Preparation for the Lesson
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Workshop
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Writings of Rabash “Shlavei HaSulam,” Article 11
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“The Book of Zohar” — Selected Excerpts, “On the Night of the Bride,” Item 145
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Writings of Baal HaSulam “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Item 61
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Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Mutual Guarantee,” Item 22
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“Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” “BeLaila De Kala” (The Night of the Bride), Item 138: This is the main point of the essay, for thus far the corrections, too, were regarded as the work of our hands because we received rewards or punishments for them. However, at the great Zivug of the end of correction it will be revealed that both corrections and punishments were all the work of His hands, as it is written, “The heavens tell the work of His hands.” This is so because the great Zivug of the firmament will say that everything is the work of His hands and He alone does, is doing, and will do all the deeds.
A person has such a feeling and such thoughts that the end of correction is a fixed state that will come sometime in the future and that we can simply wait for it. He doesn’t understand that this state comes according to the corrections that a person performs. Nothing comes by itself, but only according to our work on the corrections.
We shouldn’t hope to remain the way we are and that corrections will simply arrive on their own. No, I am the one who has to try hard in order to reach correction.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/2/14, The Zohar
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Question: What is Gehenna (Hell)?
Answer: Gehenna depends on how a person defines it. There are those who suppose that Gehenna is when everything that they had in this world disappears and they regret that life passed by without any benefit.
There are those who suppose that Gehenna is not here in this world from an emotional point of view: good or bad, with all kinds of observations. Rather, it waits for us in the future, after the body dies. They think that after the body dies, Gan Eden (the Garden of Eden, heaven) or Gehenna waits for them.
In Kabbalah, what is called Gehenna is the most undesirable state. Through our study and work in a group, we strive to reach a state where values are changed so that hell and heaven take on a different identity in comparison to what is conventionally accepted. Regular people think that when the body dies, some kind of door opens to hell or heaven for a person.
But is this wretched beast at fault for having died or because it was alive? This is speaking about life or death of the desire to receive in the same situation when we have free choice. This illusion that I am found in a physical body and feel this world is intentionally given so that I will leap above it and see myself as alive and existing only in a spiritual Kli (vessel) in relation to Light.
It is very good and beneficial to imagine hell Gehenna and see it in a different form all the time. When I am under the control of the desire to receive, which doesn’t let me bestow, this is called hell. Then we have such a Gehenna!
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/30/14, The Zohar
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“Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” Article “The Night of the Bride,” Item 132: When this happened to King David, fear enveloped him. Right then, Duma ascended before the Creator, and said: “Master of the world, it says in the Torah (VaYikra, 20:10): ‘And the man that commits adultery with another man’s wife…’ David broke his covenant, is it not so?” The Creator replied to him: “David is righteous, and his holy covenant remains pure, for it is known to Me that Bat Sheva was destined for him since the creation of the world.
You are not allowed to bring death upon him….” Then Duma immediately gave up his complaints, and returned, despondent, to his place.”
Question: Why did the angel Duma want King David to die so much that he “returned, despondent, to his place” when this was unsuccessful?
Answer: Duma only helps in making clarifications. He is an angel of the Creator, he is a spiritual force.
It is written that Duma “returned, despondent, to his place” because a Klipa (shell) must also grow to be in balance with Kedusha (sanctity). Otherwise we won’t have free choice or the power of clarification. How can I clarify something if facing me is nothing that opposes me, not even someone who is as wise and strong as I am and who has nothing against me?
Duma acts against Uriah and not against David. While thanks to both of them, David clarifies his true state.
Everything that Kedusha receives, Klipa can suck and extract from it afterward. The benefit here is enormous. Thanks to this, we clarify more and more new Shevirot (shatterings). So we are compelled to perform transgressions thanks to which the Kli, vessel, the desire, is revealed to a greater depth, greater density.
This is somewhat like a well full of water. This water is Ohr Hassidim (Light of Mercy), Hesed (mercy), and the well is the Kli, the desire. As long as the desire is full of Hassadim, we don’t see it.
But when we err, we are performing a transgression and the Hassadim disappear, meaning that the water leaks out of the well, and then we see its walls. And it turns out that there are still other cracks through which we are drawn to a greater depth. The water streams even further away and you sink more deeply into desire and that is how the Kli is discovered and that is how you become familiar with it.
It is impossible to investigate the Kli while it is full of Hassadim. For Hassadim is Hesed, mercy. So the entire desire is full of Hassadim and everything is wonderful. The Hassadim cover everything like the water and don’t make it possible to carry out clarifications. Even love can be blind.
