יט

"O Hashem, open my lips — and my mouth shall declare Your praise" [Psalms 51:17]. Open Your mouth for the mute [Proverbs 31:8]. And grant me merit to arrange my prayer before You — with words of mercy and supplication, with a pure and clear tongue, with the tongue that the ministering angels use, with a tongue through which I can stir Your true mercies upon me — in the completeness of the holy tongue [shlemus lashon hakodesh].

Master of the Universe, full of mercy — grant me merit through Your abundant mercies to the completeness of the holy tongue [lashon hakodesh] — so that I merit through this to cast down and subdue and break all the evil desires and all the evil traits that flow from the seventy nations; for all the desires and evil traits belong to them and not to us. And in particular the blazing fire of the desire for licentiousness [ta'avas niyuf] which seeks to overpower us at every time. Have pity and compassion upon us — and grant us merit to cast down and subdue and nullify this blazing fire from upon us and from our domain. For You in Your mercy chose us from all peoples and elevated us above all tongues — and You gave us as our portion the completeness of the holy tongue, in which You created Your world. As it is written: "By the word of Hashem the heavens were made, and by the breath of His mouth all their host" [Psalms 33:6]. And You gave us Your holy Torah through Moshe Your prophet in the holy tongue — and through it You spoke with all Your faithful prophets who spoke in Your Name with the spirit of prophecy and the holy spirit; for with all of them You spoke in the holy tongue — which is the perfection of beauty, the joy of all the earth [Psalms 48:3]. Therefore I have come to cast my supplication before You, Hashem my G‑d and G‑d of my fathers — may Your innards churn over me; may my soul be precious in Your eyes; that You stir Your true lovingkindnesses upon me and pour upon me through Your great mercies the completeness of the holy tongue; in such a way that I merit through Your mercies to overpower my evil inclination — to subdue and break and nullify from upon me the blazing fire of the desire for licentiousness. For You know, Hashem our G‑d, that this desire is the essential trial and the essential test — for it was only for this that we came into this world: to be tested and refined through this desire. For Your good will was to test us through this desire — whether we have the strength to overpower our inclination and to subdue and break the desire of our bodies, and to cleave ourselves to Your great Name in truth all the days of our lives — in order to do good for our end; so that You take pride in us in all the worlds, when we merit to subdue and break and nullify this desire. And through our many iniquities we were not careful to stand firm in this trial and this refinement as is fitting — as King David peace be upon him said: "You have examined my heart, You have visited me in the night, You have refined me — You found no evil intent; let my mouth not transgress" [Psalms 17:3]. Until our years were spent in sorrow and our life in sighing [cf. Psalms 31:11] — for only through this did we swerve from Your commandments and Your good ordinances; and every day a person's inclination overpowers him more. And through Your abundant mercies You revealed to us through the true tzadikim of the generation good counsel — how to escape from this by sitting still and not acting [shev v'al ta'aseh], in deed and in thought. But we were not careful to fulfill Your good counsel in truth — and we did not guard the thought from confusions and stray thoughts and follies. But even so You are full of mercy — and Your mercies toward me have still not ceased; and You are great in counsel, wondrous in counsel [Jeremiah 32:19]. Have compassion upon me and pour upon me a good counsel, a true counsel — in such a way that I merit to fulfill Your good counsel; in such a way that I merit from now to escape and to be saved from the fire of this blaze. And may You save me through Your abundant mercies from the spirit of foolishness of this evil desire. For through our many iniquities we do not know how to attain Your holy counsel — how to be saved from this desire. For You revealed to us through Your true tzadikim that through the completeness of the holy tongue one merits to subdue this evil desire. And You also informed us that it is impossible to merit to the completeness of the holy tongue except through breaking this desire and meriting to the guarding of the covenant [shmirat habris]. And I am brutish and do not know — from where shall I begin to merit to these holy levels: the completeness of the holy tongue and the guarding of the covenant — since both depend upon each other? Therefore I have come early to seek Your face, Hashem my G‑d: make known to me now Your ways, that I know — by what path shall I merit to these levels: to the completeness of the holy tongue and to the guarding of the covenant; in such a way that I merit to draw near to You in truth. For You know that it is impossible to draw near to You in truth except by breaking this desire completely — which is the all-encompassing evil of all the seventy nations. And we the Children of Israel — a holy people — at our root we are completely far from this evil desire; and this desire does not belong to us at all, but to them and to their portion, and not to us.

