A Prayer for the Poor of Chanukah – by the Gaon and Tzaddik

Master of the Universe, full of mercy, who gives strength and power to the people, who bestows upon us strength and power from the Sefirah of Netzach (Victory/Eternity), from the forty-nine mutzokot (spiritual pipes), which flow into the seven branches of the Menorah the oil of Chochmah (Wisdom), Binah (Understanding), and Da'as (Knowledge). Please, grant us Binah and Da'as to seek the True Tzaddik, who is in the aspect of Mattathias, who bestows the light of Chanukah in every generation…

Even if we are as we are, please do not hide Your face from us. Bring down to the lowest level the Tzaddikim of all generations, and let them gather and elevate every single good point, even from lowly people like us, who have descended descent after descent, level after level, down and down, to places that cannot be told or mentioned. For specifically to these places, which are already below ten tefachim (handbreadths—the domain of impurity), below all levels, within all the impurities in the depths of the turbulent waters, specifically there the True Tzaddikim strive to reach, and to pull us out from there with all their strength, in their great kindness and humility, to gather even from there every good point of each and every person who truly regrets his flaws, and merits to truly feel the very pain of his sins, for there is no pain more terrible and awesome than it, and cries out terribly from the very suffering of body and soul, than which there is none more terrible.

To download the full prayer, click here

For even if all the sufferings that have existed since the beginning of time were gathered upon one person, they could not equal the very pain of the soul from even the lightest of light sins, which it stumbled into even in a momentary lapse of attention, how much more so the pain of one who, like me, has transgressed the entire Torah tens of thousands of times.

Woe is me, my Father, my Father, for there is no pain like my pain, and no wound like my wound.

Therefore, we shall thank You, praise You, and glorify You, and may Your praise be in our mouths at all times, because in Your great mercy You gave us these eight days of Chanukah, which are drawn from the Sefirah of Binah (Understanding), and You ruled the Halachah (law) for us according to Beis Hillel, so that we can receive the light even from just one candle, in the aspect of "if there is one interceding angel for him out of a thousand," in the aspect of one out of a thousand, for the True Tzaddikim in the aspect of Hillel, in the aspect of "Blessed be Hashem day by day," can lower themselves to every single point of every single Jew, even if he is in the ultimate darkness and gloom and sunk in the miry clay, when he awakens even the slightest awakening, and to draw to him all the lights of the candles of the Menorah, in the aspect of "Blessed be Hashem day by day"…

Please, redeem us from the pit, and redeem us in this generation as well, as we are today, even if we are not worthy of any miracle or any change in nature. Nevertheless, nothing is impossible for You, and You perform miracles and wonders beyond investigation in every generation and every day for those who are worthy and those who are not worthy, when they cry out to You in truth and sincerity, and seek the True Tzaddik with all their heart and soul—the Tzaddik who is in the aspect of "And the man Moses was very humble, more than any man on the face of the earth," who is in the aspect of dust and ashes, who threw straw and it turned into arrows, dust and it became swords.

And when such a Tzaddik is revealed, then our soul shall be precious in Your eyes, and despite our being truly lowly as dust and ashes—save us; specifically out of our lowliness and inferiority, shine Your face upon us and redeem us…

Master of the Universe, please merit us to seek anew these Tzaddikim of the generation, and to receive their illumination. Grant us an illumination from the weekly Torah portion, from the brothers' search for the Tzaddik (Joseph), so that we may seek him with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our might, and give over our bodies to be killed and to die, until we find him. For because of our sins he is hidden, and he is bound in chains. Woe to us, for in the absence of a head of the house, we crown ourselves, saying "our god" to the work of our hands.

Master of the Universe, merit us to this Tzaddik, who is the Light of Lights, so that we may merit through his power to illuminate the light of Chanukah in the hearts of all the members of Your people, even in the hearts of those who are furthest away. For the Jewish point, hidden in the depths of the soul of a Jewish person, is ignited by the light of the candle, and awakens the soul to long for the light of Hashem, for the light of the Geulah (Redemption)…

Master of the Universe, You know that I still have no existence in the world, and I have not yet begun to live at all, and I have not even entered the aspect of Ibur (spiritual gestation), and there is no Nefesh, Ruach, or Neshamah (levels of the soul) within me, not even the Nefesh of the Nefesh, but only the murky blood of the animalistic soul, which pulls me toward every loathsome and abominable thing, until I have become worse than an animal. And the pure and clear intellect that You planted in me, I have defiled with all kinds of impurity, from the day I was born until now. And now, what shall I say, and what shall I speak, after You have done for me endless and unfathomable goodness and kindness, to take me out of the lowest depths of Sheol (the underworld) and below it, and I with my own hands rebelled against all Your good advice, and rejected all Your kindness, and ignored Your good hints. For if I had looked at even one hint, my entire body would have already been nullified to the soul, and through this, all the evil decrees would have been nullified from all Your people, the House of Israel. For all hope is already lost, we have reached the end of generations, and they are about to decree upon us all kinds of decrees of destruction as in the days of the Greeks and the Hellenists, may their names be blotted out. For just the hearing of the ears causes trembling in all loins, just hearing their words which hide their plots makes our bones shudder with fear, until no soul is left in us. For faithful men have vanished from the people, and there is no one to stand in the breach, and Your Tzaddikim have already been hidden or have passed away from the world—those who occupy themselves with the Tikkun (rectification) of the world and the nullification of every evil decree before it even arises in thought. "Hashem has delivered me into hands from which I am unable to rise," "He has worn out my flesh and my skin, He has broken my bones: He has built against me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship... He has hedged me in so that I cannot get out, He has made my chains heavy: Also when I cry and shout, He shuts out my prayer: He has enclosed my ways with hewn stone, He has made my paths crooked: Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the heaven, they chased us upon the mountains, they laid wait for us in the wilderness: The breath of our nostrils, the Mashiach of Hashem, was caught in their pits, of whom we said, under his shadow we shall live among the nations." And even the Tzaddik who said, "I can bring the whole world back in Teshuvah (repentance)," is hidden from us, for we have fallen into the concealment within concealment, until we do not feel his absence at all. And what shall we do, for we have missed the aspect of a double portion, the aspect of "if you see me taken from you"…

Master of the Universe, Great in counsel and Mighty in deed, "Who does great things beyond investigation, miracles and wonders without number," for nothing is impossible for You, "for You can do everything and no purpose of Yours can be thwarted." Please, reveal the hearts of Your servants who plead before You, who lift their eyes to You alone. Please reveal to them who are the Tzaddikim in this generation, who are in the aspect of the House of the Hasmoneans, who sacrifice their lives for You every single moment in truth and sincerity, who can perform immense miracles and wonders as in those days at this time as well. Please reveal to us the Tzaddikim who atone for all our iniquities and transform them through Teshuvah (repentance) out of love into merits, into wonderful vessels of broken hearts for the Hidden Light that is drawn upon us in the eight days of Chanukah. Please reveal to us the True Tzaddik of whom it is said: "Surely he has borne our sicknesses... but he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed." Put into our hearts that we should cry out day and night, "Where is He who brought them up out of the sea with the shepherd of His flock? Where is He who put His Holy Spirit within him? Who led them by the right hand of Moses with His glorious arm, dividing the water before them, to make Himself an everlasting name?" Put into our hearts to seek the True Tzaddikim of the generation, in the aspect of the Seven Shepherds, in the aspect of Mattathias and his sons, and may the verse be fulfilled in us: "Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek Hashem their G-d and David their king, and shall fear Hashem and His goodness in the end of days"…

To download the full prayer, click here