מח

Our Father,

our King

Hearer of prayer — to You all flesh shall come [Psalms 65:3]. Give ear, Hashem, to my prayer — and attend to the voice of my supplications [Psalms 86:6]. Hear, Hashem, the voice of my supplications — when I cry to You; when I raise my hands toward the oracle of Your sanctuary [Psalms 28:2]. Rock of eternity — Fashioner of all: help us and save us through Your abundant mercies and true lovingkindnesses. That we merit to always pray before You in truth with all our power; as it is written: All my bones shall say — Hashem, who is like You? [Psalms 35:10]. And may we merit to bring into the words of prayer all the powers that are within us — in bones and sinews and flesh; and all the other powers of my body and my soul: all of them may I merit through Your mercies to bring into the words of prayer. That I merit to bring forth every single word of the holy prayer with great power in absolute truth — until I merit to feel the utterance in all my bones and limbs. Have pity and be gracious to me and have mercy upon me and save me — and grant me merit to prayer with great power and intention in truth. For You are G‑d of truth and Your word is true and stands forever; and You desire the truth; and You know how very far I am from even a single word of prayer. And not only am I not able to pray with power and intention in truth as is fitting — but also through my many iniquities I am utterly and completely far from prayer. My eyes have wept toward the heights — Master of the Universe; I spread out my palms before You; to You, Hashem, I lift my soul [Psalms 25:1]. And I know not in what way — in what manner — in what device to seek and to appease and to placate You. And I know not at all how to counsel my soul: in what manner may I merit to search and to find the good concealed within me; and how to find the good that has departed from me through my immense and many and very great iniquities in quality and quantity and quality. And in particular what I greatly blemished in the blemish of speech — for I did not guard the openings of my mouth; and I spoke how many and how many blemished utterances from the day I came into being until this very day — beyond measure and reckoning and number: idle talk and lashon hara and slander and levity and lies and vulgar speech; and many other blemished things. And even all my holy utterances are also very, very blemished — until I contemplated my ways: that never yet has there gone forth from my mouth a complete utterance without any blemish. And on account of this the strife of tongues greatly overpowered us — for many rise against us, very many; the kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against Hashem and against His anointed [Psalms 2:2]. They set their mouth against the heavens — and their tongue walks through the earth [Psalms 73:9]. Insolence goes forth from their mouth — and they speak falsehood against Hashem and against true tzadikim and against the totality of Israel Your holy people [cf. Psalms 73:8] — whom You have chosen. Master of the entire universe — extend Your hand from above; rescue me and save me from many waters; from the hand of foreigners whose mouth speaks vanity and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood [Psalms 144:11]. Woe to my soul — for I myself caused all this through my many iniquities. And I have lengthened the exile and blemished the fallen Sukkah of David. And not only did I not strive to raise the Sukkah of David — but also through my many iniquities I added to its falling even further; and I strengthened the sukkah of the nations [sukas notzrim / sukkas ha'amim]. Until through my many iniquities the Shechinah and the congregation of Israel are in a great exile — and she cries in her exile over her children: who went into exile from their Father's table and left their land.

