A question I received: In light of the fact that The Zohar talks about true states, how are we to understand the earthquake that just took place in Chile?

My Answer: The Zohar talks about two opposite forces that descend into our world and whose expression we witness upon people and places. However, for now we don’t see the true order of development because we still haven’t achieved the implementation of the method of Kabbalah, the middle line.

When we do, we will see that everything taking place is for our own good. It comes as the correct combination of opposite forces in order to facilitate their proper realization. It is leading us to prosperity, perfection, health, safety, and universal harmony, and as a result – unity with the Creator.

However, as long as we don’t begin the correction and spread the wisdom of Kabbalah around the world, the nations won’t feel their common predestination, which is to find the middle line by virtue of the right combination with one another. Therefore, we won’t be able to justify the suffering and see why it is necessary, including the suffering that befell the nation of Israel throughout the course of its entire history and the suffering that now befell Chile, as well as other countries before that.

We also don’t know what else nature has in store for us for the future. Things will only deteriorate if we don’t hasten to use the Upper Light in order to advance toward the Creator on our own, rather than waiting for the forces of nature to compel us to this through suffering and disasters. This is why it is necessary to disseminate the science of Kabbalah as widely as possible and to see it as the only means of advancing along the middle line. The middle line is the salvation, whereas both the right and left forces are extremely destructive. The right force acts in a concealed manner where we don’t feel its effects immediately, but it is able to bring unfortunate consequences as much as the left force.

Therefore, we have to help each other and disseminate the science of Kabbalah as widely as possible. Our fate is up to us; the dissemination of Kabbalah can salvage us from all the misfortunes. Without it, we will face disaster after disaster. The prophets wrote about horrible events that will take place in the world in our times unless we intervene in what is taking place.

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A question I received: In order to break down the wall separating me from the spiritual world, do I need to bang on it from both the egoistic and altruistic sides or can I just break it down from one side?

My Answer: The Light is acting on the spiritual side, repeating the actions we take on our side. If we don’t act on our side, the Light won’t come from Above and won’t do anything on the spiritual side. We are like a piece of metal which approaches a wall and makes another magnet work on the other side of the wall. Thus, we work together on both sides. The Creator can’t act in relation to us if we don’t desire it. Otherwise, where would we and our freedom of choice be? If the Creator were the only one working, then we would be simply an inanimate element. Therefore, we have to be ahead of Him and demand for Him to take action. That is how we can determine everything. The action takes place from both sides rather than just one side. On our side, we only activate the action, while its realization happens on the other side.

The force which works, acts, and realizes the correction comes from the Creator. The Light comes to us, begins to lift us, and transfers us over this wall. However, this happens only upon our request and to the extent that it corresponds to the common plan. A person can’t act according to his own program, but only together with the entire system around him which advances toward correction. He can only advance together with the entire system, and it doesn’t matter whether other parts of the system (other people) want the correction or not. In relation to the person, they adopt the form which is necessary for him.

Therefore, one’s advancement depends only on himself, while all others exist in the final, corrected state with regard to him. Yet, they are corrected with regard to him and work with him only to the extent that he wants to unite and advance together with them.

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Kabbalists tell us that man is an integral part of nature and is entirely governed by it. Hence, within the parameters of our world, we should not place emphasis on people’s outer actions or regard them as “causes” because all the actions in this world are actually effects or consequences of the forces that govern our lives.

The only true independence for a person is found in spiritual ascent, which occurs through the process of acquiring the quality of bestowal and love. This means acquiring similarity to the Creator, which is achieved through the Kabbalistic methodology of attracting the Upper Ruling Force, also called the “Surrounding Light.”  In other words, we do not have the power to achieve it on our own, but only with the Creator’s help and His Light.

Historic examples demonstrate how nature governs a human being and society as a whole by modifying the environment. For example, during the last glacial period (the minor ice age, 1650 – 1720 CE) when as a result of diminished solar activity all of Europe was seized by ice, multiple revolutions and riots resulted. This phenomenon took place in many parts of the world simultaneously. Yet, the truth of the matter is that only the human desire for self-improvement is capable of causing such a strong response from nature on the physical, earthly level, thereby creating adequate conditions to further our personal and social development.

Hence, only our inner progress and outer dissemination of Kabbalah (the method of correction) is capable of making society realize that not only does worldly self-improvement not work, but true improvement becomes possible only by means of involving the forces of the nature – the  Creator and His Surrounding Light.

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We don’t feel that we exist in a special system. Once there was a story on the news about the security system at the diamond exchange. Invisible rays penetrate the whole place but the web of rays remains undetected by the eye.

We exist within the spiritual system in the same manner. We are already in it; we are its parts; we activate it, and it activates us. This system exists, it lives. The Light in it comes from the Partzuf of Arich Anpin of the World of Atzilut, meaning from a very high level called our End of Correction. This Light is called “The Zohar.”

