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way that a person wishes to go, he is led.” Therefore, Master of the universe, Master of everything, after all
help me set aside time to meet with You every day, and that we have caused with our sins, destroying our Temple
to have intent and to make my request. and causing the true tzaddikim to pass away, help us from
now on so that we will at any rate get up every night at
Prayer and all service of Hashem begin from this point. exactly midnight, and break our hearts considerably with
a full measure of tears over our tremendous sins that
If, inspired by this chapter, you reduce your sleep by only ten
minutes a day, that is already worth everything. In 50 years that caused all of this, as a result of which we have been left
will add up to a profit of 3,000 hours! Just think what you can like fatherless orphans, like creatures lost with no one
accomplish with 3,000 hours—which is 125 days. to seek them, like people far away with no one to bring
them close, and with no one to stand at their side.

In Your compassion, help us get up every night exactly
at midnight and mourn the destruction of the Temple,
which was destroyed for our sins. In this way, may we
arouse Your compassion so that You will console us
and give us joy quickly, and remove the ashes from the
mourners of Zion, and replace them with splendor.

Do Not Despair

The last observation that I will make is about the point from
which we begin our work. Everything begins with encouraging
yourself. This is a book about will. It makes no difference what you
are going through and how little you may be succeeding in your
work—even if you repeatedly find yourself seized by sleep, if you
sleep many hours, or if you get up late. The main thing is the will.
Do not abandon your will, because the will is what Hashem wants
from you. The purpose of everything that you have read in this
chapter and in everything that you learn is not to have you break
down and view yourself as an inferior person. Rather, the point is
for you to know what the truth is, what to want, and how much to
want. You must know what Hashem desires of you, and then you
must desire that as well.

You may see how day after day the craving for sleep overcomes
you, that you do not get up on time. If you grow angry at yourself
and blame yourself, you are making a mistake. You must know that
this work constitutes the central struggle in your life, and that the