The Zohar, Chapter “BaHar (On Mount Sinai),” Item 3: At midnight, a northern wind awakens and a flame of fire comes out of the lower altar, Malchut. Then the gates open and low Dinim, Dinim de Nukva, gather in their holes and that flame walks and wanders, and the gates of the Garden of Eden open. Finally, that flame reaches and divides into several sides of the world and enters under the wings of that rooster, and it calls.

The most special corrections are performed in the state called “night” when a person feels darkness, lack of strength or interest, when spirituality does not attract him much, he is tired, he wants to forget everything and fall asleep, and he is fed up with everything – in short, when he does not feel the importance of the spiritual goal.

The work at “night” is crucial. It is written that King David “got up” at “midnight” and took upon himself the “northern wind,” the great restricting powers of overcoming and correcting egoism (“Gevurot” and “Dinim“). Precisely using these unpleasant “northern” powers he “played the harp” and in this way he welcomed “dawn,” which is the manifestation of the Light in the soul.

During all the work at “night” he was bringing himself to the state where he was turning the very desires (Kelim) in which he sensed darkness, lack of power, and separation from the Creator; he “cried and screamed” into desires or “vessels” for the Light. That brought about “morning.”

In spirituality, there is no morning, evening, or afternoon. We perceive the entire reality within our desire. This is why we reveal the “Light” in our corrected desire which formerly was dark and empty. Then the Light of Hassadim shines in it, and this is called “day.” When the Light of Hassadim cannot shine, meaning we don’t have the intention to bestow, it is called “night.”

From the Evening Zohar Lesson 4/22/10

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New York, May 7th – 9th

You’re invited to join friends from all around the world to discover a new reality together. The World Zohar Convention 2010 is an intensive 3 days of studies and workshops on The Zohar with Dr. Michael Laitman and the Bnei Baruch Kabbalah Education and Research Institute, open for all who wish to sense the eternal, complete reality.

The Zohar holds the key to discovering the complete, eternal reality, where humanity is united in perfect harmony as one soul, in the shortest time possible. The World ZoharConvention is aimed at giving its participants a taste of this reality, and by doing so, accelerating everyone’s advancement toward it.

The World Zohar Convention 2010 is for anyone with a desire to change oneself and better the world we live in. Students currently studying with Bnei Baruch via Bnei Baruch Kabbalah Learning Center on their own or through Kabbalah TV or the Kabbalah Academy are especially welcome.

If one is new to The Zohar or the wisdom of Kabbalah, then we recommend going through the free introductory course we have available at the Bnei Baruch Kabbalah Learning Center. Sign Up For A Free Introductory Course

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The Zohar, Chapter “Shemot (Exodus),” Item 368: When Rabbi Elazar was sitting while fasting, he was praying and said, “It is revealed and known to You, the Lord my God and the God of my fathers, that I have sacrificed my fat and my blood to You, and I boiled them with the warmth of the weakness of my body.”

There is a tremendous difference in whether I read these words from a prayer book, or something happens inside of me that causes an explosion from within, an outburst toward the Creator.

The feelings form inside of me, and they build into the words and phrases. I may not even know this language. I don’t know how it happens, but it is the consequence of my effort to equalize my desires with the Light and unite with It. The reaction of the Light and the desires occurs in the soul. These words are realized in my brain, the brain transmits the orders to the organs of speech, and I utter the words without knowing where they came from.

This is what true prayer should be like, when everything comes from within. From the union of the Lights and the Kelim inside the depth of creation, gradually with the fulfillment of the desire by the Light, the whole TANTA (a full Kli – Taamim, Nekudot, Tagin, Otiot) is built, until it reaches an expression through the organs of speech.

It is clear that Rabbi Elazar did not read this prayer from a prayer book, but he uttered it while existing in this state about which he spoke to the Creator. Before the destruction of the Second Temple, the nation of Israel was connected with the Creator, in the qualities of bestowal and love, thus the feeling in Rabbi Elazar’s heart, in his desire, constituted a prayer. It is written: “What is a prayer? It is work in the heart.”

