We have to read The Zohar over and over until the Light begins to influence us. At first people feel very inspired when reading The Zohar, and this feeling lasts for the first month or two. During this period they do not understand anything yet, but they become very inspired by whatever is happening.

Then this feeling disappears and everything begins to appear dull. When you read The Zohar, you start feeling this way very fast. All of a sudden we have nothing to hold on to in the text, and we simply read it with the understanding that this is what we need to be doing even while we feel indifferent to the material, it seems “tasteless,” and even repulsive.

The reason we feel this way is because we are being revealed an additional egoistic desire which aggravates the connections between us. The Zohar shines upon us to the extent that we connect with one another. At the very beginning we are given a connection of the points in the heart. As we begin to read The Zohar using the initial connection that was given to us, our points in the heart awaken and desire to reveal something new and unknown. The name itself, “The Zohar,” inspires us.

As we begin to read, the Surrounding Light shines upon us and helps us to raise the points in the heart above our regular egoism, leaving it beneath. This is why in the beginning we feel a connection between us and an aspiration towards a common spiritual goal. All of this happens because of the Surrounding Light (Ohr Makif) which comes and creates this state for us.

But a month or two later, our egoistic desire grows due to the Light’s influence. On one hand, the Light causes us to be inspired, but on the other hand, our egoism becomes bigger and because of this, every person feels heavy within, as if there is a force pulling him down. There is only one thing we can do to save ourselves: increase the connection between all of us. Nothing else can help.

We need to use all the possible methods, even artificial ones, to renew this connection. If we increase this connection even slightly, then we will be able to rise above the burdening of the heart and our egoism because we will return to the connected system of creation.

We are receiving a revelation of our lack of correction and being shown how much we are separated from everyone else. When I try to oppose this separation, then the impression and inspiration from The Zohar immediately comes back. It works instantaneously! As soon as you begin to experience a feeling of heaviness, you should immediately do something to strengthen your connection with others. For example, start thinking about how much you want to unite with them and to become closer to them in order to connect your souls. This small, forced action is enough for you to immediately begin to feel the Light’s increased influence and for the to heaviness to disappear. You will then feel the same inspiration and excitement that The Zohar gave you during the first lessons.

This is how it works. You have to put all the necessary effort into it; you do not get any “discounts” in this regard. The effort lies in trying to unite among ourselves until we cry out for the Surrounding Light to come to us because only the Light can give us the inspiration and the feeling of how great The Zohar is. Then this text will suddenly come to life for us.

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Preparation For The Lesson
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The Book of Zohar – Selections, Chapter “Bo (Come Unto Pharaoh),” Item 68
The Book of Zohar is written in a way that gives us the opportunity to apply efforts. We have to discover what the book is talking about within us.
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“Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Item 125, Lesson 53
The system of the spiritual worlds is the corrected part of my desires which I have to match with my qualities. The system is ready to accept me; the rest is up to me.
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“Introduction to the Book of Zohar,” Item 9, Lesson 5
The law of equivalence of form states that any occurrence can be felt only by touching the same “string” within me and generating the same frequency.
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A question I received: You spoke of two types of inner searching while reading The Book of Zohar. One is more rational, where we look within ourselves for what it says. The other type of search is sensory where we attempt to feel everything it says. However, as I’m trying to sense something, I find that I don’t feel anything. I’m trying to find something within myself, but have found nothing. What should I do?

My Answer: Keep searching. You should desire to find within you all that The Zohar talks about. All of it is within you, including the Creator, man, animals, fish, the world, hills, mountains, trees, crocodiles, and it doesn’t matter what else.

There isn’t a single word that describes anything outside of you. Why is that? Every word consists of letters, with the letters being desires or vessels of reception – Kelim, which are ordered in accordance with the Lights. This is what you should desire to feel.

The desire is represented by a word, but it already exists. You should desire to know this word and feel it, to actually be within the letters, which are desires filled with Light. Each word is a model or a connection between you and the Creator, the Upper Light. You have to desire to sense this model within you and to find: where is it?

It’s similar to how when you read the word “lemon,” you might immediately start sensing the taste of lemon in your mouth. Well, you should desire to feel everything you read in The Book of Zohar the same way, without additional contemplation.

We experience feelings that are common for us all; for example, every person in the world will feel the same when he hears the word “lemon.” We can talk to scientists and they will explain why we feel the taste of lemon and what its chemical ingredients are. But when we ask Kabbalists, they will tell us what “lemon” means from the point of view of Kabbalah. If we ask a housewife, she will tell us how to make use of a lemon in preparing food. But in any case, everybody has a common understanding of what a lemon is.

