This book shall be called The Zohar [“The Radiance”]
because of the impact of that light
from the upper radiance.
The Ramak, Know the God of Your Father
The Zohar is a gift that humanity has received from the Creator through the great Kabbalist, Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai. Rabbi Shimon was a special soul. He combined within him all the souls that preceded him. This is why he succeeded in leading the group that authored The Zohar to such unprecedented and never-repeated attainment—the end of correction.
The authors of The Zohar lived at a special time, which incorporated two completely opposite points: the end of their correction, on the one hand, and the spiritual ruin of the entire people, on the other hand. This is the reason why they succeeded in connecting the great light, called “upper radiance,” with our world. We can learn about their greatness from the following words:
Happy are you in this world and in the next world. You are all holy; you are all sons of the Holy God. It is written about you, “One shall say, ‘I am the Lord's’; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob.” Each of you is tied and connected to the High and Holy King, and you are appointed ministers with a shield from that land, called “the land of the living,” the Nukva [female] that clothes upper Ima [mother], whose ministers eat from the MAN of the Holy dew.
Zohar for All, Lech Lecha [Go Forth], Item 445
The Book of Zohar, which they granted us, is the primary source that we have for the correction of the soul. Among all the holy scriptures ever written, beginning with the book, Angel Raziel, through the Bible and to the present day, there has not been a single book that compares to The Zohar in its spiritual power. All the Kabbalists wrote that there is a very powerful light in this book, a special “powerhouse,” and when they say that the Kabbalah is “the interior of the Torah” or “the true Torah,” they are referring first and foremost to The Book of Zohar.
One who reads in it, even without understanding a word of it but by simply wishing to know what the book says, will arouse an immense force that initiates internal changes within him. This is the reason why people who join Zohar lessons often feel that there is something very powerful about these lessons. They cannot always tell what it is, but something happens to them from within.
The authors of The Zohar have prepared for us a system of development. In our world, we see it as a book. But in truth, it is a complete system that they have prepared for us.
It is like a newborn baby. It doesn’t know that everything has already been prepared for it—diapers, a cradle, special food, and toys for each stage in its development. The world has worked and is working for it all the time. Every generation, we prepare more things for newborns; it is a compulsion of our love for them.
The work that the authors of The Zohar did was enormous. They did not compose a technical science book, but transferred all the upper light through each of them, as though through a special mechanism, and prepared it to be received within our souls.
If you look at The Book of Zohar, you will see only paper and letters. But our desire to grow unconsciously activates the spiritual mechanism they prepared for us, and the light reaches us through it. This is why we are so influenced by these writings.
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Why did the Kabbalists obligate each person to study the wisdom of Kabbalah? Indeed, there is a great thing within it, worthy of being publicized: There is a wonderful, invaluable remedy for those who engage in the wisdom of Kabbalah. Although they do not understand what they are learning, through the yearning and the great desire to understand what they are learning, they awaken upon themselves the Lights that surround their souls ... which bring one much closer to achieving perfection.
Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Item 155
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