A Prayer for Moshiach

A Prayer for Moshiach

Master of the universe! Only You know how greatly Your people Israel—and each one of us individually—need Your mercy at this time, in this generation. For everyone wishes to stand in awe of You, and everyone yearns to draw truly close to You, while each person is aware of the flaws in his heart. We eagerly await a true healer, an authentic guide who will bring us closer and heal the pain of our souls. Yet there is no one to intercede on our behalf. Because of our sins, You have taken our hope from us—the true tzadikim, leaders, and guides. You have hidden Your Face from us, and we have neither a guide nor a leader who can direct us and bring us closer to serving You. Master of the entire world! You know our pain and hear us cry out under oppression. Arise and protect us in this time of distress, during the birth pangs of Moshiach's arrival, in the utmost bitterness of the exile of soul and body. Save us, for we have no understanding of how to merit Your mercy or how to cry out to You so that You will turn toward us. Our Heavenly Father! Have compassion on us! Our Heavenly Father! Do not hide Your Face from us! King of the entire world! Send us a true guide and ruler who will lead us with compassion, like a father helping a small child take his first steps, so that we may draw closer to serving You. Send us a guide as great as Moshe, who brought Israel out of the impurity of Egypt, for it would have been impossible to leave otherwise, without him. You took pity on us then and commanded Moshe to go and free us, and You were with him throughout, until he merited bringing us out. And now, because of our sins, we are trapped in an exile even more difficult and terrible than the Egyptian exile. You know that there is no one among us who can free us—a true leader like Moshe. Therefore, have compassion on us for the sake of Your Name; dispel and remove Your anger from us, and in Your great mercy send us a true leader who will have pity on us and turn toward us, assume leadership and authority, lead us with love and compassion, and bring us closer to truly serving You. (David Shenkar, “The Return of the Soul”)