Question: Why during reading The Book of Zohar do we not only have to focus on our mutual connection but also need to listen to the commentaries on The Zohar?

Answer: First of all, if we read the original text of The Zohar, we have virtually nothing to go by. Therefore, we need the commentaries. A commentary is a connecting, somewhat-abridged authentic source either in the outer form, in the degree, or in several criteria at the same time. But it connects us to the original.

The Zohar per se is also a commentary on the Torah. The major part of The Zohar is based on citations taken from the Torah, which it processes in a different form. Does The Zohar comment on these passages at a level lower than that which the Torah was written by Moses or not? I don’t want to discuss it, but such question does arise.

Does the Sulam commentary reduce the degree of The Book of Zohar by making it closer to our understanding? We understand little of this. The following could be said: Each commentary includes two extreme points. At its highest point, the authors of The Zohar share Moses’ revelation at his level; otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to make the commentary.

But they write the commentary itself with the reader in mind, meaning in a simplified form and at a lower degree of the spiritual ladder. After all, the entire benefit from revealing the Torah lies in using it to correct the will to enjoy, as described by the verse: “I created the evil inclination, and I created the Torah for its correction.”

Hence, the author of a commentary has to stand on both levels: at the degree where he is receiving the source and at a lower degree to which he wishes to pass this source but in a more suitable form, adjusted to the receiver’s degree. This is the goal of each commentary.

Therefore, up to now, nothing can replace the Sulam commentary since on one hand, Baal HaSulam attained the degree of the ARI having thereby received the incarnation of the ARI’s soul and having attained the degree of The Zohar’s writers. On the other hand, he approximated The Zohar to our degree, explaining it in the three lines, in the language of Kabbalah, using the definitions of Partzufim, the worlds, Sefirot, Reshimot, and so on.

We don’t need anything else but to try to actualize it on ourselves. However, now the whole world is supposed to be approaching the transformation of souls. Hence, to make The Zohar easier to understand for the masses, we have somewhat refined The Zohar’s text from numerous symbols that might be an obstacle for a layman, in order to make the reading itself easier for him.

But we never add any comments of our own and only facilitate the mechanical reading of the text to help a person understand the text. We simply put it through some kind of “filter” that extracts all Aramaic language from it as well as some references and various versions. This is, in essence, what we did with the book The Zohar for All. Let’s hope that in this form, The Zohar is even more ready to use for the correction of the souls.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/12/11, “Introduction of The Book of Zohar,” Article “The Donkey Driver”

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Question: Why did the world of Nekudim break?

Answer: The world of Nekudim miscalculated. It thought that it would manage to receive the entire infinite Light of the Final Correction “in order to bestow,” but failed since it unexpectedly started to feel self-gratification. It didn’t ever realize that there were such deep desires in it and, against them, such exalted Light, such immense pleasures.

Rabash demonstrates this by telling a story about a man who comes to a wedding party thinking that he can please the bride and groom by celebrating and dancing along with the other guests. However, after a few drinks, he eventually loses his sense of reality and starts getting loud at the table. So, he is taken out, brought home to his wife, and from then on nobody wants to invite him to weddings.

Now, he needs to correct himself and start watching his actions: in what shape he arrives to the party and how much he can drink, which is only a little just to honor the host and never step over the boundary. A similar story happened to the world of Nekudim.

Yet, none of this was in vain. The world of Nekudim broke in order to show the created being what it is compared to the Creator. In fact, all that had been revealed to it before the breaking wasn’t real, as it were. Never before had the creature been able to see the essence of its egoistic desire when faced with the Light carrying pleasure. It had always acted with the intention “to bestow” given by the Creator.

The Creator creates a creature in the world of Infinity, fills it with all of Light of Infinity in all desires (Kelim), and gives it all the intentions. Then, the creature makes a restriction, wants to receive in order to bestow, all thanks to the force of Light present in it.

This isn’t hard to understand: I am operated by the Light, and I follow its orders. It isn’t I who acts, but the two forces of the Creator: the will to receive and the will to bestow. The same pertains to nature in spirituality. The inanimate and vegetative, holy animals and angels, are all subject to this mechanism.

