Sabbatai Sevi: The Mystical Messiah, by Gershom Scholem (222-223)
Shortly before Pentecost, 1665, they returned to Gaza. Sabbatai, who had enjoyed a prolonged respite from his mania and completed his peregrination with Nathan without arousing astonishment or attention, again fell prey to his periodic sickness. On the eve of Pentecost he had one of his "unaccountable" fits of melancholia, "and he was like a sick man filled with anxiety, because he was unable to attend the reading" of the watch-night liturgy on the eve of Shabu'oth together with Nathan...In Sabbatai's absence, and while the assembled scholars were chanting hymns, Nathan fell into a swoon during which he uttered exhortations to those present to repent of their sins. Finally a voice was heard, saying, "Heed ye Nathan my beloved, to do according to his word. Heed ye Shabbatai Sevi, my beloved. For if ye knew the praise of Rabbi Hamnuna the Ancient, 'and the Man Moses was very meek.'" The voice repeated this three times. The assembled rabbis did not understand the reference to Sabbatai Sevi and inquired of Nathan, after he had recovered from his trance, the meaning of his prophecy. And now Nathan came forward, for the first time, with a public messianic declaration: Sabbatai Sevi is worthy to be king over Israel.
Sh'nei Luchot HaB'rit, by Rabbi Isaiah Halevi Horowitz ("Shelah")
Translation adapted from Rabbi Dr. Alan Brill's Kavvanah Blog
(https://kavvanah.wordpress.com/2013/08/06/shavuot-night-syndrome/)
The pious one [Rabbi Yosef Karo] and I resolved to make a mighty effort to keep sleep from our eyes on Shavuot night, and not to stop learning for even one second. Thank God we were successful. When you hear what transpired, it will enliven your souls.
For the night of Shavuot, this is the order of study I prepared…. [Verses from Scripture *] All this we did in a spirit of great fear and awe, with melody and trepidation. But what will be told next won’t be believed.
After all the verses, we recited aloud all the Mishnah’s of Zera’im (the first of the Six Orders), and then we started again, learning it in the way of true learning, and we completed two tractates. At that moment, the Creator graced us and we heard a great voice coming from Rabbi Karo, the words unintelligible. The people nearby heard but could not understand. The voice was very pleasing but at the same time was growing continually stronger, and we fell on our faces from the great awe. No one dared to lift his eyes and face to see.
The voice spoke:
Fortunate are you…because you took it upon yourselves to crown Me… “Listen my beloved, those who most glorify the Creator, my loved ones, peace to you. Fortunate are you and fortunate are those that bore you. Fortunate are you in This World and fortunate you will be in the World to Come, because you took it upon yourselves to crown Me on this night. It has been many years since my crown has fallen, and there has been no one to comfort Me. I had been cast to the dust embracing the filth, but now you have restored the crown.
Strengthen yourselves my dear ones; forge ahead my beloved; be happy and joyous, and know that you are among the exalted. You merited to be in the King’s palace. The voice of your Torah and breath of your mouths arose before God and pierced through the surroundings and many firmaments, until the messenger-angels on high were quieted, and the fire-angels hushed and all God’s lofty army listened to your voices.
I am the Mishna that admonishes mankind. I have come to speak to you. If only there were ten of you, you would have ascended higher. Even so, you have elevated yourselves and those who bore you. You are fortunate, my dear ones, for because of you, sleep passed from the eyes of those who bore you. I have been summoned this night through those gathered in this great and prestigious city. You are not like those lying on their beds, sleeping a sleep that is one-sixtieth of death, besmirching their beds. You bound to the One and have pleased Him.
If you could imagine even one thousandth myriad of my pain, no joy could enter your hearts, no laughter could escape your mouths, considering that on your account I have been cast to the dust. Therefore, strengthen and fortify yourselves my children, my dear ones who glorify Me. Do not halt your efforts, for the thread of kindness is drawn to you, and your Torah is sweet before Him.
