Question: It is written that Rabbi Shimon cried while writing The Book of Zohar because he feared to reveal the secret. "Woe if I tell it and woe if I don’t. If I do, then the sinners will learn to work for their master. And if I don’t, then the friends will lose this great asset." What is the great secret concealed in The Book of Zohar that Rabbi Shimon cried about?

Answer: The secret of The Book of Zohar is that by relating to it the right way, it is possible to draw Upper Light from it that returns us to the Source. This Light can become the elixir of life for us as well as a deadly poison, depending on our attitude to The Zohar and to the Torah in general.

However, we see that there was no prohibition on studying the Pentateuch or Talmud even though they were also written by Kabbalists. Only The Zohar was concealed and prohibited for many years, and that is because there is a very powerful Light concealed inside this book which we are able to attract. Of course, the Torah also contains Light, but it is nearly inaccessible because of it’s exceeding height.

The Light of The Zohar is closer to us, but if a person is still inside his ego, he will want to use this Light egoistically. Then this Light will turn into a deadly poison for him.

If I want to attain bestowal, then this Light will be the elixir of life for me and will help me attain it. If, however, a person studies the Torah without intending to achieve bestowal, then he becomes more egoistic and starts to consider himself special, greater than others, and righteous. The Torah becomes a poison for him and increases his ego. Instead of lowering himself and feeling that he is smaller than others, he starts to feel the opposite, pride.

For the most part all of this happened recently, over the last century, when egoism reached a new level. That is why Kabbalists feared that people will start studying the science of Kabbalah egoistically as well, taking pride in it, and turning it into a business that sells "magical means" such as red strings, holy water, and blessings.

This will confuse people and push them away from correction, making them lose many life cycles until they finally reveal that this approach is a swindle and lie. But how much time and suffering will it take to get there!
[29759]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/14/10, “A Handmaid that is Heir to Her Mistress”

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It is dangerous to study The Book of Zohar with a desire that is not ripe yet, meaning a desire that still hasn’t exhausted itself in this world. This kind of desire still doesn’t understand that there is nothing to be done in this world other than to ascend from it to the world of correction.

A person can only reveal Kabbalah if he looks for the meaning of life and has to find what to live for. However, if he still does not have this question, then he begins to interpret Kabbalah egoistically and to adapt it to his own benefit, deceiving himself by thinking that he is correcting himself. He starts selling it and using it as a weapon for his ego. Instead of using it against egoism, he uses it to conquer things for the ego, and that’s how he turns it from the elixir of life into a deadly poison for himself and for others.

That is why Kabbalists feared revealing the science of Kabbalah and invented many prohibitions, such as first reaching the age of 40, the need to first learn the whole Torah, as well as total observance of the commandments. They even scared people off by saying that you can go crazy. All of this was done because egoism was still undergoing the process of its development.

The Book of Zohar itself states that it is destined to be revealed only at the end of days. Then this wisdom would be revealed for the correction of the world, which is now ready for correction. That is when Kabbalists come out, telling us that the time has come!

That is why Rabbi Shimon cried about how to write The Book of Zohar in such a way that even if it were to become revealed at the wrong time, it wouldn’t cause harm. This is why he wrote it with the help of Rabbi Abba in a special, secret code. We read The Book of Zohar without understanding where Rabbi Shimon is concealed behind Rabbi Abba, who wept so much about the revelation of the great secret.