The nature of the creature is revealed for the first time when the creature acts independently, which is during the breaking of the worlds. The creature makes calculations based on the Light that is present in it and thinks that it can (as it always did before) receive all the Light in order to bestow, thereby completing correction.

All of a sudden, it turns out that everything that was done before was done by the force of Light, by its force of bestowal that filled you. It never was your decision; it was simply given to you at birth. Now, for the first time, your own nature comes to the surface.

Therefore, after the breaking, we can already speak of some creature that performs independent acts. It collects its empty desires which lack the screen and says, “And now, I will do it myself and receive the Light into them in order to bestow.” It’s like a foolish, willful son who, instead of a real weapon received from his father, the King, decides to go to war with a toy shield and sword as the fable describes.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/12/2011, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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Question: Will revealing the evil within make it more difficult for the person to acquire love of others?

Answer: But this is exactly what you are revealing: the evil in relation to love and unification with others. All the other evil pertains to the animate level.

For example, there are dogs that bite, and there are nice, cute dogs that are pets. Animals also have different personalities. However, we are not referring to a good or bad temper, but to the way a person reveals the real evil when he begins to unite with others. The actual evil inclination becomes revealed precisely in the rejection of the goal.

I unite with others in order to attain the goal, the Creator. We reveal the evil only when we aspire toward the goal. Evil does not become revealed without a connection to the goal. I can have a bad temper, I could lack patience and be irritable; however, this is neither called “evil” nor does it pertain to spirituality.

But when I try to attain love for my friends in order to acquire love for the Creator and I discover how much it sickens me, then evil is the degree of resentment and rejection. Evil is the aversion to unity.

Filter all the human properties and rid yourself of all the animate. There are “dogs,” “rabbits,” and “donkeys” sitting within us. Leave it all; do not take it into consideration. The prophets wrote in reference to this: “I came, and there was no man.” Evil is only associated with unity and aspiration toward the Creator.

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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/11/11, “What is the Bread of the Evil Eye at Work”

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First and foremost I have to be grateful and “bless” the fact that I have a connection, that I am not shut off from the upper governance, no matter what it seems like to me now: good or bad. The most important thing is that I have a point of unity: I know about the existence of the Upper Force, Nature. It is Good and Does Good. It has a mind and feeling as we understand it. It creates us and desires for us to develop. Out of all humanity, right now it evoked a desire inside of me to come to it, and I have to be grateful for this aspiration even though it brings me discomfort.

I treat my new aspiration the same way as all my other desires: I want to fill it as fast as possible for the sake of reception. However, this emptiness will only be filled if I operate in the mode of bestowal. This is a different kind of desire: It enjoys only when abundance comes from it, when it does good for someone else.

I have to treat the spiritual desire that awakened in me as a new creation. It is impossible to continue regular life with it; I just won’t be able to. That is why I am brought to the group, the teacher, and the studies; I am introduced to the Kabbalistic method so I would understand that the time has come to work on a new creation.

This new Reshimo or new inclination in me does not yet have a vector and a form. I must now immerse myself in the environment like a grain in soil in order to receive nutritional substances from the group. Only then will the embryo of my spiritual desire begin to develop.

Moreover, it will develop in a completely different direction because this desire belongs to a dimension that is completely new for me. That means I must treat it differently from the onset and not demand the same thing I am used to demanding from my usual desires.

I still live in my previous desires the way I used to live, but now I devote all of my attention and energy to raising the new sprout. I study the science of Kabbalah in order to find the opportunity to realize this desire, to express it, and reveal fulfillment inside it. This is the gist of the entire wisdom.

I don’t act instinctively, the way I did until now. The new desire demands a new “style of work” from me. That is why I must first learn a new method, develop a new approach.

However, if I don’t want to study and keep acting the old way, not rising from the animate level to the human level, then I receive blows. That’s because my new aspiration is completely not intended or adapted for my egoistic reception. Is it possible to raise a human child by the laws of the jungle among wild beasts? He wouldn’t grow up as a person and wouldn’t rise from the animate level.

