The Book of Zohar. Chapter “The Torah and Prayer” (abridged)

180. Rabbi Shimon opened (the way for the Light) and said: “It is written that Hizkiyahu (Hezekiah) turned his face (property of bestowal) to the wall (Screen) and prayed to the Creator (raised MAN).” Let us see how great and potent the power of the Torah (force of bestowal) is, and how high it rises above all (the egoistic disturbances). For he who engages in the Torah (self correction) has no fear of those Above or below (forces, obstructions), nor of any hardships or illnesses of this world, for he is connected to the Tree of Life and learns from it each day (realizes that all the obstructions are meant to help him learn to be similar to the Creator).

181. For the Torah teaches man how to walk a path of truth; it teaches him how to return to his Master and cancel what is predestined for him (correction through suffering). And even if man is shown that what is predestined for him cannot be canceled, it is nonetheless completely canceled and annulled, then disappears at once and does not prevail over him in this world. Hence, man should study the Torah day and night (when the Light shines or does not shine for him), and never abandon it (as a means of correction), as it is written: “Contemplate Him day and night.” Whoever abandons the Torah (his corrections), it is as though he abandons the Tree of Life (the ray of Light that connects him to the World of Infinity, to the root of his soul)

“Contemplate Him day and night” – “Him” implies the Creator! In another place in The Zohar, it is said that Hizkiyahu’s prayer was accepted by the Creator, for nothing (no egoistic desires) separated him from the wall (the Shechina, the sensation of the Creator, akin to the Wailing Wall).

182. Come and see – such is the advice given to man: when at night (powerless) he goes to bed (in the state of lying down, the body and the head are equally important – there’s no control over self), then he must accept the Creator’s governance from Above (above his reason, which is egoistically opposed to bestowal, and wholeheartedly entrust his soul to Him (rise above his egoistic desire). Thus, man is immediately spared all the (egoistic errors) illnesses, slander, and evil eyes, and they will no longer have power over him.

183. And in the morning (when the Light shines for him), when he rises from his bed (the head rises above the body and controls it), he must bless the Creator (for this) and enter (with his properties) His house, and bow before Him (take all the conditions of the Upper Nature upon himself) in fear and trepidation (because he will not be able to do it without help from the Light), and only then should he pray (attain the ability to be grateful, so that his “I” would agree to it). He should take advice of his holy Patriarchs (forces of the Upper degree), as it is written, “By Your great mercy shall I come into Your house, to bow in fear of Your holy greatness.”

184. Man cannot enter the house of prayer (reveal empty and uncorrected desires within him) unless he first receives permission from Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov (the three lines), for they have corrected the prayer to the Creator (so that he could follow the middle line). It is therefore written, “And in Your great mercy shall I enter into Your house.” The aforesaid refers to Avraham, for his property is mercy, the Sefira Hesed (the right line). “I will bow before Your holy chamber” refers to Yitzchak, for thanks to him Malchut is called Heichal – chamber, the Sefira Gevura (the left line). “In fear and trepidation” refers to Yaakov, for his property is the Sefira Tifferet, called “fear” (the middle line). And man must first enter into these properties, and only then enter the house of prayer to raise his prayers. Such a state is described by the verse, “Here is My slave, Israel, by whom I am adorned.”

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A question I received: By disseminating Kabbalah you ascended spiritually and enabled Rabash to ascend even higher. This is why during his life Rabash did everything to make sure that you would continue to disseminate Kabbalah once he is gone – this was the purpose of his life. Before his death Rabash instructed you to continue disseminating Kabbalah. Does your dissemination of Kabbalah today play any role in Rabash’s afterlife?

My Answer: All the souls are absolutely interconnected. Even in our world studies already reveal that every one of us knows everyone else through a sixth acquaintance. Baal HaSulam explains that all the souls in our world go through correction over the course of 6,000 years, in the form of one Partzuf:

• At first, during the first 2,000 years, the world, common soul, Kelim Chabad are corrected with the Light of Nefesh;
• Next, over the second 2,000 years, the world, the common soul, Kelim Hagat are corrected with the Light of Ruach;
• Finally, over the last 2,000 years (and we are living at the end of this period), the world, the common soul, Kelim NHY are corrected with the Light of Neshama.

