A question I received: I understand that The Zohar doesn’t talk about our world. But how can we use the desires it describes in our daily life?

My Answer: The Zohar talks about our world also. It’s just that you imagine our world in the form of earthy images, like images on a computer screen, whereas The Zohar talks about the forces that create this picture inside you. Gradually, by reading The Zohar, you will begin to understand yourself and the world as a projection of the Upper Forces (or Qualities).

Seeing the connection between the picture and the forces that depict it allows you to understand the Creator of this movie, His plan, and Him. You come to understand Him from within yourself as you reach unification with Him.

Furthermore, even in your daily life you should try to think about the same thing, and that way you will gradually attain an uninterrupted, clear connection between this world or this reality and its Maker, the Creator.

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In one of his articles, Baal HaSulam explains that “habit becomes second nature.” So what should we get used to while reading The Book of Zohar? We are becoming accustomed to using The Zohar as a tool through which to constantly imagine ourselves in spiritual space, which is operated by Lights and desires, instead of seeing the false picture of this “external” reality.

We force ourselves to go deep inside qualities, the realm of forces and vectors that create a picture on the “computer screen.” We don’t close ourselves off in this superficial picture, but penetrate deeper, into the desires and qualities that create it.

Therefore, our work lies in making the efforts to developing the habit of feeling that we are in the realm of forces, desires and qualities, and of seeing reality only through them. Then we will really be reading The Book of Zohar.

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A question I received: Why did Rabbi Shimon write The Book of Zohar allegorically, concealing the fact that it’s talking only about the connection between the Light and the desire?

My Answer: Did he really conceal anything? Think about how the book Tree of Life by the ARI begins: “Know, that before the worlds were emanated and the creatures created, an Upper Simple Light had filled the entire reality.” And then a point of desire appeared and proceeded to develop until the worlds and everything inhabiting them emerged from that point.

There is nothing other than the will to receive Light, and the Light. Everything else is a development of the connection between them, where the Light remains invariable and the desire changes in likeness to the Light. This connection is the subject described in the science of Kabbalah and particularly, The Book of Zohar.

If a person is on a spiritual level, then he sees the connections between our picture of the world and his spiritual level. He sees how forces and qualities descend from the Upper Level to the lower one, which we all see. All the names of qualities and forces on all 125 levels above our world remain the same as the names in our world, but when he reads each name, he sees its roots instead of the material objects.

When one acquires a screen and enters the spiritual world, passing the Machsom, one begins to reveal the source of everything that happens in our world. One sees the picture of this world and how it is projected inside him from a higher level, as well as how it divides into levels: still, vegetative, animate, and human.

This vision enables him to automatically name all the forces and qualities of the Upper World using the names of material objects, since they are the materialization of the Upper Forces that descend into this world.

When one finds all the connections between this world and his spiritual level, he ascends to the following, higher level. Meantime, this world remains unchanging and keeps the same form. On the new level one continues to search for the connections between the roots (qualities on the spiritual level) and their projection in this world. The search comes down to correcting one’s qualities; to the degree one corrects them, one sees a clearer picture of the Upper Level. Once he discerns all the forces, qualities, and connections, he completes that spiritual level and ascends to the next one.

Even though this process may sound monotone, it is actually enthralling, like an extraordinary discovery. The picture of this world remains the same until one reaches the complete correction (Gmar Tikkun), where he ascends to a state in which everything unites into one. All the forces, Lights, and desires unite into a single whole and one is fully united with the Creator.

When a person sees the connection between this world and the last, highest level, he connects two opposite axes: himself below and the Creator above. Thus, he attains the state of adhesion with the Creator and total equivalence to Him. Stated differently, one reaches the World of Infinity.

All the desires – whether the uncorrected desires of our world, or the most corrected ones, as well as all the pictures and images will turn into one unified reality called “The Creator and His Name are One.” There will be just one single desire, HaVaYaH.

