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know how to unify the holy name properly. This is the during sleep. As the verse states, “In a dream I will speak with
praise of those people who have faith, those who arise Him” (Numbers 12:6).
at midnight to learn Torah and by doing so cling to the
Congregation of Israel in praising the Holy One, blessed Thus, the time when a person lies down to sleep is the time of the
be He, with words of Torah. greatest and most tremendous war in his life, a war whose outcome
will determine the course of his entire coming day and his entire
life. This is a war of the will. And the following is the work that
Come and see: when a person rises at midnight to learn
Torah and a northern wind arises at midnight, the doe a person must engage in when he lies down to go to sleep:
that is the Shechinah stands and praises the Holy One, When a person lies down to go to sleep, he must have the intent
blessed be He. And when she rises to praise, thousands of clinging to Hashem. He must strengthen and intensify his will
and tens of thousands of angels and souls of tzaddikim more and more until his soul will rise and truly cling to Hashem. A
stand and offer praise with her from their place. They all person’s evil inclination tries to seize his soul and imbue it with the
begin to praise the holy King. desire to sleep. That is the entire focus of this war: will the person
prevail and possess a strong and absolute intent to absolutely cling
The Holy One, blessed be He, listens to the person to Hashem, or will his evil inclination smuggle a small urge for
who has merited to rise at midnight to learn Torah, sleep into him, and then seize him and take him prisoner? That is a
as the colleagues have explained. As the verse states: person’s most difficult struggle: to stand and plead with Hashem to
“You who sit in the gardens, the colleagues heed your 15 help him be a warrior who possesses tremendous will, who yearns
and longs for Hashem—and in the midst of that to fall asleep. A
voice. Let me hear” (Song of Songs 8:13). And that entire person must cry out to Hashem: “Master of the universe, help
heavenly population and all those giving praise who sing me not stop having these intentions!”
to their Master are silenced for the sake of the praises
of those who have learned Torah. And [these angels] Take Heed of the Kidnappers
proclaim: “Behold, bless Hashem, all of the servants of
Hashem. You are the ones to bless Hashem, you are the A person who wants to sleep and dives into sleep without a strong
ones to praise the holy King, you are the ones to crown will and great effort for holiness is seized by sleep. He falls prisoner
the King.” And that doe—[the Shechinah]—is crowned and is tied with ropes that paralyze him physically and spiritually.
because of that person. She stands before the King and Therefore, sleep is called “the ropes of sleep,” and our sages refer
says: “Look at the son that I have brought You, the son to falling asleep as being seized: “sleep seizes him, and thus he
for whose sake I have awakened to You.” sleeps the entire night” (Berachot 4b). And this phrase is used in
the Shulchan Aruch: “until sleep will seize him” (Shulchan Aruch:
And who are those all of whose praise comes before Orach Chaim 481). Sleep seizes a person. The powers of uncleanness
the King? The verse continues: “Those who stand in the seize his soul and pollute it. It is no wonder that he is contaminated
house of Hashem in the nights” (Psalms 10:3): those who in all sorts of ways and that he dreams all sorts of terrible dreams
are called servants of Hashem, those who are worthy of that destroy his soul. He goes to sleep without feeling the fear of
blessing the King and whose blessing is a blessing. That heaven, and as a result all of his sleep appears as it does.
is referred to by the verse: “Raise your hands in the