Piecing Together The Language Of The Zohar

The Zohar, Chapter “Tazria (When A Woman Delivers),” Item 162: “A single witness shall not rise up against a man on account of any iniquity or any sin…on the evidence of two witnesses.”

We have to take into consideration that the language of The Zohar is not always smooth. This book came to us after being collected from detached pages. Sometimes it lacks certain chapters and there are many unfinished sentences. Often Baal HaSulam replenishes it with comments saying that some content is omitted or that there is no connection between its parts.

Nevertheless, by no means can we change anything in it, even though it is obvious that the text was compiled of the pieces that were available. What we consider to be The Book of Zohar is actually a very small part of what was originally written.

On the other hand, we should understand that this fact doesn’t reduce the book’s strength or ability to deliver the Light to us. The fact that we have this book in its current form means that it is exactly what we need for the correction of our souls. The language of the book is not always clear and we come across vague portions of phrases in many places. This is proof of the authenticity of its text.

Darkness Is Light In Disguise

каббалист Михаэль ЛайтманThe Zohar, Chapter “Bo (Come Unto Pharoah),” Item 63: Accordingly, Bina, Tifferet and Malchut of the still Nile, too, fell into Keter and Hochma of the Niles during the Katnut. During Gadlut, the still Nile, too, elevates its Bina, Tifferet and Malchut to it, and with them rise the Keter and Hochma of the Niles, which receive GAR from him.

There is a great, still river, the Nile that is connected to all the small Niles (rivers) through their Galgalta Eynaim. This big Nile annuls its AHP (this is why it’s called still) in order to let the small ones connect with it. It waits for them, and as soon as they become connected it begins lifting them along. Thus, they rise from their own level to the next one.

At the higher level there is another “still Nile (river).” They connect to it and rise even higher. This is the way the “spiritual elevator” works. What seems to be darkness is always the concealed Light. Therefore, there is no darkness. It’s only dark because of my egoistic attitude to the Light; this is why the Light becomes concealed. It shines to me with its opposite side, which is why the Hebrew word for Light is “Ohr,” while in Aramaic the word “Ohrta” means night. It is for this reason that these two languages are opposite to one another like a front and back side.

Darkness doesn’t exist. It exists only with regard to our uncorrected desires. There is no darkness in the corrected desires. Therefore, as soon as I am in a bad mood and lack inspiration, it means I have an opportunity to awaken myself and attain a greater connection with the Upper One precisely through the darkness I feel.

The Entire System Works With You If You Desire It

evilworld A question I received: In order to break down the wall separating me from the spiritual world, do I need to bang on it from both the egoistic and altruistic sides or can I just break it down from one side?

My Answer: The Light is acting on the spiritual side, repeating the actions we take on our side. If we don’t act on our side, the Light won’t come from Above and won’t do anything on the spiritual side. We are like a piece of metal which approaches a wall and makes another magnet work on the other side of the wall. Thus, we work together on both sides. The Creator can’t act in relation to us if we don’t desire it. Otherwise, where would we and our freedom of choice be? If the Creator were the only one working, then we would be simply an inanimate element. Therefore, we have to be ahead of Him and demand for Him to take action. That is how we can determine everything. The action takes place from both sides rather than just one side. On our side, we only activate the action, while its realization happens on the other side.

The force which works, acts, and realizes the correction comes from the Creator. The Light comes to us, begins to lift us, and transfers us over this wall. However, this happens only upon our request and to the extent that it corresponds to the common plan. A person can’t act according to his own program, but only together with the entire system around him which advances toward correction. He can only advance together with the entire system, and it doesn’t matter whether other parts of the system (other people) want the correction or not. In relation to the person, they adopt the form which is necessary for him.

Therefore, one’s advancement depends only on himself, while all others exist in the final, corrected state with regard to him. Yet, they are corrected with regard to him and work with him only to the extent that he wants to unite and advance together with them.

The True Cause Of What Happens To Us

каббалист Михаэль ЛайтманKabbalists tell us that man is an integral part of nature and is entirely governed by it. Hence, within the parameters of our world, we should not place emphasis on people’s outer actions or regard them as “causes” because all the actions in this world are actually effects or consequences of the forces that govern our lives.

The only true independence for a person is found in spiritual ascent, which occurs through the process of acquiring the quality of bestowal and love. This means acquiring similarity to the Creator, which is achieved through the Kabbalistic methodology of attracting the Upper Ruling Force, also called the “Surrounding Light.”  In other words, we do not have the power to achieve it on our own, but only with the Creator’s help and His Light.

