Hospitality / Serving Torah scholars / Humility / Developing Torah insights Some of the most bitter opposition to those striving to draw closer to God comes from disreputable Torah scholars who pursue Torah knowledge in an unholy way for the sake of self-aggrandizement. The Zohar (Vayikra 253) characterizes them as “Jewish demons,” whose Torah knowledge derives from the sparks of Torah that “fell” into the realm of unholiness as a result of the Shattering of the Vessels. The way to overcome their insults and abuse is by cultivating deep humility and faith, as embodied in the personality of the patriarch Abraham. Abraham taught hospitality, and by opening one’s home to true Torah scholars and attending to their needs, one can attain such a level of faith that he may even be able to elevate the sparks of goodness contained in the words of disreputable scholars while discarding what is impure. Master of the world, compassionate and loving Father, help me cultivate the trait of lovingkindness in holiness. Let me model myself on our patriarch Abraham, who practiced lovingkindness all his life.

Grant me the merit of being able to welcome worthy guests into my home. May my home be a “meeting place for the wise.”

Let me welcome guests to my home who are true Torah scholars and tzaddikim. Let me show them the utmost love and respect, and receive them joyously.

Let me wait on them personally and attend to their every need. Grant that I put myself at the service of true Torah scholars and tzaddikim at all times.

Then I will develop Abraham’s trait of lovingkindness to perfection.

Compassionate God, bring me to perfect faith and true humility. Let me genuinely feel my own lowliness and know that “I am a worm and not a man.”

Save me from every kind of shame and indignity. Give me the strength to fight and conquer all those who hate and argue against the truth, and bring them down to the dust. In Your vast compassion and powerful lovingkindness, help me attain perfect faith in You, in the true tzaddikim, and in those who are genuinely God-fearing.

Don’t let the least doubt or question about them so much as enter my mind, and certainly never let an arrogant comment about them pass my lips. May I never say a word against them that could impugn their honor in any way. On the contrary, let me always hold them in respect and show them every kind of honor — with my body, my soul, and all the resources at my command.

Protect me from ever hearing even a single word of Torah from the lips of disreputable scholars. The right name for such scholars is “Jewish demons.”

Keep me well away from them, and let me never hear or accept Torah teachings from them. Let me have absolutely nothing to do with either them or their students.

Protect me, my children, my descendants, and Your entire nation, the House of Israel, from ever displaying any kind of opposition to genuinely God-fearing people.

Don’t let any of us ever come to oppose or argue against those who are truly God-fearing, and don’t let any God-fearing Jew suffer the least abuse or indignity as a consequence of anything we may do.

On the contrary, let us show them every kind of honor, encourage and support them in every way, and sacrifice ourselves and all our energy and resources for them.

Developing Torah insights Compassionate God, have mercy on me and protect me from all false insights and interpretations of the Torah that stem from the “husks” — the realm of unholiness. Such interpretations come from impure spirits that possess a debased Torah rooted in the “fallen sparks.”

Guard me constantly from ever hearing a single one of these false interpretations and insights from these fallen teachings drawn from the “husks,” and don’t let them enter my ears or heart at all.

Compassionate and loving God, shield me and help me. Send me true Torah insights through holy channels. Let me draw new insights into the Torah in holiness from the supernal source of Torah wisdom, without falling prey to the influence of unholy forces in any way. Please, HaShem, You are filled with compassion. You know my heart. I myself know how far I am from having genuine insight into the Torah as a result of all the wrong I’ve done. Even so, You have decreed through Your holy sages that a person is not permitted to be “dry wood,” God forbid.

Everyone who has a knowledge of the Torah has an obligation to make a very great effort to sanctify and purify himself until he becomes a “fruit-bearing tree,” debating the fine points of the law with wisdom and developing true and original Torah insights with a passion for the truth.

This is what has given Your servant the courage to plead with You. In Your great compassion and awesome lovingkindness, have mercy on me. Help me, save me, and bring me to complete repentance before You.

