A question I received: How can I be sure that my request is correct and that it is directed at correction?

My Answer: If a person studies together with us, his intentions are constantly corrected, one after another, and they unite. It’s as if a “viral” correction occurs between friends. We give each other the opportunity to be corrected since we are connected into one system of souls. This is the greatest correction of all possible corrections.

On his own, a person is not capable of anything, but if he has a desire and tries to unite with others, this will work as much as his ego (also called Pharaoh and the heaviness of the heart) will allow. Therefore, a person doesn’t need to perform a calculation for himself alone as to whether his efforts were successful. On his own, a person will never correct himself and he cannot even correctly evaluate his intention.

We need to learn jointly, to feel our unification before the studies, and to aspire to learn like one man with one heart in order to draw the Surrounding Light onto us.

Every lesson presents the opportunity to unify and draw the Light that Reforms, and so each lesson is like the reception of the Torah under Mount Sinai. After all, we need to receive the Torah which is the Light that Reforms. As it is written, “I created the evil inclination, and I created the Torah as a means to correct it.” Therefore, we are standing under Mount Sinai at every given moment. Receiving the Torah, the Light that Reforms, is on the condition that we become like one man with one heart.

Individual calculations aren’t applicable; success depends on everyone together, each one according to his ability, uniting in the conditions that are assigned from Above. Success depends on the united effort that comes from us below. Therefore, we need to continuously, tirelessly press on. As a result, our efforts will accumulate into one large account and, finally, revelation will occur.

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It may seem that it’s more enjoyable to read The Zohar peacefully, without exerting any effort. But we must demand the intention for every word, and it’s not simple. We shouldn’t consent to simply read The Zohar and let the words “flow” through the ears. Rather, each word should be an opportunity to “break into” the text, an entrance into it.

As I’m reading, I have to see every word as a niche for filling myself with the intention, unification, and connection. I have to realize that every word can add to this connection.

This is the only way we should read The Zohar. Then the Light will come and unite the two opposite properties, Abraham and Isaac, as well as everything that is included between them, into the property of the middle line called Jacob or Israel.

The miraculous property of The Book of Zohar lies precisely in the middle line which unites good and evil together. And it is precisely in their correct connection that we reveal the Creator, the source of everything.

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Our entire life is a spell, a great deceit. The egoistic desire constantly manipulates us, forcing us to work for it. Meanwhile, we are in love with this impure desire of ours and actually desire to be deceived by it.

It lies to us about the end of our path, promising us pleasure and Light when we get there. And along the way it seems like we do receive some kind of pleasure. Even though we don’t have anything besides empty promises, we enjoy them. We think about what we are about to gain and start to feel as if we already have it in the present. We receive sparks of pleasure and they give us hope.

However, there is no Light behind these sparks because the Light does not descend beneath the Parsa, the boundary that separates the World of Atzilut. The Light shines for us from there and awakens these sparks, making us feel hopeful that we will receive the Light. And this goes on throughout our entire lives.

Even though we are always disillusioned and never see any Light, just the sparks, we have no other choice but to keep looking for them in order to feel pleasure. We hope to enjoy ourselves by gaining a little more money, fame, power, knowledge, food, and sex. And thus, we are always on the path, with all our hopes aimed at the future. But the moment the Light is supposed to come to the spark, it does not come and everything immediately disappears.

This constitutes the work of the egoistic desire: to attract us with promises of pleasure, making us constantly desire it and always being on the path, thinking that we are enjoying ourselves. But we never reach the actual pleasure. We only reach disappointment and everything disappears.

In the material world a person’s entire life is based on hopes for the future and he supposes that this is happiness. He believes that all kinds of egoistic pleasures are waiting for him up ahead and tries not to think about the darkness and death that await him.

However, today humanity has developed to a level where it begins to understand that egoistic promises are groundless. But in that case, what are we to do? After all, we can no longer keep living just on hope! We no longer believe in socialism or a beautiful future where everyone will be happy.

As a result, depression and disillusionment are becoming very common; yet, we have to keep living somehow. As a result, people start to lie to themselves even more. They deliberately enter a drunken stupor in order to force themselves to believe. All the mass media channels work for this sake; it is a universal spell that is kept up by society.

This will continue until the lie reaches the breaking point, beyond which it will no longer be possible to keep going.

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We exist inside our egoism, where we imagine the material world. If we want to ascend from matter to forces and reveal the true picture of reality, then Kabbalists have given us a special opportunity, made possible by the language of branches which they chose for their books. As a result, we have the opportunity to make efforts trying to imagine spiritual qualities behind every word of The Book of Zohar.

By attempting to see spirituality in this way, you express your desire to change, your desire for a certain force called the Upper Light to influence and change you. When it does, you will feel your inner qualities becoming corrected and overpowering corporeality. You then begin to live inside your inner world – the world of forces and qualities of your soul, despite the fact that they are described using words of this world, making it seem like they’re talking about regular matter.

All five worlds from the World of Infinity to our world are similar in structure. They differ only by the material of each world, but not the particular details and connections between them. Essentially there is just one system – the World of Infinity; all the other worlds are the same World of Infinity, but with flawed connections between its parts.

