A question I received: It says in The Book of Zohar (in Item 370 of Chapter “VaYetze”) that "No man should ever slight another person in the world." What does it mean to slight someone, or to take someone for granted, in my spiritual work?

My Answer: Taking someone for granted is lacking the sensitivity for a possible connection. It means that right now I am able to find the right connection between the right and left lines, the will to enjoy and the intention for the sake of bestowal, but I don’t make the efforts to do this. This is slighting.

You don’t pay attention to the opportunities that you are given at every moment. You take them for granted. You don’t feel or understand them, and instead you think that everything depends on you. This is called taking something for granted.

We exist in the World of Infinity. All the levels, all the worlds, all of the highest, perfect states are inside us; Reshimot awaken inside us at every moment. Every second the Creator gives us the opportunity to advance, to ascend to a new level. This is called that He revives us.

Unfortunately, we only notice 1/1000^th part of all these opportunities, at best. This is called taking things for granted: It is when we take His attitude toward us for granted.

His attitude is unchanging. He is always teaching us and causing us to advance, but we don’t desire it. Meanwhile, time goes by.… It is written that the Creator replaces one angel with another if a person is unable to establish the right connection with what he is given from Above.

This is a problem, indeed. We are unable to properly interpret the regular states that we constantly go through. This depends on one’s sensitivity. I might be feeling my current state as a huge tragedy, as it is written, "The righteous see man’s evil inclination as great and powerful, as a great mountain, while the wicked see it as a thin thread." Everything depends on your sensitivity, on how much you pay attention and don’t take the details for granted.

This is our work: to be more attentive, to awaken ourselves with the help of the group, which helps each of us understand that at every moment in time we have the opportunity to advance.

This does not mean that they are lecturing me on morals. Rather, if they are all in the state of constant pressure overall, then I also receive these vibrations from them and I am overcome by fear: How can I make sure I don’t miss the opportunities to advance that I am given at every moment?

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/8/10, The Zohar

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When I turn to The Zohar and begin to read, what am I coming with, what am I bringing in my hands for correction? I am bringing big piles of fragments and broken bonds with the other souls. To the extent I regret that they are broken, I can transfer to The Zohar my desire and my need for unity.

Herein lies our only free will: to increase this desire for unity in one another. None of us feel the need to do this, but by connecting to the group and the environment, I begin to desire what I have never desired before, something I couldn’t possibly come to desire on my own. I begin to feel the need to unite with others, and to ask for this unity.

Therefore, each time before we begin to read The Zohar, we must tune ourselves to feel the values of the group, to come under its influence, to “buy a friend,” to lower oneself before the group so that every individual and the group as a whole will be inspired by the need to unite, and will demand correction, which is the restoration of broken bonds.

With this desire, we will draw the Light of Correction. The Light will not come without a reason. We must know precisely what we want; otherwise it will be hypocrisy and not a prayer.

If we come together to reveal this singular desire for the correction prepared for us by the Creator, we will pray for the correction of the shattering. This plea will be answered from Above, and the bonds between us will be mended. Then, together, we will reveal everything The Zohar wishes to reveal to us.

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

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While reading The Book of Zohar, the most important thing is to think about the connection between us in order to become “as one man with one heart.” The Light that Reforms is nearby and everything depends on our efforts to unite with one another in the system of Adam HaRishon.

This Light influences precisely the broken connections among us. If we try to unite and are unable to, then the Light unites us. It says in Item 155 of the “Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot” that a person is influenced by the Surrounding Light to the extent he aspires to know what he studies. What does it mean “to know what you study”? It does not mean to acquire knowledge, as in our world.

In spirituality everything is attained through connection. Therefore, “to know” means to connect, as it is written, “And Adam knew Eve.” Therefore, the more we aspire to connect with one another through the desire for bestowal and love, the more we awaken the Surrounding Light and then the Light of Wisdom (Ohr Hochma). This Light appears and operates only in the place where we desire to unite but are unable to.

Therefore, there is no sense trying to study The Book of Zohar as a science or wisdom since we don’t understand its language or what it is talking about. To understand it, we have to be in the same world.

Therefore, we have to try to unite with one another. Then the Surrounding Light will come precisely into the places where we lack a connection among us. The Light will unite us with each other, and through the restored connections we will feel the quality of bestowal, the Creator, the Light of Hassadim, and then inside it we will reveal the Light of Hochma.

Therefore, our entire study must be preceded by the desire to unite with each other, and we should not forget about this while studying The Zohar. Baal HaSulam writes the following in Item 17 of  the “Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot“: “Hence, the student pledges, prior to the study, to strengthen himself in faith,” meaning in the quality of bestowal, which he desires to attain as a result of the study, so it becomes his life.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/6/10, The Zohar

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The Creator created only one state called the “World of Infinity.” All the changes taking place occur solely within us, and although we exist in the World of Infinity, we perceive only ourselves.

