Shekhinah

“ And each person, to the extent that he merits to delve into His service, whereby he delves as it were in seeking and requesting the Shekhinah and the assembly of Yisrael, to take it out from the exile, to that extent it — as it were, the Shekhinah — is revealed to him, as it were, from out of the grip of its exile, and hides and conceals itself and comes to him in secret and reveals to him its place and dwelling and what to do for it so that he be privileged to find it. ”

“ And this story is about every man and at all times, for even in each individual man almost this whole entire story passes over him, for each member of Yisrael needs to be involved in this repair, to raise the Shekhinah from the exile, “le'ukma shekhintha me`afra/ to raise the Shekhinah out of the dirt,” to take the malkhuth dikdushah/ kingship of holiness out from amongst the idolaters and the Sitra Achra where it has been going around. ”

“ And if the Shekhinah does not go up in his prayer, as a korban to the Holy Blessed One, behold a dog comes down to eat his korban. Woe to him! Better he were not created in the world! And of him it says (Prov. 19:23) , "Gam b'lo-da`at nefesh lo-tob/ Also without awareness, is this not-good soul." ”

“ And when she falls she falls at His feet; behold it's the scripture (Ruth 3:7) , "And she uncovered his feet and lay down." She falls before him casting down her face, on account of the Tzaddik who is Cha"Y `Almin, poor in the exile, and the Tzaddik when he's out of his place it's said of him (Ps. 2:12) , "Kiss the son (Bar) lest he be wroth," and the Shekhinah when she's outside of her place is called Baraita. ”

“ It is known in all the books of the Zohar and the Tikkunim and in all the writings of the Ari ztz"l that “the king’s daughter” is an alias for the Shekhinah/ Divine presence and the assembly of Yisrael, as it were, and permission to speak in these terms has already been given to us from the forerunners before us, from whose mouths we receive life. ”

“ Another thing: AZL"A GRY"Sh – the Shekhinah said to the Holy Blessed One, "Drive out this handmaid and her son" (Gen. 21:10) – these are the Erev Rav (Sam. 26:19) that are "driven out from cleaving to the inheritance of Hashem" – driving them from this world and the coming world, so that they have no portion with Yisrael. ”

“ And even completely simple people and the masses who do not know their right and left, nonetheless they too if they are privileged to go on the straight path according to their determination, namely to shun evil and do good — because even a completely simple person knows that the Torah forbade, and if his eyes look straight ahead to shun evil and choose good — then all the repairs in the upper worlds are accomplished automatically through him, and he merits to establish the Shekhinah from its fall, in proportion with how much he merits to sanctify and purify himself. ”

“ Prayer, which is the Shekhinah, ascends and reaches the King during the Ten Zikhronoth, Ten Malkhiyoth and Ten Shofaroth, which are Y Y Y [=30] , and ten factions of angels are awakened and summoned to them and raise them to the ten Sefiroth. ”

“ Another thing: kol `anot anokhi shome`a (Ex. 32:18) - is the affliction of anokhi shome`a, for she cries out every day up above, she and her children, and calls to Him twice a day evening and morning Shema Yisrael; and any mortal that is afflicted for the Shekhinah being poor in exile, apart from her Husband, and calls to Him each day Shema Yisrael, that He sould come down to her, precisely of him it's said kol `anot anokhi shome`a - "the voice of affliction" - of that poor one - "I hear." ”

“ It is one of the oldest directions of the ancient Wisdom-Religion that the macrocosm should be interpreted according to the plan revealed by Malchuth, and that Shechinah should be accepted as a guide to the interpretation of the constitution of the microcosm. I use the Kabbalistic names, though not precisely in the Kabbalistic sense, as I am not at liberty to use the Sanskrit equivalents. This Shechinah is an androgyne power, and is the Thureeya Chaitanyam of the cosmos. Its male form is the figure of man seen on the mysterious throne in the vision of Ezekiel. ”

“ Before they erred, the Shekhina was a crown on their heads, it was (constantly) for their sake resting on the world. Once they erred, as it were, its strength wore out and it departed and ruled no more. And the Holy Blessed One started mourning and said, Eikhah, what's going to be of her, she's lost rule. So too with the ruin of the Beit haMikdash, it's lost rule, and the Holy Blessed One starts eulogizing and said, Eikhah, what's going to be with her. ”

