VaYetze [And Jacob Went Out]
109) Happy are they that keep justice” means happy are Israel that the Creator gave them a true law [Torah] to engage in day and night, for anyone who engages in the Torah is liberated from everything. He is freed from death for it cannot govern him. This is so because anyone who engages in Torah and clings to it, clings to the tree of life. And if he lets himself go of the tree of life, the tree of death will be on him and will cling to him.
111) When a person clings to the ways of Torah, he is loved above and loved below, and he becomes the Creator’s loved one. He is loved by the Creator and the Creator loves him. But when a person strays from the ways of Torah, the power of Koh, Divinity, lessens and she becomes his foe and enemy, and he becomes her enemy. Then, that evil, the evil inclination, governs him until it slanders him in this world and in the next world.
118) “Happy are they that keep justice,” who keep the faith of the Creator. The Creator is called “Justice,” and man must keep himself from straying to another way, but keep the justice, since the Creator is justice, for all His ways are just.
The name, “Justice,” indicates to deciding about matters. This comes after hearing two opposite sides. It is like a judge: once he has thoroughly listened to the arguments of the two sides in dispute, he gives his sentence and says, “So and so, you are innocent. And so and so, you are guilty.” This sentence is called “justice,” and this is the middle line, which decides between the two lines—right and left—which are opposite from one another in a way that both shine to the side of holiness. Because of this sentencing of His, He is called “Justice.”
119) “That do righteousness at all times.” But can man do righteousness at all times? One who walks in the ways of Torah and does righteousness with those who need righteousness is regarded as one who does righteousness at all times, since anyone who does righteousness with the poor increases righteousness, the Nukva, above and below, meaning causes a Zivug of ZON above, and plentiful blessings below.
139) But The Zohar speaks nothing of corporeal incidents, but of the upper worlds, where there is no sequence of times as it is in corporeality. Spiritual time is elucidated by change of forms and degrees that are above time and place.
167) “I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart, in the council of the upright, and in the congregation.” David, the upper of the Holy Name, HaVaYaH, wished to thank the Creator. “I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart” means with the good inclination and with the evil inclination, which are two hearts, in the two inclinations that reside within the heart, on the two sides, right and left.
176-177) Children of the upper one, high holy ones, blessed of the world with a hazel brain, gather to know that a bird comes down each day and awakens in the garden with a flame of fire in its wings. In its hand are three rakes and shovels as sharp as a sword, and the keys to the treasures are in its right hand.
She calls out loud to the righteous in the Garden of Eden, “Whomever among you whose face shines (who has been rewarded with wisdom [Hochma], as it is said, ‘Man’s wisdom makes his face shine’), who came in and came out and grew strong in the tree of life (who has been rewarded with three lines), entered (in the right line) and came out (in the left line), and grew strong in the tree of life (the middle line), who has reached his branches (HGT NHY de ZA, which are the tree of life and its branches), and has clung to his roots (GAR de ZA), who eats of its fruits that are sweeter than honey (the illumination of Hochma in Nukva de ZA, which is its sweet fruit), who gives life to the soul and healing to himself (to his body), she declares and says, ‘Who is the one who is rewarded with all that?’ It is one who is kept from bad thoughts, from a thought that is deceitful in the tree of life, from a thought that defiles the river and the stream, the source of Israel, from a source that gives death to the soul and shattering to himself; he has no existence whatsoever.”
181-182) A good thought that rises above clings to the tree of life, the middle line, holds onto its branches, and eats of its fruits. All the sanctities and all the blessings come from him, and he inherits life for his soul and healing for himself. It is said about him, “For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and ... by the river.”
All the words of the world follow the thought and the contemplation. It is written, “Sanctify yourselves and be holy.” This is so because He brings out and extends all the sanctities in the world with a good thought.
189) “If He set His heart upon man, He will gather his spirit and his breath unto Himself.” The will and the thought draw the extension and does the deed with everything that is needed. This is why in prayer, a desire and a thought to aim in are required. Similarly, in all the works of the Creator, the thought and the contemplation does the deed and draws extension to all that is needed.
276) But in the Torah, even two who sit and engage in Torah give greatness, strength, and the glory of Torah to the Creator.
284-285) Wherever a person prays his prayer, he should incorporate himself in the public, in the manifold public, as it is written about Shunammite when Elisha told her, “Would you be spoken for to the king or to the captain of the army?” “Would you be spoken for to the king,” since that day was the festival of the first day of the year, and the day when Malchut of the firmament rules and sentences the world. At that time, the Creator is called “The king of the sentence,” and this is why he told her, “Would you be spoken for to the king,” since he called the Creator “King.”
And she said, “I dwell among my own people.” In other words, she said, “I have no wish to be mentioned above, but to put my head among the masses and not leave the public. Similarly, man should be included in the public and not stand out as unique, so the slanderers will not look at him and mention his sins.
