Aharei Mot [After the Death]
30-31) Rabbi Shimon said, “I am surprised at the people of the world, who have no eyes to see or a heart to notice, and who do not know nor pay attention to looking into their Master’s will. How are they asleep and not rising from their sleep before that day comes when darkness and murkiness cover them, and the creditor collects their debt.
“The herald calls on them each day and their soul testifies to them each day and night, and the Torah raises voices to all sides, saying, ‘Until when will fools love foolishness?’ ‘Whoever is a fool, let him come here. ‘Heartless,’ she said to him, ‘Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine that I have mixed,’’ but there is no one to lend an ear or awaken his heart.”
32) In the last generations that will come, the Torah will be forgotten from them and the heartless will gather to their place, and there will be no one to close or open in the Torah. Woe unto that generation. Henceforth, there will not be such as that generation until the generation when the Messiah comes and knowledge awakens in the world, as it is written, “For they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them.”
38-40) There are times for finding favor in the Creator, for finding blessings, and for making pleas. And there are times when there is no favor, blessings do not come, and harsh Dinim awaken in the world. Sometimes the Din persists. There are times in the year when the favor is present, and times in the year when the Din is present. There are times in the year when the Din is present and persists and threatens the world but does not operate. There are times in the month when there is favor, and times when there are Dinim, which persist over everything.
There are times in the week when there is favor, and there are times in the week when there are Dinim in the world. There are times in days when the favor is present in the world and the world is perfumed, and there are days when Dinim persist and exist. There are different times even in an hour. This is why it is written, “And a time for will.”
65-66) “How good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity, as well.” These are the friends, as they sit together inseparably. At first, they seem like people at war, wishing to kill each other. Then they return to a state of brotherly love.
The Creator, what does He say about them? “How good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity, as well.” The words, “as well” indicate the presence of Divinity with them. Moreover, the Creator listens to their words and He is pleased and content with them.
And you, the friends who are here, as you were in fondness and love before, you will not part henceforth, until the Creator rejoices with you and summons peace upon you. And by your merit there will be peace in the world. This is the meaning of the words, “For the sake of my brothers and my friends let me say, ‘Let peace be in you.’”
92) “My dove, in the clefts of the rock,” in the concealment of the degree.
My dove is the Assembly of Israel, Malchut. As a dove never leaves her mate, the Assembly of Israel never leaves the Creator. “In the clefts of the rock” are disciples of the wise, who are not at rest in this world. As they hide themselves from their enemies in the clefts of the rocks, in the concealment of the degree, the humble disciples of the wise, who hide their degree from people, among whom are pious, who fear the Creator, from whom Divinity never parts. Then the Creator demanded of the Assembly of Israel for them and said, “Let me see your looks; let me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet,” since no sound is heard above but the sound of those engaging in Torah.
94) “That which is has been already, and that which will be has already been.”
“That which is has been already.” Before the Creator created this world, He was creating worlds and destroying them, which is the breaking of the vessels, until the Creator desired to create this world and consulted with the Torah, who is the middle line. Then He corrected in His corrections, crowned in His crowns, and created this world. All that was in this world was at that time in front of Him, at the time of creation, and was corrected before Him.
95) Before the leaders of the world in each generation came to the world, they all were before the Creator in their forms. Even all those souls of people, until they come to the world, they are all engraved before Him in the firmament in their very form of this world, and all that they learn in this world, they know everything before they come to the world.
96) At the time of the creation of the souls, while they were still above, before they came to this world under time, they were in eternity, above time, when present and future act at once, as is the nature of eternity.
It follows that all the deeds that the souls will do one at a time when they come into this world are already there at once, as their actions in this world, since all the Torah that they will learn in this world during the days of their lives is already there entirely, and all their evil works are already depicted in their souls. And as they will cast the part of Kedusha in this world, likewise there. If they are destined to sin in this world and repent one at a time, it is depicted above at once, as is the nature of eternity, that this, too, is already depicted there.
