(In memory of Chaim Barukh Yehudah ben Dovid Tzvi zl; Shabbos night, 3 of 10)
Don’t Say It!
Sometimes we honor the Shekhinah by what we don’t say. The start of Maariv Shabbos night is one of those times. Our words are powerful, more powerful than we are aware of. The sacred Zohar teaches:
The holy people may not begin honoring the Shekhinah by reciting a verse that alludes to the forces of judgment. For example, “He [God] is compassionate. He atones crime and does not destroy; He abundantly returns His wrath and does not arouse all His fury” (Tehillim 78:38). After all, the Shekhinah has detached herself from all the troublemakers and violence mongers. They have all fled from her, gone to hide in the Sinkhole.
Anyone who wakes them down here by reciting such a verse, awakes them Above. Then she who is the Holy Throne cannot wear the crown of Sacred. Whenever those violence mongers awake, though they hid before in the Sinkhole, they now venture forth, returning to their weekday venues. They crowd sacred spaces and holy places, stealing Shabbat tranquility.
But it’s not only this. We, the holy Jewish people, jumpstart what happens in Heaven. When we sanctify time in our world—we determine when the new month begins—in Heaven they open the sluice and the holiness roars forth.
So we must be careful on Shabbos! Crowned with that extra sacred soul to arouse tranquility, we must not say the wrong thing, even if it’s from the Torah. We need to be affable and loving, outside and in.
Zohar 2:135b
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