Once, in my perception, I was unified with all the souls and perceived the World of Infinity as boundlessness, eternity, and perfection. Then, my condition and perception changed, and I started to feel that I exist in a dark, defected world full of pain, problems, disorder, pressure, and restrictions. I felt worse and worse until I reached the lowest degree where I found myself in this world, the surrounding reality, together with other people similar to me.

All of this happened exclusively within me, in my subjective perception of reality. Outside of me nothing changed. It is as if by removing my glasses, I see nothing outside of me, but as soon as I put them back on, I begin to perceive another world. This is how our properties changed from the degree of the World of Infinity to the degree where we perceive only our world that has nothing of the World of Infinity.

However, we can return to the state called “the World of Infinity” where all exists in the ultimate harmony, eternity, and perfection, and where the Light, that is, “Good that Does Good,” dwells. How can we achieve it? We have to attain the perception of this state by awakening it in ourselves. The World of Infinity is hidden within us behind numerous layers of concealment. Gradually, by moving from a greater to a lesser concealment, we discover the World of Infinity.

The stages we undergo while coming back to awareness of Infinity are called the worlds or concealments ("world" — "Olam" comes from concealment — "Olama").  Eventually, the concealment disappears and we rise above it. This is what it means to ascend the degrees of the spiritual ladder, the degrees of the worlds, and to rise above the concealment to perceiving increasingly more.

How do we do that? We evoke a state called the “World of Infinity” by reading The Zohar together. This Book describes our connection with the World of Infinity, and it arouses that desire within us.

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/2/10, The Zohar

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The Zohar, Chapter “VaYetze (And Jacob Went Out),” Item 252: But Jethro was not so toward Moses, since Laban was a sorcerer, and he did all his deeds against Jacob with witchcraft. And because now Jacob did not wish to be detained there, since the Creator told him, “Return unto the land of your fathers,” he did not wish to be detained and forsake the commandment of his Master. This is why he did not ask his permission.

There are two kinds of forces. On one hand, there are the forces that prevent us from uniting, called “help against,” which appear to oppose our unification. On the other hand, there are the forces that promote unification. We need them both. We have to recognize the seemingly negative forces, all these “wicked” within us (Laban, Esau, and others) as well as the seemingly positive forces (Jacob, Isaac, and others) against them.

All of these forces work either “for” or “against” our unification. And it is up to us to decide who will win and how. It is then that we discover that all must be as it is described in the Torah, and thus reveal its whole narrative. Where? It’s revealed in the connection among us, as we work with the forces of disunity and those of connection.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/1/10, The Zohar

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The Zohar, Chapter “VaYetze (And Jacob Went Out),” Item 250: But he did not go on his way immediately. Rather, he was detained and worked six years in Laban’s flock, since as long as Rachel was not conceived with Benjamin, he was detained there. When the time came that she was impregnated with Benjamin, he fled and did not ask Laban for permission so he would not be detained there, and so that Jacob would unite with all the tribes in the required place, in the land of holiness.

The science of Kabbalah utilizes a special language called “the language of branches.” If in all our feelings, thoughts, and properties our intention remains “for our own sake,” we sense only the reality of this world. Even the words of the Torah signify to us something that is happening in this material world.

But if we keep the intention “for the sake of bestowal,” each word of the Torah naturally transforms within us into descriptions of spiritual roots and forces. It becomes clear to us that the Torah isn’t saying a word about material objects (like herd, Leah, Rachel, Jacob, and so on) or their physical actions. Rather, it is all about the forces (desires and the Light) with which we sense and interact.

We feel this very clearly without any doubts since the upper sensations and thoughts are much stronger than lower ones. That is why when we read the Torah it never occurs to us that it describes this material world. We perceive everything to the degree of our inner level of correction.

At this point in time, we sense only the lower material world. That is why everything we read or hear about triggers images of this world like sheep, a well, women, men, and various actions that we are familiar with and that are part of this world.

Our efforts while reading The Zohar have to include the following thoughts:

1. The Zohar talks exclusively about the measures of connection among us;
2. We aspire to differentiate between the spiritual forces (desires to bestow) within ourselves, which are named using the words of this world.

We have to imagine them and try to search for them as a little child who tries to grasp the rules of a new game that allows him to grow. By doing so, we rise from the branches of this reality to the roots of the Upper World. Step by step, we try to distinguish the Upper roots; these efforts develop us like children.

That’s why we don’t merely listen to the sound of the words while reading The Zohar. Rather, as Baal HaSulam writes in Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot, Item 155, “Although they do not understand what they are learning, through the yearning and the great desire to understand what they are learning, they awaken upon themselves the Lights that surround their souls.”

The effort we make brings us understanding and attracts the Light that Reforms which corrects us. Within our corrected desires we begin to understand and sense what The Zohar is telling us.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/1/10, The Zohar

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The Book of Zohar – Selections, Chapter “Heaven and Earth”
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The Zohar, Chapter “VaYetze (And Jacob Went Out),” Item 176: The keys to the treasures are on her right hand. These are the third discernment that she brought down with her from Ima to the Garden of Eden, the light of Hassadim whose place is in the right hand, which clothe the Hochma, and which are called “keys to the treasures,” since they open the treasures of the wisdom. Without them, all the treasures of the wisdom would remain hidden, like a lock and bolt.