Similarly, when we read The Book of Zohar, we should primarily desire to reach a common sensation. That is how we will attain a deeper, more detailed revelation as we proceed through all four stages and investigate the roots. But all of this has to be revealed naturally, meaning, by our aspiration for the Light. The Light will, in turn, influence our desire and uncover the root of our sensations, or why we feel the way we do.

After the sensations, you begin to reveal your intellect. Then you can say that when you hear the word “lemon,” the sound wave of this word reaches your ear’s membrane and goes to your brain, where it is compared to the information that is stored in your memory. This, in turn, triggers a certain signal and as a result you really sense a slice of lemon on the tip of your tongue.

In the wisdom of Kabbalah, however, understanding is the outcome of the advancement of our desires rather than the result of a learning process, as it happens in this world.

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A question I received: While reading the names and titles in The Book of Zohar, should we find their spiritual definitions, which each of us is going through at this moment, or it it a common standard which we need to find between us?

My Answer: The Zohar is talking about our internality. It tells us what is happening inside us, and each of us includes everything within.

The Zohar describes the structure of our soul, as well as how to discern it and reveal everything taking place in it. The entire World of Infinity, the Creator, and all of reality exist inside the soul. We have to reveal all of this there, inside our soul.

Baal HaSulam writes that The Book of Zohar includes all 125 degrees and its narration leads us all the way until the end of correction. It’s not important where you are located on the spiritual ladder; this book is always good for every person along the entire path.

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Mega-Congress, Lesson #4
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The Book of Zohar, Chapter “Come Unto Pharaoh“, Item 57
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The Creator dwells inside the connection of all the souls that we refer to as the common soul of Adam HaRishon. We, the parts of the common soul, correct and revive the broken system of souls when we begin to connect with one another. In doing so, we create a multidimensional net where every piece is connected to others, just like the organs in the human body are connected through an infinite number of connections.

The connection between the souls once existed for the sake of bestowal to the Creator. In that state, all the souls were connected “as one man with one heart” for the sake of one Creator. This is the meaning of the verse, “He and His Name are one”; it refers to the state where the Creator and the creation were one single whole in the World of Infinity. However, this connection was broken because everyone lost their altruistic intention. As a result, the Creator disappeared, as did the sensation of Light.

This state, where the souls lost their connection with one another, is referred to as “the breaking” or “the exile” (from spirituality). This is our current state. Every person within this system is a separate individual and perceives only his own small world. He does not perceive the spiritual world because it can only be perceived in the connection between us. When there is no connection between us, we perceive just the material world.

The basic concepts to take away from this are:

• When the souls are connected with one another egoistically – for their own sake, they perceive this world.
• When the souls connect with one another for the sake of bestowal, then within that connection they reveal the spiritual world, the world to come.
• The life that we reveal within our egoistic connections with one another is referred to as our current material life.
• The life that we reveal within a proper connection with one another is referred to as the revelation of the Creator. We will feel the Upper Force, the Creator, the same way as we feel the air around us. He will connect us with all the other parts of the universe.

Therefore, everything depends on our connection with one another – whether it is egoistic or for the sake of bestowal.

In about a month we will be gathering at a large Congress in Israel, the exact place where the breaking occurred and the first place that needs correction. Therefore, this Congress can be so immensely powerful that it will affect all of us and the entire world because we will bring the quality of bestowal closer to the egoistic desires.

Let us hope that we will succeed in uniting with the help of The Zohar, which we are now studying. It is a means through which we can attract the Upper Light that reforms and connects us.

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A question I received: In the beginning of the lesson, I took a piece of paper and started noting every time my thoughts wandered from the lesson. After fifteen times, I gave up completely and stopped checking.

My Answer: Why did you stop? Quite the contrary, it would have been much better if these “entries and exits” happened to you a thousand times a second. It is written, “The Torah will come from Zion,” where the word “Zion” (Tzion in Hebrew) is derived from the word “exit” (Yetzia).

The more often your mind disconnects from the lesson and returns to it again, the more you will advance. It’s like in engineering: the more we advance, the higher are the frequencies we use.

This frequency indicates the quantity of internal distinctions that you perceive in one second. You can process them and live them in order to acquire new information, sensations, and a new spiritual level. This is how quantity is transformed into quality.

Therefore, do not be sorry about the many entries and exits you experience during the lesson. On the contrary, the more the better!

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Two questions I received on study of The Zohar:

Question: In order to understand The Zohar, does one need to learn the definitions and try to memorize them, for example, the meaning of Pharaoh and Abraham?

My Answer: I don’t think it is necessary. What matters is that we have a basic idea of what these things are according to what is written in The Zohar. Later these properties that we refer to as Abraham, Moses, and Job will be revealed in us, as well as the way they relate to one another.

