Lech Lecha [Go Forth]
4) People should observe the work of the Creator. After all, all the people do not know and do not consider what the world stands on and what they themselves stand on.
4-5) Everything stands on Torah, since when Israel engage in Torah, when they raise MAN to ZON and extend the middle line, which is the Torah, the world exists.
When midnight awakens and the Creator enters the Garden of Eden to play with the righteous, all the trees in the Garden of Eden sing and praise before Him, as it is written, “Then shall all the trees of the wood sing for joy before the Lord, for He has come.” The night is the Nukva with respect to her own dominion. She is essentially the illumination of the left line, from the illumination of Hochma that extends from the point of Shuruk in Ima. Also, Hochma shines only from the Chazeh down because the Man’ula [lock] governs from the Chazeh and above of each Partzuf, and the illumination of Hochma cannot appear there. This is the division of the night into two halves, since the point of midnight is the point of Chazeh.
At midnight, the Nukva, awakens to receive the mitigation of Bina, to shine from the Chazeh down in her, which is the Garden of Eden, the Creator enters the Garden of Eden to play with the righteous. In other words, the righteous raise MAN and extend illumination of the middle line there, which is the Creator who shines in the Garden of Eden.
All the trees in the Garden of Eden sing and praise before Him, as it is written, “Then shall all the trees of the wood sing for joy.” “The trees of the wood” are infertile trees, which do not bear fruit. Before the coming of the Creator, the Sefirot of Nukva were regarded as the trees of the wood, which have no fruits to them. After the illumination of the Creator enters there through the righteous, “The trees of the wood sing for joy before the Lord, for He has come,” and bear fruit.
9) The existence of all the people is on the middle line, which is extended only by engagement in the Torah. Were it not for the middle line, they would have no existence whatsoever.
18-19) Anyone who comes to be purified is aided…Thus, one who comes and awakens himself from below is aided from above. But without the awakening from below, there is no awakening from above.
Nothing above awakens if the thing upon which the thing from above is placed does not awaken below first. This is the meaning of the black light in the candle, the Nukva, who does not grip the white light in the candle, ZA, before she awakens first. When she awakens first, the white light immediately comes over her because the lower one must awaken first.
116) Woe unto the wicked of the world who do not know and do not look to understand that all that there is in the world is from the Creator, that He alone did, does, and will do all the deeds in the world. He knows in advance all that will unfold in the end, as it is written, “Declaring the end from the beginning.” And He watches and does things in the beginning in order to repeat them and to do them perfectly after some time.
129) “And a river came out of Eden to water the garden,” Yesod de ZA, which comes out of Bina that returned to Hochma, who is called “Eden.” This is the pillar upon which the world stands, and this is the one who waters the garden, the Nukva, and the garden is watered by it and makes fruits from it, which are souls of people. All the fruits blossom in the world, Nukva, and they are the persistence of the world and the keeping of the Torah. These fruits are the souls of the righteous, which are the fruits of the deeds of the Creator.
131) The upper world needed awakening from the lower world. When the souls of the righteous depart from this world and rise to the Garden of Eden, they all clothe the upper light in a precious way. The Creator plays with them and yearns for them, for they are the fruit of His deeds. This is the reason why Israel are called “The sons of the Creator,” since they have holy souls, as it is written, “You are the sons of the Lord your God,” since souls are sons, the fruit of the Creator’s actions.
144) Had Abram not gone down to Egypt and had not been purified there first, he would have had no share and lot in the Creator. It was likewise with his sons when the Creator wished to make them one nation, a whole nation, and to bring them closer to Him. Had they not gone down to Egypt first and had they not been purified there, they would not have been His one nation. Similarly, had the land of holiness not been given to Canaan first, and had they not ruled it, the land would not have been the share and lot of the Creator, and it is all one.
163) All the friends came and kissed Rabbi Shimon’s hands. They wept, “Woe, when you depart from the world, who will light the light of Torah?” Happy are the friends who heard these words of Torah from your mouth.
209-210) The Creator said to the assembly of Israel, Divinity, “From Me is your fruit found.” It does not say, “Is My fruit found,” but “Your fruit,” indicating to that craving of the female, who makes the female of the soul, which is included in the strength of the male. Also, the soul of the female is included in the soul of the male and they become one, mingled in one another. Afterwards, they are separated in the world.
