Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Item 33: If one’s faith is incomplete, and he does not engage in the Torah or in the work only because the Creator commanded him to study, then we have seen above that in such Torah and work the Light does not appear. This is because one’s eyes are flawed, and like a bat, turn the Light into darkness.

Such a study is no longer considered a maid of Kedusha, since he will not acquire Lishma through it. Hence, it comes to the domain of the maid of Klipa (shell), which inherits these Torah and work, and robs them for herself.

Hence, “the earth doth quake,” meaning the Holy Divinity, called “earth.” This is so because those Torah and work that should have become to her, as possessions of the Holy Divinity, that evil handmaid robs and lowers them to be a possession of the Klipot (shells). Thus, the handmaid is heir to her mistress.

At some point in life a person living in this world asks himself: “What is the meaning of my life?” This question gives him a certain connection with the Torah, the wisdom of Kabbalah, and he starts studying it, feeling that this can give him an answer to the question about the meaning of life, its secret.

If he studies the Torah specifically for the sake of this, it is a correct attitude. But if he does so only because “the Creator commanded it,” it is called Klipa, an impure intention. It would seem why is that, if he fulfills the Creator’s order? But the fact is that we are egoists by nature, motivated by the desire to receive pleasure, to fill ourselves, and to win. If a person says that he studies the Torah only because it is the Creator’s commandment, it means that he doesn’t have a real desire for it and his approach is erroneous. The true desire that could lead him to the purpose of creation hasn’t awakened in him yet.

However, if he studies because he wishes to find out why and for what purpose he exists, what the meaning of his existence is, what the purpose of life is, then it is a useful, natural, inner desire, need, to reveal the secret of his life. And hence even by studying with the egoistic intention, being confused, and mixing in various other goals, he nevertheless can come to a result. Most important is that he has an inner, true desire.

Even if the correct intentions and pure desires, the aspiration for bestowal and love of the other, of the Creator are non-existent, it’s not terrible: He is already on the right path. The Book of Zohar calls this state a handmaid who tends to her mistress.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/26/2012, “Introduction to TES“

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The Book of Zohar, Weekly Torah Portion, “HaShavuah” Selected Excerpts

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Many people in history managed to attain spiritual revelation by studying the external parts of the Torah, the Mishnah, the Talmud, and not Kabbalah; that is, they used another language of presenting this wisdom. The entire Torah speaks about correction of a human being and that is the reason why the Torah was granted to us.

Texts of the Torah describe the states that one goes through during one’s advancement to the Creator, attaining adhesion with Him, and acquiring similarity of properties with Him. The problem is solely in the way of presenting it, meaning, in the language. Ways of presenting this material are not equal relative to the Light that Reforms; each of them possesses a different intensity of the Light. The most powerful Light is in the wisdom of Kabbalah.

They represent four layers, four filters that screen (hold) the Light on its way from top to bottom. The language of Kabbalah is pure Light. Kabbalah doesn’t limit the Light in any way, nor does it place filters on its way; Kabbalah doesn’t weaken the Light. Therefore, when one studies and denotes spiritual conceptions that refer to one’s soul, one elicits powerful Light that corrects him and brings him closer to the goal.

If one studies the Torah presented in any other language, then the same ideas, the same Light, goes through filters and descends to a person in an extremely weakened form. Consequently, the “quantity” of the Light is not enough to correct a person.

The four languages of the Torah: Pshat (simple explanation), Remez (hint), Drush (allegory) and Sod (secret) correspond to the worlds of Atzilut, Beria, Yetzira, and Assiya.

If one studies the wisdom of Kabbalah, it is the teaching (Torah) of the world of Atzilut, the Light that Reforms descends to him directly. If one studies any other way, then depending on the method he chooses, he receives less Light.

This is the way Kabbalah explains the division into the levels of Pshat-Remez-Drush-Sod, while the general opinion, is taken to the contrary, that Pshat (simple explanation), is the literal understanding, and Sod (secret), spiritual attainment.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/20/12, “The Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot”

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The Book of Zohar, Weekly Torah Portion, “HaShavuah” Selected Excerpts

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The Book of Zohar, Weekly Torah Portion, “VaYetze,” Selected Excerpts

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In Kabbalah, the historical aspect plays a minor role. It doesn’t matter when or in which generation a certain Kabbalist operated; what’s important is what he did and what he fulfilled in the general system of the worlds, which corrections he made, so that thanks to this, those who come after him would be able to advance in a better, easier way. I cannot assess the Kabbalists or compare them until I am in the upper system myself. I judge according to what I see today. Suppose someone has left wonderful writings that light my emotions and my mind and enable me to advance. Accordingly I see that Kabbalist as great.