“ How dare men and women trifle with the Shekinah of their lives? And when it has been dulled by abuse, what a pitiful Shekinah it appears to the one who approaches it reverently, confidently expecting it to be the uncontaminated holy of holies! ”

“ In our days it is difficult to reach the position of these rare men. In former times when the Shekinah rested in the Holy Land, and the nation was fit for prophecy, there were people who separated themselves from their neighbors and studied the law in purity and holiness in the company of men like them. ”

“ This impelled the angels to ask God: "'What is man, that Thou art mindful of him?' Why didst Thou abandon the highest of the heavens, the seat of Thy glory and Thy exalted Throne in 'Arabot, and descend to men, who pay worship to idols, putting Thee upon a level with them?" The Shekinah was induced to leave the earth and ascend to heaven, amid the blare and flourish of the trumpets of the myriads of angel hosts. ”

“ The ancient Shechem is one of the most prosperous towns in the Holy Land, being still the metropolis of a rich and extensive country, and abounding in agricultural wealth. Nor is there any thing finer than its appearance when viewed from the heights by which it is surrounded. It strikes the eye of the traveller who advances from the north, as being imbosomed in the most delightful and fragrant bowers, half-concealed by rich gardens and stately trees, collected into groves all round the beautiful valley in which it stands. ”

“ In the Atzilatic luminous world is the divine majesty, the Shechinah. In the Briatic world are the souls of the saints, all the blessings, the throne of the Deity, he who sits on it in the form of Achtenal (the crown of God, the first Sephira) , and the seven different luminous and splendid regions. In the Jetziratic world are the sacred animals from the vision of Ezekiel, the ten classes of angels with their princes, who are presided over by the fiery Metatron, the spirits of men, and the accessory work of the divine chariot. ”

“ Any judge who does not judge honestly causes the shechina to be removed from the Jewish people. Any judge who takes money from one and gives it to another against the law will have God collect the souls from him. Any judge that judges truthfully, even for a mere moment, causes the shechina to rest on the Jewish people. ”

“ Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak says, "To do evil from a good motive is better than observing the law from a bad one" (e.g., Tamar and Zimri, Lot and his daughters) .
Nazir, fol. 23, col. 2.
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The Rabbis have taught that the text, "And when it rested, he said, Return, O Lord, to the myriads and thousands of Israel" (Num. x. 36) , intimates that the Shechinah does not rest upon less than two myriads and two thousands (two being the minimum plurality) . Suppose one of the twenty-two thousand neglect the duty of procreation, is he not the cause of the Shechinah's departure from Israel? ”

“ These people, over whom the Sheik seemed to possess great control and authority, are quite pastoral in their pursuits, and own such enormous flocks and herds as would astonish any ordinary mortal. These are every night driven in from grazing to a large zareeba on the river-bed. I was irresistibly reminded here of the patriarchs of old. Here was this Sheikh with four wives and I don’t know how many children, the leader or petty sovereign of a large and powerful tribe, over whom he possessed absolute power, and, as I said before, owning these flocks and herds. ”

“ When God drove Adam forth from Paradise, the Shekinah remained behind, enthroned above a cherub under the tree of life. The angels descended from heaven and repaired thither in hosts, to receive their instructions, and Adam and his descendants sat by the gate to bask in the splendor of the Shekinah, sixty-five thousand times more radiant than the splendor of the sun. This brightness of the Shekinah makes all upon whom it falls exempt from disease, and neither insects nor demons can come nigh unto them to do them harm. ”

“ They had the tokens of God's presence among them, and all the advantages that could be of knowing his will, with the strongest inducements possible to do it, and yet they persisted in their disobedience, v. 5. (1.) They had the honour and privilege of the Shechinah, God's dwelling in their land, so as he dwelt not with any other people: " The just Lord is in the midst of thee, to take cognizance of all thou doest amiss and give countenance to all thou doest well; he is in the midst of thee as a holy God, and therefore thy pollutions are the more offensive, Deut. ”

