Prayer of the Poor Man

Prayer of the Poor Man - Tu B'Shvat by Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a

BS"D

Merciful and Gracious Father, Guardian of His people Israel with His love, upon whom is His pride and in whom is His glory: Strengthen me and encourage me for the honor of the New Year, which begins on the fifteenth of Shevat, to reveal in Your abundant mercy the new glory that rises before You from every single Jew wherever he may be. For You have taught us through Your true Tzaddikim that You renew Your world with abundant flow and new glory, corresponding to the new glory revealed in every person of Israel at every time and hour. And the more we reveal and find good points and beautiful colors in each and every one, like their renewal within him every day constantly, and in revelations that have never existed before—You will open for us openings and gates to exalted worlds of redemption and salvation, and You will reveal to us hidden secrets and new paths to the Supernal Palaces.

Our Father, Merciful Father, Lover of His people Israel forever, grant us from You a good heart and a good eye to find grace, good intelligence, beauty, and splendor in the entire wonderful creation that You created, and in all Your creatures, the work of Your hands—You made them all with wisdom. Specifically, may I merit to find and reveal in Your people Israel, in whom You take pride—in every one of them, even in the lowest of the low—the majesty of Your honor, the radiance of the path to Your will and Your glory. Until we merit to draw down through this, to the entire world, all the wonderful colors with which You desire to enrich and adorn Your world. Merit us to sanctify our eyes, so that we see only good, radiance, and splendor in every matter and thing, and especially in our brethren, the House of Israel. So that we may merit all the good and the abundance that You desire to bestow upon us according to Your good will, to renew Your Kingship in the world with Your infinite light every day with new glory, with the beauty of majesty, blooming and flourishing as never before, in wonderful and renewed colors, in such a way that Your world becomes more and more beautiful from day to day.

Therefore, merit us, O Mighty and Awesome God, Who dwells in the heights and sits upon the circle of the earth, Whose eyes roam throughout the entire land: Merit us with a good eye and a loving heart. Plant in our hearts brotherhood and love of friends, so that we may all be renewed together with all our brethren, the House of Israel, to believe in the wonderful good that is renewed every day—good that has never existed before—which You, in Your honor and by Yourself, bestow upon us from the Throne of Your Glory, from Your very Essence, which is the root of all Jewish souls. Until we merit, through this brotherhood of ours, to draw You to us and to cause Your Shechinah (Divine Presence) to dwell in our Holy Temple, may it be built speedily in our days, Amen.

"And help us from now on, that we shall no longer have any enthusiasm in our hearts for any lust in the world, even for permitted things, and certainly, certainly that no enthusiasm should arise in our hearts, Heaven forbid, for any forbidden thing."

Master of the World, spare us and be gracious to us on this holy day, which is the aspect of Rosh Hashanah—the New Year for Trees—in which the souls of Israel were emanated according to the opinion of Rabbi Yehoshua. It is a day in which You renew the entire creation and bring down a flow of intellect and a flow of new *mochin* (mental powers) to the souls of Israel, which are likened to trees. Please, pour upon us from the light of the holy *Makifim* (Surrounding Lights) on the day when Your two holy names, *Havayah* and *Adnut*, are joined (which in Gematria equals *Ilan*/Tree), on the day when the flow of the holy *Makifim* of *Havayah* and *Adnut* (Gematria *Sukkah*) is drawn down. Spare us and be gracious to us, and hear the voice of our prayer with mercy. Bestow upon us a holy flow, a Divine flow, a flow of true intellect, a flow of the holy *Makifim*, a flow of Ruach HaKodesh (Divine Spirit). May the light of the intellect be opened to us, and may the movement of our intellect be quickened to grasp with great speed the perception of the holy *Makifim*. May we merit to grasp the awesome Intellect called "Kedem," which is the Light of the Face, until we do not need to use any introduction. Through this intellect, may we merit that the flame of the heart rises of its own accord constantly. Help us so that our hearts will be inflamed with tremendous enthusiasm always, in truth, for Your service and Your awe, with flashes of the flame of God (*Shalhevet-Yah*), until we rectify, through the enthusiasm of the heart for holiness, all the flaws we have caused through the enthusiasm of the heart for the *Sitra Achra* (Other Side). May we merit to rectify all the flaws of warmth and enthusiasm for material things, for evil lusts and bad character traits, which have brought us, may the Merciful One save us, to the lusts of this world.

Therefore, we have come to seek Your face, our Father in Heaven. Please, let Your mercies be stirred for us; engage in our rescue and exert effort in the rectification of our souls. Help us from now on, that we shall no longer have any enthusiasm in our hearts for any lust in the world, even for permitted things, and certainly, certainly that no enthusiasm should arise in our hearts, Heaven forbid, for any forbidden thing. Help us, be gracious to us, and influence us with Your compassion, that we may have enthusiasm of the heart for holiness, to be inflamed in flames of love for Your Name and Your service in truth; to pray, to strengthen ourselves, to learn and to teach, and to fulfill all Your commandments with great enthusiasm, in holiness and purity according to Your truly good will. Through this, may we merit to rectify the flaw of the enthusiasm of the heart for the *Sitra Achra* that has been in our hearts from our youth until this day, so that we may merit that our hearts be truly purified. Through this, may we merit to pour out our conversation before You always, to appease and reconcile with You, and to plead before You each time with new, truly holy words that will be a pleasure and acceptable before the Throne of Your Glory. And may we merit to draw close with a truly great closeness and with a whole heart, as befits Your treasured people.

Create for me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.

Master of the World, spare and have mercy on me in Your abundant mercies, that I may merit to innovate true insights (Chiddushim) in the Torah in holiness and purity. May I have permission from Heaven to reveal them to Your people, the House of Israel. May merit be brought about through me to do good from Your goodness with which You favor me, to all Your people, the House of Israel; to reveal the *Segulah* (treasure/remedy) to the Treasured People; to reveal to them what I grasp in my intellect—true Torah innovations in holiness and purity—so that they may return in complete *teshuvah* (repentance) through my words. Let me not stumble in the speech of my mouth, and let me not say anything that is not according to Your will. You raise the poor from the dust, from the trash heaps You lift the destitute; spare me and be gracious to me, and fulfill my requests with mercy. Do it for Your sake and not for ours; do it for Your sake and save us, and do not turn us away empty-handed from Your presence, our King. Be gracious to us and answer us, and hear the voice of our prayer, for You hear the prayer of every mouth of Your people Israel with mercy and listen to our voice from the depths—the voices of the House of Israel who sigh and groan, who cry out from a distant land. You cannot ignore Your destitute brother; You shall surely help, You shall surely raise up. Rider of the Heavens is at our help, and in His majesty, the skies.

May it be Your will before You, Hashem our God and God of our fathers, Master of all deeds, Lord of all souls: Rescue, rescue, redeem and deliver even the stragglers, the weary, and the exhausted, just as You redeemed our fathers who were about to fall into the fifty gates of impurity. Hear the cry of Your wandering people just as You heard the cry of our fathers in Egypt, and listened to their groaning, and answered their shouting, and split the sea for them in the merit of Moses their teacher—even though they rebelled at the Red Sea and carried with them the idol of Micah. Just as You split it into twelve paths so that each and every tribe could pass in its own special path, please, turn also to the cry of one as distant as I am, the likes of whom has not existed since the day the world was created. Split the sea before him too, and remove from him all the concealments. Open his heart in Talmud and Halachah, reveal to him new ways and new paths that have never yet been revealed, which can help even the lowest of the low like me. Help also the one who transgresses "You shall not make for yourself a graven image," and save also the one who has not yet cast away the idol of Micah, who makes the Torah a spade to dig with. Please, redeem also the one whose Torah comes from the brazenness of the *Sitra Achra*, which is the aspect of graven images, in the merit of the Tzaddik of the generation, the aspect of Moses.

