Tales from the Zohar

The Book of Radiance: Tales from the Zohar

By R’ Yaakov Feldman

Sometimes it gets the better of you and you just need to know — to know what’s on the other side of the chasm that is the Afterlife, what the dead do day after day, what they know, and just what they have that we don’t.

Needless to say, few of us have the wherewithal to even ask the questions let alone expect answers, but some do. And while they may not see quite everything — or, if they do, they may not have a chance to report it back to the rest of us — nonetheless the Zohar offers the findings of one exalted soul who did cross over to the other side, the great R’ Chiyya (Zohar 1, 4a-b). And while his experience there was a unique one that doesn’t answer all of our questions, it does offer us a broader, rare view of Heaven.

Now, a number of people have ascended to Heaven in their lifetimes. We’re taught, in fact, that “nine entered the Garden of Eden when they were still alive, and they are: Enoch the son of Jared; Eliyahu the prophet (see below); Eliezer, Abraham’s servant; King Hiram of Zor; Ebed-melech the Cushite (see Jeremiah 38:7); Yabetz the son of R’ Yehudah HaNasi; Batyah the daughter of Pharaoh; Serech the daughter of Asher; and, according to others, also R’ Yehoshua ben Levi” (Derech Eretz Zuta, Ch. 1). But they never came back.

In fact, we’re told outright that the prophet Eliyahu ascended to Heaven by means of a whirlwind (2 Kings 2:11) and that he wrote a letter about his experiences there which he had presented to King Jehoram (see 2 Chronicles 21). But we aren’t given any of the details of his sojourn there.

There are others who’d seen Heaven in their lifetimes whose experiences were depicted to a degree. Yitzchak, our forefather, ascended to Heaven when he was bound to the altar and about to be slaughtered by his father, Avraham. We’re told that the angels accompanied him while he was in Heaven to the Yeshiva of Shem and Eber there where his father had studied, and that he stayed there for three days to study. He was then granted visions of the primordial Holy Temple that existed before the creation of the world, of his own descent from Adam as well as insights into Adam’s future descendents up to the End of Days (see Breishit Rabbah 56, Targum Yonatan to Genesis 22:19, and Pirkei d’Rebbe Eliezer 31).

Moshe ascended to Heaven also, we’re told, after having he’d reached the top of Mount Sinai to receive the Torah. He arrived at the River Rigyon with its terrible flames then, where angels of destruction set out to burn him to a crisp but were stopped by a Divine fiat. Moshe continued to advance further and further upward where other angels caught sight of him and complained about the mere mortal who had the nerve to be in their midst. But G-d interceded on His behalf again, and Moshe caught sight of Him in His Throne of Glory. Suddenly all the Hosts of Heaven shook in G-d’s presence because it was time for him to finally receive the Torah. G-d opened the seven firmaments and showed Moshe the Heavenly Sanctuary; then He opened the gates of the seven firmaments and transmitted His Torah to him, and Moshe then returned to earth (see Pesikta Rabbati 204, Shabbat 88b-89a, and Ma’ayan HaChochma).

And the Talmud records that R’ Yoseph, the son of R’ Yehoshua Ben Levi, had what we’d now term a “near-death experience” at a certain point, before quickly coming back to life. His father asked him what He’d seen there, on the other side, and R’ Yoseph said he saw “a topsy-turvy world, where those on top (while here, in this world) were on the bottom (while there, in Heaven) and vice versa” (Pesachim 50a). This speaks volumes about what matters and what doesn’t, what we’re to concentrate upon here in life, and what we’d do well to realize we shouldn’t be engaged in, but now isn’t the time to delve into all that.

But only the Zohar presents us with a full report on what one individual saw when he ascended Heavenward, on why he was catapulted back to earth, and on some of what he saw while he was there. Here’s what it says.

At a certain time R’ Chiyya, who played a major role throughout the Zohar and was R’ Shimon Bar Yochai’s youngest disciple, prostrated himself on the earth, kissed the dust and cried out, “Dust, dust how stiff-necked you are!” For he’d asked to draw close to his Master, R’ Shimon, who was already dead and buried, and he’d been denied that. So there seemed to be nothing else to do but appeal to the soil in which R’ Shimon lay buried.

R’ Chiyya went on reprimanding the soil for having dared to enclose R’ Shimon’s bones when he “suddenly fell into a reverie and said, ‘Dust, dust, don’t be so proud! … R’ Shimon will not be consumed by you!’” We’re then told that he “fasted for forty days in order to actually cross over into the world of the dead and meet with R’ Shimon”. But a voice appeared from the other side and declared that R’ Chiyya wasn’t fit to see him. “So he wept and fasted for another forty days”, the Zohar reports.

Know that sometimes the angels themselves can be moved, as they’re able to read the heart that implores them to do this or that, and they’re often fascinated by the depths and width of such hearts, since they know nothing of that themselves, so they accede now and again.