Therefore, stand my sons, my dear ones, on your feet and elevate me. With a loud voice, as on Yom Kippur, declare, ‘Blessed is the name of his glorious kingdom for ever and ever.'” Move to the Land of Israel…Do not value your belongings, for you will partake of the best of the supernal levels…
Standing on our feet, we recited aloud, as bidden. The voice then resumed:
Fortunate are you, my children. Return to your learning and do not stop one minute. Move to the Land of Israel, because not all times are equal, and there is no preventing salvation, whether by much or by a little. Do not value your belongings, for you will partake of the best of the supernal levels.
And if you desire and will obey, the choicest of that land you will consume. Therefore, hurry and travel there for I am the cause that sustains you, and will continue to sustain you. Peace to you in your houses, and peace in all there is to you. Eternal God gives strength to His people and blesses them with peace’.
מנורת המאור, הרב ישראל אלנקאוה
מעשה בתלמיד אחד, שהיה מתייחד במקום אחד, והיה למד בו מסכת חגיגה. והיה מהדר ומהפך בה כמה פעמים, עד שלמד אותה היטב והיתה שגורה בפיו, ולא היה יודע מסכתא אחרת מן התלמוד זולתה, והיה שונה בה כל ימיו. כיון שנפטר מן העולם הוה, היה לבדו באותו בית שהיה לומד בו מםכת הנינה, ולא היה שום אדם יודע פטירתו. מיד באה אשה אתת, ועמדה עליו, והרימה קולה בבכי ובמספד, ותרבה אנחתה וצעקתה כאשר שהיא סופדת על בעלה, עד אשר נקבצו ההמון, ואמרה להם, ספדו לחסיד זה, וקברוהו בכבוד גדול, וכבדו את ארונו, ותזכו לחה' העולם הבא, שזה כבדני כל ימיו ולא הייתי עזובה ולא שכוחה בימיו. מיד נתקבצו כל הנשים וישבו עמה סביב למטתו ועשו עליו מספד גדול, והאנשים נתעסקו בתכריכיו ובכל צרכי קבורתו, וקברו אותו בכבוד גדול. ואותה אשה בובה במר נפש וצועקת. אמרו לה, מה שמך. אמר להם, חגינה שמי. וכיון
שנקבר אותו חסיד נעלמה מן העין אותה אשה. מיד ידעו שמסכת חנינה היתה, שנראית להם בצורת אשה, ובאה בשעת פטירתו לספוד לו ולבכותו ולקברו בכבוד, מפני שהיה שונה בה ושוקד עליה ללמוד
אותה. והלא דברים קל וחומר, ומה חסיד זה שלא למד אלא מסכתא אחת בלבד כך, הלמד תורה הרבה ותלמוד הרבה ומעמיד תלמידים הרבה על אחת כמה וכמה.
Menorat HaMaor, by Rabbi Yisrael Al-Nakawa (III:275-276)
It happened with one student who secluded himself in one place and there studied Masekhet Chagigah, and would review and circle it many times until he had learned it well, and it flowed from his mouth. He did not know another tractate from the Talmud besides it, and he studied it all his days. When he passed away, he was along in the house in which he studied Masekhet Chagigah, and nobody knew of his death. Immediately, a single woman came and stood over him, and raised her voice in crying and wailing, her distress and screams as great as if she were wailing over her husband. until the masses gathered. She said to them, "Eulogize this pious one, bury him with great honor, and honor his casket, and you will merit life in the world to come, just as this one honored me all his days. I was never alone or forgotten all his days." Immediately the women all gathered and sat with her around his bed and they made a great wailing, and the men busied themselves with his shrouds and the other needs for his burial, and they buried him with great honor. This woman cried bitterly and screamed. They said to her, "What is your name?" She said to them, "My name is Chagigah." Once they buried the pious one, the woman vanished from sight. They immediately knew that it was Masekhet Chagigah that had appeared to them in the form of a woman, and had come at the time of his death to wail and cry over him and bury him with honor, because he had studied her and diligently learned from her. And is not a Kal v'Chomer, just as this pious one who never learned a single tractate other than this one, one who learns much Torah and much Talmud, and raises up many students, all the more so!