On the other hand, Baal Shem Tov, for example, didn’t leave any books, but all the Kabbalists that followed him rose thanks to his study. The Ari didn’t write anything either, all his teachings were written by his disciple, Rabbi Chaim Vital. There were also Kabbalists who shortened the way for the next generations. It all depends on the root of a person’s soul. Only in the network of the connections between the souls can we discern what each of them did in the general framework, and what corrections he made in it.

Rabash says that the Talmud sages made the greatest corrections. On the one hand, they had attained spirituality on a very high level, and on the other hand, they were already in exile. This allowed them to write and to describe the states on a corporeal level and at the same time to make great spiritual corrections. In the “Introduction to TES” Baal HaSulam speaks about the requirements of those times: “You shall eat bread and salt, drink water sparingly, sleep on the ground, and labor in the Torah.” But by their spiritual work, Kabbalists have annulled these extremely difficult conditions and left us only one means, the Light that Reforms. Since then, it is enough in order to fulfill the goal of creation.

They, of course, drew the Light before that too, as it says: “You shall labor in the Torah,” but this was in addition to asceticism. Later the authors of the Talmud developed the channels of abundance to such an extent that now we can lead an ordinary corporeal life, needing no luxuries and settling for the necessities. The Light creates such a reality that we don’t need to think or to worry about that.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/12/12, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

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Until the destruction of the Second Temple, the wisdom of Kabbalah was the Torah, the study of the Israeli nation, the group that Abraham brought out of Babel and made into a nation that lives according to the laws of the wisdom of Kabbalah. The destruction of the Temple means that they fell from love thy friend as thyself into unfounded hatred.

Since then the wisdom of Kabbalah ceased to exist among the people who we still call the people of Israel, although they were no longer connected to the law of love thy friend as thyself, and therefore have no right to be called “Israel” (Yashar – Kel), which means “straight to the Creator.” So the understanding of what we need the wisdom of Kabbalah for was lost. Baal HaSualm speaks about his fear, “and it is fearful that it will be forgotten, God forbid, in the people of Israel.”

He is afraid of that, but others don’t even think about it since they don’t know what the wisdom of Kabbalah is needed for. And to that end, Baal HaSulam wrote the “Introduction to TES,” in order to explain why it is obligatory to study the book “The Study of the Ten Sefirot“ (TES) and the wisdom of Kabbalah in general.

He didn’t see that people were interested in this wisdom or that they respond to his appeal, that they even listened to how important and essential this wisdom is. Everyone rejected it by finding different excuses. Religious people who studied the Torah didn’t understand why they needed something else. And a person who lived an ordinary corporeal life was afraid that the wisdom of Kabbalah would ruin his life. Who knew what forces were hidden in it, what he would summon upon himself by mentioning the Holy names, perhaps he would summon troubles by that…

Others justified themselves by saying that there were people who studied Kabbalah, who called themselves Kabbalists, but who didn’t recommend it to others. There are many reasons why the wisdom of Kabbalah was pushed aside, away from general attention, and it is a wonder that it has existed until now. After all there were many wisdoms that were forgotten and have disappeared throughout history.

People reject this study, but Baal HaSulam thought that this should stop. The time had come for mankind to change our attitude and to show people why the wisdom of Kabbalah is necessary and why it came into the world—in order to raise humanity to the level of unity with the Creator, which is the goal of our life, the goal of creation. It is time to fulfill this goal here and now.

For this reason Baal HaSulam wrote TES and “The Introduction to TES” in which he explains the importance of its study. In his time it was very hard to bring this idea to people. Today it is accepted in a totally different manner, and we can openly advertise the widespread study of the wisdom of Kabbalah. I remember what a buzz it made in Bnei Brak, an orthodox town, when people found out that I brought a group of nonreligious students from Tel Aviv to my teacher, Rabash. Rabash made a real revolution, but there was no other choice, the world is in such a state that the wisdom of Kabbalah has to be revealed.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/11/12, “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot

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The Book of Zohar, Weekly Torah Portion, “Ha-Shavua” Selected Excerpts

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Baal HaSulam: “Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah),” item 13: There are two parts in the Torah: 1) Mitzvot between man and God, and 2) Mitzvot between man and man. And they both aim for the same thing—to bring the creature to the final purpose of Dvekut with Him.

Mitzvot governing the relations between people boil down to the principle “Love thy friend as thyself.” And Mitzvot that govern the relations between man and the Creator boil down to the principle “Love the Lord, your God.” Thus there are two levels on the way to fulfilling the Mitzva of love: First, a person fulfills it with regard to humanity, and if he succeeds, then he attains complete love of the Creator.

Why is the process divided into two parts? The point is that if there weren’t the shattering of the vessels, as a result of which my world seems to be populated by many people, I would have no basis, no foundation, to perform the actions of correction, since these actions need to be concealed.

