In the “Preface to the Book of Zohar,” Baal HaSulam writes that although it seems to me that everything takes place externally, before my eyes, any reasonable person knows that all these pictures exist only within the brain. When I realize this, I am ready to begin to approach the matters spoken of by the science of Kabbalah.

The lack of this realization is the reason why The Book of Zohar is concealed from us and why we don’t know how to open and read it. It’s because the key to understanding it lies in having the correct perception of reality. The Book of Zohar must be approached only by imagining the depictions within myself. The terminology, sounds, worlds, spiritual objects, souls, and relationships are all notions within me. This is particularly true when addressing the parameters of reality’s perception: world, year, and soul – all of which are above time, space, and motion.

If I perceive the text as an unfolding pattern of relationships between forces and qualities within me, I will gradually reveal increasingly deeper inner states. Then it will become clear that this external reality isn’t truly real, even if it seems real to me. I only see it as existing outside and independent of me.

It is my present folly in thinking that I do not create this reality, mistakenly thinking that it unfolds before me by itself, having existed before my birth and sure to exist after my death. I have to try to change all these beliefs in order to start to understand what The Zohar wants to explain to me.

The key and the entrance to The Book of Zohar lies precisely in transporting everything inside myself, as per the principle, “A person is the whole world.” I can tell whether or not my study is correct by checking: How much do I expect to feel and reveal my entire future within myself?

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In the News: (from The TimesOnline): “Evidence for kings David and Solomon” Until 15 years ago, Professor Eric Cline notes in a new book, there was no extra-biblical documentary mention of even the House of David as ruling in Judea. “… we are still lacking any contemporary or near-contemporary inscriptions that mention Solomon: at the moment we do not have a single one,” Professor Cline says. “Moreover, there is still very little archaeological evidence for the existence of David.”

My Comment: This news clip is a brilliant example of how the media likes to present everything as a sensation: “There is still very little archaeological evidence for the existence of David,” signed by the scientific authorities.

For some reason, the word “science” is often used by those dabbling in speculations, theories, and assumptions that are not based on facts. In a similar fashion, philosophers wanted to present Moshe de Leon, who lived in the 11th century CE, as the author of The Zohar – and thus, he became its author.

However, for millennia, the Kabbalists knew that The Zohar was written by Rashbi, as it’s mentioned many times in The Zohar itself. Too bad none of those philosophers actually read it…

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My new Kabbalah book in Spanish, called Cabala Para No Iniciados, has recently been published by “Random House,” the world’s largest publisher.  It has been posted on the Spanish Random House website in the “new books” section. The book is on sale in bookstores all over Mexico and in the USA.

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The book Kabbalah Revealed has just been translated from English to Croatian and is available in Croatia starting this week.

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In the News (from CNN): “Hard times for porn industry” The porn industry in the United States was worth around $6 billion before the recession but now estimates filming on new productions is down by as much as 50 percent.

My Comment: This is happening because people’s sexual desires are of less importance than the desires for food. Apparently the crisis is reducing the value of these desires and the importance of fulfilling them in the face of greater threats.

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A question I received: What should we think about while reading The Book of Zohar in order to be more sensitive to it?

My Answer: I actually don’t have the answers to any of your questions, because all the answers are provided by the Light that Reforms. My job is only to try and direct you toward this Light.

Some people ask me about sensation, wondering, “Where can I get more of it?” Others ask about the mind, “When should or shouldn’t I use it?” Other people ask me questions like, “When will I start to see and feel everything we study? Why do I feel one way now and later I feel differently?” The answer is that I don’t have the answers to these questions – and I shouldn’t have them, either. An answer is a manifestation of the Light inside a person; it is one’s corrected state which stands opposite the question – one’s previous, uncorrected state.

A person should have just one concern, “Am I directed toward the ray of Light called the Light that Reforms, so it will shine on me?” One shouldn’t think about fulfilling one’s sensation and mind with answers to any other questions besides the one question about the Light that Reforms. Incidentally, this is why Baal HaSulam was laughing at the “Kabbalists of Jerusalem” who knew The Book of Zohar by heart, but rejected its inner essence.

