Prayers-Part-3

Prayers:    Part 1  | Part 2  |  Part 3  |  Part 4  |  Part 5

Love and Fear of God

Our Father in Heaven: It is from You that all the living have their share of life. Living G-d, our portion and our rock: Save us from death. Redeem us from destruction. Keep me and all Your people, the House of Israel, from all kinds of evil thoughts and doubts. They are called 'the side of death." In Your abundant love and kindness, grant me life. Let me live a life that is truly good, long, and eternal. Help me sanctify my mind, 'the wellspring of living waters."

Bring me to love and cherish Your great Name with a true love that will rise up to You directly. Unify my heart to love and fear Your Name. Save me from fallen fears, so that I will have no fear of anything in the world besides You. Let Your fear be on my face, so that I will never sin.

Help me pray to You with all my strength. Let me put all my energy into the words of the prayers and bring forth the sounds and words with great force. Let my voice penetrate my mind and resound in my heart like thunder, inspiring my heart to Your service. Let the thunder of my voice and words bring me to genuine fear of Heaven, so that my words will be a resounding influence drawing myself and others to serve and fear You.

Let the voice of our prayers rise and find favor before You, like the seven voices with which I-Cing David cried out over the water: "The voice of HaShem is upon the waters, the G-d of glory thunders, HaShem is upon vast waters! The voice of HaShem is in power..." Let the crookedness of my heart be smoothed out cornpletely. "The stubbornness of my heart will depart; I will not know evil." Bring me to be truly pure-hearted, and let me always face G-d honestly.

 

The Holy Language

G-d: Open my lips and my mouth will declare Your praise. Open Your mouth to the dumb, and help me offer my prayer to You in the language of love and entreaty, in words of crystal clarity, in the language used by the ministering angels. Let me find words that can arouse Your true love for me. Let me speak to You in language of perfect holiness - the Holy Language. Master of the Universe! Loving G-d! Help me attain complete mastery of the Holy Language, so as to enable me to subdue and break all my evil instincts and bad character traits. They all derive from the seventy nations of the world, because all base impulses and character traits really belong to them, not to us, especially the burning furnace of sexual lust, which attacks me constantly. Have pity on me, and help me overcome this burning lust and remove it from myself completely.

You chose the Jewish People from all the nations and exalted us above all tongues. You gave us as our portion the Hebrew Language, the perfect Holy Language. This is the language with which You created Your universe, as it is written: "With the word of G-d the heavens were made and with the breath of His mouth all their host." Through Your prophet Moshe You gave us Your holy Torah, which is written in Hebrew. This was the language You spoke to all the faithful prophets who spoke in Your Name with holy, prophetic spirit. Wiall of them You spoke in the Holy Language, which is 'the perfection of beauty, the joy of all the earth."

HaShem, my G-d and G-d of my fathers: I have come to plead with You. Have pity on me. Let my soul be precious in Your eyes. Arouse Your true love for me and grant me perfect mastery of the Holy Language, so that I will be able to bring my evil urge under control and totally break and remove my sexual lust. HaShem: You know that this instinct is our main test and stumbling block. The only reason we had to come into this world was to be tried and refined through grappling with this instinct. You wanted to test us with this desire, to see if we would have the strength to control our urges, break our bodily appetites and attach ourselves wholeheartedly to Your great Name all the days of our lives, in order to come to true good in the end, so that You could take pride in us in all the worlds when we break this desire and remove it from ourselves.

But I have sinned repeatedly and I have not been careful to stand up to the test properly. In the words of King David (may he rest in peace): "You tried my heart, You tested me in the night, but You did not find in me what You wanted. If I once thought to challenge You to test me, I won't let such words leave my mouth." My life and my years have gone on pain and sighing. Only because of this lust have I strayed from Your laws and commandments. "Each day one's instincts attack ever more strongly."

Through the true Tzaddikim of the generation You have given us good advice as to how to avoid failing to temptation - by sitting passively and refusing to act on our urges or dwell on lustful thoughts. But I've made little effort to follow this advice, and I've failed to guard myself against lustful thoughts and idle fantasies.

Even so, You are full of mercy, and Your love for me is still not exhausted. You are the great source of counsel, and You guide in the most amazing way. Have pity on me and guide me to a good, true pathway - one that I will really be able to follow - in order to escape this blazing furnace. Save me from this crazy, evil impulse. Because my sins have left me confused, and I don't know how to actually practice the holy teachings You have given us about the way to escape this desire. Through Your true Tzaddikim You have revealed to us that by attaining perfect mastery of the Holy Language we can conquer this evil desire. But You have also taught us that it is impossible to attain perfect mastery of the Holy Language except by breaking our sexual lust and observing the Covenant. I do not understand where to start in order to attain these holy levels - mastery of the Holy Language and observance of the Covenant since each depends on the other.

HaShem, my G-d, I beg You: "Please, teach me Your ways," and help me understand which pathway I should follow to attain perfect mastery of the Holy Language and observe the Covenant, so that I will be able to come genuinely close to You. You know that it is impossible to come close to You except by completely breaking this instinct, which is the comprehensive evil the seventy nations. As Jews, members of the Holy Nation, we are at root totally removed from this evil desire. We have no connection with it at all. It is their share, not ours.

Master of the Universe, protect Your honor. See how low we"ve come and how despised we are. We have fallen into exile among the seventy nations because of this evil desire. It has been the cause of all the troubles and exiles, collective and individual, that we have suffered right up until the present, and we’ve still not been saved. True: we ourselves are well aware that this foolish desire has been the cause of our troubles, yet we"ve failed to guard against it or make an effort to drive it out. Even so, You know that we are only flesh and blood. You know our evil urge: we are physical creatures. "I was conceived in transgression and my mother was heated with sin."

But You are almighty and have complete power to save. You have all the ways and means at Your com, and You have the power to turn things in any direction You want. "Power and might are in Your hand, and it is in Your hand to make anyone great or strong." You can find the good points even in me, and You have the power to make them shine, until the good in me will be strong enough to overcome the bad, and all the evil that dings to me will fall away and disappear. The good will be refined and elevated, enabling me to develop my power of speech to perfection and master the Holy Language.  

