The song of another high level, the secret of the day and the holy sun [Zeir Anpin] which together are daylight, is 'who forms light'. That is the secret of the luminous light [of chesed which extends and illuminates the world during the day] from which all the armies and Chariots, stars and constellations, and all those who rule the world take their nourishment and light. [Sha'ar Hakavanot says of the prayer 'Yotzer Ohr/who forms light' that it includes the 3 palaces of chesed, tiferet and yesod, which are the aspect of the palaces of chassadim of Zeir Anpin]

The hymn to the World to Come [which is bina] on that day is 'Kel, the Master over all works'. It is based on the meaning of the twenty-two sacred high and holy letters that crown themselves with the Patriarchs [that are the chesed, gevura and tiferet of Zeir Anpin that elevates to bina] and with the holy supernal Chariot [of bina that is a chariot to Arich Anpin].

The small "lower case" letters, the twenty-two letters of the lower world [of malchut] are in the prayer "Kel, blessed, great in knowledge..." [in the Yotzer Or prayer of the weekday]. The letters appear in each successive word in alphabetical order, and nothing breaks the sequence in between [for they are in malchut, which is not able to include the diverse light in each and every letter]. In the upper world [of bina] there is space and holy places between the letters. [i.e. for letter Alef there are 5 words "Kel Adon Al Kol HaMa'asim before the next verse that starts with the letter Beit] This is the highest praise, formed by the supernal letters of the seventh day [which is bina]. It praises and proclaims before the high King 'who formed the world at the beginning', [which is chochma called Bereishit, split into 'Bara-Sheit/created [the world in] 6 [days]' — "For all in chochma/wisdom You created".]

[There are four or five words between each word beginning progressively with the letters of the Aleph-Bet in Kel Adon because the light of bina is more expansive than the light of Malchut – like the light of the galaxies that extends further than the light of the solar system In bina there is the secret of the long and extended world, and it extends light into many letters. In malchut however, the expanse of light is shorter, and thus there is not space between each letter (RaMaK). The Arizal writes that in the phrase Kel Adon Al Kol HaMa'asim, if you remove the letter Hei of Ma'asim, you get gematria equal to that of Shabbat, which hints that now indeed is the Holiness of the source of Shabbat upon the day.]

When this praise, "Kel, the Master over all works," rises, the sixty high Chariots [of the angels] are made ready and take the song from the holy nation, and elevate it to adorn some high Chariots, that are responsible for all those souls of the righteous that are in the Garden of Eden. They all adorn themselves with this praise, and all the Chariots [of angels] and the souls of the righteous mount with that praise up to the secret of the throne [malchut of Atzilut].

BeRahamim LeHayyim:The sincere prayers of all are heard and accepted. Even that of the idolater who offers his service to G‑d in purity. We, however, have received a sacred tradition including a prayer liturgy that works on all levels, both simple and sublime. The Zohar is giving over a taste of how the words we utter on Shabbat ascend and work on high.

It is amazing to know that this is just a mere drop in the ocean as to what the Members of the Great Assembly intended by the prayer service, designed to take the place of the animal sacrifices. One of the sad realities of the Jewish movements that have abandoned the traditional liturgy is that they miss this ability to attach to the special places rectified by these prayers. Certainly, their prayers are special, but the various palaces whose doors are unlocked by special codes remain unavailable. What is merely needed is to say those words with intent — not meaning hidden knowledge, just with feeling.

What does this mean for your Shabbat, and why is it revealed to you now?


Bracketed annotations from Metok Midevash and Sulam commentaries
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