Kabbalah Library
Zohar for All, Volume 8
Prohibition to Begin on Monday and on Wednesday
112. Abraham was told, “Go forth from your country, and from your homeland, and from your father’s house,” meaning from the house where you were born, from reading in the stars and signs, from those houses of the moon, or the houses of Saturn or the houses of Mars. It was said about the houses of Mars and the houses of Saturn and the moon that one does not begin on the second and the fourth, on the second day and on the fourth day [Monday and Wednesday]. This is so because in Mars, there is the redness of the sun, which indicates Hell, the mother of Esau, who was born on the second day of the work of creation. For this reason, we do not begin on Monday. The moon is good and bad. She is good when she shines her fullest, and bad when she is absent.
113. Because the moon consists of good and bad, Israel count by her, and the children of Ishmael count by her. Israel are gripped to the good in her, and the children of Ishmael, to the bad in her. When she is eclipsed in the days of her filling, in the good in her, it is a bad sign for Israel. When she is eclipsed in the days of her withdrawal, it is a bad sign for the Ishmaelites. It is written about that, “And the wisdom of their wise men shall perish,” the wisdom of the Ishmaelites. “And the intelligence of their intelligent men shall be hidden,” for they do not know about the creation of the stars, but of their operation, according to the changes in the world as they move and as they operate.
The moon was created in the fourth day in the work of creation. In the diminution of the moon, in poverty, Lilit was created, who is Saturn, hunger and thirst, and an eclipse of the lights. It is written about her, “Let there be lights” without a Vav, which means curse, as it is written, “The curse of the Lord in the house of a wicked one.” It is also written, “And a sinner will be trapped in her,” in her house of imprisonment, and a righteous, it is written, “will escape from her.” For this reason, we do not begin on Wednesday.
114. Then there is another star, which is a small dot, a dot on the Moon, which is “lights.” This is the dot of Holam, who is called “the king’s daughter,” Sabbath the queen. The governance of both of them, of Saturn and Sabbath the queen, is on the seventh day. It is written about her, “so that your manservant and maidservant may rest,” since the order of their creation is not as the order of their operation.
For this reason, the sun and Mars, which are red and the state of Hell, were created on the second day of the work of creation, and the moon and Saturn were created on the fourth day of the work of creation. Saturn indicates hunger and darkness, which is why we do not begin on Monday and on Wednesday, since Hell was created on the second day, and the eclipse on the fourth day.
115. It is written about the Star, “A star will come forth from Jacob.” This is the middle line, and his degree is on the third day of the work of creation. It is written about it, “And it came to pass on the third day in the morning,” in which the Creator came down to give the Torah to Israel. The Torah is an only daughter, Malchut, so that the queen Sabbath will be with the third day, Tifferet.
This is so because the third day incorporates the three branches of the patriarchs, three branches of the [letter] Shin, HGT. The only daughter, Malchut, whose governance is on the eve of Shabbat [Sabbath], becomes Shabbat on the third day, since Shabbat has the letters of Shin Bat [daughter], where the Shin implies HGT, which are adhered to the Bat, to Malchut.
116. For this reason, the authors of the Mishna are disputed with regard to the giving of the Torah, that she is an only daughter. One said, “The Torah was given on the third,” and one said, “The Torah was given on the seventh,” since she is an only daughter that grips the middle pillar, the third of the patriarchs, Tifferet, and according to this, the Torah was given on the third day. Malchut grips the righteous, Yesod, the sixth day, and the only daughter, Malchut, is seventy in relation to it. When she is a crown on his head, she is called “seventh” in it, where Yesod is sixth, and his star is Tzedek [Jupiter], and the only daughter, queen Sabbath, is called Tzedek.
This is why the Torah, Malchut, grips between the third day and the seventh day. This is also why some say that the Torah was given on the third, and some say that the Torah was given on the seventh.
117. Malchut is the letters Kaf-Bet from Kochav [star]. The Kaf-Vav from Kochav is HaVaYaH in Gematria (26), as it is written, “For the Lord of hosts is a sun and a shield.” It is written about the Shechina, Malchut of the holiness, “In you, Israel will bless,” which is Kaf-Bet from Kochav, and these are the Kaf-Bet (twenty-two) letters of the Torah.
The star consists of three degrees: Kaf of Kochav is Keter; Bet is Bina; Kaf-Vav of Kochav, which is HaVaYaH, contains both, and it is Hochma. Kochav also contains the degree of the middle pillar, the Kaf-Vav of Kochav, which is HaVaYaH in Gematria, and it contains the Shechina, who is the Kaf-Vav of Kochav.
