“I heard from my teacher that The Book of Zohar has a new interpretation every day” (Degel Machane Efraim). This means that while a person changes every day, the book remains the same.

The Book of Zohar is the system of the spiritual worlds. It is a global system of governance encompassing all 125 degrees of the soul’s ascent from our world to the World of Infinity. Not only does The Zohar provide an explanation of this system, it brings us the Light capable of raising us along the entire spiritual ladder from beginning to end. We only need to strive to come to the demands of this system while reading this book.

Therefore, if we bring ourselves into correspondence with the system governing us, we will receive the Reforming Light that it is filled with. This constitutes our work. Thus, while reading The Zohar we should aspire to unite into one desire and await the Light that corrects us.

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A question I received: We learn in the science of Kabbalah that the state of adulthood (Gadlut) has to be preceded by a state of being small (Katnut). What does this teach us in regard to spiritual work?

My Answer: Everything happens step by step. Correction is always carried out from easy to difficult. We grow in this world according to the same principle. We are given exercises and Reshimot are revealed inside us, starting from the simple ones to the more complex ones.

We need to organize our spiritual progress in the same manner, without thinking that we can skip any stage. The chain of Reshimot obliges us to go through all the states gradually, one after another. We cannot miss any state or skip any degree.

Therefore, if I am not advancing to the next state, it is a sign that I still have not realized my present state, and hence I haven’t prepared myself for a change and a transition to the next state. There are no trade-offs here. The Creator cannot “throw” you upward. That would be like asking, “Why didn’t He create me in a perfect state initially?” If He did, you would lack the desire and a sense through which to perceive that state. You need to attain it on your own.

For the same reason, you cannot jump over or skip a few degrees right now. This is impossible since you will lack the right desire. How will you feel a more elevated state if you haven’t acquired a desire, a vessel for perceiving it?

Attaining a higher state means increasing your desire, widening your vessel of perception and making it more bestowing.

If you haven’t achieved the quality of bestowal, then you will not feel it. The whole spiritual world exists here and now – so go ahead, take it, if you can. The Upper Light is at absolute rest, but you lack the right desire for it.

You are saying, “I want to jump a few degrees up!” Well, try it. You will find that you cannot make that jump. You need to ascend gradually, step by step, by developing according to the four stages. That is how you will continually ascend higher and higher.

Otherwise, spiritual ascent is impossible. The order in which the Reshimot come out is predetermined. Reshimot are instilled in us and await their turn to be realized.

The Light of Infinity is Above, and it is ready to correct you and fulfill you. However, your desire is preventing it.

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The Book of Zohar describes only our inner qualities; this is why Kabbalah is called the inner part of the Torah. It only seems to us that the world develops and expands outward, but this is not true. It is our egoism that causes us to feel a spatial dispersion.

This outward perception is opposite to the correct focus and to the spiritual root. After all, the root is a thin line (Kav Dak), which passes through all of reality at its deepest level. Therefore, we have to concentrate within, focusing on our desires and qualities. We will then reveal a more internal degree.

In the science of Kabbalah we learn that our whole ascent lies in continually shifting to a more internal Partzuf. First the conception (Ibur – embryo) in the Partzuf NeHY occurs; then the inner Partzuf HaGaT is built inside, which is the suckling stage (Yenika). Then an even more internal Partzuf of HaBaD is built – the stage of adulthood (Mochin).

Thus, we complete one Partzuf – one of 125 degrees to complete correction. What now? Now a new Partzuf begins, which is a new degree of correction, like the next, higher floor, and it also consists of the same three stages – conception (or embryo), suckling, and adulthood.

In this manner, we constantly delve deeper and deeper until we reach the line of Infinity and suckle from this line. This is why one’s search should always be directed inside.

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A question I received: In the corrected state, I will love my neighbor as myself. But will his desire in relation to me still remain “not my” desire?

My Answer: We do not erase the differences between us; we preserve all of our desires. It is written, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” not “nullify yourself and disappear.”

