/lit/ - Literature

prepare for new levels of larping you have never seen before

>>20012908
Why?

>>20012939
I want to understand Neon Genesis Evangelion better

>bought a meme edition instead of the Pritzker
Never gonna make it.
As for the Zohar, it's kino. Peak schizo though.

>>20013445
Pritzker costs over twice as much for half the volumes

>>20013474
It's still complete with the supplementary New Zohar, and there is much more academic credit to the annotation. The Berg edition is a translation of a translation from the modern Hebrew edition of Juda Ashlag instead of the judeo-Aramaic.
It also pushes the Lurianic kabbala interpretation, when it's a late cope against the readings of the Zohar by more rational rabbis and by Christians.

>>20012908
>Just bought the Zohar. What am I in for?
I don't say this lightly, but pure, undiluted, Jewish copium.

>>20014081
Why is it cope?

>>20014092
Because starting from the destruction of the Second Temple - as can be traced from the Sefer Yetzirah to the near-canonical Zohar - the major Jewish project was to modify their religion such that it could theologically explain why God had utterly rejected them and allowed them to be destroyed despite their adherence to the covenant (eg. as recorded in the Talmud: "The ordinance was with regard to the strip of crimson wool used on Yom Kippur. As it is taught in a baraita: At first they would tie a strip of crimson wool to the opening of the Entrance Hall of the Temple on the outside. If, after the sacrificing of the offerings and the sending of the scapegoat, the strip turned White, the people would rejoice, as this indicated that their sins had been atoned for. If it did not turn White they would be sad. During the forty years before the Second Temple was destroyed the strip of crimson wool would not turn White; rather, it would turn a deeper shade of red [...]" - see: https://www.sefaria.org/Rosh_Hashanah.31b).).

How can you maintain the status of being God's chosen, when all signs point towards God rejecting you and ending your covenant? Their conclusion was necessarily to present the entire universe as intrinsically disordered and corrupted by God Himself (eg. the creation of the qlipoth), such that they themselves now played a collective Messianic role in performing tikkun olam - literally copium. Essentially, where their spiritual ancestors said that the cosmos is Very Good and all catastrophes to the Jewish people are a result of their sin and unfaithfulness to God, the tradition culminating in the Zohar says that the world is Very Bad and all catastrophes to the Jewish people are ultimately a result of God's designing of the universe in such a way that the sephirot of manifestation are shelled in evil, and that it is their role to restore the shattered vessels of the divine manifestations by ushering in the Messianic age.

It is actually very sad, if you dwell on it. There are some interesting exegetical techniques and spiritual guidelines contained within the Zohar, but ultimately, those are just the delivery device for the copium being injected into the Jewish vein.

But there is a happy ending for the Jewish people as a whole.
"I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you will not be conceited: A hardening in part has come to Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved [...] Regarding the gospel, they are enemies on your account; but regarding election, they are loved on account of the patriarchs. For God’s gifts and His call are irrevocable. Just as you who formerly disobeyed God have now received mercy through their disobedience, so they too have now disobeyed, in order that they too may now receive mercy through the mercy shown to you. For God has consigned everyone to disobedience so that He may have mercy on everyone." (Romans 11:25-32).

>>20014208
It's no surprise that the Jews had to dump their idea of God being partial to their people when they came into contact with classical theism. God is utterly transcendent and cares for all of creation equally. The Zohar is the maturation of Jewish theism, understanding their religion as having no monopoly over God but a special revelation from God to them, a gift to be sure but one that does not entitle them to any special privilege from God over any other people.

It's also no surprise the Zohar heavily takes it's interpretation of the Torah from Neoplatonism, with the Ein Sof being effectively identical to The One.

>>20015717
>a gift to be sure but one that does not entitle them to any special privilege from God over any other people
If you think that's what the Zohar teaches about the Jews, read further and think again. They retain essentially all of the ethnocentrism and "chosen people" mentality, not to mention the fact that it is part of the same canon as the Gemara/Mishnaic Talmud, which literally says that non-Jews are not human.

>>20015745
Can you give some quotes?

