A question I received: When reading The Zohar, we are supposed to follow the text as though we are travelling within ourselves. However, don’t we also have to exert effort in order to demand our correction?

My Answer: The Zohar itself directs you to correction and the necessary thoughts. It will tell you what is good and what is bad depending on your specific state and what you in particular need to clarify.

The book itself will provide you with this approach. On our part, we must simply be able to adhere to it and its flow, to “swim” along with it obediently and to go wherever it wishes to bring us. We have to let our mind and heart swim smoothly along with the stream.

Everything is pre-assigned, including my desire, the Reshimot in it, and the Light which realizes the Reshimot. However, everything depends on my effort and my consent to give the Light access to the Reshimot.

I only allow the Light to act, but beyond that everything happens without my knowledge. I just witness everything that happens inside me. My effort is called “Avodat HaShem” – the work of the Creator; I am only an accomplice to it. The Creator said to Moses: “Let’s go to Pharaoh. I will do everything and you will watch how I act toward him.” This means that my point in the heart, the first spiritual Reshimo, brought me to the entrance into a new world, which I know nothing about. And now, through this point in the heart, I am hearing an explanation about this new world. To the extent that I learn about it and connect to it, I will be able to live in it.

Baal HaSulam writes that just like it is impossible for material bodies to live in this world without knowing its laws, rules, and conditions, so it is impossible for the soul to live in the spiritual world without receiving the necessary knowledge about it. Thus, right now we are trying to receive this necessary knowledge. When we receive it, we will feel that we already exist in the spiritual world, because in spirituality, knowledge and sensation is the same thing.

Right now I feel only my animate body – an illusory reality; but I also have a point in the heart which can potentially feel the Upper World. This point that I was given is a tremendous opportunity; however, it is the only thing I was given. I need to develop the rest on my own, which is why I am given The Book of Zohar, which provides an explanation for me.

I learn about the Upper World similar to how a baby learns about this world without knowing anything about it in advance. A baby cannot attain the world with his mind, by performing an analysis and a synthesis. I am the same in regard to attaining the spiritual world. I learn about it only by adhering to the book and attracting the Surrounding Light. This type of study is the most natural. We discover a new world in the same manner as we discovered this world when we were babies.

The Upper Level can never be attained with the mind, since we don’t feel, see, or understand it. However, we have to begin to feel it.

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Zohar - No Comments →

“Preface to the Book of Zohar,” Item 9: As it is written in The Zohar concerning the Second Restriction, The Zohar does not speak of the World of Atzilut in and of itself, since it is regarded as the white background in the book. Rather, it studies only its illumination in the three worlds of BYA, which are like to the ink, the letters, and their permutations in the book, on the background of the World of Atzilut.

Everything happens within the desire to enjoy. All the letters are vessels of perception (Kelim); they are various forms of the desire to enjoy, which it takes under the Light’s influence.

As the Light influences the desire, it leads it through all the stages of development – Shoresh (0), Alef (1), Bet (2), Gimel (3), and Dalet (4). The result is Malchut, which is called the “Kli” – the vessel of perception.

A different way to express this is that there is Keter – Rosh (head), and from there “Taamim” (tastes), “Nekudot” (the dots beneath the letters, signifying the vowels), “Tagin” (the crowns above the letters), and “Otiyot” (letters) expanding downward. The letters are the last Reshimot (recollections) of the “Nekudot” (the disappearance of the Light).

In any case, we are only talking about the desire; this is the only thing The Book of Zohar talks about. We have to attune ourselves to precisely this kind of perception – that we are only talking about the desire and everything that happens in it.

The Zohar does not discuss how the Light plans its actions, how it descends to us, controls us, and works “backstage.” This is not our concern, because we cannot comprehend the abstract form and the essence. We are in a space called “the desire to enjoy”; this is where we live. It is ours, and we are its.

This should help us understand the right approach to studying the whole science of Kabbalah, including The Books of Zohar. Kabbalah never talks about anything except the soul.

The only thing discussed in Kabbalah is how Kabbalists reveal the desire to enjoy, which was created by the Creator, and which is called a soul, as well as what happens in this desire. Our entire study is done expressly for this purpose: to reveal the Creator within the created being, within the soul.

