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386 | A New Light
may He be blessed. But if at times he cannot pray with that
clinging, he should not say, “I will not pray at all,” even
though he cannot have proper deep feeling, he cannot
pray with clinging, and his prayer is not accepted…. He
should not say that, but always pray. And if he cannot
pray with proper clinging, he should [at least] pray with
all his might. That is because, when he later prays with
proper clinging, he will raise all of his previous prayers
with this prayer that he is now praying properly….
Higher than Prayer
Also, it is known that all holy matters require preparation. As
Rabbi Nachman states in Sefer Hamidot (Tefillah 23): “Every
holy matter requires preparation and readiness.” In particular,
we require preparation for prayer. As the Gemara tells, the
early pietists would spend an hour before prayer (Berachot 30b).
Therefore, Rabbi Nachman placed the above teaching under the
heading of Tefillah—“Prayer.”
What is preparation for prayer? Preparation is a person’s intention,
yearnings and thoughts of what he wants to achieve, with Hashem’s
help. Therefore, we must pray before the formal prayer that we
will be able to recite the formal prayers properly: “Master of the
world, give me the will and desire to pray. Help me stand and
pray at length. Help me not want to get the prayer over with, and
not be dismissive of prayer. Help me insert my intent into every
single word.” The more a person is accustomed to experiencing
intentions and good longings throughout the day, the easier it is for
him to pray. And so Rabbi Nachman teaches in Sefer Hamidot
(ibid. 50): “As a result of a person’s yearning at night for Hashem,
may He be blessed, it is easy for him to pray in the morning.” But
the principal preparation for prayer should take place right before
prayer.
Preparation itself has its own importance and significance, even
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Hashem is an awakening from sleep. As the Rambam teaches: “A
person is obligated to be punctilious with the mitzvah of putting up
a mezuzah, because it is a constant, universal requirement. When
a person enters or exits a room and is reminded of the unity of
Hashem, the name of the Holy One, blessed be He, he will recall
His love, and he will awaken from his sleep and his madness
amidst the vanities of temporary matters. He will know that
nothing stands forever except the knowledge of the Rock of the
world. And immediately he will return to his mindfulness and
proceed upon upright ways” (Hilchot Mezuzah 6:13).
A Question of Life
Thus, we see that sleep is absolute evil, and that it does not give
life. Sleep is solely a decree of the King, a coercive imposition
that we must perform in the right and proper manner. Rabbi Levi
Yitzchak Bender, an elder of the Breslov Hasidim, used to say that
there is a concept of holy sleep (cf. Likutei Halachot). The question is:
how do we attain holy sleep? Where do we begin?
You must know that the central Divine service in regard to sleep
takes place when a person is going to sleep. Everything depends on
what he wants during the minutes in which he first lies down in bed.
If he wants to cling to Hashem, he will receive holy life, mindfulness
and faith, and his sleep will be truly sweet, good and brief. It will
be a holy sleep. But if he wants to sleep or to rest, heaven forbid,
he removes his mindfulness entirely and remains empty. And when
the pit is empty and it does not contain water, snakes and scorpions
enter, and every power of uncleanness takes control of it, and that
affects the person the entire coming day (as will be explained).
There exists today an extensive school of thought that focuses on
the importance of the “quality of sleep”—but that is the quality of
death. For our many sins, sleep has turned into a “pleasure” and into
“quality time.” As I have explained at length, this is a falsehood of
the first magnitude—the greatest falsehood of the evil inclination.
In truth, sleep should be an absolute bond with Hashem. And the
quality of a person’s sleep depends solely on the quality of
his yearning for and bond with the Creator before he fell