“As yourself” implies the depth of each person’s desire which remains between us, our differences and the hatred that we rise above, like over Mount Sinai (Sina means “hatred” in Hebrew). We use our ego, the entire depth of the egoism, in order to turn it into bestowal. If we were to cancel our desires, we would have nothing to rise above.

Therefore, we should not destroy anything about ourselves. Even the worst qualities have to stay. We just add correction to them without creating anything new; we simply use what exists in us initially. Until the World of Infinity, we ascend by the degrees of our egoistic desire, transforming it to bestowal.

We can fall at any given moment, as it is written, “Don’t believe in yourself until your very death (the death of egoism).” If you lose the screen, you will fall back into these desires, since the screen restrains your egoism – all your hatred. However, the hatred remains, and it can burst out at any moment.

Even in our ordinary lives, we see how people unite, and then suddenly and unexpectedly, hatred erupts between them and a war breaks out. This happens because people build connections with each other based on “corrections” that can fall apart at any moment. It is like a “united” Europe, where there are 30 different countries, all being torn apart by mutual oppositions. No matter how much they try to build a “common home,” it can explode and bring them to a third world war in one instant!

Suddenly terrible hatred will be revealed, a kind that they have never experienced before. All of the unification that they are trying to reach right now will serve as fuel for hatred. And all that’s needed for this is one match.

In our spiritual ascent, only the Creator serves as the guarantor of the fact that this will not happen to any of us, provided that we include Him in our union!

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The Zohar: Raise your arms up in prayer, since we are about to reveal the order of the World of Atzilut: GAR de-Arich Anpin, called Keter, Mocha de-Avira (the membrane in the brain) and Mocha Stima (the hidden mind), as well as how they rise to the unknown head of Infinity, which is the most elevated and concealed.

Therefore, let us pray for the Creator to welcome our revelation of these secrets.

We exist inside Infinity. Regardless of our degree of attainment, the lower degree cannot perceive the Upper Degree; it cannot feel and grasp it with its mind. At any point of our spiritual ascent, the next state is always infinite and boundless in regard to the lower one.

I am limited by my range of perception. The Upper One is greater than me and does not fit into my Kli (vessel of perception). So how can I perceive Him? I can do it only by requesting for my soul to be expanded, so that I may acquire qualities similar to His. Then I will be able to reveal Him and acquire a connection with Him. The whole connection between us and the Upper Degrees is realized only through our request.

This is exactly how we advance in our regular lives: A child is always asking a grown-up for something, and the grown-up must in turn provide the child with what he considers beneficial to the child’s development. However, the little one doesn’t even know what is beneficial to his development. If he only acts using his own wit, using the mind of his degree, then he will advance by the path of suffering, by making mistakes. And only after many failed attempts will he reach an understanding that he only has to ask the Upper One, and He will know what to give him.

Therefore, everything is achieved through the power of prayer. However, prayer is not what we imagine it to be in our world! Prayer means that I desire to become more giving, to come out of my egoism. In addition, this has to be my sole desire; this is the only thing I have to ask the Upper One for.

However, this goes against my egoistic nature, and therefore, if the Upper One does not prepare me for achieving His degree, I will never be able to reach it on my own! Through my prayer and exercises, I become more and more similar to the Upper One. This continues through all 125 degrees of my spiritual ascent, until I attain my complete correction: equivalence to the Creator.

Now we can understand what is written in The Book of Zohar: If the soul does not receive knowledge about the world to come, then a person cannot enter it and exist in it. After all, without having this knowledge about the quality of bestowal and how to realize it, he will not be able to live there.

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In the material world, a mother knows when it’s time to feed her baby. But when it comes to our spiritual ascent, a baby (a person who is in the initial stages of becoming a Kabbalist) has to ask the mother for food himself. He has to know how to turn to the Upper Level in order for It to raise him up to It and fill him with Light.

