The Sabbath, Divine Reality, and the Streams of Desire

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Zohar 2:136b

13th–14th Century

About This Entry

This passage from the Zohar is a majestic and interpretively playful reading of Psalms 19:2–3: “The heavens declare the glory of God; the sky proclaims God’s handiwork.” The Sabbath is here presented as an inner divine dimension that receives the flow of the supernal dew, the waters of emanation, through the “days,” also key aspects of the inner divine self, the sefirot. The streaming forth of these different dimensions is presented as a luminous current of divine energy, ultimately resulting in the irrigation of the shekhinah, culminating as a Sabbath within the divine. It is also a stream of eros and romance within the divine, of love, joy, and coupling.

The supernal dew streams forth from all the hidden regions; it is “His handiwork” through which He completes Himself on this day [Shabbat] more than on any other. . . . The “firmament” streams forth [maggid] and courses downward from the Head of the King in great abundance. The firmament is that stream issuing from the Cistern, the river going out from Eden [Binah] which flows earthward; it is the stream of supernal dew which gleams and sparkles from all sides. This firmament carries all this downward in a stream of love and desire in order to irrigate the field of joy [Shekhinah] on Sabbath eve. When this bejewelled dew streams down, the entire [divine world] becomes full and complete.

Translated by Elliot K. Ginsburg.

Credits

Zohar 2:136b, trans. Elliot K. Ginsburg, from Elliot K. Ginsburg, The Sabbath in the Classical Kabbalah (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1989), p. 82. Used with permission of the publisher.

Discussion Questions

  1. Reflect on and articulate how divinity is presented as composed of six “days” that flow into the Sabbath. What is the significance and meaning of this symbolism and mythology?

  2. Consider the poetic and theological imagination in which light and water converge as ways of characterizing the sublime wonder that is being evoked here.

  3. How is the language of love, sexuality, and erotic union utilized in this passage to describe the nature of the divine self?

Engage with this Source

This passage from the Zohar is a majestic and interpretively playful reading of Psalms 19:2–3: “The heavens declare the glory of God; the sky proclaims God’s handiwork.” The Sabbath is here presented as an inner divine dimension that receives the flow of the supernal dew, the waters of emanation, through the “days,” also key aspects of the inner divine self, the sefirot. The streaming forth of these different dimensions is presented as a luminous current of divine energy, ultimately resulting in the irrigation of the shekhinah, culminating as a Sabbath within the divine. It is also a stream of eros and romance within the divine, of love, joy, and coupling.

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