When reading The Book of Zohar, every person has to try to find a more internal state within. We do not have the capability to imagine a state any higher than the adjacent one. I can fantasize to no end and think that I am imagining the World of Infinity, but it will only seem that way to me, whereas in reality, I will later discover that this was just the following inner state, slightly higher than my state today.

Therefore, one must aim all of one’s energy and efforts at trying to discern the inner desires and qualities which correspond to every word written in The Zohar. For example, “city,” “tower,” “ascending,” “descending,” “angels,” “demons,” “spirits,” “the sons of Efraim” – no matter what or who is being described, it is all referring to one’s inner desires and qualities.

The book or the author is speaking to us like an adult to a baby, telling us only the things that are suitable for us. We will not be able to read any more than that in The Book of Zohar, or to imagine, hear or see more. But in fact, the contents of this book are much greater than what we currently see. We just can’t see it for now. We are only able to see a small bit, as if we are being taught by an experienced teacher who is able to give us only what is beneficial to us, and no more.

Therefore, we shouldn’t be afraid to give everything in trying to find the inner concepts within us, which are described by the text in front of us. We will ascend to these notions,  recognize them and experience them for a time, like a baby that grows up over a day, a week or a month, and is then able to understand more than before; he gains the ability to reveal deeper, more internal things. Previously a baby could not see or recognize these things because they were simply beyond his field of vision.

Our spiritual development happens in the same way: by rereading the same text, we will continually reveal new inner qualities and new connections.

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By studying The Book of Zohar, each person discerns precisely what is necessary for his soul. When reading The Zohar, each of us receives his own impressions, which are distinct from another person’s.

The entire narrative of The Book of Zohar has to pass through us. However, a person’s development does not occur by virtue of the influence of the narration itself, but from the Light that Reforms. The Light illuminates a person’s desire, his matter, which contains informational genes, Reshimot. This is similar to the work of stem cells – the foundation of all the cells in a human body.

As the Light influences our matter, it awakens the Reshimot that are inside the matter and which are unique and specific to each person’s soul. With the help of the Light, these Reshimot build a certain structure, a part of the soul, out of the matter. As a result, every person has his own construction of the soul.

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The Zohar, Chapter, “The Secrets of the Torah”: The founders of the city and the tower (of Babel) spoke the language of holiness, which was known to the angels, and they did not speak any other language.

And there was one language in the entire world. “One language” means the language of holiness, and because they spoke the language of holiness, they received help from the Upper Angels to complete their construction.

Therefore, nothing was impossible for them and they had the ability to accomplish anything they wanted. However, if they would not have spoken the language of holiness, they would not have received help from the angels, and their deeds would have been impure – the kind of deeds that last for just an instant and then immediately nullify themselves.

“The language of holiness” stands for the tongue of a scale which measures holiness – the correct, balanced combination of the right and left lines. The right line is bestowal, the force that comes from Above, and the left line is reception, our matter, the desire to receive pleasure.

When we find the proper balance between them, we attain the language of holiness. When this happens, the tongue of the scale shows that all our desires are for the sake of bestowal, and the right and left lines are in balance. We can then use the matter of the desire to receive pleasure in order to build our soul, because we can give it the proper structure – for the sake of bestowal.

This is the meaning of “building a city” – it is when the Upper Force, the angels, agree with and understand our actions. Stated differently, it means that we have established the proper connection with the Creator, the force of bestowal.

At every stage we use the part of the desire that we are able to, using the “language of holiness” – the middle line. This is how we continue to unite with the Creator and to attain greater similarity to Him.

We create every “rock” and “block” needed for the construction, and we use them to build the middle line, using the language of holiness. In other words, we always erect the building from below upwards, for the sake of bestowal. This is referred to as building “with the help of the Upper Angels,” the forces of bestowal.

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A person is a small world, which means the whole world is inside me. I stand facing the Upper Light and the Creator with all my properties and internal characteristics. I am unable to imagine anything outside myself.

We have already gone through sufficient preparation in order to avoid associating what is written in The Zohar with images of our world, history or geography. We can now see the text as describing ourselves, the Creator and the screen between us and Him. Now we have to try to see the system and structure of the relationship that we have to build between us and Him.

The screen is not just a partition between the Creator and myself, but it is an entire system. After all, I am only a point of desire created “out of nothing” and the Creator is also just a point, a spark of Light that created me, the point of desire.

The screen refers to a huge system that exists between both points: me (a black point) and the Creator (a point of white Light). The screen is not positioned above the desire to enjoy, but is included in this desire. With the help of the screen I can calculate how closely I can align my desire to match the Light; this is why the screen should fully embrace my desire.

Rosh (the head) of the Partzuf is the place where I decide which part of my desire should become attached to the Light. The part of my desire that I am able to align with the Light is called Toch (the inner part) of the Partzuf. The part that I am still unable to align with the Light is called Sof (the end) of the Partzuf.

