Likutei Tefilot, Volume II 2/ליקוטי תפילות·חלק ב ב׳

1Finding a Worthy Marriage Partner / Giving Charity and Overcoming the Heart’s Cruelty / Nullifying Gentile Languages / The Joy of the Shabbat / Learning Torah Laws is the Joy of the World to Come / The Power to Change NatureA person should ask God to help his children find worthy marriage partners. And he should ask God to help him give charity until he nullifies the cruelty in his heart so that he is no longer considered animal but human — that is to say, someone who has compassion.More generally, a Jew should attain the perfection of the Holy Tongue, which is connected to the Shabbat — the speech of truth that comprises blessing and holiness. He should nullify the gentile tongues, as part of which he should not learn gentile languages.On the Shabbat, no worry, depression or worry should trouble a person’s heart. He should then draw the holiness of the Shabbat into the six days of the week, until he is joyful on the weekdays and God’s simple unity is revealed.Also, as a result of learning the laws of the Torah, a person attains the delight of the World to Come, which is the knowledge of God.And until the Mashiach comes, a person should ask God to make the world act in accordance with His will, nullifying all the harsh decrees that non- Jews have decreed against Jews — whether before or after the decree. He should ask God to transmit His power into the hand of the Jews, so that we will possess God’s power to change nature and guide the world.Thanking God is the Delight of the World to Come“It is good to give thanks to HaShem and to sing to Your supernal Name.” “I will bless HaShem at all times; His praise is always in my mouth.” “I will thank HaShem with all my heart, with the counsel of the upright and in the congregation.” “May my mouth be filled with Your praise, the entire day with Your glory.” “May my mouth speak the praise of HaShem, and all flesh bless His holy Name forever and ever.” “We will bless God from now and forever; bless God.”

2Master of the world, filled with goodness, help me thank You. Help me and save me. May I attain the true goodness of the delight of the World to Come, which consists of giving thanks to Your great and holy Name.

3Every day, may I recite many blessings, thanksgivings, songs and praises to Your great and holy Name.

4May I thank You and bless You for all of the kindnesses, favors, miracles and wonders that You have done with me from my birth until this day; for Your miracles [that You did] for us every day, and for Your wonders and favors every moment — evening, morning and noon.

5“With what will I come before God, bow before the Most High God?” Who will beautify, who will glorify, who will praise, who will speak, who will exalt, who will tell a thousandth and ten-thousandth of the favors, miracles and wonders that You have done for our forefathers and for us?

7You took us out of all the contamination and pollution, and in Your compassion, You brought us close to Your great and holy Name, and brought us into the holiness of the people of Israel.

8You perform great and awesome actions every day. You conceive thoughts so that we will be able to come close to serve You, so as to attain true and eternal life.

9Your kindness to us is great. You rescued our souls from the lowest level of Sheol. If HaShem had not helped us, our souls would almost have dwelled in silence. What shall we say? How shall we speak? How shall we reply to HaShem for His kindness to us?

10“If our mouths were filled with song like the sea, and our tongues with melody like the multitude of its waves, and our lips with praise like the expanse of the firmament, and if our eyes shone like the sun and like the moon, and if our hands were stretched out like the eagles of Heaven, and our feet were as swift as rams — we would not be able to stop thanking, praising, glorifying, blessing and sanctifying Your Name, our King, for a thousandth, a thousandth of a thousandth, or a ten-thousandth of a tenthousandth of the favors, miracles and wonders that You performed with our forefathers and with us,” with every individual specifically.

11You have not recompensed me in accordance with my willfulness and the evil of my deeds, but with Your kindness alone. In accordance with Your kindness, give me life. You have considered from afar how to ultimately bring me goodness. My King, You have brought me close to Your great and holy Name.

12What more will Your servant say before You, HaShem my God and God of my fathers? You know Your servant.

13Behold, I thank You for the past and I cry out for the future. You Who are filled with compassion, You Who do favors for the guilty, You have given me only good. You have brought me into the holiness of the Jewish people and did not make me a gentile.

