The Secret Meaning of the Bible

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Now the earth was unformed and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters. And God said: 'Let there be light.' And there was light.

(The Torah, Pentateuch)

Imagine our universe for a moment: the endless amount of galaxies, stars, and worlds. Now imagine that we remove from our universe a specific portion of space. How are we able to imagine the resulting emptiness of this void if it contains nothing that is able to be measured or described? In reality we perceive all phenomena in terms of time, space, and movement. We cannot envision something that is absolutely static, frozen in time, without any volume. This is an analogy of our understanding of the spiritual worlds. There is no time, movement, or even space in the spiritual worlds. Since all our reality and perceptions are based on these physical concepts, it follows that there is absolutely no connection between spirituality and our construction of physical reality based on our perceptions and sensations. This results in a lack of words and vocabulary that is able to express spiritual concepts.

So if Kabbalah is the study of the spiritual worlds how are we able to discuss something that we are unable to imagine? If we are absolutely unable to envision the spiritual, then how can we comprehend what is written in Kabbalistic books?

What is described in the Torah (Bible)

When we study the Torah (Pentateuch, Bible) we must understand that all the words of the Torah and all other sacred books just appear to be words associated with our world. The words however represent spiritual objects and roots, which are under no circumstances connected to our world. There should be no confusion of these spiritual concepts and physical objects. The Torah contains the sacred names of the Creator, which represents the degrees of His attainment. This is similar to how we designate a name to an object in our world depending on how the object manifests itself to our senses. The entire Torah describes the levels of approaching and sensing the Creator.

The Thought of Creation and the Language of Kabbalah

All the worlds, including our world and all the objects in them are in tune with the single thought of creation: to give endless pleasure to the creature – the soul. This single purpose envelops all creation, from the beginning to the end. It is this purpose that determines all the suffering that we go through, our internal work upon ourselves, and the reward. After the individual correction all the souls will re-unite into a single soul. The soul receives not just a double pleasure (from both sensing the pleasure and from bringing pleasure to the Creator), but this pleasure is also multiplied by the number of re-connected souls. Meanwhile, the more people are ascending spiritually by working internally on themselves, the more they start seeing true reality and sensing the other worlds. While still living in our world they are able to attain all the worlds.

The seemingly odd language of Kabbalah turns into the language of actions, thoughts, and feelings, with opposing ideas in our world coming together in a single root.

For example "Jerusalem" in Kabbalistic literature does not refer to the physical city, but to certain spiritual forces and a concentration of certain spiritual energy, which have a specific place in the system of the spiritual worlds. In addition, parts of human body in Kabbalah such as the "Rosh" (head), "Guf" (body), "Chaze" (chest), "Peh" (mouth), "Einaim" (eyes), and so on, are referring to their spiritual roots. The world "Rosh" implies decision-making part of the spiritual object, while "Guf" refers to the concentration of executive functions.

The descriptions of the Upper world are the way of describing our soul and the degrees of its closeness to the Creator, an increasingly stronger sensation of the Creator. Kabbalah divides the collective soul into parts and designates each part a specific name that corresponds to its properties. It then describes the actions of these parts. This is the language of feelings, yet, it is precise and often uses graphs, drawings, and formulas. Kabbalah describes the engineering of the soul.

Yet how are we able to use our imprecise and limited language for such precise spiritual investigations and descriptions? How can language that was born out of a subjective sensation of ”our world” be used for conveying an objective sensation of the spiritual? For example, the word "light" (which is a difficult concept to comprehend), we image as sun light which has no connection to the spiritual light.

Yet the light in our world can be interpreted in another way as well. We also may use the word in a different context such as "the soul feels light", "you are like a ray of light", especially when we feel satisfaction in our Kli, or refer to the brightness of thought, mind.

If I choose the words that match my sensations and convey them to you, and you then imagine your own sensations which in your opinion correspond with my words, then there needs to be a common standard to help us measure the similarity of our sensations evoked by the same notion or word. My sensations are not necessary identical to yours, yet they need to evoke something similar if there is to be a common language. Yet if we are unable to express precisely what we feel, then how can we use this language to describe spiritual categories? The spiritual world is the world of sensations. There are no bodies, just desires and their sensations. Moreover, Kabbalists claim that these are absolutely and extremely precise perceptions, and because of this they call for an absolutely perfect and precise language to describe them.