 

The true leader

Master of the Universe: You alone know the true depths of our plight in this generation - the desperate plight of the Jewish People as a whole and of every single Jew individually. We are all hungry, yearning, longing, hoping and waiting to come truly close to You. Everyone who knows the wounds of his heart is longing and waiting for the true healer and leader who will bring us closer and heal the sickness and pain of his soul. We have no one to stand up for us, because You have taken away from us the joy of our eyes the true Tzaddikim, the true leaders. We have no true leader who can guide us and bring us genuinely close to Your service.

Master of the whole world: You know our pains. You have heard our cdes in the face of our oppressors. Arise and come to our aid at this time of trouble, as we stand on the threshold of Mashiach at the peak of this bitter exile of soul and body. We lack any skill and understanding that could enable us to elicit Your favor and call out to You to shine Your face on us again.

Father in Heaven: have compassion on us. Father in Heaven: don't hide Your face from us. Controller of everything, King of all the earth: send us a true holy leader and ruler with the power to guide us lovingly the way a nurse carries a suckling baby, so as to bring us genuinely close to Your service. Give us a true leader like Moshe Rabenu, may he rest in peace. In Egypt the Jewish People were sunk in the forty-nine gates of impurity and it was impossible for them to get out of there except through Moshe. You had pity on them and decreed that Moshe should go there.. Moshe should redeem them... even though Moshe Rabenu, in his great hun-dlity, wanted to hide his face. He did not want to take on the role of leader. Even so, You had mercy on Your people Israel and ordered him to go against his will. And You were with him constantly until he was able to redeem them.

Today, because of our sins, we are sunk in an exile deeper than that in Egypt. You know that only a true leader on the level of Moshe Rabenu can help us. Have pity on us for Your Name's sake. Put aside Your anger against us, and inspire the heart of the true leader with pity, so that he will have compassion on us, turn his face to us, and take on the responsibility of leadership so as to guide us lovingly to Your service.

 

Protect us from false leaders

Loving G-d: protect us from false, cruel leaders and adn-dnistrators who lord it over the con-anunity not for the sake of Heaven but because they want honor for their own enjoyment. Save us from those who present themselves as if seeking the good of the community, as if their desire to run people's affairs is motivated by altruism, when in fact they are far from this and cannot even run their own fives, let alone other people's. They"ve not been given greatness from Heaven at all. Loving G-d, protect us from all of them: break their power and remove their influence from the world.

Kindly help me and save me, my children and descendants and all of the Jewish People from this evil desire to be powerful and run things. Protect me from ever feeling even the slightest desire for positions of power, leadership and pre-eminence or even having the merest thought about striving for them. Let me never ever chase after honor.

Loving G-d: for Your sake, help me turn to You and come to complete repentance with all my heart. Put into my heart the desire to do what You want. Bend my will into submission to You. Give me holy strength and power to conquer my will, break my evil desires and draw myself only towards the true purpose of life. Help me put my self and my fife in order, and influence many others to lead a good life, come close to You, and enter the realm of the holy. Let me guide them to the life of Torah and G-dly service You want us to have.

Loving G-d: help me cherish the true sages and give them every kind of respect and honor, and sacrifice myself for them. Give me the power to silence all the liars who hold them in contempt and abuse them. Help me overcome such people and bring them down to the dust.

Have pity on me and help me attain everything I have asked of You very soon. Bring me quickly and easily to my true destiny - the ultimate goal of eternal good. From now on help me never to do anything that does not lead to the true purpose. Let me spend all my days and years coming ever closer to the true, ultimate purpose. Let me attain it in this lifetime in this from body, before I leave this world. Save me having to be reincarnated in another body, G-d forbid, in order to attain this purpose. Let me myself attain it during my life in this world. Loving and merciful G-d: do it for Your sake and that of the true Tzaddikim, not for my sake. Grant me the life of the world to come without having to suffer any pain in Gehinnom or in the judgment of the grave. Kindly and lovingly grace me with a good, long life - eternal life in the world of tot&l, everlasting goodness.

"Give me life in accordance with Your kindness and I will observe Your spoken testament. Let me know the path of the life of satisfaction and joy in the light of Your countenance, the pleasantness of Your merciful right hand for ever. Let the words of my lips and the meditation of my heart find favor before You, HaShem, my Rock and Redeemer."

 

The language of everyday life

I will then be able to sift out the good in the "Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil" - namely the vernacular, the language of everyday conversations - and overcome and remove all the bad in it. The forces of evil and the husks deriving from the primordial serpent will then be powerless to gain entry through my everyday conversations so as to tempt and sway me, G-d forbid. Just help me at all times: inspire me with holy wisdom, knowledge and understanding, so as to destroy their power to tempt me and enable me to drive this reckless desire from me completely.

Let me develop my power of holy speech the Holy Language - to perfection by purifying the language I use in my everyday fife. Send me a spirit of holiness and purity, so that I will always be able to san@ my speech and never say anything unbecon-dng. Let me only speak words of Torah, prayer, requests and entreaties, and talk only about devotion to G-d and other holy topics that enhance and sanctify the tongue. Give me complete mastery of the Holy Language very soon and bring me to true observance of the Covenant.

 

Marriage Partners

Have compassion on me and help me conduct my marital relationship in great holiness according to Your will. Give help to all those of Your people, the House of Israel, and all our descendants, who need find their marriage partners.

Arrange that each one should be sent a good match from Heaven. Let no-one find himself with the wrong partner, G-d forbid, because of our sins, but help each Jew to quickly find the, partner most suitable for him or her according to their soul-roots.

 

Sanctity of the marriage relationship and G-d-fearing children

Loving G-d, help me genuinely sanctify myself in my marriage relationship for the sake of Your great Name. Let us draw pure, holy souls for our children - clear, radiant souls drawn from the roots of the souls of the holy Jewish People, which lie in the letters of the Holy Torah, which is drawn from the Supemal Thought of the Holy One blessed be He. Grant that our children should be true Torah scholars, and that they should all be G-d-fearing and fully developed in all good traits. Let them labor in Your Torah for its own sake, and fulfil Your conunandments sincerely and wholeheartedly. Let Your great Name be praised and sanctified through our children and descendants, and let it be said of them that "A wise son brings his father joy," so that "Your father and your mother will be happy, and the one who gave you birth will rejoice." Give them long days and years of goodness and pleasantness, and let them do Your will all their days for ever.

