THE PRAYERS

Spiritual Awakening

Beginning Anew

Help us to serve You always, with all our hearts. May our Divine service seem new to us every day; may we begin afresh, as if we had never served You before. May we never succumb to thinking of ourselves as old or incapable of change; rather, may we be “bold as a leopard and light as an eagle, swift as a deer and strong as a lion, to carry out the will of our Father in Heaven.” Let us experience the truth of the prophet's words, “Those who yearn for God will find their strength renewed; they will take flight like eagles; they will run and not become faint, walk and not become weary.”

(I:776)

The True Goal

May I always seek to come close to You, O God, and not be deceived by the vain attractions of this world. What can be gained by the pursuit of wealth? Will it not all be taken from me when I die? “For nothing accompanies a person when he passes away, not silver, gold, precious gems or pearls; only Torah and good deeds.” Whether or not I succeed in acquiring riches, I will have wasted my days for naught. “What does a person gain from all his efforts that he labors under the sun? Utter emptiness; all is emptiness.”

Even if I am unworthy to serve You due to my many sins, may my desire to draw near to You still remain strong and my holy determination never diminish. May You perform wonders for me and draw me near to You in truth.

(II:83)

The Spirit of Enlightenment

Master of the Universe: have mercy upon us and hear our prayers. Anoint us with Divine Intellect – the holy intuition of transcendent reality, the spirit of enlightenment. Reveal to us the light of Divine intellect in a flash of higher perception. May we merit to grasp the supernal wisdom which is known as the “Light of the Divine Face,” so that all explanations and techniques will no longer be necessary.

May the constant influx of Divine Intellect cause the flame of the heart to rise of its own accord. Thus may our hearts be always enflamed with awe of God and fervor in Divine service, with flames of Divine fire. Through the heart's holy fervor, may we rectify all the spiritual damage we have caused in the past through the fire of our negative character traits and of our burning physical desires.

“Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew in me a proper spirit. Do not cast me away from before You, and do not take Your holy spirit from me.”

(I:342)

Praying in the Fields

“Come, Beloved, let us go out to the field; let us lodge in the villages. Let us arise early to go to the vineyards; let us see if the vine has blossomed, if the tender grapes have opened, if the pomegranates have sprouted. There I will give my love to You.”

Master of the universe, let me seclude myself in meditation and prayer every day, going out to the fields to meditate among the trees and grass, pouring out my heart in prayer. For all the leaves and grass, all the trees and plants, will stir themselves to greet me; they will rise to imbue my words and prayers with their energy and life force. All the trees and plants of the field will merge with my words and prayers; they will combine all their spiritual power and bring my words up to their supernal Source. Thus my prayers and supplications will attain perfection.

O Merciful One, may I merit to pray before You, until my heart opens at last. May my words flow until I pour out my heart like water before God.

(II:224)

Midnight Meditation

“My soul longs for You in the night; the spirit within me seeks You. I have remembered Your Name at night, O God, and I have kept Your Torah. I remember my song in the night; with my heart I commune, and my spirit seeks.”

Master of the universe Who is One, Singular and Unique, transcending past, present and future: You created this world and all the supernal Universes, according to Your beneficent will. You sent forth our souls to this world to serve You in truth, thus to reveal Your kingship. Through our positive actions we can spiritually elevate all worlds, from the lowest level of the World of Action to the highest level of the World of Emanation. We can elevate everything to its supernal Source, so that every element of the universe will merge into Your absolute Oneness.

Therefore show me mercy and enable me to spend much time in secluded meditation every day, until I attain self-nullification – the complete eradication of the ego. Then I will be able to merge with Your Oneness in truth.

Allow me a special place and a special time for my meditations – a secluded path late at night, while most people are sleeping. May I go there every night, to that secluded path where people do not go, even by day. There, let me meditate and put my thoughts and feelings into words, pouring out my heart to You, until my heart yearns for You and my eyes flow with tears. May I confess all of my many failings before You, regretting them all truly and sincerely, and resolve not to return to my foolish ways again.

Help me – not because I have earned Your favor, but because of Your great mercy. Protect me from all misdeeds, transgressions and selfish desires. Through my secluded meditations let me attain true self-nullification, so that I eradicate every negative character trait and every self-seeking desire, until I have completely cleansed myself of them all. Help me remove every trace of ego, until I reach the ultimate level of self-nullification and become incorporated within the Divine Oneness in truth.

Then all temporal existence will be integrated into the Essential Reality: everything will become one with God and exist within God forever, never to be separated from Him again. Your Oneness will be revealed throughout Creation. “And everything created will know that You created it, and everything formed will realize that You formed it. And everyone who breathes the breath of life shall declare: `The Lord God of Israel is King, and His dominion is over all'.”

(I:647-648)

Peaceful Dialogue

Master of peace, King unto Whom peace belongs: may it be Your will to bestow peace on Your People, Israel. Let peace abound and extend to all the inhabitants of the world until there is no longer any hatred, jealousy, conflict, strife or hostility between one person and another. May there be only great love and peace among all people. May we all recognize the love that others bear for us and know that they seek our good and our love, and that they desire our lasting success.

Then all people will be able to come together to engage in genuine dialogue and explain the truth to each other, inspiring one another to contemplate man's lot in this world. For this world passes as the blink of an eye, like a passing shadow – not even the shadow cast by a tree or a wall, but the shadow of a flying bird, which moves quickly out of view.

Let all people discuss with their friends the ultimate futility of worldly desires, and come to understand the true purpose of the soul's descent to this lowly world. Let us speak at length with each other in a spirit of brotherhood and love – truthfully, from the depths of our hearts, without any desire to win arguments or to provoke each other at all.

Through such dialogue may we all draw near to You with absolute sincerity, discarding our “false gods of silver and gold.” May we cease to follow the crookedness of our hearts that draws us toward evil, and may we no longer waste our lives in the pursuit of wealth; may we neither chase after luxuries nor dedicate our lives to amassing riches. Then the spirit of folly will be banished from our hearts, and peace will grow and spread throughout the world.

All Israel will return to You in complete repentance, as is Your beneficent will. All the nations of the world, too, will be aroused spiritually, and they will recognize the ultimate truth. They, too, will all draw near to You and accept upon themselves the yoke of Your Kingship, as the prophet has promised, “For I will turn the language of the nations to one of pure speech, that they all call upon the Name of God and serve Him with a common accord.”

(I:409)