Zohar (III:97a-98b)
162) Rabbi Abba and Rabbi Hiyya were walking in the road. Rabbi Hiyya said: It is written “And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Shabbat, from the day of bringing the Omer…” (Lev 23:15). Would does this teach? He said to him: the Companions have established it thus. Come and see: When Israel was in Egypt, they were in the domain of the Other [Side], and they were separated, like a woman who sits during the days of her impurity. After they were circumcised their portion ascended to that holy portion called brit, “covenant.” Once they were singled out, their impurity ceased from them, like a woman whose blood of impurity ceases from her. After it ceases from her, what is written? “And she shall count for herself seven days” (Lev 15:28). Here too, once they had ascended to the holy portion, their impurity ceased from them, and the blessed Holy One said: from this point on is their counting of purification.
163) “And you shall count for yourselves.” “For yourselves”—specifically; just as we say “and she shall count for herself seven days”: “to her”—for herself. Here too, “for you”—for yourselves. Why? So that one may be purified in the supernal holy waters. And thereafter one is connected with the King and to receive the Torah.
164) It says there, “she shall count for herself seven days,” and here it says “seven weeks.” Why “seven weeks”? So as to be purified by the waters of that river that flows and comes out and is called living waters, and the seven weeks come out of that river. And for that reason “seven weeks”—specifically, so that he might merit thereby, like that pure woman who is united with her husband on that night.
165) It is written thus: “And when the dew descended upon the camp at night” (Num 11:9). It is written ”upon the camp”; it is not written “when the dew descended at night,” but rather “upon the camp.” Because it descended from that point upon those days that are called “camp,” and are connected with the Holy King. And when does that dew descend? When Israel approached Mount Sinai, then that dew descended in wholeness, and they were purified and their impurity ceased from them, and they were connected to the King and to the Congregation of Israel, and they received Torah, and it lasted. And that time is certainly “all the brooks go to down to the sea” (Eccles 1:7), to become clean and purified, and they are all connected [or: sanctified] and connected therein to the Holy King.
166) Come and see: All those people who do not complete this counting of “seven complete weeks,” so as to merit to purity, are not called pure, and are not included among those who are pure, and are not worthy to have a share in Torah. And one who comes in purity to that day and did not lose that reckoning, when he comes to that night, he is required to involve himself with Torah and to be connected therewith and to guard supreme purity on that night and to be pure…And one who reaches that day in purity and did not lose count, when he comes to that night it behooves him to labor in Torah and be connected therewith and to preserve the elevated purity he has attained on that night and to be pure.
167) And we have learned that the Torah one ought to study on that night is the Oral Torah, so as to be purified (cleave) from the flowing waters of that deep stream. Thereafter, during that day the Written Torah comes and is connected to it, and they are one in a supernal unity. Then it is declared above concerning him: “And as for me, this is my covenant with them, says the Lord: My spirit, which is upon you, and my words which I have placed in your mouth [shall not depart from you, nor from your children, nor from your children’s children, from now on and for ever more]” [Isa 59:21].”
168) For that reason, the pious ones of old would not sleep on that night, but would labor in Torah, saying, Let us acquire a holy inheritance for ourselves and for our children in both worlds. And on that night the Congregation of Israel is crowned above, and comes to be united with the Holy King, and both of them have crowns upon their heads—may we merit to this.
169) Rabbi Shimon used to say, at that hour that the companions gathered together on that night: Let us go and prepare the adornments of the bride, so that she may be ready to appear before the king with her jewels and adornments as is proper. Happy is the share of the Companions when the king asks his Lady (Matrona) who has prepared her beautiful adornments, and made her crown radiant, and done all her preparations. For there is no one in the entire world who knows how to arrange the adornments of the bride like the Companions. Happy is their share in this world and in the world to come!
