The Zohar, Chapter “VaYikra (The Lord Called),” Item 20: And one appointee was established on the gate from the outside, and his name is Gazriel. With him, there are twelve appointees surrounding him—three, three to each side, on four sides. The [lower] general Merkava is twelve—Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, Raphael—in each of which are three lines, HGT, which are twelve. Individually, each contains twelve.

In spirituality, every creation consists of twelve parts. Every element including the smallest and the entire spiritual reality, has the same structure and the same properties. If we carved out even a tiny portion, it would contain all the properties of the whole structure. Therefore, there is no difference between the general and the particular in spirituality, contrary to our world where parts are added together to form the whole.

In the spiritual world, quality rather than quantity is important; the whole is not created as a sum of its parts. Rather, every part is already the general; however, it is revealed at the qualitatively new degree. The spiritual reality is revealed only in a person’s attainment, within one’s desire. This means that we attain the forms of desire, which are called the soul and the Light, acting inside the desire and giving such forms to it.

It turns out that the entire reality is one soul Adam HaRishon. All of the worlds, spiritual objects (Partzufim), angels, and forms are the four levels of the desire (still, vegetative, animate, and speaking). The entire creation has the same structure. Besides it there is only Atzmuto, the essence of the Creator, which is unattainable. We can only guess that it is the root of everything that we reveal, but we cannot attain Him.

From the Evening Zohar Lesson 5/13/10

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When we read The Zohar, we should expect salvation. Baal HaSulam writes in the “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Item 155:  “Indeed, there is a great and marvelous quality concealed in Kabbalistic books, worthy of being publicized.” In other words, by studying The Zohar we can unite with the Source, the Creator, Who exists in other dimensions.

We exist in our dimension, in separation from Him, while The Zohar creates a connection between us and Him, the higher dimension. From there, to the extent of our aspiration, we receive the Light, the remedy that flows into us one drop at a time, like an infusion.

The Torah does not demand anything unrealistic. After all, the Upper One knows us better than we know ourselves; what is expected of us is measured according to the way we’re created. One is told: “Sit down with a book. You must connect with your environment because that is your spiritual form.”

Currently a person is on his or her own level. One is an egoist and doesn’t care for anyone, wanting nothing except egoistic pleasure. A person doesn’t even know what exactly is wanted, but the Upper One knows it well. It is He who creates these desires, even the most disgusting qualities in a person. And only occasionally do we slightly feel what He does.

Having created all of this in within us, the Creator expects just one thing: “Try to unite with Me just a little bit, based on all the things given to you from Above.” A person has to reveal the present state, and just wish to become like the Upper One.

However, in order to become like the Upper One, one needs to imagine the state when he and the group are together in a state of mutual bestowal, mutual guarantee. Imagining our self and them as one whole means we want to feel this state of the Light already operating between us in a single whole. We want to feel that we’re together and the Light is fulfilling us because we become like the Light to the extent of our unity. This is the state that we need to imagine.

It is clear that we are not together or connected with one another, but we are trying to connect, which means we want to grow spiritually and become like the Upper degree. Thus, to the extent of one’s aspiration, The Zohar creates a connection between that person and the Upper degree, injecting this infusion, which are drops of Light called “drops of luck” (Mazalot) that flow towards him.

There is no other difference between a person and the Upper degree, aside from the fact that one is better connected with others on the Upper degree. Try to imagine this upper state, the inner connection of mutual bestowal with everyone, which is called the “Upper Light.” This force, the Surrounding Light that rears a person like an infant, influences from that same state that one imagines, dreams of, and aspires to.

From the Evening Zohar Lesson 5/13/10

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A question I received: Why do the authors of The Zohar repeat and explain the same things over and over again? Isn’t it enough to explain the basics and proceed further? Why do they write so much about things that are clear to us already, for example, that each element consists of four parts multiplied by three lines, which eventually add up to twelve parts?

