READING: FROM MIDNIGHT TO DAWN SUNDAY

Revealing the Glory of His Kingship

Revealing the Glory of His Kingship – Selected Excerpts from the sources

1. RABASH, Letter No. 76

It is known that “The whole earth is full of His glory.” This is what every person should believe, as it is written, “I fill the heaven and the earth.” However, the Creator has made a concealment so that we cannot see Him so as to have room for choice, and then there is room for faith—to believe that the Creator “fills all the worlds and encompasses all the worlds.” And after a person engages in Torah and Mitzvot and keeps the commandment of choice, the Creator reveals Himself to him, and then he sees that the Creator is the ruler of the world.

Thus, at that time a person makes the king who will rule over him. That is, a person feels that the Creator is the ruler of the world, and this is regarded as a person making the Creator king over him. As long as one has not come to such a feeling, the Creator’s kingship is concealed. This is why we say, “On that day, the Lord will be one and His name, ‘One.’” That is, the glory of His kingship will appear over us.

2. RABASH, Article No. 32 (1989), “What Does It Mean that Oil Is Called ‘Good Deeds’ in the Work?”

If the glory of Malchut were revealed, we would not be able to make a choice, and everything would go into the vessels of reception. It would be utterly impossible to emerge from the control of the will to receive for oneself. But while there is concealment on the kingdom of heaven and we must accept the burden of the kingdom of heaven above reason, it is rooted in a person that there is a prohibition to receive abundance in vessels of reception. For this reason, a person begins to work not in order to receive reward, but because of the glory of the King. Hence, he asks the Creator not to hide Himself from the lower ones, but to “Reveal the glory of Your kingship over us” so we will have the strength to annul ourselves and work only because of the glory of the King.

3. RABASH, Article No. 34 (1985), “And I Pleaded with the Lord”

With each Mitzva [commandment] we must intend to raise the Shechina from the dust. That is, with every action one should intend that by this the glory of the Shechina will grow. It is as we say (In the Eighteen in the Supplementary Prayer of Rosh Hashanah [beginning of the year]), “Our Father, our King, reveal the glory of Your kingdom upon us,” namely that the kingdom of heaven will not be to us as dust, but rather glorified.

It follows that what this kind of people demands of the Creator is that He will reveal to them the glory of His kingship, and have nothing with the Creator since they do not require any reward from the Creator. Rather, all they want is to serve the King and please Him. They ask that the Creator will show them the glory of the kingdom of heaven.

4. RABASH, Article No. 32 (1989), “What Does It Mean that Oil Is Called ‘Good Deeds’ in the Work?”

The lower ones should take upon themselves the kingdom of heaven, meaning that they must elevate Malchut, which is lying in the dust, and say that she is not lowered and lying in the dust, but that her place is in heaven. This is called “the kingdom of heaven,” meaning that she is raised from the dust and placed back in her place, which is her important place—in heaven. Then, Malchut is called Peh.

It says, “Give glory to the Lord your God,” since Peh is glory, for there is no merit to the high King unless when Israel establish this glory, which is the kingship, and give it to the King of Glory.

5. RABASH, Article No. 32 (1989), “What Does It Mean that Oil Is Called ‘Good Deeds’ in the Work?”

If the glory of heaven were revealed, the body would annul like a candle before a torch. This is the meaning of what we say in the Musaf [supplemental] Prayer: “For our sins, we have been exiled from our land and drew far off from our land.” That is, because of the sins, called “vessels of reception,” we have become “far off from our land.” Adama [land] comes from the words, “Adameh [I will be similar] to the Upper One.” Similar to the upper one means that the lower one, too, wants to be as a desire to bestow, like the upper one. He drew far off from it because he wants only to receive for himself.

For this reason, we ask of the Creator and say, “Our Father, our King, reveal the glory of Your kingship upon us soon.” That is, by the Creator revealing His glory to us, meaning raising the Shechina from the dust and glorifying Malchut [the kingship/kingdom], we will be able to annul our will to receive through the rule, “the small annuls before the great.”

