While reading The Book of Zohar, one has to understand that The Zohar is not supposed to be processed by the mind. And if a person wishes to figure it out by way of the intellect, he will get tangled in every word since no word in The Book of Zohar points to anything familiar to us.

All of them hint at the spiritual states and properties. If a person is in the same spiritual state or world, he reveals what they are talking about. So, he knows what spiritual properties and definitions are being described; he feels, recognizes within himself this inner, spiritual world. After all, a person reveals the spiritual world inside, rather than outside of himself, as he perceives the entire reality only within.

As to someone who doesn’t possess spiritual perception yet, he is simply reading an unusual text. What are we reading The Zohar for then? We do so in order to add to it an aspiration to reach a state when we will understand, feel, recognize, and even experience all the spiritual states and properties The Zohar is telling about. All that I presently read as an incomprehensible story, I wish to experience inside myself and live in it.

We must cultivate this desire in us. In order to see the spiritual world, we only lack a desire, a yearning for it, and not more. Therefore, now, as we read The Zohar, we must, all together, to the best of our ability strive to reveal this hidden world.

Even though we don’t have a special need for it (since we don’t know what we are reading), we are still reading this text together. Hence, from this very same concealed state, we draw upon ourselves the illumination regarded as “the Light that Reforms,” “the Surrounding Light,” which affects us.

It doesn’t reveal the concealed world, but rather it awakens in us the needs, desires, and properties of perception, new sensory organs, after which the revelation occurs. The Light functions so as to create in us the capacity for sensing the concealed. Hence, we yearn for the Surrounding Light to enable us to feel the hidden world.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/6/2011, The Book of Zohar

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Question: What do we need in order for the system called “Zohar” to bring us to unification?

Answer: We need to have more intention, desire. The Zohar is the integral system of all of reality. But why is it called “Zohar”? And why do we have to open a specific book, read a specific text that is written by a specific person, and listen to specific words?

This general system of reality is designed to be connected to us through the great Kabbalists who are the mediators in creating a tie between this system and us and who express this connection in words and sentences.

I read this Book and understand nothing. I might as well read it backwards. The point is that I desire to connect with them, these Kabbalists that passed on their writings to me, because they wanted me to connect to them, these souls, their unity, and to come to them with this unity as well.

How will I know that I am connecting with them? If I unite with my group, my aim is definitely correct: to unify with these great souls, enter the same global, integral system, become its indispensable part, and to aspire to it at least in some small degree. This is precisely what we need.

One person is thinking about it, another not so much, and the other sometimes. But in general, if we strive to be as one whole, everyone’s individual aspirations will unite as one.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/4/2011, The Book of Zohar

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Kabbalah, first and foremost, is a science. And a science cannot be mastered while you are lying down on the couch with a book in your hands. It certainly counts as well, but a science requires studying.

Hence, we are opening special courses so that a person could gain the most basic knowledge in a few months. First, he or she must understand what the science of Kabbalah is. We don’t pressure them; a person is not expected to work on, to correct himself or herself. For starters, they come and receive a certain amount of information without which they cannot comprehend where they are.

A person receives an explanation about the structure of our and the spiritual worlds, the connection between them, the transition into spirituality, the upper governance, the origin of the soul’s root, and the way to reach it. He gets to know what “luck” (Mazal), the Lights that “trickle” to us (Nozel), is; how Kabbalah relates to religions, faiths, science, and other things; what the meaning of time, space, and movement is; how to approach the perception of reality correctly; what free will entails, and much more.

A person has to learn all of this in a condensed, simple, and clear manner, by asking questions to a competent instructor who has studied with us for many years, has finished the necessary courses, and passed examinations. Our instructors are professionals in their field. In a short time, they will provide you with all the basic knowledge. I personally stand by it.

If, however, a person neglects the correct learning order, he or she will keep lacking it. He will be just like a graduate who was a bad student in school and now cannot find a job since he doesn’t even know the multiplication table.

