikim so that we arouse Your compassion upon us. Teach us this generation who have the power to lead us on the path of truth bring us close to You and return us to You in real repentance. Merit us to come close to them and to behave in their pleasant words with perfect faith; their worldly words need studying for they contain hidden, wonderful Torah ideas and very sublime secrets. May I listen intently and connect my mind firmly to their holy words in such a way that they will connect me to You. Merciful One, in Your awesome and wonderful compassion, do whatever You desire but at least in such a way that I will return to You from now on. Let my evil thoughts be quietened and my bad deeds be returned. Don’t let me blemish anymore. Help me to connect my thoughts, words and actions, all my wisdom and knowledge to You truthfully from wherever I am. As a result let me attach the lower wisdom to the upper wisdom. Have compassion on us in this time of distress in the days prior to meshiach’s coming. You know the bitterness suffered by our souls. Merit us to find and come close to the true tzaddikim so that they will have compassion on us and bring us close to You, to Your Torah and service. May they extract us from all the bad places into which awe have fallen, each person according to his level, and thus bring us back in true repentance. Enable us to join and attach the lower wisdom to the higher wisdom. Merit us to create great and awesome unifications and, as a result, to fill the blemish of the moon and to bring the Shechinah out of exile. Let there be a constant and complete unification of the Holy One and the Shechinah and, by this, sweeten and nullify all the harsh decrees in the world Forgive and pardon our sins. Shine all the lights with a great wonderful light so that all the worlds will be completely rectified. Increase and reveal true knowledge in the world; let every made thing know that You are its maker and every formed thing understand that You are its creator. Let every breathing thing declare that the God of Israel is king and His kingdom extends to all places. Merit us to be very strongly and firmly attached to You for ever. In Your compassion, bring us close to true tzaddikim as soon as possible, for they are all our hope, in this World and in the Next. They are over life and the length of our days. So, have mercy on us for Your Name’s sake. Fulfill all our wishes for the good mercifully. Be gracious to us; hear and answer our prayers, for You hear the prayers of every mouth. Blessed are You Who hears prayer. 92. It is a great rectification for a nocturnal emission Heaven forbid to recite on that same day these ten psalms: 16. Michtam to David 32. To David Maskil 41. Praiseworthy is he who contemplates the needy 42. As the deer longs 59. To the conductor, don't destroy 77. To the conductor on Yedutun 90. A Prayer to Moshe 105. Give thanks to G-d, declare His Name 137. By the Rivers of Babylon 150. Praise G-d in His sanctuary Someone who merits to recite them on the same day as the blemish no longer has to fear this awesome blemish of a nocturnal emission, Heaven forbid, for it will certainly be rectified by this. And in the merit of the rectification of this sin, our righteous Mashiach will come to gather all of us dispersed in exile. May it be speedily in our days. Amen. 106. It is fitting to think about words of Torah when having marital relations. Even so one can conceive children even though the mind is then cleaving to thoughts of Torah. It is very good to accustom oneself to this. 107. On one occasion the Rebbe spoke about how detestable the universal craving is, the craving for sex, and how we need to distance ourselves from it. He answered and said: Look, eating at least adds strength and vitality to a person, but this craving, on the contrary, it wastes and damages one's vitality a lot. It exhausts a person a great deal. We certainly don't need it at all other than for the sake of sustaining the human race. 125. About reciting Psalms the Rebbe spoke to someone and said to him that the essence of reciting Psalms is to say them all about oneself, to find oneself in each and every psalm. He then asked the Rebbe, 'How?' The Rebbe then explained to him a little. For all the wars that King David asked from G-d to be saved from them, all have to be understood as the war against the evil urge and its cohorts. And so on, in the other psalms (as is explained in Torah 101). So the chassid asked him how he should understand those verses where King David praises himself. For example, when he says, "Guard my soul for I am devout" (Psalms, 86:2) and other similar verses. The Rebbe answered him, this also one has to understand as relating to oneself, for a person has to judge himself favourably and find within himself some merit and good point about which he can be considered ‘devout’ and so on. The Rebbe said to him, do we not find about Yehoshafat that it is written that, "And his heart was lifted up in the service of G-d" (Chronicles, 2, 17:6). In the paths of G-d and in serving Him he lifted his heart a little. In addition the Rebbe said to him, in the morning prayers do we not first say "What are we, what is our life" etc.; and we humble ourselves a lot. Afterwards we say "But we are Your People, the sons of Your covenant" etc. In other words we strengthen ourselves and raise ourselves by telling of our greatness and taking pride that we are His People, the sons of His covenant, the seed of Abraham, Yitzchak and Ya'acov etc. For thus we have to behave in the service of G-d, as mentioned above. See more about this in the end of the first part of the book in Torah 282, on the verse "I will sing to my G-d with my little bit of good." THE END OF PART TWO OF LEKUTEI MOHARAN THANKS BE TO G-D ON HIGH WHO OWNS THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH. ## 119 ### Prayer for Torah 119 You grant knowledge to man. Please bestow upon us wisdom, insight and knowledge. By this merit us to cleave to the attribute of compassion so that we have compassion on others. Save us from all kinds of anger and cruelty which stem from foolishness and a lack of knowledge. Rather enable us to overcome this and listen ourselves each time to behave with compassion. As a result please have mercy upon us from Heaven as the Sages said: “Anyone who has compassion over others, they have compassion on him from Heaven”. You know how much we need a salvation and mercy from Heaven, each person in his own way. Only You know all the difficult experiences both spiritually and materially that occur to us nowadays in general and individually. You who know how great our weakness is and the deficiencies of our knowledge. As a result we have not the power to arouse Your compassion over us in a complete way. You revealed to us that the holy Shabbat is an aspect of knowledge for on Shabbat each Jew draws upon himself holy knowledge. Therefore, please have mercy upon us and merit us to receive Shabbat properly such that through this we will be able to receive the light of knowledge. As a result, let us ascertain the attribute of compassion and have mercy on other Jews, so that I can do good for them, as is fitting. Save me from all sorts of anger, sweeten and nullify all the harsh decrees from upon us and from upon all the Jewish People. Amen. May it be so. 120. When one studies from a book it hasn't as much strength to arouse a person as when he hears directly from the mouth of the tzaddik himself. This is explained in the Torah. (See original text) 121. Any place where a person sees and studies in a book, he should find himself. That's to say, he should take some ethical teaching from it. He should see his worthlessness and lowliness. This is a sign that he desires to perform G-d's will. ## 120 ### Prayer for Torah 120 Master of the Universe, grant me the merit to come close to true tzaddikim and to hear words of Torah and inspiration from their mouths so that I will receive real spiritual arousal in the service of G-d with fear of Heaven. You know that I have already looked into a number of holy books of ethics but I still have not really been inspired by them. This is because books are on the level of ‘action’ and after the sin of the golden calf we lost the crown of ‘action’. So merit me to hear words of Torah and inspiration with my own ears from the mouth of the tzaddik for this is an aspect of ‘listening’ and ‘Comprehending’. If we hear directly from him this will have more power to arouse us to truly repent. So merit me to yearn and long so much to serve You with great desire that in my book I learn from I will immediately find myself. In other words let me see my own worthlessness and lowly spiritual status. As a result may I get great spiritual arousal and inspiration to serve You from each and every holy book that I study. May I receive from them good advice, inspiration and tremendous encouragement in Your service. Fulfill in the verse that says: “Behold I have come to the scroll of the book that is written for me specifically”. May I consider everything I learn from a book to G-d written “for me” as if it is speaks to me personally, telling me to perform Your will. Amen. So may it be Your will. 122. The desire to be victorious doesn't suffer truth. Even if the truth becomes clear before a person's eyes, he will reject it because of the desire to win the debate. Therefore, someone who wants the absolute truth must first set aside the desire to be victorious; then he will be able to see the truth if he wants. But with the Holy One, even in the attribute of Victory, is all Truth. This is "And also, the Victory of Israel will not lie" (Shmuel I, 15:29). ## 122 ### Prayer for Torah 122 Save me from the trait of wanting to triumph over others. Let me feel more comfortable to be vanquished than to win. For You know how very many people have lost their world completely. Heaven preserve us through this trait of being wanting to be. Triumph does not allow for truth. Even if a person sees with his own eyes that something is true, he will reject if for the sake of triumphing. Merit me to cleave to the attribute of truth and to always admit the truth. Let me always speak the truth for specifically by this, I will eventually merit to vanquish all those who oppose me and try to distance me from the path of truth. Protect me so that I do not mislead myself through the trait of wanting to vanquish others. You taught us that You yearn and long for the Jewish People to triumph over You in their prayers such that You change Your will, so to speak, to our will. You take great delight when we triumph over You. And how could we do this other than by You sending us the words and claims by which to vanquish You. So have mercy on me and send me words in order to explain myself before You at all times with new and proper claims, requests, supplications, appeasements until I vanquish You so to speak. As a result, bring me close to You, even though I am not deserving, for Your compassion is immense. Amen, so may it be Your will. 123. The main thing and foundation that everything depends on is that a Jew connect himself to the tzaddik of the generation and accept whatever he says, whether a major thing or a minor thing, without swerving from his words, Heaven forbid, to the right or left. He must throw away all his wisdom and discard all his understanding, as if he hasn't any intelligence apart from what he will receive from the tzaddik or genuine rabbi of the generation. All the time that even some independent intelligence remains, he has not reached perfection and still isn't attached to the tzaddik. So too the main element of the Jewish People's receiving of the Torah at Sinai was that they discarded all their wisdom; they believed in G-d and His servant Moshe. That is what it says, "a foolish and unwise nation" (Deut. 32:6) which Unkulus translates as "a nation who accepted the Torah and were not wise." Similarly, the essence of accepting the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven is by discarding and nullifying all forms of wisdom. One just needs to go with purity and simplicity for only the holy Torah is true wisdom. All other wisdoms are nothing in comparison. ## 123 ### Prayer for Torah 123 “Blessed are those whose path is simplicity, who walk in the Torah of the Lord”. I will behave wisely in a perfect, pure way. When will You come to me? I will walk with a pure heart within my house”. Let (my deeds of) purity and integrity protect me. I hope and wait for You”. As for me I will walk in my purity; redeem me and be merciful upon me”. Master of the World, full of mercy, whose deeds are perfect and who is pure and shows His purity with the pure. Have mercy upon me and let me merit to real purity and simplicity May I merit to really attach myself in purity and simplicity to the real tzaddikim, the pious and pure people in the generation who merited to serve real tzaddikim and to receive from them the path of truth and honesty. Grant me the merit to discard, remove and nullify all my wisdom, intellect and perception before them such that it is as if I have no intellect at all. Let me fulfill all that they say and anything they say let that be it! Let me not stray to the right or the left of what they say. Master of the Compassion, have mercy upon me and save me from all sorts of confusions, from all sorts of worldly wisdoms that are not true. Have mercy upon me and save me from them. Do not let my heart be delivered into their ways. Let me now stray from the words of the truly holy tzaddikim who lead us in mercy, in truth and purity according to the ways of the Torah that we received from the mouth of our teacher, Moses, may he rest in peace. Protect us and save us from all sorts of denial of faith and things that confuse our faith, which are the result of these alien wisdoms. Let me merit to really and truly enter into the paths of purity and simplicity in such a way that I merit to really perfect belief and to fulfill all Your Torah with love, truth, purity and simplicity all the days of my life. “Let my heart be pure in Your statutes so that I will not be ashamed”. For “You are the Lord, G-d, who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldees and gave him the name Abraham. And found his heart to be faithful before You”. He walked before You in purity and simplicity, for he was the first of all the true, pure and honest believers who serve You in purity and simplicity, in truth and perfect belief. In his merit and the merit of all the true, pure tzadikkim, have mercy upon me and let me merit to begin now to go in Your ways, with purity and simplicity, with truth and perfect belief. Remove from my heart its stubbornness os that I will not lead my heart into foolishness, into paths of worthless wisdoms that are customary in the world, wisdoms that severely confuse and prevent us from thinking about our purpose in life, our final end and how to really com closer to You. Let me clear out and drive out from my heart all these wisdoms. May I really and truly know the immensity of my foolishness and how much I lack perception, as is written, “Surely I am more brutish than any man and haven’t the understanding of a man”. And it is written: “I was brutish and without knowledge: I was like a beast before You”. And, ”I said I will be wise; but it was far from me”. Have mercy upon me so that I will not mislead myself with any worldly wisdom which can confuse very much. Rather, may I merit to fulfill, with truth and purity, all that our true Sages say. Let me nullify my perception and intellect completely before them, as I have no intellect at all, which is really the truth. May I merit to fulfill the verse which says: “Lord, who will abide in Your Tabernacle and who will dwell on Your holy Mount? He who walks in purity (simplicity), performs righteousness and speaks the truth in his heart”. May it be pleasing before You, Lord, our G-d and G-d of our Fathers, full of loving-kindness, who does much good, that, in Your bountiful compassion, You have mercy upon me. Show me, teach me and guide me in the ways of the real purity and simplicity, with perfect faith, without any worthless wisdoms at all. You know that we have no way to come close to You other than by complete purity and simplicity, with truth and perfect faith. I believe and understand from afar, that even in the depths of our descent at present, in the midst of the force of this bitter exile, in body and spirit, there are ways of purity and simplicity and faith. Every person, wherever he is (in terms of his spiritual level), can remove himself from his exile and descent by means of the pathways of purity and simplicity; he can find the straight way and correct advice, he can find You in every place, even he who has fallen to wherever he is fallen. Everyone can rise out of their fall and descent and can come close and attach themselves to You. They can please and appease You with purity and simplicity, with prayer, supplications, truth and perfect faith, for these You desire, as it says, “My eyes will be upon the faithful of the land that they may dwell with me. He who walks in a pure (simple) way, he will serve me”. And it says: “Blessed are those whose path is simplicity, who walk in the Torah of the Lord”. Let me merit to all that I have requested before You. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing before Your Countenance, O Lord, my Rock and Redeemer. 124. When one speaks to G-d and explains oneself with claims and requests, wanting to be victorious over the Holy One, so to speak, so that He should fulfill one's request, G-d has pleasure and joy from this. Therefore, G-d sends such a person words to speak so he will be able to win G-d over. Without this it would certainly be impossible for a human of flesh and blood to be victorious over G-d. But G-d Himself helps him in this. 125. Eating on Shabbat is very precious and holy; it is a mitzvah to have plenty of food on Shabbat, for eating is entirely Godliness, entirely holy. Therefore we must be very careful that it contains no element of or attachment to the weekdays. That's to say, one shouldn't eat simply because one is hungry from the day before or in order not to be hungry the day after for then one's eating contains a portion from the weekdays. Consequently one has to have in mind when eating on Shabbat that it is only for the sake of the holiness of Shabbat itself. This is an aspect of the three times it says "today" in the verses about eating on Shabbat, alluding to the need to eat only for the holiness of Shabbat and for the honour of the day itself. 126. Immediately when Shabbat enters, because of the extra soul's great delight at Shabbat's arrival, we instantly start to pine for and regret the loss of this extra soul at the conclusion of Shabbat. This is an aspect of what we recite at the beginning of Shabbat – "Shabbat Vayinafesh" (Exodus 31:17) which the Sages said (Betza,15) means "Since Shabbat ends, 'vayi' ('woe') one loses the 'nefesh' (the soul)." This is like it brings in the Zohar that the time when the group of followers of Rabbi Shimon took great delight in the holiness of the revelations of Rabbi Shimon, they began to pine a great deal and said 'vayi'- woe- to the generation when he (Rabbi Shimon) passes away. This is exactly like the above regarding Shabbat. ## 125 ### Prayer for Torah 125 Master of the World, let us merit to welcome properly the holiness of Shabbat. May I merit to fulfill the commandment of eating three meals every single Shabbat and to fulfill properly the commandment of delight on Shabbat, to eat, drink and have plenty of delights for the sake of Shabbat. You know how great is the virtue of the preciousness of eating on Shabbat. Grant us merit to fulfill perfectly that which is written about eating on Shabbat: “…eat it today for today is a Shabbaot for the Lord; today you will not find it in the field.” From this the Sages learnt that a person must eat three meals on Shabbat for “today” is written three times. Let me merit to eat the Shabbat meals with great holiness and may I have in mind at every meal that now I am not eating for the delight (pleasure) of the body, nor as I eat during the weekdays, when it is the usual custom of people to eat not for the sake of a commandment but, rather, to stave off hunger, for these are meals we are permitted (but not commanded) to eat. Sometimes one eats because one is hungry from the day before and sometimes one eats so as not to be hungry the following day, but on Shabbat let me have in mind at every meal that I am eating only for the sake of the honour of the day, for the honour of Shabbat, which is an aspect of “eat it today, for today is a Shabbat of the Lord”. By this, may the days of the week have no hold or control over the holiness of eating on Shabbat, for then I eat only for the sake of Shabbat to fulfill the commandment of eating a Shabbat meal and not because I want to prevent being hungry on weekdays. May I have many good foods and drinks for the honour of Shabbat and may I know and believe with complete faith that eating on Shabbat is something else entirely from eating during the weekdays. Outside forces (outside the realm of holiness) have no hold whatsoever over our eating on Shabbat, for eating on Shabbat is all divine, all holy, as You informed us by Your holy Sages, may their memories be blessed. May I merit to draw holiness from the holiness of eating on Shabbat to my eating during the weekdays, as the Rabbis said of the sage Shamai, who used to eat for the sake of Shabbat every day, all throughout his entire life. May I also grasp the attribute of the sage Hillel, who used to say, “Blessed is the Lord every day”. Let me not think or worry from one day to another at all and let me merit to really feel in my heart the pleasantness (sweetness and delight) of the holiness of Shabbat, and to feel the holiness of the extra soul that comes to a person every Shabbat. May I welcome the extra soul of Shabbat immediately upon the entry of Shabbat and to feel in my heart the pleasantness of its holiness such that I immediately begin to long for and feel sorrow about the loss of the extra soul (after the end of Shabbat). May I merit by this to connect myself so much to the holiness of Shabbat and the holiness of the extra soul which comes on Shabbat that, during the weekdays also, there will remain with me a great impression of its holiness. By this, may I also serve You sincerely during the weekdays and draw upon myself every time the holiness of Shabbat, and may I long for and desire very much to welcome the holiness of Shabbat, which comes with extra radiance and extra holiness, until I merit by this to really welcome every single Shabbat with extra holiness and the most tremendous radiance. May I welcome the extra soul, spirit and higher soul every single Shabbat in the greatest possible spiritual level and may I merit to come close to real tzaddikim who are themselves the aspect of Shabbat, as the Sages said. May I feel the pleasantness of their holiness, until, at all times (for many days and years), I will have in mind great sorrow and great longing because of my separation from them after they pass away, just like the group of students of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai used to say when bemoaning the time when he would pass away. Let me merit to think about this and to attach myself so much to the pleasantness of their holiness during their lifetime that, by this I receive from them every time a great and true radiance in my mind, in my heart, in my soul, spirit and higher soul, even after they pass away; for tzaddikim after their death are called “alive”. Even more so, tzaddikim are greater after their death than when they were alive! Let me merit to hear Torah from the mouth of true tzaddikim and let me really feel the greatness of the wonder and awe of their new Torah insights such that I cannot stop myself from praising them in their presence. By this, may I merit to have revealed to me more wonderful and awesome new Torah insights. So also with the holiness of Shabbat. May I say many praises and sings songs of praise of Shabbat with great happiness, with wonderful desire and great yearning, such that by this I merit to receive, even more so every time, the pleasantness of the holiness of Shabbat. Fulfill in me the verse which says: “If you turn away your foot from (violating) Shabbat” etc. “and call the Shabbat a delight, the holy of the Lord and honoured……. Then you shall delight yourself in the Lord and I will cause you to ride upon the high places of the earth and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father: for the mouth of the Lord has spoken”. 127. A Jew's clothes should always be without blemish and not torn. The clothes themselves act as a prosecuting counsel against him if he isn't careful to guard them and honour them properly and doesn't keep them clean. 128. There are people who are a little kosher; because such a person cares about fear of G-d, he lowers his eyes a little and doesn't look at women. Nevertheless he steals a sideways glance. This is like the Sages said about the evil urge, "they put out his eyes" (Yoma,69B); he blinds the eyes of the evil urge by preventing himself from staring. And even so, the evil urge remains, for he looks out from the side of his eye. (Prayer 127-128) Master of the Universe merit me to always wear new clothing that is complete and untorn for You have taught us that clothes are the secret of ‘chashmal’ a protective barrier. However, when clothes are torn this spoils the protection. Merit us to guard our clothes and to honour them properly, keeping them clean. Please protect me so that I will not look at anything that can damage my eyes even if it is only a moments glance out of the side of the eye. Merit me to fulfill the verses: “Do not follow after your heart and after you eyes” and “ I have mad a covenant with my eyes”. ## 126 ### Torah 126 - A Land Which Eats Its Inhabitants a) Belief alone, that he believes in the tzaddik and comes close to him even if one doesn't receive anything from him, is itself very good, for, by faith, and just coming close, the bad within a person gets eaten and turns into the essence of the tzaddik – on condition that the person's intention is for the sake of Heaven. But whoever travels and brings himself to a tzaddik for an ulterior motive, this won't help him at all. b) Whoever travels to the Land of Israel and his intention is really for the sake of Heaven, in order to return to G-d by this, the Land of Israel will certainly benefit him a great deal. Just by entering the Land of Israel he will be devoured by it and turn into the holy essence of the Land. Therefore, even "if a Jew walks four paces in Israel he is certain to be a son of the World to Come"(Ketuvot,111). However, if his desire in this has nothing to do with the service of G-d, to eliminate the evil in him, dwelling in Israel will not benefit him for the Land of Israel will spit him out, like it says, "Like it spewed…" (Levit.18:28). (Prayer 129) May it be Your will, O Lord, our G-d and G-d of our fathers, G-d of Faith, that You grant us merit, by Your bountiful mercy and immense loving kindness, to really perfect, wholehearted faith. May I merit to believe in You and in Your true tzaddikim with really perfect faith. May I merit to enter into, cleave to and be enveloped within perfect, holy faith. Let me be strong and bold in holy faith such that I merit to turn the materiality of my body into the essence of holy faith. May the holy faith consume me until all the evil which has a hold in me be devoured and nullified. Let me merit to turn from evil to good by way of perfect faith, so that I merit to be included and nullified totally within holy faith. Let me merit very speedily to come to the land of Israel with out harm and there to come close and cleave to true tzaddikim, with great attachment and really perfect belief. In Your great compassion, have mercy upon me; do not repay me according to my sins. In Your mercy, open for me the gates of holy belief; help me enter into faith with truth, to be enveloped within it completely such that I merit to be consumed by faith and to turn into its holy essence, the essence of the holy Land of Israel, the essence of the holiness of true tzaddikim. Do not let the Land or holy faith vomit me out as it did the other nations who came before me. Even though I am not fitting or worthy to touch holy faith or the holy Land of Israel or to come close to real tzaddikim, for I have committed many evil deeds and spoilt my holiness, nevertheless, Lord, Your compassion is great. So have mercy upon me, help me, save me and grant me merit so that the holy faith will be able to stomach within itself an to always retain me, until I become consumed and really changed into the essence of holy faith. You, who are full of compassion, let me merit to perfect faith in all aspects, for we have no hope or support nowadays other than by holy faith. You know the immense yoke and force of the exile upon our souls because of the cravings of the body which overcome us all the time. Because of our many iniquities, we no longer have the strength to stand against them and break them and nullify them completely. We have only the strength of holy belief, that You will bring us into faith, such that we merit to be consumed by faith and change to the essence of holy faith. Our eyes, O Lord turn towards faith. In Your plentiful mercy, let me merit to really perfect, holy belief, as is Your desire. “All Your commandments are faith”. “I will sing of the loving-kindness of the Lord forever; with my mouth I will make known. Your faith to all generations”. “For I have said: A world of loving-kindness will be built up: Your faith You will establish in the very heavens”……..”Your faith is round about You”. Fulfill in us the verse which says: “I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and in judgment and in loving-kindness and in mercies. I will betroth you to Me in faith and you will know the Lord”. Blessed be the Lord forever. Amen and amen. 130. By being humble, a person is saved from the craving for sex and merits to guard his brit (his sexual purity). On the other hand, through haughtiness and pride, the evil urge overcomes him with this craving. (Prayer 130). I have stretched out my hands to You. Instruct and teach me Your paths of truth and Your upright advice at all times in such a way that I merit to quickly repent for having bad deeds and indecent thoughts. Then merit me, as a result, for a speedy rectification of the brit in a really complete way as You desire. Grant me true knowledge and intelligence so that I will know to truly feel my lowliness. Let no thought of pride or haughtiness come into my mind for according to my true worthlessness I should not have to pray at all to e saved from pride. Who am I that I should feel any pride! But You know how strange thoughts of pride confuse my mind especially when I want to perform something in the realm of holiness. Therefore I have come before You, Mercirful One, Who knows the hidden things, have compassion on me constantly and be with me on all occasions. Guard me always so that no thoughts of pride or haughtiness come into my heart at all. Rather, merit me to true humility in such a way that I achieve real holiness of the brit. You have already informed us throught Your holy sages that by humility one merits to guard the brit. But save us from false humility. Give me only genuine humility as You desire. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart find favour before You, G-d, my Rock and Redeemer. 131. A person has to fear and be frightened of receiving honour, for honour is a great danger, a mortal danger. Therefore, when honour comes to a person he has to be very careful to accept it properly, for G-d's sake alone. If, Heaven forbid, he blemishes the honour even by a hair's breadth and doesn't accept it properly, he may die because of this, Heaven forbid. 132. There is a tzaddik who is well known in his area but in another area nearby he isn't famous and isn't important at all. Then again in another area he is very famous. However, the truth is that even in the place where he isn't famous or important at all, there also the essence of its existence and vitality comes only through the tzaddik – it is just hidden. This is an aspect of what it says in the Zohar (Tetze,pg.280) – "There is a stream that flows out from one place and goes under the ground until it flows and comes out in another place. And even in the place where it goes under the ground, it waters the roots of the trees." 133. The truth is that the holy Torah and the true tzaddikim illuminate all the worlds with a very great light. Their light is thousands and tens of thousands times greater than all This World and its vanities. However, because people are deeply involved in the vanities of This World and this is very close to their eyes, they imagine there is nothing better than this. Therefore, This World, even though it is small and of very little worth and has no significance at all, even so, it stands opposite their eyes and prevents them from seeing the great and holy light of the Torah and of the true tzaddikim. It is like holding a small coin right in front of your eyes such that you can't even see a huge mountain, even though the mountain is thousands and tens of thousands times bigger than the small coin. So it is with this small world. The craving for money - the coin in front of a person's eyes- prevents him from seeing the great light of the Torah and the tzaddikim. On the other hand, if a person really takes this itself to heart, how such a small object like this can delay and prevent him from seeing such great lights, all because it is very close to his eyes, then with a slight movement he can remove This World from before his eyes. That's to say, he should turn his eyes away from the world and not look at This World. Rather, he should raise his head and lift up his eyes to look above this very small world which blocks his vision and acts as a barrier. Then immediately he will merit to see perfectly the great and immense light of the Torah and the true tzaddikim. Just like the comparison to the coin mentioned previously, he can easily discard it from in front of his eyes and then he will see straight away the huge mountain. This is exactly so regarding the world and the Torah, like the Baal Shem Tov said, "Oi vavoi, Woe is me! The world is full of heavenly lights and very wonderful, awesome secrets and the small hand in front of the eyes can stop a person from seeing great lights like these!" (Prayer 133) I have come before You, G-d my G-d and G-d of our fathers, to ask that You have compassion upon me. Grant me advice, strength and encouragement how to block and remove my materialistic eyes and thoughts from looking at the vanities of this world from now on, especially when I begin to think about something which leads to indecent thoughts, Heaven forbid. For the truth is that I believe that we always have free choice. However because of the immense bitterness of my habits it is hard for me to hold my thoughts in the realm of holiness. But You can help me have apathy, for Your Name’s sake, for the sake of Your honour, so save me from now on from whatever I have to be saved from. Arouse Your mercy upon me and come to my assistance so that I merit to remove my eyes from looking at This World both materially and spiritually. Just let me turn my eyes, heart and mind to always look at the light of the Torah and the true Tzaddikim who shine with their great, awesome and sublime light. And may this nullify from me all the physical cravings of the world. I believe truthfully with complete faith that all This World and all its cravings and vanities are no more than a speech against the Torah and the Holy tzaddikim who shine throughout all the worlds with a great wonderful and awesome light. It is just that this world, which is so small in size and essence and quality, appears in front of the eyes of people and prevents or delays them from perceiving the great previous light of the Torah and the tzaddikim. Have mercy on us for Your Name’s Sake. Let me not follow after my eyes, rather help me not to raise my eyes to look at the dealings of This World, its vanities and evil cravings which, in the end, are very bitter. Direct my vision and sight towards the light of the Torah and the true tzaddikim at all times. By this, let all the cravings and affairs of This World be nullified from me. Merit me to spend all my days striving to come close to genuine tzaddikim and for the holy Torah which they drive down, reveal and radiate throughout the entire world all the time. Help us for Your Name’s Sake. Our Father and King, reveal the glory of Your Kingdom over us speedily through Your holy Torah and merit me from now on to repent fully and purely as You desire. Shine Your Countenance upon Your servant. Save us in Your loving kindness. Amen. 134. One must be very careful when saying Torah in public that one's words are divisible so that each person will only hear what he needs to and not more. Even though one says Torah in public to everybody equally, nevertheless the words shouldn't enter the person's heart other than what relates to him and that he needs. 135. "I WILL TAKE THE APPOINTED TIME" (Psalms,75:3) a) Honouring Festivals and receiving them with happiness, joy and generosity, delighting in them with food and drink and suitable clothing according to one's ability, has a special power to save a person from haughtiness. b) Coming close to a tzaddik also nullifies haughtiness. Therefore if a person is humble, this is a sign that he is really attached to a tzaddik. c) The main form of attachment is love, meaning that you should love the tzaddik with perfect love, attaching your soul to his soul to such a degree that love for the tzaddik nullifies your love for women, like it says, "Your love for me was wonderful, more than the love of women" (Shmuel,II,1:26). d) When one receives a Festival as is fitting, this is an aspect of seeing the face of one's rabbi on the Festival, even though one is miles away from him. So also the opposite, if one is attached to the tzaddik one can feel the sanctity of the Festival. By this, one elevates the Kingdom of Holiness from among the husks so the Kingdom of Evil falls and the power of the Nations is nullified. e) On a Festival one should repent out of a feeling of joy, for on all Festivals the world is judged, as the Sages said, "On four occasions…" (Rosh Hashana,16). Therefore, one has to repent at those times. By this the Kingdom of Holiness is extracted from among the husks, as mentioned previously, and one hastens the Redemption. (Prayer 135) May I find favour before You, O Lord, our G-d and G-d of our fathers, so that in Your bountiful mercy, I merit to really come close and attach myself to true tzaddikim, with real desire in my heart and soul, with really great, powerful love. Let me love them with such great love that my love of them will be greater and more wonderful than the love for women, until all my love for women and craving for sex be nullified from me by my overwhelming love of the tzaddikim. Take pity and have mercy upon me; let me merit to real love of the tzaddikim and by this may I merit to attach myself very greatly and firmly to them. Let my soul be tied up in theirs in a very, very strong bond from now, forever until eternity, for eternities. May it be Your will O Lord, our G-d and G-d of our fathers, that in Your bountiful mercy and tremendous loving-kindness, I merit to welcome all the Festivals and Holy Days with great holiness and purity, with great happiness and joy and wisdom, with absolute perfection as is really Your desire. May I behold the face of my rabbi on the Festival even when I am far from Him. (When you celebrate the Festivals fittingly it is equivalent to seeing your rabbi…..This is true even if you and he are physically miles apart! – Torah 135 Likutei Moharan). May I merit to behold the faces of the true tzaddikim, to recognize them and love them and to draw upon myself their holiness by welcoming the Holy festival which is drawn from them. By this, may I merit to the Forty-Nine Gates of Wisdom which are revealed and radiate on the Festival. Open for me the light of the holy mind; let me merit to a great and wonderful power to really look into Your Torah and service. By this, may all the foolishness of all sorts of self-importance, pride and haughtiness be nullified. May I merit to completely perfect humility as is Your good desire. Always draw upon me and all of Israel the holiness of Moses, our teacher, may he rest in peace, who merited to real humility; as is written: “Now the man Moshe was very humble, more so than all other men on the face of the earth”. Have mercy upon us, You who are full of compassion, that we merit, through the strength of welcoming the Festivals – “Festivals of the Lord, holy convocations” – to draw upon ourselves the holiness of all true tzaddikim. May all the true holy brains and intellect, drawn from the Festivals, be drawn upon us by them so that, by this, we merit to nullify and cast off from ourselves all sorts of self-importance, pride and extraneous motives. Through this, may we merit to real humility, to the humility of Moses, our teacher, may he rest in peace. Master of the World, You know my great distance from true humility. “Surely I am more ignorant than any man and have not the understanding of a man”. In my many iniquities I do not know at all what true humility is, for humility is greater than everything. Lord of compassion, have mercy upon me and let me merit to the real holiness of each Festival until I merit by this to know and acknowledge very well the virtue of the greatness of the true tzaddikim, until I nullify myself to them in utter self-nullification. By this, may all sorts of pride, haughtiness, self-importance and extraneous motives and everything else bad that one can talk of or think of be nullified automatically from me; such that I merit to real humility as is Your real desire. Master of the World, let me merit to fear Your Name really and truly and wholeheartedly. Fulfill in us the verse which says “By humility (comes) fear of G-d”. Let me merit return in complete repentance before You through the radiance of the holiness of the Festival, for You have already revealed to us that the Festivals are days of judgement, days of repentance. By this, may I merit to rectify all the blemishes that I caused to the aspect of the Kingdom of Holiness by my immense iniquities and wilful transgressions. I caused, so to speak, the Kingdom of Holiness to fall. By this the four kingdoms of the Other Side became stronger, especially the husk of Amalek, may his name be wiped out, for he is the generality of all husks; as it says: “The first of the nations is Amalek”. Therefore take pity and have mercy upon me and return in complete repentance before You. By this, may I merit to raise the holy Kingdom from its fall so that all the four kingdoms of the Other Side be nullified, especially the kingdom of Amalek, may his name and memory be wiped out. May I merit to come close to and really attach myself to true tzaddikim who occupy themselves merited to the aspect of Kingdom. They create the principal holiness of the Festival, which is the raising of the aspect of the Kingdom of Holiness from amount the husks and the nullifying of all the power and rule of the four kingdoms of the Other Side. Therefore, by attaching myself to true tzaddikim, maybe someone very lowly, rotten and insignificant as myself can also welcome the holiness of the Festival such that I merit to real humility, true, holy fear and to perfect repentance and speedy redemption; as the rabbis of bless memory said: Repentance is great since it brings closer the redemption”. 136. You must look at the entire person and judge him favourably. This is true even of those who oppose you; you must investigate and find merit in them with regard to their opposition. Through this you will be able to nullify the opposition completely or there will be a downfall to those who oppose you. (Prayer 136) My Father in Heaven. Assist me and save me so that I may judge every Jew on the side of merit, even those who incite controversy against true tzaddikim and even consult them. Merit me to fulfill that which the Sages said. “Do not judge your fellow until you arrive at his place”. In this way may all the controversy in the world be nullified and let great pace be drawn down so that all Jews become united. In Your bountiful mercy, help me to repent fully before You until I reach the holiness and virtue of all those Jews who are far above me in their holiness and purity. May I truly reach their place and unite with them with great peace. Teach me to find in them merits and goodness even in the fact that they argue against us. In such a way may I raise them and enter them into the scales of merit. Then they will unite with us totally and perfectly and controversy will be nullified from among all the Jewish people. Please put into the hearts of those who oppose and argue against the truth the thought that they retract all their hate and controversy and instead pursue truth and peace. And those who hate and oppose the truth, who do not really desire peace, subdue them and bring them down to the dust. Have mercy for Your Name’s sake. Place peace in the world for You know how much controversy damages the Jewish People. Merciful One, in Your awesome wonders, act to draw down real peace into the world. Fulfill the verse: “Who makes peace in the Heavens, bring peace upon us and upon all the Jewish People. Amen. 137. The Divine portion from Above (the soul) which is in me tells me and teaches me "to keep Your words" (Psalms, 119:57). (Prayer 137-8) Master of the Universe, help me to nullify and subdue the coarseness of my body, it opposes the light of my neshama which is a holy portion from Above. Merit me to hear well in my heart what my neshama tells me and teaches me about keeping Your commandments. Purify my heart to serve You truthfully. May I subdue and nullify the evil urge that dwells in my heart until‘my heart is a void within me’. Help me to purify and cleanse my heart from all kinds of extravenous and bad thoughts. Merit me to be totally honest with a pure heart. Through this, may the truth of the light of godliness be revealed and shine in my heart, for you informed us that the heart of each Jew is full of godliness. Purify my heart so much that I will be able to know future events for my heart talks to me. Merit me that everything my heart tells me will really be the word of G-d. 138. Someone who has an upright heart, like it says, "My heart is void within me" (Psalms, 109:22), can know the future by what his heart tells him, for that is actually the word of G-d. 139 On weekdays, when the external (impure) forces have control, when a Jew performs a mitzvah the husk takes nourishment from the 'legs' of the mitzvah so that it cannot ascend and go before G-d. But on Shabbat, when the control of external forces is nullified, then the mitzvah ascends and goes before the Holy One. This is an aspect of what it says, "If you return your foot because of Shabbat" (Isaiah, 58:13). The Holy One enjoys and takes delight in the mitzvah and makes from the person's steps a well-trodden path. 140. The tzaddik himself cannot be grasped; we have no apprehension of him for he is far beyond our understanding. It is only through his followers, who are close to him and who are not yet so distant from the public, about whom we have some grasp, that through them we can understand something about the virtue of the tzaddik. ## 140 ### Prayer for Torah 140 Please merit me to come close to true tzaddikim and to really believe in them. Even thought I have no real grasp of them and their great holiness, nevertheless, help me to have a little understanding of the great virtue of the tzaddikim by seeing the excellence of those who are attached to them and serve You with perfect fear. Therefore, merit me not to have any doubts or questions about the true tzaddikim. Rather may I really believe in them though I have no grasp of their spiritual level, for they are far beyond our human intelligence. Merit me to be counted among their followers and to come close to true tzaddikim. Let me listen to their advice and perform everything they teach me so that, by this, I can reach complete success, spiritually and materially in This World and the World to Come. Amen, may it be so. ## 141 ### Torah 141 - "And The Lord Your God Will Circumcise Your Heart" (Deut. 30:6) a) If a person were to merit to really feel the pain of his sins, that's to say he circumcises the foreskin of his heart such that he really feels his immense pain, feeling sorry, regretting and returning to G-d in true repentance, then all the hearts of his seed which were drawn out of him will also feel it, whether his actual sons or whether those drops of seed that were drawn to another place, Heaven forbid. All of them will have the foreskin of their hearts circumcised and feel to where they have been set down. There will be a great uproar among them so they will all be aroused to repentance. b) The period in which it is opportune to do this is the month of Elul; then one can merit to really feel the pain of one's sins to such a degree that also all the hearts of one's offspring will feel to where they have been drawn and a great uproar will be made among them, arousing them all to repentance. (Prayer 141) G-d, my G-d, G-d of my Fathers, can help me and save me. Out of Your great loving-kindness enable me to really feel the pain of my many, sins, iniquities and wilfill sins which are vast, reaching as they do to the heights of the heavens. This is especially true regarding blemishes of the brit. I have spoiled the drops of the brain by expending them wastefully, whether intentionally or not. If I were to begin to feel the pain of the immensity of this great and awesome sin, I do not know if I could survive even an hour. You informed us, through Your true tzaddikim the seriousness of this blemish. It causes the extension of the destruction of the holy Temple, delays the Redemption and causes the Shechinah to descend into exile, Heaven forbid. We draw enslaved souls into the realm of the husks and from each wasted sperm we create damaging forces, Heaven preserve us. Through this we spoil all the twenty-two letters of the Torah which are included in the drops of semen. The truth is that my heart is so blocked, confused and crooked that I do not feel the pain of my sins at all, despite their immensity. And even if I say ‘oih and woe’ a thousand times I still do not feel the pain at all. Help me to speedily merit to return to You in repentance with all my heart. Open my heart in such a way that I will really feel the pain of my enormous sins. Just let me shout out from my heart, a great and bitter scream as is fitting to shout out about my sins. I will shout out to You with all my heart, with a truly broken heart until all the hearts of all the wasted sperm will feel it, wherever they got drawn to. Then all their hearts will be circumcised such that they feel the immense pain and distress of their being in the depths of hell and places of filth. Let me make such a great noise among these drops that they are all aroused to return to You. May they start to feel remorse and really long for a rectification. Please G-d deal with our rectification and redeem us speedily from all the filthy and spoilt places. Circumcise our hearts so we will love Your Name. Merit me very soon to circumcise the foreskin of my heart and the hearts of my offspring, especially during the holy days of Elul. Help me to prepare myself so that in the month of Elul I will merit to fully circumcise my heart and those of my children As a result, may the true tzaddikim rectify me and my family completely during my lifetime. 