14All this was small in Your eyes. Then You added kindness and goodness for me — doubled and quadrupled goodness. My King, You brought me close to true Tzaddikim, worthy people and God-fearing people.

15You Who are filled with compassion, filled with good, You have begun to show Your kindness to me by bringing me close to You and giving me a taste of the radiance, friendship, sweetness and holiness of the true Tzaddikim.

16May Your inner compassion be stirred up on my behalf. Have compassion on me and save me from now on. Help me keep, perform and fulfill all the words of Your holy Torah that the true Tzaddikim have revealed to us.

17Quickly and speedily redeem me. Deliver me from all the troubles and evils that surround me. “HaShem, how many are my adversaries, how many rise against me. How many say about me, ‘There is no salvation for him from God.’ But You, HaShem, are a shield for me and raise my head.”

18Calling from the StraitsMany troubles have surrounded me. I called out to You, HaShem my God. “In my distress, I will call HaShem, and to my God I will cry out. He will hear from His palace my voice, and my cry comes before Him in His ears.”

19“From the straits I called to God. God answered me with a vast expanse.” “I called out to HaShem from my troubles and He answered me.” “From the belly of Sheol I cried out, You heard my voice.” “You cast me into the depth of the heart of the seas, and a river surrounded me. All of Your breakers and waves passed over me.”

20“I said, ‘I have been expelled from before Your eyes,’ but I will continue to gaze upon Your holy palace. Water surrounded me to the soul, the depths surrounded me, the Red Sea hung over my head. I descended to the bottom of the mountains; the bars of the earth are closed on me forever. But You raised my life from destruction, HaShem my God.”

21“When my soul was faint upon me, I recalled HaShem, and my prayer came to You, to Your holy palace. Those who keep worthless futilities abandon their kindness. But I will sacrifice to You with a voice of thanks; that which I vowed, I will pay, for my salvation is HaShem.”

22Learning Jewish LawIn Your vast compassion and great kindness, help me so that I will learn the laws of the Torah every day, without exception, all the days of my life. May not one day pass without my learning Jewish law.

23By means of these laws, may I attain the delight of the World to Come, knowing and recognizing You. May You be blessed forever.

24Help me truly clarify the law. Be with me always. Draw kindness onto me, the faithful kindnesses of David. May I derive the law properly, until I quickly come to know all the laws of all the commandments of the Torah clearly, and create novel insights into them.

25Pour forth complete, holy knowledge upon me, until I truly know and recognize You, and be near and close to You, and thank You and bless You always, and truly attach myself to You in this world and in the World to Come, from now and forever.

26Troubles of the HeartRescue me from all trouble and oppression. You know the many burdensome troubles of my heart, until “the strength of the porter has collapsed.”

27My situation is very constricted, my Father in Heaven. It is evil and bitter. It has touched my very soul. I have no brother or friend to turn to with my burdened and bitter speech. Heavy stones weigh upon my heart. “My heart is sick upon me.”

28My heart knows the bitterness of my soul, more bitter than hemlock and wormwood, which no one would believe if I told it. All the blood in my limbs gathers to my heart and oppresses it sorely.

29All my limbs, arteries and sinews, with all the blood in them, seek and search for counsel and strategy on how to escape destruction, the harsh judgment of Gehinnom and the harsh judgment of the future; and how to be rescued from all transgressions, sins and iniquities, and from all blemishes and all misadventures in the world.

30My hope has been dashed. I have not known what to do and how to act, and where to seek healing for my mortal wound.

31HaShem, God, You know. Have pity and mercy on me. Have compassion on the little that remains of me. From Your holy dwelling place, show me salvation and compassion. Starting at this moment, rescue me from every type of trouble and evil, for I have no one on whom to rely but You alone, my Father in Heaven.

32“You are my shelter, You guard me from the adversary. You surround me with songs of redemption.” Save me and help me, so that the blood that pours onto my heart will return to its regular circulation.

33Do many kindnesses for me at every moment. Help me, save me and rescue me always from every trouble and oppression. Help me thank You always for all of the kindnesses that You have done for me and that You will do for me in the future.

