Zohar: Genesis: Chapter XV.

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This is a passage from the Zohar (or a closely related Kabbalistic text), a foundational work of Jewish mysticism structured as rabbinic dialogue, in which named sages — Rabbi Simeon, Rabbi Isaac, Rabbi Jose, Rabbi Abba, and others — offer layered allegorical readings of Genesis and other scriptural verses. The central argument is that the light of the first day of creation was not physical light but a primordial divine radiance, distinct from the sun and moon, which God concealed from corrupt generations (those of Enoch, Noah, and Babel) and reserved for the righteous; it was briefly granted to Moses, whose shining face was its outward sign. A recurring claim is that light and darkness are not opposites but complementary principles — male and female, active and passive — whose union underlies the entire created order, symbolized by the covenant God made with day and night (Jeremiah 33:25). The firmament of Genesis 1:6 is interpreted as a cosmic intermediary analogous to the human diaphragm, transmitting life-force from the higher to the lower spheres, and the "waters" throughout Scripture are read as channels of divine life flowing from the sephiroth. What is distinctive is the text's consistent move from plain biblical meaning to cosmological allegory rooted in the Kabbalistic framework of sephiroth, the divine feminine ("celestial mother"), and the triadic unity of existence — making ordinary scriptural phrases into keys to a hidden metaphysical system.

Zohar: Genesis: Chapter XV.

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