A definition is an inner sensation of some quality of yours that you will refer to as “Job,” for example. If, however, you simply memorize the names of things from a book, this will not benefit you in any way. These definitions need to form within you the same way as you gradually get to know someone by being in touch with the person, talking to him, and gradually forming his image within you. In much the same way, we learn the definitions from The Zohar.

Question: People ask you so many questions, but you only answer one to two percent of these questions. Why is that?

My Answer: You shouldn’t worry or think that I do not manage to answer all of your questions and explain everything. It is good that you ask questions; people who write and actively ask questions during the lesson will receive an answer! In order for them to receive the answer, it is not necessary for them to say their question out loud during the lesson and for me to answer it. They will receive an answer regardless, in another form.

All of a sudden, several days later the answer will become revealed to them either during the same lesson or at a later lesson. The most important thing is to ask, to “raise MAN.” So put all your energy into asking questions, and the answer will come from Above. Our entire advancement happens through questions.

Do not be afraid that your question will get lost among the multitude of other questions during the lesson. It does not matter if there are 500 questions and I manage to answer two of them. All of you will receive answers!

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A question I received: It sounds like all the efforts we make while attempting to figure out if we’re receiving for our own sake or giving to others do not really contribute to our spiritual advancement. Am I right?

My Answer: Kabbalists give us the following advice:

– Choose an environment that will make us value spiritual attainment;
– Love the friends, connect with them, and see them as pieces of your soul;
– Read The Book of Zohar together while aspiring to see qualities of bestowal inside ourselves; and
– Trust that these actions will attract the Light that Reforms (Ohr Makif).

The means to do this are:

– A teacher who consistently directs us at the right way to read;
– Friends who raise our aspiration for revealing spiritual forces within ourselves;
– Kabbalah books that we read and work with to find the Upper Reality that is inside of us; and
– Dissemination in order to attract more people that will strengthen the environment and everyone’s aspiration toward the Upper Goal.

The practical implementation of all this takes place during the study of The Book of Zohar. This is the only means of contact we have with the Light that Reforms because while reading it we are between two worlds: the Upper World and the lower world, and we are then able to find the link between them.

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A question I received: You said that we should search inside of ourselves for everything that’s written in The Book of Zohar. However, The Zohar only talks about the correction of the soul, and we receive a soul only when we enter the spiritual world. So how can I correct something that is external, inside myself?

My Answer: That’s true. Sometimes we say that spirituality exists outside of us, where “outside of us” means “outside of our desire.” In truth, all of me is the desire to receive and to be self-fulfilled. Therefore, I say that spirituality is outside of my desire to receive pleasure.

We are not talking about distances and spaces; we are talking about qualities. With regard to the quality of reception there is no spirituality. Spirituality is outside of it. Therefore, when I say “outside of us” I mean “outside of our present desire.”

On the other hand, we say that spirituality exists inside us – much deeper than all our current desires. If I penetrate through all my momentary desires for food, sex, family, money, honor, and power – deeper and deeper within, into more internal, personal, important, eternal, and immense desires – there I find the spiritual world and a spiritual desire.

This spiritual desire is called the “point in the heart,” the innermost desire which is revealed in me now. Why is it the most intimate and greatest desire? It is so because of its elevated stature. After all, we are talking about the goal and purpose of my whole life, and about what will remain after my life. All these most intimate and deepest questions are concentrated within one point.

Kabbalists tell me: right now it is merely a point. However, when we read The Book of Zohar and “dig” within this point, we begin to reveal that there is a whole world inside it: crocodiles, houses, stars, sun, moon, people, wicked people, and righteous people.

This point begins to widen and suddenly we discover that it has within it everything that The Zohar explains to us in the most diverse styles: through the language of Kabbalah, the language of stories, in the form of a historical novel, or in the form of descriptions of laws and commandments. The entire Book of Zohar talks only about what happens within this point and expresses it in a special style every time.

Therefore, I read The Book of Zohar and really want to cognize everything it talks about inside of me. After all, Kabbalists say: there, within this point, is your eternal part. The body dies and disintegrates, and this point remains. Therefore, it pays for me to reveal it. Moreover, I am told: if you cognize this point, widen it, and begin to reveal the spiritual within it even slightly, you remain with this sensation, and there is no life and death for you.

This is because you can already begin to identify yourself with this point and you see life within it. This spiritual life seizes you and draws your attention to such an extent that all your desires and aspirations are concentrated there. And due to this, you attach importance to this corporeal life only to the extent that you can develop it more, reveal, and widen your point in the heart.

Then you suddenly begin to see how this point becomes bigger and bigger, and you reveal a whole reality within it – an inner dimension not perceived before. At first you didn’t feel that there was a point in the heart inside you, then you felt it, and now suddenly you reveal a whole world within it where you exist eternally.

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