34Supporting Those Who Learn TorahHave compassion on us and on Your entire nation, the Jewish people. Help us support Torah study.

35May we support those who learn Torah, who engage in Torah study and the service of HaShem in truth. May we support them, feed them, encourage them and supply them with everything they lack in an honorable fashion, and take care of all their needs and all the needs of their children and families.

36May they be able to learn Your Torah and serve You with an expansive heart, without any interruption or distraction at all, so that they can create and innovate laws and true insights in Your holy Torah.

37Pour forth great kindness through this. May a flow of favor, blessing, a good income, great and holy wealth, compassion, life, peace and all good be drawn down onto us and onto Your entire nation, the Jewish people.

38Fill the blemish of the moon. May the verse be realized, “The light of the moon will be like the light of the sun.”

39Help for Women in ChildbirthIn Your vast compassion, have pity and mercy on all the birthing mothers of Your nation, the House of Israel. Rescue them from all suffering and harm. Have compassion on their difficult and burdensome suffering, which is revealed to You, Master of all.

40Have pity on them, help them and save them in Your awesome mercy and vast kindness, so they will give birth easily, without any difficulty at all.

41You Who are filled with compassion, have mercy on them, for You know their difficult suffering and pains. Have mercy on them for Your sake. Rescue them from all suffering and harm, from every type of evil eye, and from every type of “husk” and evil force that prevents childbirth and possesses evil intent, Heaven forbid.

42Please, HaShem, in Your vast compassion, rescue them and protect them from all evil. May they all give birth quickly and easily, without any difficulty. Bring forth the newborn to peace, without harm.

43May Your entire nation, the Jewish people, raise their sons and daughters to live long lives of service to You and fear of You. May no woman miscarry. May Your nation, the Jewish people, increase like the grains of sand by the sea, which cannot be measured or counted because they are so many.

44Worthy Marriage PartnersIn Your vast compassion and true kindness, have compassion on us. Help us and save us so that we will be able to draw down the illumination of the truth and cause truth to shine in the word and complete the holy word.

45Guard us and rescue us so that no false word will come out of our mouths, even by accident. Rather, may all our words always be words of truth.

46May we draw down the illumination of the three conduits of truth, which are prayer, Torah and worthy marriage partners.

47In Your vast compassion, help us pray before You with a whole heart and soul. May our prayer reach perfection, in accordance with Your good will.

48Be with us always and save us, so that we will speak all the words of prayer, supplications and requests with ultimate truth, without any ulterior motives, confusion or foreign thoughts whatsoever.

49Rather, may all the words of our prayer possess ultimate, pure truth, truth that You desire, so that You will hear our prayer always, because You desire truth alone. As the verse states, “HaShem is close to all who call out to Him, to all who call out to Him in truth.”

50Nullifying Harsh DecreesBy means of our prayer, may we merit that the world will act in accordance with Your will, with the nullifying of all the harsh decrees that [non-Jews] have decreed against us, Heaven forbid — whether before the edict has passed or after it has been decreed.

51Transmit Your power and Your might into our hands, so that we will possess all Your power and might to change nature and to guide the entire world.

52May the verse be realized regarding Your nation, the Jewish people, “He will call him God, the God of Israel.” The people of Israel will be called by the name God, because they will have the Godly power to guide all the worlds in accordance with their holy will.

53Help us truly learn Your holy Torah always for its own sake. Give us a worthy and true rabbi from whom we will receive a straight path, so that we will know the way upon which to walk and the deeds that we should perform all the days of our lives, forever. Always lead us on the way of truth, in accordance with Your good will.

54Have compassion on us and on Your entire nation, the Jewish people. Prepare fitting marriage partners for our sons and daughters, destined for them from Heaven. May these partners not be exchanged on account of our sins, Heaven forbid, but may everyone find his partner destined for him from Heaven (and in particular, [Hebrew name], the son/daughter of [mother’s Hebrew name]).

55Always guide us on the true path. May we make truly good and fitting marriages in accordance with Your good will, as the verse states, “From HaShem is a wise wife.”