Master of the Universe — have regard for Your honor; and see our lowliness and our degradation — for we have fallen lower and lower, and we have fallen into the exile of the seventy nations through this evil desire; which has caused us all the sufferings and all the exiles in general and in particular that have already passed over us and from which we have still not been saved. And although we ourselves know all this — and yet we were not guarding ourselves to drive the spirit of foolishness of this desire from within us. Yet You know that we are flesh and blood — and You know our inclination, for from clay we were formed [cf. Job 33:6]. "In sin my mother conceived me" [Psalms 51:7]. But You are mighty and very able to save; great in counsel and abundant in achievement [Jeremiah 32:19]. And You "turn causes" [cf. Esther 9:1 — v'nahafoch hu]; and in Your hand is power and strength and in Your hand it is to make great and strengthen everything. And You can find within me also good points — and You can illuminate and pour down upon them in such a way that the goodness within me overpower the evil within me; until all the evil that has seized hold of and clung to me fall and be completely nullified; and the good be clarified and elevated and ascend and complete the holy tongue — until I merit through Your mercies to clarify all the good from within the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil [Eitz Hada'as tov vara], which is the Aramaic tongue [lashon targum], and to subdue and cast down and nullify the evil within it — until the sitra achra and all the kelipas drawn from the pollution of the primordial serpent [zuhamas hanachash hakadmoni] have no power to ascend through the Aramaic tongue to incite and entice us, G‑d forbid. Rather may You always be with us — and may You pour upon us through Your mercies wisdom and knowledge and holy understanding [chochmah, binah, v'da'as dikdushah]; in such a way that they have no power to entice us, G‑d forbid. And may we merit through Your abundant mercies to the completeness of the holy tongue through the Aramaic tongue — and may You draw upon us holiness and purity; and may we always merit to sanctify the tongue — that we speak no word that blemishes the tongue; rather all our words shall always be in Torah and in prayer and in requests and supplications and in the fear of Heaven, and in all the holy matters that sanctify the tongue — until we speedily merit to the completeness of the holy tongue and to the guarding of the covenant in truth.

And grant me merit through Your abundant mercies to cool all my heat through the speech of the holy tongue — as it is written: "My heart was hot within me; in my meditation a fire burned — I spoke with my tongue" [Psalms 39:4]. That You be with me to help me and grant me merit to speak all the holy words with great heat and holy ardor and the burning of the heart in truth. And may I merit to stir the sparks of the flame of G‑d [rishpei shalheves Kah] which are rooted within me in the root of my soul and spirit and neshamah — burning and blazing to draw near to the blessed Name; until I merit to always engage in Torah and in the fear of Heaven and in prayers and supplications and requests and songs and praises to the blessed Name; and all of them shall be with words burning from the depths of the heart, in holiness and in purity, in blazing words like a raging fire; and all my words shall be like burning coals in awe and in great fear before You. And may we merit to crown You as King over all our two hundred and forty-eight limbs and three hundred and sixty-five sinews — in dread and in trembling, in trembling and in shuddering; until I merit that all the words that go forth from my mouth be of the aspect of the completeness of the holy tongue — and may all my heat be cooled through the speech of the holy tongue. And through this holy fire of the holy tongue — may I merit to burn and subdue and cast down all the evil fire of the blazing pyre of the seventy stars [shiv'im kochavim], which is the evil fire of the heat of the desire for licentiousness; in such a way that this evil desire be nullified from upon me completely from now and forever. And may the verse be fulfilled: "From fire they came out and fire shall consume them" [Ezekiel 15:7]. "The head of those who surround me — the mischief of their own lips shall cover them" [Psalms 140:10]. "Let burning coals fall upon them; let them be cast into fire, into deep pits — that they rise not up" [Psalms 140:11]. And may I merit to be holy and separated completely — and may I merit never to need to have recourse to this at all, except for the sake of maintaining the world alone, in holiness and in purity in truth as You truly desire.

