Tefillah le-Chag HaSukkot — Prayer for the Festival of Sukkot

"One thing I ask of Adonai, one thing I seek:

that I may dwell in the house of Adonai all the days of my life,

to behold the beauty of Adonai and to visit His sanctuary.

For He will shelter me in His sukkah on a day of evil,

He will conceal me in the hiding-place of His tent,

upon a rock He will raise me high."

Master of the universe,

have compassion on me with Your vast mercies

and Your great and abundant acts of loving-kindness,

and grant me the merit to fulfill the mitzvah of sukkah in its proper time,

as it ought to be fulfilled, in all its details and precise requirements and spiritual intentions,

and all the six hundred and thirteen commandments that depend upon it,

with a good heart and with great joy.

And may I merit that there be drawn down upon me

the holy expanded states of consciousness,

and the great and wondrous acts of loving-kindness

that are drawn down upon Your people Israel

during the holy days of the Festival of Sukkot

through the holy and awesome mitzvah of the sukkah —

for then the Mother spreads shelter over her children,

and You spread a canopy of compassion, life, and peace over us.

Full of mercy, full of mercy,

have compassion on me for the sake of Your name.

You know my heart —

how very far I am from the mitzvah of sukkah,

and how many supplications and requests and urgent pleas, without measure,

I must pray and entreat before You

that You grant me such holy states of consciousness,

such acts of loving-kindness,

so that I may merit true knowledge,

the knowledge of a human being,

so that I may merit to emerge swiftly from the realm of the beast into the realm of the human,

that I may take pity on myself from this moment on

and no longer act with the conduct of a beast,

but merit swiftly to true knowledge —

which is the defining quality of the human —

and merit to draw nourishment from the abundance belonging to the human being,

and no longer draw nourishment from the abundance of the beast,

but go forth and rise swiftly from the category of beast to the category of human.

And so may it be Your will before You,

You who are full of mercy and loving-kindness,

that You pour down upon us complete and true knowledge

through the holy mitzvah of the sukkah,

so that we may merit — we and all Your people, the House of Israel —

those who need to build a home,

that the building cause us no harm at all,

and that no danger whatsoever come upon us — in body, soul, or means —

through the building of our home,

but rather the opposite: may each and every one of us merit to build a home

in holiness and great purity,

in wisdom, in understanding, and in holy knowledge,

and may the verse be fulfilled that is written:

"With wisdom a house is built,

and through understanding it is established,

and through knowledge its chambers are filled

with all precious and beautiful treasure."

And may we build our home for the sake of Adonai,

to engage within it in Torah and in prayer,

and to bring into it worthy guests,

until our home becomes a house of Torah and prayer,

a gathering place for the wise,

and may it be called there by the name of Adonai, God everlasting.

And grant us the merit of a beautiful etrog on the holy Festival of Sukkot —

may we have an etrog that is truly beautiful and fit,

adorned with every manner of beautification,

and a lulav, myrtle, and willow that are fit, beautiful, and adorned,

and may we merit to fulfill the mitzvah of taking the four species in its proper time,

in the fullest perfection,

in holiness and great purity,

with love and with awe,

with great and mighty joy and exultation.

And may I merit to recite the complete Hallel

with great and genuine intention

together with all four species and the Hoshana prayers,

and to perform all the holy wavings

and to walk the awesome circular processions,

all of it with love and with awe

and with great and mighty joy,

with heartfelt intention in truth

and with wondrous cleaving to You,

and with great ardor for Your great, holy, and truly awesome name,

with sincerity and wholeness of heart,

as is Your will and the will of Your truly righteous ones.

And may I merit, through the wavings,

to draw illumination from the consciousness rooted in the heights

down into the six directions,

and from there may the expanded awareness be drawn down into the quality of kingship,

and may Your kingdom be revealed before the eyes of all,

and may we merit to make known to all people Your mighty deeds

and the glorious splendor of Your kingdom,

and may every creature that was made know that You made it,

and every being that was formed understand that You formed it,

and all in whose nostrils is the breath of the spirit of life

give glory and splendor to Your kingdom.

Help us and deliver us,

and grant us the merit to fulfill the mitzvah of sukkah in its proper time,

in all its details and precise requirements and spiritual intentions,

and all the six hundred and thirteen commandments that depend upon it,

with a good heart and with great joy.

Bind us to Your holy commandments

and embrace us with Your holy right hand

with great love and tenderness,

and spread over us the canopy of Your peace,

and in the shadow of Your wings conceal us.

And may we merit, through the holy and awesome mitzvah of sukkah,

to sit in Your shelter,

in the holy shelter,

the shelter of faithful protection,

and may there be revealed and made known before the eyes of all

the very essence of Your love and compassion for us,

and may all give thanks and say:

"For Yah chose Jacob for Himself,

Israel as His treasured possession,

for Adonai's portion is His people,

Jacob the measure of His inheritance."

And may we take pride in You and You in us, always,

as it is said:

"You have affirmed Adonai this day, to be your God,

to walk in His ways

and to keep His statutes, His commandments, and His laws,

and to hearken to His voice.

And Adonai has affirmed you this day, to be His treasured people

as He promised you,

and to keep all His commandments,

and to set you high above all the nations that He has made —

for praise, for renown, and for glory —

and that you shall be a holy people to Adonai your God, as He has spoken."

And may we merit to serve You always

with truth and with wholeness of heart,

and to reveal Your divinity and Your kingship before the eyes of all.

Turn the heart of the king and the ministers and the counselors

toward us for good,

and nullify from upon us all harsh decrees.

And may the verse be fulfilled that is written:

"For He will shelter me in His sukkah on a day of evil,

He will conceal me in the hiding-place of His tent,

upon a rock He will raise me high."