142. Someone who cannot study Torah at all, such as an ignoramus or someone who is without any book, or he is travelling or in a desert etc., but his heart burns with longing and great desire to study Torah, then this desire in itself to study is an aspect of studying Torah from a book. (See full text). (Prayer 142) “My soul desired and even longed for the courts of G-d; my heart and my flesh sing out for the living G-d”. “My soul thirsts for You; my flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water.” “My soul thirsts for G-d, for the living G-d; when will I come and appear before G-d.” Master of the World, You know how very great the obstacles are that I now face in all the things related to holiness such as Torah, prayer and good deeds. It is impossible to clarify even the minutest part of the many confusions and obstacles and delays that I encounter in everything to do with holiness. Even when I perform some commandment, or do something holy, it is very, very confused and muddled. It is very far away from the perfection of the rectification that we need to accomplish by each commandment, for, through my many iniquities, I have become very distant from Your Torah and Your commandments. In my own eyes I am really like someone wandering, lost in the desert, in a place of darkness and bleakness, of very great darkness. I do not have any idea at all what to do to return to the true, straight and proper path, to be really, perfect as You desire. I walk in the ephemeral world. “I am like a drunken man and like a man overcome with wine” wandering to and fro. I am confused and mixed up with thousands and tens of thousands of confusions upon confusions and multiple obstacles which prevent me and confuse me from truly perfectly coming closer to You an Your Torah – for which purpose I was created. What will I do for the day of reckoning? “What shall I do when G-d rises up? When He visits judgment, what shall I answer Him?” I do not know at all wit what to revive my very, very miserable and bitter soul, which is blemished and mixed up so very much, other than belonging, yearning and wanting to come closer to You, to Your service and to Your Torah, for there is an immense virtue to holy desire and longing, as revealed to us by our holy Sages. Therefore, I have com before You, my Father in Heaven, my Father, Father of mercy, who grants good even to the guilty. Grant me much good and let me merit to always yearn for, long for and desire You, Your service and Your Torah with intense longing and strong and forceful desire; until, in Your mercy, I merit to learn a great deal every day and to recite many prayers, supplications, requests, songs and songs of praise, every single day. Help me to perform many commandment and good deeds every single day of my life. Even when, according to Your desire, there is a need to stop learning etc. and even if sometimes I am I places where it is impossible to learn and to engage in Your service, grant me merit and help me that I have a craving and strong desire to learn Torah and to really serve You until this desire rises before You and is considered as if I actually performed a commandment or learnt Torah. You, who are full of compassion, have mercy upon me and help me start training myself to always yearn for, long for and desire Your Torah and Your service very strongly and sincerely, and to really come closer to You. By this real desire and willpower in the heart, may I merit to learn from the Supernal Book, written on the Supernal Heart by the true tzaddikim, for You hearken and listen to the words of each one of them in his own place. You join them together and write from them a book of remembrance for those who think in their heart and really desire to learn Your Torah and to do Your will, as is written: “Then they who feared the Lord and thought about His Name:. Let me merit also to receive and draw upon myself a great radiance from this Supernal Heart and to learn from this Supernal Book. I am far away from everything but I anticipate Your mercy and Your loving-kindness and that You will grant me the merit to a real desire and longing to come closer to You, to Your service and to Your Torah. Let it be in such a way that I quickly, sincerely return to You, as is Your good desire. Take pity and have mercy upon me in Your bountiful mercy, in Your great mercy. Help me for I have relied upon You for support. “For Your are the glory of their strength; in Your favour our horn will be exalted”. “ May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing before Your Countenance, O G-d, my Rock and my Redeemer”. Amen and Amen. 143. By accepting advice from true tzaddikim one sweetens the harsh judgements. This also will bring a person a salvation. But if one doesn't accept advice from tzaddikim it is possible that something bad will happen, Heaven forbid, brought about by the person himself, as it says, "The foolishness of a man perverts his way..." (Proverbs,19:3). On the other hand, if he accepted advice from tzaddikim and then, afterwards, it doesn't work out well for him, he will know that is only because it is decreed from Above. (Prayer 143) “You will guide me with Your advice and afterward receive me to glory”. Master of the World, my King, my G-d, to You I will pray…Have mercy upon me for Your Name’s sake, for You know how great is the lack of advice and how immense are the doubts I have about everything. Usually my advice is ambiguous. I do not know how to give counsel to my soul about anything, whether important or insignificant. This greatly prevents me from serving G-d and from true repentance. Master of Compassion, have mercy upon me. “Great in advice and mighty in deed”, let me merit to always accept all the advice from the true tzaddikim and really righteous people of the generation whose advice all comes from the Torah and they received it from their rabbis, the holy, true tzaddikim. May we merit to really come close to them and to accept their advice about everything in the world, whether worship of G-d, trading, business, money matters and all other things. Let me ask their advice with regard to all things and let me merit to receive counsel and wisdom from them. Let their wisdom radiate within me and by this, let great loving-kindness be drawn upon me. Sweeten and nullify from upon me all the harsh judgements in the world. Let me merit to complete salvation at all times, as it says: “There is salvation in the multitude of cousellors”. Protect me and save me at all times so that I never stumble because of ad advice, Heave forbid. Save me from drawing upon myself any anguish, suffering or damage. Heaven forbid, by foolish advice, Heaven forbid. Rather, let me always strive to accept all advice from the real tzaddikim and righteous people of the generation, in such a way that their holy wisdom radiate within me. Arouse Your great mercy and loving-kindness upon me at all times; always save me from what I need to be saved from, both physically and spiritually…May the words of my mouth and the contemplation of my heart find favour before You, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. Blessed be the Lord forever. Amen and Amen. 144. The tzaddik who breaks the craving to eat even on days when the Sages allowed eating and drinking, as they said of Festivals, "Half to G-d and half to yourselves" (Pesachim,68), if even then his desire is under control, then for this tzaddik there is no difference between life and death, for he always serves G-d. 145. Someone who holds himself back from the desire to arouse controversy, merits to have people say a halachic decision in his name (after his death). Then he lives in two worlds and it is as if he hadn't died. (Prayer 144 – 5) You who revive the dead with great compassion, in Your bountiful mercy, revive me and preserve me and save m so that I merit from now on to conquer my evil urge and help me to always be in complete control of my desires, even the desires that are permitted, even on the day when food and rink are permitted. With regard to these desires, let me merit to behave, in great holiness and purity for Your Name’s sake alone, without any desire of the body at all. Master of the World, say to my troubles, ‘Enough!’ Quickly deliver me a complete salvation from all the desires of This World. Take pity and have mercy upon my wretched soul, which has already been blemished a great deal by evil desires, as You know. In Your great compassion and great loving-kindness, have pity upon me, from now on, and grant me the power and might and true advice at all times in such a way that I merit to nullify all me desires completely, until I merit to the true life, the eternal life, in This World and in the World to Come. Even when the time comes for me to depart from the world let there be no difference for me between life and after death. Rather, let it all be the same. Let me always merit to serve You truly, whether whilst alive in This World or whether after my passing on to the World to Come, such that I always be alive even after my passing away. Let me live and never die. Let me be amongst the tzaddikim who, even after their death, are called ‘alive’. “I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living”. I shall not die but shall live and recount the deeds of G-d”. Master of the World, save me from dispute. Help me and save me so that I can hold back my desires from discord. Let me not have any desire to be involved in dispute, Heaven forbid, rather let me always try with all my might to quiet the dissension and dispute. May I always really chase after peace until, by this I merit to have people as a Torah law in my name after my departure from This World. May my lips murmur in the grave and let me merit to live in two worlds and never die. Rather, let me always be really within the generality of life. 146. The Torah stands by a person even when his desires are at full force. It calls out to him "Until when will fools love foolishness" (Proverbs, 1:22). Because of the force of his desires, he doesn't hear its call. He commits the sin because of the spirit of foolishness that entered him. However, after he has fulfilled his desire he feels immediately the voice of its call and regrets the sin. (Prayer 146) Master of the Universe, You informed us that even when the physical cravings of a person are at their strongest such that it is difficult to break them or hold himself back from them, even so the Torah stands by a person and calls him, announcing: ‘Until when fools will you love folly’. And even though he may not hear the call because of his cravings, after the craving finishes he will immediately hear the call. As a result he will feel regret about the sin or craving for he heard the wisdom of the Torah which makes the fool wise. You also revealed to us how the Torah gives witness about man’s deeds since it stands after a person and calls him even at the time when he acts discreetly. Therefore, have mercy over us so that we remember each time that the Torah is united to You. As a result, it goes with us to all the lowliest and dirtiest places and calls us to turn aside from the paths of hell and death. By this we can break all our cravings because of the immense shame and fear of G-d we will have fear of the holy Torah which stands before us and constantly call to us. How can we raise our heads before You when the Torah itself gives witness about our deeds. Master of the Universe, have mercy on us from now on and merit us to abandon our evil ways very speedily. Let us return to You for You are bountiful in Your forgiveness. 147. A person who is brazen-faced has no portion in the Torah. Likewise, the opposite, someone who has no holy boldness also lacks a portion in the Torah. One has to have holy boldness, as the Sages said, "Be bold as a leopard" (Perkei Avot, Ch.5) The characteristic of humility is something else completely. The essence of humility is to be at such a spiritual level that one can praise oneself that one is humble, like Moshe, who wrote about himself in the Torah, "And the man Moshe was humble..." This is like we find that Rav Yosef said of himself, "Don't say there is no humility; there is me" (Sotah, 49). This is the ultimate level of humility. (Prayer 147) Merit me to holy audacity so I can be as bold as a leopard. Let me have holy audacity against all those who stand in my way preventing me from serving G-d, Heaven Forbid. Help me to be very strong in my boldness against them. Let me never be ashamed at all by their mockery nor spend time arguing with them. On the contrary, however much they rise against me to stop me from Torah and Prayer , may my holy boldness just become that much stronger, so that I can break all the obstacles. Someone who lacks this holy boldness lacks a portion in the holy Torah for the main strength in Torah and serving G-d depends on this holy boldness. This boldness adds strength and might in the World Above, so to speak. Then, from Above, they add strength and holy boldness to the person so he can withstand all the obstacles and break them. Please help me to begin and bring to completion anything I want to achieve in the service of G-d. Similarly, merit me to find the right path in the attribute of humility so that I can be very lowly and humble in relation to all other people. However, let me not be lowly and worthless in my own eyes such that I feel ashamed when mockers stand in the way of my serving G-d. On the contrary may I strengthen myself with holy boldness against them. Let me not take any notice of them at all. Then draw upon me a radiance of the true humility of Moses. 148. The attribute of Fear of G-d has many levels, fear above fear into infinity. (See full text) (Prayer 148) Merit me to perfect fear of G-d, as it says: “The heel of humility is fear of G-d”. “The beginning of wisdom is fear of G-d”. There exists one fear above another. Let me go from one level of fear to progressively higher levels. Merit me to draw upon myself, Your holy fear from a higher level such that I achieve loftier and loftier levels in the attribute of fear, without end. Amen, so may it be. 149. "AT MIDNIGHT I WILL RISE TO GIVE THANKS TO YOU" (Psalms,119:62) a) Rising at midnight (chatzot) sweetens harsh judgements and has the effect of a charm like giving money ( a pidyon) for a redemption. b) The time of midnight is always six hours after the beginning of the night, whether in the summer or the winter. Then the time of chatzot begins and continues until the end of the second watch, that's to say, for two hours. In the morning it is good to look at the sky for, by this, one draws 'Understanding' (Da'at) upon oneself. (See the Zohar, B"shalach, pg.57) (Prayer 149) “At midnight I will rise to give thanks to You because of Your righteous judgments”. 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. Do not let sleep or slumber overcome me, Heaven forbid. Do not 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 have not 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 willful transgressions which have caused all this and lengthened the exile so much. Maker of all, it is 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 is 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 will not 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, Shabbat or Festival, whether at home or traveling and to recite the midnight prayer to sweeten and nullify all the harsh judgments 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 G-d of my life (who gives life)”. And it says, “Your loving-kindness O Lord is in the heaves; 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 G-d, my Rock and my Redeemer. Amen and Amen. 150. He (Joseph) saw the likeness of the image of his father, Ya'acov (Sotah,36; Midrash Tanchuma,V'Yeshev). This is a very hidden thing, how this likeness appeared. Certainly Ya'acov did not know about this for he thought Joseph had "without doubt been torn in pieces" (Gen.37:34). And the virtue of standing up to the temptation even though Joseph saw the image of his father is something hidden and concealed from humans. 151. A special charm which merits a person to have children is that the husband and the wife both recite the Torah portion "On the first of the months" before they have relations. So also, if a child is sick, Heaven forbid, the husband and wife should both recite the portion "On the first of the months". (Prayer 151) “New moons You gave to your People as a time of atonement for all their offspring” Master of the Universe, merit me, among all the Jewish People to bring up my children to Torah, marriage and good deeds. Save us, from now on, from all kinds of anguish regarding our children. Draw upon us and our offspring long life. Master of the World, You informed us that the death of small children, Heaven preserve us, stems from the blemishing (waning) of the moon for this indicates a lack of light which leads to children’s illnesses, Heaven forbid. But on Rosh Chodesh (the first day of the new month) the moon’s light begins to grow and become rectified. This is the time of atonement for all our offspring. Then, atonement, forgiveness and a sweetening of harsh decrees are drawn into the world. Therefore please merit us, in Your great mercy, to receive the holiness of the first day of months, as is fitting. May it be Your will that You raise us in joy and return us to our land and there we will bring sacrifices before You both the obligatory continual offerings and the additional offerings of Rosh Chodesh. Let us bring them before You with love, as we are commanded. You know that when we learn or recite the passages about sacrifices it is considered by You as if we had actually brought them at their proper time and place. Therefore, may it be Your will that by reciting the passage “on the first day of the months” whenever we do, even not on Rosh Chodesh, it be considred as if we had brought the sacrifice on Rosh Chodesh itself. By this, draw down a rectification and fullness to the moon. And by this, bestow upon us atonement, forgiveness and a sweetening of harsh decrees. And may all the offspring of the Jewish People merit for good long lives. Enable us to perform the commandment of blessing the new moon every month in the proper time, as You desire. Amen. 152. When a holy neshama comes into the world with the branches that belong to it, the husk surrounds it leaving just an opening facing faith – opposite faith the opening is ajar. Sometimes because of a blemish in the branches, they are thrown away from there, meaning from faith. Then the husk spreads also over the entrance and they cannot enter or come close to their source which is the neshama, as mentioned above. Behold, the blocking of the entrance, meaning the faith, is only temporary, when they need to throw outside someone who is not worthy to approach, but immediately afterwards the entrance is opened again as in the beginning. However, when there are many blemishes, Heaven forbid, they fear and suspect that the entrance will be blocked completely, Heaven forbid, by the increased strength of the surrounding husk. Then, they place someone with fear of Heaven in the entrance way so he will guard the entrance, stopping people from entering. Even so, this is useful against the surrounding husk, for it is impossible for the husk to gain strength and spread across the entrance because of the person with fear of G-d who is standing there. By self- sacrifice, when a Jew sacrifices his soul in order to travel and come close to a tzaddik, it is possible for him to attach himself to the tzaddik even though the one who fears G-d is guarding the entrance so people will not enter there. But, despite this (self-sacrifice) it is impossible for him to receive a radiance of wisdom, that's to say, the brain itself. (Prayer 152 Master of the Universe Who forgives and pardons our sins. As a free gift, grant us lovingly Your holy faith. Merit us to real belief in Torah scholars and tzaddikim. Save us so that we can enter the gateways of holiness and really come close to genuine tzaddikim. Have mercy on us in Your bountiful compassion and grant us complete faith, really and truly. You know we have no hope apart from faith in the tzaddikim without them we cannot raise our hands or legs. Do it for Your Name’s sake. Don’t every throw us away from holy belief. Don’t close the entrance. Please don’t lock the door in our face, Heaven forbid. Have compassion upon the Jewish People. How will someone like me, filthy with bad deeds, enter the gateway of holiness which is holy belief? How can I come close to the true tzaddikim who is the source of my soul? Open up for me the entrances to the realm of holiness. Bestow upon me Your holy belief so that I will merit to be bold, strong and consistent in my holy belief, believing in true tzaddikim, coming close to them and drawing vitality from their holy wisdom. Break, uproot and nullify all the husks and forces of evil that encircle them. All the opposition to the tzadddikim, doubts, questions and confusions about them stem from these husks. So, please open for us the gateways of faith in such a way that no husk or evil force will have the strength to hide the truth from us nor close the gateway, Heaven forbid. Master of the World, full of compassion have mercy on us and command all the guards that stand in the entranceway to be nullified and driven away. Remove the barriers from the entrance. Help me and my offspring and all Jewish children to have real self sacrifice being prepared to give away our bodies and souls and money in order to come close to the true tzaddik in such a way that we draw from his holy wisdom. G-d please redeem us speedily both generally and individually. Don’t caste us away from before You and don’t take from us the spirit of Your holiness. Don’t caste us into old age nor desert us. When our strength fails, open the gateway for us before it is locked. Many days and years of our lives have already passed and the gateways of holiness are still closed to us; they are locked in our face because of our many iniquities and immense sins. Arouse Your mercy over such a poor soul as myself who has been standing near the entrance for many years. Don’t hide Your countenance from me. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart find favour before You, G-d, my Rock and Redeemer. 153. The student and the rabbi are an aspect of the sun and the moon. If the student has a face, meaning that he has a radiant countenance, then he can receive the light of the face of the rabbi such that the light of the face of the rabbi can actually be reflected in the face of the student. This is like the moon which receives light from the sun. This is the subject of receiving the face of a Torah scholar. That's to say, it means actually receiving the face of the rabbi into one's own face. However, if the student hasn't a face, in other words, he has a 'dark countenance' because he is entrenched deeply in the craving for money, then the face of the rabbi isn't reflected in him. So also, someone who has brazenness also has no face of holiness so he cannot receive the face of the rabbi in his own face, as explained above. (Prayer 153) Master of the Universe, please allow me to come close to true tzaddikim and Torah sholars. Merit me to receive their holy faces each time such that I acquire a great radiance in my face from the light of their holy countenance just as the moon reflects the light of the sun. Merit me to attach myself to the tzaddikim so much that I actually receive the light of their countenance in my face. May the countenance of the tzaddik or Torah scholar then be seen in my face. By this, merit me to a face of the tzaddik or Torah scholar them seen in my face. By this, merit me to a face of brightness and save me from all forms of darkness in the face which stems especially from the craving for money. When a person has a face of darkness (of worry and sadness) he cannot receive the holy countenance of the tzaddik in his own face. Furthermore, save me from arrogance, for someone who is arrogant has no face of holiness. Then he certainly cannot receive the light of the face of the tzaddik in his own face. Merit me, each time, to talk to the true tzaddik and to hear Torah innovations from him, face to face. Then let me merge with him and become truly attached to him, becoming totally united with his holy words. Merit me to nullify myself to his holy words completely so that there is no separation between me and his holy words. May it be as if his holy words come from me. This is an aspect of “G-d spoke face to face with them”, at Mount Sinai. As a a result, merit me to have all the tzaddik’s holy words carved within my heart such that they shine and radiate into my soul, spirit and neshama, for ever and ever, for all eternity. Amen. So may it me. 154. The advice to be learnt from this Torah is that by private secluded prayers and conversations with G-d, when a Jew scrutinizes and judges himself in the World Below, through this no harsh judgement from Above rests on him. Then he doesn't need to fear anything and, by this, he elevates fear to its source, to Da'at (Understanding) meaning that he knows whom to fear etc. This has been explained at length in Torah 14. See there. (Prayer 154) “The Lord, the Lord, G-d, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth”. In Your bountiful mercy let me merit and all of Israel to have real desires, yearnings and longings to come to the Land of Israel, until I merit, in Your bountiful mercy and immense loving-kindness to manage to turn these desires into deeds, to travel and reach the Land of Israel, the holy Land, because of my very great distance from You and because of the immenseness of my materiality, the crookedness in my heart and the confusion of my mind. Because of all this I need to be in the Land in which the primary pillar of the source of holy belief exists. There is found the root of the generality of the holiness of Israel. It is the Land which the Lord chose for His Chosen People, Israel. It is the Land which G-d always cares for, the Land of true life, eternal life; a desirable, good and spacious land which You gave to our fathers as an inheritance in favour, a land in which is found the “city of our G-d, the Mount of His Sanctuary. Fair in situation, the joy of all the land”. Please Lord, merciful One, full of compassion; charitable One, full of loving-kindness. Good One who is full of good, Tzaddik, full of righteousness. Saviour, full of deliverance. Do good with me, as is Your desire. Let me merit, out of compassion and loving-kindness and as a gift, to come very quickly to the Land of Israel, the holy Land, the Land which our forefathers inherited the land in which all the true tzaddikim really desired and longed to be. Most of them came there and rectified whatever they did and merited to what every they merited , doing everything through the holiness of the Land of |Israel which is the focal point of holiness of all the world. Abraham, the Patriarch, worked and strived very many y ears to get there. He beheld, saw, understood, searched, sealed, cut out, measured and counted until G-d revealed to him the holy Land, which is the foundation of the focal point of holiness, the foundation of belief; He promised him to give it as an inheritance to his offspring and their descendants in each of the generations. Therefore have mercy upon us for Your Name’s sake. Even though I am completely and utterly despicable and worthless, in the merit and strength of Abraham and all the tzaddikim who merited to come to Israel, let me also merit quickly to skip and jump over all the obstacles, delays and disputes that prevent me from traveling to the Land of Israel. Let me break very quickly all the obstacles and come very speedily to the holy Land of Israel. Please, my Father, Merciful Father, have mercy upon me, wretched, poor person as myself who pleads before You, who asks for charity, for an undeserved present. I also have not merited to tell the truth because of the greatness of the confusion and stupefication of my mind, as is known to You, compassionate Lord. Even so, I await Your salvation, Your goodness. Your great loving-kindness, Your awesome and wonderful righteousness. Take pity and have mercy upon me. Bring me quickly and safely to the Land of Israel. Strengthen and embolden my mind and heart so that I merit to overcome all the obstacles, delays and confusions and all the obstacles of the mind. Grant me plenty of money for the expenses and everything needed on the trip. May I travel peacefully and arrive to the Land of Israel, safely in terms of my body, my Torah and my money. May I arrive safely without any harm. Save me from all sorts of bad thoughts and all sorts of blemishes. Let me not be hurt, Heaven forbid, by anything in the world during this long journey, whether in body, soul or monetarily, whether materially or spiritually. May I leave in peace and arrive in peace. May I merit to achieve all my needs there, in the Land of Israel, and to really come closer to You by the way of the holiness of the Land of Israel; may I rise spiritually from level to level in great holiness and purity, as is Your good desire. May I merit, by the holiness of the Land of Israel, to break the attribute of anger completely. May I have patience in all its aspects, so that I always overcome my anger. Let me not be angry or strict about anything in the world. Rather, let me serve You perfectly and faithfully, with great simplicity and may I learn Torah and pray with tremendously great devotion and put all my strength and thoughts, my and heart and mind into each and every word of the very, very holy and awesome prayers. May I know and believe with perfect faith that the whole world is full of Your glory. You hear and listen to every word or prayer. Let me know before whom I stand, before the King of Kings, the Holy One. By this may I draw upon myself great fear and awe of You. Help me to concentrate very well on every word without letting my mind wander from any word of prayer and its meaning. Save me from any extraneous thought during the time of prayer. Rather merit me to attach my mind to the words of prayer very firmly indeed. As a result allow me to become stronger and stronger in Torah and prayer. Merit me to perform good deed with great zeal, and tremendous joy. I do not want to take any notice of any distraction or confusion, obstacle or delay. Help me not to be confused by them at all. Save me from any laziness, sadness or weakness of mind. On the contrary, in Your boundless mercy, help me through holy faith to break and completely nullify all kinds of laziness, heaviness, obstacles from the mind or from physical things. Let me nullify sadness, depression, improper thoughts, confusions and crookedness of the heart. Then merit me to the trait of real patience so that I can overcome and ignore all the obstacles and confusions. Let me not pay any attention to them at all. Bestow upon me the power to grow and flourish in Your service which stems from faith. Guard me so that nothing damages me at all. Anything that do I in the service of G-d, in Torah and mitzvoth, may I always be successful. For Your Name’s sake do it. 155. SADNESS IS A VERY BAD TRAIT a) Faith is an aspect of the power of growth and the power of sprouting (See full text). This is an aspect of longevity. That's to say, when a person has perfect faith, he grows and blossoms in the service of G-d: no matter what happens to him, no confusion or obstacle can confuse him; he just remains patient, accepting any suffering that occurs to him; since all the obstacles and confusions in the service of G-d, which keep him distant from those who fear G-d, are all because of laziness, sadness and slowness caused by a lack of faith. If a person had complete faith in the truth, as is proper, he would certainly run and make great haste to come close to those who fear G-d. Similarly, the reason he doesn't pray properly is also because of laziness and sluggishness caused by a lack of faith. Certainly, if he had complete faith and believed that G-d stands over him and hears every single word he says and listens to the voice of his prayer, he would surely pray properly, with great enthusiasm and desire. But the main confusion during prayer is caused by a lack of faith. So also, the entire reason for becoming distant from tzaddikim or those who fear G-d and from true service of G-d, is due to a lack of faith which, in turn, leads to laziness, sadness and slowness, as explained. However, when a person has complete faith, nothing can prevent him; he just remains patient ready to suffer anything. Then he grows and blossoms in the service of G-d, whatever happens. b) To merit to faith and longevity, as above, is by the Land of Israel. Every person has to ask from G-d that he will have feelings of yearning and longing for the Land of Israel until he merits to come there. He should also ask that all the tzaddikim feel longing for the Land of Israel. This acts like a charm to nullify anger and sadness, for faith and longevity to which one merits in the Land of Israel are the opposite of anger and sadness. 156. The holy advice which can be learnt from this Torah in brief has already been brought in Torah 21, look there. (Prayer 156) You, who are full of mercy, holy and awesome One, who purifies the impure, speedily purify my heart, pardon me with regard to the past; help me and save me in the future so that I merit to drive out and remove from my heart all the evil thoughts and all the confused ideas and all sorts of blemished thoughts that are in the heart. Let me extricate, drive out and remove them from my heart and may I strengthen myself and embolden myself at all times, so that I direct my heart towards You. Merciful One, Full of Compassion, let me merit to fervour, to holy enthusiasm of the heart. Act for the sake of our ancestors and sages and true tzaddikim, who bring righteousness to the public like stars shine forever more. Grant me merit, in their strength, to also be amongst those who bring righteousness to the many. |Let me judge each person on the side of merit and to bring many people closer to Your worship, to fear of You and to Your Torah. May I shine and radiate and inform all of Your People, Israel of Your truth; let my sincere words enter their hearts such that their hearts be warmed with great and holy enthusiasm and fervour to really return to You. By this, may increasingly great warmth and enthusiasm be drawn upon me every time. Let me merit to always receive and draw into my heart holy enthusiasm and fervour from our rabbis, our teachers, the tazddikim who cleave to You, O Lord, our G-d. They receive fire from above, “burning coals of fire”, in order to enflame and warm the hearts of Israel with holy enthusiasm and fervour thought their very word being like burning coals of the fire. Take pity on Your people, Israel so that their holy fire of enthusiasm never be extinguished. Fulfill in us the verse which says: “Let the fire on the altar be kept burning; let it not go out”. May we all merit to receive their holy fire all the time so as to warm and enthuse the heart of Your People, Israel, with holy fervour towards You, to serve You truly in the right degree and measure, as is Your good desire. However much You give merit to instill holy enthusiasm and fervour in the hearts of others, so let me merit to have added and drawn upon me, many more times over, holy enthusiasm of the heart and fervour from Above through our ancestors, teachers and tzaddikim who perform Your will, – “Your servants, a flaming fire”. By this, may I extricate, drive out and remove from my heart all the spirit of foolishness and all the evil thoughts and ideas, such that I soon merit to real purity of the heart. And through this, may I truly speak new, holy, pure words before You every time, to make You want to speedily bring me closer to You, so that I will always really cleave to You. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart find favour before You, O Lord, my Rock and Redeemer. 157. Someone who cleaves to truth, to words of Torah spoken out by a tzaddik, and really enjoys them, will afterwards certainly not be able to bear or desire at all the life of This World. (Prayer 157) May it be Your will, O Lord, my G-d and G-d of my fathers, that You grant me the merit to cleave to Your holy Torah. Open my heart and mind until I merit to hear and understand well, in my heart, all the words of Your holy, pure and perfect Torah which ‘returns the soul and makes wise the fool; that gladdens the heart and enlightens the eyes, exists for ever and His righteousness altogether’. May I merit to feel very clearly the wonderful pleasure of the delight and sweetness of the new, holy and very awesome interpretations of the Torah which the true tzaddikim revealed and which give life to all the worlds. Let me enjoy and take delight in the Lord, in the words of Your holy Torah such that I loathe and depise the life of This World, with its desires and vanities! May all the life of This World be nullified completely in my eyes, by the greatness of the pleasure, delight and enjoyment that I merit to get from the words of Your holy, awesome Torah, whose every word lives and existes, is faithful and delightful forever. “They are more desirable than gold, than much fine gold; sweeter than honey and the honeycomb”. For really, from a distance I see in my mind the pleasantness of the depth of Your Torah, whose every single word ascends to Ein Sof (the Infinite) and descends without end; whose each word ties, joins and includes all the words together; whose every word give wonderful advice to all those on a high level or a low level, how to merit to know You and to really cleave to You. “How great are Your deeds O Lord, how infinitely profound Your thoughts”. If we were to merit to listen and incline our ears and hearts very well to one word of Your holy Torah which You revealed to us by Your servant Moses and by all the true tzaddikim in every generation until today, we would become nullified completely! However, because of our many iniquities we do not merit to transfer the mind into the heart and to nullify by this the cravings of the heart. For our hearts are full of extraneous thoughts, cravings, confusions, reflections and crookedness, such that our hearts are very far away from the words of Your holy Torah. Therefore we do not feel the delight and sweetness of its pure words. Please, One and only Lord, who teaches Torah to His Nation, Israel, have mercy upon us for Your Name’s sake. Open our hearts by our learning Your Torah. Let our hearts really cleave to the words of Your holy Torah, until we merit to enjoy and take great delight in the words of Your holy Torah, such that, by this, we despise all the life of This World, its desires and vanities. Grant us really good, long lives and let us cleave to You and to Your holy Torah and commandments for ever. Let us not stray from Your desire, to the right or to the left. Please, O Lord, our G-d, cause the words of Your Torah to be a delight in our mouths so that we, and our descendants and the descendants of Your Nation, the House of Israel, may all know Your Name and learn Your Torah for its own sake, until we merit “to behold the beauty of the Lord and to visit His Temple”, from and forever. Amen, Selah. 158. The wicked are full of regrets. These feelings of regret come together in a certain person, and as a result his heart suddenly becomes enflamed with desire for G-d and he begins to serve G-d, but after a short time this disappears and he returns to his previous self. Sometimes it may last a few days or weeks but not for ever and not for a lengthy period. All this is because the arousal came to him only from an aspect of regrets, as mentioned. However, there are people whose enthusiasm (in the service of G-d) comes not from these regrets but rather from another place, for not all people are the same in this. 159. In the holy Torah there are two powers – fire and water. So also in a person when he is engaged in studying Torah; vapours come out of him and they contain warmth and dampness so they are also an aspect of fire and water. Someone who merits to have his Torah studying rise up to the Shechinah, these two powers are turned into spiritual and material bounty. However, not every person merits that his studying will rise to the Shechinah. Then, when the Torah is spoken out, the vapour cannot rise to the place that is ready for it. At the same time 'those impure forces appointed to punish people appropriately', which have control at night time, come and hit it, knocking it down such that it disperses throughout the world; all the world's people breathe in the air which is full of these Torah words which didn't merit to rise up but rather were scattered in the air of the world. Then, through a great Torah scholar and tzaddik, or at least a kosher Jew who fears G-d, the vapour becomes dew of Torah. A few then merit to gain from this Torah perceptions or Torah innovations. And those lowlier Jews who cannot gain perceptions or innovate, they receive from this a new feeling of arousal and a strong desire to study Torah. This is also an aspect of innovation for his desire and arousal for Torah was renewed. However, when Jews who are nor virtuous receive from this dew ( called 'tal') for them it turns into thirty-nine (the numerical value of 'tal') forms of work (learnt from the building of the Tabernacle). As a result, they get a strong desire and renewed arousal to strive and make strenuous efforts in the various kinds of work of This World. This (the thirty-nine forms of work) is exactly the opposite of the 'dew' ( whose numerical value is also thirty-nine) of the Torah. (Prayer 159) Master of the World, Who bestows the Torah, help me and save me, merit me to study Torah by day and night. Sanctify us in Your commandments and give us a portion in Your Torah. Purify my thoughts and heart so that I can serve You without ulterior motives an study Torah for Your sake alone. All for G-d alone. Help me at all times to sanctify and purify myself properly so that all my studying will be for the sake of the Shechinah which is an intermediary between the world and the Holy One. May the Holy Shechinah accept all my Torah study with great love. By this, draw upon us all sorts of bounty created by our studying spiritual and material bounty. Let the bounty from our studying Torah rise and give vitality to all the worlds above, all the angels, the Seraphim, Ophanim and holy Chiot. And may material bounty descend to all the Jewish People from our studies. Bestow upon us children, long life and a good livelihood in great plenty and holiness. So also, have mercy upon us and help us so that all the vapours and air that we breathe in from the Torah of simple, lowly Jews who do not merit to raise their Torah to the Shechinah be for the good. Merit us to turn these vapours, that are scattered through the air at night into the dew of Torah, heavenly lights and an elixir of life. As a result, merit us to arouse ourselves everyday with renewed desire and longing to engage in studying the Torah. May Your holy Torah be completely new in our eyes each day. Merit us to rise from one level to another in Your sublime holiness until I manage to create genuine Torah innovations from the vapours of other People, as You desire. Guard and save us in Your immense compassion, so that these fallen vapours will not harm us, causing us to chase after business affairs with great efforts. Please, save us from the craving for money and all the burdens of this world and its vanities. I caste all my hopes upon You and trust that You will bestow upon me a good livelihood so that I can put all my yearning into studying Torah and serving You, day and night. Then, may I feel renewed spiritual arousal, every day and every hour, with great desire to cleave to You, Your Torah and Service with all my heart, from now on and forever. Amen, Selah. 