Question: How do we help and support the friends who are in the state of descent?

Answer: First of all, support them internally, through a prayer, request, and collective thought about everyone. We have all “signed” an “agreement” about a mutual guarantee (Arvut) and mutual assistance on the spiritual path. Hence, we must make certain that everyone participates one hundred percent, and this depends solely on the group’s support.

I shouldn’t blame a friend if he is unable to exert maximum effort in reaching the goal; I should blame myself for his weakness, that I am unable to awaken him. In truth, he completely depends on me. A mutual support at the time when nobody has strength and yet each gives a hundred percent, this is called a mutual guarantee.

If I signed the agreement, it means that I pledged to provide spiritual advancement for all. I agree to help everyone attain the goal; like a co-signer on a bank statement, I guarantee that my friend will have the strength to stay focused on the goal.

If I signed it, it means that now it depends on me! If my friend falls, I have to understand that he falls in my eyes, in relation to me, in order to give me an opportunity to awaken him. And by reviving him, I revive a part of my soul.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/6/10, “And Jacob Went Out”

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Here is a simple intention to have while reading The Book of Zohar:

1. I connect to every letter and word, and they enter me like a medical infusion that is administered drop by drop, which I perceive as “the elixir of life.”

I go from one word to the next, not knowing what hides behind each one. Yet I am convinced that word after word, like drop after drop, this “elixir of life” gradually pours into me.

2. If I am able to hold on to this thought at all times, then without really delving into the text but through the text or inside it, I allow myself to discern the Creator and my attitude to Him.

The text is what happens to a person, and the intention is a person’s connection to the Creator. At first we hold on to the intention, and then through it we try to reach the Creator, the One from whom we hear and from whom we receive. The text is the state of my desires which I want to attain.

If a person is also able to imagine that right now he really hears the text of The Zohar from the mouth of the Creator, that the Creator passes this knowledge to him, telling him about his own higher states, then this is one of the best ways to connect to the Creator. This is called “Hearing or studying the Torah from the mouth of the Creator.”

3. If we try to unite our intentions together while reading The Zohar, then deep down, inside our joint efforts, we will feel that The Zohar talks precisely about this.

The Torah describes only how we should unite together, in what degree, form, and manner. Therefore, the text of The Book of Zohar is not separate from the intention. It does not exist by itself, but talks only about realizing the intention.

From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/12/10, The Zohar

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When I read the text of The Zohar, it’s not good if the text conceals the purpose of reading from me. I must constantly check: What exactly do I desire by reading it?

First and foremost, I desire for the reading of The Book of Zohar to reveal my illness: egoism, and then to heal it by helping me acquire the quality of bestowal instead of it. I want to acquire unity with others who aspire to the same goal. This is called the intention before the study.

After preparing the intention or the reason why I read The Book of Zohar, I can then start to read it. If I am consistently able to maintain the intention, then I can allow myself to also listen to the text and its meaning.

This is similar to a sick person who is in a critical state: He reads a medical book only in order to find the remedy. Nothing else interests him! He doesn’t care about the style of the text or the details of the story. He only looks for the remedy (the elixir of life: the Light)!

Therefore, first and foremost we must have the right intention, and after that we can listen to the details about what The Zohar narrates. There is nothing more important than receiving the “medical procedure” because we don’t understand any of the actual story until we enter that state ourselves.

Why then did the authors of The Zohar write all of these stories for us? It was in order for us to make efforts to keep the intention. Only after that, to the extent it is possible, can we allow ourselves to listen to the story while desiring to reveal it through the intention. We have to realize that we are not living these states and don’t understand the text, but we do desire to reveal it and aspire to be inside the state that is being described. Then we can understand the text and connect to it.

My primary desire is to attain the spiritual quality through the right attitude to The Book of Zohar. After that I can pay attention to the text and be sure that I will understand it correctly. This is called “desiring to attain what you study,” as written in Item 155 of “Introduction to Talmud Eser Sefirot.”

