A question I received: There is one’s personal intention and intention of the group. What should be the group’s intention during the Zohar study?

My Answer: It should be the same. The group’s intention cannot be different. A group is a sum total of the individuals in the group; it only amplifies everybody’s individual intention.

I have to connect with others because my intention does not carry enough power to attract the Light that Reforms. This Light reveals to me everything that I read in The Zohar. If my friends passed me their intentions, and their intentions united within me, I would immediately reveal the inner essence of a story that I read in The Zohar. It would happen instantly.

The problem is that they don’t wish to supply me with their intentions in the same way that I’m unable to pass them mine. Perhaps I’m talking about it, but it does not really bother me that much.

Herein lies the essence of unification. In uniting with others, I receive their intentions. Alone, I cannot reveal anything. It is the intentions that we receive from each other, nothing else. It is only through the web of intentions that I can connect with the other person, and this connection occurs only when I’m ready to supply others with life energy so that they all live in spirituality.

By thinking in this manner, I pass my intention to everybody. I unite with the others in a network of a living organism and then it becomes alive. I enliven it. Then each of my friends possesses a life force since each of them has an opportunity to pass the Light further.

The force of life or the Light exists among us. We can reveal it only according to our intention, our attitude toward each other.

It can be likened to an electromagnetic field. The field can’t be identified without an electric circuit with its conductors which allows the electric current to flow in the network, to move and perform work in the magnetic field. A metal conductor moving in the magnetic field passes electric current; free electrons are moving in it. These are exactly the same processes.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/18/10, The Zohar

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A question I received: What is the logic in “faith above reason?”

My Answer: “Faith above reason” has the logic of the Upper One. The logic of the lower one is when I see the world through my mind and feelings. This is how I live. I progress across a flat plane, only on my level, and can never rise higher. This is called “faith below reason,” or “faith like reason.” Faith does not determine my actions; faith, which is the property of bestowal is not above reason.

In “faith above reason,” it is as though I take off my glasses and don’t see anything except the Upper One. I am ready to join the Upper One in whatever He desires. I want to acquire His sensation and knowledge by the force of adhesion with Him. With this action I am willing to completely cancel myself, to part with my “settings.”

When I acquire His degree, I get His faith (His property of bestowal) and knowledge that are higher than mine. Through the force of greater bestowal I also acquire higher knowledge. This is called “faith above previous reason.” In this manner I attain a higher degree.

Therefore, those who proceed by “faith above reason,” actually add knowledge since they have new vessels of perception. It is because knowledge, attainment, the Light of Hochma, spreads only in the Light of Hassadim (bestowal, faith).

Whereas those who cannot rise above their reason in the animal mind, hold onto their current state, not wishing anything greater; they cannot cancel their opinion before a higher degree, before a teacher. Thus they will not attain anything, and remain “animals.” They will be “smart and reasonable” within the bounds of their minds, but they won’t even realize that there exists a higher wisdom. After all, a higher wisdom always seems to lack any current foundation.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/14/10, The Zohar

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Preparation to the Lesson, Shamati #46 “The Domination of Israel Over the Klipot”
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The Book of Zohar – Selections, Chapter “Shemot (Exodus),” Item 295
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Beit Shaar HaKavanot, Item 81, Lesson 29
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The Zohar, Chapter “Shemot (Exodus),” Item 249: The world was created in ten utterances. But when you look, they are only three that the world was created in: Hochma, Tevuna, and Daat. And the world was created only for Israel. When the Creator wished to sustain the world, He acted for Abraham in Hochma, for Isaac in Tevuna, and for Jacob in Daat. This is considered, “And by knowledge are the chambers filled….”

There is a force above that reveals for us the entire reality, which descends from HBD (Hochma, Bina, Daat) along three lines. This is how the Creator influences us from above.

And we, in turn, must take on an identical form below. Then we will understand the nature of this influence and how we can sense it, how to become similar to and merge with Him.

From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/18/10, The Zohar

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A question I received: Currently a lot of people around the world are joining our Kabbalah studies, new groups are springing up in different cities like mushrooms after the rain. How should we take care of them?

