Our generation is the generation of the days of the Messiah. This is why we have been granted the redemption of our holy land from the hands of the foreigners. We have also been rewarded with the revelation of The Book of Zohar, which is the beginning of the realization of the verse (Jeremiah 31): “And they shall teach no more each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them.”
Rav Yehuda Ashlag (Baal HaSulam), “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar”
And this is a clear proof that our generation has come to the days of the Messiah. We can see that all the interpretations of The Book of Zohar before ours did not clarify as much as ten percent of the difficult places in The Zohar. And in the little they did clarify, their words are almost as abstruse as the words of The Zohar itself.
But in our generation we have been rewarded with the Sulam (Ladder) commentary, which is a complete interpretation of all the words of The Zohar. Moreover, not only does it not leave an unclear matter in the whole of The Zohar without interpreting it, but the clarifications are based on a straightforward analysis, which any intermediate student can understand. And since The Zohar appeared in our generation, it is a clear proof that we are already in the days of the Messiah, at the outset of that generation upon which it was said, “for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord.”
Rav Yehuda Ashlag (Baal HaSulam), “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar”
And who better than I knows that I am not at all worthy of being even a messenger and a scribe for disclosing such secrets, and much less to thoroughly understand them. And why has the Creator done so to me? It is only because the generation is worthy of it, as it is the last generation, which stands at the threshold of complete redemption. And for this reason, it is worthy of beginning to hear the voice of Messiah’s Shofar, which is the revealing of the secrets, as has been explained.
Rav Yehuda Ashlag (Baal HaSulam), “Messiah’s Shofar”
I am glad that I have been born in such a generation when it is permitted to disclose the wisdom of truth. And should you ask, “How do I know that it is permitted?” I will reply that I have been given permission to disclose. Until now, the ways by which it is possible to publicly engage and to fully explain each word have not been revealed to any sage. …This is what the Creator has given me to the fullest extent. We deem it as dependent not on the greatness of the sage, but on the state of the generation, as our sages said, “Little Samuel was worthy, etc., but his generation was unworthy.” This is why I said that my being rewarded with the manner of disclosing the wisdom is because of my generation.
Rav Yehuda Ashlag (Baal HaSulam), “The Teaching of Kabbalah and Its Essence”
Since the whole of the wisdom of Kabbalah speaks of the revelation of the Creator, naturally, there is none more successful teaching for its task. This is what the Kabbalists aimed for—to arrange it so it is suitable for studying. And so they studied in it until the time of concealment (it was agreed to conceal it for a certain reason). However, this was only for a certain time, and not forever, as it is written in The Zohar, “This wisdom is destined to be revealed at the end of days, and even to children.”
Rav Yehuda Ashlag (Baal HaSulam), “The Teaching of the Kabbalah and Its Essence”
I have found it written that the above decree not to engage openly in the wisdom of truth was only for a time—until the end of the year, 1490. From then on it will be called “the last generation,” the sentence has been lifted, and permission has been given to engage in The Book of Zohar. And from the year, 1540, it is has become praiseworthy to engage in public, great and small, as it is said in “The Loyal Shepherd.” And since it is by virtue of this that the Messiah King will come, and not by another virtue, we must not be negligent.”
Rabbi Avraham Ben Mordechai Azulai, introduction to the book, Ohr ha Chama (Light of the Sun)
Rashbi and his generation, the authors of The Book of Zohar, were granted all 125 degrees in completeness, even though it was prior to the days of the Messiah. It was said about him and his disciples: “A sage is preferable to a prophet.” Hence, we often find in The Zohar that there will be none like the generation of Rashbi until the generation of the Messiah King. This is why his composition had such a great impact on the world, since the secrets of the Torah in it occupy the level of all 125 degrees.
Hence, it is said in The Zohar that The Book of Zohar will be revealed only at the End of Days, the days of the Messiah. This is so because we have already said that if the degrees of the students are not at the full measure of the degree of the author, they will not understand his intimations, since they do not have a common attainment.
And since the degree of the authors of The Zohar is at the full level of the 125 degrees, they cannot be attained prior to the days of the Messiah. It follows that there will be no common attainment with the authors of The Zohar in the generations preceding the days of the Messiah. Hence, The Zohar could not be revealed in the generations before the generation of the Messiah.
Rav Yehuda Ashlag (Baal HaSulam), “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar”
Trust and know, my brother, that the previous generations and the early days, those of the fifth millennium, are not as these generations and these days. In those days, the gates of wisdom were closed and locked. Hence, then Kabbalists were only a few.
This is not so in this sixth millennium, when the gates of Lights, the gates of Mercy have been opened, since it is near the end of days. Now it is a joy of Mitzva (good deed) and great contentment in the eyes of the Creator to make the glory of His Kingdom known forever. Especially now, the holy writings of the ARI Luria have been printed, which opened for us the gates of Light that have been sealed and locked by a thousand locks since days of old, and all his words are words of the living God, based on Prophet Elijah, by whose permission he revealed what he revealed. Thus, now there is no obstacle or peril before us, just as with the revealed.
Rabbi Pinchas Eliahu Ben-Meir, Sefer HaBrit [Book of the Covenant] Part 2, Essay no. 12, Chapter 5
And when it is near the days of the Messiah, even infants in the world are destined to find the secrets of the wisdom, and know in them the ends and the calculations of redemption, and at that time it will be revealed to all.
Rav Yehuda Ashlag (Baal HaSulam), The Sulam [Ladder] Commentary on The Book of Zohar, Portion Vayera, item 460