זוהר, מקץ י״גZohar, Miketz 13

Segment 1א׳

וַיִּשָּׂא עֵינָיו וַיַּרְא אֶת בִּנְיָמִין אָחִיו בֶּן אִמּוֹ וְגו'. רִבִּי חִיָּיא פָּתַח וְאֲמַר, (משלי י״ג:י״ב) תּוֹחֶלֶת מְמוּשָׁכָה מַחֲלָה לֵב וְעֵץ חַיִּים תַּאֲוָה בָאָה. דָּא הוּא דִּתְנַן, דְּלֵית לֵיהּ לְבַר נָשׁ לְאִסְתַּכָּלָא בְּבָעוּתֵיהּ לְגַבֵּי קוּדְשָׁא בְּרִיךְ הוּא, אִי אָתֵי, אִי לָא אָתֵי. מַאי טַעְמָא, בְּגִין דְּאִי אִיהוּ אִסְתַּכֵּל בֵּיהּ, כַּמָּה מָארֵיהוֹן דְּדִינָא, אָתוּ לְאִסְתַּכָּלָא בֵּיהּ בְּעוֹבָדוֹי.

AND HE LIFTED UP HIS EYES, AND SAW BENJAMIN HIS BROTHER, HIS MOTHER’S SON, ETC. R. Hiya began a discourse on the verse: Hope deferred maketh the heart sick; but desire fulfilled is a tree of life (Prov. 13, 12). ‘This’, he said, ‘bears out the traditional teaching to the effect that a man in praying to the Almighty should not observe too closely whether his prayer is answered or no, lest the numerous accusers who are about will come to scrutinize his deeds.

Segment 2ב׳

וְרָזָא אִיהוּ, דְּהָא הַהוּא אִסְתַּכְּלוּתָא, דְּאִיהוּ מִסְתַּכֵּל בְּהַהוּא בָּעוּתָא, גָּרִים לֵיהּ לְמַחֲלַת לֵב. מַאי מַחֲלָה לֵב, דָּא אִיהוּ מַאן דְּקָאִים תָּדִיר עֲלֵיהּ דְּבַר נָשׁ, לְאַסְטָאָה לְעֵילָא וְתַתָּא.

The underlying meaning of the first part of the verse is that if a man thinks too much about whether his prayer will be answered, he provokes “sickness of heart”, to wit, that spirit who is constantly shadowing him in his eagerness to indict him on high and below;

Segment 3ג׳

וְעֵץ חַיִּים תַּאֲוָה בָאָה. תָּנִינָן, מַאן דְּבָעֵי דְּקוּדְשָׁא בְּרִיךְ הוּא יְקַבֵּל צְלוֹתֵיהּ, יִשְׁתַּדַּל בְּאוֹרַיְיתָא, דְּאִיהִי עֵץ חַיִּים. וּכְדֵין תַּאֲוָה בָאָה. מַאן תַּאֲוָה, דָּא הוּא דַּרְגָּא דְּכָל צְלוֹתִין דְּעַלְמָא בִּידֵיהּ, וְעֲאִיל לוֹן קַמֵּי מַלְכָּא עִלָּאָה. כְּתִיב הָכָא בָאָה, וּכְתִיב הָתָם, (אסתר ב׳:י״ד) בָּעֶרֶב הִיא בָאָה. וְדָא הוּא תַּאֲוָה בָאָה, בָּאָה קַמֵּי מַלְכָּא עִלָּאָה, לְאַשְׁלָמָא רְעוּתָא דְהַהוּא בַּר נָשׁ.

but “desire fulfilled is a tree of life”, that is, as tradition teaches us, whoever desires that the Holy One, blessed be He, should accept his prayer, should be diligent in the study of the Torah, which is the tree of life, and thus desire is “fulfilled”, or, more literally, “cometh” (baah). By “desire” is meant the grade that presides over all prayers and takes them up into the presence of the Most High King. The word “cometh” (baah) is used here as in the phrase, “In the evening she cometh” (Esther 2, 14), and means that the desire comes up before the Most High King so as to fulfil the man’s wish.