A question I received: You have me completely convinced, but what specifically should I do from this moment on?

My Answer: From this moment forward you must understand that the future depends on you, to the extent of your dissemination of the science of Kabbalah in the world. This is because it is the method of correction for the whole world: It is for us to connect with each other and with the Upper Force.

If we will come to widespread dissemination of this principle, as a cure for all our problems, then we’ll succeed. We only need to make attempts to achieve it and the Upper Light will do everything else for us. To the extent of our efforts it works through us, on ourselves and the whole world.

Thus, I strongly recommend everyone who has the opportunity to come to our convention on March 24th, 2010 in Israel, as well as to our World Zohar Convention 2010 that will take place in New York, May 7-9, 2010 (registration is already open). These events influence spiritual advancement very effectively.

Baal HaSulam attempted to disseminate Kabbalah to the people some time ago, but he had no success because the time had not come yet. At that time, all that he wanted to do didn’t work out. However, everything that we now do in this direction is successful. It is evident that we are receiving a blessing from Above, and everything depends on us.

Let us hope that together with all our groups and friends around the world, we will bring the world to correction.

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A question I received: Since our objective is to attract the Surrounding Light when reading The Zohar, why do we read it with Baal HaSulam’s commentary instead of reading the original Zohar?

My Answer: First of all, since The Zohar is written in Aramaic, the ancient language of Babylon, modern readers cannot understand it. Furthermore, The Zohar is written in a style filled with allegories and images that appear corporeal to us. We would not be able to detach from these corporeal images when reading The Zohar without the Kabbalistic Sulam Commentary on The Zohar. This is why, by combining the original Zohar text with his Sulam Commentary, Baal HaSulam introduces us to the correct understanding of The Zohar and the proper structure. Through this we can begin to see the entire text through the three lines.

The three line approach is necessary. Even the Torah is approachable only through the three lines. It is written entirely by way of the three lines: We need to take the two lines given to us from Above, the right and the left lines, the desire and the Light, and connect them properly. We build our soul by properly combining these two lines.

It is impossible to study The Zohar without the Sulam Commentary. This method, called the Sulam (The Ladder) became revealed and added to The Zohar when our generation came to the point of being ready to study the wisdom of Kabbalah. This is the time of correction. As the global crisis becomes revealed amongst the souls, we can now use this method to its full extent.

In addition to including the Sulam Commentary, we slightly modified the text of The Zohar by abbreviating some technical details to make it more accessible to the modern reader. This is why we have named it Zohar for All.

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We can see that the science of Kabbalah expands and enters the world from the center, from the source. In our generation the source of knowledge and the method of correction is here, in the central Bnei Baruch group.

If any group in the world or any person thinks that he is able to lead himself or the group to the goal correctly, he is deluding himself due to misunderstanding the structure of the system of souls upon which our world is clothed. Baal HaSulam writes in the “Introduction to The Book of Zohar” that everything always expands from the internality to the externality, or from the Upper Level to the lower one. The same applies to the influence upon our world as well as one’s attainment: First a person ascends to the Upper Level, and from there he can see and influence the lower level.

Therefore, dissemination, influence, correction, and lessons must come only from here, the center. The role of the different groups is to take part in creating materials and disseminating them while submitting to the center in every way, similar to how all parts of an organism act in a coordinated fashion under the governance of one head shared by all. Nothing can start in the middle of the ladder, the pyramid, or some particular group similar to how the structure of the universe is strictly fixed and described.

Baal HaSulam writes in Item 57 of the “Introduction to The Book of Zohar” that if a thousand blind people are led by one person who can see, then they will all be able to follow him; but if there is no leader, they will all perish. Similarly, we observe a special mission on the part of humanity called “Isra-El” (meaning “straight to the Creator”) because the Light of Correction passes through it to all of humanity. Baal HaSulam describes this strict and unchangeable hierarchy in the above article.

