And one of the most beautiful expressions of that idea comes from the Zohar" target="_blank" rel="noopener" class="source-link">Tikkunei_Zohar" target="_blank" rel="noopener" class="source-link">Tikkunei Zohar, a companion text to the Zohar itself.
Today, we're diving into Tikkunei Zohar 80, a short but powerful passage. It centers on the word "this"—in Hebrew, zot (זאת). Now, "this" might seem like a simple word, right? But in the mystical tradition, nothing is ever just simple.
The text tells us that when it says "this," it's showing us that the divine name, HVYH – what we pronounce as Adonai or Ha-Shem, the ineffable name of God – is actually present on each and every sephirah.
Okay, hold on. Sephirot (סְפִירוֹת) – what are those? Think of them as the ten emanations or attributes through which the divine reveals itself. They're like facets of a diamond, each reflecting a different aspect of God's infinite light. They are the blueprints for creation, the way the infinite becomes finite.
So, what the Tikkunei Zohar is saying is pretty radical: Ha-Shem, that ultimate, unnameable force, isn't some distant, removed deity. It's intimately connected to every single aspect of creation, to every single sephirah. It's in the chesed (loving-kindness), the gevurah (strength), the tiferet (beauty)... all of it.
The text then brings in King David, quoting from 1 Chronicles 29:11: "To You, Ha-Shem, is the greatness, the might..." and so on. David, in his wisdom, understood this interconnectedness. He saw that all the power, all the glory, all the victory ultimately belong to God, because God is present in everything.
Think about that for a moment. If Ha-Shem is truly present in each and every sephirah, what does that mean for us? It means that we, too, are touched by the divine. That every act of kindness, every moment of strength, every spark of beauty within us is a reflection of that ultimate reality. It means we have the potential to connect to the divine in every moment.
It’s a profound and beautiful idea, isn't it? That the divine isn't "out there," but interwoven into the very fabric of existence. That "this" – this moment, this breath, this world – is filled with the presence of Ha-Shem. Maybe, just maybe, we need to open our eyes and see it.