The Zohar, Chapter “Tetzaveh” (Command), Item 18:  And when the light of Butzina illuminated in the letter Yod, from the part of illumination of the Yod, the three points of the Yod—Holam, Shuruk, Hirik—expanded, became two lines, and the middle line connected to them in Hirik. …Then these four points expanded and became one Heichal…. hence there are only four points in each of the two letters Hey, and not all nine, as in the Yod. This is because each has only one Behina of the Yod—one has Toch and the other Sof.

Baal HaSulam explains that the tip of the letter “Yod” which was made by the Creator “out of nothing” includes everything within it. The Light and the point “made out of nothing” constitute complete opposites; the Light is round and so is the darkness which stands opposite to it.

How does the Light, by acting within desire, generate various forms of desire? If the Light and desire stand against each other, why doesn’t the Light influence desire evenly? The secret is that the Light influences desire not as good influences evil or the Light darkness. That being the case, a small black point “Yesh Mi Ain” (existence from absence) would simply expand. Rather, the Light carries the “Thought of Creation” to please the creature; it bears the Creator’s desire to not only fulfill the creature, but to also transfer the Creator’s inner essence to it, thus making the creature similar to the Light.

In other words, the Light carries within itself two qualities that impact the “dark point.” This is why the dark point not only expands, but also develops in different directions. This gives rise to the forms which we call “letters.”
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From the Evening Zohar Lesson 5/31/10

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The Book of Zohar – Selections, Chapter “Tetzaveh (Command),” Item 82
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Writings of Rabash, Shlavei HaSulam, Article: “Which Degree Should One Achieve?”
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A question I received: Why, ever since we started studying The Zohar, do we experience so many ups and downs, and why are they so strong?

My Answer: We feel these fluctuations because we are now entering the process of healing. Each time when I feel an ascent or a descent, it signifies that I have realized one more Reshimo (a spiritual record).

I don’t know how many Reshimot I have. Yet, I have to go through all of them one by one; I can’t jump over or skip any of them. I have to realize all the Reshimot on my path, moving by the chain of Reshimot from this world to the World of Infinity. And the path to the World of Infinity is the path of my connecting with other souls into a single whole so as to discover the Creator there.

For this reason all the states that I’m going through signify my realizing the Reshimot. Hence, the faster one experiences the changes, the better. Most important is to continue.

Here we have to act above reason. We need to set an exact time for the studies, for spreading Kabbalah, the group work, and unification with the friends. We should remember the goal throughout the day, and remind ourselves about it with an alarm clock or a text message. We should use all the means possible to realize some more Reshimot, one after the other. This way, “A penny after a penny adds up to a big sum.”

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/2/10, The Zohar

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A question I received: From what part of the spiritual world does the Light of The Zohar come down to us?

My Answer: It comes from Rosh de Arich Anpin in the form of the Surrounding Light, for the Light of The Zohar is the Light of Infinity, the upper shining. This Light does not “come to us,” but rather shines upon us “from afar” and brings us back to the Source. It shines upon us through all the worlds that reduce it, and illuminates our desires that are opposite to it.

This is not the “direct” system of connection based on the screens and the Inner Light received, whereby the Light is revealed to the measure of one’s ability to bestow. Rather, since I don’t yet have the screen, the Light acts upon me from afar, and not to the measure to which I can receive for the sake of bestowal, but in the measure I can heal myself with its help.

Sometimes a person comes to a doctor who tells him: “What can I do? You need a very strong medicine, but your body won’t be able to endure it.” It happens with older people or with people who were seriously hurt. The cure exists but one’s body is too weak to take it; it can’t digest it. It may harm a person rather than help him.

The same applies in regard to the Surrounding Light, which acts upon me only to the extent to which it can heal me, that is, to the extent that I can endure it. This is because I receive the Light, the property of bestowal, as poison, as death to my egoism.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/2/10, “Preface to the Sulam Commentary”

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A question I received: The chapter we’re reading in The Zohar is called "Command" (Tetzaveh). What does "command" mean in spirituality?

My Answer: This refers to the command that has been assigned to us. To join the work of the Creator, we first have to try to recognize our desire and the reason for our creation. We need to feel our state as being opposite to the Creator in order to become "creatures."

However, this isn’t enough. This is just the first recognition of one’s nature. After that, a person has to try to become similar to the Creator. Then, he’ll discover he’s incapable of doing so. When he nevertheless presses forward and strives to reach the next level of recognizing himself, he discovers that he has no desire to become similar to the Creator. Besides being opposite to the Creator and unable to become similar to Him, he doesn’t even want it.

