(22)The manifest and the concealed
8. In truth, the entire Torah – both the manifest part and the concealed – is the thoughts of the Holy One, blessed be He; there is no difference between them. This resembles a man who is drowning in the river, and his friend throws him a rope to save him. Once the drowning man holds on to the rope nearest him, his friend could save him by pulling him out of the river. The Torah is the same, consisting in its entirety of the thoughts of the Holy One, blessed be He. It is like a rope that the Holy One, blessed be He, throws to people to save them and take them out of the Klipot. The end of the rope closest to all people represents the revealed aspect of the Torah, which requires no intention or thought. Moreover, even when an improper thought accompanies the observance of the commandments, it is still acceptable to the Holy One, blessed be He, as said, “A person should always engage in Torah study and performance of the commandments even [if he does] not [do so] for their own sake, as through [engaging in the Torah and the commandments] not for their own sake, one will ultimately come [to engage in them] for their own sake” (tractate Pesaḥim 50b and others).

(23) According to it, the Torah and the commandments are the end of the rope; anyone in the world can hold on to it. If he holds fast to it, that is, if he merits to engage in the Torah and the commandments for their own sake, that is, to give satisfaction to his maker instead of doing so for his own benefit, the Torah and the commandments bring him into a similarity of form with the Holy One, blessed be He. This is the meaning of “to hold fast to him,” as said. He then merits to grasp all the thoughts of the Holy One, blessed be He that are called the mysteries of the Torah and the interpretations of the Torah, which are the rest of the rope. This he attains only after he reaches the state of complete cleaving, as said.

(24)Levels and worlds
9. The reason we liken the thoughts of the Holy One, blessed be He, that is, the mysteries of the Torah and the interpretations of the Torah, to a rope is that the similarity of form to the blessed Creator contains many gradations. Its section of the rope therefore contains many gradations, that is, levels of attaining the mysteries of the Torah. Attainment of the mysteries of the Torah is measured by the level of the similarity of form to the Holy One, blessed be He. It has five general levels: Nefesh, Ruaḥ, Neshama, Ḥaya, and Yeḥida. Each comprises all of them, and each one contains five individual levels to a total of at least twenty-five levels.

(25) They are also called “worlds,” as the sages have stated that “In the future, the Holy One, blessed be He, will bequeath to each and every righteous person three hundred and ten worlds” (Mishna, Oktzin 3:12). The reason the levels of understanding him are called worlds is that the word ‘world’ has two meanings. One is that everyone born into the world receives the same senses and feelings. Whatever one person sees, hears, and feels; every person sees, hears, and feels. The second is that anyone reaching the “concealed” world cannot know or perceive anything in any other world.

(26) These two definitions apply to understanding as well. The one is that anyone who attained a certain level is able to know and perceive in it all that those who reach that level throughout past and future generations do, so they have the same perception just as they inhabit the same world. The second is that all those that attained that level cannot know or perceive anything on any other level, just as those who were born into this world cannot know anything of those who reside in the world of truth (the next world). The levels are therefore called worlds.

(27) Those who understand can therefore author books and write down their understanding using allusions and analogies that are understood by those who attained the levels that the books discuss and have that understanding in common. But one who has not attained that level sufficiently as did those authors cannot understand their allusions. This is truer for those who have not attained them; they will understand nothing because they do not have perceptions in common.

(28)Complete attainment
10. As we have already said, complete cleaving and complete attainment is divided into one hundred twenty-five general levels. According to this, we cannot attain all one hundred twenty-five levels before the Messianic era. There are two differences between all generations and the Messianic generation. The first is that only during the Messianic era can one achieve all one hundred twenty-five levels, unlike during all other generations. The second is that throughout the generations, only few exceptional people merited attaining and cleaving, as the sages have commented on the verse, “One man among a thousand I have found” (Ecclesiastes 7:28): “out of a thousand who entered a school… only one emerges who is capable of rendering decisions [pertaining to religious matters]” (Rashi and Kohelet Rabbah on Ecclesiastes 7:28), that is, of cleaving and understanding. But during the Messianic era, everyone can attain cleaving and understanding, as they have said, “for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord” (Isaiah 11:9), “and they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord; for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them” (Jeremiah 31:34).

(29) The single exception is Rabbi Shimon bar Yoḥai and his generation, that is, the authors of the Zohar. They fully attained all one hundred twenty-five levels even though they lived prior to the Messianic era. It is said of him and of his disciples, “And a sage is greater than a prophet” (tractate Bava Batra 12a). It is therefore written numerous times in the Zohar that there will be no generation such as that of Rabbi Shimon bar Yoḥai until king Messiah’s generation. His great book made such a strong impression on the world because the mysteries of the Torah in it encompass the stature of all one hundred twenty-five levels. It has been said in the Zohar that the book of the Zohar will only appear at the End of Days, that is, during the Messianic era. For, as we have stated, if the levels of the readers do not completely reach the author’s level, they will not understand his allusions, as they do not share the same understanding. And the level of the authors of the Zohar is the full stature of the one hundred twenty-five levels that cannot be grasped before the Messianic era. Thus, the generations preceding the Messianic era do not share the same understanding with the authors of the Zohar. The Zohar could not have been revealed in the generations preceding the Messiah’s generation.

(30) This is clear proof that our generation has already reached the Messianic era. As we see, all previous interpretations of the book of the Zohar have discussed less than ten percents of the difficult passages in the Zohar. Even the little they did explain is almost as vague as the words of the Zohar itself. In our generation we have merited the Sulam commentary, a complete interpretation on the entire Zohar. Apart from the fact that it does not leave a single unclear word in the Zohar unexplained, the commentary is based on a simple, theoretical logic that any average reader can follow. The revelation of the Zohar in our generation is clear proof that we are already in the Messianic era, at the beginning of the epoch of which it is said, “for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord…”

(31)Time of giving and time of receiving
11. We need to know that spiritual matters differ from material matters for which giving and receiving occur simultaneously. On the spiritual plane, giving and receiving occur separately. First, something is given by the Lord to the recipient; the giving merely enables the receiver to receive it; but the receiver has not received anything yet. Only when the receiver becomes properly sanctified and purified, does he merit to receive it. Thus, a long time may pass from the time of giving until the time of receiving. According to this, this generation has reached the state proclaimed in the verse “for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord” but only in terms of giving. We have not yet reached the receiving aspect until we are purified and sanctified and study and toil sufficiently. Then will the time of receiving arrive and the verse will be upheld of us, “for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord.”