Master of the World, just as You merited Ehud ben Gera to uproot the idols and thereby subdue Eglon king of Moab and the Moabites with him, until the land was quiet for eighty years because of him—so too, merit me to cast away all the idols from myself. May I merit the "waste of the Tablets" (the spiritual wealth), the Torah of true Tzaddikim, which is clean from any stain, from any waste, and from any ulterior motive, from which Moses became wealthy in spirituality and physicality.

My Father in Heaven, put into my heart to know that all the waste in the world devolves only from me, from my negligence in Torah and Mitzvos. All the idols and heretics overpower the world because of my Torah study which is in the aspect of a "graven image," and my prayer without heart, without overcoming the heresy in the heart which prevents the intention of the heart and hides the knowledge that You stand over me at the time of prayer and listen to every single letter. And that every single letter wraps around me, hugs me, and pleads with me not to transgress it and not to go gleaning in another field. Please, spare and have mercy on me, that I may merit to contemplate its splendor and beauty, its radiance and glory, the great, precious, and delightful virtues hidden within it. Please, spare and have mercy on me and remove from me my malice and treachery, the contempt of my soul and the evil of my heart. Let me not push away with my own hands all the good hidden in every letter of the holy prayer; let me not cover the miracles with the way of nature, in the aspect of "the deeps cover them." Please merit me to cling to the true Tzaddik who descends into the depths like a stone to rescue the souls of Israel from the abyss. Master of the entire World, You know that I am still very far from faith in the power of prayer, and it is not yet clear to me that through every single letter of prayer, one can effect all the salvations in the world. Please merit me to strengthen myself in faith, that for the one clean of scorning people, of flawed faith, and of sexual immorality, You promised to send all blessings and healings through bread and water, as it is written: "And you shall serve Hashem your God, and He will bless your bread and your water, and I will remove sickness from your midst." And "If you will diligently hearken to the voice of Hashem your God, and do that which is right in His eyes, and give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases upon you which I have put upon the Egyptians, for I am Hashem your Healer."

Master of the World, full of mercy, spare and have mercy on one flawed in prayer like me. Instead of raising the prayer from the aspect of "field" to the aspect of "house," and effecting through my prayer all salvations, blessings, and healings, I have lowered it down, down. I have descended from bad to worse. Not only that, but I have also distanced myself from the little that I used to pray with intention once in a while. Furthermore, I have fallen into the pride of "I will reign," and made myself into an idol. Through this, my prayer has become despicable before You with the utmost despicableness, until I have become distanced as east is from west from the true Tzaddik, who alone can elevate the prayer. I have forgotten him; woe is to me, for I have ignored all his commands, turned my back on all his advice, and missed all his promises that he would make us "exactly like him." Woe is to me, for I have done evil in my deeds, until I have become less than the Egyptian maidservant, who through her clinging to the true Tzaddik merited a perception of Face to Face; she saw and grasped more than Ezekiel the son of Buzi. The sea split for her, and all the secrets of the Torah were revealed to her, and she pointed with a finger and said, "This is my God and I will glorify Him." But I, who am of the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, have fallen below the fiftieth gate of impurity, and have become defiled with all the impurities in the world. In my many sins, I fall into weakness more and more from day to day, and I become more lax in the work of Heaven every day. I do not overcome at all in the service of Hashem, neither in Torah nor in prayer, and I have never merited complete *teshuvah* in truth.

Master of the World, spare and have mercy on me, for You are Omnipotent, and no plan is withheld from You. Just as You split the sea for our ancestors and granted them miracles and wonders that never existed before, raising them from the 49 gates of impurity to the 49 gates of holiness until they reached a level where their filth ceased—so too, now, You can perform for my sake a completely new Splitting of the Red Sea. Just as You split the sea anew before Datan and Aviram, despite their wickedness and rebellion, and even though they did not wish to leave Egypt, You had mercy on them in the merit of Moses our Teacher and changed the laws of nature for them—so too, have mercy on me, on a weak and wretched one like me, who is lax in leaving Egypt and becoming a free man, who is sunk in the exile of the body and soul, which is harder than all exiles. In the merit of the Tzaddik who is very great in stature, the aspect of Moses our Teacher, peace be upon him—and even though I am much worse than all of them—save me now. For You do new things at every time, and renew every day, every hour, and every moment miracles and wonders without end and without number, which have never existed before, and You have mercy at every time on Your people Israel with new mercies and kindnesses. Please, have mercy on me too with Your wonderful mercies, with new mercies and kindnesses that have never yet been revealed, in the merit of the holy Tzaddikim who are in the earth. In this way, may I merit to return to You, to the path of life in absolute truth. Do not let me wander anymore in confused and bewildered paths that are not according to Your will. Let me not walk in darkness anymore, and let me not excuse falsehood with truth. I will trust in the name of Hashem and rely on my God. Do not turn Hashem away from Your path; do not harden my heart from fearing You. I have wandered like a lost sheep; seek Your servant, for I have not forgotten Your commandments.

"May the Tzaddik also be revealed in our generation, who has the power to awaken and reveal the melody and the supreme song, the choicest of all songs and melodies in the world, which brings out to eternal freedom and eternal faith all the souls that have fallen into errors and confusions and sunk into heresy drawn from the Void."

Master of the World, help me and save me, for everything is from You, and You are Omnipotent. Please sanctify and purify my thoughts in Your abundant mercies. Merit me to the path of absolute truth. Give me hope, and let me not be lost at all anymore. Help me to be according to Your truly good will, and may I merit to rectify all that I have flawed. May my sins be transformed into merits. May I merit on Shabbat Shirah (Sabbath of Song), in which all creatures sing before You—the time when all the waters in the world were split—that my sealed heart will also be split open. And with it, may all sealed hearts be split, and may all heretics turn into believers, (as it is written:) "And they believed... in Hashem and in Moses His servant." May the Tzaddik also be revealed in our generation, who has the power to awaken and reveal the melody and the supreme song, the choicest of all songs and melodies in the world, which brings out to eternal freedom and eternal faith all the souls that have fallen into errors and confusions and sunk into heresy drawn from the Void (*Chalal HaPanui*). Please, spare and have mercy on Your people Israel, for You alone know the intensity of the compassion upon them. May the true Tzaddik appear, the aspect of Mashiach, and redeem us in his mercies, and let us hear a second time before the eyes of all living things, saying: "The God of Israel is King, and His Kingship rules over all."

