Zohar
3,895 passages indexed from Zohar (Sefaria Community) — Page 61 of 78
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Zohar, Beshalach 13:9
Here is the Holy Name engraved in seventy-two letters, which are crowned with the Fathers who are the supernal Holy Chariot. Should the question arise, why the third group is not to be written partly straightforward and partly backwards, so as to be in touch with both sides (as Tifereth is in touch with both Hesed and Geburah),
Zohar, Nasso 9:12
that member immediately dies.
Zohar, Terumah 16:18
“His going forth is from the end of the heaven” (v. 7). He goes forth from the end of that supernal heaven, from the termination1Yesod. of the Body, as it is written, “From one end of heaven to the other end of the heaven” (Deut. 4, 32); where the “one end” designates the upper world, and the “other end” its termination.
Zohar, Nasso 15:11
There is a teaching: The priest who is about to spread forth his hands [for the benediction] needs an inflow of holiness in addition to his own; he must therefore have his hands washed by one who is himself holy, to wit, a Levite, of whose order it is written: “And thou shalt sanctify the Levites”.1These words are not to be found in our texts.
Zohar, Nasso 4:7
The faithful shepherd: This command is the mitzvah of teshuvah. And this is Binah. And due to our sins the Temple was destroyed, and the only thing left for us is the verbal confession, and this is Malchut. And what is Binah? Ben-Y-ah [son of Y-ah]. And this son is the vav obviously. And every person who returns in teshuvah is as if they returned the hey of the vav, and that person is Ben-Y-ah, and they completed in this Y-H-V-H, and this is Teshuvah - tashuv H [return the hey] obviously to the vav.
Zohar, Vayera 13:4
The numerical value of the letters of yihyah (will become) is thirty, which points to the traditional dictum that the Holy One provides for the world thirty righteous men in each generation in the same manner as He did for the generation of Abraham.
Zohar, Beshalach 15:22
R. Judah said: ‘On thatnight extreme severity was roused, for the Matrona asked that all the hosts below and all the powers above should be delivered unto Her. And so they were.’
Zohar, Tazria 9:1
1. Raa'ya MeHemna "And on the eighth day, the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised" (Leviticus 12:3). This commandment is to perform the circumcision on the eighth day — a cutting that corresponds to the Holy Covenant (Yesod). It is a supernal secret, as it is written: "The secret of the Lord is for those who fear Him, and His covenant, to make them know it" (Psalms 25:14). To whom is this revealed? — To those who fear Him, meaning those who fear sin. For the mystery of the Holy Covenant is not revealed openly to anyone except them. And this mystery of the Holy Covenant has already been explained and discussed in several other places.
Zohar, Bechukotai 1:2
R. Isaac said: ‘Happy the portion of the people whose Master says to them, “O my people, what have I done to thee and wherein have I wearied thee?” (Ibid. 3).’
Zohar, Vaetchanan 8:18
Said R. Hiya: ‘If that is so, this is what is meant by “Thou shalt see my back” (Ex. 33, 23), which, as we have leamt, means the knot of the phylacteries.’ He replied: ‘So we have explained, and this is the truth of the matter, and therefore a strap hangs down below to show that all below are sustained by this, and therefore it is called a “sign”, as it is written, “And it shall be for a sign upon thy hand”.’
Zohar, Mishpatim 3:232
“Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness” (Ps. 51, 20); for in that time all things will be perfectly united and the Holy Name shall also be united in its harmonious wholeness, and sacrifices will be offered to the united Names TETRAGRAMMATON Elohim, and shall not be as in former days when Elohim had no part in the sacrifice-since, if it had had, all the powers of the “other side” would have been on the alert to participate. At that time, “Thou art great and doest wondrous things: thou art God alone” (Ps. 86, 10), and there will be no other God.
