“Elohim Al Dami Lakh (O Lord, do not hold Yourself silent); be neither deaf nor still, O El (Omnipotent One).” (Psalms 83:2)

The matter is as follows: It is known that there is a place on high called “ELDaD and MeIDaD” from which bounty descends to the world. For the two letters E -L are DaD (a breast), and the two letters M-I are DaD (as is brought in Likutey Torah, Behaalotekha, p.208). The bounty itself is called heh, as it is written (Genesis 47:3), “Heh (Here) you have seed.” The Name Elohim is thus completed in full.

However, there are times when, due to our many transgressions, the bounty departs. The heh then becomes a DaLeT, in the sense of “D’ LeT lah (She has no) [light] of her own at all” (Zohar I, 132b). Then each Jew must act quickly to turn the dalet back to a heh.

How do we turn the dalet into a heh? The matter is as follows: Behold, it is written (Psalms 60:9), “Gilead is mine, and Menasheh is mine; Ephraim is the stronghold of my head; Yehudah my rulers.” This is the explanation: Prior to the creation of the world, the Blessed One delighted in and adorned Himself with Israel’s prayers and the good deeds of the righteous. He foresaw that there would be tzaddikim who, by virtue of their good deeds, would rule through their prayers and accomplish whatever they want to, in accordance with: “The tzaddik rules with the fear of God” (2 Samuel 23:3) .

Now, every Jew can attain this level of achieving mastery through his prayer. However, there are two obstacles. The first precedes the prayer. It is when a person approaches prayer with pride—that he is of distinguished ancestry, or because he toils and struggles in the service of the Creator. On account of this it is impossible for his prayers to achieve mastery. Rather, he has to forget all this. It should seem to him as if he was created today and that he is the only one in the world.

{“Yosef called the name of the fir st -born Menasheh, for God has made me forget all my toils and all my father’s house. And the name of the second he called Ehpraim, for God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction” (Genesis 41:51-52). } This is the meaning of MeNaSheh, it connotes unawareness and forgetfulness. This is as it is written, “for God NaShani (has made me forget)… all my father’s house”—namely, ancestry—and “all my toils”—that he toiled in serving God.

The second obstacle is in the midst of prayer, when, because of earlier willful transgressions or intentional improper thoughts, he is beset by foreign thoughts while praying. As previously, on account of these foreign thoughts it is impossible to achieve mastery through his prayer. He must therefore break the foreign thoughts through the holy thoughts associated with prayer. Through this, his willful transgressions—that is, the foreign thoughts—are accounted for him as merits.

And this is the meaning of EPhRaIm, as it is written (Genesis 41:52), “for God hiPhRanI (has made me fruitful) in the land of my affliction.” The explanation is: By means of the holy thoughts, that which previously was afflicted—i.e., desolate and parched—is accounted for him as merits.

Thus when a person prays with these two aspects—the aforementioned Menasheh and Ephraim—he surely acquires humility and humbleness. And this humility engenders fear, as it is written (Proverbs 22:4), “Humility results in the fear of God.” Consequently, he prays also with fear.

And fear is identified with malkhut, as our Sages, of blessed memory, said: “Were it not for the fear of the malkhut (government)…” (Avot 3:2). Thus it is that the prayer contains the quality of fear, and a prayer such as this has the aspect of mastery.

This is also the delight of the Blessed One, through which the Will of the Creator is fulfilled. Certainly, if at the beginning, when this delight did not exist—God merely foresaw that in the distant future there would be tzaddikim who would pray in this manner—He delighted in this and created the world through the Ten Utterances (Avot 5:1), all the more so at present, when this delight exists, the Blessed One renews His world with the Ten Utterances, as it is written (Morning Liturgy), “In His goodness He renews daily, always, the work of Creation.”

This is the explanation of the verse: {“Gilead is mine, and Menasheh is mine; Ephraim is the st ronghold of my head; Yehudah my rulers.”}

**GiLEaD is mine…—**This connotes GaL EiD: that God’s delight nitGaLeh (was revealed) prior to the creation of the world; she-E’Dein (that He delighted in) and adorned Himself with the prayer of the righteous, when it would contain the two aspects, Menasheh and Ephraim, as explained above.

**the st ronghold of my head—**That is, he should strengthen the holy thoughts.

YehuDaH — Namely, prayer, as it is written (Genesis 29:35), “This time, oDeH (I will gratefully praise)”;

**my rulers—**Rashi explains: this connotes rulership and malkhut. In other words, the prayer achieves mastery, so that the aforementioned delight is revealed and He renews His world with the Ten Utterances, as mentioned above.

These Ten Utterances are a yod. Yod and the aforementioned dalet form a heh. {“For I said: The world is built on lovingkindness” (Psalms 89:3).}

And the Ten Utterances are derived from lovingkindness. As [the verse] states: “For I said”—namely, the Utterances—“The world is built on lovingkindness.” And “lovingkindness” is synonymous with El (Omnipotent One), as in (Psalms 52:3), “The lovingkindness of El lasts throughout the day.”

2. And this is the explanation of the [opening] verse: {“Elohim (O Lord), al dami lakh (do not hold Yourself silent); be neither deaf nor st ill, O El (Omnipotent One).”}

**ELoHIM, AL DaMI LaKh—**In other words: When you see that the Name ÆLoHIM has become the letters AL DaMI—i.e., the Heh has become a Dalet— I say LeKha (to you)…

**be neither deaf nor st ill, O El—**that you should employ prayer which has the aforementioned two aspects to awaken the aspect of “El,” thereby turning the dalet back into a heh .

Then, E-L becomes DaD, and M-I becomes DaD .

And Heh is the bounty. This is because the numerical value of the three formations of the heh together with the two composite factors is [the same as] ChaLaV (milk), as is known to those initiated in the esoteric teachings.