Great Throughts Treasury

"A judge sins if he looks not to the merits in the accused."

"A pupil who suggests new ideas to his master is a sage."

"God conceals himself from the mind of man, but reveals himself to his heart."

"In love is found the secret of divine unity."

"A sin leaves a mark; repeated, it deepens the mark; when committed a third time, the mark becomes a stain."

"He who desires a portion in the higher life... should above all guard his mouth and tongue."

"The mold of the heart is shown in the face."

"Love alone dominates fear."

"The voice is not prayer... It behooves us to pray silently."

"The soul testifies at night to what the man does by day."

"Worship inspired by fear is worship, but it does not rise to the highest part of the supernal sphere. That is reserved for worship inspired by love."

"There is no gate which tears cannot break through."

"All souls must undergo transmigration and the souls of men revolve like a stone which is thrown from a sling, so many turns before the final release...Only those who have not completed their perfection must suffer the wheel of rebirth by being reborn into another human body."

"Awe of the Creator is the gateway to everything."

"But the Holy One, blessed be He, is always strict with the Righteous in every deed they do. Because He knows they will not turn away, neither to the right nor the left, He constantly tests them. Nor for His own sake does the holy one, blessed be he, test them, as He knows their desire and the firmness of their faith and has no need of trying them. He tries them only to lift up their heads, to give them confidence as they earn their merits through these experiences."

"Before God manifested Himself, when all things were still hidden in Him... He began by forming an imperceptible point that was His own thought. With this thought He then began to construct a mysterious and holy form...the Universe."

"Esau hid these garments with Rivkah and wore them when he went hunting. On the day when Isaac sent for him to receive the blessings, he did not take them to the field and was therefore late. When Esau wore them, they put forth no scent at all, but when Jacob wore them, the lost object was restored as they returned to the aspect of Adam. For the beauty of Jacob was the beauty of Adam. They therefore returned to their place and emitted fragrance."

"Every soul is subject to the trial of Transmigration...An individual does not know that he is called for assessment before entering this World as well as after leaving it. He does not know how many transformations and esoteric trials he has to pass through...and that souls revolve like a stone shot from a sling."

"His eye is ever open and sleepeth not, for it continually keepeth watch. And the appearance of the lower is according to the aspect of the higher light.... His two nostrils like mighty galleries, whence His spirit rushes forth over."

"Come and behold, Isaac was with his wife for twenty years, but she did not give birth until he had said his prayer. This is because the Holy One, blessed be He, desires the prayer of the righteous, when they ask Him in prayer for their needs. Why? Because the anointing oil will be increased by the prayer of the righteous for all those in need of it. For the righteous in their prayer open the supernal channel, and then even the prayers of the unworthy are answered."

"Honor your father and mother, even as you honor God, for all three we're partners in your creation."

"Once we have internalized the reality of the Creator's love and have learned to recognize His Light in the workings of our everyday lives, we are well on the way toward the unity with God that is our true purpose."

"If you wish to strengthen a lie, mix a little truth in with it."

"The entire lower world was created in the likeness of the higher world. All that exists in the higher world appears like an image in this lower world; yet all this is but One."

"The Spirit of the Eternal shot out of his Body like a sheet of lightning that radiated at once on the billows of the Seven millions of skies, and my ten splendors were his limbs."

"Our purpose in life is first to recognize God, then to understand His presence in our lives, and ultimately to achieve unity with His nature."

"The transformation of your being from what it is now to what the Creator wants and intends for you from a being of self-serving desire into one of desire for the purpose of sharing with others."

"The Torah is the Light of the Creator, and only a person who receives this light is considered as learning Torah (rather than just acquiring mere wisdom)."

"When a soul comes down from Heaven, it is both male and female. The male aspects enter a male child and the female aspects enter a female child. If they are deserving, God will cause them to find each other and to join in marriage. This is a true union."

"To understand a holy unity, examine the flame rising from a candle. We see at first two kinds of light, one glistening white and one blue or black. The white light is above and rises in a straight line, the blue or black light is beneath and appears to be the source of the white; yet the two lights are so closely united they form one single flame. But the source formed by the blue or black light is, in turn, attached to the wick under it. The white light never changes, it always remains white; but several shades are distinguishable in the lower light. Moreover, the lower light moves in two opposite directions; above, it is connected to the white light, and below, it is attached to the burning matter; this matter continually consumes itself and rises toward the upper light. It is thus that all that is, reunites with the one unity."