And so the Zohar goes on to say that the angels “showed him R’ Shimon and R’ Eleazar, his son, in a vision”. What were these two tzaddikim doing in Heaven? “They were discussing the interpretation of a certain term that R’ Yossi had used”, and we’re told that many thousands of souls were listening along.

There were a lot of other things going on there, as R’ Chiyya, reports: R’ Shimon and R’ Eleazar ascended up to the heavenly Yeshiva. R’ Shimon suddenly called out the following: “Let R’ Chiyya enter and see the degree to which the Holy One will restore the countenances of the tzaddikim in the world to come!” And suddenly the doors to Heaven were opened to him.

“How fortunate is one who comes here without shame” (which is to say, without sin), a voice called, “and how fortunate is he who stands upright in this world like a mighty pillar that bears all!”

So R’ Chiyya did indeed enter, and he discovered that all the tzaddikim there stood up for him, which embarrassed him deeply; so he went to sit at the feet of R’ Shimon, when a voice arose in the distance.

“Lower your eyes,” it commanded, “do not raise up your head, and do not look!” So R’ Chiyya followed orders when he suddenly “saw a light shining from afar” which mystified him. That same voice then came back, we’re told, and addressed R’ Chiyya (and us here on earth too, to be sure).

“Wake up!” it stormed. “For who among you has transformed darkness into light” as the mighty ones in the Garden Eden have done? “Who, among you has eagerly awaited the shining of the Light that will come about when the King calls upon the Gazelle (i.e., the Shechina)?” Anyone “who doesn’t eagerly await that each and every day in that world (i.e., while he’s yet alive) hasn’t a place here” in The Garden of Eden.

The Zohar then returns to what R’ Chiyya was seeing for himself there. “He saw many of his friends … elevated to the Heavenly Yeshiva” when he was then approached by the Archangel Metatron.

Among other things, the Archangel attested to the fact that “The King does indeed attend to the Gazelle (i.e., the Shechina) every day and recalls how She lies in the dust of the earth” while the exile still functions. “He kicks 390 heavens” in His frustration, if you will, “which then quake and tremble with fear because of Him. And He cries” because of our continued Exile.

His “tears, which are as hot as fire, cascade down into the Great Sea. And it’s in fact by the power of these tears that the one who governs the sea (i.e., the angelic Rahav), is sustained and kept alive. And he takes it upon himself to sanctify G-d’s name by swallowing all the waters of … creation. He then gathers them all to himself so that on the day when the nations of the world will assemble against the Holy Nation the waters would dry up as they cross over on dry land”.

Suddenly R’ Chiyya heard a voice call out: “Move aside, make room. The Moshiach is coming to the Yeshiva of R’ Shimon!” and he arrived there indeed, “crowned with heavenly diadems”. And then to the great chagrin of R’ Chiyya the Moshiach called out, “Who allowed a human being wearing the cloaks of that world in here?”

R’ Shimon revealed to the Moshiach that not just any human being was there, but that it was R’ Chiyya , whom he referred to as “the Shining Light of the Torah”. The Moshiach responded: very well “Let him and his sons be gathered up!” That is, let them die in fact, “and join your Academy!”

But R’ Shimon said to the Moshiach, “Give him some time!” to remain alive; he’ll get here after a while indeed. And so we’re told that “time was granted him” in fact. And R’ Chiyya came back.

© 2012 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

——————————————————

AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman’s translation of Maimonides’ “Eight Chapters” is available here at a discount.

You can still purchase a copy of Rabbi Feldman’s translation of “The Gates of Repentance” here at a discount as well.

Rabbi Yaakov Feldman has also translated and commented upon “The Path of the Just” and “The Duties of the Heart” (Jason Aronson Publishers).

Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal”.

The Book of Radiance: Tales from the Zohar

By Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Few things stun as much as the catch of quick light out of the blue. Given that, just imagine the sight of a gloomy crowd of wicked blind people — foolish souls who can’t see, yet who manage to strike out at others in the dark, to steal their jewels in the night, or to panic children in the shadows. And imagine turning a light on them suddenly that’s so strong that not only are their victims saved but the wicked blind themselves are able to see their own wickedness. How stunning would that light be!

Imagine then the moments before light itself was created by G-d with the simple command, “Let there be light!” (Genesis 1:3). For, all there was then was utterly dark, frigid cold, and unreadable nothingness suddenly lit up from out of nowhere.

In fact we’re told that before “stretching out the heavens like a curtain,” G-d “wrapped Himself in light like a garment” (Psalms 104:2) and the radiance of His glory then illuminated the world from one end to the other (Breishit Rabbah 3). We’re likewise taught that it’s as a consequence of the act of wrapping Himself in that light that G-d became invisible to us (see Megilah 19b).

