## Tzava'at HaRivash Chapter 19

###### Tzava'at HaRivash 19:1
[Tzava'at HaRivash 19:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Tzava%27at%20HaRivash/r/19:1)

ולכל הפחות לדקדק בק"ש הנאמר פעמים בכל יום ויום לאומרה בלי מחשבה זרה ח"ו והוא דבר גדול לאין ערך וסימנך כל הקורא ק"ש מזיקין בדילין וכו' מזיקין היינו המזיקי' שבעולם הן בגופם הן בנפשם.

**The Way of The Baal Shem Tov. Adapted into English by Rabbi Amiram Markel and Yehudah Shimon Markel, 2020:**
At the very least, be scrupulous with the *Shema* that is recited twice daily, taking care to recite it without any extraneous thoughts, God forbid. This is an important matter of immeasurable greatness. The mnemonic by which to remember this is the statement,³⁹ “Whoever recites the *Shema* upon his bed, the forces of harm (*Mazikin*⁴⁰מזיקין generally refers to the demonic forces, but is used here to refer to anything that may cause harm in the world.) depart from him.” The term, “the forces of harm-*Mazikin*-*מזיקין*” means all forms of harm in the world, whether bodily harm or spiritual harm.

footnotes:
³⁹ Talmud Bavli, Brachot 5a
⁴⁰ Talmudic usage of the term Mazikin-


###### Tzava'at HaRivash 19:2
[Tzava'at HaRivash 19:2](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Tzava%27at%20HaRivash/r/19:2)

הגם שאי אפשר להתפלל בלי מחשבה זרה ירגיל עצמו בלי מחשבה זרה בתחלה:

**The Way of The Baal Shem Tov. Adapted into English by Rabbi Amiram Markel and Yehudah Shimon Markel, 2020:**
Even if you find it impossible to pray entirely without extraneous thoughts, train yourself to, at least, begin without extraneous thoughts.⁴¹

footnotes:
⁴¹ And you will become progressively better at it.