However, the sages of the Great Assembly (Anshei Kneset Agdola) were aware of the imminent descent into egoism and concealment of the Creator. Thus they gathered a collection of prayers – states that a person needs to reach. They called it “Siddur,” the order of spiritual states that we need to go through inside, in our hearts, in our desires.

But since we are incapable of doing this during the exile, without a connection to the Light or the Creator, while the Upper Force is concealed, we read the words from a prayer book mechanically. Some people try to imagine what it could mean spiritually. Yet only while studying Kabbalah will the Light provoke the feelings, thoughts, sensations, words, and phrases of our prayer inside us, as work in the heart, rather than work in the organs of speech.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/22/10, The Zohar

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The Book of Zohar – Selections, Chapter “BaHar (On Mount Sinai),” Item 1
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The Zohar, Chapter “Shemot (Exodus),” Item 177: The Ruach clothes a man’s Guf in this world, sunken inwards like the sunken letters in a seal, since it is the interior of the Guf, which protrudes outwardly, as it is considered externality. This is why there is only light of VAK in it. The Ruach, the interior of the body, is sunken. When the Ruach spreads from the Guf and rises to the Garden of Eden on the earth, that Ruach is protruding… The Ruachs that rise there have the same form as the Guf in this world, which protrudes.

It’s similar to dough being squeezed through a form. If the form is in the shape of a star, the dough comes out in the shape of a star; if it’s round, the dough comes out round. In other words, the Light that was present within the desire (Kli) gets accepted by it within the Reflected Light (like a spiritual vessel) and that is why the Light becomes revealed. It gets the shape that the “body” (desire) had. Even after the Light leaves the desire, it still retains a “recollection” (Reshimo) about the shape of the desire in which it used to be dressed.

It’s a special Light. It’s not the abstract, simple Light that’s never been accepted by the body. The body has already received this Light and corrected itself in its form. It completed a certain type of correction. Now, the Light that previously “visited” the body and the body itself oppose each other. The body continues to correct itself on a new level and in more advanced ways, but the prior form doesn’t disappear.

Previous forms help us further correct ourselves since the Light that visited the body dresses in the same body and helps it attain higher states. This is the same as our prior life experience helping us make future decisions even though our next steps may be of a totally different nature.

The same pertains to the Light (spiritual wisdom) that used to be dressed into our body and helps us pursue our Path further. Each state remains intact, “nothing disappears in spirituality.” Each prior level leaves a “form” that helps us attain new states. Comparison, clarification, and connection of these forms lead to wisdom which is the science of Kabbalah.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/15/10, The Zohar

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The Zohar, Chapter “Shemot (Exodus),” Item 177: In the Garden of Eden on the earth, everyone stands in the shape and form in which they were in this world. [A spiritual step at which a person stays at any given moment is called “this world.”]  And this concealment and secret is given to sages. The spirit that descends to people, which is from the side of the female, is always carved in an engraving such as this seal, whose letters are sunken. This is so because the image of the body in this world is protruding outwards and the spirit is carved into its internals. When the spirit spreads from the Guf [body] and rises to the Garden of Eden on the earth, that spirit protrudes in the Garden of Eden on the earth in the shape and image of the actual Guf in this world, since it is always as a seal.

“The body” (desire) and the “spirit” (Light that fills the desire) match each other like a seal and its imprint. They separated in order to reconnect. The wisdom of Kabbalah teaches us how to make them match. It’s called “Kabbalah” (receiving) because we are the ones who organize and control the entrance of the Light into the desire, defining the shape of the Light’s entrance into desires and their filling.

