The Aqedah: Examples of Mystical Readings
Kabbalah Mysticism: Selection from The Zohar (Main
text in Kabbalah)
In explaining the verse, "God (Elohim) tested Abraham" (Genesis 22:1), the Zohar says:
Come and see the secret of the word:
Even though we have said
that Abraham, not Isaac, is designated in the verse,
Isaac is secretly implied,
for it is written:
"Elohim tested et Abraham."
Not "Abraham," but "et Abraham."
It is precisely this et that refers to Isaac.
For until now, Isaac was dwelling in the sphere of lower power.
As soon as he was bound on the altar,
initiated into Judgment by Abraham,
he was arrayed in his own sphere alongside Abraham.
Fire was crowned with Water; both rose higher.
Thus the battle was joined: Water versus Fire.
Who has ever seen a compassionate father turn cruel?
It was only to reveal the polarity: Water versus Fire,
each one arrayed in its own sphere,
until Jacob appeared and everything harmonized:
the triad of Patriarchs,
the symmetry of above and below.
This passage offers the secret (the
"remez" of the fourfold interpretation) of the biblical verse. The explanation
depends on the fact that the verse uses the small word et (which
is used to indicate a direct object in Biblical Hebrew). For the Zohar,
et means Isaac was included in the test.
Furthermore, in the Zohar et refers to the lowest sefirah, the Shekhinah. So Isaac's advancement through the sefirotic levels had been blocked at the lowest level. But when he was bound, he advanced to the level of Din, Judgment. Abraham had attained a position in Hesed, Love, by his devotion. Now, Isaac's position in Judgment balances Abraham's position in Love: Water balancing Fire. They have completed one another but are not fully reconciled until Jacob, the third Patriarch arrives. Jacob represents the sefirah of Tiferet (Beauty and Harmony).
Now the symmetry on earth below matches the symmetry in the divine life.
The Individual
Notice that the lower world of creation is a microcosm of the upper, sefirotic world. The individual is also a microcosm of the upper world.According to the Zohar, there was no material world until Adam sinned. Adam was purely spiritual. When he sinned, this paradise ended. Adam assumed bodily form and was placed in the lower world. Disharmony replaced harmony in the Sefiroth, especially between Tiferet and Malkhut. Malkhut is estranged from Tiferet and wanders in exile, as the earthly community of Israel does.
"The task of all human beings is to restore the original harmony
through ritual and moral activity. Every proper deed contributes to the
well-being of the life of God while every improper action serves to reinforce
the disunity with divine life" (Holtz, 328). Proper earthly action repairs
the consequences of Adam's sin. It restores the love between Tiferet and
Malkhut. It also reestablishes the proper relationship between the individual
and the Sefirot. The Kabbalistic word for this repair is tikkun. Prayer
is one of the primary ways to accomplish tikkun.