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word by word with great, deep feeling, with faith in evil inclination will not fill me with any desire to sleep, Addendum:
Your unity. As a result, may I enter into the realm of and instead my entire resolve will be only to wake up
faith as I sleep, and may my awareness be strengthened from sleep. May the evil inclination give me no desire to Is Sleep on the Sabbath a Delight?
tremendously by my sleep. Please have compassion on sleep and to forget You. Instead, may my entire resolve
me so that I will deposit my neshamah and ruach in Your be to remain aware of You and of the world-to-come.
hand. And help me pray with deep feeling, “Illuminate May the evil inclination give me no urge to sleep and be Since we are discussing the lowly nature of sleep, we must point
my eyes … and may my thoughts not frighten me…” disconnected from You, but may my entire resolve be out a widespread error. Many people think that the verse, “You
(Bedtime Sh’ma). May I be saved from the evil inclination only to bind myself to You, to gaze upon the pleasantness shall call the Sabbath a delight” (Isaiah 58:13), means that there
is value to sleeping many hours on the Sabbath. They like to say
and from the power of delusions. Instead, while I am of Hashem and to visit His palace. May I experience no that the word Shabbat—“Sabbath”—is an acronym for sheinah
sleeping, may I rise to the level of the world-to-come and desire to sleep and stop clinging to You. Instead, may beshabbat ta'anug—"sleep on the Sabbath is a delight.” And
from there attain a constant awareness of my goal. May my entire desire be only to cling to You. Please rescue they point out that the Sabbath song, Mah Yedidut, states that
I be among those who are called masters of accounting, me from the evil inclination, which wants to fill me with “sleep is praiseworthy, reviving the spirit….”
taking a personal accounting and doing teshuvah for the the false sweetness of sleep. Help me experience true
entire day. sweetness, which is the sweetness of the Torah, prayer But you must be aware that this is the counsel of the evil inclination.
and clinging to You. Since a very exalted light shines on the Sabbath—as the holy books
Master of the universe, please give me the strength to teach, one hour of Torah learning on the Sabbath is worth 1,000
guard my mind and awareness in holiness throughout the Please, You Who awaken the sleepers, when I lie down hours on a weekday—the evil inclination, whose entire purpose is
entire day. Please help me sanctify myself during the day in bed, help me know that I am in a great war and in great to kill a person’s time (as already discussed), wants to kill a person’s
and cause my thoughts to cling strongly to the world- peril, that the evil inclination of sleep is enticing me with precious hours on the holy Sabbath. Therefore, we see with our
own eyes that the evil inclination of sleep is much stronger on the
to-come, so that when I fall asleep my soul will rise to the aim of seizing me and casting my soul into impure Sabbath than it is during the week.
the world-to-come. As soon as I wake up, may my first places, where the unclean “husks” will pull at it so that
thought be the awareness of the world-to-come. Please it will remain among them. Master of the universe, help The spiritual explanation for this is that on the Sabbath an exalted
have compassion on me so that when I am asleep my me know that a person’s principal yearning and desire for and wonderful light shines. When a person is suddenly exposed to
mind will enter the realm of faith, and may my mind be You occurs during the night. Please have compassion on a bright light without a way to shield his eyes, he is blinded and
renewed as though it is being re-created. May my mind me and help me yearn with all my might to cling to You closes his eyes. In spirituality as well, when a person is exposed to a
be especially perfected and renewed by sleep. Please help alone. Enlarge this intention until it is tremendous. Place great spiritual light and does not have a way to deal with the light,
me so that by as a result of sleeping in a state of holiness my spirit in Your hand alone. May I meditate with all my he closes his spiritual eyes and falls into a deep slumber. Therefore,
I will see You the entire day and I will understand the might on the world-to-come and cling to the world-to- we must prepare many appropriate instruments so that we will be
hints that You send me throughout the day—a faculty come. May it be my entire will that my soul will appear able to receive the light of the holy Sabbath, and during the entire
week we must pray to merit being worthy of receiving the light of
that depends on holy sleep. Rescue me from the desire before You in its beauty. May my soul appear before the Sabbath.
to sleep, which causes a person to be disconnected from You with all of its will concentrated on gazing upon the
You throughout the day so that he does not see You, pleasantness of Hashem and visiting His palace. Then my Awaken, Awaken!
he does not sense You, and he does not understand the nefesh, ruach and neshamah will rise straight up to You,
hints that You send him on how to serve You. and the assassins and unclean “husks” will be unable to The entire nature of the Sabbath is awakening from sleep. During
stop them and rule over them. Help me repeat the verse, the week, a person is distracted by the affairs of this world, which
The main thing is that You will rescue me so that the “I place my spirit in Your hand. You have redeemed correspond to sleep, and he does not have free time to think