In our days the contents of the Zohar book are regarded as lofty and exalted matters that are difficult to grasp, but we must understand what is taking place: The book was discovered by Moshe de León, according to his claim, about 1,100 years after it was written by Rabbi Shimon Bar-Yochai. In those days, Moshe de León would write Drashot and pamphlets, which were expensive at the time because they were handwritten manuscripts, and sell those "Hidushim" to the wealthy Jews of Spain. And anyone who was not born yesterday understands that he was a charlatan who sold "secrets and wonders" to the naive.

A Little About the Rotten Foundations of the Zohar Book

The philosophy of the Zohar book is very different from what we received through tradition, see the puzzling words in the portion of Balak (191b):

"The secret of the matter is written in the secret from above, what is His name and what is His son's name if you know, that name is known – the LORD of Armies is His name; His son's name – Israel, as it is written: 'My firstborn son — Israel'. And indeed all the keys of faith depend on Israel, and he boasts and says: 'The LORD said to me you are My son'. And this is certainly so, for father and mother crowned him and blessed him with some blessings and said and commanded everyone: 'Kiss the son', kiss the hand of this son as though He has given him dominion over everything, that everyone should worship him. 'Lest he become angry', because they crowned him with judgment and mercy, whoever merits judgment – judgment, whoever merits mercy – mercy".

According to the account, there is a pair of parents who have a son, and they are the ones who blessed him and crowned him with dominion over everything and he is the one worthy of worship. The account goes on to describe the son's imaginary greatness, and the blessings bestowed upon him and the obligation to bless him, and here are the words in the following two paragraphs:

"All the blessings above and below rise to this son and are crowned, and whoever withholds blessings from this son, his sins will be set out before the holy king, to the mother herself [is 'the mother herself' the holy king?]. And a blessing upon the head of the provider, whoever blesses and offers a cup of blessing to the one who needs it, through this the other side breaks and surrenders through breaking, and the side of holiness rises [by inviting someone to a cup of blessing the side of impurity breaks and elevate the side of holiness, and all these are idolatrous delusions indicating different divine powers, powers of holiness against powers of impurity, and human beings have the power through their actions to strengthen one of them].

'And a blessing upon the head of the provider', just as he elevates and blesses the Holy One [elevates the Holy One?] and causes the other side to be broken [the imaginary idol of impurity], so the Holy One draws blessings upon him from above [upon the one who blesses, meaning not only the one who invites, the one who blesses also "strengthens" the Holy One and weakens the powers of impurity], and the one who was called [to bless over a cup of blessing], a blessing rests upon his head".

All these conceptions are utterly revolting foreign-worship, as though the Holy One needs human beings and is affected by them. Also the conception that different deities exist, of holiness and of impurity, all these constitute revilement and blasphemy against the honored great and awesome Name.

The claim used to justify attributing the Zohar book to Rabbi Shimon, is that Rabbi Shimon's words are also included in the Zohar book. However, the problem with their claim is, that a lot of nonsense has been added to his words. Their claim is therefore clear and wicked deception, and the Sages of the Mishnah and the Talmud have already distanced us from every trace of foreign-worship, by warning us about someone who says: "Shema Shema" or "Modim Modim", and commanding us to silence him, lest someone imagine that there are two divine authorities (Keriat Shema 2, 11).

Likewise, they warned that if an object falls to the ground near an object of foreign-worship, we must not pick it up and appear as though we are bowing to an object of foreign-worship (Foreign-Worship 3, 7).

Another claim intended to support and authenticate the Zohar book, is that Moshe Rabenu himself appeared to Rashby in the cave, below are the words of the author of the Zohar book (Ki Tetze, page 279b).