Try to give a precise evaluation of your mood, compare it, in a drawing, with someone else's mood, and then give a percentage value in comparison to your mood yesterday. Try expressing all the nuances of your sensations in numbers, indicating how your mood depends on what you feel (e.g. anxiety or tiredness); try giving formulas of fear, and so on. We will see that in our world, we are incapable of measuring our inner sensations precisely.

Suppose, the connection between my touching something hot and the wave explosion in my brain is also dependent on my mood, the way I feel, training, and other individual parameters.

We do not know how to compare pleasure that we experience from music with pleasure that we get from a tasty dish, in terms of its percentage value, quantity and quality. But if our language is so primitive, limited, subjective, and imprecise, then why were the Kabbalists able to use it to describe absolutely precise sensual actions, and why did adopt this language instead of inventing their own?

Even if a single symbol gets misused in exact science, a person who is familiar with that symbol but is not aware of the confusion won't understand where these results are coming from. He will perceive the result as an absolutely artificial scientific claim. However, a person, who is not familiar with symbols, would mistakenly accept this claim as the truth.

The Language of Branches

The Kabbalists opted for a special language called the "language of branches". The reason behind this choice is that everything that exists in our world (inanimate, vegetative, animated, and human levels of nature) everything that happened with them in the past, is happening now, and will happen in the future, that is, all objects as well as their governance emanates from the Creator and passes through all the spiritual worlds before appearing in ours. Governance of this all is constantly renewed from above down into our world.

Everything that exists in our world originates in the Upper world, with everything gradually descending into our world. Because everything in our world comes from the Upper world, there is a strict connection between objects of our world, their consequences, causes, and origins in the spiritual world.

Kabbalists who pin point this exact connection, seeing both the upper object (the root from which stems everything) and the lower object in our world (which receives from the Upper – its cause and governing force -) unconsciously, without sensing this) can tell precisely each connection. They can therefore call the roots in the Upper worlds by their names of their material consequences, that is, the branches in our world. This is why this language is called "the language of branches" and not "the language of roots". Roots are called by the names of their branches and not the other way around. Thus, Kabbalists have found the language which, using everyday words, describes the spiritual world precisely. There can be no other language because there are no other words understandable for those who exist in both worlds. This is why in order to describe the Upper world Kabbalists take names of our world and use them to describe the Upper objects, the roots of our world.

However, if one is unaware of this, it seems that a Kabbalistic book tells a story about our world. These words, however, do not confuse a Kabbalist who clearly sees what the book is actually talking about. They know exactly which branch (i.e. effect) in our world corresponds to its root in the Upper world.

Seven Days of Creation

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Now the earth was unformed and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters. And God said: 'Let there be light.' And there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.

Bereshit (Genesis), the first chapter in the Torah (Pentateuch) starts with these words. They evoke a certain picture. We have heard various interpretations of these words at the level of Peshat (literal meaning). However, these simple interpretations leave a tremendous amount of questions; they lack logic and a scientific approach. Kabbalists explain this as follows:

All sacred books talk about only the spiritual world, the way it was created, and how later our world was created from it. Moreover, these books do not just relate to what exists but also they teach a person to be able to see that world.

Gradual revelation of the Upper world is called the spiritual ascent of a person, or rungs of the spiritual elevation. Several techniques are used in the books to describe the spiritual world. Kabbalah is the science about the structure of the Upper world; it uses the language of Sefirot, Partzufim, graphs, and drawings to describe it. The Torah describes the Upper world using everyday language. There is also the allegorical language and the language of laws. Now, we will try to translate the language of the Torah into Kabbalistic language.

The Torah describes the emergence of the Upper world, its structure and evolution and then it depicts the process of our creation. But this is not a person of our world. The Torah talks about the creation of the will to receive (called the Soul or Adam) with the goal to fill this creation-desire-soul with eternal and absolute delight. This desire to delight is the only creation. Besides it there is only the Creator. Thus everything besides the Creator is nothing but various measures of the desire to delight.

