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<h1 style="text-align:center;">How to Read the Zohar</h1>
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# Table of Contents
- [[#1 About the Course|1 About the Course]]
- [[#1 About the Course#1.1 Course Description and Links|1.1 Course Description and Links]]
- [[#1 About the Course#1.2 Course Objectives:|1.2 Course Objectives:]]
- [[#1 About the Course#1.3 Why Study Zohar? Ethical and Spiritual Considerations:|1.3 Why Study Zohar? Ethical and Spiritual Considerations:]]
- [[#1 About the Course#1.4 Preparing for Class|1.4 Preparing for Class]]
- [[#1 About the Course#1.5 *Hevruta* Learning|1.5 *Hevruta* Learning]]
- [[#1.5 *Hevruta* Learning#1.5.1 **What is Hevruta?**|1.5.1 **What is Hevruta?**]]
- [[#1.5 *Hevruta* Learning#1.5.2 Hevruta During our Class|1.5.2 Hevruta During our Class]]
- [[#2 Seder Limmud (Order of Study)|2 Seder Limmud (Order of Study)]]
- [[#2 Seder Limmud (Order of Study)#2.1 First Meeting: Oct. 19|2.1 First Meeting: Oct. 19]]
- [[#2 Seder Limmud (Order of Study)#2.2 Second Meeting: 26.10.25|2.2 Second Meeting: 26.10.25]]
- [[#3 Background on the Zohar|3 Background on the Zohar]]
- [[#3 Background on the Zohar#3.1 What is the Zohar?|3.1 What is the Zohar?]]
- [[#3 Background on the Zohar#3.2 The Symbolism of the Zohar|3.2 The Symbolism of the Zohar]]
- [[#3.2 The Symbolism of the Zohar#3.2.1 Nothing|3.2.1 Nothing]]
- [[#3.2 The Symbolism of the Zohar#3.2.2 The Sefirot|3.2.2 The Sefirot]]
- [[#3.2 The Symbolism of the Zohar#3.2.3 Dividing the Sefirot into Four Layers of Symbolism|3.2.3 Dividing the Sefirot into Four Layers of Symbolism]]
- [[#3.2 The Symbolism of the Zohar#3.2.4 The Sefirot as a Map of our Ultimate Concern|3.2.4 The Sefirot as a Map of our Ultimate Concern]]
- [[#3.2.4 The Sefirot as a Map of our Ultimate Concern#3.2.4.1 God: A One Page Summary|3.2.4.1 God: A One Page Summary]]
- [[#3.2.4 The Sefirot as a Map of our Ultimate Concern#3.2.4.2 The Dynamics of Faith by Paul Tillich (Chapter One, Kindle Version)|3.2.4.2 The Dynamics of Faith by Paul Tillich (Chapter One, Kindle Version)]]
- [[#3.2.4 The Sefirot as a Map of our Ultimate Concern#3.2.4.3 The Tapestry of Value|3.2.4.3 The Tapestry of Value]]
- [[#3 Background on the Zohar#3.3 The Zohar as a Language of Mystical Experience|3.3 The Zohar as a Language of Mystical Experience]]
- [[#3 Background on the Zohar#3.4 Practices involved with the Zohar as a Language of Mystical Experience|3.4 Practices involved with the Zohar as a Language of Mystical Experience]]
- [[#4 The Zohar on The Thirteen Petalled Rose|4 The Zohar on The Thirteen Petalled Rose]]
- [[#4 The Zohar on The Thirteen Petalled Rose#4.1 The Text of the Zohar 1:1|4.1 The Text of the Zohar 1:1]]
- [[#4 The Zohar on The Thirteen Petalled Rose#4.2 Daniel Matt's Commentary in the Pritzker Zohar (with rabbinic sources and other additions)|4.2 Daniel Matt's Commentary in the Pritzker Zohar (with rabbinic sources and other additions)]]
- [[#4.2 Daniel Matt's Commentary in the Pritzker Zohar (with rabbinic sources and other additions)#4.2.1 Symbols Maps for the Rose|4.2.1 Symbols Maps for the Rose]]
- [[#4 The Zohar on The Thirteen Petalled Rose#4.3 Elements of the Zohar: *Breshit* - In the Beginning|4.3 Elements of the Zohar: *Breshit* - In the Beginning]]
- [[#4.3 Elements of the Zohar: *Breshit* - In the Beginning#4.3.1 Breshit 1: 1-3|4.3.1 Breshit 1: 1-3]]
- [[#4.3 Elements of the Zohar: *Breshit* - In the Beginning#4.3.2 Getting inside the Word of Creation - Textual Spiritual Practices|4.3.2 Getting inside the Word of Creation - Textual Spiritual Practices]]
- [[#4.3 Elements of the Zohar: *Breshit* - In the Beginning#4.3.3 Selections from the Jewish Study Bible on *Breshit* (Jon D. Levenson).|4.3.3 Selections from the Jewish Study Bible on *Breshit* (Jon D. Levenson).]]
