How to Rise to Prayer with Enthusiasm!

How to rise for prayer with enthusiasm? " Behold, the nation shall rise up as a young lion

 A wonderful encouragement on the virtue of early awakening for prayer from the verse "Behold, the nation shall rise up as a young lion" – how to overcome laziness, the secret of saying Modeh Ani, wonderful stories of self-sacrifice for prayer and Tikkun Chatzot [midnight rectification], and the power of the service of Hashem out of diligence and enthusiasm.

Date & Time Line

3 Tammuz 5786 | June 18, 2026 | 21:30

" Behold, the nation shall rise up as a young lion, and lift up himself as a [mature] lion" Book of Numbers, Parshat Balak, Chapter 23, Verse 24

Overcoming tiredness to pray with desire and not in weakness and in laziness

When they stand from the morning sleep, they overcome like a young lion and like a lion to snatch the commandments (Rashi)

In the Holy Zohar, it explained the matter of the "young lion" and the "mature lion" regarding the topic of early awakening for the service of the Creator, in overcoming the tiredness for prayer in a minyan [quorum]; behold, here is rising and a display of might in actual practice.

However, in the Midrash it implies, that the overcoming is spiritual - to transition from a state of sleep and idleness to a state of concentration in prayer and in flawless service of Hashem. That this matter requires the might of a lion; one moment he is dozing in weakness and in laziness, and in the next he stands in his full strength and might.

As stated, great is the virtue of internal might, to rise up as a young lion and to lift oneself up as a mature lion in prayer to the Creator of the world, that in its merit we will also overcome the enemy that is outside. And as our Sages, of blessed memory, said (Sotah 42a) that in the merit of the reciting of Shema morning and evening, the enemies are defeated. Therefore, let a man not be negligent to rise in the morning, even if he is lazy by his nature, slow and clumsy; even so, let him overcome like a lion for the service of the Creator.

And they explained on the verse "Many are the thoughts in a man's heart", meaning in the morning while he still lies on his bed, he thinks: 'We will sleep a little more, or perhaps it is worthwhile already to rise?' They say to him, the counsel of Hashem is: "You shall rise" [takum] immediately without tarrying.

A story of a man who was married in happiness and in tranquility to a devoted wife, whose entire focus was to satisfy his will. And she would rise while it was still night, sifting and kneading and causing to rise, pinching and arranging the dough, making kosher and rinsing and cooking the meat, toiling and preparing kinds of delicacies, and the fragrances of the cooking and the baking filled the house.

However, the happiness was fleeting, the woman grew ill and passed away. He mourned, was comforted, and rebuilt his house anew with a good woman, wise, possessing many virtues - but toiling over the preparation of the foods was not counted among them... What he brought from the grocery, that is what he ate... He judged favorably: not everyone is talented, not everyone knows, the kitchen is not her field of expertise, let it be so.

One day she was informed that her relative was about to arrive, and then she arose while it was still night, and opened and pinched and arranged, kashered and rinsed and cooked and fried, and from the kitchen arose mouth-watering fragrances of wonderful delicacies.

And the husband gnashed his teeth and his eyes shot sparks. If so, she knows and is capable, for a relative she toils and cooks, only for my sake no?! I am not sufficiently important in her eyes!!!

And the moral – said the Gaon, Rabbi Chavita HaCohen, ZT"L, from Djerba – you have a person who is negligent to rise in the morning, [and] will always be late for the minyan [quorum]. What is said, there is one who is quick and there is a lazy person by his nature, slow and clumsy in his conduct; it is nature he has no way to change. But when he goes out on a tour, behold he will rise in the night watch, dress with the speed of an arrow from a bow and behold he is ready and prepared. But then he will raise a grievance. If so, he is capable, quick and energetic when he wants to. If so, why not for prayer in a minyan?!

And behold in Shulchan Aruch (O.C. Sec. 1) it is brought – let him overcome like a lion to stand up in the morning, and the source is from this scriptural verse, but the wonder is that in the verse it is mentioned "Behold, the people shall rise up as a young lion, and lift itself up as a [mature] lion", first a young lion (lavi) and afterwards a lion (ari). And behold according to what is explained a lavi (mentioned first in the Hebrew verse) is a youthful lion (so wrote the Rambam). And there is to understand what is the intention that one needs to rise first as a young lion and afterwards as a [mature] lion.

In the book "Otzar Ephraim" the author brought a charming idea from the Gaon Rabbi Shimon Hirschler:

It is found in Rama (Sec. 1) and immediately as he awakens from his sleep he shall rise with diligence. And wrote on this in Ba'er Hetev (Sub-sec. 5) with diligence not exactly but rather he shall tarry a little and shall not stand up suddenly and this is in accordance with our Sages, of blessed memory (Gittin 70a) rather immediately upon his rising he shall say Modeh Ani and only afterwards rise from his bed, see there.

And according to this it is wonderfully precise, "Behold, the nation shall rise up as a young lion", first with a small delay like a young lion that he did not mature, and he will say Modeh Ani, and only afterwards "and lift itself up as a lion".