"The faithful shepherd began and said: Grandfather grandfather [=a nickname for Rashby, intended to diminish Moshe Rabenu and glorify Rashby, as though even Moshe Rabenu addresses Rashby as his teacher and Rabbi, with the nickname ‘Grandfather’], there is a rock and there is a rock, there is a stone and there is a stone – there is a stone of the name of God, and of it it is said: 'And the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain' [dan. 2, 35], and there is a stone that is a 'figured stone' [lev. 26, 1], in which there is neither a flow of the waters of wisdom nor speech. Rather, a stone that is the rock of Moshe, of it it is said: 'And you shall speak to the rock before their eyes and it shall give its waters' [num. 20, 8], which is a heavenly voice, and it depends on speech and appeasement alone. But a slave is another rock, called Mishnah the female peel of a young servant. Of it it is said: 'A servant will not be corrected by words' [pro. 29, 19]. Rather they strike it and break several passages off it, and collect them, and they are called collections. And because they collect them they are called collections, without a flow of wisdom and tradition".

What is this fool trying to say here? Well, he compares the Written Torah to a "stone of the name of God", whereas the Mishnah, meaning the Oral Torah, he compares to a "figured stone", which is a stone used for foreign-worship! And also to a "female peel of a young servant", "without a flow of wisdom and tradition", "slave", "servant", "which they strike and break several passages off", and he also adds that studying the Oral Torah is like beating a servant who cannot be reformed through verbal instruction and moral teaching, but rather through beating!

It follows, that the Oral Torah, which is the record of the Torah given to us at Mount Sinai by Moshe Rabenu, transmitted by those who handed down the true tradition from one person to another until Rabbi Yehuda ha'Nasi and down to our days, this Torah which is the interpretation of the Written Torah, is called the most contemptible and degrading names.

Further on in the author's words in the Zohar book there, he says the following:

"But my rock [meaning his delusional Kabbalah in the Zohar book] is the king's daughter, for her it is said: 'And you shall speak to the rock before their eyes and it shall give its waters', through speech and appeasement, like the king's daughter. And because I struck her, I was punished on her account, and death was decreed upon us. For whoever defies the queen, is liable to death. All the more so whoever strikes the king's daughter. And therefore it was decreed that I would not enter the Land of Israel, and I am buried in a foreign land and she departed from me and it is said: 'And he went down to him with a staff' [2 sam. 23, 21]. And this staff is one of my staffs, where I am destined to descend to be with Israel in exile. And everything is hinted at, and elsewhere the Sages of the Mishnah interpreted it". Translation from here and Daily Zohar.

According to the Zohar book, why then was the severe punishment decreed upon Moshe Rabenu? Well, according to the author of the Zohar book, Moshe Rabenu struck the rock, meaning he gave us the Oral Torah and by that he struck the "king's daughter", meaning the falsified and idolatrous Kabbalah of the Zohar book. And because of this Moshe Rabenu did not enter the Land of Israel, because he gave us the Oral Torah alongside the Written Torah.

Unfortunately the situation is bleak, not only was the Zohar book accepted without any questioning inquiry or examination whatsoever, but rather it was embraced with great idolatrous enthusiasm with open arms and celebrations, with repeated mantras such as: The holy Zohar", "The soul of the Torah" and more. The phenomenon of ignorance intensified and spread and consequently "holy names" responsible for livelihood were added to prayer books (see the article: "Who Is This Dikarnosa?"), along with imaginary intentions for directing prayer to the correct gate in the firmament...

"You shall not listen to the words of that prophet or to that dreamer of dreams for the LORD your God is testing you to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul" (Deut. 13, 4).

"I am the YHWH that is My name and My honor I will not give to another nor My glory to idols" (Isa. 42, 8).

There Is None Like the LORD Our God Whenever We Call Upon Him

"For what great nation has God so near to it as the LORD our God whenever we call upon Him" (Deut. 4, 7).

We must shake off all these delusions without delay, for it is God who brought us out of Egypt, He is the one who made us hear the first two commandments at Mount Sinai as our souls were on the verge of departing from us, He is the one who "raised His hand" to give us the Land of Israel, He is the one who filled the Tabernacle with His glory. How then can these idolatrous delusions stated in the Zohar book be conceivable, and further be assumed to have been written by that very Tanna who said in tractate Sanhedrin (63a):

"Anyone who associates the Name of Heaven with another thing is extirpated from the world as it is stated: 'Save unto the LORD only' [exo. 22, 19], since what does the Talmud says: 'Who brought you up' [exo. 32, 4] that they desired many deities".

