43. Rabbi Chizkiyah cited the verse: "Hear the right, Hashem, attend to my cry..." (Tehilim 17:1). The Congregation of Yisrael is so beloved by the Holy One, blessed be He, that whenever she, MALCHUT, comes before Him, He is ready to receive her, as it is written: "Hear the right, O Master, attend to my cry, give ear to my prayer." David said: 'I am linked with the Congregation of Yisrael, being before You as she is.' Therefore, "hear the right, Hashem," first, WHICH IS MALCHUT, CALLED 'RIGHTEOUSNESS,' and afterwards, "attend to my cry, give ear to my prayer."
44. "From lips without deceit" (Ibid.). HE ASKS: What does that verse mean? HE ANSWERS: We have learned that every word of prayer that issues from a man's mouth ascends aloft through all the firmaments to a place that tests whether it is genuine or not. If it is genuine, then it is brought before the Holy King to be fulfilled, but if not he is driven away and an alien spirit FROM THE OTHER SIDE is evoked by it.
45. Come and behold: it is written of Joseph, "Whose foot they hurt with fetters" (Tehilim 105:18). They hurt his foot with fetters "until the time that his word came to pass, the word of Hashem had tested him" (Ibid. 19). HE ASKS: To whose word does it refer in that verse: "Until the time that his word came?" HE ANSWERS: The words of Joseph's PRAYER came to heaven and were tested TO DISCOVER IF THEY WERE GENUINE, AS IT IS WRITTEN: "The word of Hashem had tested him," MEANING THAT HIS WORDS WERE TESTED AND PURIFIED. Then, "the king sent and loosed him, and the ruler of the people let him go free" (Ibid. 20). Meanwhile, morning had arrived.
46. Rabbi Elazar cited that verse and said: It is written, "Yet the soul (Nefesh) of my Master shall be bound in the bond of life with Hashem your Elohim" (I Shmuel 25:29). "The soul of my Master" is unspecified and has the same reference as in the verse: "Who has not taken My Name (Nefesh) in vain" (Tehilim 24:4), meaning the morning is the proper time for the Congregation of Yisrael, WHICH IS MALCHUT CALLED 'NEFESH,' to unite with her husband, ZEIR ANPIN. THEREFORE, happy are the righteous who study the Torah by night and then come IN THE MORNING to unite with the Holy One, blessed be He, and the Congregation of Yisrael. Of them, it is written: "Let your father and your mother be glad, and let her who bore you rejoice" (Mishlei 23:25).