Chapter Sixty-Nine:
Rabbi Yehudah Ashlag's "Introduction to the Zohar"
-- as translated and commented on by Rabbi Yaakov Feldman
__________________________________________________
69.
1.
"(In fact,) it’s said in the Tikkunei Zohar, 'Rise up and rouse yourself before the Holy Shechina (Divine Presence), for your heart is empty and without the knowledge (you’d need) to know and apprehend it even though it’s (right) in your midst'.”
-- The Tikkunei Zohar indicates that for some reason or another we haven’t the wherewithal to draw close to the Divine Presence.
“'The secret import of this is (contained in the verse,) "A voice says, Cry out!" (Isaiah 40:6) -- which is analogous to (the verse,) "Call now, but is there any who will answer you?" (Job 5:1). And she (i.e., the Shechina) said, "What should I cry out? All flesh is but grass" (meaning,) all (people) are like grass-eating animals, "and all its kindness is like the flower of the field!" (Isaiah 40:6) (meaning that) all the acts of kindness they proffer are for their own benefit' (Tikkun 40)."
-- What holds us back from drawing close to the Divine Presence in fact, and from hoisting it out of the pit it’s in, in our state of exile, is our selfishness and egotism, we’re told. Rabbi Ashlag will now expand upon that.
"The mystical meaning of that is as follows (Rabbi Ashlag offers). 'A voice says, Cry out!' (indicates that) a voice beats within each and every Jew’s heart to call out and pray for the ascent of the Holy Shechina, which encompasses all Jewish souls. And the Tikkunei Zohar refers to the verse, 'Call now, but is there any who will answer you?' (Job 5:1), to indicate that 'call' implies 'pray out to (in both instances)."
"But the Shechina replies, 'What should I cry out?, as if to say, I haven’t the strength to lift myself out of the dust (in which I lie, in exile), for 'all flesh is but grass', which is to say that 'they’re all like grass-eating animals', meaning that they all fulfill mitzvot mindlessly like animals, 'and all its kindness is like the flower of the field', which is to say that 'all the acts of kindness they proffer are for their own benefit', meaning that whenever they fulfill mitzvot they only do so to please themselves rather than their Creator."
"In fact, (that could) even (be said of) those who toil in Torah, for 'all the acts of kindness (that) *they* proffer are for their own benefit” (just as well, for indeed,) even the best of them, those who spend all their time studying Torah only, only do so for their own benefit, without meaning to please their Creator as they should."
-- Rabbi Ashlag had already expressed how deeply saddened he was by the fact that even the greatest Torah scholars of our generation don’t study Kabbalah, and of the spiritual “aridity and darkness we find ourselves to be in our generation” that has resulted (Ch. 57).
-- The greatest tragedy to come of that, though (aside from the Holocaust, alluded to at the end of the last chapter), is our aforementioned selfishness and egotism. His point is that the only way we can outgrow that is by honing all five aspects of our soul which we only manage to do when we delve into Kabbalah (Ch. 56).
2.
“'(It’s also said there in the Tikkunei Zohar of) such a generation (that they are like), "a spirit that passes away and does not return" (Psalms 78:39), referring to the spirit of the Moshiach, who is to deliver Israel from all its troubles (and lead us all) to the ultimate redemption, so as to fulfill the words: "for the earth will be full of the knowledge of G-d" (Isaiah 11:9). That spirit has left and doesn’t shine in the world (for now).'”
--The point is that the Moshiach is to come in order to reveal the sort knowledge of G-d that the Kabbalah explicates, but he’ll see how we don’t yearn for that knowledge and will turn around.
“Woe to those who cause the spirit of the Moshiach to vanish from the world and not return (in their day)! They make the Torah (seem) dry and without a drop of sense or wisdom! For they limit themselves to the practical aspects of the Torah and don’t want to understand the wisdom of the Kabbalah or know about and study the Torah’s mysteries or the reasons behind its mitzvot (that Kabbalah gives insight to). Woe to them! For they bring poverty, ruin, robbery, looting, murder, and destruction upon the world by their deeds.”
(c) 2006 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman
(Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org )
********************************
AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman's translation of "The Gates of Repentance" has been reissued at *at a discount*!
You can order it right now from here
Rabbi Yaakov Feldman has also translated and commented upon "The Path of the Just", and "The Duties of the Heart" (Jason Aronson Publishers). His new work on Maimonides' "The Eight Chapters" will soon be available.
Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled
"Spiritual Excellence" and "Ramchal"
Rabbi Yehudah Ashlag's "Introduction to the Zohar"
-- as translated and commented on by Rabbi Yaakov Feldman
__________________________________________________
69.
