fr. ch. 58

He then continues to ignite his maddening flame-fire against those who place their efforts in the study of the Mishnah by praising his secrets and calling his Testament the ‘Tree of Life’ - while the oral law that Moses received - is the Maid-Servant (SHIFHHA). If Israel had merited, he claims, Moses would have given to them a Mishnah containing no prohibitions, impurity laws or disqualifications. Everything would have been pure, allowed and usable. It was for the reason of giving such a Mishnah that he was punished with being buried outside of the Holy Land. ‘And no one knew his burial place’ means that nobody knew the reason for his being punished with such a sepulcher. Now he reveals the secret that this was his punishment for having given to Israel this Mishnah. (this interpretation of the zohar is by itself sufficiently motivated to warrant the burning of all text of the zohar anf tikkunim )Those who study it and the teachers who instruct the nation in its ways are called the ‘mixed-multitude’ while the Mishnah itself is the ‘maid-servant’ who has taken rule over MATRONITA (the Queen, Malchuta) and thus caused the separation between the KING and MATRONITA: -

fr. ch. 59

-As flowing honey the words of this philosopher come forth constructing a belief completely foreign to the Holy Torah. In such a way, as well as through intricate devices of self-flattery did he attract the hearts of many, snaring them into worshipping the forms and partzufim which he considered as ‘separate divine entities’ whose ‘souls’ are ‘hewn out’ of the Higher God who gave them a ‘portion’ from His Essence. Their encompassing elements, their bodies, their souls and garments were all taken from one source (the EIN SOF) which has no name or point of reference, and since it cannot be grasped by any thought, it can therefore not be served or called to in prayer. It will not answer, for it has already appointed the PARTZUFIM over all the work of creation. It made ABA to be the CREATOR. It is He who says and commands EMA ‘Let there be such and such’ and She obeys His orders as a craftsman who faithfully accomplishes the work of the proprietor. So too ABA and EMA commanded and appointed ZEIR ANPIN and NUKVEI to give Providence over all the lower creations - all is done as is the desire and will of ZEIR ANPIN.

fr. ch. 61

It is well known that the first nations in the time of Enosh felkl into the error of worshipping the stars, the Zodiac, the sun and moon and the other heavenly hosts. After them there arose other groups who believed in two activators, one who activates good and one who activates evil. After this there spread out the belief in the trinity, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The doctrine of the TEN EMANATED SFIROT is an extended interpretation of the philosophical abstractions of the Trinity. So too they claim that the FIVE GENERAL PARTZUFIM constitute the aspects of a ‘whole’ and are ‘one’.

If, however, asthey would have it, that in their entirety they are one, this would mean that any one of the five general partzufim is itself not a complete ‘one’. For only the five partzufim together would constitute ‘one’, whereas each PARTZUF would be only one part of the ‘complete’ God. Why, then, in our prayers are we to have in mind only one of the five, the SMALL-FACED ZEIR ANPIN? Yet such is the opinion of the majority of the kabbalists. One of the kabbalists, however, the ‘Oz L’Elohim maintains that our prayers are not to ZEIR ANPIN but rather to MALKA KADISHA D’KOL KADISHIN, the MOST HOLY KING.

Whoever possess understanding will be amazed. How is it possible that the kabbalists themselves, all following in the same footsteps of the same Zohar were not able to find agreement as to whom they must beseech in prayer. For one prays and calls to ZEIR ANPIN and His concubines while the other calls to MALKA KADISHA D’KOL KADISHIN and His wife!!!!

Woe to such shame and such dishonour! ‘The ox has known its owner, and the ass its proprietor’s stall, but Israel has not known its God’. It has not known to which FORM and to which PARTZUF among the Zohar’s concocted PARTZUFIM it must pray to! It has abandoned the God who made it, the First Cause, the Rock and Foundation of all. It has taken up new gods of recent stamp which even the idolaters of other nations have not known!

fr. ch. 65

-From all this you will understand ((another)) error of those Rabbis, authors of the new kabbalah, who believed that there actually exist ELOHIM AHHERIM (OTHER GODS), each one having TEN SFIROT and FIVE PARTZUFIM of K’LIPA (the unworthy and useless PEAL) in counter-position to the TEN SFIROT and FIVE PARTZUFIM of KEDUSHA (HOLINESS). So too they interpreted the verse in Job ‘One in counter-position to the other did God make’ - the CHAMBERS (HECHALOT) of IMPURITY in counter-position to the CHAMBERS of HOLINESS in each PARTZUF. ( Mishnat Hassidim , masechet hechalot ha-k'lipaand S. Mahhberet ha-Kodesh, shaar Rosh Hodesh 47b )They maintain that just as He emanated, created, formed and made ELOHIM KEDOSHIM, in like manner He emanated, created, formed and made EHOLIM AHHERIM (OTHER GODS). Just as in Kedusha there are ADAM KADMON, ATIK, ARICH, ABA and EMA, ZEIR and NUKVEI, in the same way, on the left side, in exact counter-position, there is ADAM BELIYAAL (WORTHLESS MAN) on the SITRA AHHRA (the OTHER SIDE).

If you search in depth, you will realise that this opinion ultimately derives from the tenet of the dualists that there are two ACTIVATORS, one good and one evil. Their idea was explained by the early commentators and rejected with both hands. Only the new kabbalists have taken it up again, describing it, in their attempt to cover over its obscenity, in such a manner as to invest it within the framework of the Holy Torah!

It is indeed completely foreign to the faith in God’s Oneness, nor may it enter the congregation of Ha-Shem. It is in no way kabbalah, since it admits the existence of EL AHHER against the words of the Sages and against the many biblical passages which prove their words, such as ‘For Ha-Shem is the God in the heavens above and on the earth below, there is no other outside of Him’ and ‘Thou alone art God’. It is only according to the thought of those that serve them that the Torah admonished ‘Thou shalt bow down to no other god’ and ‘Thou shalt have no other god’ etc. The Torah revealed that their error was in considering them gods. It is not that Ha-Shem Baruch Hu brought into existence two types of ‘divinities’, one holy and the other impure, God forbid! For there is no God except for Him.

In conclusion, there is not to be found in the entire Torah or in the words of the Sages anything referring to the existence of EL AHHER, not holy and not impure. We find only the Lord, our God, Blessed is He. All others are servants who fulfil His will. The Torah spoke of ‘other gods’ only in reference to the thought of the idolworshippers who had chosen out one thing from among God’s creations to worship and to pray to. To this they brought sacrifices considering it either as a god or as a means. Some chose the sun, others the moon or one of the stars, or the Zodiac, while still others chose to worship fire or water.

Against them all, the Almighty warned us and said ‘Thou shalt have no other gods from before Me’ and ‘Thou shalt not bow down to another god’. For these are not gods. It was for this reason that R. Saadya Gaon in his translation of the Torah into Arabic rendered ELOHIM AHHERIM not ELAA AHHAR (other gods) but MA’ABUD AHHAR (other kinds of worship).

fr. ch. 67

The Shevilei Emunah justly admonishes:

-Let it not arise in your mind that you will be able to perceive God by trying to study or to search into the knowledge of His Essence or of His Essential (absolute)Truth. For this is impossible. On the contrary, whoever attemps to enter into such a study is a blasphemer and a reviler. For all that which exists has not the power to understand this. How much more so one who is found in a material body. Therefore the Sages of blessed memory warned us and said: Dnot search into that which is too wondrous for you. - -

fr. ch. 70

The new kabbalists have explained that the Zohar and Tikkunim did not mention the higher PARTZUFIM (except for some allusions) by reason of their great concealment. This itself, they maintain, is the reason for which they must not be addressed in prayer or served in any way. Only a PARTZUF that has already become thickened and can thus be comprehended may be turned to in prayer and served.

One must surely be astounded by such reasoning! For the Lord, our God, who is the First Cause and Whom our fathers and forefathers have always served, is most hidden and concealed. Even the angels and holy Haiot ask ‘Where is the place of His glory’. Notwithstanding this, the verse says ‘Who is such a great nation as to have God so close to it as is the Lord, our God, whenever we call to Him’.

fr. ch. 71

Here now are some principles pertinent to our subject from the THIRTEEN PRINCIPLES of the Rambam in his commentary to the Mishnah as reported by the Shevilei Emunah.

