A question I received: During The Zohar part of the morning lessons, I feel that I don’t understand anything but, nonetheless, feel an aspiration and connection to the material.

However, during the evening lessons, I don’t know what to do with myself. I feel completely detached from the material, overwhelmed by thoughts of daily problems, and unable to concentrate on the lesson. What can I do to start focusing on the material? Is there some instant, automatic action that can be done in such a state?

My Answer: The automatic action to fight the disturbances is to thank the Creator that sends them. After all, “There is none else beside Him.” He creates these disturbances for you; He controls your heart and your mind. It stands to reason that He best knows what to send you at any given moment. He sends you all these things precisely to confuse you, to make you feel clueless, unable to focus, to distract you by compelling you to think about your day’s activities, problems, and concerns.

Why? If, in the midst of all this confusion, multitude of problems, and distractions, you are able to gather all your strength to grasp and connect with even a tiny fraction of the text for just a few moments, therein lay your profit. On the other hand, if you’re sitting at the lesson with a clear mind, feeling as if you are practically soaring in the spiritual worlds, you may not be in the right place at all. Indeed, your effort lies in trying to connect to the spiritual world, even a little, in spite of all your little “snakes” (egoistic desires). This is precisely what you need.

Later, all of a sudden, the great revelations will come. Precisely from the hardships and departures, the revelations are attained. As it is written, “The Torah shall come out of Zion (Light’s departure).”

Therefore, if your mind isn’t functioning or your mood is foul, don’t think that it’s useless to come to the lesson and listen to The Zohar. That calculation is absolutely incorrect; your clarity of mind or emotional state is not important. If you’re truly struggling with feeling detached, weary, and confused, but you still try to connect to the material as much as you can, even if you only make a small momentary connection, you gain much more than during the states of great inspiration. This is because inspiration is granted from Above and it just inflates you like an air balloon. However, the true benefit is produced by hard work and effort in spite of disturbances.

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The Zohar, Chapter “Chayei Sarah (The Life of Sarah),” item 155: …But the lower ones cannot receive the illumination of the left before it is clothed in Hassadim from the right line.

This is why Esau was weary. It is written, “Behold, I am at the point of death; and what profit shall the birthright have for me?”

Esau wanted to receive the Light of Hochma into the egoistic desires (Kelim of reception) and found that he was unable to do this. Similarly, we spend our whole lives chasing after pleasures, trying to find enjoyment in life, but as soon as we feel pleasure, it immediately disappears. This cycle recurs throughout our entire lives. Repeating this unending cycle is why Esau was weary and said, “I am unable to continue like this. It is hopeless; I am tired of it. I am ready to unite with Jacob.”

Today all of humanity is standing at the threshold of this same realization. For this reason, the science of Kabbalah, Jacob’s method, is being revealed. This science is precisely about how to build the middle line, how to implement Jacob’s method.

Before humanity reached this state of despair, there was no demand for the science of Kabbalah. Now the need is apparent; from here the Torah can be revealed since the Torah is revealed from the middle line – the correction of egoism.

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Shamati #117 “You Labored and Did Not Find, Do Not Believe”
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“Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Item 33
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The Book of Zohar — Selections, Chapter “Chayei Sarah (The Life of Sarah),” Item 220
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A question I received: What should we imagine when we read the words of The Zohar, which we do not understand at all? Should we picture the souls in unity, the Light’s influence on us, or something else?
My Answer: You need to imagine that we are all together in one desire, and that what we read about in The Book of Zohar will be revealed as filling inside this desire. And together, this desire and its fulfillment will reveal the Creator.

We are waiting for and expecting results from our studies. We really need to correct our connection to others because this will become our vessel for the Light. Then, my desire will receive the quality of correction, the quality of oneness – the Creator. The Creator is my correct desire for bestowal.

I need to imagine a state that I want to exist in. I may not know what the Light is or how it enters me, but I still need to picture the correct state that I want to achieve. Just like in our everyday lives, when we wish for something, we don’t think about the actions we have to make in order to obtain it, but only about the end result, about our desire coming true. I am then able to understand what I am lacking in order to attain the object of my desire, and where I can obtain the right example of the future state, meaning, which books can give me that example.

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The Book of Zohar — Selections, Chapter ”Chayei Sarah (The Life of Sarah),” Item 194
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The Zohar, Chapter “Chayei Sarah (The Life of Sarah),”Item 12: …Hence, the wicked are wiped out of Dumah’s book because he takes into the calculation only from the middle line, where the wicked are not included. Therefore, who will desire them at the revival of the dead? During the revival of the dead, the angel Matat will receive the account in the graveyards from Dumah. But who will desire those wicked ones that are not counted by Dumah for the revival of the dead?

A question I received: This text can confuse and frighten a person with words like “dead” and “graveyards.” What is the right way to perceive these words?

My Answer: We must understand that The Zohar speaks in the language of branches, as do most other Kabbalistic books. The method imparts not only knowledge, but more importantly it conveys impressions to us. This is in order for us to attract the Light of correction from the spiritual world to attain our corrected state.