Therefore, I strongly recommend signing up for these courses. They consist of three semesters: The first two provide basic knowledge, while the third offers a wide range of additional opportunities designed toward continuous education. Some students don’t wish to end these studies continue with them for several years now.

Good luck!
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/29/2011, “The Freedom”

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Question: What is the method of teaching Kabbalah to children?

Answer: It is very easy to explain any phenomenon to a child. It only seems difficult to us; however, that is not so.

It is written that the one teaching a child is as if writing on a blank sheet of paper, whereas we, grown-ups, must write on paper we ourselves have doodled on. First we must neutralize our thoughts, desires, prejudices, and preconceptions, erase many things within, and only after we can try writing something. But experience shows that it is easy working with children.

I have seen this in my son’s example. When I began studying with Rabash, I would repeat the material we read during the lesson at home. My seven year-old son would sit next to me, and I would recite the text back to him in order to better take in the material. I saw that he perceived and remembered it better than I did. I asked him questions, and he answered correctly.

Then I understood that the more pure the person, even still a child, the more naturally he perceives Kabbalah. This is because in reality, it is a science of nature, and we see this on the children. I am jealous of how naturally they all perceive it!

Many things register in them simply through repetition, without having to sense them, because their sensory mechanism has not yet been developed. The sensation will come at a later time, during the time of the eruption of hormones. But by then, they will already be filled with different laws and formulas. So once their hormones will start working and desires will begin to surge, they will know how to regulate them.
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From Lesson 6, WE! Convention 4/3/2011

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When reading a Kabbalistic article, a person needs to attune himself or herself correctly to its perception. Not a single word in the wisdom of Kabbalah speaks of our world, ever. We do not exist in this world. It is an imaginary world; it is not taken into account at all and does not fit in with the entire system of the worlds. It simply does not exist!

Therefore, Kabbalah does not talk about this world, man’s physical body, or certain geographical places: the land of Israel, the Sinai desert, Egypt, or Babylon. It only concerns itself with the internal states a person undergoes in his aspiration to reach correction, the purpose of creation.

If a person has the point in the heart and aims himself or herself at the purpose of creation, on the path toward this goal, he begins to experience various states. The wisdom of Kabbalah and all the Kabbalistic books—the Torah, Talmud, The Study of the Ten Sefirot, Mishna, and so on—describe these states, these degrees in particular. All spiritual, “sacred” books talk exclusively about “sanctity,” meaning about reaching the property of bestowal referred to as sanctity.

Hence, while reading these articles, we need to completely sever ourselves from all familiar material pictures and images and imagine only spiritual degrees, meaning the degrees of coming closer to or further away from the property of bestowal. They talk only about it. These books describe desire created by the Creator, its state in each of us, and our experience on the path when, from our current state, we start aspiring to the property of bestowal, to love of another, which is called “sanctity.”
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/24/2011, Writings of Rabash

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Question: Ever since we started studying the article “There is none else besides Him,” I feel totally confused about the intention. If the upper Light is constantly at work, doing 100%, then what is the “Light that reforms?” And whom do I ask for it? From whom do I demand it for others? What works here if everything is inside of me?

Answer: Suppose I have a remote control. I press a button and activate some kind of mechanism. Nowadays there are many devices that work this way. However, if you were to show this to a person who lived 100 years ago, he would think that you are simply an angel that performs miracles: You press a button and suddenly the glass turns into a picture….

That is, using the remote control I can activate various systems. For example, I press a button and you, who are looking at a piece of glass (a screen), start to receive all sorts of impressions. You start crying and then laughing, experiencing worry and then joy. It turns out that by simply pressing a button, I made such a powerful impact on you. I influenced a friend.

Kabbalists say that when reading The Book of Zohar, it’s as if you are holding the remote control to all the souls and they depend on you. Think about how you awaken them! This is called “pressing a button.” If you think about this, then you “press the button” and activate an influence that causes them to begin awakening.

Everything depends on how much you desire for this to happen and how many other people also aspire to awaken others. All the efforts must be both qualitative and quantitative.

