לג

Master of all worlds [Ribon Almin] — You are One and not in any counting; You are the Most High above all the most high; the Hidden One of all the hidden ones [stimah d'chal stimim]; no thought can grasp You at all [leis machashavah tefisah bach k'lal]. You fill all worlds and surround all worlds and there is no place devoid of You whatsoever [leis atar panui minach k'lal] — for the whole earth is full of His glory [Isaiah 6:3] and His sovereignty rules over all [Psalms 103:19]; and You sustain them all: all the hosts above and all the hosts below, all the holy palaces and rungs, and all the rungs and palaces of impurity and the Sitra Achra. And even within the ten crowns of defilement [eser kitrin d'mesa'avusa] Your life-force, blessed be He, is clothed — forever and for all eternity. And there is no Sitra Achra or klipah or impurity in the world in which Your life-force, blessed be He, is not clothed — for You sustain them all; and apart from You they have no life or existence whatsoever. And even within all the languages of the nations and within all the evil traits and all the evil desires — and even within all the transgressions and the Torah's prohibitions — Your life-force, blessed be He, is clothed and hidden; for His sovereignty rules over all. Therefore I have come before You, Hashem my G‑d and G‑d of my fathers, Lord of all — to entreat and to beseech Your face and to spread out my palms to Your mercies and Your graciousness. That You be gracious to me with Your great lovingkindnesses — and pour upon me intellect and holy knowledge, and power and might from Yourself; that I merit to overpower my evil inclination and to subjugate it to serve You in truth. And may I merit to recognize You and to draw near to You in every place — whether in good times or in times of trouble, G‑d forbid — always shall I draw near to You. And may I merit to fulfill the verse: In Hashem shall I praise a word; in G‑d shall I praise a word [Psalms 56:11]. And to cleave to You always. And may You grant me merit and help me to recognize You and to draw near to You in truth — and to return in complete repentance before You from the place where I am now at this very time. And even if through my many iniquities I have fallen to the place I have fallen and descended to the place I have descended — even so, I believe with complete faith that even in the place where I am now at this very time, even there You are found; for there is no place devoid of You, and in every place Your dominion prevails. Therefore have pity and compassion upon me — and do not hide Your face from me even in these very shameful places; even there: Your hand shall guide me and Your right hand shall hold me [Psalms 139:10]. Full of mercy — do not let go of the work of Your hands, hold me and take me out speedily [cf. Job 10:3] from all these lowly and shameful places. And may You help me to seek You always in every place where I am. And may I merit to fulfill the verse: And from there you shall seek Hashem your G‑d and you shall find Him — for you shall seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul [Deuteronomy 4:29]. And may You be found with me always at every time — and may You draw me near to You through Your mercies, even though I do not merit to seek and to search for You as is fitting. And may You fulfill the verse: I was sought by those who did not ask; I was found by those who did not seek Me; I said: Here I am, here I am — to a nation that did not call in My Name [Isaiah 65:1]. I spread out my palms to You; I stretched out my hands all the day — my soul toward You as a weary land, Selah [Psalms 143:6]. To You I lifted my eyes — You Who are enthroned in the heavens [Psalms 123:1]. Be gracious to us, Hashem, be gracious to us — for we are exceedingly sated with contempt [Psalms 123:3]. For our soul is bowed down to the dust — our belly cleaves to the earth [Psalms 44:26]. My soul cleaves to the dust — revive me according to Your word [Psalms 119:25]. Arise as a help to us and redeem us for the sake of Your lovingkindness [Psalms 44:27]. Hasten to my help, my Lord — my salvation [Psalms 38:23]. And hasten to release me and to take me out from all these shameful and defiled and sunken and exceedingly coarse places. Let not the deep swallow me up and let not the pit close its mouth upon me [Psalms 69:16] — and hasten to redeem me through Your mercies; and to take me out and raise me and purify me from all the blemishes that I have blemished before You — through all the sins and iniquities and transgressions that I sinned and transgressed and rebelled before