Erotica as a model for The Mystical Prayer
Pele 2024
Josef Heineman, the known Talmudic scholar, maps the customs of Jewish prayer and very rightly stated that Jewish prayer templates the communications between king and subjects into the realm of the relationships between God and man in prayer. Heinemann mentions the "Court Pattern" which is very common as a formative pattern in the field of Jewish prayer. The worshiper imagines himself to be standing in front of a higher legal authority, from which he should be afraid. This pattern greatly influenced the laws (Halacha) related to prayer, such as how it is appropriate to stand for prayer, how to dress for prayer, what is the correct way to formulate your requests? etc.
What Heinemann did not touch upon is the manner in which Jewish mystics, Kabbalists, Sabbatians and Hassidim, treated prayer in a very different way from the pattern bequeathed to them by the sages of the Talmud. What I want to suggest is that the mystics treated the prayer mainly as an erotic event, thus the ”Court Pattern“ lost its hold on the mystical prayer and gave room to other kind of patterns to take place.
Instead of applying the "court pattern" it seems to me that the mystics applied the "bed room pattern" to prayer. As the well-known Kabbalah scholar Prof. Josef Dan from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem wrote in his book ”About the Sacred":
"It is impossible to understand the radicalism that characterizes many expressions of the mystical prayer without Insisting on the deep connection, which exists in various forms, between the mystical perception of the ritual text and the erotic experience". (The Mystical Prayer, p. 357).
If, for example, in the "Court Pattern" the text spoken by the praying person is of great importance, then in the "Bed Room Pattern" the importance of the words is dropped, and the importance of the moments of silence and gentle whispering increases. Words are too narrow to contain the secret of love, and are too clumsy to define its essence. Therefore, the expression of true love relationships will often expand beyond the realm of verbal expression.
In the intimate communication of lovers, silence is known to have a place of honor, that can be more full of power than any words can hold, as the poet Uri Asaf wrote in his well-known Hebrew poem "The Lilac Flower“ sang by Hava Alberstein“:
"We will love silently because you and I do not need words that are made for those who do not know how to otherwise say how beautiful the lilac blooms."
In the meeting of the lovers, the experience of the meeting itself is what‘s most significant, therefore even if words are exchanged, the semantic content of those words does not really matter. The text spoken in intimate moments becomes marginal in relation to the context in which it was said. The communication of lovers is similar to the concept of mystical language, which according to Prof. Dan has an aspect of "abandonment of semantics" (Josef Dan, ”About the Sacred", pp. 362-363).
In the coming pages I will bring a small selection of Kabbalistic texts, from which we can draw lines of similarity between the mystical prayer and the act of love.
The first text I want to bring is taken from the Book of the Zohar, which was written in Spain in the thirteenth century. In this text, the public prayer in synagogue is described as a sexual occurrence between the upper Sefirot that is timed with the text of the liturgy spoken by the worshiping congregation. The words are interpreted in a symbolic-sexual way, and the trajectory leads us from speech and singing to the whispering and silence that characterize the standing-prayer and the ”Falling on ones face“ ritual that follows it. This occurrence leads the person to a situation where there is no more room to ask any requests from God. All that is worth doing at this point is to fully unite with the divine act of love.
The female genitals are called in this Zoharic text "Idrah" which means "Circle", while the male organ is called "Righteous" (Zadik) or ”Good" (Tov). The circle and the righteous are awakened and enthusiastic to connect to each other in love during the public prayer. A pale hue rises in the Circle (probably symbolizes the sexual fluids of the feminine arousal) and the Righteous, at the climax of the meeting which is called ”Bestow Peace“ (Sim Shalom) overflows his abundance into the circle, like a river rushing out of Eden:
"When Israel enters synagogues, and pray their prayer, when they reach to the words ’Ga'al Yisrael' (redeeming Israel) and connect ’Redemption‘ to ’Prayer‘ (to the prayer of Amida, spoken silently and standing) then that pale hue rises on the top of the Circle and becomes a crown to it. at the same time...that Righteous awakens to connect in the right place with love, kindness, joy and desire. All the organs connect in one longing to each other, upper ones to lower ones. And the torches are all glowing and ardent, and they all stand in one connection with that Zaddik which is called 'Tov'... and it connects them all in one connection. Then everything is in a whisper, above and below, with the kisses of desire. ... when the congregation reaches to ”Sim Shalom“ then the river that flows out of Eden is doing the act with the Circle. Then everyone has to leave from before the King. It is forbidden for any human or any other being to stay there, and it is not the time to present requests, but (those who pray) must fall on their faces. Why? Because that time is the time of the act, and everyone must be shy before their Lord and cover their faces with great shyness, and include their souls in that act …“ (Zohar II, p. 128/b)
Prayer is a sacred union between the divine masculine and feminine, a sacred union that occurs through human action. The worshipers cause that union to happen, and then they are invited to take part in it with great reverence and include their own souls in the divine act of love.