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A question I received: You said that while we are reading The Book of Zohar we need to search for definitions of each word inside us. But what should I do when I have times when nothing comes together?

My Answer: A person should accept everything as given to him from Above – both the worst and the best. It is written, “Man should be thankful for the bad as well as for the good.” Suppose I now feel that my feelings and my mind are blocked. I am confused in my feelings and thoughts, I can’t orient myself, and the words just don’t connect. When this happens, I should be like a little child who always observes adults, not understanding what they are doing. He just looks at the adults and learns by example. In fact, every adult is an example for him, showing him what to do to become similar to adults.

Every state I go through contains ten small Sefirot, along with all the information about all my future states. In order to develop, all I need is to add more matter or desire, similar to how a drop of semen develops.

Therefore, I am able to yearn for what’s written in any place in The Book of Zohar while being in any state. Each state includes everything, and my smallest ten Sefirot contain all the internal definitions, even though I don’t even know what and where they are.

Everything I read in The Zohar and in all Kabbalistic sources, and everything in general exists only inside me and not in any other place. Everyone around me and the entire world are inside me.

However, what The Zohar talks about is of utmost importance, because it talks about one of my spiritual degrees – a state in the Upper Dimension. And this is what I most want to feel inside me.

This state becomes revealed by itself to the extent of my yearning for that state and my desire to reveal it. In addition, it doesn’t matter how well I am able to recognize it; what’s important is my desire to reveal it.

This is how infants grow, moved by their desire. They don’t think about any inner definitions and they don’t try to find them. They have nothing but Nature’s force of development instilled in them, their huge desire to grow. However, in our spiritual development this does not happen by itself as with infants; it depends on our freedom of choice. Moreover, our only freedom of choice is to develop this desire to grow in spirituality.

If I don’t have a burning desire to reveal and discover within everything I read in The Zohar, and if I don’t have a tireless yearning to recognize things as an infant, it is a sign that I didn’t receive it from my friends. Nature gave me just the point in the heart and that’s it. I won’t have any more awakening except that initial drop that I received.

Besides this initial tiny desire, I have to get all the other desires from other people. The fact is that these desires are not foreign – they are mine. I just need to recognize that they are mine; I have to connect to them and attract them to me.

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The Zohar, Chapter “Shmini (On The Eighth Day)”, Item 46: “And he said unto Aaron: ‘Take thee a bull-calf,’” to atone for the calf he had sinned in, as it is written, “…and he made it into a molten calf.”

One of the qualities inside a person called Moses climbs a hill, while another, very exalted quality called Aaron commits the greatest sin: worshipping a golden calf. That is how these two extreme points work within a person.

A bull-calf and not a bull-cow. Cattle implies an ox, Gevura de Zeir Anpin, and a cow implies Malchut. Malchut contains three faces: the face of a lion, the face of an ox, and the face of an eagle. A bull-calf implies the ox included in Malchut.

We don’t have to try to remember the words of this text – it doesn’t matter if everything escapes our memory in the next few seconds. We shouldn’t worry about that. Our only concern should be trying to feel the words we read as we read them, and that’s all.

We shouldn’t try to remember anything. When we listen to a regular story about this world, we don’t have to remember what “a cow” or “a calf” or a “man” mean. We simply feel these notions. The same applies to spiritual notions – we only need all of them to be revealed in us, rather than memorizing them mechanically.

On the contrary, if we remember something, we fall into the danger of assuming that we have already attained something, but this is a lie. We will feel satisfied with the wrong things.

Therefore, it is better not to remember anything at all and to let “every day begin anew.” We should leave the lesson without remembering anything, as if we hadn’t read anything at all. The important thing is that we applied ourselves and waited for a revelation.

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When reading The Book of Zohar, we have to see the connection between the forces mentioned in the stories and try to sort them out inside us, because everything exists inside us. The Zohar gives us a picture of another, non-corporeal, spiritual reality. We have to try to find it and identify it within us.

