莱赫·莱查·佐哈尔 14

1and at the hour of midnight the Holy One, blessed be He, comes to the Garden of Eden to disport Himself with them. With which of them? R. Jose said, with all: both with those whose abode is in the other world and with those who are still in their dwellings in this world-with all of them God disports Himself at midnight.

2For the world on high requires to be stirred by the impulse of the lower world, and so when the souls of the righteous leave this world and mount on high, they all clothe themselves with a supernal light, with a resplendent figure, and God disports Himself with them and delights in them, since they are the fruit of His handiwork, and for this reason Israel who are possessed of holy souls are called sons to the Holy One, blessed be He, as it is written, “Ye are sons to the Lord your God” (Deut. 14, 1), that is, the fruit of His handiwork.’

3Said R. Yesa, ‘You say that God disports Himself also with the souls in this world: how is this?’ He answered, ‘At midnight all the truly righteous arise to read the Torah and to sing psalms, and we have learnt that the Holy One, blessed be He, and all the righteous in the Garden of Eden listen to their voices, and in consequence a certain grace is imparted to them by day; so it is written, “The Lord will command his grace in the day-time, and in the night his song shall be with me” (Ps. 42, 9).

4Hence it is that the praises which are sung at night constitute the most perfect praise. So when God was slaying the first-born in Egypt, the Israelites in their houses were singing praises and psalms to Him.

5See now, King David too used to get up in the middle of the night, as it is written, “At midnight I will rise to give thanks to thee” (Ps. 119, 62). He did not remain sitting or lying in his bed, but he literally rose and stood up to compose psalms and praises.

6Therefore it is that King David lives for ever, and even in the days of the King Messiah he will be king, according to the dictum: “If the King Messiah will be from the living, David will be his name, and if he will be from the dead, David will be his name.”