99) All true righteous, before they come into this world, they are all corrected above and are called by names. Since the day the Creator created the world, Rabbi Shimon was ready before the Creator and was with Him, and the Creator called him by his name. Happy is he above and below. It is written about him, “Let your father and your mother be glad,” “Your father” being the Creator and “Your mother” being the Assembly of Israel.
115) Happy are Israel more than all the idol-worshipping nations for the Creator wishes to purify them and have mercy on them, for they are His lot and inheritance, as it is written, “For the portion of the Lord is His people.” They unite above, in ZA, hence the love of the Creator clings to them, as it is written, “I have loved you, says the Lord.”
144) Anyone who has been rewarded with the Torah and satiates his soul with it, the Creator declares several benefits for him, to benefit him in this world and in the next world, as it is written, “And a good rumor.” From which place is it good? “From a faraway land,” for initially, the Creator was far from him, for he was hateful of him at first, from that place he is greeted, as it is written, “From afar the Lord appeared unto me.”
155-156) When half the night is through, all those who engage in Torah unite with Divinity. When the morning comes and the queen, Divinity, bonds with the king, ZA, they are with the king and the king spreads his wings over all of them, as it is written, “By day the Lord will command grace [Hesed], and at night, His song is with me.”
When the morning rises, the patriarchs, HGT de ZA, come with the queen and rush to speak with her and bond with her. And in them the Creator, ZA, speaks with her and calls her to spread His wings over her.
174-175) “God, God the Lord has spoken and called the earth.” “God, God the Lord” are HGT, the wholeness of everything. “Spoken” means bestowal. “Earth” is Malchut, to be in the Assembly of Israel in wholeness, in joy, from Yesod de Malchut, called Zion.
When the Creator wished to create the lower world, He made it as perfect as above. He made Jerusalem the middle of the whole earth, and a place on it, called Zion, Yesod, a place from which it is blessed. From that place of Zion, the world began to be built, and from it, it was built. “Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God appeared.” That is, “Out of Zion,” who is “The perfection of beauty,” of the world, “God appeared.” Jerusalem, Malchut, was blessed only from Zion, Yesod, and Zion was blessed from above, ZA. Everything connects one in one, ZA and Malchut, one in one, unite through Zion.
206-208) “As the deer yearns for the water brooks, my soul yearns for You, O God.”
Happy are Israel more than all the nations because the Creator has given them the holy Torah and has inherited them holy souls from a holy place to do His commandments and to delight in the Torah. Anyone who delights in the Torah is afraid of nothing, as it is written, “Were Your law [Torah] not my delight, I would be lost in my affliction.”
“My delight” is the Torah, for the Torah is called “delights,” as it is written, “And I will be delighted day by day.” We learned that the Creator comes to delight in the Garden of Eden, to delight so He would rejoice in them. Happy are the righteous, of whom it is written, “Then shall you delight in the Lord,” to be delighted with that potion of the stream, which is Bina. It seems that the Creator delights in them from that potion of the stream in which the righteous delight. This is why He comes to be delighted with the righteous, and anyone who engages in Torah is rewarded with being delighted with the righteous from that potion of the stream that is Bina.
“As the deer yearns by the water brooks.” This is the Assembly of Israel, Malchut. “Yearns by the water brooks” means to be given the potion of the spring of the stream, Bina, by the righteous, Yesod, will yearn. “So my soul yearns for You, O God,” to be watered by You in this world and in the next world.
216) A person needs to worship the Creator in wholeness, “And you shall love the Lord your God.” He should love the Creator truly with his soul. This is complete love, love of his soul and spirit. As they, the soul and the spirit, clung in a body, and the body loves them, so should man love the Creator and cleave to Him, as the love of his soul and spirit, as it is written, “My soul, I have desired you at night,” truly my soul, clothed in a body.
217-218) “With my spirit within me have I sought You,” that I may cling to You with great love in the night. A man should rise each night out of love of the Creator to engage in His work until the morning rises and draws upon him a thread of grace [Hesed]. Happy is a man who loves the Creator with this love. Those true righteous who love the Creator so, the world exists because of them and they govern all the harsh decrees above and below.
That righteous one who clings above to the holy king with his spirit and soul—with love as it should be—rules the earth below, and everything he sentences for the world comes true.
