A Prayer for Moshiach

By Rabbi Noson Sternhartz
Likutey Tefillos I, 142
Translated by Dovid Sears, “Entering the Light” (Breslov Research Institute)

Our God and God of our fathers: have mercy upon us, and confer merit upon us, and speedily send us our righteous Moshiach. He will fix this broken world, as well as all of the worlds from the highest to the lowest, for they all depend upon this lowest World of Action (Olam ha-Asiyah). Have pity on him and on us, and send him speedily and in peace, that he may bring everything to perfection, with the most awesome and wondrous tikkun (rectification).

Enlighten us with true perception, and open our eyes and hearts to Your Torah. Thus, may we be privileged to understand all the words of the Torah lucidly, according to their truth, so that no question or doubt will remain in our minds concerning any law or path among the laws and paths of the Torah. Rather, may everything be clarified beyond any shadow of a doubt, even those questions and doubts about which the great tzaddikim of former times declared "teiku." The Moshiach will straighten out them all, untangle them and make them understandable to us, and rectify the paradigm of "teiku" that includes all of the uncertainties in the world—both those that perplexed the great sages of Israel concerning the laws and paths of the Torah, and those that have perplexed everyone, from the greatest of the great to the smallest of the small.

So many of us yearn with all of our hearts to return to You! However, the paths of return and the paths of Torah are hidden from us, and our hearts are torn by doubts and deep uncertainties about which course of action to take. This is especially true of me, as I stand before You today. You know all that I have been through, and how many doubts and conflicts have bothered me about so many things. These confusions are greater than ever today, in so many areas of my life and in so many ways. My soul is so disturbed that sometimes it seems more than I can bear.

Master of the Universe, Master of the Universe! Almighty God of truth, "great in advice, and mighty in deed!" (Jeremiah 32:19). Have compassion on the Jewish people and upon me, and send a wondrous illumination from the World of Rectification (Olam ha-Tikkun), for which our righteous Moshiach will serve as the spiritual channel. Then "teiku" will be transformed to the most wondrous tikkun, and all questions will be resolved and all doubts clarified, even the subtlest "doubts of doubts"—and we will constantly receive perfect, good, and true advice about everything in the world.

In Your compassion, teach us the proper way to mourn and lament over the destruction of the Holy Temple at all times, particularly every night at the exact moment of chatzos, and during the three summer weeks known as "between the straits (bein ha-metzarim)." On the Ninth of Av, the bitter day when both Holy Temples were destroyed, may we recite the Book of Lamentations and kinnos (elegies) sincerely, with a broken and humble spirit, and pour out our hearts like water before You. Let us "put our mouths to the dust—perhaps there is hope" (Lamentation 3:29), and strike our heads against the walls of our hearts, due to our suffering and travail, as a nation and as individuals. How many years have passed since the devastation of our holy city and Holy Temple! How has the glory of the "House of Our Life" been removed! The trouble of each day is worse than the day before, especially now, when harsh and cruel decrees have been issued against our people, beyond our ability to endure. Our lives hang in the balance; our hearts are filled with dread at the thought of the harsh decrees that those that hate us wish to carry out against us, God forbid.

God of mercy, give us the emotional strength to empathize with the plight of the Jewish people, as well as to face our own spiritual dilemma. Give us the courage to break our hearts before You, and pour forth our supplication like water before You in complete sincerity, admitting the greatness of our sins and transgressions, and the “stiff-necked” behavior (Exodus 32:9) that has prolonged our exile and caused all of our grief.

"Let us raise our hearts to our hands unto God in heaven" (Lamentations 3:41). Let us resort to the art of our holy ancestors, and cry and wail bitterly; let us wander the streets and alleys and market places, supplicating the One Above "until He looks down upon us from heaven" (Lamentations 3:50), until He awakens His mercy upon us, and speedily consoles us, and delivers us from our afflictions and sufferings, collectively and individually.

May God enlighten us, even now, with a ray of the light of our righteous Moshiach, thus to mitigate all harsh decrees, and end all of our grief and travail. May He constantly shine upon us the light of truth, and constantly heal us with new and wondrous tikkunim, and answer and elucidate for us all doubts and questions and quandaries. May we constantly receive the right advice, according to the highest truth, so that we will return to You in truth, speedily and with a whole heart, thus to engage in Torah and prayer and the performance of commandments and good deeds, all the days of our lives. Guard us and save us from all sin and transgression, so that we never veer aside from Your will, neither to the right nor the left (cf. Deuteronomy 5:29). May Your compassion be aroused on behalf of Your children, and may You speedily bring us our righteous Moshiach, and redeem us completely, with the final and eternal redemption.

