Prayer for Overcoming Spiritual Enemies and Unlocking the Gate of the Book of Life

Parashat Ki Tetze

Prayer for Overcoming Spiritual Enemies and Unlocking the Gate of the Book of Life
 
Hashem, please give me the strength to go out to war!
Empower me that I will never anymore
be seduced by what I on the surface adore!
Help me restore the purity I had before!
 
Hashem, I feel I cannot go on anymore!
Heal my bleeding heart, which is crushed to the core!
Strengthen me and raise my brokenness from the floor!
Help me overcome and open for me a new door!
 
Hashem why do I not find You here in the field?
Where do You hide amongst the boundless apple yield?
I am longing for an encounter so revealed!
Only by sensing Your presence can I be healed!
 
It is hard to find the light in the dusk!
Please save me from the evil urge so brusque!
I feel muddily impure, blocked by husk,
tainted with the enticing smell of musk.
 
I cry out to You, deliver me from the foe!
The one who keeps pushing me down below.
Please chase him, make him turn around and go!
Frighten him daily, when we the Shofar blow!
 
I am doing my best and I hope that I could
learn to harness the power of evil for good.
Please help me be able to do what I should,
rectifying the things that I misunderstood!
 
Now is the time on heaven’s door to knock.
Let me pass before You with Your beloved flock!
Please help me remove each and every single block
Write me in the Book of Life, let the gate unlock!

Based on Devarim Chapter 21 verse 10-14 with commentary by Ohr Hachayim and Chapter 25:17-19

 

ספר דברים פרק כא פסוק י כִּי תֵצֵא לַמִּלְחָמָה עַל אֹיְבֶיךָ וּנְתָנוֹ הָשֵׁם אֱלֹהֶיךָ בְּיָדֶךָ וְשָׁבִיתָ שִׁבְיוֹ:

(יא) וְרָאִיתָ בַּשִּׁבְיָה אֵשֶׁת יְפַת תֹּאַר וְחָשַׁקְתָּ בָהּ וְלָקַחְתָּ לְךָ לְאִשָּׁה:

(יב) וַהֲבֵאתָהּ אֶל תּוֹךְ בֵּיתֶךָ וְגִלְּחָה אֶת רֹאשָׁהּ וְעָשְׂתָה אֶת צִפָּרְנֶיהָ:

(יג) וְהֵסִירָה אֶת שִׂמְלַת שִׁבְיָהּ מֵעָלֶיהָ וְיָשְׁבָה בְּבֵיתֶךָ וּבָכְתָה אֶת אָבִיהָ וְאֶת אִמָּהּ יֶרַח יָמִים וְאַחַר כֵּן תָּבוֹא אֵלֶיהָ וּבְעַלְתָּהּ וְהָיְתָה לְךָ לְאִשָּׁה: (יד) וְהָיָה אִם לֹא חָפַצְתָּ בָּהּ וְשִׁלַּחְתָּהּ לְנַפְשָׁהּ וּמָכֹר לֹא תִמְכְּרֶנָּה בַּכָּסֶף לֹא תִתְעַמֵּר בָּהּ תַּחַת אֲשֶׁר עִנִּיתָהּ:

“If you go out to war against your enemies, and Hashem, your G-d, will deliver him into your hands, and you take his captives, and you see among the captives a beautiful woman and you desire her, you may take [her] for yourself as a wife. You shall bring her into your home, and she shall shave her head and let her nails grow. And she shall remove the garment of her captivity from upon herself, and stay in your house, and weep for her father and her mother for a full month. After that, you may be intimate with her and possess her, and she will be a wife for you. It shall be, if you do not desire her, then you shall send her away wherever she wishes, but you shall not sell her for money. You shall not keep her as a servant, because you have afflicted her (Devarim 21:10-14).

 

אור החיים על דברים פרק כא פסוק יא

ואומרו וראית בשביה אשת יפת תואר - אמר אשת סמוך, פירוש נשמת אדם, כי אין הס”מ שולט בנפש עד שתרד מטה ותכנס באדם, ממנו הוא לוקחה בשבי, והנפש תקרא אשה, וקרא לזו יפת תואר, כי הנפש יפה עד מאד, אלא שמתנוולת במעשים הרעים, וכשינוצח היצר אז ישכיל האדם בנפשו מה יפה ומה נעימה היא:

