The Zohar, Chapter “Shemot (Exodus),” Item 177: The Ruach clothes a man’s Guf in this world, sunken inwards like the sunken letters in a seal, since it is the interior of the Guf, which protrudes outwardly, as it is considered externality. This is why there is only light of VAK in it. The Ruach, the interior of the body, is sunken. When the Ruach spreads from the Guf and rises to the Garden of Eden on the earth, that Ruach is protruding… The Ruachs that rise there have the same form as the Guf in this world, which protrudes.

It’s similar to dough being squeezed through a form. If the form is in the shape of a star, the dough comes out in the shape of a star; if it’s round, the dough comes out round. In other words, the Light that was present within the desire (Kli) gets accepted by it within the Reflected Light (like a spiritual vessel) and that is why the Light becomes revealed. It gets the shape that the “body” (desire) had. Even after the Light leaves the desire, it still retains a “recollection” (Reshimo) about the shape of the desire in which it used to be dressed.

It’s a special Light. It’s not the abstract, simple Light that’s never been accepted by the body. The body has already received this Light and corrected itself in its form. It completed a certain type of correction. Now, the Light that previously “visited” the body and the body itself oppose each other. The body continues to correct itself on a new level and in more advanced ways, but the prior form doesn’t disappear.

Previous forms help us further correct ourselves since the Light that visited the body dresses in the same body and helps it attain higher states. This is the same as our prior life experience helping us make future decisions even though our next steps may be of a totally different nature.

The same pertains to the Light (spiritual wisdom) that used to be dressed into our body and helps us pursue our Path further. Each state remains intact, “nothing disappears in spirituality.” Each prior level leaves a “form” that helps us attain new states. Comparison, clarification, and connection of these forms lead to wisdom which is the science of Kabbalah.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/15/10, The Zohar

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A question I received: I’ve studied the Torah, speak five languages, listen to your lessons, and have become more or less familiar with the Kabbalistic terminology. Typically when a person studies a language and learns the words, reading something in that language is enough to understand it. Yet when the lesson is on The Study of the Ten Sefirot, I read the text and don’t understand a thing even though I know all the terms. It might as well be Chinese to me. What’s going on?

My Answer: You need to continue learning this language. The word “language” originates from the notion of a “weighing scale” with the measurement pointer located directly in the middle. As you continue to attain spiritual concepts, your language will continue to take shape, in between good and evil.

When we build the middle line within ourselves, we begin to understand and feel the different gradations of qualities. Until we attain a sensation of the spiritual, we never retain anything from the study, no matter how long we keep at it. It’s as useless as repeatedly explaining the taste of a dish to a person who has never tasted it.

Each and every one of our perceptions is a taste. From the Light that entered the desire (Toch Kli) with the intention to bestow, the Kabbalists have “tasted” (Taamim) every concept existing in The Study of the Ten Sefirot, in accordance with the law of equivalence of form.

The First Restriction is at work, preventing us from receiving the Light since we have no similarity to it. Without the screen, the intention to bestow, we cannot sense the Light. Therefore, as long as we are missing the screen, it is impossible to understand the text, for everything is attained via sensation. Hence it is written: “Taste and see that the Creator is good” (Psalm 34:8). We have to “taste” Him, and this attainment takes place within.

This is why it is a genuine problem. No matter how long we study here, this language invariably escapes us. Yet on the other hand, it prepares us to start sensing it. Subsequently, these sensations begin to appear within us and we begin to understand the text. Eventually we will no longer need to study, and will suddenly know the names for everything even without reading about it in the books. We’ll know the name of a spiritual phenomenon simply by feeling it. How, who will teach it to us? No one.

As the Light clothes our desires, it transfers its impression to them in four phases, Taamim (tastes), Nekudot (vowels, dots accompanying the letters), Tagin (crowns above the letters), and Otiot (letters), building a Gematria within us (the numerical value of words).

This Gematria then turns into a word. We “read” and suddenly realize that one desire is called “tree,” another desire is called “sun,” and so on. Moreover, we come to know this for a fact, regardless of where we live in the world or whether or not we speak the language. Thus, we begin to understand it.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/16/10, Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah

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A question I received: You say that Kabbalah allows a person to reach eternal life, but Kabbalists die. So how can this be?

My Answer: A Kabbalist dies in your eyes since you do not see his life the same way a Kabbalist sees it. You see only a part of him – his body, which certainly dies, just like any other animal. However, his godly, spiritual part, which he has developed inside, continues to live eternally. The moment that one acquires this part, he gains possession of it and it gives him a sensation of eternal existence; the quality of bestowal that one has acquired is eternal.