First Principle: To believe that the Creator, Blessed is He, exists in an absolute existence; that He is the cause of the existence of all that exists; from Him is drawn the power of their existence. If we were to imagine the absence of His existence, the existence of all else would be nullified and no creation would be found. If, however, we would imagine the nullification of all that exists except for Him, His existence would not be nullified because of them in any way. For the Creator, Blessed is He, is ‘rich’ in that He has no need of anything for Himself. All other existences, such as the (higher) intelligences, the celestial spheres (GALGALIM) themselves and what is contained in them, need Him for their existence, whereas He does not need them. This principle is alluded to with the words ‘I am the Lord, your God’ -

Second Principle: His Oneness: that is to know that the Cause of all is One - not as the one of a general species, such as ‘mankind’ which includes many persons; and not as the one of a specific kind, such as ‘one man’ - for you include with him 248 limbs; not as the one which is combined and can be divided into many ones; and not as a simple ‘body’ (entity) which is one in number yet may receive an infinite number of divisions. For each ‘one’ of these is called ‘one’ in a transitional sense only, because those things which have been ‘gathered together’ under one name are equal in one aspect but it is not one in the true sense. The true One, in fact, is uniquely the Oneness of the Creator, Blessed is He, of which there is no like in any way. This is the word of God as it states ‘Hear o Israel, the Lord, our God, God is One’ -

This is the true kabbala which we have received from Moses, our teacher and from Abraham, our father, that the Oneness of God is unlike any other category of ‘one’ and that His Oneness stands eternally and it will never change.

Not as the new kabbalists whose First Cause is an EIN SOF divisible into sections and that undergoes a multiplicity of changes, an infinite light of which a large portion took on the form of a spheroid ball after its self-contraction!!!!

fr. ch. 72

In the Midrash Raba, on the verse Hear o Israel the Lord, our God, God is One:

-this is as it states in the verse ‘Who is with Me in the heavens, nor with Thee have I desired in the land’ - Rav said: there are two heavens etc. R. Elazar said: There are seven heavens etc. and the Holy One, Blessed is He opened them all for Israel.( at the Revelation at Sinai ) This was in order to make it known to them that there is no other God, except for Him. The congregation of Israel said before the Holy One, Blessed is He ‘Who is with me in the heavens except for Thee, so too have I desired no other in the land. Therefore do I enter the synagogue every day and give testimony that there is no other God, only You and I say ‘Hear o Israel the Lord, our God, God is One’:

In complete contrast to this is the idea of the new kabbalists that when one says the ‘Hear o Israel’ which represents the accepting upon oneself the yoke of the kingdom of heaven, he must join to it in his thoughts ABA and EMA, ZEIR ANPIN and NUKVEI, while at the same time in his thoughts he must also combine ABA and EMA, ARICH ANPIN and ATIK YOMIN, so as to be answered more speedily!!!!!!

In the same Midrash Raba:

-Hear o Israel - The Rabbis said: The Holy One Blessed is He said: Everything have I created in pairs; heaven and earth is a pair, the sun and the moon, Adam and Eve, this world and the world to come; but My Glory KAVOD) is one and unique in the world, as we read Hear o Israel the Lord, our God, God is One. -

fr. ch. 81  (for the sake of the necessary briefness of this edition I have left out here the discussion on the totally inappropriate of ZEIR ANPIN, their ‘short-tempered God’ as well as the discussion on the sinful sexual language used in expressing the interplay of the DIVINE PARTZUFIM, may God save us from all this)

In R. Azulai’s Shem Ha-Gedolim, under the entry Zohar it states:

-I have seen written by R. A. Revigo as follows: I have found in an old manuscript of the Zohar, in the possession of my teacher Maram Zechut, as follows: In truth, the Head of the kabbalists was R. Nehunia ben Hakana who wrote Sefer ha-Bahir. After him R. Shimon ben Yohhai made the Sefer ha-Zohar and conjoined it to some other of his compositions such as the Tikkunim. When R. Shimon ben Yohhai, R, Eliezer and all that generation died, the wisdom of the kabbalah was lost; until God made it come to pass that a king from among the kings of the orient gave an order to dig in a certain place, for monetary concerns, whereupon was found a chest containing the Sefer ha-Zohar. He then sent for the sages of Edom but they knew nothing of it nor did they understand it. He sent for the Jews who when they came and saw the book said to the king, “This book was made by one sage but it is very profound and we do not understand it”. He said to them, “Is there no Jew in the world who understands it?” They said, “Yes, there is, in the country of Tuleitula in Spain. So the king sent the books with his men to Tuleitula and when the Hachamim of Tuleitula saw it they rejoiced with a great happiness and sent back many gifts to the king. It was from here that the kabbalah became known in Israel - - so have I found it written from the above mentioned rabbi - -

Such is the foundation of quick-sand upon which they have construed their beliefs. But the lion will not roar forever nor can the people of Israel remain silent in aeterno. For all in existence has an end, only Thy commandment is infinitely wide.

In their frivolous rejoicing they have not even noticed a most obvious contradiction. How can they claim an uninterrupted oral tradition from Sinai if the wisdom of the kabbalah was lost for about 15 centuries closed up in a box, hidden under the ground?

fr. ch. 82

We have already mentioned that the new kabbalah was unheard of before the sixth millenium (about 1300) nor was its origin ever known exactly. The only information that R. Hhida had before him was the story of the oriental king cited above. It seems, in fact, that some of the Hhachamim of Jerusalem had accepted this opinion and agreed to the words of the Shem ha-Gedolim. -

-In the Sefer Shalshelet ha-Kabbalah of the Raavad it is written in the name of Sefer Yuhhsin as follows:

-in about the year 5050 (1290) there were some groups of men who maintained that the words of the Zohar in aramaic are those of R. Shimon b. Yohhai but the words in the Holy Language are not his. Others say that the Ramban (R. Moshe Nachmonides )  found it in the land of Israel and brought it first to Catalonia and then to Aragon where it came into the hands of Moses De Leon. Still others say that Moses De Leon was very intelligent and it was he who wrote all these explanations from his own mind, but in order that the Hachamim pay him a great price for them he attributed it to R. Shimon b. Yohhai and his group - -

With their very own words they have thus demonstrated that the condition given by the Ramban (Nachmonides)( not reported here in this abridged version) that ‘It is impossible to understand the words of the kabbalah from any book but ‘only from the mouth of a Hacham who has received from mouth to ear’ has never been fulfilled by them. For they admit that after the death of R. Shimon b. Yohhai and his son R. Eliezer along with all that generation, the Zohar was hidden away and forgotten and the knowledge of the kabbalah was lost. Nor was theanyone who knew of it until it was revealed in the 13th (or 15th) century in Spain from whence it spread. In truth the only source of the new kabbalists is the Zohar itself. It is just this fact,( that the only source of the new kabbalists is the zohar which has no true line of continuation as does all true Kabbalah)  also according to the reasoning of the Ramban, which has caused them to err and to uproot the foundations of the Holy Torah, while the limitedness of their understanding has blindly permitted them to believe in other gods and to associate the name of God with other things!!!!

fr. ch. 83

A side-note in S. Shem ha-Gedolim concerning a rumour heard and reported by R. Yashar in his Sefer Matzref le-Hochma:

-in the year 380 of the 6th millenium (1620) when the Spanish plundered Heidleberg, they took from the Akademia several thousand books among which were the Holy Books written on parchment. Among these were the books of the Zohar on all the 24 books of the Torah -

note - this rumour heard by R. Yashar is false because the Zohar had already been printed in 318 (1558) -

The Gaon, R. Yaacob Emdin in his Mitpahhat Seforim wrote in the name of R. Yitzhhak from Akko as follows:

-in the year 53 (1293) - Moses De Leon was living in Avila (Moah El-Hagra). For the sake of history I shall report what I found written:

-that R. Yitzhhak from Akko went to do research on the Sefer ha-Zohar; for it seemed to him that its words were wondrous and drew from a higher source. The words of the Jerusalem dialect of Aramaic he considered true kabbalah but the words in the Holy Tongue he considered fraudulent. He tells that he asked the talmidim who were in possession of the Zohar about its origin but their answers were inconsistent. Some said that the Ramban had found it in the Holy Land and had sent it to Catalonia but there the ‘spirit’ brought it Aragon where it fell into the hands of Moses De Leon. Others said that it had never been the composition of R. Shimon b. Yohhai but that Moses of Leon knew the ‘secret-name-of writing’ and by means of this name wrote the most marvellous things. It was in order to be paid a high price that he attributed it to the great Tanai R. Shimon b. Yohhai and his son etc.

