The holiday of Pesach (Passover) is an exodus from our ego. Our ego locks us in a capsule called “this world” and prevents us from seeing the reality outside. In order to break free from this shell we must perform a “circumcision,” by drawing the Light of Hochma from Above. It acts like a sharp knife and removes our great egoistic desires that cannot currently be corrected. We are given the opportunity to rid ourselves of them and to not use them, in essence to become free!

To be a “free people in our own country” (the word “country” comes from the Hebrew word “desire”) means to escape the rule of our desire. When we become free from our desire and can rise above it, we are ready for the exodus from Egypt.

We then exit our evil inclination (Yetzer HaRa) out of Egypt (Mitzraim – Mitz Ra, concentration of evil) and toward freedom. Having been slaves to our desires, we now come out of slavery and become free of them, meaning we refuse to use them egoistically.

Presently we are drowning in our ego, in our desire to receive for ourselves, and immersed in this world, we are subject to waves of all kinds of problems and desires. Suddenly we receive a strong desire to rise above this world, this life, and to feel a spiritual life.

This doesn’t mean we discard all of our corporeal desires; rather, with the help of The Book of Zohar, we receive the strength to rise above our desires and become masters over them. The moment we ascend, we immediately stop feeling trapped within an egoistic capsule with its sensation of this world, and we begin to feel the spiritual world. That is the real meaning of the exodus from Egypt.

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A question I received: Why is it that after reading The Book of Zohar I feel confusion and heaviness?

My Answer: Confusion and heaviness are neither good nor bad. We must accept any state as a desired outcome. After all, The Zohar is “medicine.”

There are certain medicines that are stressful for the organism to use since they cause unpleasant reactions and side effects. But we still take them because we don’t have a choice. When the need arises, we even use such extreme treatments like radiation and chemotherapy that have significant side effects.

Actually all medicine is poison, and it’s no coincidence that the symbol of medicine is a cup with a snake. One affects the other according to the law of equivalence of form. Just as the evil that manifests from the poison of our egoistic desire can be neutralized and corrected with the help of another poison, so, too, can the desire to receive for oneself be corrected.

Therefore, it isn’t important that at times we are uplifted after studying The Zohar, while at other times we feel confused. We must accept all those states as medicine. If we’ve done all that we can, we shouldn’t concern ourselves with the outcome at all. Whether we are in a descent, confused and unable to feel anything, or in the opposite state of extreme delight, none of it matters.

We know that we must endure all these things for they are the effects from the treatment. We will grow used to them and no longer pay attention to them. Everything will pass. The important thing is to quickly transition to new states – that is the sign of progress.

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A question I received: At the last Convention I saw some long-time students who were irritated and in a bad mood. Why? Is this is a sign of one’s advancement if they feel hate instead of love?

My Answer: The Zohar says that when the students of Rabbi Shimon were getting ready to study, they would conceal their hatred for each other and would look for ways to feel love above the hatred. This love is the result they demanded from the study (see The Zohar, Chapters “Ki Tissa (When You Take),” Item 54 and “Aharei Mot (After the Death),” Item 65). And indeed, the miraculous force contained inside the Kabbalistic texts brought them that love and they rose above their initial, natural hatred. Moreover, the hatred was not revealed to them accidentally, but as a result of their study and great efforts.

When a Kabbalah Convention takes place, it is a very significant event that causes a person to go through many states. One cannot always be in a state of ascent where he deems bestowal and spiritual ascent above all the earthly things.

A large assembly of people attracts a powerful Light by virtue of their common desire, and this Light begins to “shake them up.” This is why the people there go through many contradictory states: love and hate, understanding and confusion, joy about how fortunate you are to be there, and the next moment, you find yourself wondering what you are doing there at all. This is the manner in which spiritual states are quickly processed within us. You go through more states in one day of the Convention than in half a year of study during regular life!

Nevertheless, in order to use the time of the Convention most effectively, one must go through these states consciously and be ready for them. Thus, everything depends on one’s preparation to the Convention.

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Preparation To The Study of The Zohar
A “human” combines reception and bestowal. He possesses free will which allows him to receive and at the same time obtain the form of a giver.
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The Book of Zohar — Selections, Chapter “BeHukotai (In My Statutes),” Item 1
There aren’t any meaningless disturbances. Each disturbance along the path can be used as a means for acceleration.
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“Beit Shaar HaKavanot,” Item 29, Lesson 9
Intention is a path I lay while trying to rise above the breaking that is being revealed to me.
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“Introduction To The Book of Zohar,” Item 70
Our logic doesn’t correspond to the Creator’s logic. Therefore, we shouldn’t fall into false speculations and mistakes, but instead turn to the Kabbalists for a correct solution.
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The Zohar, Chapter “Chayei Sarah (The Life of Sarah),” Item 201: “And the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to the God who gave it.” When the Creator created Adam, He took his dust from the place of the Temple and built his body from the four directions of the world. And each of them gave him strength. Afterwards, He poured over him the spirit of life, as it is written, “And breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.” Then he rose and knew that he consisted of above and below, and then he adhered to the Creator and knew the upper wisdom [Hochma].

