Studying The Zohar Compared to Other Studies
Reading the words of The Zohar is more beneficial for Divinity and for the soul than the whole engagement in the Torah.
Correction of the night of Hoshaana Rabah [Great Supplication]
Who is greater to us than this holy book, The Book of Zohar, interpreting the ways, removing the stones from the trail, admitting love and fear in one’s heart, teaching, guiding in the circles of justice, and leading us to the rest and inheritance.
The Zohar, Mentoba printing, The Publisher’s Introduction
[A person] Will not achieve life but only through the study of The Zohar… And in this generation it is impossible to draw the Higher Shechina (Divinity) but through The Zohar and the writings of the Ari and Rav Chaim Vital, which were said in the spirit of holiness. And in this generation, “Who is the man who desires life and loves days” without wasting a day without holiness? To see the good of the next world in this world, let him cleave his soul only to The Book of Zohar and the writings of the Ari and Rav Chaim Vital.
Heichal HaBracha (Hall of Blessing), Devarim (Deuteronomy), 58
The virtue of the study of The Book of Zohar is already known, as the Ari said, “A single day of studying The Book of Zohar and the secrets of Torah equals an entire year of studying the literal. By this merit, the Creator will prolong their days in goodness and their years in pleasantness, wealth, and honor. They will be whole with sons and sons of sons, and houses filled abundantly, filled with the blessing of the Lord and the blessing of Elijah.”
The Zohar, Livorno Press, Introduction, 1892
Studying The Zohar ... builds worlds. It is all the more so if one is rewarded with studying and understanding the meaning of an article. It will correct him in an hour more than the study of the literal will do in a year.
Rabbi Shalom Ben Moshe Buzzaglo,
The King’s Throne, Tikkun [Correction] 43, Item 60
The reason why our sages wrote that the study of The Zohar is awe-inspiring and exalted ... in all the Torah there is PARDESS and in all the studies, the concealed is not apparent whatsoever. On the contrary, a reader who repeats only the literal does not understand that there is a secret to the Torah at all. This is not so in The Book of Zohar, in which the secrets are open and the disciple knows that it speaks of the wonders and secrets of the Torah, which he does not know, and this is very instrumental for the correction of the soul.
Rabbi Chaim of Voluzhin,
Nefesh HaChaim [The Soul of Life], Set no. 7
There is no doubt that any study in the holy Torah is sublime and elevated and uplifting, especially if it is truly Lishma [for Her name]. It builds one’s ascents in heaven and corrects the worlds, and unites the lovers.
However, the study of The Zohar is great. That is, the Bible and the Mishnah and the Talmud are very clothed and the meaning is unapparent in them at all. This is not so with The Zohar, which speaks the secrets of the Torah explicitly, and there is not a fool who will read and not understand its words in the depth of the secrets of the Torah. Hence, since the secrets of Torah are revealed without clothing, they brighten and illuminate the soul.
Rabbi Chaim Yosef David Azulai (The CHIDA),
The Great Ones for the CHIDA, “A System of Books,” Item 2
The study of The Book of Zohar elevates more than any other study, even when one does not know what it says, and even if one errs in one’s reading. It is a great correction for the soul because although the whole Torah is the names of the Creator, it is clothed in several stories, and one who reads and understands the stories considers the simple literal meaning, but The Book of Zohar is the revealed secrets themselves, and the reader knows that they are the secrets and the meaning of the Torah, but it is not perceived for the lack of the attaining and the depth of the attained.
Rabbi Chaim Yosef David Azulai (The CHIDA),
Pointing with the Finger, Item 44
What we see—that there are people whose mind is not drawn to holy and very terrible books such as The Book of Zohar and the books of the Ari, although there are terrible, terrible innovations in them, which illuminate the eye and are sweeter than honey, yet they are drawn after other matters, such as scrutiny—know that it is due to their temper that they cannot tolerate the truly holy matter. Indeed, one does have choice and has the power to break one’s bad temper, but since he has already been born with such a bad temper, he must suffer great bitterness to break his bad temper and nature.
Rabbi Nachman of Breslev,
Talks of Rabbi Nachman, 40
One who studies The Zohar brings redemption closer. This is what the Rav Truth unto Jacob wrote in the introduction to his book in the name of The Zohar and the corrections. The rav warned extensively that one who studied the written and oral Torah would be severely punished he if did not study in The Book of Zohar and the wisdom of Kabbalah.
The Zohar, Livorno Press, Publisher’s Introduction
There is no comparison between the livelihood and delight in the study of the revealed and the study of The Zohar and the corrections.
Rav Pinhas Shapira of Koritz,
Midrash Pinhas, 72, Item 3
The most important is The Zohar and the corrections.
Integrity, Words of Truth, Item 39