קז

Great are the works of Hashem — sought out by all who desire them [Psalms 111:2].

Come — let us bow down and let us kneel; let us fall prostrate before Hashem our Maker. For He is our G‑d and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand — today if you would hear His voice [Psalms 95:6–7]. Full of mercy — Master of wonders; Who renews in His goodness every day continuously the act of Creation; Who in Your understanding alters the times and changes the seasons: help me and save me through Your great and wondrous salvation — that I merit to renew myself every day with additional holiness and purity in truth; that I merit every day to begin afresh in Your holy service — as if I were born today; and not to think from one day to the next at all; and nothing shall confuse my mind from one day to the next — neither from the past nor from the future; and the coming days and the coming hour shall not weigh heavily upon me in the service; and I shall not look or think in my mind except for that very day and that hour and that moment in which I stand then. In such a manner that I can engage in Your service in truth and with wholeness — without any confusions or fears or heaviness or laziness; rather may I be swift in Your service every day anew. And I shall place before my eyes nothing except that day and hour and moment alone — so that I can strengthen myself through this in Your service in truth; and no matter of Your service that is truly Your will shall be heavy upon me; for one can endure for one day all the services of the world. And so too shall I not confuse my mind concerning my livelihood and my many needs from one day to the next at all; rather may I truly trust in Hashem — Who provides for all our needs every single day. And may I be accustomed to say at every time: Blessed is the Lord day by day — He burdens us; the G‑d of our salvation, Selah [Psalms 68:20]. And save me from those who lack faith — who worry and think what they shall eat tomorrow; and from where their many needs for tomorrow shall come; rather may I trust in the Name of Hashem and lean upon my G‑d. The G‑d Who has shepherded me from my very beginning — He shall provide for me all good things day by day; the King Who is good and Who does good for all every day and every day — He has done good; He does good; He shall do good for us; and shall provide for us and sustain us always every day and at every time and at every hour without any lack of anything. And even unto old age and grey hair may G‑d not forsake us and not abandon us forever.

Full of mercy — have pity upon me and grant me merit to come to all this; that the thought not confuse me at all from one day to the next in any matter of the world; in such a manner that I merit to enter into Your holiness and to draw close to You in truth; and to be renewed every day for good; and to add every day and at every time and at every hour additional holiness and purity and fear of Hashem and His service in truth. And I shall not deceive myself and not defer the service from one day to the next at all; rather may I think every day as if I have in my world nothing except that very day and that very hour alone; and I shall strive and strengthen myself with all my might every day to fulfill the duty of the day — on that very day; by whatever my hand finds to do in my power on that very day and that very hour; and I shall not exempt myself from one day to the next at all; so that I not be put to shame and not be disgraced forever and ever. Help me for Your Name's sake; save me every day with a new and wondrous salvation; in such a manner that I merit to draw close to You every day with a greater and greater drawing near in truth in ultimate perfection as Your good will desires. And may the verse be fulfilled: Sing to Hashem all the earth — announce from day to day His salvation [I Chronicles 16:23]. And it is said: Sing to Hashem; bless His Name — announce from day to day His salvation [Psalms 96:2]. Grant me merit to truly revive my days from now in any case; have pity upon the few days I have left to linger in this passing world: To number our days thus make known — and we shall bring a heart of wisdom [Psalms 90:12]. Return, Hashem — until when? And relent concerning Your servants. Satisfy us in the morning with Your lovingkindness — and we shall sing out and rejoice in all our days. Gladden us according to the days You have afflicted us — the years we have seen evil [Psalms 90:13–15]. Return us, Hashem, to You and we shall return; renew our days as of old [Lamentations 5:21]. May Your lovingkindness, Hashem, be upon us — as we have hoped in You [Psalms 33:22]. May Hashem our G‑d be with us as He was with our fathers — may He not abandon us and not forsake us. To incline our hearts to Him — to walk in all His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments that He commanded our fathers. And may these words of mine which I have supplicated before Hashem be near to Hashem our G‑d day and night — to perform the judgment of His servant and the judgment of His people Israel — day by day. So that all the peoples of the earth may know that Hashem — He is G‑d; there is none else [I Kings 8:57–60].

