Question: How should a student prepare himself for each lesson?

Answer: Any study begins with preparation, and we need to understand the importance of it. To prepare for the study means to clarify what I want to achieve by it. Then, the study becomes a means of achieving the goal. Preparation specifically determines the direction in which I advance as I study. For this reason, preparation is more important than the study, and this is what the student must learn.

The wisdom of Kabbalah differs from the corporeal sciences where the direction is clear from the beginning: I want knowledge and nothing else. However, in Kabbalah, I don’t want knowledge. Rather, I want to change myself so as to bind myself to others. The entire study is a means of achieving this connection with others and, through them, with the Creator.

If I have learned all kinds of information during the study, but haven’t made even the slightest step in my inner correction, this means that the study was useless. What was missing from the study was the proper preparation, intention, and goal. This is the only way to evaluate if the intention was correct. Knowledge in and of itself is irrelevant.

Some people are drawn to the structure of the upper worlds and their actions. Others are more concerned with the psychological aspects, history, and tendencies of development. However, Kabbalists pay no attention to the quantity of knowledge for “it’s not the wise one who learns” (Lo HaHacham Lomed). Everything depends on using the wisdom for the soul’s correction.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/1/10, Kabbalah Learning Approach

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Kabbalah does not add suffering to a person, but rather reveals to the person his true condition. It is similar to someone who visits a doctor, and an x-ray detects a problem that requires surgery. Obviously, the patient doesn’t blame the doctor, but thanks him for finding the disease.

At the same time, the doctor not only diagnoses the person’s disease, but also informs the patient about “all necessary remedies to cure the illness.” It is because everything exists in the Light, and all one needs to do is clarify what is deficient or damaged. As soon as a person figures it out, he immediately receives a remedy and recovers shortly thereafter.

With the means available to us, we must discover our weak points relative to the Creator (the Light). That is why we need the Light to work like an x-ray, showing us what is wrong and, in particular, what does not conform to it. This is how we should examine our entire body.

If we do so by means of the Light, we will clarify and correct ourselves simultaneously through the Light of AB-SAG (the Light intended to find the evil and transform it into good). Thus, we advance with pleasure and enjoyment. If we don’t have an x-ray available, then every cell of our body reaches a near-lethal condition, and we undergo terrible suffering until we begin to realize what is in need of correction and how to achieve it, which is only from within ourselves by changing our attitude to the world.

The method of Kabbalah reveals our affliction faster, making it possible to correct it right away. We have the device in our hands that helps us uncover our problems which were there all along yet concealed from us since previously there was no hope of a cure.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/1/10, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot”

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The wisdom of Kabbalah speaks solely about the desire. As for the Light, there is nothing much to say. It is static and exists at absolute rest. It only bestows and has only this single property of bestowal. If you wish to receive from it, then your actions must be similar to it. The Light doesn’t change; rather, it is your desire that causes it to act upon you.

It is similar to a source of energy. I can come closer to it or move away, approaching it from one or another direction. As with the sun, we can be burned by it or use it for our benefit. And like the sun, the Light is absolutely constant. You can pray or scream to it, but it will not change.

All transformations take place solely within you, regardless of whether you lament or give thanks. In accordance with your changes, you receive different results from its effect. The Light doesn’t change. You discover a fixed, motionless field. To the extent of your inner changes, you discern how to feel its various states. And yet, it is you who experiences the differences, whereas the Light remains the same.

The Light is like the sun that never ceases to shine. You may use its energy as you please: to heat, to cool, and so on. The energy itself has no form, and you are the one who defines it.

So it is with the Creator: “Good Who does good to the bad and the good,” to everyone who desires it. Does He do good to the bad as well? Yes, He does. However, since their properties are inverse (opposite) to those of the Creator, then to the degree of their incompatibility with Him they receive blows instead of good. This helps them to realize the evil of egoism and gradually changes them.