On the other hand, if the Creator is revealed to me, I am bribed, convicted, enslaved, annulled, sold, and deprived of freewill. In short, in such a case, I have to bestow since I have no choice. When I look at Him, I have no other choice. He controls me, dominates me, and I become an “angel” who doesn’t bestow out of freewill.

In order to have freewill, I have to be detached from the Creator and to learn how to bestow by those who don’t obligate me to do so by force. They do, however, evoke me by sufferings. For example, they send me the storm Sandy or a tsunami. But such disasters don’t push me forward to corrections, since I don’t feel that they come directly from the Creator, and so I keep my freewill. On the whole, we are constantly in a state of vagueness.

This world was given to us so that we will be free from the Creator and so there are two types of Mitzvot. There are Mitzvot that relate to the relations between people, which we keep without any obligations. We actually increase our internal recognition of how necessary they are and with time as we become experienced we begin to understand that we are actually free in that.

At the moment I don’t think so. I am pushed from behind by a stick and drawn forward by the point in the heart. I don’t look to the sides anymore, but just advance and fall back. Is this freewill?

On the way, however, we begin to establish the connection between us; we feel that we are free in the resistance between the Creator and Pharaoh. The true freedom is concealed in this middle point, in the mixing between good and bad (the Shell of Noga). This is where the intention, meaning man, is born. The intention is man.

Thus the Mitzvot are divided into two parts since we must be in a state of concealment in order to have freewill, so first we perform the Mitzvot between people in order to finally keep the Mitzvot between man and the Creator.

The amount of Mitzvot is determined by our 613 desires that are divided into 248 “organs” and 365 “ligaments” in a person’s soul. We have to correct all these desires with the intention of in order to bestow.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/4/12, “Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah)”

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Rabash, Shlavei HaSulam (The Rungs of the Ladder), Volume I, Article 12, “What is Torah and the Work in the Way of the Creator”: It turns out that a person has to make great efforts before he begins to study, so that his study will bear fruit and good results, this means that the study should bring him the Light of the Torah, that can reform him.

First we must develop the right desire, in fact, it is indispensible. A person reaches the wisdom of Kabbalah only with a “point in the heart,” which has no direction yet. He doesn’t know where he has arrived or where he is, like a drop of semen in the womb. In this case, it is the group that plays the role of the womb, and it has to “format” a person, to give him a form, and to exert influence. We shouldn’t wait for him to act correctly. We should be careful if he “shows off,” since the show should be the group’s show.

There are those who come full of energy and begin to work, for them it is really a positive approach, but it is definitely not in the right direction. And were can he find it? From his egoistic actions? A person hasn’t even had the chance to discover the evil inclination yet and is still on a lower degree.

So the group should gently control a new student in order to give him the right form, the right direction And when a person feels that “reins and a bridle” are placed on him, he is obliged to accept it since he has no other choice. The group must control everyone.

The friends must look for the evil inclination and the lack of connection. We yearn for connection; we clarify to what extent our qualitative and quantitative parameters are correct; whether it suits our requirements and satisfies us, until we discover the Creator’s form in the connection.

We go through the levels of Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama, Haya and Yechida on each of the 125 degrees. In search for connection, we discover a deficiency and draw the Light that Reforms during the study. Thus the study becomes purposeful and I constantly check myself not according to how much I understand or not, or how interesting it is or not. This has nothing to do with what we do, the study is a time of healing, a time of clarification, a time of drawing the Light of correction. All this is in accordance with our deficiency, which we discover during the preparation for the lesson, we discover it during the friends’ meetings and in our collective actions and then we come to the lesson with the demand for the Light that Reforms.

In this demand we are different from the rest of the world. People feel that they are righteous; they don’t demand the Light that Reforms; they are satisfied with what they do, like all those who don’t even think about it. We need to constantly assess ourselves according to the deficiency for the Light and the Light itself.

When I first came to Rabash, I asked him after a couple of months: “What is the main thing about working with the book? Where is the essence of our world during the morning lesson described?” Then he showed me item 17 in the “Introduction to TES,” where it says: “And so a person who studies is committed before he studies to strengthen his faith in the Creator and His Providence in reward and punishment” since this is important. Our only work is to prepare the desire for change through the exertion in the group. On the whole we discover that we cannot do that and it is only there that we should perform the correction. With this recognition, we reach the study again.

Thus while we study we discover a deficiency and on the other hand we are corrected and healed.

So accordingly “a person should make great efforts before he begins to study.” And if in the meantime we don’t attain the right results, then we should check whether we come to study with the right intention. Otherwise we study in order to acquire knowledge from a certain book instead of drawing the Light as is required from the Torah.

So there is “wisdom” and there is “Torah.” And a person who simply wants to know what is written in the book deals with wisdom, and a person who looks for correction and who wants to change himself deals with the Torah, with the true method. This is the whole difference…
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/4/12

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