Every person has to study Kabbalah according to their ability

We have to sit at the study table again [after the collapse of this project in Russia] in order to re-examine the socialistic idea [“from each according to his ability, to each according to his need”] in the light of facts and contradictions that manifest in our times.

And we shouldn’t be afraid of making a conceptual breakthrough since preserving life is above everything. [We shouldn’t be afraid to disclose that the source of correction of man and society is the upper Light. Facing the threat of destruction and having undergone a certain process of development, people will be able to apprehend this.]
– Baal HaSulam, Newspaper "The Nation"
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Everyone Can Reveal the Creator In Our Time

In previous times, revelation of the Creator was impossible without the prior study of the seven external sciences and severe asceticism. Yet despite it all, only a few found mercy in the Creator’s eyes [revealed Him].

However, after we merited the teaching of the Ari and the spiritual work according to the system of Baal Shem Tov, it is truly suitable for every person, and people no longer need the aforementioned preparation.
– Baal HaSulam, Fruit of the Wise, Letters, Letter 38, 1927
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Question: How can we bring our inner movements to match the text of The Book of Zohar?

Answer: Relative to other Kabbalistic sources, this is actually easy to do with The Zohar because the speed and reading of the text are such that all you have to do is feel out how to “flow” together with it. But this does not mean that you are hearing its sound like the noise of a river that flows by.

“Flowing together with it” means that you are trying very calmly, as it is written, “The words of the sages are heard in calmness.” You are going together with the authors of The Zohar without any resistance, arranging your inner motions to suit the sound of the words. If you missed a few words and did not hear them, don’t worry and keep going with the following words. Thus, you continue with the flow like a wooden chip on waves, repeating all of the nuances of the water.

That is how we should enable our qualities, desires, and sensations to flow together with the text of The Zohar as if on the water’s surface, trying to suit this flow, trying to find where these qualities and desires The Zohar describes are inside of us. But we should look for them very simply and easily. The most important thing is to let this flow pass through you. After all, we are just a vessel or Kli through which this entire flow of words has to enter us.

When reading The Zohar, we do not try to activate the mind or discern the inner definitions. Even in places where The Zohar seems to use technical, scientific terms, using the language of Kabbalah, we should also try to let this text pass through the sensations rather than the mind, meaning to try to listen to our own feelings and impressions, trying to feel how every word echoes inside us regardless of the language that The Zohar uses.
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/9/11, The Zohar

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Kabbalists differ from one another in their degrees of development, their degrees of understanding and attainment. Naturally, this is also related to the types of souls that come down to our world in every generation.

In in his prophecy, Baal HaSulam writes that the Creator said to him: “’Take this sword in your hand….’” Essentially, this sword is a sign that the Creator has given him the power to correct the enormous human disharmony. “’Good things will happen through you, for until now, I had no such faithful man as you….’”

In one of his letters, Baal HaSulam writes that the Ari is a great Kabbalist who has revealed the method of correction to us. We are unable to appreciate their true height. For example, according to Baal HaSulam, Rabbi Akiva was naturally higher than Rashbi. However, Rashbi has revealed more to us than Rabbi Akiva, and he is more valuable in our eyes because we receive more from his instruction.

Likewise, the Ari is also extremely great and important for us. He developed the method of our correction because his soul pertains to the Messiah’s type, the son of Joseph (Mashiach ben Josef). Baal HaSulam writes that since then, there has not been a single person who was able to fully understand the method of the Ari. There have been many sages, but Baal HaSulam was the first one to merit receiving the soul of the Ari.

This does not depend on the person’s strengths, wisdom, or even his efforts in studying. This is activated by the inner purpose evoked by the system of souls, and this is why Baal HaSulam says that he simply merited it, while many others before him did not.

We do not understand this. We only see that one way or another, every person in the world has his own destiny which is referred to as his “luck,” his root. We need to be happy that we have received instruction from a person who was the new incarnation of the soul of the Ari in order to give us the method of correction in modern times.

This is why we use the works of Baal HaSulam. When you prepare for the lesson, it is very important to feel that you are about to study the primary source, the highest and most authentic source.

Even though we do not understand the spiritual world, it sometimes seems to us like someone has gotten lucky in the corporeal world, like someone has gotten ahead by chance. Success takes a lot of strength and effort for some, and fortune seems to be smiling on others.

