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The Zohar

IN THE BEGINNING. R. Eleazar opened his discourse with the text: Lift up your eyes on high and see: who hat/i created these? (Is. xL, 26). ‘“Lift up your eyes on high”: to which place? To that place to which all eyes are turned, to wit, Petah ‘Enaim (“eye-opener”). By doing so, you will know that it is the mysterious Ancient One, whose essence can be sought, but not found, that created these: to wit, Mi (Who?), the same who is called “from (Heb. mi) the extremity of heaven on high”, because everything is in His power, and because He is ever to be sought, though mysterious and un­revealable, since further we cannot enquire. That extremity of heaven is called Mi, but there is another lower extremity which is called Mah (What?). The difference between the two is this. The first is the real subject of enquiry, but after a man by means of enquiry and reflection has reached the utmost limit of knowledge, he stops at Mah (What?), as if to say, what knowest thou? what have thy searchings achieved? Everything is as baffling as at the beginning. In allusion to this, it is written “I, Mah, testify against thee, etc.” (Lam. II, 13). ‘When the Temple was destroyed a voice went forth and said: “I, Mah, have testified against thee day by day from the days of old,” as it is written, “I called heaven and earth to Witness against you.” (Deut. xxx, 19) Further, I, Mah, likened myself to thee; I crowned thee with holy crowns, and made thee ruler over the earth, as it is written, “Is this the city that men call the perfection of beauty? etc.” (Lam. II, 15), and again, “I called thee Jerusalem that is builded as a city compact together”. Further, I, Mah, am equal to thee; in the same plight in which thou, Jerusalem, art here, so I am, as it were, above; just as the holy people does not go up to thee any more in sacred array, so, I swear to thee, I will not ascend on high until the day when thy throngs will again stream to thee here below. And this may be thy consolation, inasmuch as to this extent I am thy equal in all things. But now that thou art in thy present state “thy breach is great like the sea” (Ibid. 13). And lest thou sayest there is for thee no abiding and no healing, “Mi will heal thee” (Ibid.). Of a surety the veiled One, the most High, the sum of all existence will heal thee and uphold thee—Mi, the extremity of heaven above, Mah, as far as the extremity of heaven below. And this is the inheritance of Jacob, he being the “bolt that passes from extremity to extremity” (Exod. XXVI, 28), that is, from the higher, identical with Mi, to the lower, identical with Ma/i, as he occupies a position in the middle. Hence “Mi (Who) created these”.’

Said R. Simeon, ‘Eleazar, son of mine, cease thy discourse, that there may be revealed the higher mysteries which remain sealed for the people of this world.’ R. Eleazar then fell into silence. R. Simeon wept a while and then said: ‘Eleazar, what is meant by the term “these”? Surely not the stars and the other heavenly bodies, since they are always visible, and were created through Mah, as we read, “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made” (Ps. xxxiii, 6). Nor can it imply the things inaccessible to our gaze, since the vocable “these” obviously points to things that are revealed. This mystery remained sealed until one day, whilst I was on the sea-shore, Elijah came and said to me, “Master, what means ‘Mi (Who?) created these ?‘ “ I said to him, “That refers to the heavens and their hosts, the works of the Holy One, blessed be He, works through the contemplation of which man comes to bless Him, as it is written, ‘When I behold thy heavens, the work [2a] of thy fingers, etc. 0 Lord our God, how glorious is thy name in all the earth!’” (Ps.VIII, 4—10). Then he said to me, “Master, the Holy One, blessed be He, had a deep secret which He at length revealed at the celestial Academy. It is this. When the most Mysterious wished to reveal Himself, He first produced a single point which was transmuted into a thought, and in this He executed innumerable designs, and engraved innumerable gravings. He further graved within the sacred and mystic lamp a mystic and most holy design, which was a wondrous edifice issuing from the midst of thought. This is called MI, and was the beginning of the edifice, existent and non-existent, deep-buried, unknowable by name. It was only called MI (Who?). It desired to become manifest and to be called by name. It therefore clothed itself in a refulgent and precious garment and created ELeH (these), and ELeH acquired a name. The letters of the two words intermingled, forming the complete name ELoHIM (God). (When the Israelites sinned in making the golden calf, they alluded to this mystery in saying ‘Eleh (these are) thy Gods, 0 Israel’ (Exod. xxxii, 4).) And once MI became combined with ELeH, the name remained for all time. And upon this secret the world is built.” Elijah then flew away and vanished out of my sight. And it is from him that I became possessed of this profound mystery.’

