A question I received: Sometimes The Zohar text is written so clearly that it seems to address me and talk about me directly.

My Answer: You should be clever and realize that even though a portion of the text appears to be clear, you actually don’t comprehend it any more than you do an unclear part. Comprehension at this point doesn’t matter. In your current state, you don’t understand anything.

If, by chance, it seems that you can put these words together and prescribe a certain meaning to  them, it’s a problem that you are confused. It has nothing to do with the intention of the authors of The Zohar. They write about properties and acts which you have no connection to yet. Not a single word there talks about a person in this world or the actions that he or she performs here.

Cast away your mind as soon possible and as far away as possible. This is the biggest favor you can do for yourself.

Question (continued): Sometimes The Zohar talks about something incomprehensible, and it makes it easier for me to focus on the intention.

My Answer: Your going deeper into the intention does not depend on the text being or not being clear to you. It bears absolutely no relation to how much you understand the text.

Suppose that now I simply listen to the text, without knowing any Hebrew or  having any translation. Then I only think about when this medicine will affect and cure me. That’s all. That is all you need.

Say I come to see a doctor and he tells me to take a certain medicine. He mentions a long name in Latin that reflects its chemical composition. Do I really need to know how this medicine works, what its composition is, and why it is called a certain way? Do I need to know these things in order to believe that it will help me and I will be healed?

I only have to understand what the doctor says in terms of how to take the medicine, and nothing more. All other information will only harm me. I will think I’m smart and start acting as if I really know about these things.  But, it is a doctor, and not you, who is given the right to treat you. You don’t have to treat yourself. The instruction says: “If you are sick, go to a doctor (Nitan La Rofe Lerapot).”

Does the intention depend on how much you understand the text? There is no connection between them whatsoever.

From the 1st Part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/31/10, The Zohar

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The Zohar was revealed only during our times since we have now gone through the inanimate, vegetative, and animate levels of our development and reached the human level (human, "Adam" – from the word "Edame," which means "similar" to the Creator). Therefore, presently we feel a crisis, helplessness, despair, and disappointment in our lives. This is precisely why The Zohar is being revealed: so that we could realize our connection, reach the same system of connection between us as exists in Malchut of Infinity where we are all connected as one whole.

The first stage of correction is called "don’t do to another what you hate." This is the level of Hafetz Hesed (not wanting anything for yourself), the "return from fear (trepidation)." The second stage of correction is even higher; it is the level of "love your neighbor as yourself," the "return from love," receiving for the sake of bestowal. We have yet to perform these two corrections, and they both are realized in the relationships between people.

Then the Creator is revealed in our corrected relationships to the extent that we love and bestow to the neighbor, as it is written: "From love for the neighbor to love for the Creator." Not a single correction can be carried out in any other way except by realizing it in a group of Kabbalists (i.e., those who desire to reach the level of a human being).

In the relationship between them, they build a system of Malchut of Infinity as they wish to feel the Light of Infinity, the Creator, in it. The Zohar needs to provide us with the strength for this, this desire and the inner attainments. Therefore, while we read The Zohar we need to try to be in the intention that we are all one whole that our points in the heart, the desires for the spiritual, unite as one. From these common desires, we build our spiritual vessel, the Shechina, Malchut of Infinity, in which we will feel the Creator.

We need to feel that we are together, like the authors of The Zohar, the group of Rabbi Shimon, and within this system of connection between us, we should try to imagine what this Book is telling us about. After all, the only thing written about in The Zohar is the connection between us. Although this is described in various forms and images that seem to be from this world, it is only the forces of our soul that are described in The Zohar.

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/21/10, The Zohar

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A Question I Received: When I read The Zohar, my mind keeps seeing superficial images. How can I remember that all these things are happening inside me as the text speaks about connections between us?

My Answer: To tell you the truth, it doesn’t matter. "Time does what the mind does not." The time is for studying and growing closer with the friends. When, during the lesson, a person isn’t able to think (with his head) about the goal (with his heart), let him listen to his heart.

