Kabbalah Library
Zohar for All, Volume 9
The Lord Bought Me at the Beginning of His Way
289. The Lord bought me at the beginning of His way, before His works of old.” That verse reiterates the whole Torah, which was the beginning of the ways of God, for the Torah was created two thousand years before the world was created.
290. Seven things were created before the world was created: the Torah, the Garden of Eden, Hell, the throne, the Temple, the name of the Messiah, repentance. In the Torah, He created the world. This is “In the beginning God created,” with beginning [Resheet], which is the Torah, “God created the heaven and the earth.” How much is the difference between the Torah and the world? The world was created in six days, and the Torah, in forty days and forty nights.
