1. The Sohar most fulsomely praises its own author, calls him the Sacred Light (‏בוצניא קדישא‎), and exalts him above Moses, “the true Shepherd.” [58] “I testify by the sacred heavens and the sacred earth,” declares R. Simon b. Jochai, “that I now see what no son of man has seen since Moses ascended the second time on Mount Sinai, for I see my face shining as brilliantly as the light of the sun when it descends as a healing for the world; as it is written, ‘to you who fear my name shall shine the Sun of Righteousness with a healing in his wings.’ (Malachi, [iii, 20] iv, 2.) Yea, more, I know that my face is shining, but Moses did not know it nor understand it; for it is written (Exod. xxxiv, 29), ‘Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone.’” (Sohar, iii, 132 b; 144 a.) The disciples deify R. Simon in the Sohar, declaring that the verse, “all thy males shall appear before the Lord God” (Exod. xxiii, 17), refers to R. Simon b. Jochai, who is the Lord, and before whom all men must appear. (Sohar, ii, 38 a.) [59] 2. The Sohar quotes and mystically explains the Hebrew vowel points (i, 16 b; 24 b; ii, 116 a; iii, 65 a), which were introduced for the first time by R. Mocha of Palestine, A.D. 570, to facilitate the reading of the Scriptures for his students. [60] 3. The Sohar (‏רעיא מהימנה‎ Faithful Shepherd, on section ‏קדושים‎ iii, 82 b), has literally borrowed two verses from the celebrated Hymn of Ibn Gebirol, who was born about A.D. 1021 and died in 1070. This Hymn which is entitled ‏כתר מלכות‎ the Royal Diadem, is a beautiful and pathetic composition, embodying the cosmic views of Aristotle, and forms part of the Jewish service for the evening preceding the Great Day of Atonement to the present day. The quotation in the Sohar from this Hymn is beyond the shadow of a doubt, as will be seen from the following comparison— Sohar. Ibn Gebirol. ‏ואשתארו [סיהרא ושמשא] כגופא בלא נשמתא‎ ‏אבל יש אדון עליהם‎ ‏דאית אדון עליהם מחשיך מאוריהם‎ ‏מחשיך מאוריהם‎ It must be borne in mind that, though the Sohar is written in Aramaic, yet this quotation is in Hebrew, and in the rhyme of Ibn Gebirol. [61] 4. The Sohar (i, 18 b; 23 a) quotes and explains the interchange, on the outside of the Mezuza, [62] of the words (‏יהוה אלהינו יהוה‎) Jehovah our God is Jehovah for (‏כוזו במוכסז כוזו‎) Kuzu Bemuchzaz Kuzu, by substituting for each letter its immediate predecessor in the alphabet, which was transplanted from France into Spain in the thirteenth century. [63] 5. The Sohar (iii, 232 b) uses the expression Esnoga, which is a Portuguese corruption of synagogue, and explains it in a Kabbalistic manner as a compound of two Hebrew words, i.e., Es = ‏אש‎ and Noga = ‏נוגה‎ brilliant light. [64]