 

Mashiach

Arouse our righteous Mashiach to receive our prayers and lift them up before You. Let my prayers and those of all Your people Israel be a double-edged sword in his hand to protect and shield us, to fight those who fight against us and to champion our cause. "He takes pity on the poor and needy and saves the souls of the needy." "Take hold of shield and armor and stand up to help me. Gird your sword on your thigh, mighty warrior, your majesty and your splendor."

Do it for Your sake and not for ours - for even our few good deeds, our charity and our prayers are all from You. "For everything is from You, and from Your hand we have given to You." Thus it is written, "Who came before Me that I should pay them?" "Not to us, HaShem, not to us, but to Your Name give glory for Your kindness and Your truth." "In Your abundant kindness, give me life that I may guard the testimony of Your mouth." Fulfil for us the verse: "For My sake, for My sake I will do it, for how could I let My Name be dishonored: I will not give My glory to another." "He magnifies the salvation of His king and does loving kindness to Ms anointed - to David and his descendants for ever." Amen. Selah.

Arouse Your great love for us and redeem us very soon. Send us Mashiach quickly Mashiach ben David and Mashiach ben Yosef. Let them both be joined and merged together. Let them subdue all the seventy nations and all the forces of evil and throw them down into the dust. Let their wisdom be revealed to the world. Let their fountains spread outwards, and let the earth be filled with the knowledge of HaShem as the waters cover the sea. Let every being know that You made it and every creature understand that You created it, and let all the nations repent and come to serve and fear You through the wisdom of the two Mashiachs. Fulfil the prophecy: "For then I will send the nations a pure language, so that all will call on the Name, of HaShem and serve Fflm with one accord."

Remove the dominion of arrogance from the earth, and speedily uproot, break, cast down, destroy and humble the forces of evil speedily in our days. Take away all the clouds covering the eyes. We will then be able to be attached to You and Your holy Torah constantly, without any interruption at all. No obstacle will have any power to distract our minds at all. We will be able to remain attached to You constantly all the days of our lives for ever, and the verse will be fulfilled: "The light of the moon will be as the light of the sun." Speedily in our days. Amen.

 

Memory

Please, kind and loving King, help me offer my prayers with deep concentration at all times, in order that I may ascend to the realm of miracles - a realm which is above the natural order, and beyond time. And through this, help me develop a powerful memory for everything holy.

Help me remember all the teachings of Your holy Torah, all of which are encompassed within its six hundred and thirteen mitzvot. The mitzvot are the foundation of all the holy teachings that have been revealed to us by the true Tzaddikim. Help me remember them very well, and keep them in the forefront of my heart and mind. Bring me to learn and teach, guard, perform and fulfil all the teachings of Your Torah and the true Tzaddikim with great love.

Protect me from forgetfulness. You know the terrible problems I have in trying to remember things, especially now, after the prolonged exile we have suffered as a result of our sins. Our troubles have left us confused and distracted. Our hearts have become closed, and our minds have become ever weaker. The Angel of Forgetfulness has attacked us so strongly that even in our study sessions we often forget things we learned only a few moments earlier.

There are times when I feel so moved by the sweetness and pleasantness of the Torah and the teachings of the true Tzaddikim that I am filled with an earnest desire to do nothing except follow their advice and carry out everything they say... But then, with the passage of time, eve@ thing is forgotten.

All these problems of forgetfulness are the result of the excessive influence of materialism in our lives. If I were more spiritual, I would be able to rise above time. But instead, I have fallen into such a time-bound state that even a short period of time may seem very long. This is why am so prone to forgetfulness, which is caused by being under the rule of time instead of above it.

I therefore appeal to You to take pity on me and help me put all the holy teachings of the Torah into practice. This in itself will bring me to truth, faith and perfect prayer, and to the realm of miracles, which is beyond nature and beyond time. Then I will be able to develop a powerful memory for everything holy.

 

Miracles

"You have begun to show Your servant Your greatness and the strength of Your hand. Which power in heaven or on earth could imitate Your works or Your mighty actions?" You revealed Your G-dly power and kingship to us when You took us out of Egypt and redeemed us from the most terrible exile in the melting-pot of affliction, down in the very depths of evil. You took us out of the Fifty Gates of Impurity and brought us into the Fifty Gates of Holiness.

You worked miracles and wonders in Egypt and at the Red Sea. You broke and crushed all the Egyptian idols. You confounded the heavenly order and changed the laws of nature, and You uprooted and negated all the false, idolatrous and atheistic beliefs of Pharaoh and the Egyptians. They wanted to keep the Children of Israel submerged in their midst, and impose their own false and atheistic beliefs on them, G-d forbid.

The assault on faith was the worst part of the exile. But in Your love and compassion, You did not abandon us among them. You acted swiftly to take us out of their midst, and You uprooted and smashed all their atheistic beliefs by means of the great and awesome miracles and wonders You performed. You manifested Your G-dly power and dominion to everyone in the entire world.

From that time on, the Jewish People attached themselves to You and 'they believed in HaShem and in Moshe His servant." In the same way, loving G-d, help me to have complete faith in You and in Your true Tzaddikim at all times. Let my faith be strong, firm and soundly based.

 

Music and song

HaShem our G-d and G-d of our fathers, Who chooses David His servant and his descendants after him, and who delights in songs of praise:

In Your great love and kindness, remember Your powerful Presence, the Shekhinah, which has wandered from Her place like a bird wandering from its nest. "Rise up, take pity on Zion, for it is time to favor her, for the moment has come." Lift up and raise the Assembl of Israel from where we havefallen and, in Your abundant love, help us and enable us to raise our voices in song.

Give me the power to praise You joyously with songs and hymns. me sing melodies my days, in a sweet, pleasant voice, the way You love.

And help me to study Your holy Torah for its own sake constantly, day and night. When You gave Your holy Torah to Your servant Moses, You studied the Written Torah with him by day and the Oral Torah by night. So, too, help me to study and think about Your holy Torah constantly, and help me to study the Written Torah and the Oral Torah day and night.

Master of the World, lovingly help me and give me the strength to win the battle against sleep. Let me banish sleep from my eyes in order to study Torah each night and learn the sixty tractates of the Mishnah together with the Holy Gemara - to learn, teach, observe, do and fulfil and practice them for their own sake. "Arise, exult in the night at the start of the watches!" Through this, let a thread of loving kindness be drawn down upon me. "By day HaShem will command His loving kindness to be revealed, and in the night His song is with me, a prayer to the G-d of my life."