However, a person who studies the Torah or Kabbalah for any other purpose besides revealing the quality of bestowal within the desire to enjoy, is not really studying the Torah; moreover, he turns it into the “potion of death” and draws further away from the truth.

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Zohar - No Comments →

The Zohar. Chapter: “Let me go, for the day is breaking.”

When the Creator revives the sons of Israel and delivers them from the exile, a very narrow, small door to the Light opens for them. And then another door opens for them, slightly bigger than the first. This continues until the Creator throws open the upper gates, which face all four corners of the earth.

Therefore, deliverance does not come to them all at once, but like a morning dawn that blossoms gradually, until the day sets in.

We are guaranteed this deliverance – the acquisition of the quality of love and bestowal that exists in the Creator, leading to adhesion with Him.

And this is what the Creator does to the sons of Israel… Israel refers to anyone who wants to draw nearer to the Creator, because “Isra-el” stands for “aspiring to the Creator,” regardless of one’s corporeal ancestry. After all, The Zohar speaks to all the “Babylonians” – all of us …and the righteous among them. This refers to those who desire to reveal the Upper Level in order to justify the Creator rather than accuse Him.

He delivers them gradually, not all at once. It is like a man who has lived in darkness all his life; if you want to give him Light, you must first reveal a tiny ray, like a needle’s eye, and then a bit more, and so on, gradually increasing it until he is illuminated with all of the Light.

This is talking about the Light of love and bestowal toward others, which can only be revealed when we collectively agree to desire, demand, and request it. This is why it is revealed to us gradually, to the degree we come to understand our nature and how opposite it is to the giving nature of the Creator.

That is how we reveal our soul – from the tiniest ray of Light until the revelation of the complete spiritual Partzuf, the whole HaVaYaH and the three lines, called the “12 tribes of Israel” – the 12 qualities of the soul.

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Zohar - 1 Comment →

The Book of Zohar – Selections, Chapter “VaYishlach (And Jacob Sent),” Item 99
By trying to unify everyone within myself and to see the world within myself, I start to understand which desires can be used for the purpose of correction.
Download: WMV Video | MP3 Audio

“Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Item 86, Lesson 36
All the books of Kabbalah and all of our actions are designed to reveal the spiritual foundation of the world – the four stages of HaVaYaH.
Download: WMV Video | MP3 Audio

“Preface to the Book of Zohar,” Item 13
I suffer whenever I am able to rise to the next degree, but don’t do so. This is similar to the way a child suffers from not grasping the lessons of the day.
Download: WMV Video | MP3 Audio

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Zohar - No Comments →

The Zohar: It is written of the sinner Bilam: “He walked in solitude… as a viper on the road,” as a snake that crawls alone, and a raven along meandering roads. So Bilam walked in solitude so as to strengthen his spirit of impurity.

So it is with every person who walks alone, even in a prominent place, even in a city, in known places, he draws upon himself the spirit of impurity.

Hence it is written: “Let not man walk in solitude on a road and in a city” – but only in connection with others, even where people walk and dwell.

And also: “Let not man walk alone in the night” – for during that time there are no people.

All of this is telling you: Unite with your friends. Kabbalists are saying that you cannot embark on the spiritual path alone. If you want to get on the road, but the road is dark and you can’t see anything because you have no Light (no quality of bestowal, you haven’t yet connected to the spiritual system, to other souls), then you must not leave your “house” alone. You are in the dark because you are alone.

You must not take even a single step; it will not benefit you because you’re not yet able to unite with others in spite of your egoism. You must not take even a single step, because this step will not be made in the right direction – toward bestowal, toward love, toward the Creator. First you must unite with others and then come outside. And once you unite with them, you will suddenly see that it isn’t night outside at all, but day.

But at night, you shouldn’t embark on a path, even when together, because it means that you haven’t yet achieved the required level of unity. As we see from The Zohar, when night falls, you must hide in a “cave” – the qualities of Bina (bestowal), like Noah in his shelter.

Now let us step back and ask: What is the meaning of all this? The Zohar’s aim is not to scare us with creepy stories. Rather, it is a holy book that tells us the correct approach to correcting our souls. We have to open this book with the desire to correct all of these forces within us, all the desires and qualities that we read about. They are all within us.

