The Prayer of the Shelah HaKadosh

A well-known segulah in the communities of Israel for the education of children is the recitation of the prayer of the Holy Shelah, Rabbi Yeshaya HaLevi Horowitz. Although this prayer is recited throughout the year and possesses great power to influence this matter, it is a known segulah for child education to recite it specifically on Rosh Chodesh Sivan.

Regarding the segulah of reciting the prayer on Rosh Chodesh Sivan, the Shelah himself testified, "And my heart tells me that this is a time of favor (et ratzon) for this prayer on the eve of Rosh Chodesh Sivan," and established that this day is a time of favor capable of bringing success to one's descendants.

Rosh Chodesh Sivan 5780 will fall on Sunday. However, the molad (new moon) will occur (rarely) tomorrow, Friday, at 12:21 AM and 13 chalakim.

The Text of the Prayer of the Holy Shelah

You are Hashem our God before You created the world, and You are our God since You created the world, and from eternity to eternity You are God. You created Your world in order to make Your Divinity known through Your holy Torah, as our Sages of blessed memory said, "Bereshit"—for the sake of Torah and for the sake of Israel, for they are Your people and Your inheritance whom You chose from all the nations, and You gave them Your holy Torah, and brought them close to Your great Name.

And for the existence of the world and the existence of the Torah, two commandments have come to us from You, Hashem our God. You wrote in Your Torah, "Be fruitful and multiply," and You wrote in Your Torah, "And you shall teach them to your children." The intention in both is one, for You did not create the world for naught, but for habitation, and for Your glory You created, formed, and even made, so that we, our descendants, and the descendants of all Your people, the House of Israel, may be those who know Your Name and study Your Torah.

And therefore, I come before You, Hashem, King of Kings, and I cast my supplication, and my eyes are turned to You until You favor me and hear my prayer to bless me with sons and daughters. And they, too, shall be fruitful and multiply, they and their children and their children's children until the end of all generations, to the end that they and I, all of us, will occupy ourselves with Your holy Torah, to learn and to teach, to observe and to perform and to fulfill all the words of the study of Your Torah with love. And illuminate our eyes in Your Torah and attach our hearts to Your commandments to love and to fear Your Name.

Our Father, merciful Father, grant us all long and blessed lives. Who is like You, Father of mercies, who remembers His creatures for life with mercy? Remember us for eternal life, as our father Abraham prayed, "If only [Ishmael] would live before You," and our Sages of blessed memory interpreted this as, "in Your fear."

For this reason, I have come to request and to plead before You that my offspring and the offspring of my offspring until the end of time be viable offspring. And may there not be found in me, or in my offspring, or in the offspring of my offspring until the end of time, any blemish or flaw, but only peace and truth and good and uprightness in the eyes of God and in the eyes of man. And may they be masters of Torah, masters of Scripture, masters of Mishnah, masters of Talmud, masters of secrets, masters of mitzvot, masters of kindness, masters of noble character traits; and may they serve You with love and with internal fear, not external fear. And grant each and every one of them their needs with dignity, and grant them health and honor and strength, and grant them stature and beauty and grace and kindness. And may there be love and brotherhood and peace among them, and arrange for them suitable shidduchim from the seed of Torah scholars, from the seed of tzaddikim, and may their shidduchim also be like them, in accordance with all that I have prayed for them, for one remembrance rises for here and for there.

You, Hashem, know all mysteries, and before You are revealed the secrets of my heart, for my intention in all of this is for the sake of Your great and holy Name and for the sake of Your holy Torah. Therefore, answer me, Hashem, answer me, for the sake of the holy forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And in their merit, save the children so that the branches may be like their roots, and for the sake of David Your servant, the fourth leg of the Chariot, who sang with Your holy spirit.

A Song of Ascents. Happy is everyone who fears Hashem, who walks in His ways. When you eat the labor of your hands, you shall be happy, and it shall be well with you. Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the innermost parts of your house; your children like olive plants around your table. Behold, for so shall the man who fears Hashem be blessed. Hashem shall bless you from Zion, and you shall see the good of Jerusalem all the days of your life. And you shall see your children's children. Peace be upon Israel.

Please, Hashem, Who hears prayer, may the verse be fulfilled in us: "As for Me, this is My covenant with them, says Hashem; My spirit which is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your offspring, nor from the mouth of your offspring's offspring, says Hashem, from now and forever."

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable before You, Hashem, my Rock and my Redeemer.

The Shelah Prayer for Download and for the Merit of the Many

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