Tefillah LeHit’orerut HaLev — Prayer for the Awakening of the Heart
This devotional poem comes from Shomerim Emunim (Part II), a work of Chassidic thought in the tradition of the Izhbitz-Radzin school, and bears the attribution 'Tav-Yod-Gimel' in the original. It is a song of spiritual longing — a plea to awaken the sleeping soul from the numbness of exile and draw it back into closeness with its Creator. The acrostic of its opening letters weaves together the two sacred divine names. Whatever your background or tradition, this is an open-hearted invitation to pour out your innermost longing before the Source of all life.
A song and poem to awaken the soul to cleaving with the Creator, blessed and exalted be His name,
from the book Shomeri Emunim.
This poem's purpose is to pour out the heart before the Creator of the world
in supplication and entreaty,
that we may merit to awaken the sleeping soul from the depths of exile,
and that the Shekhinah may return to rest its glory upon us.
The opening letters of the stanzas interweave the initials of the two sacred names
Havayah and Adonai: My Only One, I beseech You.
Reveal Yourself to me in the fullness of Your compassion,
and illuminate me with the splendor of Your glory's beauty,
for my heart stirs and longs for You, my Beloved.
My merciful Father, my soul yearns and longs
for closeness to Your name.
Therefore I wander in my thoughts, seeking to contemplate the greatness of Your wonders —
would that my soul might awaken from its slumber
to strive with strength in Your service and Your reverence.
The joy and the desire in my service of You,
though they have greatly diminished in the long length of my exile —
yet look, I pray, my Maker, to the source and root of my soul.
My Beloved, look and see into the hidden depths of my heart,
and break through into my innermost chamber,
and You will find there the one my soul has loved.
Even amid the afflictions that have found me and the weight of my distress,
my merits are very few and my deeds have fallen very short.
Please, my Beloved, have mercy on my soul,
and may my longing find favor before You.
Do not regard my effort as too small,
but see that for You I have longed and longed again.
Grant me understanding of Your ways,
and let me taste the splendor of the beauty of Your service,
that my heart and my soul may always cling fast
in the burning flames of love for You,
and that I may give over all my strength and my soul for the honor of Your holy name —
and help me toward this, that I may find grace in Your eyes.
Let Your mercies roll over me,
and give me life in the sweetness of Your remembrance,
and purify my thoughts and my heart
that I may know the lowliness of my own worth,
contemplating Your greatness always,
never to be parted from Your love.
Zemer ve-shirah le-orer ha-nefesh li-dveikut ha-Bore yitbarach shemo ve-yit'aleh,
mi-sefer Shomerim Emunim.
Ha-shirah ha-zot, matratah hi lishpoch et ha-lev lifnei Bore Olam
be-vakkashah u-ve-tachanunin,
she-nizkeh le-orer et ha-nefesh ha-yesheinah be-omek ha-galut,
ve-shetachazor ha-Shekhinah le-hashrot kevodah aleinu.
Ve-rashei ha-batim hem shiluv rashei teivot shnei ha-shemot ha-kedoshim
Havayah va-Adonai: Yachidati, ana avakshecha.
Galeh na elai be-rov chamalatcha,
ve-ha'er mi-no'am ziv tif'artecha,
ki homeh libi el dodecha.
Avi ha-rachaman, nafshi chamdah ve-gam homah
le-kirvet shimcha,
ba-chen ashottet be-ra'ayonai le-hit'bonen be-godol nifle'otecha,
umi yiten ve-tit'orer nafshi mi-tardemutah
le-hit'ametz be-avodatcha ve-yir'atecha.
Ha-simchah ve-ha-chesheik be-avodati,
am ki nitma'etu me'od be-orech galuti,
avall, habet na Yotzri el mekor ve-shoresh nishmati.
Dodi, habitah ur'eh be-mitzpon libi,
vachattor na be-machterti,
ve-timtza et she-ahavah nafshi.
Ve-im mit'la'ot asher metza'uni ve-rav dachakoti,
me'atim me'od zechuyotai ve-me'od ketzarah po'alti.
Na Dodi, rachem al nafshi,
ve-yirtzeh lefanecha cheshki,
ve-al tima'et be-einecha yegi'ati,
ure'eh ki elecha nichsaf nichsafti.
Havineni la-da'at derachecha,
ve-hat'imeni mi-no'am ziv avodatecha,
le-ma'an yitrapeiku levavi ve-nafshi tamid
be-rishpei lev ahavateha,
ve-gam kol kochi ve-nafshi emsor al kevod kedushat shimcha,
ve-ozreni le-zeh le-ma'an emtza chen be-einecha.
Yitgolelu alai rachamecha,
ve-hachayeni be-mitkut zichreha,
ve-taher ra'ayonai ve-levavi
le-ma'an eda shiflut erki
ve-et'bonen tamid be-gedulatecha
ve-le'olam lo efared me-ahavateha.
Common Questions
Devekut means 'cleaving' or 'adhesion' to God — a state of intimate, unbroken closeness between the human soul and its divine Source. It is one of the highest spiritual values in Chassidic thought, understood not as a single moment of inspiration but as a continuous orientation of the heart. This prayer is essentially a cry to recover that state after it has dimmed, recognizing that the soul yearns for it even when daily life clouds the awareness.
In Jewish prayer and thought, galut — exile — operates on multiple levels at once. On the national level it refers to the Jewish people's dispersion from their land. On the spiritual level, described here, it refers to the exile of the Shekhinah (the divine presence) from full manifestation in the world, and also to the inner exile of the soul — its alienation from its own divine root. The prayer mourns this inner numbness and asks God to restore warmth, longing, and divine awareness.
Shekhinah is the Hebrew term for the indwelling presence of God — the aspect of divinity that 'dwells among' creation and the Jewish people. In Kabbalistic and Chassidic theology, the Shekhinah is experienced as the nurturing, immanent face of God, and its return to full manifest glory is one of the hopes bound up with the ultimate redemption. This prayer asks that the Shekhinah once again 'rest its glory upon us,' restoring a sense of sacred presence in the world.
The opening letters of the stanzas are arranged to spell out two of the most sacred divine names in Jewish tradition: the four-letter name YHVH (Yod-Heh-Vav-Heh) and Adonai (Alef-Dalet-Nun-Yod), combined as 'Yachidati Ana Avakshecha' — 'My Only One, I beseech You.' This is a well-known Kabbalistic device: the act of prayer itself, in its very structure, mirrors and invokes the unity of God's names. For the reader, knowing this transforms the poem from a personal lyric into a carefully constructed spiritual vessel.
Jewish mystical tradition, especially in Chassidic practice, embraces the language of love between the soul and God as one of the most authentic modes of prayer. The word 'dodi' (my beloved) used here echoes the Song of Songs, which rabbinic tradition reads as an allegory for the relationship between God and Israel — and, by extension, between God and the individual soul. You do not need to suppress the emotional register of this language; rather, let it move you. The prayer asks that heart and mind together be kindled — intellect and feeling unified in the act of drawing near.