Abraham
Awakening and Desire
Lech Lecha [Go Forth]
28) Since the Creator saw his awakening and his desire, He immediately revealed Himself to him and told him, “Go forth,” to know yourself and to correct yourself.
223) “Who has aroused one from the east” is Abraham, who took the awakening to the Creator only from the east because when he saw the sun rising in the morning from the east, he took an awakening for himself, which is the Creator. He said about the sun, “This is the King who created me,” and he worshipped the sun the whole day. In the evening, he saw that the sun was setting and the moon rose. He said about the moon, “This one must be ruling the worship that he was worshipping the whole of that day, the sun, since the sun had darkened before the moon and does not shine.” Thus, he worshipped the moon the whole of that night.
224) In the morning, he saw that the moon darkened and the east illuminated. He said, “There must be a king and a ruler over all those, who leads them.” When the Creator saw Abraham's desire, He appeared before him and spoke to him, as it is written, “He calls in righteousness to His feet.” Righteousness is the Creator, who called him and spoke to him and appeared before him.
And Abram Took Sarai
Lech Lecha [Go Forth]
58) “And Abram took Sarai his wife.” This is extension in good things because man is forbidden to take his wife out to another land against her will. It is also written, “Take Aaron,” meaning take the Levites. This is why “And Abram took” is extension in things, and he alerted her how evil were the ways of the people of the generation. This is why it writes, “And Abram took Sarai his wife.”
59) “And Lot his nephew.” Why did Abraham see fit to attach Lot to himself? It was because he saw in the spirit of holiness that David was destined to come out of him.
“And the souls that they had made in Haran” are the converted men and women who corrected their souls. Abraham would convert the men, and Sarah would convert the women, and this is why the writing speaks about them as though they had made them.
Abraham and Sarah Purifying the People of the World
VaYaera [And the Lord Appeared]
106) Abraham and Sarah were setting up Tevila for every person—he for the men and she for the women. The reason why Abraham engaged in purifying people is that he was pure and he was called “pure,” as it is written, “Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one,” and Abraham is pure who came out of Terah, who was unclean.
107) This is why Abraham engaged in Tevila, to correct the degree of Abraham. And his degree is water, Hassadim, for which he was made to purify all the people in the world with water.
Beer Sheba
New Zohar, Toldot [Generations]
28) Abraham named that well of water, Malchut, Beer Sheba...
31) Abraham dug that well. He established it because he taught all the people of the world to serve the Creator. And since he dug it, it put forth living waters that never end.
An Incarnation of Adam HaRishon
BaHar [On Mount Sinai]
69) Adam’s sin was that he broke the Creator’s commandment. But there are no commandments except on idol worshipping. He transgressed with idol worshipping, and He put him, meaning incarnated him in the seed of Terah, in which he fumed, meaning angered the Creator and broke the commandment of idol worshipping, for Terah was an idol worshipper. And he came out of the seed of Abraham, who was an incarnation of Adam HaRishon. Abraham repented and broke the statutes of idol worshipping and all the foods that were placed before them. He corrected what Adam and Terah sinned, and broke the sin and the evil structure that he built, the structure of the Klipot that Adam caused by his sin, and enthroned the Creator and His Divinity over the whole world.
Gifts to the Sons of the Concubines
Chayei Sarah [The Life of Sarah]
262) “But unto the sons of the concubines… gifts.” What are gifts? Those are lower degrees of holiness, which are uncorrected. They are names of types of spirits of impurity. He gave it to them to complete the degrees, so they would purify them and complement the degrees of holiness. And Isaac rose above all of them in the high faith, which is Bina.
263) “The sons of the concubines” are the sons of Keturah. She is called “concubines” since she was a concubine before he sent her away. And she is a concubine now since he took her again. “And he sent them away from Isaac his son,” so they would not rule over Isaac. “While he was still alive,” while Abraham still lived and exited in the world, so they would not quarrel with him later, and so that Isaac would be corrected in the side of the harsh, high Din, to prevail over all of them. And they all surrendered before him. “Eastward” means to the land in the east since there are various kinds of witchcraft and impurity there.
264) It is written, “And Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east,” meaning all those who were from the sons of Abraham's concubines. And in those mountains of the east are those who teach wizardry to people. And Laban, Beor, and Balaam, his son, and all the wizards came from that land in the east.
Book of Wisdom of the Predecessors
VaYaera [And the Lord Appeared]
80) Rabbi Aba said, “One day, I came across a city that was one of those that were in the east, and I was told of that wisdom that they knew since the old days. They found their books of wisdom and presented me with such a book.”
88) I told them, “My sons, the words in the book are close to words of Torah. But you must stay away from these books lest they will divert your hearts to these works and to all those sides it mentions here. You might stray from the work of the Creator.”
