The original text of The Zohar is not divided into paragraphs, chapters, or item numbers. It’s all one smooth text. Moreover, The Torah is written without any spaces at all from beginning to end.

So where does the division of the text come from? It is caused by the fact that we are so small that we are unable to accept everything and incorporate it within us. Therefore, the more we advance and the generations develop from the time of the Torah’s and The Zohar’s composition, the more we need to divide the text into parts, paragraphs, and chapters with titles. After all, it’s very difficult for us to take in rows upon rows of letters, to look at them and become similar to them in our intention. But this is, indeed, the work of correcting our desires, and its order determines the structure of the Kabbalistic Prayer Book.

This is why Baal HaSulam divided all of The Zohar into paragraphs and chapters. In addition, he wanted to add introductions, definitions, and clarifications preceding the text. In doing so he wanted to balance the text of The Zohar with his Sulam Commentary in a way that doesn’t just offer explanations, but designates the middle line in The Zohar’s text. Without his commentaries, we wouldn’t be able to balance the text inside us in order for it to clothe inside us correctly in the middle line.

Thus, Baal HaSulam doesn’t offer us mere explanations, but causes us to oscillate while reading the book, thereby attuning our vision, approach, and sensation in a way that makes them go through the middle line, “the golden middle.” Therefore, we have to accept all the commentaries with gratitude regardless of whether they are short or long. We have to go along with them and understand that we are building our middle line in this manner.

This is what the Sulam Commentary is intended for. Without it, The Zohar is only two lines, just like the rest of the Torah. We have to build the middle line ourselves, and the Sulam Commentary helps us do this. This is why it is called “Sulam” (Ladder). It is already built in the form of steps, and all that remains for us to do is to climb them. The ladder is already there, and now we just have to make efforts to climb it. We must only push ourselves forward slightly and we will be sure to follow the right path.

This is why Baal HaSulam writes that after the composition of his “Sulam Commentary to The Book of Zohar,” he is certain that it is impossible for a person to err. One will go through a wondrous spiritual ascent and thereby attain the revelation of the Messiah – the Light of Correction.

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A question I received: What should I do if out of an entire hour of reading The Zohar I could only spend a few seconds thinking about the Surrounding Light that brings me correction?

My Answer: This is not good. There’s a legend about a person who dies and goes to the upper court of judgment. There he is asked, “Did you engage in Torah and await salvation?” You won’t be asked anything else there but this. The Torah refers to the Light that Reforms. So did you desire this or not? After all, this was the only reason you were sent to this world. This is the only thing that counts out of your entire life.

You may be studying Kabbalah and have a burning desire, but that is not your own accomplishment. It was given to you by the Creator. He brought you to the Kabbalistic group and gave you the means. But what happened afterward? What did you yourself do within the system that influenced you? Did you desire salvation, correction? This is what you will have to answer.

After we have just completed reading The Zohar today, are you able to say that you were inside what was being read? It’s too late to think about this during the study itself because everything depends on the preparation. You have to come to the lesson prepared, burning with desire and demand, as if you are coming to a doctor and asking him, “Doctor, give me some kind of medicine! Otherwise it’s all over for me — that’s how bad I feel!” When you come to the lesson with this mindset, you await salvation during the study. But if you initially came there without a demand to receive medicine because you don’t feel your evil, your egoism, and your inability to unite with the friends, and if you aren’t looking for love for your neighbor, then you won’t remember about it during the study either.

You have to reveal these deficiencies, your evil inclination even before you open The Zohar because when you open up The Zohar it will already be too late to change anything. Our entire work takes place during the preparation. Everything depends on it alone.
The pain must already be felt inside you in order for you to desire to soothe it with The Zohar, instead of trying to artificially remember that at this time you are “supposed to” ask for a connection with your neighbor. You can’t deceive the Creator. He reads what is in your heart and sees such a deep inner desire that you don’t even suspect it is there. Meanwhile, He considers: Should He give you an answer to this desire or not? If it assists your spiritual advancement and creates the middle line within you, then the Light helps you. But if not, then the Light pushes you forward from the opposite side through suffering until you finally connect everything together correctly and receive the true answer.

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A question I received: Why is it so difficult to admit that I am egoist and to find the evil within me?

My Answer: Because a person is a living being, he possesses a protective force. He has to protect himself, his life, his nature, and his “I” similar to how the peel (Klipa) protects an apple as long as it grows. If there is a defect in the peel, then the apple rots without ever reaching the state of ripeness. Therefore, the peel must always be there to protect it.