My Answer: By reiterating, the authors of The Zohar give a chance to those who already possess the screens and spiritual vessels (Kelim) to perform the actions described in The Book while they read it. A person then reveals these actions and performs them along with Rabbi Shimon during the time when the latter wrote The Zohar. Time doesn’t exist in spirituality, so the reader connects with the author, grasps his hand like a child holding on to an adult, and proceeds together with him.

Rabbi Shimon leads a person, shows and explains to him the actions and properties one by one by replicating the same actions in various places over and over again. Why? It’s because each time we have to correct a certain property within our desire to receive pleasure.

It seems to us that it is already enough; how many times can we go over the same things? But that is because we simply neither know nor sense that these things are in fact different. Names and titles look the same, but each time they stand for new inner definitions. This is why we should simply move along with the authors of The Zohar, trying to connect with them as much as we can in order to better understand what’s going on.

From the Evening Zohar Lesson 5/5/10

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A question I received: The World Zohar Convention has just ended. At the convention we saw over a thousand people of different races and nationalities many of which carry historical stereotypes. Unexpectedly, in a mere 20-30 hours all these differences disappeared giving rise to connection and love. What do we lack to be in this state continuously?

My Answer: At the convention people felt unity, inspiration, and importance of the goal. However, 20 hours have passed since the gathering, and now we can hardly remember how it was there. Everything vanishes from our senses and memory. Why can’t we to continue in this way and always be in this state?

This state just like everything else in our life cannot last long. One’s inspiration and enthusiasm reach a peak and then a person calms down. It’s impossible to stay inspired forever. This follows from the law of the inverse relationship between the Light and desire: At one moment the Light has to increase, at another the desire. They increase alternately, and through this we advance as if walking on two legs along the middle line that connects two other lines, left and right.

The two lines connect only with the purpose of pressing forward, and then to start moving again. We first move to the right where we obtain the importance of the goal, connection, and desire to continue and go. Then from the left, there comes “heaviness the heart,” so that we have something to work on and return again to the middle line. This is how we advance.

This is why this state cannot last long: It would go against nature. I would even say that no state is more undesirable than being in constant euphoria. A person has to feel that he advances, works, and overcomes some internal resistance, instead of being constantly “up in the clouds.”

Our work is to acutely feel that we give and receive something, and give again, and receive again. We have to feel resistance, actions, and achievements. This is why there is so much pleasure in hard work and difficult preparation that culminate in such a great convention where we see the results of our work and enjoy what we attained for two or three days. However, after this, we again have to return to the state of burden, overcoming, search, clarifications, and corrections so as to eventually arrive at another beautiful outcome.

It is because the Creator and creature stand opposite each other as two opposite properties: the desire to receive and the desire to bestow. Equality between them is achieved only by the means of such mutual actions. Advancement is impossible otherwise. We can’t stay in the small state (Katnut) or Hafetz Hesed: We have to move forward!

Post Zohar Convention Lesson 5/11/10

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The World Zohar Convention marks the beginning of a new phase. The convention has transformed us significantly. We also feel how the world is changing in the light of the latest events. Its problems will only intensify.

We have to reach the ultimate goal. Imagine that humanity is a runner who is beaten along his way and these blows give him strength to continue to the finish line. He must run and reach the goal. The time is set for him; he has no choice but to come to the finish line. He can only choose to run with the desire for the goal or to wait for the blows and run trying to escape them.

There is also the third path. By uniting we can trigger the force within us which will make it easy to rise to the goal. It will take us on its wings like an eagle takes its nestlings, and it will lift us up.

However, we cannot abandon the world and rise on the wings of the eagle, Bina, by ourselves. We have to stay connected with the entire world. We will ascend only if we think of all people and give ourselves to them. This seems to be a contradiction. Yet the world is standing on the brink of an abyss, and we have to help it rise on the eagle’s wings.
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Post Zohar Convention Lesson 5/11/10

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The Zohar, Chapter “VaYikra (The Lord Called),” Item 16: But now, after the Vav illuminated, meaning the middle line, when all four lights in the letters Yod–Kof–Reish–Aleph were opened, he [Moses] could come to the tent of meeting.

