A question I received: What does it mean to “engage in the authentic Torah”?

My Answer: As Baal HaSulam writes, to practice Kabbalah means to realize it in oneself, to experience it. The Light that corrects us is called the Torah. It is opposite to me and shines from afar onto my Reshimo (my spiritual, informational gene). I evolved in the previous generations according to the chain of Reshimot and arrived to a Reshimo called the “point in the heart.” It awakened under the influence of the Light, and gives me a feeling that there’s something higher than the life I’ve been leading in this body.

All the work is done by the Light that Reforms. It’s the Light that awakens me. Initially, the Light developed me at the animate level. However, now the time has come for me to become human.

I, myself, am not able to act, so I appeal to the system of souls (a Kabbalistic group) and from it receive additional will and additional importance of the Creator, that is, I start feeling His importance and my own insignificance. The difference between one and the other creates additional desire called MAN (prayer). I raise this MAN upward. Basically, my work lies mainly in this. When I raise MAN, the desire to attain the Creator, to a magnitude 10 times greater than it was initially as my point in the heart, I have done my work.

However, this is not yet “studying the Torah”  or “engaging in the Torah.” So far, all this has been preparation. But now, the Light begins to illuminate me with greater power. This is now Surrounding Light – 2. It shines on me differently, in a straight line, and to the measure of my yearning.

The perception of the importance of the Creator is called Keter and one’s own insignificance is Malchut. This means I’m now acting in accordance with the goal of attaining the Creator by arranging my desires into one line. Its two outermost points are Keter and Malchut. The Creator and bestowal are above, and I and reception are below.

Now, the Light comes to me in another, direct form, and begins to collate my properties. It shows me what is more and less important within me by putting everything in order. That is, the Surrounding Light – 2 is well-ordered, and according to this order, it begins reforming me. This means that I’m now “studying Torah” since I’m studying what modifications the Surrounding Light is making within me.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/31/10, Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot

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The instruction says that first one has to study the Torah, Mishnah, and Talmud, and only then embark on the Kabbalah studies. This is correct provided one already deserves to study at the level of Lishma, that is, if one has corrected himself completely.

However, one first needs to reach the correction of his soul. We exist for this purpose, and herein lies our entire work. The Torah (the Light of Correction) is given to us specifically to this end, as it is said: “I created egoism and gave the Torah for its correction.”

The order of correction is as follows: First, you need to reach the level of “Lishma” (attain the property of bestowal and love, enter into the spiritual world) in the shortest and most effective manner. Then, you are free to study the entire Torah, since the soul that you have acquired will teach you itself. Nobody will be able to tell you what to do. You will see, understand, and attain everything yourself.

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/31/10, Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot

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The Book of Zohar, Weekly Torah Portion “Bealutecha,” Selected Excerpts
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There is no holiday greater than the holiday of receiving the Torah. If not for the Torah, we would be confined to leading an animalistic existence for as long as the Earth goes ’round.

Yet, we have received the opportunity to use the Upper Force and with its help, to enter the Upper Dimension, where we continue our existence and life in the spiritual dimension. We can go smoothly from our world and this reality that we now feel, to a new state, a different world or dimension that is in no way connected to the planet Earth and this universe. We can reveal our existence in an eternal and perfect form, complete harmony, without the limitations of the material world.

With the help of the Upper Force, we can reveal the passageway from our world and this flawed life, to a perfect existence. The means of making the transition from our dimension to the upper one is called “Torah.” This is a special force that gradually changes us, leading us into a new state. To the degree we change, we smoothly make the shift to that state, until all of our “earthly” (egoistic) qualities change to spiritual, altruistic ones.

We then gain the opportunity to lead an eternal, perfect existence. Therefore, receiving this opportunity is the most important event of our life, a true holiday!

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/17/10, “What is the Preparation for Receiving the Torah”

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Letters are the forms of desire. The Creator created only the desire to enjoy that acquires various forms of reception and bestowal. Yet, forms of reception have no right to exist in spirituality. As to the forms of bestowal, we are only concerned with those similar to the Creator, that is, with various types of bestowal from Bina to Malchut.

Altogether, there are 27 letters: 9 come from ZAT de Bina (from Aleph to Tet), 9 from Zeir Anpin (from Yod to Tzadik), 4 are contained in Malchut (Kof, Reish, Shin, and Tav), and 5 letters are used in the end of words, MaNTZePaCH, on the Parsa.  These are the forms of matter similar to the Creator or models of the correct behavior.

Therefore, when we talk about a book, word, or sentence, we talk about the matter of the desire to enjoy, which is constantly changing and acquiring different shapes like dough. This is how our desire alters its form, yearning to become similar to the Creator.

When one completes repeating the entire series of permutations from the first word (In the beginning – Beresheet) to the last (Israel), going through all the letters of the Torah, one acquires all of these forms, becomes completely similar to the Creator, and reaches the Final Correction. Hence it is said, “Inscribe the whole Torah on your heart.”  The heart is the desire; the book of Torah all the existing forms of the Creator’s bestowal onto the creatures. We have to transcribe them on our desire. Then we will become similar to the Creator.

From the Evening Zohar Lesson 5/5/10

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The Works of Rabash, Vol.3, Dargot Sulam Articles, pg. 1774 (abridged): With regard to spiritual attainment, the society is divided into the majority and a chosen few. The majority need to be educated, taught how to mechanically observe the Torah and commandments. The education that a person receives compels him to perform these actions.