Indeed, by the force of the male is the fruit of the female present in the world. The words, “Your fruit” point to the fruits of the female, to the soul that extends by her craving. The text tells us that even the soul of the female is not from her self, but from her mingling with the soul of the male. This is why he says, “From Me is your fruit found.”
“From Me is your fruit found.” This is so because by the craving of the female herself, from which the female of the soul comes, the fruit of the male is found. Had it not been for the craving of the female for the male, there would be no fruits in the world, meaning there would be no offspring.
225-227) When the Creator created the world, the world did not stand, but collapsed to this side and to that side. The Creator said to the world, “Why are you falling?” It told Him, “Dear Lord, I cannot stand because I have no foundation [Yesod] on which to stand.”
The Creator told it, “Thus, I will place a righteous one within you, Abraham, who will love Me.” And the world immediately stood and existed. It is written, “These are the generations of the heaven and the earth when they were created.” Do not read it, BeHibar’am [when they were created], but BeAvraham [in Abraham, same letters in Hebrew], since the world existed in Abraham.
The world replied to the Creator, “Abraham is destined to beget sons who will destroy the Temple and burn the Torah.” The Creator told it, “One man will come out of him, Jacob, and twelve tribes will come out of him, all of which are righteous.” Promptly, the world existed for him.
231) The awakening of the upper one is only through the awakening of the lower one because the awakening of the upper one depends on the craving of the lower one.
268-269) It is written, “I am my beloved's, and his desire is for me.” In the beginning, “I am my beloved’s,” and afterwards, “And his desire is for me.” “I am my beloved's” is to first set up a place for him with an awakening from below, and then, “And his desire is for me.”
Divinity is not present with the wicked. When a person comes to purify and bring himself closer to the Creator, Divinity is over him. It is written about it, “I am my beloved's,” first, and then, “And his desire is for me,” since when one comes to purify, he is purified.
278-279) When the Creator created the world, it was on the condition that if Israel came and received the Torah, they would exist. And if not, then I will turn you back to chaos. Indeed, the world did not exist until Israel stood at Mount Sinai and accepted the Torah, and then the world existed.
From that day forth, the Creator creates worlds. And who are they? They are the Zivugim [plural of Zivug] of people.
310) “When the Creator, Bina, wished to create the world, ZON, which are called “heaven and earth,” He looked into the thought— Hochma, the Torah—inscribed inscriptions, and extended the light of Hochma to ZON, to heaven and earth. But the world could not stand because they could not receive the light due to the force of Tzimtzum [restriction] and Din that was in Malchut.
Then He created penance, the hidden inner and high Heichal [palace]. “Until He created penance” means until He elevated Malchut to Bina, at which time Bina is called “penance,” for Bina was diminished into a point in the Heichal. By that, Midat ha Din [quality of judgment] in Malchut was mitigated in Bina and became fit for reception of the light of Hochma.
315-317) “Bless the Lord, you His angels… hearing unto the voice of His word.” Happier are Israel than all the other nations of the world, for the Creator has chosen them from among all nations, and has made them His share and His lot. Hence, He has given them the holy Torah, since they were all in one desire at Mount Sinai and preceded doing to hearing, as they said, “We shall do and we shall hear.”
And since they preceded doing to hearing, the Creator called upon the angels and told them: “Thus far, you were the only ones before Me in the world. Henceforth, My children on the earth are your friends in every way. You have no permission to sanctify My name until Israel bond with you in the earth, and all of you together will join to sanctify My name, since they preceded doing to hearing, as the high angels do in the firmament,” as it is written, “Bless the Lord, you His angels … They do His word,” first. And then it is written, “Hearing the voice of His word.”
“Bless the Lord, you His angels” are the righteous in the land. They are as important before the Creator as the high angels in the firmament, since they are mighty and powerful, for they overcome their inclination like a hero who triumphs over his enemies. “Hearing the voice of His word” means being rewarded hearing a voice from above every day and at any time they need.
