The Supernal Outflow that Gives and Maintains Life

Rabbi Chayim of Volozhin (1749-1821) wrote as follows about the continual existence of the creation:

"... Hashem's ways are not like man's. For example; when a person builds a house out of wood, he does not create or invent [the wood] by himself. ..he takes ready-made trees and shapes them into a house. After he has arranged them as he planned, the house remains standing, even without his support.  However, just as Hashem originally created the world ex nihilo, using His infinite power. .. so too, since that very beginning, the order and existence [of creation] depends solely on His continuous, willfu1 input, which bestows it with new light ("energy") and strength, each moment of every day.  If Hashem were to withdraw that energy and influence for even a single instant, the world would immediately plunge into chaos and nothingness.  The Men of the Great Assembly, in formulating the daily prayers, put it this way: "...in His goodness, He renews daily, perpetually, the work of creation."  That is, always, at every moment, as it is said: "To Him that makes the great lights, for His mercy endures forever" (Psalms 136:7). The text states "who makes" and not "who made." (Nefesh Ha Chayim, Gate 1, Chapter 2).  This concept is explained further, in the notes to this chapter of Nefesh HaChayim.  Kabba1ah teaches that the letters of the Hebrew alphabet are the tools with which Hashem created the world.  The four letters of the Tetragrammaton are the basis of the creation.  By rearranging these letters and substituting alternative vowels, 1080 different permutations can be formed, which correspond to 1080 parts of an hour. Now, each day has its own permutation, as does each hour, and within each hour, there are 1080 permutations that Hashem continually generates.  These automatically energize and sustain the world's existence for that fraction of time.  Thus, no two days have been the same, because from the beginning of creation, the spiritual light flowing down from Hashem has never been the same. See the book Hatzofen by Zamir Cohen (Bnei Brak: Hidabroot, 2007) for an in-depth exposition of the spiritual significance of the Hebrew alphabet (soon to be released as The Cipher).

This secret underlies the concept of tikkun ha-olam - the rectification of the world - which is accomplished through the fixed prayer service, despite the fact that the words are repeated almost identically each day.  For when Hashem emanated the world, using the Hebrew letters, He left it up to people to activate these letters and reveal the Divinity underlying creation.  By praying with intention (especially the Kabbalistic intentions), the letters of creation become illuminated, and the very same words prayed yesterday illuminate a new moment of time - a new hour, a new day - which never existed before and will never exist again.  (This is because the creation of time was dependent upon the creation of matter, as Einstein explained in his law of relativity.  However, well before Einstein, the Ramban commented upon the verse from Genesis (1:5): "And Hashem called the light Day ... "Meaning, that time was created." That is, with the creation of light on the first day came the creation of time.) Thus, if a person fails to recite a particular prayer, he has lost a once-in-eternity opportunity to reveal Hashem in the world.  About such a person, the verse states: "That which is crooked cannot be made straight" (Ecc1esiastes 1: 15); that is, what is lost cannot be regained.  This subject is explained at length in Nefesh HaChayim, Gate 2, chap. 13.