160. The pulse throbs and beats in a person and sometimes reminds him of the service of G-d. This is an aspect of "my beloved is knocking" (Song of Songs,5:2). And occasionally it reminds a person of the opposite, Heaven forbid. (Prayer 160) G-d, our G-d and G-d of our Fathers, may it find favour before You that I merit to always receive through my neshama holy and pure vapours which stem from holy words. By this, give me a holy pulse. In Your bountiful compassion, help me so that my pulse will always beat for the good. Remind me through the pulse to serve You, as it says “The sound of by beloved knocks”. Guard me and save me from the spirit of folly, from the evil spirit. Don’t let me breathe any bad air or spirit which comes from the Other Side, caused from blemished words. Protect me from any pulse of the Other Side which reminds a person of the physical cravings and vanities of the This World. By this protection, save me from any sin or iniquity from now on and forever. Please, Merciful One, in Your bountiful compassion and immense loving kindness, merit me to return to You in complete repentance very quickly. Let me serve You always with all my heart. May I really cleave to You, together with all my offspring and all the Jewish People from now on and forever. Amen, Selah. 161. Controversy elevates and raises a person like running water which elevates and raises a tree which is lying in the earth. 162. Through humility, when a person is absolutely nothing, he will merit to Torah and greatness together. But, without humility, it is very hard to find Torah and greatness together. 163. FOUR NEED TO GIVE THANKS a) Because of the craving to eat and drink, a Jew cannot speak out anything to G-d. (See Torah 62) b) 'All the four have to give thanks' allude to the troubles of the soul in the service of G-d. This is an aspect of, "wandered in the desert", "sick", "imprisoned"; "they rise to the sky and descend to the depths" (Psalms,107:26) is an aspect of "those who descend to the sea in ships" (Psalms,107:23). The soul suffers torture, suffering, big wanderings and strange troubles etc. The Holy One saves the soul each time from all these trouble. About this we are obliged to continually give thanks. 164. Sometimes a Jew comes to the tzaddik who is the curer of sick souls and he wants that the tzaddik will give him a cure, that's to say, pathways and ways of conduct, according to what he understands. But, the truth is that the tzaddik has very precious, important cures and other straight pathways which he needs to instill in a person in order to really cure him. Sometimes the tzaddik cannot reveal to this person the inner essence of the Torah needed for this person's cure so that it won't be turned into the elixir of death, Heaven forbid. Therefore the tzaddik has to clothe this inner essence of the Torah in other words of Torah. And sometimes even this the person cannot receive so the tzaddik is forced to clothe the Torah further in everyday stories in order that a person can receive his proper cure. (Prayer 164) Master of the Universe, merit me to come close to genuine tzaddikim, to stand before You and serve them; let me hear and accept with love anything they say, whether words of Torah or, seemingly mundane conversations. Whatever they say to me or command me to do, help me to behave with total faith that it is all for the good, to cure my soul. May I nullify my mind to their knowledge without a moment of doubt about them. Help me to always know and believe that they are the true curers of our souls. Master of the Universe. I certainly believe with total belief that the Torah is the general cure for all our spiritual illnesses but I know in my soul, that I have sinned so much therefore it is difficult for me to receive my complete cure through the Torah alone. So have mercy on me and merit me to come close to true tzaddikim who are the real curers of our souls for they know how to clothe the light of the holy Torah in such a way that it will not become an elixir of death, Heaven forbid..On the contrary, my I receive from it an elixir of life to cure all my spiritual illnesses. For this reason the tzaddikim sometimes clothe the inner essence of the Torah in other simple words. And occasionally our illness is so great that even this we cannot tolerate, so they are forced to clothe the light of the holy Torah in mundane stories etc. All this acts to cure our souls. Therefore, please enable us to accept with great love anything that they say with true yearning and complete faith. Eventually may all our Torah study turn into an elixir of life for us. Help us to study the holy Torah by day and night. Fulfill in us the very which says: “They are life to those who speak them out and a cure to all one’s flesh”. 165. Suffer and accept with love all the bad and suffering that occurs to you, Heaven forbid, for it is fitting that you know that , according to your deeds, G-d still deals with you out of immense mercy. You really deserve much, much more suffering, Heaven forbid, according to your deeds. (Prayer 165) Blessed is the man whom You chastise O Lord, and teach him from Your Torah”. Master of the World, Full of Compassion, who is good and does good for all, help me and save me so that I accept everything with love. Even when, in Your mercy, You sometimes send me some suffering which appears to be evil, Heaven forbid, let me merit to accept everything with really great love. Open my heart with great holiness so that I merit to really know and understand that someone like myself, as I am now, after all that I have done against You, gets everything from You in infinitely great and immeasurable compassion and loving-kindness. It is impossible to clarify or tell of the numerous and immense mercies, loving-kindnesses and favours that You performed for me and still perform for me and which You will do for me in the future. What can I do? My transgressions have stupefied my heart and made my mind and heart so crooked that I am not worthy to feel Your love in my heart. They even want to lead my heart astray all the time, to cast doubts upon Your good attributes, Heaven forbid. Therefore I have come before You to plead that You be full of compassion towards me. Preserve me and save me from all sorts of crookedness of the heart. Strengthen my heart and mind in Your holy belief so as to know and believe always that You are righteous, O Lord, and Your judgements are just. In comparison to my evil and blemished deeds. You deal with me in great, immeasurable loving-kindness and mercy. In Your great mercy and loving-kindness take pity and have mercy upon me; protect me and save me from all sorts of evils and troubles and from all the suffering in the world, for You are gracious and forgive abundantly. I know that, according to my immense and numerous transgressions, all the suffering in the world would not be enough, Heaven forbid, to rectify even one sin, even the slightest of my transgressions. However, Your mercy will go before me, for You can pardon and forgive me without any suffering at all, as it says: “You have the power to forgive so that You may be feared….for with the Lord there is mercy and the power of plentiful redemption. He will redeem Israel from all their iniquities”. Therefore Master of Compassion, I have stretched out my hands in prayer to You; have mercy upon me and preserve my soul from all sorts of evils and troubles and all sorts of suffering in the world. Don’t act towards us according to our sins; don’t repay us according to our iniquities. Please, Lord, You who are good and do good, perform for us the wonder of a lifetime – help us and save us so that we merit to accept with truly great love all the suffering that You decide we need, according to Your truly merciful and kind ways. Don’t send me any suffering other than when, in Your most sublime holiness,You help me to really question Your ways at all. Let me give my soul as a guilt offering. Have mercy upon me, for Your sake. Don’t let me kick against suffering but, rather, give me strength and understanding to really accept it with love when, in Your true mercy, You want to chastise me with love, as a father chastises his son. In Your bountiful mercy, ease my suffering as much as is possible, for my strength or understanding to accept the suffering at all. Act with me according to Your attribute of loving-kindness, “Don’t rebuke me in Your anger nor chastise me in Your fury”. You who are full of mercy, make my will as You desire so that I merit to nullify my will completely in the face of Your will. Let me have no personal will at all, rather, let my will be that everything should be as You truly desire, from now on, forever. Amen, Selah. 166. When the public are with the tzaddik, he has dominion. 167. Know and believe that each Shabbat that you spend with the true Torah scholar (tzaddik) is considered as if you fasted. (Prayer 166 – 7) Master of the Universe, merit me to be with the true tzaddik regularly, especially when all his followers collect around him to hear from him words of the living G-d. Let me receive a radiance of his holy face. May I always be counted among his followers and become part of them. Enable us to regularly come to home several times a year especially those times specially designated for his followers to gather around him. At any time when the tzaddik wants to sweeten the harsh decrees and to nullify them from over the Jewish People, arouse then the desire and yearning of all his followers to come and collect around the tzaddik even at a time not previously designated for it. By this, the tzaddik has dominion and greater force and has the most power to nullify the harsh decrees and sweeten them. Merit us to regularly come to the tzaddik on Shabbat several times every year. May we eat with him at his Shabbat meal. For You have told us that the days of Shabbat we spend with a tzaddik is considered lie a fast-day. So help us to come close on Shabbat to the true tzaddik who is very eminent indeed and may this be considered even more beneficial in serving G-d than many days of fasting. 168. When a person has haughtiness it is a sign that he will have trouble, Heaven preserve us. So also, the opposite- when a person is humble and lowly he will achieve great honour. (Prayer 168) Help us never to stumble by feeling proud or arrogant, Heaven forbid. Let us not have any desire or longing for status or imaginary honour. On the contrary, merit us to always run away from honour so that we will not come to any distress, Heaven forbid, as it says. “Before a fall, pride”. Any honour that I receive may it be with great holiness, only for the sake of Heaven. Fulfill in us the verse: “Before honour, humility”. Amen, so may it be Your Will. 169. a) Through meditation, when a person judges and evaluates himself if it is proper to behave like this, and he rectifies his deeds so that he behaves according to the laws and statutes of the Torah, the harsh judgements are sweetened. As a result he merits to such joy that he dances out of happiness. b) The main blemishing of the brit is because of sadness and depression. So also the opposite – by happiness, the Holy One Himself guards the person's brit; that's to say, G-d Himself helps him to guard his holy brit. (Prayer 169) Help me and save me for Your Name’s Sake. Teach and instruct me how to merit to examine and judge myself, at this time of distress. I do not know how to fiind advice for my soul to save myself from sinning at least from now on. Until when will I (add you name) son/daughter of (add mother’s name) shout out form my captivity. From where can I take advice about how to examine my deeds and judge myself regarding all my actions and traits. I know that most of my deeds are improper and very blemished. My thoughts are especially bad and confused. Heaven help me. It seems to me that I have not got myself under control. How can I merit to holy judgment, to examine carefully my thoughts and deeds in order to judge myself, by myself. Help me to find good advice at all times in such a way that I can carry it out and refrain from my bad deeds and blemished thoughts. You, Who are full of compassion, help me and save me with Your true salvation. From where can I start; I am far away from joy, for I have blemished the brit considerably. So also the opposite. It is hard and a burden for me to repent for having blemished the brit and to rectify it for I am very distant from happiness. The essence of guarding the brit is by means of happiness the sages have taught us. So help me to judge myself every day about all my deeds so that I can return to You in truly complete repentance. Merit me to holy judgments so I will judge myself so I will judge myself as is fitting, as You desire and as the true tzaddikim desire, until I can remove and nullify all the judgements and harsh decrees from upon me. Let them not have my strength to accuse me and arouse harsh judgment against me at all. I know Master of the Universe, that I have not the strength to remove the harsh judgment by myself, so please arouse the power of the holy judgment of the true tzaddik who engaged in judging themselves all their lives in order to remove the harsh judgments, suffering an distress from all the Jewish People. In their merit and their power, drive away, break sweeten and nullify all the harsh judgments and decrees from upon me and all my family and all the Jewish People. Nullify all the troubles, generally and specifically, materially and spiritually in body, soul and money. Please do not give any strength to the ‘messengers’, who are instruments of the Heavenly Court, to carry out the harsh decrees against us. We have no-one to rely upon other than You, Your compassion and Your great and holy power. Please do not look at our bad deeds. We have already suffered a lot because of them. Rather, look carefully at the little point of good that remains in us, even in the worst sinners among the Jewish People. Have mercy on the remains of Your People. Save me from all evil, from all harsh decrees in the world. Then by the removal and nullification of all the harsh decrees, merit us to such great joy that it spreads down to our legs and we start to dancing. May we rejoice in Your Salvation. Have mercy on us; strengthen us on the Festivals to rejoice with all our might. Give us the power to always be happy until we achieve a real guarding of the brit through holy joy as is fitting for a Jew who is Your Chosen People. In You bountiful compassion, guard our holy brit from all kinds of blemishes in the world, for You work wonders. Merit us very speedily to a complete rectification of the brit, as is Your desire. Help us and redeem us for Your Name’s sake. Bring joy to the soul of Your servant for my soul reaches out to You. 170. By means of the troubles and suffering that a person experiences, the materiality and coarseness of his body is subdued. As a result, the inner form of his soul grows and radiates. By this he can carry erect and raise up many people to their source. (Prayer 170) G-d, my G-d and G-d of my Fathers please help me to I cease sinning from now on. In Your bountiful mercy, please wipe out whatever I sinned against You but not by our suffering or by serious illnesses. Master of the Universe, You know that we are so lowly and so weak that we have not the strength to bare any suffering at all. Our mind are limited and very confused, especially so when we experience suffering, Heaven save us. It is even hard for us to shout and cry out to You to plead for mercy. We are inert, sleepy, tired and exhausted from the burden of the suffering. We cannot move ourselves at all. You know the innumerable troubles and immense suffering that the true tzaddikim experience. Apart from their own great and bitter suffering they feel the distress of the Jewish People, generally and individually. But they are on such a great spiritual level that they can take all the suffering. In addition however much greater their distress is, greater because of the suffering and troubles of the Jewish People, their material body is subdued more and more. Their mind and inner essence shines more and more as their soul grows. As a result it is almost as if they carry and lift up all Jewish souls, especially those close to them. They support, raise and return many Jewish soul to their source. But what can we answer after them? The truth is that we know and believe with complete faith that all the suffering You occasionally send us occasionally is certainly for our benefit, in order to subdue the body by crushing the materiality. The inner essence of the soul will grow. However, our strength is minimal so we cannot take any suffering at all. Therefore, please have mercy on us in the merit of our Fathers and all the true tazddikim who suffered so much for our sake. Save us from now on from all kinds of distress and suffering. Redeem us, for Your Name’s sake. Amen, So may it be. 171. When a new insight in the service of G-d is aroused and revealed, there are "tzaddikim who walk in them" (Hoshea, 14:10) and serve G-d with this insight. "And transgressors stumble in them" (ibid) – means that they don't serve G-d with this insight. Furthermore, they abuse and insult the general public because they know about this new insight whereas the general public doesn't know. (Prayer 171) Master of the Universe, merit us to come close to true tzaddikim and to hear Torah innovations from their mouths. Enable us to receive from them a new understanding in the service of G-d which was unknown to us until them. By this, help us to really awaken ourselves in the service of G-d. That is to say, from now on, may we follow the path of truth as You desire. Let us truly serve You using this new understnding that You reveal to us each time through the true tzaddikim in each generation. Protect and save us so that, Heaven forbid, we should not be an aspect of “sinners stumble in them” (words of Torah). Not only do they not serve You with this new understanding that was revealed to them, they even use it to be arrogant towards other people. So, merit us to receive all these holy understandings and to use them only for the sake of the service of G-d. 172. FULFILLING DEFICIENCES a) All the things a person lacks, whether in regard to children or an income or health, everything is due to the person himself, for the light of G-d always flows upon him, but, by the person's grossness and his bad deeds he creates a shadow around himself so that the light of G-d doesn't reach him. This is what leads to all his deficiencies. Therefore, if a person merits to rectify his deeds, attributes and all his grossness to such a degree that he merits to nullify himself completely, becoming an aspect of 'nothing', until he is not from This World at all, then he doesn't create a shadow and merits to receive the light of G-d perfectly and automatically all his deficiencies are fulfilled. b) The wise who are an aspect of "nothing" merit to glory which is the main essence of G-d's light. c) When G-d and also the tzaddik show a joyful countenance, there is life and good for the world. The reverse is also true, Heaven forbid. (Prayer 172) Master of the Universe, You informed us that all the deficiencies a person has, whether in children, health or financially, are all caused by the person himself for the light of G-d is shines upon a person constantly. However, through a person’s bad deeds he creates a shadow for himself which blocks the light and bounty of the Holy One from him. Therefore please have mercy on us and merit us to repent fully before You and improve all our deeds from now on. Help us to subdue and nullify all the materiality and coarseness of our bodies to such a degree that no worldly desire will be left in us. As a result, merit us to receive the light of G-d and may The honour of G-d be raised and aggrandized by us. Master of the World, merit us to nullify ourselves completely until we become nothing and merge in truth. By this, may we really receive fully the holy light of wisdom and understanding. Then let the light of G-d’s honour shine upon us our Father. Bless us all as one in the Light of Your Countenance. Help us so that the true tzaddikim will show us a friendly face, a blessing and success, life, loving kindness and mercy, ourselves and all of the Jewish People. Amen, so may it be. 173. The nefesh and faith are one aspect. There is a world of faith from which the attribute of faith is taken and the world of faith itself also has faith in G-d; this is an aspect of the root of faith which is an aspect of the inner essence of faith; this is also an aspect of the inner essence of the nefesh. The person who writes gives his nefesh into the writing, like it says, "My soul in the writing comes out" (Shabbat, 105). Therefore, through the script the true tzaddik can recognize the soul and the inner essence of the soul, the faith, and source of faith of the writer. What a person speaks with the tzaddik is of greater value than the writing, for the written script is only an action of the nefesh, whereas the speech is the nefesh itself. Therefore he can see the essence of the nefesh itself. (Prayer 173) Master of the Universe, You revealed to us that through a person’s handwriting a tzaddik can know the inner essence of the soul of the writer, his faith and the soucre of his faith which is the inner essence of his faith. The writer puts his soul into the writing, Furthermore, the inner essence of his soul and speech is of a greater status that the writing because the latter is only an expression of the soul, whereas speech is the very essence of the soul itself. So have mercy upon us and merit us to minimize as much as possible our speaking and writing about mundane matters in order not to diminish the holiness of our souls and their inner essence. Rather, merit us to maximize our speaking and writing of words of Torah and words of faith for this will bring a greater radiance of holiness and faith into our souls and into the inner essence of our souls. Help us so that even when sometimes it is necessary to talk and write about mundane matters, especially when we have to do so in the languages of the nations, that we can force ourselves to do it as much as we can without purring all our minds into it. Rather, let our souls, together with our inner souls, cleave to Your holy Torah all the time with holy faith. Merit us to engage in studying Your holy Torah a lot, every single day while attaching ourselves to its inner holiness, which is the hidden light of Your G-dliness clothed within the letter of the holy Torah. May we merit to talk a lot with true tzaddikim and hear many Torah innovations directly from their mouths of from their writings. Through this, let us merit to receive a great radiance from the light of their holy souls and their holy faith such that it will revive our souls. Amen. So may it be. 174. When harsh judgements overcome a person, Heaven forbid, any person praying for him shouldn't mention his name so that the harsh judgements won't become even stronger, Heaven forbid. { See B'rachot,34, Magen Avraham Orech Chaim Ch.119,par.1} 175. The main virtue of crying is when it stems from joy and happiness. It is very good that even regret comes from happiness meaning that out of his great joy in G-d he feels regret and pines about having rebelled against Him. Then he will be aroused to cry because of joy. (Prayer 175) Master of the World, merit us to always be happy and to remind ourselves at all times of Your wonderful acts of loving-kindness which You perform for us all the time; And above all, that You chose us from all the nations and raised us above all their languages; You sanctified us through Your commandments and brought us close to Your servcie. Your great and holy Name You used to call us. So, let us be very happy with this to such a degree that we will truly regret having rebelled against You through our innumerable sins. You have bestowed loving-kindness upon us yet we have paid You back with evil. Please help us to regret this and ong so much to come close to You that we are aroused to great crying which stems f rom tremendous joy and yearning to cleave to You. You informed us that the main perfection of crying is when it comes from great joy at knowing Your Name. Then, by this crying, enable us to sweeten all the harsh judgments and rid ourselves of sadness. Let us sweeten the harsh judgments at their source in the World Above, in Binah, which is the root of all crying and joy. Arouse great compassion upon us in the World Above, as it says, ‘Behold a child cries and You have mercy on him.’ Amen. 176. One has to hurry a lot and drive out of one's heart the spirit of folly that entered him and cleaves to him. By attachment to the true tzaddik, that one loves him with all one's soul, through this one drives out very speedily the spirit of folly from the heart. As a result one merits to a broken heart. (Prayer 176) “A broken depressed heart, do not reject G-d: Master of the Universe, merit us to really attach ourselves to true tzadikkim and to love them with all our soul. Then through this may our hearts become merged with the heart of the true tzaddikim. Let our hearts become completely united with theirs until, by this all the spirit of folly that has clung to us in our heart, gets driven out. Let this spirit of folly leave our hearts with great haste so that we can achieve a really broken heart. Fulfill in us the verse which says: “G-d is close to those with a broken heart and saves those with a lowly spirit”. So may it be Your desire. 177. a) There are some true tzaddikim who have such power that when they drink wine they sometimes merit to receive such wisdom and holy brains that they can through this atone and forgive the sins of the People of Israel, like it says, "And the wise man will atone it" (Proverbs,16:14). b) A person has to nullify his desire completely in relation to the will of G-d so that he has no other desire than G-d's, whether he has money and children or not, Heaven forbid. When he satisfies himself and is content with G-d's desire alone, then he gives reign to G-d's Kingdom over himself. (Prayer 177) Master of the Universe, merit us to come close to true tzakkikim and Torah scholars and may we fill their throats with wine for You taught us about the great power of the true tzaddikim and the great holiness of their eating and drinking. Sometimes just by drinking a little quantity of wine they merit to receive wisdom and such holy brains that, by this alone, they can achieve atonement and forgiveness for the sons of the Jewish People, as it says of Moshe: And G-d said, “ have forgiven, You asked”. Merit us to guard the brit with absolute holiness such that we achieve holy brains which are perfect. Let us, take upon ourselves the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven completely so that we nullify all our desires, to Your will. May we have no desire, other than to fulfill Your will until we become really satisfied with whatever You desire. Let us know and believe perfectly that whatever the Merciful One does is for the good, for G-d is good for everything and has mercy over all His created beings. Merit us to raise up and exchange the glory of Your Kingship over us at all times. And speedily uproot and break the kingdom of the wicked so that You throw them down and subdue them very soon, in our lifetime. Reign over us G-d, You alone. “Pray G-d reign forever, Your G-d, Zion, from generation to generation. Praise G-d. 178. When confessing one has to detail one's sins for a person must confess each time specifically by speaking out in detail what he did. There are many obstacles to doing this: sometimes a person forgets the sin, or he remembers the sin but finds it hard to speak it out in confession. But by the means of the joy of a mitzvah such as the mitzvah of a wedding, or by making an effort to be very happy when performing a mitzvah until one dances a lot with joy, by this one can make a confession which rectifies the blemish of one's sins. (Prayer 178) “I will greatly praise the Lord with my mouth. I will praise Him among the multitude. For He shall stand at the right hand of the poor to save him from those who condemn his soul”. Master of the World, You who greatly pardon, who wants repentance, teach me how to praise You now, how to gladden my soul now, in such a way that I merit by happiness to confess before You and detail before You all my sins that I have committed from when I was born until this day. Thereby may I merit to truly return to You. Master of the World, merciful Father, You know the joy wedged in my heart on one side and sadness on the other side. The greatness of the happiness and joy that I should feel as a result of my portion in life is immeasurable, beyond value and beyond counting , for in Your great mercy, You granted me merit to be born from the seed of Israel, the Chosen Nation from all the nations, and the Nation elevated above all languages. You cherish us by all sorts of terms of endearment; You love Your people, Israel very greatly, love for ever and ever for all eternities. From Your love and compassion for Your People, Israel, You multiplied for us the learning of the Torah and the commandments such that there is no end to the happiness that we have, for we should be happy and rejoice very greatly in every commandment for they give renewed strength to the soul and gladden the heart, as is written: “The statutes of the Lord are right, gladdening the heart”. However, because of the multitude of my iniquities and immense wilful transgressions, sadness, worries and melancholy bear down upon me at all times, “For I will declare my iniquity; I will be sorry for my sin”. You know that this sadness and melancholy does great harm to Your service, for, because of the sadness my heart has become stupefied and my mind confused until I cannot awaken myself to truly return to You. Even to confess before You and detail my sins and explain myself before You is very difficult and a burden because my heart has become stupefied by the sadness and melancholy. Therefore, I have come before You who are full of mercy, Master of happiness and joy, to ask that You have mercy upon me and teach me how to gladden my soul at all times, for, in Your great mercy, You have already taught me by holy tzaddikim that even if a person is as he is, even if he does what he does, even so, even thought he is there in that situation, he must force himself, with all his powers, to distance himself from sadness and to gladden his soul at all times, knowing that he has merited, nonetheless to be from the seed of Israel. He must also search and desire to find in himself good points from the many commandments that he merited to perform during the years. Every single Jew has many commandments to his credit, for even the sinners of Israel are full of commandments like the seeds of a pomegranate. In this it is fitting that ever Jew be happy and rejoice a great deal even the least of the least and the worst of the worst. Master of the World, Master of Wonders, my Father, merciful Father who has might and joy in Your place. Come to my help and save me so that I merit to collect and gather together all the fragments of happiness from all the commandments and good points that I have merited to from when I was born until this day. May all these fragments of happiness gather together in me such that with great force they overcome the sadness and melancholy of my numerous iniquities, until I merit b y this to always be happy with all my might. May I merit to always overcome and strengthen myself with happiness and joy by all sorts of ways of counsel, which You taught me by Your holy tzaddikim. Help me to strengthen myself with great happiness such that I merit to dance from happiness. Let me merit always to the happiness of a commandment whether it is being happy in the fulfilling of a commandment whether at a wedding, gladdening the bridegroom and bride, or whether at other happy occasions when fulfilling commandments. Always save me and help me to have at all times great joy and happiness stemming from the happiness of a commandment, so much so that I dance a great deal because of the happiness. May I merit to be happy and dance so much that I merit to traverse the entire structure of happiness and dancing which is comprised of 248 limbs and 365 sinews, for happiness is the root of the focal point of all the 613 commandments in the Torah, as it is written: “The statutes of the Lord are right; they gladden the heart”. In Your great mercy, let the happiness of all the truly good points that are in me enflamed within me during the years, in Your great loving-kindness; let the happiness shine with a great and wonderful light such that, by this, I nullify all the darkness, obstacles, worries and sadness caused by the multiplicity of immense sins, iniquities and willful transgressions that I committed before You during the years. If they are very, very great, even so, in Your merciful eyes virtues are considered greater and in Your great strength You can add a great light by the happiness of the commandments and good points that are in me, until they will overcome the darkness and sadness of my many iniquities and until the bad becomes nullified in relation to the good and the sadness of iniquities becomes nullified against the happiness of the commandments. May I merit to always be happy and dance a great deal through the happiness of a commandment until I merit to really perfect happiness and t Completely perfect all the structure of happiness and dancing. By this, may I merit, in Your bountiful mercy, to judge myself truly and confess before You at all times by speaking out the specific details of my sins. May no obstacles or delay prevent me from this. May forgetfulness not overcome me so that as to cause me to forget to specify one of my sins before You. Let nothing confuse me, rather, may I just merit to truly confess before You and detail, specifically each sin. You, who are full of compassion, be ready to help me so that I merit, by confessing to build and perfect the power of speech in the way of ultimate perfection. By this, may the Supernal Voice join and be in complete unity with the power of speech in a way that, by this, all my sins, iniquities and wilful transgressions be rectified. May I perfect all the Names that are within Your great Name, which I spoiled. Master of the World, Master of the World, who will give me now a mouth to speak and explain myself before You? How can I now find the strength to pour out my heart as water before the Countenance of the Lord? Master of the World, You who are full of mercy – “My King and my G-d, I will pray to You” – teach me how to triumph over You so that You bring me to truly repent completely before You. My Father, Rock, Redeemer, Deliverer, who observes in order to better my end, help me, in Your tremendous mercy, in Your great saving, in Your wonderful ways of counsel, such that I merit to always be happy. “Gladden the soul of Your servant, for to You Lord, I lift up my soul”. Strengthen me and embolden me each time to overcome sadness and make happiness dominant. Strengthen me with all sorts of happiness and gladden my soul through all the paths of happiness that the holy sages taught us, in such a way that I merit to always be happy and that I not let sadness approach me in any way whatsoever; let sadness and melancholy have no strength to stupefy my heart, Heaven forbid. Let nothing confuse my mind, rather, may I merit at all times to overcome everything by great happiness and tremendous joy until I merit to speak out my confession before You with happiness and to pour out my heart before the Countenance of the Lord and to illucidate myself before You every day in a broken and contrite heart, as befits me. Afterwards, may I immediately return to a feeling of happiness with great vigour and strength and to increase the extra happiness every time with all my might until I merit to truly repent and to always serve You, “with joyfulness and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things”. For upon Your great, awesome, holy Name I relied, You can help me even now to always strengthen my happiness. I will rejoice and be happy in Your saving. “I will be glad and rejoice in You; I will sing praise to Your Name, most High”. Draw happiness upon us from the source of happiness, from the happiness of the future which is ready to come to us very son through our righteous Messiah, as it is written: “For you shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace; the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands”. Hasten and hurry our redemption; comfort and gladden us and all Your Nation, Israel, very speedily in our days. Fulfill very speedily that which is written, “For the Lord shall comfort Zion; He will comfort all her waste places; and He will make her wilderness like Eden and her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness shall be found in it, thanksgiving and the voice of the melody”. Amen and Amen. 179. THE GREAT VIRTUE OF FASTING a) A fast nullifies controversy, both material and spiritual, for when one cannot pray or do what one needs to do in the service of G-d, this is also a type of controversy. The fast is beneficial to this in that it subdues the heart making it cleave to the Holy One; it makes peace. b) The fast revives the dead; that's to say, it revives those days that passed in darkness and had no life to them. Someone who blemishes a certain day, by not performing mitzvoth or good deeds, and even more so when he does something evil, Heaven forbid, causes that day not to have any life. He kills that day (See inside). The fast revives these dead days; everything is according to the fast. However much more one fasts, so one revives more of the dead days spent in darkness. c) By a fast one merits to joy; according to the number of days of the fast, so one merits to more joy. (Prayer 179) Lord, G-d of truth, Unique and Eternal One, who thinks of ways that he who is far away (from holiness) will not be banished; who is good and does good to all; who watches the wicked person and desires his being found righteous; who ‘reads’ the generations beforehand and wants repentance – have mercy upon me for Your Name’s sake, for the sake of our holy forefathers, return us in perfect repentance before You. Enable me, from now on, to walk in Your statutes and keep Your commandments, forever. Master of the World, full of mercy, who knows the hidden things; exalted and holy One “who performs mighty acts, creates new things; the Lord of wars, who sows acts of kindness and brings forth works of salvation; who creates healing; awesome praise, Master of wonders; He whom, in His goodness, constantly renews each day the act of Creation,” and who always does very, very great and wonderful new miracles every day, which are hidden and too sublime to be understood by us, for we do not know the immensity of Your greatness and Your wonders which You perform all the time. All Your deeds, wonders and favours that You perform, all of the time and at every hour, all of them, as one, are only for the true and ultimate good, which is to bring about causes sot that we merit to return to You truly in complete repentance. This is the primary, true ultimate good of all that is good. You alone know how much You create new things every day in order to bring me and all Israel back to You in true, perfect repentance; in order to purify and rectify our souls, spirits and higher souls and in order that the souls of Your Nation, Israel, become purified from their defilement. Every day, at all times, every hour, You perform completely new wonders for this purpose. No day is similar to another. Every day, all times, every hour and every moment, You perform wonders to alter the functioning of the worlds through very many wonderful, endless changes. All this is for the good of the (people of the) world, for their true and eternal good, in order to give them innumerable signs in different aspects and ways, by which You call every individual, wherever he is at this moment, to truly draw him close to You. This alone is a really good favour; there is no other favour in the world at all apart from this. Behold, I acknowledge and give thanks before You, my Father, my merciful Father, the good King who does good to all, for all the acts of loving-kindness, favours, salvations and wonders that You have done for me from when I was born until today. After all that has happened to me, after all that I have transgressed, by accident or deliberately by force of circumstance or willingly, after all these, Your mercy upon me still has not ceased. You awaken me and still strengthen and encourage me to wait for Your salvation and to arrange these words of mine before You. Besides this, You grant me merit every day to some awesome points of goodness which sanctify me with the holiness of Israel, with the holiness of Your awesome commandments which You give me merit to seize every day in the ephemeral and perishable world, a world which vanishes and passes away like the blink of an eye. How great is the good You have done for me. “What shall I render to the Lord for all His favours towards me?” Therefore let Your servant still find in his heart to plead before You, to prostrate himself in the face of Your mercy and loving-kindness. So I have come before You, Master of Compassion, Master of Salvation. “Great in counsel and mighty in deeds”, that You really show me the paths of repentance. Be with me always and truly guide me every hour along the straight path, in such a way that I merit to truly return to You very quickly with complete repentance. In Your bountiful mercy, let me merit to welcome the holy Day of Atonement in great holiness, great happiness and immense joy. May I merit to carry out all the five forms of self-denial on the Day of Atonement in absolute perfection, as is proper, and may I pray all the five prayers of the Day in immense and awesome devotion. May I confess my sins through many forms of spoken confession, and let me regret the past completely and really leave my bad ways and evil and confusing thoughts. Let me take upon myself a very firm resolution never to return to the way of folly. Let me not do again that which is bad in Your eyes. Help me to return in complete and true repentance before You, in happiness, fear and love and let me cry a lot out of happiness. You, who are full of compassion, let me merit to the holiness of the frightening, awesome and very sublime Day of Atonement, for it is a great, holy, awesome, frightening and mighty day. It is one day in the year that You chose for Your nation, to forgive their sins and to atone for the wilful transgressions on this awesome day. Have mercy upon us and let us merit to welcome properly this great and awesome day, and to return in truly perfect repentance in such a way that You forgive, pardon and atone for us for all our sins of error, iniquities and willful transgressions that are more immense, more numerous and heavier than the sands of the sea. Help us, in the merit of the essential holiness of this sacred day and in the merit of the holy fast of this awesome day, essential holiness of this sacred day and in the merit of the holy fast of this awesome day, the fast of the Day of Atonement, that we merit by this to subjugate all our desires to Your desire, O G-d, to subdue, break and nullify all sorts of desires in the face of Your desire, such that we are left with no will or craving at all against Your will. So, may we always be as You desire, never turning to the right or left of Your desire. By this may we merit that, in Your mercy You cancel the will of others in favour of or will. Cancel from us all sorts of strife in the world, whether that which is between people or that which is within me: “there is no peace in my bones because of my sin”. In everything that I want to do concerning holiness I have many, immense obstacles; obstacles beyond measure. The main obstacles are those of the brain and the heart. May I merit to nullify them all by the holy fast of the Day of Atonement which consists of all the days of the entire year… Have mercy upon us and let us merit to sincerely return in complete repentance throughout the entire year, especially on the holy Day of Atonement. Help us to complete the fast of the Day of Atonement with tremendous, awesome holiness and with really great happiness and joy such that, by this, I can sanctify myself from now on and know how to behave with regard to fasts during the whole year. May I really be as Your good desire, in order that I never be ashamed or disgraced or stumble. You, who are full of compassion, You know how many really dead and ruined days are resting in the place where they are because of the multiplicity and immensity of my many willful transgressions that I Have committed during the years, right up to this day. You know how I extracted the life from many days with very great cruelty. It is bad enough that I did not add life from Above to these days through Torah and prayer, but I also extracted completely from them their actual life by the many transgressions I committed in them. The rectification of these dead days is by many fasts, as You revealed to us by Your holy Sages. Have mercy upon me. Help me and save me in Your immense compassion and Your awesome and wonderful loving-kindness, so that I merit, through the power of the holy fast of the Day of Atonement and the power of all the fasts You helped me to merit throughout my life, to rectify all those dead days. Please guide us and teach us the really tru path how to behave regarding fasting. You have revealed to us through the Sages the immense value of fast days and fasting which is one of the main means of repentance. On the other hand, we have been warned in holy books not to fast without the permission of the true sage, especially when on is a Torah scholar and the fast causes one to cease studying because of weakness. But You, Lord our G-d of truth, before Youall the hidden things of the heart are revealed. You see all the doubts I have about this in prinicple in my heart over and above all the many obstacles of the mind caused by doubts and confusions about fasting, as I mentioned previously. Therefore, I have come before You merciful One, to ask to know how to behave regarding this on each occasion. Let me not be confused a lot by these doubts so that I do not cease even momentarily from my service. Rather grant me calmness of mind. Show me the way to behave in the matter of fasting and oter areas of serving You. May I merit to subdue and nullify my blemished desires, negating them completely to Your will. Let me attach my heart to You and Your true servants so that I swerve neither to the right or left from what You desire from now on and forever. By this, please negate the wishes of others who oppose my desire to serve You. Prevent them from having any strength to disturb me or cause me to stop serving You, even for a moment. Cancel all the controversy from the world, whether from those people who wish to oppose me or whether from the controversy within my heart. Merit me to great peace in all its aspects in such a way that I can truly repent and become as You desire from now on and always. Then, in You great compassion, merit me to really immense happiness at all times in the service of Your Name. In Your mercy, receive all my days with love and desire. Bring me close to You and may my soul always rejoice to suc a degree that I rectify all the days I have blemished during my lifetime. Then may I really come to You and to serve You both myself and all my descendants for al generations. He who makes peace in the Heavens, in mercy spread peace over us and over all the Jewish People. Amen. 180. See inside regarding the special power of giving money for a redemption. (Prayer 180) Some who receives redemption money should say the following prayer: May it find favour before You that all the harsh decrees and severeties be sweetened from upon (so and so son/daughter of…….) by the Supreme Wonder (Pele Elion) who is great love, complete and simple mercy with no mixture of severity at all. Kin, Redeemer, Saviour, redeem and save, answer and have mercy at all times of distress and suffering; have compassion on the sick person (so and so son/daughter of…..). Redeem him/her speedily from all his/her distress, from all kinds of illnesses, aches and pains and suffering. Sweeten and nullify all the harsh decrees from upon him/her in the merit of the money he/she gave me for his/her redemption. Have mercy upon us and consider the money that he/she gave me as if the money had reached the hands of the holy tzaddikim who know how to do the redemption and thus to Sweeten and cancel all the harsh decrees by taking in their hands the money in which the severe decrees have a hold. Therefore I give over my hands and all the intentions of my heart and mind to those tzaddikim. May my actions be considered as their actions, my hands as their hands and my mouth as their mouth. And let their intentions have our good in mind so as to redeem us properly through this money which came into my hands; may they sweeten and nullify all the harsh decrees from upon (so and so son/daughter of …..) in their heavenly source, in the supernal Binah. Sweeten the harsh decrees from This World of Asiyah by the three hands (right, left and both clasped together) in the world of Yetzirah which add up to forty-two (three hands multiplied by forteen joints on each hand) which corresponds to the initial letters in the prayer of Rebbe Nachman ben Hakana, ‘Anna Bekoach’. - Anna bekoach, gedulas yemincha tatir tzerora. We beg You, with the strength of the greatness of Your right hand untie the bundle (of our sins). - Kabel rinas amcha, sagvenu tahreinu nora Accept the song of Your People; strengthen us, purify us o Awesome One - Na Gibor dorshei yichudcha k’babat shamrem Please Stron One, those who search for Your Oneness, like the pupil of an eye, guard them. - Barchem taharem, rachamem tzickatcha tamid gamlem Bless them, purify them, show them mercy, may Your righteousness always reward them. - Chasin, Kadosh b’rov tovcha nahel adatecha Powerful Holy One with Your abundant goodness, guide Your congregation. - Yachid Geyeh, L’amcha p’nai zochrei k’dushatecha Unique One, Exalted One, to Your People turn, to those who proclaim Your holiness. - Shavateinu, kabel u’shma tza’akateineu yodea talumot Our prayers accept and hear our cries knower of mysteries. - Baruch shem k’vod malchoto l’olam va-edd Blessed is the Name of His glorious kingdom for ever and ever. And in the world of Beriyah all the harsh decrees will be sweetened through the three hands which allude to the two Names of G-d. (Ehyeh, 21 YHV 21) that add up to forty-two. And in Atzilut all the harsh decrees will be sweetened by the Name YHVH, in its simple four-letter form, its expanded form and its expanded expansion, which add up to forty-two. Please, Merciful One, have mercy on this sick person (or this person who has another kind of distress, Heaven forbid). Arouse all the three hands in the Supernal Binah in all the Three worlds, Atzilut, Beriyah and Yetzirah. These three hands are called ‘the great hand, ‘the strong hand’ and ‘the high hand’. Then by this sweeten and nullify all the harsh decrees in This World of Asiyah from upon this sick person and from all the Jewish People. Redeem this person and from all the Jewish People. Redeem this person from all his troubles and all the harsh judgments that were decreed upon him even if it is after the decree has been sealed. Send him a full cure speedily from Heaven, a spiritual cure and physical cure, together with all the Jewish People. Teach me at all times when someone brings me money for a redemption to know and direct my mind to how much money this person needs to give for his redemption, according to the harsh decrees that have a hold on him. Also have mercy on the person who brings the money so that he will not feel misery but rather I will give as he should so that all the harsh decrees will leave him and rise to reach the three holy sublime hands. Then let the decrees be sweetened in their heavenly source in Supernal Bina. It is clear and known to You that I do not know how to behave in this matter Merciful One, have compassion on this poor generation when there is no –one who can stand up for us. Have mercy on the People and on this sick person; sweeten and nullify all the harsh decrees from upon him and form upon all the Jewish People. Cure him speedily. Bring him a full recovery. Return him to his former strength in the near future and arouse his heart to really return to You. Be full of mercy towards him for You are the Master of compassion. Redeem the Jewish People from all its troubles. We have no-one to rely on other than Our Father in Heaven, as it says: “He will redeem the Jewish People from all its iniquities. Amen. So may it be Your will. 181. a) When a number of people join together to oppose one person, even though the latter may be more important than them, nevertheless, they can cause him to fall. This is only if they are not wicked people for the joining of the wicked is not counted. However, if they are not wicked, they can cause a person they are opposing to fall through their joining forces together. This is true even though each of the group is less important than him, unless the victim is of very great stature; then, on the contrary, they become nullified to him. And when they cause a person to fall, the main element of the fall is that he falls into the craving for sex, Heaven preserve us. b) All the things that are spoken against a true tzaddik and his followers are all great favours, materially and spiritually, for they give them stability. 