Only in the middle line can one enter the tent of meeting (Malchut) and pass the Lights into these desires (Kelim) through the three lines. This points to the main principle: One can receive the Light only by repelling it from oneself. If the Light of Hassadim, the Reflected Light, rises from the screen from below upward, we can receive the Light of Hochma into it.

In other words, if I desire to fill another person, and I give everything that goes through me to him (I push everything away from myself), then all the Lights can go through me, and I too will receive them. However, this will already be reception from below upward, with the help of a screen, which is in opposition to my ego. Then, as it is written, “Moses could come to the tent of meeting.”

If we wait for the Lights to be revealed in our desires, this will be for the sake of reception, and the revelation of the Lights will not be permitted. Therefore, the condition for receiving the Lights is “love your neighbor as yourself.” Everything can pass through you if you act for the sake of the neighbor. Then you delight by receiving both what comes to you and with what you fill the whole Malchut of Infinity. All these Lights are yours. This is the only way to receive them.

Herein lies the wisdom of receiving – the science of Kabbalah, a science about how to receive the Light by reflecting it. We are now situated in the Light of Infinity as well; it is present here and now. However, we do not see or feel it since first we have to acquire an ability to repel it, to arm ourselves with the Light of Hassadim. Only then will the Light of Hochma be revealed in the Light of Hassadim.

From the Evening Zohar Lesson 5/5/10

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Post Zohar Convention Lesson
All of today’s problems are meant to show that the main problem is people can’t live with themselves let along with others.
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World Zohar Convention, Lesson 6
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World Zohar Convention, Lesson 7
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World Zohar Convention, Lesson 8
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World Zohar Convention, Lesson 9
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A question I received: The World Zohar Convention is starting today. How can we prepare ourselves so as to receive as much as possible from this meeting?

My Answer: All participants will gather together, and the hall will be filled. We all will start thinking and feeling simultaneously.

At the moment, it’s still not happening. It usually takes about a day, and the change occurs the next day. There is certain inertia in the relationships between people and their ability to feel each other. It always takes time. It resembles a symphony orchestra tune-up: each player is fine-tuning his instrument before the concert and one can only hear an incoherent cacophony of sounds. In the same manner we have to fine-tune ourselves and start feeling something together.

The success of the convention depends on us getting inspired from the same things, increasing more and in coordination with each other. Usually, the state is completely different on the second day of the congress. I hope that by tomorrow evening, we will play in complete coordination with each other. Let’s work hard till the end of the convention, and I anticipate a huge success.

The situation is truly unique. It can be felt sharper every single day, especially here, in America which has to come to the spiritual development as soon as possible. If this happens here, it will certainly spread throughout the entire world, and the whole humanity will reach a state of the final correction which we must attain. It may happen within a couple of years or even months instead of years. It all depends on us.

Everything will unfold in the way it is described by the science of Kabbalah. We only determine the speed and the manner by which we will reach the final correction; whether or not we will go through these states in a good and pleasant way.

We have to feel that the connection between us reveals to us a new sensation, a new reality. We will start feeling a new force that acts upon and activates everything. We have to start feeling it in practice at least to some small, initial degree. Then we will have something to give to the entire world.

This is what I expect from this convention. There should be a group here, not just a thousand people – a group with one desire, one thought, one goal, and one inspiration. Unity is a force. If it transpires even for a smallest, initial measure, we will start feeling the spiritual dimension. We are very close to it.

However for it to be not a simply beautiful sensation, but the spiritual revelation we need to unite together into a single spiritual substance, in common bestowal where we will be able to reveal the single force – the Creator. It is very realistic and timely today. Let’s look forward to it!

From Lesson 1, World Zohar Convention, 5/7/10

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World Zohar Convention, Lesson 5
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