170) Come and see: On that night the companions prepare the adornments for the bride, and crown her with her crown to go to the king. Who prepares the king on that night, that he may be with the bride, to unite with the Lady? The deep holy Stream, deeper than all streams, the Supernal Mother. Of her it is written: “Come out and see, O daughters of Zion, the King Solomon [with the crown that his mother crowned him on his wedding day, and on the day of his heart’s joy]” (Song 3:11). After she has prepared the King and crowned him, she goes to purify the Lady and those who are with her.
171) [This may be compared to] a king who had a single son, whom he united in marriage with a noble lady. What did his mother do? She spent that entire night in her storeroom, and she took out a splendid crown adorned with seventy precious stones with which to crown him, and she took robes of silk and dressed him, and prepared him in royal fashion.
172) Then she went up to the house of the bride, and saw how her maidens were preparing her crown and garments and adornments. She said to them: I have prepared a house for her to bathe, a place of flowing waters and fragrant smells and perfumes to purify my daughter-in-law. May my son’s bride and her maidens come and be purified in that place of flowing waters, and afterwards they may afix her adornments and dress her with her garments and crown her with her diadem. Then let my son come and unite with his Lady. And a palace has been prepared for the bride, and let them live there as one.
173) When the Holy King and the Lady and the Companions are in this way, and the Supernal Mother has prepared everything, we find that the Supernal King and the Lady and the Companions dwell together, and do not separate for ever…
Rav Hiyya said: If we had not merited to come to this world except to hear these words, it would have been enough. Happy is the portion of those who labor in Torah and know the pathways of the Holy King, those whose desire is in the Torah….
Sefirot Chart
(יד) יוֹנָתִ֞י בְּחַגְוֵ֣י הַסֶּ֗לַע בְּסֵ֙תֶר֙ הַמַּדְרֵגָ֔ה הַרְאִ֙ינִי֙ אֶתּ־מַרְאַ֔יִךְ הַשְׁמִיעִ֖ינִי אֶת־קוֹלֵ֑ךְ כִּי־קוֹלֵ֥ךְ עָרֵ֖ב וּמַרְאֵ֥יךְ נָאוֶֽה׃ (ס)
(14) O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the covert of the cliff, Let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; For sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely.’
(ד) רבי עקיבא פתר קרייה בישראל בשעה שעמדו לפני הר סיני. יונתי בחגוי הסלע שהיו חבויין בסתרו של סיני. הראיני את מראיך שנאמר: וכל העם רואים את הקולות. השמיעני את קולך זה קול שלפני הדברות שנאמר: (שמות כ"ד) כל אשר דבר ה' נעשה ונשמע. כי קולך ערב זה קול שלאחר הדברות. שנאמר: (דברים ה') וישמע ה' את קול דבריכם וגו' הטיבו כל אשר דברו. מהו הטיבו? כל אשר דברו. חייא בר אדא ובר קפרא חד אמר: הטבה, כהטבת הנרות. וחד אמר: הטבה, כהטבת הקטורת. ומראך נאוה שנאמר: (שמות כ') וירא העם וינועו ויעמדו מרחוק.
Rabbi Akiva decoded the verse to mean the hour that Israel stood before Mount Sinai. "My dove in the cleft of the rock in the hiding place of the steep (2:14)," for they were hidden in the hiding places of Sinai. "Show me your visage (2:14)," as it says, "And all of the people saw the voices (Ex. 20:14)"--"Let me hear your voice," this is the voice from before the commandments, for it says, "All that you say we will do and we will hear" (Ex. 24:7) - "For your voice is pleasant," this is the voice after the commandments, as it says, "God has heard the voice of your speaking; this which you have said is goodly (Deut. 5:25)."