Disclosing a Portion, Covering Two

There is an idiom among great sages when they come to disclose a profound matter: They begin their words with “I am disclosing a portion and covering two portions.” Our sages took great care not to utter words needlessly, as our sages instructed, “A word is a rock; silence is two” (Megillah 18a, “Introduction of The Book of Zohar,” Item 18).

This means that if you have a priceless word whose worth is one rock, know that not saying it is worth two rocks. This refers to those who utter needless words without pertinent content or use except to decorate the style in the eyes of the reader. This was strictly forbidden in the eyes of our sages, as is known to those who examine their words, and as I will prove in the following essays. Hence, we must be attentive to understand this common idiom of theirs.

Three Kinds of Concealment of the Wisdom

There are three parts in the secrets of the Torah. Each part has its own reason for being concealed. They are called by the following names:

1. Unnecessary,

2. Impossible,

3. The counsel of the Lord is to those who fear Him.

There is not a single fraction of this wisdom where scrutinies of these three parts do not apply, and I will clarify them one at a time.

1. Unnecessary

This means that no one will benefit from their disclosure. Of course, this is not such a great loss because there is only the issue of the cleanness of the mind here, to warn of those actions defined as “so what,” meaning “So what if I did this, there is no harm in it.”

But you should know that in the eyes of the sages, “so what” is considered the worst corruptor, since all the destructors in the world, those that have been and those that will be, are the “so what” kind of people. This means that they occupy themselves and others in needless things. Hence, sages would not accept any student before they were certain that he would be cautious in his ways, so as not to reveal what was not necessary.

2. Impossible

This means that the language does not compel them to say anything of their quality, due to their great sublimity and spirituality. Hence, any attempt to clothe them in words may only mislead the examiners and deflect them to a false path, which is considered the worst of all iniquities. Therefore, to reveal anything in these matters requires permission from above. This is the second part of the concealment of the wisdom. Yet, this permission, too, requires explanation.

Permission from Above

This matter is explained in the book The Gate to Rashbi’s Words by the ARI (in the portion, Mishpatim, The Zohar, 4:100, beginning with words, “Yochai’s son knew how to hide”): “Know that some of the souls of the righteous are of the surrounding light kind, and some are of the inner light kind. (You will find their meaning in my book Panim Meirot, Gate Makifin, Branch 48.) Those who are of the surrounding light kind have the power to speak of the secrets and concealments of the Torah by way of great covering and concealment so that only those worthy of it will understand them.

Rabbi Shimon Bar-Yochai’s soul was of the surrounding light kind. Hence, he had the power to clothe the words and teach them in a way that even if he taught them to many, only the worthy of understanding would understand. This is why he was given “permission” to write The Book of Zohar.

The permission was not “granted” to write a book in this wisdom to his teachers or to the first ones who preceded them in writing in this wisdom, even though they were certainly more knowledgeable in this wisdom than he. But the reason is that they did not have the power to dress the matters as did he. This is the meaning of what is written, “Yochai’s son knew how to guard his ways.” Now you can understand the great concealment in The Book of Zohar that Rashbi wrote, that not every mind can grasp his words.

The essence of his words: Explaining matters in the wisdom of truth is not dependent whatsoever on the greatness or smallness of the Kabbalist sage. Rather, it is about the illumination of a soul dedicated to this matter. The illumination of this soul is considered “giving permission” from above to disclose the upper wisdom. We therefore learn that one who has not been rewarded with this permission must not make clarifications in this wisdom, as he cannot clothe those subtle matters in their proper words in a way that will not fail the students.

For this reason, we did not find a single book in the wisdom of truth that precedes Rashbi’s The Book of Zohar, since all the books in the wisdom prior to his are not categorized as clarifications of the wisdom, but are mere intimations, without an order of cause and consequence, as it is known to those the knowledgeable ones.

I should add, as I had received from books and from authors, that since the time of Rashbi and his disciples, the authors of The Zohar, until the time of the ARI there was not a single writer who understood the words of The Zohar and the Tikkunim [corrections] like the ARI. All the compositions before his time are mere inklings in this wisdom, including the books of the sage RAMAK.

