A Prayer to Merit Patience, Never to Hold a Grudge Against Anyone

For Patience

Master of the Universe, the Omnipotent One, grant me the merit of arichus apayim (infinite patience). May I never hold a grudge against any person in the world, even if they cause me all the troubles and suffering in the world. As it is written in Likutey Halachos (Hilchos Tefillin 5:17), Rebbe Nachman said that when he arrived in the Land of Israel, he attained such immense patience that even if people were to inflict all the suffering in the world upon him, he would not mind or hold any grievance at all. On the contrary, he would bestow upon them every good in the world, drawing down endless abundance upon them, their children, and their children's children forever. For tzaddikim conduct themselves in the exact opposite manner of ordinary people. They do not take revenge nor bear a grudge, as it is written, "You shall not take revenge and you shall not bear a grudge against the members of your people" (Leviticus 19:18), and they never harbor resentment. This is just like Yosef HaTzaddik; after his brothers caused him all the suffering in the world, he did not hold it against them, he did not become angry, and he did not bear a grudge against them, Heaven forbid. On the contrary, he fed them, gave them drink, and clothed them. Because the tzaddikim embody the essence of Purim, the concept of "v'nahafoch hu" (and it was turned upside down)—the complete opposite of the general populace. So too, may we merit to never harbor resentment, and to transform our evil nature from one extreme to the other. May we never hold a grudge, but rather overcome our nature with the trait of infinite compassion.

BS"D                           645

To Merit Patience, Never to Hold a Grudge Against Anyone in the World, Only to Repay Them with Every Good in the World, to Learn from the Path of the Tzaddikim Who Never Take Revenge or Bear a Grudge, and to Merit Transforming Our Nature from One Extreme to the Other