182. All that the world talk about during all of the days of the Counting of the Omer relates to the counting (number) of that particular day. Someone who understands can hear this and understand it; if he pays attention well to their accounts of events he will hear that they are only talking about the count of that particular day. 183. The tzaddikim in the generation sit arranged in a circle. They are an aspect of G-d's 'bet din' (rabbinical court) and He is head of the 'bet din'. From them judgement extends to every individual, whether to the side of merit or of guilt. So also, they give out the income of each individual as is due to him. The main thing is that there be love between them to such a degree that they are an aspect of 'seeing each other' (as if sitting opposite each other in a circle). 184. When you speak to your friend with the fear of Heaven, even though he doesn't receive from you, nevertheless you yourself will receive spiritual arousal from your friend. This is because, by the words you speak out to your friend, the spiritual light returns to you. If you were to speak these words to yourself it could be that you wouldn't be aroused by them at all. On the other hand, by what you say to your friend, even though he isn't aroused, nevertheless you yourself will be aroused because the words return to you through an aspect of 'hitting', like someone who hits and throws an object at a wall, the object returns to him. (Prayer 184) May it be Your will, O Lord, my G-d and G-d of my fathers, that You help me to merit to attach myself and commit myself to Your service and Your fear every single day. May we merit so that each individual will talk with his fellow about fear of Heaven and arouse him to Your service and Your fear. May each one remind his fellow, encourage him and inform him of Your truth and faith and greatness and goodness which fill the entire world. May the Direct Light and Reflected Light be drawn by us all the time and let the building of holiness be completed perfectly by us every day, every hour, every moment. Let all the holy lights shine in our hearts in order that we really arouse ourselves to return to You wholeheartedly; let us not follow the evil cravings of the heart. Rather, let us merit all our lives to engage in learning Torah, in praying and doing good deeds. Let us add holiness and perception every single day and let every day be lengthier thank the one before it, with holiness, purity, fear and love, with truth and faith, in order that we never be ashamed or disgraced until the end of time. Fulfill in us the verse which says: “Then they who feared the Lord spoke often one to another: and the Lord hearkened and heard it and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who feared the Lord and who thought about His Name”. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing before Your Countenance, O G-d, my Rock and Redeemer. Amen and Amen. 185. The main form of perfection if fear of G-d. There are two kinds of fear. There is someone who fears G-d because of His greatness and exaltedness, because He is great and omnipotent. By such fear one perfects the Name of the Holy One. There is another kind of fear, a lower kind which is when fear is aroused by lowly, earthly fears, by fear of an animal or a minister or some other fear. Through this a person remembers and comes to fear of G-d. As a result of this fear, bounty comes into the world. One has to make a vessel in order to receive the bounty. This is done by great longing and the desire to travel to true tzaddikim. Then an impression of the vessel is created. Later, when he comes to the tzaddik, the vessel is made. Whoever has to make more strenuous efforts and faces obstacles at the beginning of his coming close to G-d, when he breaks them he creates a correspondingly larger vessel. For example, if he has obstacles from his father, father-in-law and wife etc. and other similar obstacles and he needs to make great efforts and strengthen himself a lot in order to break them. By this he creates a vessel to receive within it later on holiness and purity. However much more a person needs to make efforts and face obstacles, and he breaks them, the greater the vessel is to receive within it holiness and purity needed to come closer to G-d. Then he merits to fear and to draw down all the good bounty and he merits to perfect the Holy Name. For the main form of perfection is through the fear of G-d. (Prayer 185) O Lord, our G-d and G-d of our fathers, the G-d of Abraham, the G-d of Isaac, the G-d of Jacob, great, mighty and awesome G-d: May it be Your will that You have mercy upon me and bestow upon me Your holy dread, awe and fear. Guard me and save me from all sorts of ‘fallen’ fears, extraneous fears. Let me not be frightened or afraid of anything in this world, not from an evil animal, thieves, oppressors, or wicked people. Let me not be afraid of anything that people usually are afraid of. Protect me and save me from all of them so that I will not be afraid or frightened of them at all. Rather, let me merit, immediately and at great speed, to perceive the real truth - that they have no power to frighten or scare me other than by fear from above having fallen and its becoming clothed in physical things. May I raise fear to its source, so as to be in awe and dread of You and Your Presence which is terrifying and awesome: let this be, such that I merit to real holy fear and merit to raise all the fallen fears to their source, to their proper place. Raise me from level to level, higher and higher, until I merit to reach perfect, sublime fear, so that I will not have to draw fear upon myself by being aroused through lowly things into which sublime fear has fallen. Rather, may I merit to arouse myself to perfect fear before You, such that You increase my wisdom, insight and perception with great holiness, until I achieve perfect, sublime fear through contemplation of Your greatness and grandeur; may You be blessed forever. Your fear is upon all Angels of the Heavens, upon all those who dwell above and below. All of them tremble and are in dread before You…. You, who are full of mercy, great, mighty and awesome G-d, grant me really perfect fear, fear of punishment and fear of Your grandeur with the utmost, perfect holiness. Help me and save me very soon and let me merit to have of You upon my face so that I will never again commit any sin or transgression at all. If I have transgressed, so let me neither return to nor add to my folly. In Your bountiful mercy, let me and my seed and all the seed of Your Nation, the House of Israel, merit to come close to tzaddikim, who are the treasure of Fear of Heaven, for they are full of fear, awe and dread of You. Let me merit to really come close to them until I merit, through them, to receive holy and pure fear, lower fear and higher fear, forever higher and higher, with really total perfection. Come to my aid and save me at all times so that I can break through all the great, immense obstacles and veils that separate us and prevent our coming close to tzaddikim who really fear the Lord….. Merciful and Righteous One, mighty, awesome and fearful One. You know the immense holy fear to which the true tzaddikim merited through their worship, striving and real self-sacrifice for You, until they merited to recognize. You and fear You with wonderful fear, sublime fear, higher and higher, such that there is strength to their holy fear to also reach us. Please have mercy upon us for their sake a nd bestow upon us something of their holy and wonderful fear such that we also will merit to always have perfect fear before You. May Your fear be on our faces so that we never again sin. Let us return to You, truly and wholeheartedly. Have mercy upon me for Your Name’s sake and let me merit to always yearn and desire to come close to real tzaddikim and those who really fear You. May I merit, by the real craving and desire to break all sorts of obstacles in the world, to bear all sorts of hardships, efforts and suffering in order to come close to true tzaddikim; until I merit to come close to them and really cleave to them and to draw and receive from them really perfect fear in such a way that I merit to be truly as You desire, forever and ever………. Master of the World, Full of Compassion, awesome and sublime – answer me! Let m e merit very soon to really perfect fear. You are holy and Your Name is awesome. All the hosts of Heaven crawl and tremble in fear of Your Name. Seraphim, Chayot and the holy Opanim and all the awesome Angels tremble and are afraid of the spelendour of Your Majesty. All of them perform You will with awe and fear. Grant us fear, Merciful One; grant us fear, awesome and Fearful One. G-d of all the tzaddikim, who are the source of fear – grant us fear. Bestow Your awe, O Lord our G-d, upon all Your works and Your dread over all that You have created so that all Your works may fear You and all Your creatures may cast themselves down before You; may all form one single band to do Your will with all their heart. Master of the World, You are certainly awesome. Do awesome and wonderful things with us in such a manner that we merit to really return to You…. Holy and awesome One, save us and grant us merit to achieve all that we have requested from You. Grant us really perfect fear of You until we merit, by this fear, to give You great satisfaction and pleasure through this, bestow upon us great bounty, blessing, compassion, life and peace, healthy children and plentiful income, wealth, honour and life and everything good, materially and spiritually in This World and the Next, in order that we never be ashamed or disgraced and never stumble, forever and ever. Quickly raise us higher and higher until we merit to the most perfect, sublime fear. By this, may all our deeds be perfected before You with great perfection until we merit that Your great, holy Name be perfected by us at all times with utter perfection, as is Your good will. May Your Name be extolled forever and let all the people of the world return to You and serve You with great awe, fear and fright. “Let them praise Your great and awesome Name; for it is holy”. Fulfill very soon the verse which says: “G-d shall bless us; and all the ends of the earth will fear Him”. And it says: “For the Lord, Most High is awesome, He is a great King over all the earth”. May the words of my mouth and the contemplation of my heart find favour before You O Lord, my Rock and Redeemer. “Blessed be the Lord, the G-d and G-d of Israel who alone does wondrous things. And blessed be His glorious Name forever; and let the whole earth be filled with His glory”. Amen and Amen. 186. Through faith, which means believing in the words of the tzaddik, one can see great wonders from him at all times, for the tzaddik is certainly full of wonders. When you believe in the true tzaddik, you will understand retrospectively that everything that occurred to you was alluded to in the words of the tzaddik and that was his intention. In the words that he spoke to you he gave a clue that so it would be. Anything that happened later on, you can see was all alluded to in his words. (Prayer 186) Master of the Universe, merit me to true and perfect faith in holy wise men who believe completely in the words of the true tzaddikim. Let me really believe that all their words and deeds are not simple but rather they contain mysteries and great secrets. They are full of wonders. Within their words are concealed phenomenal, wonderful and awesome innovations. May I merit to see the might of G-d and His wonders through the holy words of the tzaddikim. Enable us to see that everything that occurs to us throughout our lives, was alluded to in their holy words, said in truth, with wonderful sublime and awesome wisdom. All this was alluded to in their words and conversations which we heard from them or from others in their name or from their holy awesome books. Merciful One, merit us to perfect faith, understanding and intelligence such that I will be able to see, in retrospect, that everything that occurred to us through Your mercy, was alluded to previously in their holy words. Merit me to always be close to and cleave to true tzaddikim and their loyal followers. May I follow in their paths of honesty and simplicity and behave in them with perfect faith until I really return to You, as You desire. Bring our redemption speedily, bring us the righteous Messiah. Fulfill in us the verse which says: “As in the days of leaving Egypt, let us see wonders”. May the words of my mouth and the contemplations of my heart find favour before You, G-d my Rock and Redeemer. Blessed are You G-d, the G-d of Israel who performs wonders alone. Let the world be filled with Your glory. Amen and Amen. 187 The fact that G-d pays a person measure for measure, according to his deeds, is a great act of loving-kindness from G-d for, by this, he can understand his sin and repent. The main place that G-d pays a person measure for measure is in the Land of Israel, because there G-d is careful to pay exactly according to a person's deeds. This is what it says, "a land which devours its inhabitants" (Numbers, 13:32): "devour", in Hebrew, "a-ce-l- et", spells out the initial letters of the verse, "you pay a person according to his deeds"(Psalms,62) – "ata.t'shalem l'ish c'ma'asehoo". 188. Before a child comes out into the air of the world they teach him and show him everything he needs to do and ascertain in his lifetime in This World. Since he is born into the air of This World, immediately everything is forgotten and lost from him. Because of this he has to travel to the tzaddik to seek and ask after his loss, for all these lost things of all the people of the world are all in the hands of the tzaddik. (Prayer 188) Merciful One You know all the knowledge and perception that my neshama had before it left the womb and entered the air of This World. During the nine months in the womb a light shone over my head and I could see from one end of the world to another. But when I was born, immediately it was all forgotten and with this great light was lost. Now during all my life, I need to inquire after and search for what I lost and forgot. Because of my very coarse materiality and stubborness, not only did I not endeavour to search for whatever I lost, I even did the reverse and followed the physical cravings of my heart, thus adding sins and blemishes against You. As a result of this, with my own hands, I have lost a lot more and distanced myself from You. All the good of my neshama, an eternal good, become forgotten and lost. I know no way to search for my losses. My losses are very many. I have almost lost myself completely, Heaven forbid. Now what shall I do? Master of the World, You know all the mysteries and see everything until the End of Days. You alone know where all my innumerable losses are. In Your great loving-kindness, You had mercy on us and revealed to us that all our losses, of each and every individual, are to be found in the hands of the true tzaddikim. However, because of our many iniquities we are very far away from those true tzaddikim who have all our losses. We do not know who the tzaddik is who has all our losses. Furthermore, we do not even know any way how to search for and request from the tzaddik all our innumerable and immense individual losses. Merciful One, open Your eyes and see our emptiness. We go like someone who has lost the way, like orphans without a father, lie the defiled without a way to become purified. Where can we go to for help? I raise my eyes to the hills; from where will my help come. To where can I escape for help? The loving-kindnesses of G-d never cease for His compassion is endless. Therefore, I have come befoe You to plead that You have mercy on em for Your Name’s sake. Please open Your eyes speedily so that I can see and know the true tzaddik in whose possession I can find all my losses. Let me break and overcome all the obstacles speedily. Merciful One, help me to make great efforts, with all my strength, to search after all my losses , all my life, until I merit to find them very soon. As a result, may I return to You, know You come close to You and really and truly cleave to You,. From now on, save me from causing any more losses ever again. Have mercy on me and listen to my prayer. May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart find favour before You, my Rock and Redeemer. Amen. Amen. 189. The essence of the bite of the Serpent (its true poison) is sadness and laziness. Consequently one must be very careful to avoid sadness and laziness. (Prayer 189) Even if the commandments we perform are full of worthless matter, ulterior motivs, extraneous thoughts and confusion and we have not yet done one commandment perfectly, even so it is impossible that there should not be some good points within us, in every commandment that each one of has merited to perform sometimes, whether ritual fringes (tzitzit) or tefillin or welcoming Shabbat or Festivals or giving some charity, performning an act of loving-kindness, or keeping away from forbidden foods and so on. Certainly in every commandment and good deed there is, at the least, some good point. Because of these good points it is fitting to rejoice all the days of our lives, even in the midst of our great inferiority, for we have merited to cause some satisfaction before You by various good points to which we have merited during our lifetimes. By this may we merit to truly enter the side of merit and always gladden our souls such that we merit to really repent completely. I believe with perfect faith, hat by this wonderful path and channel of loving-kindness there is also hope for me and even for all the very bad sinners of Israel, to merit, from now on, to really perfect repentance and to always be happy. Master of the World, Living G-d and King of the World, the Happiness of Israel, have mercy upon me for Your Name’s sake. Save me from sadness and laziness which were among my troubles, preventing me from much Torah, prayers and from much good. They brought me to what they brought me for You informed us by Your holy sages that the principal aspect of the ‘serpent’s bite’ is sadness and laziness, Heaven forbid. Have mercy upon me. You who are full of mercy; save me from now on from such bites. Give me life that I may live. “Gladden the soul of Your servant for I lift up my soul to You, O Lord”. “Let me hear joy and gladness, that the bones which You have broken may rejoice”. Let me merit to always be swift in Your Torah and service; let me merit to great swiftness and tremendous happiness, as is fitting in Your holy service and Torah, which are our life and the length of our days, in This World and in the Next, forever and for eternity. Apart from this, everything is just emptiness, it is complete vanity. It has no substance. “What profit has a man from all his labour which he does under the sun?” apart from Torah, prayers and other service of G-d. He who revives the dead with great compassion, supports those who fall, heals the sick, unchains the bound and keeps faith with the slumberers in the dust – revive me and raise me from the dust of the earth to which we have really descended because of our many iniquities, “For our soul is bowed down to the dust; our belly cleaves to the earth. Arise for our help and redeem s for Your mercies’ sake. “My soul cleaves to the earth; revive me according to Your words”. For you raise the poor from the dust and the needy from the dung-heap. In Your mercy and wonders, raise me from all the descents and declines into which I have fallen until now. No one can raise me other than You and the real tzaddikim. Let me merit to swiftness and happiness which gives life to the mind and all the structure of man. Your hand shall be established with me; You arm will strengthen me. Strengthen me every time in the way of Your profound and wonderful advice, in such a way that I merit to drive out completely the sadness and laziness and turn them into great swiftness and happiness. Let my soul live and it will praise You; let You judgments help me”. Nothing is too wondrous for You and nothing is prevented from You. Who is like You, Master of mighty acts and who is like You a King who kills and restores life and who causes salvation to grow. Fulfill in me a real reviving of the dear, for You have already performed countless wonders for me, every day, at all times, every hour, from when I was born until this very day. Revive me and raise me, from now on, to a real life in This World and in the World to Come. In Your mercy and through Your great wonders, let us taste from the life to which the true tzaddikim merited, may their memories be blessed, who lived a real spiritual and eternal life at all times and merited to a new, awesome and wonderful life every time. There is strength in their lives to bestow upon me the light of life, even now as I am now, in such a sway that I also merit to live a real life, at least from now on – a long life, a good life, a life which may really be call life. “You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand there are pleasures for eternity”. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing before Your Countenance, O Lord, my Rock and Redeemer”. Amen. 190. The true tzaddik is an aspect of Moshe; in whatever G-d commands him to do he has no choice about doing it. The main choice he has is in understanding G-d's desire, meaning to understand G-d's will in things about which He didn't reveal His will openly, an aspect of "Moshe added a day from his own understanding" (Shabbat, 87). Upon this was dependent the free will of Moshe, to receive the Torah or not, for he understood that it was impossible to receive the Torah other than after three days of preparation as indeed happened. The Holy One only told him to prepare for two days and Moshe himself needed to understand on his own and to choose to receive the Torah after adding an additional day. (Prayer 190) Master of the Universe, Giver of the Torah, Who loves the Jewish People and chooses His Nation with love. In Your compassion, You gave us free choice so that we will have the power to choose life, or the opposite, Heaven forbid. This power of choice given to humans is an incredible wonder, the greatest wonder of all You wonders which You created in all the worlds. There is no comparable wonder and secret in all Creation, throughout all the worlds. It is a sublime wonder , a wonderful innovation and mystery that a created being should have the power of choice to choose to follow go the way that he wants, to do as You desire or to oppose it, Heaven forbid. So, I have come before You, Master of wonders, to ask that You help and save me; be with me always so that I will merit to consistently choose life and follow the path of goodness, as You desire, and as the true tzaddikim desire. Le me now swerve to the right or left from Your desire, throughout all the days of my life. Master of the World, You taught us that the main power of choice of the Jewish People, who received the Torah through Moshe, is only because You, G-d did not speak directly to the People of Israel but rather, only through Moshe. As a result, we have choice about anything in the Torah, for anything You say directly to a person negates all his free choice. Therefore, Moshe had no choice regarding the commandments of the Torah; all his choice was only in regard to whether to add a day in preparation for receiving the Torah or not. This he had to decide from his own understanding for He was forced to understand by himself how to behave. This was the real choice. However, because of my spiritual poverty, with physical cravings and flawed attributes overcoming me, as if they were chasing after me very much at every moment, I have great choice regarding anything in the Torah. I need a lot of encouragement, strengthening, saving and immense mercy from You, Blessed One, so that I can direct my choice towards choosing life while feeling disgusted with evil. But what can I do? In addition to this weakness, I have further doubts about how to behave regarding several things. My understanding and opinion is Divided and uncertain into two, so I do not know what You really want. If I knew, I would certainly behave as You want. Now, L-rd. G-d.our Father, we are all creatures of Your handiwork, so show us and teach us how to behave. Moshe and other great tzaddikim who had choice, were very strong indeed; they were like angels, having broken all physical cravings. They did not have any free choice with regard to any physical craving. But myself, a coarse and material person, I have sinned greatly against You because the physical cravings pursue me. My power of choice is very material indeed. What can I do? Besides these cravings I also have many confusions and doubts. I do not know how to decide or behave in a number of issues. How can I find the right path to really and truly come close to You. Master of the World, because of my great confusion the clarity of my thought and expression has been blocked such that I cannot express myself in prayer before You. But, You, know all the hidden recesses of my heart. Teach me how to behave in all these matters of doubt during the rest of my life. Grant me advice and strength for this strenuous war. Rise to help me so that I incline my heart to choose good in all matters and act according to Your real desire, according to the Torah. Enable me to direct my choice at all times to the path of life, goodness and truth. Open my eyes in Your Torah and in Your mercy, teach me to find the truth in all the issues which I am doubtful about. Direct my heart to fear of Your Name. Master of the World, Merciful One, merit me to merge with the true tzaddikim until all the physical cravings and vanities of This World become nullified from me. Rather help me to take upon myself the yoke of studying Torah, prayer and the service of G-d in general, such as by giving charity and doing good deeds. Save me from doubts, confusions and bad advice. Let me always know what Your real desire is in all things. I depend upon You in all my actions and I will perform whatever You want. Have mercy on me and all those dependent on me. Stretch out You hand to help me, for I have chosen Your commandments, “I have strayed like a sheep that is lost; seek out Your servant, for Your commandments I have not forgotten”. Amen. 191. The main feeling of the delight and pleasure of the World to Come and all the Three Hundred and Ten Worlds which the Holy One will bequeath to each tzaddik in the future is only in the heart, for the heart can ascertain in its small place things that are beyond measure and number. There is the place of the feeling of all the delights and pleasures. Therefore, one person can sit next to his fellow in Gan Eden and feel all the delights and pleasures and all the Three Hundred and Ten Worlds whereas his friend, even though he is sitting next to him, feels nothing because his heart lacks all the delights and pleasures his friend the tzaddik feels in his heart; happy is he. (Prayer 191) G-d, my G-d, You created man, out of Your goodness and compassion, for him to know and recognize You, “to behold the delight of G-d and contemplate in this sanctuary”. This is the main and most wonderful delight of all delights in This World and all the worlds; the latter cannot be called delights at all in comparison. Happy is he who merits to this. In Your mercy, You promised, through Your holy wise men, to give each tzaddik an inheritance of three-hundred and ten worlds. And You revealed to us that all these three-hundred and ten worlds we can feel only in our hearts. Therefore, it can happen that one person is sitting next to his friend and the former experiences the delight of three-hundred and ten worlds in Gan Eden, whereas his friend next to him feels nothing for his heart lacks all this. Now, Father in Heaven, have compassion over me and enable me from now on to be among those who fear You and really perform Your will. As a result, out of Your wonderful goodness and compassion merit me to inherit those three hundred and ten worlds in my heart; let m come to know and recognize You with real, holy perception which is an aspect of inheriting three hundred and ten worlds. Master of the World, Merciful One, You know how far away I am from this. I still have to pray and plead with You to be saved from Hell and from its lowest levels. As if it was not enough to have sinned in my early years, I have added more and more, newer blemishes. What can I say? How can I justify myself? But You have revealed to us through Your true tzaddikim, Your immense mercy and boundless loving-kindness. Therefore I am obliged in every situation to strengthen myself and throw myself before You to pray that I may still merit to all these delights in all the worlds. Your true tzaddikim warned us to always hoe and yearn for this. Have mercy on me and come to my assistance so that I, at least from now on, arouse myself to return to You. Help me to be a kosher Jew from now on, as You desire and as the tzaddikim expect from us, so that I can merit to inherit those three-hundred and ten worlds. You perform wonders beyond estimation, so, from now on merit me (….so and so, son of….) at least to be really as You desire at al times. Let me not return to my folly. Help me from now on to drive out all bad thoughts and all confused thoughts. Be with me at all times to help me draw pure thoughts into my Torah studying and prayers, in such a way that I will always cleave to Your through Your Torah and Your service. May the words of my mouth and the contemplation of my heart find favor before You., G-d, my Rock and Redeemer. Amen and Amen. 192. THE VIRTUE OF HEARING THE WORDS OF A TZADDIK a) Someone who hears words from the mouth of the true tzaddik, especially when he sees him at the same time, receives an aspect of the face of the tzaddik, and an aspect of his intelligence and soul. However, he has to guard himself against forgetting, for a lapse of memory causes him to forget all this. When one merits to memory, to remember the words of the tzaddik as he said them, or by reviewing them a hundred and one times so he remembers, then when he says this in the name of the tzaddik, the image of the face of the tzaddik appears before him and this is as if the tzaddik himself said the words; but the remembering has to be truly with the power of memory. b) When one hears an innovation directly from the tzaddik at the time when he thought of it then one will remember it well. But, when one doesn't hear it directly from the tzaddik himself or even if one hears it later from him, not when he innovated the idea, then it is very easy to forget. c) In every book there is the image of the face of the Torah scholar who innovated the words in the book. d) The word of truth that is spoken out by the true tzaddik, even about worldly things, is more precious than the words of Torah of another tzaddik for in the latter's words there can be many mixtures (of truth and falsehood) whereas the words of the true tzaddik contain only truth. Since the tzaddik himself is only truth and he contains no mixtures, nothing is more precious than him. e) Truth is the face of all the faces of holiness. (Prayer 192) 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 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 is 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 thee 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 sine upon the earth and its inhabitants a very, very wonderful and awesome light which is beyond estimation. However, because of my many iniquities, forgetfulness has overcome and the shining light of their words have been forgotten. Consequently, I have become as distant from You as I have. I have forgotten that which is good for me; I have forgotten their holiness. “I am as forgotten from the heart as a dead man. I am like a broken vessel”. Therefore, I have 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 will learn from their holy books. Remind me of all that I have heard already but forgotten. In Your mercy, bring it all back to my memory and let me never ever forget again something that I have 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 is 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 have 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. Do not 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 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, G-d, the G-d of Israel who alone does wonders. May His glorious Name be blessed forever and let His glory fill the Earth. Amen . Amen. 193. The power of thought has great strength. If you focus your thoughts very firmly on any idea in the world, you can make it happen; you just have to think about it with a negation of all feelings. The power of thought is so forceful that a person can actually sacrifice his soul in his mind. That's to say, he can take upon himself, in his thoughts, to be willing to sacrifice his soul to sanctify G-d's Name in any form of death, such that he really feels the anguish of death. However, one can actually die through this. Therefore, when a person feels that his soul is about to leave his body, he has to prevent this and distance himself so that he doesn't remain there; thus he will not die before his time, Heaven forbid. (Prayer 193) Master of the Universe, merit me to sacrifice my soul for Your Name’s sake at all times, especially at the time of reciting Shema when accepting upon myself the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven. Merit me to unify Your Name every day, morning and evening with self-sacrifice for Your Name’s sake, with all my heart, with joy and great pleasure. Let me really accept upon myself the four types of death, punishment meted out by a Jewish court of justice (bet din) – stoning, burning, execution and strangulation – especially when I say Shema every day. May I be very content to die by means of any of these deaths and accept to suffer any torture of suffering in order to sanctify Your Great Name. Help me with Your great power and bountiful mercy, to strengthen my mind with regard to self-sacrifice, so that my thoughts will be very strong and decisive, both internally and externally. Let me picture in my mind all these deaths and suffering with great clarity and intensity, while nullifying all my senses to such a degree. That I really feel in my mind the anguish of dying, as if they were killing and torturing me and by this I was sanctifying You holy and Great Name. Let there be no difference between the pain of real death and the pain of the imagined death which I accept in my heart. Help me and save me; teach me how to behave in this matter. May I always be prepared to really accept upon myself with love, self-sacrifice and death in order to sanctify Your Name. Master of the World, Merciful One; Master of everything; Holy of all holies. You know that I the depths of our exile we have no support to depend on other than the power and merit of the true tzaddikim who sacrifice their lives to sanctify Your Name. Therefore, have mercy on us, for Your Name’s sake. Merit us to become merged within these holy tzaddikim. You know the innermost secrets of our heart. And You know that each and every Jew would really be content to give over his soul in order to sanctify You Name, as we have heard with our own ears about several simple Jews who died and suffered torture in order to sanctify You Name. Even I, who am impoverished in deeds and despicable in my immense coarse materiality and innumerable sins, am nevertheless prepare to give up my life immediately in order to sanctify Your Name. Now I take upon myself, with all my heart and soul, death through, stoning, burning, killing and strangling for the sake of the sanctification of Your Name. Please in Your bountiful mercy, remember all the holy Jews and tzaddikim throughout the generations who sacrificed their souls in order to sanctify Your Name. Remember especially the merit of the tzaddik and tanna, Ravvi Akiva, may his memory be blessed, who was tortured and died while saying “G-d is One.” Also remember the merit of his fellows, the ten martyrs, who all suffered great torture until they died while sanctifying Your great and holy Name. Happy is their portion. So also several Jewish communities who were tortured and killed while sanctifying Your Name. Remember these souls killed on the altar to glorify Your Name. Thus sweeten the harsh judgements against us and remove Your anger from upon us. Nullify all the harsh decrees against us and against all the Jewish People. May Your compassion be turned for the good such that I really come to return to You. Let me always do as You desire, all the days of my life without falling back into foolishness. Through the power and merit of the true tzaddikim guard us and remove us from all our sins and blemishes into which we have fallen. Master of the World, what can we say? What can we answer? How can we justify ourselves? We have cast all our prayers upon You. We have spread our hands out in prayer to You. Help us and merit us, through the merit of the holy Jews, who have sacrificed their lives to sanctify Your Name. Have mercy on Your great and holy honour. Take revenge very speedily, in our days, against those who have spilt Jewish blood. Hasten our redemption Father in Heaven, sanctify Your Name, in Your world, upon the Jewish People. Save us very soon for Your Name’s sake. Blessed is he who sanctifies G-d’s Name in public. 194 Someone who wants honour for himself is a fool (See inside). (Prayer 194) King of honour, let me merit to really and truly run away from honour. Be with me always. Grant me real wisdom, understanding and perception and give me merit to know Your greatness, Your exaltedness and Your rulership, for all the earth is full of Your glory. In every single word, whether spoken or written, the glory of Your Kingdom is clothed, for speech is the palace of the King. Who is the fool who would want to get honour in the presence of the King?! All the honour and greatness and rulership is His alone. On the contrary, I should distance myself from honour and run away from it with absolute truth. Let me give all the honour to You and to those who truly fear You, whose honour Your really desire. Fulfill the psalm which says: “Lift up your heads, O gates, be raised up you everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall enter. Who, then, is the King of glory!” Blessed be His glorious Name for ever and let the whole earth be filled with His glory. Amen and Amen. 195. "IN THE TIME OF DISTRESS, YOU RELIEVED ME" (Psalms,4:2) You have to know that in all the different types of distress and suffering in the world there is to be found some element of relief. Apart from having to hope expectantly that, in G-d's loving-kindness you will be saved and the distress will be nullified completely, also in the distress itself there is certainly some kind of relief. You need to look carefully to find the relief within the distress. By this, you will be able to bear and accept anything that happens to you without getting confused in any way. Then you will be able to come closer to the Holy One at all times in whatever situation befalls you. As a result, G-d will bring you salvation. (Prayer 195) “When I call, answer me O, G-d of my Vindication; in my distress You have relieved me, be gracious to me and hear my prayer. (Psalms4,2). Master of the World. You are full of compassion and are good to all. Help me and open my eyes, heart and mind so that I always perceive all the good and relief that You bestow me. You bring me relief even within the distress and anguish itself. Only through this I acquire life-force and a continued existence during my distress. I know no-where to run to from myself for I myself am the main reason for everything that occurs to me because of my many iniquities and bad thoughts. Despite this Your loving kindness stays with me. Your love is very, very great every single day and every hour. Without Your wonderful, sublime and awesome loving-kindness that You bestow upon me every moment, I would have become lost all hope because of my impoverished spiritual condition. Since Your love and bountiful mercy dwell upon me, so immensely, help me and save me so that I feel, see recognize all Your loving kindnesses which You bestow upon me every moment; even within the distress there are elements of relief and salvation. Then, as a result, merit me to always be happy with Your salvations, to strengthen myself and pray before You whatever the situation may be. Let me always give thanks for the past an d shout out to You about the future. May there be no crookedness in my heart at all about the way You run the world for Your ways are really correct and righteous. In everything that occurs to me and to the Jewish People let me believe with perfect faith that You are completely righteous. Your rule the world and its people with love and mercy. You who are full of compassion, have mercy on me at all times; drive out and nullify from us any crookedness that exists in our hearts such that no doubts about how You run the world arise in our minds. Rather, merit me to just look at and perceive the wonderful elements of relief and Your goodness which exist even within distressful experiences. You provide us with relief in wonderful ways and give great salvations. Please save us and redeem us very speedily. Our Father, my Father, Merciful One, answer us oh G-d for we are in a period of great distress. Rock of Israel, rise and come to our assistance. Help us and redeem us; guard us and save us from any blemish to faith. We have no-one to stand up for us. Have mercy on us for Your Name’s sake. In Your bountiful compassion, have mercy over every single Jewish soul so that none of them fall away from holy faith as a result of what befalls them. On the contrary, by this let us strengthen and arouse ourselves to return to You with all our hears. We will pray and shout out to Your until You answer us. May we really believe that You will never leave us, Heaven forbid. So, save us and atone for our sins, for Your Name’s sake. May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of my mind find favour before You, my Rock and Redeemer. 