The Book of Zohar includes many parts:

1. Introduction of the book itself, which is also written by Rabbi Shimon,
2. The weekly chapters or commentaries on the weekly portions of the Torah,
3. The parts commenting on the Prophets (Nevi’im) and the Writings (Ketuvim).

The Book of Zohar was a complete commentary on the Hebrew Scriptures (TaNaKh for the Torah, Nevi’im, Ketuvim). We were left with only a part of this exalted Book, and most likely a very small one since except for the commentaries on the Torah, none other seem to exist. Moreover, as Baal HaSulam repeatedly emphasizes, the Torah commentaries are also missing a lot. We’ve seen how in some places, the text often ends quite abruptly.

But from the upper governance’s point of view it looks like we need exactly the parts of The Zohar that we have received. So, there is no need to feel bad that the whole Book of Zohar has not been found. We should be grateful for what we have of it and use it according to its purpose.

Now we are reading "Introduction of The Book of Zohar." All of the articles in this introduction are very useful and profound. But “The Donkey Driver,” “The Night of the Bride,” and “The Letters of Rav Hamnuna Saba” are the most fundamental articles where the authors of The Book of Zohar explain the basics of creation.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/9/2011, “Introduction of The Book of Zohar,” Article “Yitro (Jethro)”

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Question: How do we help a child not to fall into groundless philosophy, but rather examine and verify everything practically?

Answer: This is exactly the kind of approach to life that we should be methodically teaching to a child by providing examples thereof. A child tends to trust what an adult tells them. But we have to teach him or her to verify everything.

You should explain to the youngster: “If I told you something, how can you be sure you’ve heard it right? By the same token, how can you be sure that I know what I am talking about and tell you how it really is? After all, grownups also err; anyone can make a mistake! It is your job to verify what you are told, which is a sole basis of your advancement.”

You may ask how will he grow up then if he doesn’t believe what the teacher tells him? But he should believe us only inasmuch as to do the exercise we are giving him. But it is his job to learn from this exercise what is right and wrong. He should only believe that it is worthwhile to do this exercise to make his own conclusions later on.

In other words, we must teach a child to search for answers on his own based only on his own life experience. Otherwise, he will learn to trust everything we say and will think that everything that is written in the newspaper is absolutely true.

We read a newspaper and subconsciously receive everything it says as facts since this is what we were taught in childhood: to respect a printed word. But if we dig into it, we’ll see that everything is dictated by mere greed and is cut to order. We, however, take it at the face value and gain information from this source. We don’t need to teach a child that, do we?

We ought to teach him to use thorough critical thinking skills when it comes to everything life throws at him so that he never takes somebody’s word for it. He must verify everything first! He should accept another’s “expert” opinion but only to make one next, independent step forward.

As to the rest of it, lay down a rule: Make judgments solely based on evident facts for it is written: “A judge only has what his eyes can see.” Children tend to gravitate to fantasy, but all of it should be channeled into verifying it. Each fantasy needs to be checked. It is great that a child has vivid imagination, but it has to be founded on evidence.

The only exception is what lies in the realm of inspiration, art: singing, painting, and culture. Culture has no relation to science and doesn’t have such heavy restriction; therefore, it can work with imagination alone. But it isn’t in any way connected with life principles. Culture is above knowledge and reason since it derives from the search for the Upper One, the Creator. Therefore, art should be separated from egoistic desire.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/9/2011, “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy”

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Question: When does a person finally realize that only the Creator can help him and that this help is only in adhering to the group?

Answer: This occurs at the final step before exiting exile. Only then does a true plea, a true need arise. However, this step comes in stages as well: the escape, the crossing of the Red Sea, the mountain of hatred (Sinai), the appeals, and finally, the despair. This speaks of many things.

We keep asking, “When will the work finally be done and the Creator be revealed?” This is correct. He will become revealed, but then more work will follow.Yet, a person will view it as an adventure, as enjoyment since if you love someone, to make effort for the sake of the beloved is pleasure. You enjoy the fact that you are doing something for them.

When you work for self-gratification, you exert labor to enjoy its fruit later on. If you could taste it without having to work, that would be best. But it isn’t the same when you do things out of love for another. In that case, the effort itself brings pleasure. While you are working, you are also gathering the reward.

