R. Shim'on said to his son, R. El’azar:
El’azar, at the time when the Messiah will be stirred up, many signs
and other miracles will occur in the world. Come and see: In the Garden
of Eden of Below there is a secret place, hidden and unknown, which is
embroidered with many colors, and in which are hidden a thousand halls
of yearnings. And there is none who enters it except the Messiah who dwells
always in the Garden of Eden. And the whole Garden is surrounded by many
groups of the pious. And the Messiah is appointed over them and over many
hosts, and over many camps of the souls of the pious. And on New Moons
and holy days and Sabbaths the Messiah enters that place to enjoy himself
in all those halls. And within all those halls there is another place,
hidden and secret, which is not known at all, and it is called Eden, and
there is none who can find it. And the Messiah is hidden outside the limits
of that place, until a place is revealed to him which is called Bird's
Nest. That is the place which is proclaimed by that bird which is stirred
up in the Garden of Eden every day. And in that place they embroider effigies
of all the nations that banded together against Israel to harm her. The
Messiah enters that place, lifts up his eyes, and sees the Fathers coming
to the ruins of the House of God, and then he sees Rachel with tears on
her face, and the Holy One, blessed be He, comforting her, but she does
not want to accept consolation… Then the Messiah lifts up his voice
and weeps, and the whole Garden of Eden trembles, and all the pious who
are there cry and weep with him. When he cries and weeps the second time,
the firmament which is above the Garden shakes, and the fifteen hundred
myriads of supernal hosts [tremble], until [the voice] reaches the Supernal
Throne. Then the Holy One, blessed be He, beckons that bird, and it enters
its nest, and comes to the Messiah, and it calls what it calls, and stirs
up what it stirs up, until that Bird's Nest and the Messiah are called
three times from inside the Holy Throne, and all ascend. And the Holy
One, blessed be He, swears to them that He will destroy the wicked kingdom
[Rome] from the world by the hand of the Messiah, and will avenge the
vengence of Israel, and will give to His people all those benefits which
He destined for them. And the Bird's Nest and the Messiah return to their
place. And the Messiah returns and becomes hidden in that place as before.
And at the time when the Holy One, blessed be He, bestirs Himself to perfect
the world, the letters of His name [YHWH] will radiate in perfection,
the Y with the H, and the W with the [second] H, in order to become united
in perfection. Then a fearsome star will rise in the middle of the firmament:
by day it will radiate and glow like purple before the eyes of the whole
world. And the flame of the fire [that is, Samael] will arise from the
north side of the firmament, and they shall face each other for forty
days, and all the children of the world will be affrighted. At the end
of forty days the star and the flame will give battle to each other before
the eyes of all. And that flame will spread a great conflagration from
the north side in the firmament, and will seem to swallow that star. And
many rulers and kings and nations and peoples will be sore afraid. Then
that star will move to the south side and will overcome that flame and
that flame will be swallowed up little by little in the firmament before
that star, until it will no longer be seen at all. Then that star will
make paths in the firmament, in twelve areas, and they will remain luminous
in the firmament for twelve more days. After the twelve days all the children
of the world will tremble, and the sun will become dark at noontime as
it grew dark on the day in which the Temple was destroyed, until the heaven
and the earth will not be seen. And a voice will be stirred up with thunder
and lightning, and the earth will shake from that voice, and many armies
and camps will die from it. And on that day a flame of fire will be stirred
up by that voice in the city of Great Rome. And it will be stirred up
in the whole world, and it will consume many towers and many palaces,
and many towers will collapse, and many princes and potentates will fall
on that day. And all will gather to harm her [Israel]. And none of the
children of the world will be able to escape.
From that day on for twelve months all the kings will take counsel and
will issue many evil decrees and will persecute Israel and they will prevail
over her... Happy is he who will be there, and happy is he who will not
be there! And the whole world will be in great confusion.
