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Zohar on the Torah
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Prayer – Driving Me Up the Wall Part II Parshat Va'etchanan - Zohar p. 260a (Continued from last week) With the arising of the dawn [and before prayer] a person should cleanse himself of everything by going to the bathroom to relieve himself of all body wastes and by washing his hands and saying the Asher Yatzar prayer. He is thus rectifying the external element of the world of Asiya. Then he should arm himself for battle by putting on his tallit and tefillin and preparing himself for prayer. By this, he rectifies the external elements of the worlds of Yetzira, Beria and Atzilut. He should ready himself for the Holy King [to cause Him to unite with the Queen at the point of "sim shalom" in the Amida prayer]. Since he occupied himself with the Queen all night, he now accompanies Her as she goes up to unite with the King. He goes to the Beit HaKnesset/Synagogue [in the early dawn light already dressed in his tallit and tefillin] and purifies his nefesh by saying the first part of the prayers dealing with the korbanot (sacrifices). Saying these with intention is the equivalent of actually bringing all the sacrifices mentioned (Menachot 110b), and allows him to proceed, fully rectified, higher in the spiritual worlds and specifically to the inside of the world of Yetzira - since he has now rectified himself in the world of Asiya. After reaching the prayer “Baruch SheAmar,” which raises him up to the world of Yetzira he glorifies [Hashem] with the psalms of King David [psukei dezimra] clasped in his tefillin, bound on his arm and head, and fringed with tzitzit on the corners of his tallit. Note that the order in which they are put on is reversed – one puts on tallit first and only afterwards tefillin. This is to show that even though he has already donned them he must remain conscious of them as he rises in his meditative prayer. He says the Ashrei prayer (Psalms 145) as we have explained. He prays his prayer before his Master [the prayers before Shema (“Hear O Israel”), which rectify the world of Beria] and afterwards must stand [for the Shemona Esrei, or Amida prayer, which relates to the inner sefirot of the world of Atzilut]. He must stand in the same manner as the angels above. The prophet Yechezkel (Ezekiel) describes, in his vision, angels as "standing straight-legged" (1:7). Angels stand humbly like a servant waiting the call of their master, whereas man is called "walking" and hence has the Torah laws – called halachot, which literally means "walkings," to guide him through the mixed spiritual-physical nature of this world. Since the person praying has reached the highest spiritual worlds in his meditative state, it is appropriate for him to behave in the manner of the denizens of that world, not strutting around, but humbly standing before his Master. He needs to connect with the angels. When he reaches the Kedusha prayer in the repetition of the Amida, he is actually praising Hashem simultaneously with them. They are said to be "standing" as is stated in Zachariah 3:7 "then I will give you access among those who are standing". He needs to turn his heart and mind fully to his Master and ask his requests [in the middle 13 blessings of the Amida]. Come and see. At the time when a person rises from his bed at midnight to engage in learning Torah, a [spiritual] herald announces about him saying (Psalms 134:1) "Behold, those who bless the Lord, all those servants of the Lord that stand in the House of the Lord at night." Now [after dawn] as a person stands in prayer before his Master, that herald announces about him saying (Zachariah 3:7) "And I will allow you to walk among those who stand." The angels are described as "standing" as we have explained. After a person has finished praying [the Amida] before his Master, he should prepare to nullify himself [at the vidui (confession) prayer said after the Amida, which rectifies all his sins against Hashem] to the proper place (malchut). By "falling on his face" (actually resting his face on his arm) and symbolically nullifying himself, he makes himself like an empty vessel ready to receive spiritual abundance, which he draws down with him as he descends from the supernal worlds back to the world of Asiya as he says the remaining part of the morning service. This is as we have explained that the intention is to fall on his face to the deepest level of the kelipot and nullify them before the Queen, making her even more desirous in the eyes of the King who will therefore shower His love on her. See Shaar HaKavanot, Lecture on Nefilat Apayim. How abundant is the advice of the Torah on everything! [Including prayer.] And when a person finishes his prayer, every word which escaped his lips in those prayers, ascends on high and breaks through the atmosphere and the outer heavens, until it reaches the place it is to reach, and becomes formed into a crown crowning the Head of the King. The Friends have explained (Berachot 29b) that the prayer, which a person pleads before the Holy One Blessed be He, should be intended as a plea before Him. From where do we learn this? From Moses, as it is written (Deut. 3:23) “And I pleaded with the Lord at that time.” This is a prayer worthy to be received as the Midrash says in Devarim Rabba, 11– Hashem asked Moses to stop pleading lest He be forced to grant his request! The following advice, given by the Holy Zohar, relates to the way in which one should pray the Amida, which is generically called "prayer". Come and see. One who stands in prayer, should stand with his legs together [in the likeness of the angels who stand thus] as we have explained. He should cover his head [with his tallit] in the manner of one who stands before a king. He should close his eyes so as not to stare at the Shechina. Following is a reference to the book of Rav Hamnuna Saba, which is referred to often by Rabbi Shimon BarYochai. Rav Hamnuna lived during the time of the Second Temple. He is buried in a little cave in the valley below Mount Meron. His book has been lost over the centuries. In the book of Rav Hamnuna Saba it says that one who opens his eyes at the time of prayer, or doesn’t lower his eyes [on his prayer book or] towards the ground, will meet the angel of death early. And when his soul departs he will not see the light of the Shechina, nor will he die by a kiss [by which his soul departs in perfect harmony from the physical to the spiritual realm]. One who scorns the Shechina will be spurned by Her at the time when he needs Her. This is as written in the verse (1 Samuel 2:30) "For those who honor Me I will honor, and those who scorn Me shall be despised." This refers to one who gazes on the Shechina at the time when he is praying. Now how can it be possible for a person to gaze on the Shechina? For the verse says (Ex. 33:20) "No man shall see Me and live," from which is implied that he will see, but only as he dies. However, it is proper for a person to know, that certainly the Shechina stands in front of him [as it is written in Lamentations 2:19 "Pour out your heart like water, when you are present in front of the face of the Lord"]. That is the meaning of the verse in Isaiah 3: 2 "Then Chizkiyahu (Hezekiah) turned his face to the wall," because there opposite him was the Shechina. This is also the reason why there should not be anything separating 0between a person and the wall [at the time of prayer] as we have explained. One who stands in [the Amida] prayer, should order it such that he praises his Master first of all. This refers to the first three blessings of the Amida. It is also a common meditative technique in the Zohar. Before most Torah lectures, the sages would first praise Hashem and the Torah and the people of Israel. This opens the mind and heart to the greatness of Hashem and creates the mental environment for an influx of inspiration. Afterwards he should plead for what he requires in the middle 13 blessings in the Amida – for repentance, Torah learning, health, redemption etc. For this is the way Moses prayed. First (Deut. 3:24) "O Lord, G-d, You have begun to show Your servant Your greatness and Your mighty hand; for what deity is there in heaven or in earth that can do according to Your works and according to Your might?" And then finally (3:25) "I beg You, let me go over and see the good land that is beyond the Jordan…" Rabbi Yehuda asked why is there a change in the order of the names of Hashem in that verse. "O Lord, G-d" seems to reverse the order of the spiritual worlds. "Lord," which is cited first, refers to kingship or malchut; "G-d," the four letter name Havaya, is the higher level, yet it appears as the latter. First is mentioned Lord (Ad-nai) spelled Alef Dalet Nun Yud, and last is the name Havaya with the vowel points [in the traditional reading] for the pronunciation of the name Elokim. The reason is that this is the [spiritual] order from below to above. The name Ad-nai represents the lowest sefira of malchut and Havayah represents Zeir Anpin above. The meditation is therefore to unite these two aspects of divinity, unifying malchut with Zeir Anpin. The order [of the names] is such in order to include the attribute of day [light, kindness, Zeir Anpin] with the attribute of night [darkness, dinim (strictness, law), malchut] and include the attribute of night with day. The reading of the name Havaya as Elokim shows the intended similarity to malchut. The name Elokim is the creative aspect of Divinity, and that aspect requires borders and the contraction of the infinite light. In this it shares an aspect of the darkness and dinim (the force needed to cause contraction) of malchut. They are also referred to as Mother and Daughter or bina and malchut. This [meditation] unites the two of them with each other as is fitting. Simcha Treister is a lawyer from New Zealand who made aliya to Safed with his family in 1993 to study Zohar, and continues doing so to this day. |
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