Through our efforts, we must achieve a state where the things described in The Book of Zohar will begin to settle into our feelings and our heart. We will then begin to recognize the characters and the objects in the form of qualities, and all the actions that are described – in the form of actions of bestowal or reception. For example, when we hear the words, “Yesod,” “Jerusalem,” “Jacob,” and “well,” we will not envision their corporeal images, but will immediately feel their inner qualities.

Suddenly we’ll realize, “Wow! The whole world is inside me!” It will be a great surprise for us to discover this. For example, we will feel, “Right now I am going down a ladder and then going to Jerusalem.” And it will be clear that we are performing all this inside.

This will come gradually, as a result of reading The Book of Zohar. We have no other means to do it, as Baal HaSulam explains in Item 155 of “Introduction to Talmud Eser Sefirot.” Therefore, we should always be trying to recognize and “arrange” everything inside.

We were born and have existed for decades in this world, having gone through many reincarnations before. We have Reshimot from all the previous reincarnations, and we are always situated in this confusing and false perception of this world. However, we can realize that it is a lie.

This realization will come gradually by allowing the Light to work on us. This cannot happen all at once, since the changes that the Light must carry out in us are extreme. The Light doesn’t just want to change you, but it has to bring you to this perception consciously. It has to help us understand and consent to the change, become smarter, and truly come to own it.

This is why we have to exert effort. In so doing, we participate in the process and are ready for greater pressure and influence from the Light.

Our effort lies in connecting with the group in order to receive from it the importance of the goal and the right perception. This happens most while reading The Book of Zohar, provided that we approach the study the right way, as Baal HaSulam writes in “Preface to the Book of Zohar.”

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The Book of Zohar, Chapter “Shmini (On The Eighth Day), Item 25: The right line and the left line are mercy and judgment. Those who aspire to the Creator go right, while idol worshippers go left.

He who aspires to the Creator, even should he sin and surrender, he remains on the right side, without connecting to the left or ever mixing with it. Therefore it is written: “Rescue with Your right hand and answer me.” For when the right ascends, he who is tied to it ascends and is exalted by it.

Then the left side obeys, and all those who walk from this side, as it is written: “Your right hand, the Creator, crushes the enemy.”

We shouldn’t focus on the left line, because if we begin to do this, we will analyze our desires and it will seem that we’re making discernments and actually standing up against our evil qualities. But in actuality we’ll be mixing with them, and that isn’t good.

We have to try to ignore them as if they don’t even exist. We shouldn’t desire to deal with them, but only aspire to the right side. When we aspire toward the spiritual goal, adhesion with the Creator, the Upper Degree, bestowal, then its Light will correct us and our egoistic qualities, the left side.

On our own we will never be able to withstand these qualities, so it’s best to just stay away from them. The left line awakens in us only so we cling to the right. This is our path. If, however, we turn to the left side, we will think we are heroes, capable of working with and defeating these desires. But that will never happen! Only the Creator can defeat them for us. This war is waged by the Creator, not by us.

We don’t have the strength for it. One who aspires to the Creator is little, weak, and unable to withstand the egoistic qualities on his own. All of this is arranged by the Creator, and all we need to do is desire for it to happen. We just have to reach the right request.

That is why our work is called “the Creator’s work”; it’s because the Upper Force, the Upper Degree, the Creator, carries out all the actions, while we merely express our desire for it to happen. Our entire work comes down to wanting for it to happen. This is called “I awaken the dawn,” when the horse (us) moves obediently on its own, guessing its rider’s (the Creator’s) wishes in advance.

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I receive many questions about studying The Zohar from old-time students as well as total beginners. People write, “We used to understand what we were studying. Talmud Eser Sefirot and “Introduction to the Wisdom of Kabbalah” (Pticha) gave us knowledge about the structure of the universe. Articles about the group made us think about unity and the goal that the group has to reach. Baal HaSulam’s articles explained Kabbalah’s connection to other sciences and its attitude to religion, philosophy, and freedom of will. It was clear that these articles dealt with the structure of the external society as well as man’s inner structure, which are questions related to psychology. But what the heck are we studying in The Book of Zohar?”

