Question: The article “Rabbi Shimon’s Exit from the Cave” talks about how Rabbi Pinchas stands on the shore of the Kinneret and talks with two birds as he wonders where Rashbi is hiding. In The Book of Zohar everything is coded in such a way that it is unclear what is being said. Why couldn’t it have been written more simply?

What does it mean that he talks to the birds and asks where Rabbi Shimon and his son Rabbi Elazar are?

Answer: Rabbi Pinchas wants to come in contact with Rabbi Shimon; therefore, he turns to all the forces of nature. As a result, he receives the desired contact, which, of course, is carried out, not through birds chirping in the trees, but through the spiritual forces of the animate level.

He contacts Rabbi Shimon, sees him emerging from the cave, and is ready to meet him.
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From KabTV’s “Introduction to The Book of Zohar” 12/24/23

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The thirteenth commandment is to do redemption for his son, to tie him to life (Introduction of The Book of Zohar, “The Commandments of the Torah”).

Everything that is born from the earth, animals, or people, initiates such actions that we must raise up to the Creator.

There are two appointees, one over life and the other over death, standing over a person. When he redeems his son, he redeems him from the hand of the one appointed over death. He cannot govern him

Question: Can you explain what this is about?

Answer: We sort of separate the evil force from the good one and make a corresponding sacrifice in the form of a son’s redemption.

Usually, a son in spirituality means the next state of a person.
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From KabTV’s “Introduction to The Book of Zohar” 12/10/23

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Question: The twelfth commandment is to bring the first fruit of the tree (Baal Hasulam, Introduction of the Book of Zohar, “The Commandments of the Torah”, paragraph 245).

What does this mean in spirituality?

Answer: From everything that you have in the vegetative and animate world, from everything that is born and comes to you as suitable for consumption, you must separate a tenth and not use it. In this way you confirm the governance of the Creator in all nature.

Question: What is the difference between the eleventh and twelfth commandments? One says that one should separate the tithe of the fruits of the ground, and the other says that one should separate the tithe of the first fruits of the tree.

Answer: The only difference is in the technique, how and when it is done. But in principle, the essence is the same, separating the part that you cannot correct.
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From KabTV’s “Introduction of The Book of Zohar” 12/10/23

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The eleventh commandment is to give tithing [10% of the produce, Maaser] from the land (Introduction of The Book of Zohar, “The Commandments of the Torah,” paragraph 244).

Question: How can one fulfill this commandment today if a person does not work on the land?

Answer: In our time, it is done somewhat differently. But in principle, we should understand that out of everything we receive from nature, we are obligated to set aside a tenth part that is not for our use. In this way, we separate what we can use for the benefit of all.

Comment: So there is a part of me that I cannot correct, and I set it aside in advance.

My Response: Yes, that includes humans and the surroundings, and animals, and plants, everything.

Comment: But physically, people also used to give tithes. It symbolizes that they cannot correct a certain part of their desires, Malchut.

My Response: We still do it now, but we do it in an organized manner as a community.
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From KabTV’s “Introduction of The Book of Zohar” 12/10/23

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The ninth commandment is to pardon the poor and give them prey. It is written, “Let us ‎make man in our image, after our likeness.” (Introduction of The Book of Zohar, “The Commandments of the Torah”).

We must help all people who perhaps do not understand, are not aware, and are not able to fulfill the commandment of love for each other. We must attract them to us and perform spiritual actions together with them.

Question: What is the connection between the instruction to help the poor, and the phrase, “Let us create man in our image and likeness”?

Answer: By poor we mean a person who does not yet have the awareness and strength to influence everyone in a good way. We need to give an example and help such a person in spiritual work.

With the phrase, “let us create a man in our image and likeness,” the Creator tells us that in this way we should come into contact with Him and give birth to a new humanity that would be in harmony and love and exist in one single desire. After all, the Creator is the quality of bestowal and love.
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From KabTV’s “Introduction of The Book of Zohar” 12/10/23

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Comment: The Torah describes 613 commandments of the upper world, and in The Book of Zohar, which is a commentary on the Torah, the Prophets, and the Holy Scriptures, there are only 14.

