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Prayer for the Poor on Chanukah – By the Esteemed Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a

Prayer for the Poor on Chanukah – By the Esteemed Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a

Master of the Universe, full of compassion, who gives strength and might to the people, who bestows upon us strength and might from the Sefirah of Netzach, from forty-nine solidities, influencing the seven branches of the Menorah with the oil of wisdom, understanding, and knowledge, please grant us understanding and knowledge to seek the true tzaddik, who is in the aspect of Mattityahu, who influences in every generation the light of Chanukah… 

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 gather and elevate every good point, even from lowly people like us, who have descended descent after descent, level after level, lower and lower, to places that cannot be spoken of or mentioned, for it is precisely to these places, which are already below ten tefachim, below all levels, within all impurities in the depths of the stormy waters, that the true tzaddikim strive to reach, and to pull us out from there with all their strength, with their great kindness and humility, to gather even from there every good point of everyone who truly regrets their transgressions, and merits to truly feel the very pain of their sins, which is a pain more terrible and dreadful than any other, and cries out terribly from the very suffering of the body and soul, which are more terrible than any others.

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For even if all the sufferings from the beginning of the world were to gather upon one person they could not compare to the very pain of the neshamah (soul) from the slightest sin, which it failed in even in a moment of distraction, all the more so to the pain of someone like me who has transgressed the entire Torah thousands upon thousands of times.

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

Therefore, we thank You, we praise You and glorify You, and Your praise shall be in our mouths at all times, for in Your great mercy You have given us these eight days of Chanukah, which extend from the Sefirah of Binah, and You have ruled halacha like Beit Hillel, so that we can receive the light even from just one candle, in the aspect of "if there is upon him an angel, an advocate, one among a thousand," in the aspect of one out of a thousand, that the true tzaddikim in the aspect of Hillel, in the aspect of "Blessed is Hashem day by day," can lower themselves to every point of every Jew, even if it is in the utmost darkness and gloom and sunk in a deep mire, when he awakens even a slight awakening, and draw to him all the lights of the candles of the Menorah, in the aspect of "Blessed is Hashem day by day"…

Please redeem us from destruction, and redeem us also in this generation, like us today, even if we are not worthy of any miracle or any change of nature, nevertheless, nothing is too wondrous for You, and You perform miracles and wonders beyond comprehension in every generation and every day for the worthy and the unworthy, 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 will be precious in Your eyes, and despite our being truly lowly as dust and ashes – You will save us, precisely from our lowliness and baseness You will shine Your face upon us and redeem us…

Master of the Universe, please grant us to seek anew these tzaddikim of the generation, and to receive their illumination. Grant us illumination from the parsha of the week, from the search of the brothers for the tzaddik so that we may seek him with all our heart, with all our soul and might, and give our bodies to kill and be killed, until we find him, for in 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, we say our God is the work of our hands.

Master of the Universe, grant us this tzaddik, who is the light of lights, so that we may merit by his power to illuminate the light of Chanukah in the hearts of all Your people, even in the hearts of the most distant. For
the Jewish point, hidden in the depths of a person's soul, is ignited by the light of the candle, and awakens the soul to yearn for the light of Hashem, for the light of 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 yet entered even into the aspect of gestation, and I have no nefesh, ruach, and neshamah, and not even nefesh of nefesh, but only the animal soul of thick blood, which draws me to every abomination and detestable thing, until I have become worse than an animal, and the pure and refined 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 with me kindnesses and mercies without end, and without investigation, to bring me out of the depths of the abyss and below it, and I with my hands have rebelled against all Your good counsel, and rejected all Your kindnesses, and ignored Your good hints, for if I had looked at one hint, my entire body would have already been nullified in relation to the neshamah, and thereby all the evil decrees from all Your people, the house of Israel, would have been nullified, for all hope is lost, we have come to 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 erased, for just hearing their words, which conceal their schemes, makes our bones tremble with fear, until there is no neshamah left in us, for the faithful have vanished from the people, and there is no one standing in the breach, and Your tzaddikim, who engage in the rectification of the world and the nullification of all evil decrees, have already been hidden or removed from the world, before it arises in thought, "Hashem has placed me in the hands of those I cannot rise against," "He has consumed my flesh and my skin, He has broken my bones: He has built against me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship… He has enclosed my ways with hewn stone, He has made my paths crooked: Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the heavens, they chased us upon the mountains, they lay in wait for us in the wilderness: The breath of our nostrils, the Mashiach of Hashem, was captured in their corruption, of whom we said, In his shadow we shall live among the nations:" and even the tzaddik who said, that I can bring the entire world to teshuvah (repentance), has disappeared from us, for we have fallen into the concealment within the 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 deeds, "who performs great deeds beyond investigation, miracles and wonders beyond number" for nothing is impossible for You, "for You can do all things and no plan is withheld from You" please reveal to the hearts of Your servants who plead before You, who raise their eyes to You alone, please reveal to them who are the tzaddikim of this generation, who are in the aspect of the House of Hasmonean, who sacrifice their lives for You at every moment in truth and sincerity, who can perform great miracles and wonders as in those days also in this time, please reveal to us the tzaddikim who atone for all our sins and transform them through teshuvah from love into merits, into wonderful vessels of broken hearts for the hidden light that is drawn upon us during the eight days of Chanukah, please reveal to us the true tzaddik about whom it is said: "Surely he has borne our sicknesses… and he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his wounds we are healed" grant in our hearts that we may cry out day and night "Where is the one who brought them up from the sea, the shepherd of His flock, where is the one who placed His Holy Spirit within him, who led Moses with His glorious arm, who divided the waters before them to make for Himself an everlasting name," grant in our hearts to seek the true tzaddikim of the generation, in the aspect of the seven shepherds, in the aspect of Mattityahu and his sons, and may the verse be fulfilled in us: "Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek Hashem their God, and David their king, and shall fear Hashem and His goodness in the latter days"… Ā 

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