Yet, while undergoing this process, each time a person raises the significance of the Creator, the importance of the goal, and sees his own state as low and insignificant, he continues to search until he finally realizes that there is a system of connection between the souls, and from it, he can receive additional strength. Then, he indeed will desire and be able to reveal all his opposition to the Creator, his lack of the desire, and the opportunity to become similar to Him. Along with it, he will feel a pressing need for correction, for attainment of bestowal for the Creator, which will exceed many times the one he could have reached by himself.

Then, equipped with this "heavy ammunition" which he obtained through the power of the group with the property of the mutual guarantee (within which the Creator exists as a guarantor and supports all this system), a person comes and appeals to Him. He now has something to appeal with. Before this, he couldn’t make a correct appeal.

This is the way a person reaches the influence of the Light that Reforms. He has realized his free choice and has come to the state in which the Creator grants him the strength. Then, within that Light, he begins to see what he needs to correct, as it is written, "In Your Light we will see the Light." A person begins to see the Creator’s command: to correct all his 613 uncorrected properties, one by one.

Now one understands how each property, force, and desire is corrupted, how it can be corrected, what he gains by this correction,and how he influences the entire common system.  Through the common system, the Creator is revealed. Thus, he gradually goes through the entire process of the Torah and commandments. He corrects all his desires by the intention to bestow for the sake of bestowal and even by the intention to receive for the sake of bestowal, which is not for the sake of pleasure, but rather, for the sake of the Upper One.

From the Evening Zohar Lesson 5/31/10

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Rav Baruch Ashlag, According to “Which Keeping of Torah and Mitzvot Purifies the Heart”
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The Book of Zohar – Selections, Chapter “Tetzaveh (Command),” Item 15
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The Zohar, Chapter “VaYikra (The Lord Called),” Item 324: Happy are the righteous, for the Creator teaches them profound secrets of above and below, and it is all for the Torah, since anyone who engages in the Torah is crowned in the crowns of His Holy Name. This is so because the Torah is the Holy Name and one who engages in it is registered and crowned in the Holy Name, and then he knows the hidden ways and deep secrets of above and below, and he never fears.

There is no other way to connect with the Creator, with the true Upper reality (which we want to reveal, enter, and exist in), but with the help of the Light. It can shine upon us only if we cultivate the desire for it.

We can only develop this desire with the help of the group. A person only has a point in the heart, and in order to attract the Light that Reforms, he needs additional strength, which he can receive only from the group. The desire one receives from the group already has the intention to bestow, and with this force, he will have a connection with the Upper Light. In order to acquire a connection with his group, a person must lower himself before it and raise the importance of the goal.

In other words, he needs to work against his own desire to receive pleasure, against his ego. Therefore, when a person works with the group, he can appeal to the Light that Reforms so it will grant him a connection with the properties of bestowal, with the spiritual world.

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

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A question I received: Sometimes The Zohar text is written so clearly that it seems to address me and talk about me directly.

My Answer: You should be clever and realize that even though a portion of the text appears to be clear, you actually don’t comprehend it any more than you do an unclear part. Comprehension at this point doesn’t matter. In your current state, you don’t understand anything.

If, by chance, it seems that you can put these words together and prescribe a certain meaning to  them, it’s a problem that you are confused. It has nothing to do with the intention of the authors of The Zohar. They write about properties and acts which you have no connection to yet. Not a single word there talks about a person in this world or the actions that he or she performs here.

Cast away your mind as soon possible and as far away as possible. This is the biggest favor you can do for yourself.

Question (continued): Sometimes The Zohar talks about something incomprehensible, and it makes it easier for me to focus on the intention.

My Answer: Your going deeper into the intention does not depend on the text being or not being clear to you. It bears absolutely no relation to how much you understand the text.

Suppose that now I simply listen to the text, without knowing any Hebrew or  having any translation. Then I only think about when this medicine will affect and cure me. That’s all. That is all you need.

Say I come to see a doctor and he tells me to take a certain medicine. He mentions a long name in Latin that reflects its chemical composition. Do I really need to know how this medicine works, what its composition is, and why it is called a certain way? Do I need to know these things in order to believe that it will help me and I will be healed?

I only have to understand what the doctor says in terms of how to take the medicine, and nothing more. All other information will only harm me. I will think I’m smart and start acting as if I really know about these things.  But, it is a doctor, and not you, who is given the right to treat you. You don’t have to treat yourself. The instruction says: “If you are sick, go to a doctor (Nitan La Rofe Lerapot).”

Does the intention depend on how much you understand the text? There is no connection between them whatsoever.

From the 1st Part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/31/10, The Zohar

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The Book of Zohar – Selections, Chapter “The Donkey Driver,” Item 97
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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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