We begin to comprehend this only as we approach the Machsom, when the premonition of bestowal emerges in us. The Light that begins to reach a person, gives him a sensation of what it means to rise above matter and to think somewhat differently, to relate to others from the point of view of bestowal. A person does not exist in bestowal yet, but he can already touch it somehow. Then he gets a premonition that it is possible to adapt to this quality, a sensation that belongs to eternity.

Before this occurs, a person does not have the ability to comprehend, as the Light is not close enough to him yet, and the words are meaningless. A person wants to eat and rest, but eternity seems too far away and he doesn’t feel it. Only when one begins to feel the breath of the Light from afar, like fluttering wind, does he begin to understand that Kabbalah contains liberation from the angel of death. When the Light draws closer to a person, it brings him the sensation that eternity exists.

This is the initial condition for the only free action that we can perform. Otherwise, why do you need freedom? What else is there for you to do in life, in your animal body? Everything else is done for you from above; you do not do it yourself. The only thing that you can do on your own is reach eternity. Bestowal is eternal, while reception is temporary. The Light of Hochma does not come to us forever, but only if it is perceived within the Light of Hassadim. Therefore, in order to acquire eternity, first we need to acquire the desire to bestow, and then within this desire we will be able to feel our life as eternal.

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/15/10, Article “The Freedom”

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A person wanders in darkness not knowing what to do and desiring to ascend spiritually, to move from reception to bestowal. Until the moment of the first revelation – crossing the Machsom and encountering the Light – he has no example of how it happens. After it occurs, his own experience allows him to sense a new reality rather than trust someone else’s words. Yet until a person reveals the right spiritual desire (Kli) within himself and contacts the Light directly, it is impossible to prove anything to him.

The wisdom from Kabbalists won’t affect a person that does not possess spiritual experience on his own. He starts from scratch. He deals with something that is above his nature and exists beyond the boundaries of death.

While we are still alive, we have to elevate to a level of existence that is above death, called “the world to come.”  Nothing can replace this attainment or prove this to us. To reach this revelation, we need to correct our desires and obtain spiritual “sight,” the Light of Hochma which clothes itself in our desire to receive. This is the only proof we can get. Right now, the only “justification” for learning Kabbalah is the belief that the Surrounding Light corrects us.

We hope that we have found a remedy that is able to disclose the Light and change us. It works like a miraculous force (Segula) that is concentrated in authentic Kabbalah books. These books serve as a means to reach an exalted state that we are unable to approach on our own, and attract the influence of Light upon ourselves from there.

It is written: “I created the evil inclination and the Torah to correct it, because the Light in it Reforms.” Our entire learning process is about the realization of this sentence. We strive to change ourselves and start sensing a new life, a new dimension within our corrected desires.

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/6/10, “Inheritance of the Land”

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We’ve gotten used to the fact that when we wish to achieve something in our ordinary lives, we exert effort and receive a result. In order to reap a harvest for example, one needs to plow the land, plant seeds, care for crops, and so on. The fruit of the labor is a direct consequence of the effort a person invested.

Spirituality is also impossible to achieve without effort, but for a different reason: the effort builds a spiritual desire (Kli) within, where spiritual fulfillment can be felt. Spiritual fulfillment exists in abundance, but we are unable to sense and perceive it. Man’s efforts cause an influence of the Upper Light, which forms the person, adjusting him or her to its fulfillment. The Upper Light performs all of the work. Therefore, I put in effort to “desire Him,” and the Light works; the Creator and I are partners.

We constantly forget about our Partner, thinking that we need to change and correct ourselves while performing different changes in the society single-handedly, as if everything is centered around and performed by “me.” We forget that we only need to scream out and ask like a little child, and then it will happen. The Light will influence and do everything. The Creator will do “what is necessary,” while we need to guess “what is necessary” and ask Him for this, according to the principle “Make your desire as His.”

We advance too slowly because we constantly forget about correction through the Light by presuming we can win using our own strength. We attempt to transform ourselves and the world, connect the cause and consequence, do the work of the Light and see the result of our work.

At the outset, we forget about the main component, the Light, which gives us the desired form. Subsequently we believe that the outside needs changing and forget that the outside changes only as a result of our inner changes.

The outside world doesn’t change. Rather, our view of the world changes along with our inner qualities, our desire to receive pleasure. As a consequence, a new picture of reality emerges. Therefore, if we fall short of attuning ourselves correctly to spirituality, we can waste years without feeling advancement.

From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson, 4/2/10

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Early in the morning, at first light prior to sunrise (when the Light is starting to be revealed) one needs to recite the prayer, “Hear O Israel.” A person stayed in the night, in the darkness, without strength and under the dominion of his egoistic desire. However, he has done the proper preparation and triggered the Zivug Aba ve-Ima at midnight which started correcting his desires.

