Ruth
New Zohar, Ruth
2) Everything that the Creator created in His world, He created only for His glory, as it was said, “All that is called by My name, and for My glory I have created it, formed it, and even made it.” The Creator created the man in the world and placed His name in him, HaVaYaH.
8-12) When a person is made out of a drop in his mother’s placenta, as he grows the Creator gradually instills within him a spirit and a soul. A candle is placed over his head at night, as it is said, “When His candle shone above my head,” and a pillar of light by day, as it was said, “And the pillar of cloud journeyed ... and by night in a pillar of fire ... to go by day and by night.” It was said, “For a candle is a Mitzva and the Torah is light.” Malchut, who governs at night, is called “A candle of Mitzva,” and ZA, who is called Torah, governing the day, is called “And the Torah is light.”
He is taught the whole of the Torah and he is taught all the Mitzvot, and he is told, “See that this is a winding road,” which is called “night.” In that place, all the souls of people shall come up, as it was said, “Small and great are there, and a servant is free from his master.”
He is shown in the pillar of fire that is on his head several bears and leopards and lions, and sabotaging angels sitting there. And there is a dog there. David said about that, “Deliver my soul from the sword; my only one from the power of the dog.” That place is darkness, and sabotaging angels call him in the nights. He said about it, “For fear at nights.” They are actually called “nights.”
He is told, “If you are rewarded with Mitzvot, each and every Mitzva will make of him a good angel for you. When you come with this hoe and are rewarded with Mitzvot they will say, “Build up, build up, clear the way, remove every obstacle out of the way of so and so,” and the sabotaging angels will not rule over you.
Similarly, during the day they say, “If you rewarded with the Torah, each and every letter will be an angel who will help you in this place.” The Torah is called “way.” Walk in this way so they do not govern you. He said about it, “To show them the way.” Afterwards they will show him the Garden of Eden and each part within it for the righteous himself, and he is sworn to keep the whole Torah.
123) Rabbi Hiya said, “And the path of the righteous is as the light of dawn, shining more and more until the perfect day.”
One who walks on the way should have with him one with whom to speak of words of Torah. So is the path of the righteous, shining more and more, walking, and words of Torah with him, and the Torah is light. “Until the perfect day,” until Divinity partakes with him and does not move from him. We learned that wherever there are words of Torah, Divinity is there, as it is said, “In every place where I mention My name.”
152) “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,” with both your inclinations—the good inclination and the evil inclination. All are needed as one.
155) The Creator created in man four letters Yod-Hey Vav-Hey, which are His holy name. He created in him a soul to a soul, which is called “man,” and in which the lights spread in nine lights KHB HGT NHY, and Ateret Yesod complements them to ten. They hang down from Yod de HaVaYaH, and they are one light without separation.
169) Any gentile who repents and parts from idol-worship and from transgressions, the Creator will instill within him a holy spirit and a holy soul. And therefore, he has a part in the next world.
187) There is not a person in the world who does not have those two fires, which are called “the evil inclination” and “the good inclination.” The Creator gave them to people to guide them with them.
217-218) “And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden on the east.”
When the Creator created Adam HaRishon, He created him from the Temple. He took from the dust of the Temple and created him. Once He had created him and he stood on his legs, all the creatures came to bow before him.
What did the Creator do? He took him from there, placed him in the Garden of Eden, and made for him ten canopies, such as the Yod, canopies that the Creator would make for the righteous in the Garden of Eden in the future, and the ministering angels were descending and ascending and being merry before him, and He gave him high wisdom.
222-224) “The Lord is near to all who call Him, to all who call Him in truth.” Man’s desire is more important to the Creator than all the sacrifices and offerings in the entire world. When one puts his will in repentance, there is not a gate in all the firmaments that will not be open before him. Man’s sacrifice depends on the heart and on the will, as it is written, “And he shall confess wherein he has sinned.” He confessed to it, and it all depends on the heart. There is none closer to the face of the Creator than a man’s heart. It is more favorable to Him than all the sacrifices and offerings in the entire world.
228-235) In the whole world, nothing stands before the Creator but man’s repentance and prayer.
There are three kinds of repentance in that text—prayer, plea, and tear—and all are written in that verse: “Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear unto my plea; keep not silence at my tear.”
All three are important to the Creator, but of all of them, none is as important as the tear, for in tears the heart, the will, and the entire body awaken and go, and in these 13 gates they come before the Creator.
It is written about prayer, “Hear,” as it is written, “Hear my prayer, O Lord.” It writes a plea in it, as it is written, “And give ear unto my plea.” A tear is not like them, but more than everyone, as it is written, “Keep not silence at my tear.”
