The ascension of prayer

121. He opened with "and said to me, you are My servant..." (Yeshayah 49:3). Here THIS REFERS TO the prayer man should recite before the Holy One, blessed be He, which is a great and precious service among the worships of his Master. Come and see, some worships to the Holy One, blessed be He, are based on deeds, that is, based on physical activity, NAMELY, PRECEPTS BASED ON ACTION; and that is considered a service. And there is worship of the Holy One, blessed be He, that is a more internal worship, which is the essence of all, it has to do with inner work, which is the essence of all, NAMELY, PRECEPTS THAT CONCERN SPEECH AND INTENTION.

122. In the body there are twelve organs that relate to physical activity, as we said, WHICH ARE TWO ARMS AND TWO LEGS; THREE JOINTS IN EACH, AND THREE TIMES FOUR ARE TWELVE. These are the members of the body, and the worship of the Holy One, blessed be He, THROUGH action related PRECEPTS is based on them. For there are two ways to serve the Holy One, blessed be He: THE FIRST IS by the outer limbs, THE TWELVE JOINTS OF THE ARMS AND LEGS; THE SECOND TALKS OF the twelve internal organs inside the body, THE BRAIN, HEART, LIVER, MOUTH, TONGUE, THE FIVE LOBES OF THE LUNG AND TWO KIDNEYS. They are the internal fixtures inside the body, with which to establish the Ruach, which is the inner and precious worship of the Holy One, blessed be He. THESE PRECEPTS ARE BASED ON SPEECH, SUCH AS PRAYER, BENEDICTION AND THANKSGIVING, as we explained from the inner secrets that Rabbi Shimon told, and it is the secret of the supernal wisdom, that is known among the friends, happy is their portion.

123. A man's prayer is considered the worship of the Ruach, WHICH IS OF THE SECOND KIND OF SERVICE MENTIONED ABOVE THAT CONCERNS SPEECH. It is based on supernal secrets, but men do not know that a man's prayer can cleave the ether and the firmaments, opens gates and ascends.

124. And when the MORNING light breaks, and the light is separated from darkness, a proclamation sounds in all the firmaments: be ready, rulers of the gates, rulers of the chambers, each one in his post, for those who rule by day are not those who rule by night. And when night comes, the day rulers withdraw and other rulers are assigned to rule by night. And they interchange.

125. This is the secret of "the greater light to rule by day..." (Beresheet 1:16). The day rulers and night rulers REFER TO those who are in charge by day and those who are in charge by night. The ones are considered the day rule and the others are considered the night rule.

126. And when night comes, a proclamation resounds, 'be prepared, rulers of the night, each one in his post. And when the day breaks the proclamation resounds, 'be prepared, rulers of the day, each one in his post'. And when the proclamation is heard, each one is assigned a place he is worthy of. Then the Shechinah goes forward and descends, and Yisrael go into the synagogue to praise their Master and start to sing and give thanks.

127. For it is incumbent upon a man to have prepared himself for the worship by deed, TO WIT, OF THE FIRST KIND, with the implements of precepts and holiness, THAT ARE THE FRINGES (HEB. TZITZIT) AND TEFILIN; HE SHOULD consecrate his heart to establish the inner work for his Master, THAT IS, THE SECOND KIND, and put his heart and will to that work by those words IN THE PRAISES, because the speech goes UP.

128. And all those guards who stand in the air, are assigned over the four directions of the world. To the east is appointed one guardian who stands in the air and is called Gzardia. With him are other appointed ministers. They await that utterance of the prayer that rises in the air on that side, and that guardian takes it.

129. And if that speech is proper, all the ministers kiss that speech, and go up with it until they reach the air of that firmament, where there are other ministers. When they kiss that utterance, they open and say, happy are you, Yisrael, who can bedeck their Master with holy crowns. Happy is the mouth, from which that crowning speech came forth.

130. Then the twelve letters of the Holy Name that stand in the air soar, for that name has power over the air. And that is the name Elijah soared with until he went up to heaven. This is the meaning of what Ovadyah told Elijah, "the spirit of Hashem shall carry you" (Melachim I 18:12), for Elijah soared in the air by means of that name that rules the air.

131. And these letters soar and ascend with that particular word, and that guard who has the keys to the air, and all the other assigned chiefs all go with it up to the firmament, where another chief is assigned to carry it further up.