“ He who goes from the Synagogue to the lecture-room, and from the lecture-room back to the Synagogue, will become worthy to receive the presence of the Shechinah; as it is written (Ps. lxxxiv. 1) , "They go from strength to strength; every one of them in Zion appeareth before God." (Moed Katan, fol. 29, col. 1.)
Rabbi Yossi says, "The Shechinah never came down here below, nor did Moses and Elijah ever ascend on high, because it is written (Ps. cxv. 16) , 'The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord's, but the earth hath he given to the children of men.'" (Succah, fol. 5, col. 1.) ”

“ Once a sudden halt seemed to stop her heart beating, but it was only to give a moment's rest to the Arab whose strength was taxed to the uttermost with the Sheik's inert weight, but who refused to surrender his privilege to any other. Moments of semi-unconsciousness, when she swayed against the arm of the watchful tribesman riding beside her, and his muttered ejaculation of "Allah! Allah!" sent a whispered supplication to her own lips to the God they both worshipped so differently. He must not die. God would not be so cruel. ”

“ The strength of men is readily exhausted, mentally and physically, by the strain of a sudden change from slavery to freedom. They did not recover vigor and force until they heard the angel hosts sing songs of praise and joy over the redemption of Israel and the redemption of the Shekinah, for so long as the chosen people is in exile, the Shekinah, who dwells among Israel, is also, as it were, in exile. ”

“ They were nearer civilisation than Ahmed Ben Hassan's camp at the time, but with true native tendency to avoid responsibility they thought that the disposal of her was a matter more for their Sheik than themselves. She could give no account of herself, as, owing to the effects of the sun or other causes, she was temporarily out of her mind. Arabs are very gentle with any one who is mad—'Allah has touched them!' She was taken to the tent of one of the headmen, whose wife looked after her. ”

“ Against this they emphasized the Shekinah-ideal. It is safe to say that wherever Shekinah is mentioned in Rabbinic literature it is God's direct action or activity that is thought of. Independent personality is never imputed to it. ”

“ One special group, distinguished both by its size and by the peculiar shapes of the pillars of stone, has such terrors for the Arabs that they dare not pass it at night, from their firm belief in the legend which gave the place its name of the Accursed Baths. For once there was a sheikh, a rich and powerful man, who had one only sister, beautiful as a flower. He loved her with an exceeding great love, and thought her so supremely fair that no man could be found worthy of her. ”

“ A Sheykh, on the other hand, being first amongst equals, bears himself towards his followers with a dignity and charm commingled out of paternal pride and childlike modesty, nor does such an one consider his position to be threatened because his tribesmen never cringe. They, too, are freeborn men and carry their heads high even in the presence of the Sheríf of Mecca, who holds his race too dear to exact an obsequious homage. ”

“ Kingdom (10) , which emanated from the ninth Sephirah, encircles all the other nine, inasmuch as it is the Shechinah, the divine halo, which encompasses the whole by its all-glorious presence.
In their totality and unity the ten Sephiroth are not only denominated the World of Sephiroth, or the World of Emanations, but, owing to the above representation, are called the primordial or archetypal man (= πρωτόγονος) and the heavenly man. It is this form which, as we are assured, the prophet Ezekiel saw in the mysterious chariot (Ezek. i. 1–28) , and of which the earthly man is a faint copy. ”

“ Is it then for naught that they have done all this?
54 And now why art thou afraid or distressed, and why art thou displeased at my brothers, and why is thine anger kindled against them?
55 Surely our God who delivered into their hand the city of Shechem and its people, he will also deliver into our hands all the Canaanitish kings who are coming against us, and we will do unto them as my brothers did unto Shechem. ”

“ They are much darker, and their hair more wiry and disposed to curl instead of any Arabs we have seen. Their features as well as their complexion are more of the African type, and they are short and spare built, with low receding foreheads, and the expression of countenance is half sinister and half idiotic. Their only garment is a tunic of brief dimensions, open at the breast and confined round the waist by a band or leathern belt.
The sheikh has rude sandals, fastened by thongs; the rest are barefooted. The women are even more abject-looking than the men, and studiously conceal their faces. ”