One must, however, constantly bear in mind the beginning of the service and its core and root. By this is meant that, although fear is the root of "Depart from evil" and love— of "Do good," nevertheless it is not sufficient to awaken the love alone to do good, but one must at least first arouse the innate fear which lies hidden in the heart of every Jew not to rebel against the Supreme King of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He, as has been stated above, so that this [fear] shall manifest itself in his heart or, at least, his mind. This means that he should at least contemplate in his thought on the greatness of the blessed En Sof, and on His Kingship, which extends to all worlds, both higher and lower, and that "He fills all worlds and encompasses all worlds," as is written: "Do I not fill heaven and earth?" Yet He leaves both the higher and lower [worlds] and uniquely bestows His Kingdom upon His people Israel, in general, and upon him in particular, as, indeed, a man is obliged to say: "For my sake was the world created." And on his part, he accepts His Kingdom upon himself, that He be King over him, to serve Him and do His will in all kinds of servile work.
"And, behold, G‑d stands over him," and "The whole world is full of His glory," and He looks upon him and "Searches his reins and heart" [to see] if he is serving Him as is fitting. Therefore he must serve in His presence with awe and fear like one standing before the king.
One must meditate profoundly and at length on this thought according to the capacity of apprehension of his brain and thought and according to the time available to him, before he occupies himself with Torah or a commandment, such as prior to putting on his Tallit or phylacteries.
He should also reflect how the light of the blessed En Sof, which encompasses all worlds and pervades all worlds, which is identical with the Higher Will, is clothed in the letters and wisdom of the Torah and in the tzitzit (Fringes) and the phylacteries, and through his study or donning these latter he draws over himself His blessed light, that is, over "The portion of G‑dliness from above'' which is within his body, that it may be absorbed and nullified in His blessed light. Specifically, in the case of the phylacteries, [he should intend] that the attributes of wisdom and understanding which are in his divine soul may be nullified and absorbed into the attributes of wisdom and understanding of the blessed En Sof, which are clothed, in particular, in the chapters of
And whilst putting on the tzitzit he should bear in mind, what is written in the Zohar, namely, to draw over himself His blessed Kingdom, which is the Kingdom over all worlds,... to bestow it particularly upon us through this commandment. And this corresponds to the subject of: "Thou shalt surely set a king over thee."
In such a case, even though after all this [contemplation] no fear or dread descends upon him in a manifest manner in his heart, nevertheless since he accepts upon himself the Kingdom of Heaven and draws fear of Him, blessed be He, over himself in his conscious thought and rational volition, and this submission is beyond doubt a sincere one— for it is the nature of all Jewish souls not to rebel against the blessed Holy King— then the Torah he studies or the commandment he performs because of this submission and because of this inspired fear in his mind, are termed "perfect service," like all service [performed] by a slave to his master or to his king.
On the other hand, if one studies and performs the commandment with love alone, in order to cleave to Him through His Torah or commandments, it is not termed "Service of a servant," which is what the Torah demands, vizi, "And ye shall serve the Lord your G‑d,..." and "Him shall ye serve,..." as explained in the Zohar (Parshat Behar): "Just like the ox on which one first places a yoke in order to make it useful to the world ... so too must a human being first of all submit to the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven ... and if this submission is not found in him, holiness cannot rest on him...." (See also Ra'aya Mehemna, ibid., 111b) that every man must be of two categories and levels, namely, the category of a servant and that of a son. And although there is a son who is also a servant, it is not possible to attain to this degree without the prerequisite of yirah ilaah, as is known to the initiated.
Furthermore, even in the case of him who in his mind and thought feels no fear or shame on account of the poor capacity of his soul, originating in the lower degrees of the Ten Sefirot of Asiyah, nevertheless since he is intent in his service to serve the King, it is a complete service, for fear and service are accounted as two commandments of the total of 613, and they do not deter each other. But as a matter of fact, he also fulfils the commandment of fear in that he introduces the fear into his thought, for at this hour and moment, at any rate, there rests on him the fear of Heaven, at least like the fear in the presence of an ordinary mortal, even not a king, who is watching him, when he would restrain himself from doing anything unbecoming in the other's eyes. This is termed fear, as Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai said to his disciples: "May it be G‑d's will that the fear of Heaven be upon you like the fear of a human being ... for you know that when a person commits a sin, he says [to himself], 'May no-one see me.'..." However, such fear is termed yirah tattaah ("lower fear") and yirat tattaah ("fear of sin") which precedes wisdom, while the higher fear is the fear of shame.... For there are two kinds of fear....
Without any fear at all, however, it does not soar on high through love alone, just as a bird cannot fly with one wing, for fear and love are the two wings (as has been explained in the Tikunim). Similarly, fear alone is but one wing, and one's service cannot ascend on high with it, although it is termed the "Service of a servant," for there must also be the filial quality, in order to awaken, at least, the natural love that is hidden in his heart, to become conscious of it in his mind at any rate, to be aware of his love of the One G‑d in his thought and desire to cleave to Him, may He be blessed. This should be his kavanah when occupying himself with the Torah or the particular commandment, that his divine soul as well as his vivifying soul, together with their "garments," shall cleave to Him, as has been explained above.
