First and foremost, the seder of the ushpizin or guests—the seven Avot or ancestors we invite during the seven nights of Sukkot—is a Kabbalistic custom. Each of the ancestors represents one of the seven lower Sefirot. The same Sefirot correspond to the seven days in each week and seven weeks of the Omer. The traditional lineup,^[3] It’s important (to the degree that things like this can be important) that the order is not historically chronological but spiritual, reflecting the unfolding of divinity in creation, as Kabbalah understands it. Any Ashkenazi liturgy that orders the ushpizin chronologically, putting Yosef before Moshe, is not traditional, even if it is found in a Rinat Yisrael siddur.   is:

• Avraham, Ḥesed ~ Lovingkindness
• Yitzḥak, Gevurah ~ Might, Judgment
• Yaakov, Tiferet ~ Beauty, Harmony
• Moshe, Netzaḥ ~ Triumph, Eternity
• Aharon, Hod ~ Majesty
• Yosef, Yesod ~ Foundation
• David, Malkhut ~ Kingship, Kingdom

For the fathers, these correspondences are very strongly established in the Zohar and other Kabbalistic literature, and there are no well-grounded alternative orders. For the mothers, however, the correspondences with the lower Sefirot are much less stable, with the major exception of Raḥel Imeinu, who is always Malkhut. To the extent that other female figures are mentioned in Kabbalah, they most often also symbolize Malkhut. For example, in Gikatilla in Sha’arey Orah writes, “In Abraham’s time Malkhut was called Sarah; in Isaac’s time Malkhut was called Rivkah, and in Jacob’s time Malkhut was called Raḥel.”

There are only two strong correspondences between any mother and a particular sefirah besides Malkhut-Raḥel. They are between Tamar and Yesod, and between Leah and Binah. Furthermore, because Binah is above Ḥesed, and not one of the lower seven Sefirot, it doesn’t get its own day of Sukkot. That means that any liturgy for the Imahot, if it’s going to be based on the Kabbalah, can’t include Leah as one of the seven ushpizin (or, in the feminine, ushpizata).

(As an aside, the Kabbalistic significance of Leah being Binah and Raḥel being Malkhut is that Binah and Malkhut are the upper and lower mother (imma ila’ah and imma tata’ah), or (alternatively), the upper and lower feminine, or mother and daughter. The reason why Jacob has to marry both Leah and Raḥel because he is the symbol of Tif’eret, the lower masculine, which stands between Binah and Malkhut and connects them. Tif’eret-Jacob must be in conjunction with both Binah and Malkhut in order for the chain of emanation (seder hishtalsh’lut) to be unbroken and for the world to be sustained.)

The whole point of the liturgy of Ushpizin in fact is to invoke the energies of the seven lower Sefirot in the proper order, so that Shefa, blessing and sustenance, can be drawn down into the world. This is the essence of Kabbalistic liturgy, and a liturgy of the imahot would only make sense if it were to follow that pattern. That means we have the playfully serious task of finding a stable order for the imahot where no clear order exists. There are a number of proposals out there for how to do this. The liturgy I am sharing here uses only the most traditional texts^[4] The most helpful source in doing this was not a particular book but an index of Kabbalistic literature called Torat Natan.   to establish the “right” order, and you can also find below Reb Zalman’s order and the order for the seven “prophetesses” from Azariah deFano.

So, here is our list of correspondences between the mothers and the seven lower Sefirot:

• Ruth, Ḥesed (Lovingkindness) – pure kindness and trust, devoting herself entirely to being God’s instrument and Naomi’s support, the one who chooses to be Jewish (to speak anachronistically) without any advantage or self-interest, motivated strictly from within herself, like Abraham
• Sarah, Gevurah (Judgment) – the one who demands that Hagar be thrown into the wilderness, judgment that overcomes mercy, she is even called g’virati by Hagar
• Rivkah, Tiferet (Beauty, Balance) – she is the wily one, like Jacob, who knows how things must turn out, who can create the reality that needs to exist, and who can draw on mercy or harshness as needed to accomplish her purpose
• Miriam, Netzaḥ (Victory, Eternity)^[5] Netzaḥ and Hod are called Einei Hashem, “the eyes of God”, and represent the power of prophecy, so Miriam and Devorah as prophets fit here pretty clearly, but the distinctions between Netzaḥ and Hod in Kabbalah are pretty nebulous, so the order between them is tentative. The connection between Miriam and Moshe makes Miriam fit with Netzaḥ well, but one could also argue for Devorah as Netzaḥ, the victorious one.   – prophet, bearer and bringer of water (the right side), Moshe’s sister, the one who knows how to celebrate victory over Pharoah’s army
• Devorah, Hōd (Majesty)^[6] See above, Netzaḥ   – warrior and prophet, the greatest female ruler in Israel.
• Tamar, Yesōd (Foundation) – the one who sits at the crossroads of Einei Hashem (i.e. between Netzaḥ and Hod), who embodies the fullness of sexuality (as does Yesod), who joins with Judah (who represents Malkhut – this reverses the masculine and feminine assignments of these Sefirot), who is tzadkah, the righteous one, just as Yosef is tzadik.
• Raḥel, Malkhut (Kingdom) – the Shekhinah who goes into exile with her children and pleads for their return.

