Zohar 2:138b

Jewish Mysticism
It is written, “And you, oh God, do not withdraw; my strength, hasten to my aid” (Ps. 22-20). King David said this when he was adorning and arranging the praises of the King, in order to combine the sun in the moon. When he was adorning and ordering his praises to combine, he said, “And you, oh God, do not withdraw…” “And you, oh God,” the mystery of the combination as one without separation. “Do not withdraw.” Once she ascends to be crowned in her husband and everything in the supernal world, and from there she must ascend to ein sof and to be connected in all above, above, because of this [it says] “do not withdraw,” to ascend from us and leave us. Because of this, in the order of prayers Israel asks to be encompassed there and to cleave to Him from below, so that if the glory desires to ascend, Israel below will be united in Him, grasping Him, so that He will not leave them and withdraw from them. This is why prayer is in a whisper, like one who speaks privately with a king. While he is secretly with the king, he does not withdraw from him at all. “My strength (eyaluti).” Just as a deer or hart, when it hears something, withdraws, and then returns to that place that it left, so too, the Holy One, blessed be He, even though He ascends above, above, in ein sof, He returns immediately to His place. Why is this? Because Israel below is united in Him, and they do not abandon Him, to be removed from Him, and of this [it is said] “my strength, hasten to my aid.” Because of this we must unite in Him, in the Holy One, blessed be He, and to unite in Him as one who is drawing something down from above to below, so that man will not be removed from Him even for one hour. This is why one must connect redemption to prayer. One must unite in Him and speak with Him in a whisper privately, so that He will not withdraw from us and He will not leave us, and of this it is written, “And you who cleave to God your Lord, you are all living this day” (Deut. 4-4). “Happy is the people for whom such this is, happy is the people for whom God is their Lord” (Ps. 144-15).

Translated by Hartley Lachter