56The Conduits of TruthYou Who are filled with compassion, fulfill my requests with compassion, until the three conduits of truth shine through speech and perfected, holy speech — all four parts of speech.

57Help us always increase charity, until we attain the speech of charity, as in the verse, “I [HaShem] speak with charity, great to save.”

58Draw compassion onto us. Nullify all the cruelty in our heart. May we no longer be considered animal but human — that is to say, someone who has compassion.

59May we always have true compassion for others, and may we always increase charity for the worthy poor, in accordance with Your good will, until we perfect the speech of charity, as in the verse, “It is good for a person to be gracious and lend, to weigh his words with judgment.”

60Help us attain the speech of repentance, so that we speak many words of repentance before You. May we realize the words of the verse, “Take words with you and return to HaShem.”

61Send worthy and fitting words into our mouths, until we truly arouse our hearts before You and pour out our hearts like water before the face of HaShem, as in the verse, “Pour out your heart like water before the face of HaShem.”

62Master of the world, bring me to complete repentance before You. Master of the world, bring me to the speech of prayer that will truly arouse my heart, until I return to You quickly and with a full heart.

63Help me. Be compassionate and gracious to me. Bring me back to You in complete repentance.

64“Bring me back and I will return, for You are my God.” Give me hope and I will not be lost. Give me spirit, true breadth and eternal rescue. Give me the speech of true repentance.

65Have pity and mercy on me for the sake of Your Name. Act for Your sake and not for mine. See how poor, empty and lacking I am, how blemished, ruined and desolate, how confused and torn.

66Rescue the ship that is tossed about at sea without any assistance or support. Rescue the persecuted from the murderers, ambushers, highwaymen and enemies whose harshness and cruelty have no equal.

67Please rescue me in Your vast compassion. Please save me, my Father, my compassionate Father. Please give me true, eternal success.

68May I succeed in this world from now on with an eternal success. May I enjoy the true profit of what a person can earn in this world without measure. Help me truly be in accordance with Your good will, from now and forever.

69Transform the Hearts of Kings for Our GoodHelp me perfect the speech of the wealthy who are close to the government. Help, save and shield all those who are close to kings, ministers and advisers, who stand up for the sake of the salvation and rescue of the Jewish people in truth.

70Send words of graciousness to their lips. May they find favor in the eyes of emperors, kings, ministers and advisers, and nullify the thoughts of our enemies.

71Give them grace, good consciousness and intelligence, so they will be able to nullify all harsh and evil decrees, and enact good decrees for the Jewish people, Your nation. And may the hearts of the emperors, kings and ministers be transformed toward us for the good.

72You alone know the situation of Your nation, the Jewish people, at present. Many rise up against us. “They scheme and conspire against Your nation. They plot against the people whom You protect.”

73Not one person stands against us, but many, scheming at every moment to do evil to the Jewish people, Heaven forbid. We have no one on whom to rely except our Father in Heaven. You have been with us in every generation. Have mercy on us now as well, in this poor generation before the coming of the Mashiach.

74There is no one to stand up for us. May Your great Name stand up for us at a time of trouble.

75Transform the hearts of the emperors, kings and ministers toward us for the good, because everything is solely in Your hand. (As the verse states,) “The heart of kings and ministers is in the hand of HaShem.” And a verse states, “Streams of water are the heart of the king in the hand of HaShem; wherever He wishes, He inclines it.”

76Help us perfect the speech of holy sovereignty. Bring us our righteous Mashiach quickly, in our days, so that he will rule over us forever, and we will hear his holy, pure and awesome words as they come from his holy mouth.

77Have compassion on us for the sake of Your Name. May the truth shine in the square — the four parts — of speech, until we attain perfected speech of holiness.

78May we attain the perfection of the Holy Tongue, which is connected to the Shabbat, the speech of truth that comprises blessing and holiness. Nullify, subdue and break the “tongue of the stuttering,” which is the language of the gentiles, so that it will not have any control or grasp on Your nation, the Jewish people, and the Jewish people will not learn their gentile languages at all.

