The Zohar: In Gehenom (hell) there are sections upon sections: the second, third and so on until the seventh (seven Sefirot–Klipot). Happy are the righteous (those who bestow) who guard themselves from the deeds of the sinners (those who act for their own sake), who steered clear of criminal ways (ways that are opposite to the Creator, to love and bestowal) and did not defile themselves with sin (reception).

But this is not so with those who have defiled themselves. When they die (when they part with the Light of Life) and go to the world of truth (when they realize the truth), they descend to the lowest section of Gehenom (in order to fully realize the nature of reception and bestowal).

Two sections of hell (egoistic qualities in man) adjoining one another are called Sheol and Avadon. Those who descend into Sheol are judged there (they judge themselves) and receive a punishment (which helps them become corrected). They are then elevated one section higher. And so they ascend degree by degree until they come out of there. However, those who descend to Avadon never ascend from there (because this quality cannot be corrected). That is why it is called Avadon, for he who finds himself there is lost (“Avud” in Hebrew) forever. This quality will only be corrected when all the souls reach the final correction. Every soul must undergo all the corrections, and no one is free from these two egoistic qualities.

This is all talking about inner discernments that a person must make within. Not a word of it speaks about this world, but only about one’s inner world. After all, a person is a small world.

I must delve into myself and there discover which inner quality each word alludes to. There are actually just two qualities within me: reception and bestowal; there is nothing else. So start digging inside yourself and look for these qualities that The Zohar names, as though you’re in the dark with nothing but a candle. Gradually, a new dimension will start opening up inside of you and you will begin to see all kinds of qualities of reception and bestowal. All the words of The Zohar will then find their places there. Just as a child gradually begins to perceive his environment, so this new inner world will gradually begin to form within you. And then you’ll begin to understand that your familiar world is also perceived within.

This is how The Zohar changes us when we search for what is written inside of us, instead of trying to judge it with our minds as if it were something external.

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A question I received: It seems like most people don’t think about their body and soul, or about who and what they are.

My Answer: That’s not true. Everybody thinks: “I will die, but my soul will continue to live.” Subconsciously we all know that we are eternal, and we are preoccupied with the thought: “What will happen to my soul?”

No one thinks of himself as just a physical body. Even the most primitive materialists, regardless of their convictions, unwillingly and subconsciously think they are eternal. This idea is built into our very foundation and interlaced in the matter of which we are made. This lies at the very core of our desires, which were created by the Light and over which a human being has no power.

Our desire to be fulfilled consists of five layers, one of which is our need to connect with the Creator. As a result of the shattering of vessels, each of us is connected to the spiritual realm. That is why at our very depth, even without our conscious awareness of the fact, we feel that we are eternal and that life will not end at the time of our natural death. If not for this idea, we would not have energy to live.

Some people think that we continue to live through our children, or by devoting our lives to service to our country or society at large. But that’s not true. If we had clear knowledge that when this life ends, that is the end of our existence, and in addition, the earth will stop rotating in a little while, or in other words, if we only realized that we are not eternal, we would not have the energy to live.

We are all created with the subconscious understanding that we are eternal. We originate from the Creator and thus possess a part of Him which is everlasting. On one hand, we are also similar to “mortal animals,” but we are able to advance above their level to the higher level called “human” (or “speaking”) because we have the sensation of being eternal. Without this sensation, we would never have evolved to a higher level than animals that walk on all fours.

In order to develop as “human beings” and reach the “speaking” level, we must perceive ourselves as immortal creatures. The Creator provides this sensation to us, and that’s what makes a human being different from an animal.

A person’s inner world starts with his subconscious connection with the Creator and his sensation of eternal life. Being “human” – Adam, means “similar to the Creator” (in Hebrew, Adam means “similar”). That is why all our decisions, aspirations, strategies, and even attempts at suicide originate from our inner belief in our eternal state.

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The reverse order of the Kelim and the Lights is a very important principle because it forces us to achieve perfection. We make so many actions in the whole system, but we feel that after all we have done, we’ve received nothing. The more I work, the emptier I feel!

I come into the treasury and fill my mug with gold, but when I come out, all my gold is gone! So I work more and more, but still I see that I am left with nothing. I come in and out of the treasury with my mug filled with gold a million times, but still I have nothing.

The fact that this happens enables me to work selflessly, and in addition, allows me to develop my desires more and more. In the end, I do reach perfection when I make my final entrance into the treasury. This happens when I’ve already emptied everything that was there and there is nothing left to take…

Until then, everything is arranged in order to enable us to work more and more for a smaller and smaller reward.

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When the Partzuf AB asks Galgalta for Light, it awakens an additional desire in Galgalta. With its help, Galgalta is able to draw a more powerful Light than it drew on its own. The lowest of all the Partzufim elicits the most powerful Light, Yechida, in Galgalta, and receives the smallest Light itself: Nefesh de-Nefesh.

The Light of Ruach is something completely new compared to the Light of Nefesh, like a flower compared to a rock: one is living while the other is dead. However, AB doesn’t know anything about this and doesn’t feel it. It will receive everything only upon its return upward.

When we rise from below upward, we gather the whole Light that we awakened in the Upper Partzufim. When we ascend into the World of Infinity, we have the whole Light of NaRaNHY.