There’s much to say about G-d’s invisibleness, which is the single greatest deterrent to our belief in Him, to be sure, though it’s rarely mentioned. But the fact that His invisibleness is caused by His being over-covered by Light is captivating! It implies for one thing that were He not over-covered with it, we’d be able to see Him indeed.

One thing we can derive from that fact, of course, is that we’d do well to sit in the dark from time to time ourselves, with our eyes closed shut and our hearts stilled, in order to “catch sight” of Him!

Shut out that light, in other words, listen closely to the dark stillness, and allow G-d in. For not only does He dwell in the heart and minds of those fortunate souls who know Him by catching sight of the great light that surrounds Him and by surmising His own presence within it, He likewise dwells in the poor and wretched souls who sit in the dark but who “see” Him there, too. For in truth “the whole world is full of His Glory” (Isaiah 6:13) as He suffuses and surrounds all worlds ( Zohar III, 225a).

In any event, the Zohar refers to that light as the “Primal Light” (Zohar 1, 31b). And we’re taught that “one could see with it from one end of the world to the other” (Chagigah 12a), though this unearthly light only “shone in full splendor until Adam sinned” at which point G-d withdrew it from the world (Breishit Rabbah 12).

So, let’s see what else the Zohar offers there about this Primal Light. We learn (Zohar 1, 31b) that G-d had shined it upon Moshe when he was a baby, when “his mother hid him for the first three months of his life”; but that many years later “G-d took it away from him when he appeared before Pharaoh” so that the latter wouldn’t  benefit from being exposed to it; and that “He gave it back to Moshe when he stood at Mount Sinai to receive the Torah” so the Primal Light and the Light of Torah could finally be rejoined.

And we’re told that Moshe enjoyed that Primal Light from then on to the end of his life, thanks to which he was able to see “the (whole) Land of Israel from Gilead to Dan” which he couldn’t do otherwise. That suggests of course that the land of Israel is available on some subtle discreet levels to anyone wherever he or she stands, when that person derives his inspiration from G-d’s own Light.

Elsewhere, though, the Zohar speaks about light in “another light”, so to speak (Zohar Chadash, Breishit 15 b-d). It offers there that the light of the sun is actually derived from the Primordial Light we referred to above, which it terms Aspaklariah D’Liayla — the great “Speculum Above”.

“Don’t be surprised by this fact,” it offers, because a lot of things down below derive from sources up above, for which it gives examples.

After all, “when a master teaches Torah, he first divulges it to his translator” (see below), who then passes the teaching on “to those close to him”, who then likewise pass it along to others down the line until the entire auditorium gets to hear the master’s words. Thus we find that when all is said and done, “everything depends on the master” who revealed the Torah’s teaching in the first place, even though the rest heard it from others’ lips.

First of all, the “translator” referred to could also be termed a “reciter”, as our rabbis taught Torah in auditoriums that were too large to carry their voices all the way through, so their messages were passed along from one “reciter” to another, so on down the line, so everyone could benefit from his wisdom. The point of the matter is that like the sun which draws its light from up above, you and I derive the Torah we live by from a loftier source — one great master or another. But it goes deeper yet.

It’s likewise true that while “Moshe was shone upon by G-d’s Glory” itself because he was so close to G-d, “Joshua was ‘shone upon’ by Moshe”, the “elders were ‘shone upon’ by Joshua”, the “prophets were ‘shone upon’ by the elders”, and the tribal “chiefs and leaders were ‘shone upon’ by the prophets” offers the Zohar (see Pirkei Avot 1:1). That’s to say that the Torah that the master whom we depend upon for our sustenance draws its light from the earlier masters all the way back to Moshe, who drew upon G-d’s own Glory for his revelations.

Returning to the idea that the sun derives its light from the great “Speculum Above”, Rabbi Elazar says in our Zohar that the sun only receives “a single thread of splendor”, despite its apparent radiance; and he volunteers that the sun’s light is a mere 1/60,075 ^th’s of the Speculum’s own light — which is a far, far dimmer light than the 1/100 ^th’s depicted in Midrash Tachuma (Beha’alotecha) to be sure!

The point of the matter is as follows. Whatever light you and I may exhibit in this life and whatever wisdom we may have is wholly derivative without exception. Nothing we do, think, or say that seems to radiate or to be splendid is our own. All of our assumed originality comes down to our pinching something off the edges of something or another we’d already learned, and adding a dollop or two of something we’d learned elsewhere to it, or the like.

Or better yet, it comes to our turning full-face toward our source and acknowledging it, and simply expressing its own brilliance to some “lesser lights” than ourselves in our own terms without actually adding a thing.

For such is the human condition: while we know precious little on our own, we can and often do derive the insights of others who know more than we, but who themselves in fact derive their insights from sources who knew far more than they. As such at bottom let it be said that everything ever known, said, or proposed is a reflection of G-d’s own “Speculum Above” which is its ultimate source.