Most important is to constantly hold on to the thought of what you want from the study. Torah does not have an affect without this. The Torah influences according to one’s intention. As it is written, "I created the evil inclination and gave the Torah as a spice." Do you have an evil inclination? Bring it and then you’ll receive the Torah as a spice to it (the means for its correction).

However, how does having this spice help you if you lack the evil inclination? Kabbalists give us simple examples. Do you have soup? Would you like to add pepper, salt, and all kinds of seasoning? Go ahead, but how will you benefit from having salt and pepper if you don’t have the soup? By themselves, salt and pepper taste disgusting.

In our case we first need to prepare the "soup." Without it, there’s no need to ask for seasoning; we wouldn’t even be able to ask for it. It’s during the process of making the soup (in the group) that the need for seasoning arises (for the Light to unite us). Only those who need Torah have (discovered) the evil inclination.

This is why we need to approach the reading of The Zohar and all our lessons with the proper intention, with  knowing exactly what we desire, or, in other words, with a prepared evil nature. With the evil revealed in you, you have something to correct; you will receive correction for it. If you haven’t discovered the evil within, you first need to look for it. If you feel righteous, the Torah is not for you; it is for the sinners for their correction. This is why the one who is greater than the others is the one who discovers a bigger egoism within, a greater evil, and he has something to correct.

Thus, it doesn’t matter how much one understands during the lesson. "It’s not the wise who studies" (Lo ha-Hacham Lomed). What matters is feeling that one has something to correct in the connection with his friends.

We need to unite into one desire, the soul of Adam, and we must become brothers in our goal. Even though we now hate one another, don’t want the others, and disdain them, we understand that unity is the goal. This is why we wait for the Light to come and bring us back to the source where we will become one complete desire, and the Creator will become revealed among us.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/17/10, The Zohar

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A question I received: It is written that the pleasure is in the attainment of the Creator’s properties. It follows that we derive pleasure from receiving?

My Answer: The pleasure is in becoming like the Creator. The action itself – reception or bestowal – does not matter that much. The goal is adhesion to the Creator. It is the ultimate level that I am trying to reach. Adhesion is attained through my bestowal to Him and His bestowal to me.

However, in order to bestow to one another, we need to receive from one another. Otherwise, there will not be a connection between us. And in order for us to have a connection with mutual reception and bestowal, we need love for one another. Love is the means. Reception and bestowal also are means. They all are means for attaining adhesion.

The action itself does not matter. When I love someone and this person loves me, does it really matter whether we bestow to one another or receive? We simply enjoy one another! The mother receives so much pleasure from an infant who receives from her. Of course she gives to him, but he gives her so much more. What does he give her? He only demands, screams, and soils diapers. Yet at the same time, he gives her the opportunity to enjoy. Everyone understands this very well, there is no need to explain this.

The spiritual world is characterized by somewhat similar actions that we observe in the material world. However, their entire meaning lies in the intention: why I do all these things. The action itself, giving or receiving, does not matter at all.

An even better example: A person takes a knife and cuts through someone’s stomach. His intention determines everything. If he does it in the interest of the other, his actions are those of a doctor; if he is driven by his own interest, he acts as a thief or a killer. This is the entire difference.

An action can only be evaluated according to its intention: Why was it done, what was its purpose? You keep discussing whether to receive or bestow. What’s the difference? What matters is why you do it, whether you want to give pleasure or receive it.

From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/4/10, Article “Matan Torah”

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In the News (From Top.rbc.ru): “According to Professor Dimitrios Karussis, member of the Executive Board of the Israel Society of Neuroimmunology and the Head of the Multiple Sclerosis Center, Hadassah University Hospital in Jerusalem, scientists were able to identify a soul in a human being by using MRT technology (magnetic resonance tomography).

Research indicates that Kabbalah study activates a part in the brain which the researches called “faith apparatus.” It activates brain activity and increases manyfold an organism’s resistance to diseases that have left modern medicine helpless.”

My Comment: How can we reveal the soul? It depends on what we want to discover. If that’s the force activating an animal body, then surely it’s doable. Back when I was a student, research about “the weight of the body before and after death”was already being conducted in the world, to define the weight of the soul that allegedly leaves the body.

