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THE ZOHAR
by
Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai
The First Ever
Unabridged English Translation
With Commentary
of
Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag
SPIRITUAL PRINCIPLES
REVEALED IN
THE ZOHAR
and
THE DOCTRINE OF CHRIST
by
Sheila R. Vitale
Living Epistles Ministries
P.O. Box 562
Port Jefferson Station, NY 11776-0562
www.livingepistles.org
**** WORDS PRINTED IN ALL CAPS, 12 PT COURIER, REPRESENT RABBI ASHLAG'S AMPLIFICATIONS TO THE ORIGINAL TEXT WRITTEN BY RABBI BAR YOCHAI.
****Words in Brackets [] Are Sheila's Comments or Amplifications.
The Zohar. The Prologue, Paras. 248-251 (pp. 217-218).
"248. Because that [Sabbath] day was sanctified, the creation of the bodies for certain spirits was not completed. SO HE ASKS: was not the Holy One, blessed be He, aware of that, so that He could delay the sanctification of that day until the bodies of those spirits were created?AND HE ANSWERS: The Tree of Knowledge -- Good and Bad -- aroused the Evil Side, who wanted to rule over the world. So a lot of spirits were dispersed and WENT FORTH with much weaponry to achieve strength and to FLING THEMSELVESinto the bodies of this world.
"249. As the Holy One, blessed be He, saw this, He aroused a tempest from within the Tree Of Life WHICH IS IS ZE'IR ANPIN, and struck upon the other Tree, WHICH IS MALKHUT, causing the arousal of the other good side. Consequently, the day was sanctified. Because the creation of the bodies and the arousal of the spirits, on the night of SHABBAT, comes from the Good Side and not from the 'Other Side.'
"250. Had the Other (evil) Side come during that night before the Good Side, then the world would not have been able to exist for even one moment. So the Holy One, blessed be He, provided the remedy in advance. The 'sanctification of the day' jumped up and stood before Him. Thus, the Good Side appeared before the Other Side appeared, and the world was established and was able to exist. So instead of the Other Side becoming strong and establishing itself in the world, as it planned, the Good Side was established at that night by the construction of holy bodies and the forming of holy spirits from that Side. Therefore, the sages who know this perform their conjugal rights weekly, from Shabbat to Shabbat."
The Doctrine of Christ.
Background. According to Hindu philosophy, we exist as part of a system called the Days and Nights of Brahma, an infinite system of Spiritual days (conscious existence) and spiritual Nights (spiritual sleep/non-existence), which span trillions of what we humans call "years." Each day of Brahma ends with the total destruction of everything created, and then, in the morning, begins again by creating the universes anew. The ensuing Night of Brahma (after total annihilation of all creation) is a period of non-existence, or non-being.
Sheila's Comment: The Lord has taught us that He did not ordain this fallen world (which is the fruit and the illegal offspring of the adulterous union between the Serpent and the Woman), or cause it to come into existence. Accordingly, Scripture teaches that we, the slaves of this world system (Day of Brahma), shall be freed from her grasp when the Shofar sounds. (Para. 239 [p. 211] -- last sentence.)
Why would we need to be liberated from a world that the Lord created? The truth is that we are trapped in a time warp (nothing new under the sun (Ecc l. 1:9)) which will repeat itself, ad infinitum, until something interferes with this infinite system of death, non-being and rebirth of conscious existence.
The Lord has also taught us that the Days and Nights of Brahma are a reality of our fallen existence, which is, and will be, generated, destroyed, and regenerated by the Serpent until the Lord Jesus Christ overlays it (the Blood of Jesus Christ will cover Malkhut, the spiritual moon of this fallen system (Joel 2:31), and she will become righteous when she reflects the light of the Sun of Righteousness (Mal. 4:2)).
The Lord has also taught us that the force of this time warp that we (the kidnapped seeds of Adam Kadmon's ovary) are caught in, is so great, that in order to free us from her grip without killing us, it was necessary for the Lord to initiate a creation of His own while the Serpent was sleeping (1 Thes. 5:2, 2 Pet. 3:10), during the non-existence of a Night of Brahma. You, see, the Serpent requires sleep, but the God of Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps (Ps. 12:14), and promises the same condition for those who love him (Is. 5:27).
This principle also witnesses to the fact that we are the Serpent's offspring. If this were not true, why would we need to be adopted or rectified?
It is a true spiritual principle concerning creation, that when the creator holds an image of creation in its mind, creation exists, but when the creator sleeps, or "forgets" creation (the creator does not hold the image of creation in its mind), creation is destroyed. This is why the the Lord tells us that He "remembers us," (Jerm. 2:2) and promises not to forget us (Is. 49:15).
The Lord says that he will "put out the remembrance" of Amalek (Ex. 17:14), but He will write a "Book of Remembrance" of those who fear him (Mal. 3:16). This means that Amalek will cease to exist, but those who acknowledge His preeminence (fear Him), will live forever.
