Question: How many people must hold the intention simultaneously in order for the spiritual connection to get revealed?

Answer: Only I. If I uncover my desire to unify with the others, I discover that they are already united. It seems to me that they are not unified in order for me to work on them and them on me. Yet, all of this is in relation to me.

As long as I am not corrected, I see my corruption in them and work on them so that they influence and strengthen me. Thanks to their support, I correct myself and then see that they are becoming more corrected as well. After all, “every person judges according to their own flaws.”

It turns out that I must worry only about my own correction. What about the others then? If I see that the world is broken, I have to correct it. This means that I correct myself. In this case, if I treat the others with the intention to bestow, I don’t see them in the broken state. Rather, I see the Shechina (divinity) in them, the revelation of the Creator Who fills the entire world.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/21/10, The Zohar

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Question: What can be done if, during the reading of The Zohar, the intention weakens because the mind keeps trying to understand the content of the text?

Answer: We shouldn’t pay attention to it. Intention must become increasingly stronger during the lesson since the friends should think about it together. And if each of them holds the intention, it cannot be so that someone drops out of it.

Here we truly get connected in the spiritual communication network between us, not in the material one. If I hold the intention to bind myself to “Israel” (those who aim directly to the Creator), the Torah (the Light), and the Creator are one” so that I, the Creator, and the group became as one whole and reveal the Light that fills the entire reality; if all of us strive to experience this condition and, due to reading of The Book of Zohar, the Light has to reveal it to us, then this intention will “burn” in us more intensely. But if I feel that my intention has become weaker, in this, I depend on the all the others 100%.

In this respect, we are truly working inside the spiritual network. Thereby, we enter the spiritual world and act in it to the best of our ability to hold the intention and bind “Israel, the Torah, and the Creator” together.

We already act this way in the spiritual world and only have to uncover it for ourselves. Therefore, we demand the Light to reveal it to us.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/22/10, The Zohar

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Keter and Bina possess such special properties that they can descend anywhere they wish to and work on the lowest desires. Bina is Hassadim (mercy), and Hassadim can dwell in any place, protected by their intention of bestowal in order to bestow. But how can Keter do the same if, beside Hassadim, it has Hochma (wisdom)?

The key is that Keter fills the desires and relates to everything from below upward. Hence, it is able to descend into any desires living in egoistic intentions, just as Bina, but for a completely different reason.

Keter is the property of the Creator who wishes to fill the entire creation, Malchut, to the fullest. It isn’t the Light of fulfillment, Hochma, but the plan of creation, its initial thought, its program. In a way, it determines what the Creator wishes for us in the very end: to elevate us to His status.

This is why the Sefira of Hochma is marked with the final point of the letter “Yod”: It is the program that begins to get realized, starting with the Sefira of Hochma and below. Hochma is the Light of the purpose of creation, and, below it, Bina is the Light of correction.

Thus, there is GAR, the three upper Sefirot related to the Creator: Keter is the program, Hochma is the purpose of creation, and Bina is the correction of the created being. Further on, the realization of the lower ones takes place. It is Zeir Anpin, the system which determines how the lower one should change and what sequence of acts is necessary for that. As to the lower one, which must change and undergo these modifications, it is Malchut. This is how the created being gets arranged from five parts.

And since Keter is the point of conception, the program of creation, the original idea, it is present in any place! After all, without this idea, nothing would exist, not even the tiniest of desires.

But in relation to the lower ones, Keter acts from below upward since it is aimed solely at elevating them to correction, even if it has to descend into the lowest Klipot (shells) and commit some transgressions on this journey. But after that, as The Book of Zohar describes, all of these problems and transgressions seem to have been correct actions to us, which we had to undergo because they helped us to see our final corrected state.

All of this is done by the Creator’s hand, and we ourselves haven’t made any mistakes, committed any crimes, or made any corrections. Hence, in all its behavior and treatment of the lower ones, Keter is above all limitations and restrictions. It is the thought contained in every particle of creation and its every action. Hence, it expands everywhere and works from below upward in order to connect all parts of creation and lead them to the end of correction (Gmar Tikkun).

Bina works in a different manner: It is the Light of Hassadim, the correction of the created being. Correction may take place in any condition and any place according to the desire of the lower one to be corrected and to receive the property of Bina, the attribute of bestowal. If you wish for it, you will get it, without a limit!

Therefore, Bina also can expand everywhere since it is Hafetz Hesed (pure bestowal). On the other hand, Hochma is the Light of the purpose of creation that fills the desires after their correction is done by Bina, which had been received beforehand. Zeir Anpin organizes the process that determines how such correction is carried out.

Bina, wishing to be similar to the Creator, gives birth to Zeir Anpin (ZA) and works within it in order to bring it to the level of Keter. But ZA cannot attain the level of Keter as Bina desires it to do since ZA can do so only with the help of Malchut!

It turns out that ZA is the concealed Creator, Keter, the highest quality, Atzmuto, the plan of creation. ZA and Malchut work in a pair because ZA cannot become as Keter unless Malchut joins ZA and passes all her desires to him.

