Chapter Sixty-Two:

Rabbi Yehudah Ashlag's "Introduction to the Zohar"

-- as translated and commented on by Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

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62.

1.

"We can now understand why even though the people of the earlier generations were of an immeasurably greater caliber than those of the latter ones (they weren’t privy to the Zohar or Kabbalah). For the rule regarding partzufim is that, be they partzufim of entire worlds or of souls, the subtler (elements) are fashioned first. And so the CHaBaD vessels are (always) fashioned first, whether it comes to the world at large or to souls."

"So while the individuals living in the first two millennia were of a much higher caliber than those of the latter ones, they nonetheless couldn’t partake of the full light (entailed in the revelation of the Zohar and Kabbalah) because they lacked the lower vessels of CHaGaT- NeHYM both on a personal and a universal level.'

2.

"The same was true later on, in the course of the middle two millennia, when the CHaGaT-vessels were fashioned in the world (at large) and in (individual) souls."
-- Those who lived in the course of the middle two millennia -- in the “Torah” era -- likewise didn’t merit knowledge of the Zohar or Kabbalah, despite their spiritual standing. For while many of them excelled in Torah, they weren’t ready for the sort of Torah of the final era which is Torah connected to the coming of the Moshiach.

"For though the souls (i.e., individuals alive then) were indeed very pure, as ChaGaT-vessels are nearly on par with ChaBaD-vessels, ... "
-- Both ChaBaD- and ChaGaT-vessels are sublime, despite their relative disparity, and the same is true of the individuals who lived in the course of the first and second two millennia: they too were sublime and far greater than we, ...

" ... nonetheless, the (more sublime) lights were still-and-all concealed from the world (then), because the vessels from the “chest” downward weren’t yet in place in the world or in souls."
-- ... which explains exactly why they, too, weren’t worthy of the Zohar and Kabbalah.

"But our generation -- despite the fact that the makeup of our souls is of the lowest quality, and have consequently not been fashioned in holiness -- has nonetheless allowed for the completion of the vessels of the partzuf of the world and (individual) souls. Thus the assignment (of allowing for the revelation of the Zohar and Kabbalah) has been completed by us."

"For now that the (final, lowest) vessels of NeHY and (thus) all the vessels of beginning, middle, and end are in place in the partzuf, whole configurations of light, that is, beginning, middle, and end; Nephesh, Ruach, and Neshama, are being extended (now) to all who merit it. And thus it’s only (now,) with the completion of such lowly souls that the supreme lights can be revealed, rather than before. "

(c) 2006 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

(Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org )

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