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Zohar on the Torah |
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Parshat Bo - Zohar, Page 34a Translated and adapted by Mr. Simcha Treister Rabbi Shimon opened his discourse saying: “Now the time has come to reveal the secret of the ten sphirot of the klippot. [These spiritual forces called klippot meaning “shells” or “husks” are so called because they have no life force of their own. They are like the skin of an orange that has a bitter taste but ultimately serves a good purpose – protecting the fruit inside it. As a separate entity the skin has no useful purpose and has to be peeled of and discarded before the fruit can be eaten]. These klippot have their ultimate source in the holy realms and devolve down [through the worlds of Beriah, Yitzirah and Assiyah until they reach the level of Pharaoh. The Hebrew letters spelling Pharaoh can be re-arranged to read Po Ra, “Here is Bad”]. Why does the verse say: “Come to Pharaoh”, instead of “Go to Pharaoh? [The intention is to the spiritual level of Pharaoh “The Great Crocodile”]. G-d took Moshe to rooms within rooms, through different levels of these “external” forces, until they reached the secret of the spiritual level of the Great Crocodile in all its power. [This is the level from which devolve many different levels of impurity. In Hebrew, the word describing impurity is “Tumah” and it has the concept of being sealed or “atum”. This sealing off, is the apparent sealing off from a connection with the pure and holy Divine source. This level of Tumah is the spiritual source of the klippot that have the role of sealing off e.g. the fruit from the outside world.] Moshe was fearful of becoming contaminated by this level of impurity. He didn’t want to approach it other than through the tributaries of the Nile [which are lower spiritual levels that the Nile itself where the Great Crocodile was lurking]. He was fearful of getting too close because he could see its roots in the higher source of Tumah. When the Holy One Blessed be He saw that Moshe was afraid, and that other spiritual levels were repelled, He said: Behold, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great crocodile that lies in the midst of his Nile tributaries, which has said, My river is my own, and I have made it for myself.”[1] Pharaoh as “king” represented the source of Tumah and as such only G-d could arraign war against him and not any other. This is the reason why Hashem Himself smote the first born of the Egyptians – He and not an Angel, He and not a messenger. |
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Ascent of Safed
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