READING: BETWEEN AFTER MIDNINGHT AND DAWN FRIDAY

Zohar for All. Introduction of The Book of Zohar. The Vision of Rabbi Hiya

The Vision of Rabbi Hiya

49) Rabbi Hiya fell to the ground, kissed the ground, and wept. He said, “Dust, dust, how obstinate you are? How insolent? All that is coveted by the eye withers in you; all the pillars of light in the world, you consume and grind. How impudent you are. Rabbi Shimon, who was illuminating in the world, the great ruler, the appointee over the world, whose merit sustains the world, is withering in you. Rabbi Shimon, the light of the light, the light of the worlds, you wither in the dust. And you exist and lead the world.” He wondered for a moment and said, “Dust, dust, do not be proud, for the pillars of the world will not be given to you, since Rabbi Shimon is not withering in you.”

We should thoroughly understand the meaning of Rabbi Hiya’s bow. The primary engagement of Rabbi Hiya and Rabbi Yosi as they were walking along the way together was in that blocked gate, Malchut of Malchut, which receives none of those upper Mochin in the 6,000 years prior to the end of correction. Rabbi Yosi replied to Rabbi Hiya in the name of Rabbi Shimon that this gate stayed blocked indeed, and all the wholeness is only in the key. This is what troubled them so.

Finally, Rabbi Hiya came to a great awakening, “Rabbi Hiya fell to the ground, kissed the ground, and wept. He said, ‘Dust, dust, how obstinate you are?’”

He also said, “How insolent you are? All that is coveted by the eye withers in you,” since through the sin of Adam HaRishon, all the souls departed him and were taken captive by the shells, who include all the souls in the world. In his repentance, Adam HaRishon corrected only his own part, and even that, not completely. Past him, the souls are sorted each generation through repentance and good deeds until the end of correction. It follows that all those high souls from Yechida and GAR of Haya depend on the sorting and mating on the Malchut of Malchut, the blocked gate that has neither sorting nor mating.

Thus, all those souls wither in the dust, which are the shells, as it is written, “And behold the tears of the oppressed, and they have no one to comfort them.” It is so because the shell of the dust governs them with insolence and abstinence, sure of her strength, that there is no one who can save them from her hand. This is what Rabbi Hiya cried over, and said to the dust, to the shells, “How obstinate you are? How insolent? All that is coveted by the eye withers in you,” since all those highest of souls—who are coveted by the eye—rot in you, hopeless of being delivered from your hand.

“All the pillars of light in the world, you consume and grind.” All the righteous in the world, who illuminate the world, are lacking in completeness, too, due to the captivity of those high souls, since all the souls are included in one another. It therefore follows that they, too, are consumed and ground by the insolence of this dust.

And Rabbi Shimon is not withering in you. First, he wished to say that Rabbi Shimon, too, was withering in this dust, since he heard from Rabbi Shimon that he, too, agreed that this gate was blocked and was not to be disclosed. Afterwards, he wondered and said, “Since Rabbi Shimon, the holy light, sustains and leads the worlds, how is it possible that he is not whole in his full completeness?” After that, he wondered for a moment, meaning reconciled and said that indeed, Rabbi Shimon is not withering in you, since he is certainly in complete wholeness, but he could not understand that possibility.

50) Rabbi Hiya rose and was walking and crying, and Rabbi Yosi was with him. He fasted forty days since that day, to see Rabbi Shimon. He was told, “You are unworthy of seeing him.” He wept and fasted forty more. He was shown Rabbi Shimon and Rabbi Elazar, his son, in a vision, engaged in this thing that Rabbi Yosi said in the name of Rabbi Shimon, and several thousands were listening to his words.

In his agony for the beauty that has withered in the ground, he craved to see Rabbi Shimon’s degree because he had decided that Rabbi Shimon did not wither in the ground.

51) In the meantime, he saw several large and high wings, with Rabbi Shimon and Rabbi Elazar atop them, rising to the seminary of the firmament. And all those wings were awaiting them. He saw that Rabbi Shimon and Rabbi Elazar were renewed in their brightness and illuminated more than the light of the brightness of the sun.

