שֶׁתּוֹעֶלֶת גָּדוֹל הוּא תְּפִלּוֹת צַדִּיקִים לַנְּשָׁמוֹת הַנִּדָּחוֹת, וְאֵין לְךָ גְּמִילוּת חֶסֶד גָּדוֹל מִזֶּה, וְאַף כִּי אָנוּ אֵינֶנּוּ מֵאַנְשֵׁי הַצַּדִּיקִים הַקּוֹדְמִים, וְהַלְוַאי שֶׁתּוֹעִיל תְּפִלָּתֵנוּ לְתוֹעֶלֶת עַצְמֵנוּ, לְכַפֵּר חַטֹּאתֵינוּ וּפְשָׁעֵינוּ שֶׁהִכְעַסְנוּ לַבּוֹרֵא יִתְבָּרַךְ בְּמֶרֶד וּבְמַעַל, אַף עַל פִּי כֵן הַיּוֹדֵעַ מַחֲשָׁבוֹת הַטּוֹבוֹת, לִהְיוֹת זֶה מֵהַמְזַכִּים בִּתְפִלָּתָם גַּם לַנְּשָׁמוֹת הַנִּדָּחוֹת, כִּי רַב חֶסֶד הוּא הַבּוֹרֵא יִתְבָּרַךְ, וְזֶה יֵאוֹת לְכָל בַּר יִשְׂרָאֵל לִהְיוֹת זוֹכֶה וּמְזַכֶּה לַאֲחֵרִים. וּמִכָּל שֶׁכֵּן שֶׁצָּרִיךְ הָאָדָם לְהִתְפַּלֵּל עַל רִשְׁעֵי הַדּוֹר שֶׁיַּחְזְרוּ בִּתְשׁוּבָה, כִּדְאִיתָא בַּגְּמָרָא דִּבְרָכוֹת (י, א), בִּבְרוּרְיָא דְּבִיתְהוּ דְרַבִּי מֵאִיר שֶׁאָמְרָה: "יִתַּמּוּ חַטָּאִים" כְּתִיב (תְּהִלִּים קד, לה), וְלֹא חוֹטְאִים. עַל כֵּן אֲסַדֵּר אֲנִי לְפָנֶיךָ לְכָל אִישׁ וְאִשָּׁה, לוֹמַר יְהִי רָצוֹן זֶה בְּבִרְכַּת "הֲשִׁיבֵנוּ אָבִינוּ לְתוֹרָתֶךָ, וְקָרְבֵנוּ מַלְכֵּנוּ לַעֲבוֹדָתֶךָ", וְיֹאמַר:

...the prayers of the righteous are of tremendous benefit to the souls of the banished.

There can be no greater act of loving-kindness than this.

Obviously we are not in the same league as the righteous of earlier generations. We would have reason enough to be thankful if our prayers were adequate to benefit ourselves and to atone for the sins and transgressions and the rebelliousness and deceit with which we have angered our Creator.

Nevertheless, one should strive to be among those who benefit these banished souls with their prayers and then the Creator, may He be blessed, will exercise His abundant loving-kindness.

Indeed it is fitting for every Jew to strive to benefit others.

One should pray especially on behalf of the wicked of the generation that they should repent.

Thus we learn in Berachos (10a) that Rabbi Meir’s wife Beruryah said to him, “It is written, ‘let sin come to an end’ (Tehillim 104:35), not the sinners!”

Therefore I will set out here for the use of every man and woman a Yehi ratzon prayer to be added to the blessing, “Return us our Father to Your Torah and draw us near to Your service,” the fifth blessing of the Amidah. The text of the prayer is as follows:

