Question: You have explained that each word and letter we read in the Kabbalistic texts contains the force of correction. It is my job to draw this force and feel how it enters me and reforms my flaws into perfections.

Is it correct to assume that when you speak and explain the content of the Kabbalists’ writings, I must also apply this process regardless of the fact that in one case, I am dealing with a word written in the book and in another, I hear it from you?

Answer: No, it works in a different fashion. You hear from the other what has already passed through him, his own experience of spiritual revelation; therefore, you adhere to him and, together, you act as one system. Meanwhile, when you read the text yourself, you perform corrections differently. In short, there are different ways to do correction, depending on whether you listen to or actually read the text.

When you read it yourself, you become one with the author and belong to his system, whereas when you listen to someone, you join him and together with him or through him you perform correction.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/16/10, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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The Upper Governance is extremely complex. Reshimot (spiritual records, genes) are constantly changing. However, we don’t feel that everything changes inside us, not outside us. We are not aware of that; we just feel the ever-changing world, its different attitude toward us.

Of course, it’s all been set up for us by the Creator through all the kinds of coverings of this world. However, we attribute the variable attitude to other people, or to the Creator, or sometimes to ourselves; it all depends on the level of a person. If a person links the changes only to the Creator, it’s the beginning of correction, as it is written, “There is none else besides Him,” “The Good who Does Good.”

In any case, there are general Lights which work as the Surrounding Light, and there also are particular Lights which stir the Kelim (vessels or desires), encouraging them to develop. If we are not advancing on our own, then the Light comes to us in the form of ruthless, obstructive forces (Gevurot, valor or strength) that advance us harshly. However, we need to understand that we ourselves cause the Light to work in such a manner.

The Lights come in a constant form. Their permanent objective is to benefit us, to bring us to similarity of attributes with the Creator. After all, they emanate from the Source of our final, perfect state in the world of Infinity.

However, the Kli which develops in us under the influence of the Light goes through various stages of development. That’s why we feel that there is slow, sequential development, and there’s a quick, leap-like advancement in agreement with the Light or against it, seemingly good or bad.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/12/10, “A Handmaid that is Heir to Her Mistress”

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It’s a problem that a person can only study what is below the speaking level: the still, vegetative, and animate levels of the will to receive (desire). He is unable to separate and study the desire of the human level because he is not similar to the Creator.

The human level is regarded as the “divine part from Above.” And this part is invisible to you right now; hence, you are unable to study it.

The desire of the human level is called a soul; it is the matter of the soul. The matter is the will to enjoy, and its form is its equivalence to the Creator. This is exactly what Kabbalists study: where He and I are similar, in what way, on what levels, and in what combinations of conditions?

The wisdom of Kabbalah studies how the matter of the desire to enjoy acquires the Creator’s form; this is when it may be called a soul. It’s called a “soul” (Neshama) because it is the highest degree of similarity to the Creator which we are able to reach before the final correction (Nefesh-Ruach-Neshama).

This limitation exists in this science until all people engage in it, but eventually, we will all be able to study it at a much higher level.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/15/10, “A Handmaid that is Heir to Her Mistress”

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Question: When studying Kabbalah, how can I can be sure that I don’t “philosophize” about concepts that I have not actually attained, such as love, adhesion, unity, and bestowal?

Answer: If a person studies the wisdom of Kabbalah from authentic sources, receives proper instructions, and clings to the teacher, a true Kabbalist, then he can’t fantasize. He can only compare himself with the Light that Reforms.

He is already developing the correct approach and knows that it is the only source of life. He learns in order to attain the desire to bestow, thereby attracting the Light. Although he hasn’t come to study the genuine spiritual world yet, he is working with the group as in a laboratory.

In a group you’ll discover what an egoist you are. On the other side, you will attract the Upper Light which will begin to shine on you from afar, making you see your properties against the Light. You’ll suffer because you’ll want to be like the Light, but you’ll realize that you cannot. This tension, the gap between the desired and actual, will bring you to an outburst, and then you’ll pray to the Creator for help. That’s when you will receive the force of bestowal.

From that moment, you will become a Kabbalist and begin to explore the spiritual world. Then you will be able to taste, to a small extent, what differentiates the receiving and bestowing forces.

You’ll become a research scientist, exploring yourself and the Creator, which is actually the same. It will be possible since you will both share a common “area” that will be within your reach. Thus, you’ll have the opportunity to explore the spiritual, the “human” degree.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/15/10, “A Handmaid that is Heir to Her Mistress”

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Question: Should I remember the diagrams from Talmud Eser Sefirot (The Study of The Ten Sefirot) by heart, or should I make an effort to experience them within me, without any understanding?

Answer: If you check our archive, you will see Rabash’s diagrams. If you open the texts written by other Kabbalists, even The Book of Creation (Sefer Yetzira) or the ARI’s manuscripts, you will see diagrams there as well. If you open The Book of Zohar, there aren’t any drawings in it, but you will find various charts.