These questions indicate the wrong attitude to the study because everything must eventually unite into one. For example, the group is a collection of souls that have to unite together. It only seems to our vision and sensations that there are different, foreign souls and desires around us, and that we want to attach them to us in order to see the true picture.

It is impossible to study Kabbalah theoretically; this wisdom can only be attained practically. This is the whole point of studying the science of Kabbalah: it is intended for revealing the Creator to the creatures in this world.

The Creator (Bo-reh) means “Come and See” – come experience the quality of bestowal by revealing it inside you, by going from “love for the neighbor” to “love for the Creator.” The true perception of reality is when reality is no longer divided into “myself and others,” but everyone is united together into one whole. But how can we attain this unity and perception if we are still unable to feel all the souls as one man with one heart, to unite them with the Creator, and to feel this whole world inside us? How can we discover and understand it?

All of this has to be done to us by the Upper Light. The Light must bring us to the state where “There is none else besides Him” and “He is Good that does Good,” despite anything that happens to us. These two forms of concealment have to come together and unite; we just don’t know how to make it happen.

This is exactly our purpose when we start studying The Zohar: we have to desire for it to reveal the true reality to us, for the Creator to become revealed to the creation here and now, for the desire to be revealed together with the Light in it! In addition, we have to add a bit of sensitivity, concern, and fear to this approach. Each one of us should ask himself: Am I doing everything that has been allotted to me? Am I making the required amount of efforts that I am supposed to? This, in turn, depends on our sensation of the spiritual goal’s importance and a constant inner concern about it. Then we are guaranteed success.

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A question I received: Is order important when reading The Book of Zohar? What if I’ve only joined the study recently? Should I read everything you’ve studied up to this point?

My Answer: First of all, it makes no difference which part of The Book of Zohar we are reading. It is written: “There is no time in the Torah.” So it doesn’t matter where you start reading: from the middle, end, or beginning.

It also doesn’t matter how much you understand or don’t understand, or whether you’ve joined the study just now and this is your very first lesson, or you’ve been studying a long time. You may join the study from the very beginning or be tuning in midway through the lesson, when half of the material has already been covered.

Everything we study are processes that take place in Bina, Zeir Anpin, and Malchut (AHP), where all the Upper Forces are located above Bina. That is to say, Bina is the Upper Forces’ relation toward us; Zeir Anpin is a system that conducts the forces of Bina to us along the three lines, and Malchut receives these three lines. We connect to Malchut and work on our connection to Zeir Anpin in order to connect to Bina.

The picture remains the same at all times – Bina, Zeir Anpin, and Malchut. There is nothing else. Therefore, no matter what Kabbalistic text you read, be it chapters of the Torah or parts of The Book of Zohar, the text invariably talks about the same thing – the correction of the soul in the system of AHP, ZAT de Atzilut.

This is why you will see a great deal of repetitions in The Zohar, which are all different descriptions of how the Light affects the soul. We do not know why the authors of The Zohar wrote it the way they did and why they chose those specific words and sequence of words. But they did it naturally; their writings reflect the correct actions of the Lights upon the desire as the soul ascends upward.

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A question I received: Before we started studying The Book of Zohar, our inner states and our ascents and descents were more balanced. Now they are much more dramatic and extreme, like black and white. Why is this happening?

My Answer: It is because we are being affected by The Book of Zohar, which is a tremendously powerful book. And in addition, we are all reading it together.

The Zohar’s influence allows us to feel whether we are actually connected with each other or not because it was written by a group of Kabbalists who were completely connected with each other and had attained absolute correction on all 125 levels.

When the Light comes and influences us from such a high source, it creates awareness of where we are relative to the Light. Therefore, we will surely go through dramatic and extreme conditions ranging from confusion to inspiration, anxiety, total fatigue, insensitivity, and much more. This will enable us to build ourselves in order to start sensing spirituality.

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