A question I received: At the last Convention I saw some long-time students who were irritated and in a bad mood. Why? Is this is a sign of one’s advancement if they feel hate instead of love?

My Answer: The Zohar says that when the students of Rabbi Shimon were getting ready to study, they would conceal their hatred for each other and would look for ways to feel love above the hatred. This love is the result they demanded from the study (see The Zohar, Chapters “Ki Tissa (When You Take),” Item 54 and “Aharei Mot (After the Death),” Item 65). And indeed, the miraculous force contained inside the Kabbalistic texts brought them that love and they rose above their initial, natural hatred. Moreover, the hatred was not revealed to them accidentally, but as a result of their study and great efforts.

When a Kabbalah Convention takes place, it is a very significant event that causes a person to go through many states. One cannot always be in a state of ascent where he deems bestowal and spiritual ascent above all the earthly things.

A large assembly of people attracts a powerful Light by virtue of their common desire, and this Light begins to “shake them up.” This is why the people there go through many contradictory states: love and hate, understanding and confusion, joy about how fortunate you are to be there, and the next moment, you find yourself wondering what you are doing there at all. This is the manner in which spiritual states are quickly processed within us. You go through more states in one day of the Convention than in half a year of study during regular life!

Nevertheless, in order to use the time of the Convention most effectively, one must go through these states consciously and be ready for them. Thus, everything depends on one’s preparation to the Convention.

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We could not begin studying The Book of Zohar any earlier. Students simply would not have been able to tolerate it. Although new students see that now people who have been studying for a few years can open The Zohar and feel that redemption truly comes from it, these new students don’t yet have that same need. They perceive this book as being completely incomprehensible, dry, and unfit for a beginner. They want something that is more directed at logic and feelings.

However, we need to take into consideration the following condition: The majority of the group that has been on the path for many years is on such levels of development that they need this book. The moment this group achieves a state where it can finally comprehend The Book of Zohar, the Surrounding Light completes its work on them and will bring all of them across the Machsom.

So what will happen to the newcomers? We will always have newcomers. Until the very End of Correction, there will always be people who have been on their path of correction for many years already, and those who are just beginning. So what do we do?

The instant the main bulk of the students, who are now leading, began to study The Book of Zohar, this shortened the time for all the others! If new students join the others, these newcomers can perform a leap in their development.

We see this through the example of a child in our world. A child is born into this world and already he is benefitting from all the preparations and efforts the world of adults has made for him. Completely unaware of these arrangements made for him, a baby is born in a maternity unit of a hospital equipped with specialized instruments and machines to care for him. Ready for the baby are: diapers, special foods, and a multitude of products and services. Nearly half the world is devoted to providing children with everything they need.

A child is included in the whole world and grows with his generation. He doesn’t start from the beginning, from the primordial state of 20,000 years ago. He joins his modern generation at their level of development with all their advancements. He immediately falls into our contemporary degree, surrounded by computers, cell phones, and mp3 players. We give him all the best things that we were able to create.

In spirituality it works exactly the same way. When “children” come, when they have just been “born” and don’t have anything, we must provide them with everything that befits our generation of mature students.

They will assimilate it all quickly and grow even higher than us.

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The Zohar, Chapter “Bamidbar (In The Wilderness),” Item 36: This explains the reason for the journeying of the banners, which were east first, which is the hidden Daat, the beginning of the light, the root of the light of Hesed that appears from AVI. This is why the south follows it, for it is its branch. And following it is the west, which is Malchut, whose face should turn to the south. And following it is the north, for the back of Malchut should turn to the north, as it is written, “Let his left hand be under my head, and his right hand embrace me,” and “under” always means Achoraim.

This passage of The Zohar speaks about the form in which the entire structure of a person develops and advances forward, and the order in which one’s qualities change. Every one of us is HaVaYaH, in addition to being divided into three lines, twelve tribes, four phases, and so on.

All of these qualities change in us during the period when we “wander through the wilderness.” So what is the form that is passing through our impure forces (desires), through our uncorrected qualities, which are called “wilderness”? Moreover, as we run into hardships, problems, and obstacles in this wilderness, how do we nonetheless continue clarifying our qualities so as to draw nearer to the “land of Israel” (desire for the Creator)?