132. To the south, CHESED, there is another chieftain who rules the air on that side, and some chiefs and ministers together with him. His name is Pesagniyah. He has the keys to the air on that side, and those who are laden with troubles, and pray brokenheartedly to their Master from the midst of their troubles with a broken heart - if their utterance is worthy, it ascends into the air of that side. There the chieftain receives and kisses it. When he kisses it, he says: may the Holy One, blessed be He, have mercy upon you and be filled with compassion for you.

133. All the holy ministers and all the chieftains on that side go up with it. For on that side, the letters soar of the Holy Name EHEYEH, OF THE TWELVE-LETTERED NAME, THAT IS, FOUR LETTERS ON EACH SIDE AS MENTIONED. The ministers, who rule over this side of the air, go on that side, up to the SOUTHERN firmament, WHICH IS CHESED, NAMELY, THE SIXTH FIRMAMENT, AS WE EXPOUNDED AT LENGTH, up to the chief of the firmament who governs that SOUTH side. FOR ON THE SOUTHERN FIRMAMENT THERE IS ALREADY ANOTHER MINISTER BY THE NAME OF ANFI'EL.

134. On the northern side, WHICH IS GVURAH, there is another chief WHO RULES THE AIR, and with him some appointed ministers who rule the air; this chief is called Petachiyah and he is in charge over the air on that side. And the utterance of all those who pray for deliverance from enemies who distress them, ascends into the air of that side; if that individual is righteous, the chief accepts and kisses it.

135. Then one Ruach is roused and emerges from the abyss on the northern side, and that spirit calls out to all the airs, and they all take that utterance, raise it to the NORTHERN firmament, WHICH IS THE FIFTH FIRMAMENT, and kiss it. They open and say 'may your Master cast your enemy from before you'.

136. HERE STARTS THE SEQUENCE OF THE ASCENSION OF THE PRAYER. THE PRAYER ascends higher and higher and cleaves airs, until it is escorted into the first firmament of Malchut of Asiyah. The prayer ascends and reaches the chief that is appointed over the west side, WHICH IS MALCHUT, where there are nine gates , in which several chieftains are stationed, whose superior is called Zevuli'el.

137. And he wants to govern this firmament by day, but was not given permission, until the moonlight shines, NAMELY, BY NIGHT. He then takes out his armies and all the chieftains. When daylight breaks they all ascend through one of the nine gates, which is the most superior. And when the prayer enters that HIGHEST gate, all the ministers and chieftains go out of that gate, with Zevuli'el the superior chief over them. THAT IS, THERE IS NO OTHER CHIEF THERE BUT THE SAID ZEVULI'EL WHO IS APPOINTED OVER THE AIR AND ALSO OVER THAT SUPERIOR GATE, and they all go out and kiss it and come with it to the second firmament.

138. And when the prayer rises to that firmament, YESOD, its twelve gates are opened, and in the twelfth gate stands a chief by the name of Ana'el. He is in charge over some hosts and legions, and when the prayer arises, this chief stands and proclaims concerning those gates "open the gates" (Yeshayah 26:2) and all the gates are opened, and the prayer enter all the gates.

139. Then an ancient chief is aroused, who stands to the south, by the name of Azri'el Saba, who is sometimes called Machni'el , since he is chief over six hundred thousand camps (Heb. machanot), all of them winged; camps of eyed ones. Next to them are camps of the eared ones, that are called 'ears', since they listen to all those who whisper their prayers,in silence, with devotion, that prayer is not heard by anyone else. That prayer rises and is heard by all those who are called 'the eared ones'.

140. And if that prayer is overheard by another man, no one will accept it above, and it is never received once it was first heard by someone, THAT IS, PEOPLE OTHER THAN THE MAN WHO OVERHEARD IT. This is why we ought to be careful, lest that prayer is overheard by people. Another reason is that the words of the prayer are united in the supernal world, ZEIR ANPIN, and an utterance of the supernal world ought not to be heard.

141. In the same manner, when reading the Torah, one reads aloud and the other one is silent. If two read the Torah, they lessen the Faith of above, since one voice and utterance are all one, but two voices and two utterances cause lack and blemish to the Faith, WHICH IS MALCHUT. Thus, there should only be one voice and one utterance, so that that one voice, ZEIR ANPIN WHICH IS CALLED VOICE, and the one utterance, MALCHUT THAT IS CALLED UTTERANCE, will be one.

