Entries in the 'Zohar' Category

He Made Heaven From Fire And Water

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Zohar, Chapter “Lech Lecha (Go Forth),” Item 4: When the Creator created the world, He made the heaven from fire and water, and they were mingled together and did not freeze. Afterward, it froze and stood in the upper Ruach. This is so because in the order of elicitation of the Mochin, first the two lines—right and left—come out. These are the two points—Holam and Shuruk, which are called “water” and “fire.”

The two lines come to us from Above. Indeed, there are only two forces in creation: the Light and the desire to enjoy that it created. It is only when they unite that all of reality is constructed. Hence, the two forces or properties – the Light’s desire to bestow and the vessel’s desire to enjoy – descend to us from Above, from the Creator. Our task is to react to them appropriately through uniting them within us by creating the middle line.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/12/10, The Zohar

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The Light Of The Future State

Dr. Michael LaitmanA question I received: If a Reshimo (spiritual informational record, gene) is a new state or desire that is given to us from Above, then how can our intention change this state?

My Answer: While in a present state, I feel that I can change it. This need to change my perception of the world is roused in me by the Reshimo about the future state. It encompasses all the future states, leaving me just an opportunity to realize it in the property of bestowal or that of reception.

Why do I feel that I have an opportunity to reach the next state? It is because I have a Reshimo de Hitlabshut (information about the Light) and Reshimo de Aviut (information about the desire). The Reshimo de Hitlabshut, information about the next state,  is more elevated than the Reshimo de Aviut: 4/3, 3/2, 2/1, 1/0.

A part of the next state is always present in me. Due to this part, I can realize it (pull myself up to it). In this manner, I achieve changes.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/12/10, The Zohar

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Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 07.13.10

Rabash, Shlavei HaSulam, “The Importance of the Prayer of the Many,” Lesson 2
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The Book of Zohar – Selections, Chapter “Lech-Lecha (Go Forth), Item 6
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Rav Yehuda Ashlag, Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol. 2, Part 7, Item 13, Lesson 9
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Rav Yehuda Ashlag, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot,” Item 18, Lesson 14
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Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 07.12.10

Rabash, Shlavei HaSulam, “The Importance of the Prayer of the Many,” Lesson 1
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The Book of Zohar – Selections, Chapter “Lech-Lecha (Go Forth), Item 2
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Rav Yehuda Ashlag, Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol. 2, Part 7, Item 12, Lesson 8
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Rav Yehuda Ashlag, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot,” Item 17, Lesson 13
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Reveal The World Of Roots

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe spiritual world is a world of qualities, forces, desires, and intentions. There are just two forces or two desires: reception and bestowal. Everything else comes from their interaction and inclusion inside each other. When the desire to bestow joins the desire to receive pleasure, it evokes the force of opposition in it, a screen, Aviut (thickness, coarseness of desire), Zakut (purity, fineness of desire), and so on.

Yet, there are only two forces operating in the entire universe and they are mutually incorporated inside one another. This is what we learn in the four phases of the expansion of the Direct Light. Nothing else exists. “Existence from existence” (Yesh Mi Yesh) is the force of bestowal, and “existence from absence” (Yesh Mi Ein) is the force of reception that was created inside it.

 

Everything else forms from the opposition between these two forces. It is forbidden for us to imagine anything besides them since we imagine everything else detached from the true sensation. If you desire to return to the true sensation, then you must make efforts to try to return to the authentic picture, as if you are gaining consciousness from an unconscious state.

Therefore, when reading Kabbalistic articles or The Book of Zohar, and even when going about our business in this world, we have to try to reveal the forces that govern us, the roots of what we perceive in this “seeming” world. When reading The Zohar, we must constantly make these efforts. If you are always trying to reveal, using this book’s text, the qualitative picture, the picture of qualities, forces, and desires, then by so doing you evoke upon yourself the force from that state, from two forces, reception and bestowal, and this influences you.

The Zohar speaks about how to find the connection between the two forces. This is all of reality. It doesn’t matter what exactly I am reading: Aba ve Ima, ZON, ascending, descending, the state of adulthood (Gadlut), the state of smallness (Katnut), and so on. In actuality, there are no words in the sensation of the spiritual world. There is just a combination of two forces in all sorts of forms, and that is the true reality, the only one that exists.

