The Zohar, Chapter “ Ve’Eleh Toldot Itzhak (These Are the Generations of Isaac),” Item 14: Even though all the people in the world are from Israel, they are all worthy of blessing the Creator. But blessings for which upper and lower are blessed, who are they who bless Him? It is the servants of the Creator. And who are they whose blessing is a blessing? It is them who stand in the house of God at night, those who rise at midnight and awaken to read in the Torah. They are the ones who stand in the house of God at night. And they need both: to be servants of the Creator, as well as to rise at midnight, for then the Creator comes to entertain with the righteous in the Garden of Eden.

In the science of Kabbalah, “midnight” does not correspond to the time fixed by astronomical hours and the rotation of the planet earth. Rather, it corresponds to the state of a person who builds spiritual senses (Kelim) within.

This person is in the state of darkness because his previous level has completely exhausted itself like a grain that rots in the soil. This is a necessary condition for acquiring a new degree; his previous state must “rot” in regard to him.

Then he begins to see a new level from within the darkness, which is formed by the following level and the Upper Light that lie ahead of him. For now it appears as darkness to him because he senses it through his current qualities. After all, every subsequent level is a greater degree of bestowal in relation to the uncorrected will to enjoy that becomes revealed to him.

On one hand, a greater Light shines for him, but on the other hand, he reveals an additional, uncorrected will to enjoy within him. He already has a new level within him, but he perceives it as darkness, a lack of Light within the desire.

Because his additional desire is not yet corrected, he experiences the Light as darkness. This makes him search for a way to change his attitude to his perceived reality. In and of itself reality is always a part of the corrected Malchut, which gradually becomes revealed to him more and more.

A person constantly changes his perception, sensation, and awareness, as well as his attainment of his state. He then demands the Light that Reforms; yet, he does not do it to make reality change, but to change his perception of reality.

Therefore, this person is called “a servant of the Creator” because he understands that in every state, everything comes from “There is none else beside Him.” Only the person’s perception of reality changes as a result of him correcting his qualities (Kelim).

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A question I received: If The Zohar says that everything that happens takes place only within a person, then why do we suffer in the physical world?

My Answer: What is the material world? It is also within me and I divide it into the inner and outer types of perception.

It appears to me that earthquakes happen somewhere outside of me, like in Haiti, or planes crash, or fires start. However, this is due to a flaw in my perception of reality. In fact, everything takes place within me; I just don’t feel that this is so.

It is as if I hurt my leg, but I don’t feel the pain because my leg has been anesthetized.

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A question I received: The Zohar Convention 2010 is getting closer and it feels like a holiday or festival is approaching. In what state should we strive to be during this period?

My Answer: The most important thing now is to focus on the intention. It’s wonderful to feel like you are going to a holiday or a festival, but in truth, we are coming together to do serious inner work. Therefore, our primary concern should be our intention; this is more important than anything else.

There is only one thing that’s of importance: During these three days, will I be able to have the right intention together with thousands of other people who are together with me in one hall, and with millions more people around the whole world who are also joining us internally.  Only the right intention will deliver us to the goal because it draws the force that corrects and unites us, establishing the connection that broke.

This connection was broken only in our perception. We are therefore correcting the “original sin,” and it can only be done through our intention, the raising of MAN, a plea, the “gate of tears.”

I feel that we are at an historic point and I am really concerned about its success. We have to be fearful regarding whether we will be able to attain what we have planned, because it is written that everything depends on the heavens besides fear of the Creator. If we are being given the opportunity to carry out this event, and we have been sent this idea, it means we really have reached the state of being able to study The Zohar and to reveal it to the nation. We can see how it opens people up and draws them toward the spiritual goal.

We want to give people The Zohar with care and love, the way we would treat our friends, loved ones, or outstanding individuals. This is an historic event because The Book of Zohar itself says that it is intended for the time of the End of Correction, the days of the Messiah, in order to lead Israel (meaning those who aspire “straight to the Creator”) from exile to freedom.

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A question I received: What is the “dream” that The Zohar describes?

My Answer: The sense through which we perceive everything (our vessel or Kli) is called “the will to enjoy.” We perceive ourselves and our environment, as well as the whole world, inside this desire. We only feel what this sense is able to “catch,” meaning only the things it decides are necessary and that are similar to it.

Therefore, we don’t feel anything spiritual, since spirituality is all bestowal and love. We simply don’t feel this other world, which is arranged according to bestowal rather than reception. Our current state cannot even be called a dream compared to the spiritual state, because it is below even that level. Our state is called the Kista de Hayuta – a thin illumination which revives us.

This illumination is a Reshimo (informational gene) that gives us a sensation of existing in some reality. But this is only in order for us to then work on rising to the spiritual sensation. The reality that is now presented to us by our senses will then fade, since this feeling is given to us on purpose, in order for us to feel independent of the Creator when we undergo our spiritual development. It enables us to develop on our own.

