Question: How can we understand Reshimot in spiritual work? Can we perceive or understand them?

Answer: I do not hear how they are “clicking,” but I feel how I change from one moment to the next. These changes are the result of Reshimot that awaken along the chain that was built during my soul’s descent along all the degrees from Infinity down to this world. Now I ascend back along the same degrees, but only on the condition that the Light comes and the Reshimot change.

In reality, everyone ascends up this ladder, but every person does it differently: either by way of suffering or by way of Torah. The Light pours upon everyone, but each person uses it to the degree he is able. Inside this integral, single system, we all influence one another, and therefore the personal corrections on the path interweave with the group and universal corrections.

If we could take a bird’s eye view of the whole system and discern all the phases of its development, we would see the connection between the events in our world and would understand how inside the complex they advance certain parts toward correction. And this also happens either by way of suffering or by way of Torah.

In addition, we would see how by working with each other, we awaken the world more and more from the inside, and thereby help everyone take the right steps. Thus, the world advances toward the goal quickly and easily, instead of by the lengthy and painful way.
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/12/10, The Zohar

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We are studying an article from “Introduction from The Book of Zohar” titled “MI created ELE.” It speaks about Bina of the world of Atzilut and how its three upper Sefirot (GAR or MI) created seven lower Sefirot (ZAT or ELE).

GAR created (Bara), meaning it drew from within itself outward (Bar) its lower part, AHP. Having descended to Zeir Anpin and Malchut, AHP is now able to interconnect with the souls that ascend to Malchut from the worlds of BYA (Beria, Yetzira, Assiya) and are willing to be reformed and unified.

The souls ask for the strength to unite, and they don’t need anything except that. They understand that by doing so they will acquire a Kli where the Creator will be revealed. Besides, they realize that their own strength is insufficient to accomplish such unification and the upper force is necessary.

Therefore, they raise their desire to Malchut of the world of Atzilut, causing it to merge with Zeir Anpin as one whole, ZON. At that point, ZON discovers that in Malchut and Zeir Anpin, there is the lower part of Bina, ELE, and this part elevates them to Bina, MI, itself.

As a result, the souls, Malchut, Zeir Anpin, and both parts of Bina, unify Above and receive the Light’s force there: the property of bestowal that rules in the upper part of Bina completely. Thereby, MI creates ELE and later reforms the souls that ascended to Bina.

If we wish to act following the example described in The Book of Zohar, we must strive to find among us the desire, the need, to ascend to Malchut de Atzilut in order to enter Bina’s AHP. This need will flame up in a person when he gets eager to become part of the group because Malchut of the world of Atzilut recognizes and responds solely to this specific desire.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/6/10, “Introduction from The Book of Zohar,” Article “Who Created These”

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The Book of Zohar — Introduction: “Mother Lends Her Clothes to Her Daughter,” Item 21, Lesson 3
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The Book of Zohar — Introduction: “The Letters by Rabbi Amnon Saba,” Item 22, Lesson 1
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Talmud Eser Sefirot 3, Part 8, Item 20, Lesson 9
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Baal HaSulam, “Beit Shaar HaKavanot,” Item 72
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Rav Yehuda Ashlag “A Handmaid that is Heir to Her Mistress,” Lesson 4
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Writings of Rabash, Dargot HaSulam “Labor and Finding”
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The Book of Zohar – Selections, Chapter “Tzav (Command),” Item 152
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Explanation of the Article, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Lesson 7
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Rav Yehuda Ashlag “The Freedom,” Lesson 8
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Write down and learn what the intention has to be during the lesson: to merge with one another as one man with one heart, inside the system of our interconnection called “mutual guarantee.” On one hand, every person feels himself, and on the other hand, above this sensation he feels such a strong connection with others that he is unable to perform even one free motion. That is how devoted a person has to be to the group.

It’s as if I am weaved into a spider web through which all of my incoming and outgoing signals pass. I don’t have anything of my own in the mind or the heart. There is just one point remaining, which constantly yearns toward this net with all its strength, wishing to give itself to it.

This is self-rejection. To the degree I give myself to others, the Upper Light influences me and makes me a part of the common net. Then I feel how on one hand I am devoted to it, and on the other hand, it is all mine.

It’s the same as how a mother gives all of herself to the child and they both feel that the child is hers. One does not exist without the other. It says about this in the Song of Songs, “I am for my beloved and my beloved is for me.” That is how we must work.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/9/10, The Zohar

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Question: At the lesson we have to aspire to one place and unite everything into one. However, over the years I have developed different notions of spiritual phenomena. When reading about Bina and Malchut, I perceive them differently. Is it possible to reduce them to one point?

Answer: They really do have to become one whole. In essence, Bina and Malchut are the qualities of the Creator and creation. We do not know exactly what this is, but nevertheless their interconnection and relationships indicate union.

Bina lowers a part of herself into Malchut, the letters “ELE” of the name Elokim. Malchut ascends into Bina, changing the name MA to MI. Behind the descriptions of these processes in The Book of Zohar we discern the bonds connecting them.

Accordingly, we have to build our intention. By uniting with the group, I see it as the place, the focal point where the quality of Bina, bestowal, or Elokim is revealed. That is where I raise my desires and yearnings. It is where I want to unite as a corrected part of Malchut.

I hope that Bina will help me by means of its vessels ELE, which are lowered intentionally in order to take care of me in order to become a motherly womb for me and raise me spiritually. That is how I should relate to the group.

The group is the system that is empowered to present Elokim, HaVaYaH, to me. It is the place where I receive nourishment, and from where the Lights and changes come to me.

