The Zohar

Every word of Torah is pleasing to God and creates new heavens and renews the Earth.

Rabbi Chiya ascends to heaven and learns the meaning of the vision of the Gazelle, when God is disappointed in the world but the light of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai's Torah holds up the world. Psalm 22 is interpreted as foretelling a time of suffering and a Messiah that has yet to come.

Without Abraham, the universe would not be sustained.

Rabbis Yudai, Hiyyah and Yose continue to expound on the moment of creation, in which all was created and then flowed out through gates.

The remaining letters from Peh to Aleph present their cases, and God chooses Bet to create the world.

The letters of the Aleph Bet spar over who should be the letter of creation. A stunningly beautiful discussion of the merits and flaws of each letter from the letter Tav until the letter Tzadi, going backwards through the Aleph Bet.

Rabbi Shimon tells us that until there were people to see and experience creation and call the celestial and physical beings by a "name", God Himself did not yet have a "name".

Rabbi Simeon reveals a deeper meaning of the "who" of creation, as he describes how God manifested Himself in this world.

We study the third chapter of the introduction of the Zohar. We learn of the difference between the Hebrew terms, "mi" (who) and "mah" (what), and that God is One of Whom we can ask questions but never know the answer.

We read Rabbi Simeon's discourse on another verse in the Song of Songs, regarding the "Blossoms". In the first version, it is compared to days of creation in which life begins, while in the second version we read of the incarnation of the souls of the patriarchs.

We begin the study of this monumental and foundational work of Jewish mysticism with the first chapter in which Israel is compared to the flower of the lily.