However, there is a better option: to receive instruction on the correct use of the Light. Accordingly, Kabbalah allows us to change ourselves under the effect of the Light, quickly and easily.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/20/10, “600.000 Souls”

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The wisdom of Kabbalah is not learned by way of the mind. The Light affects us, and Kabbalah gradually creates within us the sensation of the picture of the Creator’s acts. From this picture, we gradually absorb the wisdom of Kabbalah and our spiritual, internal world.

We disclose within ourselves the new reality that cannot be understood by the earthly (corporeal) mind. In the beginning, the will to receive was created, followed by the development of the mind needed to attain what was desired. Therefore, if we don’t yet possess the vessels (desires) of bestowal, we don’t have the mind to comprehend Kabbalistic texts either.

All recommendations of the Kabbalists are designated solely to prepare and induce within oneself the switching of properties from reception to bestowal. Moreover, according to our desires, we will begin to feel. From feelings, we will begin to understand.

The entire wisdom of Kabbalah is aimed at getting to know the Creator. If I focus on the goal of simply understanding the text, I cut myself off from the ability to feel spiritual attainment. That is because I start working with the corporeal mind which becomes the most important for me.

This puts an obstacle in my path to the revelation of the Creator. My corporeal mind blocks my ability to break through the picture of spiritual properties. This is why Baal HaSulam felt very angry when he met with the “Kabbalists” of Jerusalem who mechanically memorized the text of The Zohar.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/20/10, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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Question: Please tell us, how can we advance by the path and method of Baal HaSulam in order to attain the goal as quickly as possible?

Answer: Overall we have already studied Baal HaSulam’s method and everything he wrote. We just have to actualize it. We have merited to be acquainted with this person, this soul, and his life’s work. We live with his thoughts, inside the "building" he has built. The science of Kabbalah develops because the souls develop. More and more souls are reaching the final stage of correction and are coming closer to realizing themselves.

The final exile is over and we are now the first to go from the final exile to the full redemption, the revelation of the Creator. To do this, we really need support, help, a great Light, and the teaching that Baal HaSulam left to us. We see how much it helps us to use it, and when we follow his method to the letter, we achieve success and awaken the Light that Reforms.

For now the Light influences us in a concealed manner and the results are not very visible on the outside. However, day by day this force grows, becoming more noticeable and perceptible. I really hope that we will soon start to feel what we read and to feel the same forms, qualities, and images inside us.

All of the pictures we read about in The Book of Zohar and Talmud Eser Sefirot will enter us and we will see that it is all a movie! Right now our desires depict the picture of this world for us, and likewise, later on our desires (which will be desires of bestowal) will depict the picture of a second nature, the Upper World. Then we will understand what Baal HaSulam did for us!

He writes that in reality people begin studying the Torah only after they reveal spiritual attainment. When you reveal pictures of the world to come, you have to know what all of this is for! It’s like a baby who needs adults. Then you will feel that Baal HaSulam and Rabash take care of you, like a baby, by explaining this entire world to you.

With their help you start going deeper and deeper into it, understanding it better and making some independent actions. You are more inspired each time, while these great teachers are by your side, always taking care of you and supporting you at every moment through every step of the way.

We have yet to see how great the enterprise that Baal HaSulam created is and to realize how great the preparations he made are. He built the "kindergarten," the "school," and the whole "university" of spiritual life. He prepared all of this for us. If not for him, no Kabbalistic school could help us. Others can only add something to the revelation that we make by the method of Baal HaSulam as we attain the spiritual world.

I really hope that we will reach this revelation and then we will begin to attain how truly great he is and his love for us. After that, we will be able to communicate on another level and understand each other. I really hope to meet you in the world of truth, where we will be able to discuss everything taking place, look at things from a true perspective, and understand each other.

We are doing all of this together with Rabash and Baal HaSulam. They are helping us, and you will feel how they always support us, surrounding us with care. Let’s try to be worthy of them!

