The three prayers
The Faithful Shepherd tells us how the three prayers were instituted to parallel the sacrifices.
Some of the most significant spiritual insights into the physiology of heart disease are revealed in this essential passage of Zohar. Therefore, a more detailed discussion is warranted. We begin with the ancient ritual of sacrifice.
As we visually connect to these verses with repentance in our hearts, the sacrifices and burnt offerings that were made three times daily during the time of the Temple are now executed on our behalf. The effect of this action is deeply profound and vitally important.
The power of the morning prayer is summoned forth, which denotes the lone lamb sacrificed during the early dawn. This corresponds to Abraham, and the prayer now awakens untold mercy in our world. Abraham was a deeply sharing individual, who offered unconditional kindness to both friends and strangers. For this reason, the name of Abraham arouses mercy.
The afternoon prayer manifests the sacrificial lamb that is offered towards evening, which connects to Isaac. This action silences judgments that are due to us as a result of our negative behavior.
The evening prayer concerns the fat that is "devoured all night," and these fats are herewith burned by our efforts extended here. This sacrifice appeases evil forces and removes illnesses from our bodies.
These sacrifices are intimately tied to the organs of the body.
Rabbi Pinchas, utilizing the cryptic language of the Zohar, explains that the brain controls the heart, while the heart controls the liver. The brain is the domain of our consciousness and emotions. If we allow the Other Side, our ego, to control our thoughts and states of mind, there will inevitably be anger, hostility, and fury in our hearts. This ill will is then transferred to the liver.
The liver, we're told, is the physical manifestation of the negative entities (do not pronounce this name) Samael and the Serpent, intertwined as one. Our anger and fury feed these evil entities, allowing them to grow stronger in our bodies. Thus, the Zohar states: "And from the liver, WHICH REPRESENTS (do not pronounce this name) SAMAEL, come all the diseases and illnesses to all parts of the body..."
However, Rabbi Shimon explains that these evil beings will "devour" the fat and waste that we sacrifice during our evening prayer. Thus, the fat offering becomes an appeasement, a token feed, to keep these wicked forces at bay. This will be reflected in the liver, and our illnesses are kept at a distance. On a practical level, the fat that is sacrificed correlates to our personal selfish traits. Our recognition and acknowledgment of our own disdainful qualities is the ultimate meaning of the sacrifice.
A remarkable revelation concerning heart disease and the liver is made by the Zohar in this passage, 2000 years before modern medicine. Just as the liver absorbs and digests fats and filters toxins from the blood on a physical level, the prayer and sacrifice burn away the spiritual fats and toxins of anger and negativity. In other words, the evening prayer allows us to metaphysically sacrifice the fat - our negative character traits - which is the key to healthy liver function.
According to medical science, the human liver produces approximately 1,000 milligrams of cholesterol a day. Cholesterol is used to produce the bile we need for the digestion and absorption of fats. The bile also removes wastes and toxic matter from the blood.
Cholesterol levels can be high if the conversion of cholesterol to bile is impaired. If so, low bile acid levels send a powerful signal to the liver to provide more cholesterol. High levels of cholesterol and fatty substances in the bloodstream are primary causes of atherosclerosis (clogging of the arteries) and coronary heart disease! Excess fat collects in heart cells, killing the cells and eventually damaging the heart muscle, causing seizures of the heart. Thus, low blood cholesterol and low fat is key to a healthy cardiovascular system. A healthy, full-functioning liver delivers clean, low-fat, toxic-free blood to the heart, which then pumps the purified blood to the rest of the body.
This physiological truth is found in the following Zohar verse: "...their [the evil angels'] receiving is that they devour the fatty parts and the fat for the sacrifice, as it is written: 'and the fat that is upon them.' And then everything is offered to the heart." What is "offered to the heart" spiritually is mercy and gladness - the Light of the Creator. What is "offered to the heart" physically is purified blood, low in fat, toxins, wastes, and cholesterol - the key for healthy cardiovascular function. Thus, a healthy body begins with spiritual soundness of mind, heart, and liver.
Here we ignite the power of the sacrifices and the three daily prayers. The influences of the evil angels and ailments of the liver and heart are abated. Our brain, which bears our consciousness, is liberated from the sway of the Other Side. Our blood is purified, as anger and judgment are expunged from our hearts and livers. The cardiovascular system is cleansed, healed, and renewed.
In addition, the widespread revelation of these ancient secrets, for the first time in history, generates an artillery of Light that thwarts cardiovascular and liver diseases eternally by exterminating their deep-seated spiritual roots - the negative angels Lilit and (do not pronounce this name) Samael.
[Verse 209] Rabbi Pinchas has been thinking about the meaning of 'keeping' and 'remembering,' and he opens the topic of the role of the liver in the sacrifice. Rabbi Shimon furthers the explanation, telling how the heart receives the confession and offers it to the brain. He closes by saying that all ills come from the liver and all goodness comes from the heart.