RITUAL
19 century study of religion emphasized symbols and myths, ritual was seen as a
secondary matter, or as Bruce Lincoln explained (History on Modern Rituals, Journal
of the American academy of Religion 1977) “that there still exists a grievous
imbalance in favour of myth.”
Ritual: The religious activity, which aims at activating God. It works on more than
one level, at least two: The sensory one and the ideological one. The first means the
uses of corporeal gestures: the other is imbuing the activity with deep intention in
order to enter deeper into the realm of the divine
th
The problem of Ritual
In Judaism ritual involves always two major parts. The one is the calling upon God, in
fact inviting Him to listen and to be present, and the second, appealing to His
goodwill, so to speak. For there are texts with formulae by which one can draw God’s
attention. They represent a station, which is termed as calling, inviting the Holy.
These involve declaration, invocation and demand: which I shall explain soon.
The declaration contains the texts, which define God’s place not only as the one and
only God but also His function as the God of Israel and the God of the Fathers. The
declaration both defines His responsibilities. Invocation, calling upon Him to listen
and exerting energy to attract Him, that can be followed by demands. The invocation
contains a part, which can be defined as the act of convincing:
Judaism, regarding God as the God of the Nation or the Patriarchs, creates the
necessary argumentation to convince God that He decides to do; He should know that
as much as He is performing in favour of Israel He is performing for Himself. The 19
Benedictions when said in public carries energy.
Blessed art thou O Lord, our God and the God of our Father, the God of
Abraham and Isaac and of Jacob the great God, the mighty and the awesome,
the supreme God, he who rewards with good benefits, remembers the
Patriarchs…
God is the shield of Abraham,
Revives the dead, takes care of the needy, causes life and death and brings
salvation, He is Holy, He is wise, He receives those who repent.
All these first benedictions one by one finish with a direct turning to God
Blessed be Thou… the wise one, the Holy one and so on. Now that it was established
that God is the wise, the creator God of the patriarchs His attentions were drawn, the
ritual continue with presenting the demands moving between the poles of the general
and the particular always presented in the plural and always pertaining to the whole
community.
The Jewish ritual being national involves naturally not only detailed texts but also
other activity connected with the invocation of memorial events in which the special
relations between God and His people were seen throughout history. Their reenactment in a process of eternal return aims to convince Him to act in favour of His
people in the future.
The Qabbalistic view.
Influencing the Seferot redemption of Israel and the world. The ritual also does
something to the worshipper, but his main function is not to have an impact on the
worshipper but on the revealed divine.
The same can be said about Christianity and Islam and about almost any known
religion, whether so-called or primitive.
TREE OF SEFEROT
“NO END”
Ein Sof (=Divine essence
Keter CROWN
Bina – insight
HOKHMA – WISDOM
(Mother) – heart
brain (Father)
head
Gevurah – heroism
Hesed – loving-kindness
(Isaac) left arm
(Abraham) Right arm
Tif‘eret – grandeur
(Jacob) – body - the groom
Yesod – Foundation
Joseph, the righteous, the reproductive organ
Malkhūt – Kingship
(David) Shekhinah, the Holy presence, the nation of Israel,
Shabbat, the bride
The object of the ritual is to unite all six sephirot below wisdom and into one
unity in the grandeur (tife‘eret). The six emanations are represented in the six words
which make up the sema‘ the declaration which forms the heart of the prayer: “Hear
O Israel the Lord is our God the Lord is One.” (in Hebrew only six words). These six
words declaring the unity of God by Israel correspond therefore to the mystical unity
of the six productive emanations, which once effected enable the flow of the divine
seed to the world of creation; enables the unification of the sphere of Tif‘eret with
malkhūt, or the husband, God with His own female side, the Shekhinah. This
unification is normally impossible, the shekhīna being in exile. Thus the redemption
of Israel enables the redemption of the world. For once this redemption is achieved,
the unity between the divine being and the Shekhinah can be affected in full and the
divine grace can flow to the world. Meanwhile the actions of the worshipper, should
be with special intentions (kavvanah) always aiming at bringing together the two parts
of the divine being embodied in the letters of the divine Holy name made up of 4
letters (tetragammon) amounting to 26 in the numerical value. The prayer therefore is
not seen only in the sensual sense of invoking the divine attention, but in fact
influencing a change in the revealed divine structure, uniting the divided parts of the
divine body.
In such a case, as we are speaking about the idealistic part of the ritual which
has to do only with God, causing His oneness and enabling Him to act in His world
efficiently.
Here is an example to the opening of a prayer along this line of mystical
thought:
I believe in complete faith that the Lord our God is the cause of all causes. He
created ten Sefhirot (emanations) that are keter, Hokhmah, bina, hesed, gevurah,
tif‘eret, metzah, hod, yesod and malkhut; and His light is stored and concealed in the
Crown (keter) which is supreme. And from it His light spread to the letter yod which
is the (wisdom) hokhmah and hē, which is the (insight) bina and the vav (numerical
value six) which includes all the six emanations which are the sephirot of hesed,
gevurah, tif‘eret, netzah, hod, yesod, and the (last) hē which is malkhūt (kingship).
And to His grand light that is clothed by the ten sephirot of the
emanation, we raise the intention of the prayer (kavvanah), and the blessings,
and the thanksgivings and the learning of the Holy Torah and the keeping of
all the commandments, which are listed in the Torah and in the sayings of the
sages, and every good thought and holy wish of the heart. All this in order to
draw sublime grace from on high and abundant blessing from His
illumination, which is in the Ancient Holy namely the supreme Crown (keter
elion), to father and mother that are wisdom and insight (Hokhmah and Bīnah)
and from father and mother to the Holy King and to the field of holy apples
which are (the sephirot) grandeur and kingship (Tif‘eret and Malkhūt) And I
believe in complete faith that the Lord our God is one and His Name is One.
He was, He is, and He will be. In His state of “was” He was concealed and
stored away in the Crown. In His state of “He is” He is clothed in the ten
sephirot of the emanations, and in the state of “He will be” it is when He
reveals Himself in (the Sefirot of) tif‘eret (splendour) and Malkhūt)
(Kingship). And for Him we sacrifice our life, soul and spirit, for the Holiness
of His name, may he be blessed, and we accept willingly with love the yoke of
His Kingship, as it is written in the Torah “Hear O Israel the Lord is our God
the Lord is One.”
And here I am, willingly and with yeaning soul, acknowledging
completely, an acknowledgment of unending duration and eternal validity
forever and ever, that all my worship is dedicated to the Lord our God and the
God of our fathers. He is one and His name is One. This includes prayer, the
learning of the Holy Torah the keeping of the commandments, which are listed
in the Torah and in the sayings of the Sages and everything Holy. Everything
is aimed at fulfilling the wish of our Lord, our God and the God of our fathers
the King of the Universe, who sanctified us by His commandments, and
ordered us and gave a Torah of truth.
(All this we perform) in order to unify the Holy Blessed be He with
His Presence (Shekhinah), with reverence and love; and with love and
reverence we proceed to unify the name concealed in (the two first letters of
the Divine Name) Yod and Hē in (the last two letters of the Divine Name) vav
Hē in a complete perfect unity in the Name of all Israel.