Chapter 1 (PDF) - Stanford University Press

within a single palace. 119
the zohar [1:3b]
the essence of everything lies in that key, which closes and opens.
palace,
that palace lie hidden treasures, one greater than the other. Within
Within
palace stand gates built cryptically, fifty of them. Carved into four sides,
that
were forty-nine. One gate has no side. No one knows whether it is above
they
orbelow; it is shut. 120
and opening. Six gates are contained in that key that closes and
closing 122 When it closes those gates, enclosing them within itself, then indeed:
opens.
(bara) is a concealed word, closing, not opening. As long as the world 125
a single key...a single palace The
119.
of Ḥokhmah opens and closes the palace
key
Forty-nine gates of Binah are re-
in fourlowersefirot, corresponding to
vealed
fourdirections: Ḥesed (south), Gevurah
the
Tif'eret (east), and Shekhinah (west).
(north),
fiftieth gate remains hidden; it ``has no
The
and ``is shut.''
side''
BT Rosh ha-Shanah 21b: ``Rav and
See
understanding, were created in the
(binah),
all of which were given to Moses
world,
forone, as is said: You made him little
except
than God (Psalms 8:6).'''
less
of ``forty-nine'' (preferred by OL),
Instead
witnesses (C12, Ms3, M, Cr) read
several
``forty.''
one lock . . . The opening within
121.
The ``precise place'' is the subtle link
Binah.
the primordial point of Ḥokhmah
between
the womb of the Divine Mother, Binah.
and
in the Zohar this site is identified
Elsewhere
a path unknown to any vulture (Job 28:7).
as
1:29a±b; 2:122b±123a; 3:61b.
See
Six gates . . . The six sefirot hidden
122.
Ḥokhmah. See Zohar 2:177a (SdTs).
within
``six'', referring to the revelation of
(shit),
six sefirot.
the
(SdTs); and Liebes, Studies in the
2:178b
146±52.
Zohar,
the Zoharic title of Rabbi
Qaddisha),
son of Yoḥai. See Zohar 1:4a, 156a,
Shim'on
3:171a; ZḤ 85d (MhN, Rut).
197b;
2 Samuel 21:17; Bereshit Rabbah 85:4;
See
world The lower sefirot, which constitute
125.
the pattern of all the worlds.
Although everything is hidden away within that
In those gates is one lock and one precise place for
inserting the key, 121 marked only by the impress of the key, known only to the
Concerning this mystery it is written:
C \K[BZ BZC KFNB O
(Be-reshit bara
key.
In the beginning God created. C K[BZ \ (Be-reshit) is the key enclosing all,
Elohim),
\ (Be-reshit)Ða revealed word combined with a concealed word. C BZ
K[BZC
created, is always concealed, closing, not opening.''' 123
(Bara),
Yose said, ``Certainly so! I heard the Holy Lamp 124 say so, that C BZ
Rabbi
was
(bara), it was not, did not exist. Enveloping
18
locked within the word
Z B C
Binah. of
Carved into four sides . . . forty-
120.
nine...
123. revealed word ...concealed word...
The word
K[BZ \ (Be-reshit) contains two
C
C Z B (bara), ``created'', referring to
words:
hidden mystery of creation, and [ \K
the
Yehuda Liebes argues that the insistence
Shemu'el both said, `Fifty gates of
C
FRK
the concealed nature of C Z B (bara) alludes
on
to a different pronunciation and meaning:
B
(bera), ``son,'' the Divine Son. See Zohar
ZC
Holy Lamp C BRKXG [KEY B
124.
(Botsina
(Mi), ``Who,'' indicating Binah
``forty.'' KP suggests that the original reading
was
K P
and Herfifty (the gimatriyya of
K ) gates, P
that this word was misread as P ' (mem),
and
BT Ketubbot 17a, where Rabbi Abbahu is
called:
BRKXG ZGFRE B (Botsina di-Nhora),
C
``Lamp of Light''; and Berakhot 28b, where
Yoḥanan son of Zakkai is called R Z
Rabban
N (Ner Yisra'el), ``Lamp of Israel.''
BZ[K