The sooner we take that to heart, the wiser we’ll be, in fact. For, as a sage once put it, “The greatest knowledge is the realization that we know nothing in fact”.

© 2012 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

——————————————————

AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman’s translation of Maimonides’ “Eight Chapters” is available here at a discount.

You can still purchase a copy of Rabbi Feldman’s translation of “The Gates of Repentance” here at a discount as well.

Rabbi Yaakov Feldman has also translated and commented upon “The Path of the Just” and “The Duties of the Heart” (Jason Aronson Publishers).

Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal”

The Book of Radiance: Tales from the Zohar

By Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

4. LAYER UPON LAYER

How rich and effulgent with spices it must have been, the garden that King Solomon used to meander about and gather roses from (see Song of Songs 6:2). And one can only imagine how copious in texture and color his nut-garden must have been, too (see Ibid. 6:11). In any event, the Zohar tells us that one day Solomon “set out to penetrate the depths of the nut … so he took hold of one by its shell and began to contemplate its different layers” right there in the garden. He came to realize that “just as the nut itself is surrounded by many shells, so too is the world, with shells both above and below. For, from the beginning of the mystery of the Heavenly Point (all the way up, all the way) down to the lowest of degrees, each thing is subsumed in every other thing, and each serves as a shell to the other” (Zohar 1, 19b).

That’s to say that Solomon came to understand that each and every thing is encased in something else, which is encased in yet some other thing; and that the whole functions as a sort of puzzle within a puzzle which we often can’t solve. For, most of us stumble about and soldier-on doing what we must, never quite sure what’s overhead and what’s within.

We’re told for example that though he was a prophet and privy to all sorts of revelations, Ezekiel saw “a tempest coming from the north, (along with) a huge cloud and a flaming fire with a brightness over-covering it; and from its midst was like the color of the Chashmal (an untranslatable term) from the midst of the fire” (Ezekiel 1:4), one within the other. The Kabbalists tell us that that’s an esoteric depiction of the layers of our being, but at the time Ezekiel was so thunderstruck by the complexity of it all that he didn’t quite grasp what he’d seen for the moment.

Well, touching on this same theme (and we’ll see exactly how so later on), the Zohar presents us with a tale in which it’s recorded that Rabbi Yehudah was walking with Rabbi Abba when Rabbi Yehudah asked the following: “If G-d knew that Adam was destined to sin in His presence (by eating from the Tree of Knowledge) and that G-d would sentence him to death, then why did G-d (bother to) create Him?” (Zohar 3, 159 a-b). Good point!

Thinking Rabbi Yehudah had tread upon ground he shouldn’t have (understand that Rabbi Yehudah was a younger disciple at that point), Rabbi Abba rebuked him and said, “What need do you have to know the ways and decrees of your Master?” After all, he went on, “You can question what you’re permitted to question…”, but “you can’t question G-d’s ways and the supernal secrets that He has hidden away!”

But apparently that didn’t sit quite right with Rabbi Yehudah. In point of fact, he wasn’t the only sage to have wished to have the Great Curtains of Heaven opened for him but couldn’t. After all, none other than Moshe once asked G-d to grant him insight into His governance of the world but he received only an arcane answer (Menachot 29b).

It only stands to reason that Rabbi Abba would have been reticent to disclose a secret to him, though; for weren’t we warned that “the secret things belong to G-d our L-rd” (Deuteronomy 29:29) and not us? And isn’t it said in Sefer Yetzirah that when it comes to certain things that we’re to “stop (our) mouth from speaking and (our) heart from thinking” about them, and that if our heart “runs” there because we want to delve into it, that we’re to “return to the place” — the subject at hand — only intermittently and warily (1:8)?

And haven’t we also been cautioned not to “seek things that are too hard for you (to decipher), and not (to) search for things that are hidden (from you), and (only) to think about things you have been permitted to; (for) you have no business with secret things” (Chaggiga 13a)? Nonetheless, sometimes the soul yearns to know and the heart can’t live without insight, and that was apparently true of Rabbi Yehudah.

But Rabbi Abba continued to discourage him. “Who can know and grasp G-d’s hidden thoughts?” he remonstrated him. “Common people (like us) haven’t permission to speak of concealed things”; only people like “the Holy Luminary”, Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochei do, not us, he went on to say.

Nevertheless it seems that something had him change his mind. We don’t know what did it — whether Rabbi Abba suddenly came to see that the younger Rabbi could be trusted with the secret; whether the mention of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochei evoked his presence, and Rabbi Shimon himself allowed Rabbi Abba to go on, or something else — but Rabbi Abba suddenly went on to reveal the following to Rabbi Yehudah and to us as well, his onlookers. It’s based on the famous verse, “And G-d created man in His image, in the image of G-d did He create him” (Genesis 1:27) and it too speaks about our inner and outer layers, and of how interlaced they are.

