Question: Rabash writes that the Creator “hears the prayer of every mouth.” But you say that the prayer has to be internal. So what prayer does He hear?

Answer: A prayer is a desire that actually reaches the Creator. There are only two forces in the world: the forces of reception (attraction) and bestowal (rejection). And there is a law of the equivalence of form: In the degree of their similarity, the forces (objects) grow closer, and in the degree of their difference, they grow apart.

Since the Creator is an absolute will to bestow, He “expects” from us equivalence with Him, where the will to receive would desire to become similar to Him and also become the force of bestowal. To ensure this, He placed His spark, “the point in the heart,” the initial point of the quality of bestowal, into the will to receive, our nature. And we must cultivate it.

The Creator responds only to a prayer for this. All other kinds of prayers don’t reach Him. The Creator hears the prayer of everybody who is asking for the force of bestowal. The Creator is the law of bestowal, so he reacts to no pleas but those asking for the ability to bestow. And if we don’t ask for it, He sends us even greater suffering so that we may realize for what we should be asking.
[21407]
From the Lesson on Rabash’s Article, 9/17/10

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Question: When we read The Zohar, I am constantly picturing things in this world. What should I do?

Answer: That doesn’t matter. If you wish to see the Creator behind this corporeal picture, then it is a good thing. Gradually the corporeal pictures, such as "home," "Abraham," "plants," and "animals" will turn into a picture of traits and qualities. All the words will begin to give you a sensory impression because everything is, in fact, depicted within our feelings.

If you are only seeing corporeal images and pictures right now, it is because for the time being, you are living in the picture of this world that you are used to. However, the Light will gradually cause you to feel traits, qualities, and forces. Instead of words denoting people, inanimate objects, plants, and animals, you will begin to feel the qualities of each of them within you and the correlations between them. Then, you will begin to piece together the picture of these states from your inner, sensory impressions. This picture will be arranged in you from the qualities of all the details of the narrative.
[21563]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/20/10, The Zohar

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After all is said and done, the result we get from studying the science of Kabbalah comes from the Light that Reforms. It influences me, elucidating the whole picture of reality to me, and as a result I perceive the spiritual world as a picture that is presented in my desires.

My desires are a means of feeling, and in order to attune a person to the Light that Reforms, we study The Book of Zohar. During the study I search for a way to see the Giver through the picture that arises in me. I need to aspire to feel Him, the One who acts from within and forms the picture that I see. This picture stands between me and the Creator like a table filled with refreshments, but who is on the other side of me? Who is He, the One who forms this picture for me?

Therefore, everything that exists, this entire world and everything that I imagine while reading The Book of Zohar, becomes a means for me to reveal the Source. In that case I am really “studying the Torah.”

I demand the Light that Reforms, but why? It is in order to reveal the Source, the Creator, as it is written, “The purpose of the science of Kabbalah is to reveal the Creator to the creatures in this world.”

When we read Talmud Eser Sefirot, we also strive to reveal the Creator just like when we study The Zohar. We read about the same thing, but in a technical language rather than a literary one. In addition, we don’t read it through the heart, but through the mind. However, we do this with the same intention, which is to reveal the Creator.
[21566]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/20/10, The Zohar

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Dear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. The commentaries in brackets are mine.

The Wisdom of Kabbalah Does Not Speak of Our Corporeal World

The truth is that The Zohar does not speak of corporeal issues [that occur in man’s egoistic desires] at all, but rather of the Upper Worlds [felt in the altruistic desire], where there is no time line [actions] as in corporeality [egoistic world], and spiritual times are explained in transformations of forms and degrees; they are above place [egoistic desire] and time [the order of actions since cause and effect in the spiritual property of bestowal are opposite to their order in corporeality].
The Book of Zohar with the Sulam [Ladder] Commentary, Parashat VaYetze, Item 139

The wisdom of Kabbalah speaks only from the root of Assiya in spirituality and upward [that is, above our world. Hence, those who try to apply Kabbalah to our world are either ignoramuses or charlatans].
– Rabbi Nachman of Breslev, Collections of the Moharan, 225
[20994]

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Question: You said that when we read The Zohar we should try to recognize the force that is behind the story. Is it correct to imagine that some force is talking to me in a language that I do not understand and I am trying to understand this language like a child that hears others talking to him and learns the language this way?