- [[#4.3 Elements of the Zohar: *Breshit* - In the Beginning#4.3.4 Selections from Robert Alter's Translation and Commentary|4.3.4 Selections from Robert Alter's Translation and Commentary]]
- [[#4 The Zohar on The Thirteen Petalled Rose#4.4 Elements of the Zohar: The Song of Songs|4.4 Elements of the Zohar: The Song of Songs]]
- [[#4.4 Elements of the Zohar: The Song of Songs#4.4.1 The Song of Songs 1:1-3|4.4.1 The Song of Songs 1:1-3]]
- [[#4.4 Elements of the Zohar: The Song of Songs#4.4.2 The Jewish Study Bible on the Song of Songs (Elsie Stern)|4.4.2 The Jewish Study Bible on the Song of Songs (Elsie Stern)]]
- [[#4.4 Elements of the Zohar: The Song of Songs#4.4.3 Rashi on the Song of Songs|4.4.3 Rashi on the Song of Songs]]
- [[#4.4 Elements of the Zohar: The Song of Songs#4.4.4 Practices Involving the text of the Song of Songs|4.4.4 Practices Involving the text of the Song of Songs]]
- [[#5 The Zohar on the Blossoms of Creation and Love|5 The Zohar on the Blossoms of Creation and Love]]
- [[#5 The Zohar on the Blossoms of Creation and Love#5.1 Text of the Zohar|5.1 Text of the Zohar]]
- [[#5 The Zohar on the Blossoms of Creation and Love#5.2 Elements of the Zohar: *Breshit*|5.2 Elements of the Zohar: *Breshit*]]
- [[#5 The Zohar on the Blossoms of Creation and Love#5.3 Elements of the Zohar: The Song of Songs|5.3 Elements of the Zohar: The Song of Songs]]
## 1 About the Course
### 1.1 Course Description and Links
The Zohar is a Jewish _grimoire_, a spell book. Its pages contain strings of letter combinations imbued with powers. Depending on how you parse and activate the combinations, the letters will evoke images, tell stories, teach theology, unlock the divine energies in biblical verses, reveal the inner workings of your soul or become mind-altering physical vibrations in your body as you chant them. But like any _grimoire_, the powers are only unlocked if you know how to use it.
In this course, we will learn how to access the Zohar. We will create an anchor of understanding for ourselves in the text by engaging in a close reading of the very beginning of the Zohar. There, we will carefully explore the Zohar's raw materials: biblical verses and kabbalistic symbols. We will taste them with our minds and mouths, until we can get inside the process the Zohar uses to fashion the verses and symbols into vehicles for connection with the divine.
The course is open to students of all levels. We will study all texts in the original and in English translation. An important goal of the course is to enable you to explore the Zohar on your own using the English translation and commentary of the Pritzker Edition of the Zohar by Daniel Matt.
All materials, including the Zohar translations, will be provided to you during the course. For those interested in making a significant investment in your Zohar practice, Shaiya recommends picking up a copy of the Pritzker Zohar Volume 1 in a digital or printed format. We know the Pritzker Zohar is prohibitively expensive, so we do not require or expect anyone to get their own copy. If you'd like to get your own copy anyway but the price looks steep, reach out to Shaiya; he may be able to help you get a cheaper option.
- Feel free to contact me with comments or questions at
[email protected]
- Link to this Document: https://tinyurl.com/Read-the-Zohar
- Link to PDF Version (The PDF version will be updated as this coursebook grows during our studies):https://tinyurl.com/Read-the-Zohar-PDF
### 1.2 Course Objectives:
1. Learning to connect with *elohut* (divinity) through the power of the Zohar.
2. Learning to understand the Zohar: How to read the text, how to understand its symbolism and how it fits into Jewish intertextuality.
3. Learning to approach the texts from which the Zohar is woven as themselves constituting connecting points to the divine, such as the opening verses of *Breshit* (Genesis) and the Song of Songs.
4. Learning spiritual practices to access the Zohar and the texts from which it is woven, such as chanting, meditating on letters (including their sounds, shapes and numerical values), breath work, guided imagination and various methods originating in Rabbi Avraham Abulafia's school of prophetic Kabbalah.
### 1.3 Why Study Zohar? Ethical and Spiritual Considerations:
- The Zohar is the foundational text of Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism). It is a powerful tool for connecting to the divine through Jewish tradition.
- Understanding the Zohar involves entering alternative states of consciousness in connection with ancient and potent materials such as texts, sounds and the breath.
- Judaism through the prism of the Zohar is a radical personal and spiritual endeavor. It is about transforming the self and the world.
- The Zohar, like almost all traditional Jewish texts (as well as those of other religious traditions), contains elements which are racist, chauvinistic, homophobic and religiously intolerant. In order to make sure that the power of the Zohar is wielded for good, and not for evil, we as its students and devotees must take full moral responsibility for how we navigate these elements.
### 1.4 Preparing for Class
Start by locating the material for the next class. The classes are listed by date in the section below entitled *Seder Limmud* (Order of Study). If you like, you can learn the materials before class, but its not necessary. If you weren't in the classes before the one you're joining, it is a good idea to familiarize yourself with the materials from the previous classes. Each class will consist of *hevruta* learning, discussion and spiritual practices involving the texts. You'll decide when you want to participate and when you just want to observe.
### 1.5 *Hevruta* Learning
#### 1.5.1 **What is Hevruta?**
> *by Liana Wertman*
> *based on The Hevruta Triangle in A Philosophy of Havruta by Elie Holzer and Orit Kent*
>
> **Hevruta (khev-ROOT-ah) \- חברותא**
> From the Hebrew root hever, חבר (khev-err) which means friend/partner/pal. Traditional form of text study where you learn as a team of two rather than on your own.
>
> ![[Pasted image 20250926103909.png]]
>
> There are always **3 partners** in any hevruta pair\! And you have a responsibility to each.
>
> 1. **The Text** \- read it carefully, make sure you and your partner understand, let it have it’s own voice, use text to ground your points.
> 2. **Your Partner \-** listen carefully, make sure you understand what they’re saying, support their ideas, challenge kindly, help them develop their ideas.
> 3. **Yourself** \- challenge yourself, believe in your ideas, think through new ideas, learn from your partner, be open to the text, take risks. >
#### 1.5.2 Hevruta During our Class
In our meetings, we will break for *hevruta* study. Each time, I will specify which elements of the coursebook are meant for study in *hevruta*.
Its great to begin your *hevruta* with a bit of schmoozing (free-form personal chatting). Getting to know each other, to share your different perspectives with each other, is what has made Jewish *hevruta* learning such a powerful traditional practice.
Once you're introduced and relaxed, make sure you know what texts you're meant to study. There will always be instructions and guiding questions for *hevruta*. If you're not sure at any stage what's going on exactly, ask me!
