Personal Prayer

[Praise the Lord . . . ] from the upper heavens [see Psalms 148:1] and the angels and . . . and the ofanim and the winds and the lightning and the thunder and the clouds and fire and water and snow and vapor and the firmaments and the sun and the moon and the stars and constellations and the Pleiades and the Great Bear and all the hosts of the earth, animals and beasts, and birds and swarming and creeping things and the waters and the seas and the rivers and all that is in them and the deserts and the mountains and the hills and the valleys and the trees and the cedars and all types of trees and all kinds of grasses and vegetation, all of which You sustain with Your glorious spirit, at this moment.

May Your hosts be pleasing to You, may You be crowned with their prayers, and may no antagonist, adversary, or inciter of evil [come before You], but instead a righteous advocate, a champion and inciter of good, and a witness to past merit. And may I be spared any blemish, mishap, adversary, or destroyer and [delivered] from evil people and [their] evil thoughts and treacherous words, and from unprovoked hatred, and from all evil words and deeds, and from inauspicious times and evil and dire decrees that come suddenly upon the world.

The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our high tower (Psalms 46:8, 12). Selah. Lord of hosts, happy is the man who trusts in You (Psalms 84:13). In You, O Lord, have I taken refuge; may I never be ashamed (Psalms 71:1).

May it be your will, Lord my God and God of my fathers, that you grant me grace and mercy and compassion and peace and success in all my endeavors and [may I find] favor in your eyes and in the eyes of all who see me, and may I gain wisdom . . . and [may I be] like a swiftly flowing stream [see m. Avot 2:5], and, may you illuminate my eyes in the Torah, and may I not forget anything I learn. May you give me beauty and honor and radiance and grace and mercy in my speech and in all I do and in all I seek, and may I not be shamed in my aspirations or humiliated in my efforts and my portion, but rather may my aspirations lead to eternal life and my hopes to the final end, and let my portion be the good, and my labor earn me blessing, and may this hour in which I stand and pray before You, be a time of favor and mercy and supplication and attentiveness. Answer me, and do not afflict me. May you hear my prayer and answer my petition and heed my supplication, as it is written: As for me, may my prayer come to you, O Lord , at a favorable moment. O God, in the abundance of Your mercy, answer me with the truth of Your salvation (Psalms 69:14). Hear my prayer, O Lord; give ear to my cry; keep not silence at my tears (Psalms 39:13).

I give thanks to You, O Lord, God of hosts, who dwells among cherubs, benevolent, compassionate, and merciful One, righteous and upright, high and exalted, who dwells forever and whose name is holy–may it be lauded, honored, blessed, praised and exalted over all blessing and praise (Nehemiah 9:5).

And may He be affirmed, blessed, exalted, and sanctified by the heavenly hosts and by the dwellers below– God, who is concealed from the eyes of all living creatures, exalted above all exalted ones, near to those who call Him, who rules over all and is praised by all, who knows the secrets of the universe and who is the cause of the first and the last, who calls forth the generations from eternity, eternal Rock whose awe extends over heaven and earth. The arelim who praise, the serafim who fly, the legions that sing, the storehouses of light, the storehouses of storm, the storehouses of snow, the storehouses of hail, the storehouses of fire, the storehouses of flame, the storehouses of blazing fire–these honor, crown, sanctify, praise, and pronounce you king, mighty One of Israel, evening, morning, and noon (Psalms 58:18). The upper waters and the sea of Oceanus will all say, “Above the voices of many waters, the mighty breakers of the sea, the Lord on high is mighty (Psalms 93:4).” As it is written: Halleluyah! Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise Him in the heights! (Psalms 148:1).

[Recite] all three psalms until Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord! (Psalms 150:6).

Blessed are You, Lord, who hears prayer for the sake of His great name.

And how can there stand before you a man born of woman, destined for the worm, short-lived and full of trouble, whose deeds are nought, who toils in the dust and is likened to a clod of earth. The number of his days vanish like a breath, his birth is impure, he knows suffering, like rot he wastes away (Job 13:28), meant for every pain, filled with ignominy (Job 10:15), he passes away and none marks his moments, a worm from birth, his expectation is Sheol, his hope is for the dust, and how can he summon the strength to set forth his pleas and pour out his cries for mercy when he has no power to recount and offer praise for even a thousandth part of the works of Your hands? For You formed him of bones and sinews, and clothed him in skin and flesh, poured him out like milk, and like cheese curdled him, as it is written: Have You not poured me out as milk, and curdled me like cheese? You have clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews? (Job 10:10–11). And You, in Your great mercy . . .

Source: CUL T-S 20.26.

Translated by Arnold E. Franklin.