Everything happens according to the lower one’s (the person’s) desire to become similar to the Upper One (the Creator). In the spiritual world, all actions take place either according to Reshimot (informational records which determine one’s state), which are realized in us without our choice, or by us adding our desires for correction to the Reshimot. That is to say, we can add our own prayer or plea for correction.

We don’t have to ask for this artificially. That won’t help. If one’s desire is ripe, then it will elicit the influence of the Light of Correction upon it.

The Upper Partzuf (the Creator) is in the state of absolute rest and never changes. Only our inner Reshimot (the data about our state) undergo changes. This is why we feel that we exist in a changing world, but actually, it is changing inside us relative to an unchanging background – the White Light, the Creator.

Reshimot that awaken in us without our participation do not advance us in the spiritual world. We simply tread in one place, until repeated suffering makes us smarter and forces us to look for spiritual development. Our problems are caused by Reshimot that unravel naturally.

However, if you join a society that engages in spiritual development, then you will receive Reshimot from it, which come from your connection with other souls. You will receive these Reshimot by virtue of your own efforts, and they are the Reshimot that you have to correct in order to reveal the Upper World. How? By raising them through your prayer for correction.

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Spiritual advancement is built upon descents: as they become corrected, they serve as the material for the spiritual Kli. If you turn your sensation of being far away from spirituality into a spiritual ascent, you will thereby build your soul.

Think of an electronic converter that straightens out an oscillating, off-and-on current, making it constant. The oscillating current enters the diode bridge where the positive phase passes through one contour and the minus phase passes through another. As a result, a constant current is produced at the exit. This is very much like the spiritual processes, where the descents turn into ascents.

The Light acts as the positive phase, and the Kli is revealed as the negative phase, and they work together. Practically speaking, I affect my environment and the environment affects me. I project two feelings onto the environment: the feeling that it is important, and that I am worthless. In response, the environment impresses me with the feeling that bestowal is important and reception is worthless.

If I take care of these four channels, then I will receive strength. When I am in the state of ascent and I have a lot of strength, I have to give to the environment. And when I fall and have no strength, I receive strength from the environment.

This works in exactly the same way as the device that straightens out the oscillating current: sometimes I give to them, and sometimes they give to me. As a result, I always have strength.

In fact, this is why the soul was separated into two parts: me and everything that’s outside of me. It was to enable me to treat others like myself.

Everything outside me is also mine. It’s just that I work with it in this oscillating manner – sometimes I give strength, and sometimes it is returned to me. However, what I receive is many times greater than what I put in.

In virtue of the darkness (the new Kli) that is revealed in me, I am able to receive enough strength from the environment to turn to the Force (the Light) of Correction. I am then always able to move forward, like a constant current that is always being straightened out. And thus, I rise higher and higher.

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While I was by Rabash’s side, I was always surprised at how short and formal the burial ceremonies were. A person has to perform the ritual: come to the cemetery, say a few words over the grave, and leave. And he has to come back once a year, not more.

In the corporeal sense, this ritual is somber, but in the spiritual sense, it is joyful! We are actually holding a ritual that a person should be happy about. He should rejoice about getting rid of his “body,” about the fact that his egoistic desire has died and the desire to bestow and love, called the “soul,” has ascended to a new level. It rose from the earthly level, reception, to the “heavens” – bestowal!

When you return once a year to your buried desire, you check whether there is anything more you can take from it in order to correct it and ascend even higher. After all, the ascent can only take place by way of correction, by turning egoism to bestowal.

After that comes the “revival of the dead,” when we correct all our desires and nothing remains in the “grave.” The dead (desires) will then be revived and the burial rituals will no longer be performed.

Rabash was a person who acted as no Kabbalist had before. He accepted secular students into his group, which was located in the midst of the Jewish Orthodox populace in the city of Bnei Brak. And he taught these students the science of Kabbalah. In those times, this was a real revolution. He went against his family, the people close to him, and the social opinion of the entire Orthodox community.

Despite everything, he dared to do this, and he made a breakthrough. He started writing articles and giving lessons for beginners, including secular people. He did everything possible to spread the Teaching.

