The Zohar, “Introduction of The Zohar,” Chapter “BeLaila De Kala (Night of the Bride)”: The time of correction is called night. …On the next day, the bride is to be with her husband under the Huppah….”

Our broken souls as well as the lower nine Sefirot of Malchut of the World of Atzilut are located above this world in the Worlds of Beria, Yetzira, and Assiya. The Keter of Malchut is located on top, in the World of Atzilut, and represents just a point. The remaining nine Sefirot are under the Parsa, in the Worlds of BYA.

The state of the souls in the Worlds of BYA are called “night.” By rising to Malchut of the World of Azilut, they compel Malchut to raise her nine lower Sefirot which now remain unnoticed in the darkness.

To the extent that we connect to Malchut, she starts raising its Sefirot to Atzilut and becomes a Kli (vessel). This enables her to connect into one whole with Zeir Anpin (ZA), which is called Huppah (a wedding canopy or cover, the Masach [screen] under which the Zivug [union] or a wedding ceremony takes place). In other words, we are talking about connection, Zivug.

ZA is called the Creator, while Malchut, Shechina. Their unity is what we need to achieve. When does it happen? By raising our desires to Atzilut, we instigate the ascent of all the worlds. Malchut (BON) rises to the degree of SAG, while ZA (MA) to the degree of AB. This is their future.

We attain and feel all of it in our unification. From the level of the Zivug of AB-SAG, we receive the Light and fill our souls that are located below, in Malchut.

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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/14/10, “Hakdama, Laila de Kale (The Night of the Bride)”

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The Zohar, Chapter “BeShalach (When Pharoah Sent),” Item 441: It is written about that, “You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together,” meaning one should not give room to the evil kinds because man’s actions awaken what need not be so. When they mate together, it is impossible to stand up to them. A Klipa called “dog” comes out of their side, and this is the fiercest of all….

The Zohar also says that our every effort and action immediately exposes the Klipa (shell), and a person fails, immerses into the Klipa, and then gradually performs a correction and comes out of it. In this way, he clarifies the Klipa and does not need to be in it any longer.

That is, ascending the spiritual degrees always starts with confusion, the mixing between good and bad. At the beginning, any state is unclear to me. Undoubtedly, there is both good and bad in it.

I have to attract the Light that Reforms to this state. By manifesting in this state, the Light pulls the evil down, and I rise upward using the good. Hence, in any state I reach, I first sense a lack of clarity, and only the Light splits it into two.

At first, the Light helps me reveal the evil, as it is said, “I created the evil inclination,” and I throw it down. Then, there is “…and I created the Torah for its correction because the Light (Ohr Makif) in it reforms.” Then I rise upward to the good desires.

Hence, “There is no righteous man who does good without first having sinned.” We always need to reveal the evil first and “cast it off,” meaning to be immersed in it, imbued with it, realize that it is evil, and only afterward get rid of it and reach good.

This happens with any clarification, with every tiniest detail. So don’t be frightened if it happens with you every second. On the contrary, the more often it occurs, the better.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/14/10, The Zohar

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The Book of Zohar – Selections, Chapter “Hakdama, BeLaila De Kala (The Night of the Bride),” Item 2
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The Book of Zohar — Selections, Chapter “BeShalach (When Pharaoh Sent),” Item 463
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Baal HaSulam, “Beit Shaar HaKavanot,” Lesson 17
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Rav Yehuda Ashlag, “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose,” Lesson 2
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No matter how tired we are from the efforts of reading The Book of Zohar, no matter how tasteless it may seem, during the reading we must all be united in one intention, one desire. This is our shared work in mutual guarantee against the inner disturbances of every person in our thoughts about unity.

We want to sleep and tune out, losing the thread of the narration. We wander around in a fog, and the text does not attract us or elicit any feelings. Yet this is the place that contains the Light, which has to make the correction inside us, bringing us to unity, to the spiritual form.

We have to yearn for unity from our side and wait for an action from the side of the Light so it will turn us exactly into what is necessary. We want to unite and focus on the single desire to be together when every person bows down his head. I make this effort and desire for the Light to perform its action from Above in response.

This is called “Israel, the Torah, and the Creator are one.” By means of the Torah we are trying to reveal the Creator. The Torah is the Light that Reforms and unites us, and the Creator will become revealed inside our unity. Let the anchorman keep reading. To me every word is a new drop of Light uniting us into one whole.

I am turning to all of our friends from all over the world: We lack this joint effort.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/14/10, The Zohar

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The Book of Zohar requires a special preparation on our part. It is the most powerful source of Light and the force that will change our nature if we correctly prepare ourselves for working with it.

First of all, in our current state we have to maximally correspond to the Upper Light that The Zohar brings us. This is why, as much as we can, we are trying to become similar to the authors of The Zohar, Rabbi Shimon and his nine students. They explain that in the beginning of the spiritual work, the revelation of The Zohar, the Light of Hochma of the World of Atzilut, they are suddenly overtaken by mutual hatred. The Light they attract shines into their desires, and despite their yearning for unity, what arises among them is repulsion. Standing before the illumination of The Zohar, they see that they are opposite to it.

The path begins with the revelation of evil; a person has to feel this every time. Otherwise his first step will be incorrect. It is written, “I created the evil inclination and I created the Torah as a spice because the Light concealed in it returns us to the Source.” This is talking about three lines. The evil inclination is the left line, the Torah or spice is the right line (the Light that Reforms), and the middle line is our corrected soul, the desire of the left line that has been corrected by the intention of the right line.

