88. “Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Abba rejoiced etc.” Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Abba rejoiced and wept, saying, “Go, ride the donkey**, and we will drive it behind you.”** That is, he should ride and they would lead the donkey. He said to them: “Didn’t I tell you that it is the King’s order, until that donkey driver arrives?” This is an allusion to the Messiah, regarding whom it is stated: “Lowly, and riding upon a donkey” (Zechariah 9:9). They replied: “But you have not told us your name; where is your dwelling place?” He responded: “My dwelling place is good and of great value [aiyla] to me. It is one tower floating in the air, great and distinguished. Those who dwell in that tower are the Holy One, blessed be He, and one poor man. This is my dwelling place, but I was exiled from there, and I drive donkeys.” Rabbi Abba and Rabbi Elazar looked at him, and his words were delightful to them, as they were as sweet as manna and as honey. They said to him: “If you tell us your father’s name, we will kiss the dust of your feet.” He replied: “But why? It is not my way to pride myself in the Torah in that manner.” The term aiyla has a similar meaning to its use in the phrase “when they divided it according to the value [be’iluya],” (Kiddushin 42b).

Explanation: Now that they recognized his great merit, they could not bear his gestation on their behalf, and they therefore told him that now they had already attained the brains, it was enough for him and he could leave the [state of] gestation. If they still had something to complete, [they surmised, ] they could enter a state of gestation themselves, so why should he suffer on their behalf? This is the meaning of their statement: “Go, ride, and we will drive it behind you.”

“Didn’t I tell you... until that donkey driver arrives?” This refers back to his earlier comment to them, that they should not ask for his name because they needed further revelations of secrets of the Torah. Here he further alluded to them that his intent [in that comment] was to the aspect of yeḥida that they lacked, which is the mystical meaning of the welcoming of King Messiah (as stated in section 85, above, second to last paragraph). This is the allusion of “until that donkey driver arrives,” for the King Messiah is the mystical meaning of “lowly, and riding upon a donkey” (Zechariah 9:9). This is the meaning of “that it is the King’s order, until that donkey driver arrives,” because the King’s commandment is imposed upon him, to assist them until they merit the light of yeḥida.

They replied: “But you have not told us your name etc.” Since you have not informed us of your name, meaning that we have not yet attained from you what we need to attain, as stated, you can therefore at least inform us of “your dwelling place,” that is, your level, as we will thereby know what we lack which we have to attain from you. “He responded, my dwelling place is good and of great value to me.” That is, the place of my level is good and sublime compared to the level at which I am currently standing, since it is now beyond even my own attainment.

[The Zohar] continues: “One tower etc.” This tower is the mystical meaning of the palace of the Messiah, and this is the meaning of the statement that “those who dwell in it are the Holy One, blessed be He, and one poor man.” The Messiah is the mystical meaning of “lowly, and riding upon a donkey.” [The donkey driver] calls it “great and distinguished” because a tower floating in the air, without further description, is Bina. Here, however, since it is referring to of the palace of the Messiah [and not Bina], therefore he depicts it as “one tower floating in the air, great and distinguished.” [The driver] continues: “This is my dwelling place, but I was exiled from there, and I drive donkeys.” My place of residence is in the tower, but it is currently beyond me, as he stated earlier, that it is “good and of great value to me” because “I was exiled from there, and I drive donkeys.”