The text of The Zohar is the place where I perform my inner work and make the inner discernments regarding where I am. First I must have an intention in relation to the goal, and then a sensation in relation to the text.

We have to feel the depths of the layers of attainment. This is called “Engaging in the Torah and the Commandments,” and “Studying the Torah.”

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/12/10, The Zohar

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The only opportunity to be in connection with the Upper Force that corrects us is by reading The Zohar. Certainly, the other books also help in this regard, but The Zohar has the greatest force to connect us.

If we could keep the right intention for a longer period of time, we would read The Zohar more often. As a matter of fact, we are still unable to maintain the right intention for more than 45 minutes. For the duration of these 45 minutes, however, we must concentrate on exactly what we desire from it and how we imagine our future state described by The Zohar. It is very important.

In our world a child takes examples from adults, wanting to become similar to them in everything he sees. Nothing else is important to him. He has no understanding, attainment, or anything else and just repeats the examples that the adults demonstrate to him.

In a similar way, we should desire to feel the reality that The Zohar tells us about and imagine that everything is the connection among us. The Zohar constantly describes the connection between us: Zeir Anpin, Malchut, the three lines, limitations, and so on. We reveal all of this among us since our shared desires is the only “place” where revelation can happen. Therefore, we don’t need anything except for a shared, strong desire for the Light to come and reveal the connection among us. All these phenomena that we read about in The Zohar are to be found there.

The action itself is quite simple, but it is not easy to accomplish. It takes time to achieve a state in which I sit in front of a book, imagine that it is talking about the connection among us, and in it, I reveal all these words and actions. Everything is in the connection among us; this is where the Creator is revealed.

It is quite difficult to combine all this, but when you achieve it, the desire to reveal the connection among everyone becomes the only link with the Upper Force. And you have no other means except for the holy Book of Zohar which describes the states that you will reveal.

Then, like a baby that strives to be like an adult, you desire revelation and aspire to it with all your might.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/12/10, The Zohar

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Don’t blame the Creator if your spiritual progress is very slow and unnoticeable! We must first and foremost reveal the desire inside ourselves. Without it we will not be able to feel a change in our states.

If I don’t feel the spiritual world yet, it means I still don’t want it! It is here, right next to me, but I don’t want to see it and that is why I don’t reveal it. There are no presents from Above. How I reveal the spiritual world depends only on me and my desire. As soon as my desire grows and reaches the level of the next, higher spiritual world, I immediately reveal it. But if I don’t feel a need for it, then I can’t reveal it.

Everything is up to a person. Our only task is to influence each other in order to discern our desire correctly. We may be yelling and burning with desire, but it’s a desire for the wrong thing, both in quantity and quality.

What we need is a clearly discerned desire where the most important thing is the quality of the desire: What exactly do I want, rather than how much I want it. In spirituality the quantity is not important, only the quality is. We call the quality of a spiritual desire, “force.“ The force of a desire in spirituality is defined by how sharp and precise it is and what exactly it is aimed at. This requires constant worry to make sure that your desire has the right direction.

If you ask people how they imagine spirituality and what they desire, you will get a different answer from every person. This can only be discerned by working in the group and using help from the Light which we all attract together during the study because we understand that for now we don’t have the right desire for bestowal and faith. Therefore, we want the Light to come and explain it to us, to show us examples and create a desire in us! This is called a necessity without a necessity, the prayer before the prayer.

However, once a person is brought to the group, from then on everything is up to him.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/11/10, “You Should Always Discern Between Torah and Work”

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Excerpts from my upcoming book, A Guide to The Book of Zohar

It is important to understand why we need all this. The fact is that the Creator desires to bestow to begin with, so there’s no point in asking Him to give us Light and pleasure as we usually do.

The Creator has what we need and He has the will to give it. However, He wants us to not merely be receiving from Him, but to become like Him, meaning to be great, independent, bestowing, and similar to Him in the quality of love and bestowal. Therefore, this is precisely what we have to ask for in order to acquire that which the Creator has: the will to bestow and the quality of love and bestowal.