[[#Table of Contents]]
## 2 Seder Limmud (Order of Study)
Each meeting will involve class and discussion, text learning in *hevruta* and spiritual practices. This section, *Seder Limmud* - Order of Study, will give an overview of what exactly we will study in each class with links to the relevant part of the coursebook. It is easiest to navigate the coursebook on a PC, because an outline appears on the right. It is also possible to use a phone or tablet using the [[#Table of Contents]] that appears at the head of the document. We won't be able to cover all of the material in section [[#3 Background on the Zohar]] in class. You are highly encouraged to read it on your own!
### 2.1 First Meeting: Oct. 19
In our first class, after we get to know each other a bit, I'll give you some background on the Zohar and we will begin to enter the dimension of the Zohar. We will start by learning a foundational meditation to which we will return in future classes. This meditation lays out the Zohar and its elements in space, as a kind of spacial-textual map. It also utilizes the divine name, and breath, in order to access the state of consciousness appropriate for the Zoharic dimension. **[Important Note: If you don't want to violate the prohibition of pronouncing the divine name, be careful not to pronounce all three letters (Yod, Heh and Vav) at once: When you pronounce a letter, do it with one full exhalation, then stop, inhale, and pronounce the next letter with another full exhalation.]**
![[Foundational Meditation.excalidraw.png]]
The elements of the meditation above are also the textual elements that we will study. Let's find them together in the coursebook. The coursebook is designed as an in-depth exploration of each element.
The first element is the text of the Zohar itself. You will find it here: [[#4.1 The Text of the Zohar 1 1]].
The second element is the opening of *Breshit* (Genesis). You can find it here: [[#4.3.1 Breshit 1 1-3]]
The third element is the Song of Songs. You can find it here: [[#4.4.1 The Song of Songs 1 1-3]]
> [!NOTE] *Hevruta*
> In our *Hevruta* study for today's class, we will review the elements above and start to touch on the symbolism of the sefirot.
> - First thing, get to know each other a bit!
> - Then, check out the three elements we talked about in class. Take a look at the chart of the meditation above and find each element. The links to each element appear immediately above this section. Where are the texts from? Read them out loud.
> - Discuss the elements: What do you know about these texts? What associations do you have with them? What questions do you have about them?
> - Finally, take your first plunge into Kabbalistic symbolism by reading paragraphs 20 and 21 in the section on Kabbalistic symbolism in the Background to the Zohar. Here is a link: [[#3.2.2 The Sefirot]]. (It is a long section. For now, you only need to read paragraphs 20 and 21).
> - In class, we will discuss what came up in hevruta :)
### 2.2 Second Meeting: 26.10.25
In our second meeting, we will dive deeper into the Zohar. We'll start off by reading the Zohar together through the end of the first section (lines 1-7). Then, we'll break for Hevruta, and review the text. Finally, after Hevruta, we will come back to discuss what we've learned, and also to meditate on the different elements as we did in the previous class.
> [!NOTE] Hevruta
> In the Hevruta section for today's class, we will review the text that we learned together in the beginning of class.
> You will find the text here: [[#4.1 The Text of the Zohar 1 1]]. Study lines 1-7, together with the commentary that appears directly under the text.
When we come back from Hevruta, we will revisit our meditation on the Zohar and its elements:
![[Foundational Meditation.excalidraw.png]]
## 3 Background on the Zohar
### 3.1 What is the Zohar?
*Selections from Arthur Green's Introduction to the Zohar in the Pritzker Edition Vol. 1*
![[Selections from Arthur Green's Introduction to the Zohar]]
### 3.2 The Symbolism of the Zohar
![[Sefirot Matt Plus YHVH.png|100%]]
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#### 3.2.1 Nothing
*Selections from Gershom Scholem's **Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism***
![[Scholem on Mystical Nothing]]
#### 3.2.2 The Sefirot
*Selections from Arthur Green's Introduction to the Pritzker Zohar*
![[Selections from Green on Sefirotic Symbolism]]
#### 3.2.3 Dividing the Sefirot into Four Layers of Symbolism
![[Sefirot - All Layers.png]]
![[Sefirot - God.png]]
![[Sefirot - Mind.png]]
![[Sefirot - World.png]]
![[Sefirot - Torah and Mitsvot.png]]
#### 3.2.4 The Sefirot as a Map of our Ultimate Concern
![[ADAM Y-H-V-H Graphic.png]]
*Note: For our purposes, synonyms for **ultimate concern** are ultimate value, the meaning of life, what's important, the purpose of existence and any similar such phrase.*
##### 3.2.4.1 God: A One Page Summary
by Shaiya Rothberg
###### Rational Talk about God
“God” is a word used by religious people to refer to that which they regard as most important; what they strive to serve and worship. What is *most important* for human beings always involves everything that they are, including emotion, imagination, identity and rationality. When people want to express rational content, they use linear-rational language like the sentences that you are reading now. But such language cannot capture emotion, imagination and identity. These move in symbols, images and stories and not in rational talk. Therefore, such talk cannot capture what God means for people who serve and worship God. Rational talk about God is like rational talk about love: It sheds linear-rational light on a phenomenon which is only very partially linear and rational. But partial doesn’t have to mean unclear. This page on God is about seeking linear-rational clarity in regard to a phenomenon which is only very partially linear and rational. Here it goes...
###### Worthy of Service
I encounter things in the world that I know are worthy of my service. Examples of such things are love and justice. I serve love and justice by trying to cultivate them. If I did not encounter anything worthy of my service, I would not believe in God. Since I *do* encounter things worthy of my service, I know that God exists. That’s because I define the set of all things worthy of my service as “God”. This is the first meaning of the term “God” in my vocabulary. Since I have direct knowledge of this aspect of God, I call it *revealed divinity* (אלוהות גלויה). This term is borrowed from Rav Kook.
###### Worthy of Worship
There are many things worthy of my service. Examples other than love and justice are beauty, knowledge, spirit, art, pleasure, creativity and identity. In my experience of these things, I am aware that they are not fully revealed. I can clearly see that beyond the love and justice that I know, for example, there are higher forms of love and justice that I can’t quite grasp. This is like looking into deep clear water: you can *see* that the water is deeper than what you can see. These higher transcendent aspects of the things that I serve are mysterious and intriguing. I try to cleave to them, so as to better understand and internalize them, by meditating on symbols that direct my mind in their direction.
