Question: I think that in all his articles, Rabash is trying to describe spiritual work in sensory terms for us.

Answer: Everything takes place in our sensations. Kabbalists do not discuss anything else. Even mathematics and all other phenomena that may seem irrational to us are still sensory even though we don’t realize that we use our mind to evaluate the connection between our feelings.

We measure, weigh, and attach some numeric value to them, but all of this work still occurs in our senses. Even when I determine the shades of the colors, “This is more yellow, and that is whiter,” I evaluate the sensations that they trigger in me. This goes for everything, including the most rational meanings seemingly stripped of any emotions. Either way, we always work only in our sensations.

When I came to the wisdom of Kabbalah, I was shocked, “What feelings? What is this, a romance novel? What kind of science is this?” until I started to really comprehend that man is made solely of desire, and all the others around us are desires as well. Still objects, plants, and animals are all desires that look this way in our collective will to enjoy.

I see animals, still objects, people, and the sky. This is how I experience these phenomena in my desire to enjoy. I explore still matter: what force to apply to affect it so it would get hot, split into components, or merge. I study animals, plants, myself, and human relations within a society. In any case, I analyze, weigh, evaluate, and study only relationships between desires.

Hence, all Kabbalistic books speak solely about the correction of desire so that you can elevate yours to such an exalted degree where you will unveil the Creator, the integral force of Nature, the outermost, broadest, and all-inclusive circle. This is what you must achieve in your desires.
[31602]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/3/2011, “Introduction of The Book of Zohar,” Article “Yitro (Jethro)”

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Question: If I don’t have any study questions, do I nevertheless advance?

Answer: A person himself has to check whether he is advancing or not. How can he do it? By examining if during the study he experiences ascents and descents in his connection with the others and rejection thereof. Now I only need to know whether I am connected with the others and try to reveal the images that we study in The Zohar, the images of the Creator, within this connection.

Do I aspire for it? Yes, I do. How strong is my aspiration? How many times during the lesson did I leave and come back to these thoughts? How many times during this work did I feel concerned about the others so that they, too, hold this intention? Then, their collective thought will also act upon me so that even if I leave these thoughts, I will immediately return to them. It is actually good to have as many of these quick exits and entries as possible.

For this reason I need the support of the group, and I have to constantly hold the thought about the connection. This is my entire work. These signs help me evaluate my progress. If I stop thinking about the connection and never return to these thoughts again, I don’t advance.

Hence, don’t ask, but rather examine yourself.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/5/2011, “Introduction of The Book of Zohar,” Article “Yitro (Jethro)”

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The Zohar, Introduction, Article “Yitro (Jethro),” Item 100: The seed of David, the sights of the colors change in him, and this is why Samuel erred, as it is written, “Do not look at his appearance,” since the other side was in Eliav. This was not so with David, since David’s forms are covered because the forms of the other side were included in his forms, and the form of the other side appeared in him first, passing over the eyes for a time, and the heart is alarmed and fears.

We are mistaken in that we work very hard to understand what The Zohar talks about, and much less on the intention, the thought that we have to unite and reveal The Zohar inside of the connection between us. Only to the degree we unite, the image of the Creator will become revealed inside our unity, and it will be nothing like what we are able to imagine before we unite.

Our unity is the entrance ticket enabling us to see and feel spiritual images and qualities that The Zohar talks about. Their sum total gives us the image of the Creator. However, if we desire to discern what we study without searching for a connection between us, this is called external study, Klipa, a deadly poison.

If during the study I try to search for the image that I study, it is Klipa. On the other hand, if I first want to reveal that image through the prism of unification with the group, the environment, and only after the unification I try to find that spiritual image that The Zohar talks about, then it is holiness, bestowal, spirituality. At the end of the day I search for the forms of unity and bestowal, and that is the most important thing, whereas in the first case I look for the image or form of reception.

Therefore, we must first of all worry about how we pass through that prism, the intention, the unification with the group, the environment. This is very important! Without this we shouldn’t even open The Book of Zohar because it can either become a deadly poison or the elixir of life.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/5/11, The Zohar

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Question: I understand that The Zohar talks only about the spiritual world. But at the same time, there is a law of root and branch. Besides, the material world is an imprint of spirituality. So what is the connection between them?

Answer: There are only two forces or qualities in nature: reception and bestowal. All the possible unifications and connections between them create their mutual, common form for us.

If this common form has a desire to receive for itself, this is the reverse imprint of the Creator, and if it has the desire to bestow, it is a direct copy of the Creator. Nothing else exists. That is why we say that there is none else besides Him and in general He is the only thing that exists.

So who are we? We are those who desire to discern these forms that are opposite or similar to the Creator. These forms build the image of the Creator inside us, showing it to us on our inner screen.

We cannot see a force by itself because a force is a form outside of matter, similar to electricity. I can tell that electricity is present only if it activates a device, meaning I can only identify it by certain results.

I do not know who the Creator is, but I can attain His form and according to that I can see and realize it. I too exist to the degree that I attain the form of the Creator.

The Zohar talks about which forms of the Creator I attain—good or bad, better or worse. Can it really be that I attain bad forms from the Creator?! Yes, because I am the one who attains and "Every person judges to the extent of his own lack of correction."

On my inner screen I attain the forms between how much I can be in the opposite quality and how able I am to become similar to the Creator. This is the contrast I attain and it creates the image of the Creator for me.

