SATURDAY PRAYER: HESED-YESHIVAT HAVERIM יְשִׁיבָה חברים – BABYLONIAN TALMUD p167

READING: BETWEEN MIDNIGHT AND DAWN OF SATURDAY

“Inasmuch as ye have attached yourselves to me, though your sins should be as scarlet, they
shall become white as snow.”
Said R. Samuel b. Na’hmeni in the name of R. Jonathan: It is written [Isaiah, lxiii. 16]: “For
Thou art our Father; for Abraham knoweth nothing of us, and Israel recognizeth us not; Thou, O
Lord, art our Father, our Redeemer from everlasting is thy name.” In the future the Holy One,
blessed be He, will say to Abraham: “Thy children have sinned before me,” and Abraham will
answer: “Let them be wiped off (the face of the earth) for the sake of the holiness of Thy name.”
The Holy One, blessed be He, will then say: “I shall tell this to Jacob, who had trouble in rearing
his own children; perhaps he will pay for the present generation.” The Lord said to Jacob: “Thy
children have sinned before me,” and Jacob gave the same reply as Abraham. Then said the
Lord: “Not with the aged can feeling be found, nor with the young wise counsel.” The Lord then
said to Isaac: “Thy children have sinned before me.” Then said Isaac before the Lord: “Creator
of the universe! Thou sayest my children, are they not Thine? When they answered before Thee,
‘We will do,’ and (then) ‘obey,’ Thou calledst them ‘My son, my first-born,’ and now they are my
children and not Thine! And furthermore, how long a time have they sinned before Thee? Let us
see; what is the duration of a man’s life? Only seventy years. Take off the twenty years that
Thou dost not punish for sin and only fifty remain. Take off the nights and only twenty-five full
years remain. Deduct again twelve years and six months spent in praying, eating, and in the
performance of other necessities, only twelve and one-half years remain. If Thou wilt bear the
whole it is well, but if not let me bear half and Thou the other half. If Thou wilt say that I must
bear the whole, did I not sacrifice myself for Thee?”