Hence, Malchut can correct itself only by following ZA’s example. Watching Him, she learns what desires and correction she needs in order to merge with Him. Malchut is all the souls, ZA is the Creator, and their coupling is the merging of all the souls with the Creator.

But when they finally merge, they ascend to AB – SAG, Hochma and Bina. And when they merge there, they become part of Keter. That is where the program of creation ends!
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/22/10, Beit Shaar HaKavanot

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A person living in this world does not know what will happen to him at the next moment. He does not understand why the things that happened to him yesterday happened and from where his thoughts and desires are now originating. He feels that he is controlled by unpredictable forces, as if he is hung in the air in relation to his past, present, and future. And he tries to find some kind of support, searching for an explanation to the universe with the help of logical reasoning and hypotheses.

His ego grows and asks more and more questions about life, and about what awaits him after death. The more strength we acquire through the development of technology, which opposes nature, the more powerfully nature comes out against us, forcing us to find the answer about how we are governed and what is the meaning of life. As a result, we feel as if we are in empty space.

When man lived in caves and chased mammoths, he thought that he knew everything about his life. He felt and understood the world much more than we do. We, on the other hand, are unsatisfied by any of the existing theories. We need a clear answer because we are unable to properly arrange even our day to day lives. So many questions arise that we are unable to cope with them.

It’s like mathematics: In order to find one unknown, it is sufficient to have one equation. To find out two unknowns, you need two equations. However, in our lives we end up with many unknowns while having less and less data or facts with which to build a formula.

The philosophical and religious explanations of the past no longer work on us; we cannot rely on them. We demand facts and proofs, meaning attainment. If we knew that we do not have any freedom of will, then we would build a completely different society and relationships in it, a different system of punishment and justice. The problem that Kabbalah proposes to solve is not theoretic, but very practical: to determine where and how we can influence and realize this opportunity.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/28/10, “Body and Soul”

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Question: What is my intention and why is it so important if my mind and feelings are not taken into account in spiritual advancement?

Answer: Intention is the human within me; it defines what I want out of everything I have within. Everything I am filled with – perceptions, mind, hopes, fantasies, dreams, the past, present, and future – all of this gets mixed and discerned by me: What do I want out of all of this?

I don’t comprehend this mixture. Everything is tangled: Today it’s one thing, tomorrow another. But what I want is regarded as my intention.

In other words, now I look above my life and everything I have and decide what is the most important to me. It is the point where I can make a decision: I can either submerge myself in the “cocktail” I have mixed and forget about everything, returning to my daily life. Or, I can rise above it and wish to excavate from all this mix only what I can use for my advancement, the future life. This is what I must decide, and this is why intention defines the human being in me.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/25/10, The Zohar

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The science that leads us to receiving pleasure and fulfillment and brings us the sensation of comfortable, eternal, and complete life without a slightest recollection of any loss or lack is called the wisdom of Kabblah. It is a science that teaches how to obtain comfort in life by joining the good. After all, this is our true desire and nature.

We shouldn’t try to conceal or decorate it, or deceive ourselves. On the contrary, we need to discern what is worth desiring and, in accordance with that, clarify what our greatest desire is and what pleasure it can bring. Therefore, the entire wisdom of Kabbalah has been revealed to us so that we aim at the correct goal, the correct desire, and then cultivate it as much as possible.

However, in order to perceive the Creator, we must realize that the sensation of pleasure is only possible if I am equivalent to this pleasure, to the Creator. To receive pleasure from Him means to understand and feel Him. And this means that we have to be like Him, meaning to bestow, to give. But first, I have to comprehend what it means, and then I will be receiving His delights.

To the degree that I adapt to and resemble Him, become similar to Him, to that degree I begin feeling Him and delight in Him. Hence, the essence of our work lies in becoming similar to the Creator. The more I resemble Him, the closer I am to Him, the better I understand and feel Him.

But if I wish to merge with certain pleasures, it means I love them. Wanting to merge with the Creator, we, thereby, bond with the pleasure of bestowal, meaning that we have to love this quality.

How do we achieve it? That is what the wisdom of Kabbalah is all about. As soon as we learn to love the quality of love and bestowal, we will immediately begin to understand, feel, and enjoy the Creator.
[27829]
From the Introductory Lecture “Kenes-Springboard” 11/2/10

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Question: The Creator is concealed, but instead of Him I have the group. How can I see pure bestowal in it?

Answer: There are always disturbances in the group, and it is precisely with their help that we can do wonderful exercises, practicing to become similar to the Creator. Any negative must be used precisely as it was intended in order to turn it into a positive.

Everything is for the best; we only have to act correctly, without backing down from what is happening and by building the right attitude to it. “Everything is for the best” does not mean that we accept the inevitable ahead of time, as people commonly do. Rather, above the disturbance or example we received, we must first of all discern the final point, the corrected state. Then I will find the way to turn the incorrect into the correct, to unite myself in the present, the disturbance (which may be related to the friends, the Creator, or even my personal circumstances), and the goal of creation.