196. It is forbidden for a person to be stubborn in his prayers by insisting that G-d does exactly what he wants. This is like taking something by force and by theft. Rather, one has to pray with supplications asking for mercy – if G-d gives He will and if not then not. (Prayer 196) Master of the World, merit us to pray before You only in the aspect of mercy and supplications, as the Sages said: ‘Do not make your prayers routine, rather mercy and supplications before the Creator’. Let us not pray with an insistence that You fulfill our wishes for You have already informed us that such a prayer is like taking something by force, by theft. One can come to great mistakes by praying like this. It is like forcing the ‘hour’, taking something before its proper time. About that it says, ‘Someone who forces the hour, the hour forces him’. Rather let us pray always as if we are asking for mercy and pleading with You. Merit us to always strengthen our service of G-d in prayer. May we fulfill that which the Sages said: If your prayers go unanswered, return and hope again. We should always ask for mercy, but not make demands as if we deserve the reward. We rely on Your bountiful mercy and rest upon Your salvation which we look forward to, for You are merciful and control the world with compassion. 197. Regarding humility it is not a virtue to show oneself with one's head bent down like a fool, as if one is humble- this is false humility. The essence of perfect humility is with wisdom; by speaking slander as the world does, humility and wisdom become separated. Then it is impossible for tzaddikim to be humble other than someone who is on such a very great spiritual level of humility that even the slander people talk doesn't harm his humility. ( n.b. According to this we can understand the translation of Unkulus (Sh'lach,13:16) which says that Moshe, when he saw the humility of Hoshea, renamed him Yehoshua – 'may G-d save you". In other words, he prayed that Yehoshua's humility wouldn't be harmed by the slander of the spies.) (Prayer 197) Master of the World, protect me from the sin of speaking evil slander, or even from speaking harmful praise; for You taught us the severity of this sin of speaking slander. It is considered comparable to idol worship, fornication and spilling blood. You also revealed to us that when the public speak slander this damages the attribute of humility such that it is impossible for tzaddikim to be really and truly humble. That is to say they cannot be humble whilst at the same time having intelligence and wisdom which prevent false humility. Have mercy on us and help us at least from now on, so that we do not stumble and create a blemish by speaking slander. Help the tzaddikim and grant them great wisdom so that they can be so perfect in the attribute of humility that even the blemish of slander spoken by the world will not damage their humility. Merit them to the humility of Moshe who was more humble than any person on earth despite the fact that people spoke slanderously about him Please help us and all the Jewish people to be really humble. Save us from any kind of false humility so that we will not deliberately show ourselves as being humble by our bowed head. Father, merit us to really be humble with true wisdom and understanding. Fulfill in us the verse which says “The heel of humility is fear of G-d, contentment, honour and life”. 198. When a person shouts out to the Holy One, he is told to move, like it says, "Why do you cry out to me, … go forward" (Ex.14:15). 199. When one feels the sweet taste of the Torah one is saved from the punishment of becoming a widower of having one's wife die, Heaven forbid. (Prayer 199) Master of the World, merit me to study a great deal of Torah every day and let me feel the pleasantness and holy sweetness of the holy Torah. Help us so that we will not stumble, Heaven forbid and become trapped by the imaginary sweetness of the physical cravings and vanities of this world. Even in those things that are absolutely necessary in this world such as the needs of the body, merit us to make do with the minimum and be satisfied. And in this also let all our thoughts and intentions only be for the sake of Heaven, not for any bodily pleasure. Please help us so that we will not be trapped, Heaven forbid, into the illusory sweetness of the craving for sexual pleasure. Rather, merit us to really feel the sweetness of the Torah, to such a degree that through love of the sweetness of the Torah, the imaginary sweetness of love of women becomes nullified from us. As a result of this may all the harsh decrees and punishments become softened and nullified from upon us, especially the bitter punishment of the death of one’s first wife, Heaven forbid. The Sages emphasized the bitterness of this punishment of the death of the wife on one’s youth, saying that if equates to seeing of the destruction of the Temple in one’s own lifetime. The world becomes darkened, one’s steps become shortened and one’s advice falls. For a man only finds contentment from his first wife. You know how great the trial is and how much suffering a man experiences usually from his second wife. This is especially so because the second marriage partner is according to the man’s deeds and who can say that he has purified and cleansed himself from his sins. You also know how hard it for a man to find a suitable second marriage partner, as the Sages said: finding a marriage partner is a s hard as splitting the Red Sea. This is particularly true of the second marriage. Therefore, have mercy upon us and protect us so that we do not come to this punishment, Heaven forbid, of becoming a widower. Merit us to spend our days in pleasantness with the wife of our youth. And someone who has already been punished by becoming a widower, have mercy on him and arrange for him a suitable marriage partner, arrange for him to find her quickly and with ease and let her be his true, suitable marriage partner designated from Heaven. 200. The tzaddikim of our generation are the very same tzaddikkim who lived in earlier times; this is the secret of reincarnation. They have already studied Torah in poverty, therefore, now they merit to study it in wealth. 201. CHARITY SAVES FROM DEATH a) On the verse (Lamentations,2:9) "They have made a noise in the house of the L-rd, as on the day of a solemn assembly", the Targum alludes to the fact that in Pesach one needs to raise ones voice in prayer. b) 'Charity saves from death'- 'tzaddaka tatzil mimavet'- spells from its initial letters matzot. (n. b. From this we can see that charity has the special power to save a Jew in Pesach from the prohibition of chametz which is from the Realm of Death; it merits us to the holiness of eating matzah with perfection. This is also an indication why the Rabbis of earlier generations established the custom of giving charity to poor people before Pesach.) c) Distributing charity has a special power to negate epilepsy, may Heaven spare us, as alluded to in the initial letters of the verse, "He distributed freely, he has given to the poor" (Psalms,112:9) – 'p(h)izar natan l'evionim'- 'n(o)ph(e)l', meaning 'one who falls regularly', an epileptic. (Prayer 201) Master of the Universe, merit me to receive the holiness of the festival of Pesach’ in its proper time in a perfect way. Help us to perform perfectly all the mitzvoth that are customary during Pesach. May we pray during Pesach with great concentration while raising our voices. Protect us from transgressing the prohibition of eating chametz during the very holy days of Pesach. Enable us to donate charity liberally to poor people prior to Pesach especially to give them matzot. Fulfill in us the verse “Charity will save from death”. Save us from the prohibition of eating chametz during Pesach for chametz comes from the Side of Death. Merit us to eat matzah during Pesach and by this to draw great holiness upon our eating throughout the year. Grant us holy life –force through our eating and pray we always be able to scatter lots of charity. Then, save us from all kinds of illness of epilepsy. Please send a complete cure to all the Jewish People, particularly to those who are inflicted with epilepsy, Heaven forbid, fulfill the verse: “G-d supports all those who fall and straightens all those who are bent over”. Help us, as it says: “Oh that day I will raise up the fallen tabernacle of David”. 202. However much smaller a person's intelligence is, so the more one has to give him honour. Therefore, a person has to expand his mind so that he doesn't desire honour, but rather, he will run away from it. 203. Mordechai used to walk close to the courtyard of the women in order to know how Esther was, for she is the Shechina as is known. For Mordechai was able to ascertain this, to know how the Shechina was by hearing the conversations of the women. 204. The money that one gives to a Torah scholar is an aspect of actual Torah studying. Therefore even a sin cannot extinguish the money given to a Torah scholar, for a sin doesn't extinguish Torah. This is the word 'money'- 'ma'o(v)t'- the initial letters spell 'v 'ain avera m'khavai Torah' – "A sin doesn't extinguish Torah" (Sutah,21). (Prayer 204) Master of the Universe, merit us to donate a lot of charity to true Torah scholars such that I really become considered a supporter of Torah. Fulfill in me the verse: “It is the Tree of Life for those who hold onto it and happy are those who support it”. May the money that I give to Torah scholars be a great merit for me, to such a degree that it be considered an aspect of studying the Torah itself. The Sages said: “A sin does not extinguish the merit of studying Torah.” Similarly, let none of my many sins extinguish the light of the mitzvah of giving charity to Torah scholars. On the contrary, by this mitzvah, may I merit to be saved from all kinds of sins. By this, merit me to complete repentance until You pardon and forgive all my sins, from my youth until today. Perfect all Your holy Names which I have blemished and help me to fix for myself a certain time to study Torah every day. Let me be very firm about this so I become consistent in my study of Your holy Torah. Don’t let anything bother or disturb me. Arrange a satisfactory income for me in an honorable way without my having to make strenuous efforts. Please do not let sins delay the income. On the contrary, may the power and merit of the charity I gave to Torah scholars, and the Torah that I myself study, find favour in Your eyes sot that no sin will extinguish the merit of the Torah, furthermore, let this stand up for me and bring about an atonement for all my sins. Then may I find success in all my pursuits, whether spiritual or material. Fulfill in us the verse that says: “In G-d’s Torah is his desire and his Torah, he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree, deeply rooted alongside brooks of water, that yields its fruit in its season and whose leaf never withers and everything that he does will succeed.” Amen. So may it be. 205. A RECTIFICATION FOR A NOCTURNAL EMISSION The rectification for a nocturnal emission, may the Merciful One protect us, is to recite ten Psalms on the same day that it occurred, Heaven forbid, for reciting Psalms has the power to extract the sperm from the husk which captured it. One has to have in mind when reciting the ten Psalms that the word Tehillim (Psalms) has the numerical value of 485 which is exactly the numerical value of the two Holy Names 'El' 'Elohim' when written in full like this: 'elef, lamed' (El) elef, lamed, hey, yud, mem (Elohim). By these two Names the sperm is extracted from the husk called 'Lilit' ( a husk appointed to capture wasted sperm) whose numerical value is 480; together with the five letters of her name this makes 485 (the same as Tehillim). For the reason why one has to recite specifically ten Psalms, see the original text. These are the ten Psalms to recite: A Michtam of David (16); To David a maskil (32); Blessed is he who gives intelligence to the poor (41); As the hart pants (42); To a chief musician, don't destroy (59); To a chief musician, to Yedutun (77); A Prayer to Moshe (90); Give thanks to the Lord, call (105); By the Rivers of Bavel (137); Halleluya, Praise G-d in His sanctuary (150). These ten Psalms are a very great rectification for this blemish. Someone who merits to recite them on the same day as he blemished doesn't have to worry at all any more about that awesome blemish for it has certainly been rectified by reciting these ten Psalms. 206. I HAVE GONE ASTRAY LIKE A LOST SHEEP The Holy One usually calls a person immediately when He sees that the person is going astray from the path of intelligence. To one person He calls by hints, while another He calls out with an actual call. To another He 'kicks and hits' (i.e. He inflicts suffering on them). All the time a person hasn't gone too far astray from the path of straightness (Torah) he can easily return because he still recognizes the voice (of G-d) and is used to it for he was recently close to the Holy One and hasn't yet forgotten His voice. On the other hand, when he has already wandered far away from the path then he will have already forgotten the voice of the Torah and of the Holy One; he won't recognize the voice; it will then be hard for him to return. This is similar to a shepherd whose sheep has wandered away from the path. When it still hasn't wandered too far away it can still recognize the voice of the shepherd. Then, when the shepherd calls it, the sheep will immediately follow him. But when it wanders far away from the path, then it will have already forgotten the voice of the shepherd and no longer recognize it; the shepherd also gives up looking for it because a long time has passed since it got lost. Therefore, we need to ask from G-d, to shout out in a loud voice, from the depths of the heart, "I have gone astray like a lost sheep; search for Your servant." That's to say, hurry to search for me while I at least remember the voice of Torah and mitzvot. This is "And Your commandments I haven't forgotten yet." Therefore, have mercy on me and make haste to search for me immediately so that I will not become lost, Heaven forbid. (Prayer 206) “Master of the World, full of compassion, if I said I would tell how I went astray and was led astray these may days and years, from my birth until today, masses of sheets of paper would not suffice nor could the Earth contain all my words; all the “skins of the rams of Neviot” would not be enough to use a parchments to be written on, neither would all the languages of the world be enough to explain or to tell the phenomenally great mistakes I have made. I went astray on very, very spoiled, blemished, confusing paths, for I perverted my deeds; I sinned by error, performed iniquities and sinned willfully; I attracted the evil urge upon myself until I came to what I came to and spoiled what I spoiled. Every single time, by every sin, by every bad thought, by every single blemish, I went astray and was led astray to very confusing and spoiled paths indeed. From all these confusing paths there are other such paths that mislead and spoil very much. I used to walk and go astray, progress and then go astray, during many days and years. As if it was not enough how I had strayed a great deal after previous sins, I even added new sins every day, sin upon sin, error upon error, bad thoughts upon bad thoughts, confusion upon confusion, such that they have come up to my neck and caused my strength to fail. Behold, I am full of shame and reproach before You, full of sins of error, iniquities and willful transgressions, from the sole of my foot to the crown of my head, from the day I began to perceive until today.Help a wanderer who has gone astray on confused and spoiled paths and who is full of confused thoughts, as I am today. Show me the true path and the correct advice, in such a way that I merit very soon to follow the straight paths, as is Your real, good desire. May I merit from now on to really return to You, to really serve You with fear and love. Master of the World, You have already warned us and encouraged us, by Your holy Sages, to quickly return to You with complete repentance while young, while I am youthful and soft and a real youngster, while I still have not gone astray so much on the confusing paths, while I still have not forgotten Your holy voice with which You call and declare to every time to return to You. And now, what shall I do after I have not listened to the voices of my teachers and rabbis and I have aged very much through my sins, so much so that I have almost forgotten Your call and the voice of the Torah and the commandments which declare before me all the time to return from my confused paths; I do not hearken or recognize their call at all. Even so, You have already informed us that there is no despair in the world at all and I still have hope, for You think of ways not to banish us from You, even he who has already gone completely astray. Heaven forbid. You think of ways to bring him close to You, for You do not desire death of he who is considered dead, rather You desire that the wicked return (repent) from his bad ways and live; until the day of his death. You will wait for him. If he repents, You will immediately accept him I see and gaze from afar upon Your immense compassion for me and great, loving-kindness towards me, even now, for even until old age. You will not leave me. You think from afar to better my end. You call me and send me holy signs all the time, also now, so that I will have mercy on myself, at least from now on and leave my bad ways and reprehensible thoughts in order to return to You; then You will have compassion upon me. Sometimes You call be by an actual call, by Your holy tzaddikim who reprimand me openly from a hidden love. Many times You showed me Your kindly countenance and Your good ways and the immense mercy You have upon me. We give our thanks to You and recite Your praises, for Your miracles which are with us each day and for Your wondrous deeds and favours that are performed at all times. Even if sometimes You ‘kick’ me and afflict me with suffering. Heaven forbid. This is also with great mercy and loving-kindness; everything is for my good, in order to cleanse me of my iniquities and to remind me to return in complete repentance before You. I know also that the Torah and the commandments still declare and call out before me all the time and awaken my heart to return to You. If I still have not merited to hearken to their voice and fulfill their words, nevertheless, at least I know and understand all this, for You still have not despaired of me. Heaven forbid. You have not despaired of bringing me closer to You. Therefore, while my soul is still within me, I will shout and cry out to You, so that You quickly seek me out and return to me while I still have not completely forgotten. Heaven forbid, the voice of the Torah and the commandments. Listen to and accept this prayer of mine in the merit of King David, may he rest in peace, who was a very great and awesome tzaddik indeed. So also the rest of the holy tzaddikim who came after him, for they all shouted out to You: “I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek You servant, for I do not forget Your commandments”. In their merit and their great strength, have pity and compassion on a lost flock and on today’s stray sheep, for I am as one of them. May I merit also to be among the lost ones being searched for by their master; search after me until You find me and return to me in complete repentance before You. 207. All forms of speech are an aspect of Gevorot (harsh judgements) which we need to sweeten. The sweetening is by studying Torah and speaking good things. Therefore one has to be careful to guard one's speech very much so as not to say anything bad, especially slander, Heaven forbid. And even more, much more, one must be very careful not to say anything bad about the tzaddik of the generation, Heaven forbid, so as not to increase the harsh judgements, Heaven forbid. By saying bad things like this one can cause the tzaddik of the generation to fall from his spiritual level, Heaven forbid, when he isn't powerful enough to sweeten these harsh judgements, or he may even pass away as a result of this, Heaven forbid. Then, through his death, his soul sweetens these harsh judgements. (Prayer 207) Master of the World, abundant in kindness and faithfulness, have mercy upon me; guard me and save me from words of evil, especially from slander. May I never say anything bad about any Jew in the world, even about the most insignificant and lowly of them. Even more so, may I never say anything derogatory about any of the tzaddikim of the generation who are engaged in Your service. Have compassion on me; protect and save me so that I will not say anything to belittle their honour, Heaven forbid, whether in their presence of not”. My G-d, guard my tongue from evil and my lips from speaking deceitfully. To those who curse me let my soul be silent and “ let my soul be like the dust to all”. Master of the World, have mercy on me; guard me from words of argument and controversy. Protect me from mistakenly thinking that it is a mitzvah to speak badly about any of these people. I really do not want such mitzvoth, not them nor their reward. Have mercy on our souls, spirits and neshamot. Save us and all Jews from speaking slander or spreading controversy, especially nowadays when controversy is prevalent among the Jewish leaders, as prophesied by our Sages. In this Period of distress, have mercy on us all. Save me from any evil or blemished words. Don’t let my heart be inclined to encourage words of evil by searching for blemishes and flaws in other Jews. In Your immense compassion and wonderful love, provide us with the strength to sweeten all kinds of harsh decrees that occur to people, especially to the great spiritual leaders. Have mercy on us and be with us always so that we merit to always strengthen ourselves, with all our might, to speak words of Torah, recite prayers and express fear of Heaven. By this, may we be able to sweeten all kinds of severe judgement in the world which stem from the blemished power of speech. Guard and save us from all forms of severity so that they will not reach us. Be compassionate, especially upon the spiritual leaders of the generation upon whom the harsh decrees fall. Be with them at all times and sweeten those decrees. Give them the power to sweeten all the severities in the world which they experience. Protect us and every individual Jew, especially the spiritual leaders of the generation, particularly at times when we haven’t the power to sweeten the severities ourselves, Heaven forbid. Give strength to the true tzaddikim of the generation to sweeten all harsh decrees in the world until they turn into Torah of loving-kindness, teaching others of Your Might and the glory of Your Kingdom. Master of the World, Who knows all hidden things, only You know what is happening and how many souls have sunk under these harsh decrees, Heaven forbid, because they did not have the strength to sweeten them. As a result they have fallen away from the Torah and they speak badly of the tzaddikim. This has caused several holy tazddikim to pass away and now we remain like orphans without a father. We have no-one to rely on other that our Father in Heaven. Have Mercy on al Jews; protect them and save them so they will not blemish their power of speech at all. Save us so that the sever decrees do not embitter our hearts causing us to speak evil of another Jew. Especially protect the spiritual leader of the generation from the severe decrees so that they will not speak arrogantly and contemptuously against the tzaddikim of the generation. Give us the strength to sweeten all the harsh decrees that come upon every one of us. Let us sweeten them until they turn into total loving-kindness through our words of Torah, prayer and true fear of G-d. May we all study Torah in order to teach it to others and by this, sweeten all the harsh decrees in the world. Nullify all the harsh judgments and severe decrees from the Jewish People. Draw upon us loving-kindness at all times so that we all return to You very speedily, as You desire. Merit us to speak words of Your Torah, day and night from now on and forever. Amen. 208. "THE WICKED WATCH FOR THE TZADDIK" (Psalms, 37:32) a) The fact that the wicked make trouble for the tzaddikim and persecute them, is arranged by G-d so that the tzaddik will consider and examine his deeds; the wicked are like guards who protect the tzaddik from falling into materiality. b) It is also a good thing for the tzaddikim that there is some controversy against them, for this covers them so that they will not become revealed and made famous more than they need to be. However, those who oppose them want to cover them completely and remove them from the world, Heaven forbid, but the Holy One doesn't desert the tzaddikim leaving them in the hands of the wicked. 209. Every person has bad prayers, as the Sages said, "The thief cries out to G-d before his burglary" (B'rachot,63 as brought in the Ein Ya'acov). Afterwards when a person prepares to pray, the bad prayer comes and confuses him. The rectification for this is to host Torah scholars in your house. (Prayer 209) G-d, our G-d, G-d of our Fathers, in Your bountiful mercy may it find favour before You to help me host true Torah Scholars in my house. Merit me to receive them with great honour such that this mitzvah of hosting Torah Scholars rises before You as if I had brought a ‘tamid’ sacrifice. In this merit, enable me to pray with great concentration, with all my heart and with pure thoughts all for Your Name’s Sake alone, without any confusion at all and without any extraneous thoughts. Protect and save me from bad prayers. Don’t let the bad prayers confuse and spoil the holy pure prayers. Rectify and purify my prayers so that they become fluent and perfect. Let my prayers rise further and further above until they find favour before You. Let them rise above to be a crown for Your head. Fulfill all my wishes for the good out of Your loving-kindness. Listen G-d to my prayers; hearken to my supplications. I pray to You G-d at the time of favour. G-d, in Your great loving-kindness answer me. “May my prayer be pleasant to You and I will take joy in G-d. Let sins cease from the earth and the wicked will be no more. Bless my soul G-d; praise G-d”. 210. By conducting business affairs with faith one fulfills the positive commandment of "And you shall love G-d"; the Name of G-d becomes loved through your conduct. (See Torah discourse 93). As a result, your income will come without effort or bother. (Prayer 210) O Lord, our G-d and G-d of our fathers, please help me and save me so that I merit to turn away from evil and merit to always do good in Your eyes. Bless me with love, grace, loving-kindness and mercy in Your eyes and in the eyes of all who see me. Grant me good and loving-kindness. Let me merit to perform perfectly the command of “love the Lord You G-d’ and may G-d’s Name become loved through me. Let my business dealing be honest and let me speak quietly and calmly with people; let G-d and others find satisfaction in me such that I be loved above and charming below. May I find ‘favour and good understanding in the sight of G- and man”. Please have mercy on me and arrange a plentiful income for me. Provide me with all I need and all the needs of my household before I lack them without bother or the necessity to make efforts. Master of the World You know how hard it is to make a living – it is like splitting the Red Sea. But You are great and have immense power. With Your immense power and Your loving-kindness, You split the Red Sea with ease. Who can tell You what to do; nothing is beyond You. So in the merit of our first Patriach, Avraham, the man of love, provide us with a generous income for the sake of his love, without having to make strenuous efforts. Let us not come to the need to take presents or loans from others. Thus, merit me to always keep Your commandments and to study Your Torah, all the days of my life and those of my children and their children, together with all the offspring of the Jewish People, from now on and forever. Fulfill in us the verse “Cast all your supplications upon G-d and He will provide you with an income”. The eyes of all expect You and You provide them their food on time; open You hand and satisfy every living being according to his need. My Father, compassionate Father, provide me with an income and food much more than, I deserve according to my poor deeds. Just provide for me out of compassion, as it says, “ He gives food to all flesh, for His kindness is eternal.” Help me, for I rely on You. Come speedily to my help, my Lord and Saviour. 211 The reason that people travel to tzaddikim on Rosh Hashana is because the main sweetening of all harsh decrees is only through sanctifying and purifying one's thoughts. And it is impossible to do this other than by attaching oneself to tzaddikim. Rosh Hashana is the source of all harsh decrees of the entire year, so one has to purify one's thoughts in order to sweeten them. Because of this we travel to tzadadikim, to merit to sanctify our thoughts and to sweeten the harsh decrees. (Prayer 211) May it be Your will, Lord, our G-d and G-d of our fathers, that in Your bountiful mercy we merit to travel to true tzaddikim on Rosh HaShana and to be always attached to true tzaddikim. By this, may I merit to sanctify my mind and thoughts with great holiness. Have mercy upon me in Your great compassion. Come to my aid and save me from now on from all sorts of extraneous thoughts and all sorts of blemishes of the mind which exist in the world. In Your graciousness, grant us from You, wisdom, knowledge, insight and intellect and let me merit, very quickly to really perfect purity of thought. In Your bountiful mercy, sweeten and nullify the harsh judgments from upon us and from all Your Nation, the House of Israel, from now on, forever. May we merit to receive the holiness of Rosh HasShana through the true tzaddikim and to complete all the rectifications that we need to accomplish on Rosh HaShana which is the source of the judgements of all the year. May our thoughts always be holy and pure, especially on the holy Rosh HaShana. I plead with You, Merciful One, in Your abundant compassion, have mercy upon us, grant us merit and favour us with the utmost holiness of thought on Rosh HaShana. Protect us and save us so that no strange or extraneous thought enter our minds at all. Rather, may we rejoice in Your Name all the day, with dread and fear, with great holiness and purity, with holy, refined and pure thoughts in utter purity and clarity, until we merit, through the strength of attachment to true tzaddikim to rectify and complete all the clarifications on Rosh HaShana. Let us separate all the holy sparks form the depths of the husks, to sweeten and nullify all the harsh judgements in the world, from over us and over all Your Nation, the House of Israel. Draw upon us only goodness, loving-kindness, salvation and tremendous compassion “from the beginning of the year even until the end o f the year”. Write down and seal our fate on Rosh HaShana to a good, long-life with peace, a real life, a life of fear of Heaven, a life in which we merit to keep Your commandments to truly carry out Your will wholeheartedly and to rectify all that we have blemished in our lifetime until today. Bestow upon us good, compassion, life, peace and the best of everything. Master of the World, You know the greatness of the obligation to travel to real tzaddikim on RoshHaShana and You also know the immense multiplicity of obstacles to this which overcome us from all sides. You, who are compassionate on the poor, take pity and be merciful to us; help us and let us merit to break all the obstacles. Show us Your ways, guide us in Your truth and teach us so that we merit to travel to real tzaddikim on Rosh HaShana in such a way that we merit, through them, to true holiness of thought. You know that now, in the period of the Footsteps of the Messiah, our primary support and salvation is only through the holy days of Rosh HaShana, in which we are supported to come closer to You and to draw Your Divinity and Kingship upon us, fro Rosh HaShana and then throughout the entire year. We do not know what to do on these holy of Rosh HaShana, how to appease You, as is fitting in order to give You reign over us with dread and fear; we do not know how to stand firm against all the haters and accusers, to silence the mouth of our adversaries and accusers other that in the merit and strength of the true tzaddikim. Upon them we rely and in them we are supported, for they will fight before us, subdue and throw down all our haters and persecutors; they will draw upon us the holiness of Rosh HaShana in a perfect way. Therefore, have mercy upon us and come to our aid so that we merit to break all the obstacles, until we merit to come to the true tzaddikim on Rosh HaShana and to really attach ourselves to them and to merit to complete holiness of thought through them. May we sweeten and nullify all the harsh judgements and draw upon us good loving-kindness; may we merit to recognize and know Your exalted majesty and dominion over us. Reign over us in Your glory, very soon, and may every created thing know that You are his Creator; may every creature understand that You formed him and may everything which has breath in its nostrils say, Lord, G-d of Israel, King, His Kingdom rules over all. Purify us and sanctify us in Your most lofty holiness from now on and forever. Amen, Selah. 212. a) By clapping hands during prayer one can recite properly the praises and descriptions of G-d which we call and imagine Him; this is an aspect of 'Gazing at a picture of G-d.' This is also an aspect of "The hands of man under their wings" (Ezekiel, 10:21). For wings are an aspect of speech, as it says, "That which has wings shall tell the matter" (Eccl. 10:20). Also by clapping, one's prayer is included in the Written and Oral Torah. b) One receives the power of speech by attaching oneself to tzaddikim. (Prayer 212) Unique, Ancient One, You are sealed and hidden from all the worlds; no mind can grasp You at all. But, out of great compassion, You have had mercy on us and given us permission to imagine and call You through Names, titles and descriptions which Your prophets revealed to us. By this, we merit to draw down Your Glory and Divine Presence upon us. In Your bountiful mercy, help and save us so that from now on we can arouse ourselves and really strengthen ourselves to pray with great concentration. Let us listen to all the holy and awesome words that we recite during the prayers, the morning blessings, sacrifices, praises, sh’ma , amida and all the prayers that follow on. All the details of the prayers and every word of praise or description with which we call You, they are all an aspect of a ‘picture’ of G-d. Merit us to pray before You with great concentration and spiritual arousal from the depths of our hearts to such a degree that we merit to clap our hands at the time of praying with tremendous enthusiasm and joy. Let me pray with great desire until I merit to behold the ‘picture’ of G-d. And by clapping our hands, may our prayers merge into the written Torah and the Oral Torah which represent a writing hand and a sealing hand. Have mercy on us for Your Name’s Sake. Merit me to pray with really great concentration and enthusiasm until our hands are aroused to clap during the prayers. By this, enable me to see the ‘picture’ of G-d, to really recognize You. Only for this purpose were we created. Please help me at all times not to lose this eternal good which I can achieve. Merit me to attach myself to true tzaddikim and by this, achieve perfection of the power of speech so that I can speak out lots of words of Torah and prayers, with fear of G-d. Fill my mouth with Your praises all the day. May I bless G-d at all times, continually with words of His praise in my mouth. Blessed be G-d, forever. Amen and Amen. 213. a) There is a Name S-E-L which comes from the initial letters of the verse "Eta Seter Li" – "You shelter me" (Psalms,32:7). When the Holy One wants to save a person from death which has been decreed against him and to cover and hide him from The Angel of Death, he hides and covers him with this Name. The Angel of Death then searches for a place to enter under this cover and shelter, but as soon as he looks at the person, he remains powerless because of this Name (see inside). b) One must make a pause between the words "Seter li" and the next word "mitzar" so as not to create from the initial letters the Name, Samel, Heaven forbid. (Prayer 213) “You are a Shelter for me; preserve me from distress, envelope me with glad song of rescue. Selah”. Merciful One, have mercy on Your Nation, the Jewish People, especially on all Jewish towns and cities which all kinds of illnesses abound, Heaven preserve us. Have compassion upon us for Your Name’s sake. Say to the angel ‘Withdraw your hand. Return the angel’s sword to its sheath. Be compassionate and have mercy on the remains of Your Nation, the Jewish People. Don’t let the Destroying Angel come and strike our homes, damaging or weakening us, Heaven forbid. Mercy! Mercy! Save us! Save us! Merciful One, Master of Salvations, Creator of healing, Master of wonders and Awesome of praises, remember Your servants, our Fathers, Sages and true tzaddikim who existed in each generation. For their sake and for the sake of Your bountiful mercy, have compassion on us; guard us and save us together with all Jewish people from all kinds of illnesses and pains so no Jew will suffer from them. Please send speedily a full recovery to those who have already been afflicted with illnesses or pains. Provide them with a full recovery, spiritually and bodily. Please cure, for Your Name’s sake (so and so etc). Revive us. Give us life and we will not die. Only You know how to hide and shelter each Jew from his enemies who surround him and all of the Jewish People, especially those who upon whom harsh judgments have already been decreed, Heaven preserve us. Protect and save them with Your holy Names. Save them, through Your bountiful mercy, from any trouble, enemy, ambusher or accuser. Defend us. Remove any enemy, epidemic, sword, starvation or anguish from us. Drive away the Satan from before us and behind us. In the shade of Your wings, shelter us. Save us from Your anger for You are our Guardian. Master of all the World, You alone know in which way to shelter and guard every one of us from all kinds of harsh decrees. Whether it is before the decree or after, have compassion on us. In Your awesome wonders, save and protect us, so that no accuser can enter and take hold of us, Heaven forbid, under the shelter in which You hide us. In Your mercy and love You shelter us in Your holy, awesome Names. Fulfill in us and in all the Jewish People the verse, “Shelter them in the cover of Your Countenance from the haughtiness of man and hide them in a shelter from the strife of tongues”. “Guard me like the pupil of the eye; in the shade of Your Wings, Shelter me”, for we have no one to rely on other that our Father in Heaven. Our eyes are raised to You for we know not what will be. May the words of our mouth and the meditations of our heart find favour before You, my Rock and Redeemer. Amen, Amen. 214. Nowadays we find that people die in the middle of studying Torah unlike earlier generations; then, when a Jew knew the day he was supposed to die, he would study Torah the entire day and the Angel of Death couldn't have control over him. Know, if a Jew were to study properly, the Angel of Death certainly wouldn't have any power. However, if the studying is not as it should be, especially when studying the Talmud, the Angel acquires even more strength from the studying. For the word Talmud has the numerical value of the name of the husk called Lilit. Therefore, studying Talmud has the power to subdue this husk, or the opposite, Heaven forbid. 215. There are twenty four kinds of redemption to sweeten the harsh decrees. Each of the twenty four courts of justice (in the world above) has a special redemption. But there is one redemption which includes all the twenty four courts of justice; only one tzaddik in the generation knows this redemption. Sometimes even when this tzaddik performs a redemption, it still isn't effective because it isn't frequent that there is a redemption in the world below that can sweeten all the twenty four courts of justice at the same moment. Therefore, when they get such a redemption, they use it for something else, such as to make converts, for all the time there is idol worship in the world, G-d's wrath is in the world; when we sweeten the harsh decrees and the wrath, idol worship is weakened and converts made. (Prayer 215) G-d redeems the soul of his servants. Redeem my soul in peace. G-d, redeem my soul from the Pit. Master of the World, Merciful One, the King who redeems and saves, who rescues and sustains, who answers our prayers and has mercy in all times of trouble and distress; we have no King, Helper or Support other than You. Have mercy on us, for Your Name’s sake. In Your bountiful mercy shine upon us a time of favour at all times in the merit of our holy Fathers. Sweeten and nullify all the harsh decrees from upon us and from all the People of Israel. Redeem our souls from all decrees and judgments declared in all the twenty-four holy courts in the World Above, whether it is still before the final judgment or even after. From all of them, redeem our souls. Sweeten and nullify all the harsh decrees and suffering to which they have sentenced us, whether it relates to our body, soul or property, whether generally individually, for it is revealed and known to You that we now nothing about how to perform a redemption and thus nullify all the harsh decrees that they have declared in Your holy courts. Even someone who knows how to perform a redemption and nullify a certain decree in a certain heavenly court, nevertheless, he does not know how to nullify all the decrees in all the twenty-four courts. As a result, his redemption in not effective. Therefore, have mercy on us in the power and merit of the great and unique tzaddikim in their generation, who are an aspect of Moshe for they have the power to perform a redemption to nullify all the harsh decrees in all the twenty-four courts. Have mercy on us in the merit of these tzaddikim. Shine upon us the source of desire as at the time of Shabbat minchah which is when Moshe passed away, at the time of favour. By this, redeem our souls and save us from all troubles. Sweeten and nullify all the harsh judgments that have been decreed in Your holy courts. Save us from all kinds of illnesses, pains (especially so and so), lack of livelihood and all sorts of anguish and suffering in the world. In Your immense, bountiful mercy, save us from all this. In the power and merit of Moshe, who passed away at Shabbat minchah time and in the power of all the tzaddikim who are an aspect of Moshe, who know how to perform a redemption and nullify the decree in all twenty-four heavenly courts, save us from all this. Please G-d, Merciful One, full of loving-kindness, who thinks and plans that none of the dispersed be cast out, Your thoughts and heart are upon each generation. In the merit of the time tzaddikim who strive to sweeten the harsh judgment from the twenty-four heavenly courts and to nullify all the harsh decrees in all the worlds, thus nullifying all the disbelief and creating converts, draw great faith into the world. Have mercy on us, for their sake and Your sake at this time of great suffering, when heresy and atheism are spreading throughout the world, very much Heaven forbid. There is almost no place to turn to escape. Many Jewish souls we trapped every day in the net of the heretics. We have no-one to rely on other than our Father in Heaven and on the power of Moshe and the truly great tzaddikim who know how to draw down the time of favour and thus to sweeten all the harsh decrees in the world. They know how to turn religious persecution into favour. Have compassion on us and teach us how to arouse all these tzaddikim to engage in our rectification and that of the whole world. Let them not be silent or passive at this time of anguish, suffering and bitterness in our generation . You,Who are merciful; Master of wonders. Perform Your wonders and give power to Your great and awesome tzaddikim to bring about, by their redemptions and very wonderful and awesome prayers, these two actions. Further, they nullify all the harsh judgments decreed by the twenty-four heavenly courts, whether materially or spiritually, in body, soul or property. Secondly, may they sweeten all Your anger and nullify the idol worship and atheism from the world, turning religious persecution into favour and thus creating many ba’alei teshuva and converts throughout the world, for You can do anything. Nothing can prevent You. By Your immense compassion, You can save us with Your wonderful ways of salvation. Master of the World, You alone know the strength of this sweetening and redemption which alleviates the harsh decrees of the twenty-four courts. The true, great tzaddikim know the secret of this wonderful redemption in all its aspects in the worlds Above. In the strength of this we still have hope to long for Your salvation. This can bring many souls close to You and enable them to enter the realm of holy belief. Therefore I still stand and pray before You, pleading for Your compassion and loving-kindness. I wait and long for Your salvation every moment until You look down and see us from Heaven. I plead with You to have mercy on me and all those dependent on me, all my offspring and all of the Jewish People. Save us very soon. Sweeten and nullify from upon us all the harsh decerees and nullify all the denials or confusions of faith from upon us and all Jews and all the world. Strengthen us, keep us alive and sustain us in Your holy belief at all times. Bring about circumstances so that we will merit to repent fully, with all our heart, very speedily. Let us not swerve from Your desire to the right or left. Fulfill in us the verses, “In Your hand I entrust my spirit;” You redeemed me oh G-d, G-d of truth”. “Draw near to my soul, redeem it because of my foes, deliver me:. “…abundant with Him is redemption. And He shall redeem Israel from all its iniquities”. “Redeem, oh G-d, Israel from all its troubles”. 216. In the silent prayer (the Amida) there are eighteen blessings (in Hebrew eighteen, 'chai' has the meaning of 'life') apart from the blessing about the heretics. This is because, through prayer, we nullify nature which the philosophers call "the mother of all life" and we subdue and negate the heretics and atheists. 217. "Zichroo Torat Moshe" (at the end of Malachi) – "Remember the Torah of Moshe"- has the initial letters T-M-Z (alluding to the month of Tamuz) but lacking the letter 'vav', pronounced 'u'. This is because in Tamuz we need to attract memory, to rectify the forgetfulness created by the breaking of the Two Tablets of the Torah in Tamuz (on the 17th). Since the Tablets were broken, the letter 'vav' (whose numerical value is six) disappeared, for the Tablets' length and breadth were six tefachim. 