So transgressions specifically help in examining our desires. We see this in particular in regard to the wanderings of the people of Israel in the desert where they committed transgressions every step of the way. They hauled these transgressions from Egypt because they took the Egyptian vessels from there.
If your sack is full of silver and gold vessels, then you discover one vessel after another, another bad desire, and yet another. The discovery of an egoistic desire is called a transgression, yet then it becomes possible to correct it.
So the angel Duma carries out very good and great work by revealing the desires. We need to understand that “there is no cruelty in the palace of the king”; rather, all help and support each another. Yet without the understanding of Kabbalah it is impossible to understand this story that happened with King David, who seems like a criminal since he murdered a husband in order to take possession of the man’s wife.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/28/14, The Zohar
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“Introduction to The Book of Zohar, “Night of the Bride,” Item 131: And so it says, ‘And several myriads of angels of destruction are with him. And he (the angel Domeh) stands by the door of Gehinnom. This is because the thoughts that he brings to a person are several myriad without end. And all of these are by the door of Gehinnom.’
Question: What types of desires are called “angels of destruction”?
Answer: The angels of destruction are the desires that remove me from the environment. After all, I have no other work. The choice of the person, all of his work, is only to arrange an environment and invest as much as possible in it so that the environment will help him to give contentment to the Creator. This is mutual work and is expressed in his praying for the friends so that they will be able to give contentment to the Creator through his efforts.
This means that a closed system is created. The prayer is from him and the Kelim (vessels) are theirs. This puts him in a position where he is greater than they are since he is responsible for them, their “father and mother.” So he reaches repentance first, for this truly raises him to the level of Abba ve Ima (AVI) (father and mother ) in regard to ZON (which is the Kli, vessel, the deficiency of the others, of the environment).
And this is how each one must act: In his deficiency in regard to others, he should feel himself as small, like a mother who bows down towards her baby to feel what he is lacking. Her deficiency must be greater so that she will be able to feel his particular deficiency in her general deficiency. She must then be greater in order to bestow to him. This is how we work.
From here it follows that we don’t have anything more important than work with the collective, with the public.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/27/14, The Zohar
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The Book of Zohar says that there is a general rule: similar to the ten upper Sefirot of faith there are ten Sefirot of dirty witchcraft below. All animals on the face of earth belong to either of these two parts.
The Scriptures allow us to consume animals that belong to the ten Sefirot of sanctity and prohibits eating those animals that are a part of the ten Sefirot of wickedness.
Naturally, we are not talking about witchcraft in this world since anything that is considered witchcraft here is just a psychological impact on people and nothing but that. A prohibition to consume certain types of animals stems from the spiritual roots.
The spiritual roots bear both egoistic and altruistic sides. The egoistic part is called impure or harmful, i.e., it is not cleaned of the egoistic filth. At the same time, inanimate, vegetative, animate, and speaking properties that are based on bestowal and love of our neighbors are called pure and corrected and are suitable for further use.
In corporeality, only certain types of imprints of the upper qualities are considered impure. However, all of them are just conditional. Let’s say it is prohibited to eat pork or camel meat because they are impure. This fact can be explained by the notion that the upper forces that correspond to these animals are of an egoistic nature.
Other upper forces that resemble, for example, a chicken, a goat, or a cow are altruistic. These animals have special signs that work as imprints of spirituality in them.
In the upper world, in order to turn a desire (Malchut, the property of reception) into an altruistic quality, this desire has to be attached to Bina (the intention to bestow).
That’s why digestive systems of the majority of ruminants symbolize receiving for the sake of bestowal. Intestinal tracts of these animals and the way they consume food consists of chewing-burping, chewing-burping. It is similar to “Malchut-Bina, Malchut-Bina.”
Obviously, there is nothing spiritual in these ruminants, but their way of food consumption is a physical consequence that stems out of the upper properties. This is the first point.
Secondly, the intention to bestow and the will to receive exist separately and represent the right and left lines. Our reception is limited to the amount of the intention to bestow we have. That’s why the cloven hooves of these animals represent a splitting of the right and left lines.
This explains why only those animals who have cloven hoofs and a specific type of digestive system are considered kosher in this world.
As to water animals, only fish that have fins and scales that symbolize the screen are considered kosher. There are certain restrictions on consumption of birds, and they also derive from the upper roots.
The Torah concretely lists the fauna representatives that carry a so-called “Godly seal” on them. It is said: “Know that I created them; I created nothing of the same type. You will never find it.”
Interestingly, the Torah is three thousand years old and whenever we try to find anything that is not mentioned in it, we do not succeed. Such a thing has never been found so far.
