According to the Kabbalists, The Zohar is the most effective part of the entire Torah and of all Kabbalah books. Why? These books are called holy (the property of Bina) because they are written from the heights of spiritual attainment. Therefore, by reading them, we can attract upon ourselves the Light that brings us back to the Creator (to similarity to Him).

However, we can correct the desire to receive only by the desire to correct ourselves for there is no Light, no fulfillment without a desire. Hence, we have to demand for the Light to act upon and transform us. This Light is called the “Surrounding Light” because it shines on us from afar. Under the influence of the Light, our “evil intention” turns into a good one. Then, to the measure to which the desire resembles the Light, the Light fills it.

Hence to prepare for the study of the Torah means to acquire the desire for correction. This desire is preceded by realizing that our nature is evil (for us). The evil in our nature is our inability to unite with each other! Our unification is precisely the vessel where our Upper, spiritual life can be revealed.

For this reason, we have to try to establish a connection with each other and to unite together. This is described in the writings when Israel stood at the foot of  Mount Sinai: “as one man with one heart,” “all of Israel are friends,” and  “love thy neighbor as you love thyself.” After we discover our inability to unite and start feeling what prevents us from achieving our good state, then MAN, a true prayer, the wish to become corrected, will emerge within us.

That is, preparation for studying the Torah amounts to our efforts to unite, feeling how incapable we are of doing it, and realizing this state as evil, as an obstacle on the path toward good. That is, the Torah study comes after the correct preparation; MAN emerges itself.

We can think and clarify all of it already while we read The Book of the Zohar. Meanwhile, the Light will help us in our work.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/9/10, The Zohar

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A question I received: Why is work forbidden on the Sabbath?

My Answer: If a person prepares himself by working the six weekdays, he reaches the understanding that the Sabbath is a state of perfection, and there is no need to interfere with it. If he hasn’t prepared himself properly during the week, he doesn’t see perfection in the Sabbath, and thereby corrupts it. He doesn’t realize he is spoiling the Sabbath, thinking mistakenly that he is adding to perfection by correcting his life and state.

On the contrary, after proper preparation and correction during the weekdays, a person suddenly sees that everything was perfect from the beginning. He only corrected himself in order to see this perfection. He did nothing but correct his own vision or perception, and in so doing, revealed the perfection of an additional part of creation or Infinity.

Then it is obvious that there is no need to do any further work now; there is nothing to interfere with. Therefore, a person works on every level, corrects himself, reveals a part of Infinity, and sees it as perfect. Then he works again, reveals another part of Infinity, and again he sees it as perfect. This is why on the Sabbaath he is called righteous.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/18/10, Beit Shaar HaKavanot

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A question I received: Do we attract evil forces upon ourselves if we read about them in The Zohar?

My Answer: When a person reads about all the wicked people or forces described in the Torah, such as Haman and Amalek, he should understand that all of them are within him. When he corrects these qualities within himself, he also corrects their manifestations that seem to exist in the outside world.

Then, he won’t experience any problems, but on the contrary, he will attract the Light instead of having to be awakened by suffering. If a person aspires to correct himself by making efforts in uniting and studying, then he awakens the evil within him and corrects it, similar to how one catches a snake that has crawled out of hiding.

Our work is to remain in the right line and be ready for the awakening of the left line as much as possible in order to ascend by using it. If we don’t reveal the left line – the snake that has many names and shapes, then we won’t be able to advance.

You should cling to the right line with all your strength because then, regardless of how much the left line is revealed, it will be for your benefit. And the most important thing is not to be afraid of anything. You are treading a very narrow bridge — the revelation of the Light of Hassadim in the Light of Hochma. The bridge from Malchut to Bina is a very narrow line.

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In the future, only 5% of humanity will work on providing the whole world with the “necessary things for existence,” while everyone else will work on advertising the importance of the spiritual goal. Alternatively, all 100% will be engaged in spiritual correction, and will work one hour a day to provide themselves with “what is necessary for existence.”

The work of developing spiritual connections between all the souls is continuous. The Creator has to be revealed in this world, which means that each person in this world has to be inspired by your desire for spirituality and your feeling of its importance. In response, they will inspire you with the same thing from their end. To the extent you inspire each other, you will desire and be able to connect with each other.

Today we are just beginning the work of disseminating Kabbalah. Dissemination is not just about disseminating the knowledge (such as through books, internet, and TV), but also about establishing a connection between every person and everyone else. This is the practical implementation of the correction.

Everyone will have to work on this, since we are all inside a system of connections within the common Kli where the Creator, or the spiritual world, becomes revealed. Dissemination is an opportunity for every person to tune into the corrected system.

Therefore, we have to realize that the dissemination of Kabbalah is not a duty, but the action of correction itself. It is your connection with the world.

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A question I received: What will be the place of innovation in the future society? Will all acts of creativity and inspiration be dismissed as excessive or surplus because they are innovations and as such, are frowned upon, or is there a place for innovation, entrepreneurial spirit and even creativity in the future society?

I give you the example of the mobile phone, an innovation no more than 25 years old. Would the attempts to create a similar product such as the mobile phone in the future society be seen as excessive or as a good thing? The reason for my asking is that my grandfather believes that the mobile phone is not necessary, while I could not live without one.

The elders of a future society could forbid the development of wonderful products and innovations based on their views of what is excessive, and possibly cause a state of oppression.