The screen operates within all of these parts, being a system that connects me with the Creator. The system is divided into three parts:

1. Rosh, the head of the Partzuf, which performs a clarification and calculation
2. Toch, the inner part of the Partzuf, which receives the Light and attains similarity with it in action
3. Sof, the end of the Partzuf, where a separate calculation is performed regarding my inability to be similar to the Light

It’s not enough for me to simply decide what part of my desire I can make similar to the Creator and throw the rest away. I also have to check which parts I cannot align with the Creator and why. The end of the Partzuf has to be as clear as its inner part.

The Host is asking me about every minor detail: “Why don’t you want to accept Light into it from Me?” I then have to check that detail and explain to myself why I can’t receive inside it. Therefore, the screen is an entire system of connection between the Creator and myself; it is not simply the partition that we draw in our illustrations.

When studying The Zohar, we are constantly learning about this system – the connection between us and the Creator. I am below and the Creator is above, and between us there is an entire system we call “the screen,” which consists of three main parts. This system encompasses all the worlds.

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This Sunday, 12.13.09, from 9:00am to 10:00am EST, we continued our weekly series, “Revealing The Zohar.” This was the sixth lesson of the series; we studied the chapter, “Who Is Your Partner?”

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Below is a summary of the lesson:

The Creator made the creation in order to bring it to the state equivalence with Him – the state of harmony, eternity and perfection. There is a special “connecting block” between the Creator and the creation, consisting of Zeir Anpin and Malchut of the World of Atzilut. Zeir Anpin of the World of Atzilut represents the Creator and Malchut of the World of Atzilut represents the creation.

The creation is the souls that ascend and become included in Malchut by becoming corrected and connecting with each other. This is why Malchut of the World of Atzilut is called an “assembly of souls.” The connection between Zeir Anpin (the property of bestowal) and Malchut (the property of reception) is called Zivug, a merger. Such a connection is possible only if the properties of both objects are equivalent to each other.

The nature of the creation is reception; however, it can change its intention, in which case it will receive for the sake of the Creator instead of itself. Then its reception becomes equivalent to bestowal and Zeir Anpin merges with Malchut due to equivalence of form between them.

Everything we feel in this world comes from the connection between the Creator and the creation. A minimal contact between Zeir Anpin and Malchut lets us feel a small spark of Light (Ner Dakik), which gives us a feeling of existence and supports our entire life. In addition, the luminosity of Zeir Anpin awakens in us a feeling of lack of fulfillment, lack of pleasure, and lack of understanding on all levels of our development. It thereby causes us to aspire for something new, unknown, unique, and existing beyond the limits of this world.

This way, by affecting Malchut, the Upper Light attracts the souls to itself, inviting them to become full-fledged partners of the Creator.

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The Zohar: The sons of Aaron are drunk on wine. Who let them drink the wine? Could it really be that they were brazen enough to get drunk on wine?

Of course, they got drunk on the wine that is described by the verse, “They brought the Creator a foreign fire.” This means that they were unable to withstand the Light which they were supposed to accept for the sake of bestowal.

But a different verse says, “It was in order to hide from another’s wife.” Yet, all of this is the same thing.

We must remember that everything happens inside a person. Aaron is the quality of Chesed (mercy) which develops by overcoming the egoistic desire that it not yet corrected. However, this desire only awakens in a person who studies Kabbalah.

When we correct it, we raise all of our desires upwards and thereby attain greater equivalence to the Creator. The sons of Aaron represent the subsequent development of this quality, which also depends on overcoming one’s egoism.

Wine represents the Light of Hochma. To drink wine and to get drunk means to attract the Light of Hochma from above downwards (egoistically), instead of accepting from below upwards, in the middle line, in the Light of Hassadim.

We have to “translate” everything being described into the language of our inner qualities. How can we correct ourselves and attain the quality of bestowal above the egoistic desire that continually grows? How can we rise higher towards bestowal to the Creator?

As we read, we have to search inside ourselves; we have to try to find the phenomena and qualities in our small inner world that are being described by every word we read. After all, every person is a small world.

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When reading The Zohar, one must always think about oneself. The Torah does not say a word about history. However, every spiritual root has to touch a material branch, which is why all of these events also took place in our world.

Did the people described by the Torah understand who they were? This is indeed a question worth asking. Baal HaSulam writes that there was a time when someone “accidentally” decided to name a hill he saw “The Mount of Olives” because he thought it was a good place for planting olive trees. In reality however, he gave the mountain this name in a natural manner, instinctively, because every person acts according to his spiritual root. This root is instilled in every person from Above, and we carry out its commands.

So did Noah really exist? Yes, he did. Was he the most righteous person in all the generations? Did he understand what he was doing? This is a good question that we will discuss at some point in the future. Did he have sons called Shem, Ham and Jafeth? Yes, he did. Were they also righteous, and did they understand the Creator and speak with Him? All of this requires an explanation.