89) This is so because all those books mislead people, since the sons of the east were wise and inherited this wisdom from Abraham, who gave to the sons of the maidservants, as it is written, ‘But unto the sons of the concubines that Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts,’ and afterwards they were drawn in this wisdom to several directions.
90) But the seed of Isaac, the share of Jacob, is not so, as it is written, “And Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac.” This is the holy share of the faith to which Abraham adhered, and it is from this lot and from this side that Jacob came. It is written about it, “And behold, the Lord stood above him,” and it is written, “But you… My servant, Jacob.”
These Are the Generations of the Heaven and the Earth when They Were Created
Lech Lecha [Go Forth]
225) “Speak righteousness and declare things that are right.” All of the Creator’s words are true. “And declare things that are right” because when the Creator created the world, the world did not stand, but collapsed to this side and to that side. The Creator said to the world, “Why are you falling?” It told Him, “Dear Lord, I cannot stand because I have no foundation [ Yesod] on which to stand.”
226) The Creator told it, “Thus, I will place a righteous one within you, Abraham, who will love Me.” And the world immediately stood and existed. It is written, “These are the generations of the heaven and the earth when they were created.” Do not read it, BeHibar’am [when they were created], but BeAvraham [in Abraham, same letters in Hebrew], since the world existed in Abraham.
227) The world replied to the Creator, “Abraham is destined to beget sons who will destroy the Temple and burn the Torah.” The Creator told it, “One man will come out of him, Jacob, and twelve tribes will come out of him, all of which are righteous.” Promptly, the world existed for him.
Book of Creation
New Zohar, Yitro [Jethro]
309) Certainly, Jacob had the book of Adam HaRishon, as well as the book Enoch, and The Book of Creation by Abraham the patriarch. They commented that Masechet Avodah Zarah [the treatise Idolatry] by Abraham the patriarch constituted 400 chapters.
From all those books, Jacob the patriarch, the whole man, living in tents, learned much wisdom. And the beauty and lines of Jacob were as the lines of Adam HaRishon.
Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, and Rebecca
Lech Lecha [Go Forth]
76) The Creator implies to upper Hochma, in Abraham and Isaac. Abraham is Neshama to Neshama, light of Haya. Neshama is Sarah. Lot is the serpent, SAM’s mate. The spirit of holiness is Isaac. The holy Nefesh is Rebecca, and the evil inclination is the spirit of the beast. In his wisdom, Solomon says about him, “Who knows the spirit of man, whether it goes upward, and the spirit of the beast, whether it goes downward to the earth?” The spirit of the beast is a Nefesh from the side of the evil inclination.
77) Neshama to Neshama comes to man from the Sefira of Hochma, with fear and with wisdom. The Neshama comes to man in Bina, as it is written, “Behold, the fear of the Lord is wisdom.” Hence, Neshama to Neshama comes only through fear and wisdom. But the Neshama comes to a person through repentance, which is called Bina, and is called “Sarah.” Ruach [spirit/wind] is called “voice,” and it is called Daat, and it extends to a man who raises his voice in Torah. The Ruach is also called “Written Torah.” The good deeds extend from the Nefesh of the mind.
Neshama to Neshama and NRN extend from HBD:
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The Neshama to Neshama, Abraham, extends from the Sefira of Hochma.
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The Neshama, Sarah, extends from the Sefira of Bina.
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The Ruach, Isaac, extends from the Sefira of Daat; it is the right of the Daat.
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The Nefesh, Rebecca, extends from the Sefira of Daat, which is the left of the Daat.
78) Similarly, the Creator created the body out of four basic elements: Fire, wind, dust, and water, similar to Neshama to Neshama, Neshama, Ruach, and Nefesh. Neshama to Neshama is Water; Neshama is fire; Ruach is wind; and Nefesh is dust.
Water is male, like Neshama to Neshama, which comes from Hochma. This is sweet water of Kedusha, and opposite that is the water that causes a curse, which are the evil inclination, SAM.
There is a holy fire, female, like the Neshama that comes from Bina. Opposite it is the strange fire, of which it is written, “That he shall not enter at any time into the holy place,” which is the Nukva from the side of the evil inclination, the serpent, the Nukva of SAM.
The holy Ruach is male, like the wind that comes from the Sefira of Daat. Opposite it is an impure Ruach, the evil inclination. It is said about it, “Out of the serpent's root shall come forth a basilisk,” meaning the spirit of the beast, which is called “a basilisk,” which is an offspring of the serpent of impurity, from the impure Bina.
And there is holy dust, like the Nefesh that comes from the left of Daat. Opposite it is the impure dust, the beastly Nefesh from the side of the evil inclination.
79) Hence, the Neshama, which is repentance, Bina, assails that serpent to break it by the power of enslavement of the penance, drawing him to the assembly houses and seminaries.