זוהר ויקרא — דף כג ע”א

After Moses died, what is written? "This people rose up and went astray" etc. Likewise, woe to the world when Rabbi Shimon departs from it, for the wellsprings of wisdom will be stopped up in the world, and a person will wish for a word of wisdom and find no one to say it, and the whole world will err in Torah, because there will be found among them no one who awakens in wisdom. Of that time it is written: "And if the whole congregation of Israel shall err." And if they err in Torah and do not know its ways, why is this? Because a matter is hidden from the eyes of the assembly, and there is found no one who knows how to reveal the depths of Torah and its ways. Woe to those generations that will be found then in the world.<br />
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Rabbi Yehuda said: the Holy One, blessed be He, will in the future reveal the deep secrets of the Torah at the time the Messiah King comes, as it is said (Isaiah 11): "For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." And it is written (Jeremiah 31): "And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying: Know the Lord, for they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest." Amen, so may it be.<br />
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"If a prince sins, and does through error any one of all the things which the Lord his God has commanded not to be done, and is guilty" (Leviticus 4). Rabbi Yitzchak taught: why is it that everywhere else it is written "and if," as in "if the anointed priest sins," "and if the whole congregation of Israel errs," yet here it is written "if a prince sins" without the "and"? What does this teach?<br />
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Rather, the priests are not so easily found in sin, for the priest watches over himself constantly, since the burden of his Master rests upon him every day, as well as the burden of all Israel and of each individual; hence the wonder: would he indeed sin?! That is why it is written "and if." Likewise "and if the whole congregation of Israel errs" is a wonder that all of them would be found together in one sin, for if some sin, others would not; hence the "and if." But here, "if a prince sins" is certain, because his heart becomes haughty within him, the people follow him, and he has been appointed over them; therefore "if a prince sins," such as when he transgressed a prohibition and committed one of them, and therefore "and" is not written of him, for his deeds are not in doubt.<br />
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Rabbi Yehuda opened and said: "And the princes brought onyx stones and stones to be set for the ephod and the breastplate" (Exodus 35). Why were these items brought by the princes and not by anyone else? Is it not written, "Everyone whose heart stirs him up shall bring the Lord's offering," and "onyx stones and stones to be set for the ephod and the breastplate"?<br />
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Rather, the Holy One, blessed be He, said: although this offering depends on all, these stones go to the princes. What is the reason? Because they are found upon the heart of the priest. The Holy One, blessed be He, said: let the princes whose hearts are haughty come, and let them bring these stones that are found upon the heart of the priest, so that they may be atoned for the haughtiness of their hearts. And it is written: "They shall be upon the heart of Aaron when he goes in before the Lord"; and for this reason "the princes brought the onyx stones and the stones to be set," to atone for them.<br />
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Therefore, "if a prince sins" is certain, "and does through error any one of all the things which the Lord his God commanded not to be done," as they explained, that he transgressed a prohibition, "or his sin, which he has sinned, is made known to him" — for because his heart was haughty within him, he did not take heed of his sins, and afterward it became known to him and he repented of it.<br />
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Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Yossei were sitting one night, engaged in Torah study. Rabbi Yehuda said to Rabbi Yossei: I have noticed that the clarity of Torah is greater at night than during the day. Why is this? He said to him: because the clarity of the Written Torah is the Oral Torah, and the Oral Torah rules at night and awakens more than during the day, and at the time it rules, then the clarity of Torah exists.<br />
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Rabbi Yossei opened and said (Job 35): "Neither does any say, Where is God my Maker, who gives songs in the night?" Come and see: at the time the north wind awakens and the night is divided, it has been explained that a flame goes out and strikes beneath the wings of the rooster, which flaps its wings and crows. And that flame, when it reaches it and awakens opposite it, it gazes at it and trembles and crows, and it looks and watches for the honor of its Master in order to do His will, and it calls out to the children of man.<br />
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Therefore it is called "sekhvi" (vigilance) — watching. And it is called "gever" (strong one), for it awakens through the flame of severity; from the side of severity it comes to awaken the world, and then those children of faith rise up and give strength and power to the Community of Israel, and then it is called the song of Torah. Therefore David inherited the kingship, he and his sons, forever and for all generations.