Likutei Tefilot, Volume II 57/ליקוטי תפילות·חלק ב נ״ז

1The Quality of a Person’s Days of Awe Determines the Quality of the Etrog that He Will Acquire / Jews Instinctively Appreciate the Profound Value of the Mitzvah of EtrogThe quality of a person’s experience during the Days of Awe influences the beauty of the etrog that he will have on Sukkot.A human being cannot fully appreciate the precious nature of the mitzvah of etrog. But because the Jews are a holy and wise people who are not easily fooled, they realize its importance and thus spend more money on this than they do on other mitzvot.For Rosh HaShanah and Yom KippurWeeping with a Full Heart“Hear my prayer, HaShem, and take heed of my outcry. Do not be apathetic to my tears, for I am a stranger with You, a sojourner like all of my fathers.” “Turn aside from me, all you workers of sin, for HaShem has heard the voice of my weeping.”

2Master of the world, You Who are filled with compassion, You Who hear the sound of the weeping of Your nation, the Jewish people, with compassion, help us weep a great deal every day with a truly broken and crushed heart — with a heart that is broken out of joy.

3Help me cry before You at all times with many tears, like a son weeping before his father, because of my great distance from You. May You be deeply moved and may Your true compassion for me be aroused, so that You will quickly restore me to You in complete repentance.

4Master of the world, Master of compassion, King Who is appeased by tears! You know how truly woeful I am and how much I need to weep before You, because I am so immeasurably distant from You, as You know.

5Have compassion on me and open my heart, so that I will truly feel my pain and weep before You a great deal every day — and, in particular, on the awesome days of the month of Elul, Rosh HaShanah, the Ten Days of Repentance, Yom Kippur and Hoshana Rabbah, which are extremely holy and awesome days of favor and repentance.

6In Your vast compassion, help me and save me so that I will then weep a great deal with a truly full heart. “Streams of water run down from my eyes, because they do not keep Your Torah.”

7May I cast aside all cleverness and all thoughts that constantly interfere with, upset and inhibit simplicity [from the point of truth].

8May I break them all. May I nullify them and cast them away from me entirely. And may I truly pray and serve You simply and wholeheartedly.

9You Who are filled with compassion, grant me the merit, among all of the people of Israel, to be on the level of “a weeping youth” throughout the Days of Awe.

10Have mercy, great mercy and vast compassion, so that — from now on, at any rate — I will cast aside all evil and confusions. May I abandon my evil ways and my disgraceful, agitated thoughts.

11You Who are filled with compassion, have compassion on me for the sake of Your Name. Give me truly good, holy and pure Days of Awe. Help me sanctify myself from now on — in particular, on these extremely holy, elevated Days of Awe.

12HaShem, help me always pour forth my heart like water before Your countenance — in particular, with the multitude of selichot and other prayers during the stormy and volcanic Days of Awe.

13Who is not fearful? Who does not feel dread on these days that are filled with apprehension, terror and fear, trepidation, shivering and trembling before You? Who is not judged on these days?

14These days are extremely awesome and fearful. On these days, the angels rush about, seized by trembling and shuddering, and they proclaim, “Behold, it is the day of judgment!”

15Master of the world, Master of the world, You Who are fearsome and awesome, give me new words with which to appease You from where I am right now, so that I will truly return to You from now on.

16You Who are filled with compassion, help me. You Who are filled with salvation, save me. Bring me to true wholeheartedness and simplicity. May I not indulge in any extraneous or unproductive thoughts. Instead, may I realize that I do not know anything.

17In truth, [I do not know;] it is not known to me at all what is occurring in my life and, how much more, what is occurring in the world — because Your thoughts are extremely deep.

18You Who are filled with compassion, have compassion on me. Help me truly act with simplicity at every moment, so that as a result, I will truly return to You quickly.

19Help me cry a great deal on Rosh HaShanah, Yom Kippur and Hoshana Rabbah, as well as throughout the days of Elul and the Ten Days of Repentance, so that Your compassion for me will be aroused, and You will have mercy on me and on the entire Jewish people with great mercy and immeasurable love.

20For the Etrog and the Four SpeciesThe Waving of the Four SpeciesHelp us attain a handsome etrog on the holy festival of Sukkot. May we possess a truly handsome, kosher and beautiful etrog that possesses every type of beauty, and palm, myrtle and willow branches that are kosher, handsome and beautiful.

21Help me fulfill the mitzvah of taking the Four Species in its time, with ultimate perfection, in great holiness and purity, with vast and intense love and fear, joy and gladness.

22May I recite the complete Hallel with truly great intensity as I hold the Four Species and the hoshanot, perform all of the holy movements [of the waving of the Four Species], and engage in the circuits of the awesome hakafot.

23May I do all of this with vast and intense love, fear and joy; with truly heartfelt intention, wondrous attachment and great fervor for Your great, holy and awesome Name; and with simplicity, in accordance with Your will and with the will of Your true Tzaddikim.

25May we inform people of Your might and the glorious splendor of Your sovereignty. May every being know that You brought him about, may every creature understand that You created him, and may everyone who has a soul of the spirit of life in his nostrils offer honor and splendor to Your sovereignty.

26For SukkotThe Mitzvah of SukkahHelp us and save us so that we will fulfill the mitzvah of sukkah in its time, with all of its details, particulars, intentions and the 613 commandments that are dependent on it, with a good heart and great joy.

27Cause us to cling to Your holy mitzvot. Embrace us in Your holy right hand with great love and mercy. Spread the sukkah of Your peace over us and conceal us in the shadow of Your wings.

28As a result of the holy and awesome mitzvah of sukkah, may we sit in Your shade — the holy shade, the shade of faith.

29May Your powerful love and mercy toward us be revealed and known to all. May all acknowledge, “God chose Jacob, Israel as His special nation,” “for the portion of HaShem is His people, Jacob the lot of His inheritance.” May we take pride in You, and may You take pride in us always. As the verse states, “You have selected HaShem today to be your God, and to go in His ways, guard His laws and His commandments and His judgments, and listen to His voice.

30“And HaShem has selected you today to be His special nation, as He spoke to you, so that you will guard all of His commandments. He will make you supreme over all of the nations that He made, so that you will have praise, fame and beauty, and so you will be a nation holy to HaShem Your God, as He has spoken.”

31May we always truly and simply serve You. May we reveal Your Godliness and Your sovereignty to all. May we bend the hearts of the king, his princes and advisors to us for the good, and nullify all harsh decrees against us.

32May the verse be realized, “He will hide me in His sukkah on the day of evil. He will conceal me in the concealment of His tent. On the rock, He will lift me up.”

33Master of the entire world, filled with new compassion at every moment, “I stretch my hands out to You. My soul turns to You like a weary land.”

34Help me and save me and Your entire nation, the House of Israel, in the merit and power of the tears and weeping of all of the true Tzaddikim and of all Israel.

35Help us so that the true Tzaddikim will complete what they want with us, rectifying all of us quickly and fully, in accordance with their good and holy will, and not in accordance with our evil deeds.

36Help us for Your sake and for their sake. Bring us back to You in complete repentance. “Guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; it is for You that I have hoped all the day.”

37Help me attain true wholeheartedness and simplicity. Act with me for the sake of Your Name. Act with me for the sake of Your Torah. “Help us, God of our salvation, regarding the honor of Your Name. Rescue us and grant atonement for our transgressions for the sake of Your Name.”

38“Blessed is HaShem, God, God of Israel, Who alone does wonders. And blessed is the Name of His glory forever, and may His glory fill the entire earth. Amen and amen.”