“The Holy One, blessed be He, is hidden in the midst of three worlds”, he said quite curiously. “The first one is very lofty, it’s the most secret of them all… and it’s only known to Him, as He’s concealed in it. The second, which is connected to the first, is the one in which G-d can be known …. And the third, which is the lowest, is the world in which… the angels dwell, and where G-d Himself is (both) there and not there.” That means to say that “while He’s there now” to be sure, “He nonetheless leaves it once you start to reflect upon and grasp Him” and He escapes your grip.

Thus, if you want to find G-d you’d need to pass through three separate layers, one deeper than the next: first, past how He presents Himself in this world, where He’s knowable to us on some levels but not on others; second, past how He is when He dwells up high where He’s knowable to sages and prophets; and third, deep within the highest level, where He’s only known to Himself. The point is that all three levels are intertwined, to be sure, but finding G-d anywhere along the line is still and all a challenge.

Now, man, who is created in G-d’s image as we’d learned, is like that too; and this is Rabbi Abba’s point as well. For, man also occupies three “worlds”, if you will. The first is the one in which he is at once both “there and not there” — that’s his physical existence, where he’s most manifest but where he doesn’t really belong at bottom. His “second world” which is “connected to the supernal worlds, is man’s (experience of the) … Garden of Eden” after he passes through this world. And his “third world” which is “supernal, mysterious, concealed, and hidden” is also “incomprehensible”, because it’s even beyond The Garden of Eden.

His point here is to illustrate that “all (below) is as it is above”, in that we too have our inner and outer realms, which are also intertwined. Thus, if you want to understand man you’d also need to pass through three separate layers, one deeper than the next: first, past how he presents himself in this world; second, past how he is when he dwells in the Garden of Eden after his passing; and third, deep within his being, where man’s essence is “supernal, mysterious, concealed, hidden” and “incomprehensible”. For uncovering one’s own makeup is also a challenge, since we too are comprised of layer upon layer of being over-covering our essence.

Having touched upon the Afterlife, and bringing the conversation back to where it had started (when Rabbi Yehudah asked why man must die), Rabbi Abba then makes the point that just as we were created in G-d’s image and thus are comprised of various layers of being, we’re likewise worthy of “a supernal inheritance” from our Father, immortality. For man “will never be annihilated but will enjoy (residence in) goodly, supernal, and precious worlds” after death, he assures us. In other words, Rabbi Abba is telling Rabbi Yehudah that though death is inevitable and daunting, it’s nevertheless purposeful and beneficial.

So we’re to “rejoice when the righteous depart from this world” rather than mourn. For the truth be known, “had man not sinned, he would never have tasted death”; but since he did, we must all “taste death before (we) enter the other worlds” we’d cited above. And on some level life and death are intertwined, too; as everything lies within everything else like shells upon shells.

© 2011 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org
——————————————————

AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman’s translation of Maimonides’ “Eight Chapters” is available here at a discount.

You can still purchase a copy of Rabbi Feldman’s translation of “The Gates of Repentance” here at a discount as well.

Rabbi Yaakov Feldman has also translated and commented upon “The Path of the Just” and “The Duties of the Heart” (Jason Aronson Publishers).

Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal”

The Book of Radiance: Tales from the Zohar

By Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

3. Creation

Arguably the best known sentence in all of world literature is this: “In the beginning, G-d created the Heavens and the Earth” (Genesis 1:1), which sets in motion the laying-out of just how G-d created the cosmos. But what does it mean that “G-d created Heaven and Earth”? How did He do that?

Well, according to the Zohar it come to this: “When the King’s Will began to manifest itself, a Firm Spark made an engraving within the Supernal Light that emanated from The Most Concealed and within the mystery of The Infinite One. (That Firm Spark) assumed a Formless Form which was then placed within a circle that was neither white nor black nor red nor green, nor any color at all. And when (that Firm Spark) began to assume size and dimension, it then created radiant colors (Zohar 1, 15a).

Very well, but then what does that mean? The Kabbalists have their explanations, to be sure, but since our task here is to simply catch sight of the wondrous ways the Zohar expresses its truths in all their glory, we won’t offer those explanations.

Before we present a number of other Zohar depictions of creation, though, let’s see the mysterious ways that other early sages depicted creation without recourse to the Zohar’s imagery.

But let’s make a couple of things clear. First off, that when the Zohar and other traditional sources speak about the creation of “the world” they aren’t simply referring to the formation of planet Earth, or even of our galaxy or the entire universe. They’re addressing the creation of reality itself, its known and unknown parts, its physicality and non-physicality: that’s to say the formation of everything other than G-d Himself! And second, let’s underscore the fact that none of this is meant to be taken literally to be sure; it’s all a process of depicting the undecipherable and of laying out the unfathomable.

