Question: What does it mean to strive toward unity and to try to “step out of myself” during our reading of The Book of Zohar? It sounds like fantasy. What am I supposed to visualize? What can I latch on to?

Answer: If I am sitting in a stuffy building and need fresh air, I open the door. Opening the door is all you need to do! When you open yourself outward, everything that is outside will enter you.

It is written: “You shall not bow down to a foreign god.” (Psalms, 81:9) If you do not want the Creator to be foreign to you (dwelling outside of you), bring Him in.

The entire Book of Zohar speaks about the Creator, as does the whole of the wisdom of Kabbalah. Above our world and everything else that exists is the Creator. There is nothing more to look for but the Creator. Beyond this world, there is Upper Light that is revealed to you in your corrected desires where you discover the properties of the Light.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/19/10, The Zohar

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A question I received: If everything is prepared ahead of time, then where does the participation of the creature come into play in this process? It seems that we receive everything from Above and that everything is predetermined….

My Answer: Of course! If I give my son a Lego toy to build or bring him baby food, both of which were created by factories and labs, weren’t they prepared ahead of time? Everything is prepared ahead of time, but at the same time, a child grows and becomes independent through these means that were already prepared. He tries to grow, and because of this, he matures and develops his own individuality based on everything that was prepared for him beforehand. This is the way we develop.

Therefore, we cannot do anything new here, as it is written, “We will eat what has long lay in store for us.” Everything occurs according to the Reshimot (spiritual informational genes), which are already instilled in us. However, we draw Lights so that these Reshimot will become revealed in us. We draw the Surrounding Light in order to understand what we need to do, and to perform clarifications.

We participate like partners in the Creator’s actions. Therefore, our work is called the work of the Creator. However, from this work, we learn to be similar to Him and advance from the stage of “conception” to “feeding” and then to “maturing.”

And then, at the stage of “returning through love,” we already carry out actions like the Creator. What does it mean “like the Creator?” The forces are His, and we merely discern what needs to be done and how. When we reach complete correction (Gmar Tikkun), it means that we have revealed all the actions of the Creator above us as active partners in these actions and we desire their execution. That is it and no more.

And after the end of correction, when I become similar to the Creator in all aspects, it is possible that there exist other actions, which I carry out to a greater extent on my own, independent of the Upper Force. However, we have no understanding of this. The science of Kabbalah does not tell us about further stages.

Therefore, it is written that we correct ourselves. Through every action that is carried out, I correct myself, meaning I agree, desire, and merge with that same action with all of my heart. In this manner we achieve final correction.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/15/10, The Zohar

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A question I received: Does the light that people see during clinical death, that gives them a sensation of peace, have anything to do with the Surrounding Light?

My Answer: This type of sensation is a common psychological phenomenon during clinical death. I experienced it while being in a coma for a week and am well aware of its effects. It is a physiological reaction of the body.

Why would an animate body receive Light just because it died? Why would one think that the death of a physical body implies correction? After death, the body remains at the animate level, just as it was while being alive. How does it impact the soul?

The only thing that impacts the soul is correction. Conversely, if the soul simply exits the body without having performed any spiritual work, why should it be entitled to Light? It would be “shame,” like “the bread that is not his.” If you attain the Upper World solely by being driven by the Upper Force that operates on you from birth through death, then where is your freedom of will and conscious effort? If I, through my own work, do not form within myself a vessel capable of perceiving the Upper World, how will I know this Upper World?

We don’t receive anything after the death of our body, because it remains at the same animate level as it was while alive. The only thing left after death are  Reshimot (informational data, records). However, if a person didn’t realize the Reshimot, he will be born in a new body with the old Reshimot.

In the corporeal body of flesh, there is nothing spiritual or sacred. We respect a dead body because it represents the soul to us. Therefore, in our attempt to mirror Upper spiritual acts, we perform such rituals. If we did the same through the forces of our soul, then we would be making real corrections.

Baal HaSulam wrote: “I don’t care where you bury my sack of bones.”

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/16/10, Article “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

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A person grows in such a way that at first he receives new desires and fulfillments, which are necessary for his development and which work for his benefit. This is the direction given to him by nature, which desires to raise him and make him self-sufficient, the way children in our world grow.

This is not considered forbidden pleasure, since I have to go through this natural path of development until I become an “adult.” Indeed, we see how children are usually full of different desires and take pleasure in this life.

However, the moment I become an adult, I have to start growing and developing consciously, rather than by the power of nature. Suddenly, all the pleasures I receive start being detrimental to me because I do not aim them for the sake of bestowal.

Previously all the responsibility rested on nature. The Creator determined my path and led me along until the age of 15-20 years. Everything I took from this life was beneficial for my development. But as soon as I completed this period of “childhood,” I have to start determining my own direction. I now have to add the intention of bestowal of my own accord. Otherwise any pleasure I receive will no longer raise me and advance me forward, but will kill me! It will lead me backwards in order to make me feel that it is impossible to keep going this way and that instead of developing by way of my egoism and pleasures, I have to develop through the intention to bestow.