There are always two distinctions in this image—for and against, good and evil, Light and darkness. I attain the difference between them and without that difference I would have no sensation because I am creation.

Through all sorts of forms such as these, which remind us of earthly pictures, The Zohar shows us the combination of forces, Hassadim and Hochma, reception and bestowal, which create the image of the Creator for me. But they create this image inside of me because for now, it is in my desire and my sensation that the Creator appears to me in these uncorrected forms.

The question arises: But why does The Zohar depict this for me in this earthly form? It’s because the Creator initially brought us to this imaginary reality where we also imagine Him as our world with the inanimate nature, plants, animals, and people, and where we exist connected with each other.

This entire dream that we are now seeing is intended only in order for us to ascend from it to the true picture of reality. That is why The Zohar describes the spiritual reality for us in this earthly form that we now feel. Then we can at least start to talk about higher forms of reality based on something.

Otherwise we would not have any chance to do it because we need a scale by which to measure, a certain basis with which to start. There has to be some kind of initial state and that initial state is our world.
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From the lesson on 12/4/10, The Zohar

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Question: If I cannot reveal the place of the breaking, does it mean that there is nothing for me to correct?

Answer: A person has nothing to correct except the breaking between him and other people who have the same aspiration to the Creator. However, why is it particularly with the people who aspire to the Creator? Can’t I correct my relationship with other people such as at work, in the family, or at the market? There are plenty of people around, and everyone needs to reach complete correction.

Then, why can’t I work with them? This is because their desires are not aimed at the unification of souls. Each of them desires only to fill their ego with something, and this is the animate level of egoism, not the degree of the human being. I do not reveal the breaking there.

The breaking is on the human degree. Meanwhile, I have nothing to correct on the animate degree. There, people are polite, pleasant, and kind.

Therefore, correction pertains only to those who aspire to the Creator. We might ask then: “Why is the whole world suffering? Why are we all entering a global, integral, and broken world now?”

This is because all the other people also need to be corrected to the extent that they can join or adhere to those who aspire to the Creator. They will not correct the connections between them on the animate level since, then, they would be like the communists in Russia. However, in the end, they will be forced to unite due to adhering to us and through us to the Creator.

We only correct the connections between souls on the level of man who is similar to the Creator. Therefore, this correction pertains only to the group of Kabbalists or those who join them in various forms to the extent that they are able.

Thus, Baal HaSulam writes in the end of “Introduction to The Book Of Zohar” that everything depends on Israel. “Israel” are those who aspire to the Creator, those who feel hatred between them and need to correct it. The whole correction depends on them.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/2/2011, “Introduction of The Book of Zohar,” Article “Yitro (Jethro)”

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Question: Does it matter for spiritual advancement whether we read The Book of Zohar in Hebrew or translated into other languages?

Answer: I have to say that it does. The uniqueness of the Hebrew language comes from the fact that it has spiritual roots. That is why the shape of the letters as well as their sequence reflect combinations of spiritual forces.

Hebrew isn’t my native language, and specifically because I am not accustomed to it, I can see in the combinations of letters and their shapes a truly mathematical logic. They are calculations and signs that are expressed in the form of letters. A letter is a sign.

The Zohar describes letters, their shapes, and order in such great detail that if you read it in another language, you as though become unable to do it. The same refers to the order of the words and the sequence of letters.

Let’s say, Hebrew has many things that seem to be unnecessary: letters “Shin” and “Sin” that  appear as the same letter same but are pronounced differently, or “Tav” and “Tet” that are different letters but are pronounced in the same way, or the spelling of letters and words.

Other languages got modified as history progressed; hence, there still are individual elements of the ancient language in the modern one, such as the endings in the French language, for instance. As to Hebrew, it hasn’t changed with history. The forces in charge of creating the meanings of words in spirituality are arranged in such manner that over the course of millennia it is impossible to change either the spelling of the words or the shapes of the letters.

Every language has an old and a modern version whereas Hebrew does not. There is a colloquial slang, but the language itself hasn’t been altered. It cannot change since its structure is based on the forces which create the signs regarded as letters and words.

This language will disappear only at the end of correction (Gmar Tikkun), when we will ascend from ZAT (seven lower Sefirot) of Bina and ZON to GAR (three upper Sefirot) of Bina, wherein the letters will vanish. That’s when all of the matter will also dissolve.

Therefore, when asked “Should or shouldn’t I learn Hebrew?”, I would reply that it will be necessary, to a certain degree. If a person has time and opportunity to do so, it is worthwhile making an effort.
[31260]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/30/10, “Introduction of The Book of Zohar,” Article “Yitro (Jethro)”

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Question: Can the reading of The Book of Zohar help us acquire a general, universal perception? Would it not cancel out the uniqueness of each human being?

Answer: What uniqueness can there be at the moment? What human being?.. We are talking about your “beast” which we have to turn into a Human Being.

You have a “donkey” (“donkey” in Hebrew is “Hamor,” from the word “Homer” – “matter”), and there is only one spiritual spark in it. We want to help you extract this spark from the “donkey” and connect it with the rest of the sparks shimmering above the herd of “donkeys.”

Imagine seven billion “donkeys” and a twinkling spark above each of them. We want to unite these sparks together and then build from them Man similar to the Creator. Only then will they acquire a general perception of the collective soul of Adam HaRishon.
[31596]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/3/2011, “Introduction of The Book of Zohar,” Article “Yitro (Jethro)”

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