The level of a “dream” is situated above the reality of this world. In addition, there are many types of dreams – good ones and bad ones. For example, The Zohar tells us about the dreams of Pharaoh’s ministers as well as the dreams of Joseph.

One type of dream is when a person enters it deliberately as he descends from a higher level to a lower level, which is the level of a dream. There is a dream when a state called “night” comes, or spiritual darkness. Then we sleep and dream about a part of the Upper World.

On one hand, a dream comes from unifying with a higher degree. And on the other hand, in order for this to happen one needs to lose the lower degree. In any case, we are talking about states of our desire. The desire may be situated on a level that is completely detached from spirituality – in this world, or on a higher level of being slightly connected to spirituality. The latter is called a “dream.”

A dream is not mysticism; it is the reality of a person who ascends up the spiritual degrees. Either he advances on his own and deliberately enters the state of sleep, or this state is given to him from Above.

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It seems to us that The Zohar talks about the same thing over and over – the three lines. But that is only because the evil inclination is afraid of the three lines. As a matter of fact, the three lines express the principle of connection between all the parts, all the details in reality. However, this union occurs in different forms on billions of levels. Therefore, The Zohar presents this through various descriptions which awaken different forms of connection within you. All this is done in order to attune them to yourself, check, and organize them within you.

In reality, there is nothing except the desire to receive and the intention for the sake of bestowal. However, a new story appears each time because there is an infinite number of different unions. We simply are unable to feel a new mood, experience a different taste, a different connection, or a new revelation each time.

When we begin to feel every action that The Zohar tells us about, then we will understand that it instructs us to check a particular union, a particular action, then another one, and so on. It reveals new connections to us continuously, thereby opening the world for us.

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A question I received: We have just completed a Congress with tens of thousands of participants all over the world who wanted to unite. What were we missing to make the jump to the next spiritual level?

My Answer: We revealed that there are many people all over the world studying together with us, who we didn’t even know about. However, quantity is not the only thing that’s important. We also have to reach a correct, powerful connection. In the meantime every person still has his own idea of unity, but we already have a good, powerful base for creating it.

Now everything depends on how much every person will be able to understand and feel that:

1. The Creator created just one common desire,

2. It was deliberately arranged that we, the parts of the common desire, do not feel our connection as one inseparable whole in Malchut of the World of Infinity. On the contrary, being in this world we feel the broken Malchut, where we don’t even feel our souls but live in an imaginary reality which is nothing like the real one.

In actuality, all of reality is spiritual and we are now in an unconscious state. We perceive the lack of spiritual consciousness as our world and as us in it. Therefore, we must all understand that everything we see now is a fog, our shared fantasy, and we have to make efforts to return to the true reality. The true reality is founded only on our desire to feel our unity, our mutual inclusion into one another and of all of us together.

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When we begin the path of Kabbalah, we gradually come to realize that our perception of reality is divided into an inner world and an outer world, where the outer or external world seems foreign to us. Therefore, we don’t look at it with loving eyes and don’t see it as wonderful in every way, like a mother looks at her child, for instance.

In reality, however, it is to our benefit that we were created with this dual perception which allows us to treat our egoism as something foreign. Due to it we come to know the mistakes and corruptions associated with our egoism and suddenly recognize that it is all within us. It is really a wonder when we realize that all of the evil we see outside of ourselves is in fact our own, because it allows us to redirect our focus from trying to correct the outside, to wanting instead to correct ourselves.

This dual perception originates from the initial opposition between the point of creation which emerged “out of nothing” and the Light. This opposition forces our perception to split into two parts – internal and external. In other words, we see ourselves from the outside (as if it is not us) and then absorb everything inside ourselves. But when we acknowledge that the hatred and evil perceived as outside of ourselves is indeed our own, we connect it to the tiniest spark of our soul (the point in the heart), and the result is a corrected Kli.

It is similar to photo developing, which turns a negative into a positive. Nothing else is needed except changing our outlook, and by this we begin to see everything in what is called “the Reflected Light.”

Our perception is built using sounds, flavors, visual images, scents, and all of our other bodily sensors. Moreover, our perception also defines the levels of our desire for food, sex, money, power, and knowledge. These are “outer fulfillments” which we have to reveal within ourselves. Therefore the same principle can be applied not only to our Kelim, but also to the Lights. Right now this is difficult to understand, but as we begin to sense spirituality, we can feel the world in this way and then everything becomes clear.

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A question I received: I understand that The Zohar doesn’t talk about our world. But how can we use the desires it describes in our daily life?

My Answer: The Zohar talks about our world also. It’s just that you imagine our world in the form of earthy images, like images on a computer screen, whereas The Zohar talks about the forces that create this picture inside you. Gradually, by reading The Zohar, you will begin to understand yourself and the world as a projection of the Upper Forces (or Qualities).