And the same words that were said about the Rashbi should be said about the ARI himself—that his predecessors were not given permission from above to disclose the interpretations of the wisdom, and the ARI was given this permission. This does not distinguish any greatness or smallness at all, since it is possible that the merit of the ARI’s predecessors was much greater than his, but they were not given permission for it. For this reason, they refrained from writing commentaries that relate to the essence of the wisdom, but settled for brief intimations that were not in any way linked to one another.

Therefore, since the books of the ARI appeared in the world, all who study the wisdom of Kabbalah have left their hands from all the books of the RAMAK, and all the first and the great ones who preceded the ARI, as it is known among those who engage in this wisdom. They have attached their spiritual lives solely to the writings of the ARI in a way that the essential books, considered proper interpretations in this wisdom, are only The Book of Zohar, the Tikkunim, and following them, the books of the ARI.

3. The Counsel of the Lord Is to Those Who Fear Him

This means that the secrets of the Torah are revealed only to those who fear His name, who keep His glory with their hearts and souls, so as never to commit any manner of blasphemy. This is the third part of the concealment of the wisdom.

This part is the strictest in regard to the concealment, as this kind of disclosure has failed many. From the midst of those stem all the charmers, whisperers, and “practical” Kabbalists, who hunt souls with their cunningness, and the mystics who use withered wisdom that came from under the hands of unworthy students, to produce bodily benefit for themselves or for others. The world has suffered much from this and is suffering still.

Know that the root of the concealment was only this part. From here the sages took excessive strictness in testing the disciples, as our sages said (Hagigah 13a), “A summary is given only to a chief justice, and to one whose heart is worried,” and “Maase Beresheet is not to be explored in pairs, neither is Merkava to be explored alone.” There are many others like that, and this whole fear is for the above reason.

For this reason, few are the chosen who have been rewarded with this wisdom, and even those who passed all their tests and examinations are sworn by the most serious oaths not to reveal anything of those three parts. (In this regard, see in the introduction to The Book of Creation by Rabbi Moshe Burtril.)

Do not misunderstand my words, in that I have divided the concealment of the wisdom into three parts. I do not mean that the wisdom of truth itself is divided into these three parts. Rather, I mean that these three parts branch out from every single detail of this wisdom, since they are the only three manners of scrutiny that are always applied to this wisdom.

However, here we should ask, If it is true that the strictness of the concealment of the wisdom is so severe, from where were all the thousands of compositions in this wisdom taken? The answer is that there is a difference between the first two parts and the last part. The prime burden lies only in the above third part, for the reason explained above.

But the first two parts are not under constant prohibition, since sometimes an issue in the “unnecessary” is reversed, stops being unnecessary for some reason, and becomes necessary. Also, the part “impossible” sometimes becomes possible. This is so for two reasons: either because of the development of the generation or by being given permission from above, as it happened to Rashbi and to the ARI, and to smaller extents to their formers. All the genuine books written in the wisdom emerge from these discernments.

This is what they mean by their idiom, “I disclosed a portion and I will cover two portions.” They mean that it happened that they revealed something new that their predecessors did not envision. This is why they imply that they are revealing only one portion, meaning he is revealing the first part of the three parts of concealment, and leaves two parts concealed.

This indicates that something happened which is the reason for that disclosure: Either the “unnecessary” received the form of “necessary,” or he was given “permission from above,” as I have explained above. This is the meaning of the idiom, “I am disclosing a portion.”

The readers of these essays, which I intend to print during the year, should know that they are all innovations, which are not introduced purely as such, in their precise content, in any book preceding me. I received them mouth to mouth from my teacher, who was authorized for it, meaning that he, too, received from his teachers mouth to mouth.

And although I had received them under all the conditions of covering and watchfulness, by the necessity introduced in my essay “Time to Act,” the “unnecessary” part has been inverted for me and became “necessary.” Hence, I have revealed this portion with complete permission, as I have explained above. Yet I will keep the other two portions as I am commanded.