Tree of Souls Quotes

“The primordial Torah was written with black fire on white fire. It was fire mixed with fire, cut from fire, given from fire.”
― Howard Schwartz, Tree of Souls: The Mythology of Judaism

“There is a dreadful abyss at the end of heaven and earth where there is no firmament of the heavens above, and no earth beneath it. Columns of heavenly fire fill the abyss, the smell of sulphur is everywhere, and around it there is a wasteland without water; with no birds to be seen.

This place is God's prison for rebellious stars and fallen angels. In it are seven stars burning like great mountains as they roll over the fire of the abyss. Because they did not come forth at their appointed times, God has bound them in that place for ten thousand years.”
― Howard Schwartz, Tree of Souls: The Mythology of Judaism

“God constantly creates new heavens and a new earth from the new meanings that are discovered in the Torah. When the Torah was given to Moses, tens of thousands of angels on high were about to burn him with the flames of their mouths, but God protected him. Since then, whenever a new interpreation of the Torah is uttered, the saying rises up, is adorned with a crown, and then stands before God. And God guards that saying and keeps it hidden, and shelters the person who said it, to prevent the angels from envying him until a new heaven and a new earth are created from that saying.”
― Howard Schwartz, Tree of Souls: The Mythology of Judaism

“Judaism is not, and never has been, a single stream of thought, but a river formed of many, often contradictory, streams, and rabbinic texts are composites of different kinds of thinking.”
― Howard Schwartz, Tree of Souls: The Mythology of Judaism

“For two thousand years prior to the creation of the world, all the letters of the Hebrew alphabet were hidden. During that time, God gazed upon the letters and delighted in them. Then, when God was about to create the world, all twenty-two letters engraved upon His crown came down and stood before him, from tav to aleph. The letter tav approached first and said: "O Lord, create the world through me, for I am at the beginning of the word 'Torah.'"

God replied, "Tav, You are worthy and deserving, and in the days to come I shall command that you be put as a sign on the foreheads of the righteous, so that when the destroying angel comes to punish sinners, he will see the letter on their foreheads and spare them." But the letter tav was sad that it would not be used to create the world, and it left the presence of the Lord.

Then, one by one, each of the other letters came forward and pleaded with God to create the world through them.”
― Howard Schwartz, Tree of Souls: The Mythology of Judaism

“The angels who serve God one day do not serve him the next. Every single day new ministering angels are created from the River of Fire, known as Rigyon. This is the river of which it is written, A River of fire streamed forth before Him (Dan. 7:10). This river springs out of the perspiration of the heavenly creatures who support God's Throne of Glory and emerges from under the throne. There are a great many bridges of fire that have been placed over the river of fire, for the souls of the righteous to cross.

Before they can sing before God, all the angels must first go down and bathe themselves in the river of fire, and dip their tongues and mouths in the river seven times. Then they encircle the Throne of Glory, singing hymns of praise to God unceasingly from sunrise to sunset, as it is said, From east to west the name of Yahweh is praised (Ps. 113:3).”
― Howard Schwartz, Tree of Souls: The Mythology of Judaism

“Not a day passes in which God does not teach a new law in the heavenly academy. Just as the souls of the holy sages each teach in their own heavenly place, so God teaches in the Celestial Academy. It is said that God assigns the righteous a closer place to the divine glory than He does for the angels. And the angels are always asking them, "What has God taught you?"

There are certain matters that must be left undecided until God comes and teaches the truth, for one day God will settle all unresolved questions of the Law. But God is not the only teacher in the Celestial Academy. Elijah and the Messiah also teach there. And until God delivers a final decision, it is Elijah's task to settle all doubts on ritual and judicial matters. So too does the Messiah elucidate the words of the Torah, and point out where the Law has been misconstrued.”
― Howard Schwartz, Tree of Souls: The Mythology of Judaism

“Sir James Frazer speculated that the original oral myth about the Garden of Eden was not about a Tree of Knowledge and a Tree of Life, as found in Genesis, because they are not a polar pair.164 Myths repeatedly seek out polarities whenever possible—day and night, sun and moon, heaven and earth. It would be unlikely that the original myth had two trees that were not polar, as is the case with the Tree of Knowledge and the Tree of Life. Rather, Frazer suggests, the two trees were likely the Tree of Life and the Tree of Death.165 According to his theory, God gave Adam and Eve a divine test to determine if mankind would be mortal or immortal. God wanted them to be immortal,166 so He gave them a big hint: “Don’t eat from the Tree of Death!” Of course, human nature being what it is, that is exactly what they did, thus becoming mortal. If the fruit that Adam and Eve had first tasted had been from the Tree of Life, they would have lived forever, but having eaten from the Tree of Death, they could no longer be permitted access to the Tree of Life. That is why God stationed east of the garden of Eden the cherubim and the fiery ever-turning sword, to guard the way to the Tree of Life (Gen. 3:24). If Frazer is correct—and his theory has the ring of truth—it suggests that the original purpose of the myth, to provide the origin of death, was replaced by a shift to ethical issues, seeing the events of the Fall primarily as a sin against God. This would indicate that this biblical myth was considerably changed from its oral version when the text of Genesis was edited.”
― Howard Schwartz, Tree of Souls: The Mythology of Judaism