כד

How fortunate are we — how good is our portion, how pleasant our lot, how beautiful our heritage! How fortunate are we that we merited through Your abundant mercies and Your precious lovingkindnesses to receive Your holy Torah and to fulfill Your precious commandments — more desirable than gold and much fine gold [Psalms 19:11]. And therefore I have come early to seek Your face, Hashem my G‑d and G‑d of my fathers — that You be gracious to us through Your abundant mercies and Your great lovingkindnesses; and may You grant us merit to perform all the commandments with very great and mighty joy — as is fitting to rejoice and to exult and to delight in You, Hashem our G‑d, at every time that we merit to fulfill and to perform any commandment. For every single commandment is Your oneness [achduscha] — and we merit to cleave to You and to be included in You, Hashem our G‑d, through the performance of every single commandment. How great is Your goodness that You have done with me — that You granted me merit to be from the seed of Israel and did not make me a gentile; and You raise up from the dust the destitute, from the ash-heaps You lift the pauper [Psalms 113:7] — such as I. And You grant me merit every day and at every time to perform precious and beloved commandments. Help us through Your abundant mercies — that great joy be drawn upon us from the One in Whose dwelling is joy [cf. I Chronicles 16:27]; that we merit to truly greatly rejoice at the time when we merit to perform a commandment — until we merit to always perform many commandments every single day with great joy and tremendous exultation. And may You shield us through Your abundant mercies and Your mighty lovingkindnesses — and may You guard me and save me from sadness and melancholy [atzvus v'marah shechorah]; that no sadness or melancholy arise or come or reach my heart at all. And remove from me sorrow and sighing through Your abundant mercies. And may You be with me to help me and save me — and may You grant me merit to set forth my speech before You every single day; and all that is in my heart may I speak before You. And may I merit to confess every single day over all my sins and iniquities and transgressions that I sinned and transgressed and rebelled before You — and to truly return from them with all my heart and soul in complete teshuvah; and to request and beseech before You forgiveness and pardon and atonement with a truly broken and crushed heart as You truly desire. And to take upon myself a strong and firm resolution in truth — that I shall sin no more and shall not return to my folly: if I have wrought iniquity, I shall do so no more [Job 34:32]. And You shall stir Your lovingkindnesses and be filled with mercy over me — and may You forgive and pardon me for all my sins and iniquities and transgressions. And may You remove from me the sadness and worries and melancholy — and may You help me to come afterward to great and mighty joy in truth; in such a way that I merit to always be in great joy. And in particular at the time of engaging in Torah and prayer, and at the time of performing every single commandment — may I merit that no sadness or worry arise in my heart whatsoever from any sin or iniquity; and all the more so may no worry or sadness arise in my heart from concerns of livelihood and matters of this world, G‑d forbid. Rather may I then set aside from my mind and completely forget at that moment everything that has passed over me until that hour in which I merit to engage in Your Torah and to perform some commandment. And may I merit to draw upon myself complete joy at the time of performing every commandment. I will rejoice greatly in Hashem — my soul shall exult in my G‑d [Isaiah 61:10] — until I merit to perform every single commandment and every matter that is Your will, with complete joy and great exultation in truth as You truly desire. Until I merit through the performance of commandments in joy — to clarify and to elevate all the holy sparks [nitzutzos dikdushah] that fell among the kelipas through me: through my many iniquities and transgressions that I sinned before You — whether in this incarnation [gilgul] or in another incarnation. May I clarify them all through the joy of the commandment [simchas hamitzvah] — in the secret of the eleven spices of the incense offering [sod echad asar sammanei haketores]; and may we merit to bring out all the life-force from the kelipas — until they are all completely nullified and become as nothing and nothingness. And may we merit to elevate all the holy sparks to their root — to complete through them the full stature of the Shechinah [kumas haShechina]. And may You have mercy upon us and be with us to help us — that we merit to raise up the Shechinah from the exile through the performance of commandments with great joy; and may Your kingship be revealed over all who come into the world; and may they all accept the yoke of Your kingship — and may You reign over them speedily forever and ever.