In another Zoharic text, the worshiper is seen as an usher preparing the bride, that is, the Shekinah, for marriage with the King. The preparation and beautification of the bride takes place in the parts of the prayer that are said sitting, which are full with phrases for the divine. But then when the bride is ready to be brought to the King and the mating itself begins, the worshiper should stand up erect in respect and maybe even in identification with the divine masculine:
”Come and see... there are two prayers, one in sitting and one in standing. The sitting prayer... to prepare her as one who prepares the bride, and decorates her to put her in the canopy. Here, too, she is decorated with the secret of the (angelical) Chariots and Camps... When she is ready to enter and He comes to receive her, then we stand before the King, for then the masculine joins the feminine" (Zohar v1, 132\a)
The organised jewish religion refers to the transition from sitting to standing in prayer from a hierarchical thinking model, related to power dynamics between official positions such as in "standing before the king". But the mystical view sees things from a different perspective even if the gestures are the same. Mystics see prayer as a supreme sexual event, in which standing is related to the erection of the male organ during mating and the worshiper's identification with the divine masculine.
In another text (Zohar, v3, P. 146/a), the Zohar discusses the ritual of the priests blessing the people. Here, too, things are seen as an erotic occurrence, in which words of love are being whispered within a space of silence and reverence:
"When the priest below stands up and spreads his hands, all the holy crowns above wake up and prepare to be blessed, and shine from the depth of the cistern ...from that depth which springs constantly and its blessings never stops spouts springs of blessings to all the worlds that are blessed and watered by everything.
And we have learned: at that time there is a whisper and silence in all the worlds. Just like a king who wishes to mate with the lady, and wishes to come to her in a whisper, and all the servants wake up at that time and whisper, here the king is coming to mate with the lady."
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The next text that I wish to quote is taken from the Hasidic book ”Tsava'at Ha'Rivash", which contains teachings from the Maggid of Mezritesh, teachings that were received from his teacher Rabbi Israel Ba'al Shem Tov, who lived in the mountains of what today is the Ukraine in the 18th century. There, in a collection of instructions intended for mystics, it is written:
"Prayer is lovemaking with the Shekinah. And just as at the beginning of the act of love there is angulating movements, so one should move oneself in prayer at the beginning, and then, later, he can stand still without moving, and he will be united with the Shekinah with great union (Devekut).
And by that one can come to a great awakening, thinking: why am I shaking myself? Because the Shekinah is certainly standing in-front of me! And thus he will come to great enthusiasm." (Segment 68)
While the Book of Zohar spoke of prayer mainly as a liturgical occasion where the one who prays causes the sacred union of the divine masculine and feminine, Hasidic mysticism came along some centuries later and taught that the motions of the physical body of the one who prays express the sacred-union of the person with the Shekinah who stands before him. In the teachings of the Baal Shem Tov and his disciples, the prayer became a sexual event between God and man, expressed through the awakening of the body and its movements.
Radical teachings like that were of course well used by the opponents of Hasidism. These sought to prove that the followers of the Ba‘al Shem Tov were nothing but a dangerous sect of sexual perverts (see Wilensky, "Hasidim and Opponents", part 2, p. 109). It is possible that the opponents of Hasidism were already familiar with these ideas from the writings of other radical mystical groups, who were connected to the Sabbatian movement and its secret brunches. They might have seen the teachings of the Maggid of Mezritesh too similar to words that they found written in the glosses of Rabbi Leib Melamed of Brody for the laws of prayer. In his glosses, Rabbi Leib advises the worshiper to imagine a woman standing before him. The sexual awakening that this fantasy can create may bring the worshiper to a high spiritual level, claims R. Leib. As he wrote:
"It is proper to think in prayer that a female woman is standing in front of him, then he will come to a high state, as it is known".
The preparations required of the worshiper before the prayer were also seen by Reb Leib as guidelines for preparing the body for ejaculation. Regarding the words of the Halacha which states that: "The worshiper should prepare a place for his prayer, and prepare his heart, his clothes, his mind, and his body," Rabbi Leib wrote: "This is for the release of semen. Since semen comes because of the heating of the body with lust."