Ultimately, what is the wisdom of Kabbalah telling us? It explains how we make use of the changes within our desires, which we have certain control over, to become similar to the Creator. All desires come equipped with the original structure, called HaVaYaH, which we cannot change. All the material of the creature, created by the Creator, received its original imprint, its true model called Yod-Hey-Vav-Hey. Indeed, otherwise this material would not perceive the Light as coming from the Creator. And that is why this imprint must be in the material, for otherwise there is no creature; that is, something that feels that it is one, receiving and two, receiving from the Creator.

Therefore, HaVaYaH signifies the very minimum below which there is no creature. The Light must spread through the full four phases of the desire. This form must exist in the material. After the creature already has this original imprint of the Creator, we learn the forms that the creature assumes, adopts from the Creator as it begins to grow in similarity to Him.

HaVaYaH is the perfect structure. Its perfection is either that the creature’s material does nothing, while the Creator imprints everything in it, or that the creature does everything, becoming similar to the Creator and existing in perfect HaVaYaH.

For the creature to exist in perfect HaVaYaH by being similar to the Creator, it must bestow back to Him the ten Sefirot of the Reflected Light, akin to the Creator’s ten Sefirot of the Direct Light. How is this possible? It is possible, if the creature has the power to bestow, which it elevates from Malchut to Keter.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/28/10, The Zohar

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We are inside a system of souls that are interconnected and exist in a corrected state, which was initially created by the Creator. It is written, “The end of the action is in the initial plan.” The Creator does everything with His Thought. He had a plan, and it all came true.

We have to attain the same state through our own work. Why? It is in order to be able to differentiate all the nuances, qualities, and components of that state. We have to feel that we own, sense, and attain it.

That is why we are in the same state, but totally unconscious. What should we do? We should ask for consciousness. I want to see, discover, and feel where I am! Which state in the world I feel is similar to the spiritual state that the Creator made? That state is the connection among people who aspire toward Him.

Right now the corrupted connection among us gives me a sensation I call “this world.” I experience our connection this way because I feel only myself. I am entirely immersed in myself. However, if my senses start to work in the opposite fashion, from within to the outside, then I will feel the true reality where I exist.

This change of the sensation “from within to outside” takes place gradually, along 125 levels, by virtue of our work, our efforts, and our request for it to happen. Where do I implement this entire process in order to avoid living inside illusions, getting confused, and making mistakes? I do it in the group and in my current state. That is where I have to implement it in practice.

This is exactly what I ask for. Everything is very tangible and simple: There is a group in which everyone aspires to attain a connection among them. This is what we ask for while reading The Zohar. Why? Because by reading this Book, we awaken our true connection with the force that rules us, the force called “the Creator.” Then our expectations have a chance of coming true, even if they are inauthentic and artificial. Concerning this it is written, “We will do and we will hear.”

This attitude to our state, to the studies, and to what should happen is called “intention,” and our work is man’s inner work, the work of the Creator. The use of this system through a book and through the force that rules inside us is called the science of Kabbalah.

These are all phases of revealing the Creator to the creation. What is the meaning of “the revelation of the Creator?” It is the revelation of the force of bestowal inside us. That is why the Creator (Bo-reh) means “Come (Bo), See (Reh).” At the end of the day, we are doing the Creator’s work, and that is the entire science of Kabbalah.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/4/10, The Zohar

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The Zohar, Chapter “VaYetze (And Jacob Went Out) – Part 2,” Item 219: When the Creator wished to bring them closer to Him, He gave them the degree of bread of affliction. The bread of affliction is King David, of whom it is written, “For I am afflicted and needy.”

King David is the Nukva. When she receives the illumination of the left from Bina, she is at the same level as ZA, the fourth leg of the throne, Bina. At that time, the Nukva is attached to Bina and does not mate with ZA, her husband. Hence, she is poor and without light, and she is called “the bread of affliction,” since the Hochma does not shine without Hassadim. At that time, it is written, “For I am afflicted and needy.” And this degree of the Nukva is her first degree.

It would seem that abundance exists in the Light of Hochma. However, what good does it do you if you can’t use it? Without clothing it in the Light of Hassadim, it only brings you darkness. It is preferable not to have the Light of Hochma before you receive the Light of Hassadim. All of your abundance reveals itself within the Light of Hochma to the extent that the Light of Hassadim is present.

Hence, abundance is measured only by the degree of the Light of Hassadim in the spiritual vessel (Kli). Hochma can shine only to the extent of the presence of Hassadim. This explains why “the bread of affliction” implies that you already have the Light of Hochma, but still lack the possibility of its revelation since you are in need of the Light of Hassadim, that is, you experience the absence of bestowal and love.

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

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