The most important thing he left behind is his articles and his spirit. Everything we have today, our entire foundation was laid by him. I always feel that I continue none else but his work. That is why I feel the inner forces to continue. The way we study, explain and formulate things, all comes from him. I hope to continue to transmit everything I have, including Rabash’s spirit, which I received from him, to you.

This person is essentially a bridge, an intermediate link connecting all the great Kabbalists of the past, from Abraham to Baal HaSulam, to us. Through his spirit, he passed the science of Kabbalah on to us. We are living inside his Kli, and he supports us.

We have to thank the Creator for giving us this soul, which continues to include us within and develops us even today. Any spirituality we attain is in virtue of his help, his force that acts among us. This is why we are called, “Bnei Baruch” – the Sons of Baruch. Let us hope that we truly will become the sons of Baruch Ashlag, the Rabash.
(From my talk at Rabash’s grave this morning, 09.23.2009)

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Questions I received on difficult times on the spiritual path:

Question: Should a person try to figure out his bad states while they are occurring, or should he rise above them and only later analyze what happened?

My Answer: One should figure it out later, when he reaches an ascent. During the state of descent, the only thing you should do is work.

Question: I study in the Learning Center and listen to your lessons. Right now I am reading “The Creator’s Concealment and Revelation” because I want to understand the reason for my current state of despair. I don’t feel happiness in the material life, the Creator sends me nothing but suffering, and sometimes I don’t want to live. I feel completely lost. Maybe there is some specific book which can help me overcome this state?

My Answer: The book, Shamati.

Question: If a person studies Kabbalah, and at the same time has an excessive desire for some “special” type of fulfillment, such as alcohol, drugs, or pornography, what should he do, especially when this desire only grows stronger with time? How can he stay on track?

My Answer: You should think only about the most important thing. Then, even if a descent will come along, you will quickly come out of it and continue on your way without thinking about the past.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: All Obstacles Are Surmountable
Laitman.com Post: Overcome Yourself by Raising the Importance of the Goal
Laitman.com Post: This Path Can Only Be Surmounted by Those Who Walk It
Shamati #191: “The Time of Descent”
Lesson on Baal HaSulam Article: “The Peace”

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Questions I received on the upcoming Congress and inner work:

Question: What is the best way to prepare for the upcoming Congress?

My Answer: You should study the materials from the last Congress (February 2008) and participate in the preparations for the upcoming Congress. Go through the materials about the Congress, and finally, you should be systematically present at our daily lessons (held between 3am and 6am Israel time), or at least at the third part (from 5am until 6am Israel time).

Question: I am trying to find the best way of studying for me. Can a student who’s attracted to his own sex and who studies Kabbalah regularly over the Internet, participate in the Congress that will take place in Israel (to actually come and be there together with everyone)? Can he participate in the Congress preparations? Can he sometimes attend a congress in other countries?

My Answer: Yes.

Question: What is the correct way to unite with the common system?

My Answer: Through the quality of bestowal.

Question continued: Is a person capable of this?

My Answer: Yes, if he does it through a group, by receiving Ohr Makif from above.

Question continued: What kind of force is this, and where can it be found?

My Answer: Only in the study of Kabbalah.

Question: If I understand that everything I do is for the Creator’s sake, and my intention is “for the sake of the Creator,” how can I use Kabbalah to achieve my purpose in life?

My Answer: If you’re already at a point where everything is for the Creator’s sake, then there’s nothing more for you to do…

Question: How is it possible to go from external love to inner love?

My Answer: The same way it is possible to go from egoism to altruism.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Live Your Life as Usual, and Study Kabbalah
Laitman.com Post: Everyone Must Know About Kabbalah
Wondrous Wisdom: “Perceiving the Spiritual”
Spiritual Search: “Intent For the Sake of the Creator”
Attaining the Worlds Beyond: “Transforming Egoism to Altruism”
Baal HaSulam Article: “The Time of Ascent”

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