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engaging in a great deal of prayer with the work of the will every every day. It is a pity that you do not conclude your prayer having
day. Nevertheless, fortunate is the person who is able to keep this received baskets filled with all good.
teaching in its plain sense. When a person successfully nullifies his
craving for sleep and wakes up at night, he will be able to implement How much thanks and praise you owe the Holy One, blessed
this teaching in its simple sense. Fortunate is he and fortunate is his be He. You have the opportunity to express so much praise and
portion, and he will see very swift results. thanks. With a little attention and implementation of the will,
you can fill those precious minutes of prayer with much more
Taking Care true, profound meaning, with much more service of Hashem and
closeness to Hashem.

Every person must realistically evaluate how many hours of sleep Do not be foolish. You have reached the treasury. Why should
he needs. A person needs to examine himself and remember clearly you leave empty-handed?
that he should sleep only in order to fulfill his requirement to do
so, and that every extra minute of sleep is a great loss and a type Rabbi Nachman said: “All that I am about is prayer.” Prayer is
of suicide. You must be aware that six hours is enough or more the redemption and the rectification of the world. You too can be
than enough for everyone. That is a generous amount of sleep. A a partner in the rectification and redemption of the world. How?
person should go beyond that to aspire and attempt to reduce his Only when you want—only when, while you are in the synagogue,
amount of sleep. you do not only sit and read but you want and yearn. Then your
prayer will not be a phantom and a dead corpse, but a deep and
Also, regarding the hours that you do need to sleep, if you living, true prayer.
approach this in the right way—i.e., if you yearn and pray until
you receive strength to overcome your craving for sleep (as I will Then not only will you feel great satisfaction and the pleasantness
discuss at length)—you will see that the Holy One, blessed be He, of being close to Hashem, and not only will you pluck the fruits
will renew your mind in six hours, and you will wake up fresh, filled of your prayers—abundance, blessing and success in all areas—but
with enthusiasm and energy. Over time, as you strengthen and you will be a partner in the rectification of the world under the
sanctify yourself, you will see that you can renew your mind and sovereignty of the Almighty. You will push away the darkness and
refresh yourself with less and less sleep. You will be able to sleep reveal Hashem’s sovereignty over the world.
much less and yet be more awake, more focused and more healthy
to serve Hashem. To sum up: in order for your prayer to truly be effective,
you must invest all of your intentions in the work of prayer:
However, the following basic principle must be stated: we do in the three daily prayers, in personal prayers, and in reciting
nothing by force—“because not by force does a man grow psalms and supplications.
mighty” (Samuel I 2:9). It is impossible to fight sleep by force, but
only with will and prayer, only by means of the work of the will. “Gird your sword upon the thigh, warrior” (Psalms 45:3).
I knew a tzaddik who tried to fight against his sleep by force. In Your sword is the sword of prayer. As the verse states, “The
order to keep from dozing off, he would eat and drink many sweet lofty praises of God are in their throats and a double-edged
things. In the end, he did himself a great deal of harm and grew sword in their hands” (Psalms 149:8). As Rabbi Nachman
sick. If he had known of the way of prayer, he would have reached teaches (Kitzur Likutei Moharan 2): “The essential weapon of
better results with much less effort, and he would have maintained a Jew is prayer.”
his health for many years.
Arise and succeed!