However, I am not interested in all of this history. The entire spiritual world has to be imprinted in a material form, inside me, in some way. It has indeed been imprinted there, but this isn’t important as far as I’m concerned. I have to arrange all of this in an orderly manner for myself in order to further my own advancement.

All of these Biblical stories are talking about man’s inner world. Therefore, I don’t care about anything else. The rest may as well be non-existent, as if there has never been any history, or Ancient Babylon, or this entire world. It doesn’t exist until I discover it for myself, instead of hearing someone else talk about it.

Right now I am inside an empty space where there is nothing. Everything takes place inside me. But who am I, standing in the middle of this empty space? I am someone that feels. And what do I feel? I feel what The Zohar tells me – and nothing exists besides this.

This is how I, a point inside an empty space, study The Book of Zohar, building an entire world out of the material that I absorb. It is the only world there is – not the Upper World or the lower world, but the only one. I make efforts to understand how this world is arranged and where every quality and action being described by The Zohar are found in this world. This is what I am always trying to imagine. I am just a point that tries to find these qualities.

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A question I received: Hundreds of thousands of people all over the world watch our lessons on The Book of Zohar. As opposed to other books, is The Zohar able to awaken the right kinds of desires in a person regardless of whether he has a point in his heart?

My Answer: Everybody has a point in their heart; however, it can be concealed or exposed. If it is concealed, there is a possibility that it can reveal itself in the next moment. No one knows when and in whom it will show up next.

There have been many people who have come to us with burning points in their hearts, but alas, it subsided several weeks or months later because they did not apply enough effort toward their spiritual development. They were given a chance, but they lost it and the point in their hearts became concealed again.

The transition from concealment to revelation of the point in the heart, as well as the reverse (from revelation back to concealment), depends entirely on the effort that a person makes. This explains why some people who did not have a particular desire for spirituality at first, but kept listening to our lessons out of respect for The Book of Zohar or simply to be polite were able to accelerate their growth.

By doing this, one’s point in the heart, the embryo of the soul, will reveal itself quickly and one can begin to develop it consciously.

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A question I received: Is my intellect able to easily comprehend what’s written in The Book of Zohar?

My Answer: Our intellect can only understand what we feel. It is able to perceive only what is felt inside our matter, or our desire.

Even in mathematics, where we operate only with numbers, these numbers are arranged inside us according to how small or large our desires are. Therefore, everything has to settle within ourselves, within the matter of which we are comprised – our feelings. We cannot do anything about it since that’s how the Creator made us.

After that, we turn on our brain and start to see the difference between numbers: this one seems bigger, that one is smaller, this one is positive and that one is negative. This is how we operate and the reason why the first thing we have to do is develop our senses – the desire to receive and all of its different forms, as well as the desire to bestow.

Our brain and intellect serve only to help us build the connections between different levels of the desire to receive pleasure and the desire to bestow. This is what our intellect is meant for; it connects various forms of desire.

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The Zohar: Peer into the secret of the degrees, and you shall see how the colors (white, red and black) expand in all directions: to the right, to the left and to the middle, until they enter Malchut below by the secret of the twenty seven channels with gates that conceal the abyss.

If we can change our qualities and make them similar to the Light’s quality of love and bestowal, we will unite with the Light and reveal its channels. We exist in the World of Infinity even now, but it is concealed from us by five worlds. These worlds are concealments that exist within us, inside our desire, because it is opposite to the quality of the World of Infinity.

These concealments don’t exist in and of themselves, but become revealed as we establish contact with the World of Infinity. Concealment emerges between us and infinity in order to help us make the necessary revelation. However, if we are not prepared for this, infinity is concealed from us. This is called a “world” (Olam in Hebrew, which comes from the word “concealment”), which conceals and reveals at once. In the end, everything depends on how successful we are at uniting and transforming our qualities.

…Through these 27 channels the Upper Light pours into Malchut, and the gates are the channel rafts that conceal the judgments and restrictions, called abysses, that reign in Malchut.

We are the ones who build these channels inside us, and the rafts (bolts) are like valves that sometimes open the way for the Light and sometimes block and conceal the Light, depending on our desires’ similarity or contrast to the Light. Therefore, our efforts should be aimed at taking all our qualities and using them to build a likeness to spirituality. We will thereby receive a portion of Light.

The Light is revealed to the extent that our egoism is concealed by “modesty” (The Zohar even has a chapter called “Book of the Modest”), and to the extent our egoism is made similar to the Light, it receives the Light. We then reveal the Creator’s qualities and the Thought of Creation.

When we conclude this work of attaining similarity and become just like Him in every way, all the Light channels disappear and we end up in a vast ocean of endless Light. However, this is only possible due to the force of our anti-egoistic screen.

We then see that all the concealments were necessary. They helped us understand the Creator and cling to His thought by ascending above His actions. In this way we ascend to the Creator’s level and unite with Him.

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