This attempt to cleave through meditation to that which transcends me is what I call *worship*. And I call the higher, mysterious and intriguing side of things that I worship *higher divinity* (אלוהות עליונה). This term is also borrowed from Rav Kook. Since I encounter *revealed* and *higher divinity*, I believe that they exist.
###### The One
It seems to me that both mysticism and science teach that the universe is one interconnected complex whole. All things are connected in ways that I can see and in ways that I cannot see. And all the things that I know are but partial faces of what’s really there. And so I think of myself, and all the phenomena around me, not as simple discrete units but as partial faces of the One; the interconnected totality of all things. The One contains and transcends all things, powers and meanings. It is the One that reveals to me the things I know are worthy of service and worship (because all things are revelations of the One). In my vocabulary, the One is God.
If you combine the *One*, *revealed divinity* and *higher divinity*, you get what I mean by God.
##### 3.2.4.2 The Dynamics of Faith by Paul Tillich (Chapter One, Kindle Version)
> 1\. FAITH AS ULTIMATE CONCERN Faith is the state of being ultimately concerned: the dynamics of faith are the dynamics of man’s ultimate concern. Man, like every living being, is concerned about many things, above all about those which condition his very existence, such as food and shelter. But man, in contrast to other living beings, has spiritual concerns—cognitive, aesthetic, social, political. Some of them are urgent, often extremely urgent, and each of them as well as the vital concerns can claim ultimacy for a human life or the life of a social group. If it claims ultimacy it demands the total surrender of him who accepts this claim, and it promises total fulfillment even if all other claims have to be subjected to it or rejected in its name. If a national group makes the life and growth of the nation its ultimate concern, it demands that all other concerns, economic well-being, health and life, family, aesthetic and cognitive truth, justice and humanity, be sacrificed. The extreme nationalisms of our century are laboratories for the study of what ultimate concern means in all aspects of human existence, including the smallest concern of one’s daily life. Everything is centered in the only god, the nation—a god who certainly proves to be a demon, but who shows clearly the unconditional character of an ultimate concern.
>
> But it is not the unconditional demand made by that which is one’s ultimate concern, it is also the promise of ultimate fulfillment which is accepted in the act of faith. The content of this promise is not necessarily defined. It can be expressed in indefinite symbols or in concrete symbols which cannot be taken literally, like the “greatness” of one’s nation in which one participates even if one has died for it, or the conquest of mankind by the “saving race,” etc. In each of these cases it is “ultimate fulfillment” that is promised, and it is exclusion from such fulfillment which is threatened if the unconditional demand is not obeyed.
>
> An example—and more than an example—is the faith manifest in the religion of the Old Testament. It also has the character of ultimate concern in demand, threat and promise. The content of this concern is not the nation—although Jewish nationalism has sometimes tried to distort it into that—but the content is the God of justice, who, because he represents justice for everybody and every nation, is called the universal God, the God of the universe. He is the ultimate concern of every pious Jew, and therefore in his name the great commandment is given: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might” (Deut. 6:5). This is what ultimate concern means and from these words the term “ultimate concern” is derived. They state unambiguously the character of genuine faith, the demand of total surrender to the subject of ultimate concern. The Old Testament is full of commands which make the nature of this surrender concrete, and it is full of promises and threats in relation to it. Here also are the promises of symbolic indefiniteness, although they center around fulfillment of the national and individual life, and the threat is the exclusion from such fulfillment through national extinction and individual catastrophe. Faith, for the men of the Old Testament, is the state of being ultimately and unconditionally concerned about Jahweh and about what he represents in demand, threat and promise.
>
> Another example—almost a counter-example, yet nevertheless quality revealing—is the ultimate concern with “success” and with social standing and economic power. It is the god of many people in the highly competitive Western culture and it does what every ultimate concern must do: it demands unconditional surrender to its laws even if the price is the sacrifice of genuine human relations, personal conviction, and creative eros. Its threat is social and economic defeat, and its promise—indefinite as all such promises—the fulfillment of one’s being. It is the breakdown of this kind of faith which characterizes and makes religiously important most contemporary literature. Not false calculations but a misplaced faith is revealed in novels like Point of No Return. When fulfilled, the promise of this faith proves to be empty. Faith is the state of being ultimately concerned. The content matters infinitely for the life of the believer, but it does not matter for the formal definition of faith. And this is the first step we have to make in order to understand the dynamics of faith.
*Study Questions: One way to think about the Sefirot is as a symbolic map of our true ultimate concern / ultimate value / the meaning and purpose of human life.*
*Think for a moment about some of the common names of the sefirot: Will, Wisdom, Love, Justice, Beauty and Compassion. When laid out on a page, the sefirot are often arranged in the shape of a human being.*
*In light of these points, can you already see in an intuitive way how the sefirot might be understood as a map of ultimate value? What would the map need to include in order to be a map of **your** ultimate values? Jot down a few examples.*
##### 3.2.4.3 The Tapestry of Value
*This is a way I have often imagined the emergence of the sefirot as a map of our ultimate concern*
I imagine the light of divinity emerging like this: first, there was nothing. And then everything that wasn't (\!) became a tiny point of…maybe light. And that point exploded into the planets and the stars and their constellations. And on at least one planet, physics gave birth to biology, and biology (through evolution) gave birth to the human mind.
Inside the mind, as I know it from the inside, there is also a vast university, but of subjectivity, rather than material objects. And in that universe some things shine with goodness. I can imagine all that shining swirling value, rich in deep colors and powerful emotions, pulsating with ideas and faces and holy stories, human shapes, voices and sounds; it is a great tapestry stretching out before and around me; a tapestry composed of the patterns of ultimate value, illuminating my life and the world. It is composed of all the things that I know to be good.