The upper seminary is the seminary of the Creator, and the seminary of the firmament is a seminary of Matat. Wings are the angels that assist the souls in raising them from degree to degree. And as the soul needs the assistance of the wings for the ascension, it needs their assistance in bringing her back to her place. And all those wings were awaiting them, to bring them back. He saw them returning from the seminary of the firmament to their place, to the seminary of Rabbi Shimon, they were renewed with the brightness of the light of their faces, and they illuminated more than the light of the sun.

52) Rabbi Shimon opened and said, “Let Rabbi Hiya in so he may see how much the Creator will renew the faces of the righteous in the next world. Happy is he who comes here without shame, and happy is he who stands in that world as a pillar who is strong in everything.” Rabbi Hiya saw himself entering, and Rabbi Hiya rose and so did the rest of the pillars of the world who were seated there. They rose before Rabbi Hiya, and he, Rabbi Hiya, was ashamed and entered. He drooped himself and sat at Rabbi Shimon’s feet.

Rabbi Shimon hinted to him, “Happy is he who comes here without shame.” He also saw Rabbi Elazar and the rest of the pillars of the world that they were without shame. But Rabbi Hiya himself was ashamed because he withered in that dust and did not have the strength to overcome them. He was ashamed and went in, drooped himself, and sat at Rabbi Shimon’s feet.

53) A voice came out and said, “Lower your eyes, do not raise your head, and do not look.” He lowered his eyes and saw a light that was shining far. The voice returned as before and said, “The hidden and the blocked upper ones, whose eyes are open, who roam the entire world, look and see. Sleeping lower ones, whose light of the eyes is blocked in the holes of your eyes, awaken.” After he obeyed lowering his eyes and not raising his head, he was rewarded with hearing this herald, for which he obtained all that he sought.

“The hidden and the blocked upper ones, whose eyes are open, who roam the entire world, look and see. Sleeping lower ones, whose light of the eyes is blocked in the holes of your eyes, awaken.” The herald awakened those souls that obeyed the words of Rabbi Shimon, those who were there and those who were not there. The herald went out to all the souls of the righteous and divided them into two classes:

1. Holy upper ones, who are hidden and blocked, who were rewarded with opening of the eyes and with roaming the entire world. He called upon them to look and to see, to extend the upper lights together as one with the second class.

2. All those camps that go and are expelled after the Creator and His Shechina [Divinity] go and are expelled from His Shechina. He calls them “lower ones,” “sleeping,” whose light of their eyes is blocked in the holes of the eyes. He called upon them to awaken.

54) Who is so wise among you as to turn darkness into light, for whom the bitter tastes as sweet even before he comes here, while he is still alive in this world? Who among you awaits the light each day, shining when the King visits the doe, at which time the glory of the King increases and He is called “the King of all the kings of the world.” And one who does not expect it each day while he is still in this world has no part here.

The herald emphasizes the essential merit that is desirable in each class:

1. To the merit of the first class, he says, “Which of you turns darkness into light, for whom bitter tastes as sweet?” These are the souls of Atzilut. In BYA, it is written, “God has made them one opposite the other,” darkness opposite the light, and bitter opposite sweet. Hence, in the Torah of BYA, there is fit and there is unfit, pure and impure, forbidden and permitted, holy and secular. But the Torah of Atzilut is entirely the names of the Creator; there is nothing secular there, since there Laban the Aramean is deemed a holy name, and so does Pharaoh. Also, there, all the names that are shells and impurity in BYA are only holy names, sublime. It follows that those souls that have been rewarded with the light of Atzilut turn every darkness into light and every bitter into sweet.

2. To the merit of the second class, he said, “Which of you expects each day the light that illuminates while the King visits the doe, at which time the glory of the King increases and he is called ‘the King of all the kings of the world’?” It is they who roam after the Shechina, who sits alone, and who always awaits for the Creator to raise the Shechina from the dust. And one who does not await that each day while he is in this world has no share here.

55) In the meantime, he saw many of the friends around all the upright pillars standing, and saw that they were being raised to a seminary of the firmament. Some were ascending and some were descending. And above them all, he saw the winged one, Matat, approaching.

While the herald was calling, he saw several of the souls of the righteous, who belonged to those two classes, around all the upright pillars, the souls of the righteous, who were already in the seminary of Rabbi Shimon. He saw them rising to the seminary of the firmament, “Some were ascending and some were descending,” the first class ascended and the second classes descended, as this is how they assist one another, following the calling of the herald, who said to the first class, “Look and see,” and to the second class he said, “Awaken.”

