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Zohar - I 221b – Perfumes and clothes
Identifier
014882
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
A description of the experience
Zohar I 221b [translated by Gershom Scholem] – Perfumes and clothes
Rabbi Judah said: When Jacob went in to obtain the blessing from his father, he was clothed in the clothes of Esau, yet it is written that Isaac smelled his raiment {Gen. 27:27}, that is, there came to his nostrils the odour of Jacob's raiment in the future world, and it was on this account he blessed him.
And so he said: "See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the Lord hath blessed" {ibid.}, which refers to the field of holy apple trees wherein dew from the realm called heaven drops each day; and he continued: "So God give thee of the dew of heaven" {Gen. 27:28}. We have been taught that every day from the Garden of Eden there rise fifteen odours with which are perfumed the precious raiment in the other world.
Rabbi Judah inquired as to how many garments there are.
Rabbi Eleazar replied: On this point, the masters differ, but actually, there are three. One is to clothe the spirit {ruach} in the earthly Garden of Eden. Most precious is the second, which is for the clothing of the innermost soul {neshamal} when it is among the "bundle of life" {I Sam. 4:29} in the circle of the King. The third is an outer cloak, appearing and disappearing, with which the vital soul {nefesh} is clothed.