So, the Lord generated his own creation "during the night" ("... had the Other (evil) Side [been able to] come [into existence] during that night, before the Good Side, then the world [ that the Lord created] would not have been able to exist for even one moment " (Para. 250 quoted in full above).
The Serpent eventually perverted the Lord's creation and we fell down into this corrupt, illegal world of action.
The reason why (1) intelligent life is found only on the Earth and (2) humanity alone is eligible for salvation is that we belong to the Lord, although we are presently in a perverted configuration and must be reformed into His image. All other lifeforms, which may or may not exist, were originally generated by the Serpent and are, therefore, an illusion, with no redeemable value. Only the seeds of Adam Kadmon's ovary which fell down from Heaven (descended from the ovum which were destined to be the offspring of Ze'ir Anpin) can return to Heaven (Jn 3:13).
"248. Because that [Sabbath] day was sanctified, the creation of the bodies for certain spirits was not completed.
[SHEILA'S INTERPRETATION: The Sabbath day represents the end of creation. This sentence is saying that creation ended before the bodies necessary to house all of the spirits were completed completed.
The doctrine of Christ says that the Serpent seduced the Woman, who gave birth to spiritually "incomplete" beings.]
SO HE ASKS: was not the Holy One, blessed be He, aware of that, so that He could delay the sanctification of that day until the bodies of those spirits were created?AND HE ANSWERS: The Tree of Knowledge -- Good and Bad -- aroused the Evil Side, who wanted to rule over the world.
[SHEILA'S INTERPRETATION: The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
The Doctrine of Christ says that the Daughter born of Abba (Chokhmah) and Imma (Binah), is the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil who is destined to marry the Son, who is the Tree of Life. When the two are joined as one all is well in the world (this condition is called "Shabbat"), but when the Daughter departs from her husband (the "weekdays"), she can be seduced to turn to her evil side.]
So a lot of spirits were dispersed and WENT FORTH with much weaponry to achieve strength and to FLING THEMSELVESinto the bodies of this world.
[SHEILA'S INTERPRETATION: The seeds of Adam Kadmon's ovary incarnated with the nature of the "evil inclination."]
"249. As the Holy One, blessed be He, saw this, He aroused a tempest from within the Tree Of Life WHICH IS IS ZE'IR ANPIN, and struck upon the other Tree, WHICH IS MALKHUT, causing the arousal of the other good side.
[SHEILA'S INTERPRETATION: The Serpent, the Daughter's evil side, was fully manifested, until the Son arrived on the scene and joined himself to the Daughter's good side, to strengthen her with his righteousness .]
Consequently, the day was sanctified. Because the creation of the bodies and the arousal of the spirits, on the night of SHABBAT, comes from the Good Side and not from the 'Other Side.'
[SHEILA'S INTERPRETATION: The Day signifies creation (Night signifies non-existence). Please note that the word "Shabbat," in this sentence is the amplification of Rabbi Ashlag. This word was not in the original text of the Zohar. I suggest you that the sentence is saying that only the "Good Side" can arouse spirits and create bodies in the Night, while the Serpent (the "Other Side" is sleeping).
"250. Had the Other (evil) Side come during that night before the Good Side,
[SHEILA'S INTERPRETATION: Had the Other (evil) Side BEEN ABLE TO come ....]
then the world would not have been able to exist for even one moment.
[SHEILA'S INTERPRETATION: The Evil Inclination is stronger than the "unfortified" goodness of the creation. That is why Adam needs a "help." The Evil Inclination will overtake humanity every time he tries to rise, UNTIL Adam is fortified with the double portion, that is, Ze'ir Anpin in the World of Emanation permanently married to Malkhut in the Earth.]
So the Holy One, blessed be He, provided the remedy in advance. The 'sanctification of the day' jumped up and stood before Him. Thus, the Good Side appeared before the Other Side appeared, and the world was established and was able to exist. So instead of the Other Side becoming strong and establishing itself in the world, as it planned, the Good Side was established at that night by the construction of holy bodies and the forming of holy spirits from that Side.
[SHEILA'S INTERPRETATION: The Rectification of the fallen World of Points (the sanctification of the day) has already taken place in the highest planes of consciousness, and is now called the World of Emanation.
But the Zohar does not indicate in this place that the two worlds ] co-exist, and will continue to co-exist until the World of Emanation (the Lord Jesus Christ) permanently joins Himself to the fallen World of Points (Malkhut/humanity), which union is the greatly anticipated spiritual Shabbat, the Age (Day) that will never end (Is 45:17, Eph 3:21)].
Therefore, the sages who know this perform their conjugal rights weekly, from Shabbat to Shabbat."
[SHEILA'S INTERPRETATION: The wise men (sages) who know and understand these spiritual principles, join with the Lord Jesus Christ (in the previous dispensation the union was with Elijah) as often as possible, which union brings the spiritual Shabbat into existence.
God bless you all.
Always studying for you and on your behalf,
Sincerely,
Sheila
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