The same thing happens in our world. The only thing that separates all objects from each other is the different amount of the desire to delight, which determines all properties of each object. The desire to delight consists of five levels, and these five parts of desire-creation are called the Sefirot: Keter, Hochma, Bina, Tifferet, and Malchut. The Creator wishes to completely fill creation with pleasure until creation senses perfection and eternity. This is because the Creator Himself exists in this particular state, and wishes to bestow it to us.

The Creator is perfect and the only one. Being perfect, He wishes to bestow perfection, His own condition to His creatures. This is why the goal of creation is to reach the Creator's perfection, and to be able to receive that which the Creator wants to give.

Kabbalah does not deal with the events in our world. It researches the events in the Upper world, from where all the powers descended into our world and generated and instigated all that happens here. By learning Kabbalah, a person starts seeing the Upper world. A person is able to attain the Creator and the way He created the spiritual world. In Kabbalah, this act is called "The First day of Creation". In His subsequent actions (so called subsequent days), the Creator made governing forces of the Upper world. The last, sixth, act of the Creator (the sixth day of creation) was making of Adam.

Since Adam was the final act of the Creator, he is the purpose of entire creation. Everything created prior to him was created for him. So what is Adam’s destiny? Adam must attain similarity with the Creator, become completely equal to Him, and himself rule over the entire existence and his own destiny. What's more, we are obliged to reach this highest and perfect state on his own. To reach it on his own means that first we have to reach the worst state (opposite the state of the Creator), and after rise from it on our own accord.

With the help of Kabbalah, a person sees both worlds - our world and the Upper world - as well as the interaction between them. The information emanates from the Upper world and realizes into matter before our eyes. Our reaction to this (which descends from above in the form of information), rises back to the Upper world and determines in which way (good or bad) our future will descend and materialize. Hence, the Creator (existing at the utmost level), created creation from the property opposite to Him. He filled it with the light, and later by emptying it of the light, lowered it down to the condition of "our world".

By ascending the rungs of the spiritual ladder, creation becomes worthy of receiving the delight that is many times bigger than it had before descending to this world. Moreover, creation must have the strength and opportunity to act freely between two opposite forces, its own egoism and the Creator, and then to independently choose and its path.

To place these conditions at creation's disposal, the Creator has to do the following:

• Completely distance creation from Himself
• Provide it with an opportunity to evolve and attain this Existence,
• Provide it with an opportunity of free choice

The Creator gives us such conditions gradually. Initially creation, sensing the Creator (filled with the light) is not independent. It is completely suppressed by the light and the light dictates to creation its own rules and transfers it its qualities. In order to make creation independent from the Creator, He must distance Himself completely. In other words, creation, freeing itself from the light, gains freedom of action. The act of expulsion of light from the spiritual Kli (vessel) is called the Restriction.

The Torah starts with the words "at the beginning" (Bereshit), which is the beginning of the process of the Creator's distancing from creation. The word "Bereshit" originates from the words "Bar" – "outside". That is, it recounts the exit from the Creator into a separate condition, between heaven and earth. "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." Heaven is Sefira Bina with its altruistic properties. Earth is Sefira Malchut with its earthly, egoistic properties. In between these two polar properties, which give the basis for the entire system of existence, hovers our soul.

The Torah starts with birth of creation, the Upper world and making of man. It does not start with the end of creation. The function of the Torah is to give people of this world the instruction on how to rise to the best most perfect state. In its initial state, creation (the soul or Adam) is not corrected. It must correct itself and to reach the state of "Final Correction". Imagine that you have a broken work tool which you need for work. It follows that first you have to fix it, and use it only afterwards. So the Torah instructs us how to fix this broken instrument: the soul we received from above.

During the correction, a person exists in between two worlds: upper and lower. In the process of correction, the soul obtains the necessary skills, knowledge, and experience. Most importantly, a person acquires new sensations and new, spiritual properties. When a person corrects his soul completely, he acquires properties which allow him to exist in Upper world in its full entirety; in eternity, peace, and perfection.

Neither Kabbalistic sources, nor Torah describe this special state. It is impossible to describe it, for there are no analogues to it in our language. Only those who pass all the preliminary states of correction and reach the Final Correction attain this state. Whatever lies beyond the Final Correction is not described anywhere. This is exactly where the "The Secrets of the Torah" rest.