From the talk at the meal in honor of Baal HaSulam’s Passing Day 9/18/10

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If we desire to unite in order to reveal the Creator, then the various forms and phases of our connection comprise all the steps of the ladder we have to go through. This ladder starts in our world, in the state of separation between us, and continues until the state of total unity called the “World of Infinity.”

All of the science of Kabbalah (or all of the Torah) speaks only about how to reveal the 125 degrees of unity among us. Therefore, if each of us prepares to unite with everyone into one whole while reading The Book of Zohar and desires to reveal the Creator (the form that our unity takes) inside this unity, then our aspiration is called: “Israel (those who aspire to the Creator), the Torah, and the Creator are one.” In that case we really open up The Book of Zohar in order to attain the goal.

From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/14/10, The Zohar

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A person needs the force of the Torah in order to reveal himself and reality in relation to the Creator. Being close to the Creator means being similar to Him, to the quality of bestowal and love. This quality becomes revealed to a person through his attitude to the neighbor, meaning to someone who is close to him by having the same goal in life. This is the right criterion for self-analysis and measuring your attitude to the Creator.

The goal (closeness to the Creator, revelation of the Creator, and unity with Him) is attained in two stages:

1. A person’s qualities become revealed as evil because they don’t allow him to attain the goal.
2. The force of correction, the Light, is revealed inside the unity between people who aspire to the goal. Then the evil inclination, man’s nature, helps him to unite with the Creator.

At first the flaws of egoism (Klipot) seem like great obstacles. However, as we advance we discover the ability to transform them into goodness. They all become our point of independence (Klipat Noga), which enables us to grow.

On the right side we have the Creator, and on the left side Klipa. We form ourselves out of both of them, creating our independent form of similarity to the Creator. When the force of the Light and the force of the darkness connect to each other correctly, they give rise to the form of Adam, a human being, in us. The human being in us is the degree of our similarity to the Creator.

Everything is done by the Light. It reveals the force of the evil inclination in us, as well as its own force in order to develop egoism. As a result, we reveal their single Source, the Creator, and the distinction between good and evil or Light and darkness disappears. All forces and qualities form the image of the only reality, the Source.

This constitutes all of the science of Kabbalah: the revelation of the Creator to the creatures, or rather, inside the creatures.

From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/14/10, Writings of Rabash

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As we rise from the point of this world (the lowest point where the sensation of spirituality fades) to the uppermost point of the World of Infinity (where everything is corrected and revealed), we all go through the same stages. However, everyone goes through them according to the root of his or her soul or “according to their taste.”

In our world, we all feel one common world with the same senses. However, our qualities exist in a unique combination in every single person. Therefore, the picture of the world that arises in each person is also completely unique. It depends on the individual combination of his qualities that come from the root of his soul.

Nevertheless, we all climb the same rungs of the same spiritual ladder. Thus, there is one science for all concerning the revelation of a higher life: the science of Kabbalah. It explains to each person how he has to advance.

Everything we read about in The Zohar concerns our advanced states which everyone will have to go through. To the extent that we desire to feel them, we draw the force (the Light or Ohr Makif) from these degrees, and it develops us. As much as we exert our “baby” effort, we grow, develop, and ascend.

It is essential for us to rouse the influence of our advanced states upon us. Therefore, the second and much more important aspect in our approach to reading The Book of Zohar is to understand that ascent implies unification. We climb a “pyramid” or a “cone” to the extent that we unite in our points in the heart.

Therefore, all 125 degrees of the ladder from our world to complete perfection are 125 degrees of unification of desires until they merge completely in the quality of absolute bestowal. This means that the more we unite, the higher we rise, and to the extent that we connect, the quality of bestowal (the Creator) is revealed between us. As much as we are able to unite, we reveal the measure of unification between us, and this determines the measure of revelation of the quality of bestowal or the Creator.

