Our whole work is to achieve the prayer in the heart, an appeal to the Upper Force, the Creator. He directs and controls everything. Therefore, we only need to ask Him for the right thing.

Our request should be correct and deliberate, and this is precisely what the science of Kabbalah teaches: How to appeal to the Light, the force that created us. It will perform any action we desire under the condition that our desire agrees with the Creator’s general program – to bring us to a perfect state.

In much the same way, a child may cry begging his Mom to let him play with a sharp knife, but she will never give it to him. Yet if he asks for something beneficial, she will gladly carry out his request. The same applies to our requests; “Make your desire similar to His desire” and you will receive everything.

We are not studying any hidden secrets in the science of Kabbalah; we are studying ourselves and the Creator. We get to know Him by virtue of the Kabbalists’ explanations of what we should ask from Him. The Light that Reforms will do all the rest.

The Creator created the evil inclination, and our task is to reveal it. As soon as we reveal it, we can be sure that we’ll know how to ask the Creator for its correction. We don’t realize that our evil is the opposite imprint of the Creator. By imprinting Himself in us, He used the Light to create the will to enjoy. It is like the patrix and the matrix. Reception is the opposite form of bestowal; they enter each other and unite like two parts of one whole. Therefore, as soon as we reveal our evil, we will immediately find out how to appeal to the Creator for its correction.

This does not need to be studied in the books. The books simply attune us and develop our sensations. A person is taught all the rest by his soul. And you don’t need a great mind to learn; just keep going and it will happen!

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Before starting to read The Book of Zohar, we must attune ourselves to its correct comprehension. It is a closed, secret, and ciphered book that requires a specific code in order to be understood.

How can we break this code and open up this book, as we would a safe? The key to The Book of Zohar is the correct perception of reality, as it is written, “Man is a small world.” This is the secret to it.

Everything exists inside me, including the world I perceive and everything I feel. Every person that I see next to me is perceived inside my brain. It only seems like everything I see, hear, smell, and touch is outside of me, because my senses depict it this way for me, making me feel like I am dealing with something outside of me.

The science of Kabbalah says that there is only desire and nothing else. This desire consists of five parts: vision, hearing, scent, taste and touch. I perceive impressions inside my desire in a way that makes it seem as if there is an external world existing outside of me. It is a feeling that an object is not inside of me, but outside.

It is presented this way inside my desire because my desire is divided in two parts: Me and the external world. Stated in Kabbalistic terms, the desire consists of five parts called: 1.root 2.spirit 3.body 4.clothing 5.palace (external space).

Root, spirit, and body are my feeling of the “myself,” whereas clothing and palace are phenomena that seem external to me. However, they only seem as happening outside of me because I am structured to perceive a part of my internal feelings as being separated from me, as if they are foreign or external.

This desire is so detached from me that I don’t even feel that whatever happens there is related to me. Someone else is in pain, but I don’t feel anything. Someone else dies, but I don’t feel anything. Moreover, it is so detached and far away from me that I enjoy when it suffers. That is how blinded we are!

Additionally, there are abnormal cases in our world where people enjoy bringing pain to themselves. In fact, however, the rest of us are the greatest masochists of all! But because everyone else feels the same way, hurting “others” (who are really parts of us) is considered a norm.

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We shouldn’t strive to correct the world or ourselves; we just need to study the actions which the Upper Light performs on us. It’s as the Creator told Moses: “Let’s go to Pharaoh!”

Moses is small and frightened – meaning this is a very weak quality in a person. There is a creature of monstrous proportions standing opposite to him; this is all of creation, the whole world, egoism, which holds all the power, nourishment, and oxygen. I receive all of these things from Pharaoh; he is my whole reality. Meanwhile, a tiny quality or desire called Moses rises up against it wishing to escape, to come out from its control and begin to live in a different world!

We almost don’t feel this tiny opportunity within us to rise and come out of our egoism. We don’t know how to come out of this Egyptian slavery or where to run from it. However, the Creator tells us, “Let’s go to Pharaoh together!” And like a little child who takes the adult by the hand, Moses and the Creator walk together.

From the side of the human being, all that’s needed is consent, a request, a demand to the Creator for help. One does not need to battle evil on his own. However, people don’t understand this and think that they are able to do something on their own. But whoever thinks himself a hero is a fool.

All the religions and allegedly “spiritual” methods err with regard to this, teaching people to eradicate the evil inclination. Kabbalah, however, says that the left side (egoistic desires) is given to us precisely in order to help us adhere to the right side (bestowal) – after all, this constitutes the whole goal of attaining the Creator through our efforts in the middle line.

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The story of the Exodus from Egyptian slavery depicts all the details of a Kabbalistic group’s spiritual path. It seems like we are ready to come out of Egypt and gain our freedom (out of egoism and into the quality of bestowal), and yet it is so difficult. We undergo the “seven years of famine” and the “Egyptian plagues” so that every one of us feels the Pharaoh (the evil rule of egoism over us) lurking within. We undergo a terrible inner struggle with a part of us willing to come out of Egypt (forsake egoism), but with another part unwilling to escape.

The escape from Egypt (the night of Passover) happens suddenly while we are in darkness, in a hurry, out of fear, and is prompted from Above. It is when we feel a force pushing us forward, toward bestowal. We are willing to flee into the darkness, which is how we perceive the quality of bestowal. However, the Creator leads us to freedom via the long path, by surrounding us with the Pharaoh’s followers (Erev Rav – mixed multitude).