>>20015779
Not him but here's a short except. From the Pritzker edition: Zohar, Genesis, Parashat Ḥayyei Sarah
>Rabbi El’azar and Rabbi Yeisa were sitting one night, engaged in Torah.
>Rabbi El’azar said, “Come and see: When one day the blessed Holy One revives the dead, all those souls presenting themselves before Him will stand in distinct images, the exact same image they bore in this world.243 The blessed Holy One will bring them down and call them by name, as is said: He will call them each by name (Isaiah 40:26). Every soul will enter her site244 and abide enduringly, fittingly in the world. Then the world will be perfect. Of that time is written: He will remove the disgrace of His people (ibid. 25:8). What is the disgrace of His people? The evil impulse, who besmirches creatures’ faces and overpowers them.”
>Rabbi Yeisa said, “We see that as long as a human being abides in this spirit, he does not impart impurity, but as soon as his soul departs, he does.”245
>He replied, “Certainly! As already explained, when that evil impulse seizes a person’s spirit,246 he defiles him and the body is left impure. Other nations while still alive are impure, since their souls derive from the impure side,247 so once that impurity is poured out, the body is left without any impurity at all.248 Therefore [131b] whoever cleaves to a woman of the other nations is defiled,249 and the son born to him receives an impure spirit.
>“Now, you might say ‘Look! On his father’s side he descends from Israel.250 Why should he receive an impure spirit?’ Come and see: He became defiled previously, the moment he cleaved to that woman who is impure.251 Since he was already defiled and became impure and that woman is impure, all the more so the son who is born will receive an impure spirit. Furthermore he has violated Torah, as is written: Do not bow down to another god! For YHVH: His name is Jealous…(Exodus 34:14),252 since He is jealous for this covenant.”253
I include the bit at the start to make the part about "gentiles are impure" resonate in context, which actually makes it much worse than the bazinga one liners usually compiled by bad goyim.
There would be little difficulty producing one hundred such passages in the main Zohar. Daniel Matt, chief editor and translator (and yid), says in the introduction that "The Zohar is filled with disdain and sometimes even outright hatred for the gentile world."

>>20015954
The Jews are descendants of Judah specifically. Israel refers to all 13 tribes, not just Judah.

https://files.catbox.moe/d1xsma.mp4

>>20012908
The 'tism

>>20015779
Some Zohar quotations:

>That the goyim draw their existence from the (impure/defiled) left path from above
"Happy is the portion of Yisrael who are superior
to the heathen goyim, because their grade is high AND THEY
RECEIVE THE ILLUMINATION OF THE LEFT FROM BELOW. The
grades of the heathen nations are below, BECAUSE THEY DRAW
THE ILLUMINATION OF THE LEFT FROM ABOVE. The first, those of
the right, are on the side of Holiness. The second, those on the left,
on the side of Defilement."

>That the goyim do not have souls and are impure animals
"[...] From where do the
souls of idolatrous nations originate? Rabbi Elazar said: Their souls
come from the forces of the left, who defile them. Therefore, they are
all impure and convey impurity to those who come close to them."

"[...] "living soul" refers to Yisrael, who are holy supernal
living souls. The words "Cattle and creeping things and Chayot of
the earth" (Beresheet 1:24) refer to the Idolatrous nations, which are
not living souls. Rather, they are, as we have said, DRAWN FROM
THE FORCES OF THE LEFT, WHICH DEFILE THEM."

>God will eventually kill all goyim
"[... when] the Holy One, blessed be He, rebuilds the
Temple and establishes and amends the world properly. Then
everything shall be set aright again, and the side of Defilement will
pass from the world. [...] The Holy One, blessed be He, alone shall remain, as it is written:
"And the idols shall utterly be abolished," (Yeshayah 2:18) [...]
And the children of Yisrael, His Holy Nation which serves Him, shall
be called 'holy', as it is written: "And it shall come to pass, that he
that is left in Tzion, and he that remains in Jerusalem, shall be called
holy, every one in Jerusalem that is written to life" (Yeshayah 4:3).
Then there will be one King above and below, and one people to
serve Him [...]"

>The goyim are evil and ruled by Samael
"Assuredly, the sinew of the vein
strengthens the Evil Inclination, which is its own kind, and therefore
the children of Yisrael do not eat it. But the heathen nations may eat
it, as they are of the side and kind of their angel Samael, for it
strengthens their hearts."

>The goyim ("mixed multitude") are the children of Satan and impure
"Of THE MIXED MULTITUDE it is written: "Now the serpent was
craftier than any beast of the field" (Beresheet 3:1). Here, "craftier"
means to do evil more than all the other animals, which are the other
idolatrous goyim of the world. THE MEMBERS OF THE MIXED
MULTITUDE are the children of the primordial Serpent that seduced
Chavah BY THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE, so the mixed multitude is
indeed the impurity that the Serpent injected into Chavah.
The MIXED MULTITUDE IS THE FORCE OF SEPARATION
LYING IN THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL [...]"

I can post more, if anybody is interested.

>>20016129
>Their souls come from the forces of the left, who defile them.
Based

>>20016129
As a Jew I see nothing wrong with this

>>20012908
sus

>Volume 1
>6 pages in
Oh God how I wish I bought some Jane Austen novels instead

>>20017850
They'll look good on the shelf though

>>20016607
That's because you are of the synagogue of Satan.