It was the Rav Brandwein, the Strettiner Rav of blessed memory, who said that the understanding of this prayer will give us the deep understanding needed to bring the Geulah, the final Redemption. The Baal Shem Tov, knowing he was speaking of a future time, said something similar 300 years earlier. As the time of the redemption approaches it is imperative that we take their message to heart. The 42-Letter Name was G-d’s first gift to Man; it is also our most important one.
It’s now 13 years since I revealed some of the discoveries that Rav Berg, may his memory be for a blessing, made about the Ana B’koach (the Shem Mem-Bet or 42-Letter Name). At the urging of Rav Brandwein, I have since had the privilege to reveal many more of them, though not recently. It is time to step it up and reveal yet a few more. Over the next week or so, we will explain several heretofore unrevealed secrets and connects regarding the 42-Letter Name Matrix. As Rav Abulafia said many centuries ago, “Everything gets revealed in its time and nothing gets revealed without heavenly permission.”
The first of these new revelations was actually written about nearly 2000 years ago by Rabbi Shimon Bar
Yochai in the Zohar (The Book of Splendor) and it is about protection. According to the Zohar, in portion Terumah, the letters KRAShTtN (קרעשטן) of the 2nd line of the 42-Letter Name matrix are used to guard against negative forces. They are so powerful that they were “marked outside the Tabernacle in order to guard the Tabernacle, which is the secret of the Holy Covenant…”
As the very next line NGDYCSh (נגדיכש) of the 42-Letter Name represents the Tabernacle (Mishkan,משכן) itself, we can easily see why it was placed just before it. The secrets of the 3rd line (נגדיכש) are for our next post.
The line KRAShTtN (קרעשטן), a name unto itself, is also associated with Rosh Hashanah and all the blowings of the Shofar, and we will go into that when we get closer to that holiday. For now, just note that both the Name and the shofar are tools to fight harsh and severe judgments. All three types of shofar blasts, the individual blasts, and all the small and large sets of blasts are encoded into this line, so that on 363 days of the year when it is not Rosh Hashanah, the Ana B’koach can act as a stand-in for the shofar warding off evil and evil inclinations within and without.
קרעשטן
We usually use this 2nd line to help us remove the negativity within ourselves, our selfish desires, to 
help us let go of the baggage that is holding us back, and to block off those small gates through which negativity can enter our lives. For more on that and all the other connections of the prayer that will help us usher in Mashiach consciousness to the world and bring the final redemption please refer to The Genesis Prayer. Meanwhile, it behooves us to protect ourselves from any and all outside forces, forces that are quickly building in the world today. What better way to protect ourselves than to use the Name that the kabbalists used to protect us on the Day of Judgment and that Moses and the Israelites used to protect the Tabernacle itself.