Master of the World, teach us and instruct us, guide us in Your truth. Teach us the absolute truth according to Your truly good will. Have mercy on us for the sake of Your Name, for the sake of Your many and mighty kindnesses. Have mercy on us for Your sake alone, for the sake of the honor of Your Name, so that all the nations may know and recognize that there is no ruler in the upper and lower worlds but You, over the swelling of the sea and all its breakers, and who can say to You, "What are You doing?" Therefore, Hashem my God and God of my fathers, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Joseph, and David: Just as You remembered Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob who believed in You, and Joseph the Tzaddik who guarded the holy covenant; just as the merit of Moses and Aaron who stood at the shore of the sea stood before You, and the merit of the soul of David which went before the Children of Israel in the pillar of fire; just as You performed the awesome miracles at the sea for our fathers—so too now, perform a miracle and wonder with us. Elevate us and draw us close to You, and surround us with the seven Clouds of Glory in the merit of the Seven Shepherds. May they surround us and guard us from all kinds of forbidden sights, from all kinds of snakes and scorpions that surround us at every moment, until all the snakes and scorpions are transformed into helpers. Even from them, may a song rise before You, and even they will give thanks for the goodness of Your kindness and the essence of Your mercy. May we all then merit to hear the Song of the Scorpion—"Hashem is good to all, and His mercies are over all His works"—and we will know that everything was for the best, and they were all Your messengers, and no one lifted his hand or foot without You. And may we hear even the Song of the Snake—"Hashem supports all the fallen and straightens all the bent"—so that we may emerge to conquer all stumbling blocks and rise forever from all the falls in the world. For even the snake is destined to rise from the lowest depths, to be rectified and straightened, as it was in the Garden of Eden before the sin.

Master of the World, Supporter of all the fallen and Straightener of all the bent, spare and be gracious to us. Transform all our falls into ascents, our failures into successes, and our sins into merits. Please redeem from the belly of the lowest depths even a sinner and one who causes the many to sin, who is swallowed within the snake, who has already turned into its very essence and into a messenger of the *S.M.* (Satan), like me, may the Merciful One save us. For it is within the infinite power of true Tzaddikim to transform even a snake like me into a Staff of God, into a staff of sapphire and diamonds, into the aspect of "exactly like me," if he inclines his heart to their ways and his ears to their advice. Please bind me to You with my 248 limbs and 365 veins, with all my innards, flanks, and kidneys, with all the secrets of my heart and all the roots of my thoughts, so that they may be subservient only to You, serving only Your will and glorifying the greatness of Your Name with infinite clinging to Your Torah. Please Hashem, incline all my external and internal powers to do Your will. Transform all the powers of will within me, the refusal and the objection, to listen to You, to Your Torah, and to Your advice. Please lead me in the truth of Your will in every single movement within me, so that I may refuse the filth of my body's lusts and my bad character traits with every kind of refusal. May I choose the good, with will, yearning, and longing according to Your good will in ultimate perfection, so that from now on there will be no sin, iniquity, or transgression upon me, Heaven forbid. May everything I have sinned and spoiled in deed, speech, and thought be rectified from now on and transformed into merit, along with everything I have been negligent in during this incarnation and other incarnations. So that from now on there will be no judgment or sentence upon me, Heaven forbid, neither in this world nor in the World to Come. May my mind and heart be purified to feel the joy in You and in Your true Tzaddikim with a tremendous and sublime constant feeling, until even in my lifetime I merit to be included in You, in "running and returning" (*Ratzo VaShov*), according to Your good will from now and forever.

Master of the World, help me and save me, redeem me and deliver me, and turn all my desires to You alone. Just as the Egyptian maidservant turned all her desires to cling to You, and just as the daughter of Pharaoh was purified from the idols of her father's house to rescue and raise Your anointed one (Moses)—merit me too, even though I am infinitely worse than all of these, to subjugate my desires to Your will, to serve Your Tzaddikim, the mighty ones of power who do Your will. Merit me to publicize their names and their Torah and to fulfill their advice, so that I may refuse evil with ultimate refusal, and despise the filth of lusts and evil traits. May I fulfill what is said of Joseph: "And he refused"—with all kinds of refusal and all kinds of cries, with thunder and great noise, with screaming and great fear, and with true connection to true Tzaddikim. Until I cling and become included in the power of his tremendous righteousness to split the sea for the entire nation of Israel, and to reveal to each and every one his path according to the root of his soul. Please merit me, through the power of Joseph the Tzaddik, to refuse with ultimate refusal every matter of evil lust, and every bad trait—anger, rage, and baseless hatred—until all my sins are atoned for, both in this incarnation and in other incarnations. Let there be no judgment or sentence upon me, Heaven forbid, neither in this world nor in the World to Come. May my mind and heart be purified, at the time when all creatures sing and chant, rejoice and are glad in You and in the true Tzaddikim, to feel the joy only in Hashem alone and in those who fear Him and do His will, with a tremendous and sublime constant feeling, in the aspect of "And they believed in Hashem and in Moses His servant." And may I merit to be included in You according to Your truly good will from now and forever.

Master of the World, merit us to the humility of Moses our Teacher, peace be upon him, to the attribute of lowliness and submission through which alone You praised and exalted him above all men: "And the man Moses was very humble, more than any man on the face of the earth." Merit me to the aspect of "no substance" (*Ayin Mamash*), through whose power Moses changed the entire system of nature, turned the sea into dry land (*Ayin*), and combined fire and water together. He nullified the four elements—fire, water, wind, earth—through the nullification of his own four elements. Through this nullification, he ruled over the aspects of mineral, vegetable, animal, and speaker, and over the worlds of Action (*Asiyah*), Formation (*Yetzirah*), Creation (*Briah*), and Emanation (*Atzilut*). Through the power of his nullification to every single Jew with ultimate nullification, he merited to bring all the six hundred thousand out of Egypt. Please Hashem, in Your abundant mercies, merit me also to ultimate nullification, to the aspect of complete nothingness (*Ayin Gamur*). Merit me to the clear and constant knowledge that every single Jew, even the one considered in my eyes, Heaven forbid, as the lowest of the low, is infinitely better than me. Let me not have, Heaven forbid, any thought, even the slightest of the slight, that I am, Heaven forbid, better than any Jew in the world. Rather, let me know that there is no one worse than me; regarding lowliness, I am worse than any person in the world, and even worse than what I think of myself regarding my own level. I am lying in the lowest depths and beneath them. I do not know how to cry out and plead, for through a cry from the depth of the heart, which is greater than all, one can emerge from all straits and from all kinds of malicious waters in the world. But You know, my Redeemer is alive and will arise last upon the dust, that I have drowned in deep mire where there is no standing; I have come into deep waters and the flood sweeps over me. Deliver me from the mire, and let me not sink; let me be delivered from those who hate me, and from the deep waters. Let not the waterflood overflow me, neither let the deep swallow me up, and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me. Merit me to pour out my heart like water right before the presence of Hashem, for all kinds of laments and all kinds of weeping and great and bitter cries will not suffice at all for the troubles of the soul, which surpass all the troubles in the world. But despite all this, and after all this, we believe in the power of Moses our Teacher, who is with us in every generation, to bring us out—even in a generation like this—from the malicious waters and to split for us all the waters in the world, which are all the troubles and all the straits, all the floods and torrents that wash over the mind and heart. Please, merit us all, in the merit of Moses our Teacher, peace be upon him, to the thread of infinite radiance, just as the maidservant saw at the sea, and just as the embryos in their mothers' wombs merited knowledge beyond knowledge and delight beyond delight, endlessly without any boundaries or limits. And may we merit to be faithful students to the true Tzaddik like Joshua, peace be upon him—"And Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, did not depart from the tent." As Rabbi Avraham the son of Rabbi Nachman says about him, that he did not make any substance of himself from the Torah, Heaven forbid, but merited to be always in the aspect of *Ayin* (Nothingness). Through the power of this aspect, he subdued Amalek, brought Israel into the Land, made the sun and moon stand still, and changed the systems of nature.