For that reason, we study the nature of Light and the nature of desire for their nature is unknown to us beforehand. We have to connect with Light and desire, receive an accurate form of Light and desire, and “tune” them to each other so that one can enter the other. The result is called the “science of receiving the Light” which is the science of Kabbalah.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/15/10, The Zohar

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The Book of Zohar – Selections, Chapter “Shemot (Exodus),” Item 346
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A question I received: We have the World Zohar Convention that’s going to be meeting the second weekend of May. What makes this convention so different from the past conventions considering both the time we are in now and what we are being taught this time?

My Answer: We have already had many conventions.  This time it is very unique because first of all we’ve grown a lot; many people are beginning to hear about us. We’ve reached a point where people realize that they’re not really capable of exiting this global crisis. We reached a global crisis in every human engagement. Now we see that everything is broken: Family, education, the relationships between people, the way we relate to nature, to the ecology and our economy, the industry and what it does, even a person himself. This crisis is really global.

This state is actually a good state which we had to reach because only from this point of crisis can we find the point from which we can ascend to a really good life. Not just a good life here in this world but eternal life, a life of feeling and sensing the Upper World where we even transcend the point of life and death in our current perception and feeling of life. We actually rise above this feeling of life within the body.

It is not just getting out of the crises, it is acquiring a life that is essentially, fundamentally different then what we experience now. All of this is done by a very unique Upper Force that is hidden in The Zohar.

Everyone has heard about The Zohar. People have heard that it is some sort of special, unique book, a hidden book, or a book that contains secrets. People have heard about The Book, but in general, people are still just talking about it; they don’t really know what it is.

Today, we have the opportunity to actually use The Zohar; to use the power that it gives us; to raise ourselves above this crisis, to raise all the people from the situation they’re in whether it’s depression, or problems with children, problems with health, education, ecology, or the economy- everything that happens.

All of this can be corrected only by this Upper Force that is within The Zohar. This is why I am very happy that soon there will be a great  World Zohar Convention in America.

You know, “Zohar” literally translated means Light. And I hope that as a result of this meeting, of this conference, we can really bring the Light to all of America.

From an Interview with the Learning Center Director 4/5/10

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Revelation is a result of efforts. When we read The Zohar, we only need to exert effort. By trying to discern the properties The Zohar is talking about within ourselves, we penetrate toward a more inner screen within us, toward a deeper picture of the world. This is where the revelation of the Creator occurs.

Personal interpretation and commentaries of the text do not bring revelation. To feel a new world within, to interpret The Zohar internally, in sensations, a person needs to direct himself toward an increasingly inner state when reading the text.

A more internal state means that a person connects the text with his internal properties to a greater degree. He sees them in himself; he discovers that every word points to a property or action within him such as the “twelve tribes,” “Jacob,” a “desert,” and a “well.” As a result of his efforts, he reveals their true meaning.

This is why Kabbalah is called “Torah Emet” or the true Torah. Such understanding of the text cannot be conveyed in words. Rather, it can be revealed only within a person, in his new properties which appear as a result of efforts.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/19/10, The Zohar

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I read The Zohar and wish to penetrate into its inner picture. What desires and qualities are these? I want to erase this material, dreamed-up world, this imaginary picture completely. I want to imagine the true picture instead. What would I see if there were this revelation right now? I want to aspire to it like a child that wants to be a grown-up. Then, I will see the connection of qualities and desires within me, rather than these corporeal images.

With this aspiration, I rouse the Light that Reforms that equalizes me to the Creator. I don’t need to think about this Light; the aspiration to see the true picture awakens it. Really, there is no "Light that Reforms;" there is only an advanced picture of the world in the next, higher degree, which in comparison to me right now, is called the Light. If I am impressed by a more inner picture, this is called the Light in relation to the present picture.

We perceive the Light as a special stimulation in the desire. We record the Light with letters in the same manner that we record desires. "I aspire to the Light," means that I aspire to a more advanced state of bestowal. This is what the Light is for me.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/19/10, The Zohar

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