Therefore, all the pleasures that a person receives after the age of adulthood are detrimental to him, like a person who is picking at his wound. How deeply do we have to become immersed in this evil in order to understand that we cannot continue this way, like children who have grown up and whom nature no longer permits to enjoy life recklessly, but instead demands bestowal from them?

How deeply will we have to “pick at our wound” is something that depends on us. We are given all the means and explanations, and we are brought to the study, the books, and the group, which is the place where we have to get serious and think about what we need to add to our lives in order to develop correctly.

What we are adding is the “true vs. false” discernment, in addition to “sweet vs. bitter,” unlike children who only understand “bitter and sweet.” In order not to remain children for the rest of our lives, as it says, “What to do with children who have grown old?”, we have to start acting according to the principle of “true vs. false.” Yet, we should not erase “sweet vs. bitter,” but rather build a new attitude to life above it. This is possible only be evoking the Upper Light upon ourselves through the study of Kabbalah.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/18/10, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot”

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A question I received: I study The Zohar every day, but I don’t feel anything besides my growing desire. Am I advancing in the right direction?

My Answer: This is very good! If your desire is growing from one day to the next, then you don’t need anything else! Even though a growing desire brings you disappointment, you have to see it as a reward. This is because desire or lack of fulfillment is the force that moves you forward. When you have an empty desire, you feel that you lack unity with the Creator, the feeling of connection with Him, the quality of bestowal.

Therefore, the right desire is a reward. In our world you have to earn fulfillment, but in the spiritual world you have to earn a spiritual vessel, a desire. The fulfillment is always there, you are welcome to come and take it! But what will you take it into? That is the question.

Right now there are spiritual treasures all around you: “diamonds,” “gold,” “money,” and anything else you can possibly wish for. You just do not have a desire for them, which is why you don’t recognize them. The space around you seems empty! All the best things you can possibly wish for are already present, but it is as if you have been gagged and your arms and legs have been tied, and then you are placed in front of this treasure and told, “It’s yours!” But, how is it yours if you can’t take it?

It is necessary to develop or prepare the desire, the spiritual vessel. That is all we have to do. Therefore, our reward is desire or aspiration, and it has to be created by the Light. We have to change our perception, our attitude to reward and punishment. In our world punishment is desire or the sensation of lack, whereas reward is the fulfillment that calms you down because you live inside the will to enjoy.

However, if you are inside the will to bestow and you have the desire to bestow, this is a reward. Why is the difference so great? It is a result of the restriction. The restriction was performed on reception, but there are no restrictions on bestowal.

If you already have the desire to bestow, then everything lies open before you and everything becomes revealed to you to the same degree. Inside your desire to bestow, you begin to see in the Reflected Light everything that is around you, and you are welcome to take it!

That is how gradually, from one day to the next, The Zohar changes our vision and the direction of our thinking, by building a new, different attitude to life and to the phases of spiritual advancement.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/18/10, The Zohar

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Part 7 of The Study of the Ten Sefirot by Baal HaSulam talks about the descent of the worlds from Above downwards and their breaking. We have to know this in order to comprehend the nature of things and thereby understand how to ascend by preparing ourselves for this elevation with small corrections and indirect, additional actions.

Each of our small actions is the foundation for a greater one in the future. During the descent of the worlds, an immense breaking gave birth to countless minor actions. And now, while ascending from below upwards, we are performing numerous little actions, which give raise to one great act of correction. In this way, the small corrections merge into one final completely corrected state: Gmar Tikkun.

Undoubtedly, we study mainly to draw the Light that Reforms. Still, we have to be somewhat aware of the processes that occur in spirituality. We study the breaking of the worlds in such detail in order to justify it and understand why it was necessary.

Thanks to the breaking, we are “down” in this world, but we have all the needed information (Reshimot) to ascend and attain our complete correction. We only lack the Upper Light that would gather together all of this data and connect it with our matter (desire) and realize one upon the other.

Reshimot are something similar to a computer program. If I were to install some software on my computer, it would arrange the content in a way that the program dictates, taking on the form of the program itself. Reshimot work exactly like that. I have to “sew” (actualize) each new Reshimo on my matter so that the matter would “formatted,”  “organized,” “systematized,” and “sculpted” into a specific form by it.

I have an informational gene (Reshimo); matter (desire) is also being revealed. My task is to lay one over the other and arrange them correctly, which is done by the Surrounding Light. In other words, we have two necessary elements, only the third one is missing: the force of the Creator.

This 7th part of TES (Talmud Eser Sefiort – The Study of the Ten Sefirot) talks about the breaking of the worlds, explains where the informational genes came from, and helps us to sense our essence.

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/15/10, TES

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It is written, “I dwell among My people.” It is impossible for the Creator, the Upper Force or the Light that fills Malchut of Infinity, to relate to one of its parts individually. The system is created as whole and common, and the Light resides only in its totality.

Even in all the degrees of the descent of the worlds, Partzufim, and Sefirot from Above downward, the system remains whole and perfect. Only the extent of the connection among its parts decreases. Therefore, in the descent of the worlds, we are talking about a decrease in the measure of connection among parts in a common system, while the number of parts always remains the same.