“You see in her captivity a beautiful woman.” The reason the Torah writesאֵשֶׁת /eshet (the possessive form) instead of the more appropriateה, /isha is to alert us that the subject is man’s soul, the one that is inseparable from her ‘mate,’ her body. Satan does not exert any influence on such a soul until it has ‘descended’ and inhabited a body. He is only able to take it into captivity once it has become inseparable from its body. Thisנֶפֶשׁ /nefesh is calledאִשָּׁה, /isha woman. The reason the Torah describes it asיִפָת תֹּאַר, /yifat to’ar – ‘beautiful,’ is because this nefesh is intrinsically very beautiful indeed and it has only disheveled herself by means of the sins committed by the body it inhabits. Once we conquer our evil urge, we will realize how truly beautiful ourנֶפֶשׁ /nefesh really is.

ואמר וחשקת בה - פירוש אז החשק שהיה לו בדברי היצר ובפיתויו ילבישם בה לתקן לה המושכלות, ועולם הקיים שכולו טוב,

וְחָשַׁקְתָּ בָּהּ,  “and you will desire her.” This means that then the time has come when you will truly desire her, i.e., your soul, instead of the desire you had previously displayed for the seductive machinations of your evil urge.  

ואומרו והבאתה אל תוך ביתך, לפי שעל ידי פיתוי הרע מתרחקת הנפש מהגוף, ושוכן חלק רע במקומה, כדרך אומרו טורף נפשו באפו (איוב יח ד), והגוף יקרא בית על דרך אומרם (תענית יא) מי מעיד באדם קורות ביתו שהוא הגוף, וכשנוצח יצרו יביא נפשו לתוך ביתו, ויקרא בעל נפש, ולהיות שהנפש שקנה מקום טמא, צריך לנקותה מתחלואי הרע הנדבק בה, שהוא בחינת שער הראש, והוא אומרו וגלחה את ראשה, גם בחינת הקליפה הרמוזה בצפרנים, אמר כנגדה ועשתה את צפרניה לשון תיקון, ותסיר מסוה הטומאה המתכסה בה הנפש מרוח הטומאה:

וַהֲבָאַת אֶל תּוֹךְ בֵּיתֶךָ, “and you will bring her into your house.” This is a reference to the fact that the true soul moves (spiritually) further and further away from the body it inhabits as a result of accumulations of the sins committed by the body. In its place a spiritually negative force occupies the void left by the soul. We find a somewhat similar concept in Job 18,4: טוֹרֵף נַפְשׁוֹ בְּאַפּוֹ, “who tears his soul apart in his anger.” The body is called בַּיִת/bayit – ‘house,’ as we learned in Ta’anit 11: “who testifies against man? The walls of his house, i.e., the body.” When the evil urge defeats the soul, it makes itself at home within the body, which used to be the exclusive home of the soul. As a result, the evil urge will become known as the בַּעַל נֶפֶשׁ/ba’al nefesh, the force in control of the soul. The soul that man had acquired originally now has to fight back to regain its original position and has to get rid of the symbols of impurity, which have infested it. One such symbol is the hair on his head, and this is why the Torah orders it to shave off the hair on its head. The term קְלִפָּה/klipah – ‘peel,’ which is the best-known simile for the spiritually negative forces, is represented in the body by the nails, which are like a peel. Trimming the nails then is an indication of man’s effort to trim the forces of the קְלִפָּה/klipah.

והוא אומרו והסירה את שמלת שביה מעליה, פירוש שקנתה משבייתה במקום טמא, וזה יהיה על מירוק החטאים, ודרכי התשובה, והכנת הדעת, מול אלהי ישראל ברוך הוא ויבחר מקום מושב לה בית המיוחד לישראל שהוא ”בית המדרש “, והוא אומרו וישבה בביתך ותתודה בבכי על אשר מעלה באביה ואמה, ועל פרידתה מהם, אביה זה הקדוש ברוך הוא אמה היא כנסת ישראל (ברכות לה:), ירח ימים זה שיעור המספיק לשב, או ירמוז, לחודש המיוחד לתשובה שהוא חודש אלול:

וְהֵסִירָה אֶת שִׂמְלַת שִׁבְיָהּ מֵעָלֶיהָ, “and she is to remove the garment of her captivity from herself, etc.” This is a reference to garments acquired as a result of her becoming defiled. The removal is to take place by means of eradicating the traces of her sins through penitence, self-flagellation, etc. וְיָשְׁבָה בְּבֵיתֶךָ, “and she is to dwell in your house, etc.,” during which time she is to confess her sins and weep in sorrow over all the trespasses she has committed against her father and mother, i.e., against G-d and the community of Israel whose traditions she has flouted (compare Berachot 35). יֶרַח יָמִים, “for a full month,” which is sufficient for this purpose. The Torah may have in mind the month of Elul, which our sages set aside for penitence prior to the Day of Judgment, Rosh Hashanah.