340) It is written about the Nukva, “And it repented the Lord ... and it grieved Him,” since Dinim and sadness are in this place. However, in everything that is above, in Bina, it is all in light and life to all directions, and there is no sadness before the place, which indicates to the inner one, Bina, who is the only one in whom there is no sadness. But the external one, the Nukva, there is sadness in her. This is why it is written, “Serve the Lord with gladness; come before His presence with singing.” “Serve the Lord with gladness” corresponds to the upper world. “Come before His presence with singing” corresponds to the lower world.
341-343) Woe unto the wicked of the world who do not know and do not look at words of Torah. And when they do look at it, because there is no wisdom in them, the words of Torah seem to them as though they were empty and useless words. It is all because they are devoid of knowledge and wisdom, since all the words in the Torah are sublime and precious words, and each and every word that is written there is more precious than pearls, and no object can compare to it.
When all the fools whose heart is blocked see the words of Torah, not only do they not know, but they even say that the words are spoiled, useless words, woe unto them. When the Creator seeks them out for the disgrace of the Torah, they will be punished with a punishment fit for one who rebels against one’s Master.
It is written in the Torah, “For it is no vain thing.” And if it is vain, it is only vain for you, since the Torah is filled with every good stone and precious gem, from all the abundance in the world.
344) King Solomon said, “If you are wise, you are wise for yourself.” This is so because when one grows wise in the Torah, it is to his benefit, not for the Torah, since he cannot add even a single letter to the Torah. “And if you scorn, you alone shall bear it,” for nothing shall be subtracted from the praise of Torah because of that. His scorn is his alone and he will remain in it, to annihilate him from this world and from the next world.
350-352) King David always attached himself to the Creator. He did not worry about anything else in the world except to cling unto Him with his soul and his will, as it is written, “My soul cleaves unto You.” And since he clung to the Creator, He supported him and He did not leave him, as it is written, “Your right hand holds me fast.” We learn from this that when a person comes to cling to the Creator, the Creator holds him fast and does not leave him.
“My soul cleaves unto You,” so that his degree would be crowned above. This is so because when his degree clings to the upper degrees, to rise after them, the right side, Hassadim, holds him so as to elevate him and connect him with the right in one bonding, as it should be. It is written about it, “Your right hand would hold me,” and it is written, “And his right hand embrace me.” This is why “Your right hand holds me fast.”
When he grips to the Creator, it is written, “Let his left hand be under my head, and his right hand embrace me.” This is one unification and one bonding with the Creator. And when it is one bonding with Him, his degree is filled and blessed.
361) Divinity connects with those who walk on ways, to keep them. Anyone who engages in words of Torah and exerts in it is rewarded with extending it, meaning ZA, who is the Torah. Then ZA and Nukva, meaning Divinity, will be connected in them in one unification.
New Zohar, VaYetze
[And Jacob Went Out]
25) Happy are Israel, to whom the Creator has given the Torah, to disclose to them high secrets.
One who grips the Torah, the Torah grips and supports him on her thighs, Netzah and Hod, so he does not stray right or left, but in the middle line, which is the Torah. Happy are Israel, to whom the Creator has given the Torah, to disclose to them high secrets. It is written about them, “And you who cleave unto the Lord your God are alive every one of you this day.”
40) Rabbi says, “All things will perish, but the Torah will not perish. Nothing is as favorable to the Creator as the Torah and they who learn it. Anyone who engages in Torah each day, the secrets of above will be renewed for him.”
42-43) The secrets of Torah were given to sages, to those who always engage in Torah.
Anyone who engages in Torah sufficiently, his soul is elevated while he sleeps and he is taught from the depths of the Torah. And from it, his lips utter and whisper during the day, as it is written, “Moving gently the lips of those who are asleep.” When one who engages in Torah Lishma [for Her sake] sleeps at night, his soul rises and is shown those things that are to be in the world.
44-47) Rabbi Aba and Rabbi Yosi sat and engaged in Torah until midnight. Rabbi Aba fell asleep, and Rabbi Yosi was sitting. He saw that Rabbi Aba’s face was turning red and he was laughing, and he saw a great light in the house. Rabbi Yosi said, “This means that Divinity is here.” He lowered his eyes, sat there until the dawn rose in the morning and the light was illuminating in the house. While he was raising his eyes, he saw the dawn and the house was darkened.
Rabbi Aba awoke, his face was glowing, and his eyes laughing. Rabbi Yosi held him. Rabbi Aba said, “I know what you want. Indeed, I saw high secrets. When Matat, minister of the face was holding my soul, he elevated her to great and high rooms, and I saw the souls of the rest of the righteous go up there. The minister of the face told them, ‘Happy are you, O righteous, because thanks to you I am built in a holy building of the honorable Name, to whom the lights of the holy Name are extended, to answer and to bestow upon the hosts of the high King.’ I have seen my Torah that I had taught laid there in piles over piles, like a big tower, and this is why I was delighted with my lot and my eyes were laughing.”