When we turn to the works of Kabbalists, we can either study the science or the Torah (the method of correction). “Science” implies regular sciences such as physics, chemistry, history, geography, and so on. This is what academics think of Kabbalah. According to them, The Zohar was written in Spain in the Middle Ages, and not 2,000 years ago in Israel.

Scientists are trying to draw knowledge and information from Kabbalistic sources. They discuss the style, analyze texts, and try to draw a correlation between the text and historic events.

This rational approach has nothing to do with “studying the Torah.” This is because the Torah is a method of correcting our nature and becoming similar to the Creator in our properties. The Creator becomes revealed within us to the extent of this similarity.

The purpose of all the “holy” books is to reveal the Creator to man. However, primary sources like the Five Books of Moses, Talmud, and Mishnah are narrated with an earthly, material language; they describe the Upper World through corporeal images. It is difficult for us to see spiritual actions in these narrations.

But the language of Kabbalistic books helps to avoid deviating from the direction towards correction and similarity to the Creator. This is because it speaks of correcting yourself through unity in order to reveal the Creator.

This is why the language of Kabbalah is most appropriate for the attainment of the goal for which the Torah has been given. It is written: “I created the evil inclination and the Torah because the Light in it reforms.” For us, the Torah is a method of correction; it is not a science, but the Light that Reforms.

It is written that one must bless the Torah before studying it, otherwise he will receive a curse instead of a blessing. This means that one needs to concentrate on correction. “To bless the Torah” means to thank the Creator for giving you the opportunity to correct yourself with the help of the Light that is hidden in it.

The Zohar describes our correcting the connection, that which was broken between us. This is why we must strive towards unity when studying it and wait for the Light, the force that corrects our connection. Only then, to the extent of our unity and the mutual guarantee, the Creator will become revealed between us.

So let us “bless the Torah”: Think about the creation of the collective Kli as we turn to The Zohar.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/16/10, The Zohar, “Introduction to The Zohar“

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From Baal HaSulam’s article “The Last Generation”: If all the nations of the world agree to that, then wars will no longer be in the world, for no person will be concerned with his own good whatsoever, but only with the good of others.

This teaching of equivalence of form is the teaching of the Messiah…It is then said “and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks.”

The Messiah is the biggest Light of Yechida that corrects everything when it descends. When we obtain a strong desire to reach the final correction (Gmar Tikkun), this Light will appear with all its might and will correct all desires.

Even much lesser Lights that we receive now create a connection between us and allowed us to organize a huge Convention which is the result of help from Above rather than our own achievement.

All that we see around us, our friends and the whole world, is the image of the Creator who stands in front of us and shows Himself through this picture. Even now, the power that we call “Messiah” is already here; it pulls the whole human race from its current state to the end of correction. These processes are called “the labor pains of the Messiah;” they represent the revelation of the power of the Messiah in the world, the very first state in the process of “birth.”

One way or another, by going through stronger affliction and wars or because of the growth of our understanding and desire to become corrected, this correction must be completed by the year 6000 according to this world’s calendar. This term is defined by six Sefirot of Zeir Anpin (VAK) and is divided into three periods, which are two-thousand years each, reflecting the influence of ZA (Zeir Anpin) onto the three worlds: Beria, Yetzira, and Assiya. Thus, we are obligated to achieve the state of correction.

From now and further on, we enter the era of the Messiah, and therefore the wisdom of Kabbalah is being revealed. This gives us a chance to become corrected right now rather than continuing to wait for the end of the given term.

Egyptian exile continued for only 210 years instead of the “determined” 400 years; similarly, we shouldn’t wait until the calendar indicates 6000. In spirituality, we can accelerate time and bring the final state closer so that we can implement it right now. It means that “Isra-el” (someone who strives directly to the Creator) “accelerates” time and moves it forward. This is why we can already (as we speak) be present in the time of liberation, at the arrival of the Messiah; it all depends on us!

The preparation period has ended and the informational genes (Reshimot) of the final stage have begun to emerge, revealing the method of their use: the science of Kabbalah and The Book of Zohar; now everything is in our hands.
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From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/7/10, Baal HaSulam “The Last Generation”

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Question: We constantly hear that we have to unite and look for the Creator, but we do not perceive this as practical work. What should we actually do?

Answer: If the external actions are beneficial to the inner processes, then we have to carry them out. The benefit might come in the future. For example, suppose I perform a physical action for an entire year so that my actions will result in me attaining a more inner layer, or in other words, so I will come closer to the quality of the Creator, bestowal. I will realize how far away I am from it and then my desire will facilitate the correction of my intention from “for myself” to  “bestowal.”

In other words, the “end of the action” must be present in the “initial thought.” Either I am told what to do and I carry it out “above reason,” or I act this way myself. In any case the execution of the action belongs to the person.

However, if the action is not done with the intention “for the sake of the group’s unity,” then no matter how important the intention is, it won’t bring any benefit. A person’s work is precisely the work on the intention.

It’s impossible to go around it because the nature of the world is the desire to enjoy and the desire to give pleasure, the thought that is next to them, their unity and mutual inclusion. There is nothing besides the desire and intention!