"Our Father, Merciful Father, may we merit through eating Your fruits in holiness and purity, that You enlighten us with the illumination of the Will, with the illumination of the Supernal Pleasantness, until we merit to yearn and long very much for You with extraordinary will, which will take us out of our physicality completely."

Please Hashem, Merciful and Gracious, Who did not lack anything in Your world, and created in it good trees for mankind to enjoy: Please merit us to taste from the nectar of Your pleasant fruits, with which You adorned Your world. Merit me to the illumination of the Will that is in Your fruits, through which all worlds will be elevated and return to You in love. Merit me, in the merit of all Your people, the House of Israel, who taste on this day from the abundance of Your types of fruits, to see the rectification of all the Sefirot in all the worlds.

Please, merit us to intend to taste Your fruits in holiness and purity for the sake of Heaven, to rectify their root as it was in the Garden of Eden of old, at the time when Hashem Yitbarach commanded Adam HaRishon: "From every tree of the garden you may surely eat." Merit me to the awesome supernal secrets hidden in every single fruit, to the virtue of its being a wonderful vessel for the illumination of the Will, for supreme clinging, for the Infinite Light (*Or Ein Sof*), as the Hidden Light shone then, and Adam HaRishon was prepared for the day that is entirely Shabbat.

Master of the World, You revealed to us through Your chosen Tzaddikim that even now we can merit all this, specifically through eating. For through eating in holiness and purity, wonderful *Makifim* (Surrounding Lights) are drawn down, which even angels do not grasp. Therefore, we have come now to ask and plead before You, our Father, Merciful Father, that we may merit through eating Your fruits in holiness and purity, that You enlighten us with the illumination of the Will, with the illumination of the Supernal Pleasantness (*Noam Elyon*), until we merit to yearn and long very much for You with extraordinary will, which will take us out of our physicality completely. Until we merit a perception greater than the angels, for the Tzaddikim are destined to have their partition inside that of the Ministering Angels, when they will come and ask Israel: "What has God wrought?"

Master of the World, merit me to the Supernal Pleasantness that flows and shines in Your fruits. Merit me to the Supernal Pleasantness through which the revelation of Your Glory is drawn down, which is the root of all creation, the root of all the Ten Utterances with which the world is created anew. Please merit us, through tasting Your fruits, to merit the Supernal Pleasantness, to behold the pleasantness of Hashem and to recognize His greatness, blessed be He.

One thing I asked of Hashem, that will I seek: that I may dwell in the house of Hashem all the days of my life, to behold the pleasantness of Hashem and to visit in His Temple.

Please, open our hearts and minds to what Jacob our Father, peace be upon him, grasped through the fruits, when he took for himself a rod of fresh poplar, and of the almond and of the plane tree. Merit us to the illumination of the kindnesses (*Chasadim*) that Jacob drew down to the world, and to the nullification of the power of the Primordial Snake, whose feet descend to death. This was when he connected all the worlds and all the colors through the white streaks (*Machsof HaLavan*), which is the mercy of *Arich Anpin*, the kindnesses of the *Keter*, and the secret of "Hashem is King, Hashem was King, Hashem will reign for ever and ever; and Hashem shall be King over all the earth." Merit me to the kindnesses that reveal His Kingship, blessed be He, in the world, and to the secret of "Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me." This is the secret of the month of Shevat, the secret of the Tribes (*Shevatim*) and the rods, which Jacob placed in the watering troughs to draw down waters of kindness to the world, to save it from the malicious waters and to purify it from the filth of the snake.

Master of the World, Hashem is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside still waters. Please merit me, through the Supernal Pleasantness flowing in Your fruits, to return to the world its majesty and splendor—the pleasantness that was in it before the sin—until we can rectify even the snake and return it to its level which it had in the Garden of Eden before the sin. As Rabbi Shimon ben Menasya said about it: "Woe for a great servant that was lost from the world; for if the snake had not been cursed, every single person of Israel would have had two good snakes, one sending him to the north and one sending him to the south, to bring him good sandal-gems and precious stones and pearls."

Merit us to be purified from the filth of the snake which was caused to us by the counsel of Adam HaRishon, who peered higher than his level, at a time when he needed to acquire for himself good traits of nullification, humility, and lowliness. Please merit us to true lowliness, which will be a rectification for the primordial sin, the sin of haughtiness of heart. For Adam HaRishon desired new perceptions prematurely, before he merited the holiness of Shabbat, which is above space, which is the aspect of "until one does not know," the aspect of the nullification of all knowledge. This is the vessel for all new perceptions through ultimate humility and lowliness, about which it is said: "Be very, very humble in spirit." Lowliness that is below humility, and "very, very"—which is lowliness of lowliness of lowliness (as written in Hilchot Deot 2:3: "He should be under the ban if he has even a little of it [pride]," and the Halachah is decided according to Rav Nachman, that humility is not enough, but rather "Be very, very humble in spirit"). Merit me to reach true lowliness, through which one merits the revelation of the Foundation Stone (*Even HaShetiya*), as David merited, about whom it is said: "He is the small one." Through his humility, he became the pillar of fire that went before the camp of Israel, and he merited to reveal the Gate of Heaven, the place of the ascent of prayers in Jerusalem, about which it is said: "She rises and sits in her place." For the more a person rises in it, the more he merits to see his lowliness, until he merits to see that he is far, far below his level, and his lowliness and distance from Hashem Yitbarach are revealed to him more and more—in every single ascent.

Please, Father of Mercies, Who raises the low tree and makes the dry tree flourish: Merit me to the secret of the fifteenth of Shevat, which is the point of the pupil of the eye of the fourth season of the four seasons of the year. It is the pupil of the eye of the first three seasons, which are designed for the submission of the three husks (*Klipot*)—stormy wind, great cloud, and flashing fire. Merit us, through the power of the true Tzaddik, the aspect of Moses, to subdue also the fourth husk, which is the aspect of *Noga*, until we are lowly in our own eyes below our level, in the aspect of "Let each man stay in his place." Certainly, certainly, may we feel our lowliness before every single Jew, even before the one regarding whom we stumbled and thought what we thought, may the Merciful One save us. Please merit us to recognize and feel that even the lowest of the low Jew is infinitely better than us in degrees and levels.

Then we too, in our generations, shall merit that the aspect of Moses be revealed to us, and the verses shall be fulfilled in us:

"Oh, that You would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at Your presence... When You did awesome things which we looked not for, You came down, the mountains quaked at Your presence. And from of old men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither has the eye seen a God beside You, Who works for him that waits for Him." "I was sought of them that asked not for Me; I was found of them that sought Me not; I said: 'Here am I, here am I,' unto a nation that did not call upon My name." "For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. But be glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create; for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them... They shall not labor in vain, nor bring forth for terror; for they are the seed blessed of Hashem, and their offspring with them. And it shall come to pass that, before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox; and dust shall be the serpent's food. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, says Hashem."