The same ideas are stated later in the mystical tradition that he cites according to which the main intention in prayer occurs when the worshiper emits semen: The Halacha says that "The worshiper should have intention at all the blessings" and R. Leib writes in his glosses there:
"I heard that the main intention is during the emission of semen".
In another place (Tur, Orach Hayim, siman 5) where the Halacha forbids looking at a woman, he wrote:
"But (looking at a woman) with the spiritual senses is permitted (that is, to fantasize). And even ejaculate semen during the prayer, and (by doing so) one will rise to a great spiritual degree.“
The conservative opponents of Hassidism believed that R. Leib was part of the Hasidic circles and for that reason, they quoted his words in the book "Breaking Criminals" that they published against the Hassidim. (we surely thank them for that!). However, the academic scholar Menachem Paykaj in his book "In the Early Days of Hasidism" (p. 209) proves that R. Leib was connected to other radical mystical circles, that preceded Hasidism altogether. Prof. Josef Dan in his article "The Sabbatians and the New Age in the History of Israel" (p. 88-89, in Jewish Studies 33) agrees with this conclusion.
Now that we have understood the atmosphere that prevailed among mystics in relation to the essence of prayer as an erotic event, we can look at a few more Hasidic texts that refer to prayer from this angle. The great devotion and intimacy between the worshiper and the Shekinah is seen as an act of love, that alternates between movement and stillness, speaking and being silent.
In the writings of one of the students of the Magid of Mezritish, Rabbi Mandal of Permislan, it is said:
"Sometimes a person just stands without any movement, because of the increasing sacredness from above [...] and this is a great rule of thumb: sometimes one will stand in prayer and connect to the Creator in silence because of the union (Dvekut), and then later he speaks a bit, and this can repeat several times in one prayer" ( Hanhagot HaZadikim from Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Premichelan, 11)
The words of prayer‘s liturgy were seen by the Hasidic teachers as drops of semen that are splashed during sexual excitement. For this reason, they ordered that the person praying must put all his strength into the words (the "Arks") that he utters:
”When he studies or prays, the ’ark' comes out of him with all his strength, like the drop of seed that comes out of (the power of) all his organs, and his stamina is encapsulated in that drop, in the same way in the ’ark‘ all his stamina shall be encapsulated, as it is said (to Noah) ‘Come, you and all your household, into the ark’" ("Shemua Tova" 56, quoted at Rivka Shatz "Hasidism as mysticism" p. 101).
As in the act of love, in which sometimes extra enthusiasm leads to a rapid flow of movement and sometimes the power of love makes the lovemaking to be very slow and "tantric" — so it is in the act of prayer, as described in the book Tsava'at haRivash, in the name of the Ba‘al Shem Tov :
"Sometimes one can speak the prayer very quickly, because the love of God burns in his heart very much, and the words come out of his mouth by themselves.“ And on the other hand - "the Devekut is that when he says a word, he extends that word a lot, because of the Devekut he doesn't want to separate himself from that word, and therefore extends that word.“
Prayer in the mystical view uses sexual energy and channels it toward the spirit world. This is how we can learn from the explanation given by one of the most profound Hasidic thinkers - Rabbi Zadok HaCohen of Lublin (Poland, late 19th century), to the Talmudic legend about the members of the Great Assembly in the days of the Persian empire, who tried to eliminate the sexual urge from the world, because they thought it was too dangerous, but discovered, to their surprise, that without sexual desire no-one even feels like praying:
"When they eliminated the sexual urge a ‘Bey‘ata bat Yoma’ was not found (literally a fresh egg was not found), but the ancients interpreted the word ’Bey‘ata' as ’prayer‘ (in Aramaic it indeed holds that double meaning) because prayer requires desire and yearning, and the root of that desire is the sexual desire" ("Dover Tzedek" 4).
To summarise: from the mystical approach, prayer must be understood primarily as an act of lovemaking, and not as an appearing in court before a supreme judge. Hence, gestures of speech and silence, whispering and shouting — all are legitimate and can be part of the spontaneous fiery act of love.
In my understanding, this approach has great relevance to people of the current era, jews and non jews alike, who are struggling to find the right connection to the divine. Praying, in my eyes, is crucial to establish a deep connection with the divine, and yet, when I say ”prayer“ I do not mean it in the ways religions boxed it. What I mean comes from the mystical tradition that sees prayer as lovemaking, as pillow talk, as precious moments that are super intimate with the divine. Those moments have no rules, as it is said in Yehoo-Shalem‘s song ”No rules in love, no shape to the flam, nothing is as sweet as a kiss“.
The main thing is that it should be hot with passion, and full with the heart‘s yearning to unite — we come to prayer just as we come to make love, because it is the same.