And may You save me through Your abundant mercies from evil thoughts and from evil dreams — and may my bed be perfect before You; and grant me merit to minimize in sleep and slumber. And even the small amount of sleep that I must sleep for the sake of maintaining the body — may I merit that it be in holiness and in purity; and may my sleep be pleasant to me; and may I merit to always fall asleep from within thoughts and meditations of Torah and from within joy; and may I merit to recite the Krias Shema al hamitah with great holiness and with self-sacrifice and with true intent of the heart as is fitting — in such a way that I merit to slay all the destructive forces and the harmful ones and all the other sides [sitrin uchranin] through the bedtime Krias Shema. And may I merit that my soul and spirit and neshamah be included in the totality of the holy souls of the Children of Israel — and together with them may my soul ascend to You at the time of my sleep; and may my soul be delivered and entrusted in Your hand alone — as it is written: "Into Your hand I entrust my spirit; You have redeemed me, O Hashem, G‑d of truth" [Psalms 31:6]. And through Your abundant mercies may You drive away from my soul all kinds of destructive forces and other-sided forces that seek to seize hold of it, G‑d forbid. And have compassion upon my wretched and downtrodden soul — and be with it to help it so that it can ascend to You in peace at the time of sleep, and to return in peace into my body at the time of awakening from sleep; in such a way that I merit to holy sleep — good sleep, sweet sleep, pleasant sleep, a sleep of life. And may You grant me merit to good dreams, to true and righteous dreams, to holy dreams that come through holy and true angels. And may You save me through Your abundant mercies from false dreams — from dreams that come through demons, G‑d forbid; from confused dreams, from dreams of vanity and futility.

And therefore have mercy upon me through Your great compassion — and guard me and save me through Your great lovingkindnesses from a nocturnal emission [mikre lailah], G‑d forbid; that there befall me no such incident either by day or by night. Rather may I merit to sleep in holiness and in purity — "In goodness I shall lie down; I shall awaken in mercy" [cf. Siddur morning prayer].

Our Father, Father of mercy — full always of great mercies and mighty and immense lovingkindnesses; Who looks out from afar to do good for our end [cf. Jeremiah 29:11]. Have pity and compassion please upon us — may Your innards and Your mercies be stirred over us; have compassion upon us and upon our young children and our little ones; and save me and all Your people the House of Israel from a nocturnal emission. For You know the full extent of the great and awesome blemish touching all the worlds — on high and above — caused by a nocturnal emission, G‑d forbid. Through which our city was destroyed and our Holy Temple was laid waste, and the glory was taken from our House of Life, and we were distanced from our Land, and we were scattered among the nations and cast into the four corners of the earth. Have compassion upon the remnant of Your people the House of Israel — have compassion upon the poor of the flock; scattered sheep with none to gather them. Merciful King — have mercy upon us; O Good and Beneficent, be sought out by us; return to us in Your abundant mercies for the sake of the fathers who did Your will; and say: Enough to our afflictions. And grant us merit through Your abundant mercies — and guard us and save us from now from a nocturnal emission; and guard our going out and our coming in for life and for peace from now and forever. And may we merit to be guarded from all evil things — that we not have sinful thoughts by day, nor come to impurity by night, G‑d forbid; and may we merit that our thoughts be holy and pure always.