There are only a few hints in such books like "The Zohar" and Talmud. These special, secret states are called "Maase Merkava" and "Maase Bereshit". But these are only hints. In reality, these states, spiritual realms cannot be described in words, because our words, letters, and terms are taken from our system of Correction and are effective only there. We are completely unaware of that which exists beyond our system of Correction, and it cannot be transposed into a human language and squeezed into our system of definitions and beliefs.

“In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth” refers to making of two properties: egoism and altruism. The egoistic property of “earth gets corrected with the help of altruistic property of “heaven”. The correction process consists of seven states, called “seven days of creation”. Naturally, this is a conditional name. It has nothing to do with the seven days on earth; it does not refer to either day and night or light and darkness on earth. Rather, it refers to the spiritual states and spiritual sensations of a person who passes through these stages of correction. It talks about the system in which one’s soul is corrected while existing at the level called “earth”.

It is necessary to rise the soul from the level of Sefira Malchut to the level of Sefira Bina. This means that the egoistical property of Malchut has to be transformed into altruistic property of Bina. This can be achieved by the way of seven consecutive corrections called “seven days of the week”. The Torah explains what man we must do with our soul “each day”.

First Day

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Now the earth was unformed and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters. And God said: 'Let there be light.' And there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.

What does it mean: “and God divided the light from the darkness”? In our corrections we must follow the acts of the Creator. Therefore, the very first commandment we have to fulfill is to sort inside of ourselves our thoughts and desires in order to see which of them are pure – “heaven” and which are dark – “earth”. This process is called “Akarat haRa” (the realization of evil). This happens when from the study of Kabbalistic books and from the relationships in the Kabbalistic group we start analyzing our properties. Contrasting spiritual and animalistic properties against each other, and dividing and separating them from each other, is what constitutes the first step towards the correction. This is the first day of man creating a Human inside of himself.

Second Day

And God said: 'Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.' And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.

After we have separated inside of ourselves egoistic and altruistic properties, we need to begin to correct them. This is done by using the special light of the Creator, Who emanates two kinds of the light: the light of Hochma and the light of Hassadim. Using the property of the light of Hassadim (mercy), called “water”, we master the property of bestowal, altruism.

“Earth” is the egoistical property to receive and to absorb everything inside is our initial nature. Water is the property of bestowal, and it saturates the earth and creates an opportunity for life to appear. The property of bestowal corrects egoism and allows us to use it correctly, for personal benefit and for the benefit of others. In egoism, corrected by bestowal, one senses the Upper Word (the Creator) and sees his own previous lives and the path toward the purpose of creation. The soul is eternal and goes from body to body. Thus it is precisely where one sees of all his previous reincarnations. He who has not corrected his soul cannot behold anything above this world.

Third Day

And God said: 'Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear.' And it was so. And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters called He Seas; and God saw that it was good. And God said: 'Let the earth put forth grass, herb yielding seed, and fruit-tree bearing fruit after its kind, wherein is the seed thereof, upon the earth.' And it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, herb yielding seed after its kind, and tree bearing fruit, wherein is the seed thereof, after its kind; and God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, a third day.

The waters gathered together under the heaven and the dry land appeared. Part of the primordial Earth appears out of the waters. After the water corrects the earth, it becomes suitable for life to emerge, because the earth now contains both the properties of water, and the properties of Earth. The water itself is as devastating for life as dry land. Remember how Noah sent a dove from the ark to find dry ground. Precisely the right combination of altruistic and egoistic properties of “heaven” and “earth” inside of man's soul forms the basis for correction and the application of the properties of Creator inside of a human being.

This correction is called “Kav Emtzai” (the middle line). Our natural egoistic nature is called earth and represents the left line. The right line represents the properties of the Creator, that is, the properties of water, altruism, or bestowal. The middle line is precisely what a human being needs to achieve, that is, to “ choose life”. In other words, one has to take as much “water” as it is needed to combine it with the “earth” so that these two lines complement each other and yield fruit. From this combination of properties the earth bears the “The Tree of Life” which represents the spiritual person who is able to sense the entire creation and exists in all of the worlds happily and eternally.

We exist eternally because we identify ourselves with the eternal soul and not the ephemeral body. We start sensing ourselves as the soul, and perceive our body as a temporary shell. This transition towards identifying oneself with the soul instead of the body is purely psychological and occurs as man gains the property of Bina.