Each world consists of the same parts, which are connected by the same connecting threads. It’s just that these threads grow weaker as they descend from a higher world to a lower one. Therefore, when we read a narration that uses words of this world, we have to aspire to transpose this story onto a higher world.

Even if I don’t receive any real knowledge, but simply desire to make out something higher behind all of these words, it is sufficient to attract Light from that higher world. In the higher world, that Light is Inner Light, whereas for me it is Surrounding Light. This Light will begin gradually correcting me and will help me to ascend (in my understanding and feelings) to the world that the Light comes from. This is how it works.

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We are being influenced by the Upper Light, which raises us above our egoistic desire. However, later on we will have to continue coming out of that desire on our own. When the Light elevates us, it makes it seem like we are escaping Egypt. Yet, can we really escape Egypt if it is inside us, if it is our very nature?

This brings us to the question: What does it mean that we are in the desert? It’s when Egypt returns to me and I have to come out of every part of it. This is referred to as the 40-year journey through the desert. It’s when I sequentially increase and discern my desires, like a human embryo whose organs develop in a sequence, one after another. First one part develops, then another; and the development moves in one direction followed by another, while overcoming various obstacles and problems. The process of the soul’s growth and development is similar to that of the embryo in a mother’s womb.

We have to appreciate the fact that we have The Book of Zohar because it is the means of salvation that changes us from one day to the next. However, we won’t feel the result until this means starts to act in the full measure. It works gradually, like medicine that has been prescribed to a sick person who has to take it take every day, but will only start to feel better several weeks later.

In the meantime, he continues taking the medicine every day, but feels even sicker. The same happens with our spiritual development. Therefore, we must be patient and constantly add more efforts, even though it seems like the medicine isn’t working – until our cup overflows.

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A question I received: What is the “Surrounding Light”? Is it a mystical force?

My Answer: The Surrounding Light is the Upper Light present within the connection among us. It just so happens that we don’t feel this connection; on the contrary, we feel separated. It’s as if we are asleep or unconscious and do not sense our corrected state. I am connected to others, but I am no longer aware of it, as if I had fainted after a hard blow to my head.

At this very moment the Light is present within the connection among us. The more I desire to regain my “lost” connection with others, the stronger the Light acts upon me. That is, the Light is as strong as my desire.

I remain inside the system filled with the Light where everyone is united into one whole, but I don’t realize it. Then I start to apply efforts to get back into this system. In a physical world, if I feel dizzy to the point of fainting, I try very hard to shake myself up and to hold on. Similarly, I apply all my inner effort to regain the perception of the spiritual world and recover the sense of my connection with others.

The Light that influences me in accordance with my desire to attain the corrected state is called the “Surrounding Light.” Currently I am in Malchut of the World of Infinity, completely connected to her. The problem is that I have 125 layers or steps of “lost consciousness” compared to the real state in which I am already present.

This desire impacts me only in the event that I want to regain my consciousness. We are like a child who dreams of becoming an adult and because of this desire he grows up.

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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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The most important thing when reading The Book of Zohar is to keep yourself naive and simple in regard to it. This book is so lofty and great that in relation to it we are like little children who have been given an encyclopedia and are hardly able to turn the pages.
We don’t understand any of what is written in The Zohar. However, this is irrelevant. If you study it to the extent that you are able to, then you will receive a great influence of the Light contained in this book.

You are not just reading or listening about what is written in a book, but it is as though you are standing by a touchscreen of a computer which is controlled by the touch of a finger. This is how The Book of Zohar works. By looking at some word, it is as though you press it and put a certain system into gear. By reading or listening to some word from The Book of Zohar, you “press” it and draw an illumination (Ohr Makif) upon yourself from its spiritual root.

This continues word by word, one illumination after another. In addition, The Zohar is written in such a way that it knows how to advance you. In the spiritual world we grow in the same manner as babies grow in our material world, naturally and instinctively. Much like a baby is affected by outside influence, simply opening up to it, we need to open ourselves up to the spiritual influence. As a consequence of this influence, we will acquire spiritual sensations and intellect.

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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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The Zohar, Chapter “BeHaalotcha (When You Mount the Candles),”Item 142: “A person walks in this world and the Creator gives him wealth so he will be rewarded with the next world by it, and will remain with a capital of his money. The capital is money that exists forever, a place in which to bundle the soul. This is why he must keep this capital after him, and he will receive this capital after he departs this world.” Item 143: “…while the capital exists for him in that world, to be rewarded with it in the upper life, above.”

If one does not have an anti-egoistic screen, he cannot receive the Light for the sake of bestowal and thus, he has nothing with which to continue his life. Therefore, one is either forced to live like a beast and then die and return to this world once more, or move into the spiritual world, to ascend to the next degree.

After The Zohar Convention, we have received additional Surrounding Light, which has awakened additional egoism within us. This is the desire to enjoy that is now being revealed in every person. Every person is beginning to feel darkness and heaviness, loss of energy, strength, and desire. If we overcome this state with the help of the study, dissemination work, and our environment, then we will begin to attach the new desire to this Surrounding Light that shined for us during the Convention. In doing so, we will build our new degree and advance.

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