Reading the Zohar by Candlelight
This manuscript is part of the Zohar, the central text of Jewish mysticism. It tells the story of Simeon bar Yohai, the second-century author to whom the Zohar is traditionally attributed, who met in a sacred idra, or “threshing floor,” with nine other sages to “thresh” the secrets of the universe. This manuscript would be fairly unremarkable were it not for its interesting preface, which reads that having reached the age of seventy, Jesse Hayyim Montecorboli copied the text for himself “in large letters, so that I could study it by candlelight, as my eyes have grown heavy with age.” Interestingly, the scribe appends the term ha-tsair [the young] to himself—clearly an act of modesty on his part, lest anyone think he is making a claim to wisdom by virtue of his seventy years.
This manuscript is part of the Zohar, the central text of Jewish mysticism. It tells the story of Simeon bar Yohai, the second-century author to whom the Zohar is traditionally attributed, who met in a sacred <em>idra</em>, or “threshing floor,” with nine other sages to “thresh” the secrets of the universe. This manuscript would be fairly unremarkable were it not for its interesting preface, which reads that having reached the age of seventy, Jesse Hayyim Montecorboli copied the text for himself “in large letters, so that I could study it by candlelight, as my eyes have grown heavy with age.” Interestingly, the scribe appends the term <em>ha-tsair</em> [the young] to himself—clearly an act of modesty on his part, lest anyone think he is making a claim to wisdom by virtue of his seventy years.