My Response: In The Book of Zohar there is a completely different gradation since each of the fourteen main commandments is divided into many more.

Question: Aren’t there are too many instructions for us? How can we work with them?

Answer: It is not hard. They simply talk about how one can comply with the laws of the universe and how a person can influence nature, society, and oneself in a good way.

In principle, all the commandments are based on this. Nobody made them up. They were written by Kabbalists from their understanding of the inner force, the inner law of nature. If we want to correspond to it, we must behave in such and such a way.

It is quite simple. The Creator is the will to bestow, the creation is the will to receive, and all the commandments are instructions of the Creator for how to work with different types of desires at the inanimate, vegetative, and animate levels and bring them in equivalence with the Creator.
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From KabTV’s “Introduction to The Book of Zohar” 12/10/23

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The fourteenth commandment is to keep the Sabbath day, which is the day of rest from ‎the entire deed of creation (Zohar for All, “The Commandments of the Torah,” 247).

Saturday is a special day of the week when we have no right to produce anything.

Therefore, there are many laws that state what work, production, rest, and so on mean.

We are talking about energy production, mechanical or other actions we should not perform on the Sabbath (Shabbat) because throughout the week we work on ourselves and on the Sabbath the Creator works on us.

By correcting egoism for a certain period, we reach a point where the remaining work can only be done by the Creator. As it is said, “The Creator will complete for me” because man cannot pull himself out of egoism.
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From KabTV’s “Introduction to The Book of Zohar” 12/10/23

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‎The seventh commandment is to circumcise after eight days and remove the filth of the ‎foreskin. (Zohar for All. “Introduction to The Book of Zohar“. The Seventh Commandment. #223)

This commandment has only an inner meaning. We define to ourselves what our egoism means, and as we develop, as it is written, on the “eighth day” we do “circumcision” to ourselves.

It means that we remove the egoistic inclination of our nature in which we were born and develop and leave for ourselves only the non-egoistic part of the desire, which helps us to develop spiritually, act correctly with each other, and leads us to love between us.

In other words, the commandment of circumcision is that when a person discovers some desires in himself that he cannot correct, he cuts them off and does not use them.

The eighth commandment is to love the proselyte who comes to be circumcised (Zohar for All. “Introduction to The Book of Zohar“. The Eighth Commandment. #228)

This means that we should help in every possible way those people who have not worked on themselves and have not tried to overcome the evil inclination (egoism) but have already developed a tendency to do so and attract them to us.
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From KabTV’s “Introduction to The Book of Zohar” 12/10/23

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The sixth commandment is to engage in multiplication. Anyone who engages in multiplication causes that river, Yesod of ZA, to always be springing (Zohar for All, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” The Sixth Commandment, #219).

The inner force of creation aims at connecting all created beings and directing them correctly in development so that they confirm the wisdom and correctness of the Creator with their lives and actions.

The words “engage in multiplication” indicate that we agree with the Creator’s governance and wish to conform to Him in our actions in creation.
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From KabTV’s “Introduction of The Book of Zohar” 12/10/23

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The third commandment of the Torah is “to know that there is a great and ruling God in the world,” which includes the entire universe.

At the heart of His attitude toward everything from micro to macro is that everything is filled only with love and care so that this world would exist in harmony with Him.

The instruction to know the Creator means not just to believe, but to feel within and around you that everything comes from the Creator and calls us to absolute love.

The fourth commandment says that the Creator is almighty. In other words, there is no other force except the Creator that governs the world and influences it in any way.

The fifth commandment calls everyone to engage in the Torah, i.e., to study the internal laws of the universe, accept them, and act according to them.
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From KabTV’s “Introduction of The Book of Zohar” 12/10/23

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