The desire to receive of the lower one enters the desire to bestow of the Upper One as MAN (plea for correction), and the desire to bestow of the Upper One descends into the desire to receive of the lower one and fills it as MAD (the Light of Correction). Then the two undergo mutual unification: Bina in Malchut and Malchut in Bina, the Creator in creation and creation in the Creator, until they attain total equality. That is the entire act!

Where does this happen? It takes place only in the thought, in the desire, in the inner effort! Of course, that is the most difficult thing. Some of us find it easy to work mentally while others find it difficult. However, spiritual work is equally difficult for everyone, whether you are a scientist or a carpenter, because it is performed in the soul, not in the mind.

We do perform certain external actions that unite us with the right intention: Why are we doing this? Why do we do it together instead of individually? Why do we want to expand the circle of participants? This revives us and brings us inspiration.

Without an intention to our efforts, we are a “gathering of fools” because even the most important work is devoid of meaning if it lacks an intention!
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/1/10, Writings of Rabash

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The correct relation between all parts of nature as a unified system is called love which takes into account the interests of all as a single system. In other words, I feel everyone as an inseparable part of me because we really are all connected!

The only problem is that in our world we do not perceive the force that can bring us to this state. Therefore, we don’t even look in that direction, considering it as a kind of unreal utopia, and try to use this world as egoistically as each one can. In the end, we completely ruin this world, and there is nothing left in it to use. We have rendered it to such altered conditions that any kind of control on our behalf is lost.

That is why the point in the heart and the wisdom of Kabbalah surface only in the generation that reaches an ultimate stage of desperation and helplessness. Kabbalah becomes absolutely necessary, and hence we are obliged to disclose it.

It is an indispensable condition for correction of the world. The whole world must know about it. It is like the story of the Egyptian Plagues when Moses argued with Pharaoh. Why did he come to Pharaoh in the first place? It’s because each egoist in this world should know that a method of correction exists!

Due to the circulation of this method on one hand and the growth of egoism on the other, two stubborn qualities, the people of Israel and Pharaoh, are facing each other, and they both realize that there is no way out. And then this world (the egoistic Pharaoh) has to understand that the only solution is to rise above its current condition and accept the method of correction.

Therefore, Baal HaSulam explains to us that dissemination of the wisdom of Kabbalah is the most necessary and important condition of spiritual liberation.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/24/10, “The Giving of the Torah”

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When a person realizes how important the group is for his correction, he opens himself up like the hood of a car and lets his friends “do maintenance” inside. In the same manner, a patient gladly stretches himself on the surgical table with the expectation that the doctors will save his life. A person feels that he depends one hundred percent on the good will of the friends and that only with their help will he change, get corrected, and recover from a deadly ailment.

Then, the environment begins working on him. The more he sticks to the friends, the more clearly he is shown how hard it is to turn to them, how appalled he is by it. On one hand, a person understands that he simply must turn to the friends because all his life depends on it, but on the other, egoism and stubbornness don’t allow him to do so. These two qualities are called “hate,” “impure side,” and “filth.”

For example, sometimes we have to apologize to someone and can’t force ourselves to do it. In this situation, I discover two opposite forces: I must do it in order to save myself, yet I can’t. However, I later recognize that my incapacity is caused by a foreign force and, as a result, I gain strength.

This happens at every new degree. I begin to realize that the Creator has arranged everything so that I would hold His hand like a little child who clings to a grown-up. Then, with His help, I will be able to go to the Pharaoh.

This is how we advance until the very end of correction: I recognize the evil of my nature, separate from it, and see that is the Pharaoh, my rival. Then, I desire to get rid of it and ask the Upper Light to do it.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/18/10, “Come to Pharaoh”

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When a Kabbalist attains a spiritual degree, he “dresses” into the same form that is called “Abraham” or “Moses,” for example, and he “hears” what they say to each other. In The Zohar there are stories of people talking to each other even though they lived in different centuries, and you would think: How is that possible? It is because it is talking only about the spiritual world, not about people; it is describing desires and qualities that are called by these names.

Your name is also present there because you also have a root of the soul! However, for now it is not called by your current name. When you ascend there and correct this state, you will receive this name. You will reveal it. That is what you have to do: Reveal the root of your soul.

When you attain this point or your main, inherent spiritual quality, then from that point you will become included in the entire rest of the Kli of the World of Infinity. This will mean that you have revealed the soul of Adam HaRishon and it became yours, coming from your point.

Your spiritual vessel with the Light inside it is called by your name. You just don’t know it for now because you are not familiar with your spiritual gene that acts inside of you, the spark, the point in the heart. You don’t know where it comes from. It pulls you toward your root, but you don’t know what that root is, where it is located on the ladder of the degrees, and in what state it exists. You have to reveal it and discover that this is, in fact, you.

This does not mean that you are limited by that root; on the contrary, you will rise even higher! However, you will attain everything from that point. Therefore, every soul is obligated to attain its root and every person has his own root.

There are “forefathers” who are called “the heads of the degrees” or of the “generations.” They are Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. These aren’t roots of particular souls, but fundamental qualities. They are names of the Creator’s qualities.