Master of the Universe — see our very many and very heavy and very prolonged troubles; and every single day we cry out and entreat before the Throne of Your Glory that You return us in complete repentance before You. Yet we still have not returned from our error and foolishness. Full of mercy — help and save and have mercy and rescue; have pity and compassion, have pity and compassion: upon one sunk in the mire of the desires of this world like me; upon one banished from the land of the living like me; upon one blemished like me; upon one with a crooked and twisted heart like me. Behold — I stand before You like a vessel full of shame and disgrace. May it be the will before You, Hashem our G‑d and G‑d of our fathers — that I sin no more. Help me! Help me! Save me! Save me! Be gracious to me and raise me up! Be gracious to me and raise me up! Rescuer of the poor from one stronger than him — and the destitute and poor from one who robs him [Psalms 35:10]. Rescue me and deliver me and redeem me. Hashem — I am oppressed; be my guarantor [Isaiah 38:14]. My Father in Heaven — have mercy upon me! My Father in Heaven — have compassion upon me! My Father in Heaven — be in my help and strengthen me and fortify me. And may You act that I walk in Your statutes and observe Your judgments — that I not waste my world for nothing, G‑d forbid. For all our days are vanity and emptiness — like a dream they fly; like a passing shadow; like a cloud that dissolves; like a blowing wind; like floating dust. Woe! Woe! Woe! Woe and alas! Ahah, my Master! Ahah, my Father! True Merciful One — have mercy upon me! True Lovingkindness One — act with me with free lovingkindness; and give me graciousness that I not be lost. Strong Redeemer — for Your sake redeem me! Grace me with the holiness of Israel — as a free gift and a generous bestowal of lovingkindness. For You know that I have no hope at all except to cry out to You and to call to Your gracious gifts. Close to all who call upon Him — answer me! Lofty forever, Hashem — help me! Holy above all holinesses — in Your holiness sanctify me! Hashem G‑d of truth — grant me merit to Your holiness in truth. Raise up Your fallen Sukkah — falling after falling without measure or reckoning or number; until there is none who can raise her except You alone through Your abundant mercies and Your hidden lovingkindnesses. Raise her speedily — rise after rise; from the deep pit to the lofty roof [Aramaic: mibira amikta l'igra ramma]. Full of mercy — multiplying goodness: turn my heart from evil to good; incline my heart toward You in truth as Your good will desires. Help me — that I merit to sanctify myself in every kind of holiness; and in particular in the holiness of the bris of the tongue and the bris of the flesh. Help me that no word of falsehood ever go forth from my mouth and no blemished utterance — and may I merit to guard the openings of my mouth. And grant me merit to pray my prayer before You with all my power and with great intention in absolute truth. And may I be absorbed in You at the time of my prayer — until all the words of my prayer are themselves the words of Hashem. And may the 28 letters of the Act of Creation be stirred through my prayer — which are the ten utterances through which the world was created. And through this may You draw Your great lovingkindness upon us — and may You spread over us Your canopy of peace and embrace us with Your right hand. And may we merit to bask in Your holy shade. And may the verse be fulfilled: His left under my head and His right embraces me [Song of Songs 2:6]. And help us and grant us merit through Your mercies — that we merit to fulfill the commandment of Sukkah at its proper time as is fitting — with all its particulars and its minutiae and its intentions and the 613 commandments dependent upon it; with a good heart and with great joy. And may You humble and lower and raze and uproot and nullify the sukkah of the nations — whose mouth speaks vanity and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood [Psalms 144:11]. And may You nullify the falsehood from the world and prevail the truth in the world. And may You raise the fallen Sukkah of David. And may the verse be fulfilled: The lip of truth shall be established forever — but a false tongue is only for a moment [Proverbs 12:19]. And may You hide and conceal us in Your holy Sukkah and cover us with Your holy shade. And may You save me from the strife of tongues — that they have no power over us at all. And may You uproot the falsehood from the world and reveal the truth in the world. And grant me merit to speedily come to the Land of Israel — to the holy land; swiftly and speedily. And grant us merit through Your abundant mercies to living and enduring children — for Your service and Your awe and Your Torah [when one wishes to pray for one who has the pain of childrearing, G‑d forbid, he should mention them here and say: and in particular for so-and-so son of so-and-so, etc.]. Have pity and compassion and mercy — and give to our sons and daughters and all who come forth from our loins good and long lives [and in particular for the child so-and-so son of so-and-so, etc.; and for the child so-and-so daughter of so-and-so, etc.]. Have mercy upon them and upon us in the merit of their fathers — and give them good and long lives; and may You extend their days and years. May Your mercies and compassion now be moved and stirred upon them and upon us — and may You say "enough" to their troubles. Do good, Hashem, to the good and to the upright of heart [Psalms 125:4]. May there be peace in their rampart — serenity in their palaces; no breach and no going out and no outcry in their streets; forever and for generations upon generations of their generations [cf. Psalms 122:7]. Their beginning was small — may their end increase very greatly. As the new heavens and the new earth — so shall their seed and their names endure [cf. Job 8:7 and Isaiah 66:22]. And may You save them and all the children of Your people Israel from the evil eye and from evil occurrence and from every kind of affliction and illness — and may You send them complete healing from Heaven for all their 248 limbs and 365 sinews. And may they merit to be living and healthy and enduring; may they spend their days in good and their years in pleasantness. And may we merit that many generations and generations of generations emerge from them until the end of all generations. Have mercy upon them and upon us for the sake of Your Name — and raise them to Torah and to the marriage canopy and to good deeds; for length of days and years. They shall yet be fruitful in old age — fat and fresh shall they be [Psalms 92:15]. Full of mercy — our needs are many and our mind is short to explain and to set forth. You know all our needs. Fill our requests for good with mercy — for Your sake and not for our sake. Have pity and compassion upon me — and grant me merit to return to You in truth and with a whole heart; and to do Your will in truth all the days of my life; and may I not return again to foolishness. If I have wrought iniquity — I shall do so no more [Job 34:32]. Have mercy upon me through Your true mercies — and grant me merit to be as Your will desires in truth from now and forever. And may You reveal the truth in the world — and may all who come into the world return to You to serve You in truth in awe and in love. And may the verse be speedily fulfilled: For then I shall transform toward all the peoples a pure lip — to call all of them in the Name of Hashem; to serve Him with one accord [Zephaniah 3:9]. Truth shall spring from the earth — and righteousness shall look down from heaven [Psalms 85:12]. Yes — Hashem shall give the good; and our land shall give its produce [Psalms 85:13]. Lovingkindness and truth have met — righteousness and peace have kissed [Psalms 85:11]. And through Your mercies and great lovingkindnesses may You appease and bring into favor the Shechinah of Your might and the congregation of Israel — that She turn Her face toward You. And may the unification of the Holy One blessed be He and His Shechinah be made face to face — and do not hide Your face from us ever again. And may You send us true tzadikim and rabbis who shall show us the good and straight path — the way in which we shall walk and the deed that we shall do. And save us from the false leader and false rabbi [manhig v'rabbi shel sheker]. Bring us close to Your salvation — help us through Your mercies; revive us in the light of Your face; satisfy us from Your goodness and Your true lovingkindnesses. Bestow upon us good lovingkindnesses — the faithful lovingkindnesses of David [chasdei Dovid hane'emanim]. And from the treasury of free gifts be gracious to us. And may the verse be fulfilled in us: And I have placed My words in your mouth — and in the shadow of My hand I have covered you; to plant heavens and to lay the foundation of the earth; and to say to Zion: you are My people [Isaiah 51:16]. Be gracious to us and answer us and hear our prayer with mercy — for You are the Hearer of the prayer of every mouth. 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]. He Who makes peace in His heights — may He make peace upon us and upon all Israel, and say: Amen.