Zohar, Achrei Mot 5:1
R. Abba said: ‘There are times when God is propitious and ready to dispense blessing to those that pray to Him, and times when He is not propitious and judgement is let loose on the world, and times when judgement is held in suspense. There are seasons in the year when grace is in the ascendant, and seasons when judgement is in the ascendant, and seasons when judgement is in the ascendant but held in suspense.
Zohar, Miketz 9:26
The unjust man is thus shown a happy dream, but an untruthful one, so as to make him go further astray from the path of truth. For since he turned aside from the right path they defile him the more, as whoever sets out to purify himself is purified from above, and whoever sets out to defile himself is similarly defiled from above. This has already been expounded elsewhere.’
Zohar, Vayera 18:11
R. Judah then said to him: ‘The punishment of sinners in Gehinnom lasts twelve months, after which the Holy One raises them out of Gehinnom, where they have undergone purification. They remain then sitting at the gate of Gehinnom, and when they see sinners enter there to be punished, they beseech mercy for them. In time the Holy One takes pity on them and causes them to be brought to a certain place reserved for them. From that day onward the body rests in the dust and the soul is accorded her proper place.
Zohar, Lech Lecha 11:10
And it dwells there some time, sitting and clothing itself in the image of this world. And on the first day of the month and on Shabbat, when it wants to rise, the righteous men who are in the Garden of Eden give it a letter as a sign. And it ascends through that same pillar, where it meets the watchmen of the walls of Jerusalem. If it is meritorious, they open the gate and it enters. If not, they take the letter away and throw it out. As it is written, "The watchmen that go about the city found me...the keepers of the walls took away my veil from me" (Shir Hashirim 5:7). (The veil) is the letter given as a sign, which has been taken away from it, by the watchmen of the walls of Jerusalem. End of Sitrei Torah.
Zohar, Bereshit 5:6
When the first point had developed from it, it showed itself upon it, touching and yet not touching it. When it expanded, it emerged into being, and thus was light (awr) left from ether (awir); and this is what we mean by saying that it “had been” previously; and so it remained. It went up and was stored away, and there was left of it one dot, which continually approaches by invisible paths the other point, touching and yet not touching, illuminating it in the manner of the first point from which it issued. Therefore the whole is linked together, and it illumines both one and the other.
Zohar, Vayakhel 11:36
Happy is the portion of whoever concentrates his heart and will on them and realizes them every day. With these precepts many others are interwoven, but at each particular passage it behoves man to concentrate his heart and will on the particular precept contained in that passage. Such a man is praised aloud in the words contained in the passage: “And He said unto me: Thou art My servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified” (Isa. 49, 3).’ R. Jose ceased, and R. Abba went up to him and kissed him;
Zohar, Achrei Mot 9:7
Or again, the words, “how good, how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity” may refer to the Companions when they sit together and there is no discord between them.
Zohar, Vayeshev 1:3
So Scripture says: “Better is a poor and wise child than an old and foolish king, who knoweth not how to receive admonition any more” (Eccl. 4, 13). The “child” here signifies the good prompter, who is so called because he is, as it were, a youngster by the side of man, whom he does not join till he is at the age of thirteen years, as elsewhere affirmed.
Zohar, Introduction 12:6
What, then, you may ask, is implied in “My Sabbaths ye shall observe”, which seems to point to two Sabbaths? The answer is that the plural form indicates the eve of Sabbath and the Sabbath itself, which merge into each other without a break.’
Zohar, Noach 10:2
The neshamah (spiritual soul) emerges and enters between the gorges of the mountains, where it is joined by the ruah (intellectual spirit). It descends then below where the nefesh (vital spirit) joins the ruah, and all three form a unity.’ R. Judah said: ‘The nefesh and the ruah are intertwined together, whereas the neshamah resides in a man’s character-an abode which cannot be discovered or located.
Zohar, Beshalach 13:4
We have been taught that from the side of Grace there are seventy-two witnesses; from the side of Severity, seventy-two scribes; from the side of Beauty, seventy-two colours of glory.