According to Kabbalah, we understand that this comes from the root of one’s soul. This is why meriting a teacher like Baal HaSulam is a reason for great joy and a basis for assurance. We receive help from a special soul that works as a medium for the Creator to influence us and for us to connect with Him.

In the end, we receive strength from Above through the entire system of corrected souls, and we make sure to pass it on to the uncorrected souls, to every person who has not yet found contact with the force that corrects and fulfills us.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/28/2011, Writings of Rabash

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Dear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. The commentaries in brackets are mine.

613 Suggestions and 613 Deposits

We should keep the Torah and Mitzvot so [specifically because] it will bring us into purity [and not in order to receive reward in this or the next world or because it was commanded by the Creator]. Purity means purification of the Kelim [vessels] from the will to receive for oneself, which is called “dirt” [impurity] for it is in disparity of form from the Creator, who is all about [the property of] bestowal. Hence prior to cleaning the Kelim, it is impossible to place anything good [exalted] in them [it’s impossible to fill them with the sensation of eternity and perfection] because anything that is placed in a dirty Kli (vessel) will be spoiled [according to the law of the equivalence of form].

Therefore, we must seek good advice [of Kabbalists who already underwent the path of correction] for things that will purify our Kelim [egoistic desires]. This is called “qualification [suitability] and preparation to be able to receive the delight and pleasure” [which awaits us in the revelation of the Creator]. And because of that, we were given 613 Mitzvot [instructions], which The Zohar calls, “613 counsels.” These are suggestions on how to purify ourselves [our desires since man is specifically a vessel of desires] from the filth of our vessels of reception.

It is written in the “Introduction of The Book of Zohar” (p. 242), “The Zohar calls the Mitzvot in the Torah, ‘deposits.’ However, they are also called ‘counsels.’ The difference between them is that there are front and back in everything. The preparation for something is called ‘back,” and the attainment [reception] of that thing is called ‘front.’ Similarly, in Torah and Mitzvot there is ‘We shall do,’ and ‘We shall hear.’

When keeping the Torah and Mitzvot by way of ‘Who do His words [correcting their egoism],’ before they are rewarded with hearing, the Mitzvot are called ‘613 counsels,’ and they are considered ‘back.’ And when rewarded with hearing the voice of His word [the property of bestowal within], the Mitzvot become deposits [the sensation of the Light within], from the word “deposited.”
– Rabash, The Rungs of the Ladder, “Holiness and Purity in the Work”
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Kabbalists have prepared for us an easy and simple way of correction.

However, we find and see in the words of the sages of the Talmud that they have made the path of Torah [correction] easier for us than the sages of the Mishnah. This is because they said, “One should always practice the Torah and Mitzvot [correction of egoism], even Lo Lishma [for one’s sake], and from Lo Lishma [for one’s sake] he will come to Lishma [for the sake of others and the Creator] because the Light in it reforms him.”

Thus, they have provided us with a new means instead of the penance presented in the above-mentioned Mishnah, Avot: the “Light in the Torah.” It bears sufficient power to reform one and bring him to practice Torah and Mitzvot [correct egoism by the way of Light] Lishma [for the sake of others].
– Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Study of Ten Sefirot,” Item 10
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Man’s nature is completely egoistic. Hence, he cannot transform it by himself and needs an external force that would change him. This force can be evoked only by studying Kabbalah in the group.

Indeed, I admit that… one cannot change the nature of one’s own creation, which is only to receive for oneself, much less invert one’s nature from one extreme to the other, meaning to not receive anything for oneself, but rather act only to bestow.

Yet, this is why the Creator gave us Torah [the wisdom of Kabbalah] and Mitzvot [actions in the group] which we were commanded to do… to bring contentment to the Creator with them and not to benefit ourselves… [and thereby] invert our nature.
– Baal HaSulam “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar”
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Dear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. The commentaries in brackets are mine.

613 Suggestions and 613 Deposits

In several places in The Zohar, he calls the 613 Mitzvot, “613 counsels” [of how to correct the Kli] and in many other places in The Zohar he calls the 613 Mitzvot, “613 deposits” [the Lights that have to enter the corrected Kli]. This is so because at first, one must keep the Torah and the Mitzvot in order to refine his body [himself from egoism] and enhance his soul [the aspiration for bestowal and love].

