Page 433 - 20780

15

448 | A New Light Chapter Nine: | 433

Therefore, at that time a person must make a personal of heaven. The tiredness is only an excuse. It only testifies to the fact
accounting of his deeds and confess them, because that that a person lacks holy will. It is precisely at this moment that the
is the time of death, [and before death, a person recites measure of your fear of heaven may be determined, depending on
confession]. Such people are called “people who make whether you empower your holy will and stand firm like a warrior.
an accounting.” If you possessed the fear of heaven, all of your tiredness would be
broken. Regarding this, the Gemara says that “fear breaks a tough
And Rabbi Chaim Vital writes (Sha’arei Kedushah: Part 1, Gate 6): body” (Bava Batra 10a). Even if your body is “tough” and filled
with cravings and you grow increasingly sleepy, the fear of heaven
And now, my son, listen to my voice, to everything has the power to break all of your exhaustion and arouse you to
that I command you. Prepare to meet your God every live your purpose—which in this case is go to sleep in the midst of
night when you go to sleep. Remember that it is the faith, longing and mindfulness. But what happens? As a result of
experiencing a little tiredness, will you throw everything away? Will
small death, a reminder of the true, great death. And you cease to care about anything? Will you forget the entire Torah
look at all of the deeds that you did that day. If they and all of the mitzvot? Will you engage in no prayer and no Sh’ma?
have bad elements among them, confess them, because Will you deny justice and the Judge, heaven forbid?
it is the way of those who are sentenced to death to
confess. Accept the yoke of the kingdom of heaven Thus, the night-time procedure of reading the Bedside Sh’ma and
in the Bedtime Sh’ma, raising your soul with the word lying down in holiness constitutes the true test of a person’s fear
echad, “one.” Afterwards, deposit your spirit in His of heaven.
hand, may He be blessed, when you recite the verse,
“In Your hand I deposit my spirit,” analogous to the To Earn Big
true sleep, of which it is said, “The spirit will return
to God….” Indeed, now give Him this small sleep as Even if a person is extremely tired and truly needs to sleep,
a deposit, to return [your spirit] to you, new in the nothing will happen to him if he sleeps ten minutes less and reads
mornings, [as spirits are returned] to dead bodies. Lie the Sh’ma properly with at least the minimal preparation, with the
verses and the blessing of hamapil, and then a few more words to
down in terror and fear, because your spirit is rising Hashem, including praying to wake up on time and with alacrity.
to give a judgment and accounting before Your Maker I have yet to hear about anyone having died because he went to
for all of your actions, words and thoughts of that day. sleep ten minutes later. This is not a mortal danger.
Therefore, do not distract your heart with speech
or empty thoughts, but sleep and doze off in the On the contrary, this is the time to rectify the entire day, because
midst of the above-mentioned fear. everything goes in accordance with the culmination of the day.
And that is the time at which a person lies down to sleep. No
This personal accounting is simple and easy. As Chayei Moharan matter how poorly the entire day may have passed, you have a
tells (587): final opportunity to rectify it by strengthening yourself at its end.
And when you do so, you attain an abundance of blessing and
I heard how one of the quite young people would lie salvation. This is in keeping with the verse, “In consequence of
down to sleep in Rabbeinu’s room. Once this person your listening…” (Deuteronomy 7:12). The Hebrew word for “in
approached Rabbeinu, of blessed memory, and as he consequence,” eikev, may be translated as “at the end.” The