Kabbalah is a science. We are exploring a new world full of various forces, and we want to know the formula by which these forces are mutually intertwined in each state, each place. If we learn about these combinations of forces, we will be able to achieve the same state by obtaining the screen.

Suppose I have a screen, the force or the strength of desire to ask for the force, then I’ll receive the knowledge, strength, and an example from the upper Partzuf. I need all three components: the knowledge, strength, and an example. In front of me, the lower Partzuf, is the upper one. This upper Partzuf demonstrates an example for me by bringing the lower part of its Partzuf down to me (Raglaim, lower extremities).

As Rabash’s article “Inclusion of the Attributes of Mercy and Judgment” describes, the upper Partzuf brings me darkness, but it allows me to clearly define what I must add in order for it to start illuminating as Light. This is how we work.

We reside in a cosmos of forces that act according to certain laws, and we must perform our work with absolute precision and knowledge of how much to take from one side or the other, how to ascend and descend, and how to establish a connection with which properties. And all of this is accompanied by extremely powerful experiences, impressions, discoveries, but at the same time, with clear and accurate knowledge.

In our world, I can appreciate and enjoy music, but it is impossible to compare my impression with that of a musician, who experiences the music in his emotions and mind, feeling it much deeper than I am able to do. If people approach this correctly and try not to egoistically demean another’s work, they become more proficient in the subject. Consequently, they bring their mind closer to their feelings, and the mind enhances the feelings. But in our world, the mind usually overrides feelings because its roots are in the ego, and we desire to belittle each other.

Yet, it is different in spirituality. We may get impressions while looking at the diagrams, but a diagram gives me a chance to understand the relationship between spiritual forces and its properties; it does not reflect the object itself.

If I look at the diagram where Abba ve Ima is clothed from Peh up to Chazeh of Arich Anpin, I don’t receive this impression. But it does give me an opportunity to feel impressed by if I know what Arich Anpin is, what its properties from Peh to Chazeh are (since I experience them), and what are the attributes of Abba ve Ima, what they can receive from Arich Anpin by becoming clothed in it, how they react, and so forth.

A diagram is similar to an inanimate formula since it is just letters. It all depends on what you bring into these letters, what essence. Therefore, we have to know the basic diagrams.

Baal HaSulam writes that we can’t exist in this world without a basic knowledge of the processes taking place in it. Similarly, we can’t exist in the spiritual world without a basic knowledge of it.

In the corporeal world we have to finish school in order to interact with the world and people correctly; only in the same way can we enter the spiritual world and navigate within it. There is no other way. Everyone must have a minimum amount of fundamental knowledge. It gives a person an admission slip to enter spirituality.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/15/10, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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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!
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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.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/14/10, “A Handmaid that is Heir to Her Mistress”

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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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A comment of the ARI Films Channel user on www.youtube.com after he viewed the video clip “Kabbalah – Five Basic Principles” (230,000 views, takes the third place on Google after Wikipedia and Kabbalah.info when searching for the word “Kabbalah”):

“I am a Sufi Muslim and find the words of this teacher in the video to be very wise and beautiful. The emphasis on the ego as the source of separation and illusion echoes what the Sufi masters also teach. This proves that the Source has always been one and the same – God the Almighty. And that Kabbalah, Gnosticism, and Sufism are the three hairs on the same head.

If more people listened to teachers who taught such wisdom, the world might have a chance.

Love and Light to all”
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Until you receive spiritual attainment, you should not accept the stories of Kabbalists as facts that do not require proof, but only as a condition for your own spiritual development. You cannot use their description as a spiritual law and act according to it because you are not on the level from which it was written.

Therefore, we need to accept it as hypotheses, assumptions that such laws indeed act in the spiritual world. However, they are not carried over into our material world, meaning your state and your world.

Even the words of sages are their attainments, their world. They know how to work there and not make mistakes. If you begin to implement the same principles in the work, you will use all these statements in the egoistic form that you understand, that is, for the sake of your egoism rather than for bestowal like they used them. For this reason, it will clothe into the most egoistic forms for you. Thus, it is forbidden to do this.

Every person should have his own “judge” who limits him and says, “You may act only in accordance with your own corrections.” It is forbidden to come out of the boundaries of your corrections even if you’ve read or heard about it.

However, who is reading this? You are! Who is hearing it? You are! It has already passed through you, and it has already warped in your egoistic perception. How do you know how correctly you understood everything? It’s likely that you understood incorrectly since everyone “judges according to his own Kelim (vessels),” and you perceive everything that was said by Kabbalists in your own defects.

Do you understand to what extent studying comes down only to the Light that Reforms even for Kabbalists and sages? If you don’t draw the Light that Reforms through the studies which changes you, giving you an opportunity to work in accordance with these changes, then you are not allowed to listen to any advice of the Torah. After all, if you use it above your correction, above your degree, it will be to your detriment.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/29/10, "Body and Soul"

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