YESOD: MAIN READING OF THE WEEK – THE ZOHAR BOOK

Main Reading for PRAYER OF MANY, today with ENGLISH ZOHAR READING, page 138.

ARVUT OF : Robin Anderson

This is the only opportunity to check whether or not the path that one
is on is correct, whether it leads to altruism or to even bigger egoism. By no
means can one consider his well-being, soaring elation, his happiness and
success in life as proofs of correct advancement. It is precisely in those states
of feeling perfection, well-being, and contentment that he must ask himself:
“Have I attained the secrets of the Torah?” And until he has attained them, his
“perfection” is impure.
Man should always strive for the middle line—a balance of faith and
knowledge—in the following three notions: the Creator, His Providence, and
the Torah. And under no circumstances should he advance by either faith or
knowledge alone. If he only wants to attain the Creator, His Providence or the
Torah, he enters spiritual darkness, for it is impossible to receive the Light of
Wisdom (Ohr Hochma) without the Light of Mercy (Ohr Hassadim).
Such a state is referred to as the left impure force, “Klipat Esau.” And if man
strives to advance through faith alone, he enters the impure force of the right
side, “Klipat Yishmael,” which tells him he is in a state of perfection. In this case,
he sees no point in his work and is thus unable to continue to advance.
In other words, even if one is full of joy, which is exactly what the Torah
urges him to feel (to perceive the Creator’s Providence with joy, for joy signifies
justification of creation, understanding that His Providence is always just and
kind), unless he has attained the secrets of the Torah, his path is considered
erroneous, as he lacks the intention “for the Creator’s sake,” which reveals the
secrets of the Torah.
This article explains the particular properties of the Hebrew letters—how all
the letters come before the Creator, each asking Him to create the world with its
property. Each of the twenty-two letters represents a spiritual degree in the worlds
ABYA, and each believes that its pure spiritual properties are most suitable for
the task, that by attaining its degree and acquiring its properties, the inhabitants
of the world will be able to elevate the pure forces over the impure ones, so much
so that they will reach the end of correction, the Goal of creation.
However, the Creator answers each letter that against it are the corresponding
impure forces, and therefore man will be unable to properly separate the pure
forces from the impure ones, and afterwards, utilize the pure forces to achieve
the goal. This occurrence repeats itself until the appearance of the letter Bet,
which represents the degree called “the Creator’s blessing,” against which there
are no impure forces of any kind.