Question: If, while reading The Zohar, I can’t keep the intention and don’t understand why it is needed, does it mean that I am “drilling a hole in the boat?”

Answer: First of all, I have to discern if I need the “boat” at all, and do I intend to achieve something or not? The “boat” is the sum of our intentions, whereas desires without intention are nothing but a big hole. Intentions that we can create above desires build the “boat” for us, the beginning (Rosh) of a degree, the screen and the Reflected Light, the spiritual vessel (Kli). The Kli is not a desire, but the intention above it.

Question: What is my responsibility before the group?

Answer: If I am trying to think about the goal, thereby, I take responsibility for my friends that they will also be thinking about it. If I am protecting our “boat” with my intentions and want us to build it up as a complete Kli which has the screen and Reflected Light, and if I am taking care of it with all my heart so that my friends also constantly think about it, thereby, I keep them in the intention.

This is what is called the guarantee. What do I guarantee? I ensure that they won’t abandon the goal.
[27555]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/24/10, The Zohar

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Question: During the study, if I feel a strong pain from an injury, how do I focus on the intention and not on the pain?

Answer: We understand that we are undergoing a certain process. As we continue along this process, to the best of our ability, we draw the Light that Reforms. The Light’s influence determines everything for us.

This action is dependent on the general system which contains the souls that have already merited the revelation, the souls that still remain in deep slumber, and the souls that are on the path to awakening. We are found in between the sleeping and those who are actively working in the general system, doing all they can to help others. With the help of the advice of the Kabbalists, we are trying to understand how to wake up, to transition from slumber to revelation, to true action as fast as possible.

We were given an opportunity in the group, the teacher, and the original sources. We are supported by souls in the spiritual world who yearn to help us the way adults help children. All that is needed is our efforts.

Now, we need to really clarify what specifically depends on us so that we don’t scatter our meager strength and only confuse ourselves. Indeed, if a person doesn’t know what to do, it is best he sit still and do nothing. If he does act, he must do precisely what’s required. After all, the world is full of foolishness and excess, and if we add our own part to it, we will simply bury ourselves under useless actions and turn too far off the path.

The most powerful means of advancement is the Light. Its influence, drawn as a result of every bit of our effort, completes every step taken toward correction. Therefore, in every state, we must first and foremost see the Light’s doing.

Having realized and accepted the fact that the Light is behind everything, we must be grateful for this and recognize our state as optimal for our advancement. As a rule, every state is correct if I realize that it comes from Above. This is enough for now I have a link to the cause, thanks to which I can awaken to independent action.

This action lies in being grateful for what is happening, positive and negative alike, and trying to achieve unity and revelation of the Creator, the quality of bestowal, out of the current state. If a person is no longer in deep slumber and can consciously connect his state with the Light, the Creator, and the group, regardless of what he may be feeling, that is certainly a good thing.
[27549]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/24/10, The Zohar, Introduction, Article “”Among All the Sages of the Nations of the World, There Are None Like You”

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The Book of Zohar, Introduction, Article “Among All the Sages of the Nations of the World, There Are None Like You,” Item 161: Rabbi Shimon said… “Once, a philosopher from the nations of the world came to me. He told me, ‘You say that your God rules over the whole of the heaven, and all the armies and the camps do not attain or know His whereabouts.’ This verse does not give Him much respect, for it is written, ‘For among all the sages of the nations and in all their kingdoms, there is none like You.’ Why this comparison to people, who have no persistence?”

On the spiritual path, questions arise in a person; it is as if a philosopher starts talking in him. In this case, this happened to Rabbi Shimon. A philosophical thought crossed his mind, a quite logical and rational question of this world about the Creator.

Surely, this “philosopher” is intelligent, and his postulates and arguments are true. It is said, “Believe the wisdom of the nations.” In other words, nothing in this world can withstand logic and common sense.

The wisdom of Kabbalah does not reject this. It’s just that it uses a different program, a different mind, a different approach. That’s why it’s unintelligent to apply the logic of our world to the spiritual reality. These are two incomparable things, different Kelim (vessels).

