A question I received: How do I learn my place in the general system of souls?

My Answer: For that you would need to return to the root of your soul. It is only when a person completes his individual correction and ascends to his root that he learns his place in the general system. And even that is relative, since the entire system has not yet reached complete correction.

It is pointless to ask about such exalted states now. It’s equivalent to a little child asking who he will be when he’s fifty years old. Even thinking within the boundaries of this world we are unable to comprehend such things.

In the spiritual world, the gap between degrees is so enormous that all qualities become inversed, so that a person cannot even discern his next degree. It comes to him when he cancels himself and accepts a state that he initially cannot agree with. Such is the nature of spiritual degrees.

Therefore, presently it is pointless to ask about the root of your soul, about the conclusion of your work. Instead you should correctly carry out what needs to be done here and now. And then we will advance. Gradually we will gather experience and stop asking such questions because we will understand that every new degree is a whole new world. While all our questions pertain only to our current level.

We are incapable of understanding the spiritual world. Even its first and tiniest degree, which exists right above us, is concealed from us, and we are utterly unable to detect it. It is right there before us, but we must first correct our qualities, step by step, by bringing all of our 613 desires in congruence with this degree.

Then we will make contact with the Upper Light, which will be called our next degree. And then we will attune our 613 qualities to a more advanced state, and together with the Upper Light we will reveal an even greater degree. This is how we ascend.

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We need to perform very specialized work under a very specific set of conditions to reveal the influence of the Upper Light upon us. Thus, the absence of any feelings, flavors, or understanding while we study The Zohar doesn’t mean a thing.

You don’t need to feel or understand; you simply need to stay open for the influence of the Light, and let it work on you. The environment has to attune us to the correct desire so that we become eager to be influenced by the Light even if we lack the connection to what we read, taste, or understand.

This is what we call the “miraculous force” (Segula) that is implanted into The Book of Zohar. This hidden mechanism (rather than the stories or words) somehow works on us and moves us forward.

When studying The Zohar we need to “trust the sages,” meaning we need to believe the advice of the Kabbalists. We have to constantly take care of how to align ourselves with the perception of the force that is yet concealed from us.

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Malchut, creation, can never attain Keter, the Creator Himself. He is revealed to creation in all the other Sefirot, which separate the Creator and Malchut. In response, Malchut achieves similarity to Him in the Reflected Light in all the Sefirot. These forms of Malchut are called attainments or names of the Creator.

Everything that happens and everything that we sense are manifestations of the Creator who wishes to show Himself to us in this form. Around me, I see inanimate nature, vegetative nature, and animals: the material ones and the spiritual ones. All of these are forms of the Light, which are revealed this way in my desire, in Malchut; these are the forms of the Creator in me. These forms can be a direct reflection in me, which does not demand my similarity to Him. Yet, these reflected forms are not true, which is why our world is so limited and imaginary.

However, when I begin to take on forms that correspond to Him, they will be called by the names of the Creator in me, since they will be similar to His bestowal. However, this is not His bestowal, but mine. If I create a form in me that is similar to His bestowal, and His bestowal clothes into it, then our joint bestowal is called my spiritual degree, our adhesion, or attainment of the Creator.

On my path upward I go through many such names or images of the Creator. All my attainments are names of the Creator.

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The Zohar, Chapter “Pekudei (Accounts),” Item 15: When the Creator said unto Moses, “Make the Tabernacle,” Moses was bewildered; he did not know what to do until the Creator vividly showed him, as it is written, “And see and make them after their pattern, which is being shown to you in the mountain.” “In their pattern” means that the Creator showed Moses everything in its higher, spiritual shape, and each of the spiritual shapes above was making its shape similar to the fictitious shape that was made below, on earth. This is how Moses knew.

This is what our work consists of because the spiritual world doesn’t have a form and we don’t know what Upper Light is by itself. This notion doesn’t exist at all separately from the creation. We can attain and define it only in relation to ourselves and through our sensations. However, our sensations are imaginary because we always feel reactions to an outside influence. We will never find out what actually is happening outside of us because we can’t extract ourselves from our perceiving senses.