As such, we’re taught for example that seven things were created before the rest of reality came into being: the primordial Torah, repentance, the Divine Throne, The Garden of Eden, Gehenom, the primordial Holy Temple, and the name of the Moshiach (Pesachim 54a). And interestingly enough, we’re also taught that G-d actually created whole other forms of reality we can’t even imagine — more than a thousand of them in fact (Zohar Chadash 9a)– before He created this one which He then rejected (Breishit Rabbah 3:7, 9:2; Kohelet Rabbah 3:11).

Our sages referred to some strange amorphous “primal stuff” from which the world was created, including unknowable forms of “fire”, “water”, and “wind” (Shemot Rabbah 15:22); of “light”, “darkness”, “chaos”, “the void”, and “the deep” (Pirkei d’Rebbi Eliezer 3); and of “water within water” which then turned to “snow” before turning to “earth” (J. T. Chaggiga 2).

And we’re taught that a number of other non-material things played a role in creation, including the twenty-two letters of the primordial Aleph–Bet (Midrash Konen 23-24) which were then arranged into three orders (see Ch. 3 of Sefer Yetzirah), the original Ten Utterances (Pirkei Avot 5:1), and Wisdom (see Proverbs 8:22-29),

But wait a minute, now — haven’t we been taught that G-d created the world ex nihilo — out of sheer nothingness? Yes indeed, and the Zohar (as well as many other sources) says as much when it declares that “when the Holy One, blessed be He, created His worlds, He created them out of nothingness” (Zohar Chadash, Breishit 17b). But as it makes the point elsewhere, that the “nothingness” or “non-materialness” spoken of here refers to “a single hidden light out of which all revealed lights emerged and shone” and from which everything else was formed (Zohar 1, 156b). The point is that the series of attenuating lights of “nothingness” all morphed into the universe, and each sage described the process his own way (based on his own insights as well as on his generation’s stature).

Let’s explore another series of fascinating statements found in Tractate Chagigah (12a) before we return to the Zohar’s revelations.

We’re told there that the world was created by means of ten things: “wisdom, understanding, reason, strength, rebuke, might, righteousness, judgment, loving-kindness, and compassion”. (Students of Kabbalah would easily catch reference to the Ten Sephirot here, but once again, that’s not our area of concentration.) And we’re also taught there that the world is founded upon “pillars” (either one alone, or either seven or twelve in all), which stand upon “the waters”, which stand upon “mountains”, which stand upon “the winds”, which stand upon “the storm”, all of which are “suspended on the arm of the Holy One, blessed be He”.

So let’s now return to the Zohar and see how it differs.

“Come and see!” we’re adjured, that “when it arose in The Holy One’s Mind, blessed be He, to create the universe, He brought forth a Single Flame from a Black Spark  which brought about spark after spark . It then darkened and came aflame. And The Holy One, blessed be He, then brought about a Single Drop from the recesses of the Deep, and joined them together in order to create the universe” (Zohar 1, 86b).

But at one point at another depiction of creation, the Zohar likens the world to a “house” that sits “at the very center of all there is” and is surrounded by “hidden holy places where the birds of Heaven build nests” upon “a huge and mighty tree” which “ascends up to the clouds of Heaven”. This “house” which is “nourished and watered by the tree” somehow or another “conceals innumerable heavenly and secret treasures”. At certain points every single day, the Zohar seems to be saying, “when darkness sets in” — that is, when all is studded with mystery and rich wonder — “spirits flit about in the air trying to enter … it because they’re curious about what’s in it”, this world (Zohar 1, 172a).

The point seems to be that though reality was formed in all sorts of G-dly ways, at bottom it’s a single, solitary house lying deep in the fold’s of G-d’s bosom, if you will, with life abounding, secrets yet to be deciphered, and wonders yet to be unearthed. If you, too, are “curious about it” like the spirits who revel in its secret messages, you’ll also catch sight of the “Firm Spark”, the “Formless Form”, and the “Single Flame (that emits) from a Black Spark”. And you too will know that G-d Almighty alone is behind it all, fashioning the “house” and residing smack dab in the middle of it.

(c) 2010 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org
——————————————————

AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman’s translation of Maimonides’ “Eight Chapters” is available here at a discount.

You can still purchase a copy of Rabbi Feldman’s translation of “The Gates of Repentance” here at a discount as well.

Rabbi Yaakov Feldman has also translated and commented upon “The Path of the Just” and “The Duties of the Heart” (Jason Aronson Publishers).

Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal”

The Book of Radiance: Tales from the Zohar

By Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

2. Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochei

We’d already introduced R’ Shimon Bar Yochei, so let’s explore the sort of person he was and how important others considered him to be. For one thing, we’re taught that he was gifted with Ruach HaKodesh (Breishit Rabbah 79), but so were others of his ilk. How did he stand apart from the rest?

