Torah
All the Good
Chayei Sarah [The Life of Sarah]
219) “Open my eyes, that I may see wonders from Your law.” How foolish are people, for they do not know and do not consider engaging in the Torah. But the Torah is the whole of life, and every freedom and every goodness in this world and in the next world. Life in this world is to be rewarded with all their days in this world, as it is written, “The number of thy days I will fulfill.” And he will be rewarded with long days in the next world, for it is the perfect life, a life of joy, life without sadness, life that is life—freedom in this world and liberation from everything.
Freedom from the Angel of Death
Chayei Sarah [The Life of Sarah]
220) …the Torah is freedom from the angel of death, so he cannot control him.
Certainly, if Adam were to cling to the tree of life, which is the Torah, he would not cause death to himself or to the whole world. But because he left the tree of life, which is the Torah, and ate from the tree of knowledge, he caused death to himself and to the world. For this reason, the Creator gave the Torah to Israel.
It is written, “Harut [carved] on the tables; do not pronounce it Harut, but rather Herut [freedom],” for then they were liberated from the angel of death. Had Israel not sinned with the calf and not departed the tree of life, which is the Torah, they would not cause death to return to the world to begin with.
And the Creator said, “I said, ‘You are gods, and all of you are sons of the Most High,’” meaning upon the reception of the Torah. And since you damaged yourselves, meaning sinned, you will indeed die as humans. Hence, that evil serpent that darkened the world cannot govern anyone who engages in the Torah.
Upper Life
VaYishlach [And Jacob Sent]
46) “Happy is the man that fears always; but he that hardens his heart shall fall into evil.” Happy are Israel, for the Creator desires them and gave them the true law, to be rewarded by it with everlasting life. The Creator draws the upper life upon anyone who engages in Torah, and brings him to the life of the next world, as it is written, “For He is your life, and the length of your days.” And it is written, “And through this thing ye shall prolong your days,” because she is life in this world and life in the next world.
The World Was Created with the Torah
Teruma [Donation]
635) When the Creator created the world, He looked in the Torah and created the world. The world was created with the Torah, as it is written, “And I was beside Him an Amon [apprentice].” Do not pronounce it, Amon, but Oman [craftsman], for the Torah is the craftsmanship of the world...
639) It is written in the Torah, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” He looked in this word and created the heaven. It is written in the Torah, “And God said, ‘Let there be light.’” He looked in this word and created the light. And so it was with each and every word that is written in the Torah: the Creator looked, and did that thing. This is why it is written, “And I was beside Him an Oman [craftsman],” as the whole world was created.
640) When the world was created, not a thing existed before there was the desire to create man, so he will engage in Torah, and for that, the world existed. Now, anyone who looks in the Torah and engages in it, seemingly sustains the entire world. The Creator looked in the Torah and created the world; man looks in the Torah and sustains the world. It follows that the deed and the keeping of the entire world is the Torah. For this reason, happy is he who engages in the Torah, for he sustains the world.
One Who Engages in Torah Sustains the World
Toldot [Generations]
3) Anyone who engages in Torah sustains the world and sustains each and every operation in the world in its proper way. Also, there is not an organ in a man’s body that does not have a corresponding creation in the world.
This is so because as man’s body divides into organs and they all stand degree over degree, established one atop the other and are all one body, similarly, the world, meaning all creations in the world are many organs standing one atop the other, and they are all one body. And when they are all corrected they will actually be one body. And everything, man and the world, will be like the Torah because the whole of Torah is organs and joints standing one atop the other. And when the world is corrected they will become one body.
Studying for the Creator
Lech Lecha [Go Forth]
282) When Rabbi Abba came from Babel, he declared, “Whomever wishes for wealth and whomever wishes for long days in the next world will engage in the Torah!” The whole world gathered unto him to engage in the Torah.
A bachelor, a man vacant of a woman, was in his neighborhood. One day, he came to him and told him, “I want to learn Torah so as to have wealth.” Rabbi Abba told him, “You will certainly be rewarded with wealth through the Torah.” He sat, and engaged in the Torah.
