A question I received: You explained that while reading The Book of Zohar, I must find forces described in it within myself. However, how can I do this if I do not know what “maid,” “lady of the house,” “wife,” “man,” and other words mean in the spiritual sense.

My Answer: We start with simple meanings of words known to us from our corporeal world. While The Book of Zohar is concealed from us, it can still become a spiritual teacher for each of us. Everyone is able to envision basic material images and actions by using our preexisting understanding of those concepts. Meanwhile, The Book of Zohar elevates us above corporeality and pulls us into the spiritual realm.

We are unable to understand the connections made between the Upper World and our material plane that were created by the authors of The Zohar – Rabbi Shimon and his disciples. They were able to create a connection between the two worlds, and our role is to see the Upper World through concepts that we already understand. However, we must make a great effort for that to happen – to start seeing the spiritual forces behind the common words that belong to this world.

This is what we call a “miracle” (Segula). We don’t know how the system works to connect us to the Upper World and we don’t understand the connection between what we imagine and the actual spiritual meanings of what we read.

Question cont’d: Should I be looking for that connection myself?

My Answer: You should be looking for your true state of being and trying hard to sense the Upper World, like a child trying to become an adult. Play this game according to the rules that are given to you by the Kabbalists – and you’ll succeed!

Although we visualize images in The Book of Zohar as material things and are unable to free ourselves from those associations, we are also unable to understand what those images mean in the spiritual world. However, our effort to understand will eventually lead us to be able to sense spirituality.

The authors of The Book of Zohar created a system for connecting with us on a material plane that transforms our “child like” efforts into a true state of being. This is what makes The Book of Zohar so great and unique.

(From the TV program, “Opening the Zohar,” November 6, 2009)

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The Book of Zohar explains your relationship with the Creator, which is the only thing you have to learn about. The only things existing in our entire reality are the Creator and the creature, and they are the only things that The Book of Zohar speaks of.

Even in our regular lives, where the picture of this world prevents us from seeing the truth (that the Creator and you are the only things in existence), everything around you is actually your relationship with the Creator, although this is not yet apparent to you. There is nothing else besides the Creator and the creature.

Although there are no images in spirituality, The Zohar first takes us into what seems like “corporeal” situations, telling us about actions and images well known to us in this world. But then, The Zohar begins to explain what happens behind the scenes of this picture – what happens to forces, desires and qualities on a higher, parallel level. In this way, we are gradually trained to discern the higher “images” or qualities, and to see everything as our relationship with the Creator.

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Everything that The Book of Zohar speaks of takes place inside of you. All of its characters are various nuances of your relationship with the Upper Force, the Creator, other people and yourself. Later, however, you will begin to unify all of this into a single whole, the only existing reality.

When reading The Book of Zohar, you should always imagine yourself, meaning your qualities, since that is the only thing The Zohar is talking about. When it mentions an animal, for example, then it’s talking about you; a tree – also about you, a teenager – about you, a hill – about you, a maidservant – about you, a mistress – also about you. You are all of these things, which are qualities, not objects.

The qualities of your desire (Malchut) are divided into a maidservant (those that help you) and a mistress (those that control you). The mistress is your corrected state, whereas the part of you that isn’t yet corrected, but that can take part in correction, is called the maidservant.

You are split in two parts – the mistress and the maidservant – with respect to the master or husband, the Creator. That is how the soul feels its relationship with the Creator. Because we receive from Him, we are all His wives, or parts of Malchut.

If you aspire to correct your qualities, then they are defined as a “maidservant who is loyal to her mistress.” This means that even though your qualities are still egoistic, you are nonetheless willing to attain bestowal. This is the soul’s loyalty to its husband, the Creator. If, on the other hand, your qualities desire to work for themselves, they are called an “impure maidservant who is disloyal to her mistress.”

Our goal is to turn all of the maidservant’s uncorrected qualities into the mistress’s corrected qualities. We will then attain the state of “Mistress” – loved by and equal to its lover.

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We have to open ourselves so the text of The Book of Zohar can flow through us easily, completely unobstructed. Then we will begin to feel new sensations of what is happening in that other world.