Answer: No, that is incorrect. Through my corporeal mind and feelings I will never be able to recognize the picture behind which the Creator is situated. My only task during the studies is to awaken a special influence called “the Light that Reforms,” which will then build a new quality in me enabling me to feel the picture of a different world.

Right now I lack the quality that I need in order to see the Creator through the text of The Zohar. This quality has to form in me gradually, as a result of my effort. The Light influences me and builds an additional inner sense – the quality of bestowal. Then I begin to feel the Creator through this sense. No other efforts or goals will help when studying “holy” books (meaning books about the Upper World and the Creator). Therefore, all my efforts should be directed only at awakening the Surrounding Light.

The Creator can only be revealed if I am similar to Him by having the same qualities. He is completely Giving, while I lack the quality of bestowal, which is that sense through which I will reveal Him. I can acquire this sense only through the influence of the hidden Light that Reforms, because the Light creates the quality of bestowal in me. Then I will recognize the Creator.

Therefore, as we read The Book of Zohar, each of us should strive to awaken this Light to influence him.
[21561]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/20/10, The Zohar

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Question: Why do I need a group and unification?

Answer: The Creator cannot be felt other than inside the desire He created which becomes similar to Him in spite of its initial quality. What we call the Creator is not Him (Atzmuto – His essence), but our perception of Him through our similarity to Him.

Question cont.: How do I know that my perception of Him and He are the same thing?

Answer: We can feel only 1) matter and 2) the form of matter, but not 3) form outside of matter and 4) essence. Therefore, we can only talk about what is clothed in us and felt by us according to the principle, “I will know You from Your actions [upon me].”
[21581]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/20/10, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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As we read The Zohar, what is important to me? Is it to know the text in all its details or to get to know the Creator? After all, The Zohar talks about Him and His actions. Do I wish to know what’s written about the actions themselves or about where and from Whom these actions come?

There is a breaking point concealed here which leads either to success or failure, Light or darkness, revelation of the Creator or remembrance of the text, studying the Torah or attaining the One who gives the Torah. The goal is to reveal and get to know the Creator who is behind the text. He is precisely what is important to me, and that is why I think about how to reveal the force through the actions that are described here.

It is like I sit at the table with the Host, who has prepared the most exquisite dishes for me. However, I don’t even look at the dishes or pay attention to anything around me. It’s not that I neglect everything; I use it just in order to reveal Him and to obtain a connection with Him.

Why did I come to this table in the first place? I came for the sake of the Host, in order to meet Him, not for the food. Once I perform various actions in order to get to know Him, I am then allowed to take anything I want from the table, to taste it and enjoy it. I can do anything as long as He is important to me and everything else is just a means.

As we read The Zohar, we study the Creator’s actions, and the only purpose of doing so is to reveal Him. We should concentrate on what is behind the text and try to permeate through it. On the one hand, the book seems to confuse me. On the other hand, through my effort to penetrate through the text, I suddenly begin to see the Creator behind it. There is no other opportunity to reveal Him. There is no other connection to the Host.

I don’t understand Him because He is concealed behind the table. I can understand Him only by studying the dishes given to me. For example, I like sweets and He has prepared them for me. He created me to like sweets and He gave them to me. What does He desire by this? In addition, I don’t really like sour things, yet He gives me sour. Why? I need to reveal Him through myself.
[21569]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/20/10, The Zohar

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Rabash, Shlavei HaSulam, “Who Testifies for Man”
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The Book of Zohar – Selections, Chapter “VaYechi (And Jacob Lived in the Land of Egypt),” Item 366
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Rav Yehuda Ashlag, Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol. 6, Part 15, Item 100
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Shamati #96 “What is, Waste of Barn and Winery, in the Work”
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The spiritual world will become revealed only if you demand this revelation through the group during the study. You want to feel the Giver, the Basis, the single Root of everything. However, you should only desire this through the group, through bestowal, according to the law of equivalence of form when you are ready for it.

Even if you still don’t understand what you’re asking for, the Light gradually does its work. When you demand it, the Light acts more and more strongly until the spiritual sensation ignites inside you and becomes clearer.

Then you will see that the spiritual reality exists. The reason for the concealment is the lack of concentration and importance.
[21594]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/20/10, “The Greatness of a Person Depends on His Faith in the Future”

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