218 Sometimes a person suddenly has to travel somewhere far away; this is in order to hide himself from a harsh judgement decreed against him. Although he doesn't know this, his soul knows it. This is why he suddenly has the desire to travel. However, when he becomes known there, it can harm him, Heaven forbid, G-d save us. 219. When a person conceals, hides and humbles himself with humility and a sense of his own lowliness, the Holy One, so to speak, shows Himself to him in an aspect of humility and lowliness, constricting His grandeur and majesty; He humbles Himself, so to speak, and dwells with the person, in the aspect of 'I will dwell with the depressed'. But when a person takes pride and boasts, Heaven forbid, the Holy One also shows Himself in His grandeur and majesty; who can suffer and accept His honour and grandeur, for "Behold , the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain You" (Kings,I,8:27). From this came the destruction of the Temple, through our sins. (Prayer 219) “G-d has reigned; He donned grandeur, G-d donned strength with which He girded Himself. “Master of the Universe, You alone know Your greatness and grandeur, for who can fathom even a little of Your exaltedness, greatness and splendour,as it says, “G-d is great and lauded exceedingly and His greatness is beyond investigation”. But, because of the greatness of Your mercy and bountiful loving-kindness, You wanted to reveal Your Kingship to all the world. You chose us from all the nations and elevated us above all the languages, sanctifying us with Your commandments; You, o King, brought us close to Your service and Your great and holy Name, You called upon us. You constricted and clothed Your greatness and grandeur so that we can tolerate to take upon ourselves the yoke of Your Kingship. You wore the attribute of humility and reduced Yourself, so to speak. You descended on Mount Sinai to teach YourPeople Torah and mitzvoth You made heard the glory of Your voice; You spoke with holiness from flames of fire. Your made them great promises on Mount Sinai such as ‘You will be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” and ‘You will be for me a chosen nation’. These promises are the revelation of an aspect of Your humility. And all this was in order that the Jewish People take upon themselves the yoke of Your Kingdom and fear of You in a perfect manner. Help us to remember this always and keep it in our hearts. Just like You humbled Yourself. So to speak, You ask the same of us. So, assist us to merit this attribute of lowliness and humility so that we become really humble before all others. May we remind ourselves at all times of Your exaltedness and splendour; because of Your great love of Israel, Your desire to reveal Your Kingship over them. In order to this You clothed Your grandeur and exaltedness and constructed it so that it would be revealed. When we remember this we should automatically merit to nullify ourselves to Your completely, becoming absolutely ‘nothing’. By this, may we draw upon ourselves even more perceptions of Your godliness and fear of Heaven from now on. Let us break and nullify from ourselves the attribute of pride which led to the destruction of the holy Temple. Therefore, help us to hide and diminish ourselves in great humility until, through this we merit to reveal Your godliness, kingship and fear to all the world. Then they will take upon themselves the yoke of Your kingdom and You will reign over them forever and ever, for Your kingdom is eternal, as it says, ‘G-d will reign for ever” and as it says “And G-d will reign over all the earth; on that day G-d will be one and His Name one”. 220. If a person suffers some anguish, Heaven forbid, and tells it to a wise man, a strong man or a rich man, such that he arouses their compassion upon him, he can be saved from his trouble. 221. a) By giving ma'aser (a tithe from one's income) the Holy One stretches out His Hand and covers the person in the shadow of His Hand, thus saving him from his enemies. b) One also merits, by ma'aser, to be frugal and to be content with what one has. (Prayer 221) Master of the World, in Your bountiful mercy, help and merit me; grant me a good heart so that I can give lots of charity. Merit me to give a tenth of my income and of all that You have graciously bestowed upon me in Your loving-kindness. Please bring me deserving poor people so as to merit to give them charity. By this, save me from my enemies and persecutor. Come to my help and save me; strengthen my heart so that I merit to always give a tenth of what You have blessed me with. Stretch out Your great hand to me and grant me a livelihood from You. Provide me with my needs and the need s of my household in a plentiful manner before I come to need them. Fulfill in us the verse: “I pour out upon you blessing with out end”. And so merit me to always be happy with my portion and to be satisified with what You grant me. Let me never be craze after money. Hide me in the shadow of Your wings. Protect me with Your great hand. Cover me and save from all my enemies and persecutors, materially and spiritually. Spread peace in the world. Bring a redemption to my soul; against my enemies redeem me. May the words of my mouth and the meditiations of my heart find favour before You, G-d, my Rock and Redeemer. 222. A person must always be happy and to serve G-d with joy. If, sometimes, one falls from one's level one must strengthen oneself with the previous days when some small radiance of clarity shone for you. Hold on now to the radiance and arousal that you had then until G-d helps you and the light of G-d returns and shines for you. Amen. (Prayer 222) Serve G-d with joy; come before Him with song. Master of the Universe, merit me to always serve You with joy. Even if I sometimes fall from my spiritual level, help me to strengthen myself by remembering the rays of inspiration that shone for me previously and which aroused and inspired my heart to serve You. Now also, even though I have fallen from this as well, nevertheless may I merit to strengthen myself and find inspiritation in the radiance I experienced in the past. It is certainly fitting that I follow in the footsteps of others who merit to serve You with genuine love and fear, with great joy and enthusiasm. This is even more true regarding the many tazddikim in each generation who merit to serve You truthfully. From them and from the very great tzaddikim of previous generations I should certainly take inspiration and follow them in serving You truthfully. Despite having fallen from this and although my hear and eyes have become blocked, even so how is it possible to forget and lose completely, Heaven forbid, what I already had in my hand? How is it possible not to believe in myself and to make my heart and eyes ignore what my eyes have seen and my eyes heard? I felt in my brain and heart a holy radiance from the great longing to believe in You and from the holy pleasantness of serving You. I cannot even describe this to myself so certainly not to others. Each person knows what is in his own heart. I know that the loss of this radiance and my fall are also for my benefit for, by this descent, I will strengthen myself even more in Your service. Previously the radiance was only and aspect of arousal from above but real perfection in the service of G-d requires arousal from below, from myself. Therefore, I should have, strengthened myself after te fall rather than letting my heart become blocked and my eyes darkened. However, there is now despair. Have mercy on me and help me, at least from now on, to become stronger in Your serviced through the radiance that I experienced previously. Merit us to rise from all our falls and to arouse ourselves to serve You truthfully. Amen so may it be. 223. It may be that sometimes the request of the tzaddik is not fulfilled for sometimes it is heard and sometimes not (Zohar, V'yerah, 105,B). However, there is a tzaddik who can issue a decree and say "I say that it will be so!" 224. Even those who are far away from the tzaddik receive life-force and a spiritual radiance from him. 225. There are several virtues and levels to trust in G-d, infinite in number. However much more the intelligence is greater, a person's trust is greater. According to one's trust in G-d, so, one merits to give more charity. As a result, one merits to perfect and rectify the power of speech which defines Man. (Prayer 225) + You, who are full of mercy, who graciously gives knowledge to a person, favour me and grant me merit that my intelligence and knowledge be perfect in such a way that I merit to absolutely perfect trust and to always trust in You to supply and nourish me to always grant me all that I lack. May I become stronger all the time and be sure that, in Your loving-kindness, You will save me from all that I have to be saved from, materially and spiritually, in body, soul and money. Let me never fall from this trust, Heaven forbid. Rather, may I merit to become stronger all the time, every hour in everything that happens to me, to really trust in You always, without end, forever, as is written: “Trust in the Lord forever, for in the Lord G-d is everlasting strength”. Let me trust in Your tremendous loving-kindness and mercy which never ceases and never finishes. Don’t deal with me according to my sins, Heaven forbid, nor repay me according to my iniquities, just act according to Your many tremendous wonders, in the old yet new ways of Your loving-kindness which You create anew at all times and every hour. Grant me all my income, the income of my household and those dependent on me and all our needs, with great generosity and even before I need them. Help me and save me at all times in all that I need to be saved. Let me merit by strengthening my trust to give lots of charity all the time and let me not worry from one day to the next at all. Rather, all that You grant me each day may I give out as charity to deserving poor people whom, in Your mercy, You arrange and invite for me. May I merit to support those who truly fear the Lord and who really engaged in Your Torah and commandments. Let me support and sustain them and provide them with all that they may lack. Don’t let any obstacle or restriction confuse me. Rather, let me always become stronger, giving a lot of charity to deserving poor people and giving a lot of money for anything needed to perform a commandment and for Torah education, especially for everything which is for the merit of the general community for generations. May I be strong in my trust in Your great holy, awesome Name, so that You will always resolve things for the good on my behalf and never leave me. May it be fulfilled in me the verse which says: “Blessed is the man who trusts in G-d and to whom G-d is also the source of his trust”. 226. There are songs of moaning and sadness which are an aspect of the Other Side. It is in the nature of people to be drawn after these songs. When a Jew sings these songs on Shabbat, he raises them. (Prayer 226) Master of the World, who forever protects His Nation, Israel, guard us and save us so that we will not be drawn at all after the songs of groaning and sadness that wicked people usually sing. It is the way of the world to be very much drawn after them. Have mercy upon us, guard us and save us from these songs, for You know how very much they spoil and blemish us and how much they damage kosher Jews. Heaven forbid. In the strength and merit of the true tzaddikim have compassion upon us; come to our help an guard us at all times so that we merit to be saved from such songs. Let us merit to always gladden our souls in holiness and purity by tunes and songs of happiness which draw the heart towards You and Your service. Your Torah and true tzaddikim. Help us, in the strength of the true tzaddikim, that we merit to raise all these songs of the wicked through the holiness of Shabbat. Give us strength to raise them and turn them into happiness when we sing them on the holy Shabbat. May the merit of Shabbat protect us so that the wicked have no strength to draw upon us sadness, melancholy and sighing, Heaven forbid. Rather, the opposite, may we merit to clarify them and raise them and turn them from melancholy and sighing, to joy and happiness. May we come closer to You and be drawn after You and be joyful as a victor, to run in Your ways, to progress along Your pathways, to engage in learning Your Torah and to fulfill your commandments. Let us glue ourselves and attach ourselves to You and to Your true tzaddikim, sincerely and with faith , in a strong and firm bond, forever and ever, for all eternities. You, who are full of compassion, the Happiness of Israel, have mercy upon us, protect us and save us from all the things that lead to or attract sadness, melancholy and sighing, Heaven forbid. In Your mercy, arrange things for the good in such a way that joy and happiness, strength and gladness always be drawn upon us, for in Your great, holy mighty and awesome Name we put our trust; we will be joyful and happy in Your salvation. In Your tremendous compassion, grace and loving-kindness let me merit to always be glad, especially every Shabbat and on Festivals, with great happiness and the most tremendous joy, as is fitting to rejoice and be glad on such holy days as these. “I will be glad and rejoice in Your mercy for You have considered my trouble; You have known my soul in adversities”. “I will be glad and rejoice in You. I will sing praise to Your Name, O You Most High”. May I merit to sing all sorts of songs of praise every Shabbat and Festival with great happiness and joy, in a voice of gladness and happiness, with tunes of joy and rejoicing without any trace at all of sadness, worry or melancholy. Satisfy us from Your good bounty and gladden our souls in Your salvation; purify our hearts to serve You sincerely. Fulfill in us, and in every one of Israel, the verse which says: “And my soul will be joyful in the Lord; it shall rejoice in his salvation”. I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my G-d while I have my being. My meditation of Him shall be sweet: I will be glad in the Lord”. May it be Your will that the words of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart find favour before You, Lord, my Rock and Redeemer. Amen, Selah. 227. When passing over grasses which are not to be cut (i.e. weeds on a roof ) one should say to them twice, 'May G-d help'. By this, the souls of the wicked reincarnated in these grasses will be elevated. 228. When the Holy One looks at a neshama and sees that it can arouse others to repent and to make converts, then G-d Himself, so to speak, seeks and sees to it that there will be controversy against this neshama. (Prayer 228) Please have mercy on us and upon all Jewish souls who have fallen to wherever they have fallen. Reveal to them and us the true tzaddikim of this generation who can rectify all Jewish souls, by returning them to Your Torah. Merit us all, all Jewish souls, to really come close to You. For You know the great intensity of controversy in these generations against the genuine tzaddikim, their books and followers. You know the controversy and accusations that exist against true Torah scholars and which arise again and again. Certainly Your intention is for the good in order to bring Jewish souls close to the true tzaddikim through suffering and great obstacles. You informed us through the Sages that for this reason we do not accept converts in the days of Messiah etc. But, the controversy and obstacles are too strong and too difficult to stand up to; it is very difficult for any Jewish soul to come close to true tzaddikim and their holy paths because of the immensity of the endless obstacles. So, please, Father in Heaven, Lord of the entire world, Merciful One, Who examines the kidneys and heart of every individual, have compassion upon us and all Jewish souls; ease the controversy and quieten the arguments. Draw peace upon the world. Certainly during the days of exile we have to search for the truth while experiencing suffering and difficulties, but there would still be many obstacles even if You drew peace throughout the world. So have mercy upon us and reveal the truth in the world very soon, so that all the People of the world will see the wonderful and awesome light that You radiate throughout in the World by the true tzaddikim in these generations. We have to come close to them and follow their paths to return to You and truly recognize You. Speedily reveal the truth in order to save and protect many Jewish souls especially from the traps and nets spread by the heretics and atheists to catch Jewish youth in their evil school systems. Have mercy upon us for Your Name’s sake, for the sake of Your bountiful mercy. See how powerless we have become. You promised us that no generation is ever left orphaned. Now also there are certainly tzaddikim who radiate the light of truth and faith throughout the world. They have the power to bring back all the world to You in repentance but, because of our sins, they are hidden from us. Please out of Your compassion, merit us to great strength, to overcome and break all the obstacles so that we can come close to true tzaddikim and their followers who are full of fear of G-d. Let us draw from the wells of wisdom and take upon ourselves their holy advice in such a way that we really come close to You from now on. May the words of my mouth and meditation of my heart find favour before You G-d, my Rock and Redeemer. 229. There are trees from which beds are made and they have a special power to merit a person to have children and to raise them. The opposite is also true – there are trees that are not good etc. 230. Whoever has eyes to see, can see and recognize from the face of the student who his rabbi is, on the condition that he saw the student's rabbi at least once. 231 At the moment when one recites "And the heavenly legions bow to You" it is fitting to pray for anything for then all the heavenly legions come to bow and give praises and thanks to G-d. Therefore, it is good at that moment to pray to G-d that He command them to bring down anything that we need. For example, if one needs a cure, have in mind then that G-d command them to transfer any power needed for one's cure and put it into bread and water and so on. (See Lekutei Moharan, Pt.2;Torah 1) 232. When reciting, "Halleluyah! Praise G-d from the Heavens" etc "praise Him all His angels… "(Psalm,148; Morning prayers) it is fitting to arouse oneself to pray with all one's vitality and enthusiasm since, in one's prayers, one is calling all the angels and seraphim and ophanim and holy chiot and to all the worlds, commanding them to give thanks and praise to G-d. 233 a) Pure thoughts are an aspect of pure animals, whereas bad thoughts are an aspect of impure animals. The struggle a person has in his mind between these thoughts is actually like the struggle between the pure and impure animals. This is intentional from Above that they will battle each other, for the Holy One has great pleasure when they struggle and when a person overcomes the impure animals and defeats them. b) The rule is that no two thoughts can exist at the same moment. Therefore, it is easy to drive out the bad thoughts by just stopping and doing nothing; that's to say, don't think that thought just think of some other thought of Torah or the service of G-d or even of business etc. so that one draws one's thoughts to some other thought. By this one will automatically be freed from bad thoughts that arose for it is completely impossible to have two thoughts at the same moment. And we have already explained that we don't need to shake one's head here and there in order to drive out the bad thoughts for this doesn't help at all. Rather, think another thought, as mentioned before. Don't look behind you at all, as we said. (Prayer 233) Master of the Universe, You know the vast number of bad thoughts and evil musings that flood our minds at all times. The main essence of a person in his thought. Therefore bad thoughts overcome us again and again. They are an aspect of a man of the Other Side. So, please have mercy upon us. Grant us the power and strength, the holy advice and wisdom, to know how to subdue and defeat them. You taught us how great the virtue is of holy thoughts. They are an aspect of pure holy animals as in the holy and awesome Chariot in the world Above. But, on the other hand, the blemish of bad thoughts is very shameful; they are an aspect of the impure beasts in the chariot of the Other Side, Heaven preserve us. When a person overcomes these thoughts and defeats them this gives great pleasure to the Holy One. You revealed to us that it is totally impossible to have two thoughts at the same moment so it is easy to drive out an evil thought just by restraining oneself. All one has to do is replace that thought with another thought of Torah, prayer or even business matters. Then, automatically the bad thought will disappear. We have to fight these bad thoughts but we do not need to make strange body movements such as shaking the head etc. in order to drive out these thoughts. We do not need to take notice of the bad thoughts, we just need to concentrate on what we have to do in Torah, prayer or business. Therefore, merit us from now on to drive out these evil thoughts and to nullify them completely so that they never return to our minds. Let us always have only holy and pure thoughts. Amen. So may it be. 234. STORIES ABOUT TZADDIKIM a) The power of thought is very lofty and whoever wants to think holy thoughts and rise to the world of thought he has to remain completely silent. Even if he says then something proper, he will lose the thought. But, even if he remains completely silent, there still exist many types of confusions that confuse the thoughts; against this one needs purity of thought. b) By hearing stories about tzaddikim one merits to purity of thought. That's to say, one should tell about what happened to tzaddikim and all the wonders that they performed, for this is a very great thing and causes the mind to be purified; this leads to a sweetening of the harsh decrees and one is saved from all one's troubles. However, it is impossible to tell stories about tzaddikim unless one knows to distinguish between light and darkness. In other words one needs to know to distinguish between the stories of tzaddikim and those of the wicked and of liars. (See inside) One merits to this through the Land of Israel. c) The Land of Israel is the all-inclusive holiness of all the levels of holiness. In Israel a person merits to escape from the concept of naturalness and come to know and believe that everything happens through Divine Providence alone. This is the all-inclusive holiness. By this, one can liken oneself to the Holy One and be able to distinguish between light and darkness. Then one can tell stories about true tzaddikim for one knows to distinguish between them and the opposite. As a result, one merits to purity of thought, to sweeten the harsh decrees and to be saved from all one's troubles. d) There is a Name which is used when crowning a new king. The Name is K'm'ah, the initial letters of the verse "Haskifa M'ma'on Kad'sh'cha" – "Look down from Your holy habitation" (Deut.26:15). This is an aspect of "He removes kings and sets up kings" (Daniel,2:21)- "sets up" is written "ha'k'm", alluding to the Name K'm'ah. This is also what it says about Joseph, "Behold, my sheaf arose" (Gen.37:7) – "arose" is written "k'm'ah". (Prayer 234) Master of the Universe, You perform wonders in every generation by Your true tzaddikim as our forefathers told us about the gret and wonderful miracles and awesome wonders that You performed in each generation through Your tzaddikim. In this generation there are certainly tzaddikim who also perform wonders. So, in Your bountiful mercy, help, save and strengthen me so that I can tell stories of the deeds of the tree tzaddikim and all that happened to them, their sons and followers. All the great and awesome wonders and miracles that happened. Let me tell of their holy paths in the service of G-d and their revelations of godliness. Pray I hear well in my ears and heart such stories and merit to always tell them to others. Merit me to engage in the recounting the deeds of these true tzaddikim in such a way that I draw upon myself, their immense holiness and thus purify my mind from all confusions and extraneous, inappropriate thoughts which all stem from constricted consciousness. Enable me to achieve expanded consciousness. By this please save and redeem me from all troubles suffering and from all harsh judgments in the world which all stem from confusion of the mind and limited perception, Save me from all this and help me to always recount stories of the deeds of true tzaddikim who reflect expanded consciousness. Assist me and save me so that I can desire, long and yearn to come to the Land of Israel. May I draw upon myself the holiness of the Land of Israel at all times. Through this may I achieve perfect faith, to believe perfectly in Your Divine Providence at all times. Extract me completely from belief in nature. Let me always remember that there is no nature whatsoever. What appears to be nature actually only functions according to Divine Providence. You overturn at will through Your true tzaddikim in each generation; they perform wonderful innovations in each generation as we have hear from our forefathers. Have mercy on me and all the Jewish People. Help us to emulate You so that we can differentiate before light and darkness, until we know the truth and can distinguish between the stories of tzaddikim and those of the wicked. Merit me to know about whom and how to recount stories in such a way that I can purify my thoughts. However, because of our tremendous weakness, we have become distant from You such that we cannot distinguish between light and darkness. Therefore, please have compassion on us; help us so that we achieve perfect faith. Let it be so strong that it will be as if we see with our own eyes what we believe in. Merit is to believe in You , Lord, our G-d and in Your Divine Providence which is with every individual at all times. Master of the Universe, merciful One, You know how far away I am from having purified my thoughts. I have blemished my thoughts beyond measure. I have sinned a great deal. I was not careful to catch my thoughts and prevent them from wandering into imagination, confusions and impure musings. I spoiled a lot and did what I did because I blemished my thoughts. In the merit of the prayers of tzaddikim and their power, have mercy on me; save me; hear the voice of my shouts, the sound of my screams; the voice of my prayers. In Your bountiful mercy, draw upon me the holiness of the Land of Israel, all the ten levels of holiness which are the generality of all holiness. By this, merit me to perfect faith in Your Divine Providence which extends throughout all the world at every moment. As a result of drawing down this holiness of the Land of Israel, may I know how to recount stories of the deeds of the true tzaddikim until You purify my thoughts. Let me escape all sorts of confusing thoughts, all kinds of impure musings and unproper thoughts. May I purify my thoughts from all this. Please help me to rise to the world of holy thoughts, thoughts of Torah, prayer and of the grandeur of the Creator, together with thoughts of the greatness of the true tzaddikim. With thoughts of purity may I have Torah innovations. By all this redeem me from all troubles, distress and suffering. Sweeten and nullify all the harsh decrees from upon us and from all the Jewish People. In Your bountiful loving-kindness have compassion upon us, at any time when a new King or leader is appointed over us. May this ruler be kind and have mercy over the People of Israel. Let him nullify all the harsh decrees from upon us. Have mercy, for Your Name’s Sake for we have no one to rely upon apart from You. Look down from Your dwelling place in Heaven and turn all the hearts of the kings and their ministers in our favour. Bring Meshiach speedily, in our days. Amen. 235. Someone who walks, slips and falls and the people laugh at him and he feels embarrassed because of this, all this comes as a result of him having blemished the joy of a Festival. Occasionally this acts as an atonement and sometimes this doesn't atone but comes to remind him to repent. (Prayer 235) Master of the World, guard me and save me so that I never blemish the happiness of the holy Festivals. Let me merit to rejoice in great happiness and joy in every single Festival, ‘Festivals of the Lord, holy convocations’. Let me fulfill with complete perfection the commandment of “And you shall rejoice in your Festival” with all its details and exactitudes and all the 613 commandments dependent on it. Guard my soul and save me from disgracing the Festivals. Have mercy upon me and all Israel. Guard me and save me so that I will not be included among those who disgrace the Festivals and thus have no part in the World to Come for they are considered as if they worship idols. Save me from shame and disgrace that result from the disgracing of the Festivals, Heaven forbid. Be with me at all times; guard me and save me so that my steps should not fail. Don’t let me fall, or stumble, or slip. Let me never ever fall, either materially or spiritually. Let no one rejoice in my stumbling. Heaven forbid, not laugh at me. Strengthen me and encourage me in Your wonderful ways in such a manner that I always merit to the perfect happiness of the Festivals and Holy Days. Let me merit in every single Festival to be happy and rejoice with all my strength and to feel the happiness of the Festival in my heart. You, who are full of compassion, the Happiness of Israel, grant me happiness in my heart, especially on the very holy, awesome Festivals. “We will be glad and rejoice in You”. Have mercy upon me. Pardon me, forgive me and grant me atonement for all the blemishes I have caused to the happiness of the Festivals during my lifetime, until this very day. Come to my aid and save me so that I can rectify everything perfectly. Let me clarify and raise all ‘fallen’ aspects of happiness ** to their proper place, to their source, to the place that was their abode originally. In Your mercy, accustom me to all the paths of happiness in such a way that I merit to always be happy, especially on Shabbat and Festivals. We will be glad and rejoice in Your Salvation. Satisfy me from Your good (bounty); gladden our souls in Your Salvation; purify our hearts to serve You truly. O Lord, our G-d, give us as an inheritance Your holy Festivals, in happiness and rejoicing. May all Israel, who sanctify Your Name, be happy in You……..”May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing before Your countenance, O G-d, my Rock and my Redeemer:. Amen. Amen. ** ‘Fallen’ happiness means the happiness people have from things not connected to holiness such as excessive eating or drinking etc. 236 Someone who serves as a rabbi, with honesty and simplicity, will merit at the end of his days to rise to greatness as defined by his generation. And in this generation, when to be considered famous and a tzaddik is thought to be an honour, he will merit at the end of his life to be accepted as someone very famous even though he really isn't other than a kosher and simple Jew. He is given his reward before he leaves This World, and afterwards… 237 Joining two things together is through song and musical instruments. (See inside.) This is reflected in the playing of musical instruments at a wedding. 238. . When two people are divided in their opinion about something and a third person comes along and agrees with one more than the other, this is because one of the two is closer to the source of his soul than the other. 239. THE VIRTUE OF PEACE a) Because of controversy it is difficult to pray and to speak holy words, therefore before praying one has to accept upon oneself the positive mitzvah of "Love your neighbour as yourself" in order to draw down love and peace, for the essence of the power of speech is from peace. b) All spoken words stem from heat. Someone who has a lot of warmth from the realm of holiness, speaks a great deal to G-d. (See inside) (Prayer 239) Master of the Universe, have mercy upon us. Save us from arguments and controversy. You know my heart. I do not desire controversy at all for who am I to cause controversy against any other person in the world. Other people are infinitely better than me. You know how much controversy has spread vastly throughout the world. When someone desires peace, nevertheless he is attacked. Our sins have caused all this. Even without this it is also hard to pray properly but controversy holds back the words of prayer ever more. Father in Heaven, what can we do? How can we find the words to pray to You, for all the world is full of controversy. Merciful One, Have compassion on me. Teach me how to behave towards all other people in such a way that I can achieve genuine peace Master of the Universe, Master of Peace, King of Peace, perform wonders so that all kinds of controversy will be nullified from the world. Draw a great and wonderful peace into the world such that the power of speech becomes redeemed from exile. Open our mouths to always say good things before You, words of Torah and prayer day and night. Lord, open my lips and may my mouth speak Your praises. Merit me from now on to guard my mouth so that I will not say anything which displeases You, Heaven forbid. At the time of judgement You will tell each person whatever he said, even a small conversation between husband and wife. Oh! How we should fear the Day of Judgement , the Day of Reproach!. Have mercy upon me for Your Name’s sake. Guard me and save me from saying anything which is not as You desire. Forgive me for any blemish in my words that I may have spoken until now. Please perfect all Your Names which I have blemished. Be with me when I speak. Guard my soul. Help me and save me so that I merit to keep the mitzvah of loving my neigbour as myself with all my heart and soul. Especially let me have this in mind before praying every day and by this may my prayers before You be perfect, with great concentration and the proper intentions. May my prayer find pleasure before Your Throne of Glory, such that it rises to become a crown upon Your Head. Fulfill very speedily the verse “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem; those who love you will be serene. May there be peace within your wall…….For the sake of my brethren and comrades I shall speak of peace in your midst” (Psalms 122,6:8). “He who makes peace in His Heavens, may He make peace upon us and upon all Israel. Now answer, Amen”. 240. All bounty comes only from the true tzaddik Therefore, if a person's income is made only with great difficulty such that even if he acquires some wealth it may cost him his life, or the wealth becomes lost and does not remain even for his children, all this is because of his distance from the tzaddik. The fact that we see sometimes that someone comes close to the true tzaddik and then looses his wealth, this is because his soul sees, even if he doesn't, the great preciousness of the light of the tzadddik, which is more precious than gold and jewels; as a result he throws away the good fortune of wealth without hesitation. This is even more true when he merits to feel himself that the closeness to the true tzaddik is more precious than all the wealth in the world; then he will certainly not worry about money and won't want wealth at all. (Prayer 240) Master of the Universe, merit us to be really close to all the true tzaddikim. By this, may each Jew receive his bounty, through his constellation from those true tzaddikim, each Jew according to his needs, whether an income or children. Let each Jew receive the bounty from the tzaddikim with ease and great speed, without any difficulty at all. You revealed to us that all good abundance and good things come only through the true tzaddik. When someone is far from the tzaddik, his constellations find it hard to receive from the tzaddik, for he is far away. As a result,the constellation is forced to give him great strength until he can receive from the tzaddik. By this, a person can be harmed and stumble greatly, sometimes he can even die because of this. Then his bounty remains for his offspring. And sometimes even this does not remain for them. So, please merit us to come close to the true tzaddikim even if it seems sometimes that a person’s bounty declines and his wealth is lost by this. We will not have doubts about Your Divine Providence and Goodness. We will know and believe that happens because our constellation sees the immense value and virtue of the holiness of coming close to the tzaddik and the great spiritual bounty he can receive from him. As a result, the constellation discards the material bounty of wealth in order to merit to the spiritual wealth. This is why the Sages said that, not everyone merits to two tables (i.e. Both material and spiritual wealth). Merit us to feel for ourselves that closeness to the tzaddikim is more precious than all the wealth of the world to such a degree that we cease worrying about money altogether; nor will we have any desire for wealth. In Your bountiful mercy, please arrange for us all we need in a plentiful way, without any worry or effort on our parts. 241 When a person has harsh decrees upon him and then another person comes and make controversy against him, this removes the decrees from him for a human being has more strength than any decree to take revenge. (See inside) Therefore, a great tzaddik who takes upon himself to rectify the world sometimes purposely makes controversy against another tzaddik in order to remove the harsh decrees from upon him. However, afterwards he acts with mercy and doesn't cause more suffering to that tzaddik. (Prayer 241) Merit us to accept it when the tzaddik distances s and is sometimes angry with us and even insults us. Let us know and believe that all this is only for our good in order to sweeten the harsh decrees from upon us which come from the attribute of strict justice in the World Above. Merit us that, immediately after this sweetening of the harsh judgment, the tzaddik will arouse his great compassion upon us and draw us very close to him. Amen. So may it be. 242. a) Lewd thoughts are the prime form of impurity, an aspect of the impurity of dead body. Charity saves a person from these thoughts. Even so, it is forbidden to rely on this and to speak a lot to women, Heaven forbid. Only what one has to say to them doesn't cause harm, through the merit and strength of charity. b) Some lewd thoughts stem from such a husk that it is very hard to escape from them. Even if one closes one's eyes, nevertheless, whichever direction one turns they appear; charity saves a person from them. (Prayer 242) May it find favour before You, G-d our G-d and G-d of our fathers, who is slow to anger and abundant in kindness and truth, that You have mercy on us; help me and save me so that I merit to give a lot of charity to deserving poor people really and truly for Your Name’s sake, alone, without any ulterior motives, without any decent at all. Let my hand always be open to give charity freely, giving to the poor what they lack, with great joy, a good heart and a pleasant smile. By this may I subdue and nullify the power of charity of the wicked who oppose the realm of holiness. Let the wicked have no strength to oppose the Jewish People who wish to really serve You. Draw upon us Your immense holiness. Bestow upon us the strength and courage of the true tzaddikim, the elders of holiness. In their merit may we subdue, break and nullify the old, foolish king(i.e. the evil eye) driving him and his forces away from our borders. Remove the spirit of impurity from the land. Nullify any bad thoughts from us for they chase after us at all times, especially all those who truly want to come close to You. Draw upon us the light of the countenance of the Living King, the light of the countenance of holiness which stems from the Supernally Long Face of holiness. By this, merit us to subdue, break and nullify, from us all evil thoughts which stem from the Long Face of the husks. Protect us fron being damaged by an evil woman, whose source is from the husks. It is very hard to escape from these husks. They appear from any direction that we turn to. Please G-d, You are full of mercy and abundant in kindness, have mercy on us and save us from the Side of Death, from indecent thoughts for they are more bitter than death; they are called the ‘father’ or most extreme of all kinds of impurity. So, have mercy upon the weak of spirit we are nowadays in the generation of the footsteps of Meshiach for we have fallen very low and are without help or support. We have sunk into the murky depths without a foothold. Be gracious with us so that we will not be lost. Give us the power subdue, break, drive away and nullify the husk of the ‘Long Face” from ourselves and our surroundings. As a result let us be free of any evil thoughts that come from this husk. Grant us true holy advice at all times in such a way that we merit to be saved from all evil thoughts. Let us always have truly holy thoughts. Merit us, in Your bountiful mercy, to distribute plenty of charity for the sake of Your Name alone and by this save us from ‘death’ which are the evil thoughts, which are referred to as the impurity of death. Fufill in us the verse “Charity saves from death”. Save me from being in a crowd of women and let me not speak a lot with them. Even with my own wife let me minimize my words as much as possible. Save me from any prohibited form of looking at women and from indecent thoughts. Let me not follow the desire of my heart and my eyes. Help me, for we depend upon You. We have no–one to rely upon other that our Father in Heaven. 243. There exists one tzaddik who is so great that the world cannot suffer his holiness. Because of this he is very hidden; we don't see anything of his holiness and extreme abstinence. 244. Someone who is involved with the non-Jews, meaning that he does business and trades with them, has to guard himself very carefully so as not to fall from his current level in Judaism. He has to be like a very firm tent-peg, immovable from his level of kashrut and religious observance. He needs to pray to G-d a lot to be saved from learning the deeds and ways of these non-Jews. 245. There are chambers of Torah. When someone merits to Torah innovations, he goes from one chamber to another etc. He then gathers up from the chambers treasures, and precious, delightful charms; happy is such a person. However, one has to be very careful not to delude oneself that one has already reached a perfect understanding. Sometimes a person imagines that he has already entered into the inner portals of Torah knowledge but the truth is that he is still standing completely outside for even true, holy Torah perceptions have several aspects. (See inside) There exist many Torah innovations and perceptions that a person thinks to be very great but, in truth, they are really only from the Chambers of Exchange (Realms of Illusion). Therefore, one has to be very careful not to be misled by this. The very great tzaddik even when he merits to truly great and holy perceptions, nevertheless , in his eyes they are not considered as anything in relation to his actual great recognition of the grandeur of the Creator, may He be blessed. As a result, he endeavours and strengthens himself each time that G-d should begin to show him the light of the Torah, as if he hadn't yet started to ascertain anything all his life. (Prayer 245) Open my eyes so I may behold the wonders of Your Torah. Teach me Your statutes. Master of the Universe, who grants knowledge to man, who teaches Torah to His Nation the Jewish People, You commanded us, through Your true tzaddikim to study the Torah in depth and find innovations. In Your great compassion You have had mercy on us and allowed us to understand a little of Your holy Torah, enough to enable me to strive to find Torah innovations. It is a duty on every Torah Scholar to endeavour to find Torah innovations as not to be a dried up tree, Heaven forbid. I will shout out to You and plead in the light of Your bountiful mercy and immense loving-kindness, maybe through my words of truth, I can arouse Your real compassion upon me until You help me and teach me ideas and paths of truth every day. Then I will return to Your Torah and merit to study Your holy Torah constantly, day and night. Let no worries about an income or other bodily needs distract or bother me. Rather, let me always strive with all my energy to grab moments and fix regular times from all my worldy affairs, to study Torah especially at night. Help me to put all my heart into studying Torah and praying such that I merit through Your mercy, to open my heart to Your Torah. Open my eyes with wisdom and my intellect with holiness and purity until I merit to find genuine Torah innovations at all times and thus to give pleasure to You before Your Throne of Glory. Let this be a great rectification to my soul, spirit and neshama such that I rectify all that I have blemished throughout my life, especially evil or blemished thoughts, for in that I sinned a lot. Assist me, through Your compassion, so that my thoughts will constantly be attached to Your Torah really strongly. Then even when I am among other people my inner thoughts will still cleave to Your holy Torah without forgetting it for even a moment. Let my thoughts be attached to the holy Torah, so much that even when sleeping, in my dreams I will have thoughts of true Torah innovations. By this, may I drive out and nullify all evil thoughts, all kinds of madness and spirits of foolishness that have taken hold in my heart and mind because of my bad deeds. In Your bountiful compassion, open for me the pathways of intellect until I enter the chambers of the holy Torah. Merit me to enter and journey in Your Holy Torah from chamber to chamber from corridor to corridor, from house to atticetc. May I connect, join and unite all the rooms and chamber together very firmly so that I can acquire knowledge of the truth of Your godliness. Then, grant me a complete gift of all the words of Your holy Torah with all its Chambers and passageways until it is called ‘my’ Torah. Therefore, merciful One, have mercy upon me so that even when I discover genuine Torah innovations I will not delude myself that I have already succeeded to enter its inner sanctuaries. Rather merit me to understand and know at all times that I am still far away from the inner truth of the Torah for it is far, far above our grasp and its inner essence contains deeper and deeper levels. Strengthen me so that I can endeavour to search and ask for the deep truth of Your holy Torah with all my heart and soul, with true self sacrifice until You open up for me all its gateways and the inner essence of its chambers more and more. By this, let me come to understand and perceive the truth of the inner essence of the Torah which is an aspect of being called ‘Man’ in the realm of holiness. As a result, draw upon me the image of G-d and may I be subsumed in supernal man with real perfection such that I can truly perceive You, as You desire and as the true tzaddikim want from me; for this created. Have mercy upon me and bring me back in complete repentance as speedily as possible. May my portion in life be in Your Torah, for in pleading before You I do not depend on my righteousness;. Rather I depend on Your bountiful compassion and the strength and great merit of the true tzaddikim to extract me and purify me from all my impurity very, very speedily. Merit me during my lifetime to all that I have asked from You, Merciful One. May the words of my mouth and the musings of my heart find favour before You, G-d my Rock and Redeemer. Amen. 246. Occasionally one has to behave like we find with Yehoshafat about whom it says, "He lifted his heart in the ways of G-d" (Chronicles, II, 17:6). This is as beneficial as a fast, for when one must rise to a new spiritual level of perception, one has to forget one's previous wisdom as we find when Rav Zeira came to the Land of Israel he fasted in order to forget the Babylonian Talmud (Baba Metzia,85). By pride, one forgets one's wisdom, as the Sages said, "Anyone who has pride, his wisdom leaves him" (Pesachim, 66). Therefore, sometimes one has to lift one's heart in the paths of G-d, which is an aspect of pride, in order to forget one's previous wisdom. But this needs great skill for certainly pride is really a severe prohibition; if a person really feels pride then certainly his wisdom will depart completely from him and then he won't come to any perception. Consequently, it requires great skill to lift one's heart just enough to forget one's previous wisdom when it is needed while, despite this, remaining really humble. 