Try to do something for someone you love such as your son, for example. No matter what effort is required, you feel even better when you exert for it. If you simply bring a present to your child and see how happy you made him or her, you won’t enjoy it. When you love, it is the effort that makes it all worthwhile.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/9/2011, “What Are the Powers Which Are Needed for the Work”

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At all spiritual degrees, until the very final correction (Gmar Tikkun), a special force from the upper degree becomes revealed to us. This force accompanies a person while helping him to ascend from one spiritual degree to the next.

As a matter of fact, a person, while at a given degree, can never ascend to a higher one on his own since he has only the power of the current degree. If he had the force of the higher degree, he would be there already.

Yet, between the degrees, there is always some intermediary link, a mediator on the path. Between beast and man, such an intermediary is the ape; between plant and animal, it is a “dog of the field,” and so on.

In spirituality, such an intermediary is the “donkey driver.” There are other “angels” as well, meaning forces that assist us in various ways in ascension from one state to the next. Even now, when we wish to take some actions, an upper force comes and assists us. No matter whether we call it the Surrounding Light or an angel, this particular force leads us forward by helping us to rise from degree to degree.

The lower one supplies only a desire, a vital need. He has to strive to ascend along with his “donkey,” and be almost able to do so while being fully aware of his inability to accomplish this alone.

This is why two sages who embark on a journey take time to arrange a guide for it in advance, the “donkey driver.” They have the donkeys which are loaded with luggage; they know where they are going, and only a guide is needed to lead them on.

Usually this help from Above comes from Rav Hamnuna Saba (see “Introduction of The Book of Zohar,” Article, “The Letters of Rav Hamnuna Saba”). It is a very exalted spiritual degree from which the Upper Light expands in order to assist us. It is regarded as the “donkey driver.”
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/9/2011, “Introduction of The Book of Zohar,” Article “Yitro (Jethro)”

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Rabash, Shlavei HaSulam (Steps of the Ladder), “What Does It Mean that the Ladder Stands Diagonally in the Work”: A ladder must always be at an angle even in the corporeal world. When a person’s head “reaches the heavens,” he must also “be walking on earth.” Even though these are two opposite forces, they are still not that far from one another. And this means that one must walk in two lines, which is called a “diagonal.”

No matter what awakens in a person, his job is to have a correct attitude towards the faults and correct them instead of hiding them. Through this he will realize the ascent up “the diagonal” of an inclined ladder, which refers to the proper combination of two desires whereby he establishes the desire to bestow above the desire to receive.

Negative impulses awaken in us: hatred, envy, lust, vanity, and rejection. They are the consequences of the breaking, and our nature consists solely of them. All of these properties have to be transformed into factors that increase the love of created beings in our hearts. We advance specifically with their help by correcting them.

Naturally, man must correctly combine the Bina and Malchut, justice and mercy, within him. Everything has to be balanced from both the right and left sides without deviating  in accordance with his own level and the level of others.

Thus, our work is examining the evil that becomes manifested without blurring it, putting it “to sleep,” and uncovering either the rejection or attraction towards those around us that it induces; otherwise, you are not doing spiritual work, you are not always trying to keep yourself in bestowal (love) over rejection (reception) of others (“neighbors”).

One must correctly combine the opposite properties within “at a diagonal,” without being afraid of them. A person is not able to do this on his own, but he demands correction, and he sees when the Creator makes this combination for him.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/6/2011, “What Does It Mean that the Ladder Stands Diagonally in the Work”

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Writings of Rabash, Shlavei HaSulam, “What is the Bread of the Evil Eye at Work”
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The Book of Zohar — Introduction: “The Donkey Driver,” Item 85, Lesson 3
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Talmud Eser Sefirot 3, Part 8, Item 57, Lesson 31
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Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy,” Lesson 12
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Question: We work with egoism on the human level. But how should we relate to desires on the still, vegetative, and animate levels?

Answer: By the principle of vital necessity. Take only as much as you need. Everything else only bothers you. It is written, “The more property you have, the more worries you have.” If you are thinking about the human level, then on the rest of the levels you only have enough energy left for the vital necessities.

For example, some people keep a dog at home. The dog barks loudly in the morning, demanding to be taken out for a walk. The two of them walk together: the master and the dog on a leash. I walk with my “dog” inside, while his dog is outside.

Indeed, this “animal” needs to be taken care of. I feed it, walk it, wash it, put it to sleep, and do everything necessary so it would let me work spiritually.