Therefore, The Zohar is not a book; it is an instruction manual of how to put into gear the influence of the Light that is coming from the End of Correction, so that it influences and carries us with it to the final corrected state.

When authentic Kabbalistic sources reference The Zohar, they do not say “The Book of Zohar;“ they simply say “The Book” because it is obvious that there is nothing else. Everything else is not considered a book.

We have to realize that it is not just a book. A “book” means “revelation,” and this is precisely what occurs when we come into contact with The Book of Zohar. Even when a person simply reads, watches, or listens to how others read this book, without understanding or knowing much, something changes in him though he doesn’t realize exactly what that is.

So let’s continue to read it with the intention that we are all together, since correction is possible only in connection among people. In it, we will then reveal the Upper Force, the Creator. We aren’t just reading this book; we are putting a system into gear in order to reveal it.

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I have been hearing reactions that people find it very difficult to read The Zohar. They don’t have the patience for it; they lack connection with the text and the taste for it. I agree with all these complaints because if that’s how a person feels, there’s nothing you can say in objection. However, we have to take an example from our regular lives and how naturally we enter this world.

How do babies learn to live in this world? They simply listen and watch everything, without understanding what is happening to them. Thus, they involuntarily establish connections with the world, and naturally, with the help of the Light, they receive all the notions, language, and understanding of this world.

If we knew how this whole process happens to a person in this world and all the mechanics of it, then we would understand that we go through the same thing in spirituality. It is the only possible development; it happens naturally and enables us to enter an additional world – the spiritual world. Granted, the process is easier for babies in this world because they have already been born into it and all they need to do is assimilate knowledge and sensations of their surroundings, according to the nature of a newborn. We, on the other hand, have to learn the systems and acquire the sensations of a world that is opposite to our qualities.

We don’t even know what this opposition means because we are completely separated from the spiritual world. Therefore, our entrance into it must happen even more naturally; that is to say, it must happen exclusively with the help of the forces of nature, because on our part it is impossible to understand or feel it in any way ahead of time.

On the contrary, we have to rise above all of the understanding and sensations that we already have by virtue of the force of bestowal. This is called, “faith above reason.” We have to make these efforts and desire to belong to the spiritual world above our feelings and our mind. We have to desire for it to influence and develop us, to give us a new heart and a new mind instead of our current, material ones. That way we will reveal ourselves above our current nature. We will then desire to remain open and to absorb everything that the Upper Light is able to do to us.

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By simply reading The Zohar, we gradually begin to understand it. This book is not built upon explanations, but rather upon the reading itself, meaning the process where we begin to feel a clearer sensation of the Upper World.

“Ima Ilaa” (the Upper Mother for all of us) is called Bina. She radiates the Surrounding Light to us. Similar to infants with wide open eyes and mouths, we should try to appeal to Her with the right intention: to become as one man with the wish to reach the quality of bestowal by revealing it within us.

This is enough. Everything else written in the book will be gradually revealed to us. What does it mean “gradually?” It means in the same way that infants learn. They don’t know any words, don’t understand what’s going on, and due to their desire to know, it happens that “this” or “that” is revealed to them and thus, they begin to understand something. This is the way that they discover the world.

This is a normal, natural approach. The Upper World is revealed to us in the same way. If we remember how we grew up and discovered this world, we will understand how to advance in spirituality.Then we will have no complaints. We will be developing in exactly the same way; nothing has changed.

Subsequently, it is easier to understand that we are not required to be “smart.” All we have to do is reveal a desire to attain the Upper World, and conform to it just a little bit.

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All the worlds clothe each other; each Sefira receives Light from its root – the main Sefira in the World of Infinity. For example, all the particular Sefirot of Bina receive Light from Bina of the World of Infinity; all the particular Sefirot of Tifferet receive Light from Sefira Tifferet of the World of Infinity, and so on.

On its way to the place of destination, the Light goes through all the Partzufim and Sefirot, although it only goes through them in transit as it connects to the Sefira from its root or source. We correct ourselves in this manner. Therefore, all the Sefirot and Partzufim that are on the Light’s path toward me correct themselves partially by helping to bring the Light of Tifferet to me.

I correct my connection with them because they bring the Light of Tifferet to me, but the most important correction of the quality of Tifferet occurs in me. All the other corrections occur due to our mutual inclusion into each other, and in this manner we reach a state where everyone is included in each other, and we form a circle or a sphere – a symbol of perfection.

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What is the Light that Reforms? In what way does it reform us and how? Imagine the common soul as a circle consisting of broken pieces that are unconnected. We have to restore this connection in order to feel eternal life within the common soul.

Imagine that a sculptor has made a statue of a person and then broke it into pieces. Instead of a whole statue, there is now a pile of broken pieces. These pieces are living souls that desire to assemble back together into a whole statue, but they just can’t manage to “stick” to each other. When they attempt to unite, they discover giant forces of repulsion among them.