- Then I came to the city of Yaliadular ((? prob. Tuleitula)) and there I found R. Moses De Leon who swore to me that the Sefer of R. Shimon ben Yohhai was found in his Yeshiva in Avila and that he would show it to me when he would go there. But in his returning home he died in Aribal. Then I went to the city of Avila and there I found an old Hacham whose name was R. David Rassan, a relative of his. I found favor with him and I had him take oath that he would tell me what he knew about the Zohar and if it was true or not. The Hacham said that he knew most certainly that Moses De Leon had himself created it all by means of the ‘secret-name-of-writing’. The reason for his being convinced of this was that Moses De Leon used to write wonderful secrets for the rich persons of that country and would receive many gifts of gold and silver for them. On the same day that he received them, however, he would squander all his earnings. Even until the day of his death no money at all was ever left over and his wife and children went around hungry, thirsty and naked for lack of funds. He told, “When I heard about his death, I arose and went to R. Yosef of Avila who was very rich and from whom Moses had taken money in his life-time. I said to him, “You have now a wonderful occasion to obtain the merit of possessing an important Sefer. You will be able to take it from the hand of his wife, but you must at first send a fine covering for it because it now lay uncovered”. So he did. He sent gifts with his wife to Moses’ widow. Moses’ wife, however, swore to her that her husband had never possessed such a Book and that everything that he had written had come from his own heart and mind. She said, “I used to say to my husband, ‘Why do you attribute all your study to another Hacham? Would it not be better for you to say that you write it with your own intellect, so that they might praise you and benefit you?’ But my husband always answered me that if he would say that they were from his own mind, the others would not pay such high prices for them. Therefore he attributed them to R. Shimon b. Yohhai and the others. - - ” Afterwards I spoke to his daughter and her words corresponded exactly”. Such were the words that R. David said to” etc. (from Sefer ha-Yuhhsin) - -

Is this the basis upon which Israel has allowed itself to be invaded by these untamed mystics of no return? Is this the foundation for a Doctrine of Faith which has come to blacken the pages of our history with its futile hierarchies of divine families! Is this the wisdom with which Israel has descended? But let it be known to those who would remain in their stubbornness and cling to unfathomable darkness, that their glass palaces and castles of sand will be broken down and nullified in the end. For there is nothing that can ever replace the pure emunah in the Oneness of the Almighty God. Nor can the pure-hearted simplicity of one’s faith, a virtue loved by the Holy One, Blessed is He, ever be substituted by sophisticated thoughts of metaphysical abominations. Do not be enticed by their lips of sweet-flowing words when they stir up the hearts of their listeners and awaken them to the fear of Heaven while urging them to study their own new Torah which they call the DAUGHTER of the KING. For their whole purpose is to make converts to their own doctrines and to bring into their fold as many innocent souls as possible. They steal their hearts by promising to show them how to meditate on the ‘pleasure’ of ATIK, the Wisdom of ABA, the Understanding of EMA and the Knowledge that binds them, until they veer their minds into the alleys of logical non-sense and break the equilibrium of normal thought, speech and conduct without, however, one’s realising that he has exited from reality and entered into the realm of self-imposed fantasies.
 .
(here are a few notes of last year, (1995 - well over 65 years of the publication of Milhamot Ha-Shem) concerning a Propaganda Deplian of the School of the Kabbalah in Jerusalem:
He also brought a deplian of the Institute of Research of the Kabbalah. It is so disgusting and outrageous to whoever knows the false doctrines behind it, so trashy, false and undercutting to whoever understands the amount of Zohars sold by this propaganda,  and so 'subtly open' in giving more importance to the Zohar and its Kabbalah than to the Torah itself, that I am happy he brought it. It is a perfect document to use against them!
The Torah, it explains, tells you what to do. The Kabbalah explains to you why you do it. Who would not be disgusted and outraged by such a blasphemous and propagandistic lie.
The entire black and white pamphlet. with a design of the Ten Sefirot on the cover, bearing the title "28 questions and answers on the Kabbalah" was written and designed by the yetzer ha-ra and edited by the false god Mammon. These two know better than any that you don't sell beautifully made volumes of the Zohar with the commentaries of the Sulam, the Ashlags and Azulais by asking for money. You must 'sell' the Zohar in order to sell the Zohar.
 And selling the Zohar means insidiously trapping the reader in the mystical gates of the falsified Torah, in the name of the Torah. Psychological warfare, the great arch instrument of the Yetzer ha-Ra. Just listen to some of these 28 questions asked with child-like innocence of the Serpent's claws. What is the wisdom of the Kabbalah? Why am I obligated to study Kabbalah? To whom is it permitted to study Kabbalah? I thought that only a married man above the age of 40 was allowed to study it? Is the Kabbalah a sect in Judaism? Why is it important to study Kabbalah? Do I have to be religious or must I have a Torah background in order to study Kabbalah? Are meditation, the returning of the souls (gilgulei nefashot) and astrology a part of Judaism? Is there any competition between you and between other Jewish organisations? Why are there various rabbis who are against the Kabbalah Learning Center? Why does the Kabbalah Learning Center diffuse the Sefer ha-Zohar in every place? Why do the men of the Center wear white garments on the Sabbath? Is the Kabbalah Learning Center's vision of the Messiah different from that of other groups in Judaism. - -
I hope to answer these questions and to uncover the nakedness of their answers in a separate text so as not to spit dirt on my brays. I answer to one question only here: It is obvious that after selling so many Zohars all over the world that the men of the Center can well afford the finest white garments for the Sabbath.
 Burn out the evil-eye of this blasphemous piece of Kabbalah trash, o Lord of the universe, God of Abraham, God of Isaac and God of Jacob, burn it out of all Judaism and burn it out of the world and destroy it forever. For it is promised that EL KANA will destroy all the lies concerning the true faith of the Torah.
'The Torah' says the ancient Serpent with a great knowing smile, 'is the body and the Zohar is the soul (neshama)'. 'The Five Books of the Torah and the mitzvot are the body, and the Book of the Zohar and the wisdom of the Kabbalah are the Neshama', explains professor Satan. 'The Book of the Zohar' continues Lucifer, the luminous liar, 'is the source of the Kabbalistic knowledge and of the use of spiritual forces above the senses; the book of the Zohar is considered by the Sages of Israel to be an extremely important Fount as the Torah and the Talmud'. 'The wisdom of the Kabbalah is based on the Sefer Yetzira (Book of Creation) attributed to Abraham, our father, and on the Book of the Zohar, written by R. Shimon Bar Yohhai about 2000 years ago' goes on the great falsifier of all historical truth. 'The Torah' asserts the subtle soul charmer, 'is the road-mapo of our course in life; the Kabbalah teaches us how to read it ".  
 
 
 

fr. ch. 88

Aye! Woe be it! Woe be to it! What an unfortunate level of faith be unto the children of Israel, the nation chosen by God to be of special virtue. The Almighty God has given us the Torah of truth, His ‘Seal’ and Signature, which Moses, our teacher, peace be with him, received at Sinai - the Written Torah and the Oral Torah. Forty days and forty nights on Sinai to study its details, the reasons and the generalities of the Torah.

This Torah he passed on to Joshua who passed it on etc. until the Men of the Great Assembly who captured the Evil-Inclination of Idolatry (Yitzra d’’Avodah Zarah), threw him into a caldron and sealed it with a led-stone.

But the lead covering was removed from the caldron by this impostor when he handed over his Zohar to the learned men of Tuteitula (Tudela?) in Spain. Satan had come out to dance among us! will it be then in vain the great accomplishment the Great Assembly (ANSHEI KNESSET HA-GEDOLA) who worked tirelessly and cried out to Ha-Shem Baruch Hu against the Yitzra d’’Avoda Zara, until, in the end, he was handed over to them.

With great wisdom and understanding they cancelled out the Temptation of idolatry through arduous study of the Torah and through the explanations with which they used to teach the nation the true and proper way. These were the teachings that they would discuss in public from the light of the morning until midday with the men and women who were able to understand, as it states ‘And the Levites explained the Torah to the nation and read before the people the Book of the Law of God, as it is explained in the oral law, adding to the people intelligence and allowing them to understand the Torah’.

