Weinergate, Shavuot and the Zohar

As I was waiting for the chazan to start chazarat hashatz this morning I took a look at Sefer HaZohar. I opened up it up to this week's Torah portion and this is what I found:

וַיְדַבֵּר יְיָ אֶל מֹשֶׁה לֵאמֹר. דַּבֵּר אֶל אַהֲרֹן וְאָמַרְתָּ אֵלָיו בְּהַעֲלוֹתְךָ אֶת הַנֵּרוֹת וְגוֹ', רִבִּי יְהוּדָה פָּתַח, (תהלים יט) וְהוּא כְּחָתָן יוֹצֵא מֵחוּפָּתוֹ וְגוֹ'. זַכָּאָה חוּלָקֵיהוֹן דְּיִשְׂרָאֵל, דְקוּדְשָׁא בְּרִיךְ הוּא אִתְרְעֵי בְּהוֹן, וְיָהַב לְהוֹן אוֹרַיְיתָא דִּקְשׁוֹט, אִילָנָא דְּחַיֵּי, דְּבֵיהּ אָחִיד בַּר נָשׁ (ס''א ירית) חַיִּין לְהַאי עָלְמָא, וְחַיִּין לְעָלְמָא דְּאָתֵי. דְּכָל מַאן דְּאִשְׁתְּדַל בְּאוֹרַיְיתָא וְאָחִיד בָּהּ, אִית לֵיהּ חַיִּין (ס''א אחיד בחיין). וְכָל מַאן דְּשָׁבִיק מִלֵּי דְּאוֹרַיְיתָא, וְאִתְפְּרַשׁ מֵאוֹרַיְיתָא, כְּאִלּוּ מִתְפְּרַשׁ מֵחַיִּין, בְּגִין דְּהִיא חַיִּין, וְכָל מִלּוֹי חַיִּין, הֲדָא הוּא דִכְתִיב, (משלי ד) כִּי חַיִּים הֵם וְגוֹ'. וּכְתִיב (משלי ג) רִפְאוּת תְּהִי לְשָׁרֶךָ וְגוֹ.

A very rough translation:

Meritorious is Israel's portion, for the Holy One blessed be He desired them, and gave them the Torah of truth, the tree of life, that in it a man grasps life in this world, and life the the world to come. And every person that exerts himself in Torah learning and grasps it, he has life. And every person that abandons the words of Torah, and separates himself from the Torah, it is as if he has separated himself from life, for she (the Torah) is life, and its words are life, as it is written,"For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh" and it is written, "It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones."

What an appropriate passage to come across the day before Shavuot!

But what does this have to do with Weinergate? There seems to be a difference of opinion if Congressman Anthony Weiner is really a Jew. In any case, his father certainly is.

When one is attached to Torah he is attached to life, to the source of life. When one distances himself from the Torah, he separates himself from the source of life. He (or his offspring) will eventually descend to the depths of depravity, as seen from Congressman Weiner's tweets and attempted cover-up.

I admire Congressman Weiner for coming clean and admitting his wrongdoing. If Congressman Weiner is really a Jew, he should go the full path of Teshuvah, which would include separating himself from his gentile wife.