You from my youth until this very day, in error and in deliberation, under compulsion and willingly. Have pity and compassion upon me — and pour upon me power and holy might [koach u'gevurah dikdushah] from the power and might of the true tzadikim who merited to subdue their inclination — who are truly like the angel of Hashem of Hosts; who stood through countless trials; and who conquered their desires and subdued their inclinations beneath them; until they utterly broke and nullified their evil inclination. And they merited to cleave to You in truth — in the ultimate height of rung and completeness beyond which there is no completeness. And upon their merit and their great power I lean — that You have pity and compassion upon me in their merit; and pour upon me from their power and their might. And may You help me — that I too merit to subdue and humble and break and nullify my evil inclination; that I merit to break and nullify all evil desires and evil traits completely so that no evil remains in me at all. And may I merit to return in complete repentance before You in truth and with a whole heart. And may You help me that the evil which has grasped hold of me shall fall and be nullified completely; and the good and the holy Torah that is hidden and concealed in me and in my traits — may all of it be refined and revealed, and may a great light from above be added upon it; until I merit to reveal and illuminate all the good that is in me. And may You grant me merit to ascend from rung to rung [mi'darga l'darga] in great holiness — until I merit to draw near to You; and to cleave to You and to the holy Torah in truth and in sincerity. And may You open for me the light of da'as — so that I merit to recognize You and to cleave to You always with a very great love, with abundant love and everlasting love [ahavah rabbah v'ahavas olam], in truth and in faith, in holiness and in purity. And may You diminish the contractions and the garments and the separating veils — and may You grant me merit to know and to recognize You without many contractions and garments; and may You draw me near to You with a great nearness and with the revelation of the holy knowledge [giluy ha'da'as dikdushah] from now and forever.

Please, Hashem — Merciful One, full of mercy; Redeemer and Savior; Strong Redeemer [Go'el Chazak]; Who devises plans so that no outcast be banished from Him [II Samuel 14:14] — stand at my right hand and support me; and help me and save me — that I merit to subdue my inclination to serve You; and may I merit to break and nullify all the desires and all the evil traits that have taken hold of me. And grant me merit from now to good days [yemei tov]; and may I merit to prevail with the good days over the bad days — to humble and lower and break and nullify all the bad days under the good days. And may I merit to understand and see and find and reveal the good that is clothed within the bad days — and to clarify the good from the evil. And have pity and compassion upon me from now — and save me through Your mercies always from bad days, so that they have no power to overpower me, G‑d forbid. For through my iniquities, bad days have already passed over me far too many — until the strength of the bearer has failed. Have pity and compassion upon me from now — and save me and rescue me and redeem my soul from the bad days. And help me and grant me merit to break and humble and nullify all the bad days under the good days. And save me from all evil, from every stumbling-block of iniquity, and from all evil desires and evil traits. And may I merit to sanctify myself in what is permitted to me — in great holiness. And may I merit from now that all my days be good — and may I spend my days in true good, and my years in the supernal pleasantness [ba'no'am ha'elyon]; that I merit to engage all my days in Your service and Your Torah in truth; and to cleave and be absorbed into You in great awe and love, in truth and in faith, in holiness and in purity — always forever. And may I merit to fulfill the verse: Turn from evil and do good — seek peace and pursue it [Psalms 34:15]. And may I always merit to seek peace — that there be peace in my traits and in my circumstances; that I always find the blessed Name in every place and every time and in every person. And may You grant me merit always to be a pursuer of peace — to make peace among Israel Your people, between one person and another and between a man and his wife, in great holiness and purity. And may You help me to be among those who make peace between Israel and their Father in Heaven.