Rabbi Shimon used Rabbi Abba as a "shield," an external shell, an opportunity to write in a concealed manner. A person can reveal the secret that was hidden by Rabbi Shimon only on the condition that he penetrates inside Rabbi Abba’s protective shell. Then he can accept Rabbi Shimon’s secret message, but he is unable to read it before that time.
[29762]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/14/10, “A Handmaid that is Heir to Her Mistress”

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

The Importance of Disseminating the Wisdom of Kabbalah

Be strong my friend, shining the Light of the concealed wisdom in the world. Now the days are near when all will know and recognize that the salvation of Israel [those who aspire to the Creator] and the salvation of the entire world [those who do not aspire to Him yet] depend only on the appearance of the wisdom of the hidden [by our egoism] Light of the internality of the secrets of Torah [Kabbalah] in a clear language.
– Rav Kook, Letters 1, 92

The tendency of revealing the secrets of Torah is the ideal goal in life and in reality. The darkness, with which the contents of sanctity are covered [by these secrets], causes man’s spirit to diminish, minimizing his aspirations. Thus, he is depleted, the whole of society weakens by the weakening of the individuals, and the nation becomes impoverished of spirit by the draining of its children’s’ spirit.
– Rav Kook, Orot HaKodesh [The Lights of Sanctity] 1, 142

The tenor of life is to attain [the property of bestowal] adhesion with Him, strictly [with the intention] for the sake of benefitting the Creator, or to reward the public with achieving adhesion with Him.
– Baal HaSulam, “The Solution”
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When turning to a Kabbalistic text, especially The Book of Zohar, we must realize the importance of spiritual attainment. After all, at the end of the day this is the only thing we want: not knowledge or scholastics, and not general knowledge of the material, but only pure attainment, which signifies that a person has revealed the Creator. This is the criterion by which we value things.

On the path to attainment the operating law is the law of equivalence of form, which does not make any compromises. On one hand, a person fully and entirely depends on the influence of the Upper Force. Nothing else can help him; he needs only help from Above. Whoever understands this builds the right attitude.

The Torah talks about this when describing the Egyptian exile: “The sons of Israel cried out from the work and their cry rose to the Creator.” In other words, they firmly knew that they will never attain anything by themselves.

On the other hand, spiritual progress is always built on the combination of opposites. Therefore, we also have to participate in the process ourselves. As a result, we make great efforts while at the same time being sure that only a “miracle from the heavens” will lead us out of the land of Egypt into the land of Israel.

It is necessary to reach despair from one’s own ability, and a person should not run away from this feeling. In addition, one must be confident that there will be help from Above and ceaselessly demand it with all of one’s strength.

A person must find himself in the state of the sons of Israel who cried out from the work. That’s when everything inside him along with the external environment fuses into one whole and creates these conditions, bringing him significantly closer to the exit from Egypt.

Therefore, we must try to correctly imagine ourselves in this point. This is where we perform all the necessary actions and later we don’t run away from the despair, but on the contrary, we transfer the entire force of our despair to a cry, a demand for correction.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/14/10, The Zohar

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

The Importance of Disseminating the Wisdom of Kabbalah

Not only are these secrets not forbidden to disclose, on the contrary, it is a great Mitzva [good deed] to disclose them (as written in Pesachim 119). And one who knows how to disclose and discloses them, his reward is plentiful. This is because on disclosing these Lights to many, particularly to the many, depends the coming of Messiah [correction of egoism of the masses] soon in our days Amen.
– Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Item 30

It is written that [in the future] each of the nations will hold a Jewish man and lead him to the Holy Land [the desire to bestow]. And it was not enough that they could leave by themselves. You must understand from where the nations of the world would come by such a will and idea. Know that this is through the dissemination of the true wisdom, so they will evidently see the true God [the property of bestowal and love] and the true law [Kabbalah].

And the dissemination of the wisdom in the masses is called "a Shofar." Like the Shofar, whose voice travels a great distance, the echo of the wisdom will spread all over the world, so even the nations [those who do not yet aspire to the revelation of the Creator] will hear and acknowledge that there is Godly wisdom in Israel [those who aspire to the Creator, Kabbalists].
– Baal HaSulam, “Messiah’s Horn”
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Dear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. The commentaries in brackets are mine.

