Daily Zohar # 2429 – Emor – The immortal value of joy

Daily Zohar 2429
Daily Zohar 2429

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Hebrew translation:

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Zohar Emor
Malachi 1:8-10
“וְכִי תַגִּשׁוּן עִוֵּר לִזְבֹּחַ אֵין רָע וְכִי תַגִּישׁוּ פִּסֵּחַ וְחֹלֶה אֵין רָע הַקְרִיבֵהוּ נָא לְפֶחָתֶךָ הֲיִרְצְךָ אוֹ הֲיִשָּׂא פָנֶיךָ אָמַר יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת”
“But when you present the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? And when you present the lame and sick, is it not evil? Why not offer it to your governor? Would he be pleased with you? Or would he receive you kindly?” says YHVH of hosts.”
“וְעַתָּה חַלּוּ-נָא פְנֵי-אֵל, וִיחָנֵּנוּ; מִיֶּדְכֶם, הָיְתָה זֹּאת–הֲיִשָּׂא מִכֶּם פָּנִים, אָמַר יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת”
“But now will you not entreat God’s favor, that He may be gracious to us? With such an offering on your part, will He receive any of you kindly?” says the LORD of hosts.
“מִי גַם בָּכֶם וְיִסְגֹּר דְּלָתַיִם וְלֹא תָאִירוּ מִזְבְּחִי חִנָּם אֵין לִי חֵפֶץ בָּכֶם אָמַר ה’ צְבָאוֹת וּמִנְחָה לֹא אֶרְצֶה מִיֶּדְכֶם”
“”Oh that there were one among you who would shut the gates, that you might not uselessly kindle fire on My altar! I am not pleased with you,” says the LORD of hosts, “nor will I accept an offering from you.”
The Zohar teaches us that the offering brought to the Holy Temple should be pure. A flawed offering would be thrown to the ‘dogs’. A flawed offering represents our consciousness. A king won’t accept a ‘damaged’ gift and would immediately throw it away. We need to value our connection to God and and the Tree of Life that sustains us.
During the services in the Holy Temple, the people’s sacrifices were brought to the Altar. If it was pure and welcomed, the fire that came from above to consume the animal would take the shape of a Lion, an animal that represents the living creature of the Right side of the Holy Throne. If the offering was rejected, the fire would be in a shape of a dog, which is an animal that is dependent on the kindness of people for its food. The Lion represented higher connection and the dog represented no connection.
Every action we do on a daily basis has the aspect of ‘offering’ because we want to draw positive light and outcome from everything we do. If we do everything with joy, jumping on the opportunity to do good deeds/precepts then we connect to the Right of the Tree of Life where we draw Chassadim. It’s the light that manifest into protection and positive outcome.
Shabbat is the best day of the week to make spiritual connections. When we prepare for Shabbat, we should use the best and preferably dedicated items for the different spiritual connection on Shabbat. We use good candles (oil or wax), clean and special shabbat cloths, nicer dinner settings, wine, challah, food, study during the meals and after, do Birkat Hamazon (food blessings) with joy and appreciation for the gifts in our lives.
Giving Tithe should be made immediately when a new income becomes available. Giving it with joy is our opportunity to give back to the Light with appreciation and be rewarded greatly. It’s most beneficial to give on Friday to get into Shabbat with a better vessel.
From a lesson I heard from Rabbi Mutzafi (Israel);
God gives us everything, the job, the money, the wine, the challah, the prayer books and basically everything. We can not claim that we bought a Torah scroll for the synagogue because God gave us the money to do it and so with everything else. The only thing that we can contribute from our side is the joy of the soul in the action of the precepts, bringing all kind of offering to God.
It is simple to understand. The soul comes into a body for a certain length of time. When the soul leaves the world she leaves behind everything material including its body. The ONLY things that the soul carries with it are the ‘impressions’ of its positive actions. The actions done with pure desire and joy have purity attach to it and they are valued without measure.
The sages tell us that the reward for doing a Mitzvah is an opportunity to do another mitzvah. The more we do, the better spiritual garments we get.
We shouldn’t waste time because we already passed many tomorrows and the next one could be the final and most significant one. How many ‘joys’ did we dress our soul with?
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