And therefore grant us merit through Your abundant mercies — that our eating be in holiness and in purity without any physical desire at all; and give us the strength to stir the sparkling of the holy letters of the twenty-eight letters of the Act of Creation [chof-ches osiyos d'ma'aseh bereishis] which are clothed in every thing in the world; until all our eating and drinking and all our meals and our pleasure be only from the sparkling of the holy letters alone that are within the thing we eat or drink or take pleasure from. And through this may we merit to a good heart — that my heart shine in great holiness through meriting to be nourished and sustained only from the sparkling of the letters of the power of the Act of Creation that are within every thing. And may You be with me to help me and guard me and save me always — that I not benefit from this world without a blessing; and may we merit to recite a blessing over every thing we eat or benefit from — a blessing at the beginning and at the end with mighty intent, with holy and pure intent for Your great and holy Name, blessed forever. And all the blessings and thanksgivings and songs and praises that we offer — may they all be in completeness of the aspect of the completeness of the holy tongue through the Aramaic tongue; in such a way that we merit to stir the power of the deeds of Hashem — which are the heart of G‑d [lev Elokim] of the Act of Creation, which are the letters clothed in every thing in the world. Through which You created with Your good will all the things in the world, great and small. And You created every single thing differently from the next — in appearance and taste and form — each according to the holy letters of the Torah that You placed in each thing according to Your good will, as You calculated and measured and weighed it in Your holy wisdom: "How manifold are Your works, O Hashem! In wisdom You made them all — the earth is full of Your possession" [Psalms 104:24]. And now may the power of my Master be greatly magnified as You spoke, saying [Numbers 14:17]. Act for Your sake and for the sake of Your glory and for the sake of Your holy letters clothed in every thing — that You give us strength through Your abundant mercies to always stir the power of the letters of the Act of Creation that are clothed in every thing in the world; and may we not follow the stubbornness of our hearts; and may we minimize the desire of our nature — that we have no physical bodily desire for any thing in the world at all; and all our eating and drinking and all our pleasure and our delight shall be only from the sparkling of the letters that are within every thing in the world — without any bodily desire at all. And through this may You send blessing into our food — and may we merit to holy satiation [sevi'ah dikdushah] such that there be satiation in our stomach to eat little and to be satisfied only from the sparkling of the holy letters of that thing which we eat and drink in great holiness and purity. And may the verse be fulfilled in us: "And you shall eat and be satisfied and shall praise the Name of Hashem your G‑d Who has done wondrously with you; and My people shall never be put to shame" [Yoel 2:26]. Until we merit to a good and illuminated heart — a joyful heart; through our eating and our drinking. And through the illumination of the heart may we merit to the radiant face of holiness [panim dikdushah] — bless us, our Father, all of us together with the light of Your face [cf. Priestly Blessing]. That we merit to the face of holiness — a radiant face, a joyful face; that the light of the face of Hashem forever shine upon our faces. And may the verse be fulfilled in us and in our offspring: "This is the generation of those who seek Him — those who seek Your face, Yaakov, Selah" [Psalms 24:6]. And may You grant us merit that our faces radiate so greatly — until we have the power to bring the entire world to complete teshuvah through the sight of our faces alone; that our faces radiate in the light of the face of Hashem like a shining mirror [aspaklaria hame'irah] — until every single person gazes upon himself and sees himself within our radiant faces as in a mirror and a reflection. And he sees how his own face is sunken in darkness — and he will renew himself like the eagle [cf. Psalms 103:5], and he will return to You in complete teshuvah in truth.

And be gracious to me through Your abundant mercies — that I merit to draw near to the true tzaddik of this generation; and may I merit to hear from his own holy mouth living words of G‑d — which he merits through his good deeds to hear from Your mouth; and may You pour upon me Your holy fear — the higher fear, the fear of His Exaltedness [yir'as harommus]. And may I merit to hear the holy speech from the mouth of the true tzaddik in awe and in great fear — in such a way that I receive speech of the holy tongue in utter completeness. And may I merit to the guarding of the covenant [shmirat habris] in truth in great holiness as is fitting for the seed of Israel Your servants whom You have chosen. And be gracious to me through Your abundant mercies that I merit to repair in my lifetime all the sins and iniquities and transgressions, and all the blemishes I have blemished before You — from my youth until this very day; and even all the sins I sinned in error or under compulsion — all of them may I merit to repair in my lifetime, speedily and quickly. And from now may You grant me merit to draw near to You in truth in holiness and in purity — and may I merit to the completeness of the holy tongue and to the holiness of the covenant [k'dushas habris].