247. It states in the Zohar (Zav, pg.27B) that 'teiko' (i.e. a question remaining undecided) which is mentioned in the Talmud is an aspect of a lack of rectification ( in Hebrew 'tikon'). That's to say, the letter 'nun' is missing from 'tikon' leaving 'teiko'. Know that this straight 'nun' (the final long 'nun' of the word 'tikon'), when it is missing from the 'tikon', gets lowered and bent creating the combination of letters to spell 'kinot' (lamentations). And when G-d finally redeems us the 'kinot' will turn into 'tikon'; this will rectify the 'teiko'. (Prayer 247) O Lord, our G-d and G-d of our fathers, may it be Your will that You have mercy upon us. Send to us and bring us our righteous Messiah very speedily. Rectify all This World and all the worlds that are dependent on this world of action; rectify them from top to bottom. Have mercy upon him and upon us and bring him safely very soon. Rectify everything with a wonderful and awesome rectification. Shine upon us the true perception; open our eyes and hearts to Your Torah. Rather, let it all be as clear to us as the robe (which we wear). Even all the questions and doubts that remain in the state of ‘teku’ which includes all the doubts in the world, whether those doubts which the great Torah-scholars have about the laws and paths of the Torah or whether the doubts and two-sided advice that is specific to each and every Jew, from the greatest of the great, to the smallest of the small. There are many who desire, crave and long very much to return to You, but the paths of repentance and the Torah are hidden from them; their hearts are split by doubts and much two-sided advice. This is particularly true of me today, for You know what has happened to me because of the immense number of doubts and split advice in my heart regarding several things in several aspects. My mind is very confused because of this until ‘the power of endurance fails’. Master of the World, Master of the World, You know all this. Have mercy on the community of Israel and upon me and send us a wonderful radiance from the world of rectification which is drawn by our righteous Messiah. Let this be in such a way that the ‘teku’ be rectified by a true and wonderful rectification and all the questions become simple and all the doubts and slight doubts in the world be clarified properly. Let us merit always to really good and perfect advice with regard to all the things in the world. Have mercy upon us and teach us the true path, how to mourn and bewail the destruction of the Holy Temple at all times, especially at exactly midnight every single night during this period of three weeks and let us, on the Ninth of Av, recite Lamentations and other eulogies with a really and truly broken, depressed heart. Let us pour out our hearts like water before the countenance of the Lord and put our faces in the dust – maybe there is hope! Let us bang our heads on the walls of our houses because of the immense number of troubles we have, both generally and specifically. It has already been many years that our city (Jerusalem) has been destroyed, our Temple laid to waste and the honour taken from the House of our life. Every day has more troubles than the day before…. You, who are full of mercy, help us so that we feel the troubles of Israel and the troubles of our souls very profoundly in our hearts until we merit to truly break our hearts before You and pour out our hearts before You, Lord of the Hosts, about the immensity of our willful transgressions, the multiplicity of our iniquities and the greatness of our stubbornness, all of which have lengthened our exile and caused us all our troubles. Let us hold onto belief of our holy fathers, to shout and cry out with a great and bitter cry. Let us wander in the markets and streets, pray, shout, plead to the Lord, the sublime, mighty G-d until the Lord will look out and observe us from Heaven, until You arouse Your compassion upon us. Quickly comfort us, save us and redeem us from all suffering and all the troubles, generally and specifically. Now also, shine upon us a wonderful radiance from our righteous Messiah in such a way that he will now sweeten all harsh judgments from over us generally and specifically; he will nullify all the troubles and suffering and all the decrees that are not good for Israel, from upon us and from upon all Israel. Shine upon us at all times the light of truth; always correct us with wonderful, new rectifications. Clarify all doubts, questions and split advice for us. Let us merit always to really and truly perfect, complete advice in such a way that we merit to return to You very soon, wholeheartedly and truthfully. Let us merit to engage in learning Torah, in prayer and good deeds all the days of our lives. Protect us and save us at all times from all sorts of iniquities and willful transgressions in the world. Let us not swerve to the right or left of Your desire. Arouse You mercy upon Your sons and bring us very soon our righteous Messiah so that he will redeem us completely and finally. Then rectify for us the ‘teku’ in a perfect correction (‘tikkun’). Let the letter ‘nun’ from the lamentationsׂ(קינות) be drawn into the word ‘teku’ (תיקר) so that תיקון (rectification) be made from the word “teku”. Let all lamentations (‘Kinnot”) be turned into a ‘tikkun’. You, who are full of compassion, the Master of salvation, the Master of comfort – please comfort us from all our troubles. Help us in all our matters and wishes. Spread over us the canopy of Your peace. Grant us good advice from You; save us quickly for Your Name’s sake. Let us merit to the real truth. Save me and all of Israel from doubts and split advice which prevent us and confuse us very much from serving You. Let us merit to continuous, true and perfect advice in such a way that I merit to really return to You, to be as is Your good desire, from now on and forever. Amen. Selah. 248. By telling the tales of the deeds of tzaddikim the heart is enthused and aroused greatly with tremendous desire to cleave to G-d. Several very great and awesome tzaddikim told us that the main cause of their arousal to serve G-d was by hearing tales of the deeds of tzaddikim; this enflamed their hearts with desire to serve G-d such that they toiled in the service of G-d and merited to what they merited. Happy are they. 249. The main place of courage is in the heart. Someone whose heart is strong doesn't become frightened of anybody or anything. He can perform awesome, heroic deeds, winning fierce wars through the strength and courage in his heart, for he fears nothing and runs into the thick of the battle. So it is exactly in the realm of serving G-d. Understand well. (Prayer 248 – 249) Master of the Universe, merit me to engage a lot in studying the stories of tzaddikim. By this, may I awaken and enthuse my heart to serve the Holy One with tremendous desire. As a result, arouse the light of the holy impression that the tzaddik we talk about made, through his service of G-d. By this holy impression, arouse my heart also in the service of G-d with great enthusiasm. Bestow power and great strength in my heart so that it will be very strong in the service of G-d. Let me fear nothing in the world, may no obstacle hold me back. Rather, merit me to perform deeds which are awesome in their power and to conquer great wars through the strength and courage of my heart. Let me accomplish all that I have to in the service of G-d in a perfect manner. Grant me the strength to overcome my evil urge with total perfection. Fulfill in me what the Sages said: “Who is a man of strength, he who conquers his evil urge”. Amen. So may it be. 250. The main cause of the feeling of suffering and anguish is the lack of Understanding, meaning that a person doesn't calm his mind and know that everything occurs in Divine Providence and is for his good. By crying with real tears in prayer before G-d at the time of anguish and suffering one draws down Understanding and Divine Providence and ,in turn, this negates the anguish and suffering. (Prayer 250) Unique One, who rules the world with great loving-kindness and mercy, everything You do with us, in general and individually, is all for the good. Even all the exiles, troubles and suffering that we experience, whether the Jewish People as a whole or individual Jews, it is all for the ultimate good. However, because of the immese darkness of our exile, in which we dwell among the non-Jews, our mind have become mixed up and confused so much that we have not the mind to understand or know that everything that occurs to us is all through Divine Providence and for our good. Instead we feel immense pain from our many troubles and exile. One thing is dependent on the other for exile causes a lack of knowledge which, in turn leads to a sense of exile. The main exile and distress is when we feel the bitterness of exile and this is all because of the lack of understanding when fail to we know and understand that everything occurs through Divine Providence for our eternal good. Have compassion and mercy upon us at this time of great trouble. Break and nullify this harsh decree that has been enacted against us and all those that our enemies want to decree against us, Heaven forbid, for who can tolerate such troubles. Where can we escape to? Where can we run to for help? Teach us and guide us how to draw down understanding upon ourselves even nowadays so that we believe that everything occurs with Divine Providence for our good. That is our life and hope and shelter from all the troubles and suffering that befall us, Heaven preserve us. From now on, behold our distress and poverty for our pain and the distress in our heart has become overwhelming. Remember Your sons who dwell in exile among the nations. Draw, upon us Your full Providence. Remove us completely from the path of nature and merit all of us of the Jewish People to know, understand and believe with complete faith that everything occurs only with Divine Providence. Extract and redeem us from all the troubles and from exile. Have plentiful compassion upon us. Draw upon us Your Divine Providence from the end of the world, from the final Redemption. Through this, make an end of and destroy all the evil nations who cause us distress. Break and nullify all the harsh decrees from upon us, whether they have already been decreed or not. Nullify them completely from upon us as soon as possible. Just as You had mercy upon us and saved us in the days of Mordechai and Esther, turning anguish into joy and mourning into a Festival Day, so also have mercy on us now. Cancel this trouble and harsh decree from upon us, and uproot and nullify completely all the harsh decrees that they want to inflict upon us, Heaven forbid. Turn everything out for the good. Swerve the hearts of the leaders of the world and their advisers in our favour so that the make decisions in our favour, materially and spiritually. Master of the Universe, King and Leader, who looks after us, see our lowly status. Only You know our situation and status today. Behold from Heaven and see how we have become a mockery in the eyes of the nations. Only You know to what extent their thoughts and plans are against us. But You are all of compassion, great in council and mighty in deed, undo the plans of our enemies. All who rise against us, speedily undo their plans and spoil their evil thoughts. Grant us wisdom, understanding and knowledge in our hearts to believe always in Your individualized Divine Providence. Merit us to pray and pour out our hearts before You. Let us feel part of the suffering of the People of Israel and merit us to pray and plead continually a great deal with a broke heart over the distress of the Jewish People. May we pour out our hearts like water in the presence of G-d until we really spill tears out before You. And through these tears let us draw upon us for Name’s sake for we have no-one to rely upon other than our Father in Heaven. And You, do with us as finds favour in Your eyes. We know nothing other that to raise our eyes to Heaven. Then place in our hearts that we all return to You in repentance very speedily. “Create a pure heart for me, O G-d, and a steadfast spirit renew with in me”. Hasten our redemption, a complete redemption. Bring us the righteous Meshiach speedily in our days. Amen. Selah. 251. IT WILL BE ACCOUNTED AS CHARITY a) As a result of controversy, thoughts of wicked people, which are thoughts of atheism, fall upon kosher Jews. The rectification to this is to remain silent and give over the war to the Holy One. b) A Jew of truth who fulfills the mitzvoth with all their exactitudes, performing them just the same whether between himself and his Creator or before others, it makes no difference to him for he has no element of falsehood in him to make a movement in the service of G-d for the sake of others, Heaven forbid. Such a person draws upon himself the power of all forms of charity. By this, he nullifies the above mentioned thoughts of atheism. (Prayer 251) You know the immense prevalence of controversy in the world nowadays. Because of that, bad thoughts overcome us a great deal, beyond estimation. Due to our many iniquities the immense controversy leads to thoughts of atheism which come into the minds of kosher Jews in the generation. And because of our great spiritual poverty and weakness, we know of now way or advice about how to stand up against these bad thoughts and many confusions which flood our minds all the time. We have no-one to rely upon other than our Father in Heaven. So here we cast ourselves upon You alone; You will fight for us, for you are Master of War, as it says G-d is Master of War’. Fight for us against our enemies. Help us for we depend upon You alone. In Your bountiful mercy, grant me the merit to give a lot of charity to deserving poor people, for Your Name’s sake alone, without any lies and without any improper motives. Help us so that we merit to be included within the attribute of our Patriarch Jacob, may he rest in peace, whose attribute was truth. Let us merit to the quality of perfect truth. Let us be worthy of performing all the commandments before the Lord our G-d, just as He commanded us, in all their details and exactitudes, truly for Your Name’s sake alone, without any improper motive or thought of doing it for the sake of the attention of other people, Heaven forbid. Let us merit to be really modest and discreet, to be exact in performing all the commandments between ourselves and our Maker; let us perform them in absolute truth, really and truly, for Your Name’s sake alone. Help us to cleave to and be included in, real tzaddikim and in really honest , kosher people. ‘Grant truth to Jacob and loving-kindness to Abraham which You have sworn to our fathers since olden days”. 252. When there is unity between the tzaddikim then charity causes no harm for, according to nature, when one gives charity the money becomes lacking from the giver. But, by unity between the tzaddikim, one can give a lot of charity and yet not lack any money at all. So also, a person can have true self- sacrifice and, even so it won't harm him at all and he will remain alive. s. 253. Minimizing sleep lessens the desire for sex (see inside). (Prayer 252 – 253) 252. Master of the Universe, merit us to great peace and unity between the tzaddikim. As a result, enable us to give away a lot of money to charity. Nevertheless, may we feel no lack of money from giving plenty of charity. So also, may we have real self-sacrifice in the service of G-d and in the observance of the Torah. May none of this harm us. 253 Merit us to reduce our sleeping to a minimum to the utmost that is possible according to our capability. By this merit us to dampen the fire which burns within us for all the physical cravings, especially the craving for women. Help us to understand the right path in this regard so as not to cut down too much on sleep causing us to weaken and nullify the desire for sex completely, for we need it to perform the mitzvah of reproducing. So, help us not to harm our minds at all by minimizing sleep. Rather, merit us to very pure minds in the most perfect way, as is fitting. 254. The eyes are very lofty and sublime things. They always see great and awesome things; that's to say, visions and heavenly revelations. If a person were to merit to kosher eyes, he would know great things just from what his eyes behold, for they continually see heavenly revelations but he doesn't know what he is seeing. (Prayer 254) Merit us to guard our eyes from all kinds of forbidden sights, Heaven forbid. Father, merit us to holy vision. You have revealed to us that the eyes of a Jew are very lofty and sublime; they always see very sublime and awesome things. If a person were to merit to really kosher eyes, he would know great spiritual things from what his eyes see. Therefore, merit us to really perfect, holy eyes so we merit to see wonderful and awesome things. Bestow upon us wisdom, understanding and knowledge and thus merit to know and ascertain very well at great speed, all the holy, wonderful things our eyes see, even though all these things pass through our eyesight in a flash. Fulfill in us the verse: “Unveil my eyes that I may perceive wonders from Your Torah”, and as it says “With their own eyes they will see that G-d returns to Zion”. Amen. So ay it be. 255. When a person believes in the tzaddik without any understanding, it is possible that he will fall from his faith. But, if he also has understanding, meaning that he recognizes the greatness of the tzaddik, it becomes impossible for him to fall. 256. The Name 'Atah' has special power to subdue the waves of the sea. ( n.b. See Chayei Moharan where it explains that the meaning is one should write on five pieces of parchment the words "rav chesed", five times on each one. Five times 'rav chesed' (280 x5= 1400) has the numerical value of 'a' (aleph, 1000) 'ta' (400). The five pieces of parchment have the numerical value of 'ah'(5). That completes the name 'A-t-ah'. In the midst of a storm on the sea, with the waves mounting pressure, one throws the five pieces of parchment into the sea and the waves will be calmed.) 258. When there is controversy against a person this can cause him to stray from the path of G-d and to make him fall from his spiritual level, Heaven forbid, unless he is a very great man who doesn't fear this, like King David who praised himself "Many are my persecutors and my enemies yet, even so, " I do not swerve from Your testimonies" (Psalms, 119:157). (Prayer 255 – 256- 258) 255. Master of the Universe, merit us to believe in the true tzaddikim with perfect faith. Let us understand in our intellect and mind that we need to believe in them. Let us understand in our intellect and mind that we need to behave in them. By this, merit us to be very strong in our faith in true tzaddikim, so firmly that we never fall from it, for faith alone without understanding a person can fall from, Heaven forbid. 256. Merit us when we need to cross the sea. Sometimes, especially when traveling to the Land of Israel, to cross it in peace. And if the sea is stormy with high waves, merit us to subdue the waves by means of the Name ‘Ata’ written on five pieces of parchment. By this may the waves be subdued and calmed. 257. Guard us to that we never come to controversy, Heaven forbid. You know how great our weakness is and how little our worth is. We have no strength at all to suffer the burden of controversy and persecution. When there is controversy and persecution. When there is controversy against a person it can cause him to swerve away from the path of G-d and to fall from his spiritual level, Heaven forbid. Therefore, please have mercy upon us so that no controversy befalls us. And even when we sometimes experience controversy from people who rise against us, give us the strength to overcome them and to be victorious through Your great power and outstretched hand. Help us not to fall, Heaven forbid, from our spiritual level in the service of G-d because of the controversy. 258. Merit us to meditate and to fully express our distress before You on each occasion. May we confess our sins and feel really deep regret about all blemishes and sins that we have committed against You. Then, merit us that the Shechinah, so to speak, will express its sorrow before us, explaining how all our blemishes that we caused to our souls affect it. Let the Shechinah comfort us so that we ask and pray for advice and strategies how to rectify all our blemishes. Amen. So may it be Your will. 259. Each time that a person speaks alone to G-d in a secluded place and expresses in detail his anguish before G-d, confessing and regretting the great blemishes that he caused, then the Shechinah, correspondingly, expresses to him its suffering. For every single blemish that he caused to his soul, blemished the Shechinah also, so to speak. She comforts him by saying that she will seek strategies to rectify all the blemishes. 260. The main Unification of the Holy One and the Shechinah is by those holy Jews who sacrificed their souls to sanctify G-d's Name as is known from the case of the Ten Martyrs. The name of a person is his soul (nefesh) as it says, "…living soul, that was its name" (Gen.2:19). Therefore there are tzaddikim who sacrifice their name and fame to sanctify G-d's Name. In other words, they deliberately cause their name and fame to be lost (hidden), for everyone talks about them and fabricate lies against them. He feels that his blood is being spilt by this. This is a form of real self-sacrifice, for the name is the soul, as mentioned above. His blood is also spilt by this. Through this he saves the People of Israel from what they deserved to have happened to them, Heaven forbid, for the sake of the Unification of the Holy One and the Shechinah. (Prayer 260) Master of the Universe; Master of the entire world, G-d all the tzaddikim and of all the Jewish People, teach us and instruct us about what we should do now. How can we shout out to You, pray and plead? Who will stand up for us? I still do not manage to return to You in repentance as I should. It seems to me that I still lack self control, Heaven forbid. When I feel in my heart a little of the bitterness of this trouble, O, how bitter it is. When I feel in my heart the general distress of the Jewish People, I see how far away from You I am. My heart is so hard and my mind so confused that I do not even feel properly in my heart the tremendous, bitter and difficult troubles of the Jewish People, all the distress that occurs generally and to every individual, bodily, spiritually and financially. It would only be fitting that all the physical cravings melt away, together with all worldly affairs if we would really feel the troubles in our hearts. Oi, v’voi; where am I in the world? How can we focus our speech and voice in order to roar and shout out to You pleading about troubles such as these. O, what can we say? How can we justify ourselves? Master of the World, Merciful One, You we full of compassion, so have mercy on this poor generation. Behold our poverty and strife. We have no-one to rely upon other than on our Father in Heaven and upon the strength and merit of our fathers and holy tzaddikim who are no longer with us. Please help us for their sake and for the sake of all those who were killed in the sanctification of Your Name. Especially do it for the sake of the ten martyrs, Rabbi Akiva and his fellows, who tortured and killed the Romans with tremendous suffering. Their souls departed in great holiness and purity while sanctifying You Name. Remember all the holy martyrs who have died to sanctify You Name while suffering extreme torture, since the time of the Destruction of the Temple until today. Remember the self-sacrifice at all times, every day, of the true tzakkikim who sacrificed their souls for Your Name’s sake. They sacrificed their names and soul s to sanctify Your Name. They nullified their honour and fame and took upon themselves willingly all types of insult, embarrassment and disgrace, having their blood spilt, all for Your Name’s sake and for the sake of the Jewish People in order to atone for them and save them from the harsh decrees and troubles. Only You really know what befalls us, generally and individually, during these recent generations. You know all the deeds of the true tzaddikim who are engaged in our rectification. They perform great and awesome deeds for our sake to sweeten all the harsh decrees fro upon us and to save us from the hands of our enemies and thus redeeming us from all our troubles. Please, have mercy on us and save us through their power and merit, from this time of great distress. Teach us how to arrange our prayers so that we can plead and shout out to You about the harsh decrees which befall us. Nullify all the harsh decrees our enemies plan against us. Oi, where can we run to escape. Master of the World, for Your sake, help us. Have compassion on the honour of Your Name. See how we have become a mockery amongst the nations. G-d, do it for Your Name’s sake. Rescue us and grant atonement for our sins for the sake of Your Name. Be gracious with us and answer us; hear our prayers for You hear theprayer of every mouth of Your People, Israel, with compassion. Blessed are You, who hears prayer. 261. When a person falls from his spiritual level he should know that this is from Heaven; since being distanced is for the purpose of coming closer. Therefore, his fall was in order to arouse him more to come closer to G-d. The advice fir him is to start from anew to enter into the service of G-d, as if he had never started. This is a fundamental rule in the service of G-d that one has to really start anew every day. 262 Someone who merits to innovate Torah ideas which have some substance (truth) to them needs to cry beforehand. By this he is saved from the Other Side and husks from drawing strength from these innovations. (Prayer 262) Master of the Universe, merit us to study a lot of Torah every day. And help us to make true Torah innovations which will find favour before You. Let them be innovations that bring people to good deeds and cause them to the keep the Torah. Grant us, from You, wisdom, understanding and knowledge. Please help us so that our minds will flow with genuine Torah innovations at all times and may this flow spread and grow like a stream, move and move until it turns into rivers. Let our springs of Torah innovations spread outwards so that everyone can come and drink from these waters of wisdom and holy knowledge, from these spiritual rivers. Help us to cry a great deal before we create Torah innovations which are really genuine and of worth. By this crying merit us to rectify all these rivers created through our Torah innovations and to draw them only to places that are appropriate so that the wrong people will not drink from them. Master of the Universe, You know how far away we are from all this at the moment, for, because of our many sins. Our brains and minds have become blocked so that it is hard for us to understand even when we study the Torah innovations made already by Your holy tzaddikim. So, how can we open our mouths to ask and request from You that we ourselves create genuine Torah innovations such as these. Even so, You have already informed us through the Sages: : “Open wide your mouth and I will fit it”. We are able and have permission to ask and request from You even the greatest spiritual level in studying Torah in the service of G-d. Nothing is beyond You. So have mercy on us and merit us to reach complete perfection in all that we are asking and pleading from You. Amen. So may it be. 263. a) If a person eats too much he is like an animal for man is defined as one who eats only what he needs. When he eats more than that it is really like the act of an animal. As a result of eating too much one can get a fever, Heaven save us. In addition, if a person gets in his food something which has not yet been clarified and elevated to the level of human (kosher) food, this can also lead to a fever, Heaven forbid. b) Perspiration is a cure for a fever, Heaven preserve us. (Prayer 263) Guardian of Israel, guard the remnant of Israel, let no illness or pain or ailment come upon Your People, Israel. You, who are full of mercy, have mercy upon us and all Israel. Guard us and save us at all times that we should eat no more than what is absolutely necessary. Just merit us that our eating and drinking be exactly measured, so that we eat no unnecessary food, which is the aspect of animal food. So also, save us and guard us so that no food pass our lips which still has not been raised from the level of animal food to that of human food. As You mercy is great, have pity upon us; assist us and guard us at all times so that our eating be only from human food and not from animal food at all. And by this, grant us merit to be guarded and saved from all sorts of illnesses, especially from fever. Heaven forbid, this comes about by eating excessive food, which is an aspect of animal food or by eating food which has not yet been clarified and raised to the level of human consumption, which is also an aspect of animal food. You, who are full of compassion, have mercy, for You know how many blemishes and failings come about by excessive eating or drinking and how many illnesses also come through this, Heaven forbid; particularly fever, which has now become very common. Lord, save us from now onwards. Have mercy on all Israel and on me. Always protect me so that I will be careful from now on and guard my soul, such that I will not eat any excessive food at all. In Your mercy, defend us and protect us so that food which has not been separated for human consumption will never enter our mouths. Protect me in such a way that You save me and all Your Nation, Israel, from all sorts of illnesses, afflictions, pains and ailments and especially from fever. 264. Charity is a rectification for a blemish of the brit, but one has to be careful not to give to a an undeserving poor person for, by this, one blemishes even further. Therefore one has to ask from the Holy One to merit to meet only deserving poor people in order to provide for them. This is a very great rectification for blemishes to the brit. (Prayer 264) You are exulted and holy; You perform mighty deeds, make new things; Master of wars who sows kindnesses, bringing about salvations, performing kindnesses with all flesh and spirit, do me a kindness and merit me to give lots of charity to worthy poor people in such a way that I will have a great rectification to all the innumerous blemishes to the brit that I have committed contrary to Your desire. Master of the World, You know how far I have distanced the bounty from the realm of holiness through blemishes of the brit by drawing the bounty to improper places, Heaven forbid, places that are not to be mentioned. How much I have blemished is impossible to estimate. The rectification for this is to give charity to worthy people. By this, the bounty is brought back and drawn into the realm of holiness. However, how do we merit to this, for there are many obstacles to the mitzvah of giving charity, whether because of the harshness of our hearts or from our lack of faith and trust in G-d. But even when we break the cruelty in our hearts, we still do not know if the poor person is really worthy in which case we rectify the blemish of the brit and draw the bounty in the realm of holiness. Therefore I have come before You, merciful One, Master of Charity and kindness, who works to rectify me at all times, have mercy on me and merit me to give plenty of charity to worthy, deserving, poor people who really study Torah and serve G-d. Protect me and guard me from giving charity to poor people who are not worthy. Save me from stumbling upon them for You know that we haven’t the understanding to guard ourselves from them. Only You know the heart of each individual and understand their deeds, for You know the secrets of the world and the hidden mysteries of each living being. Have mercy on me and perform Your great wonders and immense kindnesses by arranging events so that I meet genuine, worthy poor people. Help and strengthen my heart so that I will give them lots of charity with a good heart and a pleasant countenance, for You know how very many rectifications I need in order to rectify my blemishes of the brit which are very numerous. I rely only on Your plentiful mercy and loving-kindness that You will rectify and save me by meriting me to give plenty of charity to many worthy poor people. May the words of my mouth and the musings of my heart find favour before You, G-d, my Rock and Redeemer. 265. The reason for breaking a china plate when finalizing an engagement for marriage is because the souls of this couple, in the world above, are really one. In the world below this isn't known until the engagement. Only then does their attachment become known. However, this revelation at the time of the engagement is in the aspect of the Chiot, which run and return, for this revelation of their attachment immediately disappears because she is still forbidden to him until the wedding ceremony. It says, "And the living creatures (chiot) ran and returned like the appearance of a flash of lightening" (Ezekiel, 1:14). The meaning is that it is like a light that comes out of pieces of chinaware. That's to say, it is a spark that comes out, only momentarily, when the chinaware is broken at the moment of the engagement. Therefore, at their engagement, the light of their unity becomes revealed, in the aspect of running and returning. Breaking the china plate is an allusion to the secret of the chiot who run and return like a flash of lightening, as explained. 266. THE VIRTUE OF THE COMMANDMENT OF CHARITY a) When a person is not careful enough about and blemishes the mitzvah of Succah, he falls from the level of acquiring sustenance as a man to that of drawing sustenance from the bounty belonging to animals. As a result, animals and other beasts die before their time, Heaven forbid. b) By performing the mitzvah of Succah properly, one can engage in building and yet not be hurt, for those who engage in building are often hurt by it. Through the mitzvah of Succah one is saved from this. c) Through entering the Succah we ourselves become an aspect of Torah, for Torah comes out of the aspect of Succah. (Prayer 266) “One thing I have asked of the Lord that I will seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to visit His temple. For in time of trouble He will hide me in His succah; in the secret of His tabernacle He will hide me; He will set me up upon a rock”. Master of the World in Your bountiful mercy and immense loving-kindness, have mercy upon me. Let me merit to fulfill the commandment of sitting in a succah in its proper time, as is fitting, in all its details and exactitudes and intentions and the 613 commandments that are dependent upon it and may I do so good-heartedly and with great happiness.. May I merit to have drawn upon me the holy brains and the great, wonderful loving-kindness which is drawn upon Your Nation, Israel by our performing the very holy and awesome commandment of sitting in the succah during the days of the holy Festival of Succot. This is when the Supernal Mother gives shelter to her children and You spread out Your succah of mercy, life and peace over us. You, who are full of compassion, be full of mercy; have pity upon us for Your Name’s sake. You know my heart, how very far I am from performing the commandment of sitting in the succah properly. I need to pray and plead before You with many entreaties, requests and supplications that You grant me the merit to such holy brains and loving-kindness in such a way that I merit to real perception, to perception worthy of a man. May I very quickly leave the level of animal and reach the level of man. Let me have pity on myself from now and such that I now longer behave like an animal. Just let me merit very quickly to real perception which is what makes one a man. Let me draw from the bounty of man and no more from the bounty of animals. May I rise very quickly from the level of animal to the level of man! Master of the World, Master of the World who is good and does good to all, whose mercy is upon all His creatures. Take pity and have mercy upon the beasts and animals. Let me and all Your Nation, the House of Israel, merit not to blemish any commandments at all such that our drawing of bounty always be from the bounty of man which is drawn from the aspect of succah. May we merit, by this holy commandment, to rejoice with great happiness on Simchat Torah, to finish reading the Torah and start it again with great happiness and joy. We will rejoice and be glad with this Torah for it is our might and light. Help us every year to perform the commandment of sitting in a Succah with such great perfection that we merit to receive the Torah anew very year, for Torah comes out from the succah. By our entering the succah may we merit that Torah be made through us and through every Jew. Torah, Israel and the Holy One are all one. By the holy commandment of succah may there be drawn the holiness of the Festival of Shavuot, the holiness of the month of Sivan and the holiness of receiving the Torah. Master of the World, our needs are very great indeed, beyond estimation and our minds are not able to clarify or express even one thousandth or tenth of a thousandth of them. Have mercy upon us for Your Name’s sake. Fulfill our wishes for the good through Your mercy. Let us merit to perform perfectly the commandment of sitting in a succah at the appointed time, in such a way that we merit to receive all that we have asked from You. May we not cause the premature death of beasts and animals. Heaven forbid. Rather let us always draw and be sustained from the bounty of man which stems from the aspect of a succah. Spread over us at all times the succah of Your peace. Spread over us at all times the succah of Your peace; shelter us in the shade of Your protection. Grant us merit that every one who has to engage in building not be hurt by the building; just guard us and protect us in the strength of the holiness of the commandment of the succah which Your people Israel perform. May we build our house with real wisdom for the sake of Your Name alone. Let our house be one in which we learn and pray very much. Let us merit speak a lot of words of Torah and prayer in our house as we learnt from our holy rabbis and may we attract into our house good bounty, blessings, mercy, life and everything that is really eternally good, both materially and spiritually, now and in the future. 267. On Shavuot we receive the Torah; then we can receive new vitality and to draw down a cure for the lungs. 268 a) When a person doesn't contemplate the purpose of life, what is his life for? b) The soul always longs to perform the will of its Creator and when it sees that a person isn't doing it, the soul begins to draw itself (to its source) and to leave the body and this causes the person to become sick. The fact that he returns to his health through medicines is because the soul sees that the person can subdue his physical cravings and accept bitter medicines for a given purpose. Therefore, the soul returns to him for it now expects that he will also subdue his cravings for the true purpose of performing the will of his Creator, may He be blessed. (Prayer 268) Master of the Universe, merit us to always look at the real purpose of existence which is to perform Your will. For this alone the world was created; this is the purpose of all our life-force. If a person does not look at this ultimate purpose why does he need life? Save us from all illnesses, Heaven preserve us, which are caused when a person does not have this ultimate purpose in mind of performing Your will. Then the soul begins to be drawn out of the body and to return to its source, for why should it live in the body. Please send speedily a complete cure to all sick Jewish people, not by physical, medicinal means, but rather, just by the word of G-d. You have already informed us that when a person returns to full health by means of physical cures (medicines) that is because the soul sees the person can subdue his physical cravings and habits by taking treatments and bitter medicines in order to return to health. Therefore, the soul returns to him in the expectation that from now on he can subdue his cravings for the sake of the true ultimate purpose which is to fulfill the desire of his Maker. So have mercy on all the Jewish sick people. Instil in their hearts the absolute acceptance of negating their desires to Your will. Let them subdue and break all the cravings of their bodies by looking only at the ultimate purpose which is to perform Your will with perfection. By this, may all the sick return to complete health. Amen. So may it be. 269. From the appearance of the dwelling of the tzaddik one can perceive the deeds of the generation. 270. Like when a person recites supplications and penitential prayers with spiritual arousal and a broken heart his fellow also becomes aroused from him such that he also recites supplications with an enthused heart, so also, a person also becomes inspired from himself and within himself. When he recites supplications and other prayers with enthusiasm, shouting, 'Oh, woe am I!', he also sometimes becomes aroused and begins to look at himself, thinking, 'Who is shouting like that? Oh, woe am I really'. Then he shouts a second time 'Woe am I', this time with greater feeling. (Prayer 270) Master of the Universe, merit us to complete repentance. Enable me to receive spiritual arousal from other people, whether from my rabbis, through their words of ethical encouragement which I hope will be engraved in my heart, or from my friends, whenever I see them performing a mitzvah or praying with a broken heart. By this, may my heart also be inspired so that I begin to look at myself and ask myself where I am in the world; what am I and what is my life? What will be my end? What will be with my ultimate purpose? Arouse me so that as a result I will achieve full repentance. Let me accustom myself to pray and plead before You a great deal with a heart full of enthusiasm. So also, merit me to receive holy spiritual arousal from myself. I am used to reciting many supplications, requests and confessions but somehow I do not really hear properly my own words. My words are in my mouth but far from my heart. Therefore, merit me to hear my heart and the words of my mouth and thus receive inspiration. Merit me to really become aroused and shout out ‘Oh, woe am I’ and other expressions like this, from the depths of my heart, as I should, until You hear my cries, accept my prayers and return me in truly perfect repentance before You. 271. By means of doing and serving G-d a lot, one merits to holy audacity and to talk to the rabbi and the tzaddik. Then, as a result, he becomes more enthused to serve G-d. Thus it is that one thing depends on the other. So also, there are several factors in the matter of the service of G-d which are dependent on each other and we don't know where to begin, for each one starts from the other. (Prayer 271) Help me and merit me to come close to genuine tzaddikim whilst having holy boldness before thme so that I will not be ashamed to talk to them about anything I need to talk about. As a result my I succeed to serve G-d even more and then come even closer to the true tzaddikim and talk to them with greater holy boldness. Through this may I come to save G-d with greater perfection. I do not know where to start, whether to begin by approaching tzaddikim and talking to them, and thereby meriting to serve G-d, or whether to first increase my service of G-d and then approach and talk to them. One thing is dependent on the other and I do not know where the beginning is. Similarly there are many things in the service of G-d that depend on each other and we do not know where the beginning is. Therefore, have mercy on us and teach us the proper path and the truth about where to begin the service of G-d. Help us to be strong with yearning and desire for all the things in the realm of holiness. Let us pray and plead a lot before You about each thing in the service of G-d until we merit to begin and finish all the things we need to do in the servic eo G-d. Merit us to fulfill Your will and to serve You with all our hearts. Amen. So may it be. 272. There is a fundamental rule in the service of G-d not to take into consideration anything other than today. So also regarding making a living and one's needs, don't think from one day to another, as explained in holy books. This is true also in the service of G-d; don't take into account other than the present day and the present hour. For when a person wants to enter the service of G-d, it seems to him that it is a heavy load and it is impossible to deal with such a load, but when he thinks that he only has that particular day, then it won't be a load at all. Furthermore, one shouldn't push off things from one day to another, saying tomorrow I will start and tomorrow I will pray with all my strength and concentration as is fitting, etc. for a person's only world consists of the present day and hour; tomorrow is another world altogether. "Today if His call we hear" (Psalms, 95:7), specifically today. (Prayer 272) Merciful One, Master of wonders, Who, in this goodness renews creation every day, Who, in this wisdom changes the times, help me and save me with Your great and wonderful salvation. Enable me to renew myself every day with additional holiness and purity. Merit me every day to begin again from anew to serve You as if I were born today. Help me not to think from one day to another at all so that my mind cannot become confused from one day to another, whether form the past or the future. May my service of G-d not become too burdensome because of thinking about the hours or days to come. Let me not look back or think about anything other than this specific day, hour and moment that I am at. In this way allow me to involve myself in really serving You in simplicity and purity without any confusions, fears, laziness or a sense of being over-burdened. Rather, let me hasten myself in Your service every day from anew. So also prevent my mind from becoming confused from thinking today about my income and many needs in the days to come. Just merit me to really have trust in G-d, who grants us all our needs each day. May I accustom myself to say regularly, “Thankyou G-d.day by day”. Please, Merciful One, have compassion upon me. Merit me to achieve all this, so that the thought of one day to another will not confuse me at all. By this, may I truly enter into Your realm of holiness and com close to You. Then, let me renew myself for the good, adding every hour and every day more holiness, purity and fear of G-d in Your service. Prevent me from is leading myself and from pushing off the service of G-d from one day to another. Rather, help me to think only of the present moment, as if only that exists in my world. Help me for Your Name’s sake. Bring me every day a new and wonderful salvation in such a way that I merit to come closer to You every day, with more perfection, as You desire. Merit me to live my days, from now on with truth. Have pity on the few remaining days I have to tarry in this ephemeral world. “Return us to You, G-d and we will return; renew our days of old”. 273. There are very great tzaddikim who draw souls to their sons from an aspect of above the six hundred thousand souls of the People of Israel. 