WEDNESDAY PRAYER: TIFERET-TIKKUN CHATZOT תקון חצות – LESSON WITH RAV MICHAEL LAITMAN
READING: BETWEEN AFTER MIDNIGHT AND DAWN WEDNESDAY
Zohar for All. Introduction of The Book of Zohar. BeHibaraam [When They Were Created] – BeAvraham [In Abraham]
Morning Lesson January 02, 2023 Transcription
Transcription is made from simultaneous translation which leaves a possibility for differences in the audio
1. Zohar for All. “Introduction of The Book of Zohar”. BeHibaraam [When They Were Created] – BeAvraham [In Abraham]
1. Rav’s Introduction: (00:29) There are articles that are closer to the emotion. There are articles that are seemingly closer to the intellect but these and those, we have to connect them as one, in order for us to have a connection with the internality of the Zohar. So, please.
Reading Item 45 twice. (00:51) “Barah, (created) is the hidden word that indicates..”
Reading Item 46. (02:22) “When did that key open the gates..”
2. R. (08:17) Well let’s see the questions and then maybe we will read it again.
3. S. (08:28) Some processes described here where by the light of Hassadim of Abraham, the light of Hochma and then souls are born. If I understand correctly, what does it mean that souls are born?
R. That we will see later, the question is correct
4. S. (08:52) What is the holy organ?
R. The holy foundation organ is the correct connection between the vessels of bestowal of the upper one, and the vessels of reception of the lower one.
5. S. (09:17) In number 46 it says that Abraham Hesed arrived and that mercy and then it says the letters and the Kelim were used again and opened to listen. Can you please share what’s the relationship between the mercy and the opening to listen. What does that mean, opening to listen?
R. How can it be that the light will come Hesed into the vessels if this light will not be passed on from above downward? It’s simple, this is a simple operation that has to occur on its own.
6. S. (10:29) Can we say Abraham is an equivalent of SAG that descended as we have learned?
R. That’s an incorrect question. Don’t be wise. I told you that more than once. Everyday I tell you that you don’t be wise. Ask according to what we study.
Reading Item 46 again. (11:00) “When did that key open the gates..”
7. R. (17:55) We read thus far. We understood or we didn’t understand it. That is not so important but we heard it. We still don’t quite understand what is happening here but the thing is, as the light of Hochma passes from above downward until the Nukva and it becomes impregnated in this light of Hochma and she begets the souls of the righteous. Well let’s continue.
Reading Item 47. (18:25) “When this organ is inscribed in..”
8. S. (28:40) I heard you say that in the beginning about the light of Hochma about how it changes and then in item 46 it says when will that key unlock the gates and produce offspring when Abraham comes as Hesed, the issue of Hassadim arises here. What Is this quality and what does it open to us?
R. The Hassadim when they come, they open the way for the light of Hochma and then it is possible to use the Hochma to the extent that you have a garment of Hassadim.
9. S. (29:34) Who are the souls of the righteous?
R. The souls of the righteous are the vessels that want to be on the degree of Hesed.
10. S. (30:00) What does it mean the birth of the souls of the righteous?
R. It means that they were not corrected and now they received corrections and they rise to a state of bestowing in order to bestow. This is why they are called righteous because they don’t want anything for themselves but only to be the givers. One who needs their forces and I’ll willing to supply and join forces from themselves.
11. S. (30:39) Does the light of Hassadim exist within the Sefira of Hesed?
R. Does the light of Hassadim exist within the Sefira of Hesed? Yes the light of Hassadim exists but it doesn’t matter in which Sefira. If there is a Sefira, then it exists and it is operating and it is the light of Hassadim there and also the light of Hochma. The light of Hochma course can not be can not be without a garment of Hassadim.
12. S. (31:17) How to draw the light of Hochma so that we can clothe in it like the degree of Abraham?
R. So then we need to have enough light of Hassadim and we want to honor the Hassadim, we value them more and more and we clothe the light of Hochma in them so that the light of Hochma will actually honor the light of Hassadim. Then the Hochma that shines from the Hassadim values them and it shows everyone that the Hassadim are very important.
13. S. (32:45) Into the third paragraph up from the bottom it talks about that it is inscribed in ELEH from this side and from AVI is from that side and it is talking about these different things being inscribed a lot. What Is this action of being inscribed?