I will find out how to correct any aspect, be it a desire, intention, thought, or event. Not only will I be able to justify it and attribute it to the Creator, but I will also attach it to a connection with Him. I will understand to what extent I have to reconstruct my desire and way of thinking in relation to the given event, and how much I have to change my perception of the event in order to see that the Creator has brought me goodness.

The sign of this will be joy: I am happy because the Creator has given me the opportunity to come that much closer to Him. That is how our efforts gradually accumulate into a great possession.
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/28/10, The Zohar

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Question: When we read The Zohar, we try to imagine something that we are not able to perceive as of now: the general soul of Adam HaRishon and unity. Doesn’t this mean that we are transgressing the law of the Torah by “creating an idol”?

Answer: This isn’t so. I don’t picture any material images of this world. I simply wish to sense a connection with others. For the time being, I picture this connection in my limited imagination and therefore see it as conventional relations. But being described is a feeling, a desire, and not material images. Though it may be egoistic, we are nevertheless trying to draw closer to a spiritual form. A person builds himself out of what he has.

We have to strive to reveal your connection with others. It already exists, only it is concealed from me. I try to find this connection through darkness and fog and wait for The Zohar to lift the veil that’s covering my senses and reveal the true picture.

I will see this picture with my heart rather than my eyes. Then I will truly feel everything that The Book of Zohar describes. Right now, I don’t know how it will be exactly, but it certainly will be in a form of interconnections.

After all, nothing exists but the types of interconnections among the parts of a spiritual desire, which are called “the soul.” The Light of NRNHY runs between these desires. Ultimately, this Light is the Creator.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/23/10, “Hakdama, BeLaila De Kala (The Night of the Bride)”

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Question: Why is it said that in order to get corrected, broken souls have to rise to the World of Atzilut if at first we have to go through all the worlds of BYA, step by step, starting with Malchut de Malchut of the World of Assiya?

Where am I: in Malchut of the World of Atzilut or some place in the worlds of Assiya, Yetzira, and Beria? If the Land of Israel is located in the World of Yetzira, whereas the most sacred place of the Temple that only the High Priest can enter is located in the World of Beria, how can I possibly be higher than him?

Answer: When I ask for correction, I rise together with a point in my heart to Malchut of the World of Atzilut, an assembly of souls of Israel. Our correction happens in Malchut of the World of Atzilut; it is our homeland, our Keter. Anything lower than the worlds of BYA is, in fact, dispersal of Malchut, her nine lower Sefirot.

All the worlds, Partzufim, and souls that are lower than the Parsa (beneath the borderline of the World of Atzilut) belong to Malchut de Atzilut. In other words, in order to get corrected, I have to rise there and connect with Malchut of the World of Atzilut. But where does the correction of me and my soul happen?

The common soul of Adam HaRishon is present in the worlds of BYA (starting with its “head” in GAR de Beria until the “feet” of the World of Assiya). If I raise my soul into Malchut de Atzilut and ask for correction, I receive the Light that Reforms from Above (it descends to me from the World of Infinity through all the worlds and is “meant” specifically for me). With this Light, I correct the connection between Zeir Anpin and Malchut of the World of Atzilut, which relates to me. Thus, I correct the broken connection between Malchut and Zeir Anpin (Shechina and the Creator).

I am representing the “bride’s friends” that support the Torah, which The Book of Zohar describes in the chapter called “The Night of the Bride.” I help her connect with the “Groom” and, therefore, I am called “a son of the bridal chamber.” By doing so, I correct my soul since Zeir Anpin and Malchut got separated only because of me, so that I would re-unite them and thus assemble all pieces back together.

When I re-establish the first connection between Malchut and Zeir Anpin, I correct my first spiritual level, Malchut de Malchut of the World of Assiya (see Baal HaSulam’s “Introduction to The Book of Zohar ”). The second time that I manage to reconnect Malchut with Zeir Anpin, I correct my Yesod de Malchut de Assiya, and so on. Each time I support Malchut and thereby elicit her union with Zeir Anpin. This is how I correct my soul.

In other words, we always raise our request (MAN) to Shechina, meaning to Malchut of the World of Atzilut. But our correction and revival happens in the worlds of BYA since Adam HaRishon was born in the worlds of BYA and doesn’t sense anything outside of them; these worlds are his environment. He rises and falls together with them.

Since I want to please the Creator, my intention raises to Malchut de Atzilut. Because I do so, I get corrected in the worlds of BYA, within my environment.

Let’s hope to rise to the level at which we, like a High Priest, enter the “Holy of the Holies,” meaning Bina of the World of Beria. This is how I raise Zivug ZON (Zeir Anpin and Nukva) to AVI (Aba ve Ima).
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The Book of Zohar — Selections, Chapter “The Rose (Shoshanah),” Item 1, Lesson 1
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The Book of Zohar — Selections, Chapter “Tzav (Command),” Item 136
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Baal HaSulam, “Beit Shaar HaKavanot,” Lesson 58
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Rav Yehuda Ashlag, “Body and Soul,” Lesson 4
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