The Unity of Above and Below

In honor of our teacher, R. Zalman Schachter-Shalom, ztz’l, on the occasion of his fifth Yahrzeit which begins at sunset tonight, 5 Tammuz, July 7, 2019, I offer this translation of Tikkunei Zohar 132a. May the memory of R. Zalman forever be a blessing! Gabbai Seth Fishman (Original text may be found clicking here)

My son: A merit comes to the one who unifies the blessed Holy One with His Shekhinah in this world because these parts suspend from these commandments. Then, the blessed Holy One couples with Her, with His Consort, in that world. And whoever comes near to bring an offering for Him [and] for His Shekhinah, the blessed Holy One comes near to Her, to His Consort. And whoever makes for Him a sanctuary, as scripture states, (ibid 25:8) “And they shall make Me a sanctuary” for the blessed Holy One, He makes for him, in that world, a house to dwell (for him) there which is the “holy of holies.” And whoever makes Him a Sukkah, the blessed Holy One forms shade over him in that world, and protects him from all destructive angels when emerging from this world and going to that world. Whoever blesses the blessed Holy One, and sanctifies him in his prayer in this world, the blessed Holy One blesses him in that world, and sanctifies him. And no sanctifications if less than ten. And also, thus, the blessed Holy One makes ten wedding canopies in Gan Eden for him.

Entire text below:

And there are commandments that depend on hearing. For example: The reciting of the Shema. Or other commandments where it is said: If one listens with one’s ears then one has fulfilled. And this is the sounding of the Shofar. After all, the whole commandment depends on those body-parts. But for the commandment of fear and love, these depend on mind and heart. And all commandments that involve doing, e.g. Sukkah and Lulav, depend on hands. And with those repairs, (alt. commandments), the person must differentiate between all angels that are called eyes of YHVH from ears of YHVH; and those of whom it is said (Psalms 104:4): “He makes of His angels winds, (of His ministers, burning fire)” which depends on the nose; and angels of whom it is said, (Ecclesiastes 10:20) “For the bird of heaven shall carry the voice,” that depends on voice; (ibid) “And the winged creature will tell the matter” that depends on speech; and angels that depend on doing, e.g. (Ezekiel 1:8) “and they had human hands”; and angels that are called signs, that depend on a [sign of a] Tzaddik, of whom it is said,(Jeremiah 10:2) “and from the signs of heaven be not dismayed;” and angels that depend on feet, of whom it is said (Ezekiel 1:14) “And the creatures darting to and fro,” and motion: That all of them are of YHVH. And [the person] needs to discern the angel’s point: In every single part is a point that is wrong for an angel who may be (light) water, and for an angel who may be fire, and for an angel who may be wind. For all points are either fire or wind or water, [but not all of them]. Malkhut is the vessel for dust. All of them are supernal and suspend from the Sefirot, and below, thus, there are angels that suspend from the throne, and from angel and from wheel. From there is a neshamah and ruach and nefesh: A body is a vessel for all of them. Michael, he is water, and he is appointed over the sea. And because of him, when Moses made Israel pass in the sea, he praised the blessed Holy One, as scripture states (Exodus 15:11) “Who is like You among the gods, YHVH,” Gabriel is appointed over fire, Uriel over wind, Rafael over dust. From those, there suspend many tens of thousands of angels who suspend from them.

My son: A merit comes to the one who unifies the blessed Holy One with His Shekhinah in this world because these parts suspend from these commandments. Then, the blessed Holy One couples with Her, with His Consort, in that world. And whoever comes near to bring an offering for Him [and] for His Shekhinah, the blessed Holy One comes near to Her, to His Consort. And whoever makes for Him a sanc-tuary, as scripture states, (ibid 25:8) “And they shall make Me a sanctuary,” for the blessed Holy One, He makes for him in that world a house to dwell (for him) there which is the “holy of holies.” And whoever makes Him a Sukkah, the blessed Holy One forms shade over him in that world, and protects him from all destructive angels when emerging from this world and going to that world.

Whoever blesses the blessed Holy One, and sanctifies him in his prayer in this world, the blessed Holy One blesses him in that world, and sanctifies him. And no sanctifications if less than ten. And also, thus, the blessed Holy One makes ten wedding canopies in Gan Eden for him. For the betrothals for the blessed Holy One with his Shekhinah are “Holy, Holy, Holy,” [three], and His Sheva Brachot [seven] which are in the recital of the Shema: In the morning service there are two before it and one after it, and in the evening service, there are two before it and two after it, making seven. And the union with Him which is Shema Yisrael. And thus the blessed Holy One blesses him and His bride, and sanctifies him with Her in holiness, and unifies both of them, and all is measure for measure [i.e. as above, so below].

To summarize: Whenever a person engages in commandments of the blessed Holy One for Him and His Shekhinah, so does the blessed Holy One engage in the person and his spouse in that world: Meritorious is his portion, i.e., the one who makes an effort to do His will. For no mouth can speak praise of Him in that world for it endures forever, but when a person serves the blessed Holy One with his will which is a passing moment in that world, he has built for him a structure in it, the blessed Holy One builds for him, for the person, in his world, a structure which endures forever. Meritorious is the one for whom He abides in every single one of his parts for yielding Him a place for abiding there, and consulting Him in every single part, that he shouldn’t have a part devoid of Him. That if one of his parts is lacking such that the holy Blessed One doesn’t abide in it, because of that part, he will be brought back into the world in reincarnation, until he becomes whole in his parts, that all of them may be whole in the image of the holy Blessed One. That if one is lacking, he is not in the image of the holy Blessed One. The holy Blessed One doesn’t abide in a perverse (lit. twisted) mouth for it is a blemish, because if his speech is perverse, of this scripture states (Ecclesiastes 1:15) “What is crooked will not be able to be straightened.” Mouth and heart: They are for receiving the written Torah and the Oral Torah. Voice and speech that issue from both of them: It is Vav-Hey. It needs to send it out in love and fear which is Yod-Hey. And if not, YHVH will not abide there.

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