We have to expect to feel a picture that is made up of feelings, but without any fantasies or visual images. We should desire to feel the words of this book immediately and directly, as when reading something that we understand and are close to, and that we experience as we are immersed in reading the text.

The text of The Book of Zohar is a river flowing out of the Garden of Eden and through a person’s heart. Anyone who opens his heart will be washed by its waters, will be cleansed and will begin to see.

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The science of Kabbalah tells us that there are five worlds separating us from the Upper Force. They are positioned one beneath another, where everything existing in a higher world descends and is completely copied in all the worlds, all the way until the lowest world – our world.

The difference between the worlds is not their details, but the material of each world. The higher a world, the more spiritual (bestowing) is its material. The lower a world, the more corporeal (receiving, egoistic) is its material.

Because the details of all the worlds are identical, by comparing them we can try to imagine the difference between their material or desire, and we can desire for this change to happen to us. The Book of Zohar is special because it creates a projection of the spiritual world onto our world. It tells us a story about this world, and parallel to it, about this world’s source in the Upper World. Moreover, it describes all of this in great detail, enabling us to enter the picture of one world’s superposition over the other.

We thus find ourselves between two worlds: between that which we can understand in the story about our world, and the higher picture that we try to imagine. The difference between the two pictures is that the images in our world are visual; we see them, perceive them and understand them. But in the spiritual world, the images are qualitative; they are qualities, forces, desires and intentions.

If a person is always positioned between these two worlds, then even if he doesn’t yet recognize the Upper World nor have the spiritual senses to perceive it, nonetheless by always trying to imagine the Upper World instead of this world, he begins to feel a revelation. In this way, he comes closer to being born into the spiritual world.

This is what makes The Book of Zohar special. At times it attracts a person and at times it repels him; through these varying movements, it brings him closer to the Upper World, or the next spiritual world above him.

If a person is already on a spiritual level and desires to ascend higher, then this special book performs the same action to him. It works on all 125 levels of the spiritual ladder.

Therefore, when reading or listening to The Book of Zohar, behind every word and action being described by this book, we have try to envision the most correct concept of “what might this really be on a higher level?”

These efforts will enable us to feel the Upper World. The understanding will come after the sensation. For now, the higher senses are starting to form in us, parallel to each bodily sense. That is how we will enter one world from the other.

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The Book of Zohar always talks about the unity of friends. It was written by the group of Rabbi Shimon, where he and his nine students make up the wholesome desire for bestowal (the Kli or vessel) which is similar to the Creator. Each of them represents one particular quality out of the ten Sefirot, and each one describes the situation differently depending on his nature. Each one describes the particular way that he connects with the Creator.

That is why The Zohar talks about ten friends, each of whom reveals the spiritual world from his point of view. Yet, all of them work together, because attainment and Light can only be revealed inside unity.

The Torah speaks to a person who stands opposite the Creator, and The Zohar talks only about a person’s inner forces. Therefore, when reading it, you have to imagine that everything is being said about you alone, and it all happens inside you.

You have to understand that your destiny depends on how you connect with your friends right now. This is the condition set for us from Above. There’s no other way to go; you have to study The Book of Zohar together with your friends. When all of you together follow the path by which The Zohar leads you, you begin to perceive the same things as the people who wrote The Zohar – the group of Rabbi Shimon.

You don’t need a lot of intelligence to perceive the spiritual world. All you need is heartfelt devotion and work on your egoism within a group, with friends who are next to you, as well as those who wrote The Book of Zohar for us. When we delve into this book time after time, trying to unite, then the book reveals itself to us and illuminates us with its Light – the Zohar (which means “Radiance”).

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We are now beginning to study The Book of Zohar, so let us speak about how to go about the study. You don’t have to read the text. It’s enough to just listen to it and to let everything being said go through you. Let it happen inside you while you aspire to feel the picture that The Zohar is depicting for you.

Maybe you won’t understand any of what The Zohar is telling you, as if it’s talking to you in a foreign language. Still, your greatest desire should be to know what it is talking about. And indeed, it is telling you about you and your life there, in the Upper World! By aspiring to imagine your existence in this other world with the help of this incomprehensible text, it will simply happen. Out of nothingness, total emptiness and numbness, new sensations will start awakening inside you. These will be your reactions to the words of this book.