244-245) Before the Creator created the world, He created repentance.
The Creator said to repentance, Bina, “I wish to create man in the world provided that if they return to you from their iniquities you will be willing to pardon their iniquities and atone them.” Each and every hour, repentance is ready for people. When people repent from their iniquities, this repentance, Bina, returns to the Creator giving Mochin to ZA and atones for everything. Then the Dinim surrender and all are perfumed, and the man is purified from his iniquities.
When is one purified from his iniquity? When he properly enters repentance. When he repents before the upper king and prays a prayer from the bottom of the heart, as it is written, “From the depths I have called You, O Lord.”
245) Happy are the righteous in this world and in the next world, for they are all holy. Their Guf [body] is holy, their Nefesh [soul] is holy, their Ruach [spirit] is holy, and their Neshama [soul] is holy of holies.
368) Woe unto people for they are all obtuse and blind, and do not know nor hear or notice how they are in the world. But there is counsel and healing before them, yet they do not look because people can be saved only by the counsel of the Torah.
391) Happy are the righteous in this world and in the next world, for the Creator desires their glory and discloses to them high secrets of His holy Name, which He did not disclose to the high and holy angels.
412) It is written, “One thing I have asked of the Lord, that shall I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the pleasantness of the Lord.”
Happy are the righteous, for whom several high treasures are hidden in that world, Bina, for the Creator plays with them in those worlds, for which He asked to behold the pleasantness of the Lord, the illumination of Atik extended in Bina. “But in a flood of great waters they will not reach him,” indicating lights of Atik, who is unattainable. However, there are righteous who are rewarded with that, as well. This means that there are righteous who are rewarded with the light of Atik, as it is written, “Neither has the eye seen a God besides You, will do for he who waits for Him.” “Will do” implies Atik because life extends from luck, from Dikna de Atik. Thus, they can receive and draw abundance from Atik, too.
New Zohar, Aharei Mot [After the Death]
51-54) “My beloved went down to his garden, to the beds of perfume, to pasture in the gardens and to gather lilies.”
All the songs are holy, and the Song of Songs is the holy of holies. The Assembly of Israel, Malchut, praises the Creator and says to Him: “My beloved,” as it is written, “My beloved is white and ruddy.”
When it is midnight, a flame awakens and comes under the wings of the rooster, who calls. At that time the Creator goes down to His garden, which is the upper Garden of Eden, and at that time the rooster above awakens and says, “Arise, all who have sleep in the holes of their eyes. It is time for the deer, Malchut, to unite with her husband, ZA.” Happy is a man who rises at midnight to engage in Torah, for the Creator and all the righteous listen to his voice, as it is written, “You who sits in the garden, friends are listening to your voice, let me hear it.”
At that time, a thread of grace is poured over one who engages in Torah, and at that time the Creator goes down to His garden, Malchut. “He went down to the beds of perfume.” Perfumes are illumination of Hochma. Rosh [head] is GAR, and those righteous who have those Mochin of perfumes of the Rosh are called “the beds of perfume.”
“To pasture in the gardens,” in two gardens, the Garden of Eden of above, Bina, and in the Garden of Eden of below, in Malchut. They are called “this world,” Malchut, and “the next world,” Bina. “To gather lilies” means the righteous who engage in Torah, whose lips whisper the Torah. It is written, “lilies”; do not pronounce as Shoshanim [lilies], but as Sheshonim [repeating], for they repeatedly delve in the Torah. That is, even in the grave their lips whisper the Torah. It is said about them, “To gather lilies,” that he gathers them from this world prematurely so they would not sin.
64) There are three “I will be.” “I will be with you in the first exile.” It was said, “When they exiled into Egypt, Divinity was with them.” And “I will be with you in the second exile.” It was said, “When they exiled into Babel, Divinity was with them.” And “I will be with you in the third exile.” It was said, “When they exiled into Greece, Divinity was with them.” He did not reveal to them the “I will be” of the fourth exile.” Rather, “In its time, I will hasten it.” If they are rewarded, I will hasten it. If they are not rewarded, in its time.