Imagine the tapestry as a great work of art: it is a colossal mural and on it are painted all the experiences of divinity that you know now, or can remember or imagine. Each and every one is embedded in some instance of your life; they were always in reference to somebody or something or some place. Now, these moments of felt divinity are artistically rendered into shapes, patterns, lines and colors on the mural, which shines and grows dark, adding light and shadow to its tools of expression. The art expresses meanings and relationships by grouping pictures and symbols, and through use of color and contrast. There are portraits and manifestos, signs and words; streams of justice, love and reason; stories mapped out like hieroglyphics. Each instance of value is interconnected with all the others. And the tapestry isn't static: its contents and spirit are in motion, capturing one aspect of the whole, and then another. It's like the moving hieroglyphics that Moses finds in Pharoh's basement in the Prince Of Egypt. The tapestry is evolving as you contemplate it, alive, interactive and dynamic.
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### 3.3 The Zohar as a Language of Mystical Experience
*Selections from Melila Hellner-Eshed's - A River Flows from Eden - On the Zohar as a Language of Mystical Experience*
![[Melila on the Zohar as a Language of Mystical Experience - Abbr]]
### 3.4 Practices involved with the Zohar as a Language of Mystical Experience
In the above section, Melila Hellner-Eshed discusses what it means to approach the Zohar as a language of mystical experience. We will adopt this approach to the Zohar in our class, and also apply it to the sacred texts from which the Zohar is woven. This involves interacting with the text in atypical ways from a Western secular perspective. We will chant the text out loud, focus on its sounds and shapes, consider the roots from which the words are constructed, visualize its images and symbols, and pay close attention to the impact of all of these on our states of mind and being. In this context, we will also make use of meditative practices taught by Rabbi Abraham Abulafia. As we progress through the various materials in this course book, pay particular attention to these dimensions of our study.
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## 4 The Zohar on The Thirteen Petalled Rose
![[www.peggyturchette.com.jpg]]
*Illustration by Peggy Turchette*
### 4.1 The Text of the Zohar 1:1
<div class="hebrew" div style="font-weight: bold;">
ספר הזוהר א:א
<p>
(1) רבִּי חִזְקִיָּה פָּתַח, כְּתִיב, (שיר השירים ב׳:ב׳) כְּשׁוֹשַׁנָּה בֵּין הַחוֹחִים כֵּ֥ן רַעְיָתִ֖י בֵּ֥ין הַבָּנֽוֹת. (2) מָאן שׁוֹשַׁנָּה? (3) דָּא כְּנֶסֶת יִשְׂרָאֵל. (4) בגין דאית שושנה ואית שושנה, (5) מַה שּׁוֹשַׁנָּה דְּאִיהִי בֵּין הַחוֹחִים אִית בַּהּ סוּמָק וְחִוָּר, אוּף כְּנֶסֶת יִשְׂרָאֵל אִית בַּהּ דִּין וְרַחֲמֵי; (6) מַה שּׁוֹשַׁנָּה אִית בַּהּ תְּלֵיסַר עָלִין, אוּף כְּנֶסֶת יִשְׂרָאֵל אִית בַּהּ תְּלֵיסַר מְכִילָן דְּרַחֲמֵי דְּסַחֲרִין לַהּ מִכָּל סִטְרָהָא. (7) אוּף אֱלהִים דְּהָכָא מִשַׁעְתָּא דְּאִדְכַּר אַפִּיק תְּלֵיסַר תֵּיבִין לְסַחֲרָא לִכְנְסֶת יִשְׂרָאֵל וּלְנַטְרָא לַהּ.
<p>
(8) וּלְבָתַר אִדְכַּר זִמְנָא אָחֳרָא. (9) אַמַּאי אִדְכַּר זִמְנָא אָחֳרָא? (10) בְּגִין לְאַפְקָא חָמֵשׁ עָלִין תַּקִּיפִין דְּסַחֲרִין לְשּׁוֹשַׁנָּה. (11) וְאִנּוּן חָמֵשׁ אִקְרוּן יְשׁוּעוֹת. (12) וְאִנּוּן חָמֵשׁ תַּרְעִין. (13) וְעַל רָזָא דָא כְּתִיב (תהילים קט״ז:י״ג) כּוֹס יְשׁוּעוֹת אֶשָּׂא דָּא כּוֹס שֶׁל בְּרָכָה. (14) כּוֹס שֶׁל בְּרָכָה אִצְטְרִיךְ לְמֶהֱוֵי עַל חָמֵשׁ אֶצְבְּעָן וְלָא יַתִּיר. (15) כְּגַוְונָא דְּשׁוֹשַׁנָּה דְּיָתְבָא עַל חָמֵשׁ עָלִין תַּקִּיפִין דּוּגְמָא דְחָמֵשׁ אֶצְבְּעָן. (16) וְשׁוֹשַׁנָּה דָא אִיהִי כּוֹס שֶׁל בְּרָכָה. (17) מֵאֱלהִים תִּנְיָנָא עַד אֱלהִים תְּלִיתָאָה חָמֵשׁ תֵּיבִין.
<p>
(18) מִכָּאן וּלְהָלְאָה, אוֹר! (19) דְּאִתְבְּרֵי וְאִתְגְּנִיז וְאִתְכְּלִיל בְּבְּרִית (20) הַהוּא דְּעָאל בְּשּׁוֹשַׁנָּה וְאַפִּיק בַּהּ זַרְעָא. (21) וְדָא אִקְרֵי עֵץ עוֹשֶׂה פְּרִי אֲשֶׁר זַרְעוֹ בוֹ. (22) וְהַהוּא זֶרַע קַיָּימָא בְּאוֹת בְּרִית מַמָּשׁ.
