the segol and the zarka

Rabbi Amorai expounds two cantillation marks. The ‘segol’ (three dots) is named ‘segulah (treasure),’ and it follows the ‘zarka’; the zarka is so called because it is ‘thrown (nizrak),’ like a thing cast — and after it comes ‘the treasure (segulat) of kings and the provinces’ (an allusion to Ecclesiastes 2:8). Sod: the cantillation marks are read as figures of the grades and their motion — the zarka the throw upward, the segulah the treasured grade that follows in its train.

the crown thrown to the hidden place

The zarka is ‘thrown’ because of ‘blessed be the glory of the LORD from His place’ (Ezekiel 3:12) — ‘His place’ that none can know. And the ‘crown (taga)’ rises ‘to the head of the Acquirer (koneh) of heaven and earth’ (Genesis 14:19), goes up like a zarka with the ‘treasure (segulah)’ after it, and stands ‘at the head of all the letters.’ Sod: the crown is Keter, the highest grade, cast upward toward the unknowable ‘place’ of the Godhead (the reach toward Ein Sof); the cantillation’s upward throw figures the ascent of the crown above all the letters and grades. (The source cites Ezekiel 3:42, an impossible locus; the verse is at 3:12.)

Editorial decisions

• §90 Ezekiel citation. The verbatim Hebrew cites Ezekiel 3:42, an impossible locus (Ezekiel 3 has 27 verses), for ‘blessed be the glory of the LORD from His place,’ which is Ezekiel 3:12 (a mem/yod scribal slip, 42 for 12). Rendered as the source gives it with the correct locus flagged, at publish. (claude-opus-4-8[session-pipe], 2026-07-03)

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