TUESDAY PRAYER: TIFERET-MAIN READING OF THE WEEK – THE ZOHAR BOOK
READING: SUNSET MONDAY.
Main Reading for PRAYER OF MANY, today with ENGLISH ZOHAR READING, page 200
ARVUT OF : Robin Anderson
- In his vision, Rabbi Chiya saw many of his friends gathering around the
standing pillars. And he saw them being elevated to the Heavenly Assembly,
some are elevated, while others are lowered. And above them all, he saw Matat,
the owner of wings, approaching.
As the voice was calling, Rabbi Chiya saw several souls of the righteous,
belonging to the two groups, standing around the two pillars that were already
present in Rabbi Shimon’s assembly, and whom he had already seen ascending
to the Heavenly Assembly. Some were ascending, and some were descending;
moreover, this motion ensued in mutually opposite directions.
This way the two groups help one another according to the calling voice,
which instructs the first group to descend and the second to ascend. Rabbi Chiya
saw also that due to the excitement of all these souls over their aspirations, i.e.,
the power of the two groups, Matat descended from the Heavenly Assembly to
the assembly of Rabbi Shimon and swore an oath. - The angel Matat swore that he heard from behind the curtain how each
day the Creator remembers and grieves over Malchut, cast into the dust. And
when He remembers her, He strikes 390 firmaments, and they all tremble
with terrible fear before Him. And the Creator sheds tears for the Shechina
(Divinity), Malchut that has fallen to the dust. And those tears simmer like
fire, and fall into the Great Sea. And by the power of these tears, the Ruler of
the Sea, called Rachav, is revived, blesses the Creator’s holy name, and vows to
swallow up everything, from the first days of creation, and to absorb all within
himself, when all the nations gather against the holy nation, and the waters
will dry, and Israel will walk through dry land.
This vow signifies that the Creator never forgets, but remembers each day that
the Shechina lies in the dust. However, this does not refer to the entire Holy Shechina:
this, the Creator need not vow, for it is revealed and seen by all who dwell in the
Upper Worlds that everything He does is for the Shechina (Malchut) alone.
But this refers only to Malchut de Malchut. She is the one Rabbi Chiya thinks
about being held captive by the impure forces, completely abandoned. Hence,
he wept: “Oh dust that consumes all!” And here, the angel Matat, who has come
to the Assembly of Rabbi Shimon, revealed to Rabbi Chiya a great secret—that
the Creator’s rule is absolute, and He remembers Malchut de Malchut each day.
A Zivug (union of the Masach-screen and the Light-pleasure) is defined as
a stroke of Light onto the screen, a result of the desire to enter and cross the
screen’s barrier, while the screen restricts and repels it. This act of repelling is
called the Returning (reversed) Light, as it rises from the screen from below
upwards and clothes the coming Light.