Kabbalah & The Lord’s Prayer

The Lord’s Prayer is the one prayer Jesus taught to his disciples – and that was  only at their request. (Matthew 6: 9-13) It is just 10 lines long…but it is  incredibly dense. Arguably, it is an entire ‘theology in a can’. 

Somewhat later, date uncertain, a spiritual practice known as Kabbalah  developed within the Jewish community. Intriguingly, Kabbalah consists of 10  sefirot, 10 rungs of the spiritual ladder. Like the angels in Jacob’s dream, we  move up and down these rungs as we grow (spiritually not circumferentially). 

It is not my intent to ‘reduce’ either one of these powerful traditions to the  other. Rather, I would point to what I call Spiritual Attractors, insights  developed independently but now held in common across multiple traditions.  In my view, the Christian Lord’s Prayer and the Jewish Kabbalah point to a  shared Spiritual Attractor.  

To illustrate my point and as a guide to spiritual practice across  denominations, I have mapped the two traditions side by side: 

“Our father” 

(Keter: Crown) 

This is the opening of the Lord’s prayer, and it establishes God/YHWH as our personal creator. Christians sometimes refer to God as their personal savior, but that has a flip side: YHWH is also our ‘personal creator’, experienced by each of us, shared by all of us. “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” (Exodus 3: 6) 

Our creator is also our father. As creator, God establishes the conditions necessary for existence per se; he is the ground of our being. But as father, God enters into a personal relationship with each of us.

“Who art in heaven” 

(Hochmah: Wisdom) 

In both traditions, the first manifestation of God is Wisdom (Hochmah): Sophia in the Old Testament, Logos (order) in the New. Here we learn that our father is transcendent (“in heaven”) …and therefore omniscient and eternal. 

“Hallowed be thy name” 

(Binah: Understanding) 

Name is a bridge between subject and object. The slang term, handle, is apt. In Kabbalah that function is performed by Binah (Understanding), the first interface of the divine with the mundane. If wisdom is focused on Godhead, understanding is directed at the World. 

“Thy kingdom come” 

(Tiferet: Beauty) 

Beauty might be defined as ‘the harmony of contrasts and the unity of  harmonies’; that is the Kingdom of God - where “the leopard lies down with  the goat.” (Isaiah 11: 6) 

“Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” 

(Gevurah: Strength) 

God projects his will into the World with “a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.” (Deut. 26: 8) 

“Give us this day our daily bread” 

(Hesed: Love) 

Feeding the hungry is first among the 7 Corporal Works of Mercy. Here it is meant to represent all seven. “Our daily (or necessary) bread” refers to everything we need to survive and prosper. Service to others is how we show love, how we care: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Leviticus 19: 18)

“Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us”

(Hod: Splendor) 

Forgiving others is one of the 7 Spiritual Works of Mercy. Again, this phrase is meant to incorporate the other six. This is how we care for others and how God cares for us. 

In the pre-Socratic tradition, the mutual granting of ‘reck’ (Anaximander/Heidegger) is the driver of ontogenesis. It is related to God’s primal creative ‘act’: Let there be light; it is the ancient equivalent of Big Bang. Hence, splendor. 

“Lead us not into temptation” 

(Netzach: Victory) 

We are tempted to worship idols, sometimes literally, sometimes figuratively. The Seven Deadly Sins are the underside of the 7 Corporal and 7 Spiritual Works of Mercy (above). Lust, gluttony, greed, et al. tempt us to worship material things in preference to God. 

“The wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6: 23) Therefore, our liberation from sin (via forgiveness, above) is our Victory…and God’s – our triumph over mortality itself: “O death, where is your victory?”

(I Cor. 15: 55 & Hosea 13:14) 

“Deliver us from evil” 

(Yesod: Foundation) 

This penultimate phrase summarizes the entire prayer and leads naturally to the final affirmation (below). This what David asked for in Psalms and what we ask of God every day in prayer. Conversely, the argument most often advanced by those who reject the Judeo-Christian world view (e.g. Bertrand Russell) is based on God’s alleged failure to fulfill the promise implied in this verse. 

“Amen!” 

(Malkhut: Kingdom)

With one word we affirm all that has gone before and we commit ourselves, and therefore the World (Kant), to its realization as the Kingdom of God on earth, the ‘new Jerusalem’ (Revelation). 

The Amen at the end of the Lord’s Prayer is equivalent to the I do in a marriage ceremony. It acts as a renewal of our vows and it represents a renewal of God’s Covenant with the World. Why else “are there so many songs about rainbows?” (Genesis 9: 8-17 and Kermit the Frog) 

As mentioned above, the 10 verses of the Lord’s prayer and the 10 rungs of Kabbalah are congruent…and mutually enriching. This suggests the possibility of a new set of ‘spiritual exercises’, in the tradition of Ignatius of Loyola, that could be practiced by Christians and Jews alike: 

Mediate on each of the 10 sefirot in sequence…at different times each day or  on successive days in a 10 day cycle.  

The personal rewards may be immense, and the joint practice could make a  major contribution toward the ecumenical reconciliation of these two rich  spiritual traditions. Give it a try!

Image: Untitled. Wallace Berman. American. 1967–68. Working with a Kodak Verifax copier, Wallace Berman assembled collages centered on a hand holding a transistor radio, its blank dial overlaid with mass-media icons—a rabbit’s foot, a stopwatch, and more. By merging photocopy, radio, and print, he forged a jittery mosaic of cultural noise, yet the tiny painted Hebrew letters—his homage to mystical Kabbalah—thread spiritual resonance through the static.