They also fixed the prayers and the blessings for all Israel and dedicated themselves to establishing many pupils.

In this way they succeeded in destroying the Evil Inclination of idolatry, thereby restoring the Crown to its former place and wiping out the names of the other gods and dispelling all the false cults and beliefs that lead to negation. We read in Yoma: ( Yoma perek Ba Lo )

-and they stood up on the platform of the Levites, Yeshuah and his sons, Kadmiel etc. and cried out with a great voice to the Lord their God - (the Talmud asks) What did thesay? R. Yehuda in the name of Rav and some say in the name of R. Yohhanan: Woe, woe! Is it then the same one who destroyed the Beit ha-Mikdash (Temple) and desecrated the Hechal, who killed the Tzadikim and exiled Israel from the land that still dances among us! Didst Thou not bring him upon us only to gain thereby reward? Not him, then, and not the reward therefrom! - A note then fell from heaven upon which was written ‘EMET’ (the truth). R. Hanina said, “We must understand it, because EMET is the SEAL of the Holy One, Blessed is He”. They fasted three days and three nights until at last he was handed over to them. Immediately there was a ‘sign’ and fire, in the form of a young lion came out of the Kodshei ha-Kedoshim (the Holy of Holies). Then the Prophet said to them: It is no other than the Yitzra d’Avoda Zara (the Inclination of Idolatry), as it states ‘This is the evil woman’. Immediately they took hold of him but one of his hairs fell out and he cried out with a voice that extended 400 parsing. They said: What shall we do now? Perhaps Heaven will have pity on him? The Prophet answered: Throw him into a caldron of lead and close it with a lead covering so that it absorb the voice, as it states ‘This is the evil woman, and he threw her into the efah (oven) and closed it with a leadstone’. Then they said: If it is such a propitious moment, let us beseech God to give over to us the Yitzra d’’Aveira (the Inclination of Sin) as well. They prayed to God and also the Yitzra d’’Aveira was handed over to them. Then the Prophet said to them: Be careful, for if you kill him, the world will be destroyed. They hid him away for 3 days. Then it came about that if someone searched for a fresh egg, even for an ill person, he could not find it in the whole land of Israel.(  .they could find no eggs because all desire of copulation had become nullified )-
Then they said ‘What can we do now? If we kill him, the world will be destroyed and if we ask for a compromise, compromises are not given from above. So they covered over his eyes with Kahal (MASCARA) and sent him away, being quite satisfied that no one fall in love with his nearest kin. - -
. (they were partially successful in that: the inclination for forbidden intercourse with family members was destroyed within the people of Israel)
 

fr. ch. 89

In all humbleness, I believe that this aggadeta in Yoma will be more easily understood by first understanding the foundation upon which the Sages, of blessed memory, based their interpretation of the verse ‘And you shall not turn after your heart and after your eyes’. On this the Sages said: ‘your heart’ refers to ‘negation’ (minut) and ‘your eyes’ refers to ‘fornication’ (z’nut) - -

The relationship between negation or any belief in false doctrines and fornication will be better understood from the beliefs in the BAALIM and ASHTAROT which rampaged in the period of Judges and at the time of Yerubam ben Nevat and the rest of the kings of Israel and most of the kings of Judah during the first commonwealth. The Baalim were masculine gods called such for reason of the intercourse that they were supposed to have with the Female gods (Ashtarot). As the Talmud reports: ( Yerushalmi," Avoda zara, kol ha-tzlamim "

-R. Huna in the name of Rav: The Baal ( Baal means the Possessor, the one who possesses - in Hebrew baal also is used for ‘husband’ being that he possesses his wife -)  possessed its masculinity and was adulterous and they made a pact that it should be their god - -

Thus this male image was called Baal because of its male member and because of its committing adultery. It is further known that the idolworshippers of ancient times would make their images in the supposed images, forms and faces (PARTZUFIM - ASPECTS) of the celestial spheres, in their belief that in such a manner the ‘influences’ of the ‘higher forms’ were ‘attracted’ towards the ‘lower forms’ (reason for which they practised orgiastic and fertility rites openly in the presence of their gods).

A second reason for which they were called Baalim (husbands, lords) is that those who served them accepted them as ‘lords’. The Ashtarot were the female goddesses and especially the female counterparts of the Baalim.

The idea that above there are male and female elements which were caused to copulate according to the corresponding images and ‘services’ of the worshippers goes back to the ancient Caldeans where it was widely diffused. Furthermore there were the doctrines to this effect and there were many who were attracted to these ideas. For many generations they were a great trap to Israel and many speculated on these celestial genealogies and formulated corresponding ‘laws’ to coincide with the ‘influences’ desired. So great was its attraction to the nation that all the Prophets prophesied about them and called out against them.

‘Woe to the law-makers who create laws of wickedness and write treacherous letters. The word of God for them is a command to a command, a command to a command (TZAV le-TZAV, TZAV le-TZAV), a line to a line, a line to a line (KAV le-KAV, KAV le-KAV), here a bit, there a bit, here a bit there a bit (ZEIR SHAM ZEIR SHAM) -

So too the doctrine o the Zohar is all a command to a command, ABA to EMA, EMA to ZEIR ANPIN etc. , and a line to a line, as it states in Haim Vital’s ‘Etz Haim that the Sefirot of YOSHER are in the form of THREE KAVIM (LINES) in the image of a MAN. ZEIR SHAM ZEIR SHAM is clear prophecy against their ZEIR ANPIN, as it states, ‘They have abandoned God to serve the Baalim and Ashtarot’.

And all returns as well to the great error of the generation of Enosh which, as the Rambam explains, was their belief that in consistence with His greatness, He gave the ruling power over to others. Compare what is written in the ‘Oz L’Elohim:

-Kodesh ha-Kedoshim is called MALKA KADISHA; KUDSHE BRICH HU, the Holy One, Blessed is He, is so called because He is blessed from that which above Him. This is not the case of EIN SOF for it has not from whom to be blessed, and cannot therefore be called KUDSHE BRICH HU - -

Nor does their EIN SOF watch over them and is therefore not worthy of praise. Only ZEIR ANPIN who has received the ‘blessings’ from above is ‘worthy of all praises’. So is it explained in Sefer ha-Brit, Yosher Levav, M. Lupis, Nahalat Yosef and many others of the new kabbalists who fell prey to the temptation of the Zohar.

fr. ch. 90

Returning from exile the Men of the Great Assembly made many prayers to the Holy One, Blessed is He, asking for help to destroy the Inclination of Idolatry, for they understood that this had been the cause of the destruction of the Temple. In the end they were given help from Heaven to establish Houses of Study and to appoint Sages and Men of Understanding to instruct the nation in the way of the Holy Torah. They began to destroy all foreign beliefs until ‘a fire, in the form of a young lion went out from the Holy of Holies’ - extinguished was the enthusiasm and overwhelming desire to delve into the ‘secrets’ of the mystic cults and into the false doctrines which had so overburdened the Holy of Holies - that is, the Holy Torah itself, the Holy of Holies which teaches the true knowledge ‘to know God’ and to love and fear Him in the proper way.

From the beginning many had attempted to find in the Torah all sorts of ‘supports’ and ‘allusions’ and had created systems of interpretation completely different from the true and unbroken kabbalah. It is this tradition that teaches the true faith in which every Jew is obligated to believe.

The Creator, Blessed is His name, is One - in an absolute sense distinguished from all other categories of ‘one’. He is the First and He is the Last, above all limitations of time and space. Human intelligence, limited by a material body, can never perceive Him. He has always been, is eternal and is infinite. His constant being, both in terms of past and future is expressed by Isaiah ‘I am the First and I am the Last’.

Onkelus on the verse ‘And I said, “I am the Living God forever”’ (le-’olam - lit. for the extent of the world) translates ‘kayam ana le-’almin’ - I exist in eternity. - This means that God exists always in one way without any change whatsoever and without multiplicity, God forbid. And this is true before the world was created and after the world will be finished, when God so desires it. He is the God who said ‘Behold now that it is I, I am God and there is no other god with Me’. This means ‘It is I who have been and it is I who shall be, even after the heavens be no more. I exist etein the same way without any change’. He is the First Cause and to Him alone is it proper to serve, to pray to, to speak of His greatness and to observe His commandments, But it is not proper to do such to any other creation, whether material or spiritual. These are the highest and purest concepts to be expressed.