ואחר כן תבוא אליה - פירוש אתה תכנס ליהנות מאורה, בסוד אומרו נפש עמל עמלה לו (משלי טז כו), ותסייעהו לעמוד בדרך הנאות, ותקרא אתה בעליה שקנית אותה בכח מעשיך, והוא אומרו ובעלתה גם ליום התחיה תהיה מיוחדת לך לחזור לגופך ותעמוד בה, והוא אומרו והיתה לך לאשה:

וְאַחַר כֵּן תָּבֹא אֵלֶיהָ, “after that you may join her, etc.” You are now permitted to benefit from her spiritual light. This is the mystical dimension of Proverbs 16,26 נֶפֶשׁ עָמֵל, עָמְלָה לוֹ, - “when someone toils for his soul, he toils on behalf of his true self.” This will assist him to remain on the correct path וּבְעָלְתָה, “and you have become her master.” The reason the Torah describes you as her master is because the moral strength of your actions has rehabilitated her. Eventually, this soul will once more inhabit your body and remain in it performing the task assigned to it. This is what the Torah means with the words וְהָיְתָה לְךָ לְאִשָּׁה, “she may become your wife.”

וחזר הכתוב לצוות על הנפש, שאם האיש לא נטה לבו לקוות להטיב לנפשו ולהתעצם להאיר לה בעולם העליון, על כל פנים יזהר שלא יריע לה כדרך שאמר שלמה (קהלת יב: ז) והרוח תשוב אל האלהים אשר נתנה, ודרשו במסכת שבת (קנב:) תנה לו כמו שנתנה לך, והוא אומרו אם לא חפצת בה ושלחתה לנפשה, פירוש שלא תמסרנה ביד שבאי, אלא בת חורין ואין עליה יד מושל:

The Torah now spells out the alternative. If the man does not make an effort to rehabilitate his soul so that she will radiate the spiritual light she was meant to radiate within him, the very least he must do is to make sure that her status will not deteriorate further. Solomon said in Kohelet 12,7: “and the spirit returns to G-d who gave it.” Our sages in Shabbat 152 comment on this that the reason Solomon added the word “who gave it” [something which is obvious if we speak about ‘returning’ something], is to remind us that it must be returned in the mint condition in which we received it from G-d אִם לֹא חָפַצְתָּ בָּהּ וְשִׁלַּחְתָּהּ לְנַפְשָׁהּ, “If you do not desire her you must send her away to be on her own.” This means that you must not hand her over to a prison guard but to give her her freedom (Ohr Hachayim, Devarim 21:11).

 

ספר דברים פרק כה פסוק יז זָכוֹר אֵת אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה לְךָ עֲמָלֵק בַּדֶּרֶךְ בְּצֵאתְכֶם מִמִּצְרָיִם:

(יח) אֲשֶׁר קָרְךָ בַּדֶּרֶךְ וַיְזַנֵּב בְּךָ כָּל הַנֶּחֱשָׁלִים אַחֲרֶיךָ וְאַתָּה עָיֵף וְיָגֵעַ וְלֹא יָרֵא אֱלֹהִים:

(יט) וְהָיָה בְּהָנִיחַ הָשֵׁם אֱלֹהֶיךָ לְךָ מִכָּל אֹיְבֶיךָ מִסָּבִיב בָּאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר הָשֵׁם אֱלֹהֶיךָ נֹתֵן לְךָ נַחֲלָה לְרִשְׁתָּהּ תִּמְחֶה אֶת זֵכֶר עֲמָלֵק מִתַּחַת הַשָּׁמָיִם לֹא תִּשְׁכָּח:

“You shall remember what Amalek did to you on the way, when you went out of Egypt, how he happened upon you on the way and cut off all the stragglers at your rear, when you were faint and weary, and he did not fear G-d. [Therefore,] it will be, when Hashem your G-d grants you respite from all your enemies around [you] in the land which Hashem, your G-d, gives to you as an inheritance to possess, that you shall obliterate the remembrance of Amalek from beneath the heavens. You shall not forget!” (Devarim 25:17-19).