Zohar: Genesis: Chapter C

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This is a passage from the Zohar (folio 96a–96b), the foundational text of Jewish Kabbalah, presenting allegorical and mystical exegesis of biblical verses in the rabbinic homiletic tradition. The passage interprets Isaiah's "Song of the Vineyard" (Isaiah 5) as a layered allegory: the vineyard represents Israel, the "beloved" is God, and the vineyard's planting in "Qeren ben Shamen" encodes a kabbalistic teaching about the male divine principle, anointing oil, and the horn of Jubilee as the source of royal legitimacy — explaining, for instance, why David's reign was enduring. The patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are read as embodiments of divine attributes (mercy and justice) whose union produces the people Israel, while individual words and letters in scripture are treated as ciphers for grades of divine life. The tower and winepress of the vineyard allegory are decoded as the protective power of God's name and the gates of righteousness respectively, both accessed through circumcision, which the passage presents as initiation into the mystery of the divine name undergirding creation. The text culminates in what appears to be a homily delivered at an actual circumcision ceremony, grounding the cosmic speculation in a concrete ritual occasion. Readers interested in kabbalistic hermeneutics, the Zohar's symbolic system, or how medieval Jewish mystics read biblical poetry as encoded theosophy will find this passage representative of the Zohar's characteristic method.

Zohar: Genesis: Chapter C

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