Not so the ideas of these new kabbalists who weaken the pillars of the true faith and break asunder the foundation beams of the oral tradition and would have us pray to and serve ‘creations’ such as their ZEIR ANPIN!

Let us return to our explanation: ‘as soon as they took hold of him, a hair fell from him’ - this means that they took hold of those who were erring and making the people to err by creating false explanations of the Torah. They took them by their beards and made them repent from their false interpretations which lead to negation and to a belief in many gods. But a hair fell from their beard when they were taken hold of because they were people who tried to make themselves look venerable by letting their beard grow long. So was their honour offended by this, their glory diminished. Therefore they lifted up their voice which carried 400 parsing, claiming the violence done to their honour, for the knowledge of their worthlessness became known in the whole land of Israel which is 400 parsing to its width and length.

The Men of the Great Assembly then pondered ‘In which manner shall we act now?’ Perhaps they had yet merit for the fact that they studied Torah, even though they used it for finding support to their false and idolatrous ideas. Perhaps, they thought, these would be taken pity on from above, as in the case of Elisha ben Abouya when the merit of the Torah that he had studied helped him to such an extent that from heaven they said ‘We shall not punish him, for the sake of the Torah which he had studied’.

Then the Prophet said to them ‘Throw him into a lead caldron and close it with a lead covering so that the voice be suffocated’. The Prophet Zacharia promised them that they did not have to be concerned about the great lamenting of their voice and he ordered them to drown out from the hearts of all the children of Israel those false teachings, as the lead caldron which sinks in the sea, as it states ‘They have sunk as lead in the mighty waters’.

The ‘mighty waters’ - this is the true Torah received from Moses, our teacher, those mighty waters which gave them the force to establish Houses of Study and Prayer in each city and town and to foster talmidim in great numbers, as it states in the first chapter of Avot:

-The Men of the Great Assembly said three things: Be patient in judgement, establish many pupils and make a fence around the Torah.- -

This third principle means that the Torah must not be interpreted at random but only in accordance with the general rules of interpretation and the true foundations which were given to Moses, our teacher, on Mount Sinai.

And this is the meaning of ‘they covered it over with lead’ - that they stopped up the mouths of those self-righteous wise men and did not allow them to explain the Torah with their blunderings and to conjure up the spirits of the dead that they might come and tell them secrets. With lead, since this drowns out the voice - so that their blind interpretations be heard no more.

In this way, with the help of the Almighty, the Inclination of Idolatry was cancelled out among the nation. The men of the Great Assembly then succeeded in obliterating the names of many divinities imagined by those who strayed after their heart to believe in a series of causes and effects which descend one after the other and give and take permission from one another to create as each one desires.

Those of the new kabbalists are exactly the same heretical thoughts that were wiped out by the Men of the Great Assembly, of blessed memory.

fr. ch. 91

Therefore our Sages said that when the Men of the Great Assembly established the prayer Ha-EL ha-GADOL ha-GIBUR ve-ha Nora (the Great, Mighty and Wondrous God) they had returned the Crown to its former place. It was they who explained that all the events and happenings which occurred to Israel, whether good or otherwise, were all derived from His mightiness and His greatness. All came from Elohim ‘Elyon who is One and whose Oneness is as no other.

This pure faith in the Oneness of the Creator was diffused among all the Jews and continued throughout the fourth and fifth millennium and a small part of the sixth. Shortly after the beginning of the 6th millennium, the Holy One, Blessed is He, put Israel to test by means of the Sefer Ha-Zohar falsely attributed to R. Shimon ben Yohhai. Unfortunately many people, and among them Hachamim and Rabbanim, falling prey to its lies, began creating a new oral tradition while speaking slanderously of the Mishnah and Talmud. Those Hachamim did not stand up to the test and believing in the illusions of the Zohar began writing books until the number of those who studied and occupied themselves with it grew continually. Jointly they used the Mishnah and Talmud as if these were equal with their doctrines in questions of faith without distinguishing or understanding the worlds of difference that lay between them.

The Talmudists, on the other hand, attached as always to the Talmud and Midrashim, as well as the majority of traditional Jews, claimed no knowledge of this new kabbalah. They remained in tact in their pure and unadulterated faith. And it goes without saying that those who were on the level of understanding the writings of R. Saadya Gaon, of the Kausari of Yehuda Ha-Levy or of the Rambam etc. remained fixed in their pure faith in the absolute Oneness of God. The Crown remained and still remains for them in its former place as in the days of the Men of the Great Assembly.

Yet here is the painful thorn. Many of them believe that the books of the new kabbalists are holy, God forbid, and that they contain lofty concepts which they themselves are unable to understand but which walk hand and hand with the pure faith. They are completely unaware of all the snake-poison that it contains and its subtle traps which uproot the foundations and tear down the pillars of the Holy Torah, God forbid.

Many Hachamim and Rabbanim have erred and their mistake was a great stumbling block to those who came after them.

fr. ch. 92

There is yet another category of well-informed men who have scrutinised these books and who know how completely foreign they are to the faith of the Torah and to the faith in the Oneness of Ha-Shem. But all this they speak about only in great privacy among their friends because they are afraid of the ‘hassidim’ and the ‘ultra-religious’ so fervent in their love for honour and glory, God save us, who pray to the Queen of Heaven in their fantasies and delegate to her a secret place in the world. The prayers and the other important deeds (takkanot) of the Men of the Great Assembly has not helped them.

Indeed the only principle that they have retained is not to make images or statues of gold, silver, wood or stone, the work of an artisan’s hand - as the author of the Zohar opens with the verse ‘Cursed is the man who maketh a statue or a graven image’ etc. the work of an artisan - -

In their thoughts, however, there are many images and baalim and ashtarot to whom they serve and bow down to and pray to in ‘purity’. And they refer to all these images with the name of God, and further have in mind the ‘intentions’ (KAVVANOT) to join these various images together as someone who is pulling many ropes or gathering camels. Yet all this matters not for them as long as they say with their mouths that all is One.

Yet those people who understand and believe in the Oneness of God, who know the truth and know what is correct, who constantly study the written Torah and the oral Torah, are afraid to speak up and to bring the full truth to their lips, from fear of the deceitfulness always found on the lips of these ‘hassidim’. They are afraid lest they be attacked with threats of ‘excommunication’ (hherem) ‘by force and with a strong hand’ all of which is not the will of God or of those that fear Him.

For reason of these threats, they are afraid to give themselves over to the cause of the Sanctity of the Name (KEDUSHAT HA-SHEM), for the sake of the Mighty and Omnipotent God whose judgements are in all the land. Have they closed their eyes to the actions of our forefathers who gave over their bodies and souls in order to sanctify the name of God. Remember Abraham thrown into Nimrod’s furnace and Daniel thrown into the lion’s den. Remember the many Tzadikim and pious men mentioned in the Talmud and Midrashim who were ready to die for Kedushat Ha-Shem. Some of them were even killed because of the sin of their generation.

fr. ch. 93

Have they, then, not considered the honour of God whose name is profaned by this new kabbalah, God save us. Is there a greater profanation than this, to serve another god who is created and not the Lord, our God who let His ways be known to Moses! -

This is the pain in our hearts. How is it possible that the Jewish People, the nation chosen by God to love Him and to serve Him and to proclaim His Oneness in their prayers with all their heart and all their soul and all their might without any association to anything else from among the creations above or below, has had its faith so twisted about! For they have abandoned the God of their fathers and have exchanged the honour of the Great and Mighty and Wondrous God for other gods in the form of a man with a small face appointed by his father and mother to conduct and nourish all the worlds, God save us from this insidious trap!

The Men of the Great Assembly accomplished yet another great feat against the Inclination of Sin in that they weakened it to the point that he could no longer provoke the forbidden fornication among certain relatives. They achieved this through the decrees and laws which they established, as they are explained by the great source of light, the Rambam.( hilchot " avodah zara ") This important demarcation between parental relations was expressed by the Sages with the words ‘and they put kahhal in his eyes and were successful that he could no longer provoke a person to fall in love with his relative.

fr. ch. 98

-The Gaon, R. Saadya, dedicated himself to answering to the various categories and schools of philosophers who err and search after vanity. His purpose in this was to avoid that their opinions become confused with the pure faith of the Torah. Thus he writes:

-The first category maintains that the Creator is extremely fine and spiritual matter, having very fine points such as dust etc.

