Rabbinic Sources for Zohar Course with Daniel Matt, Fifth Series Class 3 I am collecting some of the Rabbinic texts that underlie portions of the Zohar as we are learning them from Prof. Daniel Matt in an online course on the Zohar. If you click on the name of an individual text, it will take you to the full source. Page numbers indicate where these texts are referenced in the footnotes, from: The Zohar, Pritzker Edition, Vol. 1 , translation and commentary by Daniel Matt, (Stanford University Press, 2004). English translations from Sefaria unless missing, in which case I translated. Learn more about the course here: https://www.sup.org/zohar/course/ These are from the fifth series of the Course. Ivan Ickovits · 2 Views · 09/04/2019 ·

....Said R Elazar "In every place that the text says 'And G-d' This alludes to the Divinity and his court"...

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As it was taught in a baraita: Shimon HaAmmassoni, and some say that it was Neḥemya HaAmmassoni, would interpret all occurrences of the word et in the Torah, deriving additional halakhot with regard to the particular subject matter. Once he reached the verse: “You shall be in awe of [et] the Lord your God; you shall serve Him; and to Him you shall cleave, and by His name you shall swear” (Deuteronomy 10:20), he withdrew from this method of exposition, as how could one add to God Himself? His students said to him: Rabbi, what will be with all the etim that you interpreted until now? He said to them: Just as I received reward for the interpretation, so I shall receive reward for my withdrawal from using this method of exposition. The word et in this verse was not explained until Rabbi Akiva came and expounded: “You shall be in awe of [et] the Lord your God”: The word et comes to include Torah scholars, and one is commanded to fear them just as one fears God. In any case, Shimon HaAmmassoni no longer derived additional halakhot from the word et.

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...1) And G-d remembered Rachel (Gen 30: 22) (Psalms 106,4), Remember us Lord within the will of your people, "impregnate us by your salvations Said R' Elazar, It was on Rosh Hashanah thet Sarah, Rachel and Hannah were impregnated

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(1) In thirty-two most occult and wonderful paths of wisdom did Yah the Lord of Hosts engrave his name: God of the armies of Israel (Tzevaot Elohai Yisrael), ever-living God (Elohim Hayim), merciful and gracious (v’Melekh Olam), sublime, dwelling on high (El Shaddai), who inhabiteth eternity. He created this universe by the three derivatives: Writing (SePHeR) Numbers (SePHoR), and Speech (SiPuR).

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§ The Sages taught: The word Azazel indicates that the cliff the goat is pushed from should be rough and hard. I might have thought that it may be located in a settled area. Therefore, the verse states: “In the wilderness.” And from where does one derive that the goat is pushed from a cliff? The verse states “gezeira,” indicating an area that is sharp, like a cliff. It was taught in another baraita: Azazel is a reference to the hardest mountain, and so it says: “And the mighty [eilei] of the land he took away” (Ezekiel 17:13). Azazel is interpreted as azaz-el, with the term el connoting something rough and hard.

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The school of Rabbi Yishmael taught: Azazel is so called because it atones for the actions of Uzza and Azael. These are the names of “sons of God” who sinned with “daughters of men” (Genesis 6:2) and thereby caused the world to sin during the generation of the Flood.

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(2) (Sammael) riding on the serpent came to her, and she conceived; afterwards Adam came to her, and she conceived Abel, as it is said, "And Adam knew Eve his wife" (Gen. 4:1). What is the meaning of "knew"? (He knew) that she had conceived. And she saw his likeness that it was not of the earthly beings, but of the heavenly beings, and she prophesied || and said: "I have gotten a man with the Lord" (ibid.).

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The Gemara raises a further difficulty: But doesn’t Reish Lakish say: What is the meaning of that which is written: “This is the book of the generations of Adam, in the day that God created man” (Genesis 5:1)? Did Adam the first man have a book? Rather, the verse teaches that the Holy One, Blessed be He, showed Adam, the first man, every generation and its expositors, every generation and its Sages, and every generation and its leaders. When Adam arrived at the generation of Rabbi Akiva, he rejoiced in his Torah and was saddened by his death, as Rabbi Akiva was tortured and murdered. Adam said: “How weighty also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them” (Psalms 139:17). It is evident from here that the Jews were destined to bear future generations from the beginning of time.

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And this, i.e., that the verse in Psalms is stated by Adam, is what Reish Lakish says: What is the meaning of that which is written: “This is the book of the generations of Adam” (Genesis 5:1)? This verse teaches that the Holy One, Blessed be He, showed Adam every generation and its Torah interpreters, every generation and its wise ones. When he arrived at his vision of the generation of Rabbi Akiva, Adam was gladdened by his Torah, and saddened by his manner of death. He said: “How weighty also are Your thoughts to me, O God,” i.e., how it weighs upon me that a man as great as Rabbi Akiva should suffer.

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Another verse in the same chapter states: “Now as I beheld the divine creatures, behold, one wheel [ofan] was upon the earth near the divine creatures” (Ezekiel 1:15). Rabbi Elazar said: This wheel is a certain angel who stands on the earth and its head reaches the divine creatures. It was taught in a baraita: This angel is named Sandalfon, who is taller than his colleague by a distance of five hundred years, and he stands behind the Divine Chariot and weaves crowns for his Maker. The Gemara asks: Is that so? Can crowns be woven for God? But isn’t it written: “Blessed be the Lord’s glory from His place” (Ezekiel 3:12), which proves by inference that no one knows His place? Therefore, how can crowns be woven for Him? Rather, it can be done by saying a name for the crown, and then the crown goes and sits on God’s head of its own accord.

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