It is written: “I created the evil inclination and the Torah for its correction.” We have gotten used to all these sayings and think that they are just pretty words about the Torah. However, in reality, this is all very profound and serious. If we do not approach the Torah studies correctly, we suffer from it. The Light is a powerful force that influences us, and with its help we can reach either goodness or the opposite.

This “opposite” is also a path, meaning that revelation of evil lets us achieve goodness as well. We see this through the example of the last exile. Exile means that we are torn away from spirituality and have no chance to reach a connection with the Creator until the end of the exile. However, how can we study the Torah while we are disconnected from spirituality and have selfish intentions? All your studies will be for the sake of self-gratification, receiving a reward, not even “Lo Lishma,” that is, they will be completely devoid of the right intention.

Yet we already understand that precisely because we study the Torah (the external Torah, not Kabbalah) during the exile, we thereby draw the Surrounding Light. But instead of bringing us closer to correction, this Light distances us from it. This means that we use the Light of the Torah as a “potion of death.” However, thereby we discover that we are immersed in evil, and with the descent of the generations, when “the face of the generation has become like the face of a dog,” we reach a state about which it is written: “And the sons of Israel cried out from this work.”

In other words, whether we are in the state of spiritual attainment or the exile, we constantly use the Light of the Torah, doing so either from the negative or the positive side. Without this we would never be able to reach a sensation of exile, the need for redemption.

Therefore, now, when we exist in such a special state which Baal HaSulam calls “the generation of the Messiah on the threshold of redemption,” it is very important for us to understand that all this is a condition given to us from Above. We, however, haven’t accepted it yet. What does this mean? It means that we were given an opportunity to start using the same Light that Reforms, the Light that returns one to the Creator, in a new way, so that it will return us to the Source instead of distancing us from it as it did during the exile.

During the exile our intentions were constantly directed at ourselves: how can we benefit by using the Torah in this world and in the future world? Now we need to change our intentions. Due to this we will change the influence of the Surrounding Light on us, and it will truly return us to the Source – directly to it, rather than through its reverse side.

Hence, now we need to primarily think about the intention with which we approach the studies. The more clarified, desirable, and precise our intention will be, the better we will organize ourselves in such a way that our prayer will become a “group prayer,” and we will all unite into one whole standing opposite to the single Source. The more we do this, the more we will advance.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/23/10, The Zohar

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If a person’s actions are directed at uniting with the friends, he very quickly discovers the need for direct connection with the Creator who should aid this unification. Every action should lead us to the correction of the breaking, to unity among us, and then the need for the Creator’s influence for the quality of bestowal and love will manifest in it.

Thus, three components of our state – the Torah, Israel, and the Creator – are revealed. The Torah is the force that creates the desire (the world is created through the Torah), the force that corrects the intention of the desire ( the Light that Reforms), and the force that fills the desire (pleasure and wisdom, the goal of creation). “Love your neighbor as yourself” is the general rule of the Torah. Israel (one who aspires to the Creator, the soul) is the common Kli (the unification of souls, Shechina). The Torah is the Light, the force that corrects. The Creator is the inner source of this force.

Together we create the condition for unification and a mutual guarantee. We prepare the place for the revelation until “the sons of Israel cried out from the work,” that is, when we require His help. We see the comparison of the society and the Creator in almost all of the descriptions in the Torah. Without the society, we are unable reach the Creator. Therefore, the group is the means. It is the Shechina, Knesset Israel (Assembly of Israel), the collection of souls which ask not to stay in the dust (egoism). All the articles state this.

A person forgets about the need for connection with the Creator since this goes against his nature. However, this connection will appear in our nature if we unite into a group. If I am not connected to a group, then I am not aiming at the Creator and will not find the direction to Him.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/19/10, Article, “On My Bed At Night”

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The Book of Zohar, Weekly Torah Portion “Dvarim,” Selected Excerpts
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A question I received: Why do Kabbalists often write that they don’t want to add to what was already stated by their teachers?

My Answer: It is written that there was no greater prophet than Moses. So what can the Kabbalists after him possibly write about? What can be added to what is said in the Torah? They try to give a greater explanation of Moses’ revelation of the Creator. They receive nourishment from this primary source and try to present it to their students in a way that will allow them to understand the inner meaning more correctly.

Let’s suppose that we both went to a store, bought the same foods, and later prepared this food, but each according to our own taste. It is written that “everything that any Kabbalist is destined to reveal has already been revealed by Moses on Mount Sinai.” He revealed the Light of Infinity, which contained everything. Meanwhile, by correcting ourselves, we reveal parts of what already exists.