He saw that by the awakening of all those souls by the two classes together, Matat came down from this seminary to the seminary of Rabbi Shimon and took the oath. “And above them all he saw the winged one approaching,” and took the oath, since above them means the same as “through everyone.” And the winged one is Matat.

56) Angel Matat took an oath, which he heard from behind the curtain—that the King visits each day and remembers the doe that is lying in the dust. At that time, He kicks 390 firmaments, and all are startled and frightened of Him. And the King sheds tears for the Shechina being in the dust. And the tears are as boiling as fire and fall into the great sea. And by the power of those tears, that appointee over the sea, called Rahav, stands and exists, and sanctifies the name of the holy King. He takes upon himself to swallow all the waters of Beresheet [in the beginning/genesis] and gather them into him when all the nations assemble over the holy nation and the waters dry out and pass through land.

He takes an oath “That the King visits each day and remembers the doe that is lying in the dust.” She is the Holy Shechina, although it is not referring to the whole of the Shechina, for there was no need to take an oath for that, since it is open to all. Rather, it is referring to Malchut of Malchut, which Rabbi Hiya believed was captive among the shells and was left completely alone. He wept and said, “Dust, dust, how obstinate you are? How insolent? All that is coveted by the eye withers in you; all the pillars of light in the world, you consume and grind.” For this reason, she is called “a doe that is lying in the dust.” And here this great secret was revealed to Rabbi Hiya through Matat, when he came to the seminary of Rabbi Shimon, since he took an oath that the King visits and remembers the doe that is lying in the dust each day, but in the same way that Matat gradually elucidates before us.

“At that time, He kicks 390 firmaments, and all are startled and frightened of Him.” The coupling by striking of the upper light on the screen is regarded as the upper light kicking the screen, meaning that the upper light kicks and wishes to permeate below the boundary in the screen. The screen, in turn, detains it and reflects the upper light, and this reflection is the reflected light that rises from the screen from below upward, clothing the upper light.

It is 390 firmaments because the screen is called “a distinguishing firmament” and includes four phases HB TM within it, the four letters HaVaYaH. And since Malchut was sweetened in Bina, the screen is in Bina and the Sefira Bina is implied in the hundreds. It follows that those four phases in the screen HB TM add up to 400. However, there is no coupling on the Malchut of the bottom Hey, since she is the blocked gate. For this reason, the 100 of the Sefira of Malchut, the bottom Hey, is regarded as lacking the 10 of the Malchut of Malchut there, having only the first nine, which add up to 90.

This is the hint in the screen called “firmament,” on which the upper light makes a coupling in a coupling by striking, which is a kick. There aren’t 400 but 390, with ten missing, Malchut of Malchut. This is why he calls the firmament, “390 firmaments.” It was said that each day He kicks in the 390 firmaments during the coupling with the Shechina, except for the doe that is lying in the dust, who is deficient there with respect to that coupling, for she is ten who are absent from the 400.

“And all are startled and frightened of Him” due to the striking of the screen on the upper light with tremor and a shudder, out of fear that he will receive more than his boundary. “And the King sheds tears” over it.

The Mochin at the level of Hochma are called Einayim [eyes], since the five Sefirot of Rosh are called GE and AHP, and as those drops that the eyes emit are called “tears,” those drops that the level of Hochma emit are called “tears.”

Emission of tears is done in a coupling by striking because the upper light that is drawn to the lower one and strikes the screen kicks and strikes it, for it wishes to be drawn below the boundary in the screen. However, the screen promptly prevails over it and repels it, for it does not let it cross its border.

However, in the meantime, before the screen repels it, very small drops of the upper light necessarily extend below the boundary of the screen because for all the quickness of the screen, it failed to repel them from it and above in time. You should know that those drops cannot be included in the level of Hochma that came out in the lower one, as they are without a clothing reflected light, and they are reflected and exit the Partzuf Hochma. They are the ones called “tears.”

When a corporeal person fills with compassion and love over one’s friend, he sheds tears, for it extends from the above-mentioned root of the spiritual tears, since anything spiritual that occurs in the upper ones strikes and finds a branch in the corporeal creations. This is so because the upper light kicks and strikes the screen to breach its boundary, since the upper light always extends only from Ein Sof, above the world of restriction, where no boundary is discerned.