The Importance of Disseminating the Wisdom of Kabbalah

For a long time now, my conscience has burdened me with a demand to come out and create a fundamental composition regarding the essence of Judaism, religion, and the wisdom of Kabbalah, and spread it among the nation, so people will come to know and properly understand these exalted matters in their true meaning.
– Baal HaSulam, “Time to Act”

Disclosure of the wisdom of the hidden in great masses, which is a necessary precondition that must be met prior to the complete redemption.
– Baal HaSulam, “Messiah’s Horn”

It is the great expansion of the wisdom of truth within the nation that we need first, so we may merit receiving the benefit from our Messiah [the force that corrects egoism and is called “Mashiach” from the Hebrew word “Limshoch,” to pull from egoism]. Consequently, the expansion [in the masses] of the wisdom [Kabbalah] and the coming of our Messiah are interdependent. Therefore, we must establish seminaries and compose books to hasten the distribution of the wisdom throughout the nation.
– Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot,” Item 5
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Dear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. The commentaries in brackets are mine.

An Opportunity for Redemption

The redemption of Israel [realization of the aspiration to the Creator] and the rise of Israel [fulfillment with the Light] depend on the study of The Zohar and the internality of the Torah. And vise versa, all the destruction and the decline of the Children of Israel are because they have abandoned the internality of the Torah. They have degraded its merit and made it seemingly redundant [and since the nations are subconsciously expecting it from us, if we we do not supply them with the means of attaining the upper world, they deem Israel unnecessary in this world].
– Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” Item 69
[28090]

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

An Opportunity for Redemption

Now you will understand what is written: The Zohar, “With this composition, the Children of Israel will be redeemed from exile.” Also, in many other places, only through the expansion of the wisdom of Kabbalah in the masses will we obtain complete redemption.

They also said, “The Light in it [The Zohar] reforms him.” They were intentionally meticulous about it, to show us that only the Light enclosed within it, “like apples of gold in settings of silver,” in it lies the cure that reforms a person. Both the individual and the nation will not complete the aim for which they were created, except by attaining the internality of the Torah and its secrets.
– Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot,” Item 5
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Dear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. The commentaries in brackets are mine.

An Opportunity for Redemption

If the nations accept the method of Kabbalah [correction of their egoism], then [as a result of correction] the Temple [general corrected desire that became similar to the Creator] can be built and the ancient glory [similarity to the Creator and fulfillment by His Light’] restored. This would certainly prove to the nations the rightness of Israel’s [the group that was entrusted with giving an example to all the nations] return to their land, even to the Arabs. However, a secular return, such as today’s, does not impress the nations whatsoever, and we must fear lest they will sell Israel’s independence for their needs [which will inevitably happen unless we prove that everybody needs us].
– Baal HaSulam, “The Solution”

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Question: You explained that the text we read in Talmud Eser Sefirot and The Book of Zohar describes the forces of connection between us. Can you give me an example of this connection?

Answer: If you were in spirituality, then you would actually reveal everything you read about in the book. You would reveal the forces of connection among us, including their might, character, how they operate, and how they unite together into the net connecting us.

You would participate in the net of these forces and its work, in the illumination of the Shechina. You would see how much you are able to take an active part in it, how much you can add to it yourself. While reading the text, you would see how this entire net behaves.

However, if you do not live inside spiritual attainment, it is impossible to convey this to you. Baal HaSulam writes in his poem, “Whatever your eyes will see, you will see it and no other.”

As long as you do not feel spirituality, you have to read these texts hoping that it will become revealed to you. We read the Kabbalistic texts in the quality of Segula (a miraculous quality), and not in the form of facts.

For example, suppose I am blind and I am listening to a physics professor tell me about optical laws. He tells me how a ray of light splits into several colors. Yet, I am just hearing about it. I do not understand what he is talking about, but only hear that these phenomena exist.

I can keep studying this way my entire life, without understanding what it is talking about. However, if I make special efforts and begin to feel the phenomena I heard about, then they become my life. This is called “Taste and see how good the Creator is.” You have to taste it – to receive these Lights and feel their taste.

The real science of Kabbalah begins only after you have this sensation.
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/6/10, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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