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Zohar - No Comments →

When reading The Book of Zohar we have to remember that “There is none else besides Him” and He Is Good and does Good. This is the only way we should approach our lives and everything that happens in the world. We have to understand that there is only one force behind everything.

There is no devil or evil spirits trying to trap us, drag us into hell and roast us on an eternal fire. When The Zohar describes various evil creatures, it is in order to show how a person feels when he reveals the egoistic forces within. He feels as if he is burning in hell and wishes to escape the control of these horrible, dark forces which control him. He sees that they prevent him from advancing towards the Creator, but he cannot fight them and is forced to follow them.

The Angel of Death comes to a person and hands him a sword whose tip is smeared with a drop of deadly poison, and the person obeys, opens his mouth and swallows the poison. The Zohar explains that the Angel of Death is our egoistic desire in its final, cruelest form. All of these qualities are inside us and they are killing us. There is nothing worse than this state, even though we don’t realize it.

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Zohar - No Comments →

In the wisdom of Kabbalah we study the soul – the sense that reveals the Creator. As a matter of fact, the Creator only created this specific sense, this specific space, and nothing besides it.

Right now we also perceive our lives with the same sense, but in a concealed form. This is the reason we refer to our current life as our body, this life, and this world. However, in reality, the Creator only created one desire. And the entire Book of Zohar describes how we can work with this desire in order to recognize the place where we have freedom of choice, where we can work and apply efforts in order to reveal this sense or this desire, and then perceive true life in it. This will not happen without our participation.

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Zohar - No Comments →

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson - No Comments →

While reading The Book of Zohar, we must instantly translate all the words and names into two notions (or qualities, forces, categories) that comprise everything; these two notions are the Light and the desire. Every person has to say to himself: all of these words are different desires and qualities inside me. I have to recognize them inside me and use them as an example, because through them, the Creator is showing me the structure of my soul, my world, my inner structure, and everything in existence, which He created. He thereby reveals my eternal state to me.

That is how we have to try to see what The Zohar is talking about. And we shouldn’t despair because everything is attained through efforts. As soon as each of us exerts the needed sum of efforts, he will reveal his Upper World.

No matter how confused we are during the lesson, how “numb” our state is, how incapable we feel in our mind and heart (in the understanding and sensation), none of these efforts depend on us. We have to thank the Creator for giving us the opportunity to be in front of this book.

Kabbalists call The Book of Zohar simply “The Book,” emphasizing that there are no other books besides it. That’s because a book refers to a structure, system or method that reveals the Creator to the creation.

It does not depend on the person how prepared he is for reading this book; it depends on his soul. Nevertheless, he is now placed in the best possible state for him and is sitting in front of this book and starting to listen to the lesson on The Zohar. That means he is capable of revealing it.

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Zohar - No Comments →

A person is a small world. The entire world – the universe and everything I see around me – is inside me. All of this only exists within my desire. Therefore, reaching the final correction (Gmar Tikkun) means fully opening my desire to every possible sensation. I have to increase my desire to the maximum, and to feel in it all that there is to feel. That will constitute the end of my correction.

Right now I see people, animals, vehicles and stars around me. In reality, they are all my own desires, divided into the still, vegetative, animate and human levels. I have to attach them all to me and feel them within me, in addition to several other worlds that have yet to be revealed to me. I will have to include all of that in my inner perception. Then my reality won’t be separated into internal and external forms; I will perceive it as a single whole.

There is only my desire, and nothing else exists. The desire is comprised of qualities called David, Abraham, Isaac, Moses, Josef, the right and left lines, the brook that flows out of the Garden of Eden, Ima, Bina, Paradise above and Hell below, and many others. All of these things exist inside my desire. It is impossible to imagine or think of anything outside the desire because the desire is the Creator’s sole creation.

I have to begin to acquaint myself with my desire. Indeed, I live inside of it at this very moment, but I am unaware of that fact. I always use the desire and it, in turn, controls me. My entire life is like a hamster wheel, but I am not even conscious of this.

That is why I am studying The Zohar – since it restores me to consciousness.

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Zohar - No Comments →