The Hidden Meaning of the Ketoret According to the Zohar HaKadosh

The Hidden Meaning of the Ketoret According to the Zohar HaKadosh

In order to pray the prayer of Pitum HaKetoret with kavanah, one must understand the inner meaning of the Ketoret. The Zohar HaKadosh says. See, all those people who are pursued by judgments must repent before the L-rd, and they need this incense, because the incense helps banish judgments. And if a person has the practice of reciting this passage about the incense twice a day—morning and evening—as it is written: “the incense offering each morning, each morning”…—then judgments depart from him. And it is written: “He shall burn it toward evening”. And this continually serves to bring about peace, as it is said: “a continual incense offering before the Most High throughout your generations”. Certainly, this brings about peace below and brings about peace above. In those places where the passage about the incense is not remembered and recited every day, supernal judgments and many illnesses are present; and the power of the other nations is strengthened, because it is written: “a continual incense offering before the Most High”. The incense always appears before the Most High—more than all the other services. The service of the incense is beloved and more precious before the Most High than all the services and desires in the world. And although prayer is considered the most important, the service of the incense is even more precious and significant in the eyes of the Most High. The Zohar says. See, what is the difference between prayer and the incense? Prayer was established in place of the sacrifices offered by the Jewish people. Yet the incense is more important than all the sacrifices. Prayer rectifies what is necessary, while the incense has a more powerful effect, because it both rectifies and “ties the knots”—that is, it brings about unity and reveals the greatest Light. How exactly? The incense removes inner impurity and purifies the Mishkan, and everything begins to shine; everything is rectified and bound together. It is necessary to perform the service of the Ketoret every day before prayer, in order to remove inner impurity from the world. For the Ketoret is the rectification of everything, every day, like a sacrifice that is desired and beloved by the heart of the Most High. It is written about Moshe Rabbeinu: “And the Most High said to Moshe: Take for yourself incense”. The Zohar asks. What is the significance of the phrase in the Torah that says “take for yourself”? And it answers. This means—for your pleasure and for your benefit—for when a woman is purified, her husband takes pleasure in it. The incense purifies the Mishkan (Malchut—the Bride of Moshe). And since Moshe was a chariot for Zeir Anpin, herein lies the secret of “take for yourself incense”: to remove inner impurity so that the Woman (Malchut) may be sanctified by her husband (Zeir Anpin). Fortunate is the portion of Moshe. (Zohar HaKadosh on Vayakhel, translated by Rabbi Tzvi Nisonzon)