teitz@aecom.UUCP (Eliyahu Teitz) (05/14/85)
My grandfather tells a story about a man who had three sons. One of his sons used to take care of him while the other two generally ignored him. When the man was on his death bed he wanted to give his money to the son who cared for him and to exclude the others. He didn't want to give the money outright, so as not to generate any hatred among the brothers. Rather, he devised a plan. He would put his money under a rose bush in his garden. The son who cared for him would realize that the father hated roses, and realize there must be some significance to the rose bush. The father died. The first son, after the funeral passed the rose bush and said " What nice flowers", smelled them and went off. The second son passed the roses and got caught on a thorn. He scowled, and walked on. The third son saw the roses, and knowing that his father disliked roses dug them up and found te money. The same is true with Zohar, and Aggadot in the g'mara. The rabbis had to leave their knowledge of how they saw the world work written for everyone to read. However, they didn't want to write it in a way that each and every reader would understand. So they wrote it in the form of stories. Some people read these stories and say " Why are there dumb stories in the g'mara. There should only be halacha. Why waste time on stories." Other people say "My what nice stories. " But, they too, don't see the significance of the stories. Only the son who is familiar with the ways of the father, in our case a student familiar with the ways of the Talmud, will see the stories, realize that there are secrets in the stories, and delve deeper to understand what is said. One last point. If you don't understand something, don't go abusing it. The zohar is not written for every scholar, let alone the layman. Kaballa is not for everyone. So if you don't see what the point of the zohar is, don't make fun of it publicly. Eliyahu Teitz.