Recognition and Sensation - Hacharah V'hargasha

Recognition and sensation are functions of Da'at (Knowledge), which connects Chochmah (Wisdom) with Binah (Understanding). This represents the contemplation before prayer, which comes after intellectual contemplation and before the contemplation during prayer itself.

General Concept

Each of the faculties—Chochmah and Binah—has advantages and disadvantages. The faculty of Da'at serves as an intermediary that connects them and compensates for their deficiencies.

The advantage of Chochmah is seeing the essence of something, while its deficiency lies in explaining things. This is similar to a person who has seen something with their own eyes: to themselves it is clear and simple, but they cannot successfully describe it to another person.

The nature of Binah is to "grasp" the concept, which it does by limiting and explaining it from all sides. Therefore, the greater, better, and clearer the comprehension, the more it actually limits the intellect, and consequently becomes more distant from it and more "materialized."

The function of Da'at is connection and attachment. When a person connects themselves powerfully, and fixes their thought on a specific concept with strength and persistence, Chochmah and Binah become joined together: the point-like vision of Chochmah is grasped within the comprehension of Binah, and the comprehension of Binah captures the flash of Chochmah. Then a new essence is born: Recognition, which leads to Sensation.

Their Detailed Nature

In greater detail, Rabbi Shlomo Chaim explained on a certain occasion that there are four levels in the contemplation before prayer, and their order (from lowest to highest) is: Sensation - Recognition - Verification - Vision:

• Recognition – This is like a person recognizing their friend, where a brief glance is enough to recall their characteristics and everything associated with them. It is a deepening and connection to a specific intellectual concept until it becomes like a "friend," so that the moment the concept arises, one immediately recognizes all its details and can even answer questions on the subject that they hadn't previously considered, because they thoroughly know its essence. Such recognition of an intellectual concept brings a person to something additional – Sensation.
• Sensation – When an intellectual understanding is verified in the form of recognition, it creates within the person an emotion appropriate to the intellectual concept they are engaged with. This is like a person rejoicing now in a joy that has not yet arrived (because in their mind they understand that it will certainly happen, such as the upcoming wedding of their son).
• Verification – When recognition and sensation are grasped to such an extent that the concept is accepted with simplicity and does not require proofs or evidence.