The Yahrtzeit of the Seventy Elders • A Prayer by Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a

Today, the 5th of Shevat, is the yahrtzeit of the Seventy Elders who are buried in the village of Awarta. Several years ago, Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a wrote prayers for their gravesite for those who, in past years, would enter there with true self-sacrifice.

In honor of the day of the hilula, we present to you the prayer for the grave of the Seventy Elders:

Master of the World, Almighty One, from Whom no plan is withheld—by the merit of the Seventy Elders who rest here, whom Moshe Rabbeinu, peace be upon him, chose, and who lived long after Yehoshua bin Nun, and merited to lead Israel for many years after his passing with uprightness and wholeheartedness, in truth and in Emunah—so too, grant me the merit to serve You with uprightness and wholeheartedness, in truth and in Emunah. Help me give over my very life for the sake of the People of Israel, just as the Seventy Elders gave themselves over; and help me draw out all vitality from within the kelipos, until all the kelipos are nullified and become nothing and emptiness—just as the Seventy Elders merited to lead the People of Israel and to nullify the kelipos of the Seven Nations, making them nothing and emptiness, as it is written: “Why do nations rage, and peoples plot in vain?” And may I merit, like the Seventy Elders who brought the Shechinah out of the exile of the idolaters and brought Her from darkness to light—so too may I merit to raise the Shechinah from exile through fulfilling the mitzvos with exceedingly great and mighty joy, and to reveal Your Kingship to all who come into the world, until all accept upon themselves the yoke of Your Kingship, and You will reign over them speedily, and all will proclaim: “Hashem reigns. Hashem has reigned. Hashem will reign forever and ever.”

Please, Compassionate and Gracious One—be my help, and save me by the merit of the Seventy Elders who rest here, that not a single day should pass for me without an hour of Hisbodedus. And may I merit that “an elder is one who has acquired wisdom,” like Yosef HaTzaddik, who was a ben zekunim. Be my help—save me and grant me the merit to pour out my words before You, everything that “I speak with my heart.” And may I merit, by the merit of the Seventy Elders who rest here, to confess before You each and every day for all my sins, my iniquities, and my transgressions—especially for all the blemishes of my bris, for I have sinned before You from my youth until this very day—and to return for them with complete and true teshuvah, with an understanding heart and a steadfast spirit, with all my heart and soul, in complete teshuvah; and that I should not sin again, and not be “like a dog returning to its vomit, like a fool repeating his folly.” Therefore I have come here, to the resting place of the Seventy Elders, to beg and plead before You for my nefesh, my ruach, and my neshamah—my chayah and my yechidah—and to ask of You for true atonement with a broken and crushed heart, according to Your good will; and to ask of You for forgiveness and pardon in truth, with a truly broken heart. Through this I will return to joy with even greater strength and power; I will clothe myself in might and courage; and here, at their holy and awe-inspiring tziyun—the tziyun of the Seventy Elders—I accept upon myself a true, strong, and steadfast commitment: not to return again to foolishness; if I have done wrong, I will not continue. And You—arouse here Your compassion upon me, that from now on I may be as Rebbe Nachman, the holy and awe-inspiring one, desires; and by the merit of the Seventy Elders, may I merit the blessing of Rebbe Nachman, the holy and awe-inspiring one: “exactly like me.”