The Zohar, Chapter “BeHaalotcha (When You Mount the Candles),” Item 62: Such is the Torah. It has a body, which is the Mitzvot of the Torah, which are called “the bodies of the Torah.” This body clothes in dresses, which are mundane stories, and the fools in the world consider only that clothing, which is the story of the Torah. They do not know more and do not consider what exists underneath that clothing.  Those who know more do not consider the clothing, but the body under that clothing. But the sages, the servants of the High King, those who stood on Mount Sinai, consider only the soul in the Torah, which is the essence of it all, the actual law. In the future, they will gaze upon the soul within the soul of the Torah.

This passage tells us about the processes that take place within a person. We are the “fools” or the “sages,” depending on the state we are in. A big Aviut (coarseness of desire) reveals itself within us—and we fall down. If we’re able to cope with this newly revealed Aviut by building a screen above it, we become more sensitive, corrected, and can go deeper.

The same applies to our material world: Some people are foolish, others are wise. What does “foolish people” mean? Their desire to receive pleasure is very small. Because they are not developed enough, they don’t penetrate into the “body” (Guf) of the Torah. The “clothing” (worldly stories) is enough for them. Their desire doesn’t demand, obligate, nor force them to reveal the inner essence of what’s written in the Torah.

When the desire to receive pleasure grows and manifests in each person as a part of a global desire (that is the whole system of connections between us reveals itself), we start asking questions about the meaning of our life and about our purpose. At this point, we realize that we all depend on each other, and therefore have to unite. Everything depends on the depth of our desire to receive pleasure (our ego) that is gradually being revealed within us. It helps us to transcend from the clothing to the deeper content of the Torah.

Hence, each person must force himself to connect with others as much as possible. Then, with the help of the group, he will receive a much stronger power of the Light that Reforms. Accordingly, a rougher desire to receive pleasure will be revealed, a person will be able to get deeper into it, and thus will reveal the inner essence that hides behind the clothing.

There are fools and sages within each of us. Therefore, we have to make sure that we are able to deal with the deepest layers of the desire to receive pleasure. Revelation of the Torah happens within the corrected desire to enjoy in correlation to its power and coarseness. Then, Aviut (coarseness) of the desire is transformed into Zakut (purity, subtlety).

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What is the Light that Reforms? In what way does it reform us and how? Imagine the common soul as a circle consisting of broken pieces that are unconnected. We have to restore this connection in order to feel eternal life within the common soul.

Imagine that a sculptor has made a statue of a person and then broke it into pieces. Instead of a whole statue, there is now a pile of broken pieces. These pieces are living souls that desire to assemble back together into a whole statue, but they just can’t manage to “stick” to each other. When they attempt to unite, they discover giant forces of repulsion among them.

They are trying to come closer to each other and to recreate the statue of a person who is similar to the Creator, but they aren’t able to do it. And that’s because they don’t have the glue that will make them stick together.

After numerous attempts to come closer and stick together, the parts become convinced that they are unable to connect together on their own, yet only unity will save them. They then realize that only the Upper Force, the force that created the statue in the first place, and the force that deliberately broke it, will be able to glue these parts back together into a single whole.

However, it will do so only when the parts request it. This request is called asking for the Light that Reforms.

If we desire to unite and ask for help in doing this, then we are asking the Creator to be the force that will unite us like glue. This is how we return to the initial form of the statue – the common soul of Adam HaRishon.

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A question I received: You said that everything depends on the person. What depends on me, and only me alone, at the Zohar Convention 2010 that starts tomorrow?

My Answer: The science of Kabbalah teaches that all of reality is inside a person, and there is nothing in reality besides a person. Everything I imagine as existing outside of me, such as the group, the Creator, and all of reality, is all actually inside of me. Everything is depicted inside me, and only seems external to me, distant, or even opposite.

Our goal is to return to the correct, true state, to reveal the true reality and the One who fills and sustains it. Within this reality we have to attain unity, in order to reveal the One who gives rise to this reality, the One who governs it.

If this is the case, then everything is inside me and everything depends on me. What is the Convention, different gatherings, groups, and all our actions? It’s a demonstration of my own forces where the Creator gives me an opportunity to unite them.

No matter who attends, it means that I have received a special opportunity to unite precisely with these forces or qualities inside me. They are close to correction, to the state in which I can correct my connection with them.

Nothing depends on them. I am the only one who controls this entire system or scheme. What happens depends only on me, and no one else. If I am not in this state of awareness, it means I am on a lower level, in which case I’m worried about things that depend not just on me, but also on others.

I start to worry about wanting them to think and desire the same way as I do, so we will find a connection between us, so from the connection or the lack thereof, or even from our repulsion from one another, we would ask for correction, like at the state beneath Mount Sinai. It is written, “Either you will unite as one man with one heart, or this will become your burial ground.”

This is exactly the state we are in now. We must only desire to unite, since on our own we are incapable of any action, good or bad. All the actions are performed from Above, as it is written, “There is not a blade of grass below that does not have an angel above striking it and ordering it to grow.”