<p>
(23) וּכְמָה דְדִיּוּקְּנָא דִבְרִית אִזְדְּרַע בְּאַרְבְּעִין וּתְרֵין זִוּוּגִין הַהוּא זַרְעָא, כָּךְ אִזְדְּרַע שְׁמָא גְלִיפָא מְפָרַשׁ בְּאַרְבְּעִין וּתְרֵין אַתְוָן דְּעוֹבָדָא דִּבְרֵאשִׁית.</div>
**Sefer Hazohar 1:1** (*Translation by Daniel Matt with emendations*)
**(1) Rabbi Ḥizkiyah opened, “*Like a rose* *among thorns, so is my beloved among the maidens* (Song of Songs 2:2). [n1]
(2) Who is *a rose*?
(3) The Assembly of Israel. [n2]
(4) For there is a rose, and then there is a rose!
(5) Just as a rose among thorns is colored red and white, [n3] so the Assembly of Israel includes judgment and compassion.
(6) Just as a rose has thirteen petals, so the Assembly of Israel has thirteen qualities of compassion surrounding Her on every side. [n4]
(7) Similarly, from the moment אלהים (*Elohim*), *God*, is mentioned, it generates thirteen words to surround the Assembly of Israel and protect Her;**
**(8) Then it is mentioned again. [n5]
(9) Why again?
(10) To produce five sturdy leaves surrounding the rose.[n6]
(11) These five are called Salvation; [n7]
(12) they are five gates. [n8]
(13) Concerning this mystery it is written: *I raise the cup of salvation* (Psalms 116:13).
(14) This is the cup of blessing, which should rest on five fingers— and no more [n9]
(15) —like the rose, sitting on five sturdy leaves, paradigm of five fingers.
(16) This rose is the cup of blessing.
(17) “From the second אלהים (*Elohim*) till the third, five words appear.**
**(18) From here on: Light!
(19) —created, concealed, contained in the covenant, [n10]
(20) entering the rose, emitting seed into Her.
(21) This is the *tree bearing fruit with its seed in it* (Genesis 1:12).[n11]
(22) That seed endures in the actual sign of covenant.**
**(23) Just as the image of the covenant is sown in forty-two couplings of that seed, so the engraved, explicit name [n12] is sown in forty-two letters of the act of Creation.” [n13]**
[[#Table of Contents]]
### 4.2 Daniel Matt's Commentary in the Pritzker Zohar (with rabbinic sources and other additions)
[1\.] ***rose*** שושנה (*Shoshanah*) probably means “lily” or “lotus” in Song of Songs, but here Rabbi Ḥizkiyah has in mind a rose.
See *Vayiqra Rabbah* 23:3; *Shir ha-Shirim Rabbah* on 2:2; *Zohar* 1:137a, 221a; 2:20a (*MhN*), 189b; 3:107a, 180b, 233b, 286b; Ezra of Gerona, *Peirush Shir ha-Shirim*, 489 (lily); Joseph ibn Akhnin, *Peirush Shir ha-Shirim*, 63–65 (rose); Moses de León, *Sefer ha-Rimmon*, 183–84; *Zohorei Ya’bets*.
A Ladino translation of the verse (*The Ladino Five Scrolls*, ed. Lazar, 4–5) reads: “Commo la roza entre los espinos, ansi mi conpañera entre las dueñas.”
[2\.] **Assembly of Israel** ישראל כנסת (*Keneset Yisra’el*). In rabbinic Hebrew, this phrase denotes the people of Israel. The midrash on the Song of Songs describes an allegorical love affair between the maiden (the earthly community of Israel) and her lover (the Holy One, blessed be He). See *Shir ha-Shirim Rabbah* on 2:1. In the *Zohar, Keneset Yisra’el* can refer to the earthly community but also (often primarily) to *Shekhinah*, the divine feminine counterpart of the people, the aspect of God most intimately connected with them. The lovers in the Song of Songs are pictured as the divine couple: *Tif’eret* and *Shekhinah*.
[3\.] **colored red and white** As is *Rosa gallica versicolor* (also known as *Rosa mundi*), one of the oldest of the striped roses, whose flowers are crimson splashed on a white background. The striping varies and occasionally flowers revert to the solid pink of their parent, *Rosa gallica*. The parent was introduced to Europe in the twelfth or thirteenth century by Crusaders returning from Palestine. Both parent and sport were famous for their aromatic and medicinal qualities. Elsewhere (2:20a–b) the *Zohar* alludes to the process of distilling oil from the petals of the flower to produce rose water, a popular remedy. During this process the color gradually changes from red to white.
[4\.] **thirteen petals... thirteen qualities of compassion...** A rose blossom can have thirteen petals in its second tier. In rabbinic tradition, God’s thirteen attributes of compassion are derived from Exodus 34:6–7. See BT *Rosh ha-Shanah* 17b. According to Kabbalah, these qualities originate in *Keter*, the highest *sefirah*, the realm of total compassion untainted by judgment.
[5\.] ***Elohim* אלהים, God**, is mentioned...The divine name אלהים (*Elohim*), *God*, refers here to *Binah*, the Divine Mother. Between its first and second occurrences in the opening verses of Genesis there are thirteen words, which allude to the thirteen qualities of compassion originating in *Keter*, emanating from *Binah* and surrounding the rose of *Shekhinah*.
[6\.] **five sturdy leaves...** The leaves of rose plants grow in clusters of five, nine, or thirteen leaves. And between the second and third occurrences of אלהים (*Elohim*) in Genesis are five words, alluding to five divine leaves: the five *sefirot* emanating from *Binah* and transmitting the flow to *Shekhinah*. These *sefirot* are *Ḥesed, Gevurah, Tif’eret* (including *Yesod*), *Netsaḥ*, and *Hod*.
[7\.] **Salvation** The flow of emanation saves the rose of *Shekhinah* from the demonic thorns surrounding Her.
[8\.] **five gates** By which one enters the divine realm.
[9\.] **cup of blessing... on five fingers...** According to the Talmud, the cup of wine is held in the right hand during the blessing after food. See BT *Berakhot* 51a: “One takes it with both hands and places it on the right hand.” Cf. *Zohar* 1:156a (*ST*), 250a; 2:138b, 143b, 157b.