The Zohar is written on two levels or in two languages. One language describes certain events using images of your world, the world familiar to you. Meanwhile, the other language that speaks parallel to it leads you into spiritual concepts. You are being shown two worlds that are parallel to one another. However, these are only two levels of perception that exist relative to you. In reality, there is just one perception and one picture, which you divide in two for now.

In order to enter the new world, you have to imagine and feel that additional, spiritual level of perception which is being described. These two levels have to exist inside you one parallel to another. Meanwhile, you have to aspire to ascend from the material description to the spiritual one.

The teacher does not have to explain anything. The student has to consume the text and open up all the “entrances” in order to let the text flow through him freely, like an expansive, tranquil stream of water. You should be expecting and waiting for the new sensations and picture to form in your perception.

You shouldn’t envision any physical images or actions. The text of The Book of Zohar is a journey deep into the soul, and its words have to elicit direct sensations of what is happening inside you, inside your qualities and forces, and eventually, your relationship with the Creator. This has to take place in the deepest place inside of you.

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A question I received: The Book of Zohar states that in the year 66, the Messiah will be revealed in the Land of Galilee. What does that mean? And what will happen then? Will there be war?

My Answer: It means that Channel 66 (our organization’s Kabbalah TV Channel) will give people the strength to correct their egoistic nature, and by doing so they’ll rise from the sensation of our world to the sensation of the Upper World. The Messiah is the force that elevates man out of egoism into the quality of bestowal!

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The Coming of the Messiah
Laitman.com Post: The Kabbalah Channel, YES 66, Brings Good Changes
Baal HaSulam article: “The Last Generation”

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The Book of Zohar. Chapter “The Intention in the Prayer” (abridged).

“Each day a voice calls upon all people in the world, ‘This depends on you. Separate a part of yourself and devote it to the Creator.’” At some point in life, thoughts and desires to draw closer to spirituality come to every person, and it depends on us whether or not we heed that inner call.

To correct himself, man needs to receive the strength that exists outside of him, beyond the bounds of his egoism. Hence, all of man’s efforts aim to create the only true desire within him – to feel the Creator!

In spirituality (and, consequently, in corporeality) a person can be in one of three states: lying, sitting, or standing. A newborn infant in our world and a spiritually newborn person develop in the same order. Lying means that the position of the head, the legs, and the body are at the same level. In spirituality, this corresponds to the embryonic state, when all that exists in the ten Sefirot is the same. This is the lowest spiritual state.

Sitting means that the head is above the body, and the body is above the legs, but one cannot use his legs. Such a state is called Katnut (smallness) or VAK. Standing implies absolute distinction between the levels of the head, body, and legs. It is called Gadlut (big state) or GAR. Thus, according to one’s ability to ask for correction, he gradually receives strength from the Creator and grows.

The “time of desire” is an appropriate state for making requests and receiving the answer – the strength for self-correction. The King and Queen are ZA and Malchut. Each blessing constitutes a sequence of individual corrections of man’s soul.

Consequently, man ascends to a Higher spiritual level. Thus, he gradually attains Supernal Unity with the Creator.

Although Kabbalah is considered a secret teaching, it holds no secrets. It is perceived as secret only by those who are still unable to create the spiritual organs within themselves with which to perceive their surroundings. We are the only ones who conceal our surroundings from ourselves in default of the corresponding sensory organs.

As soon as the soul tears itself from egoism altogether, it completely merges with the Creator and is no longer obliged to descend into this world, clothe in a physical body, and receive an additional portion of egoistic desires. A sacrifice to the Creator signifies rejection of the body’s egoistic desires; it is called a “sacrifice,” for our body is no different from that of an animal. Therefore, the aspiration to rid oneself of the animate body and its desires is called a “sacrifice.”

All of the characters described in The Zohar are spiritual objects, Partzufim. Therefore, it is said that the wise (Hacham) sees only for himself, from himself upwards, and cannot pass the Light to others below.

It is hence said that wisdom is found within the heart, as the heart receives from below upwards; whereas he who understands (the Sefira Yesod, Tzadik, the righteous one) shines with the Light of Mercy, Ohr Hassadim, from Above downwards. He sees that he receives for himself, and shines upon the others, i.e., shines upon Malchut, as it is written: “The righteous knows his animate soul.”