Everything depends on how we define a soul. Sometimes a man and a woman address each other as “my soul-mate.” If that’s how you define the soul, then you can weigh it. But if we understand that the soul is a part of the Creator from Above, the force of bestowal, then, similar to other forces of our world, it can be identified only by the results of its actions. By perceiving the force of bestowal within the property of bestowal (the desire to give, Kli), we thereby reveal the Creator within us and thus call Him Bo–re, from the words "Bo" -"Come" (attain it with your property of bestowal) and "Re" – "See" (discover).

There is no Creator without the creature. We are unable to say anything about Him, as He is outside of us, since that’s the essence or the abstract form which we can’t discuss. Kabbalah, being a purely experimental science, forbids us to engage in such philosophical reasoning, as Baal HaSulam states in the “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” “the judge has nothing but what his eyes can see.”

We need the material on which this spiritual force could act. This material along with the force acting in it will be called the “soul.” Why? It is because the material itself – a part of the Creator from Above that possesses the same property of bestowal – would resemble the Creator.

How can the scientists discover the soul if it exists in the property of bestowal? What kind of devices can they use? What can help them? To discover the soul, one needs the material that would have the property of bestowal.

That could only be when a person has reached such a correction. Then, whatever clothes that material would be called the Light of the soul. The Kli itself, the desire, the material that has the property of bestowal, would be called the soul’s body. Without possessing such qualities, a person of this world is unable to perceive neither the body of the soul nor its Light.

Hence, if we define the soul according to Kabbalah, as a part of the Creator from Above, then scientists have no way of approaching it. One can attain the soul only the help of Kabbalah.

Everything depends on our intention. If we aspire to reveal spirituality, the Light will come and correct our material (desire), so that it becomes bestowing. When the material will resemble the Creator, become the Creator’s part from Above, the soul will arise within us.

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The Zohar, Items 16-21 (synopsis): The narrative of the Torah starts with the action performed on the soul which has already gone through the breaking of the vessels, the mixing of the broken parts, and the fall into hate and rejection. In other words, the Torah is talking about the soul which is ready for correction.

Being in the state of concealment, a person in our world doesn’t feel flawed, miserable, and full of hostility and hatred. Only the influence of the Upper Light will uncover and help us understand our true nature, which is under total control of instant gratification and pleasures.

In order to rid itself of egoism and come to the state of everlasting pleasure, the creature, Malchut, has to change its intention from “receiving for its own sake” to “receiving for the sake of bestowal.” This gives rise to the property of Bina which demonstrates how the desire to receive can become bestowing.

When the creature “restricts” its desires and annuls itself, it comes under the power of Bina, the mother who is teaching her daughter, Malchut, to work in bestowal. As soon as Malchut becomes included in Bina, the mother starts passing on to her daughter the “garments and precious adornments,” meaning the property of Hassadim. Under its influence the creature gradually becomes similar to the Creator.

As a result of her further spiritual development Malchut rises above Bina and obtains the property of “Elokim.” This means that she begins attaining her root and comes to the understanding of her place, function, and duty in the system of the common soul.

The Zohar Lesson in Russian 5/2/2010

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A question I received: Do we attain the properties that we read about in The Zohar during the preparation period or after crossing the Machsom?

My Answer: We begin to discern within ourselves various reactions to all these names and terms even before crossing the Machsom. To the extent that we want to rise above our desire to receive pleasure, we begin to differentiate between the giving and receiving desires. Ultimately, there is nothing more to scrutinize.

It is said, “In the future the angel of death will become an angel of sanctity.” This means that there are no bad or good desires, only the desires for the sake of bestowal or for the sake of receiving. Everything depends on the way we use them. “Haman,” “Terah,” “Abraham,” “Elazar,” “Rachel,” and “Laban” differ only in their intention  and in strength.

