Also called the name Mem-Bet – meaning the name of 42 letters, one of the holy names of the Creator.
The Ana Bekoach prayer is said along with reciting Shema in bed (before the ascension of the soul to the quarry of the souls, according to the Zohar writings), during Kabbalat Shabbat (welcoming the Shabbat), before the psalm ‘Lecha Dodi’, during a funeral, and after the counting of the Omer.
It originated in the Middle Ages and is associated with the Kabbalistic Tanna Rabbi Nachonia ben Hakaneh. Kabbalists knew that there would come times when we would lose our spirituality and connection to the source, so we received the gift of the Ana BeKoach – an ancient tool, a secret code, that connects us to the frequency, the channel of energy flow and the overcoming of obstacles.
The Ana Bekoach blessing is divided into 7 verses, with the first letters of each word being important in each verse, which together, build a combination of 7 sequences, each with 6 letters (for a total of 42 letters).
אָנָּא בְּכֹחַ גְּדֻלַּת יְמִינֶךָ תַּתִּיר צְרוּרָה
ַקבֵּל רִנַּת עַמֶּךָ שַׂגְּבֵנוּ טַהֲרֵנוּ נוֹרָא
נָא גִבּוֹר דּוֹרְשֵׁי יִחוּדֶךָ כְּבָבַת שָׁמְרֵם
בָּרְכֵם טַהֲרֵם רַחֲמֵי צִדְקָתֶךָ תָּמִיד גָּמְלֵם
חֲסִין קָדוֹשׁ בְּרוֹב טוּבְךָ נַהֵל עֲדָתֶךָ
יָחִיד גֵּאֶה לְעַמְּךָ פְּנֵה זוֹכְרֵי קְדֻשָּׁתֶךָ
שַׁוְעָתֵנוּ קַבֵּל וּשְׁמַע צַעֲקָתֵנוּ יוֹדֵעַ תַּעֲלוּמוֹת
And the English translation:
Please, by the great power of thy right hand, O set the captive free;
Revered G-d, accept thy people’s prayer; strengthen us, cleanse us;
Almighty G-d, guard us as the apple of the eye of those who seek thee;
Bless them, cleanse them, pity them; ever grant them thy truth;
Mighty, holy G-d, in thy abundant grace, guide thy people;
Accept our prayer, hear our cry, thou who knowest secret thoughts;
Blessed be the name of his glorious majesty forever and ever;
(translation by Philip (Paltiel) Birnbaum, Ha-Siddur Ha-Shalem, New York: Hebrew Publishing Co., 1949, pg 33-4)
A verse is added to the prayer “Blessed be the name of his glorious majesty forever and ever”, it is customary to whisper it, and it invokes the manifestation of the prayer.
The beauty of this prayer in my eyes, is that it is accessible even to those unfamiliar with the secrets of Kabbalah. You can read the words as they are – and direct your thoughts and prayers through the words as you understand them, or through the understanding of the secret of the code.
The prayer helps us ascend to a higher dimension and attract light, ideally the prayer and the meditation is carried out in the morning upon awakening, but it can also be done at any time, especially when we encounter difficulty, obstacles, or just realize we need to make a change (did someone say Corona?).
According to the Kabbalists, with the help of meditation in the name of Mem-Bet, we can return to the perfect reality from which we came, overcome obstacles and negative awareness that distracts us from the purpose of our lives, and help us create a perfect reality here in our world.
You can read the lines, you can meditate on them (enter a state of relaxation while sitting / lying down and imagine the letters / the entire verse, you can imagine the letters illuminated, or imagine the reality you want).
You can listen to the song through YouTube and sing the words. I like to write the prayer lines, play with the letters in color and scribbles. Each can use the method that works best for him.
אנא בכח גדולת ימינך תתיר צרורה – ספירת חסד
אבג יתצ
Please, by the great power of thy right hand, O set the captive free; Sunday
The word Ana – indicates supplications to God. Your greatness will remove the trouble, the ropes that the people are bound in.
The first line evokes loving freely; an energy of giving and receiving.
It is above time and space, and diffuses light to all human beings.
Through this combination we gain the power to overcome negativity, and move towards the realization of our aspirations.
קבל רינת עמך שגבנו טהרנו נורא – ספירת גבורה
קרע שטן
Revered G-d, accept thy people’s prayer; strengthen us, cleanse us; Monday
Receive your people, the prayers and songs. God is called to purify the people, return them to a sublime state and prepare them for redemption.
It can be interpreted literally – to tear the devil off us, after all it is our ego, the desire to receive for ourselves, the reactive element that exists in all of us, a desire to satisfy our lust.
The second line raises the screen of the ego, we must first identify the egocentric traits we have within us that we want to eliminate, and be filled with the understanding that we have the ability to change and achieve whatever we want.
נא גיבור דורשי ייחודך כבבת שמרם – ספירת תפארת
נגד יכש
Almighty G-d, guard us as the apple of the eye of those who seek thee; Tuesday
God is called to protect the people who had set him apart from all others (Hear, O Israel, ‘our God, the Lord’).
נגד (nun-gimel-daled) “neged” – The combination in gematria is equal to the word “zen”. Opens the door to spiritual and material prosperity.
יכש (yud-chaf-shin) “yachash” – The power of the letters to return every cell in our body to its embryonic state, to purify and cleanse it. From a connection to the act of real giving – aging stops.
ברכם טהרם רחמי צדקתך תמיד גומלם – ספירת נצח
בטר צתג
Bless them, cleanse them, pity them; ever grant them thy truth; Wednesday
God is called to bless the people, to have mercy on them, and to show them a degree of justice and righteousness, and to repay them with goodness and bounty.
The power of perseverance and overcoming.
This combination gives us the strength to persevere, despite the illusion that we are standing still. As we grow and develop – the challenges also grow and sometimes it seems to us that we are “not progressing”, this combination gives us the strength to persevere and continue our path, remembering that the “low” point we face today is the “highest” point on the previous scale we climbed.
חסין קדוש ברוב טובך נהל עדתך – ספירת הוד
חקב טנע
Mighty, holy G-d, in thy abundant grace, guide thy people; Thursday
The Holy God is called to lead and guide his people
The fifth line influences us to act wisely in any situation.
This is vision beyond physical vision. This combination allows us to see the seed we have sown that has led to the reality we live in today; the connection to the law of cause and effect. Planting a good seed today – will lead to the good that will come later – “enlightened greed”.
The fifth line shows us the empty spaces in our lives, that, once we have identified them, we can strive to fill them with light.
יחיד גאה לעמך פנה זוכרי קדושתך – ספירת יסוד
יגל פזק
Mighty, holy G-d, in thy abundant grace, guide thy people; Friday
A call to God to turn to his people, to listen to their prayers. God’s commitment of His people, who remember his holiness – the uniqueness of the Creator is recited every day in prayer to Him.