Zohar, Nasso 9:4
Should no advocate be found for him, he is declared guilty and is sentenced to be removed from the world. At that moment, whilst lying bound in the chains of the King, lifting his eyes he sees two beings near him who write down all that he did in this world and every word that ever went forth from his mouth. Of all this he has to give an account, as it is written: “For, lo, he that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what is his thought (siho=speech),’.1v. T. B. Hagigah, 5b. He admits all this,
Zohar, Miketz 1:2
He is “a stone of stumbling” on which the wicked come to grief and which is found in “a land of thick darkness, as darkness itself’ (Ibid. 10, 22). For there is a “land of the living” on high, which is the Land of Israel, and a land below called “land of darkness’,. The darkness and the shadow of death here mentioned are identical with the end that emerges from the side of darkness, which is also the “dross of gold”.
Zohar, Vaetchanan 6:3
R. Judah said: ‘A man should place God before him in all his acts. When a man walks abroad he should have three objects in view, the highest of which is prayer, and higher even than prayer is the converse of two or three companions on matters of the Torah, for they shall come to no harm, since the Shekinah accompanies them.’
Zohar, Mishpatim 3:6
Said R. Jose: ‘Of all the things I heard you say, one specially surprised me, because it showed exceptional folly in a man of your years, or else you did not know what you were saying.’ Said the old man: ‘What do you refer to?’ Said R. Jose: ‘That about the beautiful virgin and so forth.’
Zohar, Yitro 4:5
Then it is said that God made man in the “likeness” of God. By the word “likeness” we are to understand a kind of mirror in which images appear momentarily and then pass away.
Zohar, Terumah 14:3
And when the Sabbath arrives the Shekinah is in perfect union with Him and is separated from the “other side”, and all the potencies of severe judgement are severed from Her, She being in closest union with the Holy Light and crowned with many crowns by the Holy King, and all the principalities of severity and all the lords of judgement flee from Her, and no other domination reigns in any of the worlds,
Zohar, Vayishlach 1:14
In this way, then, the angel encompassed Jacob on all sides to deliver him; and when the Shekinah came down to abide with him, there joined him multitudinous hosts and legions; and it was of those angels that he sent a party to Esau.’
Zohar, Terumah 4:4
Now the streams of this aparsamon issue forth from the celestial sphere and the souls which have no earthly bodies ascend to imbibe from the light which emerges from them, and to revel therein. As for the souls who are clothed in bodily raiment and garmented with flesh, they ascend likewise and imbibe nourishment, but from the light of the sphere apiryon, for that is the region which appertains to them: which having done, they descend again. They both give and take. They emit sweet savours from the good works which they have wrought in this world, and they imbibe the aroma which was left in the Garden, and of which it is written: “as the savour of the field which the Lord had blessed” (Gen. 27, 27), the “field” being the Garden of Eden. And in this Garden all the souls appear, both those who dwell in earthly bodies and those whose sole being and joy is in the world above.
Zohar, Shemot 12:1
R. Eleazar, R. Abba, and R. Jose were once walking from Tiberias to Sepphoris’ On the way they met a Jew who started a conversation by quoting: “A burden upon Egypt. Behold, the Lord rideth upon a swift cloud and cometh into Egypt, and the godlings of Egypt shall flee from his presence” (Isa. XIX, I). ‘Mark this,’ he said. ‘All the kings and all the nations of the world are as nothing before the Holy One, blessed be He (Dan. 4, 32). He only has to decide a thing and it is done. What, then, is the significance of the expression “cometh into Egypt”? Did He have to “come”?
Zohar, Terumah 10:7
The “watchman” mentioned here is Metatron, the ruler of the night. It is written: “Watchman, what of the night (laylah)? Watchman, what of the night (lail)?” What is the difference between laylah and lail? They are one and the same, only in one part of the night the “other side” reigns and in the other it has no such sway; “lail” requires guarding, therefore it lacks the letter he at the end, it is the early part of the night before midnight, “the night (lail) of watchings” (EX. XII); from midnight on it is laylah (cf. Ps. 139, 16).
