The Secret of the Morning Watch: How to Turn Judgment into Mercy and Bring About Salvations
Lesson No. 5 | Thursday and Friday, Parashas Emor, 4 and 5 Iyar 5755.
Why are the hours specifically before sunrise the most auspicious time to change one's destiny? Rabbi Berland shlit"a explains the secret of the morning watch, joining the song of the angels, and the moment when Hashem Himself descends to heal the sick.
The most auspicious time to plead before the Creator of the world and bring about salvations is during the hours when the heavenly watches change, in the last third of the night. This refers to the three or four hours before sunrise, at the end of the night. The prayer a person offers during those hours over the destruction of the Temple and the exile is highly desired and accepted.
When we pray in the morning, we join the song of the angels. It is an obligation upon all of Israel to join this heavenly choir. Rabbi Elazar opened and said: "Hashem, in the morning You hear my voice; in the morning I arrange my prayer to You and wait expectantly" (Psalms 5:4).
Why is the word "morning" mentioned twice in the verse? Because Avraham Avinu (our Patriarch) created the morning. "And Avraham arose early in the morning" – in the merit of Avraham, there is morning in the world. Were it not for Avraham, the world would have been destroyed. Avraham Avinu opened the gates and turned the morning into an es ratzon (time of divine favor). Whoever wakes up during the morning watch and focuses on singing together with the angels can bring about salvations for anyone in the world – not only for himself, but for anyone who asks of him, whether they are a tzaddik or a wicked person.
Sweetening the Judgments Before They Descend
The choicest time for prayer is during the third watch of the night, when all the gates of mercy are open. Those who woke up at Chatzos (midnight) have already opened the gates, and during the third watch, they join the song. This is the time when everything can be accomplished in a single second.
Every single day there are "prisoners of the King" – people who have been decreed to suffer afflictions on that day. There are illnesses and harsh decrees hidden within the human body that reveal themselves at various ages, as a punishment for sins from previous reincarnations or from this current lifetime. A person is entirely made up of reincarnations, and every day there is a punishment designed to atone for something.
However, if a person wakes up during the morning watch, he sweetens this punishment. A person must know that daily decrees might be hovering over him – suddenly a family member falls ill, suddenly a trouble strikes, and he asks, "Why?" The answer is that you did not sweeten the decree of that day. Every day at Chatzos, a heavenly trial is held, and whoever wakes up during the morning watch sweetens the judgment and turns the day into a pleasant day, a day filled with the pleasantness of Hashem and the radiance of the Shechinah (Divine Presence).
The Time for Repentance and Restoring the Mind
The morning watch is the primary time to do teshuvah (repentance). A person wants a good day for himself and his family, but he must remember his sins and ask for forgiveness for them. You cannot simply ask for gifts from the King without apologizing for having offended Him in the past. The tzaddik waits for the person to ask for true forgiveness.
Some people think that Hashem is overly indulgent, or that it is enough to travel to the tzaddik and everything is magically erased like a computer file. But the truth is that genuine teshuvah (repentance) is required. During the morning watch, a person can ask Hashem to forgive him and restore the "mochin" (spiritual intellect and awareness) that he lost. When a person sins, he loses his clarity of mind and his ability to study Torah. Sins burn the mind. During this time, a person cries out to Hashem to give him back a new head, a clean mind with which he can study Gemara.
The Angel Raphael and Complete Healing
When a person sings and dances during the morning watch with the angels, a wondrous thing occurs: an angel named Raphael, who is appointed over all matters of healing, comes forth. When you sing during the morning watch, the angel Raphael stands beside you and asks, "Who do you want me to heal? This person? That person? I am already healing him." All matters of healing are in his hands at that moment.
But there is an even higher level than this. When the time for the Shacharis (morning) prayer arrives and we say:
"Give thanks to Hashem, call upon His name, make known His deeds among the nations... Sing to Him, make music to Him, speak of all His wonders."
The moment we begin "Hodu" (Give thanks), Hashem Himself appears. Until now, the angels accompanied us, but an angel might sometimes hesitate to heal a completely wicked person, out of fear that he will be infected by his impurity. An angel is only a messenger, and he is afraid of becoming defiled. But when Hashem descends, He says, "I, and not an angel." Hashem is not afraid of any impurity. He says, "Now I Myself will go and heal. Who do you want? This one and that one? I am going to heal him."
Preempting the "Techeiles" of Judgment
The holy Zohar teaches that the techeiles (light blue) color in the sky hints at judgment. When dawn breaks and the sky is painted techeiles, the heavenly courts open and begin to judge all the inhabitants of the world. If a person is sleeping at that time, they judge him in his absence and seal his decree for that day.
However, if a person wakes up before the techeiles appears in the sky, he is already present in the courtroom. The judges see him standing, singing, praying, wanting to be a good Jew. Immediately, the entire judgment is overturned. Hashem commands the heavenly court not to open the trial at all, and says, "I want to judge him Myself." Hashem takes the trial out of their hands, because He is a "King who desires life" and the "Father of Mercy."
Whoever preempted the dawn with prayers, songs, and Torah study arrives with so many merits that the accusations are nullified. Hashem searches for his merits and has mercy on him. Then, all the birds begin to sing. The birds see that Hashem was about to destroy the world because of its sins, but in the merit of those people who woke up during the morning watch, the judgment was sweetened and the world was saved. The song of the birds is a song of thanksgiving for the fact that we have been granted another day of life.