Yet in fact the Rabbis, of blessed memory, have said that a man should never separate himself from the community. Therefore he should intend to unite and attach to Him, blessed be He, the fount of his divine soul and the fount of the souls of all Israel, being the spirit of His blessed mouth, called by the name Shechinah, because it dwells and clothes itself in all worlds, animating them and giving them existence, and is that which imbues him with the power of speech to utter the words of Torah, or with the power of action to perform the particular commandment.
This union is attained through the drawing forth of the light of the blessed En Sof here below by means of occupation in the Torah and the commandments wherein [the light of the En Sof] is clothed. And he should be intent on drawing His blessed light over the fount of his soul and of the souls of all Israel to unite them. The meaning of this union will be discussed at length later on, note there. This is the meaning of "For the sake of the Union of the Holy One, blessed be He, with His Shechinah, in the name of all Israel."
Note: Thereby the Gevurot will, of themselves, also be sweetened by the Chasadim through the coalescence of the Middot and their union by means of the revelation of the blessed Higher Will which is revealed on high through the impulsion from below, namely, its revelation here below in the occupation in the Torah and commandment which are His blessed will. Thus it is written in Idra Rabba and in Mishnat Chassidim, tractate Arich Anpin, ch. 4, that the 613 commandments of the Torah are derived from the "whiteness" of Arich Anpin, which is the Higher Will, the source of the Chasadim.*
And although in order that this kavanah should be sincere in his heart, so that his heart should truly desire this Yichud Elyon (Higher Union), there needs to be in his heart the "great love" (
But the union of the soul with, and its absorption into, the light of G‑d, making them one, this is what every member of Israel desires in very truth, utterly, with all his heart and all his soul, because of the natural love that is hidden in every Jewish heart to cleave to G‑d and not, under any circumstances, to be parted or sundered or separated, G‑d forbid, from His blessed Unity and Oneness, even at the cost of his very life. And occupation in the Torah and commandments and prayer is also a matter of actual surrender of the soul, as when it leaves the body at the end of seventy years, for it no longer thinks of bodily needs, but its thought is united with, and clothed in, the letters of the Torah and prayer, which are the word and thought of the blessed G‑d, and they truly become one. This is [also] the whole occupation of the souls in the Garden of Eden, as is stated in the Gemara and in the Zohar, except that there they find delight in their apprehension of, and absorption into, the light of G‑d.
This is why it was ordained to recite at the beginning of the morning blessings before the prayer: "O my G‑d, the soul which Thou gavest me is pure ... Thou didst breathe it into me ... and Thou wilt take it from me...." Meaning: Inasmuch as Thou didst breathe it into me and Thou wilt take it from me, I therefore as of now hand it over and return it to Thee to unite it with Thy Oneness, as is written: "Unto Thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul," that is, through the binding of my thought with Thy thought, and of my speech with Thy speech, by means of the letters of the Torah and of prayer; and, especially, when one speaks to G‑d in the second person, as "Blessed art Thou," and the like.
With this preparedness to surrender his soul to G‑d, he should begin [to recite] the morning benedictions: "Blessed art Thou...." Similarly, with this preparedness he should also begin to learn a regular course of study immediately after prayer. So, also in the course of the day, such preparation is necessary at least before he begins to study, as is known that the essential preparation [of intent] "for its own sake," where it is sine qua non, is before the beginning of study in the case of Intermediates. This is the same as in the case of [writing] a bill of divorce or a scroll of the Torah, requiring sine qua non "for their own sake," and it is sufficient if at the commencement of writing he says: "I am now about to write for the sacred purpose of the scroll of the Law," or [in the case of a bill of divorce] "For him and for her... ," However, when he studies for a number of consecutive hours he should reflect on the preparedness referred to above, at least at hourly intervals. For in each hour there is a different flow from the higher worlds to animate those who dwell here below, while the flow of vitality of the previous hour returns to its source (in accordance with the esoteric principle of the "Advance and Retreat" in Sefer Yetzirah) together with all the Torah and good deeds of those who dwell here below [performed within that hour]. For in each hour of the twelve hours of the day, there rules one of the twelve combinations of the blessed Tetragrammaton, whilst the combinations of the name A-D-N-Y rule at night, as is known.
Now, all his intent in the surrender of his soul to G‑d through Torah and prayer, to elevate the spark of G‑dliness therein back to its source, should be solely for the purpose of bringing gratification before Him, may He be blessed, as, for example, the joy of a king when his only son returns to him, being released from captivity or imprisonment, as has been mentioned above.
This kavanah is genuinely and truly sincere in every Jewish soul at every season and every hour, by virtue of the natural love which is a heritage bequeathed to us from our ancestors. Nevertheless one needs to establish set periods for reflecting on the greatness of G‑d in order to attain intelligent fear and love, and with all that, perhaps one may succeed, as has been stated previously.
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