Then the paradigm of "teiku" will be transformed to "tikkun" to the ultimate degree of perfection; that is, the letter nun from the word kinnos (elegies) will be transferred to the end of the word teiku, thus to convert "teiku" to "tikkun." All lamentations will cease throughout the world, and be remade into vessels of divine perception.

O Merciful One, Master of Deliverance, Master of Consolation! We beg You, console us from all of our afflictions, and help us to accomplish our work in this world. Spread forth upon us Your "Tent of Peace"; prepare for us good advice, and save us speedily for the sake of Your Name. Grant us the knowledge of absolute truth. Save us from the many doubts and confusions and uncertainties that interfere with our ability to serve You. Confer upon us perfect and true advice at all times, so that we may return to You in truth, and become the people You want us to be, now and forever, amen sela.

The Sabbath Foods

Selected Teachings From the Chassidic Masters
Translated by Dovid Sears

“God blessed the seventh day, and He sanctified it” (Genesis 2:3). [Interpreting this verse,] Rabbi Ishmael declared: “He blessed the Manna in the wilderness, and He sanctified the Manna in the wilderness” (Bereishis Rabbah 11:2). This suggests that God blessed the Sabbath foods, imbuing them with the taste of Manna. It is known that the Manna was called “Food of the Mighty Ones.” Similarly, the sacrifices in the Holy Temple were called “Food of the Mighty Ones.” Thus, partaking of the Sabbath meals is like partaking of the sacrifices in the Holy Temple (Imrei Noam, cited in Sefer Kedushas HaAchilah 299).

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Rabbi Yerachmiel Yisrael Yitzchak Danziger of Alexander taught: The holiness of the Sabbath foods is comparable to that of the sacrifices in the Holy Temple. Indeed, some say that the holiness of the Sabbath foods is even greater: for a profane thing that became sanctified through a person’s Divine service attains a higher spiritual level than that which was holy of itself (Yismach Yisrael, Likkutim, cited in Sefer Kedushas HaAchilah 304).

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Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev taught: The “Feast of the Leviathan” (Bava Basra 75a) (designated for the tzaddikim in the Garden of Eden at the End of Days) will be made up of the foods consumed by the Jewish people at their Sabbath and Festival tables, as well as when they showed hospitality to guests or celebrated a religious event (se’udas mitzvah). These are the foods they are destined to eat in the Future World. Thus it is written, “And you shall eat, eating (achol) and being satisfied” (Joel 2:26); that is, they shall partake of that which they previously had eaten [achol, a play on words] (Kedushas Levi, Likkutim, 7, as cited in Sefer Kedushas HaAchilah, 328).

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Rabbi Aharon of Karlin once remarked: Sometimes thoughts of teshuvah—remorse about one’s past, and yearning to return to God—occur to a person during the Sabbath meals; for then one comes closer to the point of truth. These thoughts of teshuvah may be even loftier than those that arise during prayer.” He later added: “The zemiros (table songs) are the wings by which the holiness of the Sabbath meal ascends... “ (Beis Aharon, as cited in Sefer Kedushas HaAchilah, 312).

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Rabbi Nachman of Breslov taught: One should be extremely joyous on the holy Sabbath, and not show even the least trace of sadness or worry. Simply “take delight in God” (Isaiah 58:14), and enjoy all the pleasures of the Sabbath, in food and drink, as well as in fine clothing according to one’s means. For the eating of the Sabbath is entirely spiritual, entirely holy, and it ascends to a completely different place than the eating of the ordinary days of the week (Likutey Moharan II, 17).

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Reb Noson Sternhartz (son of Reb Avraham Sternhartz) once related the following anecdote to Rabbi Moshe Bienenstock: His grandmother Chanah Tzirel said that her father, Reb Noson of Breslov, once entered their little kitchen on Friday, while the women were preparing food for Shabbos. He told them: “You should know that the cooking you do in honor of the Shabbos is comparable to the work that the Kohanim performed to prepare the korbonos in the Beis ha-Mikdosh!” (Heard from Rabbi Moshe Bienenstock)