At that time, the 613 Mitzvot are as 613 counsels [this type of correction] for him, “suggestions” by which to gradually refine and be awarded coming before the King [rising above egoism], and receiving the Light of his face. This is because keeping the Torah [attracting the Light] and Mitzvot [correcting 613 egoistic desires] gradually purify him [from natural egoism], until he is rewarded with the Light of the King’s face [the general, universal property of bestowal and love]. [Otherwise, there is no use of his actions.]

Also, it is written similarly in the Gemarah: “The Creator cares not if one slaughters at the throat or slaughters at the back of the neck [meaning that mechanical actions in and of themselves do not carry any meaning]? Rather, we were given the Torah and Mitzvot only to purify Israel [those who strive for the Creator, the property of ‘love thy neighbor as thyself’].”

However, after one has been sufficiently purified [from egoistic desires] and merits the Light of the King’s face [the property of bestowal], one’s eyes and soul [the will to bestow] open and he is awarded the attaining [within himself] the 613 Sacred Lights found in the 613 Mitzvot [corrected desires]. These are His Holy Names [attainment thereof], the ones he can attain.

By keeping each of the Mitzvot [correcting each desire], one takes [receives into it] the part of the Light deposited in that Mitzva since the Mitzva is a Kli (vessel) [desire] where the Light is clothed, meaning a Holy Name [His individual property] that belongs specifically to that Mitzva. This is the meaning of “The Mitzva is a candle and the Torah—Light.” At that time, he calls the 613 Mitzvot “613 commandments (deposits).”
– Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to the book, From the Mouth of a Sage”
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The only thing we can take from our study is to turn it into a “miraculous quality” (Segula), to attract “the Light that Reforms” to us. That is why we choose to study the books recommended to us by Kabbalists, the people who have already realized their correction, have attained the revelation of the Creator, adhesion with Him, the upper attainment, and have returned to the root of their soul.

That is to say, they carried out their task, which is incumbent on every person in this world, and attained their finally corrected state, Gmar Tikkun, the world of Infinity, unity with the Creator. That is why we listen to their instructions, and what they advise us is to study only the Kabbalistic books because they contain the Light that Reforms.

The Light contained in other books that also speak about the spiritual world (such as Torah, Mishnah, and Talmud) is insufficiently powerful to return our souls to the source. That does not mean they do not have spirituality! They were all written by great Kabbalists who had spiritual attainment, but these books are not intended to give us the force of correction. That is why we use them only as a small addition, while the entire study is based on The Book of Zohar with Baal HaSulam’s commentaries, as well as Talmud Eser Sefirot.

These are precisely the books that bring us the surrounding Light that is most suitable for the souls of our generation and have the force to correct us. A person who studies these books is called a sage or “a student of a sage” (Talmid Hacham) because he learns from the Creator (a sage) about the quality of bestowal. That person is “wise of heart” because he wants to correct his “heart,” his will to enjoy in order to turn it into a vessel for the Light of Hochma.

That is how we regard our study, group, teacher, dissemination, and our entire lives, so all of it will turn into a means to acquire this “miraculous force” (Segula), the Light that Reforms. This is the only thing we should think about from morning to night and from night to morning! After all, a person’s entire success in life depends on this Light.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/23/11, “Introduction to the book Panim Meirot uMasbirot”

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Dear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. The commentaries in brackets are mine.

613 Suggestions and 613 Deposits

There are two parts in Torah and Mitzvot.

A. The Torah and Mitzvot as they appear to all, are the keeping of Mitzvot and the study of Torah in the form of 613 counsels. These have the power to purify and refine the body [desires], and enhance the merit of the soul [intention] to be worthy and to merit receiving the Light of the King’s face, as the soul was in its root before it diminished and came into this base body [egoistic desire] in the base world.

B. Keeping the Mitzvot and studying the Torah in the form of 613 deposits, namely the matter of attaining His Names and the full reward of the souls.

The merit of the latter part over the former is as the merit of Heaven over Earth. This is because the first part is mere preparation, and the second part is the actual completeness and the purpose of Creation.
– Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to the Book, From the Mouth of a Sage”
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