274. There are wicked people who work and strive all their lives in order to uproot themselves from the Holy One for they have no pleasure from their sins and cravings. This is because there still remains within them a holy point of the holiness of the People of Israel. Therefore, they strive to reach complete denunciation of faith. However, the Judaism within them doesn't let them. Know, there are Jews who, when they reach total atheism, without any doubt that might point toward the truth, they immediately die; then they see the truth. 275. a) Every single mitzvah that a Jew performs in This World, creates a candle which will be used after his death to search in the Treasury of the King. Happy is he who merits to this for this is the ultimate pleasure in the World to Come. b) The tzaddik who sacrifices himself during his lifetime, merits also during his life to search in the Treasury of the King which is the entire pleasure of the World to Come, as mentioned. (Prayer 275) I am still on watch; I will plead before You with outstretched hands until You pardon me; have mercy upon me and deliver me by means of a really perfect solution. Send into my heart really perfect advice every day, every hour, every moment so that I merit from not on to really perfect repentance, to turn away from evil and always do that which is good in Your eyes. In Your compassion, may I be among those who fear You and those who are pure, who merit to the great good which is stored away and hidden. Let me be among those to whom You give permission to look and search in the ‘treasure of the King’. How wonderful is their portion in life. From each commandment that You let me merit to perform in my lifetime may holy candles be made and with these holy candles of the commandments may I merit to look and search in the ‘treasure of the King’ at the time of my death. You, who are full of compassion, I have asked difficult things but nothing is difficult or beyond You. In Your immense wonders, Your awesome favours, Your bountiful loving kindness and Your great mercy, I believe that I still have hope to merit all this in the strength and merit of the holy, true tzaddikim who are so awesome and sublime. Upon them we rely and without them we have no ability to open our mouths to ask anything from You, even the smallest things. However, upon their great strength we depend, in order to hope and ask all the great favours in all the worlds, for their strength and merit is enough for me and for all the Community of Israel to help us merit to all that is good, all that is true and eternal. Full of compassion, have mercy upon me, help me and save me so I can jump and leap over all the vanities of This World, so that I can really and simply come closer to You, for ever and ever, for all eternities. Fulfill in me the verse which says: “You have delivered my soul from death and my eyes from tears and my feet from falling. I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living”. May I merit, in Your mercy, to confess every single day, especially close to my death. Let me confess sincerely by all sorts of true, wholehearted confessions, with a broken, depressed heart, with immense crying, such that I merit to arouse Your truly bountiful mercy upon me so that You pardon, forgive and grant me atonement with regard to all my sins, iniquities and willful transgression that I have committed before You up until now, in this incarnation and in previous reincarnations. Let no impressions or memory of them remain at all. Let my death be an atonement for all my transgressions… You know everything that has happened to me and all that I have transgressed and blemished against You up until now. However, You still act with loving-kindness towards me. In Your compassion You still strengthen me… Have mercy upon me and for Your Name’s sake, speedily redeem me completely from all the evil cravings, evil thoughts and all the sins and blemishes which I have become accustomed to doing. Oh! Oh! Oh! Woe is me! Oh! Oh! Oh! Woe! Oh! Oh! I do not know what to say at all, how to ask for advice and strategies in such depths of the sea as these, without foothold, in such confusion and bad habits as these, with such slackness and stubbornness as this. Even so, I still see Your endless, great mercy and loving-kindness every single day… Have mercy upon me and save me truly and completely. Grant my heart perfect counsel every day, at all times, at every hour, in such a way that at least from now on, I can merit to return in complete repentance, to turn away from evil and to always do that which is good in Your eyes. 276. Eating on Shabbat is not for the sake of satiation at all; it is only because all the six days of the week are blessed from it. 277. "A TZADDIK WILL FLOURISH LIKE A DATE PALM" (Psalms,92:13) a) When there is a controversy against a person he shouldn’t stand up against his opponents and say that he will do to them what they do to him for this will cause the opponents to acquire what they want, to see inn him what they want to see in him. Rather, on the contrary, it is fitting to judge them on the side of merit and to do them favours. By this he will annul the thoughts of the opponent. Then, on the contrary, the thoughts of the person who hates him will return on his own head. b) All this is when the haters are wicked people, but when they are tzaddikim their intentions are certainly only for the good for they raise and elevate him through this; they alleviate the harsh decrees from upon him by their controversy against him. This a person has to know when tzaddikim oppose him; it is only for the good. He has to ask from the Holy One not to be misled into thinking it is really an actual controversy, Heaven forbid, so that complete controversy from the Other Side won't overcome him, Heaven forbid, as a result. c) Controversy leads to poverty and one doesn't merit to a cure. However, by peace one acquires a cure and a living. d) The main honour of Shabbat is through eating for the eating on Shabbat is very precious indeed; it is entirely godliness; all holiness. Therefore it is a very big mitzvah to eat plenty on Shabbat. This is a rectification of any desecration of Shabbat that one caused. e) Desecration of Shabbat is an aspect of the death of one's first wife, Heaven preserve us. Eating on Shabbat is a rectification of this. f) All the mitzvoth that person performs during the week don't have the strength to come before the Holy One; only on Shabbat they rise and come before Him. He takes delight in them even if they are performed by the most insignificant of Jews without any proper intention or perfection as befits a mitzvah. They create a wide, well-used pathway to come close to the Holy One. All this is achieved by eating on Shabbat for it is the main honour of Shabbat, as mentioned previously. g) "Woe unto me for my sojourn is drawn out"(Psalms,120:5). It was the custom of King David, when praying, to have in mind that he regrets having feared something physical, a fear stemming from the three hundred and twenty (which in Hebrew is numerically 'shach') harsh decrees. That is, "my sojourn" ("garti m'shach") which, in Hebrew, can also be read as 'my fear' ("garti"); "is drawn out"("m'shach") can also be read as 'from ("m") three hundred and twenty' ("shach"). (Prayer 277) “My G-d, guard my tongue from evil and my lips from speaking falsehood. Let my soul be silent to those who curse me and let my soul be as the dust to all things”. Master of the World, Lord of Peace, let me be worthy of being a person of real peace, to love peace and chase after peace at all times, truthfully and wholeheartedly. Let me never ever engage in controversy, even against those who oppose me, who rise against me and undermine me, Heaven forbid, no matter what they do to me! May the Merciful One protect me and help me and grant me merit so that I do not stand up against them or do to them what they do to me. Rather, the reverse, let merit to judge them on the side of merit and to do them lots of favours. May I really fulfill, “Let my soul be as dust to all…”. Grant me merit to be actually like the dust upon which everyone treads and yet it does them favours. By this, may I merit to nullify and thwart the thoughts of my enemies and those who hat them. As for those who plot evil against me, thwart their counsel and frustrate their intentions. Open my eyes, heart and mind so that I merit to perceive and distinguish between the controversy of the wicked and the controversy of the tzaddikim. May I merit to really believe that the controversy against tzaddikim – meaning that people oppose them – is a very good thing, for, by that they raise him and lift him up and sweeten the harsh judgments upon him. Don’t let me make a mistake, Heaven forbid by thinking that the controversy against tzaddikim is a real controversy, Heaven forbid. By this, let us not give a place for the controversy from the Other Side to take hold in this controversy against tzaddikim… Our Father in Heaven, King to whom peace belongs, You know how very much controversy has spread in our generations, in several aspects, such as between tzaddikim and between ordinary people and the wicked, The controversy of the Other Side wants to become stronger and spread more every day, whether openly or discreetly, such that many have stumbled and fallen because of the overabundance of controversy, difference of opinions and distancing of hearts which has increased a great deal in our generations because of our many iniquities. Dissension has been caused between the Torah-scholars and those who accompany them, such that it is difficult to distinguish and separate between the controversy of tzaddikim and the controversy of the Other Side. Many people have fallen completely from belief in Torah-scholars because of this. Belief in Torah-scholars is a foundation, a pillar of all the Torah, for they are our lives and the lengths of our days. Without them we could not find our hands or feet in anything to do with holiness…. Our exile has been long, our servitude stretched out and our minds are not clear. I do not know how to behave in this regard and how to direct my mind in the matter. I do not know “from where will my help come” for I am an ignoramus; I do not have human perception to distinguish and know who are the real tzaddikim and Torah-scholars who have the power to give me true advice, to guide me on the straight and true path and to bring me closer to You, my Father in Heaven. Because of my many transgressions, my mind is so limited that I do not even know how to speak in a fitting way before You about this. In addition to this, controversy and distancing of hearts has increased in the world in several aspects and ways, in several different matters. Now, I do not know what to do at all – how to behave; how to talk; how to disregard it; how to allude to it; how to pray about it. I am as confused as a drunkard. I do not know where I am in the world at all or what my end purpose will be….. Teach me how to express myself before You now and how to arouse Your real compassion upon me. Save me from argument and controversy in all its aspects. Help me and save me so that others will not oppose me or argue with me, whether physically or spiritually, whether above or below. Protect me and save me so that I will not oppose any kosher person in the world. Even more so let there be no element of controversy in my heart against true tzaddikim, especially against those holy tazddikim who dwell in the dust. Let me not start to love all of Israel and be at peace with all of them. May I truly fulfill the verse which says; “Depart from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it”. In Your bountiful mercy, merit me to receive Shabbat as is fitting, with great joy, respect and a sense of wealth, with a minimum of sins (from the weekdays). May I eat a lot on Shabbat without any worry about the expense. Rather let me encourage myself and strive to have many foods, delicacies and good drinks for the sake of the holy Shabbat. Let me eat plenty on Shabbat as the Sages warned us to make Shabbat a delight with all one’s strength. For the eating on Shabbat is all G-dliness, all holiness and rises to a completely different place in the World Above from that of the weekdays. Merit me, through the eating on the holy Shabbat to return any desecration of Shabbat that I might have caused. You know that it is very hard for a human being to be careful and prevent completely desecration of Shabbat. So I ask that You alone protect and save me from all kinds of desecration of Shabbat that exist. Have mercy on us and protect every Jewish man from the punishment of being a widower, Heaven forbid. Let our first wife live a long life and not die before us. Just merit us and all Jews to live long lives with our first wives in real holiness and purity, for You know the bitterness of the distress and sorrow of one who loses his first wife, Heaven forbid, his footsteps become shortened and the world turns into darkness for him. It is as if the Holy Temple was destroyed in his lifetime, Heaven preserve us. Through the holiness of Shabbat may we raise the ‘legs’ into the realm of holiness; that is to say, all the mitzvoth that we perform throughout the week, let their feet rise above the husks of the Other Side, which draws sustenance from them during the weekdays; then they can walk and rise before You. You, Who love the Jewish People tremendously. In Your bountiful mercy, accept all our mitzvoth and good deeds, even from those of lowly value like me who perform the mitzvot with a minimum of understanding and a lack of any semblance of perfection. Out of Your compassion and love, please accept all our mitzvot with great love. Cherish them; take splendour and delight from them. Master of Salvations, save me from everything I need to be saved from for my needs are beyond count. Nevertheless, my mind is too limited to express or explain even a fraction of them. Save me from arguments and controversy. Merit me to real peace in all its aspects so that I really and truly feel love for my fellow Jews. Merit me to follow the paths of the true tzaddikim until I manage to be as You desire from me. May I have a real fear of You from on and forever. Let the words of my mouth and the musings of my heart find favour before You, G-d, my Rock and Redeemer. He Who makes peace in the Heavens, in mercy create peace upon us and upon all the Jewish People. Amen . 278. a) On a ritual slaughterer's knife which is good, one can see all the vessels of the Holy Temple and what sort of appearance they have now. b) There exists a tzaddik who is so great that he doesn't envy any other tzaddik, not in This World and not in the World to Come; he envies only the Holy One, may He be blessed, like it says, "He was zealous for My sake" (Numbers, 25:11). 279. "MY MOUTH HAS SPOKEN IN MY DISTRESS" (Psalms, 66:14) a) There are those who say over Torah which is very expansive in the world below; they expand and increase the Torah a lot, but in the World Above it is very narrow. This is because in the realm of holiness in the World Above, nothing is left other than a small spark. However, the opposite also exists, for there are true tzaddikim who say over Torah which appears to be very narrow, but in the World Above it is very, very great and expansive indeed. Happy are they. b) Even though a person cannot speak at all before G-d and it appears to him that he cannot open his mouth in prayer and individual requests, because of his great materiality and because of the weight of his bodily and spiritual troubles, even so, he has to strengthen himself specifically at such a time and force himself to call to G-d from the situation of distress and pressure. This is because the main arousal of a person is when he arouses himself from the distress and pressure. By this, afterwards, he will usually merit to a great relief such that he will be able to pray and explain himself properly until he can eventually reach an aspect of a spirit of holiness, divine inspiration. This comes about specifically by arousal to serve G-d from the situation of distress and bitterness like this. (Prayer 279) I have called to G-d from the straits; G-d answer me with expansiveness. From distress I call to G-d. I will plead with G-d. Help me, merciful One so that no distress will confuse my thoughts and prevent me from praying and shouting out to You at any time. Please do not let any distress or anguish, whether in body, soul or money matters bother me, Heaven forbid, from calling out to You. Rather, merit me to call and cry out to You at all times, no matter what, for You know how very hard it is for me everyday to open my mouth before You in prayer, especially when I want to explain myself to You. On most occasions I cannot open my mouth to speak to You because of my great distress and burdens. As a result of my many problems, in soul and body, my mouth has become sealed and dumb. It is very hard and a great burden for me to open my mouth before You. The main problem is the weakness of my mind for I know that I myself am responsible for everything that befalls me. However, You are full of compassion. You have already informed us that, despite everything, You crave for our prayers; You hear and listen attentively to the voice of our prayers and supplications. Therefore, behold, I cast my supplications before You. I pray that You will be with me every hour and every moment of each day. Help me always to ignore all these confusions. Merit me to strengthen myself at all times, to start again to express myself before You even within my distress. Let me fulfill the verse: ‘And my mouth spoke when I suffered distress’. Merit me to come close to true tzaddikim whose Torah innovations are drawn down from above into the world below. In the World Above their Torah is very broad and lofty while in the world below it becomes shortened in order that it can enter thehearts and minds of each individual, as is appropriate for him. Distance me from those rabbis who invert the proper pathways and reveal Torah that rises from below; they broaden it a great deal below, but in the World Above it is very narrow indeed. Have mercy upon me and merit me to Torah innovations in the way that the true tzaddikim draw them down from above to below. So also, in all my Prayers and supplications, merit me to start from the narrow confines and difficulty until You, out of mercy, open my mouth. Grant me a holy spirit from Heave so that I can really express myself before You, as You desire. Have mercy upon me. Give me strength at all times to rely upon Your bountiful loving-kindness such that I can callout to You on all occasions, whatever happens. You, G-d, are my help and comfort. Thankyou G-d forever. Amen and Amen. 280 a) All business affairs are entirely Torah. Therefore, when doing business, a person has to connect his mind only to the Torah and the Torah laws which are clothed in the business. If a person doesn’t connect his thoughts to the Torah when he does business, his punishment afterwards will be to have to appear in a religious court in the presence of judges to seek a Torah ruling, all according to his blemish. One person's punishment is only to be judged but is found innocent, whereas another person uprooted his business affairs more from the Torah so he is not found innocent. b) The time of conducting business is a time of war, since one has to battle then with the Other Side to separate and elevate from there the holy sparks; for the main purpose of business is to separate the holy sparks. By performing business with simple faith such that one keeps to one's word, yes being yes and no being no and also connecting one's thoughts to the Torah, for one only needs superficial thoughts about the business, keeping the essence of one's thoughts only on the Torah, by this one merits to separate and elevate several sparks and fallen elements of holiness through the business transactions. Then worlds are elevated and great rectifications are created through the money, just like prayer brings about. (Prayer 280) Merit me to always cleave to Your Torah and to serve You forever. May Your Torah be our occupation in This World and accompany us in the World to Come; let me engage in studying Your Torah day and night. Even when, according to Your desire I have to engage in some business for the sake of making a living and to travel etc., have mercy on me and save me so that even at the time of business my mind in essence will be connected to the Torah and cleave to Your for Your holy Torah is clothed within the business transaction. Let me now put all my mind into the business or other mundane affairs but rather only my outer, superficial mind, my inner mind will then be connected and cleave to Your holy Torah. So merit me to conduct all my business with great faith and let me always be true to my word, never changing it for all the money in the world. May my intention in the business always be for Your Name’s sake and for Your Torah, meaning that I have in mind to earn money in order to be able to study the Torah, serve You and donate plenty of charity. Please help me to minimize the time spent in business while maximizing the time spent on studying Torah for Your Name’s sake. Let my Torah studying be permanent and of prime importance while my business affairs are temporary and secondary. Your desire is that we engage in business affairs for a living, to separate and elevate all the holiness and sparks that have fallen into the depth of the husks. We are meant to raise them and return them to their proper place. So, have mercy upon us and grant us the strength and power to triumph in this war of dealing with external mundane things. Let all our business affairs be conducted with great faith, with holiness, purity, awe and fear of G-d; with a great cleaving to Your Torah and service in the depths of my thoughts. By this may we have the strength to separate, through our holy faith, all the sparks that have fallen in to the depths of the husks because of our many sins. Have mercy one us for Your Name’s sake. You know that we have no strength to separate and extract the holy sparks from the hands of the husks. Because of this the exile is unending. Who can we rely upon other that our Father in Heaven. Especially when I leave the study-hall for the sake of business, enabler me to strengthen my faith a very great deal. In Your mercy and power, give strength to our holy faith so that we can clarify, gather raise and elevate all the holiness and fallen holy sparks that have existed within all things since the world was created. Please raise and elevate them; return them to their proper place. By this, guard us so that whenever need to come before judges in a Torah court of law. Rather, may all our business affairs be with faith and may and may those dealing with us do so with faith and honesty. Let us know and behave that all our business has Torah clothed within it. May our business affairs always be attached to the Torah and its laws in such a way that we never need to rectify it by a court case. Master of the World help and save those Jews like myself who are weak and lack Torah knowledge or advice; help them to win the war in all its aspects. Our hearts trust and rely upon the strength of the true tzaddikim. Upon them we cast our supplications. Let them fight on our behalf. We will follow their holy advice without swerving from their words to the right of left. “Please G-d save us. Please G-d, bring success”. “G-d Save! May the King answer us on the day we call”. 281. Even a simple person who sits over a holy book and looks at the letters of the Torah well can see innovations and wonders; nevertheless he just shouldn't put it to the test (see inside). (Prayer 281) Master of the Universe, merit us to engage in studying Your holy Torah every single day. Let me study many books written by Your holy sages. Grant me wisdom, understanding and knowledge such that whatever book I study I will merit to understand it well and really understand the intention of the author without mistaking his intention. Help me not to give a false interpretation, Heaven forbid. After I manage to really understand the author’s intention, merit me to delve further and look at the letters of the Torah with the book until the letters begin to radiate and combine in such a way that they stand out. Then, enable me to see in the book innovations, wonders and new combinations of letters that even the author of the book never had in mind. Fulfill in me the verse: “ Open my eyes and let me contemplate the wonders of Your Torah.” Amen. So may it be. 282. I WILL SING TO MY G-D WHILE I EXIST a) When a person begins to look at himself and sees that he is far from good and he is full of sins then he can fall through this and he won't be able to pray at all. Therefore he has to search for, seek and find a little more good in himself, for how is it possible that he hasn't done a mitzvah or something good during his life. And even when he begins to look at that good that he did and sees that the good itself is full of flaws and nothing is complete about it, for the good is mixed with ulterior motives and a lot of dross, nevertheless how is it possible that there isn't in that little bit of good some good point. So he has to search and seek until he finds in himself a little more good in something, and even if this good is also mixed with a lot of dross, nevertheless there is in it at least some good point. Then he should search and seek for more until he finds some more good points; by this he will find in himself some merit and good which will really move him from the side of guilt to the side of merit enabling him to repent. Through this he will be able to revive himself and make himself happy however he is. Then he will be able to pray, singing and giving praise to G-d for usually when a person is about to pray to the Holy One, his bad deeds come into his mind. Because of this his spirit falls and he can't pray with enthusiasm and vitality as he should. Therefore a person has to enthuse himself before the prayers by searching for, seeking and finding within himself good points, as explained, then he can pray properly. b) A person has to be very careful to go in this path because it is a major rule and foundation for whoever wants to come close to the Holy One and not lose his world altogether, Heaven forbid. For the main thing is to distance oneself from sadness and depression in any way possible. Most people are far from G-d primarily because of sadness and depression. Their spirit falls when they see in themselves that they are full of blemishes and most of their deeds are blemished, as each person knows in his soul the afflictions of his heart and his pains. Because of this people's spirits fall and give up in despair completely, Heaven forbid. They don't pray with concentration at all; they don't serve G-d even as they are still capable of doing. Therefore, a person has to be very clever about this for many people have fallen because of this. Despair, Heaven forbid, is worse than anything so one has to strengthen oneself very much to follow this path of searching for good points within oneself each time in order to revitalize and strengthen oneself continually. Through this one can pray with desire, vitality and joy at all times until one really returns to G-d. c) The prayer leader who prays by the reader's stand in the synagogue has to have a higher aspect of being able to collect together all the good points of each person praying such that al the good points are included within him. Then he will stand and pray with all this good. Happy is the congregation who merit to such a prayer leader. d) In every generation there is a shepherd of the Jewish People who is an aspect of Moshe, a faithful shepherd. This shepherd builds a tabernacle and the children who learn Torah and whose voices are without sin receive from this tabernacle. From there they begin to read and enter the Torah. Therefore they begin by learning Leviticus which talks about the completion of the erection of the tabernacle. Know that all the tzaddikim of the generation have within themselves an aspect of Moshe; every one of them is an aspect of the shepherd and builds an aspect of the tabernacle. And every one, according to the aspect of the tabernacle that he builds, has young children who receive the voice of their mouths from there. But to know all this, to know each tzaddik and which young children belong to him, how much they receive from him, to know all the aspects in this and the generations that will come from them until the end of days, know that whoever can judge each person to the side of merit and search and find good points that exist in each Jew, even the sinners among the Jewish People, through this he has that higher aspect of the prayer leader and cantor so he can know all the above perfectly. This is the secret of what the Sages said, "The cantor sees where the young children are reading" (Shabbat, 11). e) One has to judge each person to the side of merit, even if he is completely wicked, Heaven forbid. One has to search and find in him a little bit of good within which he is not a sinner. By finding in him a little good in which he is not a sinner through which one can judge him favourably, in this way one raises him really to the side of good and through this one can bring him to repent. This is the aspect of "a little more and there will be no wicked one" (Psalms,37:10); that's to say, by finding in him a little more good in which he is not wicked, by this "you will look carefully at his place and he will not be there" (ibid). In other words, by this (judging him to the side of merit) he will not be in his previous place for he has risen really to the side of merit. So also a person with himself has to also follow this path. Even if he sees in himself that he is very far from the Holy One, he has to find in himself also that little bit more good in which he is not a sinner, as explained above. By this he will really move onto the side of merit. { Editor's note: See Lekutei Halachot, Eruvie Techumin, Halacha 6. It is explained there that the redemption from Egypt was through the aspect of "I have seen the affliction of My People" which the Sages explain as referring to two visions; G-d saw that they would eventually sin but also saw their affliction. That's to say, He looks at the good within them and not the bad caused by the affliction of exile. It is through this that they were deserving of redemption. This topic of constantly searching for the good in Jewish people and finding them meritorious is a very, very great and deep matter. At first Moshe didn't know how far-reaching G-d's compassion is and so he refused the errand of redeeming Israel but then G-d showed him the sign of the staff that turned into a snake, alluding to that fact that one shouldn't speak out about the bad in Jews. Then G-d said: "Take hold of it by its tail…and it shall be a staff in your hand." G-d taught him that even within the very midst of the poisonous effects of the snake, it is still possible to hold onto some good point. Even the snake turns back into a staff. The final redemption by Meshiach will also be through this aspect for Meshiach will find some good point and merit within every simple Jew. By this he will lift them up to the side of merit. Through this the redemption will come; may it come speedily within our days. Amen.} (Prayer 282) 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 fulfill the verse which says “I will sing the praises of G-d as long as I live”, * with the little bit extra good I find in myself. ** In the little bit extra good I find in myself. ** In our bountiful mercy, let me merit to always judge every person on the side of merit even when I see a totally wicket 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 have 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”. *Psalms 146.2. ** Rav Nachman’s explanation of the verse. See Lesson 282 in Lekutey Moharan. 283. Sometimes there is a controversy between two tzaddikim even though both of them are from the same source and both of them are very great indeed. It is just that one is an aspect of loving kindness, which characteristically spreads out, so he reveals his Torah to others, whereas the other tzaddik is an aspect of good which is hidden within him. (See inside). It turns out that the controversy between tzaddikim stems from the Torah. However, there is controversy between the wicked which doesn't stem from the Torah at all. Therefore, a person really needs to pray to G-d that if it is G-d's will that he be persecuted and suffer controversy, that at least it will be an aspect of the controversy of the tzaddikim, as it says, "May only goodness and kindness pursue me" (Psalms,23:6). 284. A Jew has to grab and steal some time each day to engage in studying Torah. 285. When one tastes the pleasant taste of the true tzaddik, then even at the time of being distant, which an aspect of night and darkness, when one is prevented afterwards and doesn't come close to the tzaddik, even so the light of the Torah that he tasted from the true tzaddik will continually shine for him. 286. Through studying halachic decisions and the Shulchan Aruch one merits to be in charge and to have control over the land. By this, one merits to raise the Gateways of Gan Eden and through this to ascertain the higher wisdom and lower wisdom which is the main delight of Gan Eden. See Sichot Haran (Rav Nachman's Wisdom) where it says that it is a great duty for each Jew to study halachic decisions every single day, without fail, even at difficult times when he has no time or when traveling. Even so, at least he should study one paragraph from the Shulchan Aruch on whatever page despite it not being the page where he would have studied according to his normal learning schedule. No day of his life should pass without studying the Shulchan Aruch. Other days, when he has is not pressed for time, he should study all the four volumes of the Shulchan Aruch in the order they are written until he finishes them all. Then he should start again and study according to the same order. This is a very big rectification in order to clarify and rectify all that he blemished through his sins, for by studying the halachic decisions we separate the good from the bad which is the basis of all rectifications. (Prayer 286) You grant man knowledge; bestow upon us from You, wisdom, understanding and knowledge. Master of the Universe, You informed us that the main delight of Gan Eden is to achieve divine wisdom, meaning the Upper Wisdom and Lower Wisdom. This itself is an aspect of Gan Eden. However, there are gateways to Gan Eden through which it is impossible to enter because these gateways are hidden and buried in the earth. By studying law codes one can merit to rule over the earth thus raising the gateways that have sunk into the earth. Therefore, please, have mercy, upon us and merit us to study Your holy Torah a great deal, for Your sake, learning always in order to understand and implement the halacha. Enable me to study carefully many books of law codes together with the earlier and later commentators until I merit to clarify the laws of the Torah and hereby reach the truth. As a result, may I merit to become and aspect of a king and ruler over the earth. After I merit to know the laws of the holy Torah, how to behave with regard to all things done one earth, merit me to also guide others according to the laws of the Torah. Let me teach them about the proper path to follow in each situation. Fulfill in me the verse: “Through justice (laws) a king establishes (raises) the earth. Through this merit me to establish, raise and reveal all the holy gateways that have sunk, disappeared and become hidden in the earth. Then by these gateways, which are The entrance to Gan Eden, may I enter Gan Eden itself. Merit me to ascertain the Lower Wisdom and the Upper Wisdom so that I really reveal godliness, as is fitting for a Jew. Only for this purpose we were created, in order to come to know You. Help me to instill perceptions of godliness in other Jews. Fulfill the verse which says: “Raise up, O gates, your heads and be uplifted you everlasting gates”. And, as it says: “Open for me G-d the gates of righteousness and I will enter them.. This is the gate of G-d; the righteous shall enter through it”. (Psalms 118,19:20) FINISHED AND COMPLETED PART ONE APPENDAGE "Abraham was one" (Yechezkiel, 33). Abraham served G-d only by being one (i.e. alone); he thought of himself as being alone in the world and didn't take any notice of those who strayed from G-d and who prevent him from serving G-d, not his father or any other obstructers. He just thought of himself as though he were alone in the world. This is the meaning of "Abraham was one". So also, anyone who wants to enter the service of G-d, it is impossible to do it other than by this aspect of thinking that there is no-one else in the world; he is unique. He shouldn't take notice of anyone who prevents him such as his father, mother, father-in-law, wife or children etc. He should also ignore obstructions from others who mock, entice or obstruct him from serving G-d. He must not worry or think about them at all, rather he should fulfill "Abraham was one", as if he were alone in the world, as mentioned above. 1. BLOW THE SHOFAR DOMINION (a) A Jew is born to have dominion over the angels. This is the ultimate purpose of the Jewish People. And every person has to see to it that he comes to this purpose. However the angels are very jealous of such a person who has dominion over them. Therefore a person has to guard himself a lot and see to it that he can stand firm in this dominion so that the angels will not be able to make him fall, Heaven forbid, by their jealousy of him. (b) The advice for this is to attach oneself to all the souls of the People of Israel. For all the souls are divided under all the leaders of the generation, each leader having a number of specific souls which belong to his portion. Consequently, one has to attach oneself to all the leaders of the generation and , through this, he will automatically be connected to all the individual souls of Israel. By this he will be saved from the jealousy of the angels and his dominion over them will persist. (Ed. From this we can see that the angels haven't the strength to fight other than against one Jewish soul, but against the generality of Jewish souls, for whom the world was created, they haven't the power at all to fight against.) (c) But one has to know and recognize the leaders. For there are several leaders whose greatness and dominion is only by means of their impudence, as the Sages said, ' Impudence is Kingship without a crown'. (d) The advice for this is to merit to the building of Jerusalem, an aspect of 'yira-shalem', that's to say, the complete fear of G-d depends on the heart, as the Sages said, "About something dependent on the heart it says, 'And you fear your G-d'". And when one merits to complete fear, their impudence falls before you. Then one can attach oneself to the leaders under whom all the Jewish souls are divided. Then, automatically he will be attached to all the Jewish souls and his dominion over the angels will survive. (e) Because of the craving for money, the craving for sex and the craving for food whose root is in the heart, one loses and blemishes the fear in the heart. (f) The craving for sex is according to the milk that a person drank in his infancy. Therefore one has to protect the infant a great deal so that he takes milk from a kosher woman. When an infant suckles from a brazen woman, the craving for sex grows stronger in him, Heaven forbid, and then he loses the fear of G-d. So also the opposite, when he suckles from a kosher woman, he doesn't get the burning desire for this craving; he only has the amount necessary for the mitzvah of the Creator, may He be blessed. (g) When a person falls, Heaven forbid, into these three cravings, by this he loses his fear of G-d and then the Holy One sits and roars about this like a lion. (h) Through respecting the Three Festivals properly with food, drink and nice clothes, as much as one can, while sanctifying and purifying the thoughts, being happy and of good-heart and praying with concentration and so on in other matters regarding the holiness and joy of the Festival, especially through the holy mitzvot that belong to each Festival, as a result a person merits to know G-d and to draw that knowledge into the heart. By this he rectifies and purifies the heart from these three evil cravings. Then he merits to perfect fear which depends on the heart; this is the main element of everything; for through this he will come to the ultimate purpose of a Jew which is to sustain his dominion over the angels. (i) During each and every Festival one of the three cravings is rectified. That's to say, on Pesach the craving for money is rectified; on Shavuot the craving for sex is rectified; on Succot the craving for food is rectified (therefore, Succah- s,60;u,6;c,20;ah,5=91 has the same numerical value as 'food'-'macl' m,40;a,1;c,20;l,30=91). Therefore one has to be very, very careful about the mitzvot of each and every Festival and to honour the Festival very much, as explained above, in order to merit to get out of the three evil cravings; for the entire essence of Judaism is to fear the revered G-d and to be saved from the jealousy of the angels so that they won't make a person fall into sins, Heaven forbid. His dominion over them depends solely on rectifying these three evil cravings, as above. (j) By means of rectifying and perfecting fear of G-d in the heart we merit to draw a bounty of prophecy. However, we have to be very cautious about desiring to be appointed a leader and rule over the People of Israel (the opposite of the holy dominion, that one has to merit to dominion over the angels) for being appointed causes a person to lose the bounty of prophecy. (k) Through the bounty of prophecy a person merits to perfect prayer; now prayer is in exile because of our many sins. Prayer is very lofty but people treat it with a lack of respect; when they pray they want get it over with. However, by perfect fear of G-d, which comes from rectifying the three attributes mentioned previously, such that one merits to draw the bounty of prophecy, even though there is no-one today who can prophesy, nevertheless through this the power of prayer is redeemed from exile. Then prayer becomes perfect, which is like 'the word of G-d'; G-d Himself opens a person's mouth and sends him holy words to pray before Him like it says, "Lord, open my lips" which we say before the Amida prayer. This is the secret of making the prayer of redemption adjacent to the silent prayer, that's to say we have to redeem prayer from exile. (Ed. This explains the question of the Gemorra, B'rachot,4: How is it called making redemption adjacent to prayer? Rebbe Yochanan said: we first say "Lord, open my lips." He explains that since the Sages established it, it is considered as one long prayer. According to this Torah it is understandable for this being so, it is not a break at all; since the entire secret of making redemption adjacent to prayer is so that the prayer becomes an aspect of 'the word of G-d', "Lord, open my lips".) (l) When the prayer is redeemed and freed, we need no cures through doctors for we can be cured through whatever we eat, even by bread and water just like as through medicines. (m) Sometimes the illness is still hidden within a person and isn't apparent then no doctor can cure it because he doesn't know about it at all. But when a person merits to rectify those three cravings and achieves perfect fear and prayer, he will be able to be cured even if the illness is not yet apparent; he will be cured before the illness grows such that he won't come to be ill at all. (n) However, there are three attributes which damage prayer: (1) "Don't hold any person in contempt" meaning one shouldn't have contempt for any person (even in one's mind). When one isn't careful about this it damages prayer. (2) Blemishes to faith, for when faith is not perfect this is an aspect of idol worship. (3) A blemish of the brit. When one merits to get out of these three evil attributes one merits to perfect prayer and then one needs no cure for one can be cured by anything that one eats, even by bread and water. This is the secret of Chizkiyahu who made redemption adjacent to prayer, who redeemed prayer from exile, as above, and also hid the book of medical cures. (o) When one merits to redeem prayer from exile, which is making redemption adjacent to prayer, this is an aspect of a spark of the light of Mashiach. (Ed. From this one can understand the meaning at its root regarding what it says about Boaz and Ruth in Lekutei Moharan,Pt.2,102, for they are the secret of making redemption adjacent to prayer. See there. For they are a spark of Mashiach, as is known.) (p) When a person merits to perfect prayer, through all these rectifications mentioned previously, that's to say by sanctifying the three Festivals through which we rectify the three evil cravings: money, food and sex. Then we will merit to fear and to draw the bounty of prophecy, perfect prayer and a cure; then we escape the three bad attributes mentioned above which damage the power of prayer. By means of all this, all the hosts of heaven and all the stars and constellations and all the ministering angels all become subservient to him; he finds favour in the eyes of them all. Then all things are an aspect of borrowed from him, for they all borrow and receive their power from him and he becomes an aspect of 'the great lender'. Therefore then he will be able to recognize those leaders whose leadership is entirely based on their impudence, for their impudence will fall before him. This is an aspect of "A person doesn't dare deny in the face of his debtor". As a result he will know who the true leaders are under whom Jewish souls are divided. By this he will be able to attach himself to them and then automatically he will be attached to all the Jewish souls. Through this he will be saved from the jealousy of the angels and his dominion over them will persist. (q) If a person sits and talks about his friend, this is an aspect of Rosh Hashana which is the day of Judgement; that is because he is sitting and judging his friend. One has to be very careful with this and to look at oneself well, to consider if one is worthy to judge one's friend, for judgement belongs to G-d., as the Sages said, "Don't judge your friend until you are in his place". And who is the one who can know and reach his fellow's place. Only the Holy One Himself, Who is the place of the world and the world is not His place; every person has a place within Him. He alone can reach the place of each and every person and judge everyone on the side of merit. (r) Someone who merits to attach himself to all the Jewish souls through all these rectifications, he is also an aspect of "the place of the world" and he can make Rosh Hashana, judging each person to the side of merit. (s) Rosh Hashana is a great kindness from the Holy One for how could we raise our faces to ask atonement from G-d. Therefore, He did us a kindness on the day of Judgement and established Rosh Hashana, the day of Judgement, on Rosh Chodesh. Then, so to speak, G-d Himself feels regret and asks for atonement, as in "Bring an atonement for Me that I diminished the moon" from which all sins stem. Therefore we are not embarrassed on the day of Judgement to feel regret and ask for atonement for all our actions for then also the Holy One feels regret and asks for atonement. (t) The shofar reflects fear of G-d. It is also an aspect of the bounty of prophecy which is an aspect of prayer which is redeemed from exile. This is also an aspect of how the plants of the field return their power into our prayers and through which we can make Rosh Hashana. 1.