Kabbalah Library
Zohar for All, Volume 10
A Foreigner Who Engages in Torah Is Like an Uneducated High Priest
325. “A foreigner who engages in Torah is as a high priest.” What is the reason he was compared to a high priest? After all, it is written, “For He established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed Torah [law] in Israel,” meaning that the Creator gave the Torah to Israel to receive reward for it in the next world, and those who did not receive it, the foreigners, do not receive reward for it in the next world,
326. Israel, who stood on Mount Sinai, receive reward for it; foreigners, who did not stand on Mount Sinai, do not receive reward for it. Thus, how is a foreigner who engages in Torah like a high priest?
327. Certainly, as an uneducated high priest. It is written, “It is more precious than pearls, and all that you desire will not compare to it.” Thus, even a bastard disciple of the wise is more important than an uneducated high priest who serves inside the insides, for because he is not reading in the Torah, his work is not work, and he does not receive reward for it. It is written about him, “It is not good for a soul to be without knowledge.” A high priest who does not know the essence of the work, his work is not work.
328. How do we know that a high priest must be a disciple of the wise? After all, it is written, “The lips of a priest will guard knowledge, and they shall seek Torah from his mouth.”
If he is uneducated, he does not receive reward for his work, although he is inside the insides. Similarly, a foreigner who engages in Torah, since he is a foreigner, his engagement in the Torah is no engagement, and he does not receive reward for it, similar to an uneducated high priest, who does not receive reward for his work. Hence, a foreigner who engages in Torah is as a high priest.
329. It is written, “Command Aaron and his sons, saying.” Were Aaron and his sons commanded, and other priests not commanded?
330. However, any priest who does not know the essence of the work like Aaron and his sons is not commanded to work, and if he works, his work is not work, for with what is he aiming, since he does not know the essence of the work, like Aaron and his sons.