My conception of the group depends only on how able I am to reject myself before it. The Upper One may take on any forms, but it happens only to the degree that the lower one ascends the degrees of self-rejection and becomes similar to Him, going through the phases of conception, feeding, and adulthood.

This is what I want when I subject myself to the group’s influence, the place that nourishes us. This should be my intention at the lesson: to constantly search for my place in the story about the interrelationships of Bina and Malchut.

They connect through Zeir Anpin, through HaVaYaH, the quality of mercy, the Light. This is the entire system that develops us. Our territory is the lower part of Bina, Zeir Anpin, and Malchut herself. That is where our entire life is, both the material and the spiritual.

That’s because reality is one. Even though we only see an illusory picture now, it is just a flaw in our perception, an illusion caused by meager understanding and sensation. When the fog begins to clear, the Upper World will come through from it, our connection with the group, with the other souls, which comes through in AHP, meaning in the lower part of Bina (ZAT), Zeir Anpin, and Malchut.

This is what all of the science of Kabbalah talks about. This is the expression of our relationship with the Creator, with the unity of HaVaYaH and Elokim, which we have to attain.

Therefore, we have to understand that ZAT de Bina is the corrected group in which we find ourselves. We will never reveal anything more. we discern only the degree of our ability to unite in the lower part of Bina, in the group. That is our place. By giving ourselves over into its power, we will reveal our true reality, which is concealed from us for now by a veil of hazy perception.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/9/10, The Zohar

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“Introduction from The Book of Zohar,” Article “The Rose”: “Katnut [infancy/smallness] is called “a rose among the thorns,” since her bottom nine were emptied from the light of Atzilut and remained as thorns. Gadlut is called plainly “a rose” or “the Assembly of Israel.” This is why it was said, “There is a rose, and there is a rose.”

Question: What advice would you give a new student who finds himself at a Kabbalah lesson for the first time?

Answer: Our Source is called “Infinity” (Ein Sof). From there and through the World of Adam Kadmon (AK), the Light descends to the common Tabur (navel). Below are the Partzufim of the World of Atzilut: Atik, Arich Anpin (AA), Abba ve Ima (AVI), and ZON (Zeir Anpin and Nukva). Below them are the Worlds of Beria, Yetzira, and Assiya (BYA).

We study what is happening in the World of Atzilut. For us, it’s of utmost importance for here is where governance is conducted, where the past, present, and future are contained. It is concluded with the Parsa (border, separating line) which restricts the diffusion of the Light of Hochma (Wisdom).

Below, in the Worlds of BYA, there are the broken souls, whereas our world is all the way at the bottom, below the common finishing (Sium) line which stems from Infinity. Here, we exist in our bodies until we are awakened spiritually.

The souls raise their desire, their appeal for correction, to Malchut of the World of Atzilut. She utilizes her connection with Zeir Anpin and raises the souls’ desire to him.

To the extent that Zeir Anpin connects to Malchut, they become a joint Partzuf called ZON and ascend to AVI. Zeir Anpin ascends to Abba, the fatherly Partzuf, while Malchut ascends to Ima, the motherly Partzuf.

ZON obligates “father and mother” to give them all the necessary Lights, corrections and fulfillments, and then return to their places. There, they become “big,” acquire the adult state of Gadlut. This helps us clarifiy the meaning of the two states of the “rose” or Malchut: Katnut and Gadlut.

In the first state, she represents only the point of the Upper Sefira, Keter, whereas its other nine Sefirot are below the Parsa. Also here are the forces of filth (Klipot, shells). This is the meaning of the phrase, “a rose among the thorns”: Malchut among the Klipot. It is Malchut’s first, smallest state.

In her adult state, Malchut elevates her lower nine Sefirot, makes a Zivug (mating, coupling) with Zeir Anpin by unifying with him, and thereby becomes a genuine rose, blossoming to its full beauty. Malchut can become this way only when her “thorns,” meaning Kelim (vessels) that are unconnected and unfulfilled by Zeir Anpin, ascend to a Zivug with him.

All of this is evoked by the broken souls when they unite together, and it is they who bring about the correction of Zeir Anpin and Malchut. Herein lies our entire work: to bring about the correction of ZON until they reach their ultimate state.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/28/10, “Introduction from The Book of Zohar,” Article “The Rose”

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The Book of Zohar, Weekly Torah Portion “VaYigash,” Selected Excerpts
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The Book of Zohar — Introduction: “Mother Lends Her Clothes to Her Daughter,” Item 18, Lesson 2
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Talmud Eser Sefirot 3, Part 8, Item 18, Lesson 8
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Baal HaSulam, “Beit Shaar HaKavanot,” Item 71
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Rav Yehuda Ashlag “A Handmaid that is Heir to Her Mistress,” Lesson 3
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Question: A person can only feel one thing at a given moment in time. How then can we experience disappointment and joy simultaneously?

Answer: Two opposites are inherent in us: Our egoistic desire and the altruistic spark, the point in the heart.

If we begin to fan the spark correctly, then it pulls us toward bestowal, the Creator, while the desire pulls us in the direction of the animate world, simply wishing to be fulfilled. If I position them one against the other, if I am ready for my desire to suffer for the sake of raising my point in the heart, then my work already unravels in two different directions.

The more my desire for pleasure is restricted, the higher the point in the heart ascends above it to bestowal. It is on their opposition that I build my Kli.

I have to give all my energy to the point in the heart in order to plant it in the group and raise it there. As for the material desire, come what may. I don’t pay much attention to it, confining myself to the vital necessities.

Therefore, we must definitely “split” into two so that eventually a screen, Masach, will emerge between these two parts. Then we will go on to doing real spiritual actions.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/8/10, The Zohar

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