Therefore, every person within this system must be connected to the Upper Level as well as the lower level. Above us are our Teachers, the sources, the forefathers, and the Kabbalists of previous generations from whom we learn and by whose teachings we live. Beneath us are our students, all those who come to us wishing to connect to us. This hierarchy must be maintained because we are all able to receive only from the Upper One (see Baal HaSulam’s article, “Faith in the Teacher”).

However, if one person or group decides to act independently, they would be preferring the externality to the internality. They will thus replace the upper with the lower, in which case it would be necessary to immediately correct them or remove them from the common system. From studying the structure of the worlds we see that there is no “democracy,” but a strict subservience to the Upper Level, to the Upper One’s (the Creator’s) example.

Through the connection among the groups and their structure, we are currently implementing the construction of a system that will expand to the whole world, as Baal HaSulam writes in the article “The Last Generation.” Then our world will become similar to the Upper World. So where is every person’s freedom? It lies in choosing the right connection with the environment and submitting to it in order to attain similarity to the Creator. This is attained only if one is connected to the Upper One, receives from Him, and carries out the same actions along the same chain of degrees. Thus, every person’s freedom of will lies in preferring the internality over the externality in spite of one’s personal egoistic disturbances or those occurring to the group.

As Baal HaSulam writes in Item 60 of the “Introduction to the Book of Zohar,” every person’s action corrects or ruins the entire system. Obviously, this is a dictatorship; however, it comes from Above, from the Creator, and all of us must carry it out by submitting to the Upper One and becoming similar to Him. In addition, we attract the lower one according to a fixed hierarchy. Absolute equality emerges only in the final, corrected state where everyone becomes equal through mutual bestowal.

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Any concepts that exist in the world are divided into the degrees of HaVaYaH, according to the four stages of direct Light – in any quality, influence, definition, and in any division. This separation can be spread onto all of reality:

· The stages 0-1-2-3-4 “Shoresh-Aleph-Bet-Gimel-Dalet,”
· HaVaYaH “the tip of the letter Yod-Yod-Hey-Vav-Hey,”
· Sefirot “Keter-Hochma-Bina-Zeir Anpin-Malchut,”
· Senses “vision-hearing-smell-taste-touch,”
· Partzufim “Galgalta-AB-SAG-MA-BON,”
· The worlds “Adam Kadmon-Atzilut-Beria-Yetzira-Assiya,”
· The Lights “Yechida-Haya-Neshama-Ruach-Nefesh,”
· The four natural elements “fire-air-water-earth”….

Our prayer should always be generalized: a prayer of the society, for the society, a prayer of many. It should contain all the levels, all the degrees, a full HaVaYaH. If a person merely screams about something, this is not a prayer. His request should contain his understanding and sensation, the past, the present, and the future. If he makes an appeal in precisely this manner, then his prayer will truly be mature and ripe, and it will be awarded a reply.

Baal HaSulam’s book Beit Shaar HaKavanot represents this precise, general approach, a global view of creation and all of reality. Instead of discerning small, individual details, it explains how to unify them. Talmud Eser Sefirot is an analysis, where the common whole  is broken up into parts, and Beit Shaar HaKavanot is a synthesis, where the parts unite into one whole.

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A question I received: It’s not entirely clear how the Light that Reforms operates, or the special force (Segula) that is contained in The Book of Zohar.

My Answer: It’s impossible to understand it, which is why it is called a “wondrous quality” (Segula) or a miracle. It’s when you use something that isn’t real.

I am told, “Jump up and down ten times and a light bulb will light up on that wall.” I don’t know the connection between one and the other, but meanwhile, someone might have set up a sensor beneath the floor that causes the light bulb to light up when I jump ten times. I don’t know about it, but obviously, there is a connection between the two. This connection is concealed from me and that’s why it is called “Segula.”

Segula is a law existing in nature that I am not familiar with. Those who have already researched it tell me, “Use it in the following manner and you will cause it to operate. Although you can’t see how, you do set it in motion.”