6. RABASH, Article No. 4 (1991), “What Is, ‘The Saboteur Was in the Flood, and Was Putting to Death,’ in the Work?”

When he does not need the feeling of the greatness of the Creator and works for the sake of the Creator unconditionally. At that time, he is rewarded with the greatness of the Creator and the glory of the Creator. Then, the words, “He who runs from honor and from greatness, honor chases him and wants to cling to him,” come true because he already has equivalence of form, meaning that he wants to work in order to bestow.

7. RABASH, Article No. 373, “He Saw that He Could Not Prevail Over Him”

When one does something that he does not see that it will yield any benefit to himself, and that it must be done only for the purpose of bestowal, at that time, a person feels himself in a state of lowliness, that he has no vitality from the work, since he does not see any self-benefit.

This is why we pray to the Creator, “Give honor to Your people,” so we will respect the state of bestowal and not degrade it. This is called “the glory of the Shechina [Divinity],” “to raise the Shechina from the dust.” This means that when we must act for the sake of the Creator, in order to bestow, this work tastes like dust.

8. RABASH, Article No. 23 (1985), “On My Bed at Night”

If the kingdom of heaven were honored, then we would certainly be honored if we had the chance to serve the Creator with anything. We would regard even the smallest service as a fortune. For such an honor, it would be worthwhile to relinquish all the pleasures that come to us through self-love. This is the meaning of what we say in the supplementary prayer of Shalosh Regalim [Three Pilgrimages], “Our Father, our King, show the glory of Your kingship upon us soon.” That is, we ask of the Creator that since the kingdom of heaven is degraded and in a state of Shechina [Divinity] in the dust, we want the Creator to show us the importance and glory of the kingdom of heaven, and then it will be our great honor to be awarded by it with exiting self-love and to be granted with love of the Creator.

9. RABASH, Article No. 11 (1985), “Concerning the Debate between Jacob and Laban”

To be rewarded with the glory of the Creator one must believe in the Creator, then pray to the Creator to bring him closer to Him. Afterwards one must labor to subdue his inclination and want to annul himself for the sake of the Creator. After these three actions he is rewarded with the glory of the Creator. This is the reply that the Creator gave to Moses concerning what Moses said to the Creator, “Show me Your glory.”

10. RABASH, Shamati, Article 29 (1986), “Lishma and Lo Lishma”

There is only one way—to try to attain the greatness of the Creator. That is, in all that we do in Torah and Mitzvot, we want our reward to be the feeling of the greatness of the Creator, and all our prayers should be to “raise the Shechina [Divinity] from the dust,” since the Creator is hidden from us due to the Tzimtzum that took place and we cannot appreciate His importance and greatness.

Therefore, we pray to the Creator to remove His concealment from us and to raise the glory of Torah. As we say in the Eighteen Prayer of Rosh Hashanah [New Year service], “Indeed, give glory to Your people.” That is, “Give the glory of the Lord to Your people,” so they will feel the glory of the King.

11. RABASH, Article No. 13 (1986), “Come unto Pharaoh – 2”

We should know that we were given love of friends to learn how to avoid blemishing the King’s honor. In other words, unless he has no other desire except to give contentment to the King, he will certainly blemish the King’s honor, which is called “Passing on Kedusha [holiness/sanctity] to the external ones.” For this reason, we mustn’t underestimate the importance of the work in love of friends, for by that he will learn how to exit self-love and enter the path of love of others. And when he completes the work of love of friends, he will be able to be rewarded with love of the Creator.

12. RABASH, Article No. 189, “Concerning Learning the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

“The glory of God is to conceal the matter and the glory of kings is to delve in the matter” (Proverbs 25).

He explained that if a person wants to learn the wisdom of Kabbalah, to know how many worlds and Sefirot there are, meaning the glory of God, to know the greatness of His glory, “conceal the matter.”

But if one wants to learn the wisdom, to know how to crown the Creator and how to serve Him with intention and sanctify one’s 248 organs and make them a vehicle for the Kedusha [holiness], this is called “the glory of kings,” how to crown and serve Him. In that case, “delve in the matter.”