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Samael Receives the Torah and Sits Down to Study It

In Tikkunei Zohar, the most feared angel in heaven does not rage against God. He is handed the Torah and studies it -- and God does not stop him.

Curated by Arthur · Told by Maggid ·
Table of Contents
  1. The Other Side, Built Into the Body
  2. The Shofar Blasts That Break Him
  3. What Samael Becomes When Torah Reaches Him
  4. Two Versions of Every Dangerous Force

Samael sits with the Torah in his hands. The text of Tikkunei Zohar does not frame this as a surprise or a scandal. It does not call him reformed. It does not explain why the angel most associated with accusation, with the evil inclination, with the power that presses against Israel in heaven and in the world, should have the same book that Israel studies. It simply shows him with it. And the question the image raises is not whether Samael is allowed to have it. It is what happens when he does.

The Other Side, Built Into the Body

To understand why Samael needs Torah, you need to know what the Tikkunei Zohar says about the anatomy of a human being. The liver represents Samael. The spleen represents the serpent. Together they form what the text calls the sitra achra, the other side, within the body itself. They are not external invaders. They are organs. Built in, performing necessary functions, and also representing forces that, if left without the counterweight of Torah, tip toward destruction.

The heart stands in opposition to them, and the heart's instrument is Torah. Not because Torah destroys Samael or the serpent, but because Torah transforms them. The internal balance of the body is a spiritual argument happening in muscle and blood. Every hour the person studies, the heart presses against the liver. The divine name holds back what the sitra achra would do if unchecked. Samael studies Torah because Torah is what keeps Samael from becoming only what he is at his worst.

The Shofar Blasts That Break Him

The High Holiday service works the same way. The blasts of the shofar on Rosh Hashanah carry specific names: tekiah, shevarim, teruah. Each blast, in the Tikkunei Zohar's reading, operates on Samael directly. The sound is not merely ceremonial. It is therapeutic in the precise kabbalistic sense: it adjusts the balance between the heart and the liver, between the Torah principle and the sitra achra, within the person who hears it and within the cosmic structure that person is part of.

Samael does not disappear on Rosh Hashanah. He is not defeated. He is moved, shifted, rebalanced by the force of the sound. The shofar does to him what Torah does to him when it is properly studied: it puts him back in his correct proportion to everything else. Not destroyed. Not exiled. Calibrated.

What Samael Becomes When Torah Reaches Him

The tradition draws a line between two versions of every dangerous force. There is the version that runs unchecked, that accuses without warrant, that seduces without limit, that becomes the pure instrument of destruction. And there is the version that has been brought into contact with Torah, that has been restrained and transformed and given a function within the larger order. Samael studying Torah is the second version. The accuser with the book is different from the accuser without it.

This is not a comfortable resolution. It does not say the danger is gone or that Samael has become harmless. The Zoharic tradition is not interested in comfortable resolutions. It is interested in accurate descriptions of how the forces within a person and within the world actually operate. Samael is there, always. The question is whether he has Torah in his hands when you meet him, which means the question is whether you have been studying.

Two Versions of Every Dangerous Force

The tradition draws a line between two versions of every dangerous force. There is the version that runs unchecked, that accuses without warrant, that seduces without limit, that becomes the pure instrument of destruction. And there is the version that has been brought into contact with Torah, that has been restrained and transformed and given a function within the larger order. Samael studying Torah is the second version. The accuser with the book is different from the accuser without it. The Zoharic tradition is not interested in comfortable resolutions. It is interested in accurate descriptions of how the forces within a person and within the world actually operate. Samael is there, always. The question is whether he has Torah in his hands when you meet him.

SamaelTorahAngelsKabbalahZoharYetzer Hara
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From the tradition

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The texts this telling draws on, in full. Open a card to read inline, or expand it for a wider, quieter read.

Tikkunei Zohar 97:25Tikkunei Zohar

Jewish mystical tradition certainly thinks so. And it has some pretty specific ideas about the combatants and the weapons. to a fascinating, and frankly, a little bit bizarre, passage from the Tikkunei (spiritual repair) Zohar, specifically Tikkun 97. The Tikkunei Zohar, meaning "Rectifications of the Zohar," is a later, more systematic companion to the Zohar itself, the foundational text of Kabbalah. This particular passage deals with the cleansing of the soul and the elimination of impurity. It does this in a rather unusual way: by focusing on the liver, spleen, and gall bladder.

