∼Twelve
Pray with Joy
Noah was told, “Make a tzohar for the ark.” The word ark in Hebrew is teivah,
which also means “a word.” A tzohar is something that shines. So the verse could
mean, “Make each word you say shine.”
The ark had a lower floor, a second floor and a top floor, which are the three levels
of Worlds, Souls and G-dliness.18 The Zohar calls these “the three worlds that He
has.” So too, within every letter of every word there are worlds, souls and G dliness.
These all ascend, bond and unite with one another and with G dliness.
Beyond that, the letters themselves bond and form words, forming true unions with
G dliness. You must include your own soul in every one of these stages, so that all
the worlds unite as one and ascend together, causing great joy and immeasurable
delight.
It is necessary to listen to every word that you say, for the Divine Presence
(Shechinah) is speaking. The Shechinah, you see, relates to the world of speech.
Yet that is only when each word has a tzohar—when the words come out shining
because you say them to provide pleasure to your Creator.
Saying the words with such joy that the Shechinah speaks within them requires
great faith, as the Shechinah is called “true faith.” But one who does not say them
this way is called a “grumbler who alienates the Master of the Universe”—heaven
forbid.
—Tzava’at Harivash 75
18 Joyous Teachings of the Baal Shem Tov ”
Tzvi Freeman 22/32 Chabad.org
18 Each letter comprises three elements: an outer, seemingly finite container; an inner, infinite energy; and an
intermediary element that effects the union of the two. The finite container is called World, the infinite energy
within is G-dliness, and the intermediary that allows for the union of the two is called a Soul.