Zohar 3:179b

Jewish Mysticism
“The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying- This is the ritual law that the Lord has commanded” (Num. 19-1 2). R. Yose began to expound- “This is the Torah that Moses set before the Israelites” (Deut. 4-44). Come and see- the words of Torah are holy, supernal, and sweet…. For he who is involved in [the study of] Torah it is as if he stands each day on Mount Sinai and receives the Torah. . . . The comrades have thus taught- Here it is written “this is the ritual law” (zo’t hukkat ha torah) and [in the other case] it is written “and this is the Torah” (ve zo’t ha torah). What is the difference between these two? This concerns a supernal mystery and thus have I learnt- “This is the Torah” to show everything in one unity, to contain the Community of Israel [Shekhinah] within the Holy One, blessed be He [Tif’eret] so that everything will be found as one. Therefore [it is written] “and this is the Torah.” Why is there the additional vav [in the word ve zo’t]? As it has been said, to show that everything is one without any separation. [The word] ve zo’t [signifies] the principle (kelal) and the exception (perat) as one, the masculine and feminine. Thus [it is written] “And this is the Torah” indeed (vada’y)! But the word zo’t without the additional vav [signifies] “the ritual law” (hukkat ha torah) indeed (vada’y), and not the Torah, i.e., the law of the Torah and the decree of the Torah. . . . Thus [it is written] “and this is the Torah” literally (mamash), [signifying] one complete unity, the containment of the masculine and feminine, the vav and the heh [the word] [signifies] the heh alone, and thus [it is written] “this is the ritual law.”

Translated by Elliot Wolfson in- “Beautiful Maiden Without Eyes- Peshat and Sod in Zoharic Hermeneutics.” In The Midrashic imagination – Jewish exegesis, thought, and history. Edited by Michael Fishbane, Albany – State University of New York Press, 1993, pp. 155-203.