The Divine Light of the Most Holy One: Selections from the Kabbalistic Zohar, Part 1 of 2

Kabbalah is the ancient mystical school of thought of Judaism. Literally meaning “the received,” Kabbalah is also an esoteric method believed to have been revealed to elect saints and preserved by a certain few since the time of the Garden of Eden. Kabbalah aims to explain the relationship between God – the unchanging and eternal Ein Sof (The Infinite), and God’s creation – the mortal and finite universe. Kabbalists developed their own sacred texts, especially during the Middle Ages. These texts, however, still remained within the Jewish tradition, as they often worked with scriptures from the Hebrew Bible to demonstrate the extraordinary teachings of Kabbalah. One of the most foundational of the Kabbalistic texts is the Sefer HaZohar, a Kabbalistic commentary on the Torah, which means the first five books of the Hebrew Bible. Today, we will be presenting selections from the Great Holy Assembly, a volume of the Zohar where Rabbi Schimeon led a group of holy sages through a discussion on Creation, as well as the Divine Light and Wisdom as symbolized by the facial features of Macroprosopus. Macroprosopus is an aspect of Divine emanation in the Kabbalah, representing Divine will and the source of Divine compassion.

“Therefore, the Arcanum of Arcana is what men can neither know nor comprehend, nor can they apply their rules of science to it. It is said that before the Ancient of the Ancient Ones, the Concealed One of the Concealed Ones, instituted the formations of the King and the diadems of the diadems; beginning and end existed not.”

“Upon the throne of flaming light is He seated, so that He may direct its (flashes). Into forty thousand superior worlds, the brightness of the skull of His head is extended, and from the light of this brightness, the just shall receive four hundred worlds in the world to come.”

“And from that skull distills a dew upon Him which is external, and fills His head daily. And from that dew which flows down from His head, that (namely) which is external, the dead are raised up in the world to come. Concerning which it is written, Song of Songs 5:2 ‘My head is filled with dew.’ And it is written, Isaiah 26:19 ‘The dew of the lights is Thy dew.’ Of the lights – that is, from the brightness of the Ancient One. And by that dew are nourished the holy supernal ones. And this is that manna which is prepared for the just in the world to come.”