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Like, really, ever. I phoned it this morning to find out if you can get the Zohar in Russian, because one of W's congregants wants the Zohar in Russian (God knows why, but I suppose some people want to read it).
Well, the phone was answered by a nicely-spoke woman who informed me that owning a copy of the Zohar brings healing, good fortune, riches, etc, you know, chocolate creams and Ming vases, on your household, and that unfortunately a translation is not available in Russian, but that it is an "energetic" work rather than an "informative" work. It is so energetic, in fact, and so uninformative, that it doesn't matter what language you own it in, so long as you own a copy. If you own a copy you will have good fortune and healing and benefits beyond telling, even if you never read it.
Well, a little pootling about online revealed that one can, in fact, get a copy of the Zohar on microfilm, so as to be able to carry it on one's person all the time, and benefit completely from its marvellous powers.
This worries me somewhat, really. I understand that a certain amount of self-delusion is necessary to anyone's life, but when you believe that carrying books around on microfilm is materially going to affect your life, something is surely wrong. Particularly from a Jewish perspective, given that Judaism expressly says that the holy texts are not talismans and are not to be treated as such. (Not that I think the Zohar is a holy text, personally, but people do.) The point of holy texts is to be reminded of what they say, but if you believe that a book is energetic and not informative, presumably it isn't really saying anything and is simply symbolic, or a channel for something. This is perilously close to idolatry.
Well, the phone was answered by a nicely-spoke woman who informed me that owning a copy of the Zohar brings healing, good fortune, riches, etc, you know, chocolate creams and Ming vases, on your household, and that unfortunately a translation is not available in Russian, but that it is an "energetic" work rather than an "informative" work. It is so energetic, in fact, and so uninformative, that it doesn't matter what language you own it in, so long as you own a copy. If you own a copy you will have good fortune and healing and benefits beyond telling, even if you never read it.
Well, a little pootling about online revealed that one can, in fact, get a copy of the Zohar on microfilm, so as to be able to carry it on one's person all the time, and benefit completely from its marvellous powers.
This worries me somewhat, really. I understand that a certain amount of self-delusion is necessary to anyone's life, but when you believe that carrying books around on microfilm is materially going to affect your life, something is surely wrong. Particularly from a Jewish perspective, given that Judaism expressly says that the holy texts are not talismans and are not to be treated as such. (Not that I think the Zohar is a holy text, personally, but people do.) The point of holy texts is to be reminded of what they say, but if you believe that a book is energetic and not informative, presumably it isn't really saying anything and is simply symbolic, or a channel for something. This is perilously close to idolatry.