In chapter I, I analyzed accounts of the devotee's transformation by focusing on the motif of the Sabbath-soul. (See pp. 121-36.) At the same time, I noted that some Kabbalists (e.g., Baḥyya ben Asher) virtually ignored this rich motif and/or developed alternate imagery to articulate the momentous changes which they experienced on this day. Here I shall briefly limn three of the these additional motifs:

(1) Transformation through reception of shefa˓ from on high. Shabbat, it has been shown, is a day of overflowing divine blessing, its bounty sustaining the entire week. The devotee is able to internalize this bounty through:

(a) Devequt, mystically ascending and cleaving unto the divine Source. E.g.:

(b) Through making oneself into a receptacle for the descending divine energy. Consider the following where the shefa˓ is imaged as light:

Frequently it is the ordinary soul that serves as the receptacle for the divine outflow. According to Bałyya ben Asher, each Shabbat, Yesod, the supernal Sabbath, pours blessing into the devotee's soul. The soul ceases being a stranger, a wanderer on earth. Infused with Shabbat, it (and by extension, the Jew) comes home; the weeklong spiritual Exile is overcome. (See p. 125 for details.) Judah ḥayyaṭ (to Ma˓arekhet ha-'Elohut 73b) fashioned a more elaborate scenario, speaking of the triune soul's progressive enrichment during the sacramental meals. Following a common symbolic pattern, the three meals are said to correspond to Diadem, Tiferet, and Keter, respectively. Each of these meals/rungs nourishes a different aspect of soul. The third meal, e.g., corresponds to Keter, which provides the week's supply of shefa˓ for the neshamah, the loftiest pneumatic aspect: