Now I have said that the book of Zohar is not good; it is a book of the serpent of bronze made by R. Shimon bar Yochai. He intended through it to direct his gaze towards God. But after King Hezekiah saw that a calamity had arisen from it for future generations, and they directed their gaze towards the serpent of brass, he stood up and crushed it in order to fulfill the will of God, and they praised Him.
Even though He had mercy on the seed of the father to crush it without mercy, not even a single letter or word (anything that could possibly be preserved even under duress), because the book itself and its author are holy, it will be as it will be. Especially since it appears in practice that we hold in our hands the foundations of our holy Torah, it has wonderfully revealed profound wisdom to magnify its branches, to gloriously adorn its beauty, to nourish its infants with flowing living water from Lebanon. It shot a cornerstone, it greatly increased its splendor and built for it a fortified wall, a treasury to safeguard within it all its precious treasure. In particular, it is careful even with the minutiae of rabbinic legislation. Who is like it as a teacher? Not to mention in the body of Torah itself, it is even more stringent, surpassing all that has been transmitted to us in our holy Talmud, the desire of Israel. Therefore, I have embraced it and will not let it go. I have only spoken what was necessary. What I have said since the book of Shevet, that there are things hidden within it that were not revealed to our ancestors, and additions that are forged, and their faces are wicked. See, a man of rebellion, I have never said anything and then retracted. I have not relied on falsehood....