The Zohar, Chapter “Tazria (When A Woman Delivers)“: All the worlds, both the Upper and the lower, are inside man. Everything that was created in the world was created for man.

We perceive everything inside us and don’t feel anything outside. We don’t know where we are. We are inside some kind of movie that is played inside us like a film strip, and that is how we perceive the world.

We cannot come out of this movie and feel anything “outside it.” We cannot understand what the true reality is like and how it appears from outside, from the side, objectively.

Baal HaSulam explains in the “Preface to the Book of Zohar” that we perceive reality inside of us. There is a projector in the back side of our brain that projects to the “outside” everything that I perceive inside. That is why I “see” as if there is something outside of me.

Then I take those objects into my hands, eat and drink them, do things to them, and move around among them. I live among images that I created inside of me, but they seem to exist outside.

That is why our world is called invented or imaginary. I am the one who gives it form. If I change, then the picture of reality that I perceive and see around me will also change. Moreover, this reality is alive. It is not drawn on a piece of paper or in my imagination, since this machine called “me” creates this living reality in front of me on its own.

If I can view my inner film not through an egoistic projector “inside of me,” but through an altruistic projector “for others, away from myself,” then I will see what is happening now on the outside, inside. I will see everything inside of me, in the true reality (desire).
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From the lesson on 10/20/10, “Perception of Reality”

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Question: Is there a difference between studying The Book of Zohar at the congress with the masses and studying it in our group at the morning lessons? What is more important, quality or quantity?

Answer: Quantity doesn’t demean quality. Within a mass of people, there always are those who can unite to a greater or lesser degree, and there are those who can’t unite at all or who forget about it. In either case, quantity has its advantage, as it is written: “I dwell among my people.”

At this point, we are not talking about some special group of people, meaning those who are bright, determined, capable of inner work, and well trained. The Creator dwells within the entire nation, not just in some small group of special characters that He Himself advanced and brought together into the tip of the pyramid. Regardless, He still says that He dwells among the masses.

The Upper Governance cares most of all about the still level (in humanity), less about the vegetative one, less so about the animate, and the least about the speaking level. The weaker the created being, the less free will it has, the less autonomously it can work for the correction of creation (according to the Plan of Creation and the common system), the more the Upper Governance gets clothed in it, and this is a sign of revelation of Godliness (Elokut).

In other words, we are not talking about revelation of the Creator in some exalted souls such as Rashbi and all the great Kabbalists. The revelation of the Creator is measured with regard to society, not individuals. Therefore, we should not neglect large quantity but value it. The power of the masses lies in quantity, not some individual characters that have personally attained spirituality and perform personal spiritual work.

It is the common work which matters the most because by doing it, we allow the Light to be revealed and attain the revelation of the Creator. As to the personal, special work of some individuals, our group, or several groups, it is necessary solely in order to connect to this huge mass (several million people into billions of them) and through us, bring to it the spirit of life.

Therefore, the aim, intention, and goal are namely the society and the people. Hence, we need to disseminate the wisdom of Kabbalah in the masses.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/21/10, The Zohar

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The Zohar, Chapter “BeShalach (When Pharaoh Sent),” Item 110: …it is written, “This is the great sea.” And the holy animal is over them, the Nukva from Chazeh de ZA and above, receiving from the three animals of ZA, and she is the fourth animal, from which everyone receives, even the Merkavot of the Sitra Achra and the nations of the world. And all the masses and the camps journey under her hand, going by her word and pausing by her word. When she goes, everyone goes, since everyone is gripped to her.

We study only the relationship between Zeir Anpin and Malchut, where Zeir Anpin is the Creator (Kadosh Baru Chu) and Malchut is the Shechina, the sum of the souls. We are parts of Malchut and to the degree we become included in Malchut, meaning desire to unite with each other, we merit a connection with Zeir Anpin and then he influences us.

Obviously, everyone receives from Nukva, Malchut of the World of Atzilut, but every person receives to the degree of his unity with her, the degree of his inclusion in the connection between Nukva and Zeir Anpin.

Nukva and Zeir Anpin are present from the smallest possible state, this world, until the perfect state, the World of Infinity, the total correction of their connection. To the degree a person is included in Nukva, from her he attains all the degrees of the ladder of spiritual ascent.