R. Eleazar and all the companions came and prostrated themselves before him, weeping for joy and saying, ‘If we had come into the world only to hear this we should have been content.’ R. Simeon said further: ‘The heavens and their hosts were created through the medium of Mah (What ?), as it is written, “When I behold thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, etc. . . . 0 Lord our God (Adon), Mah, glorious is thy name in all the earth, whose majesty is rehearsed above the heavens.” (Ps. VIII, 4, 2). God is “above the heavens” in respect of His name, for He created a light for His light, and one formed a vestment to the other, and so He ascended into the higher name; hence “In the beginning Elohim (God) created”, that is, the supernal Elohim. Whereas Mah was not so, nor was it built up until these letters Eleh (from the name Elohirn) were drawn from above below, and the Mother lent the Daughter her garments and decked her out gracefully with her own adornments. When did she so adorn her? When all the males (of Israel) appeared before her in accordance with the command “all thy males shall appear before the Lord (Adon) God” (Exod. xxxiv, 23). This term Lord (Adon) is similarly used in the passage “Behold the Ark of the covenant of the Lord (Adon) of all the earth” (Jos.III,11). Then the letter He’ (of Mah) departed and her place was taken by Yod (making Mi), and then she decked herself in male garments, harmonizing with “every male in Israel”. Other letters, too, Israel drew from on high to that place. Thus it says: “These (Eleh) I remember” (Ps. XLII, 5), i.e., I make mention with my mouth and I pour out my tears, and thus “I make them (the letters) flit” from on high “unto the house of Elohim’ (Ibid.) to be Elohim (God) after his form. And with what? “With the voice of song and praise and amidst a festive throng” (Ibid.).’ Said R. Eleazar, ‘My keeping silence was the means of building the sanctuary above and the sanctuary below. Verily “speech is worth a sela, silence two”. Speech is worth a se/a, namely, my exposition and remarks on the subject; but silence is worth two, since through my silence two worlds were built together.’

R. Simeon said: ‘We will go on to expound the conclusion of the verse, viz. He who bringeth forth by number their host (Is. xL, 26). There are two grades which have to be distin­guished, one of Mah and one of Mi—one of the higher and the other of the lower sphere. The higher is singled out here in the words, “He who bringeth forth by number their host”. “He who” expresses something definite and absolute, a being universally recognized and without equal. (Corresponding to this is the expression “He who bringeth forth bread from the earth”: here also “He who” implies the universally acknow­ledged one, though here visualized as the lower grade; the two, however, are one.) “By number”: six hundred thousand are they, and they have in turn produced according to their kinds beyond all number. “All of them”, whether the six hundred thousand or the rest of the hosts, “He calls by name”. This cannot mean by their names, for if it were so, it should have been written “by names”. What it means is that as long as this grade did not assume a name, and was still called Mi, it was unproductive, and did not bring into actuality the latent forces within it, each according to its kind. But as soon as it created ELeH (these), and assumed its rightful name and was called ELoHIM (God), then, by force of that name, it produced them in their complete form. This is the meaning of “calls by name”, to wit, He proclaimed His own name so as to bring about the emergence of each sort of being in its full form. (Analogous to this we read, “See, I have called by name” (Exod. xxxi, 2), to wit, I have bestowed my name on Bezalel (in the shadow of God) so that his work should emerge in perfection. Further, the words “by the abundance of powers” (Is. XL, 26) refer to the supreme grade whereto all the volitions ascend [2b] by a mysterious path. “And mighty of strength”: the word “strength” (Koah) symbolizes the supernal World which assumed the name Elohim (God), as already said. “No one is missing” of the six hundred thousands which emerged by the power of the Name. And because no one is missing, therefore whenever Israelites died on account of a national sin, the people were afterwards numbered, and it was found that the number of six hundred thousand had not been diminished even by one, so that the likeness to the supernal prototype was still complete; just as no one was missing above, so no one was missing here below.