Therefore, when we read The Book of Zohar, we wish to be in this state, and we await its manifestation within us and between us.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/12/10, The Zohar

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Everything that The Zohar and the wisdom of Kabbalah talk about are forms or types of the connection between us. The Creator or the Upper Light has no form; we cannot feel Him. The types and forms of connection of bestowal and love between us by being equivalent to the Light, give the Light form, color, and gradations of qualities. I can distinguish and “pick up” the Light in my own qualities to the extent that they are similar to Him.

Therefore, whatever we read about in The Zohar always refers to types of connection between souls. We reveal the Light according to the forms of connection that manifest between us. Otherwise the Light is impossible to “pick up” (reveal). “There is no Light” if I don’t paint it with different colors. The Light that comes to me should necessarily be colored as the seven colors of the rainbow. Without this, I, as a created being, will not see it; I will be unable to sense or perceive it.

Suppose that there is a prism to which simple white light is directed. As it is refracted through it, it separates into the seven colors of the rainbow, from red to violet.

This is what is done by Zeir Anpin of the World of Atzilut: It brings the Light of Bina from above, breaking it down into seven colors. And I, Malchut, act the opposite way (through the screen): I gather all these lights/colors together, bring them back (Ohr Hozer, the Reflected Light) into the “prism,” which results in one Light.

I don’t feel the simple, white Light which comes to me since it has no color. However, I gather all seven colors that come from Zeir Anpin into Malchut in me and feel the initial simple Light. Malchut is called the “gathering” since it gathers together and incorporates all seven Sefirot of Zeir Anpin.

By making itself similar to this “prism” that splits white Light into seven colors, Malchut once again achieves white Light. This is how it feels or imagines this Light. It does not receive white Light, but by making itself similar to it, it can achieve it and merge with it, according to the rule of “I will know You from Your actions” (MiMaaseicha Ikarnucha).

From 613 actions, our corrections, we build an “image” of the Creator. After all, the Creator does not have an image; we create it from our qualities.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/8/10, The Zohar

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The wisdom of Kabbalah speaks about my ascent to an Upper dimension. What does “ascent” mean? The Kabbalists say: “You exist in an Upper dimension but do not feel it. You have to reveal yourself existing in it.”

I exist in two dimensions. One is at the level of “this world,” where I reside in my physical body. The other is in an Upper dimension, where I exist in my spiritual body. This spiritual body, a desire to bestow, is concealed from me, and I know nothing about it. Opposite to it, there is the Upper Force called “the Creator.”

Opposite to my corporeal body, there is Nature. In the reality of “this world” I feel bad, which pushes me to uncover the Upper reality, my existence as “the Soul and the Creator” instead of “the Body and Nature.”

Kabbalists say that I have to discover the Upper dimension because that is where the governing forces reach me, and I along with my entire future depend on them. If I ascend, then I find out why I exist, who I am, and what happens to me. I reveal the meaning of my life and how to change everything for the better. These questions push me toward the Upper dimension.

When I start reading The Zohar, The Study of the Ten Sefirot, and the articles of Baal HaSulam and Rabash, I discover that they are talking about this Upper dimension. Conversely, if a person thinks that they are speaking of our world, then this view of the Kabbalistic texts is incorrect. This means that the reader makes an idol of the entire Torah by engaging in idolatry, and then it is forbidden for him to open these books. The reason being, instead of learning about the qualities of the Creator (loving  the other as you love yourself), such a person becomes an even greater egoist by thinking that the Torah teaches him how to perform rituals.

All “holy” books speak about the quality of sanctity (bestowal) and the Upper World (the acts of bestowal), whereas all ordinary books speak about the quality of reception and this world. Therefore, when I open a holy book, I yearn to enter the state of the author. He explains to me how to reach bestowal, never speaking of this world. After all, looking from above, this world is an illusion, “Olam HaMedume” (the imaginary world).

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/7/10, The Zohar

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