The Book of Splendor

Main Text (Introduction)

The editors, who are named at the gate the title page, even though these are the depths of the end of the levels of beloved poverty, and from the sound of the cry of the shepherds and the wailing of the valley dwellers, the feet of the weak almost faltered. The delay of our feet was caused by the simplicity of the work, and the clouds darkened with sharpness because of the sea of complexities and the cave that overturned us, until we wished to turn back and cancel our preparation. As you may go and see, may the God who made us kings be blessed; the strength of God is the priest of our eyes, and we had no power to rely on our own strength. Had we the strength now to drip after this precious work, and specifically the writing of the Levites referring to the scribal or printing labor which upon the earth the serpent spits out every coldness upon the precious white holes as at first, and they could not see the swallowing of the holy. And it was when they went to the place where we stood, we found and saw the Book of the Zohar; the mighty ones, masters of kindness, dwell upon it, along with some of the sayings of the Book of the Zohar and the Tikkunei Ruach Rectifications of the Spirit. Also, thousands of dreams in the midst of the table in the portion of Bereshit Genesis are joined from the Book of the Tikkunim The Rectifications/Tikkunei HaZohar. They also placed in their general collections the companions of the Ra’aya Mehemna The Faithful Shepherd—a specific layer of the Zohar inside between the portions; a little in writing was printed once in one place and once in another, printing the portions without mentioning the name Ra’aya Mehemna. As we have heard, so have we seen in their confusion and haste to place the superior parts, as they copied them from corrupted books and did not labor to direct it to fix that which they distorted by the agreement of five strong wisdoms. And in the place where it said in their copy "lowly" from the portion of Noach to Pharaoh, they placed Ra’aya Mehemna. And in the place where it said to lick from the fool at the beginning of the detail of the few, they placed the praises of our teacher Rabbi Isaac likely referring to Isaac Luria or a contemporary sage. Kindness was found in the portion of Boker Morning, and its inclusion did many things. Our wise men know that it lacked the salt of that spirit of the hollows in wisdom, understanding, and knowledge. Specifically, regarding those without wisdom, they will speak with their lips and wag their heads when they see the work—to the wise man from our excellence, lest they live like those who turned the gate, released to them such depth in this wisdom. If only the buyers would turn with their money as they do now, we entered and established for them everything to say, for the researcher publicized our wise man, his voice is diminished except for the lacking voice.

Therefore, among the tribes of Israel, let it be known faithfully that we did not build, nor did we mention, nor did it enter our minds to place between the sayings of the Zohar the sayings of the Zohar and the Tikkunei Ruach, because they were already printed in the accompanying book by several from Recanati Rabbi Menachem Recanati, a 13th-14th century Italian Kabbalist, and these are his words in the Commentary on the Torah original: "u-ve-zeh leshono be-ferush ha-Torah". And there the spirit of the spirit is the seal. And the sayings of the Book of the Tikkunim which they added in the portion of Bereshit were already printed in Tikkun 89 of the Book of the Tikkunim, and they were compared to their correctness; our mentioned writing will arise in the portion of Terumah Exodus 25:1–27:19, for there we understand. And it teaches a disciple of the wise, like the bitterness of the heart for the lack, etc., which is a saying printed in the margins of the Tikkunim, not printed in its proper place. Regarding all the commands of Ra’aya Mehemna, even though it was our intention to print them all in order as arranged by the author, the Revealer original: "ha-Megaleh", as he favored them now, we agreed to place them in the place where they were printed and they shall be mentioned there. And the sayings of Ra’aya Mehemna that they placed there in the book of Bereshit will be printed in the book... like you, pleasantness. And besides what we toiled to align the copies, even now our wise men are like those with senses, to have our eyes open upon the work to let it live, etc., above in justice and righteousness, the opposite of what they did there. For the best will find in it sayings of the Tikkunei Pelach and secrets, and missing and extra letters, as seen in every memory of the three rectifications. And he who is wise in the matter shall find good, and it shall increase in our days, and may God send His help from the sanctuary, and may He magnify the Torah and make it glorious.