The ten students of Rabbi Shimon who wrote The Book of  Zohar are the ten Sefirot of the corrected soul. This is why they are able to bring to us the Upper Illumination (Zohar), the Light that originates from the head of Zeir Anpin. This Light comes from the highest source, and as such, it is the highest possible Light that can reach us.

As I try to find the qualities that The Zohar describes inside me, I have to understand that all ten Sefirot exist inside me even on my small level. I just can’t discern them inside my desire, which is like a single drop. For now my desire still lacks aim, yet it is like a drop of semen that already contains everything that will happen to it later on – all the qualities and all of life. It is missing only my effort; this is what I have to add to that drop, which is like a drop of semen from which a person (me) will develop.

The effort is made by working with the environment (the group) and the book. The environment inspires me with a greater desire for the spiritual goal, but most importantly, it gives me the right desire. Sometimes a person is burning up with a great desire and thinks that he doesn’t need the group, but that is because he can’t see that his desire is incorrect and not aimed at the goal. It can only be a correct desire if he lets it pass through the group. His personal desire will never be aimed at the Creator because the Creator becomes revealed inside the connection between the souls (us). Therefore, we have to let all of our desires pass through the group. That is how we will receive the force of unity and bestowal from all the group members.

If you are simply burning up with a great desire for Kabbalah and the Creator, this doesn’t mean anything yet. You still don’t desire spirituality because spirituality is bestowal and love for one’s neighbor, and those are things you surely don’t desire very much. You have to let your enormous desire pass through the group, and then you will see how much it really is or isn’t aimed at spirituality. Maybe you will be left with five ounces out of the 100 tons of desire that is burning inside you. But those five ounces will be aimed at the goal and you will really be able to use them to turn to the Creator. As for the rest of the 100 tons, you are simply burning up with them but standing in the same place, not going anywhere.

This is why we have to bring our drop of “spiritual semen” into the right environment: It’s in order to receive the force of bestowal and the right direction from it. The group molds us like dough, which can then be placed into the oven in order to bake into bread.

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