By correcting ourselves we receive the smallest Light – Nefesh, but due to our correction in the first souls (the forefathers, the great Kabbalists of the past), our corrections reveal the greatest Light – Neshama. The Kabbalists of the past prepared all the conditions for our correction, but it is we who correct the broken (devoid of a screen, of the intention “for the sake of bestowal”) and the mixed (Bina and Malchut) Kelim (desires). Hence, we and our actions are the most important in the process of creation’s development. We raise the entire universe up to the Creator!

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A question I received: Do you really think that the time has already come to implement Baal HaSulam’s dream about the State of Kabbalah in a virtual space?

My Answer: I see that everything is already technologically ready in the Internet and people’s consciousness has developed so they feel the need to exist in a spiritual society. According to research (published by Reuters in the news article, “Porn passed over as Web users become social”) people today are already more drawn to virtual communication (social networking sites) than to sex (pornographic sites). This clearly indicates that the modern society, the youth, has a demand for communication. It’s because the desire for sex is the fundamental desire of the animate level, the foundation of the egoistic desire. And if it is being voluntarily replaced with the desire for communication, then the time for correcting egoism has come!

Baal HaSulam’s words about the future society (see the article “The Future Generation” and the newspaper “The Nation“) must already be implemented in the virtual space. Of course, this is just the beginning, but I’m sure that as soon as we’ll be able to offer people a good platform for spiritual communication, then the masses will aspire to it. I look forward to receiving your ideas and technical proposals!

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Questions I received on memories of past lives and the resurrection of the dead:

Question: How much time does it take for a soul to reincarnate into a new body – days, months, or years?

My Answer: There is no time, and therefore it can happen at any moment.

Question: How do you explain it when a person has memories of a past life?

My Answer: These aren’t memories of a past life, but fantasies of this life.

Question: Why do we need cemeteries if everything stays in our memory, and especially since our soul reincarnates into a new body?

My Answer: When one of the soul’s 613 desires “dies,” it is “buried” – one stops using it. Then, as one continues the correction process, this desire is “resurrected from the dead” – in order to be corrected. This is how all the desires undergo death, burial, and resurrection, in order to reach the full correction.

Question: There are first and second restrictions, as well as the “resurrection of the dead.” When a person chooses the path of Kabbalah, starts studying the material and implementing it, then when does the “resurrection of the dead” take place?

My Answer: A person goes through these states one after the other: first the double concealment of spirituality, then single concealment, then single revelation, double revelation, resurrection of the dead, and the full correction.

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Questions I received on egoism and its negative consequences:

Question: Sometimes you give simple interpretations of the source texts. For example, in one of the daily Kabbalah lessons you talked about the verse from the prophets, “One’s enemies are his family.” I have experienced this through the division of my family. My question is: when is it acceptable to interpret a text literally and when isn’t it?

My Answer: As time goes on, egoism develops and hence more hatred becomes revealed everywhere and in everything. As a result we are revealing that everyone hates everyone. Soon we will also reach the situation described in this verse.

Every verse has to be correct on every level. However, whether it has already been revealed in our world or not is a matter of time.

Question: Could the expansion of egoism lead to megalomania or delusions of grandeur, like when a tyrant sees himself so powerful that he may claim to be G-d, or to another mental condition known as “G-d complex,” which is a psychological state of mind where a person believes that he has supernatural powers or G-d-like abilities?

My Answer: Under the influence of Ohr Makif, the ego grows in parallel with its own negation or correction. Without correction, a person only has a minimal level of egoism (this is what is revealed in him), but as soon as he starts correcting himself, new layers of egoism appear (are revealed).

Question: How does Kabbalah explain the increase in the worldwide suicide rate?

My Answer: The emptiness of one’s desire forces one to kill the desire. People will do anything to avoid feeling empty. Things will only get worse, especially among the youth!