All the changes come from Above. We must only demand correction. The most important thing is our worry about the common unity, since inside it we will reveal the quality of universal bestowal and will feel the Creator. The science of Kabbalah is the revelation of the Creator to the creatures in this world – and this really can happen to us.

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A question I received: Why was The Book of Zohar always treated with respect, and why did it unite people around itself?

My Answer: We exist in an infinite reality where we are all connected to each other. The Book of Zohar is not just a book that any person can pick up from a shelf and begin to read. It is an instrument which allows us to influence the spiritual system, as through we press buttons, and the system reacts. We activate it without even understanding what we are doing; we receive access to a very sensitive sphere.

This is not a book, but a whole system. When we read it and connect to it, we activate ourselves in relation to the system and the system in turn relates to us. We need to understand this and to realize what a great responsibility and special opportunity this is.

Let’s hope that we’ll succeed in activating this system to the extent that it depends on us as small souls that activate it, so it will influence us and reveal unity to us. This unity exists now as well, but we want The Zohar to reveal it – to lift the first, external layer of our egoism and reveal our unity on the smallest, first spiritual degree. This in itself will already be a revelation. So let’s study this book with the expectation for this to happen!

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A question I received: At the upcoming Zohar Convention 2010, if we succeed in canceling our egoistic desires with respect to the common desire, will we be able to reach the first degree and be born into the spiritual world?

My Answer: Yes, this is possible for all the participants of the Convention, even those who come there almost by chance and who have not studied with us for a few months or years. They too can merit the revelation of spirituality along with everyone else. People who wish to come out of their egoism and unite as one man with one heart around Mount Sinai (the mountain of hatred) realize that they are controlled by their egoistic nature – hatred toward others and love for themselves.

Reaching love for one another is a task as difficult as rising to the top of this high mountain of hatred. However, if they desire this, they will attain it. What do you think was so special about the people who came out of Egypt: men, women, the elderly, children, and the whole countless multitude of different tribes that joined them? The 600,000 men who received the Torah are just a fifth of the total number of people who stood around the mountain; they represent just one of five degrees: Shoresh, Alef, Bet, Gimel, Dalet. If we achieve unity in this one degree, the smallest desire of the zero level, and 600,000 people out of three million unite, this is sufficient.

When we receive the means called the Torah, we begin to move ahead with its help. We are able to work on our egoism and ascend through it. This is called “work in the desert,” where we will be able to raise MAN and carry out all the necessary actions. The most important thing is to go through the spiritual birth. also referred to as the “exodus from Egypt.” I believe that we are quite capable of achieving this if we so desire. We have all the conditions and opportunities that are necessary for this.

Everything is open for us from Above. I am completely serious when I say this. Those who join this action and who desire to be with us in heart and soul can merit spiritual revelation, correction, and an exit from exile.

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The most important thing at the upcoming Zohar Convention 2010 is our inner work. We must have the right intention, which will give everyone who attends the Convention and the whole nation of Israel the feeling that if the quality of Israel (Directly to the Creator) that exists in every person, dispersed among the Klipot, will unite as one, this will cause the correction of the world.

Because this opportunity is being revealed to us, it is a sign that we don’t need greater numbers in order to attain spiritual revelation. Since we are given the opportunity to assemble this many forces in the whole world and in Israel, on such a scale, it’s a sign that all we lack is a connection among everyone, rather than lacking more people.

The current amount of people is already sufficient; unity is all we lack. If we unite, then the “candle” will light up. By connecting, we build a common screen, and then the Light will immediately ignite it.

We have the oil — the desire to enjoy, and the filter — the screen, and the Upper Light that is above the filter. When we have a screen that connects our desire to enjoy with the Light, then our desire becomes similar to the Light, since the screen is the force of overcoming, where a person desires to unite with everyone in spite of his egoism that separates him from them. Then, it happens — a connection emerges.

Our entire work, the concentration of all our efforts lies only in this point of unity between the screen and the “wick.” The oil is below, the Light is above, and in the middle there is the point inside of which we must all unite together. Then the candle will light up and begin to burn.

In the past we thought that our dissemination in the whole world and in Israel would bring us Light and revelation. But if we are given the chance to carry out such a great event — the upcoming Convention, the only thing that’s missing is our inner connection. We already have the critical mass.

Right now we must think together with all our friends around the whole world, about how much we desire to ignite this point of contact, this “candle.” We have all the conditions for doing this. We have the chance, and now everything depends on us. We have the oil, and the Light is also present; we have an assembly of souls and a certain degree of connection.

It doesn’t matter how much we know or understand. Every person must only add his own desire for unity between the Light and the oil, as much as he is capable. In other words, each person must overcome his ego to create a wick (bestowal) above the oil (egoism). Then it will happen. But we are the ones who have to create this wick — the screen and the Reflected Light.

It’s impossible to do it alone, but together, it’s easy.

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A question I received: At the upcoming Zohar Convention 2010, how is it possible to carry out so much work and attain the spiritual level in such a short time, just three days?

My Answer: It does not depend on time at all. It will happen the moment we carry out an action of unity together.

When I was in Rabash’s group, we once went through a similar state. I asked him, “What do we need to do in order to realize this state?” He replied, “You need an attack!”

