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resolve that this will be my entire intent. You have Of course, these are only examples, and everyone can add to me, Hashem, God of truth” (Psalms 31:7), over and over
written in the Gemara that unless You help me, I will be them from his own mind in accordance with what he has learned again. May I pray that You will help my soul rise to You,
unable to overcome my evil inclination. If You do not in this chapter, in accordance with everything that he learns and rest in Your hand alone, cling to the world-to-come and
give me resolve, where will I get it from? You must help knows, and in accordance with the words that Hashem will place learn Torah in the heavenly yeshiva until You will wake
me and give me a strong and powerful resolve, so that on his tongue. me up and help me rise with alacrity, so that I will not
even the slightest urge to sleep will not enter into me, tarry in bed. Have compassion on me. Redeem me and
heaven forbid. If You do not help me, I will sleep away Practical Preparation rescue me, and give me the strength to rise filled with
another day of my life, and it will be a day of death, energy.
may heaven have mercy. And it is Your will that I not In summation, the work of the will and yearning at the time of
sleep away my life. It is Your will that I live. Give me a going to sleep is the work on which all of a person’s life depends. In Master of the universe, “with my soul I have yearned
accordance with a person’s intentions at that time, that is how his
perfect and strong resolve, and may I be entirely and entire day will appear, and that is exactly how his life will appear. A for You at night” (Isaiah 26:9). Please help me so that
solely dedicated to wanting You. person may by no means allow the desire to rest or sleep enter him. every night before I go to sleep I will want You, in the
He must sleep with the complete faith that only Hashem gives life, sense that I will experience a strong and stubborn resolve
Please help me engage in the struggle to attain holy and he must experience great resolve and yearning to be close to to pray for one thing alone: to cling to You and attain
sleep. That is the struggle to attain life. Help me fight Hashem and cling to Hashem. As a result, his soul will be renewed, holy sleep. At that time, the most important thing is
to achieve holy intent in the minutes before I fall sleep, his faith will be strengthened and healed, and he will wake up easily to fight against the evil inclination of sleep. Although
because those minutes determine everything. Please give and with alacrity, filled with energy and yearning to pray and serve every other type of service of Hashem, whether Torah
me the strength to overcome the evil inclination of sleep. Hashem. Hashem will satiate him with holy will. As the verse states, learning or doing hitbodedut, is good in general, that is
Give me the strength to fight against it until I vanquish it. “You satiate every living being with will” (Psalms 145:16). And that not the case before going to sleep, because at that time
Give me the strength to stand and pray and plead for my will influence his entire day and his entire life. engaging in those ways of serving Hashem is the counsel
soul. Give me a powerful strength of will to want only of the evil inclination. Please have compassion on me
Therefore, when a person goes to bed, he must set aside a long
one thing: to gaze upon the pleasantness of Hashem and block of time to prepare himself to sleep with faith, prayer, intent so that the evil inclination will not give me the desire
visit His palace! and yearning. At the very least, he must recite the Bedtime Sh’ma at that time to learn Torah and thus cause me to forget

properly, with all of its verses, from a siddur, while standing up. He my service of Hashem and the war that I must engage
Master of the universe, help me be strong and deeply should prepare an alarm clock and a washing cup, and he should in at that challenging time. Help me so that I will pray
aware that the will to sleep is absolute evil, the most know what time he wants to get up. He should then lie down with for one thing alone: to attain proper, holy sleep. May I
despicable evil inclination. Give me the awareness that the simple faith that it is not sleep that gives strength but Hashem yearn to gaze at the pleasantness of Hashem and visit His
its sweetness is absolute evil. The evil inclination sells me alone, and with the intent to serve Hashem. And he should engage palace. May my soul be in Your hands. Please renew all
counterfeit sweetness for a minute and wants to seize my in many intentions, yearnings and prayers until his soul clings to its of my abilities, my mind and my faith. While I am asleep,
entire life, to cut me off from You and drag me into evil root and rises to the Source of life, and in that way draws down to help me learn Torah and cling to the tzaddikim. And
sleep, to cause me to cling to harsh “husks,” and to fill himself life and strength. while I am in the middle of these intentions and prayers,
me with fears and contamination—and in that way to in the midst of reciting the verse, “I place my spirit in
kill my hours, days and years. Please! I am suspended Your hand. You have redeemed me, Hashem, God of
between life and death. Rescue me! Without Your help, truth” (Psalms 31:7), with tremendously deep feeling, may
I will fall into this cursed and murderous sweetness. I quickly fall asleep and cling to You in holy sleep.
Without Your help, I am dead. Why do I have such a