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to Your Torah.” At the end of the Shemoneh Esrei: “Place our Therefore, at that time a person must make a personal of heaven. The tiredness is only an excuse. It only testifies to the fact
portion in Your Torah.” In Uva Letzion: “He will open our hearts accounting of his deeds and confess them, because that that a person lacks holy will. It is precisely at this moment that the
in His Torah.” In the afternoon prayers, there are four requests is the time of death, [and before death, a person recites measure of your fear of heaven may be determined, depending on
in the Shemoneh Esrei, as in the morning. In the evening prayers, confession]. Such people are called “people who make whether you empower your holy will and stand firm like a warrior.
in the opening blessings: “Therefore, Hashem our God, when we an accounting.” If you possessed the fear of heaven, all of your tiredness would be
lie down and when we get up, may we speak in Your laws.” And broken. Regarding this, the Gemara says that “fear breaks a tough
again, four instances in the Shemoneh Esrei. And in the Bedside And Rabbi Chaim Vital writes (Sha’arei Kedushah: Part 1, Gate 6): body” (Bava Batra 10a). Even if your body is “tough” and filled
Sh’ma, in hamapil: “Place my portion in Your Torah.” On no other with cravings and you grow increasingly sleepy, the fear of heaven
topic but learning Torah did our sages institute such a multiplicity And now, my son, listen to my voice, to everything has the power to break all of your exhaustion and arouse you to
of prayers every single day. This may be clearly understood (in 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
accordance with what this book has taught about the will): in order night when you go to sleep. Remember that it is the faith, longing and mindfulness. But what happens? As a result of
to attain this great and wonderful goal, a person needs a strong will experiencing a little tiredness, will you throw everything away? Will
that will accompany him throughout the entire day. 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?
Therefore, our sages instituted reminders throughout the day. We have bad elements among them, confess them, because Will you deny justice and the Judge, heaven forbid?
must utilize these opportunities in order to enhance our intention. it is the way of those who are sentenced to death to
And that is another important goal to focus on when we recite confess. Accept the yoke of the kingdom of heaven Thus, the night-time procedure of reading the Bedside Sh’ma and
hamapil. 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.
Another important life goal is referred to in hamapil in the words, hand, may He be blessed, when you recite the verse,
“Rescue me from the evil inclination.” When you say this, have in To Earn Big
mind that you, your spouse and your children should be spared “In Your hand I deposit my spirit,” analogous to the
the evil inclination. Our sages state, “The evil inclination is harsh, true sleep, of which it is said, “The spirit will return
Even if a person is extremely tired and truly needs to sleep,
and even its Creator calls it evil. “Rabbi Yitzchak said: A person’s to God….” Indeed, now give Him this small sleep as nothing will happen to him if he sleeps ten minutes less and reads
inclination renews itself against him every day. And R. Yehoshua a deposit, to return [your spirit] to you, new in the the Sh’ma properly with at least the minimal preparation, with the
ben Levi said: A person’s evil inclination rises up against him every mornings, [as spirits are returned] to dead bodies. Lie verses and the blessing of hamapil, and then a few more words to
day and seeks to kill him, and if not for the fact that the Holy One, down in terror and fear, because your spirit is rising Hashem, including praying to wake up on time and with alacrity.
blessed be He, helps him, he could not prevail” (Kiddushin 30b). to give a judgment and accounting before Your Maker
Rabbi Yechezkel Levinstein taught that a person’s greatest enemy is for all of your actions, words and thoughts of that day. I have yet to hear about anyone having died because he went to
sleep ten minutes later. This is not a mortal danger.
the evil inclination, which wants to remove him from both worlds Therefore, do not distract your heart with speech
(Avot Yisrael). Therefore, we must pray to Hashem with great deep or empty thoughts, but sleep and doze off in the On the contrary, this is the time to rectify the entire day, because
feeling to rescue us and our children from the evil inclination. As midst of the above-mentioned fear. everything goes in accordance with the culmination of the day.
Sefer Hayashar states, “Every person must fear for his life, and And that is the time at which a person lies down to sleep. No
pray every day to his God to rescue him from the might of the evil This personal accounting is simple and easy. As Chayei Moharan matter how poorly the entire day may have passed, you have a
inclination.” 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
A person must cry out every day, asking Hashem to rescue him
from the evil inclination—in particular when he recites all of the I heard how one of the quite young people would lie salvation. This is in keeping with the verse, “In consequence of
your listening…” (Deuteronomy 7:12). The Hebrew word for “in
parts of the prayer service in which we ask Hashem to rescue us down to sleep in Rabbeinu’s room. Once this person consequence,” eikev, may be translated as “at the end.” The
from the evil inclination. He must repeat the phrases a number of approached Rabbeinu, of blessed memory, and as he