Zohar, Balak 8:6
Master of the Universe, take Thy Law, and let me have no portion in it. But, if it please Thee, there is the people of the sons of Jacob, for them it is fitting. He thought to do them a mischief: If they receive this, he said, assuredly they will vanish from the world and will never have dominion. God said to him: Thou art the firstborn and for thee it is fitting. He replied: He has my birthright, as it was sold to him and I consented. Then God said: Since thou desirest no portion in it, leave it entirely. He replied: Good.
Zohar, Pekudei 4:19
R. Abba continued: ‘We find it written that the woman of Zarephath said to Elijah: “As the Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake, only a handful of meal in the jar, and a little oil in the cruse” (I Kings 17, 12).
Zohar, Introduction 11:7
The verse continues: “And to say to Zion thou art ‘Ami, my people” (Ibid.). This means, to say to those gates of study and those words of Zion (distinction) “thou art ‘Ami”. The word ‘Ami (my people) may be read ‘Imi (with me), meaning “to be a collaborator with Me”; for just as I made heaven and earth by a word, as it says: “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made” (Ps. 33, 6), So dost thou. Happy are those who devote themselves to the study of the Torah! You should not think, however, that all this applies even to one who is no true scholar.
Zohar, Shemot 13:8
After the twelve months the Messiah will be carried up to heaven in that pillar of fire and receive there power and dominion and the royal crown. When he descends, the pillar of fire will again be visible to the eyes of the world, and the Messiah will reveal himself, and mighty nations will gather round him, and he shall declare war against all the world. At that time the Holy One shall show forth his power before all the nations of the earth, and the Messiah shall be manifested throughout the whole universe, and all the kings will unite to fight against him,
Zohar, Nasso 5:19
Said R. Judah: ‘The hair of the head of a woman being exposed leads to Hair of another kind being exposed and impaired. Hence a woman should not let her hair be seen, even by the beams of her house, much less in the open.
Zohar, Vayishlach 6:3
It is the same with Israel, as we read: “By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, etc.” (Ex. 23, 30). So, too, a sick man who is recovering cannot be given a full diet all at once, but only gradually. But with Esau it was not so. His light came at a bound, but it will gradually be withdrawn from him until Israel will come into their own and destroy him completely from this world and from the world to come. Because he plunged into the light all at once, therefore he will be utterly and completely exterminated.
Zohar, Pekudei 3:1
R. Eleazar discoursed on the verse: “And a throne is established through mercy, and there sitteth thereon in truth, in the tent of David, one that judgeth, and seeketh justice, and is ready in righteousness” (Isa. 16, 5). ‘This has been explained as follows’, he said. ‘When the Thought arose with glad purpose from the Most Recondite and Unknowable, that gladness impinged on the Thought, so that the latter entered more and more deeply until it was secluded in the interior of a certain supernal undisclosed Palace.1Bmah.
Zohar, Vayikra 7:2
It was sung in praise of the Community of Israel. Wherein lies this praise? In the words, “Great is the Lord and highly to be praised, in the city of our God, in his holy mountain”. For when is the Holy One, blessed be He, called great? When the Community of Israel is with Him; He is great “in the city of our God”.
Zohar, Achrei Mot 6:5
FOR I WILL APPEAR IN THE CLOUD UPON THE MERCY SEAT. R. Judah said: ‘Happy are the righteous that God seeks to honour them. If a man rides on the horse of an earthly king he is put to death, but God let Elijah ride upon His, as it is written: “And Elijah went up in a whirlwind into heaven” (2 Kings 2, 11); and He also took Moses into the cloud, though it is written here, “in the cloud I shall appear on the mercy seat”.