One quality belongs to creation and the second one to the Creator. It is impossible to speak about one without the other, but only about the connection between them, ranging from nearly total disconnection to total unity.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/11/10, The Zohar

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Step By Step Toward The Revelation Of The Creator

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Zohar, Chapter “VaYetze (And Jacob Went Out) – Part 2,” Item 381: All the admonition that Jacob had with Laban made Laban repent and thank the Creator, as it is written, “See, God is witness between you and me,” that he mentioned the name “God.” It is written, “The God of Abraham and the god of Nahor … judge between us,” meaning that that wicked returned to his bad ways. When he said “The God of Abraham,” who is holy, he mentioned the god of Nahor again, who is idolatry.

We think that this excerpt speaks of events in the corporeal world. But later, we reveal that it actually speaks only about the connection between the souls and the types of those connections. The Torah speaks exclusively about these connections and the way to strengthen the connections between the souls. Other than this, there’s nothing to reveal to man, nothing to show, and nothing else that he needs to be taught.

After all, the breaking between the souls was in order to separate them from one another. By connecting them and putting them together like Lego bricks, we learn how this system of souls is constructed; we learn the Creator’s action, and reveal the thought and purpose of creation.

This is why The Zohar speaks only about the types of connection between the souls and the ways to keep strengthening them. In other words, all the events described in the Torah only address the way to reach absolute connection.

And for this reason, our intention to connect with one another, as well as reading about an even greater connectivity of souls in the spiritual world, are both directed in the same way. We are trying to realize this connection between us here in this world, the world of our understanding, while The Zohar reveals the higher degrees. We want to attach ourselves to these higher degrees in order to receive strength from them, so they will influence us and connect us with one another.

As soon as we attain the very first, smallest connection with one another, the first spiritual degree, we begin to perceive the spiritual world. We had the same condition at Mount Sinai: "Unite as one man with one heart – and you will receive the Torah, the Light, and reveal spirituality, the Creator."

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/9/10, The Zohar

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Opening The Zohar – 07.11.10

The Book of Zohar – Selections, Chapter “The First Commandment
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Waking Up To The True Reality

Dr. Michael LaitmanWhen we read The Zohar, we should imagine that we exist in two systems. One system, created by the Creator, is inalterable, and the only one that exists. It is called “the World of Infinity.”

As Baal HaSulam relates in “The Preface To The Book Of Zohar,” this state is constant. Since the Creator created and formed all of creation instantly in its final state with one thought, we exist there in His plan of creation which is “to please the creatures.” Baal HaSulam also explains in The Study of the Ten Sefirot, Part 1, Chapter “Inner Reflection,” the Plan of creation is enough for the Creator to create it.

The Creator realizes everything through one action. This reality is perfect and invariable, and there are no steps to achieving the desired state. We exist in this perfect state in all our perfection, the way the Creator initially intended us to be.

However, besides this perfect state, we, with respect to ourselves, also exist in another reality. We, as though, lost consciousness, no longer realizing that perfect reality in which the Creator created us.

These two states exist parallel to each other. Through our own efforts, we need to enter the sensation of the true reality. We do this by using the environment: the books, the teacher, and the group.

We need to wake up, to enter consciousness, to return to that true state in which we exist but do not feel with our corrupted senses. The science of Kabbalah is given to us so that while we exist in an unconscious state called “this world,” we can learn about that perfect reality. By trying to become similar to it through our mutual efforts, we can rouse a force from it, which is able to return us there.

This force is the Light that Reforms. This force will heal us and correct our egoism. Gradually, as though from non-existence, we will begin to feel true life. We will discover that we were “like in a dream.”

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/7/10, The Zohar

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Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 07.11.10

Rabash, Shlavei HaSulam, “The Agenda of the Assembly
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The Book of Zohar – Selections, Chapter “VaYetze (And Jacob Went Out), Item 386
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The Book of Zohar – Selections, Chapter “Lech-Lecha (Go Forth),” Item 1
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Rav Yehuda Ashlag, Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol. 2, Part 7, Item 7, Lesson 7
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Rav Yehuda Ashlag, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot,” Item 14, Lesson 12
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Weekly Torah Portion Lesson – 07.09.10

The Book of Zohar, Weekly Torah Portion “Matot-Masei,” Selected Excerpts
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