And in this way, help me and protect me from the bad effects caused by hearing degenerate music - the songs and melodies Of fallen souls, "birds caught in the snare." Don't let them hann me or distract me from my spiritual devotions. Give me the power to elevate and refine them, to lift them up and restore them to the realm of the holy, and raise up the fallen Tabernacle of David.

In Your abundant love, arouse the Lily of Sharon - the Shekhinah - to sing in a voice Of pleasantness, joy and exultation. And You alone, HaShem, speedily rule over all Your works, so as to fulfil the verse: "Make music for G-d, make music, make music for our King, make music.

For G-d is King over all the earth. Make music, enlightened one!"

Remember Your people Israel, who are scattered among the nations, and Your Holy Temple, which is destroyed and uninhabited. "The bird too has found a house, and the sparrow has found a nest for herself to put her fledglings on Your altar, HaShem of Legions, my King and my G-d." Restore the priests to their service, and the Levites to their platform and their songs and hymns, and restore Israel to their dwelling place.

Grant me holy wisdom and enlightenment so that I will be able to draw the yoke of Your kingship upon myself constantly and reveal Your kingship and sovereignty to the world. Speedily establish the throne of David. Quickly, easily and speedily bring us Mashiach the son of David, the sweet singer of Israel.

"Then our mouths will be filled with laughter and our tongues with joy." We will then sing, praise and rejoice before You all our days, and the verse will be fulfilled: "HaShem will come to save us, and we will sing our songs all the days of our lives for the House of HaShem." Speedily in our days. Amen.

 

Counting the Omer

Loving G-d: Let me carry out the n-dtzvah of Counting the Omer in holiness and purity, joyously and with all my heart. Let me fulfil the mitzvah in all its details and fine points with the proper intentions, and all the six hundred and thirteen mitzvot that are bound up with it. Through the mitzvah of counting the Omer, let us break and uproot the husk of Haman-Amalek and rid the world of it com.

 

Refinement of the Personality

Help me achieve every good quality, so that all four elements will be copure and refined, and only good will remain, with no admixture of evil whatever. Let all the four elements then be merged within the four letters of Your Name, which is their ultimate holy source.

Please, HaShem, lovingly help me come to everything I have requested of You. I know how far I am from even one dot of what I have asked for. Even so, nothing can stop G-d from helping. For You, nothing is too difficult. You have the power to help and strengthen me and bring me to everything I have asked of You.

Do it for the sake of Your Name, and for the sake of the true Tzaddikim who had the merit to come to all these levels and more. Lovingly channel power and strength from them into me so as to vitalize and encourage me. Grant that I too may achieve these levels.

Through the power of the true Tzaddik, help us defeat all who hate us and are opposed to the truth. Break and crush all the channels through which the wicked draw their power - namely the evil traits that have got the better of them. Through this, throw the wicked down to the ground, and make them powerless to attack us, G-d forbid. "And their hands will not be able to carry out anything they plan. All my enemies will be ashamed and frightened. n-tey will instantly turn back and be ashamed."

 

Pride and arrogance

Loving G-d: Help me break my arrogance, and empty my heart of all pride. Please HaShem, You know how low I have become. My sins and transgressions have pushed me far away from You. I cannot base my request on any merit of mine. I am undeserving, and I can only ask Yout help as a free gift of mercy. Your way is to be good to all Your creatures and Your love and mercy spread over all Your works.

Loving G-d: Don't let the least improper thought so much as enter my mind. Don't let the slightest hint of pride or self-importance, or motives of trying to impress others, ever enter mv heart oraffect my behavior, so that my hope should not be completely lost, G-d forbid.

The little good I have in me is all from You, because everything is from You. Anything I have given You was Yours in the first place. Even this tiny modicum of good is mixed up with a great deal of waste. Much work will be needed to refine it before it will be pure enough to rise up before You.

How can someone as distant and rossly material as myself rely on my own merits, when the good in me is less than a drop in the ocean? I have nothing to depend upon except Your boundless love and kindness. If I go astray and let the slightest hint of pride and arrogance enter my heart, I'd be lost in my wretchedness. How can a simple person like me, who is devoid of all good, claim to deserve anything?

HaShem: I am incapable of explaining myself and expressing all my feelings to You. just have pity on me, and save me from pride and arrogance. Someone as lowly as myself should really not have to pray about pride at all. It is absurd to think that it could even occur to someone so covered in blemishes from the soles of his feet to the top of his head to entertain the least trace of pride.

Even if I had never failed You all my days except in the most minor way, how could I lift up my head and look down on even the merest creature in the world, considering Your overwhelming greatness and exaltedness, and the countless favors and blessings You shower upon me every single moment.

Such is the radiance of Your majesty and greatness that even if our only failure was to have fallen a little short of absolute perfection in a matter of minor importance, it would be impossible for us to lift up our heads before You. After all the wrong I have done, I should certainly not have had to ask You at all about getting rid of arrogance.

But HaShem, You know that I am only flesh and blood. My mind is a turmoil of thoughts that sometimes border on madness. I am prone to the most ridiculous motives of wanting to impress people, and I get all kinds of ideas about my own importance, as You know. I am constantly having thoughts like these. They crowd in on me from every conceivable side, to the point that I cannot open my mouth and say a single word with true sincerity.

I don't know what to do. Where should I run to? Where should I turn? Where will I get help from? It is very painful: "Even when I cry and scream, my prayer is closed up" because of all the improper thoughts and false motives which attack and confuse me when I'm praying.

What can I say? How can I justify myself? G-d has found out my sin. Do with me what You want. Here I am in Your hand like clay in the hand of the potter. Have pity! Save me! I am like a captive on the way to be killed. Save me! Free me! Loving G-d, help me, and bring me from death to life, from sorrow to joy, from darkness to brilliant light.

Loving G-d: Have pity on me. Let the merit and power of the true Tzaddikim protect me. With their help let me break my pride and free myself of arrogance completely. Leme genuinely feel my own lowliness in every limb of my body. Don't let a single tinge of pride or arrogance enter my heart or mind in any way. Bring me to true humility and perfect faith.

Help me rid myself of all religious doubts and questions, and remove all confusion and dishonesty from my heart. Let them never enter my heart again, or the hearts of Your people Israel.