In the same way, I have to study in order to properly nourish this seed and create the right environment for it. I have to provide it with moisture, minerals, warmth, and light—all the things that are necessary for its development.

This is the meaning of studying the science of Kabbalah: I study how to correctly and optimally raise my spiritual desire.
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/13/11, Writings of Rabash

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There is nothing new in the universe. The Creator is unchanging. Everything was made and completed right away, and nothing is lacking. In that case, what do we need to add to creation? How can we supplement it?

It is written in the Torah that when God created the world, He “saw all that He had made, and it was very good.” Didn’t He see and know this before? Did He confirm that everything came out well only after completing the action? Why do the sages tell about it using these words?

There is only one force that operates in the world: the Creator. We do not discuss that which existed before the creation of the world because we perceive reality from the view of the creation. We can never perceive what precedes its existence.

We act according to the principles of “By Your actions, we know You,” and “one judges according to his own flaws.” We always come to the Creator (Boreh) from within our own properties when we reveal Him, which is called “come and see” (Bo – Reh).

This means that this does not refer to some force being revealed, but to the created being revealing this force within. For this purpose, the creature needs to be given the feeling and understanding of what it represents, where it is, who fathered and created it, as well as other details of perception which reflect its status.

For this reason, the creature experiences changes until all the Creator’s good becomes revealed. All these changes come from the end of an action, which is concealed in the initial thought. From the beginning, the Creator desires the creature to become like Him and exist in the best possible state.

The Creator’s initial point must become the final point of the creature. Once the two of them are soldered into one, everything begins to develop and open up in relation to the creature.

Only absolute kindness comes from the Creator. All the processes derive from His absolute love. He already perceives the creature in its final state; however, all the degrees, forces, and attainments must develop one after another in the creature itself. It needs to experience different contradictory states in order to learn about itself and attain the Creator.

The creature needs to add its “I” to the final point of equality and unity with the Creator, and this “I” needs to fully participate in the perfect state. This is why it is written that the final state differs “620 times” from the initial state. The creature adds all of its desire, understanding, comprehension, feelings, and sensations to it, and then it becomes a rightful partner similar to the Creator.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/12/11, “What Is it That it is Written and You Should Return to Your Hearts”

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First, we have to develop a relationship described as “Do not do to another what you yourself hate,” followed by “Love another as you love yourself.” We only need to determine who the “other” (the friend) is, who I am, and what “do” means. It has to do with a person’s actions relative to the friend, which have to acquire a tangible form in this world in the entire human race.

In the end, such relations will unfold between all humans, which can be called the world of Infinity, and it will signify the final correction (Gmar Tikkun). Here, on this sphere called Earth, among these animate bodies, we will establish the relationships that will be called our infinite soul.

When we reach that point, we will find ourselves in another world. There will be no more need for our experiencing all this materiality, and it will dissolve from our perception. Even now, it exists solely in our perception; all of this reality is but imagined.

This is the only purpose of our existence on earth. This is the place where everything occurs.

Before the fall of the Temple when people lived in spiritual attainment, they didn’t really live in another galaxy or dimension, did they? It is true, though, that internally they lived in another dimension with a different attitude. However, along with that, this world, the still, vegetative, and animate nature still existed, and everybody lived a normal life. They raised cattle, managed property, bore children, had jobs, and paid taxes.

However, the relationships between them were spiritual since all of them lived in mutual bestowal and maintained it to the best of their ability. Each person was important to the degree of their ability to bestow. Judgment was done based on the same principle: from the point of view of how much harm a person has brought on society and how suddenly his egoistic desire unfolded.

This was the way the people of Israel, whom Abraham led out of Babylon, lived up to the fall of the Second Temple. Now, in the group, we have to actualize what the wisdom of Kabbalah teaches in practice, meaning that our internal relations should be grounded on love and unity so we may live “as one soul.”

