Palate and Throat: Crying Out After Tasting

172In his kavanos, the inner intentions of the mitzvos, the holy Arizal set that on Zos Chanukah the attributes from Notzer chessed, “He preserves kindness,” to v'Nakeh, “and He cleanses,” are revealed.¹ As is known, they are the secret of the upper mazal and the lower mazal, two sources of blessing on high, and they correspond to the palate and the throat, as in the verse “And the palate tastes food.”² That is: even one who comes to rise to the highest level, who feels and tastes with his palate the sweet delight of the precious lights, must still live out “Cry out with your throat, do not hold back; raise your voice like a shofar.”³ Then the Holy One, blessed be He, helps him, and he will rise from level to level, up to the levels of the holy Avos. This is “Prepare yourself in the antechamber.”⁴ While you still stand at the gate, in the antechamber, tasting with the palate, cry out to Hashem with your throat and pour out your heart before Him, so that you may be worthy to enter the banquet hall, and the lights will surround you on every side as an ohr makif, a surrounding light.