This is how a person begins to add the property of bestowal or the Light into the darkness – his big, cruel, egoistic desire to receive sensed as night or darkness. The Light comes to him, but he can’t feel it because this is the Surrounding Light that shines during the night, in the darkness, in the exile from the spirituality.

However, this Light corrects a person and, suddenly, he starts feeling that this is not darkness. The darkness comes only from his side, but, in reality, there is Light. If he, on his side, adds the property of bestowal or the Light of Hassadim, then the Light of Hochma is revealed within Hassadim and “darkness starts shining as light.” That is, the day begins.

In other words, the day starts not because some new Light descends from Above, since nothing changes Above. Rather, a person corrects his desires through his efforts and begins revealing the Light of “day.”

This is when, for the first time, he should recite the prayer, “Hear O Israel.” This is how a day in the spiritual world begins. Later on, he says other prayers, that is, he triggers special acts and the uniting (Zivug) of the Light and the desire.

The Kabbalists wrote a prayer book based on this. It helps us understand the actions we’ll have to perform in the spiritual world when we reach it.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 04/04/10, The Zohar

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We work and prepare ourselves for an ascent to a spiritual degree, but we can only put in effort and nothing else. The action itself is carried out by the Light. A person has no strength to rise above himself. He cannot grab himself by the hair and drag himself out of the egoistic slump.

The result of our whole work is called "labored and found," for the Upper Light acts. The exodus from Egypt is carried out through "an awakening from Above," due to the revelation of a great Light, GAR de Hochma.

The Light is revealed, yet we have no clothing of Hassadim on it, and therefore we cannot perceive this Light. Thus it is called Egyptian darkness, night rather than day, and instead of rising by the spiritual degrees it occurs through a run, a leap. Pesach (Passover) comes from the word "skip" (Pesach).

This ascent occurs with a person as one impulse: outside of time, motion, space, and any human assessments. After all, everything is carried out by a force of influence from Above. Therefore, we need to be prepared for this exit.

It happens suddenly, in a hurry. A moment before a person is unable to imagine the state when he will be right before the exit from Egypt, and that it is just about to happen. It transpires in a completely unplanned manner. And in regard to the transition itself, it is written that when the Creator performs this with us, it is as though we are in a dream….

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The Zohar, Chapter “VaYaera (And the Lord Appeared),” Item 94: Of course he [Abraham] saw them, since they came down to earth in the form of people. They were certainly holy spirits, but when they come down to the world, they clothe in air and in elements of cover and wrapping and seem to people precisely in their form.

There are different ways to interpret this. We perceive reality in the desire to receive pleasure. Everything that we perceive as existing is the desire to receive pleasure that is manifested in matter. What does it mean that it’s “manifested in matter”? It means that reality is perceived in those senses in which I exist on my level.

To perceive beyond this level requires changing one’s properties. I perceive the Light in my desire to the extent of my similarity to the Light. It depicts various images and forms for me. What does it mean that, now, I exist in this world? It means that the Light shines in my properties and what I observe in them is my reality.

If the Light shines for me more and my properties change, I will rise to a higher level which is higher in quality and closer to the Light. By shining in my more corrected and improved properties, the Light will give me the perception of the upper rung or the Upper World. Everything is pictured in a person’s properties.

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A question I received: We have a guy in our group who is stuck in a state of hatred like a billiard ball in a pocket for several years now. After all this time it is clear that he won’t be pulling himself out. How can we help him, what advice can we give? What can he do with such hatred?

My Answer: Sometimes years are necessary to realize the necessity of replacing hatred with love, and another few years for the Upper Light to make that happen within us.

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The Zohar, Chapter “Chayei Sarah (The Life of Sarah),” Item 220: …‘I said that you are all angels and sons of God,’ meaning upon the reception of the Torah. And since you damaged yourselves, meaning sinned, you will indeed die as humans. Hence, that evil serpent that darkened the world cannot govern anyone who engages in the Torah.

Because we study Kabbalah, the Upper Light holds us up like a magnet, while the serpent, the egoistic desire that takes life from us, remains below, and is unable to rule over us. Man rises above his animate life and does not even feel it. We only need a desire for the Light to change us while we are reading The Zohar.

Kabbalah is a wisdom that explains everything that happens in our world and our entire path, but if we want to rise above it, we need a force to raise us to a higher degree. Our mind and our feelings will not help us; we must acquire a new development from the higher degree. We are unable to understand what it is like to live in spirituality, just like a rock is unable to think like a plant and a dog or a cat is unable to understand what it is like to be human; it is the same thing. This is why we need the Upper Force to make this change within us. And we will acquire it from The Zohar.

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