A question I received: What is so special about The Book of Zohar that it awakens such powerful reactions in us?

My Answer: It’s not a book; it’s a mechanism whose buttons we press even without being aware of it. In addition, we study The Book of Zohar together in a large group of people all over the world. We are very different from each other but we all want the same thing. Because of this, we press these buttons very powerfully; we simply don’t realize this.

A crying baby doesn’t understand what a turmoil he is causing in the home. Adults cannot ignore a baby’s cry; it causes a great commotion inside us. We can tell an older child to go to his room and not to bother us. However, with a one-month-old baby, we cannot act this way. We fuss around him and drive ourselves crazy with worry. This is the kind of worry that we bring to the Upper Force and this is how The Book of Zohar affects us.

Actually, it’s not the book itself, but the whole system of the universe that is activated when a person studies this book. The desire to reveal spirituality is like a baby’s cry that wakes up the father (Aba), the mother (Ima), the neighbors, and the whole world. It forces factories to work for him in order to produce food, diapers, and everything else a child needs. Does the baby know what he is doing? No, he doesn’t, but just look at how many things the whole world produces for babies.

In the spiritual world, it works the same way. Everything is put into gear by love. We don’t understand that we activate a whole system which influences us in response. However, this doesn’t happen according to our infantile, egoistic demand. Instead, it teaches us gently, with great kindness, and helps us advance toward bestowal.

A person exists between two forces. His own egoistic force is below and the force of the Surrounding Light is above. These two forces pressure him from both directions and he feels like he’s stuck between heaven and earth. By opening The Zohar, he enters a completely different system – that of the Upper Force, and moves ahead by the path of Torah, which is the path of Light.

Up until this point, a person developed according to his need through the process of evolution, just like the rest of nature. His desire to enjoy was always searching for a better place and an escape from blows. However, he wasn’t advancing toward the Creator; he was simply looking for a more comfortable corner. This was our manner of development up to today, whereas now we are attracting a completely different force from Above onto ourselves.

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Zohar | Add Comment →