Also, the upper light craves and longs to expand in the lower one, as we learn, “The Creator craved to dwell in the lower ones.” We also learn, “The Shechina [Divinity] is in the lower ones—a high need.” Hence, He kicks and strikes the boundary in the screen, to be drawn below its boundary, and the screen repels it as reflected light, and in the meantime, tears fell outside.

These tears come out of compassion and love for the lower one. Hence, in the corporeal branch, too, the tears are always emitted when one’s heart is moved with love and compassion for one’s friend. Yet, spiritual tears do not vanish, as do corporeal ones.

The tears that are as boiling as fire fall into the great sea, as it is written, “For love is as strong as death, jealousy is as severe as the netherworld; its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the Lord.” This is so because those tears come out of compassion and love from the upper light to the lower one. And as you find in the corporeal branch, when one fills with love and compassion for one’s friend, the tears are as boiling as the measure of his feelings for him.

So it is with the above-mentioned tears—they boil as fire, whose “Flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the Lord.” This is why it was said, “And the tears are as boiling as fire and fall into the great sea.” The quality of Malchut on the side of Hochma is called “the great sea,” since great waters extend from it, breakers of the sea.

Through those tears, that appointee over the sea, called Rahav, stands and exists, meaning that minister of the sea who was killed at the time of the creation of the world. It is written, “And by His understanding He shattered Rahav,” for when he was told, “Let the water … be gathered together unto one place,” he did not want to swallow the waters of Beresheet, and he stands and exists on those tears that fall into the great sea, for through them he is revived.

It was said that he sanctifies the name of the holy King and takes upon himself to swallow all the waters of Beresheet. This is so because at the time of the creation of the world, no correction reached Malchut of Malchut, since the Emanator corrected the worlds ABYA in MAN of Bina and not in MAN of Malchut, and this sufficed only for the first nine of Malchut and not for Malchut of Malchut.

It is written, “You are My people, you are in partnership with Me; I started the worlds, and you finish them.” The entire correction of Malchut of Malchut is upon the lower ones. Hence, when it was said to the minister of the sea, “Let the water … be gathered together unto one place,” he refused and did not wish to swallow all the waters of Beresheet because the shells would have overcome him for lack of the correction of Malchut of Malchut. This is why he was killed. However, those tears are the ones that sort and correct the Malchut of Malchut.

For this reason, they give vitality to the minister of the sea, so he may stand and sanctify the name of the holy King, to keep his Master’s command and swallow all the waters of Beresheet. Then all the shells in the world and all the evil powers will annul, and all will gather unto one place—the world of Atzilut, since the world of Atzilut will expand equally with the Raglayim of AK down to this world. This will be the end of correction because BYA will return to being Atzilut.

When all the peoples gather over the holy nation and the waters dry out and pass through land, it will be in the future, at the end of correction, when all the nations of the world gather at once to destroy Israel. At that time, it will be revealed that the minister of the sea will swallow all the waters of Beresheet, that the waters will dry out and that the children of Israel will pass through land, as it is written, “As in the days when you came out from the land of Egypt, I will show you wonders.” However, then was only the beginning, for it was only in the Red Sea and only for a time. At the end of correction, however, death will be swallowed up forever.

Thus, Matat clarified the oath he had taken, that each day the King visits the doe and remembers the doe that is lying in the dust. Although the coupling that He makes with His Shechina each day is only in 390 firmaments, only in the first nine of Malchut, and Malchut of Malchut remained lying in the dust, and it seems to us that the King does not remember her at all, it is not so. Rather, He visits her with each and every coupling, since in each coupling, tears fall out because of the kicks that He kicks in the 390 firmaments. Also, they are not lost, but fall into the great sea, the Malchut of Malchut, who gradually receives her correction through those tears.

And to that extent, the minister of the sea is revived until the tears accumulate sufficiently to sort the entire Malchut. This will be when all the nations in the world gather over Israel at once. At that time, the minister of the sea will be revived and will swallow all the waters of Beresheet, since the Malchut of Malchut will receive her correction from the Whole. Thus, the King visits the doe each day until she receives her correction from the Whole.

