Baal HaSulam's Preface to Zohar

The depths of wisdom in the holy Book of the Zohar are completely enclosed behind a thousand locks, and our human language is far too lowly to formulate for us sufficiently accurate expressions in order to interpret even a single idea in this book to its fullest extent. The commentary I have composed is merely a ladder to help the reader ascend to the heights of each matter, where he can see and examine the words of the book itself. Therefore, I have found it necessary to prepare the reader and provide him with a path, a passageway, by means of reliable definitions, to enable him to discover how one should contemplate and study the book.