Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 03.05.10
Posted on March 5th, 2010
The Zohar, Chapter “Ve’Eleh Toldot Itzhak (These Are the Generations of Isaac),” Item 172: Because Jacob trusted the Creator and all his ways were for His name, his enemies made peace with him. And Sam’el, who is Esau’s authority and strength, made peace with Jacob. And because he made peace with Jacob, he thanked him for the blessings, and then Esau, too, made peace with him.
But as long as Esau did not make peace with that appointee that was appointed over him, which is Sam’el, Esau did not make peace with him. This is so because in all places, the strength below depends on the strength above. And as long as the offender above is not weakened, which are the ministers appointed over them above, it is impossible to weaken the offender below in this world.
It is forbidden for a person to think that there are forces that work against him, forces that resist the work of the Creator and do not want a person to reach the goal of creation. There is no such thing. All forces, both the right and the left line, work together for the same goal. We believe that evil comes to destroy us and lead us astray, but it’s not true. Evil exists to show us our mistakes so we can see when we are doing things that are opposite to the goal. It is the mission of both angels, evil and good, to accompany a person on the path to the goal of creation.
The Zohar, Chapter “BeHaalotcha (When You Mount the Candles),” Item 118: …After he explained the first two banners, which are the middle line and the right line, he now explains the third banner, which is the left line, called “the face of an ox” in the animals, and “Gabriel” in the four angels. It is known that after the middle line decided and united the right line and the left line with each other, only the light of Malchut remained in the left line, which is the illumination of Hochma from below upwards, meaning VAK, while the GAR disappeared.
Two full lines, the right and the left (Hassadim and Hochma), come to us from Above. The breaking of the vessels occurred because the creature tried to fully unite Hassadim and Hochma, to receive all the Light of Hochma clothed into the Light of Hassadim for the sake of bestowal. However, it was unable to do so due to the absence of such a big screen. Therefore, the intention for bestowal (Kli) broke and the screen vanished.
Now we need to correct this breaking. By correcting it, we also begin to understand what happens within the creature, why the Creator created it this way, and what He wished for when doing so. The breaking isn’t something negative; it’s a way to prepare for putting our world together into one whole with understanding, realization, and sensation. After all, if we existed in a world that was ready for us, we wouldn’t understand it.
However, since the Creator created the World of Infinity and then broke it, He gave us an opportunity to gather the World of Infinity once again as one; to tune into the Act of Creation (Maase Merkava) and the Primary Act (Maase Beresheet) ourselves, thereby to understand Him, feel Him, and become like Him.
We certainly aren’t building all this from scratch, or from nothing, since we ourselves are created “from nothing.” However, the parts that we gather into one whole give us a full understanding and sensation of what we need in order to become similar to the Creator. That is, they give us all the information about all the parts, elements, and the depth of the universe.
Therefore, the entire Book of Zohar, all the commentaries, and the entire science of Kabbalah, tell us how to correct the broken desires (Kelim), how to connect them properly to each other, and bring them back to one whole desire (a spiritual vessel or Kli), the whole Light that previously filled the World of Infinity.
But the creature needs to carry this out with its own effort. Thereby, it achieves an understanding, sensation, perception, and power over the whole universe.
Additional pictures from first ever Zohar Convention that took place February 22-24, 2010, Tel Aviv, Israel.
We’re aspiring to attain the spiritual world, but we need to attain the whole of it. By attaining just a small part of it, we’re unable to understand where we are and what’s happening to us. It’s difficult to discern anything until we attain the whole. We don’t understand the real picture. A person needs to study, build the intentions, and find the relationships between phenomena in order to grasp a perception of the whole. In other words, one needs to attain the entire Light (NaRaNHaY) of the existing level.
Therefore, it only harms a person if he is engaged in activities that don’t draw the Light that Reforms. After all, the egoistic desires are constantly growing in every person. If they don’t receive correction, they become more powerful. As a result, we exist in the material world which becomes more and more corrupt. We’re the ones who are making it this way because the world is a copy or a reflection of our inner state.
If we don’t disseminate the wisdom of Kabbalah, we won’t know the purpose of our existence, our goal, predestination, and why we’ve been given the method for correction. We won’t know the path we are on, and the reason it’s so difficult. We won’t know the causes and effects of what’s happening in reality.
This is why everything depends on the dissemination of Kabbalah, and how much we use it according to its purpose. This is especially relevant in today’s generation. It compels us to action because today the breaking is becoming apparent at a global level.
Below are pictures from the first ever Zohar Convention, which took place from February 22nd to 24th in Tel Aviv, Israel with nearly 6,000 people in attendance:
Why were the five worlds, Partzufim, and Sefirot created with an infinite number of unique details? The Light of the World of Infinity needs to clothe into this whole system. It weakens, dividing into many degrees with various combinations and unifications, so as to influence the desire to receive pleasure, which on its own is nothing more than the material of desire. In other words, in and of itself, matter has no form; rather, all its forms are imprints of Light.
The Light determines the entire program of the development of matter, separating it into parts and providing different forms, such as masculine and feminine, high and low, as well as various colors and numerous qualities. Inherently, the matter of desire is homogeneous; all the changes on it are performed by the Upper Light. It is similar to genes that determine the entire development of an organism. Thus, due to the Light’s influence, parts having completely opposite qualities emerge from homogeneous matter and supplement one another.
The most important division in matter performed by the Light is the separation into male and female parts (a positive and a negative), which enables these parts of matter to unite with each other and conceive life within matter. This becomes possible because the separation that occurs in matter gives rise to an equivalence of the Creator and the creature arises within the matter itself. When the male and female parts unite, it gives meaning to the notions “the Creator” and “the creature.” A model emerges within and a person begins to think about it.
A person’s inner structure changes so that he comes to include all the parts that are present in the Creator, starting from all the parts that the creature has in relation to the Creator, and which exist as His opposite. And then one begins working with the third (middle) line, which means that from these two systems existing inside a person, one works to become similar to the Creator according to the person’s own free choice.
The Light that comes through the five worlds and works on matter creates this entire development. There is nothing within inanimate matter itself, since it is incapable of performing a single action on its own. Hence, from the start, we need to create the ability in it to feel and react to all the qualities that are contained in the Light.
We don’t understand the work that the Creator performs on our primary material (Homer ha-Yuli). The Light (the Creator’s influence) needs to go precisely through the whole system of worlds in order to create complete equivalence to the Creator from shapeless and unfit material.
It is necessary to understand that two opposite forces, the right and the left, are forces of nature. Everything comes from the Creator, is split into two, and controls us.
Until you try to become similar to Him in the middle line, to build His image in you, you will not come to a good state. Therefore, one needs to constantly try to become similar to the Creator according to one’s degree and all the desires and qualities that are revealed to him. You must build a middle line out of everything that you receive from Him, from these two “reins,” the two lines, the two “angels.” Then you will be sure that you are truly achieving the best possible state for yourself, for Him, and for the two of you.
Otherwise you cannot save yourself from any misfortunes. If you don’t prepare yourself ahead of time in the middle line in the next degree, then punishments await you. However, in essence, these are not punishments; they are revelations of the same qualities (Kelim), which you did not correct. You were given an opportunity and all the means to correct these qualities, and they were revealed to you, but you failed to do this. For this reason you sense the lack of correction in the form of suffering.
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