A question I received: I find it difficult to concentrate at The Zohar lessons which is why I try to think about the connection between everyone studying. Is this the right thing to do, or should I make more mental efforts to understand what is being said?

My Answer: The efforts have to be made in your feelings, not the mind. You have to feel everything that The Zohar describes, rather than understand it. The Book of Zohar speaks to our feelings, not to our mind. When I read some word such as “Grapes, a tree, heaven, hell,” I should try to find it inside me. After all, I am entirely composed of desire, and desire is sensation, not reason.

If I use my mind to transpose all of this into concepts, such as notions of the Light, the vessel (Kli) and the combinations between them, then I will never go beyond the mechanical picture, like a chart, and I won’t be able to come closer to feeling it. The picture must gradually be pieced together inside me in the form of feelings. It is comprised of sensations. I have to accumulate inner sensations and impressions that will gradually come together of their own accord, forming the sensation of the Upper World.

It’s the same as how we develop in our world: the mind comes after the sensation. At first a child feels whether something is good or bad, and later he gains the understanding of what he should come close to or move away from. Later on he acquires a broader mind.

Therefore, when reading The Book of Zohar, we must always try to identify our sensations and discern what our will to enjoy feels. Later on a mind will emerge within us and begin connecting them into a unified picture.

It’s easier for beginners to perceive these processes schematically, but nevertheless, we should try to transfer the text of The Zohar into sensations of bestowal and reception.

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Zohar - 1 Comment →

The study of The Book of Zohar requires general efforts in the desire and the thought (the heart and the mind) in order to unite everything we studied before in the science of Kabbalah about creation, the group and the world, the Creator, the perception of reality, the direct and indirect influence and governance from Above, the singularity of the governing force and its goal, and many other components.

Obviously, when a person starts to study this book, he cannot unite all of these things into one right away. Yet he has to try to do it. The descriptions in The Book of Zohar facilitate this and compel us to do it. By focusing all the possible descriptions of the only forces in nature – the desire and the Light – it’s as if we pass through a needle’s eye, through our point in the heart, the point of our efforts, and after passing this pressure we enter the boundless, Light-filled world of the Creator.

Therefore, it is impossible to start reading The Zohar immediately. A preparation is necessary in order for a person’s heart and soul to absorb everything the science of Kabbalah speaks of, all of its demands, opinions, and outlook on life and the world. All of this must form one’s heart and come together into a specific feeling that Kabbalah has toward the world. Then one will be able to correctly perceive everything that The Zohar tells him.

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Zohar - No Comments →

The Book of Zohar – Selections, Chapter “Noah,” Item 293
Download: WMV Video| MP3 Audio

Filed under: Zohar - No Comments →

The Book of Zohar – Selections, Chapter “Noah,” Item 233
Download: WMV Video 1 of 3| MP3 Audio 1 of 3
Download: WMV Video 2 of 3| MP3 Audio 2 of 3
Download: WMV Video 3 of 3| MP3 Audio 3 of 3

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Zohar - No Comments →

A question I received: If we read The Book of Zohar in another language, does it still have the same effect as in Hebrew and Aramaic?

My Answer: It doesn’t matter what language one reads The Book of Zohar in. Everyone in the world will have to study this book and every person will read it in his language.

Even though The Zohar contains parts that talk about the elements making up the Hebrew letters, such as the lines and dots that form the letters, these aren’t really letters, but rather symbols, markings, and forms that designate forces. It doesn’t matter whether you are looking at a letter from the Hebrew alphabet or just a symbol; what is important is its meaning. At the end of the day, it’s all about one’s desire, and desire has no language or nationality. It is just that – a desire.

When you translate the words “sweet,” “bitter” or “sour” to other languages – every reader will still feel those tastes. The Zohar talks about sensations, and since words that sound different evoke the same sensations in people, reading in another language does not hinder one’s attainment.

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Zohar - No Comments →

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Zohar - No Comments →

A question I received: If a person reading The Zohar was able to momentarily find a point of contact with it, then how can he hold on to it?

My Answer: He will hold on to it if he isn’t afraid of anything that comes next and he is ready to rebuild this connection over and over again under any circumstances that arise. If he is scared to death of losing the sensation of this connection, that means he lacks confidence and is not sufficiently connected with others. Besides, he does not understand that his progress takes place in the quality of bestowal, which always grows, develops and intensifies within him. However, it cannot develop if he is afraid and constrains himself. If he is concerned about his future, then he is operated by egoism instead of the desire to bestow.

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Zohar - 1 Comment →

The Zohar (I have to look for everything that I read in this book within myself): And the Creator (the general force of bestowal, as much as I can imagine it) said to Noah (my inner desire to become like the Creator): “I have placed My rainbow in the cloud.” “I have placed” alludes to having placed it even earlier, because the rainbow is a “cornerstone.” And the cornerstone was placed in its place before even the world’s creation, for the world is founded upon it, and therefore it is written: “I have placed,” in the past tense.

