There are books written by regular people about sensations in this world. And there are books written by Kabbalists, people who attain the upper world and write about their sensations in spirituality.

These books are called special, sacred books. Sacred (Kadosh) literally translates “separate.” The spiritual world is completely separated from our egoism; therefore, a person who is describing it from his sensations is writing a sacred book: special or separated.

There is one special book out of all the books written throughout history by people with spiritual attainment. In Kabalistic sources it is simply referred to as The Book, with no mention of its name “The Zohar.” This book is so unique that in relation to it other books aren’t even considered a book. This is because it was written by a special group of people who attained all ten of the highest Sefirot in Malchut of the world of Infinity.

The special meeting of these ten individuals occurred approximately 2000 years ago. Nine students along with their teacher Rabbi Shimon retired to a cave in the North of Israel. They stayed there and studied.

This cave is a very special place. When my teacher Rabash and I would go to Tiberias, we often visited this cave. Rabash really loved to be there. He would stand for a few minutes, and it looked like he was somewhere else, as if he left his body. That’s the extent to which he connected to the spiritual force of the ten Sefirot, the ten souls that sat in this cave while revealing the world of Infinity.

By connecting together they attained all 125 spiritual levels, from our world to the world of Infinity. Baal HaSulam writes in the “Introduction to The Book of Zohar” that such a high level of attainment by a group of people occurred only once in the entire history because they united and studied together.

Only in the final correction (Gmar Tikkun) will we be able to attain the same level that was attained by this group, and we’ll be able to do so thanks to their unification. They wrote in The Book of Zohar how they were able to unite, what happened as a result, and what was revealed in the connection between them. Therein lies the whole power of The Book of Zohar.

And clearly this Book can give us the greatest force of correction for our souls. That’s why this Book is so important.
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From Lesson 2, WE! Convention 4/2/2011

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Writings of Rabash, Dargot HaSulam “From Your Deeds Do We Know You”
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The Book of Zohar – Selections, Chapter “Yitro (Jethro),” Item 533, Lesson 12
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Explanation of the Article, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Item 9, Lesson 4
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Rav Yehuda Ashlag “The Freedom,” Lesson 16
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The Book of Zohar, Weekly Torah Portion “Metzora,” Selected Excerpts
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The right intention is the most important thing we need while reading The Book of Zohar. If a person leaves the intention, then the book does not work on him. There are many sayings and Kabbalistic articles on this topic, but in short Baal HaSulam writes the following.

The Creator deliberately created our ego, which divides between us. If we ascend above our ego and unite with one another, then the ego itself remains. We do not work on it, but only connect among us above it. Then the entire power and resistance of our ego, which obstructs us from connecting with each other, turns into the might of our unity.

That is how a resistor (resistance) works in an electrical circuit. When we let an electric current through it, then precisely this resistance is where we create the pressure that turns on an engine or any electrical device.

We need this resistance so that in opposition to it we could let the force of our unity through it. Then the might of our unity which we receive, reveals the spiritual world to us.

If we did not have this resistance between us, the way it was at the beginning of creation when we were all connected together directly, then we would remain on the same level – we would not perceive ourselves.

However, precisely because the resistance formed between us, which is our ego that separates us, and now we begin to unite, the might we receive by letting the force of our unity pass through the resistance, is what reveals the spiritual world to us. Then we ascend up 125 levels of our unity, against egoism, until we extract the entire infinite might from this common resistance.

The Book of Zohar holds precisely the Light that can give us the force to overcome the resistance, to unite with one another and inside the connection between us to reveal the entire spiritual dimension. Therein lies our work with The Book of Zohar.
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From the 4th lesson at the WE! Convention on 4/1/11

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The name Baal HaSulam means “Owner of the Ladder” in Hebrew. He received this name because of the title of the “Sulam (Ladder) Commentary on the Book of Zohar” which he wrote.

As he says, the revelation of this book, as well as the fact that he was able to create a commentary on the entire Book of Zohar is a sign that the generation is already worthy of correction, the revelation of spirituality to the masses, and with the dissemination of The Book of Zohar the whole world will come closer to correction.

When Baal HaSulam published The Zohar with the Sulam Commentary, his students walked around the streets carrying volumes of this book, going to different places in an attempt to disseminate it. It was very difficult. People were afraid of The Book of Zohar because there were rumors that this book is very special, that is has enormous power, and is able to bring benefit as well as harm.

Only in our time, 60 or 70 years after the Sulam Commentary was created, we are presenting The Zohar to the world in an adapted form that makes it accessible for the wide masses so that everyone could read it and enjoy it.
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From the 4th lesson at the WE! Convention on 4/1/11

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Letters in spirituality are a system of correction, a template that has to gradually clothe us, lending us its shape. Like in typography, they print their outlines onto us, in the right order and correct combination of all the necessary elements.

At the end we will assume the same shape as the upper Light in Infinity. The spiritual imprint of the letters lies on the matter of our desire, until it becomes similar to the Light.

The system of correction formed as a result of the breaking in the worlds, and that’s why it contains all types of combinations of Bina and Malchut, which we have to adopt. This system was deliberately built in order to adapt to the correction of souls.

