Sefer Hasidim, § 1585, p. 387
When a person prays the Shekhinah is facing him, as it says, “I constantly place the Lord before me” (Ps. 16-8). Even though it says “the Lord before me,” he should only cast his intention above to the heavens. Since he does not know where the Temple is he should think in his heart during his prayer as if the glory were facing him within four cubits, and its height is above heavenward… Similarly, the one who reads the Torah on the seventh, second or fifth day, when he reaches a name [of God], if he can have the intention he should [cast his] intention toward Him. The one who sits in the east should consider in his heart as if the Shekhinah were facing west and his face is opposite him… The one who passes before the Ark (ha-‘over lifne ha-teivah, i.e., the one who leads the public prayers)… should intend in his heart as if the Shekhinah in heaven corresponds to the Ark… When [the cantor] says [the qaddish] yitgaddal [we-yitqaddash shemeih rabba’, “magnified and sanctified be His great name”], they should turn toward the Torah scroll, and if he is worthy, he should take hold of the Torah, and the people should intend their heart toward the Torah. Therefore, [the congregation should] say, “Exalt [the Lord our God] and bow down to His footstool” (Ps. 99-5), for the Torah is His footstool. [The expression] hadom raglav [His footstool] is written five times in Scripture corresponding to the Torah scroll which comprises the Pentateuch, and the two staves in the Torah scroll correspond to “His legs are like marble pillars” (Cant. 5-15).
Translated by Elliot Wolfson in Through a Speculum that Shines- Vision and Imagination in Medieval Jewish Mysticism, Princeton- Princeton University Press, 1994.
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