And therefore have mercy upon us, our Father, our King — and may You draw upon us holiness and purity. And may You give power and might into every single commandment that we merit to perform — that the commandment stir and travel through all the worlds in their entirety; and may it stir them all to Your service and Your fear; until all the worlds in their entirety and all that is within them be stirred to Your service in truth. The inanimate, the vegetative, the animate, the speaking; fire, wind, water, earth. From the cedar that is in the Lebanon to the hyssop that grows in the wall [cf. I Kings 5:13]; from the tiniest creature in the sea to the wild ox with its horns [cf. Psalms 22:22]; kings of the earth and all peoples, ministers and all judges of the earth; great and small; sons and daughters; elders and youths; the earth and all upon it; the seas and all within them; the heavens and the heavens of the heavens and all their host; the world of Asiyah and Yetzirah and Beriyah and Atzilus and all that is within them. The lowest beings, the celestial spheres, the angels — the zikim, the chashmalim, the seraphim and the ofanim and the holy chayos. From the ultimate point of the center of the world of Asiyah to the first point of creation, which is the beginning of Atzilus — through all of them may the commandment that we merit to perform at every time travel; and may it stir and awaken them all to Your service in truth. And may all the worlds and all that is within them return to You in truth — and through this may blessing be stirred in all the worlds in their entirety. And may the verse be fulfilled: You open Your hand and satisfy every living thing with [its] desire [Psalms 145:16]. And may You pour through Your abundant mercies — and may You draw an overflow of goodness and blessing through all the worlds in their entirety. And may Your right hand support me and assist me from the heavens. And may You place in my heart that I prepare my heart and my mind and my will — to draw upon myself the blessing of intellect [birchas seichel] from You: that You pour upon me Your holiness; and may You graciously grant me from Yourself knowledge, understanding, and wisdom [da'ah, binah, v'haskel]; and may You grant me merit to drive away and nullify from me all kinds of foolishness and confusions and muddling of the mind. Rather may I merit through Your abundant mercies and Your mighty lovingkindnesses to the holy intellect and complete holy knowledge [seichel dikdushah v'da'as shalem dikdushah] as You truly desire. And help me through Your abundant mercies — that I merit to complete faith in truth: that I not lean upon my own intellect at all. And even at the time when You assist me through Your mercies and pour upon me a complete intellect and correct holy knowledge in truth — even then may I not lean upon the intellect alone. Rather may I always merit to draw faith into the blessing of the intellect [emunah l'soch birchas haseichel]. And in proportion to all that I merit to add in wisdom and intellect — may I merit to add in faith. And may the very essence of the understanding of my intellect be to believe in You with complete faith — and may I add to strengthen myself at every time with ever stronger faith. And may I always merit to believe in You and in Your holy commandments and in Your true tzadikim — with complete faith in truth, in simplicity and in wholehearted sincerity [b'peshitus u'b'tmimusn].

And therefore have mercy upon us with great and abundant mercies. And may You grant me merit to settle and arrange my mind well — and may You pour upon me holiness and purity and supernal overflow from the supernal crown [shefa elyon mi'keter elyon]; so that through this I merit to draw upon myself the power that arranges and settles the holy intellects [koach hamesader u'meyashev es hamochin dikdushah]; and may I always merit to settled knowledge [yishuv hada'as] truly and with complete faith, in holiness and in purity as You truly desire. O full of mercy — arise to help me and save me: that my thought not be driven, G‑d forbid, after desires and sinful musings and alien thoughts and external wisdoms. Rather may I merit to hold fast to my wisdom and my understanding and my knowledge — to not permit the mind to think any external thought whatsoever; and may my mind be clean and clear and pure in holiness and purity always. And may You help me that I merit to always ascend from level to level and from rung to rung through the performance of Your holy commandments in joy — until I merit that my thought always be driven to attain You in holiness and in purity and in settled knowledge [yishuv hada'as], in truth and with complete faith. And may You do wonders and miracles of miracles with me. And may You save me and grant me merit — that my thought always be driven to attain the Infinite Light [ohr ha'Einsof] which is above souls, spirits, and divine souls [nafshins, ruchin, v'nishmastin]; and may You satisfy my soul with brilliance [cf. Isaiah 58:11]. One thing I asked of Hashem — that shall I seek: that I dwell in the house of Hashem all the days of my life — to behold the pleasantness of Hashem and to visit His sanctuary [Psalms 27:4]. And may You draw upon me the light of the holiness of the power that restrains, arranges, and settles the intellect — which is the supernal crown [keter elyon]; and may I merit through this not to go beyond the boundary, G‑d forbid. Rather may I merit that my thought be driven to attain the Infinite Light in the mode of running and returning [b'vachinas ratzo v'shuv] — in the mode of reaching and not reaching [b'vachinas mati v'lo mati] — in the mode of pursuit and restraint [b'vachinas redifah u'me'akev]; through the power that arranges and settles the intellect; in truth and with complete faith. Until I merit that my intellect ascend and be included within the nine supernal chambers [tish'ah heichalin ila'in] — which are neither lights nor spirits nor souls — and none can stand within them nor cleave to them nor be