And therefore may it be Your will, Hashem our G‑d and G‑d of our fathers — full of mercy, full of will — help me and save me and grant me merit through Your abundant mercies and Your mighty lovingkindnesses to receive the Sabbaths with great joy and with great happiness and exultation — and with fear and love. And grant me merit to exert myself personally to prepare the Sabbath needs myself — with great strength and with sharp diligence; and help us always to complete all our Torah portions with the congregation [parsiyosenu im hatzibur] — that we merit to read the weekly Torah portion every Sabbath eve: twice the Torah text and once the Targum [shnayim mikra v'echad targum] with great and mighty intent in holiness and in purity; in such a way that we merit through this to the completeness of the holy tongue through the Aramaic tongue [lashon targum]. And may we merit through Your abundant mercies that the holiness of the holy Sabbath be drawn upon us through the immersion in warm water [rechitzas chamin] and the immersion [tevilah] of the Sabbath eve; and may You be with me to help me — that I never neglect the washing and the immersion of the Sabbath eve. And just as I wash and immerse myself in this world — so may You purify and sanctify my body and my soul and my spirit and my neshamah with Your supernal holiness; and may You draw upon me the sparks of the flame of G‑d from the holy fire above that consumes and burns all kinds of fire. And through this may You burn and consume and nullify from me and from all Your people the House of Israel all admixture of evil that has entered and seized hold of us through the blemish of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil, and through our sins and iniquities and transgressions. In such a way that all the evil that has seized hold of us be burned and fall and be completely nullified — and the good be clarified and ascend and be included above above into the supernal good — into Your great good that is the eternal good.

Please, Hashem — You know that I have no strength to draw upon myself the holiness of the holy Sabbath by my own effort. Have pity and compassion upon me — may Your innards churn and Your mercies be stirred over me; for You know how very far I am from the true holiness of the Sabbath. Have pity and be gracious to me as a free gift — and may You pour upon me through Your mercies the holiness of the Sabbath in truth; and may I merit to add from the weekday upon the holy [l'hosif mechol al hakodesh] at its entry and at its departure. And may You help us to draw the holiness of the Sabbath upon the weekdays — until all six days of the week be pure and holy in great holiness, in the holiness of the holy Sabbath; until all six days of the week be included in the root of their vitality in holiness — which is the holy Sabbath; which gives life and sustains all six days, and all that were emanated and all that were created and formed and made, and all the worlds — from the first point of creation to the final point, the center of the physical world; all of whose life and existence is the holy Sabbath.

Master of the Universe — You in Your mercy gave us this precious gift, which was hidden in Your treasury — and Sabbath is its name. Therefore I have come to cast my prayer and my supplication and my request before You, Hashem my G‑d and G‑d of my fathers: just as Your mercies and Your lovingkindnesses were great enough to give us this precious holy gift — so may You bestow upon us from Your great goodness and pour upon us from Your holy dwelling-place; and help us to receive this precious holy gift: that we merit to receive the Sabbath in great holiness and with great joy and happiness and exultation; and may we draw upon ourselves the holiness of the Sabbath always. And may we merit to break and nullify the evil that has seized hold of us — and to clarify and elevate the goodness within us; in the aspect of the completeness of the holy tongue through the Aramaic tongue. And may we merit to the holiness of the covenant in truth — and may we return to You in truth; and may we always merit to go and to ascend from level to level and from height to height in great holiness as You truly desire; until we merit to ascend and to be included in the supernal Sabbath; and may You be gracious to us through Your lovingkindnesses with the day that is entirely Sabbath and rest for eternal life. "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].