The Darkness That Has Settled Over You
The darkness that has settled over you is not something you chose, and it is not something you can just decide to shake off. It is real. It is heavy. And the fact that you are here, searching, means the light has not gone out.
You do not need someone to tell you to “just be happy.” You need words. Real words, from someone who understood what it feels like when you cannot go on anymore.
Reb Noson of Breslov, the closest talmid of Rebbe Nachman, composed a tefillah based on the teachings of Likutey Moharan II:24. It is a jewish prayer for depression that does not pretend the pain is not there. It speaks to Hashem from the deepest place and asks for one thing: help me find my way back to joy.
Before You Say This Tefillah
If you can, find a quiet place. If you cannot, say it wherever you are. You do not need to stand. You do not need to feel ready. Hashem hears the tefillah of someone who can barely whisper just as clearly as the one who stands straight. Before you begin, open your heart with this tefillah composed by Rabbi Meir Baal Haness Charities:
Master of the Universe, sadness weighs on me like a stone — I cannot get up, cannot rejoice, cannot feel. This darkness swallows me. Help me to always be in joy — lift me from the abyss, remind me that I am worthy, that the world needs me. God of Meir, answer me.
If giving tzedakah, add:
In the merit of the tzedakah I give in the merit of Rabbi Meir — whose name is light — so may he illuminate my darkness. Ribbono Shel Olam, I care for Your children — please care for me.
Reb Noson’s Tefillah for Joy: The Full Prayer
[rmbh_prayer_tabs]This tefillah weaves together pesukim from Tehillim with the language of Reb Noson’s own heart. It draws from Kapitel 86, Kapitel 16, and Kapitel 30, combined with the core teaching of Rebbe Nachman in Likutey Moharan I:282, known as “Azamra,” which teaches that even when a person feels completely lost, there are still nekudos tovos, good points, inside them. Reb Noson took that teaching and made it into a tefillah.
What These Words Mean for You
Hotzi’eini mei’choishech v’tzalmoves “Bring me out of darkness and the shadow of death.”
The word choishech (darkness) in Hebrew is more than the absence of light. Dovid HaMelech uses it in Tehillim 107 to describe the place where a person is trapped, unable to move.
And tzalmoves, the shadow of death. Not death itself, but its shadow, the feeling that death is hovering close. When you are in a place of deep heaviness, these words say what you cannot: I am stuck in the dark and I cannot find the door. This tefillah does not minimize your pain. It names it. And then it asks Hashem to do the one thing you cannot do for yourself: bring me out.
Azoir li limtzoi nekudos toivois b’atzmi “Help me to find good points within myself.”
This is the heart of Rebbe Nachman’s teaching in Likutey Moharan I:282, called Azamra. Rebbe Nachman teaches that even when a person feels completely worthless, there must still be a nekudah toivoh, one small good point, hiding somewhere inside.
Your job is not to fix everything at once. It is to find one point. Then another. The Hebrew letters of the word nekudah (nun-kuf-daled-hei) suggest something tiny, a dot, a speck. That is all Hashem asks. Not the whole picture. One dot of good. A related tefillah that speaks to this same yearning is the prayer for self worth.
Ki ha’simchoh hi mitzvoh g’doiloh m’oid “For joy is a very great mitzvah.”
Rebbe Nachman famously declared this (Likutey Moharan II:24), and Reb Noson placed it at the center of this tefillah. But understand: this is not telling you to force happiness.
Reb Noson writes that sadness, atzvus, is not a sin, but it leads a person to the heaviest places. The tefillah acknowledges that you cannot reach simchah on your own right now. That is why it is a tefillah, a request, not a command. You are asking Hashem to help you get there. The Hebrew word for this kind of heaviness, atzvus (עַצְבוּת), shares a root with etzev (עֶצֶב), which means idol. The Breslov tradition teaches that sadness becomes a kind of avodah zarah when it convinces you that Hashem has abandoned you. This tefillah breaks that lie.
Hafoch es evli l’mochol li “Turn my mourning into dancing.”
