Idra Rabba Qadusha.pdf

IDRA RABBA QADUSHA

GREATER HOLY ASSEMBLY

From the

Sefer HaZohar

Mantuan Codex: B’midbar III: 127a-144b

IDRA RABBA QADUSHA

Greater Holy Assembly

The following translation is the Work of the Chariot edition of the Idra Rabba

Qadusha published in 1970.Verses from the Torah are written in Bold Italic . Verses

from the Writings and Prophets are written in Bold . References to figures relate to the

book: Qabalah: The Mystical Heritage of the Children of Abraham (Work of the

Chariot 2001, ISBN 0-9701360-4-8).

Chapter One

1. Tradition: Rabbi Shimeon spoke unto his companions, and said: “How long shall we

abide in the condition of one column by itself , 1 when it is written ( Psalms 119.126): It is

time for You Lord hvhy to lay to your hand, for they have made void your Torah .”

2. “The days are few, and the creditor is urgent; the herald cries aloud daily, and the

reapers of the land are few; and those who are about the end of the vineyard attend not,

and have not known where may be the lawful place.”

3. “Assemble yourselves, O my companions, in an open space, equipped with armor and

spears; be ye ready in your preparations, in council, in wisdom, in understanding, in

science, in care, with hands and feet! Appoint as King over you, Him in whose power is

life and death, so that the words of truth may be received: things unto which the supernal

holy ones attend, and rejoice to hear and to know them.”

4. Rabbi Shimeon sat down and wept; then he said: “Woe! If I shall reveal it! Woe if I

shall not reveal it!”

5. His companions who were there were silent.

6. Rabbi Abba arose and said unto him: “With the favor of the Lord, also it is written

( Psalms 25.14): The secret of the Lord hvhy is with them that fear Him. And well do

these companions fear that Holy and Blessed One. His house, some of them have only

entered, and some of them have departed also.”

7. Moreover, it is said the companions who were with Rabbi Shimeon were numbered,

and they were found to consist of Rabbi Eleazer, his son; and Rabbi Abba, and Rabbi

Yehuda, and Rabbi Yosi, son of Jacob, and Rabbi Yitza’aq, and Rabbi Chisqiah, son of

Rav, and Rabbi Chaiya, and Rabbi Yosi, and Rabbi Yisa.

8. They gave their hands unto Rabbi Shimeon, and raised their fingers on high, and

entered into a field under the trees and sat down.

9. Rabbi Shimeon arose and offered a prayer. He sat in the midst of them, and said: “Let

whosoever will, place his hand in my bosom.” They placed their hands there and he took

them.

10. When he began, he said ( Torah Doverim 27.15): “ Cursed is the man that makes any

graven or molten image, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and puts it in a secret

place. And all the people shall answer and say Amen. ”

11. Rabbi Shimeon began and said: “Time for You, O Lord hvhy to lay Your hand .

Why is it time for Lord hvhy to lay to His hand ? Because they have made void Your

Torah . What is this, they have made void Your Torah ? The higher Torah , 2 which is

itself made void, if it be NOT ( al , Vast Face) carried out according to the Tikkunim

( ,ynvqyt , Perfections, i.e. Sefiroth). This has been said concerning the Ancient of Days

( ]ypna ;yra , Arikh Anafin ).”

12. “For it is written ( Torah Doverim 33.29): Blessed are you, O Israel; who is like unto

you? Also it is written ( Torah Shmoth 15.11): Who is like unto You among the gods, O

Lord hvhy ? ”

13. He called Rabbi Eleazer, his son, and commanded him to sit down before him, and

Rabbi Abba on the other side, and said: “We are the form of all things, the three columns

of the Sefiroth; thus far are the Tikkunim established.” 3

14. They kept silence, and they heard a voice; and their knees knocked one against the

other with fear. What was that voice? The voice of the Higher Assembly, which had

assembled above.

15. Rabbi Shimeon rejoiced and said ( Habakuk 3.1): “ O Lord hvhy ! I have heard

Your speech, and was afraid! He has said: ‘It is therefore rightly done, seeing that fear

has followed; but for us the matter rather depends on love.’ Like as it is written ( Torah

Shmoth 6.5): And you shall delight in the Lord hvhy your Elohim. Also it is written

( Malachi 1.2): I have loved you .”

16. Rabbi Shimeon said further ( Proverbs 9.13): “ He who walks, going up and down,

reveals the secret; but the faithful in spirit conceals the word.”

17. “ He who walks going up and down. This saying merits question, because it says,

‘Going up and down.’ Wherefore then ‘walks’? The man is already said to be going up

and down; what is this word ‘walk’?”

18. “For truly it is true concerning that man who is not stable in his spirit nor truthful,

that the word which he has heard is moved hither and thither, like a straw in the water,

until it comes forth from him.”

19. “For what reason? Because his spirit is not a firm spirit.”

20. “But concerning him who is firm in spirit it is written: But the faithful conceals the

word. ‘Faithful in spirit’ denotes firmness of spirit; like it is said ( Isaiah 22.23): And I

will fasten him as a nail in a sure place . Matter depends on Spirit.” 4

21. “And it is written ( Ecclesiastes 5.6): Suffer not your mouth to cause thy flesh to

sin .”

22. “For neither does the world remain firm, except through secrets. And in worldly

affairs there be so great a need for secrets, how much more in the things of the most

secret of secrets, and in the meditation of the Ancient of Days, which matters are not

even revealed unto the highest angels.” 5

23. Rabbi Shimeon said, moreover: “I will not say it unto the heavens, that they may

hear; I will not declare it unto the earth, that it may hear; for certainly we are the pillars

of the Universe.”

24. It is said that in the Secrets of Secrets, when Rabbi Shimeon opened his mouth, the

whole space was shaken, and his companions were also shaken.