-The second category maintains that the Creator of material things created them from Himself. (this means that He ‘separated’ part of Himself and in that part created the world) -

I have found that these philosophers do not deny the Creator, yet their intelligence refuses to admit that something has come into existence after its having been non-existent, and since there is nothing outside of the Creator they believe that He created all things from Himself. This second category is more foolish than the first and I have seen fit to expose their mistakes in thirteen aspects etc. ( see ad locum the words of the Gaon and the depth of his answers to understand more fully the origins of the error of the zohar and its followers , for without any doubt their opinions derive from these two unfounded philosophies )  -Another category, continues the Gaon, ( perek 7, maamar ha-ahdut )   says that a small part of God has body and spirit. These are guilty in equal measure to that category which says that everything created is part of the Creator, as well as to the category which says that His body and spirit are brought into existence and in them is there another spirit of the Creator. This would mean that this created body would come to be called God in conjunction with that Godly part which is in it. They parallel this to the manifestation of His glory on Mount Sinai and in the burning-bush and the Tent and the Tabernacle. But this obligates them to believe that the Tent and the Bush and Mount Sinai are God as well, and thus they add evil to their error!!

From these words of the Gaon you can understand the truth of what I have written, for my words are all in accordance with the Holy Torah and the true kabbalah of the Sages. -

fr. ch. 100

-it is forbidden to believe in the idolatrous ideas of the Zohar which would have us consider God as having all kinds of causes and effects. It would have us exchange the Glory of God ‘who has no beginning to His beginning’ for this other god called ZEIR ANPIN who according to them was given the power and rule from the ‘causes above Him’ and must be served by the whole world together with Nukvei, His wife!

It is likewise a profanity for us to believe that R. Shimon ben Yohhai said these things or wrote this book as a new kind of oral Torah and commanded us to repent from studying the Mishnah and Talmud from which this new Torah subtly disassociates itself calling it the ‘maid-servant’ and the ‘peel’ (KLIPAH) and the ‘other rock’ and the ‘stone with carved figures’ etc. -

It is a profanity for any Jew who strives to be of a pure heart before God and the Torah to believe in the false stories of the Zohar which subtly induce the heart to love many gods and teach that ATIK YOMIN revealed Himself to R. Shimon b. Yohhai and gave him permission to expose aspects of the Torah not in accordance with our tradition!

It is a profanity to think that the great Tanai would have tried to steal our heart through the unscrupulous tricks of the Zohar. For so cunningly has the author of the Zohar interspersed sayings and expressions of the Sages within his own to trick us into turning away from our Father in Heaven. As a malicious woman about whom King Solomon warned ‘Beware of a malicious woman for her words are taunting’ etc. ‘she takes him with her manners, through the falseness of her lips she causes him to fall’ etc.

It is a profanity to believe that the Holy One, Blessed is He has ‘bodies of light’ God forbid, from which depend all the commandments, and that if not for these bodies there would be no Torah and no Mitzvot, God forbid, and that all our good deeds, blessings, prayers and praises with which we exalt the Almighty God go to these created bodies, that is, the FIVE PARTZUFIM which are re-divided into twelve, and in particular ZEIR ANPIN and his FEMALE COMPANION, and that He is the King worthy of all praises, for so commanded His FATHER and MOTHER to serve and to pray to Him and to call Him God!

It is a profanity to believe that any of the Tanaim or Amoraim from the first to the last ever believed in other ancient philosophies. The Tanaim and Amoraim were all of the pure faith and had nothing to do with such impure and worthless philosophies and did certainly not try to mix them together with the Holy Torah and to create absurd interpretations!

All this have they believed without any proof whatsoever following the false stories of the revelation of ATIKA KADISHA and the NESHAMAH of Moses and Elijah as well as the souls of Tanaim, Amoraim and Gaonim who did not even exist at the time of R. Shimon ben Yohhai. These stories were all made up and have no basis. How then shall we listen to that which teaches us to exchange the true and Living God for the small-faced ZEIR ANPIN who has the form of a MAN and eats the bread of idolatry! As we read in Sanhedrin: ( elu ha-nehhnakin )

-Abahu said in the name of R. Yohhanan: If a prophet tells you to transgress a commandment of the Torah (temporarily), transgress any one of them except for idolatry, for even if he stops the sun in the midst of the sky, do not obey him. In the Braita, Yosi ha-Glili said: Behold the extent to which idolatry reaches, for even if they stop the sun in the midst of heaven, do not obey. Why? Because ‘this is the Lord, your God who is putting you to test’ - -

fr. ch. 101

-Woe unto us, for God has tried us through this Zohar but we have not stood the test and have been fooled by the author’s false cunning into serving other gods who work together with their SON, ZEIR ANPIN and His Concubine! He has tricked us by promising the reader that ZEIR ANPIN receives its ‘influence’ from ATIK!

He has fooled us by praising his own merchandise and by using such expressions as ‘Blessed is the portion of the one who does such and such’ and ‘Woe unto the person who is not careful about such and such’ etc.

As a madman who shoots flaming arrows of death, so has he abased and lowered adegraded the honour of the Mishnah and Talmud while he exalts his own new Torah and prognosticates that in the future at the end of days they will leave the Mishnah and Talmud and ‘will be sustained by this composition’ of the Zohar, and only by studying this work shall they be redeemed!!!

Through these words he was successful in capturing the hearts of a great multitude of Jews and has brought them to serve new gods with bodies of 248 members and 365 veins and arteries, great and mighty, pure and illuminating and however the reader decides to describe them in his own thoughts - only their ‘material’ is not blood and flesh.

And these they call with the names of God!!!!!!!

fr. ch. 102

It is incumbent upon all those who fear the word of God and who search for understanding from the Torah, to refrain from being fooled within the hidden places of their heart into serving any ‘form’ or ‘partzuf’.

According to them, such forms come from the Essence of the HIGHER GOD who took a portion of His WISDOM and placed it as a SOUL to (the SFIRAH) of WISDOM, and a portion of His UNDERSTANDING He placed as a SOUL to (the SFIRA) of UNDERSTANDING, the portion of His GREATNESS He placed as a SOUL to GREATNESS and the portion of His POWER etc. These portions became their souls and also the ‘HIGHER EMPTY BODIES were made to become SOULS to the BODIES below them.

They accepted upon themselves to serve them, believing that by serving these they serve the SOUL that is in them which is the FIRST CAUSE! This idea was taken from that philosophy which maintained that the Divinity was the SOUL of the heavenly spheres and of the stars. Therefore it was proper to worship them, for one was in truth worshipping the SOUL that is in them which they believed to be the FIRST CAUSE.

So too the author of the Zohar invented all the PARTZUFIM from the FIRST MAN (ADAM KIDMAA) until ZEIR ANPIN and NUKVEI, having them evolve from the FIRST CAUSE which CONTRACTED ITSELF and ‘went above’ and then EMANATED all those PARTZUFIM in an infinite number of worlds, including those worlds below the ATZILUT. He then placed a CORD (HHUT) which EVOLVES throughout all of them as their SOUL. Then he commanded his readers to serve them, explaining that one is not worshipping their BODIES but the SOUL that is in them. (This is exactly how ancient metaphysics justified worshipping the stars and the astrological signs.)

These, for them, have become Godliness and are called with the names of God as mentioned in the Torah. But to the HIGHER GOD they left no name, for He is above all praise and blessing and has not from whom to receive blessing. It is useless to pray to Him, therefore, for He cannot answer, God forbid and save us from all this!!!!!

fr. ch. 103

All these have come to be believed without voices or lightning or fire-torches or clouds or the sound of the Shofar or even a sign or portent. No signs have we seen or heard nor has a voice from heaven told that it is so!

Only black ink on white paper, the invention of fabulous stories about how ATIKA KADISHA revealed to R. Shimon b. Yohhai and explained to him the verse ‘And God said ‘Let us make a man’.

Who can believe it possible for anyone to have asked concerning the Ten Sayings of Creation (‘esser maamarot) ‘Who said it?’ ‘Who is the one who made this statement and who is the one who made that statement’?