And then the soul Adam HaRishon broke so that the letters, meaning our corrected forms, would become equivalent to our uncorrected matter. Now the Light can come through the letters and clothe in various forms that we are able to take.

This mechanism is the universal basis for all corrections in all the worlds, including ours. If we want to act properly, if we delve into the depth, seeking to find the right way, we will eventually come to this exact system which somewhat resembles the higher system of correction. This is the way we’re built, and we don’t have the opportunity to conceive something other than this.

This is a good indication of whether we are acting in the right direction, whether we understand the true flaw and the means of its correction. Even during the very first steps we can check ourselves against this system.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/16/2010, “Introduction of The Book of Zohar”

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The spiritual world is a unified soul, one for all. By unifying with the others, everyone attains the same integral soul. In the article “600,000 Souls,” Baal HaSulam writes that there is nothing else in the world but one soul.

Every person attains this collective soul in an individual manner, according to his or her program or Reshimot (spiritual genes), just as at present, we observe the surrounding world and see it in our own way. I cannot compare the taste that I obtain from a certain food with how others taste it, or my impression of a painting that we both view. Everyone has impressions that match their Reshimot.

Even if we are standing in front of the same picture in spirituality, the same worlds and Partzufim, everyone receives an individual impression of it anyway. This uniqueness doesn’t vanish.

How do I unify with the integral soul? You do it by way of desires. Suppose I am in the center of the spiritual worlds: Assiya, Yetzira, Beria, Atzilut, Adam Kadmon (AK), or the world of Infinity. By exiting myself, my ego, and unifying with the others, I attain the dimension of the integral soul. In it, I perceive the spiritual world. The more I step out of my ego, acquiring the others’ Kelim (vessels), the more exalted world I perceive thereby.

How do I do that? I “purchase” new desires since I have only a point, an embryo, of the soul. The new desires that I gain while unifying with the others are, in fact, the Kli (vessel) of my soul.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/18/2011, “Introduction of The Book of Zohar”

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The Radiance Of The Integral Soul
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Question: Could you tell us about your intention while reading The Book of Zohar?

Answer: Kabbalists teach us what the intention should be. Every person has to actualize what he read to the extent he understands it.

It is impossible to tell you about the intention. This is something that cannot be explained to another person since the intention comes from a person’s inner state which he reveals.

I am in a state that’s unknown to me. I reveal it as it unfolds inside of me. From this state that becomes revealed to me, I create the intention.

In essence, it is impossible to clothe this intention into words. There are no words for it. That’s because it includes a person’s inner desire (Hissaron) and the degree of his connection with the upper reality through his attempts to find the means that will bring him to the highest possible closeness to the Host, the Creator – to adhesion (Zivug de Hakaa) with Him.

What are those means? They are the books, the teacher, and the group. A person includes everything that he understands and feels from their entire sum total, and through them attains unity with the Creator.

All of these means have to be present. If you miss even one of them, then you don’t have the right contact. And in addition, each of them must be properly balanced with the others.
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/28/11, The Zohar

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The Zohar, Chapter “Yitro (Jethro),” Item 465: On Sabbath, the Torah is crowned with him, crowned with all those Mitzvot, all those sentences and punishments in seventy branches of light that shine to every direction…. Who saw those gates that open to each of the directions in them, where each consists of ten, and they are fifty gates? They all shine and illuminate in that light that is emitted and which never stops.

Where can I reveal all these details? I can find them only in the internal connection between the friends. The Zohar describes all types of connection that we will reveal, until it becomes an infinite bond between us, when we completely correct it.

All states and relations The Zohar describes, as well as various images of the still, vegetative, and animate nature, including people and all kinds of situations, or in the language of Kabbalah, Partzufim (souls), Olamot (worlds), Reshimot (spiritual genes), and Sefirot (properties), along with their ascents and descents, all of them are expressions of the internal connection between us, the people who are willing to unify in order to reveal the upper world within, in their relations.

Everyone advances in being able to see how the 613 desires of his or her soul expand outward in bestowal to the other souls and how from every soul, its 613 desires also expand to all the others. Imagine this: There are billions of souls that match the number of people in this corporeal world. From each soul, there expand 613 desires to every soul, all of them link into each other, and with a new, mutual linkage they bestow to each other again, and interconnecting once more, they continue to bestow.

Thus, finally we will see a sphere that has no empty “space” since all of it is filled with the souls’ bond. If we reveal this bond in the minimal measure, in 1/125th part of it, we begin revealing the Light flowing in the channels between us. This is called the revelation of the Creator because this Light is, in fact, the Creator, and that is what The Zohar describes.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/25/2011, The Book of Zohar

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Question: Can studying The Zohar help a person realize that he has gotten off the path and correct this transgression?

Answer: In reality, the most effective means that directs a person in this regard is the group’s opinion, the common sensation that reigns in the group. If a group follows the advice of the teacher and the authors of the books, then it forms a sensation inside of it that enables every person to check the extent to which he loses the direction toward the goal of creation.

This is like a tower floating in the sky, but I have to be inside of that tower.
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/28/11, The Zohar

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