He Desires Kindness: Becoming a Vessel to Receive

146The holy Arizal, in his kavanos, the mystical intentions he set for each night, assigned to this night the attribute rav chessed, “abundant in kindness.” Among the thirteen attributes in Michah, it is the attribute “for He desires kindness.”¹ That is, a person must strive to be a fit vessel to receive the flow of all good from the One abundant in kindness. For in this way he removes and eases, as it were, the pain of the wings of the Shechinah, Hashem's Presence, for she is like a nursing mother. As Chazal say, “More than the calf wants to suck, the cow wants to suckle.”² We know that if a baby does not nurse from its mother, she suffers greatly from the abundance of milk. For this too he will be privileged to receive a good reward.