142. And that minister's name is Azri'el Saba. When the prayer rises secretly, all those 600,000 camps and all those eared and eyed beings, all come out and kiss that word of the mounting prayer, as written, "The eyes of Hashem are towards the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry" (Tehilim 34:16). "The eyes of Hashem are towards the righteous" refers to the eyed ones from below, NAMELY, THOSE SAID ANGELS IN THE FIRMAMENT OF YESOD OF ASIYAH, since there are eyed ones above. Therefore it is written: "The eyes of Hashem are towards the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry" refers to the eared ones.

143. The third firmament IS NETZACH AND HOD OF ASIYAH. The prayer mounts and reaches that firmament, where there is a minister by the name of Gedariah, accompanied by some ministers and chieftains. He ministers three times a day before a scepter of light that comes out, goes up and down, and is never still in one place. This is the scepter, which travels three times and then is concealed. When the prayer ascends, the scepter descends and bows before this prayer. The THIRD firmament, NETZACH AND HOD OF ASIYAH, is called the firmament of the scepter, NAMED AFTER THE SCEPTER THAT IS ACTIVE IN IT.

144. And when that prayer rises, that minister, after bowing TOWARDS THE PRAYER, strikes with that scepter a strong luminous rock, placed in the middle of that firmament, and 375 troops come out of it that were concealed there from the day the Torah come down to the earth. And since they insisted on refusing AND WITHHOLDING the Torah from descending, to the earth, the Holy One, blessed be He, rebuked them and they entered into that rock. And they do not leave THAT PLACE except when prayer goes up. Then they open and say, "Hashem our Master, how majestic is Your name in all the earth..." (Tehilim 8:2). This is the prayer, WHICH IS CALLED MAJESTIC, SINCE it mounts over all those firmaments and then they bow before it.

145. From now on the prayer is adorned with supernal crowns and ascends into the forth firmaments, WHICH IS TIFERET. Then the sun, WHICH IS TIFERET, comes out with its grades, and Shamshi'el (from Heb. shemesh lit. 'sun') the superior chief comes out and ascends into that firmament together with 365 camps, that are called the solar days, SINCE THEY ARE GRADES THAT COME FROM THE SUN, WHICH IS TIFERET. And they all adorn the prayer with perfumed crowns from the Garden of Eden.

146. There the prayer stays some time until all the troops ascend with it into the fifth firmament, WHICH IS GVURAH. The minister Gadri'el is there, who is in charge over wars waged by the other nations. FOR GVURAH IS THE SECRET OF THE LEFT COLUMN, TO WHICH THE NATIONS ARE ATTACHED. And when the prayer goes up, he and all his troops shudder, and their might is enfeebled. They go out and bow, and adorn that prayer.

147. They mount with it until they reach the sixth firmament, CHESED, when some hosts and legions come out and receive that prayer until they arrive at seventy gates, WHICH ARE THE SEVEN SFIROT - CHESED, GVURAH, TIFERET, NETZACH, HOD, YESOD AND MALCHUT, EACH INCLUDING TEN. FOR CHESED INCLUDES IN IT ALL THE SEVEN LOWER SFIROT. There stands a chief by the name of Anfi'el, who is the supreme chief, who adorns the prayer with seventy crowns.

148. And after the prayer is bedecked with all those crowns, the soldiers from all firmaments, WHO ACCOMPANIED THE PRAYER UP TO HERE, FROM ONE FIRMAMENT TO ANOTHER, jointly raise the prayer to the seventh firmament, BINAH, WHICH INCLUDES THE FIRST THREE SFIROT. Then the prayer enters THAT PLACE, and Sandalphon, the precious, supreme minister, who has all his Master's keys in his hands, ushers the prayer into seven chambers OF YETZIRAH. (THE CHAMBERS THAT WERE ALREADY PRINTED IN BERESHEET 2 ARE MISSING HERE).

149. These seven chambers are the King's chambers, VIZ. THE SEVEN CHAMBERS OF MALCHUT OF ATZILUT WHERE THE KING, ZEIR ANPIN, IS UNITED. And when this prayer, adorned with all those crowns, goes up there, it unites ZEIR ANPIN AND MALCHUT together and crowns them from above. Thus everything becomes one, as is befitting, and the name of the Holy One, blessed be He, MALCHUT, is decorated on all sides, above and below and becomes one WITH ZEIR ANPIN. Then "blessings are upon the head of the righteous" (Mishlei 10:6), FOR YESOD, THAT IS CALLED RIGHTEOUS, BESTOWS BLESSINGS ON MALCHUT .