283) In time, he said, “Rabbi, where is the wealth?” Rabbi Abba replied, “It means that you are not studying for the Creator,” and he walked into his room to consider what to do about him. He heard a voice saying, “Do not punish him, for he will be a great man.” He returned to him and told him, “Sit, my son, sit, and I will give you wealth.”
284) In the meantime, a man walked in holding a golden vessel. He took it out so it would be seen, and its shine radiated in the house. He said, “Rabbi, I want to be rewarded with the Torah. I myself have not been privileged with understanding the Torah, and I ask that someone will engage for me. I have great wealth, which my father had left for me.” While he was seated at his desk, he set up thirteen cups of gold on it. “I want to be rewarded with the Mitzva [good deed] of studying the Torah, and in return, I will give wealth.”
285) He said to that man, who did not have a wife, “You engage in Torah, and this man will give you wealth.” The man gave him that gold cup. Rabbi Abba said about him, “Gold or glass cannot equal it,nor can it be exchanged for articles of fine gold.” He sat and engaged in Torah, and that man was giving him wealth.
286) In time, the beauty of Torah came within him. One day, he was sitting and crying. His rabbi found him crying and asked him, “Why are you crying?” He replied, “And what am I neglecting for this wealth—the life of the next world! I do not want to study for the man any longer; I want to be rewarded with the Torah for myself.” Rabbi Abba said, “Now it means that he is already studying for the Creator.”
287) He called upon that man and told him, “Take your wealth and give it to orphans and poor, and I will give you a greater share in the Torah, in everything we learn.” He gave him back the gold cup. There is no better reward in the world than one who engages in Torah. And there is no need for anything in return for it, as it is written, “Gold or glass cannot equal it,nor can it be exchanged for articles of fine gold.”
Torah that Does Not Rise Up
VaYechi [Jacob Lived]
293) “What advantage does man have in all his work, which he does under the sun?” The toil of Torah, too, means to toil under the sun. The toil of Torah is different; it is above the sun, from the upper ones. Thus, so is the toil of Torah. It is said about it, “What advantage does man have in all his work, which he does under the sun?” whether he toils in Torah for people or for his own honor. It is about that that the verse says, “Under the sun,” since this Torah does not rise, and even if one lived a thousand years, on the day he departs from the world, it will seem to him as though he lived only one day.
Words of Torah Require Intention
Noah
275) It is written, “Prepare to meet your God, O Israel,” and it is written, “Be silent and listen, O Israel,” for words of Torah require intention, and must be corrected in the body and will as one.
276) ...Words of Torah require correction of the body and correction of the heart.
Sublime Secrets that Appear for a Moment and Disappear Once More
Toldot [Generations]
4) The Torah holds all the hidden, sublime, and unattainable secrets. The Torah holds all the sublime, revealed, and unrevealed matters, that is, that for their profoundness, they appear to the eye of the one who observes them and soon after disappear. Then they briefly reappear and disappear, and so on and so forth before those who scrutinize them. The Torah holds all the things that are above in the Upper World and that are below. And everything in this world and everything in the next world is in the Torah, and there is no one to observe and to know them.
Awaken the Love
Mishpatim [Ordinances]
99) A loved one, comely and beautiful, hides in her palace. She has a lover, of whom people do not know, but he is hiding. That lover, for the love that he loves her, always passes by the gate to her house and raises his eyes to every direction. She knows that her lover is always surrounding the gate to her house. She opens a little door in her palace and shows her face to her lover, and immediately covers herself again. All those who were with the lover did not see and did not look, only the lover alone, whose heart and soul cling after her. And he knows that for the love that she loves him, she appears to him for a moment, to evoke the love for him.
So is a word of Torah: she appears only for her lover. The Torah knows that that wise-of-heart surrounds the gate to her house each day. What did she do? She showed her face to him from within the palace and hinted him a hint, then promptly returned to her place and hid. All those from there neither knew nor looked, but he alone, and his heart and soul follow her. Hence, the Torah appears and disappears, and walks with love toward the one who loves her, to awaken the love with him.