How do we fit Leah in? It turns out that the Sefaradi nusach includes a reference to Binah (Understanding), so all that we need to do is to add Leah’s name when Binah is invoked.

One thing you may have already considered is that it’s not clear which of the other women besides the four matriarchs^[7] This ignores the question of Bilhah and Zilpah, the handmaids of Leah and Raḥel who also bore Jacob’s sons, and who are included in a discussion of the “six imahot” in one of the early midrashim.   should be included. Dinah, Hannah, Hulda, Esther and many others come to mind besides the ones we’ve already mentioned. Because allusions to the other foremothers, besides Sarah, Rivkah, Raḥel and Leah, are so infrequent as compared to the forefathers, it’s hard to know which allusion is the most important, both with respect to which figure to use and with respect to which Sefirah she should represent.

There is one clear text that assigns a Sefirah to each of the “seven prophetesses” which is quite different than the above order. Menachem Azariah deFano^[8] Thanks to Aryeh Cohen of the SFKAUJ (AJU) for bringing my attention to deFano, which he learned about from Shaul Magid. Aryeh also spent time on the phone holding my hand through the Aramaic conjugations and declensions.   gives this order in his work Asarah Ma’amarot: Sarah, Chesed; Miriam, Gevurah; Devorah, Tif’eret; Hannah, Netzaḥ; Avigail, Hod; Hulda, Yesod; Esther, Malkhut. This order doesn’t feel to me like the one we should base ushpizin on however: only one of the matriarchs is represented, and the three very strong correspondences between the Sefirot with Leah, Raḥel and Tamar are left out. We might make a distinction for this question between the seven n’viot prophetesses, and the seven mothers.

The basic order of the Ushpizin presented here is: Ruth, Sarah, Rivkah, Miriam, Devorah, Tamar, Raḥel, plus Leah as Binah. Reb Zalman’s order is also quite different, with Sarah at Hod! The rest are: Miriam, Chesed; Leah, Gevurah; Hannah, Tif’eret; Rivkah, Netzaḥ; Tamar, Yesod; Esther and Ruth, Malkhut.^[9] You can read a 2-page pdf in Hebrew of Reb Zalman’s explanations for these correspondences, provided by R. Ruth Kagan from the Hebrew volume of Reb Zalman’s thought, Kirvat Elohim:Tikkun Olam v’Tikkun Halev (Jewish Renewal—Integrating Heart and World), which she edited. Click here to download.   It would be easy to plug deFano’s order or Reb Zalman’s order (or any other order you’re attached to) into the liturgy I’ve created, with the simple proviso that if Leah is included in the lower seven, one would leave out the mention of her name where it’s used as an epithet for imma ila’ah near the beginning. (This line is the one that immediately precedes the invitation, Ulu, ulu.)

In all cases, making space for a liturgy that includes the imahot, especially where there is absolutely no halakhic rule about something needing to be said, seems not only good but imperative. May this action add to our “building the stature of the Shekhinah” to bring redemption nearer. The phrase comes from the Or Hameir, Zev Wolf of Zhitomir, who calls on us to build up the Shekhinah to be equal, ayin b’ayin “eye-to-eye” with the Holy One. For him this is the essential task of the exile. Or Hame’ir, pp.51-2:

“And it was the middle of the night, and the man awoke trembling and started, and here, a woman lying by his feet. And he said: Who are you? Mi at? And she said: I am Anokhi Ruth your maidservant. Spread your corner over your maidservant, for you are a redeemer, a go’el” (Ruth 3:8-9). “He awoke trembling”—[this means] the Holy One Blessed Be [Tif’eret], who trembles [with desire] to build the body of the Shekhinah, to be body opposite body, qomah neged qomah. For now in the time of exile it is “Alef with all of them and all of them with Alef” [i.e. they are unequal], but in the future they will be equal in appearance, standing eye to eye. Therefore the Holy One asks the Shekhinah: “Who is with you in exile? Is there anyone seeking YHVH to search out your unity, to raise up the limbs of the Shekhinah and to build your qomah?” And all this falls upon us, to bring near the time of redemption g’ulah through means of good acts [so that] her qomah will be built and established…Know [therefore] how to raise up, now in this day especially, the limbs of the Shekhinah in order to redeem her from exile, for this is the drive, the intent of our souls, m’gamat nafsheinu…to build her and to prepare her with a complete body, qomah sh’leymah.