זוהר ויקרא — דף ב ע”א

Rabbi Elazar opens with the verse from Isaiah 7 — *"Ask yourself a sign from the Lord your God"* — and raises the contrast between the ancient generations and the latter generations. The ancient ones knew the secrets of the Holy Name and the letter-combinations transmitted at Sinai, whereas the latter generations declined from level to level. The letters of the Torah ascend and descend upon the Holy Creatures described in Ezekiel: large letters emanate from the upper Palaces, and small letters from the lower Palaces, reflecting the structure of Creation. The method of *tzerufei otiyot* (letter-combinations) teaches that each letter is a key to a divine world, and that the "sign" in the verse is a letter of the Holy Name granted to the generation. The cloud upon the Mishkan is the sign of the Shekhinah's presence, and Moses was able to enter it because he carried within him the power of this letter. The ancient generations knew how to combine the letters to draw down divine abundance; the latter generations depend on heavenly signs to access the secrets that the ancients received directly.