Daily Zohar # 5294 – Chayei Sarah – Putting Tefillin

Hebrew translation:

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Zohar Chayei Sarah
Continued from previous DZ
#190
They said, If it is good before our master, let him say to us some matter. They said, We heard from your father that the Holy One, blessed be He, in the abundance of His love that He had for Israel, said to them to make for Him a tabernacle, like the pattern of the upper chariot of above, and He would come to dwell with them. And this is what is written, “וְעָשׂוּ לִי מִקְדָּשׁ וְשָׁכַנְתִּי בְּתוֹכָם” “And let them make Me a sanctuary, and I will dwell among them” (Exodus 25:8). And we heard from your father that here, in this verse, the reason of the tefillin is sealed.
Notes:
In His great love, the Holy One, blessed be He, commanded Israel to make a tabernacle like the upper chariot, so that He would dwell among them. In this verse the reason of the tefillin is sealed.
#191
He said to them, Come and see: the Holy Temple was made like the pattern of the supernal one, in the forms of its holy chariots, and afterward the Holy One, blessed be He, caused His Shechinah to dwell with them. In this manner and in this way the friends, the masters of the Mishnah, hinted in the reason of the tefillin, that that man who puts them should be a likeness to the upper chariots: to the lower chariot and to the upper chariot, so that His Malchut should come and His Shechinah should dwell upon him.

The explanation of the matters: the secret of the two chariots has already been explained, and there is no need to repeat the words. And both of them are needed, for there is an advantage in the upper chariot that is above the chest that is not in the lower chariot that is below the chest. For union is practiced only from the chest and above, where there is the face of man, and not from the chest and below, where the face of man is lacking. And likewise there is an advantage in the lower chariot from the chest, and below that is not in the upper chariot from the chest and above, for the place of the revelation of Chochmah is in the chariot from the chest and below and not in the chariot from the chest and above. Therefore there is no revelation of completeness except in the two chariots together. For the lower chariot ascends and is included in the union that is from the chest and above in the upper chariot, and then the Chochmah is revealed in the lower chariot.

The tabernacle and its vessels were arranged in the likeness of the two chariots. For then the lower chariot ascended to the place of the upper chariot, and was included in the union that is there, and then the Chochmah was revealed in the lower chariot, which is the secret of the dwelling of the Shechinah among the lower ones. So too the man who lays tefillin must intend these two chariots and the orders that are in them, for then the Malchut of the Holy One, blessed be He, will come, and the Holy One, blessed be He, will cause His Shechinah to dwell upon him. For there is no revelation of Chochmah except in the secret of Malchut, which is the secret of from the chest and below, and it is called Shechinah. But there is no union for the drawing of Chochmah except from the chest and above, and therefore by means of the two chariots together the completeness is revealed.
Notes:
The Temple was made like the upper chariots so that the Shechinah would dwell. The one who lays tefillin becomes a likeness to both the lower and the upper chariot. Completeness comes only when both are together: the lower chariot ascends and is included in the union of the upper, and then Chochmah is revealed. The tabernacle was arranged in this likeness, and the one who puts tefillin must intend both chariots so that Malchut comes and the Shechinah dwells upon him.

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