"And the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the basilisk's den... And there shall come forth a shoot out of the stock of Jesse, and a twig shall grow forth out of his roots. And the spirit of Hashem shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Hashem. And his delight shall be in the fear of Hashem; and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither decide after the hearing of his ears; but with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the land... And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins." "For a child is born unto us, a son is given unto us; and the government is upon his shoulder; and his name is called Pele-Joez-El-Gibbor-Avi-Ad-Sar-Shalom; that the government may be increased, and of peace there be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of Hashem of hosts does perform this." "They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Hashem, as the waters cover the sea."

Master of the World, Master of the entire World, teach me and instruct me how to arrange a fitting and true prayer before You from all the wonderful Torah teachings that You have merited us with in Your abundant mercies. For You alone know the intensity of their height and the depth of their secret, for in the intensity of the wonders of Your mercies, You brought them down to the world in our generations through awesome and wonderful Tzaddikim whose souls preceded the creation of the world. With them, You sealed Your world from the beginning of creation until the end of all generations. You promised the one who draws close to them to raise him from the ten crowns of impurity and beneath them to the heights of the levels of holiness of Wisdom, Understanding, and Knowledge (*Chochmah, Binah, Da'at*), when he walks in their ways—everything from which he distances himself regarding lusts with ultimate distance, and hates them with ultimate hatred, loathing, abomination, and disgust.

Therefore we have come before You, Father of Mercies, Gatherer of the dispersed of His people Israel, that You may raise from the dust even souls like us, who have already sunk where they have sunk, and done what they have done, and become defiled with what they have become defiled. As You promised to Moses Your servant, the faithful one of Your house, and to all the Tzaddikim who came from his aspect—that they have hope to bring the people out of Egypt, to split the sea for them, and to give them the Torah; to inherit straw to the Ephraimites. You gave them the power to introduce understanding and knowledge, holiness and purity even to those worn out like us, to the grinding of broken vessels like us today, who are broken because of their straying heart that turned away from You into shards of shards of shards without measure or value. Please spare and have mercy, gather and assemble all the lost and dispersed, even the shards of shards that have been ground like fine dust, soiled with many kinds of filth and dirt, scattered and spread to the four corners of the earth and distant seas, and fallen down, down below the lowest depths. "As when one cleaves and breaks up the earth, our bones are scattered at the grave's mouth." You have laid me in the lowest pit, in dark places, in the deeps. Please redeem and deliver even those who have been caught in many thousands and tens of thousands of nets and traps without measure, value, or number. "I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is become like wax; it is melted in my inmost parts." "A net they have prepared for my steps; my soul is bowed down; they have digged a pit before me; they are fallen into the midst thereof themselves. Selah." Were it not for Your mercies and kindnesses, we would have perished in our affliction. Please, spare and have mercy on the scattered of our souls and gather the dispersed of our lost ones, as in Your mercy You thought from afar to do good to our end. You did what You did, and acted as You acted in Your good mercies, and preceded to send us such wonderful Tzaddikim, who left behind them in Your mercy a blessing—such holy and precious books which have now multiplied in the world, and such innovations which have never been revealed, and wonderful Torah teachings drawn from the Holy Ancient One (*Atika Kadisha*), the Holy of all Holies, the Hidden of all Hidden, the Concealed of All. From the treasuries of the Supernal King. And the main thing of all—the simple and pleasant advice, easy in the extreme, drawn from these wonderful Torah teachings, whose root—who can behold it? Drawn from the Holy Ancient One, the Will of Wills, the Hidden of all Hidden, the Concealed of All.

Please, merit us to all the virtues hidden in this day, the fifteenth of Shevat, and to all the hints of its secrets that were revealed to us by these chosen Tzaddikim of Yours. They informed us that on this day the souls of Israel were emanated, and specifically the souls of the Tzaddikim drawn from the Ten Types of Melody, from which Moses the Faithful Shepherd drew the plague of locusts (*Arbeh*) on this day. Please elevate us and raise us, until each one of us merits the Spirit of Life which is in Man, hidden in the Ten Types of Melody, hinted at in the plague of locusts—for indeed it is a spirit (*Ruach*) in man. This is drawn through the Staff, the wonderful and holy Rod whose length is ten cubits, and whose root is the Ten Types of Melody, with which Moses our Teacher performed all the signs, and with which he struck Sihon king of the Amorites and Og king of Bashan. Through it, he drew down the holiness of the month of Shevat, in which all the explanations of the Torah are revealed in seventy languages and seventy facets, and in which all the wonders of its wonderful and awesome secrets are revealed even to lowly and flawed people like me—to strengthen us in faith and holiness, in song and melody, in dance and chant, in the aspect of "Sing praises with understanding" (*Zamru Maskil*)—with song from which all intellects and wisdoms are drawn.

Master of the World, grant us from You good intellect above all intellect, brains of complete faith: that You are the Master of all, higher than all, and there is none higher than You; filling all worlds and surrounding all worlds; and higher than all worlds, beneath all worlds, and between all worlds, and there is no place void of You. Merit us to know and understand that every thought, speech, and deed of holiness is all from You, and every thought, speech, and deed that is not of holiness comes from the turbidity of our mind and blood. Merit us to use the free will You gave us—to choose the good, to choose the good thoughts that You send us, and to overcome through their power the bad thoughts. To choose the awesome Tzaddikim You sent us and to cling to them, and through their power to emerge from all the indecent thoughts and bad deeds that we have clung to, may the Merciful One save us. Woe to us, for we have gone from opposite to opposite, and we were like the wicked Pharaoh who did not set his heart to all the awesome signs and wonders. For we did not set our heart to all the wonderful hints that You hint to us every moment and second, and we did not incline our ear to the voice of the heralds echoing from one end of the world to the other.

Please, Merciful and Gracious One, bring us out of all the confusions, from all the bad thoughts and all the disturbances drawn from the Void (*Chalal HaPanui*) on the day of the fifteenth of Shevat, the day of the plague of locusts. For through the Ten Types of Melody, which are the spirit that is in man, through songs and praises, dances and circles, may we merit the forgiveness of all sins. May we know and believe that You are Hashem alone; You made the heavens and the earth, the heaven of heavens and all their host, the seas and all that is in them, animals and birds, sea monsters and all the fish of the sea. Through the spirit that is in man, may we know and believe that You are the Creator of all creatures, from the Leviathan—upon one of whose fins all the worlds hang—to the small hyssop growing out of the wall. You give life to them all, and Your Kingship rules over all. You fill all worlds, surround all worlds, are higher than all worlds, beneath all worlds, between all worlds, and inside all worlds, and there is no place void of You. You are One and Unique in ultimate unity, higher than all and there is none higher than You. You are Supreme over all supreme ones, Hidden of all hidden ones, and no thought can grasp You at all.

