Monday, April 28, 2014

Tikkunei haZohar

Tikkunei haZohar - will anyone be translating it soon?  I pray that this will be done with as much loving grace as professor Matt's translation.  Perhaps professor Matt will have enough wind in his sails to translate the Tikkunim some day.

There are two Zohars: Zohar haQadosh (The Holy Zohar), focusing on the Parashiot sections of the Torah; and the Tikkunei haZohar (Rectifications of the Zohar), focusing on the esoteric interpretations of the 1st verse of Genesis, Beresheet. 

Why are there two Zohars?  Well, why are there two Talmuds?  Talmud Bavli and Talmud Yerushalmi.  This has to do with polarity principles, laws of the dynamics of spiritual energy, around which our physical reality is structured.

The secret of the two Zohars relates to the two spellings of the name Metatron.  Most are familiar with the 6-letter spelling - MTTRON.  But there is also a 7-letter spelling MYTTRON.  This is found in Hekhalot literature, but the significance of the two spellings was first revealed by Rabbi Moshe Cordovero in Pardes Rimonim, Gate 14 on the Four Worlds.  MTTRON is in Malkut, while MYTTRON is in Keter.

This is why there are two Zohars and two Talmuds.  MTTRON is the intelligence which creates the code structure of Zohar haQadosh and Talmud Bavli, while MYTTRON is the intelligence which creates the code structure of Tikkunei haZohar and Talmud Yerushalmi. 

This understanding reveals the secrets of many other pairs in Torah tradition: two Keruvim over the Ark, two tefillin boxes, two tablets of the law,  written & orah Torah, positive & negative commandments, this world & the world to come, Moses & Aaron, 1st & 2nd temples, Tree of Life & Tree of Knowledge, and perhaps most importantly for this discussion of the Zohar: the Shekhinah (Divine Presence) & haQadosh Baruch Hu (The Blessed Holy One) - the masculine & feminine personifications of divine energy - the Zohar aims to not only tell their romance story, but activate the energy of their romantic coupling in the mind of its readers.

The question is: if Zohar haQadosh is Shekhinah, and Tikkunei haZohar is haQadosh Baruch Hu, will the two Zohars be brought together in holy union, thereby completing the English translation of their love story?  Or will Shekhinah be waiting with no one to satisfy her longing?

"I arose to open for my beloved, and my hands dripped with myrrh, and my fingers with flowing myrrh, upon the handles of the lock. I opened for my beloved, but my beloved had hidden and was gone; my soul went out when he spoke; I sought him, but found him not; I called him, but he did not answer me." -- Song of Songs 5:5-6

1 comment:

  1. Translation of excerpts of ever section and tikkunim here
    http://www.amazon.com/Tikunnei-Zohar-Revealed-English-Commentary/dp/1506134823/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1427047905&sr=1-1-fkmr0&keywords=tikkunei+zohar+revealed

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