Even when we tear ourselves away from true egoistic desires known as “Pharaoh’s forces,” we are still left with the “mixed multitude.” They are those who want to have their cake and eat it too, seeking to remain egoistic while at the same time receiving pleasure from the Creator and spirituality.

These desires bind us in exile, preventing us from escaping. And when we finally do escape, they may still attach themselves to us because they have a connection to the Creator. That is why they are called “mixed” – because both their desires are immediately apparent: hoping for a good life here in this world, as well as in the world to come. They are the ones holding us back.

Thus, the story of the Exodus talks about desires and intentions that exist in every one of us. When we come to the Red Sea, we aren’t ready to jump in – the sea seems like death. To cross it, we must reveal the single, special force that is capable of leading us across.

And when after all that we finally reach Mount Sinai, we are given the final and most difficult condition: “Unite as one man with one heart.” After all our discernments and efforts toward spirituality, we eventually reveal that we aren’t willing to unite with others.

However, this is the only condition that we must meet and we have no choice but to agree: “We are willing, but incapable.” If we really want this mutual guarantee, then the Creator has to be our guarantor – But do we really want that?

When we agree to this condition, we receive from Above the strength for the mutual guarantee and the Creator’s revelation. The Creator reveals Himself within us so as to give us a chance to bestow.

It is a very long and complex process, and The Book of Zohar teaches us how to be more sensitive to the changes taking place within us so that we can imagine every detail. All this takes place within us and nowhere else. That is why we must learn to recognize and understand these qualities internally. As we train ourselves to maintain such an inner vision, we move increasingly closer to perceiving the spiritual world.

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The Book of Zohar – Selections, Chapter “Bo (Come Unto Pharaoh),” Item 14
While reading The Zohar we look within ourselves trying to see everything this book is talking about through the point in the heart.
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“Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Item 122, Lesson 51
The beginning of any state is called “conception” because a new state begins when the accomplishments of the old state are nullified.
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“Introduction to the Book of Zohar,” Item 6
In the spiritual world, just as in the in the physical world, everyone perceives the same things, but each person feels and reacts to them differently.
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The Book of Zohar – Selections, Chapter “Bo (Come Unto Pharaoh),” Item 1
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The Book of Zohar – Selections, Chapter “Bo (Come Unto Pharaoh),” Item 1
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Preparation for the Lesson, Part 1, Part 2
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The Book of Zohar Chapter “Shmini (On The Eighth Day),” Item 98
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Sometimes The Zohar talks about things that I already know from studying the structure of my soul, such as the left or right sides, Hassadim, Hochma, Cohen, Levi, three lines, Bina, Zeir Anpin, Malchut. This system is already clear to me and I visualize it as a picture, a chart, or a drawing; and I try to recognize it from within.

To do so, I have to find some emotional feedback within me. Each word and definition, such as “right,” “left,” “Cohen,” “Levi,” and “David” has to be connected to a certain sensation. When we don’t experience any sensations, we should at least imagine them as a certain scheme. When I read about Chesed, Gevura, Tifferet, Cohen, Levi, Israel, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Netzhah, Hod, Yesod, Malchut, the assembly of the souls of Israel, and so forth, I have to imagine how these properties relate to each other within my inner space.

At first I visualize them in the form of a scheme showing how these desires and properties exist within me. As I imagine this system in this form, I have to find an adequate sensation to each word and observe how my body, my feelings, and my general desire react to each word in The Book of Zohar.

The same applies in our world: When we hear a familiar word, we immediately react to it. After all, we are a desire; we are ruled by our sensations, not our intellect. Therefore, behind the picture that becomes clear to me to varying degrees, I have to find an inner, emotional reaction to every word.

Everything described in The Book of Zohar is hidden from me and totally tasteless, but by trying to find sensations behind these words, I reach a demand for their revelation.

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The Zohar, chapter “Shmini (On the Eighth Day),” Item 8: All those who engage in Torah cling to the Creator and are crowned in the decorations of Torah. They are loved above and below, and the Creator offers them His right hand, mercy. It is even more so with those who engage in Torah at night, for they have established that they partake in Divinity and join together. And when the morning comes, the Creator decorates them with a single string of grace, so they will be among the higher and among the lower.

There is no time in spirituality. Therefore, “day and night” refer to a person’s inner attitude to his state.

If one’s desires are still uncorrected and egoistic, with the intention “for the sake of oneself,” then he feels that he is in darkness, in the state of night. He cannot bestow and interprets this as the darkness of the night. However, if he can bestow, he immediately considers it day because this state illuminates him.

These states do not depend on how well or poorly one feels, the way we are egoistically accustomed to saying that the whole world is “dark” for us when we feel bad. In the spiritual world, the ability to bestow is called day or Light, and the inability to bestow is called night.

Some people strive to read the Torah particularly during the night, in states of darkness. In other words, they want to correct themselves while in the dark, since there is no correction during the day. During the day, one only performs an action within a desire that was corrected at night.

It is written that the Torah consists of 613 “do’s” (corrections) and 613 “don’t dos” (states of being filled by the Light for the sake of bestowal). Correction occurs particularly at night, during concealment. Meanwhile, reception of Light for the sake of bestowal occurs during the day, because that is when one gains this ability.

The Creator helps the souls that try to perform all of this work to unite by tying them all together with one common thread. When each soul unites with the other souls, it acquires this common big Kli and is therefore able to ascend.

The ascent from one degree to another depends only on the extent of the connection between the souls, which is increased by continually connecting inside a greater and greater desire or Kli. The Creator unites those who perform such corrections at night and continue these spiritual actions during the day. Then, due to their unification, He allows them to rise.

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