" As we learn in the Talmud (BT Qiddushin 30b), immersing oneself in Torah is life-giving. However, the Tikkunei Zohar then throws us a curveball: if a soul is impure, it's eliminated from the world. Heavy stuff. But how does this impurity manifest?

The text equates the liver and spleen with Samael (the angel of death) and the serpent – powerful symbols of evil and temptation, essentially "another god," an alien influence pulling us away from the divine.

So, how do we combat these internal forces? The Tikkunei Zohar provides a fascinating answer: through the sounds of the shofar, the ram's horn blown during the High Holy Days. Specifically, the sounds of te-ru'ah, she-varim, and te-qi'ah.

Let’s break these down:

First, the liver, which represents "another god" (that alien influence), is eliminated through the te-ru'ah. Te-ru'ah, meaning "shattering," is a series of short, broken blasts meant to represent a wail or cry. The text associates this sound with "spirit" (ruach).

Next, the spleen, which embodies the serpent, is vanquished by the she-varim. She-varim, meaning "broken," are three medium-length blasts. This sound is linked to the nefesh, the "animating-soul," our basic life force.

Finally, the gall bladder, which represents the "poison of death," is eradicated by the te-qi'ah. Te-qi'ah is a single, long, sustained blast.

What's going on here? It seems the Tikkunei Zohar is suggesting that these internal organs, when corrupted, become vessels for negativity. But, crucially, these negative forces can be purged. Through the power of sacred sound, specifically the shofar blasts, we can cleanse ourselves and realign with the divine.: the shofar blasts are meant to awaken us, to stir our souls. The te-ru'ah shatters our complacency, the she-varim breaks down our ego, and the te-qi'ah proclaims our renewed commitment to the divine.

So, the next time you hear the shofar, remember this passage. It's not just about fulfilling a ritual obligation. It's about engaging in an internal battle, a cosmic struggle for the purity of your soul. It's about purging the "another god" and the serpent from your inner landscape. It's about choosing life.

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Tikkunei Zohar 99:6Tikkunei Zohar

Jewish mystical tradition, particularly the Zohar, wrestles with this very idea. And Tikkunei (spiritual repair) Zohar 99 offers a fascinating glimpse into this cosmic dance.

It starts with a verse from Ruth (3:13): "..as Y”Y lives, lie down until the morning.." What does this seemingly simple phrase have to do with the secrets of the universe? According to the Tikkunei Zohar, quite a lot!

It says that lying down until the morning, which represents the "right side," is linked to the power of the Written Torah. Think of the Written Torah – the Chumash, the Five Books of Moses – as a kind of central pillar, a strong and stable foundation. This Written Torah, this pillar, is "given from the right side."

So, where does the left side come in? The text continues, "from the left-side is given the Oral Torah, which is ‘female’." The Oral Torah, the interpretations, the stories, the debates that breathe life into the written word – that’s associated with the left. Now, when we say "female," it's not about gender in the way we might think of it today. Instead, it's about the receptive, the nurturing, the dynamic force that complements the more structured and fixed nature of the "male" right side.

But here's where it gets really interesting. "And because of this ‘good’, tov," the text says, "the Righteous-One, ‘the life-force, ḥaiy of the worlds’, is from the left-hand side, for it is ‘the mighty-one, gibor who conquers his evil inclination’." (as we learn in Mishnah (the earliest code of rabbinic law) Avot 4:1). Wait a minute…the source of life is from the left? The side associated with the Oral Torah, with the feminine?

It seems paradoxical. But think about it: The Zohar is telling us that true goodness, true life, comes from mastering our impulses, from wrestling with our inner demons. And that struggle, that effort, is connected to the left side. The text even identifies this "evil inclination" with Samael (the angel of death), often seen as a powerful, even adversarial, force.

Then comes another seemingly contradictory statement: "the left-hand rejects, and with the right-hand it raises." (BT Sotah 47a) It's a beautiful image, isn't it? The left hand pushes away what is harmful, what is untrue, while the right hand lifts up what has fallen. It's about discernment, about knowing when to be firm and when to offer compassion.

And that, ultimately, brings us back to our verse: "As Y”Y lives, lie down until the morning." It’s an invitation to rest, to reflect, to integrate these opposing forces within ourselves. To acknowledge the power of both the right and the left, the written and the oral, the structured and the dynamic. To find balance in the midst of the cosmic dance.

What does it mean to "lie down until the morning" in your own life? Where do you see these opposing forces at play? And how can you find the strength to not only acknowledge them, but to integrate them into a more complete and meaningful whole? Maybe, just maybe, that's where true life lies.

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