Vayak'hel: Chapter 16

The Shabbat prayer

Synopsis

We learn that the Shabbat prayer consists of three prayers that correspond to three Shabbats (Binah, Zeir Anpin and Malchut) that are all really one. Anyone in the synagogue must occupy himself solely with praises, prayers and study of the Torah. Shabbat is the day of the souls. We are told of many things - of the praise to another grade, of the secret of the luminous light, of the hymn to the World to Come, and of the mystery of the 22 sacred letters in the prayer, "El, blessed, great in knowledge..." When the praise reaches the holy throne Malchut it waits there until all Yisrael recite the high Kedusha of the Musaf; then Malchut rises to Ima, Binah and Zeir Anpin rises to Aba. With the passage, "Moses rejoiced in the gift of his portion...," the Written Law, Tiferet up high, becomes connected to the lower Torah, the Oral Law, Malchut.