The Kabbalists of the past knew much more than their followers, but they did not know how to reveal their attainments. With our work, this generation is completing the general development and revealing the greatest desires (NHY – Netzah, Hod, Yesod) and therefore the most immense Light (the level of Neshama). The great Light of Hochma comes into the desires (Kelim) of the patriarchs (KHB – Keter, Hochma, Bina) and with every lesson a greater understanding of the system of creation is revealed to us.

So what is the essence of Baal HaSulam’s revelation? He arranged everything in order, in a system where everything is connected. The science of Kabbalah is a revelation of inner connections, an analysis and synthesis acting in parallel with each other, the analysis of parts and their connection. And all this occurs within the created being while he is supplied with vital energy, starting from the level of food on the animate level and continuing all the way up to the spiritual degrees. Our whole life consists of processes of fission and fusion.

For the time being, we are unable to reveal this order. We act according to the principle: “Do everything in your power.” Certainly this order already exists, but you just haven’t clarified it for yourself yet. For the time being you are not replicating all of the Creator’s actions; you are fussing like a foolish child. However, gradually your actions will become more and more sensible, and you will be careful not to do anything that is senseless. This is how a person grows in spirituality.

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/1/10, Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot

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The Torah talks only about how to unite all the souls together and mend them into a single soul. It is written, “I created the evil inclination, and I created the Torah for its correction because the Light in it Reforms.”

The Light of the Torah returns us to a single desire. The whole narration of the Torah is devoted exclusively to describing the process of unification among the souls. The Torah talks about the forms of connection between parts of ZON (Zeir Anpin and Nukvah) in all spiritual states. Therefore, the Light from these states of connection restores the connections between us and returns us to the source: the Creator.

It is difficult to imagine how unification of a single soul’s fragments can be elucidated so extensively, yet, the whole Torah tells us only about this. Although the Light of the Torah comes from a single soul, it passes through the systems that were created after its breaking. For this reason, it has adapted to our broken state and has the ability to correct it.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/30/10, The Zohar

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A question I received: If only Kabbalah is necessary for the correction of the soul, why did the sages of the past create so many commentaries on the Torah, Mishna, and Talmud? How does this all help us?

My Answer: If, after several years of studying Kabbalah, you reach the correction for sake of bestowal (Lishma), you’ll be able to open the Talmud and delight in it. You’ll begin to understand all the laws described in it according to their inner essence, the science of Kabbalah. You’ll grasp what these great sages of the past wrote about.

At present, their language simply confuses you and conceals the world of the truth from you. Later, you’ll understand it all because you’ll reach the degree at which the sages wrote their commentaries. You’ll experience the same states that inspired them to write them. For you, these texts won’t be any different than the Kabbalistic articles.

Using words such as a “bull,” “donkey,” “cow,” “harm,” “Temple,” the “Great Assembly (Sanhedrin),” “fields,” and “property,” the sages expressed the process of the correction of the soul. The entire Torah speaks solely about the correction of the soul and its equivalence with the Creator; it is all names of the Creator.

When one commentator argues with another, this depicts the eternal argument between the left and the right lines, the measures of reception and bestowal, and clarifies how to combine them correctly. The Talmud explains the spiritual processes in the most precise details. Right now you are so tangled in them because you think that it’s talking about a thousand different opinions. Later, you’ll understand that this is not a thousand points of view, but a look at the same, single phenomenon that can be corrected from a thousand different angles.

These are not sages arguing between themselves, but the souls of the common system explaining to you how each quality is related to all the others, or, in other words, how each organ, an individual soul, is related to the work of the collective soul Adam.

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/31/10, Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot

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Тhe Zohar is written for people who wish to attain the purpose of creation and yearn for the Light that brings them back to the Source. Without the Light, it’s impossible to correct our desires and unveil the Creator in them. This is why The Zohar, like the entire Torah, can either be the “elixir of life,” or a “deadly poison.”

One has to check his intention before approaching The Zohar and the Torah, in general. If with the help of studying he wishes to attain the Light that Reforms, the Torah becomes an elixir of life for him, as it is written: “I created the evil inclination and handed down the Torah for its correction, because the Light in it Reforms.”

If, however, a person isn’t yearning to bestow, meaning return to the Source, but studies The Zohar motivated by his will to receive pleasure and be filled; if he is pursuing other objectives (which is called “idolatry”), then, his studying turns into a “deadly poison” and distances a person from the purpose of creation.