And grant me merit to engage in Your holy Torah always — and through this may You draw me ever closer to the peace; as it is written: Her ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace [Proverbs 3:17]. And may You help me to fulfill all the words of Your Torah with love; and may I merit to fulfill all six hundred and thirteen [תרי"ג] Torah commandments [mitzvos d'Oraisa] and all the rabbinical commandments — with all their branches that issue from them and with all their particulars and minutiae. And even the commandments that it is impossible for anyone to fulfill now — may You grant me merit to study and meditate upon them and to fulfill them spiritually through the engagement in Torah; and through the totality of Your people Israel, through the immense power of the love and peace that shall be among all Israel Your people — and may I be absorbed among them in a great totality; until we, all of us the children of Israel Your holy people, are reckoned as a single person [ke'ish echad]. And may You raise me up higher and higher, swiftly and speedily — until I merit to be entirely [or: I entirely] good in truth; until I merit through Your mercies and Your great power and the power of the true tzadikim — to reveal and illuminate and find the good that is suppressed and hidden among all the wicked and even among the nations; until even when I speak with the nations and the wicked, or when I see their evil traits, or when I am compelled to engage in some commerce or business with the nations and the wicked — may I always merit to find and to reveal the Divine life-force [chayyus Elahus] that dwells and is hidden within them, in all the languages of the nations and in all their evil traits. And may You help me that immediately when I speak or engage with them, the evil shall fall before me — and the good and the holiness that dwells there shall be revealed and shall shine with a great light; and the letters of the Torah clothed there — which animate all the things of the world — shall be revealed; and the letters shall be prominent and shall combine; and a great light from above shall be added upon them; until we merit to gather and to clarify the letters of the holy Torah from all the languages of the nations and from all their evil traits — and to build from them complete structures of holiness. And may the verse be fulfilled: Bless Hashem, His angels — mighty ones of power who do His word, to hearken to the voice of His word. Bless Hashem, all His hosts — His servants who do His will. Bless Hashem, all His works — in all the places of His dominion; bless Hashem, O my soul [Psalms 103:20–22].

Master of the Universe — You know that it would never have occurred to me to ask all these things before You. For even though I do not know the full extent of my distance from You — still, even according to the small measure of what I do know of my distance from You, it would never even have occurred to me to ask for even a small portion of these things. Yet You, Hashem — You know my heart: for all the words of my supplications and my requests, and all my hope and my trust still — it is only upon the merit and power of the true tzadikim under the shelter of whose wings we take refuge. Therefore upon them I lean to ask of You all these things; for their great power suffices even for me — even in my very immense and measureless and incomparable distance. Even so, upon their great power I am confident and leaning and supported and holding fast: that I still have hope to merit all that I have requested from before You — and even more and more than this; for Your mercies are not exhausted, and the merit and power and might of all the true tzadikim is never severed forever; and there is no Sitra Achra of defilement that can stand against their holiness and their level and their height and their strength and their steadfastness and their power and their might. And their merit and their great power shall help and shield and save us and all who take refuge in them — for great are the tzadikim in their death even more than in their lifetime; and they are called living always. And may You grant me merit to be more accustomed to come to the graves of their holy tombs [kivrei kodesh] and to prostrate myself there [l'hishtateach] and to set forth my speech before them in truth — as though they were alive in their living existence and even more so. And may I merit to stir the compassion of their hearts upon me; and may their mercies be aroused and moved over me — I who am so locked up and closed in such places that are so distant from You for so many years. As they know clearly all our matters and our essence in this passing world — from beginning to end; and they know the immense compassion that one must have for a person who passes through this world like a guest who is lodging for the night, who does not think about his final end — what he shall do in the world that stands and endures forever and for all eternity. Master of the entire universe [Mara d'alma kola] — the body is Yours and the soul is Yours; take pity upon Your labor. And act for the sake of Your Name — and help me and save me with a complete and true salvation.

And grant me merit to cleave to You always in truth — and to recognize Your great love with which You love Your holy people Israel, whom You have chosen from all the peoples and exalted above all the tongues; and whom You have sanctified with Your commandments — in which Your great love is clothed, with which You love Your people Israel with a true love: a love and a compassion that has no end and no limit. For from Your great love and from Your true compassion for Your holy people Israel You contracted Your G‑dliness, as it were — and clothed Your love in the Torah and the holy commandments which You gave us with love through Moshe Your prophet, the faithful of Your house. For every single commandment is a holy measure and contraction [shi'ur v'tzimtzum hakadosh] — so that through it we merit to recognize You and to attain You and to serve You in truth with awe and love. Have pity and be gracious to me — and grant me merit to fulfill all Your