Zohar: Introduction: Abundant Goodness

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This is an excerpt from the Zohar, the foundational text of Jewish Kabbalah (likely 13th-century, attributed to the circle of Rabbi Simeon bar Yochai), blending scriptural commentary, mystical narrative, and esoteric theology. The passage follows Rabbis Eleazar and Abba on a journey during which they encounter supernatural voices in a grove summoning celestial souls to instruction in "the secret doctrine," an experience that leaves them physically prostrate with awe. A central preoccupation is the afterlife of the righteous: souls ascend to a paradisiacal Eden, bathe in perfumed rivers, don ethereal bodies resembling their earthly forms, and graduate to a higher celestial academy where they perform miracles on humanity's behalf. The text also offers a distinctive numerological argument about the prophet Habakkuk — claiming his name encodes the number 260, corresponding to the 72 divine names (252 letters, though the text says 260) restored to the Shunammite's son when Elisha resurrected him. The narrative climaxes with Rabbi Simeon receiving a vision of the aged mystic Hammenuna and renaming his son and colleague "Peniel" (Face of God) to honor their direct encounter with the divine presence. Readers drawn to Kabbalistic cosmology, mystical hermeneutics, or the literature of Jewish esotericism will find this passage dense with symbolic content; those seeking linear argument or historical narrative will find it oblique.

Zohar: Introduction: Abundant Goodness

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