Perhaps one of the most significant things to know about R’ Shimon Bar Yochei’s spiritual stature is the fact that he was a student of the great R’ Akiva for 13 years (Vayikra Rabbah 26). Recall that R’ Akiva was the only individual we know of to have entered the Pardes (The Mystical Garden) “in peace”, i.e., well aware of what he was doing; and to have left it “in peace” as well, i.e., alive and well-grounded (Chaggiga 14b). That itself speaks volumes about the quality and strength of the tradition that R’ Shimon was privy to.

In fact, we’re told by other greats of his generation that R’ Shimon Bar Yochei was so holy that “whoever would look upon him could see the entire world (and experience) the delight of the upper and lower worlds”. And we’re informed that thanks to his revelations he came to be regarded as “the light of the world and equal in worth to the entire world”, that he could “light up the world with (his) Torah (revelations), and could ignite many lights” (Zohar 1, 155 b-156 a). So he was clearly in a class of his own. But do we have any other insights into this great sage?

Here’s an account that says something of the makeup of his heart. We’re taught that “a certain man and woman who’d been married for 10 years and still hadn’t had any children appeared before R’ Shimon for a divorce”. R’ Shimon couldn’t help but notice that the two still loved each other despite their impasse, and yet he knew that what they were asking for was perfectly halachically acceptable. So R’ Shimon came up with a ruse of sorts.

He offered them the following proposal: “Since your wedding was marked by a feast, let’s mark your divorce with a feast, too”, he said. So a lavish meal was set up. At a certain point husband and wife gazed at each other in the special light that shines at weddings alone, and they changed their minds. Thrilled by their decision, R’ Shimon prayed for them to have a child, and G-d finally granted them one within the year (Shir HaShirim Rabbah 1:4).

Let’s conclude by honing in on a few special moments near and at the end of R’ Shimon’s life as depicted in the Zohar that underscore his greatness.

R’ Shimon became deathly ill at a certain point and was visited by his anxious disciples. “How can someone (like you, R’ Shimon,) who upholds the world be near to death?” one cried out. They heard him say something, but they soon “realized that R’ Shimon wasn’t there” in fact. They’d heard his voice out of nowhere and were dumb-struck. All of a sudden, “the aroma of many fine spices wafted by them”, and R’ Shimon began to speak again right before their eyes, as if nothing had happened.

“Did you notice anything else?” (other than his having disappeared) he asked them. They had to admit that they hadn’t. “That’s because you aren’t worthy of seeing the face of The Ancient of Days!” he said. He went on to report that he’d been “sent for from Above” when he’d been missing, and had been “shown the place that the righteous occupy in The World to Come” and that he’d been addressed by Adam and hundreds of other souls. But he was told to return to earth because the time wasn’t right (Zohar Chadash 18-19).

The time did come for him to die though, later on. All his greatest disciples had gathered about him. R’ Shimon opened his eyes, “saw what he saw”, as the Zohar puts it — whatever or whomever he saw we can only imagine — when “fire suddenly enveloped the house”. And at a certain point R’ Shimon said the following.

“This is an auspicious moment and I want to enter The World to Come without shame. For, there are certain holy things I want to reveal this day … that I hadn’t revealed until now — so that it won’t be said that I left this world without completing my task here”.

He went on to discuss a number of esoteric things when he suddenly turned around and saw something. He tried to draw the attention of the others there to certain souls who where then in the room “each of whom was reflecting light from the shining countenance of the Holy Ancient One, The Most Mysterious of Mysterious”, but his disciples just couldn’t see them (Zohar 3, 287b-288a).

There came a time though when a great fire and light shone throughout the house until it suddenly stopped short. It became clear that “the holy light, the Holy of Holies”, R’ Shimon, had died just then “lying on his right side, covered over by his cloak, with a smile on his face”. A certain unearthly “perfume filled the air”.

Arrangements were quickly made for R’ Shimon’s funeral. His bier was brought outside when it “arose in the air (on its own) with a flame in front of it, and a voice was heard to say, ‘Come and assemble for the Hillulah (Feast) of R’ Shimon!’”. R’ Shimon’s body was then brought to the cave he was to be buried in, and another voice called out, “’Here is the man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms’ (Isaiah 57:2)….. How Blessed is his portion above and below!” (Zohar 3, 296b).

And how blessed is our portion too, who have so many teachings of R’ Shimon’s to draw upon and learn from!

(c) 2010 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman
Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org
——————————————————

AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman’s translation of Maimonides’ “Eight Chapters” is available here at a discount.

You can still purchase a copy of Rabbi Feldman’s translation of “The Gates of Repentance” here at a discount as well.

Rabbi Yaakov Feldman has also translated and commented upon “The Path of the Just” and “The Duties of the Heart” (Jason Aronson Publishers).

Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal”

The Book of Radiance: Tales from the Zohar

By Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, the sage behind most of the teachings of the Zohar, once offered a remarkable statement there about the Torah … and about the holy Zohar itself (3:152a).

“Woe to those who say that the Torah only came to relate simple stories and foolish tales!” he warned. For, “if that were so, why, then even we ourselves could create a ‘Torah’ with foolish tales — and even better ones!”

What an astounding thing to say! But how could he ever say that about the Torah, which “existed 974 generations before the world was created” (Zevachim 116a), which “G-d took council (with) before He created the world” (Pirkei d’Rebbe Eliezer 3), which is “one of the three things thanks to which the world is sustained” (Pirkei Avot 1:2), and without which “heaven and earth couldn’t continue to exist” (Petachim 68b)?

Rabbi Shimon didn’t stop there, though. He went on to say that “if (the Torah only came) to address material matters” as it sometimes seems to, “then our leaders would have better stories to tell, so we should follow their example and produce (such) a ‘Torah’”.

He ended his point there, though, and offered the following insight.

“The truth of the matter is that all the words of the Torah are exalted and (contain) arcane mysteries.” They aren’t at all what they seem to be. And his point is that it’s the job of the Zohar to reveal those secrets.

All kinds of mysteries and secrets are discussed in the Zohar:  the secret details about creation, about the ways of the angels and the tzaddikim, about the meaning of life, about the purpose of this mitzvah and that one, about the Jewish Holydays, as well as about birth and death, happiness and sadness, and much more.

“Come and see,” Rabbi Shimon goes on …. “It’s said of the angels (that G-d) ‘formed His angels (as pure) spirits’ (Psalms 104:4), yet when they descend down here the angels don earthly clothing”.  Why — “because if they wouldn’t, they couldn’t function in this world, and the world couldn’t endure them”. That is, seeing them in their native clothes of bright, celestial light would be too intense to bear, so they have to “dress down”, as the expression goes.

“Now, if that’s true of angels,” he says, “then how much more so is it true of the Torah … which all the worlds exist thanks to!” Shouldn’t it “don earthly clothing”, too? After all, who could stare straight ahead at the Torah in all its celestial light?

So in fact “the Torah did do that when it was conveyed to this world, (because) if it didn’t don worldly garments, the world couldn’t bear it.” The point is that “the Torah’s stories are its ‘garments’” and the Torah has to don them so that we can handle it.

And so, for example, when the Torah speaks about the various goings-on of our ancestors or about the sights and sounds it depicts in one story or another, it isn’t just passing information on to us and trying to catch our interest — it’s stowing away a clue here and there about the secrets of the universe.

Rabbi Shimon goes on to offer this parable about our naiveté when it comes to this.

“Come and see!” he says, “when simple folks see someone dressed beautifully they (look at his garment alright, but they) don’t look any further. In fact, they look at his outfit as if it was his body, and they look at his body as if it were his soul”.

That’s to say, when some people see someone’s clothes they look at it as if they were actually catching sight of the person behind it, when they’re really not. After all, they think they’re looking right at a person’s soul when they look at him face to face.

“It’s the same thing when it comes to the Torah” Rabbi Shimon says. “For it (too) has a ‘body’ … (which) wears (different) garments, and they’re the Torah’s stories” that cover-over the Torah’s “body”.

“Simple folk only look at that garment, which is the stories in the Torah, and are oblivious to everything else. They don’t consider what’s beneath it”.

“Those who know a thing or two” on the other hand, “don’t (just) look at the garment — they look at the body beneath”, which is far more splendid.

“But the wise — those who are servants of the great King and who stood at Mount Sinai (when the Torah was given, and thus know what they’re looking at) look at the (Torah’s) soul …” to be sure, which is stupendous. But it’s not the ultimate.

For “in times to come, (these same people) will actually be able to look at the soul of the Torah’s soul”, which is to say, at its inner essence.

And so we learn that the Torah is alive, that it wears splendid clothes that are rich in texture, and that somewhere deep within the seams and pockets, along the edges, and along its contours the Torah itself calls out to us!

“Woe to the wrongful who say that the Torah is just (a collection of) stories!” says Rabbi Shimon in the end. ”For they only look at the garment and no further”.

“Praised are the righteous,” on the other hand, “who see the Torah as it should be seen”.

May we ourselves be counted among the righteous!

(c) 2010 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org
——————————————————

AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman’s translation of Maimonides’ “Eight Chapters” is available here at a discount.

You can still purchase a copy of Rabbi Feldman’s translation of “The Gates of Repentance” here at a discount as well.

Rabbi Yaakov Feldman has also translated and commented upon “The Path of the Just” and “The Duties of the Heart” (Jason Aronson Publishers).

Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled “Spiritual Excellence” and “Ramchal”