The ego is Klipa and must be protected as long as the desire within it grows. When the desire contained within becomes full, then the Klipa can be removed and the desire (the fruit contained within) used. Therefore, as long as we grow, our egoism constantly protects us by not allowing us to realize the evil because that evil is still insufficient. If there were no Klipa, we would cry and scream to the Creator like a small child who cries and calls out to his mother over every little occurrence that happens to him.

Our ego locks us up from within, making us a “stony heart” and preventing us from asking the Creator for correction. A person says, “I am a man and I won’t ask You for anything. Moreover, You will do whatever I want.” Thus, we oppose the Creator and wage a power struggle with Him. This is why Pharaoh said, “Who is the Creator that I should listen to His voice?” We want the Creator to do everything that we desire. We don’t turn to Him with a request, but with a demand.

Indeed, the demand has to be present, but it has to come from the full, ripe ego, the “evil inclination.” Reaching this takes time because it’s very difficult for a person to come to accept the fact that he is an egoist. Nevertheless, eventually, under the Light’s influence, one reaches the breaking point, a state called “the gate of tears” where a person feels that he has nothing.

At that point, a person is ready for anything. He says to the Creator, “Do what you will. I don’t care if I don’t receive anything. I don’t care if I have nothing. Just let me stop being who I am! Take away everything, but please take me out of this state! I cannot stand it any longer because I am opposite to bestowal.” This is the internal crisis point that has to become revealed in a person.

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A question I received: Should the wisdom of Kabbalah be disseminated to those without a point in the heart yet?

My Answer: We have entered a new period, a stage of general correction. Today the spiritual calculation isn’t made for us as individuals. Rather, what is important is the degree to which we trigger general changes, turning ourselves into conductors of the Light to pass to other souls.

This is why Baal HaSulam and other Kabbalists write about the necessity of wide dissemination. We have to correct the entire common Kli. Therefore, the calculation isn’t based on a single individual, but should account for the whole body.

Prior to the period of the Ari, the stage of general correction wasn’t revealed yet. However, the new laws are already in effect during the last phase. We have discovered that we are one soul and this soul has to cure itself, whereas in the past everyone evolved individually.

Individual calculations have ended, paving the way to the common interests of the united whole. The individual profit is in the success of the wide dissemination. Thus, general advancement is more important than taking care of oneself.

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A question I received: The Book of Zohar takes me into an unknown jungle where I feel completely disoriented. Why is it helpful to detach from my corporeal intellect?

My Answer: You don’t have any choice. You find yourself in a situation where logic no longer works. You begin to see that you will only hurt yourself by continuing to use the same logic that you used in the past. When we start to learn something that’s brand new, it’s better to abandon all prior knowledge and approach the information like a child, with a blank slate. Then you can compare the information, and later on find parallels between them.

This is how learning happens even when studying modern sciences like genetics or quantum physics. You need to find a brand new approach; you cannot comprehend the theory of relativity by simply trying to apply Newton’s principles. But you have nowhere to find a new logic because it comes only from the Surrounding Light. Therefore, we have no choice but to wait for the correction to come from Above.

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Every new state is born only under the condition that the former state completely exhausts itself, similar to how a grain planted in the soil needs to rot completely in order for a new stage of life to be born from its former state, which is then perceived as unneeded and useless. This is why it is written about the holiday of Purim that Zeir Anpin sleeps while Malchut becomes immersed in darkness due to this. Only from this state of darkness do we attain the greatest Light, the state called Purim, which corresponds to the End of Correction.

If Zeir Anpin does not bring Light to Malchut, we feel that we are in exile and cannot tune into Malchut and unite. However, suffering and darkenss force us to demand strength from Zeir Anpin to accomplish our unification, in order to tune into Malchut, the one common soul. This is how we give rise to our next degree.

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A question I received: What is the connection between the earthquake in Chile and the correction of our intention?

My Answer: It’s the most direct connection there can be. All the forces of nature (on the still, vegetative, animate, and human levels) are aimed at correcting man. They are all included inside man.

Baal HaSulam writes in many articles that the still, vegetative, and animate levels are included in man, depend on him, and descend or ascend along with him. The still, vegetative, and animate levels of nature in our world are the projection of our inner levels – the still, vegetative, and animate levels inside us. Therefore, when we don’t manage and correct our inner forces of nature, we see the corresponding results on the outside.

It is written that before Adam HaRishon (the first man) sinned, the world was wonderful – a true paradise. But after the sin, it turned into hell. Thus, it is the change of man’s intention from bestowal to reception that transforms paradise to hell.

This is what we are now revealing. There are great disasters ahead of us unless we forestall them with the remedy. Let us hope that we will succeed in doing this.

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During the spiritual ascent, it’s as if a person wakes up, inhales, and becomes full of inspiration. This is a sign of being close to spirituality. One doesn’t feel the Light yet, but it seems the dawn will break soon.