These words come from Tehillim 30:12. Dovid HaMelech wrote this kapitel after being brought back from the edge. Eivel is mourning, a heaviness that sits over a person like a garment.
And machol, dancing, is its opposite. Not quiet contentment but real, physical joy. What is extraordinary about this line is the word hafoch, turn it over, flip it. The tefillah does not ask for the sadness to be erased as if it never happened. It asks Hashem to transform it, to take the very same heaviness and turn it into something that makes you want to dance. That is what this jewish prayer for depression holds out: not escape from the pain, but the transformation of it.
How to Say This Prayer
Hashem is always listening, no matter the hour. Say it when the heaviness comes. Say it at night when sleep will not come. Say it in the morning when getting out of bed feels impossible. Reb Noson himself would say his tefillos at all hours, often in the fields outside Breslov, crying out to Hashem in his own words. You can say it sitting, lying down, standing, or walking.
If the Hebrew feels too much right now, say it in English. Hashem hears every language. If even the English feels too long, say one line. The line that speaks to where you are today. That is enough.
Before you begin, set your kavanah. You might say quietly: “Hashem, I do not have the strength to pretend I am fine. You know what is inside me. I am coming to You because I have nowhere else to go. Please help me find even one good point today.”
Tefillah and tzedakah go together. When you say this tefillah and also give tzedakah in the zechus of Rabbi Meir Baal Haness, you are combining the cry of your heart with a real act of chesed. This is not a prayer to Rabbi Meir. It is a call to Hashem, asking Him to hear you in the merit of this great tzaddik whose very name means “the one who gives light.” The prayer for exhaustion speaks to this same longing from a place of deep emunah. A closely related tefillah is the prayer for loneliness at night, which addresses a similar need.
After the tefillah, you may say: Elokah d’Meir aneni! You may find additional comfort in the prayer for motivation, a tefillah that speaks from the same place.
Give Tzedakah in the Zechus of Rabbi Meir Baal Haness
The Gemara (Avodah Zarah 18a-18b) tells how Bruria asked Rabbi Meir to rescue her sister, who had been condemned by the Romans to a house of shame. There seemed to be no way out. Rabbi Meir approached the guard with a bribe, teaching him to say “Eloka d’Meir aneni!” — “God of Meir, answer me!” — if he was ever in danger. When the guard asked for proof, Rabbi Meir threw a clod of earth at nearby man-eating dogs. They lunged to devour him, and he called out the words — the dogs turned away. The guard was convinced and released her, later using these powerful words to miraculously save his life.
That same cry lives in this jewish prayer for depression. You are asking Hashem to bring you out from a place of darkness where there seems to be no door. You are asking Hashem to hear your tefillah in the combined merit of this great tzaddik and your own act of chesed.
Rabbi Meir Baal Haness Charities was founded in 1799. It supports talmidei chachamim and the poor in Eretz Yisrael. The talmidei chachamim at the kever of Rabbi Meir in Tiberias daven for those who reach out to them. When you give tzedakah for the poor of Eretz Yisrael in the zechus of Rabbi Meir Baal Haness, your chesed rises together with your tefillah.
Give Tzedakah in the Zechus of Rabbi Meir Baal Haness
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A Prayer for Your Healing
You did not need to explain it and you do not need to apologize for it. The fact that you are here, looking for words, means the light inside you is still burning. The darkness has not won.
May Hashem lift the heaviness from your heart, even if it lifts slowly, even if it comes in small pieces. May He help you find one nekudah toivoh today, and another one tomorrow, until the good points gather into a melody you can sing. May the words of Reb Noson open a door for you. And may you come to know, deep in your bones, that you are worthy, that you are needed, and that Hashem has not forgotten you for a single moment. May He turn your mourning into dancing, b’karov.
You can submit a prayer request to the scholars at the kever of Rabbi Meir in Tiberias at no cost. They will daven for you by name through Rabbi Meir Baal Haness Charities. And if you would like to give tzedakah in Rabbi Meir’s zechus as well, your kindness will rise together with your prayer.