וְאָז יִתְעוֹרֵר גַּם הָאָדָם מֵעַצְמוֹ לַעֲשׂוֹת תְּשׁוּבָה עַל חֲטָאָיו, כְּדֵי שֶׁלֹּא יֵאָמֵר לוֹ "קְשֹׁט עַצְמְךָ וְאַחַר כָּךְ קְשֹׁט אֲחֵרִים". רַק שֶׁיֹּאמַר בְּכַוָּנַת הַלֵּב, וְאָז בַּעַל הָרַחֲמִים, בְּרֹב חֲסָדָיו וּבְרֹב רַחֲמָיו, יְקַבֵּל תְּפִלָּתוֹ. וְאַף שֶׁצָּרִיךְ תְּפִלָּה זוֹ כַּוָּנוֹת וְיִחוּדִים, וְאֵין אָנוּ בְּקִיאִים בְּשֵׁמוֹת וּבְצֵרוּפִים, הַמּוֹעִילִים לְתוֹעֶלֶת גָּדוֹל, מִכָּל מָקוֹם יִתְפַּלֵּל בִּקְצָרָה, וִיבַקֵּשׁ בְּהֶגְיוֹן לֵב, כִּי כָּךְ רָאוּי וְנָכוֹן לְכָל הַמִּתְפַּלֵּל, שֶׁלֹּא יַאֲרִיך הַכֹּל בִּשְׂפָתָיו, כִּי יַשְׁאִיר לוֹ בְּהֶגְיוֹן לִבּוֹ.

After reciting this, a person will arouse himself as well to repent for his sins so that they will not chide him, “Adorn yourself and then adorn others!”

If he will only recite this prayer with heartfelt intent surely the Merciful One, in His abundant loving-kindness and mercy, will accept his prayer.

And even though this prayer should really be accompanied by esoteric meditations in which we are not fluent, nevertheless, let him pray briefly and think these requests in his heart. For it is proper for everyone to leave such requests to the meditations of the heart and not speak out everything with his lips.

The Reluctant Leaders of Israel

The Small-Tribe Boy Achieves Greatness

Because those who are ill in the soul [cholei hanefesh/חולי הנפש] are like those who are ill in the body [cholei haguf/חולי הגוף].
Just like the majority of those who are physically ill, their way to healing is by taking bitter herbs. And if the ill person doesn’t trust the doctor, he [the ill person] will refuse to accept them [the bitter herbs].
Likewise, those of ailing souls who fell ill by buying into the bad beliefs that they acquired in Egypt, the Holy One Blessed Be He wanted to heal them by their accepting the Torah, which is analogized to an olive because its beginning is bitter like an olive.

...they would also believe that through Torah, the bitterness of the soul shall be sweetened.

Just as your eyes see that it is within My Hands to heal a bitter thing with a bitter thing, so from now on, you shall accept upon yourselves to heed the voice of Hashem and to do that which is straight in His Eyes. And even though the Torah and mitzvot seem difficult and bitter at the beginning, nonetheless, their end is sweet because they are a medication to the bone and a healing for the navel [a paraphrase of Mishlei/Proverbs 3:8], and they save you from all the disease that I put in Egypt: whether they be diseases of physical bodies, whether they be diseases of souls, resulting from them stiffening their neck.
And if you don’t sense the facilitative remedy [segulah] of the Torah, that it will be for you as  medicine in that way, then behold, I am God your Healer. And only the healer/doctor alone needs to know the remedies [segulot] of the healing substances.
But the one being healed doesn’t need to know that, he only needs to trust the trustworthy healer.

Why do I warn you? So that you will not come to disease. For I am God your Healer and it is the way of every doctor to warn those who love him that they should guard their souls from things that cause illnesses so that he won’t need to deal later with healing them.

Likewise, I teach you how to benefit from things that guard health so that you won’t come to disease because I am God your Healer Who guides you in the way you shall go.

And just as it is the way of a man to hate his enemy and to seek that which is bad for [his enemy], all the more so should one hate drinking. He knows the bitterness of the soul and the greatness of evil that the drinking has caused him. And how can he appease his Master [God] and what can be his sacrificial atonement?
Surely, it is the distress [tzaar/צער] with which he distresses himself by refraining from drinking.
And that will have atoned for him, that which he sinned on his soul by drinking.

Applying These Lessons to Mental Illness and Addiction Today

An Important Lesson about Hypocrites

This was a sign that he would be a deceptive hunter, deceiving his father just as is the way of the hypocrites [tzavuim] who display themselves as people of humble and modest dignity [tzanuim] as is stated regarding the future [Zecharia 13:4]:

“...and they shall not wear a hairy mantle in order to lie….”

For that was the custom in that time: The tzanuim would wear a hairy mantle.
And perhaps in the days of Yitzchak, that was the custom then.
Therefore he [Esav] was born like a mantle of hair [as if] to say that he will be a nazir for God from the womb.

Yet he would be from the class of hypocrites.

We Aren't Perfect, But We Also Aren't the Same