[10\.] **light—created, concealed...** See BT *Ḥagigah* 12a: “Rabbi El’azar said, ‘With the light created by the blessed Holy One on the first day, one could gaze and see from one end of the universe to the other. When the blessed Holy One foresaw the corrupt deeds of the generation of the Flood and the generation of the Dispersion \[the generation of the Tower of Babel\], He immediately hid it from them, as is written: *The light of the wicked is withheld* (Job 38:15). For whom did He hide it? For the righteous in the time to come.’”
Elsewhere, the Midrash links the hidden light with Psalms 97:11: *Light is sown for the righteous*. See *Tanḥuma, Shemini* 9; *Shemot Rabbah* 35:1; *Midrash Tehillim* 27:1.
Rabbi Ḥizkiyah now specifies *where* the primordial light was concealed: in the covenant, which is a name for the *sefirah* of *Yesod*—the divine phallus, site of the covenant of circumcision. *Yesod* is also known as Righteous. See *Zohar* 1:21a, 31b–32a, 45b; 2:35a, 148b–149a; 166b–167a, 230a.
[11\.] ***tree bearing fruit...*** The tree symbolizes male divinity.
[12\.] **explicit name** The Ineffable Name, *YHVH*. See *Devarim Rabbah* 3:8; *Midrash Tehillim* 114:9; *Zohar* 2:48a.
[13\.] **forty-two couplings... forty-two letters of the act of Creation** The forty-two-letter name is mentioned in the name of Rav, though not recorded, in BT *Qiddushin* 71a. According to one later view, it consists of the first forty-two letters of the Torah, from the ב (bet) of בראשית (*Be-reshit*) through the ב (*bet*) of בהו (*bohu*), *void* (Genesis 1:2).
See *Tosafot, Ḥagigah* 11b, s.v. *ein doreshin; KP* 1:46c–d; Trachtenberg, *Jewish Magic and Superstition*, 94–95; cf. Maimonides, *Guide of the Perplexed*, 1:62. Cordovero (*OY*) describes how the name *YHVH* (“the engraved, explicit name”) can be permuted into a forty-two-letter name; cf. *Zohar* 2:260a. In *Zohar* 1:9a, Moses’ staff is described as “radiating the engraved name in every direction with the radiance of the wise who engraved the explicit name in forty-two colors.” Cf. *Zohar* 1:15b, 30a; 2:130b, and 175b: “... the forty-two holy letters of the holy name, by which heaven and earth were created.”
#### 4.2.1 Symbols Maps for the Rose
![[Sefirotic Map of Rose.png]]
![[Correlations Chart for the Rose.png]]
![[Rose with Psukim.png]]
[[#Table of Contents]]
<div style="break-before: page;"></div>
### 4.3 Elements of the Zohar: *Breshit* - In the Beginning
*We will begin our exploration of the Zohar with the very first page. The spell on this page is woven from a number of elements. The first element is the opening text of creation - breshit.*
#### 4.3.1 Breshit 1: 1-3
<p dir="rtl" style="line-height: 1.3;" align="center"><span lang="he-IL" style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: David;">בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית בָּרָ֣א אֱלֹהִ֑ים <br>אֵ֥ת הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם וְאֵ֥ת הָאָֽרֶץ׃ </span></strong></span><br><span lang="he-IL" style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: David;">וְהָאָ֗רֶץ הָיְתָ֥ה תֹ֙הוּ֙ וָבֹ֔הוּ </span></strong></span><br><span lang="he-IL" style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: David;">וְחֹ֖שֶׁךְ עַל־פְּנֵ֣י תְה֑וֹם </span></strong></span><br><span lang="he-IL" style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: David;">וְר֣וּחַ אֱלֹהִ֔ים מְרַחֶ֖פֶת עַל־פְּנֵ֥י הַמָּֽיִם׃ </span></strong></span><br><span lang="he-IL" style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: David;">וַיֹּ֥אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֖ים יְהִ֣י א֑וֹר </span></strong></span><br><span lang="he-IL" style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span style="font-family: David;">וַֽיְהִי־אֽוֹר׃</span></strong></span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3.5;" align="center"><span style="font-family: David;"><span lang="en-IL">When God began to create heaven and earth—</span></span><br><span style="font-family: David;"><span lang="en-IL">the earth being unformed and void,</span></span><br><span style="font-family: David;"><span lang="en-IL">with darkness over the surface of the deep</span></span><br><span style="font-family: David;"><span lang="en-IL">and a wind from God sweeping over the water—</span></span><br><span style="font-family: David;"><span lang="en-IL">God said, “Let there be light”;</span></span><br><span style="font-family: David;"><span lang="en-IL">and there was light. (JPS 2006)</span></span></p>
###### JPS 1917
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Now the earth was unformed and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters. And God said: ‘Let there be light.’ And there was light.
[[#Table of Contents]]
#### 4.3.2 Getting inside the Word of Creation - Textual Spiritual Practices
In order to enter the space of this text:
- Speak it out loud in English and Hebrew until it roles off your tongue and you know it by heart.
- Look up the Hebrew roots and consider how the meanings of the verses emerge from them.
- Consider the shapes of the letters, the way they are grouped together, and their numerical values.
- Imagine the images that are evoked by the words.
- Consider alternative translations.
- Ask yourself: What is going on in these verses? Who are these lovers? Why are they saying these things to each other?
