HESED: MAIN READING OF THE WEEK – THE ZOHAR BOOK
Main Reading for PRAYER OF MANY, today with ENGLISH ZOHAR READING, page 118.
ARVUT OF : Robin Anderson
Since the properties of the future Creature are determined by the
Creator’s purpose in creating it, it is said that even before the creation of
the world, the Creator played with the letters. The word “played” suggests
that the Creator’s interaction with the Creature is like His game with the
leviathan (the legendary sea monster), with the property that is opposite
from Him. At the end of correction all the letters unite and combine into
the one name of the Creator.
The order of the Hebrew alphabet indicates the descent of the Direct
Light from Above, the Inner Light that fills the Partzuf. The reverse order of
the letters from the end of the alphabet alludes to the ascent of the Returning
Light. The direct order of the alphabet refers to mercy, whereas the reverse
order—to the strict law and restrictions on using egoistic desires.
When Adam sinned, the letters detached themselves from him, and only
the letters Shin and Tav (the Kelim for the Light of VAK of Nefesh) remained in
him. The Kelim for the Light of Neshama are represented by the letters from
Aleph to Yod; the letters from Yod to Kuf are the Kelim for the Light of Ruach, and
the letters Kuf and Reish—the Kelim for GAR of Nefesh—disappeared from him.
This is why Adam gave his son, born after his sin, the name SHeT (Seth): Shin-
Tav, according to the two last letters of the alphabet—the Kelim that remained
in him. The Kli Shin-Tav are only fit for the Returning Light from below
upwards, but not for the reception of the Upper Light from Above downwards.
However, after it receives Yesod of Zeir Anpin (the letter Yod), Shin-Tav turns into a
combination Shin-Yod-Tav. And if the Creator creates the world by the letter Bet,
it then enters between Shin and Tav and forms the word Shabbat (Sh-B-T), the
state of spiritual perfection, the goal of creation. For this reason, the first word
in the Torah—Beresheet consists of: Bara (created) Sh(in)-Y(od)-T(av).
- When the Creator thought to create the world, all the letters of the alphabet
came to Him in reverse order from last (Tav) to first (Aleph). The letter Tav
entered first and said, “Master of the world! It is good, and also seemly of You,
to create the world with me, with my properties. For I am the seal on Your
ring, called EmeT (truth), that ends with the letter Tav. And that is why You
are called truth, and why it would befit the King to begin the universe with
the letter Tav, and to create the world by her, by her properties.”
The Creator answered: “You are beautiful and sincere, but do not merit
the world that I conceived to be created by your properties, since you are
destined to be marked on the foreheads of the truly faithful who fulfill all
of Torah from Aleph to Tav (from the first letter to the last), and perished
because of you” (Talmud Bavli, Shabbat, 55)