[sz8b) “Tehas been tau Hidden of the Hidden, was arra and did not exist, did not actually He is more ancien elder of elders, m Cealed—known by His si “Master of white—His throne of flames, to subdue them.2* wa so assisted God in creating the work nas eae advises God to arrange His the divin at7@8ing and forming,” and he array is described as “concealed This may imph = ees of the alphabet ‘and this of rah) were concealed within the divine erse order, and pont ane arranged in rey ra to be arranged correctly. thou tah sttedating the world by two Fiona Ragga 8 Beesit Rabbah 82 Vie tase gin 39:15 Pesigta de-Ray Kahana Piet sie ha-Shirim Rabbah on 5:1; Mid- Tenant 5:25 Tanhuma, Vayesher 45 sont Buber), Vitro 6; Midrash Tein ing emt 4 (5)s Zohar 1:5 22490, 84b, 99a, 3b, 15a Raby ts tole in Creation, see Bereshit “Ting jo i the mame of Rabbi Osha'ya raver 'y Him as pax (amon), a mursling Iman) ap 39). 193% (amon)—porw (un » am artisan, Torah says, was the artistic too the eS the blessed Holy One.” According to builds pa of the world, when a mortal king Skil bat rane architect does not build it out of his wn knowle andiaumee, but rather has parchments on eet vith plans and diagrams) to know the ble ntke the rooms and doors. Similarly, cleted tae Holy One gazed into ‘Torah and On the PE” See Vol, 7, p. 208, 1.1 the alphas Tt Sequence of the letters of Senteneg w 88 Zohar :ab-sb. On the last the nga BE Sanhedrin a (and 1a) and anf Resh Lakish: “Adorn yourself esd get adorn others.” Cf. thn E fora x; Zohar sxy5a (IR) Idra Rabba ight in the Concealment of the Book: The Ancient of Ancients, wed [128b] and prepared—that is, He existed exist yet was arrayed. No one knows Him, for 1 than the ancients, but in His arrayal He is known—like an jore ancient than the ancients, more concealed than the con- ns yet unknown.2? garment and sparkling countenance. Seated on a 22, the Concealment of the Book... Referring to Sifra di-Tsni’uta (The Book of Concealment). See Zohar 2:176b (SdT3). This reversal of the title appears frequently in Idra Rabba. On the relation between the Idrot and Sifra di-Tsni’uta, see Liebes, Studies in the Zohar, 95-10%; Giller, Reading the Zohar, 98-99. The essence of the Ancient of Ancients is unknowable and beyond any normal notion of “existence.” Only when arrayed in sefi- rotic adornments can it be known at all and said to exist. Cf Maimonides, Guide of the Perplexed 1:57: “He exists, but not through an existence other than His essence.” ‘The phrase p01 x20 (sava de-savin), “elder of elders,” is a play on the Hebrew term nao abn (sibbat ha-sibbot), based on Latin eausa ‘causarums, “cause of causes,” the ultimate ground of being. See Zohar 1:72b; 3:2886 (12); ZH 4Bb-c; Moses de Le6n, Shegel ha- Qodesh, 4 (6-7); Or Yagar; Scholem, Uber inige Grundbegriffe des Judentums, 50. Master of white... Avikh Anpin (or the Ancient of Ancients, the Ancient of Days) is characterized by pure compassion and symbolized by the color white, He subdues the flaming forces of Judgment. ‘The imagery derives from Daniel 7:9: As I watched, thrones were placed, and the Ancient of Days sat—His garment ike white snow, the hair of His head like clean fleece, His throne ‘flares of fire, its wheels blazing fire. “Sparkling” renders x3%r3 (bosina), a vari- ation on xrxr2(botsina), which means but in the Zohar also “spark.” See idem, 135; Vol. 5, “lamp, Liebes, Peragimn, 136-67. P- 556, 0. 22. 37