Zohar: Genesis: Chapter XXXIX.

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This is an excerpt from the Zohar, the central text of Jewish Kabbalah, presented as a series of rabbinical discussions interpreting Genesis passages through a mystical lens. The rabbis debate the nature of sin, death, and divine withdrawal: Rabbi Yissa argues that all human death stems from personal sin, with only three biblical figures (Levi, Amram, Benjamin, and Jesse) exempted as victims of the serpent's malice rather than their own wrongdoing. A recurring claim is that open, shameless sin causes the Shekina (divine presence) to depart from the sinner and from the world — illustrated by Rabbi Simeon allegedly compelling sinners to drown themselves through a "hypnotic force." Rabbi Eleazar offers a cosmological reading in which the divine spirit once flowed from a celestial sphere associated with David through the Land of Israel to bless the whole earth, but humanity's sin severed this connection. The passage closes with discussion of the Nephilim (Genesis 6:4), identified as the fallen angels Aza and Azael, who took on physical bodies upon being cast to earth, became enamored of human women, and persist to the present day teaching humanity magical arts — a distinctively esoteric reading that blends angelology with demonology. The text is notable for its layered allegorical method, treating biblical narrative as a cipher for metaphysical processes governing divine-human relations.

Zohar: Genesis: Chapter XXXIX.

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