“Banners” are our primary qualities with which we try to advance, changing them one at a time. Just as with an embryo, first the arms develop, and afterwards the legs, brain, heart, kidneys, and then the eyes are formed (there is a particular order by which a drop of semen develops into a human being); similarly, there is an established developmental order concerning spirituality. The Zohar explains the order by which we develop after being born from our egoistic desire.

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A question I received: Why is it that in the process of correction some people actively strive toward spirituality, aspire to teach and create the method of correction, whereas others have enormous earthly desires and merely take a passive part in this process by helping in some way?

My Answer: This division does exist, but it isn’t so clear cut because even the people who aspire to spirituality are divided into different levels. We know that in our world, too, there are people who simply “do” as well as others who want something greater. As a result, each person occupies a certain position that is sufficient to satisfy him and does not want any more responsibility beyond that.

There are many reasons that seem to justify why this is so, but in essence everything is determined by one’s desire. All of humanity is built as a pyramid, including the part of humanity that aspires to spirituality. Some people are willing to keep going until the end and won’t stop for anything until they attain equivalence with the Creator. They won’t settle for anything less. Every person finds his own place according to his desire, work, efforts, and inner aspiration. Everything is determined by the root of one’s soul because this is what one has to realize.

There is no soul higher than Moses; he is the spiritual leader who led the entire nation out of spiritual exile to freedom, thus performing a great correction in the souls. However, this correction only occurred within a part of the souls, whereas now we are awaiting the Messiah who will perform the general correction of the whole world. The Messiah is not a person, but the Light that will bring all of us out of spiritual exile (in Hebrew the word Mashiach originates from the word Moshech – to pull out).

Perhaps there will be a spiritual leader in the form of a person because people are able to perceive the method of correction and to see an example precisely in this form. Alternatively, it might be a group that will hold the spiritual leadership over the world and set an example of how to work together while rejecting one’s personal egoism and elevating the Creator. They will be able to explain the goal of creation to everyone, to show what the Creator demands, and to set an example of love and bestowal, a spiritual union. This will constitute the Sanhedrin, the world’s spiritual leadership.

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There are many people living in our world who have no idea how it operates. They are unaware of the structure of social and governmental systems, the laws of nature, the orbiting of planets, and the various connections that exist between people. People can live a very simple life, knowing only what is needed to get along day by day and never burning with desire to know more about how the world functions. In contrast, in our world, some people are more interested and curious to know more, and they research the systems that operate on the world.

The same is true about spiritual existence. Not all people who acquire spiritual perception endeavor to delve deeply into it. They are naturally limited by the root of their soul, which does not demand any more than its level. In other words, it performs its function at its intended place and nothing more is required.

The root of the soul demands more of others who are meant to research the spiritual world. These are Kabbalists. Similar to scientists who examine our world, Kabbalists investigate the entire system of the spiritual world in detail. Kabbalists are meant to come to complete spiritual attainment and perception. This is according to the root of their soul, which compels Kabbalists to include everyone within them and to scrutinize all the details in the spiritual world through synthesis and analysis in order to correct their souls. It is to the extent that one’s soul demands correction that the general reality is perceived by that person.

And it is the degree to which one corrects himself by which he is judged. If one’s correction is 100%, then he is equivalent to the great Kabbalists and is equal to them in all ways. In spirituality, there is no division of people by important and unimportant. It matters that one has done all that was required of him.

Spirituality is a world of bestowal. The approach is a bit different than what we’re used to; a person enters spirituality, looks back, and realizes that he hasn’t done anything! There is nothing left of what a person once fought for or the actions he had performed. Hence, one becomes surrounded only by pure bestowal.

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A question I received: We live our lives in hopes and never achieve pleasure. What will happen when we acquire the desire to bestow? Will we be able to feel pleasure then?

My Answer: When we transform the egoistic intention into the bestowing one, time ceases to exist. The very notion of time disappears because there is no past, present, or future in spirituality. Being in the attribute of bestowal, we don’t inquire about cause and effect. We delight in the act of bestowal that we find ourselves in, needing nothing else. Having the opportunity to bestow is our reward.

But don’t we care about the results of our actions? An opportunity to bestow is the result. For this reason, the concept of time disappears and everything is at absolute rest.

Egoism promises us the future, while in spirituality, there is no future; everything happens in the present. The future is felt only if I reveal the lack of bestowal in my current state, only if I want to bestow more and aspire to it. It’s as if I desire to go from the small World of Infinity to the big one.

