'TURN FROM THIS BLAZING ANGER! REPENT OF THIS WRONG AGAINST YOUR PEOPLE! REMEMBER AVRAHAM, YITZHAK, AND YISRAEL, YOUR SERVANTS, HOW YOU SWORE TO THEM BY YOUR SELF, AND SAID TO THEM, I WILL MULTIPLY YOUR SEED LIKE THE STARS OF THE HEAVEN; I WILL GIVE TO YOUR SEED THIS WHOLE LAND OF WHICH I SPOKE, TO POSSESS FOREVER.' SHEMOT 32.
'WE WILL NOT KNOW THE CLARITY OF THE WORD, UNTIL WE ARE COME INTO THE PRESENCE OF THE HOLY LIGHT! WHEN THE ASSOCIATES CAME INTO THE PRESENCE OF RABBI SHIMON BAR YOCHAI HE SAW A SIGN IN THEIR FACES. HE SAID, COME IN, MY HOLY CHILDREN! COME IN, BELOVED OF THE KING! COME IN, MY BELOVED ONES! COME IN, YOU WHO LOVE ONE ANOTHER!
AS RABBI ABBA HAS SAID, ALL THOSE ASSOCIATES WHO DO NOT LOVE ONE ANOTHER PASS AWAY FROM THE WORLD BEFORE THEIR TIME. ALL THE ASSOCIATES IN THE DAYS OF RABBI SHIMON SHARED A VITAL, SPIRITUAL LOVE. THAT IS WHY TORAH WAS REVEALED IN THE GENERATION OF RABBI SHIMON.
AS RABBI SHIMON USED TO SAY, ALL ASSOCIATES WHO DO NOT LOVE ONE ANOTHER DIVERT FROM THE STRAIGHT PATH. MOREOVER, THEY PRODUCE A DEFECT IN IT! FOR TORAH EMBODIES LOVE, FRIENDSHIP, AND TRUTH: AVRAHAM LOVES YITZHAK; YITZHAK, AVRAHAM; THEY EMBRACE ONE ANOTHER. YAAQOV IS HELD BY BOTH OF THEM IN BROTHERHOOD AND LOVE. THEY OFFER TO ONE ANOTHER THEIR SPIRIT, THEIR BREATH OF LIFE! ASSOCIATES MUST BE JUST LIKE THAT AND NOT PRODUCE A DEFECT!
ONCE HE SAW THE SIGN IN THEIR FACES AND SAID WHAT HE SAID. THEY SAID TO HIM, INDEED A SPIRIT OF PROPHECY RESTS UPON THE HOLY LIGHT, AND SO WE SHOULD HAVE KNOWN! RABBI SHIMON CRIED, AND SAID, A WORD OF THOSE WORDS WHISPERED TO ME, FROM THE HEAD OF THE ACADEMY OF THE GARDEN OF EDEN! NEVER THIS WORD SPOKEN OPENLY! AND WHEN THE TIME COMES, THAT WE SEE FACE TO FACE, ALL FACES WILL AGREE.' A SHINING ZOHAR - SHINING LIGHT ON SHEMOT 32.
'RABBI AKIVA WAS TO SAY, ' . . . LOVE YOUR FELLOW AS YOURSELF. . .' [VAYIQRA 19], THIS IS ALL INCLUSIVE, THE GREATEST IN THE TORAH.' MIDRASH SIFRA KEDOSHIM.
Of Rabbi Akiva's students, Twelve thousand study partnerships were extinguished, there remained only five. One of them is Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai. One thousand three hundred years later Rabbi Chaim Vital, a student of the teachings shining the Zohar said in the name of his teacher Rabbi Yitzhak Luria,
'BEFORE AN INDIVIDUAL BEGINS TO PRAY IN A BEIT KNESSET - SYNAGOGUE . . . HE SHOULD TAKE UPON HIMSELF THE PRECEPT " . . . AND THOU SHALL LOVE THY FELLOW AS THYSELF . . ." [VAYIQRA 19]. AND HE SHOULD CONCENTRATE UPON LOVING EVERY MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF YISRAEL AS HE LOVES HIMSELF, ON ACCOUNT OF WHICH HIS PRAYER WILL ASCEND, BOUND UP WITH ALL THE PRAYERS OF YISRAEL. BY THIS MEANS HIS SOUL WILL BE ABLE TO RISE ABOVE AND EFFECT TIQQUN - A REMEDY. AND ESPECIALLY WHEN IT COMES TO THE LOVE OF ONE'S ASSOCIATES WHO STUDY TORAH WITH ONE ANOTHER. EACH AND EVERY PERSON SHOULD BIND HIMSELF TO THE OTHERS AS IF HE WERE ONE LIMB WITHIN THE BODY OF THIS FELLOWSHIP. THIS IS PARTICULARLY IMPORTANT WHEN AN INDIVIDUAL POSSESS THE KNOWLEDGE AND THE MYSTICAL INSIGHT WITH WHICH TO UNDERSTAND AND APPREHEND HIS FRIEND'S SOUL. AND SHOULD THERE BE ONE AMONG THEM IN DISTRESS, ALL MUST TAKE IT UPON THEMSELVES TO SHARE HIS TROUBLE, WHETHER IT HAS TO DO WITH SOME ILLNESS OR WITH HIS CHILDREN, G~D FORBID. AND THEY MUST ALL PRAY ON HIS BEHALF. LIKEWISE, IN ALL ONE'S PRAYERS AND PETITIONS ONE SHOULD BE MINDFUL OF HIS FELLOWS. MY TEACHER, OF BLESSED MEMORY, TOOK GREAT CARE TO CAUTION ME ABOUT THE LOVE WHICH WE OUGHT TO BEAR TO OUR ASSOCIATES, THE MEMBERS OF OUR BROTHERHOOD.' SHAAR HAKAVANOT 2A-B OF THE SHEMONAH SHE'ARIM, THE RABBI YEHUDAH ASHLAG EDITION. ENDING