It is the time when one can discern and grasp many new things in the same study materials. One should use this time for the maximum bestowal; one should scoop it out completely without wasting a single moment. Otherwise, it’s as if he disregards what was given to him from Above.

It doesn’t matter what books a person reads during this time as long as they are close to his soul. After all, even without understanding what he reads, he exerts efforts in joining his desire and mind with the Light that comes upon him. He wants the Light to penetrate his desire, and then the collision between them advances him.

Our world, atoms, molecules—all of it does not exist. There is only the power of desire. When one’s desire is close to the Light, he should try to work with it as much as possible.

The aspiration to the goal that becomes revealed in a person’s heart is the appeal for correction. The efforts put forth during the spiritual ascent on the studies, dissemination, and work in the group, lead to the desire that deserves the revelation of the Light.

The spiritual world doesn’t have boundaries, walls, or prohibitions. The Light and the Kli exist next to each other, but they don’t intersect much like waves of different frequencies. It’s only if a person switches from the wave of receiving to the wave of giving that he tunes in to the Light and becomes fulfilled with it.

For this, a person needs a strong and whole desire which is similar to the Light at the minimal level. This desire can be very small but it should be completely focused on the goal. It is similar to how a child wants something small, but with all his might this desire seizes him completely, even if for a short time.

The minimum similarity to the Creator will immediately allow us to sense Him. The sensation of the Creator is our soul. Then, we discover the eternal and perfect life at His level and not at the level of our body. The desire to bestow corrected by the Light brings us to the Creator, to the common property of Nature, and we merge with its level and might.

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A question I received: What kind of spiritual advancement did we gain at The Zohar Convention 2010 that was held last week?

My Answer: We went through enormous changes. I felt that the nation of Israel did not simply receive The Book of Zohar, but returned to it. It wasn’t the reception of something new, but the joy of people who found what they once lost.

Maybe they can’t even give themselves an explanation of what happened to them, but I saw that this is exactly what their souls experienced. They felt that they found what they lost two thousand years ago. They aren’t studying The Book of Zohar now, but are remembering it.

Indeed, this is the case: They aren’t finding out something new, but are rejoicing about the return of something that was once lost. Therefore, I think that the nation of Israel went through a great, wonderful spiritual ascent. Moreover, this doesn’t apply just to the people who were with us at the Convention. It was a step forward for the entire dissemination of the science of Kabbalah among the nation of Israel, which will later be joined by all humanity. Thus, all of Babylon (all of humanity) is returning to its spiritual source.

There is reason to hope that all the souls will unite into one soul of Adam in our lifetime and we will attain the state of the Final Correction, the World of Infinity, the corrected common soul. I believed in this and waited for it, but our success exceeded all my expectations. I think that we are being given great opportunities from Above to correct our nature.

There is still a lot of work ahead of us, which is special and yet difficult. At the same time, it is extremely important and exalted, and we have to be grateful that the Creator has chosen to fulfill His great plan through us.

Now all we have to do is continue to disseminate Kabbalah among the nation of Israel with the help of all the people who took part in the Convention together with us. By virtue of the wisdom of Kabbalah and the force of the Light of The Book of Zohar, Israel will unite into a single nation, as Baal HaSulam writes in the newspaper “The Nation” and Item 70 of “Introduction to The Book of Zohar.” This is possible only by uniting the hearts, and that can only happen by the force of the Light that Reforms, which raises us above our egoism.

I would like to thank all the people who came to the Convention from many different countries all around the world. Together we will be able to carry out this great correction, and judging by the speed of its current dissemination, it is bound to happen very fast.

The time has not yet arrived to reveal the true depth and greatness of what is unfolding, but I can say that we carried out exalted and mighty inner corrections. And this will soon be expressed inside us and in the world.

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A question I received: When we actualize our desires at the level of impressions, do we cause the material world to become more amicable toward us?

My Answer: We are all made of a material called the “desire for pleasure.” When the Light affects the desire to be pleased in a way that makes it reach the worst state, it considers only itself; it cares only for itself and feels nothing but itself. This “short circuit” creates the picture of our world inside us.

By correcting our desire, we begin sensing another reality that exists outside of this one. When something is sensed through other people’s desires instead of our own, it is called the Upper, Spiritual World, and it is a world of eternal life.

Correction is a process of learning how to sense that which is outside of us as opposed to within. This is a purely psychological challenge. At the end of the day we all want to be pleased and aspire towards goodness. And the fact of the matter is that we will eventually attain infinite goodness, but only under the condition that we “exit” ourselves.

After we exit our self, the material of creation (the desire for pleasure) starts being treated as “myself,” and in fact, is mine. That is when it becomes more amicable toward us.

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