Historic examples demonstrate how nature governs a human being and society as a whole by modifying the environment. For example, during the last glacial period (the minor ice age, 1650 – 1720 CE) when as a result of diminished solar activity all of Europe was seized by ice, multiple revolutions and riots resulted. This phenomenon took place in many parts of the world simultaneously. Yet, the truth of the matter is that only the human desire for self-improvement is capable of causing such a strong response from nature on the physical, earthly level, thereby creating adequate conditions to further our personal and social development.

Hence, only our inner progress and outer dissemination of Kabbalah (the method of correction) is capable of making society realize that not only does worldly self-improvement not work, but true improvement becomes possible only by means of involving the forces of the nature – the  Creator and His Surrounding Light.

What The Zohar Teaches Us

каббалист Михаэль ЛайтманWhat does The Zohar teach us? We know from the science of Kabbalah that the Creator created one desire, within which all further development occurs. This one desire encompasses a great multitude of individual desires, connected with each other into a single system called “Adam,” the common soul.

Then, according to His program, the Creator began to ruin the connection that existed between the parts of the same desire. Thus, they began to lose connection with each other, and like a sick organism, the organs stopped interacting with each other properly. Similar to an imbalance when our body is ill, we experience symptoms such as increased blood pressure or temperature, or chemical changes of the blood. It is an illness where the body is unable to balance itself out.

Why does the Creator act this way with regard to the souls? It is in order for us to feel the corruption and then correct it. This illness or corruption of connection between us as parts of one system permeates into our initial state, and we begin to feel less and less connected to each other. This loss of connection between us comprises 125 degrees of descent from Infinity, the state where we were infinitely connected to each other and until a state where this connection vanishes completely. Moreover, during the descent through 125 degrees, on the level called “Parsa,” (division), an even greater corruption arose, and instead of the positive connection that was once present, a negative connection emerged. Therefore, each person now wishes to use others for his own benefit. The organism doesn’t simply die, but completely devours itself.

This descent into a desire for the sake of receiving and using others continues until it reaches a state where we absolutely lose any connection to each other, including a positive connection for the sake of bestowal, as well as a negative connection for the sake of reception. We exist in a state of complete disparity to spirituality, lacking any realization or knowledge of it, which is a consequence of our separation from each other.

Therefore, what we feel is “this world,” an imaginary reality. Why is it imaginary? It is because the Creator created it specifically for the purpose of creating an illusion of His absence for us. We are given the opportunity to understand that we need to correct the connection between us. To the extent that our connection increases, our soul ascends from the feeling of just our world to the World of Infinity occurs. Thus, re-establishing a connection between us creates an ascent.

For that reason, to the extent that we can imagine our states in connection with all the souls (all individual parts of creation together), we will gain a greater appreciation of The Zohar. After all, The Book of Zohar is written from the level of Infinity. The authors of The Book of Zohar wrote this work from the height of all 125 degrees, where they were connected together. Likewise, when we study The Zohar, we need to feel a desire to unite within. We don’t need any special tricks, but must only remember that everything is attained inside our connection with one another.

In actuality, The Zohar talks only about the unification of souls. It explains our connection in the general system, called “Adam,” with all the other souls, and how we can connect them all together into a corrected, healthy, and properly functioning system. This is the only thing that The Zohar speaks of.

Climbing Up The Steps To The World Of Infinity

infinity The Zohar, Chapter “Bo (Come Unto Pharaoh),” Item 218: But after He had made that form of the chariot of the upper Adam, He descended and clothed there, and he is named in it in the shape of the four letters HaVaYaH.

The Creator made the worlds. Inside the white Light He created a rough framework of reality: the order of steps, Partzufim, and Sefirot. This was done so that we would have something to “grasp onto,” and “climb” up, gradually reaching the simple white Light.

We climb up these steps from our world reaching the World of Assiya, then the worlds of Yetzira, Beria, Atzilut, Adam Kadmon, and the World of Infinity; they all roll up behind us like a rug. We rise together with the worlds, and they all disappear. Therefore, the Hebrew word “world” (Olam) originates from the words “Elem,” “Alama” (concealment), and “Nehelam” (disappearing) since eventually they disappear and cease to exist.

These worlds were formed due to the fact that the Creator created a black netting inside the white Light, making it easier for us to navigate and find the steps from our current state. However, as soon as we complete our correction and rise to the World of Infinity, then this entire framework will disappear and become absorbed by the Light.

A Woman’s Role In This World And The Spiritual World

Perserverance Is the Key to Success A question I received: What intention should a woman have while studying The Book of Zohar? Should she try to find what the text is talking about within her? Should she desire for the book to influence her? Should she think about connecting with others or ask for the men’s unity? Or should she simply focus on supporting the men and disseminating, since studying is not as important for women?

My Answer: The most important thing for a woman is dissemination. But to do it she has to know what to disseminate, feel the importance of dissemination, and have the energy for it. Undoubtedly, for a woman dissemination is the only means of advancement. Otherwise, she is like a woman who does not give birth to children.

