זוהר ויקרא — דף לד ע”ב

The continuation of "For with You is the fountain of life" describes the Holy One as the supreme tree in the middle of the garden holding all sides, because that fountain of life is bound to Him, and He crowns it with supreme crowns around the garden, like a mother crowning her son above all — as it is written, "Go forth and see, daughters of Zion" (Song of Songs 3). Rabbi Yitzchak adds that the "fountain of life" is the High Priest above, corresponding to the high priest below; therefore the priest channels the supreme holy anointing oil below and lights the lamps above, the high priest being complete in the perfection of the seven supreme days, to be crowned over all.<br />
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Corresponding to this are the seven days of inauguration (milu'im) for the priest below, so that everything be found as above; these days are called "days of completion," so that the priest completes himself through the remaining days to complete seven as one, for when the priest awakens, everything else awakens with him. Rabbi Abba asks why it was Moses who anointed Aaron, answering that Aaron is the son of that place, the fountain of life, as it is written, "He led Moses by the right hand, the arm of His glory" (Isaiah 63); and Moses served throughout all seven days of inauguration to make everything dwell together with Aaron.<br />
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Rabbi Chizkiyah asked Rabbi Elazar how many lights were created before the world was created; he answered: seven — "the light of Torah, the light of Gehinnom, the light of the Garden of Eden, the light of the Throne of Glory, the light of the Temple, the light of repentance, and the light of the Messiah" — created even before the world was created; these seven lights are bound in Aaron, who lights the lamps from above to below.<br />
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Rabbi Elazar opens with "All was from dust, and all returns to dust" (Ecclesiastes 3), teaching that even the sun's orb was from that dust — the dust that dwells beneath the holy Throne of Glory. In the book of Rav Yeisa Saba, that dust is the place that gathers everything; paths went out from it to every side and gathered to give light, like dust scattered in every direction. This is in fact the dust of the Temple, itself from the supreme dust, as it is written, "He has dust of gold" (Job 28): what is found below is likewise found above, for this world was created with the letter Heh, as it is written, "These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created" — "with Heh He created them"; therefore even the sun's orb was created from that same dust, the dust that dwells beneath the holy Throne of Glory.<br />
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On the verse "You are all fair, my love, and there is no blemish in you" (Song of Songs 4), "all fair, my love" refers to the Assembly of Israel, and "there is no blemish in you" refers to the Sanhedrin, corresponding to the seventy-two names, corresponding to the seventy souls who went down with Jacob, with the Holy One above them all; therefore "nothing is examined beyond the Sanhedrin." On the verse "And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation" (Exodus 19), the question is asked, who is this "kingdom of priests"; the answer points to "This is the anointing of Aaron and the anointing of his sons" — when the Assembly of Israel is blessed through the priests, it is called by their name. Rabbi Shimon adds that the expression is not "priestly kingship" but "kingdom," for it was the priests who enthroned it and made it mistress over all, whereas the "kingship" from heaven is called "the kingdom of heaven"; thus it is the kingdom over all the king's treasuries and all his weapons, in the upper and lower worlds, kingdom over the whole world.