📕 TUESDAY PRAYER: YESOD-MAIN READING OF THE WEEK – THE ZOHAR BOOK
READING: SUNSET MONDAY
Main Reading for PRAYER OF MANY, today with ENGLISH ZOHAR READING, page 231
ARVUT OF : Robin Anderson
It was already mentioned that it is impossible to receive Ohr Hochma without
it being clothed in Ohr Hassadim. Ohr Hochma or the Zivug that is made on it is
therefore defined as distant, for it must first be clothed in Ohr Hassadim before
it can receive Ohr Hochma. Hence, it is written, “From afar I saw the Creator.”
The lower Zivug is called “the near one,” because the Partzuf receives Ohr
Hassadim without any preliminary actions. Furthermore, with the help of this
Ohr Hassadim, the Partzuf subsequently receives Ohr Hochma. This is why the
word “peace” is used twice: “Peace, peace to the far and to the near”—a greeting
to Yaakov and Yosef, respectively, both of whom take part in the great Zivug (the
reception of Ohr Hochma) in ZA.
These two greetings are defined in ZON as a square, as there is controversy
between them, defined as the controversy between the right and the left sides,
and they end in the letter Hey—Nukva or Malchut, whereas the Upper Nukva
(Bina) ends with the letter Yod, which designates not the female part, but the
male. Hence, there is no controversy in her.
Even the notions of “near” and “far” do not exist in Bina herself, for
she refers to GAR, perfection, and GAR can receive Ohr Hochma nearby,
meaning they do not need to clothe in Ohr Hassadim beforehand, but can
receive Ohr Hochma without Ohr Hassadim. Hence, it is said that the Upper
Malchut is the King, who has peace. Thus, unlike ZON, two notions of peace
are absent in him.
- “From afar” is the Supernal Point, standing in His palace, of which it is said,
“You are to guard.” “You shall fear My sanctity” refers to the point standing
in the center, which must be feared more than anything, for its punishment
is death, as it is written, “All who transgress in it shall perish.” Who are these
transgressors? They are those who have entered the space of the circle and the
square, and committed a sin. Hence, it is written, “You shall fear!” This point
is called “I,” and there is a prohibition on its revelation, called HaVaYaH. “I”
and HaVaYaH are a single whole. Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Aba dismounted
from their donkeys and kissed him. They said, “So great is your wisdom, and
yet you drive donkeys behind us! Who are you, then?” He replied to them:
“Do not ask me who I am, but let us go on and study the Torah. Each of us
will speak his wisdom so as to illuminate our path.”
The distant point refers to the point that opens the way to the Partzuf for
thirty-two streams of Ohr Hochma. And this is the letter Bet in the first word
of the Torah—Beresheet, called the “point in the hall,” from which Ohr Hochma
descends to ZON, when ZON ascend to AVI. For then, the two Shabbatot (the
Upper—AVI and the lower—ZON) merge. It is written about them: “I saw the
Creator from afar,” for ZON cannot receive Ohr Hochma without being clothed
in Ohr Hassadim.