 

Malicious Talk and Pride

Grant also that I should be able to give charity to true Tzaddikim, so as to be saved from "wild beasts" and "robbers" - malicious slander, worthless pursuits, pride and their offshoots. HaShem, loving G-d: when I speak, help me to talk in such a way that everything I say will only be for the sake of Your Name and Your service. Let me never engage in idle talk. Let all my words be words of Torah, service of G-d and awe of Heaven.

In particular, save me and all Your people, the House of Israel, from the sin of malicious slander and talebearing, which is serious in the extreme. Let me never say a single bad word about any Jew in the entire world. "My G-d, guard my tongue from evil and my lips from speaking slyly." Save me from slander and talebearing, and anything which has even the faintest odor of them, from now on and for ever.

Grant that I should be able to attain true humility, and let my soul be like dust to all. Let me know my own lowliness. Save me from anger. Let me never get angry about anything. Save me from impatience. Erase all anger and irritability from my heart. Let me make Your divine qualities the model for all my behavior, and let me be well-disposed to all. "To those that curse me, let my soul be silent." Save me from poverty and need, and send me my livelihood in abundance even before I need it, through honest, honorable and easy means. Grant all my needs from Your ever-open, ample hand, so that I can genuinely do Your will all the days of my life from now and for ever.

Lovingly grant that I should be able to come before the true Tzaddik and Sage of the generation and make a full confession of all my sins and transgressions, from my earliest days until today, in order that he should bring atonement for me through his wisdom and hun-dlity, and teach me the right path to follow and how I should conduct myself. With his help, let me become merged with the Infinite, and let me attain true surrender and self-transcendence, until I become completely free of materialistic thoughts and desires, so as to return and rise to the place from which my soul was hewn out.

 

Pesach

Help me celebrate the holy festival of Pesach with extreme holiness", joy and delight. Let me carry out the mitzvah of the four cups of wine on Pesach in all its details and with the utmost holiness and purity. Open up to me the light of G-dly awareness and inspire me with the holy light of the Supreme Wisdom, so that I will able to experience all the levels of spiritual insight and awareness that radiate on Pesach, "expanded consciousness" and "restricted consciousness"

Help me conduct the Pesach Seder properly and with great holiness. Help me recite the Hagadah in a loud voice with intense concentration,extremejoyand delightfervorandpassion, holiness and purity, until my voice will arouse my powers of concentration and I will come to observe the Covenant perfectly, achieve genuine spiritual awareness and insight, and be able to develop true and original Torah ideas.

 

Pesach - freedom from chametz

Master of the Universe: Help me to receive the full holiness of the Pesach festival season. Throughout the eight days of Pesach, guard me from transgressing the prohibition against eating even the slightest amount of chametz. Help me to fulfil the mitzvah of eating matza on Pesach in great holiness, and let me thereby receive the light of the spiritual insight and inspiration that radiate then. With the strength this inspiration will give me, let me keep my mind and my thoughts holy every day of the year and for all time. Let me close my mind to extraneous, idle thoughts, and certainly to evil or atheistic thoughts. Let them not enter my mind for even a brief moment. Let me not be drawn in by the persuasive arguments and temptations of my evil inclination, and let me avoid all debates with it.

Help me to keep firm against the evil indination at all times, and to push down all improper and idle thoughts. Let me drive them out of my mind and keep them out until eventually they will disappear completely. Don't let them have even the slightest hold or influence on my mind or my thoughts. Let me be included among the true Tzaddikim who make battle with the unholy forces of the Sitra Achra, the "Other Side," so that they should not come close to the Holy Sanctuary.

Master of the Universe: You know the shame and pain of the downcast. Remember the preciousness of my poor soul. Take pity on me in Your tender kindness. Help me, strengthen me and encourage me. Sanctify me with Your exalted holiness. Let Your holiness and purity be drawn down upon me, so that from now on I will be able to guard myself against all improper thoughts, against mental confusion, and especially against skepticism and sinful thoughts of any kind. Let my thoughts always be holy, clear and free of all impurity.

 

Have pity on one so far away

I have therefore come before You, HaShem, my G-d and G-d of my fathers, to appeal to You. I'm calling to You from the ends of the earth. Loving G-d, have pity on me. I am so far from You. I feel so rejected. It's as if I've been driven away. Through the power of Your love and mercy, bring me closer to You. Call a halt to my troubles. From now on, start drawing me closer and closer.

You have let us know through the teachings of Your sages that Your greatness is most revealed when those who are furthest away come genuinely closer and begin to serve You. I may be completely distant from You. Even so, please do not treat me according to my sins. Don't judge me according to the wrong I have done. Even when people are far from You, You are near to them. Won't it be precisely through mthat Your blessed Name will be most exalted, praised and magnified - when You bring someone as far away as myself closer to You? For Your greatness is most revealed when those who are furthest away come genuinely dose to You.

HaShem: Please teach me to order my prayer properly, and to express myself clearly with words that will arouse Your love and kindness. Send me pure, beautiful words, and let my prayer flow from my mouth in a way that will please and gratify You. Arouse Your hidden love for me and bring me close to You.

I am so far from You. I feel myself distanced from You in countless different ways. Reach out to me here in the place where I am, and draw me close to You out of pure love - that powerful, endless, awesome love that You have hidden in Your treasuries, a love that no contrary force of judgement or accusation has the power to restrain, a love that extends even to those who have reached the furthest limits of alienation and rejection, and can bring them back.

Do it for Your sake if not for mine. Do it for Your sake and save me. Bring me close to You. Inspire me with determination to serve You the way I should, and strengthen me in the fear of Heaven. Take me by the hand and release me from all the evil traits and desires that are entrenched in my body and which constantly hold me back from You.

 

Prayer

Master of the World, I know I'm still far away from perfection. I'm riddled with all kinds of flaws and deficiencies from the soles of my feet to the top of my head. There's not a healthy spot an here. "There is no healthy place in my flesh YW because of Your anger, there is no peace in my bones because of my sin." My limbs are suffering from the wounds I've inflicted on my soul through all my sins and transgressions. As a result, I am far away from Your service. Nothing I do is without flaws. I never manage to pray properly and without mistakes, for "whatever has a blemish in it shall not come as an offering." But if I am far from true prayer, what means of con-dng close to You do I have?