- Count the letters from the *beit* of *breshit* to the *beit* of *Vohu*
#### 4.3.3 Selections from the Jewish Study Bible on *Breshit* (Jon D. Levenson).
![[JSB on Breshit]]
#### 4.3.4 Selections from Robert Alter's Translation and Commentary
![[Robert Alter on Breshit]]
### 4.4 Elements of the Zohar: The Song of Songs
#### 4.4.1 The Song of Songs 1:1-3
<div class="hebrew" style="text-align:center;">
אֲנִי֙ חֲבַצֶּ֣לֶת הַשָּׁר֔וֹן שׁוֹשַׁנַּ֖ת הָעֲמָקִֽים׃
<p>
כְּשֽׁוֹשַׁנָּה֙ בֵּ֣ין הַחוֹחִ֔ים כֵּ֥ן רַעְיָתִ֖י בֵּ֥ין הַבָּנֽוֹת׃
<p>
כְּתַפּ֙וּחַ֙ בַּעֲצֵ֣י הַיַּ֔עַר כֵּ֥ן דּוֹדִ֖י בֵּ֣ין הַבָּנִ֑ים…
</div>
<div class="ltr" style="text-align: center;">I am a rose of Sharon, A lily of the valleys.<p>Like a lily among thorns, So is my darling among the maidens.<p>Like an apple tree among trees of the forest, So is my beloved among the youths
</div>
#### 4.4.2 The Jewish Study Bible on the Song of Songs (Elsie Stern)
![[JSB on The Song of Songs]]
#### 4.4.3 Rashi on the Song of Songs
<div class="hebrew" div style="font-weight: bold;">
הַקְדָּמָה: אַחַת דִּבֶּר אֱלֹהִים שְׁתַּיִם זוּ שָׁמָעְתִּי, מִקְרָא אֶחָד יוֹצֵא לְכַמָּה טְעָמִים וְסוֹף דָּבָר אֵין לְךָ מִקְרָא יוֹצֵא מִידֵי פְשׁוּטוֹ וּמִשָּׁמְעוֹ...וְאוֹמֵר אֲנִי שֶׁרָאָה שְׁלֹמֹה בְּרוּחַ הַקֹּדֶשׁ שֶׁעֲתִידִין יִשְׂרָאֵל לִגְלוֹת גּוֹלָה אַחַר גּוֹלָה, חֻרְבָּן אַחַר חֻרְבָּן, וּלְהִתְאוֹנֵן בְּגָלוּת זֶה עַל כְּבוֹדָם הָרִאשׁוֹן וְלִזְכֹּר חִבָּה רִאשׁוֹנָה אֲשֶׁר הָיוּ סְגֻלָּה לוֹ מִכָּל הָעַמִּים, וְאָשׁוּבָה אֶל אִישִׁי הָרִאשׁוֹן כִּי טוֹב לִי אָז מֵעָתָּה וְיִזְכְּרוּ אֶת חֲסָדָיו, וְאֶת מַעֲלָם אֲשֶׁר מָעֲלוּ, וְאֶת הַטּוֹבוֹת אֲשֶׁר אָמַר לָתֵת לָהֶם בְּאַחֲרִית הַיָּמִים וְיָסַד סֵפֶר הַזֶּה בְּרוּחַ הַקֹּדֶשׁ בִּלְשׁוֹן אִשָּׁה צְרוּרָה אַלְמְנוּת חַיּוּת מִשְׁתּוֹקֶקֶת עַל בַּעְלָהּ מִתְרַפֶּקֶת עַל דּוֹדָהּ מַזְכֶּרֶת אַהֲבַת נְעוּרִים אֵלָיו וּמוֹדֶה עַל פִּשְׁעָהּ, אַף דּוֹדָהּ צַר לוֹ בְּצָרָתָהּ וּמַזְכִּיר חַסְדֵי נְעוּרֶיהָ וְנוֹי יָפְיָהּ וְכִשְׁרוֹן פְּעָלֶיהָ, בָּהֶם נִקְשַׁר עִמָּהּ בְּאַהֲבָה עַזָּה, לְהוֹדִיעָם כִּי לֹא מִלִּבּוֹ עָנָה, וְלֹא שִׁלּוּחֶיהָ שִׁלּוּחִין, כִּי עוֹד הִיא אִשְׁתּוֹ וְהוּא אִישָׁהּ וְהוּא עָתִיד לָשׁוּב אֵלֶיהָ:
</div>
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*A note about this translation: Rashi artfully weaves back and forth from "they" meaning Israel to "her", the lover's wife. I translated "He", as God, in parallel to the "they" of Israel, and I translated "he", as the male lover, in parallel to "her", the female lover.*
**Introduction: "God has spoken once, twice have I heard this…" (Psalms 62 12), one text of scripture goes out to several meanings, but in the end the scripture never loses its simple meaning…And I say that Solomon saw through the Holy Spirit that Israel would be exiled in exile after exile, destruction after destruction, and would express sorrow about the exile and about the honor they had once had, and would remember the early affection [of God], that they were treasured [by Him] more than all nations, "And I will return to my first man, for then it was better for me then than now" (Hoshea 2 9), and they will remember his loving kindness, and their treachery in their betrayal of Him, and the great beneficences that he promised them in the end of days. And he [Solomon] established this book in the Holy Spirit, in the language of a woman cursed with 'living widowhood' [bound to a living man with which she cannot have union, from Samuel 1 20 3], yearning for her husband, clinging to her lover, speaking about the love of her youth toward him, and admitting her crime. And even her lover suffers for her suffering, and he speaks of the loving kindness of her youth, the pleasantness of her beauty, the greatness of her abilities, the things through which he fell into great love for her. [The Song of Songs is] to tell them that it was not from His heart that He caused them pain, and that in sending her away he did not divorce her, for she is still his wife, and he is still her man and he will return to her.**
#### 4.4.4 Practices Involving the text of the Song of Songs
In order to enter the space of this text:
- Speak it out loud in English and Hebrew until it roles off your tongue and you know it by heart.
- Look up the Hebrew roots and consider how the meaning of the verses emerges from them.
- Imagine the images that are evoked by the words.
- Consider alternative translations.
- Ask yourself: What is going on in these verses? Who are these lovers? Why are they saying these things to each other?
[[#Table of Contents]]
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## 5 The Zohar on the Blossoms of Creation and Love
*Coming Soon*
### 5.1 Text of the Zohar
### 5.2 Elements of the Zohar: *Breshit*
### 5.3 Elements of the Zohar: The Song of Songs