The Torah Does Not Tell Literal Stories
BeHaalotcha [When You Mount]
58) Woe unto one who says that the Torah comes to tell literal tales and the uneducated words of such as Esau and Laban. If this is so, even today we can turn the words of an uneducated person into a law, and even nicer than theirs. And if the Torah indicates to mundane matters, even the rulers of the world have among them better things, so let us follow them and turn them into a law in the same way. However, all the words of the Torah have the uppermost meaning.
59) The upper world and the lower world are judged the same. Israel below correspond to the high angels above. It is written of the high angels, “Who makes winds His messengers,” and when they come down, they clothe in dresses of this world. Had they not clothed in dresses such as in this world, they would not be able to stand in this world, and the world would not tolerate them. And if this is so with angels, it is all the more so with the law that created the angels and all the worlds, and they exist for it. Moreover, when it came down to this world, the world could not tolerate it if it had not clothed in these mundane clothes, which are the tales and words of the uneducated.
60) Hence, this story in the Torah is a clothing of the Torah. And one who considers this clothing as the actual Torah and nothing else, damned will be his spirit, and he will have no share in the next world. This is the reason why David said, “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of Your law,” that is, gaze upon what lies beneath the clothing of the Torah.
61) There is an openly visible clothing, and when fools see a person dressed handsomely, whose dress seems elegant, they look no further and judge him by his elegant clothes. They regard the clothes as the man’s body and regard the man’s body as his soul.
62) Such is the Torah. It has a body, which is the Mitzvot of the Torah, which are called “the bodies of the Torah.” This body clothes in dresses, which are mundane stories, and the fools in the world consider only that clothing, which is the story of the Torah. They do not know more and do not consider what exists underneath that clothing.
Those who know more do not consider the clothing, but the body under that clothing. But the sages, the servants of the High King, those who stood on Mount Sinai, consider only the soul in the Torah, which is the essence of it all, the actual law. In the future, they will gaze upon the soul within the soul of the Torah.
63) This is also how it is above. There is Levush [clothing], Guf [body], Neshama [soul], and Neshama to Neshama. The heavens and their hosts are the Levush, and the assembly of Israel is Malchut—the Guf that receives the Neshama, which is the Tifferet [glory] of Israel, ZA. Hence, Malchut is the Guf to the Neshama, for ZA clothes in her like a soul in the body. The Neshama is Tifferet,Israel, the actual law, the soul of the Torah, upon which the sages gaze.
And Neshama to Neshama is Atika Kadisha [the Holy, Ancient One], upon whom they will gaze in the future. All are intertwined: Atika Kadisha clothes in ZA, ZA clothes in Malchut, and Malchut in the worlds BYA and all their hosts.
64) Woe unto the wicked ones who say that the Torah is nothing more than fables and consider only the clothing. Happy are the righteous who consider the Torah as they should. As wine sits only in a jar, the Torah dwells only in that clothing. Hence, one needs to regard what is found under the clothing, which is why all these tales are dresses.
To Whom Does the Torah Seem Empty
VaYetze [Jacob Went Out]
341) 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.
342) 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.
343) 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.
A Healing for All the World’s Troubles
VaYechi [Jacob Lived]
317) The people of the world will shout but no one will watch over them. Their heads will search in every direction for some salvation but they will not return with any cure for their plight. But I have found them one remedy in the world: Where they engage in Torah, and a book of Torah that is unflawed is among them, when they take it out, the upper ones and lower ones will awaken. And it is all the more so if the Holy Name is written in it properly.
Written Torah and Oral Torah
New Zohar, Toldot [Generations]
13) All the upper fathers who are gripped above—Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, and Joseph—are all implied in the written Torah, the Torah of HaVaYaH. This is because they are the six edges of Zeir Anpin, who is called HaVaYaH, and about whom it is written, “The law of the Lord [HaVaYaH].” Hence, they are all written Torah.
David, who is gripped outside of them, is the oral Torah, Malchut, and is implied in words of reception, meaning in the writings. This is the reason why Malchut is called “reception,” since she receives light from the written Torah, who is called Tzadik [righteous], Yesod, and it is called Joseph, and it is called “all.”