Zohar, Yitro 4:1
MOREOVER, THOU SHALT LOOK ABOUT AND CHOOSE OUT OF ALL THE PEOPLE, ABLE MEN. R. Isaac and R. Jose were one day studying the Torah in Tiberias. R. Simeon passed by and asked them what they were engaged upon. They answered him: ‘The words which we have learned from thee, Master,’ ‘Which?’ said he. They replied: ‘It arises out of the verse: “This is the book of the generations of man; in the day when God created man, in the likeness of God made he him” (Gen. 5, 1). We were taught,’ they said, ‘that this verse indicates that the Holy One showed to the first man all the future generations of mankind: all the leaders, all the sages of each period.
Zohar, Vayakhel 7:1
In the story of Jonah we have a representation of the whole of a man’s career in this world. Jonah descending into the ship is symbolic of man’s soul that descends into this world to enter into his body. Why is she called Jonah (lit. aggrieved)? Because as soon as she becomes partner with the body in this world she finds herself full of vexation. Man, then, is in this world as in a ship that is traversing the great ocean and is like to be broken, as it says, “so that the ship was like to be broken” (Jonah 1, 4).
Zohar, Lech Lecha 17:2
“Soul “(nefesh) and “spirit” (ruah) are not two separate grades, but one grade with two aspects. There is still a third aspect which should dominate these two and cleave to them as they to it, and which is called “higher spirit” (neshamah).
Zohar, Chukat 6:4
There never was a generation like that in which Moses was present along with Aaron and Miriam. And think not that there was the like in the days of Solomon, for in the days of Solomon the Moon held sway but the Sun was gathered in, whereas in the days of Moses the Moon was gathered in but the Sun held sway.
Zohar, Pekudei 2:6
This is indicated by the similarity of the phrase, “these are the accounts of the tabernacle”, and “these are the generations of the heaven and the earth”. For all the generations of heaven and earth were produced by the energy of that treasured-up Light; and likewise, all that came within the “accounts of the tabernacle” was accomplished by the same energy. How do we know this? Because Scripture says, “And Bezalel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah”, he being of the “right side”; “and with him was Oholiab”, who was of the “left side”, for the Tabernacle was made by the energy of both the right side and the left side, and was finally erected by Moses, who united the two.’
Zohar, Bereshit 8:22
“Great is thy faithfulness”: assuredly great, since it can support all the creatures of the world and comprise them all in itself, upper and lower alike. It is of infinite expanse, it absorbs all and becomes no fuller. This is alluded to in the verse, “All the rivers run into the sea, yet is the sea not full, etc.” (Eccl. 1, 7). They run into the sea, and the sea receives and swallows them and is not filled, and then it restores them to their former state. Hence “great is thy faithfulness”.
Zohar, Vayera 10:6
It may be objected that the three angels were one of fire, one of water, and the third of air. The answer to this, however, is that they all partook of each other’s essences, and hence “they did eat”. Analogous to this is the passage “and they beheld God, and did eat and drink” (Ex. 24, 11). There it was truly eating, for they feasted themselves on the Shekinah. So here, “and they did eat” implies that they feasted themselves on that side to which Abraham was attached, and for that reason nothing remained of what Abraham put before them.
Zohar, Vayeshev 7:4
Hence it is that all dreams follow their interpretation, as it is written: “And it came to pass, as he interpreted to us, so it was” (Gen. 41, 13); for since the dream contains both falsehood and truth, the word has power over it, and therefore it is advisable that every dream should be interpreted in a good sense.’
Zohar, Behar 9:5
R. Jose then quoted the verse: “Trust in the Lord and do good, dwell in the land and follow after faithfulness” (Ps. 37, 3). ‘Happy’, he said, ‘is the man who does good with what he hath, because he arouseth good for the Community of Israel, to wit, with righteousness.1Zedakah, i.e. charity. Hence it is written, “Righteousness delivereth from death” (Prov. 10, 2). Why so? Because righteousness is the tree of life, and it rouses itself against the tree of death and takes those who are attached to it and delivers them from death. And what rouses it to do so? You must say, the charity which that man does; as it were, he performs it above also.’