Seeing the connection between the picture and the forces that depict it allows you to understand the Creator of this movie, His plan, and Him. You come to understand Him from within yourself as you reach unification with Him.

Furthermore, even in your daily life you should try to think about the same thing, and that way you will gradually attain an uninterrupted, clear connection between this world or this reality and its Maker, the Creator.

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Our perception of reality is divided into inner Kelim and outer Kelim. The inner Kelim are called “root,” “soul,” and “body.” We perceive them as our “self” and take care of them. The external Kelim are called “garments” and “castles” and are sensed as belonging to someone else, and therefore opposite to our inner Kelim.

The more we love our inner Kelim, the more we hate the outer Kelim. We always separate the two and evaluate one against the other.

There is a border or a breakage between the inner and outer Kelim; we look outward from behind that border with the perspective of: How can I use everything for my own benefit? Therefore, we always look at others egoistically and with hatred. The worse others are doing, the better we feel.

The power of the breaking creates this separation, and as a result, we enjoy our own fulfillment as well as others’ lack of it. We always evaluate our condition according to the border that lies between us and the rest of the world – the worse the world is doing, the better off we are (as long as it doesn’t threaten our personal security).

We are built in such a way that we are frightened only if we hear about tragedies that can affect us personally. If they can’t affect us directly, then we’re glad to hear about them. We always evaluate ourselves against others, meaning, against the external Kelim (“garments and castles”) that seem foreign to us.

An “outsider” is not just someone I don’t care about, but more so – someone who hurts me by being successful and well off. If I earn ten thousand a month while others around me earn only five thousand, then I feel great! But if someone else earns twenty thousand, it causes me disappointment. I am not calmed by having everything I need; it’s also important that others have less. This gives me additional fulfillment, since I am fulfilled when they don’t have something that I do.

People like to hear about tragedies that happen in the world because it makes their own condition seem better, and they hate to hear that someone else won or earned something. In other words, we are not indifferent to the external Kelim, and they still belong to us. However, in our current perception, they belong to us in an “upside down,” opposite form. The more we have a “plus” inside, the more others possess a minus.

This is the result of the power of the breaking, the splitting of the Kelim. There once was a screen above the Kelim that connected them together, but when it broke, a reverse, upside down, world emerged. In it, the bigger people’s egoism, the larger the separation into “me versus the world,” and the greater the distance between people.

When people experience suffering, it forces them to sense their egoism less in order to suffer less. That is why suffering brings people together. When people experience similar kinds of suffering, they join together to reduce their personal misery. In these cases the desires of others are sensed more closely because they’re similar to our own and we know that the same misfortunes might befall us.

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When a person reads, hears, and participates in reading The Book of Zohar correctly, then he has to check the degree of his progress. Of course, we are unable to assess our progress precisely because we don’t understand the initial conditions we are in, what our qualities are, and what we have to attain. The beginning and the end of the path are not revealed to us.

But in any case, based on our sensations we are able to correctly define the phases of advancement and the difference between different states. It should become increasingly easier and more natural to imagine everything described in The Book of Zohar; a person should be able to see that it all takes place inside him, in his qualities. When starting to read The Book of Zohar, it has to become more and more natural for him to immediately start searching within himself for the definition of every word. He has to feel that the book evokes responses inside him to every word, every symbol, and every action.

He then starts to identify the inner system of the souls in which he exists. He starts to see that the body, which he imagines himself to exist in, as well all the space around him – the entire world, the environment, and the whole universe that now appears before him, are all part of his inner sensation. And to this partial sensation he is now adding one more new sensation that The Book of Zohar explains and reveals to him.

These two forms of perception awaken in a person and somehow interact with one another. By means of reading The Book of Zohar, the new form of perception of reality becomes more dominant and powerful than his previous perception of reality.

This is one way to check and assess how much you are advancing at every step of the way. The second way to check is to understand that the point in the heart that was initially given to you only seems to be a point now due to a lack of inspiration, impression, revelation and perception. In actuality, this point includes all the souls, all the worlds, and the entire reality that was created by the Creator.

This point expanded from above downwards in the beginning of creation, when it was created as “existence from absence”; it thus expanded through the four phases of Direct Light, the World of Infinity, and through all the worlds, down to our world. In the same way, we must now expand and broaden this point with our own strength from below upwards. Of course, we don’t have the forces to do this inherently. But when we try to expand this point on our own and when we turn to all its constituent parts – our friends, desiring to receive inspiration from them, then to the degree we are inspired, instead of seeing one point, we start to see many different points that are connected together by a net called the system of souls, or the system of worlds. The system of souls is more internal, while the system of worlds is more external.

That is how we reveal all of reality within the point in the heart that we received from Above. This point expands and we begin to reveal the entire universe in it. A person begins to see that his point in the heart includes all the friends, and later, all the people who are more distant, until it expands to include all of reality. If a person is gaining this vision, perception, and approach, it is a good sign that he is advancing as a result of reading The Book of Zohar correctly.

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