A person justifies his actions, why he performs them, by citing the way he was educated which includes the customs he learned from the environment in which he was raised. This is why education, habit, does not allow a person to refrain from keeping customs, since habit becomes a second nature. Therefore, all the habits, words, and actions that a person acquires as a result of education are not difficult to observe.

However, if a person wants to perform actions that he hasn’t become accustomed to in his childhood, his body questions every, most minute action: “Why are you doing this?” or, in other words, “What makes you do it?” If a person does not receive support from the environment, he has to look for it in the Creator.

This is why such a person is chosen and doesn’t belong to the majority. He needs the Creator’s support, as it is said, “One who comes to cleanse himself (of egoism), receives help from Above.” He is unable to receive help from the environment and thus compels help to come from Above.

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Revelation is a result of efforts. When we read The Zohar, we only need to exert effort. By trying to discern the properties The Zohar is talking about within ourselves, we penetrate toward a more inner screen within us, toward a deeper picture of the world. This is where the revelation of the Creator occurs.

Personal interpretation and commentaries of the text do not bring revelation. To feel a new world within, to interpret The Zohar internally, in sensations, a person needs to direct himself toward an increasingly inner state when reading the text.

A more internal state means that a person connects the text with his internal properties to a greater degree. He sees them in himself; he discovers that every word points to a property or action within him such as the “twelve tribes,” “Jacob,” a “desert,” and a “well.” As a result of his efforts, he reveals their true meaning.

This is why Kabbalah is called “Torah Emet” or the true Torah. Such understanding of the text cannot be conveyed in words. Rather, it can be revealed only within a person, in his new properties which appear as a result of efforts.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/19/10, The Zohar

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A question I received: Why does Beit Shaar HaKavanot describe the spiritual organs as a textbook of anatomy? Didn’t Rabash say that it was forbidden to write down the names of Sefirot on the picture of a human body?

My answer: These are completely different things. It’s permissible to take the names of objects and their interconnections from our life and transfer them upward, to the spiritual world assuming that the same connections exist there as well. However, it’s forbidden to take the spiritual properties from the Upper World and “ground” them here, as if to grant the material objects with spiritual properties.

One can take the language of branches and point to the spiritual objects and actions with these words. This way, one uses the language, symbols, and names. But if one takes the spiritual essence and starts saying that a greater spirit of bestowal is instilled in the right hand while a greater spirit of reception is found in the left one, it is idolatry.

It is because by doing so one is saying that a physical body of flesh and bones contains some spiritual properties. This is called “making idols” – taking still objects and ascribing the Upper, divine spirit to them.

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Rabash, “The Meaning of Torah and Work on the Creator’s Path”: When one intends to study the Torah, he should keep the goal, the reason for which he intends to study, before his eyes. The goal, that is, the benefit which he wants to extract from the Torah is the Light that Reforms that’s in it.

Essentially, we don’t need anything else. We should imagine and attempt to feel that everything happens because of the Upper Light, that “there is none else besides Him,” that He is the ruler and the lord, and only He performs everything.

Therefore, we only need to desire and wait for His actions and their consequences. Our entire work consists of attracting His actions upon ourselves, feeling that we are the lower degree, while He is the Upper One, and becoming similar to the Upper degree, the Light. He will act upon us and make us similar to Him in as much as we will aspire toward Him, that is, desire to become like Him.

So it follows that our work is very simple. It’s not important what passage of The Zohar we are reading or what it is about; it’s not important how much we understand what we are reading. There exists a system of connection between us and the Upper Light, called “The Book of Zohar.” We have to utilize it and aspire to become similar to the Light during the study.

This desire will awaken the Light, and it will act upon us. Slowly, we will begin to feel the results of its influence.

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A question I received: Could we say that the great Kabbalists, who created a connection between the Creator and the created being and wrote books for us, created the method called a Torah?

My Answer: These great Kabbalists wrote books for us. However, they  are not actually books,  but rather a revelation of the connection between us and the Creator. The Kabbalists gave us an opportunity to grab onto this connection through letters and words, which are written down on sheets of paper; in this manner we can take part in this connection.

After all, what is a book and what are the words written in it? We don’t know what it is. Like infants, we touch something. And Kabbalists arranged it so that when we come into contact with a book, wishing to be connected to them through it, we use the force that they created through the connection between them.

It is true that they created the Torah through this. After all, the Torah is actually given to us to correct egoism precisely through these Kabbalists and the special souls who prepared for us this opportunity: their connection. If it weren’t for their actions, we would not be able to achieve our correction on our own, which is the connection between us.  Without the actions of the Kabbalists, we would not be able to rouse the reforming Light.

A simple physical law is in action: if you have the quality of bestowal, Light shines on you; if you do not have the quality of bestowal, Light does not shine on you.

Therefore, it is necessary to understand that without the revelation of the science of Kabbalah in the books, and without studying it, a person will not be able to rouse the reforming Light. He can try to fix his relationships with other people, wishing to build his wonderful world, but he will not receive the force of Light, the force of correction. One needs to be connected to a system that uses authentic books, a group, an understanding, and a connection according to the recommendations of Kabbalists. Otherwise, it is impossible to reach correction.

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