The Jewish mystical writings of the Middle Ages, and especially the Zohar, the Cabbalist commentary on the Pentateuch, present a drama wherein the phenomena of worldly life serve as mere symbols of what takes place between the human soul and its Creator, between the Community of Israel and the Holy One. In this drama, Zion and Jerusalem play a great role. Their past glory, their fall and hoped-for rise, are intricately bound up with the destiny of Israel and of the world. Jerusalem destroyed causes a critical disunity in the whole of the universe; the restoration of Jerusalem will bring about harmony even within the Deity.

The following passages from the Zohar illustrate the typical blend of the rational and the supernatural, the heavenly and the earthly, which is Jerusalem. The drama of the fall and the restoration takes place simultaneously on two levels, one upper, one lower. In the condensed rendition of these passages from the Aramaic, culled from various parts of the Zohar, the Soncino Press translation (London, 1949), by H. Sperling and Maurice Simon, has been consulted.—Nahum N. Glatzer

______________

One day the friends were walking with Rabbi Simeon. He said: “I see all other nations raised and Israel humiliated. Why so? Because the King, God, has sent away the Queen, Israel, and has put the handmaid, the alien Crown, in her place.” He wept and continued: “A king without a queen is no king; if the king is attached to the handmaid of the queen, where is his glory? The handmaid rules over Zion as the Queen once ruled over it. But one day the Holy One will restore the Queen to her rightful place; who shall then rejoice like the King and the Queen?—the King because he has returned to her, and has separated from the handmaid, and the Queen because she is reunited to the King. Hence it is written: Rejoice exceedingly, O daughter of Zion (Zech. 9:9).

______________

 

The souls of the Lower Paradise at times go forth and roam about the world. They behold those suffering who have been afflicted for the sake of their belief in the unity of God. The souls return, and report to the Messiah what they have seen. The Messiah weeps aloud; he enters the Hall of the Afflicted, and there takes upon himself entirely the pain and the sufferings of Israel. So long as Israel was in the Holy Land, the service in the Sanctuary and the offerings averted afflictions from the world; now it is the Messiah who spares mankind.

______________

 

The Messiah shall reveal himself first in the land of Galilee: it was here in the Holy Land that the destruction began. All the rulers will gather to wage war against him, and even from among Israel some evil ones will join the battle against the Messiah. The Messiah lifts up his eyes and he sees the Patriarchs standing at the ruins of God’s Sanctuary. He sees Mother Rachel with tears in her eyes. The Holy One tries to comfort her, but she refuses to be comforted. The day will come when a fire shall flame in Great Rome [Constantinople] and it will consume the towers and turrets; many among the great and powerful shall perish in it. The rulers will take counsel together and issue decrees for the destruction of Israel. The Messiah sees an image of the destruction of the Sanctuary and of all the martyred saints. The saintly fathers will then rise and gird the Messiah with weapons of war—Abraham at his right, Isaac at his left, Jacob in front of him. Whereupon the Messiah will take ten garments of holy zeal and go into hiding for forty days; no eye shall be permitted to look at him.

The Holy One will behold the Messiah thus attired, and He will take him and kiss him upon his brow and crown him with the crown that He Himself wore when the children of Israel were freed from the Egyptian bondage; with this same crown will He crown King Messiah.

Then the Messiah will enter one of the sanctuaries and there see the angels who are called “the mourners of Zion” weeping over the destruction of the Holy Temple. They will give him a robe of deep red that he may begin his work of vengeance.

After having been crowned on high, the Messiah will be crowned on earth, by the grave of Mother Rachel, to whom he will offer happy tidings; now she will let herself be comforted and will rise and kiss him.

His army will consist of those who are diligent in the study of the Torah, but there will be only a few of these in the world. Yet his army will gain strength: through the merit of the children at school and through the merit of the infants for whose sake the Divine Presence dwells in the midst of Israel in exile. It is the young who will give strength to the Messiah.

That day, the Messiah will begin to gather the exiles from one end of the world to the other. From that day on, the Holy One will perform for Israel all the signs and wonders which He performed in Egypt.

______________

 

After the destruction of the Temple, blessings were withheld from the world, both on high and here below, so that the baser forces were strengthened and could exercise control over Israel who had sinned. When the Temple was destroyed and the people driven into dispersion, the Divine Presence left her home to accompany Israel into exile. Before leaving, the Divine Presence took one last look at the Holy of Holies and the places where the Priests and the Levites worshipped.

Entering the lands of dispersion, the Divine Presence saw how the people were oppressed and tyrannized over by the heathen nations. But in the days to come, the Holy One will recall the Community of Israel, and the Divine Presence will return from exile. The Holy One will speak to the Community of Israel: Shake thyself from the dust, arise, O captive Jerusalem (Isa. 52:2). He will erect the Sanctuary, restore the Holy of Holies, build the city of Jerusalem, and raise Israel from the dust. Thus the Writ says first: The Lord doth build up Jerusalem; and then, He gathereth together the dispersed of Israel; and finally, Who healeth the broken in heart and bindeth up their wounds (Ps. 147:2-3).

______________

+ A A -
You may also like
Share via
Copy link