Baal HaSulam says that if an alien were to come to our planet and compare a human baby with a day-old calf, he would think that the calf will grow up to become Napoleon and the human baby will grow up into a miserable toad. What else could come of that helpless creature?

Yet, we know that if we feed these two creatures and give them everything they need, one of them will grow up into an animal whereas the other will grow up into a human. This is a miracle (Segula). Although we are used to seeing this happen, in reality it’s a miracle. Just think of how a tiny baby suddenly starts to understand, react, and perform various actions. Day by day he starts having new skills, which come from within him. But where do they come from so suddenly? We don’t do anything about it, so why does it happen?

This phenomenon is completely habitual for us and we simply understand that this is how the developmental process works. However, essentially this is the revelation of life’s force, the spiritual force that operates in creation and becomes expressed in this manner.

The same thing takes place in our spiritual development. Spirituality is not somewhere far away, but is a system that is slightly more concealed from us and that we are not used to. However, in a short while people will start to use it the same way as everything else because these are laws of nature.

Kabbalists tell me, “There is a force in nature whose influence you can evoke upon you. How? Pick up The Book of Zohar and start reading. The more you read it, the stronger, smarter, and more sensitive you will become, and then spirituality will be revealed to you. Why? Because this book changes you.”

You might object, “But aren’t there many other Kabbalah books that change me?” Yes, there are, but the other books only work to arrange your inner inclinations, qualities, and abilities. They merely organize your inner system and develop it, whereas The Book of Zohar performs a special change in you because you can use it to evoke a higher influence upon you. The result of this book’s influence is called a miracle because you begin to perceive, feel, and reveal a different system inside you. This, in turn, helps you to open up a new, spiritual world.

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The original text of The Zohar is not divided into paragraphs, chapters, or item numbers. It’s all one smooth text. Moreover, The Torah is written without any spaces at all from beginning to end.

So where does the division of the text come from? It is caused by the fact that we are so small that we are unable to accept everything and incorporate it within us. Therefore, the more we advance and the generations develop from the time of the Torah’s and The Zohar’s composition, the more we need to divide the text into parts, paragraphs, and chapters with titles. After all, it’s very difficult for us to take in rows upon rows of letters, to look at them and become similar to them in our intention. But this is, indeed, the work of correcting our desires, and its order determines the structure of the Kabbalistic Prayer Book.

This is why Baal HaSulam divided all of The Zohar into paragraphs and chapters. In addition, he wanted to add introductions, definitions, and clarifications preceding the text. In doing so he wanted to balance the text of The Zohar with his Sulam Commentary in a way that doesn’t just offer explanations, but designates the middle line in The Zohar’s text. Without his commentaries, we wouldn’t be able to balance the text inside us in order for it to clothe inside us correctly in the middle line.

Thus, Baal HaSulam doesn’t offer us mere explanations, but causes us to oscillate while reading the book, thereby attuning our vision, approach, and sensation in a way that makes them go through the middle line, “the golden middle.” Therefore, we have to accept all the commentaries with gratitude regardless of whether they are short or long. We have to go along with them and understand that we are building our middle line in this manner.

This is what the Sulam Commentary is intended for. Without it, The Zohar is only two lines, just like the rest of the Torah. We have to build the middle line ourselves, and the Sulam Commentary helps us do this. This is why it is called “Sulam” (Ladder). It is already built in the form of steps, and all that remains for us to do is to climb them. The ladder is already there, and now we just have to make efforts to climb it. We must only push ourselves forward slightly and we will be sure to follow the right path.

This is why Baal HaSulam writes that after the composition of his “Sulam Commentary to The Book of Zohar,” he is certain that it is impossible for a person to err. One will go through a wondrous spiritual ascent and thereby attain the revelation of the Messiah – the Light of Correction.