You have to do this yourselves; everything depends on each and every one of you. You have to go into this attack, aspiring to create a connection among you. Then it will happen.

Even people who attend the Convention just in order to take part in the general inspiration, to simply tune in to the common flow, by desiring to become part of it, they will perceive holiness on the first level. It is called the still level, Domem de Kedusha, because it doesn’t require any special abilities on your part. All you have to do is come there and “go with the flow.” Just by doing this, you can merit to come out of Egypt. A person who joins others will also run away from Pharaoh together with everyone.

When we hold a Convention such as this one, a special state emerges because even though we don’t feel spirituality yet, we greatly influence one another when we get together physically. It wasn’t an accident that the Creator made this world, where we are connected physically and can influence one another.

While we sit somewhere far away by a computer monitor or TV screen, we can’t feel each other so well because we don’t yet have the sixth sense. Therefore, coming together physically in one hall greatly influences us and awakens our inner aspiration to unite our desires.

This is why our world exists, because it is precisely the place where we can begin our spiritual work from scratch. In it, we don’t depend on spirituality and can discern and acquire every spiritual quality, making a free decision of wanting it or not.

We have freedom because we are outside of spirituality, and are able to connect with each other in the material world. From here we can begin our spiritual ascent if we desire to do so. If we don’t desire it, then we can keep living merely in our physical bodies.

It’s unrealistic for one person to do it alone, but together it’s easy.

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A question I received: When I read The Zohar, can I convey my impression to others who are reading together with me?

My Answer: It is not an accident that we were created different. The Creator could have made us all the same and produced the same person over and over again. However, instead He created seven billion different people because otherwise it would be impossible to reach the state where we all unite 100% with all our heart and soul at the End of Correction, while maintaining our individuality. The differences allow us to reveal the gap between us in a deeper way. Our unification builds a bridge over those gaps and thereby reveals additional Light.

Although you and I unite with each other, become corrected, and filled with the Light, you will still sense it differently than I. This variance of sensations gives us additional desires to equalize on a higher degree and in a different dimension. This is how we advance.

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The Machsom is the boundary where I receive the force of bestowal. This is exactly what we want to attain – unity among us and the force of mutual bestowal. The moment we succeed at this, it will mean that we have passed the Machsom.

How can we imagine this common Kli, our spiritual vessel? Let’s say each of us comes holding one glass of water and we all pour it into one big bucket. Then it will be impossible to differentiate where is your part, where is mine, and where is someone else’s. This is called unity and mutual inclusion of the desires, which goes on until we all attain a certain volume or measure called “Se’a,” inside of which we begin to feel life.

It’s similar to how there’s a difference between an aquarium and a large water reservoir in that beyond a certain boundary, a water reservoir starts to have its own life, whereas life in an aquarium must be supported artificially. Someone has to feed the fish, supply them oxygen, and clean the aquarium. But if the water reservoir reaches a certain size, it begins supporting its own life. You no longer have to supply it with food and oxygen; it starts to live naturally, on its own.

This boundary is a critical landmark: beneath it things start to die, and above it, things come to life. “Se’a” is the boundary I reach while ascending from below upwards; once I exert a certain amount of effort, I cross the boundary and enter the realm where life begins to support itself. This is exactly how we have to unite our desires.

When we want to revive a dead lake or a lifeless body, we have to put in additional efforts in quantity as well as quality, until we succeed in bringing it to life.

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We have to keep in mind that we are all in one “boat” and part of one common soul. Everyone has to understand that the gathering that will take place at the forthcoming The Zohar Convention 2010 , like all gatherings of a large number of people who aspire to spirituality, is a gift from the heavens.

The Creator has given me an opportunity to take part in this special event where parts of my own soul come closer to me. If I relate to them in this way, with the understanding that I have been placed in an assembly of souls closest to me that are willing to unite with me, and if every individual as well as all of us together think this way, then it won’t be difficult at all.

Everything depends on preparation. During the ten days that are left before the Congress, I have to constantly prepare and attune myself to think, act, and feel precisely this way when I am there. It doesn’t matter when it will happen, today over here, or tomorrow over there. Time and place don’t mean anything. It’s an exercise for me to deliberately think today about what will happen tomorrow; this will help me later on, during the Congress, when all the conditions come together for attaining the required common effort.

This is very important and it determines everything. Later on it will get easier. It’s like preparing for war. If everything is ready and you are willing to do anything for spirituality, then you will see how everything will come together and happen exactly as you had hoped. If you made great efforts from the bottom of your heart, then everything will happen as you wish. There won’t be any unpleasant surprises. Everything will be good.

Imagine how a gang of thieves prepares in the darkness to go on a dangerous operation to rob a bank. Each of them feels that he depends on the rest, and thus he takes care of the rest. There’s a lot for us to learn from this example. The only difference is the goal. If the goal is egoistic and obvious, then it’s very easy and simple to unite. But if the goal is to attain bestowal, which lies above the individual egoistic desires of every person, then it is not easy at all.

Even the examples of our world demonstrate how useful unity can be. The only problem is that nothing can sustain unity besides the Upper Light. Unity can be sustained only by love.

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