The only thing one should store in one’s memory is the basic concepts of the science of Kabbalah, because they direct a person toward bestowal, giving him the correct, spiritual interpretation of the words. They elucidate the goal and direct a person toward it. If a person is studying correctly, then he will receive answers to all his questions, both in the sensation and the mind. He will advance and understand what is happening, and eventually he will be satisfied by this. He will see how he is advancing day by day.

We are now studying The Book of Zohar intensely. If a person tries to prepare for the lesson and to seriously participate in it, then in a very short while he is bound to feel qualitative changes happening inside him. He will become more sensitive to his connection with others and will feel a change in his attitude to the environment, the studies, the quality of bestowal, and the Creator. But he has to become more sensitive in order to discern what is useful and what isn’t.

All of this takes place as a result of the study. Besides this, there is nothing for us to work on. This is why I always talk just about the intention –  exactly what we want from the study and what it should give us.

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A question I received: How can I tune into the Light that Reforms while studying The Zohar?

My Answer: The Light that Reforms is the force of bestowal that comes from Above and builds qualities of bestowal above our will to receive. But how can we attract this force if we are just egoistically thinking about wanting to bestow? This will not help. Instead, we have to tune into the system that influences us.

Our soul has to receive the influence of the Surrounding Light. This is why we were given The Book of Zohar, which tells us all kinds of stories about a donkey and a snake, different nations, three lines, Zeir Anpin, Malchut, the Temple, and many other things. I don’t know what desire I am working on now and whether I have the right intention, but while I am reading The Zohar with the right mindset, it operates as a connecting system between my soul and the Upper System.

There exists an Upper System wherein my soul is already included in a fully corrected state; meanwhile, my uncorrected soul is below. These two systems have an identical structures. The only difference between them is the use of the desire, meaning the intention, which determines how the desire is used. As I correct my desire, my soul will expand, starting from a point, and new, concealed desires will surface. But I need a mechanism to connect me and these two states:

The Book of Zohar functions as this connecting link. When I read it correctly, I reveal this connection. All I have to do is try to imagine myself in the corrected form. I have to tune into the text and start living inside it. I have to desire for it to “clothe” me so I will become the protagonist of everything being described there. It is talking only about me and my inner battle with my corrupted self, where I am fighting for a chance to be similar to the Creator. All the qualities and characters are me; it is all inside of me.

If this is how I prepare for reading The Zohar, then I will proactively attract the Surrounding Light to myself.

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The Book of Zohar, Chapter “VaYeshev (And Jacob Sat) ,” Item 125: Anyone who delved in the Torah in this world is rewarded with engaging in it in the next world.

This is talking about two degrees or two states in the desire. In our world we exist only in one quality: the desire to receive or be fulfilled for our own sake. In the spiritual world we also exist in the desire to receive, but we don’t use it. Our intention there is “bestowal for the sake of bestowal,” Hafetz Hesed, also known as the desire to receive for the sake of others.

The desire always remains since it was created by the Creator. It is the invariable building block of creation. However, it can have two different intentions. The intention to use it for ourselves is the natural intention we are born with and through which we perceive this world. The spiritual, corrected intention in which we perceive the Upper World is the intention to use it for the sake of others

Our spiritual development occurs when our corrupted desire evolves, but we correct our intention from “for my own sake” to “for the sake of others.” Thus, we continually discover new states inside the new intention. Our desires need to change so that we can have the opportunity to change the intentions over them. We don’t have access to the desires themselves, as they are foundational matter and not in our hands.

Even if we are successful on the present degree, when we enter the state of an embryo of the next degree, we don’t know what happens there and we are unable to orient ourselves.

In our world a person’s desires also grow, but they always have the same intention – for the sake of oneself. Therefore, the states one experiences in different desires is similar because the intention is always the same: for the sake of himself. However, in the spiritual world since the intention over our desire to receive is “for the sake of others,” the feeling of fulfillment entails a contradiction: We fill ourselves, but we do it for the sake of others and we feel the world through others. Therefore, each spiritual degree is completely new with unexpected desires and sensations.