This, too, is possible only through “magic,” through egoistic desires that are helping me. They reveal to me the deficiencies of my state, the impurity of my bestowal.
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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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A question I received: It’s not entirely clear how the Light that Reforms operates, or the special force (Segula) that is contained in The Book of Zohar.

My Answer: It’s impossible to understand it, which is why it is called a “wondrous quality” (Segula) or a miracle. It’s when you use something that isn’t real.

I am told, “Jump up and down ten times and a light bulb will light up on that wall.” I don’t know the connection between one and the other, but meanwhile, someone might have set up a sensor beneath the floor that causes the light bulb to light up when I jump ten times. I don’t know about it, but obviously, there is a connection between the two. This connection is concealed from me and that’s why it is called “Segula.”

Segula is a law existing in nature that I am not familiar with. Those who have already researched it tell me, “Use it in the following manner and you will cause it to operate. Although you can’t see how, you do set it in motion.”

Baal HaSulam says that if an alien were to come to our planet and compare a human baby with a day-old calf, he would think that the calf will grow up to become Napoleon and the human baby will grow up into a miserable toad. What else could come of that helpless creature?

Yet, we know that if we feed these two creatures and give them everything they need, one of them will grow up into an animal whereas the other will grow up into a human. This is a miracle (Segula). Although we are used to seeing this happen, in reality it’s a miracle. Just think of how a tiny baby suddenly starts to understand, react, and perform various actions. Day by day he starts having new skills, which come from within him. But where do they come from so suddenly? We don’t do anything about it, so why does it happen?

This phenomenon is completely habitual for us and we simply understand that this is how the developmental process works. However, essentially this is the revelation of life’s force, the spiritual force that operates in creation and becomes expressed in this manner.

The same thing takes place in our spiritual development. Spirituality is not somewhere far away, but is a system that is slightly more concealed from us and that we are not used to. However, in a short while people will start to use it the same way as everything else because these are laws of nature.

Kabbalists tell me, “There is a force in nature whose influence you can evoke upon you. How? Pick up The Book of Zohar and start reading. The more you read it, the stronger, smarter, and more sensitive you will become, and then spirituality will be revealed to you. Why? Because this book changes you.”

You might object, “But aren’t there many other Kabbalah books that change me?” Yes, there are, but the other books only work to arrange your inner inclinations, qualities, and abilities. They merely organize your inner system and develop it, whereas The Book of Zohar performs a special change in you because you can use it to evoke a higher influence upon you. The result of this book’s influence is called a miracle because you begin to perceive, feel, and reveal a different system inside you. This, in turn, helps you to open up a new, spiritual world.

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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: Why is The Zohar very complicated?

My Answer: I spent two years studying anatomy in college, where I learned an infinite number of details and names. And this science only studies individual parts of the human organism, not the links between them. But there are systems within it that we do not even know exist. Though we try, we cannot completely examine the systems that we do know because there is no end to their complexity. Basically, this question is not about The Zohar, but rather about why all of nature is extremely complicated.

The Zohar presents all of reality to us. This includes man, nature, all the worlds (this entire system), and not only its structure, anatomy, parts of this system, and links between them, but its entire operation, function, and its revelation to each one of us according to our position within it.

Our world is like a grain of sand in relation to all the spiritual worlds. There, every element is a billion times greater, not in size, but in complexity in all the connections. The higher the level, the more complicated it is because it incorporates all of the lower degrees.

Where does this complexity come from? In reality, it is infinite. But we need some kind of a boundary, otherwise the object escapes our sensations and attainment. “Lack of boundaries” is like the absence of everything; to me, infinity equals the lack of existence.

This infinite variety of the Upper World emanates from the opposite qualities of the Light and the desire (Kli). They are completely opposite and there is no connection between them. If I wanted to build something between them using their connection, I would get an infinite system.

I am speaking from the point of view of mathematics, and not a spiritual perspective. Take a “1” and a “0,” between these two points there is infinity. It is impossible to connect them. How many numbers are there between zero and one? An infinite amount.

Thus, it turns out that we are unable to perceive this with our brain and with reason in our world. But when we come out of our limitations of the desire to receive, rise above it to another dimension, the desire to bestow, the problem disappears. Everything shifts from the quantitative measure to the qualitative measure. And we easily manage qualities because we perceive them through feelings and not our brain. And our feelings have no problems feeling things that lack precise measure.

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