My Answer: We just have to show them an example and we will grow together with them. I don’t anticipate any difficulty with this. It’s impossible to stop life. We all have seen a tree breaking through a rock. Nothing can stop it; it will find its way to the light and grow.

The same applies in our situation. If a person’s desire receives a little Light from the authentic Kabbalistic sources, it will break through and start growing. People themselves will find learning centers and study groups; they will take our example and evolve.

We only have to spread the Kabbalistic knowledge as wide as possible. The subsequent forms of its development are not determined by us. This is a free development. Our only task is to follow the Kabbalistic principles of developing a person and building a group. We only disseminate the material; the Upper Light does the rest.

We create the connection with the Upper Light by giving Kabbalah books to people. These books pass the Light that Reforms and people start growing. It will happen in the entire world. Let’s hope it will be a steep, exponential growth upward.

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/14/10, Article “Exile and Redemption”

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When we begin to study Kabbalah, often we feel so inspired and uplifted that we burn with desire and are ready to turn around the worlds. Yet sometimes we fall into complete numbness and can’t make sense of anything; the world becomes immersed in darkness for us. In other words, we feel life within when we have a contact with the Light, and as soon as we disconnect from the Light and it stops shining on us, we feel dead.

Then the next stage comes. Through our actions (studying, disseminating Kabbalah, and creating connection with friends), there forms a system that shines to us even when we are going through states that aren’t very good, when we don’t attract the Light on ourselves. This system is similar to a person who is surrounded by others who can always help him when he needs it.

Such a state is no longer a “commandment” that shines at the moment it is performed; it is called the “Torah” that shines to us always (forget about the conventional understanding of “commandment” and “Torah”!). Even if we don’t feel so well and are confused, we have external support. It helps us look at ourselves from the side and realize that this is not so bad; it happened before and it passed. The Torah (the Surrounding Light from the group or from the environment) protects us even when we don’t study it, that is, when we are not close to the Light.

When we approach the Machsom, we feel a greater concealment, total Egyptian darkness. However, we also have the support of the environment, which safeguards our straying from the spiritual path into a purely animal state. We understand what kind of darkness it is; we feel it and know when it is coming to us and why. We are aware of what we need to do, and how to adhere to the Creator.

From this darkness we receive the Creator’s order to make signs of our union, “Mezuzahs on the doors,” to prepare the vessels for coming out of Egypt, and to run away exactly at midnight. This connection with the Upper Force is called the “Torah,” the Light that comes to us even if we are currently incapable of a “commandment,” of a personal connection with the Creator, which is called a “day.” This is how we advance.

The concealment no longer disconnects us completely, when we don’t understand or feel anything, as it sometimes happens to beginners. Now the concealment develops special forms; we begin to distinguish various shadows and qualities in them, and understand how to work with them.

The more we advance, the more we reveal the forms of darkness of these empty hollows. They clarify for us the form of salvation – on the other side of the Machsom.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/16/10, Shamati #39

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We can demand from the Light all the necessary corrections and fulfillments. All that we can possibly imagine already exists in the Light, since it is our source which has created us.

When we draw the Light via our actions (study, group work, dissemination of Kabbalah), the Light starts working on us, and after some time we begin to feel as though we face something unknown. That means the Light is approaching us; although we don’t yet see it, we feel its “breath” (Ruach) on us. Then we begin to take certain actions, afraid of losing the sensation of this Light.

Being afraid that the Light will vanish, we begin to build a relationship with it. It is a relationship of bestowal for the Light lets us know that if we don’t want to lose it, we must bestow. We begin to constantly check ourselves, striving to hold the intention and qualities that let us exit our ego. We then feel the Light’s presence, either around or inside of us.

That is how a person begins to build a “shadow” on his innate, natural desire to receive pleasure. The Light conducts an exercise on us by seemingly telling us: “Do you want to feel me? Then this is what you have to do. Otherwise I will vanish from you…” Gradually this game teaches a person to remain “in the shadow” until it becomes his second nature.