It turns out that one can perceive properly only to the extent of the similarity of his properties to the spiritual properties. When the properties of man and the Creator coincide, man reveals the Creator to the extent of that similarity. Initially, we only perceive the imaginary form of this world. Our work consists of rising above it and asking for the Upper spiritual form to clothe in it. Once we have these two forms where one is confined within the other, we will acquire the proper perception of the world.

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The breaking creates an imaginary reality, space, and distances. Parts of Malchut drew away from each other during the breaking of the common soul. It is in this space between its parts that I differentiate myself and others, those who are close to me and those who are far away. Within this sphere, I imagine a distance between these separated parts, which are not connected as one whole.

Thus, it is as a result of the breaking that I feel this reality. If such a reality did not exist, I would not be able to work on drawing closer and connecting to others. I would not have had an opportunity to attain something. After all, my whole attainment comes from an aspiration to learn, “What is this?”  And then I draw closer to the object that interests me, much like a little child that brings everything to his mouth, his most developed sense, in order to taste it.

Since the breaking exists, I first begin to egoistically strive to adjoin individual parts to myself, and then I wish to unite with them in bestowal. If I wish to unite with them egoistically, then I wish to attain only my inner sensations. However, if I wish to unite with others in bestowal to them, I thereby attain the Light that vanished during the breaking. I wish to fill the gap between us with this Light.

I build an image of the Creator within the desires (Kelim), which are distant from one another. I fill this empty space between them with my Reflected Light. This means that I build an image of the Creator. Therefore, the Creator (Bore) is called “Come and See” (Bo-Re), since I create Him.

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The study of The Zohar consists of several stages. In order for the Light to affect us, we need to continually return to the text. The Light performs its work time after time, and we begin to feel the text with a better understanding.

Our first inner reactions mark the beginning of attainment and this will initiate the enabling of our understanding the text. After all, when we read The Zohar for the first time, it is in order to create the ability to perceive the vessel (Kli) within us.

The Light doesn’t enter when it comes for the first time, but only creates the desire for Light. This desire is not considered to be selfish (evil) because it cannot yet be comprehended since there is no Kli for it. Only the repetition of it is considered evil; and the repetition creates an impression. This is why for now we simply need to keep reading, and later on we will have something to speak about. Suddenly impressions will appear within us, and the Upper Light will appear through the fog.

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Rabash, “The Meaning of Torah and Work on the Creator’s Path”: When one intends to study the Torah, he should keep the goal, the reason for which he intends to study, before his eyes. The goal, that is, the benefit which he wants to extract from the Torah is the Light that Reforms that’s in it.

Essentially, we don’t need anything else. We should imagine and attempt to feel that everything happens because of the Upper Light, that “there is none else besides Him,” that He is the ruler and the lord, and only He performs everything.

Therefore, we only need to desire and wait for His actions and their consequences. Our entire work consists of attracting His actions upon ourselves, feeling that we are the lower degree, while He is the Upper One, and becoming similar to the Upper degree, the Light. He will act upon us and make us similar to Him in as much as we will aspire toward Him, that is, desire to become like Him.

So it follows that our work is very simple. It’s not important what passage of The Zohar we are reading or what it is about; it’s not important how much we understand what we are reading. There exists a system of connection between us and the Upper Light, called “The Book of Zohar.” We have to utilize it and aspire to become similar to the Light during the study.

This desire will awaken the Light, and it will act upon us. Slowly, we will begin to feel the results of its influence.

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A question I received: What inner transformations should I expect during the The Zohar study, and how can I open myself to the influence of the Light more?

My Answer: The best way to test how The Zohar acts upon us is to examine our readiness to unite with everybody to be in Malchut of the World of Atzilut together. This is the condition for attaining the Light that Reforms.

The condition for the revelation of the Torah at Mount Sinai is becoming one man with one heart. The condition for being in spirituality is being like brothers who are sitting together. “Sitting” means that a person annuls himself, that he is ready to be together with everybody. People standing differ in height; people while sitting are all equal.