And may I merit to go out from the minds of smallness to the minds of greatness [mochin di'gadlusa]; and through this may You save me and redeem me from all troubles and from all sufferings and from all manner of judgments of the world — which all derive from turbidity of the mind from the minds of smallness. And You through Your abundant mercies shall redeem me and save me from all of them — by granting me merit and assisting me always to engage in the tales of stories of true tzadikim which are the aspects of the minds of greatness. And help me and save me to yearn and to long and to desire always to come to the Land of Israel; and may I merit to draw upon myself the holiness of the Land of Israel always. And through this may I merit to complete faith — to believe with complete faith in Your particular providence always. And may You take me entirely out of the grip of nature; that I merit to know and to believe that there is no way of nature in the world at all — but rather everything is through Your providence alone; for even nature itself is managed through Your providence always; and You change nature at every time through the true tzadikim of every generation — who do new and wondrous things in every generation as we have heard from our fathers. And have mercy upon me and upon all of Israel for the sake of Your Name; and help us and grant us merit to become like You Blessed be You — that we merit to distinguish between the light and the darkness; until we truly know how to discern and to distinguish between tales of stories of true tzadikim and tales of stories of the wicked. And to know and to discern also from whom to tell stories and how to tell them; in such a manner that I merit to tell of true great tzadikim of high degree — of whom the story and the speech about them shall have power to purify my thought. For You have made known to us that corresponding to every deed of the tzadikim there are opposing stories of the wicked and the deceitful; and mixed stories of those who do things that appear like a portent through various stratagems — through sorcery or through something else; and it is impossible to discern and to distinguish between them except for one who knows how to distinguish between the light and the darkness; as You have made known to us through Your abundant mercies. And because of the immensity of our weakness — in that we have grown very distant from You — certainly we have no power to distinguish between the light and the darkness. Therefore have mercy upon us and help us and save us that we merit in any case to complete faith; and may our faith be so strong — as if we actually see with our own eyes what we believe in truth.

