The Zohar, Chapter “Tazria (When A Woman Delivers),” Item 150: When one begins to build a house, he should mention in his mouth that he is building it for the work of God.

The Zohar speaks about our spiritual work. Not a single word of it pertains to the realm of this world with its material objects, such as houses, rocks, animals, or plants. The Zohar explains the inner work of a person needed to reach the revelation of the Creator in the part of the soul called “human,” the “point in the heart.”

It is a new sense that we need to reveal and build, replacing senses of reception with a bestowing sense, called a “soul,” “home,” or “collection of the souls of Israel” (Malchut). This sense has many names depending on what property we want to discern and highlight.

The Zohar explains this through the example of building a house, that very sense in which we reveal spiritually. A spiritual sense (a vessel, Kli) that we need to build should be flawless. If there is a flaw inside this Kli, meaning, there is an intention for the sake of reception rather than for the sake of bestowal, the Light vanishes immediately.

Such a state is called an “afflicted house” (Nega). Then we need to correct this Kli by burning, destroying, or, in case it is possible to cleanse it and make it fit for use, by correcting it. As a result, Nega (curse) turns into Oneg (delight).

A person that built his Kli improperly, by mistake or negligence, needs to understand where it comes from. In this manner, one advances through corrections.

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A question I received: I am an egoist who feels pleasure when my neighbor’s car blows up and suffering when my neighbor buys a new car. Where can I get a different formula for attaining happiness?

My Answer: If you want to suffer from the misfortunes that befall your neighbor, and to be happy when he is happy, then you should marry his daughter – then he will be “your” family.

Do you understand now? You need a connection with him so his Kelim will become your own! If you become one family, then you will feel pleasure from all his successes and acquisitions. You only have to connect your Kelim to his. Otherwise, every new acquisition he gains will become a huge loss for you.

The fact that we perceive others’ Kelim as external allows us to ascend to a different level. This is why the breaking occurred. If I now connect the external Kelim to me, I will acquire the qualities of the Creator which I could never acquire otherwise.

The Creator divided me into two parts and gave me a sensation that one of the parts is foreign to me. But who are the people foreign to me, really, if the entire universe consists of just me and Him? So, a “foreign” person is just how the Creator appears to me. If I now attach that outsider to me, it will mean that I adopt the qualities of the Creator.

He created within me this artificial division into “myself” and “Him,” where the external part is called “clothing and castles” or “another person.” Now there are two parts inside my desire: myself and the neighbor, and I have to work in order to attach the neighbor to myself because I will thereby acquire the qualities of bestowal, love for the neighbor.

When I do this, I will begin to feel the same thing toward the Creator. He is outside of this entire sphere, but I have a means that enables me to imagine and feel Him – I can go from love for the neighbor to love for the Creator, and thus, gain a connection with Him. The opportunity we have to perceive reality as divided into two parts is a special patent and a salvation, because it enables us to make attempts to attach the external part to the inner one. Otherwise our situation would be hopeless.

Therefore, we must use this entire world as a means for our own correction, since the whole world was created for us, in order to enable us to attain the Creator.

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We don’t know what Atzmuto is, the Light itself, . We can only talk about the forms it creates within the desire. Besides this, we cannot understand or feel anything.

When I drink water, I don’t know what water actually is when it is outside of me. I only know how it is perceived inside my sensations and in my senses. This is the only thing I can talk about, and I can therefore describe the water as being wet, cool, sweet or sour. I can only describe it from the point of view of my own Kli. That is why we only talk about the Kelim and their impressions, the forms and sensations that are present within them.

It seems to me that I go into the shower, turn on the faucet and enjoy the water streaming down on to me. But the faucet and the water streaming down on me, and the water that’s inside me when I drink it, are all my own Kelim.

If we discern the concepts in the right way, then we will be able to read The Book of Zohar correctly.

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A question I received: If I come to know this entire world, then I’ll be able to earn all the money in the world and use it to disseminate Kabbalah to the entire humanity. As a result, the whole world will attain the spiritual world, myself included. Does it follow that I can use knowledge or even wealth to attain spirituality?

My Answer: Even if the whole world were to attain spirituality, you wouldn’t attain it along with them. You would need to exert efforts in accordance with the root of your soul in order to correct it. Otherwise you won’t gain the sense (vessel, Kli) to feel the spiritual world. The spiritual world cannot be served on a platter to anyone.

Even if everyone were to correct themselves and take you into the spiritual world with them, you would remain a mere dot among them, unable to sense anything. After all, you are in the spiritual world even now, surrounded by the World of Infinity, but you do not sense it because you don’t have the means with which to do so.

The only one who can develop you is you. This development will take place only under the influence of the Upper Light and to the extent you will aspire for it. Only the collision between the Light and the desire, the entrances and exits of the Light, make it possible for you to feel it. Who else can do that, if not you?

Naturally, if you bestow to others by participating in the dissemination of Kabbalah, this helps you. But your personal efforts are necessary. Spirituality is not earned with money, but with individual work. Where else would you sense the spiritual world? You must be hungry for it and nurture this hunger within yourself – the hunger for bestowal, for connection with others, for merging with the Creator. Do you think someone will just lift you up and carry you along with them like a suitcase?

You can receive a sense of the spiritual world even now! The World of Infinity is all around you, so what’s stopping you? A lack of desire, that’s what.

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A question I received: Why is it written that Baal HaSulam merited to receive the Ari’s soul? Didn’t he have his own soul?

My Answer: The soul is a “part of the Creator from Above.” No person born in our world has it from birth. The only people who have a soul are those who have attained at least the minimal quality of bestowal, the quality of the Creator.

With the case you are asking about, a person corrected himself, attained the quality of bestowal, built his soul (vessel of perception – Kli), and suddenly this vessel acquired a specific form and was filled with the Light called “the soul of the Ari.” The soul is the corrected desire (this is “the body” of the soul), and the Light that fills it (the Light of the soul) is the revelation, the Creator, which clothes into you. That is why the soul is called a “part of the Creator from Above.”

Receiving the soul of the Ari means thinking like him, feeling like him, being instead of him, seeing through his eyes, and feeling with his senses just like him. Baal HaSulam received the soul of Ari, which is the same soul that was passed from Adam to Abraham, from Abraham to Moses, from Moses to Rashbi, from Rashbi to the Ari, and from the Ari to Baal HaSulam. This is a special soul through which the Creator reveals the method of merging with Him during the generations when a special spiritual change has to occur. If the Creator sent us a teacher like Baal HaSulam, who had the soul of the Ari, this indicates that we are living in the generation of the last, general correction.

The soul constantly changes and reincarnates. Throughout the course of a Kabbalist’s lifetime, he always has a different Partzuf and a different degree. A person’s corrected qualities that have the intention of bestowal, in which the Light can be clothed, is called a soul. The Kli is called the body of the soul, and the Light is called the soul. This is the Light of NaRaNHY, but in general it is called “Neshama” (soul) because until we reach the complete correction, we can only correct this degree completely.

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Our world is like a single spiritual body that develops and goes though correction over the course of 6000 years. This time can be divided into three periods, each lasting 2000 years, starting with the first man – Adam.

The first desires (or Kelim) to be revealed are the thinnest, or the egoistically weakest ones; they are called ChaBaD. They are followed by the desires with a medium strength of egoism – HaGaT. And during the final 2000 years – our time, the most egoistic desires – NeChY – are revealed.

The thin Kelim were very elevated souls – the Patriarchs, the nation of Israel that came out of Egypt (Galgalta Eynaim). However, they could not reveal greater depth, wisdom, and the Light of Hochma, because they lacked the depth (thickness) of desire.

On the other hand, over the last 2000 years, we were in exile from the quality of bestowal and love, in egoism, and we are now approaching freedom from the power of egoism over us, even though our egoism is actively developing now.

It turns out that our most egoistic desires (Kelim NeCHY) can draw the most powerful Light – Hochma – into the system of One Soul of Adam. In spite of the fact that our minds and feelings are very limited, when we make a slight effort and perform a correction on our low degree, we draw an enormous Light into our higher Kelim – HaBaD, and great corrections occur there. This is how the system of souls of Adam works according to the law of reverse correspondence of Lights and Kelim.

Therefore, while we make great changes in the system of souls, we don’t even know or understand what we’re doing. We are like infants who just smiled or put two blocks together, and the grown up parents rejoice over our small success.

So, we don’t know what Light we draw into the higher souls; this will only be revealed at the End of Correction, when everyone begins to feel this Light. Our souls are the worst, most egoistic, but that is why through our correction, we bring the most powerful Light – the Light of Hochma – into the world. This is a Light that the world has never experienced before.

This is why our correction is called redemption. Through our simple and small work, we carry out the redemption and bring life into this whole system! The whole past, our whole history, and all the great Kabbalists of the past – all of this was only the preparation for the correction that you and I now have to perform.

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Sukkoth is a holiday that is very symbolic of our spiritual work. It arrives after the realization of evil that happens on Yom Kippur. That is to say, on Yom Kippur, a person understands the full extent to which his will to enjoy, his egoism, his entire nature – is evil, and that he has no chance to escape it. But this realization comes as a result of great preliminary work.

On Rosh Hashanah (the New Year), a person decides to start a new life, to rise above his own nature no matter what and to ascend to the next level. On Yom Kippur, however, he reveals that he does not have the ability to attain this, because his Kelim (desires) are unfit for it. But then he comes to understand that spirituality and corporeality are inseparable, that every Upper Level is built and based upon the previous level. It’s not that there is some ready-made spiritual world waiting for you somewhere, and all you have to do is “get there” from this world. Rather, you have to take everything you have in the current state and rearrange it in a new way. That is how you will build your new level.

We have very important possessions on our current level, including all the corporeal and all the spiritual things. However, the spiritual things don’t seem important to us yet, since we still cannot enjoy them. Bestowal, care for one’s neighbor, and love for the Creator are all things that appear unneeded, like garbage.

We do agree to do spiritual work, but only if it’s for the sake of gaining more knowledge and understanding or in order to receive a reward for the work. And we don’t understand that it is precisely in virtue of the “unimportant” things, the “garbage” which we raise above us and use it to build a canopy or covering, that we create a new Kli.