79But may we and Your entire nation of Israel attain perfected speech in truth, which is perfection of the Holy Tongue, until we draw the holiness and joy of the Shabbat into the six days of the week, and we will always rejoice in Your Name and service on the weekdays.

80For the holy ShabbatDay of Holiness and JoyHelp us and save us so that we celebrate the Shabbat in great holiness, intense gladness, great joy and with a good heart. On the holy Shabbat, may no worry, depression or trouble arise in our hearts. Remove grief and sighing from us.

81In Your good will, give us rest, HaShem our God, so that we will not experience any suffering, grief or sighing on the day of our rest. May we rejoice a great deal on every Shabbat with true joy, with much mirth, glad song, pleasure and love, in accordance with Your good will.

82Help us draw the holiness of the Shabbat into the six days of the week, until even on the weekdays we are always joyful. May we be glad and rejoice in You always.

83May we perform all the commandments, on the weekdays as well, with great joy and gladness, and be only happy always. May we be glad and rejoice in Your salvation always.

84May we always realize the verse, “Serve HaShem with joy, come before Him with singing. Know that HaShem is God; He made us and we are His, His nation and the sheep of His flock.”

85Help us always, at every moment, to draw the joy of the Shabbat into the six days of the week, until Your simple unity will be revealed in the world. May everyone know and believe that all changing actions are drawn from the Simple One, may He be blessed and elevated forever and ever.

86“May every created being know that You created him, and may every formed being understand that You formed him, and may all that has breath in its nostrils say, ’HaShem, God of Israel, is King and His sovereignty rules over all!’”

87May Your simple unity be revealed to all people through Your nation, the Jewish people, whom You chose as a unique nation among all the nations on the face of the earth. “You are One and Your Name is One, and who is like Your nation Israel, a unique nation on the earth?”

88May Your simple unity be revealed above as well, in all the worlds, by means of the revelation of Your simple unity via the changing actions below in this world of Your holy nation, the Jewish people.

89Nullify every kind of dispute in the world, and draw great peace into the world.

90For ChanukahThe Joy of ChanukahHelp us fulfill the commandment of lighting the Chanukah menorah properly, with all its details, particulars, intentions and the 613 commandments that are dependent on it.

91May we fulfill all the commandments of Chanukah with great joy, thanking You and blessing You, and reciting the complete Hallel with much joy and gladness, and with great inspiration, in great holiness and purity.

92In Your vast compassion, You established eight days of Chanukah for us to thank and praise Your great Name — days that are the delight of the World to Come.

93In Your vast compassion, help us truly fulfill Your commandments, until we truly and continually draw upon ourselves the delight of the World to Come — which is thanksgiving to Your great and holy Name — particularly during the holy days of Chanukah, which are days of thanksgiving.

94May we come close to You in truth, and know and recognize You, and thank You, and truly bless You forever, for it is good. As the verse states, “Give thanks to HaShem, for it is good, for His kindness is forever.”

95May we draw the holiness of the Shabbat into the six weekdays, until we are joyful always, in accordance with Your good will.

96Please, HaShem, compassionately fulfill our requests, and help us quickly attain everything that we have requested from You so that we will soon be in accordance with Your good will. Then “may all the nations of the land know that HaShem is God — there is no other.”

97“A song of thanksgiving: Shout out to HaShem, all the land. Serve HaShem with joy, come before Him with singing. Know that HaShem is God; He made us and we are His, His nation and the sheep of His flock. Come to His gates in thanks, to His courtyards with praise; thank Him, bless His Name. For HaShem is good; His kindness is forever, to every generation His faithfulness.”

98“Blessed is HaShem, God of Israel, from beginning and forever, amen and amen.”

99For Difficulty in Childbirth(A woman experiencing difficulty in child birth should recite this prayer. This should be followed by “A Song of Thanksgiving” [Psalm 100] a number of times, for the recital of “A Song of Thanksgiving” is very helpful for a woman experiencing difficulty in childbirth, so that she will be able to give birth easily. Amen.)