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THEMES of Featured Zohar Articles

Glad Dad or Sad?
Intermediate
Glad Dad or Sad?
There is no complete service of G-d unless it is through joy.
Joy starts as a mental frame of mind that influences the whole person and permeates him until he is unified in mind and body and can become a vehicle for the manifestation of a higher unity - the Divine Presence.

The Divine Presence didn't dwell upon Jacob all those years that he was separated from Joseph, due to his sadness. When Serach broke the good news to Jacob, he merited to come back into the presence of G-d through singing.
Living the Good Life
Based on Zohar Breishit 216B
Jacob had to deal with trouble all his life. When Joseph departed from him, this trouble was hardest for Jacob to bear and he wept every single day for the seventeen years he was without Joseph.

When he finally saw Joseph standing before him, Jacob's soul was made whole, as if he saw Joseph's mother for Joseph resembled Rachel, and it seemed to him as if he had never known any sorrow at all.
The Real Supreme Court
The spiritual prosecuting forces depend upon the Jewish People's lack of merit.
Because of the great love that G-d has for Israel, no other Heavenly Court judges them other than He Himself. When He looks into their actions to judge them, He is filled with tender mercy, because He is like a father who has mercy on his children.
The Zohar demonstrates three levels of blessing.
When Jacob blessed Joseph's sons, Menashe and Ephraim, he said, "By you shall Israel bless" - as indeed we do. The custom on Friday night is to bless our sons with the words "May you be like Ephraim and Menashe". The Zohar teaches that first Jacob raised the boys up to the source of blessing, the sefira of bina, so that they themselves should be blessed. Next, he endowed them with the ability to draw down blessing. Finally, he endowed them with the ability to instill this blessing to all creatures.

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