Whoever is a true student of the Holy Torah will not believe this story or any other of the many stories brought in the name of Elijah, the Faithful Shepherd or in the name of other Tanaim and Amoraim. The true student will ridicule all this but at the same time he will be totally upset and stunned. How is it possible to abandon that which we heard on the chosen Sinai? For ‘He established testimony in Jacob’ and gave the Torah to Israel, to make it known to them and to their sons, with voices and lightning and fire-torches and a black cloud and God speaking from within the fire. He has not done such to any other nation. With a voice of power and might, He spoke to us, face to face and said ‘I am the Lord, thy God who hath taken thee out’ etc. - that I have no father and no brother and no son. ‘Behold now that it is I and there is no other God with Me.

How is it possible to abandon this and to follow this idolater with his new oral law which states that God created from Himself FIVE PARTZUFIM and gave them rule over the act of creation and they in turn established ZEIR ANPIN as RULER over all the creations and they commanded all else to serve Him, He is our God and we are His nation!!!!!!

And if, God forbid, it had been the will of God to exchange His honour for another God called ZEIR ANPIN and had made Him RULER over all the creations, why, then, did He not spread the heavens and descend on some mountain of His choice and speak to us once again to say ‘Now, after all this time, I have become tired and so have I made ZEIR ANPIN KING in My place’!!!!!

Never will it be. This is not the road and not even the city! God does not change or exchange or anything of the sort. And so may it not be done in Israel to change or exchange our God who made His ways known to Moses, that He is patient and merciful etc. for a SHORT-TEMPERED GOD lacking in patience!

The Sages, of blessed memory, said:

-A pact was made with the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy that they should never return empty (without effect) - -

Therefore they established in our prayers the mentioning of these Thirteen Attributes. How, then, would it be possible to attribute these attributes to ZEIR ANPIN, God forbid, whose very name means SHORT-TEMPERED? It is a complete contradiction, for they call it ZEIR ANPIN (KATZER APAIM in Hebrew) which is the opposite in meaning to ERECH APAIM (patient, long-suffering) and they praise KATZER APAIM with being ERECH APAIM!!!!

fr. ch. 104

This was the Prophet’s wrath when he cried out ‘O sinful nation’ etc. ‘for they have abandoned God’. He did not rebuke them concerning tzizzit or tefillin or succa or lulav. Not for these did he call them a sinful nation, expressing the gravity of their evil ways. They certainly used to eat matza and maror for Pesah and they performed other mitzvot as well.

What they performed, however, was done in the name of the Ba’alim and Ashtarot and all the other forms called into use by the false prophets. This they justified with the explanation that the soul of these images is a portion of God above but in order to serve the Divinity in a way perceived by the senses it is necessary to make material images out of wood, stone, silver and gold so as to draw down from above an influence similar in kind to that image.

The kabbalists in fact have done exactly this. After rejecting the inheritance of their fathers that the only true God to be served is the First Cause of all that exists, they abandoned Him with the excuse that no thought can ever grasp Him nor can He be conceived of in any idea.

The Prophet, however, expressed the opposite when he said ‘God is my strength, my fortress and my refuge, Thee shall the nations seek from the extremities of the earth and they shall say ‘False is the inheritance of our fathers’.

It is they who admit to the truth of the Torah and not Israel to idolatrous philosophies!

Yet the kabbalists have proclaimed that only that which was caused by Him can be properly served. In their imaginations they envision emanations as a tree sending out its fruit hither and thither. It is these imaginations that they worship because in their minds they are able to conceive of them. They serve the images and idols of there own mental creations!

The commandments of the Torah they imagine as ‘CREATED BODIES’ which together form the BODY OF THE KING (GUFA D’MALKA). Thus some mitzvot are in relation to the HAND OF THE KING, others to His FEET and so on with all the parts of the body.

It was for such reasons that the Cohanim would cry out between the Vestibule and the Altar and say:

‘Have mercy on the nation, turn their hearts to know and to understand Thy truth and to know Thy ways, the ways which Thou hast commanded Moses, Thy servant to teach the people of Israel, that they might learn to serve Thee with a full - -

Not to created BODIES called DIVINE LIGHTS because of the DIVINE SOUL ELEMENT which is in them!

fr. ch. 105

‘My heart is to the law-makers of Israel, to those who offer themselves among the nation’ to understand in depth the Holy Torah with wisdom, perception and knowledge - - who explained in great detail at length and in depth all the mitzvot of the Torah in their divisions and legal differences-

And yet the laws concerning the most essential mitzvah of Yihhud Ha-Shem, the proper understanding of the Oneness of God, were left completely unmentioned and unspoken of even in a single detail by the later Poskim. It is not understandable for which reason they left this subject as open as an unguarded city. It is a mitzvah which applies in fact at all times in all places, in or outside of Israel, whether the Temple is standing or not. It is as if the laws of Yihhud Ha-Shem have been forgotten from Israel, God forbid!

It was for this reason that many of the later Rabbis fell into the traps and failed in the test to which Ha-Shem had put them. It was due to this lack that they erringly rejoiced when the found the Zohar. In their thirst they drank of its words until in their drunkenness - they yielded to its temptations - and they no longer remembered the sin of the generation of Enosh which called ‘other things’ with the name of God.

The next repercussion of the Poskim’s omission was that instead of having a unified code of laws governing Yihhud Ha-Shem, the Hachamim of Tuleitula filled in the gap, God save us, by praising to the high heavens the words of this philosopher of lies whose false prophecies in the guise of a revelation of the ANCIENT OF DAYS to R. Shimon b. Yohhai they placed above the 48 Prophets and 7 Prophetesses who prophesied to Israel.

All the Prophets of Israel, however, did not detract nor add a single letter to what was already written in the Torah. The author of the Zohar instead has added the belief in ‘gods which our forefathers had never known’ and warned as well that whoever has not entered into the study of his new Torah will not gain permission to come before his Maker!

The reason is because their faith in Yihhud Ha-Shem has been totally distorted. Yihhud Ha-Shem is the true faith in the Oneness of God of which there is no like.

Unfortunately, the later Rabbis hid their eyes from it. They should have elucidated clearly in the Shulhhan Aruch and its commentaries the laws (DINIM) of Yihhud Ha-Shem at great length with full chapters and marked paragraphs. They should have extended on what the Rambam had already written in hilchot Yesodei ha-Torah and from which many explanatory ramifications could have been developed. For the knowledge of Yihhud Ha-Shem is not a question of what or how to say it but of what and how to believe and thus to receive upon oneself the Yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven in the proper way. It is the faith in the Absolute Oneness which has no likeness in any other entity of ‘one’. It is not connected or associated with any other ‘cause’ from all else that has come into existence. Its understanding is included in the oral tradition received by Moses from God, a tradition which is totally good and contains no evil, for it is ‘our life and the length of our days’.

fr. ch. 108

O ye heads of Israel, enough with the blasphemous words of the Zohar! If, as they say, none can stand before his Maker unless he has received this metaphysical and mystical doctrine of faith, what did the Sages mean when they said ‘The Holy One, Blessed is He, desired to multiply the merits of Israel, therefore He gave them the Torah and Mitzvot? Why did the Almighty not desire to give us this great merit and inform us of it through the many Prophets who stood up for Israel, from Moses, our teacher to the last of the Prophets Malachi who said ‘Remember the Torah of Moses, my servant’? Why did they not inform us that all our service and prayers go to the lower causes and not to the First Cause of all who will wipe out the name of whoever calls to Him in prayer?

