The Zohar is just like the Torah in that there is no need to read it in an orderly fashion. You can open up the book anywhere you want to! It’s similar to Psalms; you can open up any psalm and read it. You can even begin reading any psalm starting in the middle of it.

The most important thing when reading holy books (meaning books written by those who attain the Creator through the quality of holiness, bestowal, Bina) is not what you are reading or the things you read about, but the intention: What do you want to attain by reading?

One way or another you are reading about the Upper World, which you don’t feel or understand. The Zohar is the highest source of all the holy books. It is the most powerful source of Upper Light, the Light of Correction. It’s like an infusion to a sick person, or like a medicine that you take.

What do you want to attain by taking this medicine? What does "being healthy" mean to you? Depending on this, the force of The Book of Zohar can be the elixir of life for you, or a deadly poison!

Therefore, before opening up this book, you must think and feel, attune yourself, prepare and discern: What are you hoping to receive from it now? You are hoping to receive medicine, which is symbolized by a snake. A snake’s venom can be truly poisonous, or it can be the remedy for every illness.

Therefore, before opening up The Book of Zohar, we must have the right intention so instead of attracting deadly poison, we will attract the elixir of life that saves us. When people study the Torah without the right intention, it becomes dry and lifeless. This is even more dangerous when we are reading The Book of Zohar, the greatest source of power.

It wasn’t an accident that for so long The Zohar was concealed from regular people and revealed to Kabbalists. A Kabbalist, meaning a person who attained the right desire, was sure to find this book in some way. It was sent to him through someone or in some other way. He was brought to the place where he could find it.

However, it was not revealed to other people because in the past we were unable to arm ourselves with the right intention. That’s why The Zohar would only have brought harm upon us. Today, however, we open up The Book of Zohar with the intention that it will bring us goodness, that it will become the source of life for us instead of turning into deadly poison.

The Zohar contains such enormous force that we must be careful to open it only together and with the right intention. That is why it has become revealed in our time and offers us incredible opportunities. We want to offer it to everyone.

However, every person must know that only the right intention while studying The Zohar can turn it into the elixir of life.

From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/31/10, The Zohar

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Baal HaSulam, The Study of Ten Sefirot, Part 7, Questions and Answers, Item 7: The Achoraim of Nukva are NHY de Nukva, where there is the principal grip of the Klipot as long as they lack He’arat Hochma. This is so because it is adjacent to the Klipot as it ends the Ohr Atzilut and from it downward begin the Klipot, by way of “Her feet go down to death.”

All anti-egoistic screens that accompanied the desires in their descent from the World of Infinity to the degree of Malchut de Atzilut end at Nukva. The screens end, and the egoistic desires “grip” on Nukva since through her there’s a chance to capture Light.

Nukva, with her nine lower Sefirot, descends to the worlds of BYA (Beria, Yetzira, Assiya) and has no strength to resist the unclean forces (Klipot). Nonetheless, she stays in a particular “balance” with them. When the Upper One resides within the Klipot, and the Klipot are able to “grab” something from it, by the same token, the Upper One is able to “grab” the Klipa, to analyze this desire and correct it. This is what happens constantly in Malchut de Atzilut with the broken souls. Inasmuch as they desire to “grip” on it and draw its Light, it can draw and correct them.

Without such mutual work, when each one strives to draw the opposite side to itself, there wouldn’t be any discernment and correction. Therefore, all our work (as the Torah describes) consists of transgressions and corrections that take place over and over again. All these fluctuations back and forth, from holiness to wickedness and vice versa, occur between Nukva and the broken souls that must discover their broken state.

These broken parts are revealed only when they are joined with Nukva; otherwise, they wouldn’t see that they are broken. As a result of such action, the Creator (Zeir Anpin) is aroused, and so tells the Torah when it describes how the Creator speaks with Moshe and apprehends his people for another sin.

In this way, Nukva reveals in the souls that their desire is egoistic. Nukva lifts a part of the souls that she is able to incorporate into herself up to Zeir Anpin. Zeir Anpin, the Creator, comes and cries, “What have you done?” This is the correct reaction to the desires which soon are going to be corrected.

We simply don’t understand the Torah. It doesn’t speak about any transgressions, but only about how the desires are revealed when they come to correction. At the instant when they are revealed, we “rejoice in the revelation of the wicked,” as Baal HaSulam writes. We rejoice because the “wicked” who aren’t revealed have no chance at correction. And who knows when it’s going to happen?

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/21/10, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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Question: The ARI was the “Messiah son of Joseph.” Who will be the second Messiah, the son of David, and when will he appear?

Answer: Baal HaSulam calls the dissemination of the wisdom of Kabbalah “the call of the Messiah’s horn” across all the nations. The Messiah is a force that corrects souls. Will it manifest through the actions of a certain individual or will it take place at the level of governing forces? Does it matter? The fact is that this whole process is called “Messiah ben David.”

Nowadays the knowledge of Kabbalah is spreading across the whole world and this is leading the world to the general correction. That is why this period of time can be called “the time of the Messiah.” It has already begun. The people of the world have to realize that all problems and catastrophes are caused by our lack of correction. The realization of the cause of the events that happen to us is by itself a revelation of evil inclinations, but it occurs under the influence of the Upper Light. Therefore, it is related to the time of Messiah.

