Theos-Talk Archives (April 1995 Message tl00043)

I found a poem in my Zohar that has to do with "Exodus", hence
with Easter & Passover.  I thought you mighty like it.  So here
it is.

Manna & Wisdom

"YHVH said to Moses
' I am about to rain for you bread from heaven!'...
Moses said to Aron
'Say to the whole assemblage of the Children of Israel:
'Approach YHWH, for He has heard your grumbing.'
as Aron spoke to the whole assemblage of the Children of Israel,
they turned to face the desert,
for there, the Presence of YHWH had apppeard in the cloud...
That evening, the quail rose and covered the camp.
The fall of dew rose,
and there, on the face of the desert,
a fine coating, as fine as frost on the ground.
The Children of Israel saw. They said to one another 'What is it?'
for they did not know what it was.
Moses said to them
'It is the bread that YHWH has given you to eat.'
(Exodus 16:4,9-10,13-15)"

"Come and see
Every single day, dew trickles down
frin the Holy Ancient One to the Impatient One.
and the Orchard of Holy Apple Trees is blessed.
Some of the dew flows to those below:
holy angels are nourished by it,
each according to his diet,
as it is written:
'A human ate angel bread'
(psalms 78:25)
Israel ate of that food in the desert.

Rabbi Shim'on said
'some people are nourished by it even now!
'Who are they?
The Comrades, who engage Torah day and night.
Do you think they are nourished by that very food?
No, by something like that very food,
two balancing one.

"Come and see:
When Israel entered and joined themselves to the Holy King
by uncovering the holy marking,
they were pure enough to eat another kind of bread,
higher than the first.
At first, when Isreal went out of Egypt
they went into the bread called Mazzah.
Now they were purer;
they went in to eat higher bread from a high sphere.
as it is written:
'*I am about to rain down for you bread from heaven.'
literally from Heaven!
It was then that Israel discovered the taste of this sphere.

"Comrades engaging Torah are nourished from, an even higher
sphere.  Which is that?
That which is writen:
"WIsdom gives life to those who have it'
(Ecclesiastes 7:12)
a very high sphere.

"Rabbi El'azar said to him 'If so, why are they weaker than other
human beings?
Other human beings are stronger and more powerful;
the Comrades should be the stronger ones.'

He said to him, 'A good question!
Come and see:
All humam food comes from above.
The food that comes from heaven and earth is for the whole world.
It is food for all; it is coarse and dense.
The food that comes from higher above is finer food, coming from
the sphere where Judgement is found.
This is the food that Isreal ate when they went out of Egypt.

"The food found by Israel that time in the desert,
from the higher sphere call Heaven-
it is an even finer food,
entering deepest of all into the soul,
detached from the body,
called 'angel bread'.

"The highest food of all is the food of the Comrades,
those who engage in Torah.
For they eat foord of the spirit and the soul-breath;
they eat no food for the body at all.
Rather. from  a high spehere, pecious beyond all: Wisdom.

"That is why a Comrade's body is weaker than a normal body:
they do not eat food for the body at all.
They eat food for the spirit and the soul-breath
So their food is finest of the fine, finest of all.
Happy is their portion!
As it is written:
'Wisdom gives life to those who have it.'
Happy is the body that can nourish itself on food of the soul!

Rabbi El'azar said to him,'Certainly that is true.
But how can such food be found now?

He answered 'Certainly a good question!
Come and see:
This is the clarity of the words.....
The foods of the Comrades engaging Torah is most precious of all.
This food flows from Wisdom on high,
and those who engage Torah enter the source of her roots;
so their food flows down from that high and holy sphere.

"Rabbi El'azar came and kissed his hands.
He said,'Happy is my portion! I understand these words!
Happy is the portion of the righteous!
Engaging Torah day and night
entitles them to this world and the world that is coming,
as it is written
'That is your life and the expanse of your days.'"