So what exactly inside the Zohar makes it so strange and so controversial? To start, the book lays out the tree of life, the branches of which symbolically represent attributes of God, as per World History Encyclopedia. Slate points out that each of the 10 branches, known as Sefirot, have a corresponding Hebrew character linked to them for deciphering the Torah.
According to Kabbalah scholar Daniel Matt, the Zohar presents God as both male and female. And there is evidence of such within the Sefirot, as both sides of the tree of knowledge containing the Sefirot are divided into each gender, as per the Jewish Virtual Library. World History Encyclopedia also notes that the Sefirot can be interpreted as parts of the body, so with God as both male and female, you see the direction that's going.
Another important and eccentric part of the book is the level of sexual scripture, which shows an openness that orthodox religion lacked at the time. As Matt notes, the Zohar conveys how sacred human sexuality is, with sex bringing people closer to the divine.
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