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R. Jose and R. Hizkiah were once travailing from Cappadocia to Lydda, and with them was a certain Judean driving an ass laden with clothes. Said R. Jose to R. Hizkiah: 'Repeat one of those excellent expositions of Scripture which you are wont to deliver daily before the Sacred Lamp.' R. Hizkiah then began to hold forth on the verse: "Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace." (Prov. III, 17.)
'These ways', he said, 'are the ways and paths of the Torah, as whoever walks in them is invested by the Holy One, blessed be He, with the grace of the Divine Presence as his constant accompaniment, and whoever follows her paths enjoys peace on high and below, peace in this world and in the world to come.'
Said the Judean: 'A deeper meaning lies in this verse, like a coin in the corner of a box.' 'How do you know this?' they asked him. He said: 'I have heard the recondite explanation of this verse from my father.'
He then continued to discourse thus. 'This verse contains a twofold idea, one suggested by the terms "ways" and "pleasantness", and the other by the terms "paths" and "peace".
The "ways" are those mentioned in the passage, "who maketh a way in the sea" (Is. XLIII, 16). For the term "way" everywhere in Scripture denotes an open road, accessible to all. So the words "her ways are ways of pleasantness" allude to those ways which our patriarchs opened up and traversed on the great ocean, and which ramify in all directions to all quarters of the world; and by "pleasantness" is meant that pleasantness which issues from the other world, the source whence radiate all lamps in all directions. That felicity, that light which our patriarchs absorbed and inherited, is thus called "pleasantness".
Or we can say that the world to come itself is called "pleasantness", because when it is awakened there is a stirring of all joy, all felicity, all illumination, and all freedom. Hence tradition tells us that when the Sabbath comes in, the sinners in Gehinnom have a respite and are granted ease and rest; and that at the termination of the Sabbath we have to call down the supernal joy upon us so that we may be delivered from the punishment that the sinners undergo from that moment onward; and this we do by reciting the verse: "And let the pleasantness of the Lord our God be upon us, etc." (Ps. XC, 17), an allusion to the supernal pleasantness which brings universal freedom.
Now, as for the "paths", they denote the paths that proceed from on high and are all gathered into the single covenant which is named "peace", meaning the peace of the household, and which carries those paths into the great ocean when it is agitated, and so gives it peace.' Observe that Joseph embodied the covenant of peace, and in consequence became ruler over the land of Egypt.
[Soncino Zohar, Miqez, 197b, v2, pp. 249-250.]
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My comments...
This passage is interesting because it appears to differentiate between two groups of pathways (i.e. from amongst the twenty-two pathways of the Tree of Life).
The "Judean" defines the two groups as follows:
1) The "ways" (Heb: DRK) that are associated with a quality defined as "pleasantness" (Heb: NOM).
2) The "paths" (Heb: NThYB) that are associated with a quality defined as "peace" (Heb: ShLM).
It is my understanding that the speaker is referring to the following two groups of pathways:
1) The "ways" refer to the twelve Simple letter pathways of the Tree of Life.
2) The "paths" refer to the seven Double letter pathways of the Tree of Life.
The three patriarchs are said to have "opened up" the "ways" (Heb: DRK) and traversed them on the "great ocean". The 'great ocean' refers to the sefirah Binah, and especially to Her manifestation as Malkut (i.e. as the 'lower world'). The "ways" are said to "ramify in all directions to all quarters of the world" which is precisely what the twelve Simple letter pathways do. They are attached to the four directional sefirot: Hesed, Geburah, Netzah, and Hod, and spread out amongst the six lower sefirot from Hesed to Yesod. If it wasn't for these twelve "ways" the "lamps" would have nowhere to radiate their light, because these twelve form a 'circle of dark space' around the lamps (and into which the lamps shine their light).
The term 'pleasantness' is given two meanings by the Judean. The first is related to the sefirah Hockmah (of the "other world"--that is, the 'upper world'). The sefirah Hockmah is the "source whence radiate all lamps in all directions". It is the source of "light" for the seven Double letter sefirot, just as the sefirah Binah is the source of "darkness" for the twelve Simple letter pathways that encompass and enfold the seven Double letter sefirot. (Similarly, the sefirah Keter is esoterically connected with the three Mother letter sefirot and pathways.) The three patriarchs (i.e. the sefirot: Hesed, Geburah, and Tifaret) 'absorb' and 'inherit' the 'light' of 'pleasantness' from Hockmah.
The Judean also states that "the world to come" (or, the sefirah Binah) can be identified with the term "pleasantness".
He says: "...at the termination of the Sabbath we have to call down the supernal joy upon us so that we may be delivered from the punishment that the sinners undergo from that moment onward." The 'Sabbath' is associated with the seventh of the lower sefirot: Malkut, but also with the sefirah Hesed because Hesed is the seventh sefirah counting from below to above.
When Malkut is reached (i.e. "at the termination of the Sabbath") then "we have to call down the supernal joy upon us" which descends from Binah to Hesed (via Da'at). This is done in order to avoid the "punishment that the sinners undergo from that moment onward". The 'punishment' occurs because the 'sinners' have no conscious awareness of the Shekinah (i.e. the 'divine presence') in the material realm of Malkut. Without the awareness of the Shekinah principle mankind lives in darkness with no lamp to guide him along the special pathways that avoid the infliction of 'punishment'.
The "paths" (Heb: NThYB) are said to "proceed from on high and are all gathered into the single covenant which is named 'peace'..." This refers to the seven Double letter pathways that are located amongst the three highest sefirot of the Tree of Life (i.e. Keter, Hockmah, and Binah), and whose seven emanations are extended below the Abyss to form the seven lower sefirot of the Tree of Life (i.e. from Da'at to Yesod).
There is a flow of energy that proceeds through these seven sefirot (acquiring the qualities of each as it does so) and that is gathered together in Yesod (which latter is referred to as the "covenant of peace"). 'Joseph' personifies the sefirah Yesod in the Zohar writings.
The composite energy that is gathered into Yesod is poured out upon the sefirah Malkut, thus raining 'blessings' down upon the 'lower world'. Thus, Yesod "carries those paths into the great ocean [Malkut] when it is agitated, and so gives it peace". This is why Joseph is also mentioned by the Judean as being the "ruler over the land of Egypt"--'Egypt' being symbolic of the sefirah Malkut.
Blessings,
Patrick.
Capricorn-Cancer [2/3]
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