And here, all of Rabbi Hiya’s wishes appeared to him, for he saw that nothing withered in the dust. On the contrary, there is a coupling on it each day, as Matat had sworn to him.

57) In the meantime, he heard a voice saying, “Make way, make way, for the Messiah King is coming to the seminary of Rabbi Shimon.” This is so because all the righteous there are heads of seminaries, and those seminaries are known there, and all those friends in each seminary rise from the seminary here to the seminary in the firmament. And the Messiah comes to all those seminaries and seals Torah from the mouths of the sages.

At that time, the Messiah comes to Rabbi Shimon’s seminary crowned with high crowns from the heads of the seminaries, since through this great revelation in the oath of Matat—the revelation of the end—all those righteous rose very high, meaning they were at the seminary of Rabbi Shimon. It is all the more so with those two classes of righteous who caused the arrival of Matat and his oath, by which they obtained wondrous merits and were all crowned and arrived at the degrees of the heads of the seminaries.

This is so because in all the seminaries, there are members of the seminar and there are heads of the seminary over them. The difference between them is as VAK from GAR of the degree. When Matat disclosed the meaning of the end, a voice came out and said, “Make way, for the Messiah King is coming.” This is so because the end is connected to the Messiah King.

Also, he explains why all the righteous in Rabbi Shimon’s seminary were rewarded with it—since all the righteous there are heads of seminaries, since to welcome the Messiah, one needs equivalence of form with him. And since the Messiah King is light of Yechida, had all the friends not been rewarded with the attainment of being heads of seminaries, they would not have been rewarded with welcoming the Messiah.

All those friends in each seminary rise from the seminary here to the seminary in the firmament. The Zohar tells us not to think that the heads of seminaries is GAR of inferior degrees. It says about that, “The seminaries here were in high degrees, very sublime, until all the friends in those seminaries were rewarded with rising from there to the seminary in the firmament, and now all those members have been rewarded with being heads of seminaries.

“Moreover, the Messiah, too, comes to all those seminaries and seals Torah from the mouths of the sages. That is, the merit of the members of those seminaries has so risen that the Messiah came to all those seminaries to be crowned with the innovations of Torah of the members of the seminary. And now all those members of the seminaries were rewarded with being at the degree of heads of seminaries of those seminaries.”

This is why it concludes that at that time, the Messiah came to Rabbi Shimon’s seminar, crowned with the high crowns of the heads of the seminaries. Now, however, after all those members of the seminaries have been rewarded with the degree of heads of seminaries, the Messiah was crowned with the Torah of the heads of seminaries. It follows that he is crowned with the highest crowns from the heads of the seminaries.

58) At that time, all the friends rose, and Rabbi Shimon rose and his light ascended to the top of the firmament. The Messiah told him, “Rabbi, happy are you that your Torah is rising by 370 lights, and each light is divided into 613 flavors, rising and dipping in the rivers of the pure persimmon. And the Creator seals the Torah from your seminary and from the seminary of Hizkiya, king of Judea, and out of the seminary of Ahijah the Shilonite.”

When the Messiah King appeared to them and came to the seminary of Rabbi Shimon, all the friends rose, and Rabbi Shimon rose in that same degree until his light ascended to the top of the firmament. This implies that Rabbi Shimon attained that light of the ten firmaments that are missing due to the blocked gate of Malchut of Malchut, and his light was rising up to the top of the firmament, which is light of Yechida.

The Messiah told him, “Your Torah is rising by 370 lights, and each light spreads into 613 flavors, rising and dipping in the rivers of the pure persimmon.” In other words, his Torah was rising to Atik Yomin, in whom each Sefira rises up to 100,000, and the four Sefirot HB TM are 400,000 in him, since units are in Nukva, tens in ZA, hundreds in Ima, thousands in Aba, tens of thousands in AA, and hundreds of thousands are in Atik.

However, accordingly, he should have said, “That your Torah rises by 400 lights, and each light rises to 1,000 flavors, meaning 400,000.” However, he was hinting to him that with respect to the lights, which are from Ima, he is not using the 400 in full, but only 370, as it is written, “He was more honored than the thirty, but he did not come to the three.” This is so because even though his light rises up to the top of the firmament, he still did not reach the GAR of the top 100 of the Yod. Thus, he had only 370 lights, lacking the 30 top ones.