We’re not talking about physical bodies or our material world, and we mustn’t try to correct our “hands and feet;” we aren’t attempting to fix physical concerns that should be treated by a regular doctor. Rather, The Zohar speaks of the soul’s correction. Therefore, even though The Zohar uses words of this world, they all allude to spiritual notions, meaning that they relate to our inner forces and qualities.

It is these qualities that I now want to study. I do so in order to understand which part of me is “ailing,” which part must be corrected. I do so, so that I will need to desire to correct it. That is the purpose of The Book of Zohar.

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The Zohar, Chapter “Bamidbar (In The Wilderness),” Item 36: This explains the reason for the journeying of the banners, which were east first, which is the hidden Daat, the beginning of the light, the root of the light of Hesed that appears from AVI. This is why the south follows it, for it is its branch. And following it is the west, which is Malchut, whose face should turn to the south. And following it is the north, for the back of Malchut should turn to the north, as it is written, “Let his left hand be under my head, and his right hand embrace me,” and “under” always means Achoraim.

This passage of The Zohar speaks about the form in which the entire structure of a person develops and advances forward, and the order in which one’s qualities change. Every one of us is HaVaYaH, in addition to being divided into three lines, twelve tribes, four phases, and so on.

All of these qualities change in us during the period when we “wander through the wilderness.” So what is the form that is passing through our impure forces (desires), through our uncorrected qualities, which are called “wilderness”? Moreover, as we run into hardships, problems, and obstacles in this wilderness, how do we nonetheless continue clarifying our qualities so as to draw nearer to the “land of Israel” (desire for the Creator)?

“Banners” are our primary qualities with which we try to advance, changing them one at a time. Just as with an embryo, first the arms develop, and afterwards the legs, brain, heart, kidneys, and then the eyes are formed (there is a particular order by which a drop of semen develops into a human being); similarly, there is an established developmental order concerning spirituality. The Zohar explains the order by which we develop after being born from our egoistic desire.

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A question I received: Why is the speed of the reading so important during The Zohar study and how does it differ from other Kabbalistic texts?

My Answer: While reading The Zohar we are trying to choose the right speed because we want to receive an impression from the general reading of the text. It’s similar to how we speak to a baby who doesn’t really understand what you are talking about. In contrast, suppose I were listening to a story in a language I don’t understand; I could still try to guess what every word means. However, a baby does not only lack knowledge of the words, but also lacks all knowledge of the actions that are being described.

In that case, what’s the point of talking to him about this at all? The fact is that if we don’t do this, he won’t grow up. When we talk to him in a language he doesn’t understand, about things he doesn’t understand, and tell him about a world that is completely concealed from him right now, but we explain it to him as if he understands, then it begins working inside the child, awakening the understanding and reactions.

It turns out that our actions with children during the earthly upbringing are completely equivalent to the influence of the Light upon us in the spiritual upbringing. In other words, upbringing by the Upper Light is completely natural.

When a baby begins to repeat the things we say and do, he says and does it all incorrectly. Yet, we understand that this is how it should be and in this manner, he grows. This is exactly how we develop in spirituality as well. Therefore, we have to let The Book of Zohar and the Light contained in it influence us and “mold” us, making us similar to the Creator.

This is the natural path of entering a new world. We aren’t aware of the process that took place when we were children because we were taught by adults through feelings and the mind in a language we understood, while assimilating and accumulating knowledge.

This is why we read The Zohar. Regardless of how much we understand or feel it, it works within us as a miraculous force (Segula). This is the same miraculous force that operates in our material lives when we raise our children. It seems like a miracle to us, but it is completely natural and regular.

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The Book of Zohar – Selections, Chapter “Chayei Sarah (The Life of Sarah),” Item 155
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“Beit Shaar Ha-Kavanot,” Item 27
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“Introduction to the Book of Zohar,” Item 69
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The Zohar, Chapter “Bamidbar (In the Wilderness),” Item 36: …south is Hesed, and grips to the east and depends on it as a branch with its root. This is so because the hidden Daat is the beginning of the sun, whose essence is Tifferet, called “sun” and east. But with its ascent to Yod-Hey it becomes Daat. In the beginning of the Daat in upper AVI, a root is made for the disclosure of Hesed, by which the upper AVI mate and elicit the Hesed (Love and Mercy).

We have to extract correction and remedy from every word in The Zohar. The Light will transform our properties according to its source. This should be our attitude to the reading. On the other hand, we have to try to understand what we read with more clarity.

Everything originates from the first HaVaYaH (Yod-Hey-Vav-Hey). The basic structure is the four stages of the Direct Light and everything clothes on these stages: the four letters, the three lines, and Malchut which receives from them. Everything comes from this connection.

First of all, we have to aspire to correct the breaking in ourselves so that every moment and every word from The Zohar will penetrate us like a balm or a healing remedy. After all, the Torah is created as a “seasoning” for a desire, as a remedy for its correction. When I want to connect with the text to reveal it, it opens up and connects with me as one whole.

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