However, the aspect of ‘Yehuda,’ which is the idea of ‘humble submission and gratitude,’ this aspect enables the person to actually “lose himself” and become part of the Infinite Light of Hashem that “Encompasses all Worlds.”
When a private person works hard to become a soldier in an army, he “loses” his previous identity as a private individual, and now becomes part of something much greater than himself. Similarly, when a Jew works hard to dedicate himself to Hashem with humility, submission, and total devotion, he “loses” his previous identity as being “just a person” and now is part of Hashem’s “army” and a vital part of how Hashem’s bigger picture is coming to fruition. He represents not just a limited Light that is revealed in the created worlds. He now represents Hashem Himself as He encompasses and transcends all worlds. In that sense, it elevates the person to a much deeper connection to Hashem than through love, fear, or even Torah study.
This aspect is expressed in the Shemona Esrai prayer, when we bow down to Hashem.
Bowing down shows complete submission and negation of all ego. This shows on a level of total selfless devotion to Hashem Himself, who Encompasses and Transcends all worlds.
The culmination of the prayer service is to reach Shemona Esrai. After the service of Reuven, Shimon, and Levi in the Shema and its blessings before and after, we can reach the level of ‘Yehuda,’ which is ‘humble submission and gratitude,’ to Hashem in Shemona Esrai.
Prayer in Silence: The Whisper of Shemona Esrai
This is why “the Prayer” of Shemona Esrai is recited quietly in a whisper, since it is a connection to Hashem as He “Encompasses all Worlds,” above and beyond the limitations of Hishtalshelus (the spiritual hierarchy of the worlds of Beriah, Yetzirah, and Asiyah),
And it is not at all in the category of a Light that can be drawn down and given over below into revelation in the created worlds, and one cannot connect to Hashem on that level in any manner of love, one can only connect to Hashem on that level with absolute submission and negation of ego.
This is the idea of a person actually giving over himself over to his Father in Heaven, so that he literally feels like absolutely nothing (having his own independent significance before Hashem), and this is what the idea of bowing in Shemona Esrai expresses, it is like one who bows before their king, that he completely humbles himself before his king.
However, for this level of ‘Yehuda,’ which is ‘humble submission and gratitude,’ to be directly experienced in a manner of “you,”