The four spirits of the world are Hochma, Bina, Tifferet, and Malchut. They are called the four corners of the world, and they are also divided into the right and the left lines: Hochma and Bina; Tifferet is the middle line with Yesod at the end of it, followed by the place of adhesion with Malchut. This is how everything is divided into the right side, left side, and the middle, and the top and the bottom. Such is the structure of our soul, within which we reveal reality.

Even now we reveal our reality within our soul, but we call it our body only because this soul is small, uncorrected, and acts egoistically for the sake of receiving pleasure for itself. But in reality it is the same structure, the same desire, since the Creator only created one desire and not several. However, it is merely revealed to us to a very small extent, in a very uncorrected, tiny form. What we perceive within it is called “this world.” We must reveal this desire, make it bigger, change it slightly, and make it similar to the Light. Then, in it, we will perceive the soul or life in the future world.

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The Zohar, Chapter “Chayei Sarah (The Life of Sarah),” Item 155: …Every Guf [body] fell under the authority of Sam, Esau’s minister, during the sin of the tree of knowledge, from which the Guf was sentenced to death. This dominion is the filth of the serpent, which is not removed from the Guf before it decays in the grave….

The desire to receive pleasure called “body” is my ego, the enormous desire for pleasures for my own benefit. It has to die before my eyes, be buried, and decay. In my life I have to come to such a state when “death is better than such a life,” when I know for sure that I have nothing and never will have anything from this earthly life. I have everything, but I don’t have any purpose in my life or any goal for which it would make sense to live.

This is exactly what is happening now. People have everything compared to those who lived a thousand years ago. They have a place to live, food, and prosperity. Who lived in such conditions in the past? Perhaps, just kings.

Today we have everything, yet we have to take antidepressants and visit our personal therapists twice a week. This is telling us that people are revealing the inability to fulfill themselves. Apparently our body is satisfied at the material or animal level while at the same time, the human being within us is revealing himself, and he is empty. This is indicative of “the body decaying in the grave.”

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The Book of Zohar – Selections, Chapter “Chayei Sarah (The Life of Sarah),” Item 248
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The Zohar, Chapter “Chayei Sarah (The Life of Sarah),” Item 155: …Hence, the righteous purify their bodies, which come from the force of the left, until they are worthy of receiving the Mochin from the middle line.” This is already the Light of Hassadim, with a little Light of Hochma clothed within it. “And upon the reception of the Mochin, the Guf that despises its authority is like Esau. And an impression of that degradation remains in the body after its passing, too, until it causes it to decay, meaning to completely annul its power of reception until no remnant is left of it….

Esau is my inner decision. It is when I begin to understand that I can no longer work with my desire to receive pleasure the way I previously worked with it, meaning for the sake of receiving egoistically. Moreover, this decision is final and irreversible.

“Selling the birthright” means that I do not use my desire to receive pleasure in its primal form, for the sake of receiving. What I “sell” is not the egoistic desires (Kelim) themselves, but the system of their use. With this my previous attitude towards life disappears.

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Lately I received many questions and complaints regarding why we have begun to study The Zohar if we don’t understand anything in it! Others, on the other hand, write, “If The Zohar brings the Surrounding Light, why didn’t we begin to study it earlier? Why have we lost so many years?”

Those who have been studying for many years and recently began to study The Book of Zohar feel that they could not have approached this earlier. First, preparation and a mature desire are necessary. This includes an understanding that there is no choice and that without The Zohar we will not be able to achieve anything. The preparation involves understanding that there is a special, wonderful power in The Zohar and only it can help us. Ultimately, it is not in my power to ascend this mountain on my own; the only choice that remains is to await salvation from above.

In order for a person to begin to search for the Light that Reforms, one first needs to lose faith in his own strength and see that on his own he will not achieve anything. As it is written about Egyptian slavery: “And the sons of Israel cried out from this work.” In other words, you raise your arms up in despair, realizing that there is nothing else left to do – you have tried everything and you see that nothing helps.

To reach this point, a person needs to be “old” and experienced; this maturation occurs through studying Kabbalah for several years. This feeling is not given to a person without a reason, and the years spent are not wasted! There is a huge benefit in them, and this benefit will be revealed to us.

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The Book of Zohar – Selections, Chapter “Chayei Sarah (The Life of Sarah),” Item 230
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