Texts of Judaism

Zohar: Genesis: Chapter LXXXIII. Abraham's Initiation into the Lesser Mysteries

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This is an excerpt from the Zohar, the foundational text of Jewish Kabbalah, presented as a commentary by Rabbi Simeon (Shimon bar Yochai) on the early chapters of Genesis. It interprets the biblical narratives of Abraham and King David not as historical accounts but as allegories for a structured path of mystical initiation, arguing that both figures had to undertake specific physical journeys (Abraham to Canaan, David to Hebron) in order to qualify spiritually for their divine roles — Abraham for his covenant with God, David for his kingship. A central and distinctive claim is that God's opening command to Abraham ("Lekh lekha") encodes numerological prophecy about Isaac's birth at age 100, while Abraham's act of "passing through" the land signals the Shemhamphorash, the 72-letter divine name underlying all creation. The text reads the repeated Hebrew root *aavar* (to pass) across multiple scriptural passages as a unified esoteric key linking Abraham's journey to divine revelation and the holiness of the Land of Israel. Kabbalistic initiation is depicted as a formal, graded mystery tradition with stages, oaths, and obligations — directly comparable to Hellenistic mystery religions — with Abraham building his two altars marking entry into and completion of that initiatory process. The "famine" at the end is reinterpreted as moral and spiritual decline rather than a physical event.

Zohar: Genesis: Chapter LXXXIII. Abraham's Initiation into the Lesser Mysteries

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