Kuntres Mattan Torah, On the Completion of The Zohar

The single exception is Rabbi Shimon bar Yoḥai and his generation, that is, the authors of the Zohar. They fully attained all one hundred twenty-five levels even though they lived prior to the Messianic era. It is said of him and of his disciples, “And a sage is greater than a prophet” (tractate Bava Batra 12a). It is therefore written numerous times in the Zohar that there will be no generation such as that of Rabbi Shimon bar Yoḥai until king Messiah’s generation. His great book made such a strong impression on the world because the mysteries of the Torah in it encompass the stature of all one hundred twenty-five levels. It has been said in the Zohar that the book of the Zohar will only appear at the End of Days, that is, during the Messianic era. For, as we have stated, if the levels of the readers do not completely reach the author’s level, they will not understand his allusions, as they do not share the same understanding. And the level of the authors of the Zohar is the full stature of the one hundred twenty-five levels that cannot be grasped before the Messianic era. Thus, the generations preceding the Messianic era do not share the same understanding with the authors of the Zohar. The Zohar could not have been revealed in the generations preceding the Messiah’s generation.