Similarly, regarding the thousands, which are the lights of Aba, he does not use the actual GAR of each thousand, but only the VAK of each of them, which are 600. And instead of GAR of each 1,000, he uses thirteen, who are Hochma of the thirty-two paths, since thirteen are Hochma of the thirty-two paths, called “the pure persimmon.”

This is why the Messiah told him, “Your Torah is rising by 370 lights, and each light spreads into 613 flavors, rising and dipping in the rivers of the pure persimmon,” since thirty, of the upper Hochma, are missing in the 400 of Ima and there are only 370 in her. And in each 1,000, the top 400 are missing—those who are from the first Hochma. In their stead, the thirteen rivers of pure persimmon operate. Also, in each 1,000, there are only 613 because this is how all the secrets rise—high and blocked, from the seminary of Rabbi Shimon.

And the Creator seals the Torah from your seminary. The Messiah comes into all those seminaries and seals the Torah from the mouths of the sages because he grows and crowns by the innovations of Torah of all the righteous. We learn that all the prophets made their prophecies only for the days of Messiah, but it is written of the future, “Neither has the eye seen a God besides You.” This is so because then all the degrees that belong to the days of Messiah will be corrected, and all the secrets of Torah will be in the form of “Neither has the eye seen a God besides You.” Then it is considered that the Creator seals the Torah.

And since the Torah of those three heads of souls comes from after the days of the Messiah, as in, “Neither has the eye seen a God besides You,” the Messiah told him that the Creator is sealing the Torah from your seminary, from the seminary of Hizkiya, king of Judea, and from the seminary of Ahijah the Shilonite. This is because those three were rewarded with the secrets of Torah of “Neither has the eye seen a God besides You,” and the Creator Himself seals the Torah from their mouths.

59) And I came to seal the Torah from your seminary only because the winged one will come here, for I know that he will enter no other seminary, but your seminary. When Rabbi Shimon told him of that oath that the winged one took, the Messiah was startled and raised his voice. The firmaments shuddered, the great sea shuddered, the whale shuddered, and the world was about to flip over. In the meantime, he saw Rabbi Hiya at Rabbi Shimon’s feet. He said, “Who admitted here a man dressed in a garment of that world?” meaning in a body from this world. Rabbi Shimon said, “This is Rabbi Hiya, a light from the light of Torah.” He told him, “He and his sons will perish, meaning that they will be rid of this world and will be part of your seminary.” Rabbi Shimon said, “Let time be given to him.” He was given time.

The Messiah told him, “He has come to seal only so that the winged one would come to his seminary, for he wishes to know what he told him.” And what he said, “For I know that he will enter no other seminary, but your seminary,” is because he will not go to the seminaries of Hizkiya, king of Judea, or Ahijah the Shilonite.

“Then the Messiah was startled and raised his voice” due to the disclosure of the end that Matat disclosed, that at that time, there will be terrible troubles for Israel, the firmaments will shudder, and so will the great sea, and the world will flip over, as we learn that the world exists for 6,000 years and one ruined. Thus, he raised his voice, for he wished to sweeten all those shocks.

He said, “Who admitted here a man dressed in a garment of that world?” The Messiah was surprised about Rabbi Hiya, that he was dressed in the corporeal body of this world, since once he has been rewarded with being here and was rewarded with the revelation of Matat and his oath, he has already corrected all the evil, and was rewarded with welcoming the Messiah. Thus, he has completed all his work in this world and had nothing more to do in this world. Hence, he should depart and enter the seminary of Rabbi Shimon in GE. Why should he still be in this world for no reason?

But Rabbi Shimon said, “Let time be given to him.” In other words, Rabbi Shimon proved to him that he should be given time anew, since he still needed to live in this world and engage in new corrections. And then he was given time, meaning that the Messiah and Rabbi Shimon notified him what he was yet to do in this world.

60) The Messiah departed there shuddering with his eyes tearing. Rabbi Hiya was shaken and wept. He said, “Happy are the righteous in that world, and happy is Rabbi Shimon for having been rewarded with this. It is about him that it is written, ‘To endow those who love me with wealth, that I may fill their treasuries,’ since the Messiah came out of Rabbi Shimon’s seminary with his eyes tearing for all the longing for the complete redemption.” This is the reason why Rabbi Hiya was shaken, too.