And may we merit to believe in You Hashem our G‑d — that You watch with particular providence at every time; and You do new and wondrous things at every time; in every generation and every generation — through Your true tzadikim of every generation. And may I merit to believe that there is a great difference between the wondrous deeds and innovations performed through the true tzadikim — and the stories that resemble portents performed by the wicked; or through those who are mixed of good and evil — who are not yet fit to perform portents in the world; and who clothe themselves in a garment that is not theirs. And there is a difference between the deeds of the latter and the deeds and portents of the true tzadikim — as between light and darkness; in such a manner that I merit always to tell the tales of stories of true tzadikim who have the power to purify my thought. Master of the Universe — full of mercy: You know how far I am from purity of thought — for I have blemished my thought very very greatly beyond measure and number; and I have sinned and done wrong and transgressed greatly; and what is evil in Your eyes I have done and multiplied transgression against You greatly. And in particular — what I have blemished in the holy Bris [covenant] and in the drops of the brain greatly greatly; and all of it through the blemish of thought — in that I was not careful with my thought at all; so as to hold my thought back from going outside, G‑d forbid. On the contrary — I added sin upon transgression; and entered with my thought into alien thoughts and imaginings and confused confusions and evil imaginings; until I came to what I came to and spoiled what I spoiled — all through the blemish of thought. What shall I say and what shall I speak — and before You everything is revealed; O Examiner of hearts and minds. And now — now; after all that I have done and all that has befallen me from my beginning until this very day — my eyes still fail from waiting for complete salvation in truth from You alone; through the power and merit of the prayer of the true tzadikim. עברית ▾ And help me and save me through Your abundant mercies — that I merit always to surrender my soul for the sanctification of the Name in truth; and in particular at the time of the recitation of the Shema and prayer: that I merit always to pray and to recite the Shema with true self-sacrifice [mesiras nefesh] in truth. And may I merit to accept upon my mind with truly strong will to surrender my soul to die for the sanctification of the Name; to be inflamed with the flames of love [shalhevinin di'rchimusa]; and to overpower my inclination; to surrender all my body and my soul and my very being in order to sanctify Your great and holy and awesome Name. And through this may I merit always to pray with great concentration [kavanah] in holiness and purity in truth — to bring all my mind and my thought and my knowledge inside the words of prayer; and to bind the thought to the speech with a strong and firm bond; and not to utter any word of prayer without concentration, G‑d forbid; in such a manner that we merit that You delight in our prayers always; and that You have great pleasure and delight from our prayers; and may our prayers ascend and be accepted before You to be a crown upon Your head. And may You cause to flow upon us wisdom and understanding and knowledge; and save us with all manner of salvations; and open our hearts in the study of Your Torah; and may we merit to understand well in every place where we study; and may You illuminate our eyes with the light of Your Torah. And help us and save us to renew true novellae [chiddushim] in Your holy Torah; and may You draw down upon us a wondrous illumination from the Torah that You are destined to reveal through our righteous Mashiach; as it is written: And you shall draw water with joy from the springs of salvation [Isaiah 12:3]; and the Targum renders it: And you shall receive new teaching. וְעָזְרֵנִי וְהוֹשִׁיעֵנִי בְּרַחֲמֶיךָ הָרַבִּים, שֶׁאֶזְכֶּה תָמִיד לִמְסֹר נַפְשִׁי עַל קִדּוּשׁ הַשֵּׁם בֶּאֱמֶת... Have mercy upon me — Master of mercies; save me please — Master of salvations; pity and be gracious to me and have compassion upon me — Master of pity and grace; incline Your ear and hear the voice of my crying out; the voice of my pleading; the voice of my petitioning; the voice of my prayer. And grant me merit through Your abundant mercies — that the holiness of the Land of Israel shall be drawn upon me: which is the totality of holiness; the totality of all the ten holinesses; in such a manner that I merit through the holiness of the Land of Israel to complete faith in Your particular providence — for You watch with particularity at every time and moment over all the entire world; and You do with me and with the entire world at every time and moment great and awesome wonders beyond searching and beyond number; as it is said: Who alone does great wonders — for His lovingkindness endures forever [Psalms 136:4]. And all of it through the power and merit of the great true tzadikim — for all the true signs and portents are always performed through them. Assist me and embolden me and strengthen me in Your holy faith always — that is drawn through the holiness of the Land of Israel; in such a manner that I merit to know from whom to tell stories and how to tell the tales of stories of true tzadikim; in such a manner that my thought shall be purified through this. And may I merit from now to go out from all manner of turbidity of the mind; and from all manner of confusion of the mind; and from all manner of evil imaginings and blemished ideas and alien thoughts — to purify my thought from all of them; and to merit to holy, clear and correct thoughts. And assist me and help me that I merit at every time to ascend to the world of holy thought — to think holy thoughts in Torah and service; and in the greatness of the Creator Blessed be His Name; and in the greatness of the true tzadikim; and to renew true novellae in Your holy Torah. And let not my ideas confuse me; and let there be no power for any alien or external thought in the world to confuse my mind and my thought at all. And may I merit to be completely silent at the time when I need to ascend to the world of thought — to plow and to be completely silent; to not speak even a holy utterance then; for that too confuses the thought. And may You rebuke all the adversaries and accusers who seek to prevent me, G‑d forbid, from ascending to holy thoughts; and give me power to banish all the confusions from me; in such a manner that I merit to cleave to You and to Your holy Torah always — with holy and pure and clear and radiant thoughts as Your good will desires. And save me and redeem me from all troubles and from all manner of sufferings of the world; and sweeten and nullify all the judgments from upon us and from upon all Your people the House of Israel (and in particular from so-and-so son of so-and-so etc.). Have mercy upon us and fill our entreaties for good with mercies; and speedily take me out from the minds of smallness to the minds of greatness. And grant me merit to engage greatly in the tales of stories of true tzadikim; in such a manner that I merit to purify my thought in ultimate purity; and may my thought be holy and pure always. Have mercy upon me for Your Name's sake — for my needs are very very many beyond measure and value; and my mind is too short to explain and to specify even a fraction of a thousandth and a ten-thousandth part of them. And with everything I begin to speak — all the words in the world would not suffice to specify how very far I am from every single aspect of this; and how very much I need to prostrate myself and to entreat and supplicate for this. Therefore may it please You as if I had specified all my needs before You as is fitting. And may You be filled with mercy upon me; and speedily save me with all the salvations; in such a manner that I merit in any case from now to return to You and to be as Your good will desires in truth from now and forever. And may the verse be fulfilled in us: And it shall be before they call and I shall answer; while they are yet speaking — I shall hear [Isaiah 65:24]. For You are Hashem Who answers in the time of distress — Who redeems and rescues at every time of distress and anguish. Blessed is He Who answers His people Israel in the time of distress. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable before You — Hashem, my Rock and my Redeemer [Psalms 19:15]. And have mercy upon us through Your immense mercies — at every time when You install over us a new king: that he be a king of lovingkindness; who shall have mercy upon Your people the children of Israel; and who shall lighten from upon them the burden of subjugation; and shall nullify all the decrees that are not good from upon Your people Israel; and all the more so shall he not decree, G‑d forbid, new decrees upon Your people Israel. Have mercy upon us for Your Name's sake; for Your mercies' sake — for we have no one to lean upon except upon You alone; for there is no one who stands in our defense. Let Your great Name stand for us in a time of distress; have pity upon the poor of the flock. And incline the heart of the kings and the ministers toward us for good; as it is written: The heart of the king is like channels of water in the hand of Hashem; wherever He wishes He inclines it [Proverbs 21:1]. And it is written: The heart of a king and his ministers is in the hand of Hashem; wherever He wishes He inclines it. Have pity upon Your people; have mercy upon Your inheritance — full of mercy; Who removes kings and installs kings [m'ha'adei malchin um'hakem malchin]. Look from Your holy abode — from the heavens; and incline the heart of all kings and counselors and ministers toward us for good; and bring us our righteous Mashiach speedily in our days — Amen.