THEMES of Featured Zohar Articles

When the Israelites left Egypt, they left their state of spiritual impurity. They celebrated Passover, partaking of the food of their Father, but nevertheless they were not yet at the proper level of perfection and purity to receive the Torah. These fifty days of purification, until the day following the completion of the seven weeks of counting the omer, enable a person to enter the World to Come and receive the Torah.

In order for holiness to be perceived at the physical level, it has to be drawn down from Above. The word for "holy" or "sacred" in Hebrew is "kodesh" and implies that the Creator is separated out from the mundane and elevated in a pure and reverent manner.

The "Kedusha" prayer can only be recited in a minyan, each of whose 10 members corresponds to one of the sefirot; together they form a unity below that is worthy of sanctifying G-d in the manner of the angels above.

Rebbe Shimon bar Yochai taught the secret of the mitzvah of the Four Species on Sukkot is thus: just as the Holy One Blessed Be He takes Israel as his own on these days and rejoices in them, so Israel also takes Him as their portion and rejoices in Him.