known within them [Zohar, Terumah]. For You, Hashem, alone know the very essence of the driving yearning of my soul and spirit and neshamah at their supernal root — to attain these attainments; for this is why I was created. My soul thirsts for G‑d — for the Living G‑d; when shall I come and appear before G‑d? [Psalms 42:3]. How beloved are Your dwellings, Hashem of hosts — my soul yearns and even pines for the courtyards of Hashem; my heart and my flesh sing out to the Living G‑d [Psalms 84:2–3]. But my iniquities have turned these [blessings] aside — and my sins have hidden Your face from me; for my thought was driven after evil desires and evil musings and alien thoughts; until I blemished all the chambers of the intellect and all the paths and byways of the mind. Until I have destroyed the palace of wisdom [beis hachochmah] and breached the fences of understanding and demolished the chambers of knowledge [heichalei hada'as]; and I have greatly blemished wisdom, understanding, and knowledge [chochmah, binah, v'da'as] — and the power of restraint, arrangement, and settling of the intellect, which is the supernal crown [keter elyon]. In all of these I have blemished very greatly through my many sins and iniquities and transgressions that I sinned and transgressed and rebelled before You, Hashem my G‑d. Therefore I cast my supplication before You — O Lord of mercies and forgiveness: may You forgive and pardon and atone for me over all my many sins and iniquities and transgressions. And may You deal with me in accordance with the greatness of Your awesome wonders — and may You bring me out and raise me up from the depths of the sea; and may You return and repair my intellect. And have mercy upon me and save me from now from all kinds of alien thoughts; and from all kinds of evil musings; and from all kinds of the mind being driven after desires and concerns of this world, G‑d forbid. And may You purify me and sanctify me with Your supernal holiness. And may You remove from me sorrow and sighing — and may You nullify sadness from me with complete nullification; and may You grant me merit to complete joy — that I merit to perform Your commandments with great joy and tremendous exultation. And may You return and rebuild my ruins — and may You return and rebuild and repair the palace of my intellect upon its foundation; and my palace of knowledge upon its judgment shall be established [cf. Jeremiah 30:18] — in great holiness and purity; in truth and with complete faith. And may I merit to ascend speedily and quickly from level to level and from rung to rung — until I merit through Your mercies to those nine supernal chambers I mentioned before You. And may I merit even in this world to know and to recognize You in truth — and may I merit to ascend to all the supernal levels of holiness; up to the ultimate supernal level — all that it is possible for a Jewish person to ascend to and to attain in this world. For this is why the soul descended into this world from the heights of levels — so that it merit through its good deeds to return and ascend to the source from which it was hewn [cf. Isaiah 51:1]: above and above, with ever greater ascent and strength. Have pity and compassion upon me as the compassion of a father upon his son — and grant me merit to Your great goodness in truth. For You are good and do good to all [Psalms 145:9] — and You desire to benefit Your creatures and to reveal to them Your G‑dliness: which is the ultimate good among all goodnesses. Have pity and be gracious to me — and place in my heart and help me to return to You in truth; in such a way that I merit to be satiated with Your true goodness: to know and to recognize You in truth. And may the driving of my thought always be to attain the Infinite Light [ohr ha'Einsof] in great holiness and purity; in truth and with complete faith; at the ultimate supernal level of holiness among all levels. And may You stir Your mercies upon us — and may You hasten and rush to redeem us with an eternal redemption [geulas olam]. And may You return and rebuild our ruins and our devastations — and may You rebuild the house of our holiness and our splendor [beis kodshenu v'tifartenu]. And may You return and rebuild and repair all the buildings and chambers of holiness — in the physical and in the spiritual. And may You draw upon us great joy always — and may You raise and elevate the Shechinah from its exile from among the kelipas and the sitra achra; and may You bring out all the holy sparks from among them. And may You humble and subdue and destroy and nullify all the kelipas and the other-sided forces — may they all bend and fall, and to the glory of Your Name may they give honor. And may we merit to soon go out from the exile with great joy — from the physical exile and from the spiritual exile. And may all the nations be nullified before Israel — and may they all recognize the level and the holiness of Your holy people Israel whom You have chosen. And may the verse be fulfilled: And they shall bring all your brothers from all the nations as an offering to Hashem — on horses and in chariots and in covered wagons and on mules and on swift camels — to My holy mountain Jerusalem, says Hashem; as the children of Israel bring the offering in a pure vessel to the house of Hashem [Isaiah 66:20]. And may the joy grow throughout the entire world — as it is written: Then they shall say among the nations: Hashem has done great things for these; Hashem has done great things for us — we were joyful [Psalms 126:2–3]. And may the verse be fulfilled: For with joy shall you go out, and in peace shall you be led — the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you in song, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands [Isaiah 55:12]. And it is said: For Hashem has comforted Zion — He has comforted all her ruins; and He has made her wilderness like Eden and her desert like the garden of Hashem; joy and gladness shall be found therein — thanksgiving and the voice of song [Isaiah 51:3].