Loving Father in Heaven, Master of the Whole World: I know that in spite of all this, You do hear the sound of my cry even from such a distance, and I will raise my voice and call out to You. Father! Father! Master! Master! My King and my G-d: I beg You! I cry out to You! I scream to You! I plead with You! I reach out and prostrate myself before You! I bend my knee to You and stretch out my hands! Take pitv on me! Have mercy on me! Stir Your compassion for me. Watch over me from Your holy dwelling place. Protect me. Heal the pain of my soul. Remove all the wounds I have caused to every limb of my soul.

Your way is to use broken vessels. The wonders You do are countless and unfathomable. In Your overwhelming mercy You revive the dead. In Your might You lift up and gather the shards of broken ve- the shards of the shards - and mercifully mend them and restore them until they shine with greater strength than before. Not a single spark is lost or cast aside, for "In Your hand are strength and might, and it is in Your hand to make everything great and strong."

G-d, You are the free Healer. Arouse Your love for me and heal me. Remove all flaws and blemishes from my body, from my nefesh, my ru"ach and my neshamah. Send complete healing to all those Jews who are sick, and in particular to [specify the name of the sick person]. Faithful, loving Healer, who heals the broken-hearted and binds up their wounds: "heal me, HaShem, and I will be healed, save me and I will be saved, for You are my praise." Let me be whole and perfect, free of all flaws and blemishes.

Grant me inner peace, and give me control and mastery over my body so that I will be able to nullify all bodily desires and bad traits. Let my body be completely subordinate to my soul and have no other will or desire but to follow the desire of the holy soul, which is to do Your Will. Let peace reign between my soul and my body. Let my body be sanctified and purified until it becomes united with the holy soul, and I carry out all Your commandments and do everything You want of me, body and soul, willingly and withgreatjoy. Letmybodyand souluniteinlove and peace to do Your will sincerely, until I attain complete inner harmony and am ready to order MY prayer before You perfectly. Let my prayer rise before You like the incense and perfect sacrifices offered by those who are whole and perfect.

Master of the World, let my only motive in taking part in the affairs of this world be for the sake of my soul. Let my only intention in all my prayers be only to perfect my soul. Even when I offer the prayers arranged by Your sages of old, of blessed memory, which contain explicit requests for our bodily needs, as in the blessings of "Heal us" and "Bless this year for us" in the Shmoneh Esray prayer, let my only thought be for the healing of my soul, her livelihood and perfection. Let me believe and know that when everything is in order in the spiritual realm, the fixing of the material realm will follow of itself, and I will automatically receive all the material blessings I need.

Bring me to genuine belief in You. Let me have complete faith that You are "good to all," and that no matter what a person requires, whether healing, livelihood or anything else, You are "good for everything" - You can satisfy all his needs and requirements if he prays to You for what he needs sincerely, begging for compassion. Let all my efforts be directed only to You, HaShem. No matter what I may need, let me only pray to You and appeal for You to help me, instead of trying to get what I need by resorting to worldly ploys and stratagems.

What use is it to expend energy on such things, when it is either impossible or extremely difficult to get exactly what we need - whether it be the right medicine, or the things we need to make a living? Surely it is better to turn to You for everything we need. You are very close to us, and available at all times, "For which great nation is there whose god is close to them the way HaShem our G-d is close to us whenever we call to FEm?" You have the power to fulfil all our requests through easily available means. Nothing is too wonderful for You.

Let us put all our efforts into constant prayer and supplication. Let us always pray with intense concentration, until we bring peace into all the worlds and they will all come to perfection. Let peace reign among all Your creatures. Let them all love one another. This will cause Your love, kindness and mercy to descend over all Your creatures, since, as our Rabbis taught, "Moever shows love for G-d's creatures is shown love from Heaven." Let us see the fulfilment of the verse: "HaShem is good to all, and his love is upon all his works."

Master of the World: If my words are halting, open Ymouth to me and help me order my prayers and requests in a fitting manner and offer them truly and sincerely at all times. Let me always be able to express everything I need to say to You. Help me to explain everything I have in my heart in such a way as to elicit Your love and kindness, so that You will always grant my requests.

Please, HaShem, let me come to everything I have asked of You. Through the power and merit of the Torah-labors of the true Tzaddikim, let a great light shine down to us from the source of our souls, inspiring us to repent for all our sins so that we elevate the holy glory from its deep, humiliating exile amidst the husks. Let Your great and holy glory always be enhanced, sanctified, exalted and elevated through us. Let Your glory be revealed throughout the world. Let Your glory shine over the whole earth, as it is written: "And the earth will shine with Hs glory."... "And the glory of G-d will be revealed, and all flesh will see together that the mouth of G-d has spoken."

 

Prayer and devotion

HaShem: Please bring me to pray to You sincerely and wholeheartedly, and with perfect faith. Let my prayers be pure, fitting and properly ordered. Let me pray with complete attention and devotion. Let me bind my thoughts to the words of my prayers as I say them. Let me concentrate on the words intensely, and pour my heart out to You like water.

Aid in expressing myself to You at all times. Help me tell You everything that is in my heart. You know how many needs I have. My heart is so troubled that I find it too much to express and explain everything I need and want. Please take pity on my poor soul and help me talk to You about everything I have in my heart. Put pure and pleasing words and entreaties into my mouth, so that I will be able to arouse Your compassion and bring You to accept my prayers with love.

Let my prayers rise up to the greatest heights. Give me the power to arouse the Upper Eden through my prayers, so as to open up a flowing channel of love, supreme wisdom and G-dly knowledge. Let the emerging river flow down to water the Garden - the Torah - which is where our souls are rooted. Let my soul grow and blossom. Let the pathways of the intellect be truly open to me, and bring me to attain wisdom, understanding and knowledge.

 

Help me pray

Help me pray with full attention and with all my energy and strength. Let me put all my energy into the letters of the words, so that my strength will be renewed and I will draw new holy vitality from the prayers, since prayer is the source of all vitality - "Prayer to the G-d of my life." Help me come to perfect faith.

Kind and loving G-d: Help me direct my prayers upwards to You through the gate of the tribe in which my soul is rooted and from which I was hewn out. Let my prayers ascend through the right gate and rise up to Heaven - through the Land of Israel, through Jerusalem, the Temple and the Holy of Holies - until they rise to the place of Your dwelling.

