Daily Zohar # 5053 – Vaera – Seven firmaments, seven earths

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Hebrew translation:

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Zohar Vaera
Continued from previous DZ
#172
Come and see: The Holy One, blessed be He, made seven firmaments. Similarly, seven earths. And they are the boundaries that were explained in their place. That is, they correspond to the seven sefirot: Chessed, Gevurah, Tiferet, Netzach, Hod, Yessod, and Malchut. Seven firmaments above and seven boundaries of the earth above. And similarly, below, the levels extend: seven firmaments and seven boundaries of the earth. And the study friends explained those seven earths as like boxes one upon another.
And one should not raise a difficulty from Zohar Vayikra page 9b, where it says that all these firmaments are one within another like onion skins, etc. (See there). For there are two orders in the worlds: 1) They are arranged as circles, one inside another, and the more outer one is more important, for the outermost circle is above, close to Endless (Ein Sof), blessed be He, and the worst is the innermost, which is this world. 2) They are arranged in a straight line, one under another, in which the more inner one is more important and the outer one is worse (as written in the Talmud Ten Sefirot (byRabbi Ashlag)). And in Zohar Vayikra, page 9, it speaks of the circular order (סדר העגולים), and therefore says that they are one inside another, like onion skins. And here it speaks of the straight order (סדר היושר), and therefore it says that they are like sufṭa (סופטא, Aramaic word) one upon another, that is, in a straight line. And therefore it says later that the holy land is in the inner part, and the seventy earths of the nations surround it from the outside. In the straight order, the more inner one is more praiseworthy.
Notes:
The seven firmaments and seven earths correspond to the seven sefirot (Chesed to Malchut). The upper seven firmaments and seven earth boundaries mirror each other. The study friends describe the seven earths as boxes stacked one upon another (סופטא, sufṭa), contrasting the circular onion-like arrangement in Vayikra. The holy land is innermost (most praiseworthy in straight order), surrounded by seventy nations’ earths.
#173
And these seven boundaries of the earth above, which are opposite Chessed- Gevurah- Tiferet- Netzach- Hod-Yessod- Malchut, each one extends to ten, for each of the seven is included of ten sefirot. Therefore, they are divided into seventy appointees, who were appointed over the seventy nations. And those earths, which are the borders of every nation, which are seventy earths, surround the holy land of Israel. As it is said: “הִנֵּה מִטָּתוֹ שֶׁלִּשְׁלֹמֹה שִׁשִּׁים גִּבּוֹרִים סָבִיב לָהּ מִגִּבּוֹרֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל”,  “Behold, the bed of Solomon, sixty mighty men around it, of the mighty men of Israel” (Song of Songs 3:7). And there are ten hidden within them, which together are seventy, and they are the seventy that surround the holy land. And this is above. And similarly, it is also below.
Notes:
Each of the seven sefirot (Chessed to Malchut) includes ten sub-levels, totaling seventy appointees over the seventy nations. These seventy earths surround the holy land of Israel, mirroring the upper structure. The verse “הִנֵּה מִטָּתוֹ” (Song of Songs 3:7) symbolizes the sixty mighty men around Solomon’s bed, with ten hidden ones completing the seventy that encircle the holy land above and below.

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