From the Song of Yehuda Al Harizi
"I have hoped with His hope.
O Master of the House
Here I am
Do with me whatever you wish"
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HEGYON HA LEV COMMENTARY
I have hoped with His hope.
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Any expectation we might have of intimacy with G-d; any expectation we may have of making progress is dependent upon His Gift. If He had not placed the desire for union with Him inside one’s soul, no such desire would exist. This is the dynamic of the hadith an-nawafil, for G-d becomes the hasid’s ‘hearing with which he shall hear, and the sight with which he shall see’.
Lord of the House, do with me whatever you wish. Here I am!
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The Judeo Arabic word for Lord/Master in this poem is "rabb". In Sufism, the term “rabb” often denotes 'the root cause' of a thing. G-d is the only Cause—the only true Sovereign: both of the house which is the receptive soul of the salik (seeker) and of the “house” which is the congregation of each Tariqa. He is the Melech HaOlamim: the ruler of all worlds, whose reign we have just proclaimed on Rosh HaShana.
If the “House” is the “Eidah” of a tariqa meeting for prayer, then we ask the Mighty One to guard— as the apple of the eye— those who declare his unity, asking that He guide his congregation as they are engaged in hazkara-dhikr. (Na gibor dorshei yehudcha kavavat shomreim, Yachid geih lamcha pnei zochrei kedushatecha).
The prayer of the poet expresses the utmost submission to the Divine will, without any thought of reward or punishment.
In this expectant act of prayer,one simply stands before the Divine Throne in receptive contemplation and declares: ‘Hineini’: ‘Here I am, at your service’ in the manner of a humble servant or an obedient soldier.
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Wishing all the friends of Tariqa Eliyahu who visit this page a "Good Shabbat of All Shabbatot" this Yom Kippur.
Gmar Hatima Tova.
Nachman Davies
Safed
October 10 2024