Therefore, we don’t need anything else but to unite with Nukva. The degree of our unity with Nukva, Malchut of the World of Atzilut, is what determines the height of our degree on the ladder of the worlds, until the final correction.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/23/10, The Zohar

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We study Kabbalistic texts about the Upper World, the concealed part of reality. The Kabbalists describe this reality, this world, in a poetic form, and we don’t understand what they say. They seem to take the words from this world to tell us about the Upper World. Why is this so?

It is because the Upper World is the world of forces that descend into our world and perform actions in it. All events that take place in our world we already see as deriving from the forces that trigger them. We don’t perceive the forces, don’t know or feel where they come from. We see only the effects of their action: our world and ourselves.

We are given an opportunity to read and hear about the Upper Forces, how they descend and bring this world into motion. Kabbalists describe this to us so that on our way back to the source, we can rise from the actions that these forces perform here in our world to their roots. If we read the books written by the Kabbalists with this intention, then these texts affect us, and, gradually to the extent of our efforts, we start approaching them more closely, like a child with the help of the game that gradually helps him to develop and grow.

But there is one more condition: The forces that we wish to ascend to are not ordinary, as in our world. The Upper Forces are opposite to us; they are the forces of bestowal. And we are the receiving matter, the desire to feel pleasure, that is affected by them.

In order to attain the nature of bestowal from the receiving one, we have to organize ourselves in a group prior to opening The Book of Zohar, and, while reading in the group, try to keep thinking about our unity since this is the nature of the very same Upper Forces that are affecting us. Then, they will be affecting us not only through their governing action as they do in relation to all humanity and the world, but also with their property of bestowal.

Everything occurs in accordance with our desire. If we wish to not only be affected by the Upper Forces but to also become as they are and attain the property of bestowal, then gradually we’ll change and become part of these forces as bestowing as they are.

This means that we gradually ascend from this world to the level of the Upper Forces. Clearly, we don’t ascend and descend physically, but we start being organized within, realizing and agreeing with that very force of bestowal which affects us more and more; we identify with it.

This force fills me ever more, and I act accordingly. This is regarded as “spiritual ascent” that takes place under the condition that I am in the group and wish, as all the others do, to feel how this force of bestowal fills us.

Let’s think about this while we read The Zohar, and we will succeed!
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/19/10, The Zohar

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Question: If, while reading The Zohar, I ask for better corporeal conditions so that they would help me attain the attribute of bestowal, does that mean I disapprove of the actions of the Creator?

Answer: You need to understand that everything that comes to us now (or at any other moment) comes from Above. I should not react to these events as if they are accidental and then turn to the Creator to save me from the things that someone else has conspired against me.

Quite the opposite, all that is happening was prepared for me by the Creator so that I position myself correctly in the current circumstances and aspire for Him. If I gather my thoughts and focus myself in the right direction, then all will definitely “work out fine.”

I am always placed in the conditions that can best help me advance toward the goal, even if they seem bad to me. These conditions are precisely aimed at my advancement. A person sees the truth and justifies the Creator both from bad and a good states.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/13/10, The Zohar

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It is not important where we begin to read The Zohar from, what item, or what part of it. Even if a person listens to the lesson for the first time, it is absolutely unimportant. “There is no time in spirituality”; the Torah speaks of spiritual states, all of which occur within us, but we do not perceive it yet.

It is completely irrelevant, though. We need to awaken the Light inside The Book of Zohar, the most exalted, true, and powerful source. No book even comes near to The Book of Zohar‘s influence on the soul.

The only way to draw its Light upon us, for it to have an effect on us, is by obtaining qualities similar to it. Therefore, we are reading The Book of Zohar together. In other words, each of us has to prepare himself to be in connection with the others from the beginning, even before we open The Book of Zohar.

This is what is said about the giving of the Torah: If you agree (obviously, that we cannot do it, but we agree nonetheless) to become “as one man in one heart,” to achieve brotherly love (in the future), then you will receive the Torah, meaning the method of correction by way of the Light that Reforms. Then, that Light will return you to the Source, to the good, to equivalence with the Creator.

