הקדמה

11. “Rabbi Shimon said etc.”Rabbi Shimon said: Elazar my son, stop talking and you will discover the sealed, supernal secret that the people of the world do not know. Rabbi Elazar was silent. Rabbi Shimon wept and stood for a moment. Rabbi Shimon said: Elazar, what is eleh? If you say that it is the stars and the constellations, they are always visible. They were created with Ma, which is Malkhut, as it is stated: “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made” [Psalms 33:6], i.e., the heavens were made with Malkhut, which is called “the word of the Lord.” And if [the word] eleh was said in reference to sealed matters, it was not necessary to have written eleh [regarding the stars and constellations], as the stars and the constellations are revealed.

Explanation: Rabbi Elazar revealed here only the brains of the first maturity, whereas Rabbi Shimon wanted to reveal the mystical meaning of the brains of the second maturity,1See the preceding sections of Zohar for the complete discussion of these two phases of maturity. This refers to the process through which the levels of Ze'er Anpin and Nukba, the partzufim that govern our world, receive access to increasing levels of supernal light from above. which is the supernal brains of ḥaya. [Rabbi Shimon] therefore instructed [Rabbi Elazar] to stop talking and he would reveal to him the sealed, supernal secret that the people of the world do not know, as these brains were not yet revealed in the world, and Rabbi Shimon revealed them here.

[Rabbi Shimon] thus states: “What is eleh? If you say that it is the stars and the constellations etc.” Rabbi Shimon asked him, what is eleh? What novelty is the verse teaching us, when it states: “who [Mi] has created these” [Isaiah 40:26], which are the [Ze’er Anpin] and Nukba? If you say that it is the stars and the constellations, meaning, [it is] with regard to the brains of the six extremities of maturity that [Ze’er Anpin and Nukba] attained, and that the verse “who [Mi] has created these” is referring to that – since the brains of the six extremities are called “stars and constellations” – [Rabbi Shimon] raised a difficulty against this claim: What novelty is this, as they are always visible, i.e., they are the regular brains of [Ze’er Anpin] and Nukba which can always be drawn forth, meaning even on weekdays, and these [brains] are not such a novelty that the verse “who [Mi] has created these” would apply to them.

Nor can it be explained that these brains are always in effect, without pause, as that is not the case, for Ze’er Anpin only routinely has six extremities without a head, and it is only through the raising of feminine waters and prayer2Prayers and performance of commandments is the yearning from below that raises feminine waters and invokes changes in the structures under discussion here. This yearning causes changes to allow new flows of supernal light, the "brains," to reach the lower levels of creation, specifically Ze'er Anpin in this context. that these brains are drawn forth. Rather, the meaning is as stated above, that they can always be drawn forth, i.e., even on weekdays, as they are in fact drawn forth every day at the time of the Morning Prayer. [Rabbi Shimon] raises a further difficulty to him: “And with what [Ma] were they created?” For these brains are not linked to Bina but to the [Ze’er Anpin] and Nukba of Atzilut, which is called Ma, for [these brains] emerged from them, as it is stated: “By the word of the Lord,” which [refers to] Ze’er Anpin and its Nukba; the Ze’er Anpin is called “the Lord,” while Nukba is called “the word.”