Give my prayers the power to arouse the Constellation associated with each person's gate and tribe, so as to shine down on on the world with goodness and blessing, to bless all the fruits of the earth, and to give us success in all our efforts.

 

Purim

Help me enter the Purim season and celebrate Purim with great joy. Let the holy radiance of Purim - the holiness of Mordechai and Esther - shine upon us and our children and all Your people Israel. Let me fulfil all the mitzvot of Purim in holiness and purity, joyously and with all my heart. Put joy into my heart and let it spread to my hands and feet until I clap my hands and dance for joy in praise of Your Name.

Let me renew my commitment to fulfil all the teachings of Your Torah with love. Help me learn, teach, guard, observe and fulfil the Torah. Enlighten my eyes and grant that I should study and understand both the revealed and the mystical aspects of the Torah. Help me advance from level to level and grasp Your hidden secrets, so that I do not come before You with shame.

 

Taking responsibility for the world

Master of the Universe: Help us fulfil perfectly the teaching of our Rabbis, of blessed memory, that "Every single person is obliged to say,"The world was created for my sake." " Help me keep these words in my heart constantly, in order that I should always steer clear of even the smallest sin or anything else that goes contrary to Your will, so that I never become the cause of any kind of deficiency, damage or impediment, whether in myself or in the world as a whole. Instead, let me always be watchful for anything I can do to improve or benefit the world, or provide for its needs, and let me pray for the world.

In Your abundant love and kindness, help us to be able to pray for the entire world and thereby bring about the fulfilment of its needs. Help us nulall evil decrees through our prayers. Grant us the knowledge of whether the decree has already been sealed or not, so that we may know how best to pray to You, and whether we should clothe our prayers in the form of narra. tive at times when this is necessary. Even though we may be very far from this level of understanding at the present time, even so, everything is in Your hand, and for You nothing is impossible.

"HaShem, do not hold back Your love from me; Your mercy and Your truth will always protect me." Help me come to everything I have requested of You. Sanctify me with Your mitzvot and delight my soul with Your salvation. Purify my heart to serve You sincerely with the service of the heart - namely prayer - so that I will be able to pray to You with all my strength and to fulfil Your mitzvot joyously at all times.

"Let the words of my prayer be sweet to Fhm." "I will rejoice in HaShem, and my soul will exult in HaShem and delight in His salvation." "All my bones will declare: HaShem, who is like You? You save the poor from those who are too strong for them, and the needy from those who would rob them." "Light is sown for the righteous, and joy for those who are pure of heart." Blessed be HaShem for ever. Amen. Amen.

 

Rosh Chodesh - The New Moon

Help me to come to perfect Teshuvah. Let me not leave this world until I have repented of my sins and made amends for all the wrong I have done, whether in thought, word or deed. Help me draw down the light of perfect Teshuvah from its root - Rosh Chodesh - as we have learned from Your true Tzaddikim.

Let me always celebrate Rosh Chodesh with great holiness. You have given Your people Israel twelve New Moons as a time for atonement in every generation. On each one, let me draw down the light of Teshuvah from its root, so that I will come back to You in true, perfect Teshuvah.

Loving G-d: let me have faith in the true Tzaddikim, and help me come genuinely close to them. Let me always be able to arouse their concern, so that they will pray for me and awaken Your love for me, until You bring me truly close to You.

Israel need, physically or spiritually, be channeled to us through the prayers of the true Tzaddikim on our behalf. You know that I myself am unable to order my prayers in the right way. My words are halting and riddled with imperfection.

My only hope is to rely on the prayers of the true Tzaddikim, both those who are alive in this world - long may they live - and those who dwell in the earth. They are my only foundation. All my hopes are on them. I am relying on their great merit and power as I come before You, HaShem my G-d and G-d of my fathers. Have mercy and take pity on us. Let their prayers shield and protect us, so that we will genuinely come close to You, turn away from evil and always do good in Your eyes from now on and for ever. Amen. Selah.

 

Ruler of all the worlds, Master of all the souls

You created Your universe for the sake of Your people Israel, as it is written: "Be-reishit In the beginning, G-d created the heaven and the earth" - on which our Rabbis commented: "Bereishit - for Israel, who are called reishit, the first." Israel arose in the Divine thought first. For our sake You created all the worlds, from the beginning of Atzilut, the World of Emanation, down to this physical world, the earth and everything on it, the seas and all that is in them. You created everything for a good purpose, in order that You could take pride in us in every generation.

And so, loving Father, have pity on us, and helus always to do what is good in Your eyes. Let us genuinely become the people You want us to be. Let us turn aside from evil and always do good, so that Your pride and delight in us can be revealed for all time.

 

For the sake of Heaven

May it be Your will, HaShem my G-d and G-d of my fathers, lovingly help me attain great joy, true joy, in serving You, as it is written: "Serve HaShem with happiness..." "...and rejoice with trembling." Bring me to fulfil all the n-dtzvot with a happiness and joy that come from the mitzvah itself. While engaged in each mitzvah, let me rejoice over the fact that You have lovingly given me the privilege of performing this mitzvah.

Let all my joy be from the mitzvah alone and not from the thought of the reward I will receive in the World to Come, not to speak of any honor or other extraneous benefits I anticipate from other people, or other mundane advantages of any kind. Let my entire joy be from the mitzvah itself. Let my World to Come be in the actual performance of the mitzvah, so that I will have no wish for any reward for the mitzvah in the Next World. Let my reward be that You will grant me another mitzvah, as taught by our Rabbis: "The reward for a mitzvah is mitzvah." Through Your holy mitzvot, which are Your unity, let me become fully merged with You, and fulfil through me the words of the Psalms: "HaShem will rejoice in Ffis works" and "Israel will rejoice in their Maker." Take joy in us through granting us the opportunity to carry out actions that are good in Your eyes, and let our joy be in You.

By lovingly helping us to perform our mitzvot with joy, give us the power to bring vitality and G-dly blessing into our two hundred and forty-eight limbs and three hundred and sixty-five sinews, and into the entire world, the entire year, and the three dimensions: space, time and soul. Let all of them be blessed and receive goodness, vitality, holiness and purity through our fulfilment of the n-dtzvot with great joy.

 

The exile of the Soul

You alone know how desperately I need help, and how my soul needs help on every level - my nefesh, roach and nesha?nah. My soul originates from the greatest heights, where she enjoyed the embrace of her Father in Heaven. But to come down into this world, she has had to enter a gross, material body like this. Woe for the son who has been e)dled from his father's table.