A prayer, sometimes a person prays his prayer and the Creator hears but does not wish to grant his wish, and He is silent toward him and does not watch over him, for only hearing is written in regard to it.
A plea is more important than a prayer, for he cries out with the heart’s desire before his Master. And because he places more of his desire, it is written about it, “Give ear,” as though lending His ear to the matter. And yet He is silent and does not wish to grant his wish. But a tear is with the heart and with the desire of the entire body. This is why it is written about it, “Keep not silence at my tear.”
Not all the tears come before the king. Tears of anger and tears of one who slanders his friend do not come before the king. But tears of prayer and of repentance, and those who pray out of their plight, all those breach firmaments and open gates and come before the king.
On the day when the Temple was ruined, all the gates were locked, but the gates of tears were not locked. It is written in Hezekiah, “I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tear,” meaning actual seeing out of the tears.
In the future, it is written, “And the Lord God shall wipe off the tear from every face.” There are tears for better and there are tears for worse. For better—when they are of the good inclination; for worse—when they are of the evil inclination. It is written about tears in plight and tears of prayer, “They shall come with weeping and with supplications will I lead them.”
245) Happy are the friends who engage in Torah, and those who purify others so they can engage in Torah.
349-353) “With my soul I have desired You in the night; even with my spirit within me I seek You.”
“With my soul I have desired You.” The Creator has placed within man two good forms to serve in this world, Nefesh and Ruach [soul and spirit]. The Nefesh is to sustain the body with the Mitzvot that awaken from it. The Ruach is to awaken in the Torah and to lead him in this world. If the Nefesh is rewarded with Mitzvot and the Ruach is rewarded with engaging in Torah, additional Gadlut [greatness/adulthood] comes down on him from above —Neshama, Haya, Yechida—according to his ways.
With those two —Nefesh and Ruach—the man walks in this world and uses them, for that Nefesh exists in a body only when the Ruach that is on it awakens.
When a person comes to serve and to work his Master with those two, Nefesh and Ruach, a holy awakening awakens on him from above and remains in the man, surrounding him on all sides. It awakens supernal wisdom in him in to reward him with being in the king’s palace.
That awakening on him is from a high place, from Bina. What is its name? Its name is Neshama. From her a man awakens to make repentance and good deeds, and she is a high force, the power of repentance, who is Bina, called “repentance.” She is the mother of Ruach, who extends from ZA, and the Ruach is her son, for ZA is the son of Bina.
The Neshama has a supernal lover. What is his name? His name is Neshama to Neshama, which is the light of Haya that extends from Hochma. She is called “the father of the Ruach,” from ZA, since HB are AVI to ZA. From her, fear, love, Torah, and Mitzva awaken to a person, as they extend from father and mother, son and daughter. Fear and love extend from HB, who are called “father and mother.” Torah and Mitzva extend from ZA and Malchut, who are called “son and daughter” of HB. Yod of the name HaVaYaH, Hochma, is father. He[Hey without the Yod] is Bina, mother. Vav is ZA, son, and the bottom Hey, Malchut, is the daughter. This is the full HaVaYaH.
452-456) Happy are Israel, for they always excel in Mitzvot—when they sit, when they walk, when they lay, and when they rise.
Israel should always be crowned in Torah and Mitzvot, to always cling to the Creator, as it is written, “And you who cleave to the Lord your God are alive everyone of you this day.” Anyone who clings to his Maker is never harmed.
Moreover, two ministering angels accompany a person, one on the right and one on the left, as it is written, “For He will command His angels for you to keep you in all your ways.” Moreover, if he is always in Mitzvot, the Creator seemingly becomes his guardian, as it is written, “The Lord keeps you.”
What does the Creator do? He takes an angel who walks to his right and places him before him, while he stands in his place, as it is written, “The Lord is your shadow on your right hand.” And He places that angel, which is to his left, behind the person, and the Creator on the right and on the left, thus the person is kept from all his sides. Who can harm him?
For this reason, one should not be without Torah and without Mitzvot for even an hour. In his house, the Creator keeps him from the outside, and the man from inside.
642) Rabbi Akiva said, “Since the day when the Temple was ruined, champions of counsel have been cut off, the views have been faulty, the heart does not exist in full, and everything follows the appearance.”
691) Happy is he who exerts to know in that world where the souls are. One who knows in it and exerts to know it, there is no measure to his wisdom.
737) Happy are they who bless and sanctify their Master each day with the heart’s desire.