That is why when we are reading The Zohar, we have to always strive to meet this condition: Be ready to unite so that the Light will influence us, unite us, and we will reveal the Creator in our unity as in one common soul. An individual soul, after all, can only feel our present reality, the one that we are currently perceiving.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/15/10, The Zohar

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In essence, we represent souls rather than physical bodies even now. The Creator created the desire to enjoy, and there is nothing else besides this desire. If we sense certain corporeal matter, it is not because another separate reality exists. There is only desire which feels itself in a physical body. It is the same soul which feels only itself and only within itself. It does not perceive anything outside.

For this reason the soul feels itself as existing in its corporeal body, seemingly surrounded by other, similar bodies. This is how I perceive myself and the surrounding reality since I am enclosed inside myself with my ego. As soon as I begin to acquire new desires and perceive properties outside of myself, I begin to see reality in a different way.

The reality which I see outside of myself is called the “Upper World.” How do I exit out of myself (from my ego) and see the existence outside of myself? I have to connect with other souls, with my friends. Within this connection between us, in greater unity, we reveal common sensations and manifestations called “the spiritual world.”

Therefore, when we read The Zohar, we have to remember that we all desire to reveal the Upper Light, to reveal everything described in The Zohar. It conveys to us the states and pictures which talk only about the connection between us and its various forms. That is the entire reality.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/15/10, The Zohar

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Question: Why is it written in The Book of Zohar that “only jealousy completes the love?”

Answer: Love cannot be complete if it’s not underlain by jealousy. It is written: “Envy (jealousy) of the wise multiplies wisdom.” There are different types of jealousy, but ultimately, jealousy is the revelation of the empty desire that must be filled specifically with love.

We discover empty desires in various states. If the will to receive (Kli) is so strong that there is love being revealed against it, then this desire is the Kli of jealousy. If I desire something, then everything depends on the degree of Aviut (thickness, coarseness) of my desire or attraction. With Aviut Shoresh (0), my desire is weak; with Aviut Aleph (1), it is stronger, and so on, up to the Aviut Dalet (4), when my desire is infinite.

Therefore, every level of desire has a corresponding degree of jealousy, meaning to what extent a person is “burning” with the desire for the lacking fulfillment. And hence, against the love that has to become revealed, there is the empty desire for its revelation: jealousy, a true “hell fire (the fire of netherworld).”
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/12/10, The Zohar

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The Zohar, Chapter “VeYechi (And Jacob Lived),” Item 733: “Jealousy is as harsh as the netherworld.” Any person who loves, and jealousy is not tied to it, his love is not love, since jealousy completes the love.

In the Kabbalisitic group, jealousy is expressed in my constant thinking about the others: Are they holding the correct intention? During the reading of The Book of Zohar, my only concern is Arvut (mutual guarantee).

I am very worried whether my friends remain in the same thoughts and intentions as I do and whether we nourish our Arvut together. If not, my efforts will be fruitless since everything gets revealed to me due to the collective effort of the group, in the connection between us. This connection is built by our common concern about each other.

Therefore, right now I am taking care of the network that connects us so that it wouldn’t break but will grow and mature. It is my chief concern. The Book of Zohar will bring me the desired revelation only if we establish the connection between us, and it is there that The Zohar will become revealed. We lack only a connecting network and nothing but that.

This network is what we concern ourselves with while reading The Book of Zohar, and it is regarded as nurturing Arvut (mutual guarantee).
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/12/10, The Zohar

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The Zohar, Chapter “BeShalach (When Pharaoh Sent),” Items 28-29: Pharaoh rose in the land of Egypt and killed and avenged his rulers, ministers, officers, and every kind of minister…

Afterwards he called unto Moses and Aaron at night, “Since everything was through you, and bless me, too,” meaning do not kill me. Afterwards, he himself escorted them out of the land…

We don’t understand the extent to which this horrible, evil force called Pharaoh is mighty and opposite to the Creator. It is the imprint of the Creator and acts as His loyal messenger. As Pharaoh becomes revealed more and more, this revelation of evil pushes a person to come out of his ego.

This is what we are now observing in the world: On one hand we are becoming greater egoists, acting only for the sake of our own benefit without taking anyone into consideration, and on the other hand the growing egoism increasingly reveals to us that we are obligated to part with it, that this form of existence is impossible and we are approaching universal destruction.

This is the meaning of the phrase, “Pharaoh brought the sons of Israel closer to the Creator.” In this way the negative force is carrying out its function in order to push us closer to spirituality.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/19/10, The Zohar

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