Needless to say, questions cross your mind, and there’s no doubt that you can prove your case to everyone since others use the same type of logic as you. According to the information inside the egoistic desire, your complaints are reasonable. The starting point, the approach, the analysis, and the result, everything is correct. Everything to do with our world obeys its laws.

However, we are talking about the study of the spiritual world where our laws don’t work, where our logic and perception are helpless. This is what the authors of The Book of Zohar are trying to explain.

In this case, what can I do at all? Without mind and perception, what have I got? A drop of seed? Exactly. I’ve been given the point in the heart, and from the very first moment my work on it is above the level of this world. I unite with the other points which I was brought to, I attract the force of unity with the help of the books that also do not belong to this world, and all this is to reveal the force of bestowal.

The field of my action from beginning to end is separated from our world. The earthly approach is forbidden here. This is an altogether different “territory,” a state of a higher order where the questions of “philosophers” lose their ground.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/24/10, The Zohar, Introduction, Article “”Among All the Sages of the Nations of the World, There Are None Like You”

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Question: Can a scrooge reach bestowal?

Answer: There is no person who wouldn’t be able to change, provided he is mentally sound. We are all “sinners” and “transgressors.” This is why we turn to the wisdom of Kabbalah: We want the Light to correct us so that we will merit it, will become similar to it.

Nothing in a person can become an insurmountable obstacle. Everybody has an opportunity to correct himself if he avoids quibbling with and scorning spiritual work.
[28036]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/29/10, The Zohar, Introduction, “The Rose”

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Question: What is “a rose that has thirteen petals”?

Answer: Numbers in Kabbalah characterize a state. In general, we study the states of our desire relative to the Creator. There are only two players in this game: the desire to enjoy and the Light, the Creator. Kabbalists describe their interrelationships to us.

There are different ways to do it. One of the options is numeric characteristics. Numbers do not designate a numeric value; rather, they point to characteristics of the states. Each number carries a specific inner essence and symbolizes something.

Th number 13 indicates addition, meaning the additional Sefirot HaGaT. All other numbers and their numeric value (Gematria) are calculated according to the same principle.

In general, there are no colors, distances, noises, or forms in spirituality. Whatever the Kabbalists describe to us, they always point to the character of the interaction between desire and the Light. Everything comes down to a single parameter: to what measure desire becomes similar to the Light in all of its properties.

Each desire consists of 10 Sefirot or 613 parts. Hence, each desire can be considered to be a certain totality or volume; it is not a singular stroke, but a set of multitude details of perception. As a result, we attribute it a name, characterize it with a certain light, sound, and form. But ultimately, we always compare desire with the Light.

Similarly, all objects of our world, from solid ones to gases, can be pictured in the form of waves of a certain length, which draw images in our consciousness.
[28039]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/29/10, The Zohar, Introduction, “The Rose”

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The Book of Zohar, Introduction, Article “The Rose,” Item 1: These five lights are the light that the Creator created on the first day. Adam was watching it from the end of the world to its end.

Question: Why does it say, “from the end of the world to its end,” and not “from the beginning of the world to its end”?

Answer: In our perception, we exist between the attributes of judgment and mercy, between the two lines. Our entire world “fits” between the forms of these borders.

Hence, in a given context, we cannot see the world from the beginning to the end. In each state the world is limited by the bounds of our Kli (vessel), which we are able to detect.
[28046]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/29/10, The Zohar, Introduction, “The Rose”

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Every person in this world has to reveal the Creator in his or her sensations and have no doubts that he feels and understands Him. Attainment is the deepest and ultimate level of our perception.

All my organs of perception – the feelings, mind or intellect, and heart – have to be filled with absolute spiritual revelation. All doubts, contradictions, past questions, and clarifications get dissolved, and I arrive at the complete, final fulfillment and ultimate understanding. The entire desire to enjoy created by the Creator has evolved and has been filled completely.