We are used to asking for fulfillment but what we need to ask for is correction. As soon as we become corrected, the Creator’s Light will instantly fulfill us. In other words, our problem is that we don’t understand what it is we should ask of the Creator. We exist in an ocean of Light, goodness, and pleasure, but we lack the necessary vessel to feel all this abundance within. This vessel is the quality of love and bestowal, and that is what we need to ask of the Creator. As soon as we acquire this quality, the Light of abundance will fill us on its own.

There is only one restriction set by the Creator, only one condition for receiving the Light: We have to become like Him. After all, He desires for us to feel just as much pleasure as He does.

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From Rabash’s article “Who is He Who Causes Prayer?”: A person must say: “If not I, who will help me, and if not now, then when?” Therefore, it is forbidden to slow down even for a moment, and we cannot await a more appropriate time to begin engaging in spiritual work.

This means that we should always be ready to turn to the Creator with an appeal and to constantly clarify and refine it, until it receives a reply.

However, after one’s action, one should believe that it is not man who calls out to the Creator, but on the contrary, the Creator summons him. And the reason for their closeness comes from the Creator rather than from man…Thus, before praying, one must first thank the Creator for summoning one in order to bring one closer to Him.

In this manner we establish ourselves directly along the line, where the Light spreads out to us in all of its stages. And if I remember, understand, feel, and hold onto the thought that spiritual awakening comes to me from the Creator, it means that I already have an initial connection. With the help of this initial spiritual awakening from the Creator, I can appeal back to the Creator with my own request.

Thanking the Upper Force for the awakening that it sent to me means to enter into the first contact with it, choosing the only correct direction to the Creator: from all directions, a “full 360 degrees.” Making the choice of this direction is the first action that we are able to carry out.

This is similar to the parable about the King’s son who dug a tunnel under his father’s house in order to take a pound of gold from the father. And this tunnel was from two sides – from the inside and from the outside because the father, in turn, was also digging a tunnel toward him with the desire to give sooner.

In other words, the Creator first gives us an awakening, and a prayer is born inside us. However, this prayer will not be a simple request; a real desire will be revealed in us, and in response to this desire we will be given the force of bestowal from Above.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/28/10, Article, “Who is He Who Causes Prayer?”

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Question: How does a person learn to raise a prayer (a request to the Creator) correctly?

Answer: A person’s entire work is aimed at knowing how to correctly respond to the Creator’s calling when the Upper Light affects him.

I am separated from the Creator by five stages (five worlds) of emanation of Light (0-1-2-3-4), and I begin to receive impressions from it in the last, 4th stage, where I am able to comprehend “what and how.” However, if I haven’t reached the 4th stage, I don’t yet understand that my awakening comes from the Creator and I do not reciprocate with a request. Even when our point in the heart (a desire to attain something greater, something spiritual) is awakened, we still do not understand where to go, what we are supposed to do, and Who it is that is calling. We simply start searching for the purpose and cause of our life.

In other words, what is really evoked is a question about the Creator but the person does not yet realize it. When he starts studying the science of Kabbalah, it becomes more clear to him what, or rather Whom, he is asking about. A person discovers that there is Some One who awakens him and who wants the person to respond to Him.

There are only two: the Creator and the creature. The world as we see it seems to us to be a certain way in order to help us project ourselves back to the Creator. It is written: “The whole world is created to help me, and I am created to serve the Creator.” The theater in front of our eyes that we call “our world” was created to help us focus our perception and reaction to find the Director who runs the entire show.

Finally, when amidst all this bewilderment and confusion we focus on Him, we find the right direction and learn how to communicate to Him correctly. We discover what our request should be (in terms of strength, concentration, and content) in order to deserve a response. Therefore, we should not neglect the world, especially the immediate environment, studies, and the friends in the group. We should use each moment of our lives to better discern the root point from where the Creator’s call comes, and through this “portal” send back a response.