1.
"(In fact,) it’s said in the Tikkunei Zohar, 'Rise up and rouse yourself before the Holy Shechina (Divine Presence), for your heart is empty and without the knowledge (you’d need) to know and apprehend it even though it’s (right) in your midst'.”
-- The Tikkunei Zohar indicates that for some reason or another we haven’t the wherewithal to draw close to the Divine Presence.
“'The secret import of this is (contained in the verse,) "A voice says, Cry out!" (Isaiah 40:6) -- which is analogous to (the verse,) "Call now, but is there any who will answer you?" (Job 5:1). And she (i.e., the Shechina) said, "What should I cry out? All flesh is but grass" (meaning,) all (people) are like grass-eating animals, "and all its kindness is like the flower of the field!" (Isaiah 40:6) (meaning that) all the acts of kindness they proffer are for their own benefit' (Tikkun 40)."
-- What holds us back from drawing close to the Divine Presence in fact, and from hoisting it out of the pit it’s in, in our state of exile, is our selfishness and egotism, we’re told. Rabbi Ashlag will now expand upon that.
"The mystical meaning of that is as follows (Rabbi Ashlag offers). 'A voice says, Cry out!' (indicates that) a voice beats within each and every Jew’s heart to call out and pray for the ascent of the Holy Shechina, which encompasses all Jewish souls. And the Tikkunei Zohar refers to the verse, 'Call now, but is there any who will answer you?' (Job 5:1), to indicate that 'call' implies 'pray out to (in both instances)."
"But the Shechina replies, 'What should I cry out?, as if to say, I haven’t the strength to lift myself out of the dust (in which I lie, in exile), for 'all flesh is but grass', which is to say that 'they’re all like grass-eating animals', meaning that they all fulfill mitzvot mindlessly like animals, 'and all its kindness is like the flower of the field', which is to say that 'all the acts of kindness they proffer are for their own benefit', meaning that whenever they fulfill mitzvot they only do so to please themselves rather than their Creator."
"In fact, (that could) even (be said of) those who toil in Torah, for 'all the acts of kindness (that) *they* proffer are for their own benefit” (just as well, for indeed,) even the best of them, those who spend all their time studying Torah only, only do so for their own benefit, without meaning to please their Creator as they should."
-- Rabbi Ashlag had already expressed how deeply saddened he was by the fact that even the greatest Torah scholars of our generation don’t study Kabbalah, and of the spiritual “aridity and darkness we find ourselves to be in our generation” that has resulted (Ch. 57).
-- The greatest tragedy to come of that, though (aside from the Holocaust, alluded to at the end of the last chapter), is our aforementioned selfishness and egotism. His point is that the only way we can outgrow that is by honing all five aspects of our soul which we only manage to do when we delve into Kabbalah (Ch. 56).
2.
“'(It’s also said there in the Tikkunei Zohar of) such a generation (that they are like), "a spirit that passes away and does not return" (Psalms 78:39), referring to the spirit of the Moshiach, who is to deliver Israel from all its troubles (and lead us all) to the ultimate redemption, so as to fulfill the words: "for the earth will be full of the knowledge of G-d" (Isaiah 11:9). That spirit has left and doesn’t shine in the world (for now).'”
--The point is that the Moshiach is to come in order to reveal the sort knowledge of G-d that the Kabbalah explicates, but he’ll see how we don’t yearn for that knowledge and will turn around.
“Woe to those who cause the spirit of the Moshiach to vanish from the world and not return (in their day)! They make the Torah (seem) dry and without a drop of sense or wisdom! For they limit themselves to the practical aspects of the Torah and don’t want to understand the wisdom of the Kabbalah or know about and study the Torah’s mysteries or the reasons behind its mitzvot (that Kabbalah gives insight to). Woe to them! For they bring poverty, ruin, robbery, looting, murder, and destruction upon the world by their deeds.”
(c) 2006 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman
(Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org )
********************************
AT LONG LAST! Rabbi Feldman's translation of "The Gates of Repentance" has been reissued at *at a discount*!
You can order it right now from here
Rabbi Yaakov Feldman has also translated and commented upon "The Path of the Just", and "The Duties of the Heart" (Jason Aronson Publishers). His new work on Maimonides' "The Eight Chapters" will soon be available.
Rabbi Feldman also offers two free e-mail classes on www.torah.org entitled
"Spiritual Excellence" and "Ramchal"
posted by Rabbi Yaakov Feldman at 6:00 AM
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