Spiritual liberation (Geula) is in fact a revelation of the united force of bestowal. It is written that “the Messiah will lead the whole world to Jerusalem to teach the Torah.” “The Torah” is a force that releases the property of bestowal in us and “Jerusalem” is a desire through which we attain contact with the Creator. Revelation of the Light that corrects this desire is implemented through the Messiah’s power (unless we all achieve total liberation) through the power of the Light that progressively reveals itself.

However, the Messiah will not come until we achieve a certain level of dissemination of the wisdom of Kabbalah in the world. He cannot descend until the world as a whole fully understands the necessity of correction.

From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/4/10, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot”

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The Book of Zohar, Weekly Torah Portion “Ki Tetze,” Selected Excerpts
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We exist in an ocean of the Light of Infinity which contains all the sacred names of the Creator. These names have to become revealed in our desires to the extent of their similarity to a particular quality of the Creator included in this Infinite Light. This general force, the Light, is called the “Torah.” Of course, today we are unable to value and know it. This is beyond our capabilities and desires.

However, here is what we can do: If we desire to become similar to the illumination that reaches us from this infinite Light, we can reach some partial similarity and feel it within us as the revelation of the “Creator’s sacred name.” Sanctity is above the “body”; it is bestowal or the quality of Bina. After all, the “Creator’s name” is a spiritual vessel, a “Kli,” or a corrected desire (meaning desire with the intention to bestow).

Due to the power of the Light, our desire acquires such a form (intention) that it can establish a connection with the Creator, which is to say, with the Light or the Torah (names of the Creator). In this way, by being influenced by Ohr Makif (the Surrounding Light), we gradually reveal separate qualities and actions within us that are similar to the Light or the Torah.

All this is perceived and measured within us and in relation to us (the receivers) to the extent that we are similar to the qualities of the Light according to the law of equivalence of form. Only by becoming similar to the Light will we be able to feel it.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/11/10, “You Should Always Discern Between Torah and Work”

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The Zohar, Chapter “VaYechi (And Jacob Lived),” Item 26: “And he called his son Joseph.” Jacob questioned his sons and told them, “I see many and great troubles coming over your children. It is necessary to find higher Rachamim [mercy].

Everything described in the Torah, The Zohar, and all the “holy books” (books written by Kabbalists, those who attain the Upper World based on their sensation of that world) takes place exclusively inside of us. Nothing exists outside of us!

Our entire current reality, everything we feel now is intended only to help us awaken to the perception of a new reality, or more precisely, to form it inside of us. We have to change our qualities and then we will form the world to come, a new reality inside us. There is no time or external changes. We are only being awakened with the help of unpleasant states in order to change and see the only true reality, the World of Infinity.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/16/10, The Zohar

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The Book of Zohar, Weekly Torah Portion “Shoftim,” Selected Excerpts
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The Book of Zohar, Weekly Torah Portion “Re’eh,” Selected Excerpts
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The Book of Zohar, Weekly Torah Portion “Ekev,” Selected Excerpts
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Question: Every time I try to focus on the lesson, I discover that I am distracted by countless irrelevant thoughts. What should I do?

Answer: Everything comes from the Creator and is called the “awakening from Above” (Itaruta de-Leila). If the Upper Force instills bad thoughts in you along with the good ones, it is similar to a flood that carries a lot of filth in it. When you attempt to filter the water, the debris rises to the surface. However, it is necessary for you to filter out the “filth” and realize what you are carrying. Therefore, drawing Light that Reforms brings out the sensation of “filth,” showing you how much you still need to correct.

A Kabbalah beginner does not understand the reason behind it all and gets confused; he yearns for the good but experiences terrible states. He does not yet have the inner power to conquer them, nor does he comprehend what is happening. Why then should he undergo such conditions? It is necessary because “no one is as wise as the experienced.” Through continuous study, a person will feel that all such states are necessary.

It can be the other way around, that a person does not experience “filth,” non-spiritual desires and thoughts. This is a sign of the inability to draw the Light that Reforms, which discerns the uncorrected desires that one needs to acknowledge as “bad” and  in need of correction. One must ask for their correction, not their annihilation.

Hence, when we read Kabbalistic texts and feel bad, it is a sign that we are on the right track, and that the Torah serves us as the “potion of life” because it reveals our inner ailments that we need to correct. If, on the other hand, we felt good, confident, proud, and superior, it would be a sign that the Torah serves as the “potion of death,” allowing us to slumber in our egoism and feel more and more satisfied.

Thus, we should rejoice that during our studies, our inner “sinners” become disclosed. This means that the Torah is showing us and correcting our evil; indeed, as it is written: “I created the evil inclination and granted the Torah to correct it.” This is how a person can verify whether he is moving in the right direction toward awareness of his evil egoism within.

The longer we study, the more aware we become that evil resides within us, and our priority is to correct it. With regard to the rest of the world, we should pray for its awakening and basically justify it (“Ladun Kol Echad Le Kav Zhut”).

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/28/10, The Zohar

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