Use any approach, any prayers or supplications that you feel, and use your own words. Let it flow freely from the heart!
The following paragraphs offer just a glimpse of some short prayers that can be offered during hitbodedut. Remember, any individual thought can be expanded upon, meditated on and prayed for, for hours on end. Combinations of two ideas or two thousand ideas are also possible. Use any approach, any prayers or supplications that you feel, and use your own words. Let it flow freely from the heart.
Coming closer to God. Please, God! I am greatly confused. I hear about Judaism, but have no idea what it’s really all about. Help me. Guide me, so that I come to have true faith in You.
Or: God! I am greatly confused. I read about You. I study about You. I hear about You. I hear about Judaism. But I have no idea what it’s really all about. Help me! Guide me in Your path that I may learn about You, about Your existence, and come to have true faith in You.
Or: O God! I want to come close to You. I want to experience You, Your goodness, Your kindness, Your boundless mercy. Open Your path to me, the path of Torah, the path of the True Tzaddikim, so that I may be able to learn how to come closer to You. I realize I am very distant from You, I realize that I’m not worthy of any revelation. But I am a Jew! I was created to recognize and serve You. Help me! Guide me in Your path that I may learn about You, about Your existence, and so come to have true faith in You.
Or: O God! I want to come close to You. I want to experience You, Your goodness, Your kindness, Your boundless mercy. Open Your path to me, the path of Torah, the path of the True Tzaddikim, so that I may be able to learn how to come closer to You. I realize I am very distant from You, I realize that I’m not worthy of any revelation. But I am a Jew! I was created to recognize and serve You. You put me on this physical earth. You are the one who placed me where I am, in this situation, exposing me to the daily temptations of a mundane life. I know it is for my good, that I search for and find the truth – You – and rise above the falsehoods that abound. But I am too weak, I can never seem to overcome my desires. Please! Please! Help me to be happy always, help me feel joy and happiness in being a Jew and practicing my Judaism proudly.
Remember, any individual thought can be expanded upon, meditated on and prayed for, for hours on end. Combinations of two ideas or two thousand ideas are also possible!
Torah study. Please God! Help me study Torah, daily. Help me understand what I study, help me remember what I study. Please guide me in a study program, so that I learn what is necessary for me to know. Help me navigate the “sea of Torah” safely, so that whatever I learn brings e closer to You.
Or: Please God! Help me study Torah. Help me study Chumash, TaNaKh, Mishnah, Talmud, the Codes and musar, daily. Whatever I study, please help me understand and remember. Help me navigate the “sea of Torah” safely, so that whatever I learn brings me true knowledge and wisdom to come closer to You.
Or: Please God! Help me study Torah. Help me set aside time every day to study and let me be consistent in this. Whatever I study, help me understand and remember. Guide me to learn only that which is permitted, so that whatever I do learn will bring me knowledge and wisdom to come closer to You. Distance me from the philosophies and false wisdoms that might lead me away from you. Let me find a proper teacher to convey the true meaning of what I learn, so that I am not misguided and am given good advice.
Prayer. Dear God, help me concentrate on my prayers. Please, I am now praying to You, I am now speaking to You, but my heart is very distant from my words. I am not concentrating. My mind wanders. Please let me feel the words. Let me appreciate the beauty of the words of prayer, so that I may find You.
Hitbodedut encompasses the entire spectrum of life!
Or: Dear God, help me concentrate on my prayers. Please, I want to pray to You, I want to recite my prayers with joy. Please let me feel the words. Let me appreciate the beauty of the words of prayer, so that I may find You. Open my heart, open my mouth and please let my words pour forth to You with total concentration. Please accept my pleas and guide my prayers directly to You.
Or: Dear God. O God. Please help me. I want to pray, I want to pour forth my heart before You. I want to come closer to You, but I don’t know what to say. I am troubled. I am distant from You and I find it difficult to overcome material desires. Yet, I still wish to come closer to You. Please let me practice hitbodedut every day, please let me sit before You at least an hour each day, so that I can pray to You and pour out my heart’s longing before You. Let me also recite my daily prayers with kavanah. And please make sure that I awake in time to attend services in the synagogue, with a minyan.
Truth and Faith. O God! Please let me have full faith in You! Full faith in You, Your Torah, in the True Tzaddikim. Save me from falsehood, from alien philosophies and all sorts of thoughts that can distance me from You. Please God! Lead me on the right path for my soul. Lead me on a path that will bring me ever closer to You. Let me have full faith, unswerving faith, unbending faith, that everything about You is truth. And let me find that truth – You – so that I may come ever closer to You.
Or: I am bothered by many questions. I have too many questions and no answers. I am disturbed by many things that I see, yet do not understand. Please, God, where I am able to understand the answer, please provide it. And where I am as yet unable to understand, please strengthen my faith in You. Strengthen my acceptance of You as King, as Ruler of the universe, and let me truly believe that I, and everything that happens to me, and everything that happens in the whole world, are exclusively in Your hands. Please help me acknowledge this daily and be aware of You at all times. Please bring all Israel and all the nations of the world to recognize Your Sovereignty.
(Taken from the book Crossing the Narrow Bridge: A Practical Guide to Rebbe Nachman’s Teachings)