327-328) King David said, “For who is God, save the Lord? And who is a Rock, save our God?” “Who is God” means who is the ruler or the appointee who can do anything, besides the Creator? Rather, they do what they were commanded by the Creator because none of them is in his own authority and they cannot do anything. “And who is a rock” means who is strong and can make his own assertion and might, “Save our God”? Rather, they are all in the hands of the Creator and they cannot do anything except with His permission.
“For who is God, save the Lord?” Everything is in the permission of the Creator. It is not as it seems in the stars and fortunes, which show something and the Creator changes it into another way. “And who is a Rock, save our God?” means that there is no such painter as the Creator. He is the perfect painter, who makes and paints a form within a form, a fetus in its mother’s insides, and completes that picture in all its corrections, and instills a high soul within it, which is similar to the upper correction.
330) How great are the deeds of the Creator? The art and painting of a man are like the artisanship and the depiction of the world. In other words, man comprises the entire deed of the world, and he is called “a small world.” Each and every day, the Creator creates a world that makes Zivugim for everyone as he should, and this is considered creating worlds. And He depicted the shape of each of them before they came to the world.
356) “The law of the Lord is perfect” because it contains everything. Happy are those who engage in the Torah and do not part from it, for anyone who is separated from the Torah for even an hour, it is as though he has parted from life in the world. And it is written, “For it is your life and the length of your days,” and it is written, “For length of days, and years of life, and peace, will they add to you.”
363-367) At midnight, when the roosters awaken, the north side awakens in Ruach [wind], meaning the left line in illumination of Shuruk, meaning illumination of Hochma with absence of Hassadim, GAR de Ruach. The scepter, the south side—right line, Hassadim—rises and mingles with that Ruach of the left line, and they mingle with one another. At that time, the Dinim of the left line rest and it is mitigated in Hassadim. Then the Creator awakens in His custom to play with the righteous in the Garden of Eden.
At that time, happy is a man who rises to play in the Torah, since the Creator and all the righteous in the Garden of Eden listen to his voice, as it is written, “You who dwells in the gardens, the friends are listening to your voice; let me hear it.”
Moreover, the Creator draws upon him a thread of grace, to keep him in the world so that the upper ones and lower ones will guard him, as it is written, “By day the Lord will command His grace; and in the night, His song is with me.”
Anyone who engages in Torah at that time will certainly have a permanent part in the next world. What is permanent? These Mochin extend from YESHSUT, whose Zivug is intermittent and not permanent. But each midnight, when the Creator awakens in the Garden of Eden, all those plantings—the Sefirot in the Garden of Eden, the Nukva—will be watered abundantly from that stream, which is called “a primordial stream,” “a stream of delights,” “upper AVI,” whose waters never stop, meaning that the Zivug of AVI never stops. And one who rises and engages in the Torah, it is as though that stream pours down on his head and waters him inside the plantings in the Garden of Eden. Hence, he has a permanent share in the Mochin of the next world, too, meaning YESHSUT, since the Mochin de AVI contain the Mochin de YESHSUT within them, too.
Moreover, since all the righteous in the Garden of Eden listen to him, they put a share for him in that potion of the stream, which are the Mochin of upper AVI. It turns out that he has a perpetual part for the next world, which are included in Mochin de AVI.
445) He said about Rashbi and his disciples: “Happy are you in this world and in the next world. You are all holy; you are all sons of the Holy God…Each of you is tied and connected to the High and Holy King.”
New Zohar, Lech Lecha [Go Forth]
1) Oh how one should qualify his works before his Creator and engage in His Torah [law] day and night, for the virtue of the Torah is above all virtues.
5-6) All the souls of the righteous were cut off from under the throne to lead the body as a father leads the son, for without the soul, the body cannot be led, nor know or do its Creator’s will. The soul is a teacher, teaching the man and educating him in every upright path.
When the Creator sends her from the place of holiness, He blesses her with seven blessings, as it is written, “And the Lord said to Abram.” This is the soul, called Av Ram [high father], for she is a father in teaching the body, and higher than it, for she comes from a high and supernal place.
61) Oh how fond is the Creator of the Torah, for which man is rewarded with the life of the next world, and for anyone who teaches others Torah—more than everyone.
61-62) They who teach others and infants Torah are rewarded doubly. One who teaches children Torah, his abode is with Divinity. When Rabbi Shimon came to see the children in the seminary, he would say, “I am going to meet the face of Divinity.”