My Answer: In the future, only spiritual elevation will be a person’s primary work, since there currently is nothing for 90% of the world’s population to do.  All they do is make up occupations for themselves and pollute the world. Aspiration towards the Creator will by itself determine what professions will remain and how one will care for oneself within necessity.

Either everyone will work for an hour or two a day, or only some will work and the rest will be busy attracting the Upper Light for the benefit of everyone.

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It is written: “No bread, no Torah.” This means that our life here, in this world, precedes everything. Before I do anything else, I have to secure my existence on the corporeal level.

Therefore, a person has to work and do everything that is necessary in this life, without turning away from it. The science of Kabbalah considers this condition mandatory for one’s correction on a higher level.

I have to take care of everything that is necessary for my normal existence. This is a very important condition in the science of Kabbalah, and it differentiates it from all other spiritual methods, which try to disconnect a person from this life.

The science of Kabbalah says the opposite: it is precisely while you are living this life, where you work, study, and give birth to children, that you must reach the general balance with Nature. And under no circumstances should you run away from this world.
(From Part 3 of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson)

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It is written, “A person is like a tree in the field.” A tree can be planted in a field that is blessed by the Creator, where it will be watered by rain and warmed by the sun whenever it needs. Or the tree – the person – can be planted in infertile, dry land, where the person will not be able to grow. Or, even if he  grows, he is like a wild tree that does not bear fruit.

When it comes to spiritual development, a person determines his own place. His attitude to the books, the teacher, and the friends is able to change the soil and the sun, the moisture conditions, and all the other conditions needed for his growth.

A person starts by receiving a “point in the heart” – a spiritual seed, and he must then decide where to plant it and how to absorb the force from the environment needed to grow his seed into a tree. If he chooses the right environment, he will be able to demand from it the force of bestowal – “rain.” This force will allow him to grow from the material world upward. His intentions of bestowal will sprout“from the soil up.”

We have to care for our “tree,” which means that we must choose desires that can be corrected, and then organize them properly so they will grow and shape us into the right form – one that’s similar to the Creator. This is all of our work.

So, on one hand, it appears as if the tree grows on its own. However, starting from the time it is a seed, there are many actions that depend on us. The tree cannot grow independent of us, but only in virtue of our desire.
(From Part 3 of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson)

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A question I received: If a person is happy and proud of the fact that he is controlled from Above, then where is the bestowal in this?

My Answer: The bestowal lies in the fact that the person reveals the Upper Governance. We don’t do anything except reveal this. Our whole work consists of revealing the system of the universe where the Creator governs. Each one of us has to reveal this on his own.

I exist in the concealment of the only state created by the Creator. I am already in it. As soon as the Creator desired to create it, it emerged immediately. I simply reveal this state, which is already prepared. I don’t do anything with the state itself – with the Light and Kli which exist in it. I only work in order to reveal it for myself.

We are talking about degrees, or states of our revelation. These are the degrees of the worlds. We don’t build anything new. We just develop an inner perception of the reality that exists from the start.

Therefore, everything is revealed in regard to me. New states arise in me from the existing Nature.
(From Part 3 of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson)

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A question I received: It is written, “What’s important is not your reward, but who you are working for.” How can I be thinking about this, instead of the reward?

My Answer: These words may confuse you. Who am I working for? For myself, and no one else! It’s forbidden to imagine the Creator as any image or form. The Creator is the quality of bestowal which we have to reveal within us. Therefore, the answer to the question, “Who am I working for?” depends on who I identify myself with.

If I identify myself with my egoistic desire, then I will think that I am working for the Creator. Alternatively, I can identify myself with the point in the heart, which is the quality of bestowal – the embryo of the soul. This will mean that I want to attain the quality of bestowal, called the Creator; I want it to manifest inside me.

By definition, the Creator is Boreh, from the words Bo – come, and Reh – see. This means that you have to discover this quality inside you. So, there is no one outside of me that I’m working for. I am working on my own correction in order to attain bestowal and love, which are called “the Creator.”

On the other hand, if I will imagine that the Creator is somewhere outside of me and I have to work for Him, to carry out His desires, then I will not be interpreting the Kabbalistic texts correctly. This is exactly how the religion of Judaism came to be, when the people lost their inner sensation of the Creator during the fall of the Second Temple. Later on, Christianity and Islam also originated from Judaism. These religions depict the Creator outside of a person, separate from him, instead of inside him.

During the period of the Second Temple, the Creator disappeared from man’s sensations and became concealed from him. Thus, people lost the correct picture of the world, because they started thinking that the Creator is someone that exists separately from them, that He isn’t a quality that becomes revealed inside them. They started believing that they have a Master they have to work for, like slaves. All the religions are founded on this false interpretation of the Creator’s essence.

Instead of thinking of the Creator as the main, most important quality of creation, which becomes expressed inside a person, people started thinking of Him as an external individual that sits somewhere up in the clouds and pulls the levers controlling our lives. This is why it’s so important to learn the correct Kabbalistic definitions, as otherwise it’s very easy to make mistakes and bring everything down to regular religion.

In Kabbalah, the rules are explained very simply: There is no Light without a Kli; there is no Creator without creation, Boreh = Bo + Reh, and so on.
(From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson)

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A question I received: If a person who is a judge by profession starts to study Kabbalah, should he change the criteria he applies in his work?

My Answer: He should practice law according to the laws of his country and the norms accepted by his society. The earthly judgment will remain in place until society will rise to the level of heavenly judgment.

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