IN THE BEGINNING. Rab Hamnuna the Venerable said: ‘We find here a reversal of the order of the letters of the Alphabet, the first two words bereshith bara—”in-the-begin­ning He-created”—commencing with beth, whereas the two words following, Elohim eth—”God the”—commence with aleph. The reason is as follows. When the Holy One, blessed be He, was about to make the world, all the letters of the Alphabet were still embryonic, and for two thousand years the Holy One, blessed be He, had contemplated them and toyed with them. When He came to create the world, all the letters presented themselves before Him in reversed order. The letter Tau advanced in front and pleaded: May it please Thee, 0 Lord of the world, to place me first in the creation of the world, seeing that I am the concluding letter of EMeTh (Truth) which is engraved upon Thy seal, and seeing that Thou art called by this very name of EMeTh, it is most ap­propriate for the King to begin with the final letter of EMeTIi and to create with me the world. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to her: Thou art worthy and deserving, but it is not proper that I begin with thee the creation of the world, since thou art destined to serve as a mark on the foreheads of the faithful ones (vide Ezek. IX, 4) who have kept the Law from Aleph to Tau, and through the absence of this mark the rest will be killed; and, further, thou formest the conclusion of MaWeTh (death). Hence thou art not meet to initiate the creation of the world. The Shin then came to the fore and pleaded: 0 Lord of the world, may it please Thee to begin with me the world, seeing that I am the initial letter of Thy name ShaDDai (Almighty), and it is most fitting to create the world through that Holy Name. Said He in reply Thou art worthy, thou art good, thou art true, but I may not begin through thee the creation of the world, since thou formest part of the- group of letters expressing forgery, ShekeR (falsehood), which is riot able to exist unless the Koph and Resh draw thee into their company. (Hence it is that a lie, to obtain credence, must always commence with something true. For the shin is a letter of truth, that letter by which the Patriarchs communed with God; but koph and resh are letters belonging to the evil side, which in order to stand firm attach to themselves the shin, thus forming a conspiracy (QeSheR).) Having heard all this, the shin departed. Enters the Zadé and says: 0 Lord of the world, may it please Thee to create with me the world, inasmuch as I am the sign of the righteous (Zadikim) and of Thyself who art called righteous, as it is written, “For the Lord is righteous, he loveth righteousness” (Ps. XI, 7), and hence it is meet to create the world with me. The Lord made answer: 0 Zadde, thou art Zadé, and thou signifiest righteousness, but thou must be concealed, thou mayest not come out in the open so much lest thou givest the world cause for offence. For thou con­sistest of the letter nun surmounted by the letter yod (repre­senting together the male and the female principles). And this is the mystery of the creation of the first man, who was created with two faces (male and female combined). In the same way the nun and the yod in the zadé are turned back to back and not face to face, whether the zadé is upright or turned downwards. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to her further, I will in time divide thee in two, so as to appear face to face, but thou wilt go up in another place. She then departed. The letter Pé presented herself and pleaded thus: May it please Thee, 0 Lord of the world, to create through me the world, seeing that I signify redemption and deliver­ance (Purkana, Peduth), which Thou art to vouchsafe to the world. It is, hence, meet that through me the world be created. The Lord answered: Thou art worthy, but thou representest transgression (Pesha), and moreover thou art shapen like the serpent, who had his head curled up within his body, sym­bolic of the guilty man who bends his head and extends his hand. The letter ‘Ayin was likewise refused as standing for iniquity (‘Awon), despite her plea that she represents humility (‘Anavah). Then the Samekh appeared arid said: 0 Lord [3a] of the world, may it please Thee to create through me the world, inasmuch as I represent upholding (Semikah) of the fallen, as it is written, “The Lord upholdeth all that fall” (Ps. CXLV, 14). The Lord answered her: This is just the reason why thou shouldst remain in thy place, for shouldst thou leave it, what will be the fate of the fallen, seeing that they are upheld by thee? She immediately departed. The

