Daily Zohar # 4732 – Vayeshev – Bread of sorrows

Show DZ reading video

Hebrew translation:

.

Zohar Vayeshev
Continued from previous DZ
#164
It is written: “שָׁוְא לָכֶם מַשְׁכִּימֵי קוּם מְאַחֲרֵי שֶׁבֶת אֹכְלֵי לֶחֶם הָעֲצָבִים כֵּן יִתֵּן לִידִידוֹ שֵׁנָא.”—”It is vain for you to rise up early, To sit up late, To eat the bread of sorrows; For so He gives His beloved sleep.
“(Psalms 127:2). Come and see how beloved the words of the Torah are, for every word in the Torah contains lofty and holy secrets.
We have learned that when the Holy One, Blessed be He, gave the Torah to Israel, all the sacred and lofty secrets were contained within it. Israel was granted all of these at the moment they received the Torah at Mount Sinai.
Notes:
The Zohar highlights the infinite depth of the Torah, emphasizing that each word carries profound mystical and divine secrets. These secrets were fully revealed to Israel during the giving of the Torah at Sinai, demonstrating the Torah’s unique sanctity and its intimate connection with the Jewish people.
#165
“It is vain for you to rise early” refers to individuals who do not have a wife, as they are not in the state of male and female as is proper. These individuals rise early in the morning to their labor, as it is written: “יֵשׁ אֶחָד וְאֵין שֵׁנִי וְגַם בֵּן וָאָח אֵין לוֹ וְאֵין קֵץ לְכָל עֲמָלוֹ”—”There is one without a second; also, he has neither son nor brother, yet there is no end to all his toil” (Ecclesiastes 4:8).
“מְאַחֲרֵי שֶׁבֶת”—”To sit up late” refers to those who delay marrying a wife. For the term ‘שֶׁבֶת’ (Sit) like ‘Shabbat’ signifies rest, as it is written: “כִּי בוֹ שָׁבַת”—”for on it He rested” (Genesis 2:3). A wife is indeed considered the man’s rest.
Notes:
A man without a wife lacks completeness, and delaying marriage is akin to postponing the spiritual and physical rest that the union brings, likened to Shabbat.
#166
“אֹכְלֵי לֶחֶם הָעֲצָבִים”—”Eaters of the bread of sorrows” (Psalms 127:2). The Zohar asks: What is the meaning of “bread of sorrows”? It answers: When a person has children, the bread they eat is eaten with joy and a willing heart. But for one who has no children, the bread they eat is bread of sorrow. These are truly those who eat the “bread of sorrows.

Notes:
The “bread of sorrows” reflects a spiritual and emotional state of lack and incompleteness. The Zohar’s context emphasizes that having children is not only a biological or physical act but a profound spiritual fulfillment. Children represent a continuation of vitality and purpose, a flow of divine blessings akin to water from a spring. Without this flow, a person feels disconnected from this vital union of spiritual and physical completeness, which the Zohar considers essential in aligning oneself with the will of the Holy One, Blessed be He.
Thus, “bread of sorrows” metaphorically describes the sustenance of someone who lacks this sense of fulfillment. It is as if their bread, the symbol of life’s basic provisions, is tainted with sorrow and spiritual stagnation, contrasting with the joy and purpose brought by children.

{||}