It is written: “Above the firmament.” Of what exists above the firmament it is written: “And I shall hear the sound of their wings.” These are the four largest and highest of holy animals upon which the firmament stands. Their wings connect, concealing their torsos. The firmament is the border of the second restriction, called Parsa. It stands upon four large animals: Hesed, Gevura, Tifferet, and Malchut.

Within us there are forces called Hessed, Gevurah, Tifferet, and Malchut, or four animals on the animate level. There is the “firmament,” which separates these forces from other forces. But they are all just that – forces.

All that we presently feel is depicted for us by these forces on our inner screen. Our goal is to shift from the external images on the screen to the forces themselves. Then we will be able to attain the root of our reality, begin to change it, and come to the Source.

The spiritual world is a world of forces. It is only when we exist in the corporeal world that we imagine these forces as corporeal images. However, ultimately this whole imagined reality dissipates into nothingness.

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Zohar - No Comments →

Suppose I understand that my life is a movie and I reveal His commands, through which He instills this picture in me. From the commands I come to Him, as it is written, “I will know You through your actions.” I begin to learn about Him and reveal the plan of creation by understanding what He wanted when He created this whole imaginary movie inside me.

He wanted me to return to Him, moving backwards along the path of my creation: from the external screen to the forces; from the forces to His thoughts; from the thoughts to Him. This means rising by the degrees of the spiritual worlds – from the world of actions to the world of thoughts, then to the world of intentions, then to the world of unity, and then to Him.

Therefore, I have no choice about my advancement. I need a book which will be my instruction guide, as well as illustrations of the process which would lay the path for me, so that I could grab onto the forms on the external screen. This is why Kabbalists tell me about this using words from our world, and I need to decipher the meaning! But how do I do this? This is no different from the way a newborn learns about our world.

For this very reason, Kabbalists give me a few recommendations which I try to carry out. These attempts eventually enable me to enter the spiritual world. Only the effort itself is accounted for, while I am certainly unable to do anything on my own. It is written, “I labored and found.”

Our efforts have to be done precisely for this sake: to imagine us all as one person, and the One who influences us as the only force and will. There should be one general image from our side, and one from His side. This is how we will make our way to each other, and this is called practical Kabbalah.

The simple reading of The Zohar without any explanations and clarifications influences a person and communicates the inner direction to him. It is an emotional immersion where one searches for what this book speaks about. It’s similar to how a child does not grow by understanding how he needs to grow, but from making the effort. He acquires understanding only later, as a result.

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Zohar - No Comments →

The Zohar: When a person is filled with perfection he is considered to be living in the “house.” The word “house” stands for Nukvah of Zeir Anpin which emanates the Light of Mochin de GAR, as it is written: “Wisdom builds the house.” Therefore, everyone who receives from Nukvah is a resident of the house. However, when a person is in need of correction, as a result of his imperfections, he requires protection from those on the outside that could cling to him and lead him to commit a sin.

When a person reaches the state of being filled with the Light of Hochma, he is in need of protection and significant correction. The Light of Hochma provides a tremendous amount of pleasure and causes major corrections to take place, waking all human desires and fueling a thirst for fulfillment by the Light. This is why a person needs to be protected from his own egoistic desires to prevent him from stealing the Light from himself and maintaining the spiritual level already attained. But how can he protect himself?

As a result, he is forced to leave the house (to leave the state of being filled with the Light of Hochma), since he is not allowed to receive this exalted Light out of fear that external (egoistic) desires might latch on to him.

This is talking about a person who identifies himself with the property of bestowal. The property of bestowal (the Light of Hassadim) is filled with the light of Hochma, which fulfills the desire to give. But besides the desire to give, a person also has the desire to receive and is afraid that this desire will awaken and attach itself to the Light of Hochma (the pleasure felt through the desire to give) within the Light of Hassadim. That is why he has to leave this state and “step out of the house.”

By leaving the house, he remains on the same spiritual level, on the same step, only now on the side of Hassadim. If his uncorrected, egoistic desires, which lack the intention of bestowal, attract the Light of Hochma from above downwards, then he will fall from his spiritual level and become like all other sinners. The waves of the flood will rise and drown him.

By stepping out of the house, a person makes a significant correction. He becomes stronger and acquires an additional “screen” that he can use the next time he enters and stays in the house. As a result of these exits from the house (a spiritual act), a person acquires screens. This is how he attracts the strength to overcome which he can use the next time he enters and stays in the house filled with the Light of Hochma.

Filed under: Zohar - 1 Comment →