Nun entered and pleaded her merits as being the initial letter in “Fearful (Nora) in praises” (Ex. XV, II), as well as in “Comely (Nawa) is praise for the righteous” (Ps. xxxiii, i). The Lord said: 0 Nun, return to thy place, for it is for thy sake (as representing the falling, Nofe/im) that the Samekh returned to her place. Remain, therefore, under her support. The Nun immediately returned to her place. The Mim came up and said: 0 Lord of the world, may it please Thee to create by me the world, inasmuch as I commence the word Melekh (King) which is Thy title. The Lord replied: It is so assuredly, but I cannot employ thee in the creation of the world for the reason that the world requires a King. Return, therefore, to thy place, thou along with the Lamed and the Kaph, since the world cannot exist without a MeLeKh (King). At that moment, the Kaph descended from its throne of glory and quaking and trembling said: 0 Lord of the universe, may it please Thee to begin through me the creation of the world, seeing that I am Thine own Kabod (honor). And when Kaph descended from its throne of glory, two hundred thousand worlds began to shake, the throne trembled, and all the worlds quaked and were about to fall in ruins. Said to her the Holy One, blessed be His Name: Kaph, Kaph, what doest thou here? I will not create the world with thee. Go back to thy place, since thou standest for extermination (Kelayah). Return, then, to thy place and remain there. Immediately she departed and re­turned to her own place. The letter Yod then presented herself and said: May it please Thee, 0 Lord, to vouchsafe me first place in the creation of the world, since I stand first in the Sacred Name. The Lord said to her: It is sufficient for thee that thou art engraven and marked in Myself and that thou art the channel of My will; thou must not be removed from My Name. The Teth then came up and said:

O Lord of the universe, may it please Thee to place me at the head in the creation of the world, since through me Thou art called Good (Tob) and upright. The Lord said to her: I will not create the world through thee, as the goodness which thou representest is hidden and concealed within thy­self, as it is written, “0 how abundant is thy goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee” (Ps. xxxi, 20). Since then it is treasured within thyself, it has no part in the world which I am going to create, but only in the world to come. And further, it is because thy goodness is hidden within thee that the gates of the Temple sank into the ground, as it is written, “Sunk (Tabe’u) in the ground are her gates” (Lam. II, 9). And furthermore, the letter Heth is at thy side, and when joined you make sin (HeT). (It is for that reason that these two letters are not to be found in the names of any of the tribes.) She departed immediately. Then the Zayin presented herself and put forth her claim, saying, 0 Lord of the World, may it please Thee to put me at the head of the creation, since I represent the observance of the Sabbath, as it is written, “Remember (Zakhor) the day of the Sabbath to keep it holy” (Ex. xx, 8). The Lord replied: I will not create the world through thee, since thou representest war, being in shape like a sharp-pointed sword, or a lance. The Zayin immediately departed from His presence. The Vau entered and put forth her claim, saying: 0 Lord of the world, may it please Thee to use me first in the creation of the world, inasmuch as I am one of the letters of Thy name. Said the Lord to her: Thou, Vau, as well as He, suffice it to you that you are of the letters of My name, part of the mystery of My name, engraven and impressed in My name. I will therefore not give you first place in the creation of the world. Then appeared the letter Daleth as well as the letter Gimel and put forth similar claims. The Lord gave them a similar reply, saying: It should suffice you to remain side by side together, since “the poor will not cease from the land” (Deut. xv, II), who will thus need benevolence. For the Daleth signifies poverty (Dalluth) and the Gimel beneficence (Gemul). There­fore separate not from each other, and let it suffice you that one maintains the other. The Beth then entered and said: 0 Lord of the world, may it please Thee to put me first in the creation of the world, since I represent the benedictions (Berakhoth) offered to Thee on high and below. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to her: Assuredly, with thee I will create the world, and thou shalt form the begnning in the creation of the world. The letter Aleph remained in her place without presenting herself. Said the Holy One, blessed be His name: Aleph, Aleph, wherefore comest thou not before Me like the rest of the letters? She answered: Because I saw all the other letters leaving Thy presence without any success. What, then, could I achieve there? And further, since [₃b] Thou hast already bestowed on the letter Beth this great gift, it is not meet for the Supreme King to take away the gift which He has made to His servant and give it to another. The Lord said to her: Aleph, Aleph, although I will begin the creation of the world with the beth, thou wilt remain the first of the letters. My unity shall not be expressed except through thee, on thee shall be based all calculations and operations of the world, and unity shall not be expressed save by the letter Alepli. Then the Holy One, blessed be His name, made higher-world letters of a large pattern and lower-world letters of a small pattern. It is therefore that we have here two words beginning with beth (Bereshith bara) and then two words beginning with aleph (Elohim eth). They represent the higher-world letters and the lower-world letters, which two operate, above and below, together and as one.’ 

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