A LITTLE INSIGHT OF T H E  Z O H A R
I am about to tacle a subjects that is harder than  any subject I considered before .

 People have heard the word KABBALAH without knowing  very well it’s meaning. It is a Jewish mystical tradition. Furthermore, the great literary work of the Kabala became the Zohar.

The word, Zoha means brightness, radiance, splendor. So it is frequently referred to in English as the book of splendor. Some people went further calling it illumination.
I admit that I have had a hard time, understanding it, let alone trying to explain it. It is easy to say that the Zohar is the classic work of Jewish mysticism. The style of its perception changes to invest old ideas with new dimensions. We look at things differently since there is a collision with the customary way we have come to look at things.

Somehow, I feel that I may have already confused the reader and I have yet to start telling more about the Zohar. If I told you that it is the primal light, the light of the eye, would you understand? It all starts with the creation of the world, the rehab, and nutrition, Adam , Noah. We need to try to see the world from one end to the other.

 

To complicate the issue, let’s ask a question:” Have we not learned that every effect has its  cause? What is this cause? Where does it come from? 

I read in a book called Zohar, by Rabbi, Jerry, Winston, who in his book
«Colors from the Zohar”, he  tries to explain that “these levels of causation may be looked upon as lights up on lights, each one more clear than the other, each one dark by comparison to the one above it”. Needless to say that for me too, this is a bit complicated. 
He speaks about the EYN SOF, That which is without end, that which was before the beginning . Before  there was even space or time, above and beyond all human knowledge, having neither shape nor form the absolute no thing, the perfect unity. The mysterious, one incomparable, unknown and unknowable.
He further speaks about the three first words of the Bible  “BERESHIT BARA ELOHIM “. I was most pleased to hear that he agrees with me.
These first three words taken as written mean BERESHIT CREATED GOD. The Zohar give another underscoring: « The  unknown and the unknowable created Elohim » . However as we read the rest of the sentence we understand that it means «  In the Beginning God created heaven and earth »
Traditionally, ELOHIM is one of the oldest name of God., but here , the rather daring Kabbalistic notion that ELOHIM is itself created, or, better still , emanates from the EYN SOF.
All this to say and show that any word, any expression, any sentence can have many different interpretations, thus making it hard for the common mortal we are. Yes, I include you and me since who are we to comprehend the vastness of our religion?
I only read twenty pages of the book I mentioned above and wrote only ten paragraphs, not even two pages, yet I feel this could be enough to give a very little idea of what the Kabbalah and the Zohar are like. I will not be surprised if the reader gives up, for  indeed this subject is not for  everybody .
My attempt, here was to give a little idea  to whoever wishes to know more. The word know comes from knowledge and God knows how much wisdom we can acquire by seeking it. Thank you Mr Socrates for having told :” I KNOW THAT I KNOW NOTHING »
I am tempted to finish here while I have so many saying about KNOWLEGE I wish to share with you.  Here are only a few:  
« À good decision is based on knowledge «.
«  The one exclusive sign of thorough knowledge is the power of teaching « from Aristotle
«Knowledge and actions are twins , each glorifying the other « from Rabbi Yossef Kimchi.

Reader, if you have a comment, an idea, an edit, a suggestion, please tell Jacques@WisdomWhereAreYou.com