"Hear the word of the LORD house of Jacob and all the families of Israel. Thus says the LORD what injustice did your fathers found in Me that they distanced themselves from Me, went after the vanity and became vain themselves. They did not say where is the LORD who brought us up from the land of Egypt who led us through the wilderness, through a land of desert and pits; through a land of drought and shadow of death [...]. And I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and its goodness and you came and defiled My land and made My inheritance an abomination.

“The Kohanim did not say where is the LORD and those who know the Torah did not know Me and the shepherds rebelled against Me and the prophets prophesied about the Baal and pursued what could never do them any good. Therefore I will yet contend with you declares the LORD and with your children's children I will contend. Travel to the isles of Kittim or Kedar and look, carefully consider whether such a thing has happened. Has a nation exchanged its gods though they are not gods? and My people have exchanged their glory for what does no good. Be appalled and shudder at this heavens, be utterly desolate declares the LORD (Jer. 2, 4–12).

Thumbs in the Air and Delusions to Spare

Throughout the generations of exile the people of Israel went from bad to worse, neglected the approach of observing the Mitzvot according to their plain meaning and turned their backs on learning that leads to action. Our Sages warned us against distorting the Torah by turning it into delusion and idolatrous imagination, and thus it is stated in Midrash haGadol by Rabbi Chiya (the portion of Shemini): "Just as this wine gladdens the heart, so with Torah matters one who engages in them and speculates about them excessively will ultimately descend into heresy". In addition, we were warned against letting our thoughts roam freely: "And you shall not stray after your hearts", this distances us from adopting views that contradict the views established by the Torah.

However, the "Torah world" in our days scorns intellectual concepts and rejects all branches of science that form an inseparable part of studying the Torah and observing its Mitzvot and fulfilling our purpose of being a wise and understanding nation. Instead, they toil over trivialities and delusions that anyone versed in science understands should not be pursued, and they have rejected acquiring knowledge and studying intellectual ideas that lead to knowing God, for example, how God influences our world and the ways in which He governs it, with the deceptive claim that we are dust and ashes, for we are indeed dust and ashes in essence, but it is still our duty to know the One who created the world to the best of our ability.

And not only have they used the dust and ashes argument where it does not belong – where they should have used it and behaved humbly they cast it behind their backs, and behave with arrogance, violence, high-handednes, racism and wickedness.

Through the "dust and ashes" argument they justify foreign-worship! Meaning, according to the claims of the Kabbalists in our days, it is inappropriate to worship and pray directly to the Creator of the World, because He is high and exalted and elevated above every blessing and praise, rather to that son who is called in the "professional" terminology: "Zeir Anpin". And the Holy One by contrast is indeed high and exalted and elevated above blessing and praise, but not so that we refrain from praying to Him, not so that we give up learning and understanding and gaining insight, not so that God forbid we "throw away the intellect", rather so that we humble our hearts when we pray to Him, and know that all our praises do not describe the depth of His greatness.

"For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have utterly betrayed Me declares the LORD, they have denied the LORD and said it is not He and no evil will come upon us and we will see neither sword nor famine (Jer. 5, 11–12).

Final Words

We will conclude by detailing who are called heretics, from Halachot of Repentance (3, 7): A) One who says there is no God and no ruler of the world; B) One who says there is a ruler but they are two or more; C) And one who says there is one ruler but He is a body and has an image; D) One who says that He alone was not first and the creator of everything; E) One who worships a deity other than Him to be a mediator between him and the Lord of the Universe; each of these five is a heretic.

"And you shall know this day and take it to your heart that the LORD is God in heaven above and upon the earth below there is none else" (Deut. 4, 39).