Letter to Mordechai Margoliot

To the great master, the stronghold and tower, his name is increasingly great, he is my beloved master, the juice of my pomegranate (Song of Songs 8:2), my olive brimming with oil, Josheb-basshebeth a Tahchemonite (2 Samuel 23:8), the exceptional and wonderful rabbi, leader and ruler, generous, holy, renowned nobleman, and officer, in honor and praise of his splendid name, our teacher and rabbi, Mordechai Yaffe [Jaffe], may the Merciful One guard and bless him.

I am familiar with him, I can name him, but I do not know him. However, I know him by name, for his name is as ointment poured forth, it is known in the gates, the gate of Bath-rabbim (Song of Songs 7:5). For him it is fitting and fine [yafeh] to reveal the secret of God to those who fear Him (Psalms 25:14), either a whole matter or half a matter. For I said to myself that if I relate it, there will not be enough space on the parchment for it all, especially as I acted impudently like a harlot (Jeremiah 3:3) to approach the sacred and explicitly to utter words that were unfathomable yesterday and the day before. Who am I that I have come here? Indeed, it is impossible to sacrifice this meal offering in accordance with its order and laws.

Nevertheless, I will say to my master just the slightest of it very briefly. I have come with a message of Torah, to inform my master that the Holy One has granted us a fine gift from His treasury. There is a lad here, a young man, twenty-three years of age, he shall be called holy (Isaiah 4:3). He is my teacher, my rabbi, the holy light, a man of God, the honorable R. Moses ḥay[im] Luzzatto. Now, for two and a half years, a magid, a holy and fearsome angel, has revealed Himself to him, and has revealed wondrous secrets to him. Even before he reached the age of fourteen, he knew all the writings of R. Isaac Luria by heart, but he was humble and shy and did not disclose this even to his father, and certainly not to anyone else. However, God orchestrated events so that this was revealed to me through a particular set of circumstances, but this is not the place to elaborate on that.

For a month now I have ministered to him, drawing living water from his well. Happy is the eye that saw, and happy is the ear that heard all this; it is a spark from R. Akiva ben Joseph. During the eight months that the holy, fearsome angel revealed Himself to R. Moses [Luzzatto], he handed over to him many secrets and several methods powerful enough to bring down the yeshiva on high. The angel also commanded him, with the consent of the Holy One and His divine presence, to compose a book of the Zohar that was called by heaven “the Second Zohar,” for the great rectification that is known to us.

The order was as follows: this angel would speak from his mouth, but we his disciples were unable to hear anything. The angel would first reveal to him wonderful secrets, and then command Elijah to come immediately. Elijah would arrive and declare his secrets, and sometimes Metatron the great ministering angel would come, as well as the faithful shepherd [i.e., Moses], Abraham the Elder, and Rav Hamnuna the Elder, and “that elder,”¹ and occasionally King Messiah and the primeval Adam.

He has already completed one work upon this astounding and awe-inspiring gathering, and now he has been ordered to compose seventy rectifications on the verse all the mighty hand (Deuteronomy 34:12) from the end of the Torah, likewise in the manner described above. Furthermore, he has written three books on the Torah, all three of them only up to the reading of Vayetse [Genesis 28:10], and all in accordance with the most fearsome secret, and all in the language of the Zohar. He knows all the reincarnations and rectifications of every person, and also palm and face reading. In sum, there is nothing hidden from him. At first, permission was granted only to reveal to him the secrets of the Torah, but now he reveals to him all matters—and nobody knows, apart from us, the members of his circle.

He also told me a great secret as to why it came about that I came here to study with him, as nothing happens without a reason. He also spoke to me about my own soul and the rectifications I must undertake. The Faithful Shepherd, and Metatron the ministering archangel, are both accustomed to expounding verses as applicable to him and R. Simeon bar Yoḥai, the author of the Zohar, and in all matters, he is compared to R. Simeon bar Yoḥai, may his memory be a blessing. In truth, he was shown everything, which no person has merited from the days of R. Simeon bar Yoḥai until now. I too, in my great love of Torah, I wanted to abandon all external wisdoms until I was informed, on the authority of that preacher: “Take hold of the one, but also do not withdraw your hand from the other (Ecclesiastes 7:18) for a reason that is concealed with me.”

All of the above is obscured and hidden from all living people, apart from our circle. If I wanted to reveal the aforementioned matters of my teacher and master, time itself would end before I could complete them. If the master desires (Genesis 3:6) to know certain things, including the state of his soul and its rectifications, he should relinquish his lofty honor and command it to be written, and then I will inform him of everything, little by little, all that he commands, and it will be to his satisfaction. For one does not talk of such matters in the open, especially the first time, when I cannot be sure that the letter will come into his possession. And let the master not think, God forbid, of “inflicting a blemish on sacrifices,” by comparing this to other lies and misleading falsehoods, as words of truth are recognizable [b. Sotah 9b]. On the contrary, R. Moses [Luzzatto] knows all matters that are performed under the sun (Ecclesiastes 4:1), and all matters that have entirely passed, and the root of all matters.

As I do not have the time to spare, I will be brief, and may God lengthen your days and years. These are the words of your faithful servant who utters these things in a whisper, as permission has not yet been granted to reveal them.