All inanimate, vegetative, animate, and speaking desires of the spiritual realm materialize in this world through physical objects or phenomena. Each of these levels is accompanied by specific requirements that are enhanced from level to level.
At the inanimate level, it is possible to consume anything at all. Practically, all that is used at this level is salt, water, and soil (there are certain types of soil that are suitable for consumption).
At the vegetative level, there also is a special type of Kashrut. Kashrut stands for the suitability of the products that symbolize different types of desires. Practically every plant is considered edible. However, there is a rule that prohibits eating fruit for three years after a tree begins to bear fruit. Only after three consecutive years of fruit bearing are people allowed to eat the fruit. Unripe or overripe fruit are prohibited to consume, etc.
The biggest restrictions apply to the animate level. It is extremely important to correctly drain blood out of animals and cut off the parts that are not good for eating. Next, it is essential to cook meat in a certain way and to a certain degree, not more, but not less. Everything is clearly explained in the Scriptures.
By the way, these rules are very good for establishing normal digestion in humans. The great Kabbalist Rambam, who attained the roots of these phenomena, wrote a cook book that is based on these rules. If we lived in accordance with these laws, our existence would be compatible with the upper world, the upper laws. Thus, we would benefit from everything around and so would our corporeal body.
If we put the above in Kabbalistic terms, everything is based on the connection between Malchut and Bina. Malchut is the property of reception, whereas Bina is the intention to bestow. When correctly connected, they represent receiving for the sake of bestowal. This type of food consumption is called kosher, since it means for the sake of bestowal, through the environment to the Creator.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 12/18/13
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Question: How can I connect in thought with the friends when reading The Book of Zohar if I don’t feel their thoughts and emotions but only feel myself?
Answer: We need to try to do this, and, as a result of our persistence, Kelim (vessels) gradually will begin to be arranged in us. There is nothing else to be done. Everyone begins from a lack of feeling, and the feelings come through habit.
It is as if you come to a new workplace and they ask you to do something. However, you have never have done this, and you don’t have any skills. So, you try doing it one way or another, and gather experience. Through repeating the same work again and again, suddenly, a new intelligence and new emotions come to you. You begin to feel the material, that your human observations and scrutinies are relevant to the still, vegetative, animate, and human.
This is derived from your connection. Everything that you see in this great world is a part of your soul; it only seems to be external. So, you receive impressions from them.
It is like an artist or a professional who talks about the material with which he works as if it were a living being. He incorporates this material into himself and attributes all of his characteristics to it.
So, I begin to think more and more about the group, about the friends. It is not important if they are far from me and not next to me. However, through permanent and constant thoughts about them, I sharpen and develop my senses.
This is a law of nature. In our world, there is no other possible way to advance besides returning to these thoughts time after time. This is the difference between someone who learns after 100 times or after 101 times.
This does not mean that I must learn an article by heart. Rather, the investment in learning brings a new feeling.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/30/14, The Zohar
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The Book of Zohar, Introduction to the Book of Zohar, Article “The Night of the Bride,” section 138: This stems from the fact that man cannot perceive obvious evil from the Creator, as this would greatly undermine the creatures’ perception of the great and perfect Creator, for the Perfect one cannot create evil.
Therefore, to the extent that man feels bad and evil, and denies the Divine Providence, a veil immediately falls over him, and the sensation of the Creator’s existence disappears. This is the worst punishment in the world!
Hence, the sensation of good and evil in the Creator’s governance gives us a feeling of reward and punishment. This is because he who exerts efforts not to lose faith in the Creator‘s existence and governance, even if he tastes evil in His governance, is rewarded with finding strength to not lose faith in the governance and good purpose of the Creator’s “evil” influence. But if he had not yet merited the opportunity to exert efforts in believing that the Creator pursues a definite purpose by sending him unpleasant sensations, he is punished with remoteness from faith in the Creator and the sensation of His existence.
From here it is clear where reward and punishment and concealment and revelation come from, what the conditions are for a person to merit to this, and how he builds himself when confronting a bad feeling, a feeling of suffering.
It is impossible to cry and say, “Thank you very much.” To the degree that you are not accommodated to the Light, you feel concealment and so condemn the Creator. It follows that we have no choice; if we want to approach the Creator and bless Him, we must reach revelation.
From concealment, whether we want it or not, we are always compelled to curse Him. So only the Kabbalists, who attain the correct intention and transform darkness into Light, bless the higher power. And to that extent, they are in adherence with Him.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/01/14, The Book of Zohar
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