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The Sulam Commentary isn’t simply an addition to the text of The Zohar. Baal HaSulam wrote it in a special manner so that when we read this commentary together with The Zohar, it acts like a teacher who takes the material and renders it into different forms with respect to us. In other words, The Sulam Commentary isn’t just a formal explanation using Kabbalistic terms which explains the mechanism of relationships between the spiritual worlds, Partzufim, and Sefirot. The Commentary helps The Zohar to express itself like a teacher who presents the study material to the student in a clearer, more suitable way.

When we listen to The Zohar with The Sulam Commentary, it’s like a translation with additional information which the translator adds to help us to feel the original better. It’s as if it is translated for us from Chinese, adding clarifications to the text about the country’s nature. It gives us information on attendant circumstances (similar to a list of exhibits attached to a document) in order to help us perceive the material more clearly and to feel close to the text. This explanation is built like a ladder (Sulam).

After all, The Zohar is this grand structure that contains all creation spanning from us until the very World of Infinity. In addition, we did not receive the entire Zohar; we have only a small part of it. With his Commentary, Baal HaSulam supplemented what we lack from The Zohar, in addition to organizing it like a ladder. Regardless of the order in which we read it, the Commentary passes through a certain matrix, and works by arranging within us the degrees (rungs of the ladder) which we can use to ascend upward, step by step.

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A question I received: Should the wisdom of Kabbalah be disseminated to those without a point in the heart yet?

My Answer: We have entered a new period, a stage of general correction. Today the spiritual calculation isn’t made for us as individuals. Rather, what is important is the degree to which we trigger general changes, turning ourselves into conductors of the Light to pass to other souls.

This is why Baal HaSulam and other Kabbalists write about the necessity of wide dissemination. We have to correct the entire common Kli. Therefore, the calculation isn’t based on a single individual, but should account for the whole body.

Prior to the period of the Ari, the stage of general correction wasn’t revealed yet. However, the new laws are already in effect during the last phase. We have discovered that we are one soul and this soul has to cure itself, whereas in the past everyone evolved individually.

Individual calculations have ended, paving the way to the common interests of the united whole. The individual profit is in the success of the wide dissemination. Thus, general advancement is more important than taking care of oneself.

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The Zohar, Chapter “Bo (Come Unto Pharoah),” Item 57:”And He planted that seed in one righteous, which is Yesod de Zeir Anpin, the garden’s gardener.”

I have to imagine that I have a property within me called “Yesod de Zeir Anpin,” also known as the “righteous man.” This is where my seed is, a point from which I will eventually grow.

“And He planted that seed in one righteous, which is Yesod de Zeir Anpin, the garden’s gardener. And the seed in the garden, which is Malchut, is the concealment and hiding of that light. This means that the concealment is not absence, but on the contrary, it is a seed of blessing, that the concealment itself will become light once more, like a plant that buds from the seed.”

Baal HaSulam mentions this example in his article “Freedom of Will.” We need to “implant” ourselves into a Kabbalistic group like a seed is sewed into the earth in such a way that we “reject” (diminish) ourselves before the group. If we do that we become a seed that decomposes, “rots” in the ground in order to let the tree grow.

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A question I received: What is the connection between the earthquake in Chile and the correction of our intention?

My Answer: It’s the most direct connection there can be. All the forces of nature (on the still, vegetative, animate, and human levels) are aimed at correcting man. They are all included inside man.

Baal HaSulam writes in many articles that the still, vegetative, and animate levels are included in man, depend on him, and descend or ascend along with him. The still, vegetative, and animate levels of nature in our world are the projection of our inner levels – the still, vegetative, and animate levels inside us. Therefore, when we don’t manage and correct our inner forces of nature, we see the corresponding results on the outside.

It is written that before Adam HaRishon (the first man) sinned, the world was wonderful – a true paradise. But after the sin, it turned into hell. Thus, it is the change of man’s intention from bestowal to reception that transforms paradise to hell.

This is what we are now revealing. There are great disasters ahead of us unless we forestall them with the remedy. Let us hope that we will succeed in doing this.

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