The Tzohar

Our Besorah reading this week tells of how the star led the magi to visit the infant messiah. We have often discussed the connections between Yeshua and Isaac. Both were only sons, both we sacrificed, both were the embodiment of Israel; the One-Man-Israel. So it is not surprising that we can find a connection between the star at Yeshua's birth and Isaac's birth. There is a legend that says on the day of Isaac's birth the sun shone with a splendor that had not been seen since the sin of Adam and Eve and will only be seen again in Olam Ha-Ba (The World To Come).

This is a reference to the legend of the Tzohar, which is based on the first chapter of Genesis. It notices in the text that God created light before He created the sun and the stars. So what is this light? The legend says that it was the radiance of Hashem's glory that permeated the universe. It was the Supernal Light, the Tzohar (which just means radiance or brilliance). When the first people sinned, God hid this light and reserved it for the end of time. But He took some of the light and put it in a stone. The angel Raziel gave this stone to Adam as a remembrance of what they had lost. This stone was passed down through the generations to Noah, where it appears in the actual Genesis text. God commands Noah to build a tzohar for the ark. It says "tzohar ta'aseh la-tayvah", build a light for the ark. What does this mean? Usually it gets translated as "roof" or "window", which lets light into the ark. But it doesn't say window, it says light. So the legend says that Noah hung the Tzohar Stone from the roof and it provided light.

After the flood the stone was handed down through the line of Shem until it was given to Jacob, with which he had his vision of the heavenly ladder. Jacob gave it to Joseph. The light of the stone protected him from the snakes and scorpions in the pit where his brothers threw him and it was with this stone that he was able to interpret dreams while in prison. The legend continues that it was buried with Joseph, but Moses took his coffin with them in the Exodus and he removed the stone from the coffin and hung it up in the Mishkan (tabernacle). Thus the Ner Tamid (eternal light) that is in every synagogue not only represents the menorah but also is a reference to this legend.

Other legends say that Hashem's supernal light was hidden in the Torah itself and when we study it we let loose some of its rays. This is very similar to the kabbalistic notion of the kelipot where we release divine sparks of light when we do good deeds.

There are several texts in the Besorah that allow us to say midrashically that Yeshua is the Tzohar! In Hebrews 1:3 it says "The Son is the radiance of [God's] glory and the representation of His essence." In the first chapter of John it says "In him was life, and the life was the light of humanity, and the light shines on in the darkness, but the darkness has not mastered it." Yeshua later said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

Yeshua is the Tzohar! He is the radiance of the Father, he is the Living Torah, which is infused with the Father's light, he is the Ner Tamid. We see this at the very end of Revelation where it says, "[Jerusalem] does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamp is its lamp."

But there is more!

Yeshua said that we are the light of the world. In Mattityahu 5:14 he says, "You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven."

Just as Yeshua is the living embodiment of the Torah, we are the living embodiment of the Risen Messiah here on earth. We are the Tzohar. Each of us carries a bit of his light within us. And it is through our actions in study, prayer, and good deeds that we expose that light to this dark world.

May our light indeed shine. May we move with that purpose in mind in all that we do.

May we reflect the light of Yeshua, just as he reflects the light of Hashem.

May we be the Tzohar that shows the way to Yeshua's home.

And may we look forward to that Day when Hashem's Supernal Light again infuses all of Creation!