READING: between after midnight and sunrise of Monday

Lesson 4 “A House of Prayer for the Whole World”

A House of Prayer for the Whole World

1. Isaiah 56: 7

I will bring them to my holy mountain, and I will make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be welcome on my altar, for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations.

2. Baal HaSulam, “The Arvut” [Mutual Guarantee], Item 20.

The end of the correction of the world will only be by bringing all the people in the world under His work, as it is written, “And the Lord will be King over all the earth; in that day, the Lord will be one and His name one.”

3. Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to the Book Panim Meirot uMasbirot”, Item 22.

One does not live for oneself, but for the whole chain. Thus, each and every part of the chain does not receive the light of life into itself, but only distributes the light of life to the whole chain.

4. Likutey Moharan, First Edition, Mark 5

Every person should say, “The whole world was created only for me” (Sanhedrin 37). It follows that if the whole world has been created for me, I have to look and delve into the correction of the world at all times, satisfy the needs of the world, and pray for them.

5. Rabbi Nachman of Breslev, Likutei Halachot

The prayer is mainly in public and not alone, so that one will not be isolated, by himself, as this is the opposite of holiness. Rather, we must only unite together the holy congregation and become one. This prayer is in public.

6. Baal HaSulam, “Not the Time for the Livestock to Be Gathered”

This is the meaning of a prayer in public, that one must not exclude oneself from the public and ask for oneself, not even to bring contentment to one’s maker, but only for the entire public. […] One who departs from the public to ask specifically for one’s own soul does not build. On the contrary, he inflicts ruin upon his soul.

7. Baal HaSulam, “Anyone Who Is Sorry for the Public”

One who is sorry for the public and feels the troubles of the public as his own trouble is rewarded with seeing the complete revelation of the Shechina, meaning the comfort of the whole of Israel. Because his lack is a collective lack, the abundance of Kedusha [holiness] is also collective.

8. RABASH, Article No. 15 (1986), “A Prayer of Many”

The advice is to ask for the whole collective. In other words, everything that one feels that he is lacking and asks fulfillment for, he should not say that he is an exception or deserves more than what the collective has. Rather, “I dwell among my own people,” meaning I am asking for the entire collective because I wish to come to a state where I will have no care for myself whatsoever, but only for the Creator to have contentment.

9. Maor Eynaim, Yitro [Jethro]

It is known that the whole world, with all created beings, must receive their vitality from the Creator all the time and at any given moment. Therefore, it is appropriate and fitting for the righteous to be a medium between the Creator and the entire world, to connect everything to Him, to make a pathway and a track, a passage for the abundance and vitality, and a pipeline to pour down to all created beings. He is the one who unites heaven and earth, who connects the whole world to the Creator, so they will not part from Him.

10. Baal HaSulam, Letter No. 51

King David asked, “that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the pleasantness of the Lord.” The “House of the Lord” is the Shechina [Divinity], […] When they are granted the most, then You are to him like a home, constant and eternal.