Until the End of Correction (Gmar Tikkun), there is an operating law of a reverse correlation of Lights and Kelim. Therefore, each Light is not in its place, not in its own Kli. Only when the ten Sefirot of Direct Light and the ten Sefirot of Reverse Light unite completely from above to the bottom in one infinite Kli of HaVaYaH, with the Light of Ohr Hozer from below to the top, then the Lights will fall into their places and every person will receive the whole Light that he awakened and drew somewhere and sometime, in any other place of the Partzuf.

Each person will participate in all these actions and begin to feel them. Everyone will acquire their infinity. And this will happen to every person!

However, until then, the Lights are never inside their own Kelim, and therefore the pleasure we feel will always be incomplete. This will continuously awaken a desire, which pushes each person to aspire to Infinity.

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Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson
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Baal HaSulam, Letter #46, 1927
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“Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Item 37, Lesson 16

Article “Body and Soul” – Lesson 2
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The Book of Zohar – Selections, Chapter “Noah,” item 482
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The Zohar: The soul says to the Creator: “Let me in on the secrets of the Upper Wisdom. Tell me, what do You see and how do You govern the Upper World? Teach me the secret wisdom that I had never known or learned, so I won’t feel ashamed walking on the Upper Levels.”

The phrase, The soul says to the Creator indicates that a person has already attained a connection with the Upper Force and therefore he feels how the Creator acts and awakens him. Let me in on the secrets of the Upper Wisdom is a request to know how I can attain the Light that will correct me, so I would be able to reveal the entire Upper System.

We reveal everything inside our desire. Nothing was created besides this desire, and therefore it is the place where everything becomes revealed, including this world and the world to come, the Creator, creation, the worlds and all the spiritual levels. Everything takes place inside the desire and we can only ascend by correcting it.

What do You see and how do You govern the Upper World? At this point we might wonder: why is the soul so curious? It’s because knowing the Creator is the same as bestowing to Him, as it is written, “Know your Creator and work for Him.” Our objective is to come to know the entire universe on the level of the Creator, and to become equal to Him in every way.

That is why the soul asks, Teach me the secret wisdom that I had never known or learned! We ascend to higher levels with the help of the Light that Reforms, and on every new level a person has to reveal a new inner desire for the secret wisdom – the wisdom of how to use all of your qualities in order to bestow to the neighbor.

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The Zohar: Every person who goes to that world without having attained the secrets of the Torah, even on account of many good deeds, is banished from the gates of the Upper World.

“This world” is what we feel right now, and “the world to come” (Olam HaBa) is our next state. Everything becomes revealed according to one’s desire. One’s desire can either be changed naturally, by means of Reshimot that make it more egoistic; or it can be corrected by one’s work with the group and the Surrounding Light.

If I don’t correct myself, then all the gates to the spiritual sensation will remain closed to me. I can’t feel the spiritual world without preparing my desires and Kelim for it, without correcting egoism to bestowal. That is how I can open the gates!

Every person who goes to that world without having attained the secrets of the Torah (which is possible only by studying Kabbalah in order to receive Light into one’s corrected desires), even on account of many good deeds (the way people think in this world), is banished from the gates of the Upper World (meaning, that person has no opportunity to feel and enter the eternal world).

On the spiritual path, this happens on every step of the way when we go from one state to another. You can only advance by revealing secrets – that which is concealed from you right now. Everything happens inside your desire. Your current desire and sensation are called “this world,” and a more corrected desire and sensation are called “the world to come.”

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The Zohar: The wisdom that a person (every person without exception) needs is to know and see the Creator’s secrets, to attain who he is, how he was born, where he came from, where he is going, how he can correct himself, and what awaits him when he appears at the court of the world’s Ruler.

We have to attain knowledge, as it is written, “And Adam knew Hava.” Knowledge is attained when you unite with the Creator, thus uniting the only two things in existence. Thus, attainment or knowledge is formed when the Light of Hochma clothes into the Light of Hassadim – into one’s corrected desires (Kelim). This is the true unity.

When a spiritual Partzuf receives Light inside, this Light is called the Light of Knowledge. This is both wisdom and mercy, the Light of Hochma and the Light of Bina, the Light of reception and the Light of bestowal united together.

If I want to include my soul in Malchut – the sum of all the souls, the only created creation, known as the soul of Adam, then my desire to be together with everyone makes me part of Malchut. Malchut then raises this desire to the level of Daat (knowledge), and then Aba and Ima (Father and Mother, Hochma and Bina) give me this knowledge. This is how the Upper Mechanism operates.

(From a lesson on The Book of Zohar, the chapter, “The Wisdom That A Person Needs”)

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When we study The Book of Zohar, we have to remember that it was written by a group of Kabbalists and therefore, it can only be understood within a group as well. In order to understand this book, we have to first unite, find the connections among us and try to reveal those connections with the help of this book. We will be able to reveal this book only inside the connection between us.

Everything that The Book of Zohar talks about is between the souls, between us. If we desire to bestow to one another, these desires will become our souls, and inside them, inside the connection among the souls, we will reveal the Creator, the Light that connects us together.

The Book of Zohar talks about how we can reveal the Upper Light: It is revealed inside the intention of bestowal and love. That is why preparing for the study and engagement in The Book of Zohar is the same as preparing to acquire the quality of bestowal and love, the thought of unity, mutual guarantee, and “love for your neighbor as yourself.” We are preparing to attain this state in order to reveal the Light of bestowal and love. This is what The Zohar will help us to accomplish.

This is exactly the reason why Kabbalah is being revealed in our time: in order to help humanity attain this quality. But it will only happen to the degree we realize that it is necessary.

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