How to Structure the Zohar?

[Brett Lockspeiser]

Hi all, 

I got an inquiry from someone on Facebook who'd like to start adding the Zohar. The text is available at least from these two places:

http://he.wikisource.org/wiki/זוהר_חלק_א
http://www.hebrew.grimoar.cz/zohar/zohar_vilno_1.htm

There are a few fragments saved in Sefaria already, but I'm not sure that the current structure (Parts > Pages) makes sense or that things are in the right place: http://www.sefaria.org/Zohar.69.423 - this text, e.g., is supposed to be "Zohar, part 69, page 423".

Leaving aside the fact that we can't handle the hakdama right now, can anyone more familiar with the text help me understand what the best way to do this right now could be?

Thanks,

Brett

[Yehoshua Kahan]

Oy, what a can of (holy) worms!  The Zohar is comprised of many sub-structures  which are woven throughout the printed texts. Here's a list of the main sections, aside from the core material (which is called Zohar in the printed text): Ra'aya Mehemna, Sifra D'Tzinyuta, Sitrei Torah, Midrash HaNe'elam, Idra Rabba and Idra Zuta, Raza d'Razin, Tosefta, and there are others. That's not even getting into the question of Tikkunei Zohar, nor of Zohar Chadash. Each of the sections can appear in place of Zohar, along side Zohar, or  sometimes, even three sections on a page! And: the standard printed text has not-infrequent textual variants embedded in the text, plus, of course, different editions can vary from one another. I would suggest paginating the Sefaria Zohar like the standard edition (well, "standard" until Matok Midvash and the Sulam editions - hey, that's an idea, get ,Madonna to sponsor the Sefaria Zohar; after all, she paid for the distribution of Kabbalah Center editions of the Sulam for free to residents of Yesha a few years back!). Then, on each page, you could have automatic tiled windows pop up: usually, one window for Zohar, but others would be below/aside it where mirroring the printed text requires.

Or better still: just ask Rabbi Shimon how he wants it presented!  

Rav Berachot,

Yehoshua Kahan

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[Sara Wolkenfeld]

I agree with Rav Yehoshua, and think this is another text that needs to be done like Rambam, etc. - with a category heading, and sub-sections, that are all it's own. Paginations in the Zohar are a mess, but we need to pick one and stick with it, and we need to be sure that we indicate which edition of the Zohar we're using. 

Perhaps the person who wants to enter the text could then look through the sections we already have and see where those fit in...

All the best,

Sara

[hersh...@gmail.com]

I just tried to link to some zohar, text was missing to I added it, but structure still needs to change. It must include side a or b.

[Yehoshua Kahan]

We've had some discussion regarding the problems associated with putting up the Zohar due to the complexity of its inner structure. I would like to suggest (just a suggestion, I have no authority to impose anything) we all accept a moratorium on putting up or linking to Zohar (both the Aramaic/Hebrew original as well as English) until we resolve this problem.

Rav Berachot,

Yehoshua Kahan

On Fri, Jul 5, 2013 at 2:47 AM, <hersh...@gmail.com> wrote:

I just tried to link to some zohar, text was missing to I added it, but structure still needs to change. It must include side a or b.