Therefore, if after studying The Zohar for a few weeks or months a person feels that his attitude toward the connection with others is changing; if he feels that he is willing to listen more, that a certain inclination to unite appears in him; if he reveals the importance of unification, begins to sense that everything really works this way, and he is ready to accept it, this is the sign of advancement, an indication that the Light is acting upon him.

Spiritual progress is determined only according to one’s willingness to unite with other souls. This is the test. Everything else bears no relationship with the science of Kabbalah, with the advancement toward the goal.

The goal is attained in uniting. The difference between us and the World of Infinity is that in the latter, we are totally, unlimitedly connected together. All the stages on the path to Infinity are defined by our connecting with each other more and more. This means that there are 125 degrees of connection, which are increasingly compressed and adjoining.

Therefore, a person can determine his advancement only by his readiness to unite with others. All other tests are completely wrong; everything else can occur in the egoistic properties as well.

Our movement toward spirituality is also egoistic. We aspire to attain spirituality, to unite with the others in order to reach the goal. However, this happens in the intention Lo Lishma (not for bestowal). We already understand that we have to let go of our ego in order to deserve something more exalted. For the time being, egoism still motivates us, yet it already acts toward the goal.

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We could not begin studying The Book of Zohar any earlier. Students simply would not have been able to tolerate it. Although new students see that now people who have been studying for a few years can open The Zohar and feel that redemption truly comes from it, these new students don’t yet have that same need. They perceive this book as being completely incomprehensible, dry, and unfit for a beginner. They want something that is more directed at logic and feelings.

However, we need to take into consideration the following condition: The majority of the group that has been on the path for many years is on such levels of development that they need this book. The moment this group achieves a state where it can finally comprehend The Book of Zohar, the Surrounding Light completes its work on them and will bring all of them across the Machsom.

So what will happen to the newcomers? We will always have newcomers. Until the very End of Correction, there will always be people who have been on their path of correction for many years already, and those who are just beginning. So what do we do?

The instant the main bulk of the students, who are now leading, began to study The Book of Zohar, this shortened the time for all the others! If new students join the others, these newcomers can perform a leap in their development.

We see this through the example of a child in our world. A child is born into this world and already he is benefitting from all the preparations and efforts the world of adults has made for him. Completely unaware of these arrangements made for him, a baby is born in a maternity unit of a hospital equipped with specialized instruments and machines to care for him. Ready for the baby are: diapers, special foods, and a multitude of products and services. Nearly half the world is devoted to providing children with everything they need.

A child is included in the whole world and grows with his generation. He doesn’t start from the beginning, from the primordial state of 20,000 years ago. He joins his modern generation at their level of development with all their advancements. He immediately falls into our contemporary degree, surrounded by computers, cell phones, and mp3 players. We give him all the best things that we were able to create.

In spirituality it works exactly the same way. When “children” come, when they have just been “born” and don’t have anything, we must provide them with everything that befits our generation of mature students.

They will assimilate it all quickly and grow even higher than us.

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The Zohar, Chapter “Bamidbar (In the Wilderness),” Item 36: …south is Hesed, and grips to the east and depends on it as a branch with its root. This is so because the hidden Daat is the beginning of the sun, whose essence is Tifferet, called “sun” and east. But with its ascent to Yod–Hey it becomes Daat. In the beginning of the Daat in upper AVI, a root is made for the disclosure of Hesed, by which the upper AVI mate and elicit the Hesed (Love and Mercy).

We have to extract correction and remedy from every word in The Zohar. The Light will transform our properties according to its source. This should be our attitude to the reading. On the other hand, we have to try to understand what we read with more clarity.

Everything originates from the first HaVaYaH (Yod–Hey–Vav–Hey). The basic structure is the four stages of the Direct Light and everything clothes on these stages: the four letters, the three lines, and Malchut which receives from them. Everything comes from this connection.

First of all, we have to aspire to correct the breaking in ourselves so that every moment and every word from The Zohar will penetrate us like a balm or a healing remedy. After all, the Torah is created as a “seasoning” for a desire, as a remedy for its correction. When I want to connect with the text to reveal it, it opens up and connects with me as one whole.

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