This healthy attitude makes life much easier. You have to put your material existence into simple, “mechanical” boundaries, subjecting it to the needs of the system like cogwheels in the mechanism of a watch. I have to get along with everyone and maintain a certain material balance in my family, at work, and so on, while devoting the bulk of my energy to the thing that matters most.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/10/11, Writings of Rabash

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We make many efforts, and with each effort we have to make the calculation, “If I don’t do it for me, then who will do it for me?” We must do everything possible and discern where exactly we should put forth efforts—in the unity with others, the place where the breaking occurred.

We have to try to restore the unity of that broken place so it will become integral again, so we will all be as one man with one heart and live in mutual guarantee, meaning in perfect, systematic unity. Sometimes it seems to us that we are able to do this, and sometimes that we are unable. We want help, but cannot ask for it because we don’t feel the real need for it yet.

Thus, stage by stage, a person lowers his head and gets ready to make new efforts. He starts working again and again in this broken place in order to reunite it. At the same time, he knows that he has to keep working until he comes to need help, and without that desire the help will not come.

Yet at the same time a person has to believe that there is none else besides the Creator. Then every effort is followed by despair and a new necessity.

A person has to go through all of these phases one after the other until he accumulates a great desire, until he reaches total despair in his own powers. That is when he breaks through the gate of tears with the right cry or request. All of his efforts come together, standing across from all of the Lights that came to him, causing him to despair and leaving him with a sensation of greater emptiness. He tried but could not find what he wanted, until it suddenly became apparent that he did not try, and he found. In other words, the action itself is not done by him, but by the Light, which carries out his desire and unites him with others into a single Kli.

Then, inside this vessel a perfect Light is revealed, the perfect quality of bestowal, the Creator. That is how a person eventually reaches his “finding.”

His efforts, help, despair, and cry—everything he accumulated at the previous degrees finally takes on the right form. Everything merges together into the right desire and the right decision. And all of this happens by virtue of all the things that a person has gone through on the path.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/9/11, Writings of Rabash

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Question: At what point does the Creator decide: “That’s it, I am done. I’ve submerged you in total desperation”?

Answer: Is it worth worrying about it? The Creator is an unchanging force, an unbendable law, perfection, eternity, and consistence. There are no changes in Him; everything is up to me. Depending on which side I turn to Him with determines the kind of response I will receive, in perfect correspondence with the course aimed at the purpose of creation.

The Creator is the world of Infinity (Ein Sof) where I’ll find the perfect Kli (vessel), the perfect Light, a perfect screen (Masach), and where all efforts, disappointments, successes, and everything else are collected. That is where my Reshimot (informational data) are leading me to.

From this perfect state, from the perfect strokes of the final picture, I receive motivating forces, according to my personal state. I am guided forth by small doses of despair and strength, enlightenment and concealment, that is, by the multifaceted and intricate governance.

I, however, don’t know in what combination these or the other beginnings will come. It is determined by the design of the soul that I attain gradually by advancing further and further. It is the soul where we attain the bond with Infinity, and hence, start to realize how the whole links together with its part, until they become one.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/9/2011, “What Are the Powers Which Are Needed for the Work”

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Question: If only “desire” was created, then what is intention? Is it a type of desire as well?

Answer: No it isn’t. Intention comes to us from the Creator. Every person has a point in the heart, “the Creator’s part given from Above.”

The truth of the matter is that we resulted from the breaking. Before us, there was a system of Infinity (Ein Sof), where the entire desire and the Light were one. Then we experienced the system of the breaking of the Kelim (vessels).

What did it give us? Now that we are here in the corporeal world, we still have desire, but instead of the Light, there are only sparks. Our desire is broken and acts solely with an egoistic intention to receive. In the course of history, from generation to generation, from lifetime to lifetime, it has developed at the still, vegetative, and animate levels.

Finally, during one of its lifecycles, it reaches the final stage when a point, a spark of Light, the Creator’s part given from Above, emerges in a person. “What about me?” it asks as it wakes up to life, and that’s when man feels a conflict within.

At the animate level, such internal conflicts don’t arise because at that point we were developed by instinctive impulses and urges. We wanted to use others to the utmost and succeed in all that we did.

All people, young and old, strive to gain the most out of this world. They exist only in one desire: the will to receive pleasure. Thinking that it is worth living for, they don’t ask questions about something greater than that. After all, questions grow from within, from the fertile inner ground, and until then we are mere mammals. We view vital issues through the prism of our mind and various beliefs.

This goes on until man despairs of the desire, until his or her point in the heart unfolds, which characterizes our generation. Thus, the point in the heart is the beginning of the soul. This is what triggers human development.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/7/2011, Writings of Rabash

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