Preparation
We must know that the words
Of our prayer have life.
By their life,
All Creation joins us in prayer.
We must know that the
Heaven and Earth were created
By the downward flow
Of the Divine letters.
We must know that
The life of our prayer
Arouses these letters
Through which all living things
Continue to be created.
Through uplifting the letters
We come to know
That our prayer is joined
To the Constant Flow of Creation:
Word to word, voice to voice,
Breath to Breath, thought to thought.
When our words fly upward
God turns toward the ascending word,
Then Life flows through all the worlds
And prayer receives its response.
We must know that
It is not the words themselves
That ascend to God.
It is the life of the words
That ascend.
The life of the words is:
The burning desire of our heart.
This is the essence of the words
That rises like smoke
Toward Heavenly reception.
We must put all of our strength
Into the words,
Proceeding from letter to letter,
With such concentration,
That we lose awareness
Of our bodily self.
So that it seems as if
The letters themselves
Are flowing into one another.
We must know that
Each word of prayer
Is a complete self.
If all of our strength is not in it,
It is born incomplete, deficient,
Lacking a limb.
We must focus all of our thoughts
On the Power of the words,
So that we may begin to see
The sparks of light
That shine within them.
We must know that the sacred letters
Are the chambers into which
God pours His flowing light.
The lights within each letter,
Ignite one another,
As they touch,
And new lights are born.
We must enter into the words,
Savoring their taste,
Speaking them with all our strength.
Then our soul,
Which is itself a part of God above.
Will meet God,
In the place of the word.
We must enter into the true union
With the Holy One of All Being.
We must enter into,
The Divine Presence:
With Hashem our God.
The Presence within us
Is our God,
Joined together,
With Hashem,
Its eternal source.
We must make our prayer
Be pure and untainted,
So that the holy breath
That rises from our lips
Will join with the breath
Of Heaven that is always
Flowing into us from above.
Every breath shall praise Him.
With each of our breaths,
We praise God.
As the breath leaves us,
It ascends to God,
And then it returns to us from above.
Thus that part of God,
That is within us,
Is reunited with its source.