R. The Zohar will speak about it. Soon the Zohar will speak about that. There are many actions that we have to perform on the letters on the words to inscribe to carve or to inscribe, it is a special action that comes above from the Creator on the letters.
14. S. (34:17) Many times in the text the words EVAR are mentioned, organ does it mean that there is a whole and a part?
R. It’s not a part, but EVAR is not a part which is a part of the body but it is whole on its own. Let’s say an organ, you can say it about any complete part of the body, the head of the hand, the sex organ, the leg, a part of them which stands on its own, it is complete on its own. It has ten Sefirot. Let’s say even though they are particular ones. therefore You can say that EVAR is a part of the body that functions according to its in a program that it has a duty to perform something so it is called an organ. Certainly it is operated by a higher organ and it but it on its own is also an organ, a part of the body.
15. S. (36:09) It is mentioned in the text a few times that there is a state called MI. The question is, what does it mean that it stands to question in the work?
R. That it is poised for a question. It is a good question that we have to solve this problem during work. MI and MA, who and what these two questions always stand before us and we need to resolve them.
16. S. (36:47) What are the conditions for the arrival of the light of Hassidim to the vessels?
R. Only a desire to bestow. If in the will to receive there is a correction of the will to bestow then it is already filled with the light of Hassidim accordingly.
17. S. (37:27) We are reading very lofty things far from us, so the question is: you always tell us to connect. When we try to connect we draw the light of Hassidim. When we try to nullify our ego is that somehow connected to what we are reading?
R. When I say that they are connected it means that we are lacking the light of Hassidim. When we try to connect we are filled with the light of Hassidim a little bit. Accordingly, we become worthy of receiving some illumination of Hochma and it adds to us some feeling in the mind and understanding. This resembling some form of the process that we read about now?
R. It is always similar, always whatever we read will be suitable matching what we read to some extent for sure because the Zohar here speaks only about the fundamental operations.
18. S. (38:51) I listen to the Zohar and I don’t understand anything but I would have liked to project all of this on my friends. How do I reach a state where I constantly think about the friends and through this I will be able to find the correct relation to them?
R. Don’t drop yourself on the friends when you hear the Zohar you should simply dissolve in everyone. There is no head and you also don’t need it, you don’t know and you don’t understand and I’m not familiar with it: so what. I was also created by the Creator and the Zohar is for me also and in as much as I can attach myself to them, to adhere to them in heart and soul, to that extent whatever is in everyone will also enter me. It doesn’t matter what it is, it’s not the wise one that learns. Don’t just give anything to the friends, rather do what you have to do, which is to connect with them and then you will receive the upper light.
S. I wanted to ask exactly about that. I need to see this projection right?
R. I don’t know projection, you don’t need all these wise things: just operate through your feelings.
19. S. (40:40) It is interesting how he writes here, how the lock in the word Barah becomes canceled through the key and in the lock and the organ, EVAR, are built of the same letters; the key and the lock. What does that mean? How can the same thing be in two opposites?
R. I don’t know. We will keep reading and we will find out.
20. S. (41:21) Love is the key that opens all the locks?
R. Yes.
S. Is it a synonym for prayer?
R. No.
S. Is love a sign of our unity?
R. Yes.
21. S. (41:53) Here he describes changes in the combinations of the letters which bring us to additional words. Can we see that as changes in the vessels feelings of Hassidim by which later on the light of Hochma can clothe?
R. No, the opposite: Hochma clothes in Hassidim. Well it doesn’t matter in principle yes, yes indeed I made a mistake, so thanks.
22. S. (42:31) What is Hesed? What is Hassidim?
R. Hesed and Hassidim is light that expands in the vessels that only want to bestow. They don’t have a screen to receive in order to bestow. However, they do bestow in order to bestow. Meaning they are above the restriction and they only want to bestow. That’s it.
23. S. (43:18) A couple of examples in the passage, Malchut that descended from the Eynaim to the Peh and from the Masach that was previously in the NE comes down to the Peh. Several times in the passage these forces of creation come down to only the Peh. What is the significance of these forces coming down to the Peh?
R. The forces can in principle be in two places: in the NE and in the Peh. If the force stands in the NE then it is in Katnut, smallness, infancy and only the light of Hassidim expands in it. If the screen stands in the Peh, then the Partzuf is in Gadlut, adulthood, greatness, and it has both the light of Hochma and the light of Hassidim. This is how we study the states that exist in each and every Partzuf: it could be a state of Katnut or Gadlut.