At the end of twelve months a scepter will arise out of Israel –
this is King Messiah, who will be stirred up in the Garden of Eden. And
all the pious will surround him, and gird him with weapons inscribed with
the letters of the Holy Name. And a voice will burst forth among the branches
of the trees in the Garden, and will call powerfully and say: "Awaken,
Supernal Saints, rise before the Messiah! This is the time for the Wife
[Israel] to join her Husband [God], and her Husband seeks vengeance for
her in the world, and lets her shake off the dust." Then all will
rise and gird him [the Messiah] with weapons as before. Abraham on his
right, Isaac on his left, Jacob before him, and Moses, the faithful shepherd
of all these saints, will go and dance in the Garden of Eden.
As soon as the Messiah is installed by the saints in the Garden of Eden,
he enters that place which is called Bird's Nest, as before, and there
he sees the image of the destruction of the Temple and of all the saints
who were slain in it. Then he takes from there ten garments, which are
the ten garments of zeal, and he hides himself there for forty days, [during
which] he does not reveal himself at all. And at the end of forty days
a voice is stirred up from the Supernal Throne and calls that Bird's Nest
in which King Messiah has hid himself. And then they carry him aloft,
and when the Holy One, blessed be He, sees King Messiah clothed in garments
of vengeance and girded with weapons, He takes him and kisses him on his
forehead. Then three hundred and ninety firmaments shake, and the Holy
One, blessed be He, beckons to one firmament among them which is hidden
ever since the six days of creation, and from a sanctuary which is in
that firmament He takes a crown engraved with holy names. It is the crown
with which the Holy One, blessed be He, crowned Himself when Israel passed
through the sea to take vengeance on all the chariots of Pharaoh and his
horsemen, and with it He crowns King Messiah. As soon as he is crowned
and supplied with all these embellishments, the Holy One, blessed be He,
takes him and kisses him as before. Who can see the holy chariots and
supernal hosts which surround him and give him presents and many gifts!
And he is adorned by all of them, and enters a sanctuary and sees all
those supernal angels who are called the Mourners of Zion, because they
constantly cry over the destruction of the Temple. And they give him a
red-purple cloak so that he can carry out his vengeance. Then the Holy
One, blessed be He, [again] hides him in that Bird's Nest, and he remains
hidden there thirty days.
After thirty days in that Bird's Nest, he comes down adorned with all
those embellishments from Above and from Below. Many holy hosts surround
him, and the whole world will see a light suspended from the firmament
to the earth and it will stay seven days. And all the children of the
world will see it and will marvel and will be frightened. And none will
understand it, except those wise men who know these mysteries. Happy is
their portion! And all those seven days the Messiah will be crowned on
earth in that Bird's Nest. In what place? "On the way," that
is, at Rachel's tomb, which stands at the crossroads. And he will bring
her glad tidings and will comfort her, and she will accept consolation,
and will arise and kiss him. Then that light will arise from that place,
and rest over Jericho, the city of trees. . . .
And the Messiah will be hidden in that light of the Bird's Nest for twelve
months. After the twelve months that light will shoot up between heaven
and earth and rest in the Land of Galilee. For there was the beginning
of Israel’s exile. And there he [the Messiah] will reveal himself
in that light of the Bird's Nest, and then he will return to his place.
And on that day the whole earth will tremble as before from one end of
heaven to the other. And then the whole world will see that King Messiah
revealed himself in the Land of Galilee. And all those who study the Tora
– and they will be very few in the world – will gather around
him. And because of the merits of the little children of the schoolhouse,
his army will gain strength, and this is the mystery of the "young
birds." And if such should not be found, then [the Messiah will be
strengthened through] the sucklings who sit in the strength of their mother
and suck. To them refers the verse when it says, "or eggs,"
because it is for their sake that the Shekhina rests on Israel in exile,
for indeed very few sages will be found at that time… And those
children and sucklings will give strength to King Messiah, and the Supernal
Mother who is "sitting upon the young or upon the eggs" will
be stirred up toward her Husband [God]. He will tarry for another twelve
months, and then Her Husband will come and raise her from the dust…
On that day King Messiah will begin to gather the exiles from one end
of the world to the other… From that day on all the signs and miracles
and portents which the Holy One, blessed be He, performed in Egypt He
will [again] perform for Israel…
(Zohar 2:8a-9a)
Source: Raphael Patai, The Messiah Texts, Wayne
State University Press.