Daily Zohar # 5150 – Vayikra – Jacob can cool anger

Hebrew translation:

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Zohar Vayikra
Continued from previous DZ
#306
Rabbi Abba said: It is written, “כִּי אֱלֹהִים שׁוֹפֵט זֶה יַשְׁפִּיל וְזֶה יָרִים” “For God is judge; this one He humbles and that one He exalts” (Psalms 75:8). “For God is judge” — Elohim is Gevurah, and “judge” is Tiferet, which is called “משְׁפָּט” (Mishpat, judgment).
And the explanation is: For if the judgment of Isaac — which is the secret of Gevurah and the left line — did not pass into the place where Jacob dwells — which is the secret of Tiferet and the middle line — and become sweetened there, woe to the world that would meet his judgment. For Jacob, who is the secret of the middle line, diminishes the left line through the “מסך דחירק” (Masach (curtain) of Chirik), and through this, the left unites with the right, and the harsh judgments of the left are sweetened. As explained above.
And the secret of the matter is: “בְּאֵשׁ יְהוָה נִשְׁפָּט” “by the fire of YHVH it is judged” (Isaiah 66:16) — that the fire on the left is judged by YHVH, which is the middle line, which unites it with the right. And this is the sweetening of the world.
#307
And once Isaac, who is the left line, enters into the place of Jacob, who is the middle line, and Jacob grasps him — that is, by the power of the Curtain of Chirik within him — then the fire becomes quiet and its coals cool down, that is, the judgments of the left line.
It is similar to a man who was angry, girded himself, armed himself, and went out in his anger to kill people. A wise man stood at his doorway and held him back, not letting him go outside. The angry man said to him: If you had not held me and restrained me, murder would have been committed in the world. While they were struggling with each other and holding one another, his anger cooled from what he had gone out to do. That wise man went out and proved: Who bore the anger and the force of the judgment of that man? You must say: the one who stood at the doorway to prevent him from going out.
Notes:
The Zohar explains the verse “For God is judge; this one He humbles and that one He exalts” as referring to the interaction between Isaac (Gevurah/left line) and Jacob (Tiferet/middle line). The harsh judgment of the left side must pass through and be sweetened by the middle line (Jacob) via the Masach (curtain) of Chirik. Without this sweetening, the world could not withstand the unmitigated judgment of Gevurah.
The analogy of the angry man illustrates this beautifully: Jacob (the wise man at the door) restrains and cools Isaac’s (the furious man’s) anger, preventing destruction. This process of inclusion and sweetening is the essence of divine judgment on Rosh Hashanah — transforming potential harshness into balanced mercy through the power of the middle line.

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