Question: Religious canons view suicide as the greatest sin. How does Kabbalah view it?

My Answer: Suicide is one’s reaction to the impossibility of finding fulfillment in our world, because a person senses life only in the fulfillment of his desire! Only Kabbalah can attract the Light of fulfillment, and hence it is the only means able to prevent suicide.

Here’s a recent news report I saw on this (translated from Newsru.com): In China, a quarter of a million people annually end their lives in suicide. The US Army broke a 28-year record on the number of suicides among its personnel. In Japan, the number of annual deaths due to suicide is around 30 thousand. Russia takes first place in the number of suicides among kids, and is second in the world in the number of suicides overall.

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Questions I received on Rav Ashlag’s descendants and how to get one’s family involved in Kabbalah studies:

Question: Are Rav Ashlag’s descendants involved with your center?

My Answer: No.

Question: Where do they live?

My Answer: Mostly in Bnei Brak.

Question: Do they carry on their father and grandfather’s teachings in their own way?

My Answer: No.

Question: What do they think of you carrying on their father’s teachings?

My Answer: I’m not interested in what they think, because I received instructions from my Teacher.

Question: Are your wife and children involved?

My Answer: Yes. My son is in charge of book publication and distribution around the world (with the exception of Israel and Russia). My eldest daughter has a PhD in biology and is married to the manager of our Russian dissemination department. My youngest daughter is doing her dissertation in Kabbalah and is about to be married to my student. I am sure that my grandchildren will also follow this path because they live in this environment at home. My grandson watches lessons together with my son every day. Besides, their time will be the time of humanity’s spiritual development.

Question: How do we involve our spouses and children?

My Answer: Lovingly. “There is no coercion in spirituality.” Kabbalah is not a religion – there is no persuasion, intimidation, or convincing. Love is the only means to show them that the correction of the soul is the best possible thing and it’s necessary to all.

It is written, “The Torah is not inherited.” Every person realizes it within to the extent of his desire and efforts. This is how one reveals the Torah, the Upper Light, or the Creator within. Moreover, history shows that the spiritual heirs of the great Kabbalists were usually not their physical heirs.

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A question I received: In a previous blog entry you wrote, “Kabbalah welcomes things that were derived from experience or strictly scientific research.” Can you please elaborate on what exactly Kabbalah welcomes in regular science?

My Answer: 1. Everything that’s necessary for the body’s animate existence (that is, for its minimal, normal existence), according to the law “Necessity is neither praised nor condemned” (Echrahi – Lo Igune Ve Lo Ishubah). Just like it’s the case with animals, when man consumes to the extent of his body’s animate desires, he is in balance with the nature, with the Creator, and hence this is welcomed by Kabbalah.

2. Everything relating to the body’s desires (such as food, sex, and family) that exceeds the normal needs, is superfluous. Hence it is harmful for the body and the soul, as well as for all of the surrounding nature, and it makes man imbalanced with nature. These excesses usually appear under the influence of society.

3. Besides the bodily desires, there are additional desires that emerge in man because he lives in society. If he lived alone in the woods, then these desires would never emerge in him. There are the desires for wealth, fame, power, and knowledge.

Desires 2 and 3 disrupt nature’s balance on the level of our world and prevent man from coming out of his egoism. The earthly science is developed precisely to fulfill desires 2 and 3 – it is developed by man’s egoistic incentives, and hence it is harmful to man.

Imagine that man did not intend to wage war, make money, or win scientific awards and prizes. Then science would never make any progress. Hence science will soon enter a crisis, its present form will due out, and the science of Kabbalah will reemerge to the forefront. I am explaining this very briefly and hence unconvincingly, but I advise you to learn about this in more detail by listening to my lessons on Baal HaSulam’s article “Kabbalah as Compared with Other Sciences”.

