This week, Jews read the first portion of the Torah, Parashat Bereshit. Today, we’ll discuss the Zohar’s interpretation of the opening words of the Torah. From the Zohar’s mystical perspective, the initial phrase refers not to the creation of the world but to the emanation of the sefirot, the aspects of God’s personality. The lush imagery and poetic intensity are intended to overwhelm the reader. The specific meaning of various images is less important than their effect on our consciousness. Following each paragraph, I offer an explanation, but these are not intended to convey the full range of meaning. This passage is more cryptic than most of the Zohar and intentionally so, because the conclusion is radical and shocking.
Let’s begin at Zohar 1:15a (Pritzker Edition, Vol. 1, pp. 107-10).
“In the beginning …” (Genesis 1:1) At the head of potency of the King, He engraved engravings in luster on high. A spark of impenetrable darkness flashed within the concealed of the concealed, from the head of Ein Sof — a cluster of vapor forming in formlessness, thrust in a ring, not white, not black, not red, not green, no color at all.
Let’s decode. The King is Ein Sof, the ultimate divine reality, arousing Itself to manifest through the process of emanation, that is, by creating the sefirot. The “luster on high” is Keter, the primordial sefirah, with which the Ein Sof “engraved engravings” — in other words, outlines of what would eventually emerge as the other sefirot. The initial impulse of emanation is described paradoxically as “a spark of impenetrable darkness,” so brilliant that it overwhelms comprehension. Flashing from Ein Sof through Keter (“the concealed of the concealed”), it stimulates the flow of emanation.
What first emerges is so nebulous and indefinable that it is described as “a cluster of vapor forming in formlessness,” thrust into the “ring” of Keter (which literally means “crown”). This initial element of emanation does not yet display any of the many colors associated with various sefirot (the white of Hesed, the black of Shekhinah, the red of Gevurah, or the green of Tiferet). As emanation unfolds, these will now emerge.
As a cord surveyed, it yielded radiant colors. Deep within the spark gushed a flow, splaying colors below, concealed within the mystery of Ein Sof. It split and did not split its aura, was not known at all, until under the impact of splitting, a single, concealed, supernal point shone. Beyond that point, nothing is known, so it is called Beginning, first command of all.
The spark of emanation, as nebulous as vapor, becomes a cord, or measuring line, mapping out the paths and stages of emanation, the spectrum of divine colors. But the flow has barely begun, and everything is still virtually “concealed within” Ein Sof. Then, somehow, the flow breaks through the membrane or aura of Keter, though the breakthrough is nearly indescribable, so the act is stated and immediately denied: “It split and did not split its aura.”
The flow manifests as a primordial point of light, the second sefirah: Hokhmah. Although it is the second of the sefirot, Hokhmah is called Beginning, because it is the first ray of divine light outside of Keter. It is the first aspect of God that can be known.
We might think the phrase “first command of all” refers to God’s statement, “Let there be light…” In fact, it is best understood through a statement in Pirkei Avot 5:1, which asserts: “The world was created through ten commands.” Only nine explicit commands (beginning with “Let there be light…”) appear in the first chapter of Genesis. In this reckoning, the ten are completed by counting the first phrase of the Torah, “In the beginning….” as the very first command.
What happens next?
“The enlightened will shine like the radiance (zohar) of the sky, and those who guide the many to be righteous, like the stars forever and ever.” (Daniel 12:3)
Radiance! Concealed of concealed struck its aura, which touched and did not touch this point. Then this beginning expanded, building itself a palace worthy of glorious praise. There it sowed seed to give birth, benefiting worlds…
The “enlightened” may refer here to the kabbalists themselves. The word zohar, radiance, designates the hidden power of emanation and, of course, provides the title of the book, whose goal, as stated in this verse from Daniel, is to “guide the many to be righteous.”
Zohar, the radiant spark of emanation, flashes again, and the aura of Keter subtly transmits the impulse to Hokhmah, the primordial point of Wisdom. The purpose of emanation is to display the glory of the hidden God, which is achieved through a rhythm of revelation and concealment: Only by concealing itself can the overwhelming light be revealed. The point expands into a circle, a palace — the third sefirah: Binah. She is the divine womb, where the seed of Hokhmah, the Divine Father, is sown. Binah gives birth to the seven lower sefirot, which engender the rest of creation, the worlds below.
Radiance! Sowing seed for its glory, like the seed of fine purple silk, wrapping itself within — weaving itself a palace, constituting its praise, benefiting all.
As the silkworm spins a cocoon out of its own substance, so Hokhmah, the point of beginning, expands into the palace of Binah.
With this beginning, the unknown concealed one created the palace. This palace is called Elohim, God. The secret is: Bereshit barah Elohim: With beginning, ____ created God.
More sefirot now emerge. “The unknown concealed one” is the hidden source of emanation, Ein Sof or Keter. The “palace” is Binah, the Divine Mother who gives birth to the seven lower sefirot.
And now we get a mystical secret — the Zohar’s reading of the opening words of Genesis. It understands the first word, bereshit, not as it is usually translated, “In the beginning,” but rather “With beginning” — relying on an alternative meaning of the preposition prefix b-. The subject of the verse, Elohim, follows the verb created. In its typical hyperliteral fashion, the Zohar insists on reading the words in the exact order in which they appear, thereby transforming God from subject into the object of creation! This means that the subject is now unnamed, but that is perfect because the true subject of emanation, the Ein Sof, is unnamable.
The opening words of the Bible no longer mean: “In the beginning God created,” but rather: “With beginning [by means of the primordial point of Hokhmah], the ineffable source created Elohim [the palace of Binah].”
How can the Zohar dare to say that Elohim is the object of the sentence — that God is somehow created? This sounds heretical! One way to understand this is to realize that the ultimate reality of God is Ein Sof, the Infinite. What we think of as God — any specific form or image — is necessarily a pale reflection, secondary to Ein Sof. This includes Elohim. The Zohar is challenging us to let go of our images of who God is, to renounce mental idolatry, to be open to a radically new (and yet ancient) understanding of divinity — a boundless one.
This piece was originally published as part of an original series produced by My Jewish Learning and Sefaria called A Year of Zohar: Kabbalah for Everyone. Sign up for the entire series here.
