SUNDAY PRAYER: TIFERET-TIKKUN CHATZOT תקון חצות – LESSON WITH RAV MICHAEL LAITMAN

Prayer – Selected Excerpts from Zohar for All

Prayer – Selected Excerpts from Zohar for All

1. Zohar for All, VaYechi [Jacob Lived], Article “Dan Shall Judge His People”, Item 717

What are MAN? In the craving below, lower waters rise, meaning MAN, to receive upper waters, MAD, from the degree atop them. This is so because lower waters, MAN, spring out only by an awakening of the desire of the lower one. At that time, the craving of the lower one and the upper one become attached, and lower waters spring out opposite the descending upper waters, the Zivug ends and the worlds are blessed, all the candles light up, and the upper ones and lower ones are in blessings.

2. Zohar for All, Haazinu, Article “Hence I Will Call Upon the Name of the Lord”, Item 210

Happy is he who calls on the king and knows how to call on Him properly. If he calls and does not know whom he is calling, the Creator moves away from him, as it is written, “The Lord is near to all who call Him.” To whom is He close? He repeats, “To all who call Him in truth.” But is there anyone who would call Him falsely? It is one who calls and does not know whom he is calling. How do we know? Because it is written, “To all who call Him in truth.” What is “In truth”? In the seal of the king’s ring, the middle line, the seal of the Mochin with the Malchut, who is called “the king’s ring, for she is the wholeness of everything.
It is written, He gave truth to Jacob, Chesed to Abraham. ZA, the middle line, Jacob, since Truth was given to the middle line, therefore it is written, to all who call upon him in Truth. One who does not know how to call Him in the measure of the middle line, but leans to the left line or to the right line, the Creator moves away from him. Happy is he who enters in wisdom and comes out in wholeness, to know the ways of the Creator.

3. Zohar for All, VaYechi [Jacob Lived], Article “Dan Shall Judge His People”, items 713-714

“One should always praise one’s Master and then pray his prayer.” One whose heart is troubled and wishes to pray his prayer, or is in trouble and cannot praise his Master, what is he?

Even though he cannot aim the heart and will, why should he diminish his Master’s praise? Rather, he will praise his Master even though he cannot aim, and then he shall pray his prayer. It is written, “A prayer of David. Hear a just cause, O Lord, hear my singing, listen to my prayer.” “Hear a just cause, O Lord,” first, since he praised his Master. Afterwards, “Hear my singing, listen to my prayer.” One who can praise his Master and does not do so, it is written about him, “Even if you pray profusely, I do not hear.”

4. Zohar for All, Balak, “Sihon and Og,” Item 7

We should pay attention to faith in the Creator, that all his words are words of truth and great faith. Once he says something, it is done entirely. A man with a narrow heart, if he says that this would be completed in several years and after so long, so it is. The Creator, according to His governance, and all the worlds are filled with His glory, is all the more so.

Man’s words are small, and all his words are temporary. So is he, temporary, like a fleeting shadow. However, through repentance and prayer and good deeds with many tears, he is holy, since the Great One, who is superior to the entire world, shines His light and restricts His holiness for man to do His will.

5. Zohar for All, VaYetze [And Jacob Went Out], “His Thought Was of Rachel”, Item 189

“If He set His heart upon man, He will gather his spirit and his breath unto Himself.” The will and the thought draw the extension and do the deed with everything that is needed. This is why in prayer, a desire and a thought to aim in are required. Similarly, in all the works of the Creator, the thought and the contemplation does the deed and draw extensions to all that is needed.

6. Zohar for All, Pekudei [Accounts], “The Palace of Holy of Holies”, Item 832

Anyone who does not know how to establish the praise of his Master, it is better for him not to be born because the prayer must be complete above, out of thought, the will of the heart, the voice, and the word of the mouth, to make wholeness, connection, and unification above. As it is above, and as the wholeness comes out from above downward, so it should be from below upward, properly tying the connection.

7. Zohar for All, VaYechi [Jacob Lived], Article “Come Unto Me and I will Tell You”, Items 514-515

514) Indeed, all the prayers in the world, prayers of many, are prayers. But a solitary prayer does not enter before the Holy King, unless with great force. This is so because before the prayer enters to be crowned in its place, the Creator watches it, observes it, and observes the sins and merits of that person, which He does not do with a prayer of many, where several of the prayers are not from righteous, and they all enter before the Creator and He does not notice their iniquities.

515) “He has regarded the prayer of the destitute.” He turns the prayer and examines it from all sides, and considers with which desire the prayer was made, who is the person who prayed that prayer, and what are his deeds. Hence, one should pray one’s prayer in the collective, since He does not despise their prayer, even though they are not all with intent and the will of heart, as it is written, “He has regarded the prayer of the destitute.” Thus, He only observes the prayer of an individual, but with a prayer of many, He does not despise their prayer, even though they are unworthy.

8. Zohar for All, VaYishlach [And Jacob Sent], Article “The Prayer of the Righteous”, Item 45

A prayer of many rises before the Creator and the Creator crowns Himself with that prayer, since it rises in several ways. This is because one asks for Hassadim, the other for Gevurot, and a third for Rachamim. And it consists of several sides: the right side, the left, and the middle. This is so because Hassadim extend from the right side, Gevurot from the left side, and Rachamim from the middle. And because it comprises several ways and sides, it becomes a crown over the head of the Righteous One That Lives Forever, Yesod, which imparts all the salvations to the Nukva, and from her to the whole public.

