Page 457 - 20780

472 | A New Light 16 Chapter Nine: | 457

may the small amount of sleep that I engage in be very holy place and bless Hashem” (Psalms 134:2). You are so
holy. worthy that the holy King is blessed by you, and the
blessing that comes through your hands is a blessing….
Please have compassion on me and help me know And what do [the angels] proclaim about a person who
that sleep is one-sixtieth part of death—may the acts in this way and attains this? “May Hashem bless you
Compassionate One have mercy—the death that comes from Zion” (Psalms 134:3). You will bless the Holy One,
from the pollution of the serpent, which corresponds blessed be He, from a place that is called “The Supernal
to servitude and falsehood, from which come all of the Holy,” and He will bless you from a place that is called
palaces of delusion, which exchange evil for good and Zion, so that you and the Matron—[the Shechinah]—
good for evil. Please rescue me so that I will not fall will be blessed together….
into a polluted sleep, because then the danger exists
of exchanging evil for good and good for evil, heaven “Rise, Sing at Night”
forbid. Please help me attain holy sleep, and rescue my
soul from the palaces of delusion. Help me distinguish Many Torah texts say wonderful things about the time of midnight
between falsehood and truth even now, in the midst of and the recitation of Tikun Chatzot—the “Midnight Lament.”
the exile and darkness. Please have compassion on me These statements may be found in excellent anthologies on this
so that I will know and realize that everything depends topic. Here I will in particular cite some of the comments that
on holy sleep. Please help me know that the essence of relate to the topic under discussion here.
my experiencing holy sleep depends on my completely
This chapter has addressed the topic of nullifying the craving for
guarding my awareness and faith. Please have compassion 16 sleep, which is an absolute evil inclination and an aspect of death.
on me and give me complete faith. Graciously grant me The holy books state that, because this is the case, getting up at
wisdom, understanding and knowledge, and guard my night is a tremendous accomplishment. When a person does this,
knowledge always. he breaks his craving for sleep. He thus subjugates and eradicates
the power of the evil inclination—he eradicates all of the “husks”—
Rescue me so that I will never have the desire to sleep, more than he could do with any other act. This is particularly
because the desire to sleep is absolute heresy. It is the relevant for people doing teshuvah (Kaf Hachaim Palagi)—and in
desire to cast off the entire yoke of the kingdom of our generation we are all doing teshuvah. Everyone needs to do
heaven, may the Compassionate One have mercy, and teshuvah every day. And the holy books teach that getting up at
to forget Hashem. The will to sleep is darkness. It is midnight helps a person more than all self-afflictions and fasting.
the death of the heart and the exile of the mind. It is
the most evil intention, worse than any other. Help me As a whole, this book discusses the work of the will and personal
never forget You. Have compassion on me so that I will prayer. And it is evident that the best time to engage in this work is
the greatest “time of favor”—which is midnight, as Rabbi Nachman
never in my life want to sleep. Rescue me from sleeping states (Likutei Moharan I 52). And all of the holy books teach that at
a great deal. Awaken me from sleep, both physical and midnight Hashem hears a person’s prayer, and all of his requests
spiritual. are accepted.