After acquiring a second nature, a person already wants to stay “in the shadow”; he feels that it is a special state, an ascent over his individual calculations. Thus one comes from “Lo Lishma” to “Lishma.” He sees that this state exudes eternity and perfection, meaning it is good for him. He begins to value the state itself, the very quality of love and bestowal toward others.

All this is done to us by the Light via this game when it draws closer and pulls away, casting a shadow from the side of the Light, and then from the side of the person. First the person conceals his egoistic desire, then the Light conceals itself, taking turns. This is how a person gradually builds his anti-egoistic screen (Masach).

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/16/10, Shamati #39

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A question I received: I’ve studied the Torah, speak five languages, listen to your lessons, and have become more or less familiar with the Kabbalistic terminology. Typically when a person studies a language and learns the words, reading something in that language is enough to understand it. Yet when the lesson is on The Study of the Ten Sefirot, I read the text and don’t understand a thing even though I know all the terms. It might as well be Chinese to me. What’s going on?

My Answer: You need to continue learning this language. The word “language” originates from the notion of a “weighing scale” with the measurement pointer located directly in the middle. As you continue to attain spiritual concepts, your language will continue to take shape, in between good and evil.

When we build the middle line within ourselves, we begin to understand and feel the different gradations of qualities. Until we attain a sensation of the spiritual, we never retain anything from the study, no matter how long we keep at it. It’s as useless as repeatedly explaining the taste of a dish to a person who has never tasted it.

Each and every one of our perceptions is a taste. From the Light that entered the desire (Toch Kli) with the intention to bestow, the Kabbalists have “tasted” (Taamim) every concept existing in The Study of the Ten Sefirot, in accordance with the law of equivalence of form.

The First Restriction is at work, preventing us from receiving the Light since we have no similarity to it. Without the screen, the intention to bestow, we cannot sense the Light. Therefore, as long as we are missing the screen, it is impossible to understand the text, for everything is attained via sensation. Hence it is written: “Taste and see that the Creator is good” (Psalm 34:8). We have to “taste” Him, and this attainment takes place within.

This is why it is a genuine problem. No matter how long we study here, this language invariably escapes us. Yet on the other hand, it prepares us to start sensing it. Subsequently, these sensations begin to appear within us and we begin to understand the text. Eventually we will no longer need to study, and will suddenly know the names for everything even without reading about it in the books. We’ll know the name of a spiritual phenomenon simply by feeling it. How, who will teach it to us? No one.

As the Light clothes our desires, it transfers its impression to them in four phases, Taamim (tastes), Nekudot (vowels, dots accompanying the letters), Tagin (crowns above the letters), and Otiot (letters), building a Gematria within us (the numerical value of words).

This Gematria then turns into a word. We “read” and suddenly realize that one desire is called “tree,” another desire is called “sun,” and so on. Moreover, we come to know this for a fact, regardless of where we live in the world or whether or not we speak the language. Thus, we begin to understand it.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/16/10, Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah

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A true democracy is a correct division of society into the “head” (leader) and the “body” (nation). The head knows what is better for the body and makes decisions based on this. Equality is when everybody gives to and receives from the society whatever he or she has to. Those who belong to the head shouldn’t have any personal interest (the property of Bina, GE, absolute bestowal, Hafetz Hesed) but should only consider the desires of the body. The head is merely the intentions of how to benefit the body, how to fill it. (Note how opposite it is to our leaders!)

The head has to relate to the body as parents relate to their children. Parents clarify a child’s needs and how to fulfill them for the child’s maximum benefit. The government, too, needs to consider the nation’s desires and aspire to correct and fulfill them.

Exactly like we concern ourselves with giving developmentally beneficial toys to our children, the leaders need to give desirable “toys” to the nation. These toys should serve the ends of the nation’s development program.

So it follows that only the spiritual individuals can be the leaders of a nation. That’s why it is said that those who aspire to the Creator (Isra-El) and possess the property of bestowal can be society’s Head and rule the masses (body) correctly. Thus “Isra-El” also means “Li Rosh” – I am a Head.

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/19/10, Article “The Freedom”

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