Chapter Two

25. HE manifested the Secret, and commencing, said ( Torah B’reshith 36.29): “ And

those are the kings (i.e. the Sefiroth) which reigned in the land of Edom before that a

king could rule over the children of Israel .”

26. Blessed are ye, O just men! Because unto you is manifested the Secret ( dvc , Sod ) of

the Secret of the Torah , which has not been manifested unto the holy superior ones.

27. Who can follow out this matter? And who is worthy to do so? For it is the testimony

of the truth of truths. Therefore let our prayers be undertaken with devotion, lest it be

imputed as a sin, that I am making this matter manifest.

28. And perchance my companions may speak unto me, because some objection may

arise against these words. For truly this work is not such a one as may be easily written

down, so that by it may appear how many kings there were before the children of Israel

came; how therefore does this matter agree? And for this reason my companions have

moved the question.

29. Therefore, the Secret of Secrets is what man can neither know nor comprehend, nor

can they apply their rules of science to it.

30. It is said that before the Ancient of the Ancient Ones, the Concealed of the Concealed

Ones, instituted the formations of the King ( ]ypna ryiz , Ze’ir Anafin ) and the diadems;

beginning and end existed as NOT ( al ).

31. Therefore he carved out and instituted proportions in Himself, and spread out before

Him a certain veil; and therein carved out and distributed the kings and their forms by a

certain proportion; but they subsisted as NOT ( al ), into quiet.

32. That is the same thing that is said ( Torah B’reshith 36.29): And these are the kings

who reigned in the land of Edom, before that there reigned a king over the children of

Israel. The first king in respect of the children of Israel is ‘The First’ (Sefirah Knowledge

(of the Ayn )/The First).

33. And all those things which were carved out, but subsisted as NOT ( al ), are called by

their names, neither yet did they subsist, until he forsook them, and hid Himself before

them.

Chapter Three

34. And after a certain time was that veil entirely disunited in formless separation, and

recomposed according to the Tikkunim (Sefiroth).

35. And this is the tradition: The Absolute desired within Himself to create the essence of

light (n. letters of the alphabet), hidden for two thousand years, and produced Him ( Ze’ir

Anafin ). And He ( Ze’ir Anafin ) answered unto Him ( Arikh Anafin ): “He ( Arikh Anafin )

who wishes to dispose and to constitute other things, let Him ( Ze’ir Anafin ) first be

disposed according to the Tikkunim .

36. This is the tradition described in the “Concealed Book of the King,” that the Ancient

of the Ancient Ones, the Concealed of the Concealed Ones, has been constituted and

prepared as in various members.

37. Like as if it were said, “He is found, and He is NOT ( al ) found;” for He cannot be

clearly comprehended, but He has as it were been formed; neither yet is He to be known

by any, since He is the Ancient of the Ancient Ones ( Arikh Anafin ).

38. But in His Tikkunim is He first established, as also He is the Eternal of the Eternal

Ones, the Ancient of the Ancient Ones, the Concealed of the Concealed Ones; and in His

letters is He knowable and NOT ( al ) knowable.

39. White are His garments, and His appearance is the likeness of a Face vast and

terrible.

40. Upon the throne of flaming light is He seated, so that He may direct its flashes.

41. Into forty thousand superior worlds the brightness of the skull of His Head is

extended, and from the light of this brightness the just shall receive four hundred worlds

in the world to come.

42. This is that which is written ( Torah B’reshith 23.16): Four hundred shekels of

silver, current money with the merchant.

43 . Within His skull exist daily thirteen thousand myriads of worlds, which draw their

existence from Him, and by Him are upheld.

Chapter Four

44. And from that skull distills a dew upon Him which is external, and fills His Head

daily. 6

45. And from that dew which flows down from His Head, that which is external, the dead

are raised up in the world to come.

46. Concerning which it is written ( Song of Songs 5.2): My head is filled with dew . It is

not written: “It is full with dew,” but Nimla ( almn ), “It is filled.” 7

47. And it is written ( Isaiah 26.19): The dew of the lights is Your dew . Of the lights--

that is, from the brightness 8 of the Ancient One.

48. And by that dew are nourished the holy supernal ones. 9

49. And this is that manna which is prepared for the just in the world to come.

50. And that dew distills upon the ground of the holy apple trees. This is that which is

written ( Torah Shmoth 16.14): And when the dew was gone up, behold upon the face of

the desert a small round thing . 10

51. And the appearance of this dew is white, like unto the color of the crystal stone,

whose appearance has all colors in it . 11 This is that which is written ( Torah Vayiqra 2.7):

“ And its varieties as the varieties of crystal .”

Chapter Five

52. The whiteness of this skull shines in thirteen carved out sides: 12 in four sides from

one portion; in four sides from the part of His Face; and in four sides from another part of

the periphery; and in one above the skull, as if this last might be called the supernal side.

53. And thence is the Vastness of His Face extended into three hundred and seventy

myriads of worlds; 13 a nd hence “ Arikh Anafin ” (Vast Face), is His Name.

54. And He Himself, the most Ancient of the Ancient Ones, is called “ Arikh Anafin ,”

(Vast Face); and He who is more externa l 14 is called “ Ze’ir Anafin ” (Small Face), in

opposition to the Ancient Eternal Holy One, the Holy of Holy Ones. 15

55. And when Ze’ir Anafin looks back upon Him ( Arikh Anafin ) , 16 all the inferiors are

restored in order, and His Face is extended, and is made more vast at that time, but not

for all time is it vast like unto the countenance of the More Ancient One.

56. And from that skull issues a certain white shining emanation , 17 toward the skull of

Ze’ir Anafin , for the purpose of fashioning His head; and thence towards the other

inferior skulls, which are innumerable.

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