777. A Prayer for the Exile of the Shechina

What is the meaning of the prayer, that we should pray for the exile of the Shechina [Divinity]?

The Sitra Achra [other side], which is the quality of knowing and receiving, controls the Shechina, which is regarded as bestowal and faith. The Creator created the world in order to do good to His creations, and the lower ones can receive the benefit only in vessels of bestowal, which are regarded as eternal Kelim [vessels]. The upper light, which is eternal, cannot clothe in transient Kelim.

The lower ones, which are placed under the rule of the Sitra Achra, want specifically reception and knowledge, causing separation to the upper unification. This is regarded as having a foreskin on Malchut, and this foreskin separates ZA from Malchut, regarded as the unification between the Creator and His Shechina.

It follows that there is the sorrow of the Shechina because she is unable to unite with the Creator because of this foreskin, for the lower ones are gripping her and are not leaving her so she can part from Malchut. Hence, we must pray to the Creator to send illumination from above so the lower ones will want to cancel the foreskin and remove it from the quality of Malchut. This applies to the individual and to the collective.

Perhaps this is why we need the creation of the lower ones, where he wrote in the preface to Panim Masbirot, that from the perspective of the worlds, there are two states: the state of the first nine, regarded as vessels of bestowal, and Malchut, which is regarded as a Kli [vessel] for reception, from whom the Klipot [shells/peels] nurse. In spirituality, one does not mix with the other.

For this reason, there is the discernment of time for man, where until age thirteen he is under the governance of the Klipot, and from age thirteen onward he begins to obtain the first nine. At that time, because he consists of Malchut of reception, he can correct her so it will be reception in order to bestow, and then the verse, “The darkness will shine as light” will come true. This means that Malchut is called “reception and knowing.” At that time, he inverts his Kelim. Conversely, if he consisted only of the first nine, he would not be able to correct anything.

This is why we need the work of the lower ones. This is the meaning of the Creator craving the prayer of the righteous, meaning those who pray and want to be righteous, meaning ask the Creator to help them invert the quality of Malchut to the quality of the upper nine.