It has nothing to do with external closeness. We don’t need to actually eat from one plate, live in the same house, and keep a collective household. It’s all about internal relationships.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/12/11, “The Quality of the Hidden Wisdom – in General”

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Writings of Rabash, Shlavei HaSulam, “What is the Prohibition to Bless On An Empty Table in the Work”
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The Book of Zohar — Introduction: “The Donkey Driver,” Item 94, Lesson 5
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Talmud Eser Sefirot 3, Part 8, Item 59, Lesson 33
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Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Quality of the Hidden Wisdom – in General,” Lesson 2
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Question: When can a person who has started studying Kabbalah be able to say that he is working with his desires?

Answer: When he starts going through “ascents” and “descents.” In these states we start studying how dependent we are on our inner changes. And that is only the beginning. This is how you are being played with by the upper force, even though for now it’s happening in the plane of this world.

That is when you will start being thrown from one world to the other, sometimes being elevated and sometimes being cast down. Then you will feel how inconstant everything is.

Imagine that your senses were changed somewhat so your eyes saw the world through X-rays and you had radars instead of ears. What kind of world would you feel? You would go crazy from the overabundance of information coming at you, from the entire range of waves because you would hear people talking here and there and everywhere at the same time, even thousands of kilometers away from you. You would see through walls and would be aware of everything that happens.

Accordingly, your brain would also have to be developed to the same extent in order to process this flow of information, as well as your nervous system. You would be a completely different being, and all that just if we were to slightly expand the range of our perception in the same world.

Yet in Kabbalah we talk about qualities which we currently lack entirely and a fundamentally different approach. For example, imagine that you started feeling the sensations of other people, dressing like a ghost into one person, then another, and then a third….
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/12/11, “The Quality of the Hidden Wisdom – in General”

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Love does not belong in our world. If you start to relate to others with love, it means that the soul has begun to operate in you. However, now you have just one broken point from that soul. If from that point you start building an attitude of love for another person and creating this “vector” of intention, the aspiration called love, it will become your soul.

It will be built on your desire to enjoy, which was corrected by the intention “for the sake of bestowal.” This is called love.

If you acquire this intention, then you will become a spiritual person. Inside this attitude to another person you will start revealing the Light of NaRaNHY, the upper worlds, everything that is between you and the other.

This will continue until you feel him completely the way you feel yourself, experiencing the two of you as one whole. This means that you have attained the world of Infinity because there are no boundaries, no limitations left. This signifies the spiritual world.

I have to relate to everything that happens with love. However, if someone attacks me with a knife, then what should I do? I must also take a knife and kill him, but with love…. That is the law. And if a Levi, a tax collector comes to me and tells me that I have to pay him, then I will pay him. Inside, in my heart, I may be crying over my empty wallet, but my soul will rejoice.

We have to understand that our attitude to the neighbor is built on our desire to enjoy and its correction for the sake of bestowal! If I take all the needs of another person and fill them using my desire, that means I love him.

However, if I merely restrict my desire in order to avoid harming another person, that means I am in the state of “bestowal for the sake of bestowal” (Hafetz Hesed), but not love. It is written, “Do not do to another what you yourself hate.” This is the test of how I should relate to him. If you don’t like something yourself, then don’t do it to another.

But maybe there is also something that he likes? I don’t know that because I can only test it by my own desires. This is “materialistic psychology.”

Love is also not beyond materialistic psychology. Yet, in this case I feel another person so much that I feel his desires. Therefore, I take them and fulfill them by what I can practically fill them with using my desires and opportunities.

If I love the neighbor and absorb his desires, then I can raise his request (MAN) to the very world of Infinity! He cannot do this himself, but I can do it for him!

In spirituality, none of us can take a bite and put it in our mouth directly. We can only eat it if I give it to you and you give it to me. And it can only happen on the condition that I know exactly what you want and you know the same about me! Then you will be able to place that bite into my mouth, and I for you. That is how we are connected and none of us can receive fulfillment by himself.

And all of that has to happen here, in this world! The Light of Infinity has to expand down to this world, as it is written, “His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives.” Spiritual relationships will become such that you will not be able to act differently in the material world as well.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/12/11, “The Quality of the Hidden Wisdom – in General”

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