Botzina Kadisha בוצינא קדישא

Botzina Kadisha (בוצינא קדישא, “the Holy Lamp”) is the standing honorific of R. Shimon bar Yochai (Rashbi) in the Zohar, the master around whom the chevraya (companions) gather and through whom the secrets are disclosed. The epithet is most charged in the Idra Zuta, the deathbed assembly, where “the Holy Lamp” completes the final disclosure of the configurations and his soul departs in the act of revelation, his teaching and his death made simultaneous and mutually completing.

Disambiguation

This entry exists in part to prevent a known error: botzina kadisha (the Holy Lamp, R. Shimon) must never be conflated with botzina di-kardinuta (the lamp of adamantine darkness, a cosmogonic measuring-instrument). The two share only the word botzina (lamp); one is the human master, the other a primordial principle. The Idra Zuta plays on the resonance when the Holy Lamp departs, but the referents are entirely distinct.

Etymology

From the Aramaic botzina (lamp, luminary) and kadisha (holy). The image of the master as a lamp, a vessel of light for the fellowship, is sustained throughout the Zohar.

Why not “the holy candle” or “the sacred light”

Hekhal renders “the Holy Lamp,” preserving the lamp-image (a vessel of light) and the honorific register for R. Shimon. “The holy candle” is too domestic, and “the sacred light” loses the concrete lamp and the personal reference to the master.

Primary sources

• Zohar, Idra Zuta (Zohar III, Ha’azinu): the departure of the Holy Lamp.
• Zohar (throughout): Rashbi as Botzina Kadisha.

Scholarly literature

• Liebes, Studies in the Zohar: R. Shimon bar Yochai as a messianic figure.
• Hellner-Eshed, A River Flows from Eden: the master and the fellowship.
• Matt, The Zohar: Pritzker Edition.

Hekhal Editorial. "Botzina Kadisha." Hekhal: An Open Reference for Esoteric Tradition. Last modified May 2, 2026. https://hekhal.org/lexicon/botzina-kadisha.

Hekhal Editorial. 2026. "Botzina Kadisha." Hekhal: An Open Reference for Esoteric Tradition. https://hekhal.org/lexicon/botzina-kadisha.

Hekhal Editorial. "Botzina Kadisha." Hekhal: An Open Reference for Esoteric Tradition, May 2, 2026, hekhal.org/lexicon/botzina-kadisha.

Hekhal Editorial. (2026). Botzina Kadisha. Hekhal: An Open Reference for Esoteric Tradition. https://hekhal.org/lexicon/botzina-kadisha

@misc{hekhal-lexicon-botzina-kadisha-2026,
  author       = {{Hekhal Editorial}},
  title        = {{Botzina Kadisha}},
  year         = {2026},
  publisher    = {{Hekhal: An Open Reference for Esoteric Tradition}},
  url          = {https://hekhal.org/lexicon/botzina-kadisha},
  urldate      = {[date accessed]}
}