In the state of Katnut, the Partzuf receives the upper light only in the vessels Keter, Hochma and GAR of Bina. In the state of Gadlut, it also receives light in the ZAT of Bina, ZA and Malchut. Then what it receives is not only the light of Hassidim as it received in Katnut but also the light of Hochma, an addition of light which is called Gadlut. We will learn about that more often.
24. S. (45:24) At the end of 46, it says that the bottom Hey rises, descends from the NE to the Peh and the middle of 47 that the screen which was in the NE now descended to the Peh and a coupling was made on it that begot Hassidim, the light of blessing the lowering of the NE to Hey, how is it related to the light of blessing and what is this operation?
Reader. We read it in 47 but there are many stages here.
R. We will read that more and then we will discuss it.
S. In the beginning of 47 it says that the Man’ula, the lock, the bottom Hey is only regarded through the Miftacha, key. What does that mean?
R. If we have a key then we can open and if we don’t have a key that we cannot.
S. What does it mean that it’s discerned in this way?
R. That we clarify, scrutinize whether the key fits the lock or not.
25. S. (47:18) It says here, it speaks about the AVAR, the organ of Yesod and the pillar of the offspring, begetting offspring. Is there a difference between the two?
R. In principle no, but who knows what it’s about, it depends on what states it’s talking about.
26. S. (47:50) The question is about the relation between Hochma and Hassadim. Can Hochma proceed Hassadim and is the reason for the coming of Hochma is the lack of Hassidim?
R. Hochma can summon the light of Hassadim more as it wants to expand but it has nothing through which to do it so it can awaken the upper Partzuf to receive more Hassadim from it but without clothing in Hassadim, Hochma cannot shine. On the contrary, instead of light it will be darkness. And that too, is aided from the Creator so we see what state that we are in. That if it’s darkness that means we lack Hassadim.
27. S. (49:02) During the reading of the Zohar is there room to check myself, how much do I change my emotions, my feelings towards the friends: do I have a desire to pray for the friends?
R. Yes.
28. S. (49:17) About the light of Hassadim: if there is light of Hassadim why automatically doesn’t the light of Hochma also expand?
R. No, these are two separate corrections the light of Hassadim is Katnut and the Kli has to make a correction of only going to bestow in order to bestow and not using the vessels of reception and completely locking them and only using vessels of bestowal and being filled with light of Hassadim, weighing the light of Hassadim, how much and it what for and then deciding on vessels of reception. How much to receive the light of Hochma in the light of Hassidim. So that’s a second action, completely different with respect to the first action of receiving Hassadim. That’s how it works.
S. The second action?
R. The second action is with vessels of reception first with vessels of bestowal.
S. What does the second action require of us? You said it is some sort of calculation we need to make?
R. How much can I receive in order to bestow. Receiving in order to bestow is work that’s too full, it’s opposite.
S. In terms of the process we are reading about, is there some kind of name because once the light of Hassadim expands seemingly what else is missing there’s only the light of Hochma the light of Hassadim should have performed all the corrections, all the calculations?
R. No, it’s only under the condition that I can now work with the light of Hochma, the most important is the light of Hassadim, the light of Hassadim is the light of corrections and the light of Hochma is the light of the purpose of creation.
S. How is this operation called that the vessel performs in order to receive the light of Hochma when it already has the light of Hassidim. What is this process called?
R. It’s called reception in order to bestow and Hassadim is only bestowing in order to bestow.
29. S. (51:43) He speaks of the screen of MA we read, now that there is MA, can you tell us something about MA?
R. I didn’t understand, where does it say where what he asks.
Reader: In the last passage of 47. It says that he carved the letter Hey for this EVAR and carved the letter Yod for ELEH but it speaks about MA here somewhere? Therefore he carved the letter Hey with this letter with a screen of MA that only draws Hassadim he is asking: what is the screen of MA?
R. You’re talking about this part from the article?
S. Yes at the end of 47.
R. Carved for the letter Hey and for ELEH the letter Yod which indicates the Masach that extends Hassadim without Hochma and carved the letter Yod with this ELEH with a Masach of a male who extends Hochma and not Hassadim. Therefore he carved the letter Hey for this EVAR with the Masach MA which extends only Hassadim without Hochma and carved the letter Yod for this ELEH with the Masach of a male which extends Hochma and not Hassadim. What’s the question?