Master of the World, full of mercy without end and without limit, Who desires the rectification of Your world, Who wishes to return all the heretics—and me among them—to Your holy and pure faith in ultimate holiness and ultimate purity: Please spare and be gracious, have mercy and send us a Redeemer and Savior. Just as You sent us Moses Your servant, the Faithful Shepherd, and revealed to him the Song of the Sea and all the songs and melodies of holiness—whether of this world or the World to Come, whether they were or will be—through which he drew down the plague of locusts, raised many souls from heresy, and brought Israel out of Egypt to bring them before Mount Sinai and let them hear the Ten Commandments with thunder and lightning that went from one end of the world to the other. Please, Merciful Father, bring us out now too from slavery to freedom, from heresy to faith, through the power of the songs and melodies of Shabbat Shirah, through the power of the song of the entire universe. Please deliver us, with the pleasantness rising before You from the song of the trees and the speech of the field, from all heresies and confusions, from all the concealments and lack of faith that we have fallen into. Merit us to the silence of Moses, which is the root of every song and melody, so that we shall not have, Heaven forbid, any questions or doubts at all about any matter in the world. Please plant in our hearts simplicity and innocence, so that our heart may be whole and simple with You and with Your Tzaddikim. Let no doubt or question arise in our heart, Heaven forbid, regarding You or Your holy and pure, fit and innocent Tzaddikim, who are Your messengers in every generation. Please, revive us and raise us up, and return us to You. Restore our soul and purify our spirit with all kinds of holiness and purity that restore the holy soul, until we merit the soul of David, which sings and plays before You every single night, engaging in songs and praises that draw down the light of the morning, the light of faith. Merit us to the melody of the Sweet Singer of Israel, through which he merited to draw down a soul that built the Holy Temple, and which merited that in its days the moon stood in fullness—"Awake, my glory; awake, psaltery and harp; I will awake the dawn."

Master of the World, please awaken our heart to Your simple faith, to Your holy Torah, and to Your service in truth. Influence and draw down upon us songs and hymns, and reveal to us holy melodies drawn from the root of the Void, from the Head of Faith, from the melody of the Infinite Light, from the supreme song of Moses our Teacher, peace be upon him, from which all songs and melodies in the world are drawn. So that we may merit through this complete faith in truth, and the verse may be fulfilled in us: "Come with me from Lebanon, my bride... look from the top of Amana."

Merit me to be included in the soul of Moses our Teacher, who is the aspect of silence. May I merit to accustom myself to silence, to fulfill the words of our Sages: "A fence for wisdom is silence"; and "I have found nothing better for the body than silence." May I merit to be silent even in thought, in every place where I need to be silent. And at any time when thoughts and ideas come upon me that confuse the mind, and especially confusions of faith, may I merit to be silent and mute. Let me be like a man who does not hear, and in whose mouth are no reproofs; like a deaf man I will not hear, and like a mute man who does not open his mouth. Only may I merit to be completely silent and mute even in my thought, and to ascend and be included in the Supernal Silence above, which is the source of holy faith and the source of all melodies and songs in the world.

Master of the World, merit me on this wonderful Shabbat, in which all creatures above and below recite song—to shake off all the dustiness that clings to me and covers me. May I merit to cling to true Tzaddikim, who will blow upon me with their holy spirit, and shake off and remove the mountains of dustiness and sadness, despair and depression, that cover me. May they reveal the fire burning in my heart, the light of the flames of the heart of a Jewish man, which burns infinitely, the eternal fire which shall be kept burning upon the altar; it shall not go out. So that we may merit to be satisfied with Your goodness, to satisfy our soul with brightness, to behold the pleasantness of Hashem and to visit in His Temple. "Happy is the man whom You choose, and bring near, that he may dwell in Your courts; may we be satisfied with the goodness of Your house, the holy place of Your Temple." And may we merit to recognize Him who spoke and the world came into being, to Whom the sea belongs and He made it, and His hands formed the dry land. For this is the success of all successes, the salvation of all salvations, the good of all goods, the purpose of all purposes, for which alone we were created. Please, send us a ray of light from Your heavens to bring me out of sadness and laziness, from confusion and weakness of hands, from despair and heresy, from beastliness and stupidity, which have led me astray for many years, like an untrained calf and like a wild ox that destroys every good plot. Please, in Your mercies, raise me from beastliness to man, from a wild ox to the Ox of the Chariot. For there is no restraint to Hashem to save in the blink of an eye, a complete and true salvation, an eternal salvation for ever and ever and for all eternity. Then I shall merit to hear and sing the Song of the Ox of the Chariot—"I will sing to Hashem, for He is highly exalted; the horse and his rider He has thrown into the sea"—and to say the Song of the Sea every day with awesome enthusiasm and wonderful desire. For upon it depends the entire Redemption, the building of the Holy Temple, and the Resurrection of the Dead. Therefore, Rabbi Yose said: If Israel had said at the sea, "Hashem is King for ever and ever," no nation or tongue would ever have ruled over them.

Master of the World, spare and have mercy on Your people, the sheep of Your pasture, the seed of Abraham who loved You, Your son, Your only one, Isaac, the congregation of Jacob Your firstborn son—"You plucked up a vine out of Egypt; You drove out the nations, and planted it. You cleared a place before it, and it took deep root, and filled the land. The mountains were covered with the shadow of it, and the mighty cedars with the boughs thereof. She sent out her branches unto the sea, and her shoots unto the River. Why have You broken down her fences, so that all they that pass by the way do pluck her? The boar out of the wood ravages it, that which moves in the field feeds on it. O God of hosts, return, we beseech You; look from heaven, and behold, and remember this vine; and the stock which Your right hand has planted, and the branch that You made strong for Yourself. It is burned with fire, it is cut down; they perish at the rebuke of Your countenance. Let Your hand be upon the man of Your right hand, upon the son of man whom You made strong for Yourself. So shall we not turn back from You; quicken us, and we will call upon Your name. O Hashem God of hosts, restore us; cause Your face to shine, and we shall be saved."

Please, return now and remember this vine on the day of the fifteenth of Shevat, which is forty days before the creation of the world (thought of creation). On it You emanated our souls, called us sons, raised us above all worlds, and gave us dominion over the sun, the moon, and the stars, and over all the systems of nature, the constellations and the spheres. Please grant us pardon for having rebelled against all these and turned from opposite to opposite, until beasts in the form of men rule over us. For we did not fulfill "Go your way forth by the footsteps of the flock"—as Rashi explained: Observe the ways of your early forefathers who accepted My Torah and kept My charge and My commandments, and walk in their ways; and even as a reward for this, you will pasture your kids beside the shepherds of the nations (and rule over them). But we sinned and flawed; therefore we went from bad to worse, and were dragged after the deeds of a beast, and defiled our minds with all kinds of impurity, until "opposite to opposite" was fulfilled, and we were given to be trampled under the heels of the nations, and the lowest of nations and men rule over us.

Our Father, Merciful Father, behold You have revealed to us that there is no despair in the world at all, and You are ready even now, at this very moment, to restore the crown to its former glory and to return us to our root and our glory. For You do not want us to fall into despair, Heaven forbid, which is worse than the first sins, casting a person into the lowest depths and beneath them, Heaven forbid. You do not want us to despair, Heaven forbid, even by a hairbreadth, for such thoughts, ideas, and confusions are harder, more damaging, and more angering to our Creator than all the sins, iniquities, and transgressions we have committed from our youth until this day. Please, draw us out of the malicious waters, raise us from despair, from cessation and destruction, for we still have great hope at every time, every hour, and every moment.

"The kindnesses of Hashem surely have not ceased, for His mercies are not consumed."

