קכט

I was forgotten like a dead man from the heart — I became like a lost vessel [Psalms 31:13].

Master of the Universe — Living G‑d and Eternal King; Joy of Israel: have mercy upon me for Your Name's sake; and rescue me from sadness and from sloth — which have been my downfall; and caused me to be prevented greatly from Torah and prayer and from much good; and brought me to what they brought me. As You have made known to us through Your holy sages — that the main snake-bite [neshikas ha'nachash] is sadness and sloth — G‑d save us. Have mercy upon me — full of mercy; and rescue me from now from these bites. Give me life that I may live. Gladden the soul of Your servant — for to You, Hashem, I lift my soul [Psalms 86:4]. Make me hear joy and gladness — may the bones that You have crushed rejoice [Psalms 51:10]. Grant me merit to hasten in Your Torah and Your service always with great alacrity and with great and immense joy — as is fitting to hasten and to rejoice in Your service and Your holy Torah; which are our life and the length of our days in this world and in the World to Come forever and eternal; and apart from this all is vanished vapor — vapor of vanities; there is no substance in it. What advantage has a man in all his toil that he toils under the sun [Ecclesiastes 1:3] — aside from Torah and prayer and service. Who revives the dead with abundant mercy; Who supports the fallen and heals the sick and releases the bound; and Who keeps His faith to those who sleep in the dust: revive me and raise me up from the dust of the earth — for through our many iniquities we have descended to the literal dust and beyond; for our soul has bowed down to the dust — our belly has cleaved to the ground [Psalms 44:26]. Arise — be our help and redeem us for the sake of Your lovingkindness [Psalms 44:27]. My soul cleaves to the dust — revive me according to Your word [Psalms 119:25]. For You raise the poor from the dust and lift the destitute from the refuse-heap [I Samuel 2:8]. Raise me up through Your mercies and Your wonders — from all the descents and the falls into which I have fallen until now; for there is none who can raise me up except You and the true tzadikim alone. Grant me merit to the alacrity and the joy that revive the minds and the whole stature of the person. May Your hand be established with me — and may Your arm also strengthen me [Psalms 89:22]; and may You strengthen me at every time in the ways of Your deep and wondrous counsels; in such a manner that I merit to completely banish from me the sadness and the sloth; and to transform them into great alacrity and joy. My soul shall live and shall praise You — and Your judgments shall help me [Psalms 119:175]; for from You nothing is withheld and there is no matter prevented from You. Who is like You — Master of mighty deeds; and who resembles You — King Who causes death and revives and causes salvation to sprout: fulfill in me the literal revival of the dead; for You through Your mercies have already multiplied Your wonders with me beyond measure at every day and time and hour from my very beginning until this very day. Revive me and sustain me from now in true life in this world and in the World to Come. Let me taste through Your mercies and Your wonders from the life that the true tzadikim of blessed memory merited — who were alive; truly alive at every time; and merited new and awesome and wondrous life at every time. And there is power in their life to cause to flow upon me the light of life even now as I am; in such a manner that even I merit to live in any case from now in true life; long life; good life; life that is truly called life. Make known to me the path of life — the fullness of joys before Your face; pleasantness at Your right hand forever [Psalms 16:11]. 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]. Amen.

transgression against You; through which I further lost even more with my own hands; until I grew so distanced from You as I have grown distanced; and all the goodness of my soul was forgotten and lost from me — all the eternal good; all the true good. And I know no way at all how to seek and to search after my lost thing; my very many lost things — for I have almost lost myself entirely; G‑d forbid. Had Hashem not been my help — my soul would almost have dwelt in silence [Psalms 94:17]. Had Your Torah not been my delight — I would then have perished in my affliction [Psalms 119:92]. And now what shall I do and what shall I effect? Master of the Universe — Knower of hidden things to the infinite depth; Watcher of secrets; Who watches and gazes to the end of all generations: You alone know where all my many lost things are. And through Your great lovingkindness You had compassion upon us with very great and abundant compassion; and You revealed to us that all the lost things of each and every one are with the true tzadikim. But through our many iniquities — we are very far from the true tzadikim; with whom all our lost things are; and we have no one who knows to any degree who is the true tzadik — with whom all our lost things are. And all the more so we know no way how to seek and to search by him after all our many and immense lost things of each and every one. Full of mercy — open Your eyes and see our desolation; that we walk like those who wander and have nothing to seek in; like orphans with no father; like the impure who have no one to purify them; like the poor who have none to be gracious to them. I raise my eyes to the mountains — from where shall my help come? [Psalms 121:1]. Whither am I driven to seek help; to whom among the holy ones shall I turn? And I said: my eternity and my hope have perished from Hashem [Lamentations 3:18]. This I shall bring back to my heart — therefore I shall hope. The lovingkindnesses of Hashem — for they are not exhausted; for His mercies have not ceased [Lamentations 3:21–22]. Therefore I have come before You — true Master of mercies: that You have mercy upon me for Your Name's sake; and have pity and compassion upon me through the immensity of Your compassion; may Your innards move and Your mercies be aroused upon me. And may You open my eyes speedily — that I merit to see and to know the true tzadik — with whom all my lost things are. And may I merit to break all the obstacles and to draw close to him speedily. And through Your mercies may You assist me — that I merit to toil and to labor and to strive with all my power all my days — to seek and to search by him after all my lost things that I lost from my very beginning until this very day; until I merit to find them in my lifetime speedily; in such a manner that I merit to return to You in truth — to know You and to draw close to You and to cleave to You in truth. And may You guard me and save me from now — that I not lose any further lost thing at all from now and forever. Have mercy upon me for Your Name's sake; have pity upon the prayer of the destitute one [ha'ar'ar] such as I today; as it is written: He has turned to the prayer of the destitute — and has not despised their prayer [Psalms 102:18]. And it is written: For He has not despised nor disdained the affliction of the poor; and has not hidden His face from him — and when he cried to Him, He heard [Psalms 22:25]. Make known to me the path of life — the fullness of joys before Your face; pleasantness at Your right hand forever [Psalms 16:11]. 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]. Amen and Amen.