"Above them all, he saw the Master of Wings behind the curtain that the King remembers the doe who lies in the dust and visits Her every day. At that moment He kicks the 390 firmaments, which all tramble and quake before him. He sheds tears over this, and those tears of bubbling fire fall into the vast ocean, From those tears the Prince of the Ocean emerges ? by them he is sustained. And he hallows the name of the Holy King, agreeing to swallow up all the waters of Creation and absorb them when all the nations gather against the holy people, so that the waters will dry up and they will pass through on dry land. Meanwhile he heard a voice proclaiming, ?Make way, make way ? for King Messiah is coming to the Academy of Rabbi Shim?on!"

"Before God manifested Himself, when all things were still hidden in Him... He began by forming an imperceptible point that was His own thought. With this thought He then began to construct a mysterious and holy form...the Universe."

"And the herald calls to them every day, their soul testifies to them each day and night, and the Torah calls out loud in all directions saying, ?Until when, you fools, will you be loving folly? Whoever is naive, let him turn in here. To him who lacks understanding she says, ?Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine that I have mixed.? But no one lends an ear and there is no one who awakens his heart."

"Believe not that man consists solely of flesh, skin, bones, and veins. The real part of man is his soul, and the things just mentioned, the skin, flesh, bones, and veins, are only an outward covering, a veil, but are not the man. When man departs he divests himself of all the veils which cover him. And these different parts of our body correspond to the secrets of the Divine wisdom. The skin typifies the heavens which extend everywhere and cover everything like a garment. The flesh puts us in mind of the evil side of the universe. The bones and the veins symbolize the Divine chariot, the inner powers of man which are the servants of God. But they are all but an outer covering. For, inside man, there is the secret of the Heavenly Man. . . . Everything below takes place in the same manner as everything above. This is the meaning of the remark that God created man in His own image. But just as in the heavens, which cover the whole universe, we behold different shapes brought about by the stars and the planets to teach us concerning hidden things and deep secrets, so upon the skin which covers our body there are shapes and forms which are like planets and stars to our bodies. All these shapes have a hidden meaning, and are observed by the sages who are able to read the face of man."

"Anyone who walks into that world without knowing the secrets of the Torah will be sent out of all the gates of that world, even if he has acquired many good deeds."

"But they that are wise will understand" (Dan. 12:10) -- from the side of Binah (understanding), which is the Tree of Life. Therefore it is said, "Vehamaskilim yaz'hiru kezohar haraki`a"/And they that are wise will shine like the radiance of the sky" (Dan. 12:3) -- by means of this book of yours, which is the book of the Zohar, from the radiance (Zohar) of Ima Ila'ah (the "Higher Mother," the higher of the two primary partzufim which develop from Binah) [which is] teshuvah; with those [who study this work], trial is not needed. And because Yisrael will in the future taste from the Tree of Life, which is this book of the Zohar, they will go out, with it, from Exile, in a merciful manner, and with them will be fulfilled, "Hashem badad yanchenu, ve'ein `imo El nechar/Hashem alone will lead them, and there is no strange god with Him."

"Awe of the Creator is the gateway to everything."

"Come and see: When the day is sanctified on the evening of Shabbat, a tabernacle of peace descends and settles on the world. What is this tabernacle of peace? It is the Shabbat. On Shabbat, all the evil spirits, stormy spirits, demons, and the defiled hide behind the millstone of the chasm of the great abyss."

"But what about the existence of sin and evil? How can their existence be justified in a world such as the Zoharic mysticism implies--a world which is a series of emanations from the Divine, a world wherein God is eternally and intimately present in its every part, because the whole is but a manifestation of Himself? If all things, i.e. everything good and everything evil, are similarly and equally phases of the same paragraph continues] Divine Life, then the distinction between good and evil becomes meaningless. But to affirm this, is to deny the first principles of both religion and morality. It is the quagmire of pantheism. Does the Zohar lead to any pantheistic conclusion? If not, how does it evade the difficulty?"

