I have heard with foreboding and am deeply grieved that G‑d's people are preventing him who yearns for the life and longevity of all our brethren, from leading the service in this small sanctuary of our confreres. Our Sages of blessed memory, declare, "Three things prolong the days of man," and one of these is prolonged worship. Even one extremely pressed for time, who finds it impossible to tarry until the response of Kedusha in the repetition of the Shmona Esrai— far better is it for him to forego hearing Kedusha and Borchu than to tamper with the lives of those who desire life. Torah does exonerate the compelled. The precentor discharges his obligation for him though he did not hear the precentor, just as though he had heard— and hearing is precisely like responding. The Gemara notes this in reference to those in the fields who are considered under duress. They fulfil their obligation of the Shmona Esrai prayer itself with the precentor's repetition, just as if they had actually heard it. Kedusha and Borchu are also included.

This we have searched out and verified— even in the early generations of the Sages of the Mishnah and Gemara, whose Torah study was constant and their primary service, not worship. It is even more emphatically true at this time, in the period just preceding the advent of Moshiach, when our Torah study is not constant because of the exigencies of our times. The primary service in the period just prior to the coming of Moshiach is worship, as Rabbi Chayim Vital writes in Etz Chayim and Pri Etz Chayim, Hence, it is fit and proper, beyond any vaguest doubt, to devote ourselves utterly to (worship). It is literally a Torah imperative to those who have knowledge of the efficacy of contemplation, of some profound meditation— each according to his measure— in the presentation of the praises of G‑d, blessed be He, in Psukai d'zimra and the two pre-Shema blessings, Yotzer and Ahava. Through them he can arouse the love latent in the heart of every Jew, that it attain to a state of revelation, in the openness of the heart during Kriat Shema itself.

For this is the commandment of love that is in the verse "and you shall love ... with all your heart ..." that is reckoned first among the 613 mitzvot. Rambam, of blessed memory, writes that it is a fundament of Torah and its root, and source of all 248 positive commands. Regarding the love latent in the heart of all Israel by birth and nature there can be no command at all. This is apparent to the understanding. While the love is concealed it is still lodged within the Divine soul alone. Only when it attains to a state of revelation in the animating soul is it revealed in the heart in the left ventricle, the abode of the animating soul.

This is the meaning of "elevation of the sparks" mentioned there in Etz Chayim and Pri Etz Chayim in reference to worship, and for this reason is worship the primary service in the period just preceding the coming of Moshiach— to elevate the sparks ... This may be either the state of transformation" or of subjugation of the animal soul to the Divine soul, as is known. For the blood is the soul ... and the blood is renewed daily through food and drink, and is affected and improved by garments and shelter ...

On the other hand, in earlier generations when the Divine souls were of a higher order, the purification and elevation were instantaneous in Kriat Shema alone and in the blessings preceding it, and the abridged Psukai d'zimra..." And this will suffice for the knowing.