###### **He opened and said: _zarqa_, _maqaph_, _shophar_ _holekh_, _segolta_.** These are the first four *taamim* or cantillation trope in the Sephardic tradition. Both their names and music are important for understanding the Zohar. Check out the shapes and sounds of these here: <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KKlHTONgUmM?si=PsTPbbL2_r3mx3Ek" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe> The Zohar will talk about the meaning of *zarqa* as related to the Hebrew word לזרוק, to throw. It understands this *ta'am* as expressing movement, flight and change. Do you hear these qualities in the sound of the *zarqa*? (I don't know how the author of *Tiqqunim* would have sang the *zarqa* so I chose the one on Youtube which seemed to express the Zohar's meaning best). The footnote which refers to the Zohar Breshit is to a teaching there that the *zarqa* is what a prayer-sayer does to make hir prayer ascend beyond "the accusers" who try to pull it down. Maybe the accusers are stray thoughts, or thoughts like "why bother praying?", or feelings of unworthiness or alienation, which block prayer from ascent. The Zohar says the secret of pushing past the accusers so that the prayer may ascend up the divine heights is called *zarqa maqaf-shofar segolta*. Check out this description of the spiritual significance of voice, vocalization and language in the *Tiqqunim* by Biti Roi in her book *Ahavat Ha-Shekhinah*: > The ascent of the Shekhinah is described through various linguistic images connected to writing, pronunciation, melody, and the form of the letters. The conception of language as divine abundance, and of the processes of emanation as corresponding to different parts of speech, is a familiar idea in medieval Kabbalistic literature. Within the understanding of this mystical linguistic space, the Shekhinah’s unique position must be examined. Already in the Hasidei Ashkenaz tradition, language was perceived as “the secret of the Shekhinah.” The identification between "Shekhinah" and "language," which both have the numerical value of 385 in gematria, is widespread in this literature and also appears in the writings of the author of the _Tikkunim_. The author of the _Tikkunim_ does not settle for a general, conceptual identification of the Shekhinah with language, but instead goes into great detail, analyzing the form of the letters, the vowel points, the cantillation marks, and their pronunciation. > > The myth of the Shekhinah’s ascent presupposes motion and great dynamism within the divine realm. Therefore, the realm of language seems particularly suited for carving out these images of ascent, as it is perceived as an especially dynamic space, based on almost endless variations and combinations. The space of the page or parchment, along with the system of writing and its signs, is seen as the space of reality, while the Shekhinah—the point—is perceived as the fundamental graphic sign from which all the vowel points, cantillation marks, and letters are generated. The movement of writing across the page serves as a metaphor for historical duration, and the division of writing into lower and upper planes expresses the Shekhinah’s state within it: the _ḥiriq_ [ חִירִיק: אִ] , situated in the lower part of the script, symbolizes the Shekhinah enslaved in exile and found in the pit of the netherworld; the _shuruq_ [ שׁוּרוּק: אֻ] represents her union with her consort, the _vav_—corresponding to the sefirah of _Tiferet_—when she is held in his bosom; and the _ḥolam_ [ חוֹלָם: אֹ], appearing above the letter, expresses sovereignty and significance and serves as a central symbol of redemption. ###### ...three stones, which are _segolta Look at the shape of the *segolta*. The three dots are the three patriarchs. ###### and You are the most precious stone of all, a ‘crownlet’ on the head upon all of them... Above the three stones is the *zarqa* itself, which is pictured as both the slingshot and the stone that is thrown by the slingshot. In this image, the Zohar is focusing on the stone itself, which flies above the three stones of the patriarchs, higher than the Holy Blessed One who is constituted by those three stones (which are parallel to Hesed, Din and Tiferet) ###### **And it is a crownlet like this: ם at the head of the chord of the _zarqa_, a stone that is inclusive and adorned, like the stone on a ring.** Here we continue with the image of the stone. We now learn that the part of the *zarqa* which is the stone is its head - the tip on the right. The very tip of the *zarqa* is imaged to be a point, a crownlet or diadem, upon the head of the long body of the *zarqa*, which we will learn is the Vav. ###### **And that chord of Hers is Vav, for the stone which is a crownlet, a diadem upon its head** The "cord" is the length of the *zarqa*, following its head. ###### **And this stone is the Yod on top of א, and the Yod at its end, The letter alef us understood to be constructed from a Vav in the center, and two letter Yods, one above and one below. She is both. ###### and She is YOD HeY VAV HeY – comprising ten _sephirot_, This seems to refer to the name of God know as ס"ג (63). It is written יו"ד ה"י וא"ו ה"י, so that it begins and ends with the letter Yod. Each different way of spelling the letters of the tetragrammaton is itself a divine name. This spelling has ten letters for the ten sefirot, hence the Zohar says "comprising ten sefirot". ###### **All the Masters of the Academy rose, and they said: ‘O Faithful Shepherd! How powerful you are to throw the stone! Biti Roi: > This image of throwing the stone recurs throughout the sermons of the _Tikkunim_ in various forms. In _Ra'aya Meheimna_, in a paraphrase of the biblical story of David slinging stones, the members of a festive gathering are called upon to cast the stone—the Shekhinah—upward. This stone, identified with the two _yuds_ on either side of the letter _aleph_, alludes both to the lower world and the upper world. It is linked to both the beginning and the end—"their end is embedded in their beginning." The description of the Shekhinah’s origin in the beginning clarifies the relative ease of her ascent and reestablishment there, seen as a return to the place from which she came. > > If we focus on the kinetic and ballistic aspects of the image of the stone being thrown, it can be argued that its smallness, compared to larger and heavier objects, is precisely what enables it to be thrown so high. This tiny, compressed point, in which the Shekhinah is often depicted during exile also in the _Zohar_ corpus, here attains renewal and empowerment. The contrasting relationship between the Shekhinah’s appearance as small, silent, or fallen and her splendor, greatness, and beauty is a central theme in the writings of the author of the _Tikkunim_, expressing his desire to emphasize the wondrous potential for reversal contained within her, offering great hope and consolation in the face of her present condition. ###### and even though it is small below, it has no end above** Biti Roi: > The sermon on the stone concludes with a unique description: "And even though she is small below, above she has no end." This depiction emphasizes her limitless ascent, continuing infinitely—a point we discussed in detail when describing the Shekhinah’s connection to the Cause of Causes. > > From another perspective, the phrase "she has no end" can be understood as referring to the unbounded expansion of the point, namely the letter _yud_: this entity is capable of expanding and spreading extensively. As M. Idel has noted, the Kabbalists show great interest in the expansion and growth of the feminine entity. This description of the stone, identified with the _yud_, aligns with the theurgical conception aimed at achieving extension, expansion, and magnification of the Divinity, seeing human action as a force that strengthens and increases it. The description of the Shekhinah’s expansion is already linked, in the rabbinic tradition, to the image of the moon’s fullness at the end of days. This connection once again lends the image of the ascent a distinctly messianic dimension.