Daily Zohar # 5149 – Vayikra – Rosh Hashanah and the binding of Isaac

Hebrew translation:

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Zohar Vayikra
Continued from previous DZ
#304
On this day, Isaac is crowned — which is Gevurah and the left line — and he is the head of the patriarchs. On this day, it is written: “פָּחֲדוּ בְצִיּוֹן חַטָּאִים” “The sinners in Zion are afraid” (Isaiah 33:14). On this day, Isaac was bound, and everything was bound. And Sarah was wailing. And the sound of the shofar was exceedingly loud. Fortunate is the portion of one who passes between them and is saved from them.
Rabbi Abba said: Because of this, we read the portion of the Binding of Isaac on this day, for on this day, Isaac was bound below and bound above. When was he bound? At the hour it is written: “וַיַּעֲקֹד אֶת יִצְחָק בְּנוֹ” “And he bound Isaac his son” etc. (Genesis 22:9).
Notes:
The Zohar teaches that Rosh Hashanah is identified with the day of the Akedah (Binding of Isaac). On this day, Isaac (Gevurah/left line) is “crowned” and becomes the head of the patriarchs. The binding above and below arouses great fear and trembling (“the sinners in Zion are afraid”), accompanied by Sarah’s cries and the powerful sound of the shofar.
Reading the Akedah on Rosh Hashanah is not merely commemorative — it reactivates the cosmic power of that event, in which the left side (Isaac) is elevated and bound in holiness, allowing for the rectification and crowning of the right side (Abraham) and the balancing of the entire sefirot structure. This is why the day is filled with both awe and the potential for great mercy.
#305
Rabbi Elazar said: On this day, the day of the Binding of Isaac, Isaac crowned Abraham with the mochin of the upper three (ג” ר, Gimel Rishonot), which are called a crown, in the secret of “בָּעֲטָרָה שֶׁעִטְּרָה לּוֹ אִמּוֹ” “with the crown with which his mother crowned him” (Song of Songs 3:11), as it is written: “וְהָאֱלֹהִים נִסָּה אֶת אַבְרָהָם” “And God tested Abraham” (Genesis 22:1). What is “Tested” “נִסָּה”? It is as it is said: “וְאֶל עַמִּים אָרִים נִסִּי” “and I will lift My banner to the peoples” (Isaiah 49:22), and “וַיִּקְרָא שְׁמוֹ יְהוָה נִסִּי” “and he called his name YHVH Nissi” (Exodus 17:15), which is an expression of elevation and exaltation. And “נִסָּה” is like “נָשָׂא” (lifted up), and not from the language of “test/trial.” For through the Binding of Isaac, he elevated and lifted up Abraham.
He asks, “What does it teach us?”
And he answers: It teaches us that the right side was completed and perfected through the binding of the left side. Before the right line — which is the secret of Abraham — was included in the left — which is Isaac — the right had only Vav Ketzavot without the upper three (Gimel Rishonot). But after it was included in the left, it has Gimel Rishonot like the left. As explained in the previous discourse. And this inclusion came to it through the Binding of Isaac. And it turns out that the right was completed and perfected through the Akedah. This is what is written: “וְהָאֱלֹהִים נִסָּה אֶת אַבְרָהָם” — that is, He elevated him with Gimel Rishonot. And “Elohim” is precise, for this is the Fear of Isaac — that is, the attribute of Gevurah, which is the left line — that this attribute elevated him with Gimel Rishonot through its inclusion in it by the Binding of Isaac.
Notes:
The Zohar gives a profound interpretation of the Akedah (Binding of Isaac) on Rosh Hashanah. The verse “וְהָאֱלֹהִים נִסָּה אֶת אַבְרָהָם” is read not as “tested” but as “elevated/lifted.” Through the binding, Isaac (left side/Gevurah) crowns Abraham (right side/Chessed) with the supernal mochin of Gimel Rishonot (the three upper sefirot).
This teaches that the right side achieves completion and perfection only when it is included within the left. Before this inclusion, Chesed had only the six lower sefirot; after the Akedah, it receives the full light of Chokhmah. “Elohim” in the verse specifically alludes to the Fear of Isaac (Gevurah/left), which elevates Abraham.
The Akedah on Rosh Hashanah thus rectifies and balances the divine structure, allowing the right to be fully illuminated and the entire system to reach perfection through the union of Chessed and Gevurah. This is the inner reason we read the Akedah on Rosh Hashanah.

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