Be with me at all times and help me genuinely sanctify and purify myself, until You open up my mind and my heart and illuminate my eyes with the light of Your Torah, and open up to me the pathways of the mind in holiness. Inspire me at all times with new Torah insights and interpretations deriving from the roots of the Torah and from Your supreme holiness. Save me from any kind of interpretation that derives from the “husks,” God forbid. Let me only have Torah insights drawn from the realm of holiness.

In Your vast compassion and kindness, help me build holy structures of Torah ideas based on the strong, firm foundations of the lessons revealed by the outstanding tzaddikim, who reached such towering levels of insight and perception and attained the ultimate level of holy spirit.

On them I will depend; on them I will rely.

Let me meditate, ponder and delight in their holy words that were spoken in truth and righteousness.

Then the light of knowledge will be opened up to me. I will grasp their true intent, penetrate the very depths of their wisdom, and understand one thing from another.

I will be able to clarify the true meaning of their teachings and uncover new levels of meaning in them. I will build on their strong foundations perfect structures of thought about Your Torah and the way to serve You in truth, faith, holiness, and great purity.

Through the Torah insights with which You inspire me, let me make amends for all my sins and wrongdoing that I have committed from my youth until today.

Help me and protect me from sinning anymore. Save me from now on from any kind of transgression or wrongdoing in the world. Send me new, true insights into the Torah by holy means every day as a powerful remedy for my soul.

Sanctify me with Your supreme holiness so that I will be permitted to reveal the Torah insights You send me to Your nation, the Jewish people.

Through the Torah insights that You send me, give me the power to inspire other Jews to serve You and bring them to complete repentance. Help me explain my ideas in holiness and purity, and don’t let me say a single word that is not in accordance with Your will.

Have compassion on me and be my aid. If it ever happens that I am forced to hear words of Torah from the lips of an unprincipled Torah scholar, help me sift out the goodness hidden in his words, and discard and throw out the evil “husk” covering the Torah they contain. Let me pick out only the little bit of goodness hidden inside.

Protection for God-fearing Jews Help me, my friends, and Your entire nation, the House of Israel, who truly desire to draw close to You. Save us from all kinds of people who are opposed to the truth.

Protect us from all their taunts and insults, so they will be powerless to embarrass or humiliate us with words or deeds.

“Guard my soul and save me; I will not be ashamed, for I have taken refuge in You.” “In You, God, I have taken refuge; I will never be ashamed.”

For You know how much scorn and vilification God-fearing people are exposed to these days. “The power to endure is faltering.” “My disgrace is in front of me throughout the day, and shame covers my face, because of the cry of the blasphemer and reviler, because of the enemy and the avenger.” “I am a worm and not a man, reproached by men and despised by the people. All who see me mock me; they pout their lips and shake their heads.”

Have pity on me! Have mercy on me! Have compassion on me! Save me — despised, downtrodden worm that I am! Save me from their mouths, for Your way is to champion the persecuted.

You know that no one in the world is as persecuted as those weak Jews who yearn and long to come close to You. They are too weak and demoralized to be able to fight their desires and control their inclinations, faced as they are with so much slander and hostility. But the truth is that You are filled with compassion for them, for You know our nature: we are but dust. Our desire is for You, and we have placed our trust in Your compassion and lovingkindness.

You are a God Who loves kindness, and You show compassion for those who wait for You to turn to them in love, stretching out their hands and pouring out their prayers to You, even though they are not really worthy of drawing close to You because of their dearth of wisdom and good deeds.

Nevertheless, You do not despise them, as it is written, “For He does not despise or abhor the lowliness of the poor, and He does not hide His face from him. When he cries out to Him, He hears.”

Help us, for we are depending on You! We have no one to rely on but our Father in Heaven. Have pity and mercy on us, and compassionately fulfill our requests. Do it for Your sake and not for ours. Give us victory over our enemies, and help us master them, humble them and bring them down to the dust.

May they not have any power to hinder or prevent us from doing anything holy or anything that You desire.

With Your help, may we return to You in complete repentance, and be what You want us to be from now on and forever.

“In Your lovingkindness give me life, and I will observe the testimony of Your mouth. …

O God, Your lovingkindness fills the world. Teach me Your statutes.” Amen. Amen.