זוהר ויקרא — דף מא ע”ב
Summary
Rabbi Shimon teaches a general principle: just as there are ten crowns of faith above, so too there are "ten crowns of impure sorcery below," and everything on earth is attached either to this side or to the other side.<br />
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A question is raised about the goat, on which "a spirit of impurity" is said to rest; it is explained that this spirit does not truly rest in it, but merely passes through it and appears to oppose it, which is why it is permitted to eat it: when that spirit passes, the beasts "lift up their eyes, see their own markings, and are separated from them."<br />
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Among cattle, wild beasts, birds, and fish of the sea, in all of them right and left appear, mercy and judgment. Whatever comes from the right side is permitted for eating, while whatever comes from the impure left side is forbidden, "because the rank of all of them (that is, their very essence) is impure, and all of them are impure, and a spirit of impurity dwells within them." Israel's holy spirit need not mingle with them, "so that they may be found holy."<br />
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The verse "Israel, in whom I will be glorified" (Isaiah 49) is cited: if the Holy One, blessed be He, glories in Israel, how could they come to defile themselves and cling to the side of impurity? This is why it is written "sanctify yourselves and be holy, for I am holy," for one who is in the image of the King need not depart from the King's ways. Happy is the portion of Israel, of whom it is written "all who see them will recognize them, for they are the seed the Lord has blessed."<br />
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Whoever eats forbidden foods clings to the other side, "making his own soul and self abhorrent," an impure spirit rests upon him, and he shows that he has no share in the Supreme God. If he leaves this world in such a state, all those attached to the side of impurity seize him and judge him as a man abhorrent to his Master — abhorrent in this world and abhorrent in the World to Come. This is why it is written "and you shall become defiled by them" without the letter aleph — for no remedy is found for his abomination, and he never emerges from his impurity; "woe to them! woe to their souls, who will never cling to the bundle of life."<br />
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Israel comes from the right side; if they cling to the left side, they blemish that side, blemish themselves, and blemish their souls, "blemished in this world and blemished in the World to Come." Rabbi Yossei opens with the verse "all the toil of man is for his mouth" (Ecclesiastes 6) and explains that when a person is judged in that other world, it is for the mouth he did not guard and the soul he defiled, having failed to cling to the side of life. "And the soul too shall not be satisfied" — its judgment is never completed, and it never ascends to its place, because it clung to the other side.<br />
<br />
A question is raised about the goat, on which "a spirit of impurity" is said to rest; it is explained that this spirit does not truly rest in it, but merely passes through it and appears to oppose it, which is why it is permitted to eat it: when that spirit passes, the beasts "lift up their eyes, see their own markings, and are separated from them."<br />
<br />
Among cattle, wild beasts, birds, and fish of the sea, in all of them right and left appear, mercy and judgment. Whatever comes from the right side is permitted for eating, while whatever comes from the impure left side is forbidden, "because the rank of all of them (that is, their very essence) is impure, and all of them are impure, and a spirit of impurity dwells within them." Israel's holy spirit need not mingle with them, "so that they may be found holy."<br />
<br />
The verse "Israel, in whom I will be glorified" (Isaiah 49) is cited: if the Holy One, blessed be He, glories in Israel, how could they come to defile themselves and cling to the side of impurity? This is why it is written "sanctify yourselves and be holy, for I am holy," for one who is in the image of the King need not depart from the King's ways. Happy is the portion of Israel, of whom it is written "all who see them will recognize them, for they are the seed the Lord has blessed."<br />
<br />
Whoever eats forbidden foods clings to the other side, "making his own soul and self abhorrent," an impure spirit rests upon him, and he shows that he has no share in the Supreme God. If he leaves this world in such a state, all those attached to the side of impurity seize him and judge him as a man abhorrent to his Master — abhorrent in this world and abhorrent in the World to Come. This is why it is written "and you shall become defiled by them" without the letter aleph — for no remedy is found for his abomination, and he never emerges from his impurity; "woe to them! woe to their souls, who will never cling to the bundle of life."<br />
<br />
Israel comes from the right side; if they cling to the left side, they blemish that side, blemish themselves, and blemish their souls, "blemished in this world and blemished in the World to Come." Rabbi Yossei opens with the verse "all the toil of man is for his mouth" (Ecclesiastes 6) and explains that when a person is judged in that other world, it is for the mouth he did not guard and the soul he defiled, having failed to cling to the side of life. "And the soul too shall not be satisfied" — its judgment is never completed, and it never ascends to its place, because it clung to the other side.<br />
Torat Emet / Rav Pinhas Reuven — CC BY-NC-SA 2.5
in Hebrew