On the other hand, each of us has his own root point that he must attain and in which he must correct himself. From there one corrects his connection with all the other souls. This is the meaning of the full, individual correction which every person must perform.

From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/27/10, “600,000 Souls”

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Question: Does a person who arrives at the final correction thereby conclude his corporeal incarnations (Gilgulim)? Does he feel satisfied or does he want to continue to incarnate?

Answer: I would word the question differently. You arrive in the spiritual world, cross the Machsom, and see to what extent you can bestow to others and how much you still need to do in this world, but then you suddenly hear: “No, you don’t; you are complete and eternal, and you will not go back to that low world!” But this is the time when you can truly act in bestowal and help the others on the path of correction. Would you miss it? Which world is better? Let’s live and see!
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From the Introductory Lecture 10/19/10, “We Shall Do and We Shall Hear”

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A group is not a union of individuals but a union with the Creator; otherwise, it is not a Kabbalistic group. I come to this group exactly because the Creator resides within it; if not, why do I need all these people? People always unite by interests, and what can a Kabbalistic group give us? It can give us the Creator! And this is the only reason I come here, in order to find Him in the connection between us.

This is regarded as: “Israel (I, who aspires to the Creator; Isra– directly, El– the Creator), the Light of correction (the Torah), and the Creator (the root of all) are one.” All three of these components must become one in order for me to achieve them. This is the reason I come here, and it defines all actions I perform in the group, as well as my attitude to the friends, and absolutely everything else!

It turns out that I relate to this very notion of the group as to the Creator because He resides there within it! But I am not able to focus my eyes on Him. He keeps getting blurry for me, and I don’t know where He is. I can’t catch him with my targeting device.

Yet, I am told that if I look at it through the group, it is aimed precisely at Him, with the result correctly targeted. Therefore, I value the friends as much as I value the Creator; after all, only through them am I able to reach Him. Besides, it is written: “From the love of created beings to the love for the Creator.” In other words, if I achieve love in the group, then as a final result, I will undoubtedly reach Him and attain love of the Creator.

I can’t work on love in relation to the Creator since I don’t see whom I must work with. Therefore at each stage, I attain love for the Creator by working on love for the group. Otherwise, I cannot study the Creator: I imagine Him according to my correct attitude to the unity with friends. I build and uncover this form myself. If not, why do I need to come in the group? I do so only because they are selected by the Creator so that through them I could approach Him. That is why I love them! They are my salvation!
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/22/10, “The Freedom”

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Question: What should I do to acquire strength and demand correction?

Answer: For this a person needs to have the correct idea about a network of interconnected desires or sparks, realize that they must work together and find between themselves the force regarded as “the Creator.” This force has left that place because in the connection of sparks there is no reciprocity, unity. But a person paints the picture of interconnection again and again, thereby summoning the Light from the corrected system.

It is just a game as of yet; a person is not expected to do spiritual work but to exert effort. He may even break things but at the same time, learn from it. A child doesn’t learn unless he breaks something. He has to take a toy apart in order to find out what’s inside it.

It is the same on the spiritual path, although in this case, we should aim at creation, at ascent. We deal with the broken system of ties between the souls more and more. In fact, we uncover nothing but that.

Within this network, we will see the mechanism that acts from Above downward. It unfolds and comes closer to me in my understanding and awareness from its central point, Malchut of the World of Infinity. This is the system of the worlds. After the breaking, it corrected itself and lined up before me so that I, with its help, undergo all the stages of correction that are programmed in it.

Thus, the system is already within me, we are all interconnected and unified in the state of the final correction (Gmar Tikkun). I only need to find myself in the correct unification and discover the force that is called “the Light” or “the Creator” between us.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/20/10, “The Matter of the Slanders”

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Baal HaSulam, “The Teaching of the Kabbalah and its Essence”: It is written, “For the commandment is a candle, and the teaching is light.” As one who has candles but no light to light them sits in the dark, one who has Mitzvot but no Torah sits in the dark. This is because the Torah is Light, by which the darkness in the body is illuminated and lit up.

There are people who perform many actions. They think that their deeds are correct, meaning they bring them closer to a great spiritual reward. Unfortunately, it is not true.

A person summarizes his life and thinks that he did a lot of good things, fulfilled many desires of the Creator (commandments), studied the Torah, learned by heart quite a number of sacred texts, and followed all the requirements. However, he suddenly begins to realize that he didn’t achieve anything since “a Mitzva (precept or commandment) without an aim is like a body without a soul.”

The physical actions he performed during his life did not bring any positive result. Life passed, and the person’s efforts and suffering occurred worthlessly. He will have to come back into this reality again, will be re-born, and will start all over from the cradle hoping that during this next reincarnation he will succeed much more.

This is how the same souls advance over and over again, from generation to generation, from life to life, until they arrive to their correct realization. After all, the purpose of life is not fulfilling physical actions, but rather in correcting our nature.

A commandment represents the correction of egoistic desire by the intention to bestow. This definition has to encourage us to evaluate whether we managed to correct at least one desire of ours and re-establish connection with other people.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/17/10, “The Teaching of the Kabbalah and Its Essence”

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