Therefore, we must be cautious and remember that during our studies, especially while reading The Zohar, we are preparing our desires for the Creator. We want Him to give our desires the strength to bestow and as a result, to reveal Himself in these forces of bestowal.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/27/10, The Zohar

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The Light acts on our will that is similar to Him. This measure of congruence of the will to the Light is called faith. If I read Kabbalistic sources with a purely egoistical desire and purpose, they will not affect me.

The point in the heart is a broken point; it draws a person to spirituality but only because he feels bad. He isn’t yearning, yet, for the “Good that does Good,” for bestowal and love. So far, he merely isn’t satisfied with earthly life: The future is dark and life has no purpose. These simply provide an egoistic motivation for seeking spirituality. But the Light cannot affect such desire even from afar. It acts on the will according to the measure of faith in it, that is, it acts only on one’s yearning for bestowal.

Faith is tested by a person’s devotion to the path and purpose. One must check the purity of his intention to attain the quality of bestowal. Faith itself, the attribute of bestowal, is received from Above as a reward for efforts made. When one is deserving, then the “night” will end and he will see “the light of day.”

If a person uses Torah for his own egoistical fulfillment, it becomes the potion of death for him. This means he is not only “spiritually dead,” but also he is “drugged” by death because he thinks that it is spiritual life! He raises his egoism even higher and cannot believe that he is living in deception.

Exit into the truth: If we do everything together, if everyone receives from all others such forces that one can easily demand the Surrounding Light (Ohr Makif) to act on him, then the path becomes a wonderful adventure. Just cling on to each other!

If you stay alone, there immediately grows a wall before you. If you unite with the others in order to walk together, the wall immediately falls and spreads itself into a wide highway. There is either a wall or the highway. The choice is to be among friends each moment or not. Everything is done by the Upper Light; we must obey only this one condition.

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/27/10, Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot

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A question I received: From time to time I witness your discussions about the state of the group and everyone. I am amazed that you are still so uncorrected and low; that the group is not a group yet, and there is no feeling of solidarity. Where is your advancement?

My Answer: Thank you for the question. Perhaps it will help you understand your own state. The higher a person rises, the more corrupt and weaker he sees the group and himself. This is because the Upper Light (Ohr Makif) shines on a person and he and the group see themselves in relation to the higher levels. When they talk about themselves and a stranger overhears them, he thinks that he is at the same level with them and even higher. The stranger does not see such problems in himself because he is measuring himself against the level he is currently on.

With regard to this, it is said that "only righteous people can follow the straight paths of the Creator." After they discover all the corruptness in themselves they justify the Creator who reveals such states to them because "There is none else besides Him."

For example, look how the people of Israel sin with every step they take towards the Torah on their spiritual path. Yet a stranger believes that he is better than those who have devoted themselves to spiritual advancement. This is because he does not have the three lines to go above oneself, against common sense. As it is said, "Torah’s view is opposite to that landlords." (Da’at Torah Afucha Mi Da’at Baal-Abaitim). Their incorrect (earthly, egoistic) understanding of our states distances them from us and this is best for all of us.

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The Torah is the force of correction, and it changes us to equivalence with the Creator. When we become similar to the Creator, we are called “Adam,” and each of us is called “Ben-Adam” (human being) on his part. Adam means “similar” (in Hebrew – Edame) to the Creator. Thus, a “human being” isn’t one of the billions that exist in our world, but one who achieves equivalence to the Creator.

However, in order to elevate oneself to the level of the Creator, in order to implement the Torah, a sufficient desire is necessary. We are consumed with earthly concerns, so how can we be concerned with the aspiration to spirituality, with elevating ourselves to the next dimension? This is part of the preparation for receiving the Torah. It’s written that the Creator gives us the Torah every day. This means it is always ready for use and it depends only on our desire.

Therefore, first of all, I need to cultivate the desire to rise from my animal degree to the entrance into a new world, which is the spiritual world. However, if I don’t have this desire, I’ll live like an animal and I won’t notice this means since I don’t experience any need for it; I don’t want or understand anything that goes beyond the realms of this world. Otherwise, I could already be advancing to the spiritual world. So far, I don’t have a sufficient desire in order to use this means to enter the Upper dimension. Thus, I need to prepare myself for the reception of the Torah.

Only if I reveal the evil inclination in me and clarify what it is that I need to correct in order to reach the Creator (love and bestowal), do I prepare myself for receiving this means called the Torah. Engaging in the Torah means extracting the Light that Reforms from it. I need to aspire to it and desire it to correct me. I need to open a book as though I receive medicine from it, without which I am doomed to die. Are there many people who study the Torah this way in our world?

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/17/10, “What is the Preparation for Receiving the Torah?”

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