"Ben Zoma said, ?Who is wise? The one who learns from all people? ?Who is mighty? The one who subdues the evil inclination? ?Who is rich? The who who rejoices in his portion?. ?Who is honored? The one who honors other human beings.?"

"Comment from Deva Deep: At this moment there are several new sources stating the same and I will refer to some of them on the other pages. But a miracle in itself is that these quotations are ancient and at the same time completely in accordance with the spirit of this time. The Zohar even predicts what is happening now and contributes greatly to reach the critical mass for the transformation of human kind."

"Elijah opened and said: "Master of the worlds! You are One, but not in number. You are He Who is Highest of the High, Most Hidden of the Hidden; no thought can grasp You at all...And there is no image or likeness of You, inside or out...And aside from You, there is no unity on High or Below. And You are acknowledged as the Cause of everything and the Master of everything...And You are the completion of them all. And as soon as You remove Yourself from them, all the Names remain like a body without a soul...All is to show how You conduct the world, but not that You have a known righteousness that is just, nor a known judgement that is merciful, nor any of these attributes at all...Blessed is God forever, amen and amen!"

"Every soul is subject to the trial of Transmigration... An individual does not know that he is called for assessment before entering this World as well as after leaving it. He does not know how many transformations and esoteric trials he has to pass through... and that souls revolve like a stone shot from a sling."

"For the waters of the sea are limitless and shapeless. But when they are spread over the earth, then they produce a shape (dimi?n), and we can calculate like this: The source of the waters of the sea and the force which it emits to spread itself over the soil, are two things. Then an immense basin is formed by the waters just as is formed when one makes a very deep digging. This basin is filled by the waters which emanate from the source; it is the sea itself, and can be regarded as a third thing. This very large hollow [of waters] is split up into seven canals, which are like so many long tubes, by means of which the waters are conveyed. The source, the current, the sea, and the seven canals form together the number ten. And should the workman who constructed these tubes come to break them up, then the waters return to their source, and there remains naught but the d‚bris and the water dried up. It is thus that the Cause of causes has created the Ten Sefirot. The Crown is the source whence there springs a light without end, from which comes the name En-Sof, i.e. Infinite, designating the Supreme Cause; for while in this state it possesses neither shape nor figure; there are no means of comprehending it; there is no way of knowing it. It is in this sense that it has been said, 'Seek not the things that are too hard for thee' (Ecclesiasticus, iii. 21). Then there is formed a vessel contracted to a mere point [the letter Yod, the smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet] into which the Divine light penetrates. It is the source of Wisdom, it is Wisdom itself, in virtue of which the Supreme Cause is called the God of Wisdom. Afterwards, it [i.e. the Supreme Cause] constructs a channel, wide as the sea, which is called Intellect [or Intelligence]. From this, comes the title of 'God who understands' [i.e. is intelligent]. We must know, however, that God only understands and is wise by means of His own essential substance; for Wisdom does not merit the title by itself, but only by the instrumentality of Him who is wise and who has produced it from the light which emanates from Him. One cannot conceive what 'knowing' is by itself, but by Him who is the 'knowing One,' and who fills it with His own essential substance."

"Elijah began to praise God, saying: "Lord of the universe! You are One but are not numbered. You are Higher than the highest. You are the Mystery above all mysteries. No thought can grasp You at all."

"Everything that the Creator does in the land is with wisdom, and it is all in order to teach people the upper wisdom, so they will learn the secrets of the wisdom from those deeds. And everything is as it should be, and all His deeds are the ways of the Torah, since the ways of the Torah are the ways of the Creator, and there is no small thing that does not have several ways, routes, and secrets of the upper wisdom."

"He is the beginning as well as the end of all stages (dargin); upon Him are stamped (etrashim) all the stages. But He can only be called One, in order to show that although He possesses many forms, He is nothing other than ONE."

"He made this world of below to correspond with the world of above. Everything which is above has its pattern here below and all constitutes a unity."

"He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and like one from whom men hide their face, He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him."

"From that day onward, the Holy One, blessed be He, has been creating worlds. And what are these worlds? They are the matings of human beings. Because ever since that day, the Holy One blessed be He, has been making marriages, by saying: ?The daughter of so to so for so and so.? These are the worlds He creates, because every union of a couple is considered to be a world."