If I manage to arrange my prayer (request to the Creator) correctly, from below Upward, I will understand that everything has its purpose in the world without which I would not be able to establish contact with the Creator.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/28/10, Article, ““Who is He Who Causes Prayer?”

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Question: If I feel that my prayer is egoistical, then should I stop praying?

Answer: The worst thing that you can do is to stop asking. It means you are returning to the animate state since an animal does not and cannot pray. We are talking about a real prayer, your correction, not tears or words from a book.

A prayer is the request to attain pure selfless bestowal. But how can you ask for altruistic bestowal if it is even more egoistical? It turns out you can only pray if it is not for yourself. As soon as you start asking for yourself, it is no longer spiritual because you are asking the Creator to satisfy your egoism.

A prayer to the Creator is only about the force of bestowal. This is how the prayer starts. Later on, you must determine why you need it, and what you need it for. I have to find out whether I want to give in order to receive even more for my egoism.

The entire 125 degrees that a person ascends are discernments of levels of prayer. I receive the Light of AB-SAG, which I need in order to assess the details of my desire. In each spiritual state, at each new degree, I discern more. Thus, I begin to understand why everything is necessary: this world, friends and foes, fools and sages, slaves and heroes, and those who are driven by lust and power. I need to examine my relationship with all of them and aspire for the Creator.

How do I know whether or not my prayer is selfless and that it doesn’t contain any personal interest or benefit for myself? I know it only when I pray for others. This helps me to assess my prayer. As a result, I am able to comprehend why the Creator made me and the entire world the way we are. All of reality is created and arranged for one purpose: for us to learn to ask the Creator correctly and to receive what we ask for – the Creator’s nature, the true quality of bestowal to replace our egoism.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/28/10, Article, ““Who is He Who Causes Prayer?”

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Question: Why won’t the Creator answer my appeals no matter how much I cry out to Him?

Answer: This is because it is not yet a correct plea but a “child’s tantrum” that nobody pays much attention to. A cry is a desire. When an adult is screaming and crying, it is a sign that something serious must have happened. To be an “adult” means to possess a clarified desire, to understand what you want. We need to clarify our desire. If our inner cry, the inner desire, will suit the Light, the Light will become revealed in it and will allow us to sense a spiritual reality.

Essentially, we are studying the physics of the spiritual world, the precise laws of the interplay between the Light and desire. The Light has built the desire with five parts; each part subdivides into another five, and another five. Altogether, there are 125 degrees through which the desire can become like the Light; that is, there are 125 steps to raise the desire up the spiritual ladder toward the Light until it becomes just like Him.

What does the cry mean? It is a desire for the attainment of an even greater similarity to the Light that I, myself, develop within me. Once I do the appropriate actions and bring myself to similarity to the Light, the Light becomes revealed! But if I do not perform the right actions, the Light will not reveal itself.

For this reason, there is no need to cry. What is needed is for you to change your desire until you reach the Light. In order for you to transition from one state to another, to change yourself to such extent that you ascend to the next degree, you need to prepare for several months, or maybe years, or even lifetimes. Everything depends on the environment, on your perseverance and pressure, and your efforts to accelerate time.

However, the Light does not “patronize” anybody. Nobody has any opportunity to scream in a special way for Him to help. These are strict laws like in physics: either you suit the next step or you do not. If you have enough strength to move yourself, then you move; if not, then you stand still. If I need to move a huge load, I will only be able to move it when my strength becomes at least an ounce greater than the load, but not sooner.

This is why the wisdom of Kabbalah teaches us how to attract the Light which will give us additional strength to become like it. I can attract the Light called the “Surrounding” Light or the “Light that Reforms” from the state that I want to ascend to. This Light will influence my desire and will elevate me. It will make me similar to that Upper degree that the Light comes from. Meanwhile, I am unable to change by myself.

The entire wisdom of Kabbalah is in learning to attract this Light from Above while remaining below. In regards to this, it is written: “I created the evil, egoistic inclination and the Torah as the means for its correction because the Light in it Reforms.”

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/16/10, Article, “The Matter of Spiritual Attainment”

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