The Arousal to Prayer: Marc Gafni: Part One

The Baal Shem Tov, 18th century founder of the Hebrew mystical movement called Hassidism, writes that the ecstatic swaying motion which is characteristic of Hebrew prayer is the swaying and rocking of the couple in lovemaking.

Rabbi Isaac Luria writes that when one prays he must be aroused and become the feminine waters of the Shekhina

Rabbi Isaac Luria writes that when one prays he must be aroused and become the feminine waters of the Shechina.

Again the requirement is not for men or women to be sexually aroused when they pray- that would be a clear mis- understanding of the intention- rather that all four qualities of the erotic modeled in the sexual, fullness of presence, interiority, interconnectivity and yearning find expression in prayer. That the word eros should be only associated with the sexual it is itself an expression of the exile of the Shekinah. It’s about eros, not sex! Prayer is erotic.

marc gafni
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