If a person has no need for such revelation, he can continue living an ordinary life. I wish him luck from the depth of my heart. However, if he is not satisfied with such a life, if he wants to know what he is living for, what the meaning of his life is, then he must reveal the root, the source of life, and for this, he needs the wisdom of Kabbalah. If he cannot find answers to these questions in religion, “spiritual” methods, various hobbies, or drugs, he remains empty and needs to reveal the meaning of life.

There are many phenomena in nature, the revelation of which requires additional devices: telescopes or microscopes. However, there is something that I’m unable to discover because nature is much more complex than I.

It’s not because it acts within a wider range, where certain locators could be of use. Nature is full of phenomena that I cannot even envision since I’m built according to three axes; this is how my brain is structured.

However, a point awakens in me and insists that all of my current knowledge is not enough. I see that conventional science does not satisfy me. This point is from another dimension.

In it, there are no three coordinate axes, time, motion, or place; it’s something completely different. It’s not just a space with a few additional axes, compressed or expanded. Rather, it is a totally different reality completely unconnected to the one that exists here.

And if I can investigate this upper reality, am I not a scientist? Of course, I am, and a true one!
[28077]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/29/10, “Body and Soul”

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Question: If during the lesson a person feels anger and hatred toward the friends, how can he build the intention directed toward unity?

Answer: First of all, one needs to see himself in this. Then, he has to envision a correct picture: I and the Creator are positioned on the opposite poles, and in between us, there is the group. I form my attitude toward the group until I see the Creator in it. Indeed, this is the Place where I reveal Him and the Upper World.

On one hand, in order to unite with the friends, I can subject the group to criticism: Our effort is not unified enough. But on the other, how can I make sure that I am not just nagging or sliding the mud of my egoism on the friends?

I see it from their feedback, from how they raise the importance of the goal in my eyes. Then, having being imbued with the importance of the goal, I turn to the group in order to find the Surrounding Light (Ohr Makif) that Reforms between us.

Thanks to the impact of the Light I undergo changes and again turn to the friends to reveal the Creator between them. This ends the initial cycle of my analysis. Then, the next Reshimo (spiritual gene, record) awakens, and a new round begins.
[27916]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/28/10, The Zohar, Introduction, “The Rose”

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Question: What can we do to force the Upper Light to elevate us to the first spiritual degree?

Answer: There is only one answer: Keep on trying to check: Are really turning to the Upper Light or its source, the Creator? Are you binding all the factors together? Because if you are not, then you are straying off the path; you are not turning to the right place and are not bringing in the broken vessel (Kli) of your soul, saying: “Please fix it for me here!”

Suppose you take a leaking bucket, come to a blacksmith, and say: “Look, there is a hole here. I want you to fix it.” Then, as per your request, he sees the hole and stops it up.

The same happens in spirituality. You have to bring your vessel (desire) with the place of the breaking and say what needs to be done, what it means for you to be corrected. Then the Light will surely make it happen.

The Light must carry it out; it is the action itself. Your job is to prepare the intention for this action. The Light instantly glues, mends, or puts a patch. It is done by the Light. But it’s up to you to do everything else.

On the higher spiritual degrees you have to bring the Kli knowing precisely the measure to which it is broken and how it can be fixed. At that point, you take the example of correction from the Upper One; you agree with him completely or partially. You analyze not just intention, but types of correction.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/28/10, The Zohar

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Question: What deficiency of the spiritual work allows the “impure forces” (egoistic intentions) to cling to it?

Answer: It happens when I, in my spiritual work, allow the egoistic intentions (impure forces) to arise and exist in me by wanting to use spiritual data, forces, and discernments egoistically. It diverts me from the goal. Being on guard against these thoughts is called “the measure of purity” in the work.

I may err in my intentions; however, a conscious desire (intention) “to bestow in order to receive” or “to receive in order to bestow” is an impure act. On the other hand, purity is defined by my discerning whether or not I steal from spirituality for the sake of corporeality.

It is very important not to try to extract any personal benefit from anything that pertains to spiritual work. We are held strictly accountable for this.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/28/10, Beit Shaar HaKavanot

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