Our efforts in a given degree provide us with a good beginning for the next degree, in spite of the fact that the new degree always begins from the absence of realization, meaning a very limited understanding of our present actions. However, the efforts in our present degree are necessary in order to prepare for the next degree. After all, everything we actually attain in the next degree comes from our attainment in the present degree. This is from the perspective of preparing our matter, the will to receive.

Let’s say we finish sixth grade and begin seventh grade. In seventh grade we learn about new subjects which we never studied before or heard about. However, since we prepared ourselves well in the previous grade (degree), we already have experience and various forms of perception that dressed over our matter.

We know exactly how our matter perceives new forms. We know that we can work with the group and receive help from it. We can influence our friends and they will influence us, and this mutual influence will enable us to take on new forms. We know how to work with the books, with the study materials, and with the teacher.

In other words, the work in this world – the degree in which we are situated and which we perceive now, prepares us for the “world to come” – the next degree or perception. Of course, it doesn’t give us any understanding of what will happen in the world to come, but after all our efforts, we become worthy of its revelation and have a foundation upon which to continue our path.

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Why do I feel some Kelim as inner (myself, Galgalta Eynaim) and others as outer (the entire universe other than myself, AHP)? It is because I do not have a screen on the outer Kelim of AHP, and therefore I cannot correct these levels of desire.

I can build a screen with the intention to bestow over the “root, soul, and body,” meaning Galgalta Eynaim. Then I will feel these Kelim as my own, as they are the true Kelim of bestowal. But with the Kelim of reception, I can only attain incomplete love and bestowal.

It follows that the result of the second restriction is Malchut’s ascent to Bina. Until Bina I am filled with the Creator’s Kelim, and therefore everything joins together there: the root, the soul, and the body. I feel that I exist there because I can be clothed by Bina. Otherwise I wouldn’t even feel that I exist.

However, wherever Bina cannot clothe the “garments and palaces” (AHP), my ego reigns there instead. This explains my egoistic attitude toward the world and the hatred that exists between people.

By understanding how this system works, one acquires an instrument, a lever that enables him to change.

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As we open The Book of Zohar again and again, our initial inspiration eventually subsides. This inspiration was given to us from Above, like the point in the heart that brought us to the science of Kabbalah. It is called an “awakening from Above” (Itaruta de-Leila), which means it is given to us by the Upper Force.

The desire for the Upper Level acts as fuel, naturally giving us aspirations to push us ahead as if we’re on fire. More and more we want to feel what is hidden within the book and what exactly it speaks of. We are awakened from Above to seek contact with the book.

But then this inspiration passes as we are overtaken by new desires that lack the Creator’s awakening from Above. That is when we must add our own awakening from below in order to continue to advance. We must independently search for answers to questions like: “Why do I need this work and what is it for?”

The Creator desires for us to continually reveal the importance of the Upper Level, to develop a persistent demand to connect with Him, and to realize the importance of all the means of attaining the connection, with The Book of Zohar being the main means. He wants us to keep searching for these inner discernments, over and over again.

Next, we come to a state where we must realize that we’re engaged in “Bezalel’s work” – the construction of a spiritual vessel inside ourselves, a Temple with all its contents. This great work takes time and requires a great deal of preparation.

In truth, we never actually do anything; all that’s required of us is the willingness, desire, and intention. However, beyond that, everything is realized by the Upper Force, Bina, although its influence is prompted by an awakening from below. Therein lies our work.

Therefore, on one hand, our work lies in exerting efforts and making discernments at every step. But on the other hand, it is called “the Creator’s work,” because it is done by the Creator, not by us.

Indeed, we only have to achieve the desire, the appeal, or the prayer; everything else is done by the Creator. This is the meaning of the verse, “Give half a Shekel and the Creator shall complete the rest.”
[8145]
From Daily Kabbalah lesson on Zohar for All “”VaYeshev,” 148,  1/7/10

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