A Prayer for the Poor Man for Chanukah - By the Gaon and Tzaddik

Master of the World, full of mercy, who gives strength and power to the people, who influences us with strength and power from the Sefirah of Netzach (Eternity), from the forty-nine conduits that influence the seven branches of the Menorah with the oil of Chochmah (Wisdom), Binah (Understanding), and Da'at (Knowledge). Please, grant us understanding and knowledge to search for the true Tzaddik, who is in the aspect of Matityahu, who influences the light of Chanukah in every single generation...

Even if we are as we are, please do not hide Your face from us. Bring down the Tzaddikim of all generations to us, even to the lowest depth, so they may gather and elevate every single good point, even from lowly people like us who have descended descent after descent, level after level, down, down, to places that cannot be told or mentioned. For specifically to these places—which are already below ten handbreadths, below all levels, amidst all impurities in the depths of the malicious waters—specifically there the true Tzaddikim strive to reach. They strive to draw us out from there with all their strength, in their great kindness and humility, to gather even from there every good point of each person who truly regrets his blemishes, and merits to truly feel the essence of the pain of his sins, for there is no pain more terrible and awful than this, and he cries out terribly from the essence of the suffering of the body and soul, for there are none more terrible than them.

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For even if all the sufferings that have existed since the days of the world were gathered upon one person, they could not compare to the essence of the soul's pain from the lightest of light sins in which one stumbled, even through a momentary distraction of the blink of an eye—all the more so the pain of one who, like me, has transgressed the entire Torah thousands of myriads of times.

Woe is to me, my Father, my Father, for there is no pain like my pain, and no blow like my blow.

Therefore, we shall thank You, praise You, and glorify You, and Your praise shall be in our mouths at all times, because in Your abundant mercies You gave us these eight days of Chanukah, which are drawn from the Sefirah of Binah. You established the Halacha (law) for us according to the House of Hillel, so that we can receive the light even from just one candle, in the aspect of "If there is for him one interceding angel out of a thousand," in the aspect of the "One out of a thousand." For the true Tzaddikim are in the aspect of Hillel, in the aspect of "Blessed is Hashem day by day," and they can lower themselves to every single point of every single Jew—even if it is in the ultimate darkness and gloom and sunk in the muddy depths—when he awakens even the slightest awakening, and draw down to him all the lights of the Menorah candles, in the aspect of "Blessed is Hashem day by day"...

Please, redeem us from the pit, and redeem us even in this generation, as we are today, even if we are not worthy of any miracle or any change of nature. Nevertheless, nothing is too wondrous for You, and You perform miracles and wonders without searching in every generation and every day for the worthy and the unworthy, when they cry out to You in truth and sincerity, and search for the true Tzaddik with all their heart and soul—the Tzaddik who is in the aspect of "And the man Moses was very humble, more than any man on the face of the earth," who is in the aspect of dust and ashes, who threw straw and it turned into arrows, dust and it became swords.

And when such a Tzaddik is revealed, then our soul will be precious in Your eyes. Despite our being truly lowly like dust and ashes—save us; specifically from amidst our lowliness and inferiority, shine Your face upon us and redeem us...

Master of the World, please merit us to search anew for these Tzaddikim of the generation, and to receive their illumination. Place within us an illumination from the Weekly Portion, from the brothers' search for the Tzaddik, so that we may search for him with all our heart, with all our soul and might, and give over our bodies to kill and be killed until we find him. For through our sins he is hidden, and he is bound in chains. Woe to us, for without a Head of the House, we make ourselves kings; we say to the work of our hands, "You are our God."

Master of the World, merit us to this Tzaddik, who is the Light of Lights, so that in his power we may merit to illuminate the light of Chanukah in the hearts of all Your people, even in the heart of the most distant. For

the "Jewish point," hidden in the recesses of the soul of a Jew, is kindled by the light of the candle, and awakens the soul to yearn for the light of Hashem, for the light of the Geulah (Redemption)...

Master of the World, You know that I still have no existence in the world, and I have not yet begun to live at all, and I have not even entered the aspect of gestation (ibur). I have no Nefesh, Ruach, or Neshamah, nor even a Nefesh of Nefesh, but only the animalistic soul with turbid blood, which drags me to every abominable and loathsome thing, until I have become worse than a beast. And the pure and clear intellect that You planted within me, I have defiled with all kinds of impurity, from the day of my birth until now. And now, what shall I say, and what shall I speak, after You have done endless favors and kindnesses with me, beyond searching, to bring me out of the lowest Sheol and beneath it? Yet I have rebelled with my own hands against all Your good counsels, and I have rejected all Your kindnesses, and I have ignored Your good hints. For had I looked at one hint, my entire body would have already been nullified to the soul, and through this, all the evil decrees would have been nullified from all Your people, the House of Israel. For all hope is already lost; we have come to the End of Generations, and they stand ready to decree upon us all kinds of decrees of destruction as in the days of the Greeks and the Hellenists, may their name be blotted out. For just at the hearing of the ears, trembling seizes all loins; just at hearing their words which hide their schemes, our bones shake with fear, until no breath remains in us. For the faithful have ceased from among the people, and there is no one standing in the breach. Your Tzaddikim, who engage in the rectification of the world and in the nullification of every evil decree before it arises in thought, are already hidden or have passed from the world. "Hashem has delivered me into hands from which I cannot rise." "He has made my flesh and my skin waste; He has broken my bones. He has built against me, and encompassed me with gall and travail... He has fenced me in that I cannot go forth; He has made my chain heavy. Also when I cry and shout, He shuts out my prayer. He has enclosed my ways with hewn stone; He has made my paths crooked. Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the heaven; they chased us upon the mountains, they laid wait for us in the wilderness. The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of Hashem, was taken in their pits, of whom we said: Under his shadow we shall live among the nations." And even the Tzaddik who said, "I can bring the whole world back in teshuvah (repentance)," is hidden from us, for we have fallen into a concealment within a concealment, until we do not feel his absence at all. And what shall we do, for we have missed the aspect of "double portion," the aspect of "If you see me when I am taken from you"...

Master of the World, Great in Counsel

and Mighty in Deed, "Who does great things beyond searching, miracles and wonders without number," for nothing is withheld from You, "For You can do everything, and no purpose can be withheld from You." Please, reveal the heart of Your servants who plead before You, who lift their eyes to You alone. Please reveal to them who are the Tzaddikim in this generation, who are in the aspect of the House of the Hasmoneans, who sacrifice their souls for You at every moment in truth and sincerity, who can perform mighty miracles and wonders as in those days at this time. Please reveal to us the Tzaddikim who atone for all our iniquities and transform them, through repentance out of love, into merits, into wonderful vessels of broken hearts for the Hidden Light drawn down upon us during the eight days of Chanukah. Please reveal to us the true Tzaddik about whom it is said: "Surely he has borne our sicknesses... and he was wounded because of our transgressions, crushed because of our iniquities; the chastisement of our welfare was upon him, and with his wound we were healed." Put it in our hearts to cry out day and night: "Where is He that brought them up out of the sea with the shepherd of His flock? Where is He that put His holy spirit in the midst of them? That caused His glorious arm to go at the right hand of Moses? That divided the water before them, to make Himself an everlasting name?" Put it in our hearts to search for the true Tzaddikim of the generation, in the aspect of the Seven Shepherds, in the aspect of Matityahu and his sons. And may the verse be fulfilled in us: "Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek Hashem their God, and David their king; and shall come trembling unto Hashem and to His goodness in the end of days"...

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