S. The question is what is MA? I saw in the dictionary that this means a feeling with the letter Aleph in, what is MA, can you explain that?
R. There is MA and MI, MA receives Hassadim and MI receives Hochma, that is it. That is what we can get out of here.
S. But there’s also a question: are there also screens of the Nukva, the female?
R. Yes.
S. Can you explain a bit in order to distinguish between the males and the females?
R. No, we will learn that soon I don’t want to confuse people, they don’t necessarily have the text in front of them to refer to and it’s not how we will study. We will follow the Zohar.
30. S. (55:40) When we say that the wise one does not learn, is that because he asks questions, is this the place to put our logic and our mind aside in order to open up the heart do we have to let go of the intellect the mind?
R. It’s a lot more complicated, I would not now discuss that it will bring confusion. Not the smart one who learns doesn’t mean that we don’t need any Hochma and we don’t need to learn, it’s just that if he prefers Hochma over Hassadim and he thinks that by that he can activate himself and get closer to the Creator, that is incorrect. You get closer to the Creator only through Hassadim.
Reading item number 48 (57:10) “When the letters awakened..”
31. R. (01:04:21) He wants to explain to us here that the name Abraham includes all of creation that’s why it’s called that way. Not that it’s some name of a person or a man it doesn’t matter, rather it is the connection of such letters that indicate to us vessels that have achieved correction and appear at the foundation of the correction of creation. That if the name Abraham is completed, that completes the correction of all the vessels. That’s what we have here. We still don’t understand this. We will read about this more, a few more times and then we will see what it has to do with MI, ELEH, Abraham and all of these parts of words and forms of the words. That’s still ahead of us.
32. S. (01:05:33) What does it mean that He hangs the earth on nothing?
R. It means that the will to receive referred to as Eretz, Ratzon, land and desire, that it has no desire. Rather it has to exist from being in nothing, no MA, meaning above the Tzimtzum.
S. It’s like hanging between heaven and earth?
R. Yes.
33. S. (01:06:24) The Book of Zohar is describing the connection between the spiritual root and the corporeal branch and we had this image, this person Abraham who really made a revolution and connected people?
R. I don’t know what you’re talking about. If we study the wisdom of Kabbalah and not history then we learn the names, meaning the combinations of letters that indicate the forces that work in nature. Whether it’s thousands of years ago or in a thousand years or right now, it doesn’t matter: that’s nature. And that’s what we study.
S. So how the masters of the authors of the Zohar, when they wrote, they took the interpretation, they wrote the commentary for the book of Torah. What did they connect between the letters that are described here and the image, the person that nevertheless existed?
R. They had no character, no character, they were and also today it should be, that we look at all these letters as symbols that represent forces working inside the will to receive created by the Creator and how we can combine these forces to correct the will to receive to make it similar to the Creator.
S. So I was constantly trying to, I had this feeling that if we too would be able to identify, to detect from our attempts, from our efforts to connect that we will be able to detect the operations of the Zohar, we will be able to really detect those operations of the Zohar that [..]
R. Bit by bit we will get closer to understanding what the Zohar says and accordingly, we will perform the same actions that the authors of the Zohar did and then we will feel all of the phenomena that they felt, yes.
34. S. (01:09:39) Is the connection between the letters, are those connections between qualities that we have to achieve in order to reach equivalence of form?
R. Yes. Let’s put it that way for now.
35. S. (01:09:58) Like Hey and others, when the person does not understand the Zohar it still elevates the person. Does this feeling give us the light of Hassadim or the light of Hochma?
R. Yes, even if we read The Book of Zohar, why did we translate it and printed it in several languages and we want to continue that work, because a person who reads that even if he doesn’t understand anything and that’s what’s written that even if he doesn’t understand but he reads, it influences him and corrects his soul and then he begins to understand and feel.
So it doesn’t matter to us how much we understand, what’s important is that we put in the effort and want it to correct us and how will the correction come? That doesn’t matter, it’s not up to us.
36. S. (01:11:27) What’s the world missing mostly: the light of Hassadim?
R. Hassadim.
S. And the light of Hochma it also comes. That’s why we have all these inventions that destroy the world. Is that why they come?
R. No, that’s unrelated, the world lacks Hassadim then by the light of Hassadim we will also discover the light of Hochma and that will be to our advantage.