Who Wrote The Book Of Zohar?

Question from Facebook: Who was the author of The Book of Zohar, Rabbi Shimon or a group of authors, his ten companions? I don’t understand how it would be possible to write together.

Answer: Rabbi Shimon could not have written this book alone because he had to first transmit this book through his students.

First, they all discussed it among themselves, each one expressing his admiration for it and his impressions. They didn’t complement each other; instead they integrated and collected them into one single opinion by rising above themselves. As a result of this, the highest attainment came out, The Book of Zohar.

By uniting among themselves, they were elevated to the next level where they apparently became a single author, a single person.

Question: But in the sources it is said that Rabbi Shimon spoke and Rabbi Aba recorded…?

Answer: It is necessary to understand what is meant by “recorded.” This is not talking about physical recording. Instead, they attained a state in which the white Light was written on a black background, meaning inside of them.

This was a collective effort of a generalized person that included all of them, when all of them were one. Therefore, a power is hidden in The Book of Zohar. Moreover, specifically because of this fact, it is necessary to read it together and not alone.

If we read The Book of Zohar individually, there is no benefit to it. To do this, we must gather ten people (a Minyan), connect into a single whole, and by reading the text together, to a particular degree, everyone begins to feel what the authors of The Book of Zohar felt.

Question: Do you penetrate The Book of Zohar or does The Book of Zohar penetrate you?

Answer: The Book of Zohar is the Light that surrounds us. Therefore, to the same degree that the readers connect together, they make it possible for the Light to enter into the shared integration between them and to format it. The feeling from the book comes from this.

This is also said about the Torah, that it is “white letters written on a black background,” meaning, that it is the Light, which is written on the desires.
[201975]
From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 1/25/16