The evil inclination, egoism, does not come by itself, but under the influence of Light. Then we turn to the right line, the Torah, and the Light that comes from Above returns us to the Source, the Creator, the middle line. The revelation of evil is the beginning of every phase on the path to coming closer to the Creator from zero until the End of Correction. Even the group of Rabbi Shimon, which was on very high levels, went through the same phases.

Without revealing our enemy, we cannot study Kabbalah and attract the Light. We are trying our best to unite, but then we feel that our heart is deaf and that a stale taste lingers in our mouth.

Yet the goal is great and it evokes the need for the Light, the Creator who will come and correct us. We will no longer leave Him alone until He appears and establishes a connection between the friends so we will become a common Kli in mutual guarantee, as one man with one heart in one desire. This is what I demand. Even if I don’t know exactly what this means, even if I don’t have the smallest inclination to unite, I am still shouting together with everyone.

That is how we are approaching the reading of The Zohar, from the desire to unite. Unity will enable us to attract the Upper Light. At first every person is by himself, and then by way of the Surrounding Light (Ohr Makif), we will come to unity.

In this unity we acquire the Upper World. The spiritual degree surfaces inside our interconnection. At first we reveal the evil inclination between us and then we demand the Light that will unite us. Then the Light does its work and unites us in the middle line, in the common desire.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/14/10, The Zohar

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The Book of Zohar – Selections, Chapter “Hakdama, BeLaila De Kala (The Night of the Bride),” Item 1
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The Book of Zohar — Selections, Chapter “BeShalach (When Pharaoh Sent),” Item 437
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Baal HaSulam, “Beit Shaar HaKavanot,” Lesson 16
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Rav Yehuda Ashlag, “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose,” Lesson 1
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There are two parallel systems of connection between us:

1. The egoistical system, which is the one we experience at the moment.
2. The more internal, corrected system hidden behind the egoistic one. This is our next stage of development. In this system, pre-existing but concealed from us, we are in the intention of Lishma (for Her Sake), and it contains the Light, the Inner Light (Ohr Pnimi).

If we, to the best of our ability, connect to the next state, desiring to attain it, then we draw upon ourselves the influence of the Surrounding Light (Ohr Makif) that affects us from afar. How do we reach the connection between these two rungs, the present and the future, so that the Surrounding Light will affect us from there? Between them there is a difference, a transition from “Lo Lishma” (not for Her Name) to “Lishma,” and I need the Ohr Makif to perform this transformation in me.

How is it done? We do it by reading The Book of Zohar. This is why Kabbalists wrote books for us. If we strive to reach this Upper system, our more internal, corrected, and close connection, we read about it.

It is irrelevant that while reading it, we understand nothing. This is due to the difference between the rungs (states, worlds). How can I comprehend the Upper World if I am not in it and don’t even exist in relation to it? Of course I’m unable to feel it, and therefore have no understanding of it. But I am reading about it.

Kabbalists wrote about the Upper World in a language I cannot understand, and I look at these letters without any idea of what they say. But I look with an effort, like a child who is trying to understand this world, and through my efforts and desire to know the Upper World, I draw the Surrounding Light (Ohr Makif) onto myself. This is the whole purpose of reading The Zohar.

Today at our lesson, our friends, representatives of 50 countries, are present with us. Let everyone look at these unfamiliar letters and desire to attain spirituality, and let them hear the words of The Zohar without any comprehension whatsoever. With their desire to learn, to live in it (we are talking about the soul in its more exalted state), by their efforts and yearning, the Light that Reforms, the Surrounding Light (Ohr Makif), affects them.

In other words, while reading The Book of Zohar, we have to connect together and wish to feel (as opposed to understand) what The Zohar describes. Then The Book will reveal the screen within us, and on it we will see everything that takes place in the Upper World.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/7/10, The Zohar

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It is a known fact that our efforts and cries alone will not help. They are like a cry of a baby, and there needs to be someone Who will hear it: a mother, Bina, or the Creator.

A cry can only be heard when it is the correct cry, that is, when it is directed towards the true goal of uniting, acquiring of the force of bestowal. This is why we need to connect together in order to create specifically the desire to bestow among us, and then we can scream for the Creator together.

And this is why we read The Zohar together, wishing to connect with one another, even if it is over the Internet, television, or other types of communication. It doesn’t matter that for now our connection is egoistic because each of us is driven by the desire for our own sake (Lo Lishma). We are ready to connect, yet still want to benefit from it. Such is our nature and there is no use in lying to ourselves.

We are egoists, and each one of us understands that he is connecting with others in order to somehow benefit from this. Otherwise, none of us would be able to make the slightest action, and we would not have the energy to connect with others.

But this physical connection (gathering in one place or virtually at the same time in one thought) is the only action allowed to us. This is because for now we are only able to perform physical actions (the so-called actions performed in our egoism).

Besides this action, we need for the Upper Light that Reforms, the Surrounding Light (Ohr Makif), to influence our egoistic connection. It is referred to as surrounding (Makif) because it shines from afar, from our next state, from the corrected desires (Kelim), in the “Lishma” desires that have the intention to bestow.

So if we really to try to strive toward it, we will evoke its influence over us because we exist in the world of physical laws of nature (the Creator). We evoke this Light over us by reading The Zohar because we unconsciously connect to our next degree.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/7/10, The Zohar

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The Book of Zohar, Weekly Torah Portion “VaYetze,” Selected Excerpts
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World Kabbalah Convention, Lesson One “Connecting for Good”
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World Kabbalah Convention, Lesson Two “Spiritual Environment”
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World Kabbalah Convention, Lesson Three “The Zohar”
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