Zohar Shlach Lecha Section 1 - Send You Men

It is recommended that one reads / studies the section prior to reading the Synopsis.

Zohar Commentary on the Parasha SHLACH LECHA

SYNOPSIS:

Rabbi Chiya says that when the sun begins to set, the energy of the sun, Zeir Anpin, is less powerful, and that is when the left dominates and judgments pertain. At that time one must pray.

Pasook 1. from the Zohar Commentary on Parasha Shlach Lecha

וַיְדַבֵּר יְיָ' אֶל מֹשֶׁה לֵאמֹר, שְׁלַח לְךָ אֲנָשִׁים וְיָתוּרוּ אֶת אֶרֶץ כְּנַעַן וְגוֹ'. רִבִּי חִיָּיא פָּתַח, הֲמִיָּמֶיךָ צִוִּיתָ בֹּקֶר יִדַּעְתָּ הַשַּׁחַר מְקוֹמוֹ. שַׁחַר כְּתִיב, הֵ"א אִתְרַחֲקָא מִשַּׁחַר. מ"ט. אֶלָּא א"ר חִיָּיא, בְּשַׁעֲתָא דְּנָטֵי עֵרֶב, וְשִׁמְּשָׁא נָטֵי לְמֵיעַל, כְּדֵין אִתְחֲלָשׁ תּוּקְפֵּיהּ, כְּדֵין שַׁלְטָא שְׂמָאלָא, וּמִשְׁתְּכַח דִּינָא בְּעָלְמָא, וְאִתְפָּשַּׁט. וּכְדֵין בָּעֵי ב"נ לְצַלָּאָה, וּלְכַוְּנָא רְעוּתָא קַמֵּי מָארֵיהּ.

"And Hashem spoke to Moses, saying, 'Send you men, that they may spy out the land of Canaan...'" (Bemidbar 13:1). Rabbi Chiya opened the discussion saying, "Have you commanded the morning since your days began; and caused dayspring to know its place" (Iyov 38:12). It is written "dayspring" WITHOUT THE HEI (DEFINITE ARTICLE). Hei has been far from dawn. What is the reason? Rabbi Chiya said: When the evening shadows lengthen and the sun ... THAT IS, ZEIR ANPIN ... begins to set, MEANING AFTER MIDDAY, the strength OF THE SUN is less powerful, WHICH IS ZEIR ANPIN. This is when the left rules and Judgment prevails and spreads over the world. Then a person is required to pray and direct his desire to his Master.

chanoch's Commentary

This is important for us to notice and realize. The Zohar uses the term required. The Zohar almost never uses the term "required". Using the idea of a strong word like "required" is for emphasis. Why is the Zohar stressing the idea of prayer in the afternoon.? We are being taught to pray which means make a connection to the Creator as soon after solar noon as possible. Most people think to pray means the Amidah. The Amidah is a meditative tool in addition to being prayers and requests. Actually prayer means a connection to the Creator. Why do we need to do this right after the solar noon hour? The influence of Gevurah is extremely powerful on us and overwhelms our nature of loving. The only antidote / vaccine to this is OUR CONNECTION TO THE CREATOR. As soon as the energy of Gevurah begins to manifest (which is hinted to us by the fact the sun has reached its zenith and begun to decline) we need to connect to the Creator so that we are not overwhelmed by the energy of Gevurah.

The Sages tell us that there are two beneficial times for this connection each day. Once is right after the sun begins to decline (immediately after solar noon) and the other is as close to sunset as possible. This Machlochet (argument for the sake of revealing Wisdom and Truth) is based on many different explanations. One is a physical one - people work at their jobs or businesses during the afternoon and thus they would prefer to pray just before the end of the day. The spiritual reason for connecting at the end of the day is related to the idea that the energy of Gevurah is overcoming the energy of Mercy at this moment and we need the connection most at that moment. The reason for the "immediately after noon" argument is that we need the energy early in the day so we do not fall before we make the connection. The choice of timing is yours. The need to make this connection is NOT TRULY A CHOICE. If we do not make the connection then the negative system wins by default. We just can not overcome the negative system without this afternoon connection.

My personal connection is not the Amidah. This is because, in our society, we do not have the time to say it properly, with the proper Kavenah or intention. My connection is to say the Names of the Tetragramaton in the 12 permutations. If i have time i connect the permutations to the Hebrew Months and the Names of the Tribes. This can be done literally in less than a minute. i refer to this as the minute prayer.