They are trying to come closer to each other and to recreate the statue of a person who is similar to the Creator, but they aren’t able to do it. And that’s because they don’t have the glue that will make them stick together.

After numerous attempts to come closer and stick together, the parts become convinced that they are unable to connect together on their own, yet only unity will save them. They then realize that only the Upper Force, the force that created the statue in the first place, and the force that deliberately broke it, will be able to glue these parts back together into a single whole.

However, it will do so only when the parts request it. This request is called asking for the Light that Reforms.

If we desire to unite and ask for help in doing this, then we are asking the Creator to be the force that will unite us like glue. This is how we return to the initial form of the statue – the common soul of Adam HaRishon.

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A question I received: If a person doesn’t study Kabbalah but only reads The Book of Zohar, what will he get out of doing that?

My Answer: The Zohar is the central book in the wisdom of Kabbalah. For us The Book of Zohar with the “Sulam Commentary” is the most effective and powerful source for the correction of the soul.
The broken soul exists in each of us and it’s completely concealed inside. We don’t know what it is. It is, in fact, an enormous, endless desire (Kli) and it exists in every person. We have to find, reveal, and correct it. Precisely in this soul we will sense the eternal reality called “Creator.”
I identify myself with this soul when I reveal and sense it. In the end it turns out that the Creator and I become one.

However, all of this can be carried out only by the Upper Light. It is the force which acts upon us and develops within us the sensation that we exist in the spiritual system in addition to the sensation of this world.

If a person only reads The Book of Zohar with us, it’s not enough. Baal HaSulam preceded The Book of Zohar with four prefaces. It’s not an accident that he wrote them as prefaces to The Book of Zohar and not as separate works.

“Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah” introduces a person to the wisdom of Kabbalah. “Preface to the Book of Zohar” provides the correct approach to The Book of Zohar that will help a person to open this book. “Preface to the Sulam Commentary” describes the entire structure of the spiritual system by way of the three lines. And finally, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar” talks about the general system of creation, including the three states of creation, about the research and the fundamental questions, and about the rungs of the spiritual ladder by which a soul ascends.

A person doesn’t need anything else after these prefaces and The Book of Zohar because these texts contain everything. However, there is one more very special preface, “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot.” However, when a person studies The Zohar he will see what is written in the “Study of the Ten Sefirot” and in the introduction to it. He will sense internally the same explanations which Baal HaSulam provides in other articles.

A person will feel all these conclusions and facts from The Book of Zohar, provided that his study is combined with its four introductions. Therefore, there should be a special course preceding the study of The Zohar. A person can study The Zohar together with us, but at the same time he should be taking this course. That should be enough for him.

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A question I received: How can I remain in the inner work and in the correct intention during the Zohar Convention 2010 when we will be in over our heads with various work like taking care of kids and other things?

My Answer: One has to understand that all the obstacles are for his own good. This includes obstacles like one’s spouse, kids, work, finances, debt, health problems, close or distant people who are against him, his own doubts, and not annulling himself completely in his heart and soul. This is the very oil which can’t light up on its own, but only when a person is constantly overcoming obstacles under continuous tension.

The spiritual world becomes revealed only by overcoming. If one abandons these efforts, the fire immediately dies. You have to be above the ego. You have to sense that you are in the right and left lines simultaneously in order to find the middle line. This is the very wick that ignites. It seems that the Creator ignites it, but this isn’t so. You have to rise in order to ignite it. It is written, “You will kindle the candles.”

The left line comes to give you the opportunity to exert the force of overcoming and reveal the Light. It isn’t revealed to humiliate you and throw you down. You always should be confident that the left line exists in you to the same extent as the right line in order for you to aim yourself toward goodness, Light.

If a person is put in a situation where he fails, this only happens in case he has a special role and the calculation in relation to him is being made from special levels. However, this shouldn’t happen to us. It is only possible during the preparation stages, which we already have passed and which include our previous life cycles.

Currently, we exist in the period of revelation. If we try as we are supposed to during everything we encounter, then there shouldn’t be any failure. Any possible failure can happen only if we fail to realize our free choice. It’s written that we should always see ourselves as half-sinner and half-righteous. We always have an opportunity to aim ourselves and the entire world toward the good. A person isn’t given obstacles that exceed his capabilities to aim the world toward the good.

Therefore, it’s not important what kind of work you’ll be doing during the Convention. It doesn’t even matter if you’ll attend the lectures. What’s important is how you’ll sense all the desires which come to unite and how you’ll “kindle yourself” from the connection. All our work is internal. It also doesn’t matter how many people will unite there and for how many days. With as many as are there, you should say, “If we unite as we have to, we will kindle the candle.” Therefore, everyone who can, should participate. It’s not realistic for one person to accomplish this fear, but together, it’s easy.

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