Your holy intention was for my own good that I should be placed in a position of challenge in this lowly world. It is up to me to use my free will to overcome the physical lin-dtations of my body and conquer the passions of my heart, in order to come to know You in this lowly world, which is so totally remote from Your holiness.

What should I do, Heavenly Father? I have not been able to receive Your great goodness. I have not taken care of my soul, and I have not made the effort to control my desires. "You have tried me but You did not find what You wanted." My years have been wasted on vanity and emptiness because of my bodily appetites, which have remained entrenched in me from earliest childhood until today.

Every day I wait and hope for genuine spiritual redemption, but my hopes have been disappointed. Each day my urges attack me with ever greater force. I have no one to rely upon except You, my Father in Heaven. Have pity on me. Be kind to me even though I have nothing to give You in return. Love me like a father loves his children. Answer me, Father, answer me! Answer me, Creator, answer me! Answer me, Redeemer, answer me! Bring me to follow the path of Your statutes and observe Your laws. Help me and save me.

Please, HaShem, save my soul from all the evil traits and desires that are still entrenched in my body, both those I was bom with - "for I was conceived in guilt, and my mother was heated with sin" - and those I myself have allowed to develop through failing to make sufficient effort to fight to overcome them. Free me from all of them from now on.

Help me lead a good life in the future. Grant me wisdom, understanding, good counsel, strength and power so that I will be able to save my soul from destruction and keep myself well away from all bad traits and desires. Help meradicate them completely. Let my body be pure and cleansed of all lusts and evil, and help me attain the holiness and purity that befit a Jew.

Help me make amends in my lifetime for all the wrong and damage I have done from my childhood until today. Help me cleanse my soul of all the stains and corruption caused by my sins and transgressions. "You know my shaxne, and my disgrace is not hidden from You. All my enen-des are before You." "Shame has broken my heart and I am sick with pain, I hoped for somebody who would sympathize, but there was nobody. I hoped for comforters, but I did not find any.

"Remove my disgrace, which I dread, for Your judgements are good." Let my soul be precious in Your eyes. Give full rein to Your love as against any strictness and harshness. "You have taken my soul out of prison to give thanks to Your Name." "What profit is there in my blood if I o down to destruction? Will the dust acknowledge You or proclaim Your truth2"

"Arise, HaShem, save my soul" from all kinds of shame and disgrace, from all evil traits and desires, and from all faults and defects. Forgive me and pardon me for all the dama e I have done until now. Remove my shame, and throw all my sins into the depths of the sea, to a place where they will never be remembered. Take no account of them: let them simply disappear into oblivion. From now on, help me cleanse and purify my soul and my body of all evil traits and desires. In future, let me be genuinely pure and holy, just the way You would like me to be.

 

Shabbat

HaShem my G-d and G-d of my fathers! G-d of love and favor: Help me and bring me to celebrate Shabbat with tremendous joy and delight, with awe and love. Let me take an active part in preparing for Shabbat and do so eagerly and energetically. Help me to always keep up to date with my study of the weekly Torah reading: let me read the portion of the week each Friday, twice in the Hebrew and once in the Aramaic Targum, with full concentration, in holiness and purity, and thereby bring me to gain perfect mastery of the Holy Language through the language of the Targum.

Letme bring the holiness of Shabbat into me through washing in hot water and in-unersing in the mikveh on Shabbat eve. Help me never to miss washing and immersing prior to Shabbat. And just as I wash and in-unerse myself in this world, so purify and sanctify my body, my nefesh, my roach and my neshamah with Your supreme holiness. Send down flames of the holy, G-dly fire that bums above and consumes and destroys all kinds of fire, so as to bum and destroy all the evil that has come into me personally and the Jewish People as a whole as a result of eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and all our sins and transgressions. Let all the evil that has taken hold of us be burned and fall away, and let the good be purified so as to ascend and become unified with the Supreme good - Your great goodness that will endure for ever.

Please, HaShem: You know that I don't have the power to bring the holiness of Shabbat into me by myself. Have pity on me and arouse Your love for me. You know how far I am from experiencing the true holiness of Shabbat. Be kind to me and grant me the true holiness of Shabbat as an outright gift. Let me add to the Shabbat at its beginning and end, and help me draw the holiness of Shabbat into the other days of the week, until all the six working days will have the purity and holiness of Shabbat. Let the six working days then become reunited with their holy vital source - Shabbat, which gives life and sustenance to the other six days of the week, to the entire array of different creatures of every kind and on every level, spiritual and physical, and to all the worlds, from the first point from which the creation emanated down to the central point of the material world. AR their life and sustenance come from the Shabbat.

Master of the Universe: In Your love and kindness You gave us this good gift called Shabbat that was hidden in Your treasure-house. I have therefore come to pour out my prayer and plead and beg You, HaShem my G-d and G-d of my fathers: just as You gave us this good, holy gift with such overwheln-dng love and mercy, so now shower me with goodness, inspire me and help me to receive this good and holy gift and celebrate Shabbat with the utmost holiness, joy and delight. Inspire me with the holiness of Shabbat at all times so that I can break and destroy the evil that has taken hold of me and sift out and elevate the good in me by mastering the Holy Language through refining the language of everyday conversation. Bring me to the true holiness of the Covenant and let me come back to You with all my heart and constantly rise from level to level with ever greater holiness, just as You want, until I will ascend and become merged in the supreme Shabbat and You will mercifully grant me the day that is all Shabbat and rest and eternal life.

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart find favor before You, HaShem, my Rock and Redeemer.

 

The Blast of the Shofar

Master of the Universe: Grant that I should hear the sounding of the shofar on Rosh HaShanah from shofar-blowers who are genuinely pure and G-d-feari. Let the holy sound of the shofar penetrate my mind like thunder, until I am gripped with fear and awe of HaShem and His radiant glory, so that all the crookedness in my heart will be smoothed out and I will come to inner purity and holyjoy, as it is written: "And to the pure of heart, joy."

"Happy is the people who know the shofar blast, HaShem, they will walk in the light of Your countenance. They will rejoice in Your Name all day long, and through Your righteousness they will be exalted." HaShem, grant that I should experience the fulfilment of this verse in my own life.

T