That is how we awaken one another. No one can awaken himself. Every person can attain this spiritual community called “the group” only in order to awaken others. Otherwise, he does not even come in contact with the group. That’s because the group is like Malchut of the world of Atzilut.
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/28/11, The Zohar

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A person can’t advance in spirituality without participating in our daily lessons. Those who can’t watch the entire session can watch one of its parts.

There are people who prefer the first part of the lesson that includes Rabash’s articles and the second one on The Book of Zohar. Some like the third part of the lesson on The Study of the Ten Sefirot. The fourth part is general, where we analyze world issues, education, and all the rest. Each of you should pick the most suitable parts, although I recommend switching them at times.

Perhaps, it’s difficult for you to attend the entire three hours of the lesson which includes all four parts. But today, there is such a wide assortment of communication devices that you can record lessons or listen to them on the radio. Our Internet site is constantly updated. You can also wear headphones and listen to the lesson all the time, and then you will definitely advance much faster.

But at any rate, it is vital to get connected to the daily lesson (at least part of it). It is said: “If you abandon Me for a day, I will abandon you for two.” A person who skips one day of studies gets disconnected from the spiritual source twice as much. This is the law in the spiritual world regarded as “measure against measure.” So, beware!

But the most reliable means is an MP3 player or other similar devices, with the help of which you can stay connected to us all the time.
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From Lesson 5, WE! Convention 4/2/2011

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Question: What can we rely on in our spiritual advancement if it’s already clear that knowledge doesn’t matter?

Answer: You can only rely on the environment. Knowledge is worthless. I am willing to forget everything. As the Talmud says, people used to pray to forget what they have already learned. I want to start from a clean slate, like a baby who does not have anything to his name.

Let everything I knew until now vanish from my mind. Let even my heart be empty. I don’t need anything. I want to start from zero, to lose all my possessions. That is the only way we can continue the path, by beginning every day anew.

It would seem like there is so much written in the books, “Remember this, know that, don’t forget about that.” That’s true, but in reality, a person advances when he is ready to become “zero,” when he does not listen to the voice of the present moment.

Therefore, only the environment remains our unchanging source of support.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/26/11, Disclosing a Portion, Covering Two”

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Question: Should we only use terms that speak of the laws of nature at the classes for beginners and only later introduce the Kabbalistic terminology?

Answer: No, we can speak openly with the people who come to us with the point in the heart and gradually advance them. But if we were to speak to them about the laws of nature, they would think that we are preaching physics or sociology to them. They need to hear about the structure of the spiritual world. This is what they strive to, and we need to give it to them.
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From Lesson 7, WE! Convention 4/3/2011

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Question: How does the way we treat the words written in TES (The Study of the Ten Sefirot) differ from how we relate to your explanation of the text?

Answer: It is difficult to explain why the Creator made it so that we need someone to connect us with the upper reality in our world. It is similar to a mother and father we have in this world, who connect us with life. Indeed, it weren’t for the mother, I wouldn’t be born in the first place and wouldn’t exist until I grew up.

The same goes for the spiritual birth: I need someone who will give birth to me, tend to me till I mature in spirituality! It manifests in the birth of material bodies in our world and also in the birth of the souls, all of which is the derivative of the laws acting in the spiritual world where there is a certain order of spiritual Partzufim, and Aba Ve-Ima (the upper Father and Mother) give birth to ZON and tend to the souls.

But so far, I haven’t linked my broken soul into ZON of the world of Atzilut and cannot cause Aba ve-Ima to work on me; so I need a guide to spirituality! And he, right now, also looks as some material person to me since I cannot see the spiritual world.

The same pertains to the friends: I cannot perceive their spiritual desires and I think I am surrounded by some physical bodies. But later on, I will see that it isn’t so. The teacher and the friends are a spiritual mechanism, spiritual forces with whom I work.

That is how I should treat the teacher and the friends, with an understanding that they are part of the Creator given to me in order to help me connect with Him. In the degree that I value the teacher and the group and lower myself before them, to the same extent I will reach contact with the Creator. I don’t have any other opportunity to connect with Him and no chance to tap into Him in any other way.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/12/11, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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