And going from subject to subject, in that same general subject I will copy here a wonderful thing regarding the matter of saying Modeh Ani which is said immediately upon awakening of a person from his sleep:

An occasion of wonderful sanctification of the Name (Kiddush Hashem) was at one of the global scientific conferences that was held in Europe. One of the senior lecturers spoke about the medical phenomenon proven in the field, according to which the percentages of fainting of people at the hour that they awaken in the morning and rise from their bed—are much higher than in the rest of the hours of the day.

The professor explained the phenomenon from the professional side, and reasoned the fainting when a person awakens and rises from the bed is a result of the blood circulation in his body which does not yet operate at full output required for a person when he is in an alert state.

The matter is true also regarding other systems in the body, 'awakening' only after some time, and this is the reason that a person tends then to faint, more than in the rest of the hours of the day. The conclusion of the lecturer was that one should not rise from the bed immediately at the moment that one awakens, but rather one must wait 12 seconds between awakening to rising.

Immediately after the lecturer finished his words, one of the Jewish doctors present at the convention stood up, and requested permission to speak.

The doctor devoted the beginning of his words to the hidden wisdom in the Torah of Israel, and stated that all the findings exposed by the medical community have already been written in some hint in our Holy Torah, and proved this by several examples.

"The most tangible example for this I could bring to you regarding the topic raised just now by my predecessor," said the Jewish doctor, noting that there is not a single Jew across the globe who does not know that the first thing he must do, immediately upon awakening from his sleep, is to say "Modeh Ani LeFanekha Melech Chai VeKayam SheHechezarta Bi Nishmati BeChemla, Rabba Emunatekha" ["I give thanks before You, living and enduring King, for You have restored my soul within me with compassion; great is Your faithfulness"]. A text said from the depth of the heart, and with a feeling of thanksgiving to Hashem.

The Modeh Ani the Jew says immediately at the time that he awakens, while yet before he rises from his bed. And behold, if you count the words in this passage, you will find that there are exactly 12 words there, and since the utterance of each word from the mouth lasts a second, behold to you that the Sages of Israel preceded a remedy to the blow, by the saying of Modeh Ani, which is said when a person lies in his bed, and delays thereby his rising by 12 seconds.

It is impossible to describe the degree of admiration that was in the convention hall at that hour, when all were shown to know the beauty of the Torah of Israel. (Barchi Nafshi Vayikra p. 602)

They showed self sacrifice to pray at the Western Wall, and the Shechinah was revealed to them

An awesome incident that occurred with the Kabbalist Rabbi Yitzchak Levi, may the memory of the righteous be for a blessing, [who] was known among all the Jews of the Old City in Jerusalem; he was of the famous Kabbalists, and every night he would go to read Tikkun Chatzot at the Western Wall, and several times due to the situation the Mandate government imposed a curfew stopping traffic, but regarding Rabbi Yitzchak the curfew did not accomplish anything. He would rise at midnight and go to the Western Wall as was his habit, and several times the guards of the police patrols caught him and asked him: "How do you go out from your house in a curfew, and it is forbidden to go out to the street?" He would answer them: "I am going to pray at the Western Wall, do not waste my time, what do you want from me, what do I care about your curfew?" They thought him as though he were not sound in his mind, heaven forbid, until they became accustomed to him, they would see him and leave him to himself. And several times his wife and his sons asked from him and pleaded before him that he not risk his soul to go out at night, and he did not listen to them. And they relate that once he went with a great Kabbalist from the Batei Machaseh to the Kotel at midnight, and when they arrived at the Kotel they saw a woman dressed in black and wailing like a dove, and upon their return they did not see her, [and] they made an estimate that this was the Shechinah that was revealed to them, who was wailing over her children and over the destruction of the Holy Temple.

The last time that Rabbi Yitzchak Levi, of blessed memory, went to the Kotel at midnight, he began to read Tikkun Chatzot [midnight rectification] and heard a sound of a strong thud.

And he lifted his eyes to see what the noise was, and saw a very large snake fell from above the Kotel down, and was approaching in his direction.

And he did not budge and did not move, continued in his prayer and said in his heart: "If from Heaven they sent this messenger to take my soul, behold I am ready for it."

And the snake approached close to him, and stood to him like a stone pillar, and remained in its place all the time that Rabbi Yitzchak was continuing in his prayer.

When he finished Tikkun Chatzot, he took his book and went out, and as he went out, he heard a sound of crawling noise of the snake returning to go, and he did not see it anymore.

But from the fear of the snake, wounds came out on his legs, and the doctors came to a general opinion to amputate his leg for him.

But Rabbi Ben-Zion Chazan, of blessed memory, from the heads of Porat Yosef Yeshiva, and more rabbis who knew him closely, objected to them amputating Rabbi Yitzchak's leg.

And from that time, he remained attached to bed until the surrender of the Old City in the year 5708 [1948], and he ascended a pure sacrifice to Heaven, since all those who could not walk on their legs remained attached to their beds, [and] the enemies, the legionnaires of the Jordanian army, burned them with their houses. May Hashem avenge their blood!