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388 | A New Light
The Shulchan Aruch writes: “A person should spend an hour
before praying, preparing to direct his heart to God and one hour
after praying, so that it will not appear as though he considers the
prayers a burden that he is rushing to leave behind” (Orach Chaim
93). And the Mishnah Berurah comments (1): “The students of
Rabbeinu Yonah proved from the Gemara that although usually
an ‘hour’ means a short amount of time, here it means an actual
hour.”
The Gemara states that this practice is particularly that of the
pietists—i.e., people who are strict upon themselves—and not
for the people as a whole. But Rabbi Yeshaya Pinto Hakadmon’s
commentary on the Ein Yaakov says that although sitting for an
hour before prayer is a practice reserved for pietists, spending a
literal hour after prayer and—how much more—spending an actual
hour in prayer itself are practices that are appropriate for the
people as a whole. The halachic authorities cite this in the books of
halachah, even though it is a pietistic practice, from which we learn
that this is not a mere stringency but a noble aspiration pertinent
to every Jew.
Clearly, it is good to recite the entire prayer service at length,
plus spending periods of time before and after prayer. But the main
thing is to recite at length the essence of the prayer service, which
is the Shemoneh Esrei. Although this is hard for everyone to do
in our days, nevertheless you must aspire and want to recite the
Shemoneh Esrei for an hour. Try at least once a day to take the
opportunity to pray the Shemoneh Esrei at length.
An Hour a Day
People ask how it is possible to pray the Shemoneh Esrei for an
entire hour. But when they learn and review the practical guidance
that I have written here regarding the blessing of “He Who
graciously grants knowledge” and they understand and internalize
the simple principles that are explained in this book, as well as
the introductory principles that Rabbi Nachman gives and teaches
us—that all of a person’s life is determined in accordance with his
will, and that the time during which the will truly determines and 13
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is no greater running away from Hashem Hashem than the
craving for sleep, which is in its essence a craving to cast off
the yoke of heaven.
Therefore, we may say about sleep what the sages said about
the children of Israel in the desert: it is true that a person needs to
sleep, but his choice is to decide how he will sleep. It is true that
a person needs to renew his mind, to strengthen himself, to renew
his powers—but in no way whatsoever should he want to sleep.
To sleep is to run away from Hashem. That is the beginning of
every calamity and of all transgressions: at first, at a person wants
only to sleep and forget about Hashem. Afterwards, he craves, he
complains, he whines, he slanders and creates dispute—as happened
with the children of Israel (as described further on in the book of
Numbers).
On the other hand, the tzaddikim have always been with Hashem:
“I am always with You” (Psalms 73:23). Therefore, there is no way
for the evil inclination to gain access to them and confuse them.
They always cling to their purpose. Even when they sleep, they go
to sleep with Hashem. As the verse states, “I am asleep, but my
heart is awake” (Song of Songs 5:2).
Wakefulness
As I have explained, the evil inclination of sleep is the greatest
evil inclination of all, and the essence of the evil inclination. That is
because the evil inclination is the angel of death, and sleep is death.
The entire goal of the evil inclination is to anesthetize a person
so that he will sleep away his days. Therefore, all encouragement
to serve Hashem is called “awakening,” because overall the evil
inclination consists of sleep and slumber, whereas overall the service
of Hashem is the opposite of sleep, which is wakefulness. Hashem
has no satisfaction from a person who sleeps away his days, even
if he learns Torah and prays. As Rabbi Nachman says, “There are
people who sleep away their days. Although it appears to others that
they are serving Hashem, learning Torah and praying, nevertheless
none of their work gives Hashem satisfaction, because all of their
work remains below, and it cannot be elevated and uplifted” (Likutei