But what shall we do, for all this is hidden from us due to our many falls. In our distance, we do not know the intensity of the abundance of His compassion and great kindnesses upon all who desire to return in truth, even though they have not yet returned. In our foolishness, we do not know the full greatness of His salvation; we do not know that His entire desire, blessed be He, is to return and have mercy on all who wait and look to Him, who yearn and strive to find rescue and refuge to return to Hashem Yitbarach—even though confusions overpower them at every time, and do not let them, for days and years, return to their Father's house. Our Father in Heaven, Gracious and Merciful God, would that we knew, repeated, and remembered that despite all our falls, His kindness has overpowered us very, very much, without measure, value, or number—what the mouth cannot speak and the heart cannot think. For if all the seas were ink, and all the reeds pens, and all people scribes, and all tongues praising—we would not suffice to explain and clarify one of a thousand and a myriad of His many kindnesses with which He leads every generation in His kindness, and especially the sighing and crushed ones who desire and wait to return to You, blessed be He, in truth.

"Did you not just now call to Me, 'My Father, You are the friend of my youth'? Will He bear a grudge forever? Will He keep it to the end?" Please strengthen us, and let us be strengthened and renewed at every time, so that we may begin from now on to serve our Creator, to shake ourselves from the dust, and to be encouraged by Your consolations—"Shake yourself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem; loose yourself from the bands of your neck, O captive daughter of Zion." "Awake, awake, for your light has come; arise, shine; awake, awake, utter a song; the glory of Hashem is revealed upon you." Awake, awake, utter a song; do not be silent and do not be quiet. Raise your sweet voice, open your mouth before the Holy One, Blessed be He, and let Him hear your pleasant words. Open your mouth, let your words shine; utter a song.

Master of the World, Lord of all souls, towards the New Year beginning on the fifteenth of Shevat, merit us in our prayers and our Torah study to draw down, through every single letter, new and wonderful souls that will illuminate the world with their light. Merit us, on the day when the souls of Israel were emanated, to draw down great souls, holy souls, possessors of great perception, who will merit to grasp in the world the secret of *Ibbur* (intercalation/pregnancy), which is "Your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of all the peoples"—to know the secret of the movements of the spheres and all the things and changes coming through them according to Your good will, which You lead in mercy through the souls and the high intellects. Merit them to know the secret of Your conduct and Your wonderful kindnesses that are renewed upon us constantly, so that they may publicize Your Godliness in the world and sanctify Your Name before the eyes of all the nations.

Please merit us, through every single letter of the holy Torah and proper prayer, to draw down wonderful souls and to create angels that influence all the grasses and all things in the world. Help us, merit us, and give us strength to strengthen and grow holy faith with all might and power, until all false beliefs in the world fall and are nullified. They shall all kneel and fall, and give honor to the glory of Your Name. They shall all hear the Song of the Ox of the Chariot—"The horse and his rider He has thrown into the sea"—the song of Providence which subdues the natural scientists and their wisdoms. For all the wisdoms in the world will be nullified against one letter of Your holy Torah, and they will be as nothing and naught against every letter of the pure and innocent prayer raised to You. For there is power in every single letter of the Written Torah or the Oral Torah—whether of Rashi or Tosafot, or of all the other commentators on Your Torah, Your Tzaddikim and innocent ones who were in all generations. For in every single letter of Your Written and Oral Torah and their commentators, there is power to drown all the chariots of the *Sitra Achra* with all their men and wise ones, to drown them and cast them into the hole of the Great Abyss, so that no memory of them remains, until the verse is fulfilled: "For whereas you have seen the Egyptians today, you shall see them again no more for ever. Hashem will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace."

Our Father in Heaven, please merit us through the study of the holy Torah in love and fear, in innocence and joy, to draw down great souls that will have influence over all the spheres, over all the constellations and stars. Please merit us to draw down wonderful intellect to all the souls, whether they have already been emanated or have not yet been emanated, whether they have been created or are destined to be created. Merit us on this day to draw down to all of them wonderful intellect which leads all the spheres and all the nations of the world. For You lead the entire world based on the intellects of Your awesome Tzaddikim and through the innocence of Your wonderful innocent ones. By raising them in innocence and supreme clinging above all the stars, You give them dominion over the world and its fullness, in the aspect of "The Tzaddik decrees and the Holy One, Blessed be He, fulfills; the Holy One, Blessed be He, decrees and the Tzaddik nullifies."

Master of the World, behold You have revealed to us that it is possible to create a heart for heretics through prayer with intention, and to bring out and redeem all those drowning in heresy through holy melodies.

Therefore, please merit us to pray with intention, and to play holy melodies before You until we draw out from the malicious waters of heresy all those who wander. May we merit, with the holiness of Seraphim, to leave Egypt, and with purity of eyes and clarity of speech of the lips, may we see the sounds and hear the Ten Commandments at every single moment with a strong voice that grows stronger with all might from moment to moment—"You shall not commit adultery"—until the fear of Hashem is upon our faces always, so that we fear to lift our eyes even for a brief moment. And may the verse be fulfilled in us: "On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes." For three days he walked with closed eyes, until he felt that the Shechinah was standing before his eyes—"And Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar"—he saw the Shechinah tied to the mountain. Please merit us to guard our eyes and sanctify all our senses, so that true Tzaddikim may enlighten us with their Torah and help us to fulfill their advice, until we are included in the speech of the field and the song of the trees, and sing and chant the song of the entire universe, until the Messiah of the Field—the Messiah, Master of the Field—comes.

Master of the World, You revealed to us the great power of the joy of Shabbat, upon which depends the main closeness to You. Therefore, may it be Your will before You, Hashem our God and God of our fathers, that You merit me in Your abundant mercies to receive the holy Shabbat with great joy and gladness, especially Shabbat Shirah, the Shabbat of the downfall of Pharaoh and Amalek. Guard me and save me, that sadness and depression should not arise in my heart at all, Heaven forbid, and grief and sighing, fear and worry should not reach me, Heaven forbid. May I merit on every single Shabbat to rejoice with all might, with all my heart, with all my soul, and with all my resources, with joy that has no end or limit, as is truly fitting to rejoice on the holy Sabbath day. Especially on the Shabbat in which strength and gladness are awakened in all the worlds, until we merit that this season of cold which begins at this very time (half of Shevat, Adar, and half of Nisan) be transformed into a season of heat and holiness, into warmth of faith, into enthusiasm of Mitzvah, of gladness and joy.

Please merit us to renew a new way in melody, a way drawn from the light of Mashiach, from the light of Shabbat Shirah. May I merit to start anew each time, and to engage perfectly in all things that are truly Your will, with great strengthening and a truly whole heart, until nothing in the world can confuse me. Even my tremendous and very many sins will not be able to weaken me, Heaven forbid, from continuing to engage in Your service. Rather, I will know, discern, and understand that I do not know at all what is being done in the world.

Draw down upon me the holiness of Shabbat, which is above space, which is the ultimate knowledge that we do not know. Just as on Shabbat Nachamu before the fifteenth of Av—when the sins of Israel are forgiven as on Yom Kippur, and the souls of Israel are revealed as on the fifteenth of Shevat—Rebbe Nachman cried out with a loud voice: "There is no despair in the world at all!" And he said: "If a person knew the greatness of the root of his soul, he would fly in the air from the sheer greatness of the joy."

