תּוֹרָה ט - תְּהֹמֹת יְכַסְיֻמוּ

Torah 1000

The primary vitality [chiyus] is received through prayer — therefore one must pray with all his strength, in order to invest his strength into the letters of prayer [osiyos ha-t'filah]. Then his strength is renewed there — and through this one merits faith [emunah].

In proportion to the quality of one's prayer, so does one merit one's match [zivugo] — and so is one's livelihood [parnasah] given to him. Therefore through prayer with full strength one merits one's match and one's livelihood.

Through complete prayer one bestows vitality upon all three parts of the world — the lower world [olam ha-shafel], the world of the stars [olam ha-kochavim], and the world of the angels [olam ha-malochim].

When a person stands to pray, alien thoughts and husks [klippos] come and surround him — and he remains in darkness and cannot pray. The ultimate remedy for this is to see to it that the words come forth from your mouth in truth [b'emes]. And through the single word that comes forth from your mouth in truth, it will open an opening for you in the darkness in which you are trapped — and you will merit to pray well. Understand this very well, very well — for this is a great principle and foundation in all the ways of the service of Hashem, upon which everything depends. For even if one is immersed, G-d forbid, in the ultimate intensification of darkness and husks — imprisoned and shut in there from all sides, surrounded on every side — and they do not allow him to draw close to holiness — the primary remedy is to draw oneself toward truth, and to look upon the truth as it truly is, and to seek only truth. And in his prayer too: even though he cannot pray at all due to the great darkness as above — nonetheless, let him see simply to speak the word in truth, at whatever lowly level he is. For example, let him say: ""Hashem, save!"" — in truth. Even though he cannot speak with ardour and arousal as is fitting — even so, let him force himself at any rate to speak the word in truth, in simplicity, as he is. And through this he will merit to see the openings within the darkness. For if one truly desires truth — against this, no darkness can darken for him. For truth is the very light of Hashem Yisborach Himself. But through falsehood, the Holy One, as it were, is displaced — for ""speakers of falsehood shall not stand before His eyes"" [Psalms 101:7]. But through truth, the Holy One, blessed be He, dwells with him. And the entire longing of Hashem Yisborach is only for truth — and in proportion to the greatness of the truth, so does the Holy One, blessed be He, dwell with him. Then He illuminates for him how to emerge from the darkness and the husk that prevents his prayer and service. And through this, truth illuminates him so that he can pray — through His great lovingkindness, may He be blessed — and through this he rectifies and sustains all the worlds.

There are people who merit to speak words of prayer in truth to such a degree that the words shine like a precious stone that illuminates by itself. And there are people whose speech is only like a window — which has no light of its own, but through which light enters, enabling another to illuminate by it. Know that everything depends upon the degree of truth [l'fi godal ha-emes].

Also: through a person being truly aroused toward Hashem Yisborach, he thereby merits to break through the screens and partitions that divide him from holiness — and to find the openings to emerge from darkness into light. And through this he merits to arouse others along with him — to arouse other people to repentance, to bring them out from the darkness, and to return them in repentance.

Every person must raise his prayer through the gate [sha'ar] belonging to his tribe [shivto]. [For there are twelve tribes — and this is the matter of the twelve windows made in a synagogue (Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayyim §90).] And great merit is needed for this. Therefore every person must bind his prayer to the Tzadik of the generation — for the Tzadik knows how to direct the gates [l'chavein ha-she'arim] and to raise each and every prayer to the gate to which it belongs.

One must strive to reach the level of praying with such concentration [kavanah] that he pours out his heart like water before Hashem — and through this Mashiach will come speedily in our days, Amen.

Those people who deny all miracles and say that everything follows the natural order — and when they see some miracle they conceal it behind nature, saying that it is the way of natural phenomena — they thereby damage prayer. For prayer is in the aspect of miracles — it changes nature. And they greatly damage faith, having no belief in the Providence of the Creator, may He be blessed. And they damage the Land of Israel, which is the place of miracles. And through this they are compelled to fall into the exile of Egypt and other exiles — and they prolong the exile, may the Merciful One spare us.