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Three questions I received on sharing one’s personal attainments, staying connected with the Creator on every new level, and overcoming disgust of Kabbalah:

Question: Why is it harmful to share your personal attainments with others? And if so, what is meant by “attainment” in this case? Is the prohibition only on sharing one’s “communication” with the Creator, or are there other forbidden topics? Is it harmful for people to share their experience of going through different states, such as how they came out of descents, and their relationships with the environment? I feel that other people’s experience really helps me, and enables me to discover new perspectives on how to do inner work in Kabbalah.

My Answer: You cannot bring your personal relationship with the Creator outside of you. The Creator is envious! This can be compared to a situation where you love someone, or your intimate relationships, or how much money you have in the bank, and so on. There are things that you don’t want to share with everyone.

In Kabbalah, there are several reasons for the prohibition:

• One does not speak with anyone about the things he holds most dear;
• Any person can harm your spiritual path with his thoughts and desires, even unintentionally;
• Corrections are done through the intention, not through words.

Question: On every new level, what can help me stay connected with the Creator, and perform a correct analysis of my thoughts and desires, considering that everything starts from zero on every new level?

My Answer: The only thing that can help is a framework that you set ahead of time:

• systematic studies for 1-3 hours a day;
• dissemination for 1+ hours a day; and
• attending a gathering of friends once a week together with other people who are physically near you.

Question: Over the last week or two, I feel disgusted during the morning lessons. But I also feel an inner urge to persist in studying and coming to the morning lessons. This also happens in relation to the friends in the group. How should I deal with this situation?

My Answer: You should overcome yourself, but without breaking or forcing yourself – only by raising the importance of the goal, “The Attainment of the Creator.” You should see all the disturbances as a mountain that you have to climb in order to reach the goal, the Creator.

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Questions I received on how to communicate with children and spouses:

Question: I think that people shouldn’t satisfy all of their children’s needs and desires. For example, I sent my children to expensive schools far away from home, but recently found out that they are using the opportunity to take drugs. Should I set an ultimatum for them – that I won’t support them financially unless they stop taking drugs? In the past I threatened one of my children this way, and I even stopped supporting him. But it didn’t help and only had the opposite effect, making us alienated from each other for a long time.

My Answer: You’ve reached you own understanding of the fact that you can’t teach anyone through force. This will only push them away. What should you do? Put them in the correct environment! There is no other solution.

Question: I’m in a situation where I can do something for my child, but I think that this action will harm him or prevent him from learning on his own, and in the long run it will only create greater difficulties for my child because one way or another he will have to learn on his own. However, my wife still insists on doing it. Is there anything I can do other than propose my point of view?

My Answer: Express your point of view calmly and objectively. Explain that there are laws of nature, and we all carry them out whether we like it or not. Don’t be frantic or angry when you explain this. Perhaps this will help, and if it doesn’t, then they will learn from the blows of fate, but already on a conscious level.

Actually, nothing enters a person’s consciousness without blows of fate. However, the blows can come in the form of our realization, without having to reach practical manifestation.

Everything depends on your wife – both the outer one and the inner one (your desires). I think that dealing with the inner wife is even more difficult than with the outer one.

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Questions I received on souls and the connections between them:

Question: Can one soul connect to another soul if it has never seen its corporeal body? What I mean is: is it possible for a soul to unite with another soul, without the latter making that connection as well?

My Answer: Yes. It can be done by means of a common screen, or by the second soul’s submission, like the Upper One with regard to the lower one.

Question: Can a person who still hasn’t crossed the Machsom talk to souls residing in bodies, and with souls residing outside of bodies?

My Answer: Souls are always “outside of bodies,” and the presence of a body is insignificant for a soul. A connection with the soul is made through a common screen.

Question: In one of the kab.tv broadcasts you said that animals don’t have a soul. Can you please explain: what specifically is your basis for saying this?

My Answer: Perhaps there was a misunderstanding. Of course every creature (including humans) contains a force that enlivens it. However, the soul is defined as “A part of the Creator from Above,” and hence it is only present in a person who has developed it by studying Kabbalah. That is to say, he rose above the Machsom and attained the quality of bestowal and love, at least at the first level.

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