"And so I have come before You, Hashem our God and God of our fathers, that You may help me with the power of the path of Teshuvah that Moses our Teacher drew down into the world, that I too—the lowest of all lowliness and the smallest of all smallness—may merit to find the path and the trail special to me through the power of the Tzaddik who lowers himself down to me. Especially now, on the Shabbat when all the waters in the world were split, and new ways and paths were paved in the mighty waters, so that each and every one would have a trail and path of his own."

Please. Merit us that the root of his soul be revealed to each and every one of us in truth, so that we may merit to rejoice, be glad, and dance all our days in the House of our God with joy and gladness that has no end or limit. May we draw down even now all the *mochin* (mental powers) and all the intellects through which the Holy Temple will be built, and the soul of Mashiach will be drawn down to the world, so that we may merit complete Redemption speedily in our days. Amen.

And so I have come before You, Hashem our God and God of our fathers, that You may help me with the power of the path of Teshuvah that Moses our Teacher drew down into the world, that I too—the lowest of all lowliness and the smallest of all smallness—may merit to find the path and the trail special to me through the power of the Tzaddik who lowers himself down to me. Especially now, on the Shabbat when all the waters in the world were split, and new ways and paths were paved in the mighty waters, so that each and every one would have a trail and path of his own. Please, my Father in Heaven, strengthen me to return to You with hope and renewed joy, for the true Tzaddik has not yet abandoned me, and he hints to me and assists me always to leave my exile and enter into holiness in truth, and to ascend in its levels higher and higher.

Master of the World, have mercy on me, and merit me to be connected to such holy Tzaddikim always. May the ways of holiness of holy eating be revealed to me, until I merit, through the power of all types of fruits that I will taste on the fifteenth of Shevat, to bind myself to You always in truth with ultimate humility and nullification. Guard me and save me in Your mercies, that no aspect of descent shall have the power to distance me, Heaven forbid, from the joy and gladness in You. May I merit, through the power of constant gladness and joy in You, to emerge from all descents and to merit all ascents and all perceptions of Godliness like one of the truly great and holy men of ascent. And may I merit to reveal the root of my soul in love and joy.

Master of the World, please save us through the holiness of Shabbat, that I may merit to receive all blessings from the Source of Blessings, in the merit of all the Tzaddikim, Moses the Faithful Shepherd and all the Seven Shepherds, whose names I am not even worthy to take upon my lips. May all the trails and paths hidden from me be revealed to me. For there is no place and no time to which the true Tzaddikim have not extended paths and ways; there is no place and time in which they have not innovated clear and wide channels and trails—to walk in them with expansion, safety, alacrity, joy, and gladness. Please reveal to me the paths leading to the highway that goes up to Beit-El, to the highway that goes up to You. My Father, Merciful Father, merit me to cling to You with wonderful longing, in holiness and purity. Merit me to wonderful clinging without a moment's pause—in waking and sleeping, in eating and drinking—so that all our eating and drinking will be only from the sparking of the letters, until we strip off all the leprosy of our gross body and merit a holy body from the Garden of Eden.

Please Merciful Father, spare and be gracious to me, for in these troubled times my mind has become very confused because of the baseless hatred I stumbled in, and because of my strictness with my brothers and friends, my good friends who are better than any brother or friend. Please merit me to repeat and remember that every single Jew is a special path and trail to be included in the Creator, blessed be He, forever. Therefore, in the flaw of love of friends, I lost my ways, and all the trails and paths were hidden from me. Even those I knew of—disappeared from me, in the aspect of a miscarriage. I was almost lost from the world, and there was but a step between me and death due to the abundance of disputes and baseless hatred I stumbled in. Full of mercy, Who pities the poor, Who saves the poor from one stronger than him, and the poor and needy from one who robs him: From the abundance of enslavements and confusions, my mind is not clear at all. I have fallen from faith in the Sages and love of friends, and I did not merit what is said: "I never transgressed the words of my friend." Through this, enslavement has been drawn upon me, and all the *mochin* have departed from me. I do not know what I speak, and my mind is not clear at all. I do not know anything, how to behave and how to intend. "I watched, and I became like a lonely bird on a roof." I do not know from where my help will come, for I am more brutish than any man, and have not the understanding of a man. For the troubles of my heart have enlarged, and dispute and separation of hearts have covered me and surrounded me on every side. Through this, all ways and paths have separated from me, and I do not see the signposts that You place before me every moment and second. Please spare and have mercy on me, for I do not know what to do and how to behave, how to chirp and how to hint. I do not know how to pray for the rectification of this terrible flaw. I am confused like a drunkard; I do not know at all where I am in the world, and what will be my end and destiny.

Master of the World, full of mercy, Who pities the poor, Who saves the poor from one stronger than him, and the poor and needy from one who robs him: Teach me how to pour out my conversation before You now, how to awaken Your true mercies upon me now. Save me from strife and dispute in all manners. Help me and save me that they should not dispute or fight against me, neither in physicality nor in spirituality, neither above nor below. Guard me and save me that I should not dispute with any fit person in the world, and certainly, certainly, that there should be no side of dispute in my heart against true Tzaddikim, and especially against Tzaddikim who dwell in the dust, the holy ones who are in the earth. Let me never fight with any person; only may I merit to love all of Israel and to maintain peace with everyone, and to truly fulfill the verse: "Depart from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it." Until the verse is fulfilled in us: "And Israel encamped there opposite the mountain"—as one man with one heart. Through this, may we merit to hear the Ten Commandments at every single moment, and may our filth, which comes from the flaw of faith in Sages and baseless hatred, cease. And may the verse be fulfilled in us: "Ephraim is joined to idols; let him alone." Please merit us to what they said: "The end of everyone is to cast away his idols of silver and gold," and to merit the Thirteen Rectifications of the Beard (Attributes of Mercy), the Torah that is expounded through thirteen attributes, and the Song of Songs which is Solomon's—to the King to Whom peace belongs. For through the Song of the Sea they merited Shabbat Shalom, and through the Song of Songs they merited the building of the Holy Temple. And this is: "And Miriam answered them, Sing to Hashem"—the acronym (of the Hebrew words) is *Shalom* (Peace). For through Song (*Shirah*) they merited Peace (*Shalom*), and through Peace they merited Song, the "Then he sang"—the Song of Shabbat.

Master of the World, merit us already now to this song. May we merit to praise Your Name with the song of the early poets, and be included in all the songs sung in all generations: in the song of Adam HaRishon, in the song of Shabbat, in the song of Moses and Israel at the sea, in the song of Israel at the well, in the song of Deborah and Barak, in the song of David, in the song the Levites sang in the Holy Temple, in the song they are destined to sing in the land of Judah, and in the song they will sing on the night the festival is sanctified. In all the songs King Solomon sang in the Song of Songs, and in the New Song which the exiles are destined to sing, as it is said: "Sing to Hashem a new song, for He has done wonders." Through this, may we merit the song of the Holy Temple, the song of the Resurrection of the Dead, the song of the Future to Come, and of the World to Come. To the song of the dance that will be in the future, the dance of all the Tzaddikim, about whom it is said: "The Holy One, Blessed be He, is destined to make a circle dance for the Tzaddikim, and He sits among them in the Garden of Eden, and each one points with his finger, as it is said: 'And it shall be said in that day: Lo, this is our God, for whom we have waited, that He might save us; this is Hashem, for whom we have waited, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.'"