Therefore, by trying to keep one’s intention for the sake of bestowal – to learn, understand, and discern it through the group – a person will also react differently to every name and definition, so much so that that he will reveal their “tastes” or sensations: pleasant and not so much, shining and irritating. He will start discerning various shades in them.

However, after the Machsom, a person attains them in a clear and precise manner. Then they are clothed in him and he discovers them in practice.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/26/10, The Zohar

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Beit Shaar HaKavanot: The correction “back to back” is the correction of the receiving desires concealed by the Light of Hassadim which deprives them of the power to attract the Light of Hochma, which they demand in accordance to their nature.

How can we appease the receiving desires, which want to be filled with the Light of Hochma and don’t understand anything else? How can we prevent them from impeding our work? We can’t destroy the desires. We can only correct their usage by changing our intention. Here the correction called “back to back” or “from the reverse side,” takes place.

You have to show the receiving desires that you can only bestow. Then they leave you immediately, as if they disappear, recoil. However, as soon as you begin to engage in receiving for the sake of bestowal, these desires reappear instantly and begin to demand for their own sake. For this reason, while transitioning from Katnut or Hafetz Hesed to Gadlut, we have to “stock up” the power of withstanding our egoism.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/20/10, Beit Shaar HaKavanot

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Our thoughts and desires are interconnected. Therefore, right now, as we study The Zohar, if someone is being lazy, this weakens everyone else. That person will be punished for his deed in that it will be even more difficult for him to keep studying.

We are all in one common boat. Either I am drilling a hole in it, or I’m trying to the best of my ability to move our common boat with my intention.

The less energy I have, the more difficult it is for me. Yet, if I overcome all these obstacles, then I contribute great efforts to the common effort to evoke the Light. I thereby influence everyone else and this comes back to me through them. As a result, I end up a winner.

Therefore, the more difficult it is during the study, the better it is. I have to feel the responsibility I have because we have all signed a group contract, a mutual guarantee, and this fact has to obligate me to act.

It is impossible to read The Zohar by myself; I need an environment. That environment is the people who are studying all over the world and expecting results from the study. The Creator has awakened several million people in different parts of the world, who are now reading The Zohar together with us.

Every person sitting in front of his TV or computer screen has to understand that if he is being lazy at this moment, then he influences all others! This transgression will come back to him and will push him away from attaining the goal in the same measure that he caused harm to all of us.

Therefore, the study is not just my personal work. Right now all of us together are trying to attract the Surrounding Light and with its help to move our boat closer to the goal. It is written that one has to attain such a degree of love for one’s friend that one would give the friend one’s last pillow if the friend wanted it.

Now think: Your friend wants to advance toward the spiritual goal, and the two of you are moving together in the same direction. However, suddenly you abandon him! What kind of punishment does a traitor of this caliber deserve?

From the 1st Part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/8/10, The Zohar

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We are in the seven special days of the holiday of Passover.Throughout these days we must maintain a correct, uninterrupted intention, because this is a special time. We don’t celebrate religious rituals or customs. We are very distant from actions people carry out simply because they were taught to do so as children, or because they are driven by egoistic goals to receive a reward, either in this world or the next.

First and foremost, those who study Kabbalah want to reveal the Upper World and the spiritual actions, and only after they see their consequences (branches), they are prepared to also respect and observe them with the same intention as the spiritual actions above.

Abraham and his students were the first to attain the connection between the roots and the branches. Before then, Abraham was an idol-maker and a priest in ancient Babylon. But having revealed the spiritual world and its consequence in the corporeal, having discovered the forces that descend from the spiritual world into our corporeal world and having set it in motion, he created the language of branches. This language is a description of the Upper World, the roots, using words of this world, the branches.

That was when he revealed the whole reality, both the corporeal and the spiritual, as one whole. That is why both the spiritual and the corporeal actions merged within him into a whole, and that is how he taught his students.

Of this it is written that the forefathers (the first Kabbalists) observed the entire Torah even before receiving it at Mount Sinai. Indeed, they have revealed the Torah by attaining the spiritual world with its spiritual actions. Based on that, they carried out the same actions in our world, perceiving all of reality as one whole.

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