Why too did our Sages, of blessed memory, the receivers of the true kabbalah of the Mishnah and Talmud not reveal to us this doctrine if it is the SOUL of the Torah? Would they too have slighted us the merit of that eternal life in the world which is completely good? Why did they not explain to us how to serve the CAUSES which derive from Him called KUDSHE BRICH HU and SHECHINTEI? Why did they leave the great majority of Israel among which are the students of the Mishnah and Talmud in their error? Why did they allow them to serve an untrue God, the First Cause who has no joinings and separations and to whom prayer is undesirable? Why did they not instruct us in the service of the last manifest God, ZEIR ANPIN, in order that we merit in our prayers to join together all the separated pieces of masculine and feminine elements as is His pleasure?

fr. ch. 111

Therefore whoever is sincere with the Lord, our God, who is the First Cause of all existence without association to any other power, will not listen to the deceitful author of the Zohar and to all those who were drawn after it. For the Lord, our God, alone in His greatness and kindness has brought everything into existence. He is One and He is totally Unique in His Oneness, unlike all other entities of ‘one’. He alone is the First and there is no beginning to His beginning. It is He who brought us out of Egypt and He who revealed Himself at Sinai and gave us the Torah with voices, lightning, torches of flame-fire and the sound of the Shofar. All the mountains trembled and the whole earth shook to the sound of His mightiness. Then did He make to be heard the sound of His powerful voice and said ‘I am the Lord, Thy God’ and ‘Thou shalt have no other gods’ and all the Ten Commandments the fame of which has spread out in the whole world. -

All this the Almighty God has done with us in order that we believe that Moses, peace be with him, gave us the true Torah and that we must never change it or exchange it for another. Nor shall we believe any ‘prophet’ or diviner who attempts to entice us into serving another god. We shall serve Ha-Shem only without any association to something else.-

fr. ch. 112

On the basis of what has been explained until here, it is certain that one must refrain from all their minhagim( customs, usages, ceremonial rites developed after the closing of the Talmud ) whether for leniency or for severity and from all their nushhaot ( their versions ofthe prayers and their prayers bokks ) which were created in accordance with the Zohar and the kabbalists. The great majority if not all of them were written with the express intent to introduce into the nation the principle of multiplicity and of the male and female elements which must be joined in union.( such as to unite the Holy Blessed is He to His Divine Presence)  kabbalists believe that if one says the words, even without understanding, he causes such spiritual marriages to occur. Therefore they set themselves to such pain in order that these versions be incorporated into the Siddurim (Prayer Books). Great is the number of the uninstructed who follow these unfounded minhagim because of those previous rabbis who abandoned the minhag of their fathers which stand on the solid basis of the written and oral law and replaced them with versions directly taken from and based on the new kabbalah.

Therefore let it be said to every person to whom the fear of God shines in his heart, that he take great distance from all these minhagim and new dinim deriving from the new kabbalah. They come only to uproot and demolish the corner stones of the Holy Torah and break its pillars asunder, for in all their prayers and blessings, when they mention the glorious Name, they place their intention on ZEIR ANPIN in association to the higher PARTZUFIM above it.

Yet it is not only these new minhagim which must be avoided. One must be careful about everything which is performed or made by them concerning all the commandments explained to us by the Sages, of blessed memory. Here are a few of them: a Sefer Torah, Tefillin or a Mezuza that were written by any Jew who is devoted to the new kabbalah are not valid because the Names of God written in them were written for the sake of another god, ZEIR ANPIN. All the names written in them are profane and may be burned, is the law of the Poskim concerning a Sefer Torah, Tefillin and Mezuzot written by a ‘min’ (non-believer or dissident from the true tradition). One must not eat from their slaughtering since, at the moment of slaughter, when the kabbalist mentions the Name in the blessing for shechita, his intention is on ZEIR ANPIN. If a kabbalist is leading a congregation in prayer, one must not answer Amen or to Kedusha or to Baruch Ha-Shem Ha-Mevorach because, if the kabbalist is an expert, all his intentions are to ZEIR ANPIN. If one marries a woman or divorces a woman, the witnesses must not be from those who believe in the new kabbalah because the ‘kedushin’ (marriage contract) or the ‘get’ (divorce document) are invalidated by the Torah if the witnesses are unworthy. Thus a married woman might come to marry another man by means of this invalid divorce.

I have already explained above( not brought here in this shortened
version ) that when they mention the Ten Plagues at the Pesah Seder, they pour out a libation from their wine-glass into a broken vessel called ‘ARUR’ (cursed) in order to ‘correct’ MALCHUT and to cleanse her from the blood of her menstruation etc. Thus their wine is as idolater’s wine and is prohibited for usage or for benefit. So are there many such idolatrous minhagim which they have instituted, and one must take heed of them, of their food and of their drink lest one be rendered impure.

Woe unto us that through this treacherous Zohar we have become similar to other nations, such as the religions of India or the cults of the ancient Egyptians, Caldeans, Persians and Medes all of which were involved with such mystical doctrines based on the powers of their imagination ‘who never get out of the confusion and are in constant battle with their own opinions’!

fr. ch. 113

Who will unveil the dust from the eyes of the Men of the Great Assembly who poured out their beseechings and cried out before our Father in heaven with a great voice against the Inclination of Idolatry, to cast out the idols, the baalim and the ashtarot from the people of Israel; yea did you succeed. But not forever! For your true kabbalah has been degraded to a maid-servant, to klipah, to chaff, to straw, to the other rock from the side of evil, while the study of the baalim and ashtarot, of the faces and shapes of the male-gods and the female-gods has been placed as a Madame. And so they serve them in ‘holiness’ and ‘purity’ with the fear and trembling of an impure intellect and with the great confusion of an untrained mind. They themselves know not what ‘intention’ they must say or think about as can be verified by the immense number of ‘intentions’ (kavvanot) found in their books.

If the eyes of our Sages, the Men of the Great Assembly, could see what has happened to Judaism in view of the Zohar, they would have rent their garments, put on sack-cloth and ash and cried out in public, in the market-places and on the streets, with a terrible and bitter voice, as did Mordechai in the great Capital of Susa. Is this the law of the Torah! To search out the hidden allusions for the service to many gods! To call the knowledge of these divinities the secrets of the Torah! These are not the ‘secrets’ (sitrei) of the Torah but the contradictions (stirot) of the Torah for all their words are in contradiction to the true faith in the Oneness of God in accordance with the Holy Torah.

fr. ch. 114

In conclusion, precious reader, incline your heart and give over your attention to efficient wisdom and understanding. Do honour unto God and thank Him, for He awakened and enlightened with the spirit of His holiness all the Prophets of Israel. And afterwards too did He inspire the Hachamim of the Mishnah and Talmud to look with the pure eyes of the intellect into the past and the future to know what might happen in later periods. Thus did they kindle the great flame-torches to demonstrate and instruct the pure faith in the Oneness of Ha-Shem Baruch Hu, before the darkness of the shadow of death would come to defile and adulterate that pure faith with many emanated gods appointed in His stead.

About the first ones who made images of gold and silver, wood and stone, the Prophet Jeremiah said ‘As one they shall be burnt, having been fooled by the teachings of vanity, it is wood’. About those of our generation who follow in the footsteps of the false prophet of the Zohar, the Torah said ‘If there stands up in your midst a prophet or a dreamer’ etc. ‘saying, ‘Let us serve other gods which you have not known’ ’ (not by the true kabbalah received by the Sages nor by any sign or proof) ‘do not listen to the words of that prophet’. Do not even turn to those words to know if any of them is true. For without any doubt all that follows and derives from a false basis will be untrue. About them the Prophet Samuel said to Israel ‘Do not turn after vanity which cannot help nor save you, for they are utter vanity’.

Yet almost all those who read or study in the Zohar or in the books of individuals or groups who have inherited the chaos, have not understood their true intentions and have erroneously believed that they are all part of one Torah and one Law. ‘Israel has not known, my nation has not meditated’ that their real purpose was to institute a completely new oral law to replace the Mishnah and Talmud. Praised is the name of God who bestows on man knowledge and understanding, to perceive the truth of true words, and to shatter the visions of the impudent who would lift themselves up to establish their doctrines, causing by subterfuge and false-flattery many from among our nation to believe that the Lord, our God is not the Unique and Absolute One.

Now let every person who possesses a wise heart look into the Torah of Perfection and into the words of R. Saadya Gaon, R. Yehuda HaLevy, the Rambam and many other great Hachamim, so that his soul be satisfied with the pure bread of our holy Emunah as it was revealed to the Patriarchs and later to Moses together with the entire nation at Sinai. And through this may he merit to behold the pleasantness of God and to visit within His chamber.

So has the Almighty God helped us until here to reveal the true thoughts of the deceitful philosopher and false prophet of the Zohar who dared speak falsehoods against Ha-Shem and against the Torah, selecting new gods, the inventions of his over-indulged imagination while attributing all this to the famous Hacham, R. Shimon ben Yohhai, the holy Tanai, in order to deceive the hearts of the house of Israel.

Blessed is He who bestows knowledge on man to understand and to correct : Come let us walk in the light of God, the Holy Torah which gives us understanding and teaches us the knowledge of Ha-Shem Elohim Emet and through this may we merit to the pleasantness of God in this world and in the world to come.

completed this shortened version - November 9, 1996

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