On the verse in parsha Noach (Genesis 7:11): "In the six-hundredth year in the life of Noah... all wellsprings of the great deep burst open, and the windows of heaven were opened..."
The Zohar (part I, 117a) interprets along prophetical lines:
In the 600th year of the 6th millennium [1840 CE] the upper gates of wisdom will be opened and also the wellsprings of wisdom below. This will prepare the world for the 7th millennium like a person prepares himself on Friday for Shabbat, as the sun begins to wane. So it will be here. There is a hint about this in the verse "In the six hundredth year of Noah's life …all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened" (Gen. 7:11).
The wellsprings of wisdom below is interpreted as the industrial revolution, which according to wikipedia broke out in the 1780s was not felt until 1830s or 1840s. We are still feeling the effects today with all the scientific revolutions that followed.
Many Chasidim want to interpret the "upper gates of wisdom" as referring to the rise of Chasidut, which started a bit before that time (the Tanya which is considered by Chabad to be the "the Written Torah of Hasidus" was published between 1797-1814. Chasidut brought many revolutionary interpretations such as that of the Tzimtzum) Historian Rabbi Berel Wein describes the Chasidic movement as "the greatest revolution that ever occurred within the parameters of traditional Judaism".
Assuming the Zohar is authentic and that its prediction is correct, is there an alternative interpretation of a great revolution in torah ("upper gates") wisdom around that time that has been fulfilled?
I am looking for an alternative interpretation since most religious Jews think a) the Zohar is an ultimate essential primary text, and b) Tanya is not an ultimate essential primary text. Those two premises can't hold given the interpretation presented above.
Please provide a source.
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