The role of a woman in our world is to give birth to offspring, and a man’s role is to provide the woman with everything she needs in order to give birth. That is, he has to build a house and give her everything that is necessary, provided it is for this purpose. This is how we are built and how we exist. A woman is the central point around which everything revolves because she gives birth, which is the most important act of our existence on earth.

Birth in spirituality is dissemination because this act facilitates spiritual birth. That is why it is the most important thing for a woman. However, in order to disseminate, she has to participate in the study process and study The Zohar. However, for her, all of this must be a means for dissemination.

With men, on the other hand, study, dissemination, and most important – unity, are all means for acquiring the right intention. That is how the male and female parts of creation complement each other.

Breaking The Wall Separating Me From Myself

bridge.jpg While reading The Zohar, we need to delve deeper into ourselves, searching internally for all the actions and qualities that it describes. These actions and qualities are actually found within our desire, but they are hidden from us. Thus, we need to reveal them.
The process of revealing them is similar to a machine that works within. It is as though we’re walking through a forest together looking for something that we’ve lost. Our whole group is walking through a forest, searching for a lost item that is very important to all of us.

We need to put forth effort and search inside ourselves, until we break this inner wall that is present in each of us, that separates us from spirituality. There is no other means to break through to the spiritual world, and The Zohar tells us about the world that exists behind that wall. If we wish to pass through it and we are attacking it together, this is the only way to break through it.

In fact, this wall is created in a person in opposition to his spiritual qualities. A person is an egoist and is found on one side of the wall. However, one also exists on the other side of the wall, but this is a completely opposite “I.” Therefore, we need to go from the egoistic “I” to the spiritual “I,” and this is only possible with each of us making our own efforts.

The Zohar Brings The Light Of The Final Correction

The Source We don’t feel that we exist in a special system. Once there was a story on the news about the security system at the diamond exchange. Invisible rays penetrate the whole place but the web of rays remains undetected by the eye.

We exist within the spiritual system in the same manner. We are already in it; we are its parts; we activate it, and it activates us. This system exists, it lives. The Light in it comes from the Partzuf of Arich Anpin of the World of Atzilut, meaning from a very high level called our End of Correction. This Light is called “The Zohar.”

Therefore, The Zohar is not a book; it is an instruction manual of how to put into gear the influence of the Light that is coming from the End of Correction, so that it influences and carries us with it to the final corrected state.

When authentic Kabbalistic sources reference The Zohar, they do not say “The Book of Zohar; they simply say “The Book” because it is obvious that there is nothing else. Everything else is not considered a book.

We have to realize that it is not just a book. A “book” means “revelation,” and this is precisely what occurs when we come into contact with The Book of Zohar. Even when a person simply reads, watches, or listens to how others read this book, without understanding or knowing much, something changes in him though he doesn’t realize exactly what that is.

So let’s continue to read it with the intention that we are all together, since correction is possible only in connection among people. In it, we will then reveal the Upper Force, the Creator. We aren’t just reading this book; we are putting a system into gear in order to reveal it.

Opening Up To The Light’s Influence

author I have been hearing reactions that people find it very difficult to read The Zohar. They don’t have the patience for it; they lack connection with the text and the taste for it. I agree with all these complaints because if that’s how a person feels, there’s nothing you can say in objection. However, we have to take an example from our regular lives and how naturally we enter this world.

How do babies learn to live in this world? They simply listen and watch everything, without understanding what is happening to them. Thus, they involuntarily establish connections with the world, and naturally, with the help of the Light, they receive all the notions, language, and understanding of this world.

If we knew how this whole process happens to a person in this world and all the mechanics of it, then we would understand that we go through the same thing in spirituality. It is the only possible development; it happens naturally and enables us to enter an additional world – the spiritual world. Granted, the process is easier for babies in this world because they have already been born into it and all they need to do is assimilate knowledge and sensations of their surroundings, according to the nature of a newborn. We, on the other hand, have to learn the systems and acquire the sensations of a world that is opposite to our qualities.

We don’t even know what this opposition means because we are completely separated from the spiritual world. Therefore, our entrance into it must happen even more naturally; that is to say, it must happen exclusively with the help of the forces of nature, because on our part it is impossible to understand or feel it in any way ahead of time.

On the contrary, we have to rise above all of the understanding and sensations that we already have by virtue of the force of bestowal. This is called, “faith above reason.” We have to make these efforts and desire to belong to the spiritual world above our feelings and our mind. We have to desire for it to influence and develop us, to give us a new heart and a new mind instead of our current, material ones. That way we will reveal ourselves above our current nature. We will then desire to remain open and to absorb everything that the Upper Light is able to do to us.