As long as a minimal connection, mutual bestowal, remains between them, they still exist in spirituality. However, as soon as mutual bestowal ends and they are no longer connected like one man with one heart (even with the smallest possible heart), this system immediately ends up in this world and the Creator no longer dwells in it. He merely shines from afar with Surrounding Light in order to rouse us to return to unification from this broken state.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/14/10, Article, “A Prayer of Many”

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A question I received: Our actions are unrewarded and the prayer of the society is beyond human ability. You need energy just to ask for this. So where do we start? Where will we get the energy to carry out these actions, which are beyond our nature?

My Answer: We can understand this through the example of man’s development. He emerges as a result of mutual actions of the father and mother, then goes through lengthy development in the mother’s womb, and is born. His own forces start to surface in him, but of course this happens unconsciously. Even though we see that he reacts, it is clear that he is not doing it himself, but on account of the forces that are accumulating in him. They are causing the reaction.

But at some point in time, we start to see a personality in this being. Of course, we can say that the forces of nature are evoking his reactions, as well as his personality, behavior, likes and dislikes. However, these qualities have accumulated in him in a specific combination and have taken on a personal form.

Where does one’s independence start to come through? Is it in the prayer or plea for oneself or for others? The Upper Light is the only force that acts upon us. It influences us without our awareness just like nature influences an embryo or a child. On our part, we try to evoke a greater influence from the Light, and thus accelerate our development. Therefore, we should simply make efforts. This is the only thing required of us.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/14/10, “A Prayer of Many”

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A question I received: It sounds strange to me that we are unable to change anything and that only the Upper Light can do it. Who else can I rely on except myself?

My Answer: You have a few years behind you and should know that it is hard to arrange life as you wish to or change anything in it. Life flows in accordance with its own laws and doesn’t “listen” to us. There is a force that controls our lives and transports us from one phase to another.

If we could only watch life unfold like a movie and see it from beginning to the very end. A regular person cannot do this, but there are people who possess special faculties and “see the movie.” In general, it is possible.

Today, you as though see a movie that I already saw yesterday. For you, the movie hasn’t started yet, for me it is already over and I know everything about it. If we saw this movie, we would understand that our development was completely predetermined. Nowadays, physicists, geneticists, and other scientists write a lot about a human being acting like a machine; it has been proven scientifically.

Our life is a sequence of frames in a movie, and all we do is transition from one frame to another. There is nothing we can do about it! This explains the existence of people who are able to predict the future. They don’t lie to us; they simply see the movie a little bit ahead of us. This faculty is developed in animals considerably more than in people since technologies have dulled our senses.

Currently, I’m at a certain “frame” of this film: My past is behind me, my future is ahead of me. The question is how can I influence my development? What is my freedom of choice? How can I really change something? I’m interested only in this for I prefer not to know about something that I’m unable to change. Tell me what does depend on me!

Kabbalists maintain that I can only attract the Upper Light called the Surrounding Light, which can Reform. I’ll live through the movie anyway, there is no chance I can avoid it. The beginning and the end of the movie are set, and it’s not in my power to change them. However, I can choose to live through that movie with pleasure and delight.

If I am already somewhere in the middle of it and see and understand the ultimate benevolent goal, I begin to anticipate its kindness already. It pleases me already and gives me fulfillment which might be even greater than what I will get later upon achieving the goal since at this point it is not limited by any boundaries! The pleasure I look forward to always seems bigger than its actual realization. So, it follows that I can attract goodness into my life right now and continue to advance in the rays of the Light.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/2/10, Shamati #38

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While reading The Book of Zohar, the most important thing is to think about the connection between us in order to become “as one man with one heart.” The Light that Reforms is nearby and everything depends on our efforts to unite with one another in the system of Adam HaRishon.

This Light influences precisely the broken connections among us. If we try to unite and are unable to, then the Light unites us. It says in Item 155 of the “Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot” that a person is influenced by the Surrounding Light to the extent he aspires to know what he studies. What does it mean “to know what you study”? It does not mean to acquire knowledge, as in our world.

In spirituality everything is attained through connection. Therefore, “to know” means to connect, as it is written, “And Adam knew Eve.” Therefore, the more we aspire to connect with one another through the desire for bestowal and love, the more we awaken the Surrounding Light and then the Light of Wisdom (Ohr Hochma). This Light appears and operates only in the place where we desire to unite but are unable to.

Therefore, there is no sense trying to study The Book of Zohar as a science or wisdom since we don’t understand its language or what it is talking about. To understand it, we have to be in the same world.

Therefore, we have to try to unite with one another. Then the Surrounding Light will come precisely into the places where we lack a connection among us. The Light will unite us with each other, and through the restored connections we will feel the quality of bestowal, the Creator, the Light of Hassadim, and then inside it we will reveal the Light of Hochma.

Therefore, our entire study must be preceded by the desire to unite with each other, and we should not forget about this while studying The Zohar. Baal HaSulam writes the following in Item 17 of  the “Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot“: “Hence, the student pledges, prior to the study, to strengthen himself in faith,” meaning in the quality of bestowal, which he desires to attain as a result of the study, so it becomes his life.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/6/10, The Zohar

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