But a prayer of one does not comprise all the sides; it is only on one way. Either one asks for Hassadim or Gevurot or Rachamim. Hence, a prayer of one is not elevated to be received like the prayer of many, as it does not include all three lines like the prayer of many.

9. Zohar for All, VaYikra [The Lord Called], Article “I Will Confess my Sin”, Item 342

342) One who makes a request of the King must unite the holy Name and his will, from below upwards, from Malchut to Keter and from above downwards, from Keter to Malchut—uniting everything in one unification in Ein Sof [infinity], and in this unification he will include his plea. Who is so wise as to plead like King David, who was guarding the King’s door? He was a Merkava [chariot/assembly] to Malchut, which is called “the King’s door.” So it is, and this is why the Torah teaches us the ways of the holy King, so that we will know how to follow Him, as it is written, “After the Lord your God shall you walk.”

10. Zohar for All, Miketz [At the End], Article “And Saw Benjamin“, Item 209

When one prays to the Creator, he should not look whether his salvation came or not, for when he looks, several litigants come to look at his actions.

11. Zohar for All, Balak, Article “The Prayer of Moses, The Prayer of David, The Prayer of the Poor”, Item 192

One who prays his prayer should make himself poor so that his prayer will enter among the prayers of all the poor, for all the gate-guards do not let any prayer in the world enter as they let the prayer of the poor, for they enter without permission. And if one always makes himself and makes his desire like the poor, his prayer rises and meets the prayers of the poor, bonds with them and rises with them, enters in their midst, and is willingly accepted by the holy king.

12. Zohar for All, Balak, Article “The Prayer of Moses, The Prayer of David, The Prayer of the Poor”, Items 190-191
13. All the hosts of heaven ask one another, “What does the Creator do? In what does He exert?”
    They are told, He unifies in passion with His Kelim, with the brokenhearted. None of them know what is done with the prayer of the poor and with all his complaints, for there is no passion to the poor unless when he sheds tears in complaints before the holy king, and there is no passion to the Creator unless when He accepts them and they are poured out before Him. This is a prayer that causes delay and stalling to all the prayers in the world.
    191) Moses prayed his prayer and delayed several days in this prayer, because of the prayer of the poor. David saw that all the windows and all the gates of heaven were ready to open for the prayer of the poor, and of all the prayers in the world that the Creator listens to, there is none like the prayers of the poor.
14. Zohar for All, Truma [Donation], Article “Prepare the Ways in the Desert”, Items 713-715

“Serve the Lord with gladness,’ for one must not show sadness in her.

Therefore, one who is in sorrow and distress, who cannot rejoice in his heart out of his distress, should ask for mercy before the high King. Therefore, he will not pray his prayer at all or come in with any sadness, for he cannot delight his heart and enter before Him with joy. What is the correction for such a person?

Rather, all the gates are locked and closed, and the gates of tears do not close. There is no tear except out of sorrow and sadness, and all those appointees over the gates break the turns of the roads and the locks, admit those tears, and that prayer enters before the holy King.

14. Zohar for All, BeShalach [When Pharaoh Sent], Article “And Pharaoh Drew Near”, Items 65-67

“And Pharaoh drew near” means that he sacrificed his whole army and vehicles to make war [Hikriv means both “brought closer” and “sacrificed”]. We also learn that Pharaoh brought Israel closer to repentance. This is why it is written, “And Pharaoh drew near” and not “And Pharaoh brought closer.”

It is written, “O Lord, they sought You in distress; they could only whisper a prayer, Your chastening was upon them.” “They sought You in distress” means that Israel do not visit the Creator in times of contentment, but when they are in distress, and then they all visit Him. […] they are all praying with prayers and litanies, and pour out prayers before Him. When? […] when the Creator visits them in His strap. Then the Creator stands over them in Rachamim [mercies] and welcomes their voice, to avenge their enemies, and He fills with mercy over them.

Israel were nearing the sea and saw the sea before them becoming stormier, its waves straightening upward. They were afraid. They raised their eyes and saw Pharaoh and his army, and slings and arrows, and they were terrified. “And the children of Israel cried out.” Who caused Israel to draw near to their father in heaven? It was Pharaoh, as it is written, “And Pharaoh drew near.”

15. Zohar for All, Truma [Donation], “Three Colors in a Flame”, Item 44

A herald comes out and says, “Happy are you, holy nation, for you do good, you cause the unification of Yesod (called ‘good’) before the Creator.” It is written, “And I have done what is good in Your eyes,” attaching redemption to prayer, for at that time, when reaching “Praises to God above,” that color, Netzah, rises to the top of the chamber, that righteous, Yesod de ZA, awakens to bond in the place that is needed in love, in fondness, in gladness, and in good will. And all the organs, all the Sefirot, willingly conjoin with one another, upper ones in lower ones.

Then all the candles, all the degrees illuminate and blaze, and they are all in a single bonding in this righteous who is called “good,” as it is written, “Say, ‘A righteous is good.’” This unites everyone in a single bonding, and then everything is in a whisper above and below, in kissing in good will, and the matter is in a bonding of the room, in an embrace.