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The Book of Zohar. Chapter “Raising a Prayer” – 2 (abridged)

The first Commandment finds its place in the blessings that King David sang during his offerings in the Torah, where man must fear his Master, for these songs stand in a place called “fear” or Malchut. And all of these written blessings constitute the essence of fear of the Creator, Malchut. And man must sing these songs with his desires in fear.

Man must achieve a level of spiritual development where his desires will coincide with what is said in the texts of these blessings. It is impossible to force someone to wish something; all our feelings are the product, the result of our spiritual level. The Light of that degree influences one’s egoism and corrects it with the power of that degree.  Therefore, man can only ask for correction, but it will come from Above, from the Light, from the Creator.

Here we have a list of degrees that man must gradually go through in his correction. These degrees are usually called Commandments, and in all there are 620 of them between us and the Creator: 613 Commandments of the Torah for Israel (altruism) and seven Commandments of the Torah for all the nations (egoism). Here they are expounded in a different way: since the most important thing is to ask for correction (and if the request is genuine, it immediately receives an answer in the form of Light that descends to it), all of man’s work on himself, all of his efforts in the study, all his work and actions are intended only for creating a true request, MAN.

Hence, the stages of man’s spiritual development are described as his path in prayer; as if he stands and prays, although this process continues within him throughout his life on earth.

The second Commandment is to love the Creator. (As it was repeatedly stated, this feeling is the result of correction; see the “Introduction to Talmud Eser Sefirot,” item 45, which describes the four stages of one’s sensation of the governance, from darkness to love). It is when through one’s prayer, one reaches Ahavat Olam (great love) and Le El (for the Creator). These two blessings precede the appeal, Shema Israel (Hear, O Israel) and Ve Ahavta Et (and love the Creator), the blessing of the Creator for one’s love for Him that follows the appeal Shema Israel. And this is the secret of love for the Creator.

The third Commandment takes place when one reaches a place in the prayer that is called Lehishtabe’ach (blessed is the Creator). He must then attain praises and blessings of the Creator in his desire, as in parts of the prayer Yotzer Ohr (He who creates Light) and Yotzer HaMeohrot (maker of the stars).

The fourth Commandment is to proclaim the Creator’s unity, i.e., Shema Israel (Hear, O Israel, our Creator is one!). From this point (degree) on, one must express the secret of the Creator’s unity (in all His manifestations to man) in his heart’s desire (one’s heart must be filled only with the sensation of the One, Upper Force). Afterward, the Commandment to remember and remind others of the exodus from Egypt (egoism) is observed, as it is written: “Remember how you were a slave in Egypt.”

The fifth Commandment is for a Cohen to bless the people (the Light’s descent to the Partzuf), so that Israel will be included when the prayer (the Cohanim’s blessing) ascends, for at this time (state), Knesset Israel (all those who correct themselves by aspiring to the Creator and constitute a part of Malchut de Atzilut), i.e., Malchut, receives a blessing (Light).

The sixth Commandment and the desired time (spiritual state or level when man wishes only to give all of his desires, i.e., his soul, to the Creator, meaning that he can act for the Creator’s sake in all of his desires) is to entrust one’s soul with the Creator with complete desire in one’s heart. When one falls (willingly accepts the small state) on his face (Hochma) and proclaims (raises MAN): “I entrust my soul with You, O Creator.” The intentions and desires of his heart are to give his soul completely to the Creator (this desire is the consequence of this spiritual degree and comes naturally to those who attain it).

These six Commandments of the prayer correspond to the 600 Commandments of the Torah. And the remaining thirteen Commandments are required in order to attract the thirteen properties of mercy (thirteen Midot HaRachamim), which include all the rest. The prayer is adorned with 600 Commandments, which corresponds to HGT NHY, to what the prayer, Malchut, receives from ZA.

Happy is he who heeded and focused his desire on this (who was able to raise a proper request for his correction), who completed all that was required each day (in the Creator’s daylight), and directed his heart’s intentions and desires to fulfill this Commandment, which depends on the word.

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