150. Happy is the portion of the person, who knows how to arrange his prayer properly, for when it is AS IT OUGHT TO BE the Holy One, blessed be He, bedecks Himself with it, while waiting for all the prayers of Yisrael to be completed AND INCLUDED IN THE WHOLE PRAYER. Then all is properly complete above and below. So far were discussed the matters of prayer, to know the lofty secrets IN IT. From now on, there are precepts of the Torah that are based on speech, just as there are OTHERS that are based on actions.

151. There are six precepts, that are observed during the prayer: 1) "that you may fear this glorious and fearful name" (Devarim 28:58). 2) "to love Him (Devarim 10:12). 3) to bless Him. 4) to profess His unity. 5) that the priest would bless the people. 6) to surrender the soul to Him. These are the six precepts that apply to prayer, BASED ON speech, excepting those that are based on action, like the fringes (Heb. Tzitzit) and Tefilin.

152. HE EXPLAINS THESE SIX PRECEPTS: 1) this precept applies to the poems of King David, and the sacrifices mentioned in the Torah, for there a man should indicate fear of his Master, since these particular chants are in a place called fear, THAT IS MALCHUT. And all these Haleluyas THAT ARE WRITTEN, allude to the secret of the fear of the Holy One, blessed be He, WHICH IS MALCHUT. Therefore a person should be attentive to those chants with awe. Already the friends explained all the secret of the chants and praises, and all the secrets of Haleluyah.

153. 2) Upon reaching "praised be," one should concentrate on the benedictions before the Holy One, blessed be He, such as "blessed are You...who forms light... blessed are You, Hashem, creator of the luminaries." 3) "to love Him": upon reaching "eternal love" followed by "and you shall love Hashem your Elohim," which is the secret of the love of the Holy One, blessed be He. 4) to profess His unity: NAMELY, "Hear, O Yisrael, Hashem our Elohim Hashem is One" (Devarim 6:4), for here is the secret of the unifying of the Holy One, blessed be He, and we ought to declare His unity with a willing heart as is fit. From there on is the remembrance of the exodus from Egypt. It is a precept to mention the emergence from Egypt, as is written: "but you shall remember that you were a bondsman in the land of Egypt" (Devarim 5:15).

154. 5) That the priest would bless the people, in order to unite Yisrael together while they receive blessings from above, for at that time, the Congregation of Yisrael, MALCHUT, receives blessings. 6) And it is a time of goodwill to surrender one's soul to Him with a willing heart, when one prostrates and says, "To You, Hashem, do I lift up my soul" (Tehilim 25:1), when one should direct his heart and will to surrender his soul with complete devotion. These are the six precepts pertaining to prayer that correspond to the six hundred precepts of the Torah.

155. You may argue there are thirteen more precepts in the Torah, FOR THERE ARE SIX HUNDRED AND THIRTEEN PRECEPTS, AND WHY SAY THAT SIX PRECEPTS ARE EQUIVALENT TO SIX HUNDRED. HE REPLIES: the purpose OF THE THIRTEEN PRECEPTS is to draw the all encompassing thirteen attributes of Mercy. NAMELY, THE THIRTEEN ATTRIBUTES OF MERCY THAT WE SAY, CORRESPOND TO THEM, and the prayer adorns itself with the six precepts, TO WIT, CORRESPONDING TO CHESED, GVURAH, TIFERET, NETZACH, HOD AND YESOD, THAT THE PRAYER, WHICH IS THE SECRET OF MALCHUT, RECEIVES FROM ZEIR ANPIN.

156. Happy is the portion of he who puts his heart and will to it to perfect them every day. And upon them depend many other things. However, when a man reaches these passages, he should concentrate his heart and will to complete that precept that is connected to that particular word; then the proclamation resounds "and He said to me, you are My servant, Yisrael, in whom I will be glorified" (Yeshayah 49:3). Rabbi Aba approached and kissed him.

157. Rabbi Yitzchak then opened after him, and said, "and Moses gathered all the Congregation of the children of Yisrael..." HE ASKS why he gathered them, AND REPLIES: In order to give them the laws of Shabbat as before. For before Yisrael created the golden calf, He gave them the Shabbat. And this is what the mixed multitude did not keep. When they heard the verse "between Me and the children of Yisrael" (Shemot 31:17), they said: but from us this is withheld! Quickly "the people gathered themselves together against Aaron" (Shemot 32:1) IN ORDER TO MAKE THE CALF, and many followed them. And after those WHO WORSHIPPED THE CALF died, Moses gathered the Congregation of Yisrael alone, and gave them the laws of Shabbat as before, as is written: "six days shall work be done..." (Shemot 35:2).