A Spiritual Support System
While reading in The Zohar, we should want to connect to all the people in the world whose point in the heart has awakened, and who wish to receive from The Zohar the strength to develop, too. Thus, even if we are just beginners, we receive in return for our desire an enormous power that will push us forward.
This is a huge force that can invoke a significant change in the world. All we need is to approach The Zohar with a desire to bond with everyone.
There is none to begin and say songs, and there is none to complete his singing. That is, those who stand in the middle of the singing do not complete their song because they all become attentive to the voice of Rabbi Shimon until an utterance of a mouth is heard through all the firmaments above and below.
When Rabbi Shimon concludes engaging in the Torah, who saw songs? Who saw the joy of those who praise their Master? Who saw the voices that walk in all the firmaments? It is for Rabbi Shimon that all the souls and angels come and kneel and bow before their Master, and raise the fragrances of the perfumes in Eden—illumination of Hochma—all the way to AtikYomin. All this is for Rabbi Shimon.
Zohar for All, Shemot [Exodus], Item 242
Rabbi Shimon is not a flesh and blood person being praised here, but a spiritual system called “Rabbi Shimon.” What does that mean? The general soul consists of many parts with many different functions, like organs in a human body such as a brain, a heart, kidneys, and so forth. The soul of Rabbi Shimon, discussed in this chapter, is a very important part of the general soul because it leads the correction of the rest of the souls.
The great souls that preceded him led the correction in regard to Israel. But the soul of Rabbi Shimon is a system that passes the correction onto the entire world. Unlike Moses’ Torah, whose purpose was only to correct the people of Israel, The Zohar is intended to correct the whole of humanity. The degree that continues the soul of Rabbi Shimon is the soul of Rabbi Elazar, his son, and it already aims at the end of the general correction [1]. This is the structure of the system of the souls through which the light that corrects our souls comes down and fills them.
The fathers came—Moses, Aaron, David, and Solomon—and blessed Rabbi Shimon. They said, “You are a holy light, and your friends, ...which shine from you. And in each of it, it is said, ‘The candle of the Lord is man’s soul.’ Moses shines in you and you in your friends, and you are all one, without any separation. And from there onward all these illuminations spread to all who attain the wisdom.”
Zohar for All, Pinhas, Item 824
In the current state of the world, it is vital that we cling to the system of Rabbi Shimon because it leads us toward the corrections. This is also the reason why The Book of Zohar is now becoming so well known throughout the world.
Until recently, while everyone knew that there was something special about The Zohar, very few actually felt a need to open it. Today, when the world is in a global crisis, The Zohar must be revealed. It is the only means for the correction of the world. Through it, we can and should obtain the power to reach the highest level of Nature, the upper world.
Happy are those who sit before Rabbi Shimon and are rewarded with hearing the secrets of the Torah from his mouth. ...Rabbi Shimon said, “Happy are you, friends, for no secret is hidden from you.”
Zohar for All, Yitro [Jethro], Item 170
Anyone who wishes to receive strength from this system is regarded as “sitting before Rabbi Shimon.” Even a person who slightly touches the system of Rabbi Shimon is already under its influence.
If you were not Rabbi Shimon, it would not be conveyed to be revealed. The Zivug [coupling] in that world bears fruit more than a Zivug that is done in this world. With their Zivug, the Zivug of that world, with their desire as one, when the souls cling to one another, they bear fruit and lights come out of them and become candles. ...All those souls that are born out of these Zivugim [couplings] enter the same hall.
Zohar for All, Shlach Lecha [Send Out], Item 202
When speaking of Rabbi Shimon as a system, it may be a bit confusing. Therefore, let’s put some order into our words. Some 1,800 years ago, there indeed lived a man whose name was Shimon, and he did write the book known as The Book of Zohar along with friends-students. However, besides living in our world and writing the book physically, their souls actually experienced all the impressions that they described in the book.
If the authors of The Zohar had not lived in our world, they would not have been able to write the book. But if they had not lived in the upper world, they would not have been able to correct anything and the book would give us no spiritual value. In other words, along with the writing, they performed internal corrections at the level of the souls in the upper world. Writing is just a superficial expression of a corrected connection of love and bonding among souls, which allows the light to come down from the world of Ein Sof through their system, almost all the way to us.
Why almost? Because the light is standing right above us, and what is required of us is only for us to want to receive it.
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One who parts from Rabbi Shimon,
it is as though he parted from everything.
Zohar for All, Yitro [Jethro], Item 411
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[1] For more on this, see “The Giving of the Torah” and “The Arvut [Mutual Guarantee]” by Baal HaSula