That is when these things, which my desire to enjoy deems unnecessary, work to cover or conceal my egoism, to pacify it by creating a shade over it. If I am willing and happy to remain in this shade and to build the desire to bestow inside me, then the Light of the Sukkoth Holiday comes to me.

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A question I received: Where does the Upper Light reside?

My Answer: The Kli is filled with the Light of Hassadim (love and mercy), the force of bestowal, which contains the Light of Hochma (wisdom). The Upper Light is the Light of Hochma clothed in the Light of Hassadim. This is the Light that is always working.

We are always turning to Malchut of the World of Infinity, for that is the only existing state. The substance of Malchut of Infinity is the will to receive. The creature imparts to this desire an intention “for the sake of bestowal.” At that point the Creator’s Upper Light clothes in the creature’s intention to bestow.

That is how the Creator’s love and the creature’s love are revealed together, inside of our desire. This state is called the World of Infinity. This state already exists, and we only have to apply our efforts to reveal it! This cannot be done individually, but only through our collective efforts, by uniting all the spiritual sparks (points in the heart).

Our collective effort awakens the Light that fills the World of Infinity, and draws It to us in the form of the Surrounding Light, which shines on us from afar. The Surrounding Light, in turn, makes us similar to Malchut of the World of Infinity.

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A question I received: What does it mean “that which I do not attain, I do not call by a name?”

My Answer: Contrary to philosophy or our perception of the world, nothing exists on its own in the science of Kabbalah. Everything exists only in my perception and sensation, and this is the only thing I am allowed to speak of.

There is no Creator, no creation, no worlds. There is nothing that can be said to actually exist. I am the only one who senses that it exists, I am the one who thinks, I am the one who sees, and this is the only context in which I can speak of anything I perceive.

I perceive everything through my senses, and everything depends on my relation to it and its relativity to me. This is why we can only speak of that which a person reveals and attains. In Hebrew, the Creator is called “Bo-re” – “Come and See.”  There is no Creator without the creation.

The quality of bestowal is revealed within our Kelim in accordance to the similarity of its attributes with something external which we do not perceive. This we call the Creator, “Come and see what I see!”

I perceive Him in my senses, which have changed due to my evolving qualities, due to the changes taking place within me. I say: “The Creator is within me! Look at the form  I’ve taken!” This form is what I call the Creator.

I don’t point at Him directly; I only speak of His form which is engraved into my matter, and it is this form that I call the Creator. The matter (desire to receive pleasure) has changed its form into the desire to bestow.

This is why we evaluate and determine everything only in relation to our personal attainment and not, in relation to anything outside of us. All the worlds are my Kelim, my vessels of perception, and I only perceive them to be external to me.

I perceive myself inside of my internal desires, but I perceive the world in my external desires since my Kelim are divided into the internal and external. When they merge, I will have ten Sefirot of the soul, the world will disappear and everything will enter me.

At present, I sense everyone surrounding me as external because my Kli isn’t complete, it is shattered. If it was complete, I wouldn’t be able to discern anyone external to me. I would feel everything as the World of Infinity.

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A question I received: When a person crosses the Machsom, where does he sense this attainment?

My Answer: Everything is sensed internally. It is similar to how you sense yourself and this world today. You always feel either suffering or pleasure within. This is also how you will sense spirituality.

The method is very simple. You will learn what pleasure and suffering are, how you currently sense them, and how you can begin to interact with them, enjoy them and gain control over them.

After all, our material is the desire to enjoy, and the Creator is the pleasure that’s revealed inside this desire, along with the Source of the desire. This is why there is nothing besides the Kelim, and why you will sense the spiritual world in the same way that you sense the physical world. Don’t think that spirituality is far away or out in space somewhere. In Kabbalah, you are learning precisely about what is currently taking place inside of you, as well as what will take place in the future.

However, there is one big difference in spirituality. Today, I sense my life and my existence inside my small Kli. In fact, it is so small and limited that our lives can’t really be considered real life. Once we expand our Kli, however, we will feel life and existence based upon a new condition: that we want to use our lives as a means to help us pass pleasure on to others, to bestow, to love, and to come out of ourselves. Otherwise, if the Kli remains egoistic, the pleasure is negated within it.

In other words, even now you are filled with Infinite Light. But you neutralize this Light with your egoism, because when the Light of Infinity reaches a desire, it immediately turns off, as though it short-circuits between two opposite ends that have no resistance between them. You have to use your own egoism as that resistance, and then you will feel the pleasure. Otherwise, the pleasure is not sensed and leaves. What we are left with is this minuscule corporeal life, where all we sense is just a spark of Light in order to have something to cling to.

But the pleasure that is ahead of you is billions of times greater. There is no obstacle to getting this pleasure; you only have to expand your Kli. Everything depends on you. All you need is the Kli, but the infinite pleasure is sitting right in front of you.

What does “infinite” mean, and how can the Kli be infinite? When your Kli reaches the size initially intended by the Creator, it will feel unlimited pleasure. This is what an infinite Kli is.

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