קכג

Please — merciful One; through Your abundant mercies: have pity upon Your people the House of Israel through the merit of the true tzadikim who judged and tried themselves as is fitting; and through the merit of all the holy ones who were killed for the sanctification of Your Name. And may You turn and nullify and take and remove from all the emissaries of judgment the power of the judgment and the ruling that You entrusted to them; and may You say to the angel: Desist your hand [II Samuel 24:16]; and may his sword return to its sheath [I Chronicles 21:27]. For You hold the attribute of judgment by the hand; as it is written: And My hand takes hold of judgment [Deuteronomy 32:41]. And even when You throw an arrow — You can return it through Your mercies. Have mercy upon me and upon all who depend upon me and upon all of Israel; and nullify from upon us all manner of troubles and judgments that are in the world; nullify from upon us all harsh decrees; and in particular all the harsh and bitter decrees that have been heard — that they seek to decree upon Israel, G‑d forbid. Alas for us that we have seen this; alas and allay; our eyes have wasted away through the affliction of this trouble. Master of all worlds — who can endure such a trouble? Alas, alas, alas — who can measure the bitterness of this hard trouble; alas who can stand in this. O Heaven — awake to our grief; O Heaven — intercede on our behalf. Angels of mercy — ministers of the Most High: entreat please the face of G‑d with the best of speech; perhaps He will have pity — perhaps He will have mercy upon the poor and destitute people; perhaps, perhaps He will have mercy; perhaps He will have mercy. Righteous ones who are the foundation of the world [tzadikei yesodei olam] — arise all who dwell in the dust to intercede on our behalf in this bitter time of distress. Fathers of the world — Seven Shepherds [shiva ro'im]: Avraham, Yitzhak, Yaakov, Moshe, Aharon, Yosef, David. And all the Mothers: Sarah, Rivkah, Rachel and Leah. And the twelve tribes of God [shneim asar shivtei Yah]; and all the elders and prophets — the early and the later; and all the Tannaim and Amoraim; and all the true tzadikim and the holy ones and the G‑d-fearing and the wholehearted who were in all the generations until this very day: arise please; arouse please — all of you from the smallest to the greatest. Do not be silent and do not be still; take your stand to help us in this time of distress. Strive and multiply supplication and entreaty before the King — the lofty and exalted G‑d; may He remember your love and revive your seed; and nullify from us all harsh decrees. And we have no one to lean upon except upon the mercy of the Blessed Name; and upon your great and holy power. Look not upon our deeds which are not good; nor upon our sins and our iniquities and our transgressions which are so many and so immense — for already you endured sufferings and troubles greatly on our behalf in your lifetimes. Look upon the little from the little good that is still found in us; for even in the worst sinners of Israel there are found many good points. And all the more so there are still found some upright and G‑d-fearing and true tzadikim even now; for there is no orphaned generation; and praise be to G‑d — Israel is not widowed: I awoke and I am still with You [Psalms 139:18].

Have pity and compassion and mercy — and hear the voice of the crying out and the beseeching of Your people Israel; who cried out before You — men and women and young children — from the day this bitter decree was heard; until several souls have died and weakened through this. And even though we are now lax from crying out and returning as is fitting — do You not know the weakness of our strength? For we are flesh and blood and of clay were we formed; and You know our inclination — for we are all the work of Your hands [Isaiah 64:7]; and in particular in these weak generations — in material and spiritual matters. Have mercy, have mercy — Master of mercies; save, save — Master of salvations. For there is none who stands in our defense — let Your great Name stand for us in a time of distress. Look from Heaven and see that we have become a mockery and a scorn among the nations; we have been reckoned like sheep for slaughter: to kill and to destroy and to strike and to shame. Yet through all this Your Name we have not forgotten — do not forget us. See Your people very afflicted; see that all the main grief of Israel is only because they seek to force them away from the religion of Israel, G‑d forbid — therefore they walk in darkness: weary and pursued; groaning and crushed; waiting to die for You and there is none; and their eyes fail all day long from hearing some true salvation. And their eyes are suspended to You alone — like the eyes of servants to the hand of their masters; like the eyes of a maidservant to the hand of her mistress — so are our eyes to Hashem our G‑d until He shall be gracious to us [Psalms 123:2]. Be gracious to us Hashem — be gracious to us; for we are very full of contempt [Psalms 123:3]. May Your innards move and Your mercies be aroused upon us; have pity upon us according to the multitude of Your compassion; and do not pour Your fury upon us. For we are Your people — children of Your covenant. Through the merit of our fathers and our masters the true tzadikim who intercede before You on our behalf always. Turn back from Your fierce anger and relent from the evil against Your people [Exodus 32:12].

Redeemer and Savior — Who ransoms and rescues and sustains and answers and has mercy at every time of distress and anguish: guard us and save us and ransom us from all the troubles and from all the judgments of the world (and in particular from the troubles and decrees of this very time — G‑d save us; G‑d spare us). Have pity, Hashem, upon the remnant of Israel Your people; and save us from all evil and from all the harsh decrees of the world. And may You remove and take away and nullify all the rulings and judgments from Israel; until we merit through the nullification of the judgments to great joy [simchah gedolah] — that the joy shall grow until it reaches into the legs [raglin]; that we merit to dance greatly from within joy. Let us exult and rejoice in Your salvation [Psalms 9:15] — with joy and exultation; ringing; exultation; joy and gladness. (And in particular in the days of joy and Yom Tov and the days of the holy festival of so-and-so) that come to greet us in peace. Have mercy upon us and strengthen us to rejoice in them with all our might — for they are the time of our joy [z'man simchaseinu]. Mighty to save — have mercy upon us; and let us hear good and true tidings speedily — that all the harsh decrees have been nullified; so that we may merit to rejoice in the joy of the holy festival that comes upon us for good; and may our joy not be mixed, G‑d forbid. Have mercy upon us for Your Name's sake; and gladden us on this holy festival that comes upon us for good — with great joy; with true joy in Your great and holy Name that is called upon us. And may the verse be fulfilled: In Your Name shall they rejoice all the day — and in Your righteousness shall they be exalted [Psalms 89:17]. Until we merit to draw the joy from this holy and awesome festival over the entire year.