Kabbalah Kejadian 2:2: Zohar, Sha'arei Kedusha & Sha'arei Orah

R. Eleazar said: ‘The term “These are”, as we have learnt, always implies that something spoken of before in the text is now of no account. Now it is written above in the account of the Creation¹Where also we find the expression ‘these are the generations, (Gen. 2, 4). that “A river went out from Eden to water the garden and from thence it was parted, etc.” (Gen. 2, 10). That stream which flows perennially entered the Garden to water it from the supernal waters, and brought gladness to it, making it produce fruit and seed for the universal content; and so the stream gladdened the Garden, as it is written, “And he rested on the seventh day” (Ibid. 3).

Now, at the outset of creation, all the worlds were created in the order mentioned above, and were brought into being by the power of the Unlimited One, HaShem-יהו״ה, blessed is He, by the power of His simple will, as an altruistic act of kindness. However, it subsequently is also necessary to continually draw forth sustenance, vitality and influence to all the worlds, in order to sustain their existence just as they were when they were created, and no more. This is like the verse,⁸³⁶Ecclesiastes 3:14 “I realized that whatever God does will endure forever: Nothing can be added to it and nothing can be subtracted from it.” It similarly states,⁸³⁷Ecclesiastes 1:9 “There is nothing new under the sun,” and,⁸³⁸Genesis 2:2 “On the seventh day God completed His work which He had done etc.,” all of which refer to the matter of creation itself.

Corresponding to this quality, HaShem-יהו"ה, blessed is He, gave the children of Israel the matter of Shabbat-שבת, about which I must inform you. Know that above, when the three Supernal Sefirot, Crown-Keter, Wisdom-Chochmah and Understanding-Binah unify, the Sefirah of Understanding-Binah then bonds with the six Sefirot beneath her until this Sefirah called the Living God-El Chai-א"ל חי and called Shabbat-שבת. Based on this principle, the creation of the world took place in six days and the seventh day was Shabbat. The day of Shabbat thus corresponds to the Sefirah of Foundation-Yesod-יסוד, which is the Sefirah of the Living God-El Chai-א"ל חי. Because of this, the day of Shabbat-שבת is called the source of blessings and holiness, as it states,⁸³Genesis 2:3 “And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, for on it He ceased-Shavat-שבת from all His work that God created to be done.” We thus find that the day of Shabbat is the source of all blessings and drawings of holiness below.