TUESDAY PRAYER: HOD-MAIN READING OF THE WEEK – THE ZOHAR BOOK
READING: SUNSET MONDAY.
Main Reading for PRAYER OF MANY, today with ENGLISH ZOHAR READING, page 197
ARVUT OF : Robin Anderson
single individual soul can arrive at the end of correction until all the souls are
corrected. This is why they are susceptible to the ruthless rule of the dust.
At first, Rabbi Chiya wanted to say that Rabbi Shimon himself was also
consumed by dust, i.e., did not achieve complete correction. He had heard that
Rabbi Yosi also reasons that the closed gates are closed for all. Yet, after some
contemplation, he inquired: “If Rabbi Shimon revives all the worlds and governs
them, how can it possibly be that he has not reached perfection?”
Therefore, he concludes that Rabbi Shimon was not consumed by the
dust, that he did achieve complete correction and is probably in a state of
absolute perfection. The thing that Rabbi Chiya could not understand, however,
is how any individual soul could achieve the end of correction prior to
(without) the complete correction of all the others. This, Rabbi Chiya could
not explain to himself.
- Rabbi Chiya stood up and started to walk and weep. Rabbi Yosi joined
him. He fasted for forty days so that he might see Rabbi Shimon. He was
told he still was not worthy of seeing him. He wept and fasted for another
forty days. He was then shown a vision: Rabbi Shimon and his son Rabbi
Elazar were discussing him, Rabbi Chiya, the words he said to Rabbi Yosi, and
thousands are listening in on their discussion.
Although the fasting that The Zohar speaks of is a spiritual act, in our world
such a description is a good example of how strong a desire should be in order
to be answered from Above. Other spiritual actions include weeping, tears—
the small state (Katnut) of a spiritual Partzuf, in this case referred to as “Rabbi
Chiya.” Naturally, Rabbi Shimon and all the other characters of The Zohar are
spiritual Partzufim, rather than people of our world.
Truth be told, the spiritual level of a person known by a certain name in
our world may coincide with his spiritual root described in the Torah. However,
elucidation of this matter exceeds the scope of this particular article. It is
nonetheless essential to note that Pharaoh in the corporeal Egypt, naturally,
was not a spiritual Pharaoh, the way he is described in The Zohar (the Partzuf that
includes all of Malchut), and Laban, portrayed in the Torah as a villain, is in fact
the Supernal Spiritual Light of Partzuf AB, the Supernal Light of Hochma. This
will be explained later on.
The strong desire to attain the degree of Rabbi Shimon allowed Rabbi Chiya
to see him, for he was certain that Rabbi Shimon had not been consumed by
the dust. He came to this conclusion precisely because of his conversation with
Rabbi Yosi, and hence passionately desired to see Rabbi Shimon.