commandments with great love. And may You help me through Your abundant mercies — that I merit to attain and understand the light of love that is within the da'as [holy knowledge], which is the secrets of the Torah [sitrei Torah]; which is the Torah of the Ancient One who is hidden [Oraisa d'Atika Stime'ah], that is destined to be revealed in the future to come. This is the great love that was between You and Israel Your people before You created the world — which love is beyond time and attributes and days; which the light of this love cannot be attained except through true tzadikim who subdue their inclination, and nullify all the evil desires and evil traits in the ultimate nullification — and their heart is in their own possession. Our Father, our King — help me through Your mercies to draw near and to cleave and to be absorbed in the true tzadik who has this power: to bring and illuminate even within us the light of this love within the da'as. And be gracious to me through Your abundant mercies — and help me that I too merit through his merit and power to subdue and humble and break and nullify my evil inclination; and to remove and nullify from me all the desires and all the evil traits; and may my heart be in my own possession always. And may I tie all the traits and days that are in the heart to the holy da'as. And just as through the holy da'as that is rooted in us we know that the whole earth is full of His glory — until according to the small measure of the sparkling of the da'as that sparkles within us — from Your greatness and Your exaltedness and Your Unity and Your Oneness and Your dominion — all the desires and all the evil traits were being completely nullified; and it would have been impossible for us to lift our hands or our feet without You: so may You help us that we merit to tie the heart and its traits to this holy da'as. And may my heart be in my possession — until I merit through Your mercies to break and remove and nullify from me all the desires and all the evil traits; and may the heart and its good traits be absorbed into the holy da'as. And may my heart and my traits receive from the light of the love that is within the da'as — until I merit even in time and in days and in traits: to attain and understand and taste the taste of the hidden light [or haganuz] — which is the light of love within the da'as. And may I merit to understand and attain true secrets of the Torah. And may You grant me merit and help me to ascend at every time — to draw near to You and to Your holy Torah and to the peace — with an ever-greater closeness; and may I always merit to attain the ever-higher secrets of the Torah. And may You sweeten and nullify all the judgments from upon all Your people the House of Israel — in the physical and the spiritual. And grant us merit through Your abundant mercies — that the hidden Torah [Torah hagenuzah] and the hidden tzadikim [tzadikim haginuzim] be revealed to us. And even if the world is not now worthy to make use of this hidden light — which is the hidden Torah and the hidden tzadikim: even so, act with us beyond the letter of the law [lifnim mishuras hadin]; and may You stir Your mercies and Your true lovingkindnesses upon us; and help us through Your goodnesses and Your great graciousness — that we merit through Your abundant mercies that the hidden tzadikim and the hidden Torah be revealed to us. For You know, Hashem our G‑d — that we have now no support or hope except through the hidden tzadikim and the hidden Torah; for they alone shield us now in the depth of this bitter exile — in the footsteps of Mashiach [b'ikvah d'Meshicha]. Have pity upon us through Your mercies — may Your innards be moved over us. And help us to conquer our evil inclination — to turn from evil completely as Your good will desires; and to always do good in Your eyes. Until we merit to enjoy and taste even in this world from the hidden and treasured and sown light [or haganuz v'tzafun v'zarua] — as it is written: Light is sown for the righteous — and for the upright of heart, joy [Psalms 97:11]. And it is further written: Say of the righteous that he is good — for they shall eat the fruit of their deeds [Isaiah 3:10]. And may You draw peace upon Your people Israel forever — and nullify every kind of strife from the world; until through the great abundance of peace, all those who are far shall be drawn near and shall come close to Your service and Your awe in truth — even those who are very far from holiness at the ultimate distance; even those who are sunk and sullied in every kind of abomination and filth and defilement — all of them shall truly be stirred and shall return to You from where they are, through the power of the true tzadikim who always labor to reveal Your G‑dliness and to publicize Your lordship to all who come into the world; and to make peace between Israel and their Father in Heaven. And may You draw down even now in this world the wondrous peace that You are destined to reveal in the time to come — as it is written: And the wolf shall dwell with the lamb and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together — and a small child shall lead them. They shall not harm nor destroy in all My holy mountain — for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Hashem as the waters cover the sea [Isaiah 11:6,9]. And may You fulfill the verse: He Who creates the fruit of the lips: peace, peace — to the far and to the near, says Hashem, and I shall heal him [Isaiah 57:19]. Abundant peace to those who love Your Torah — and there is no stumbling-block for them [Psalms 119:165]. Hashem shall give strength to His people — Hashem shall bless His people with peace [Psalms 29:11]. Amen, eternal, Selah, and evermore. And may we merit to behold the pleasantness of Your splendor — in the time when You shall be crowned with the crown of glory through the good deeds of all Israel Your people, as it is said: Go forth and see, O daughters of Zion, King Shlomo with the crown with which his mother crowned him on the day of his wedding and on the day of the gladness of his heart [Song of Songs 3:11]. Speedily in our days, Amen.