Fourth Day

And God said: 'Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth.' And it was so. And God made the two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night; and the stars. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.

On day four, the light in the firmament of heaven emerged to signify the change of the day and night, months, and years. Correction happens in even the tiniest part of the universe as well as in the entire universe in general. Creation, in its totality, is called Adam or the Soul; its components are called individual souls, or “Bnei Adam” (the sons of Adam). Each individual soul is subject to the same stages of correction as the common soul.

Fifth Day

And God said: 'Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let fowl fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.' And God created the great sea-monsters, and every living creature that creepeth, wherewith the waters swarmed, after its kind, and every winged fowl after its kind; and God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying: 'Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.' And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.

The book of Zohar describes that each day is the erection of “Eichalot” (heavenly dwellings), the erection of emptiness (desire). As soul’s egoistical properties are corrected to altruistic, they are gradually filled with the Upper light. People who have experienced clinical death have in part sensed this Upper light, and later describe a special magical heavenly sensation of peace and joy. This gradual filling of empty spaces leads all the souls toward the state of final correction and perfection. There is no time in the Upper world as time disappears because all these states are perfect. The same goes for the narrative of the Torah: there is no separation of time and all the events are connected only through cause-and-effect-relationships. We will see that man was created on the sixth day and existed for just a few hours before committing a sin and falling into the lower world. With him fell the entire world.

Sixth Day

And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; … and God said unto them: … have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that creepeth upon the earth.'

What does it mean “in His own image”? In the Torah “in His own image” is written as “Be Tselem Elokim Bara…”. “Tselem” signifies a part of Bina, which descends from Bina into the soul and imparts into the soul properties of Creator. In other words, Partzuf Bina represents the instrument of the Upper Governance, which commands all the souls, their ways, and order of correction. Everything that happens with us originates in Bina. Malchut is the collection of all the souls that need correction. To correct Malchut, a special instrument emanates from Bina. It penetrates Bina and allows her to correct. This self-help system, which the Malchut of each soul receives from above is called “Tzelem” – “image”. By this we mean a collection of properties, the Creator’s image.

Without having information about the program of creation, and without sensing the spiritual worlds, we do not know how to act, what steps to take. We are unable to understand what is required of us. For us to have these necessary means for advancement, the upper degree, Bina, has to teach us what we should do. This is what Tselem (the auxiliary instrument descending from Bina) does inside of us. It implants itself into our soul and summons all kinds of necessary corrections. Therefore it is said that Tselem helps to turn us into a Human.

On the seventh day man climbed higher and higher. He performed corrections inside of himself six times: Hesed, Gevura, Tifferet, Netzach, Hod, Yesod. These six consecutive corrections are called six days or six thousand years of creation. The last Sefira (i.e. Malchut) is not capable of correcting itself. However, after Malchut absorbs the properties of the six previous Sefirot, it is able to receive their properties. This is why the essence of the seventh day is that everything that was accumulated and created in the course of the six days enters Malchut. Saturday is considered to be a special day, because in this state the souls are filled with the upper light. The only condition is “not to hamper” this process, which is symbolically expressed in the laws of Shabbat.

Question: Is there a connection between seven days of creation and the years of spiritual chronology?

Yes, such a connection exists. For mankind, these seven days of creation pass by as six thousands years. Six thousands years are equivalent to the s ix days of the week (weekdays) during which mankind corrects itself, first, unconsciously and later consciously through their own work. Eventually, mankind reaches the seventh millennium, or the seventh day of Saturday. This is the state when the Upper Infinite Light of pleasure and abundance fills mankind's corrected properties.

Question: Does a number “seven” have some secret meaning?

The system that governs our world consists of seven parts. In our world we have many divisions into 7 or 70: seventy nations of the world, seven days of the week; man’s soul consists of seventy parts, man’s life is considered to be seventy years long, and so on. The entire path of mankind consists of six days – 6000 years of correction. Common conscious correction of mankind started in 1995 (5755). During the time left until 6000 years, we, the entire mankind, have to correct ourselves, and later, in the seventh millennium, receive a deserved, earned reward.

Question: Can we influence these processes, “compress” the time, and shorten our path towards the purpose of creation?

The only thing that we can do is to accelerate the seven thousand year long process set upon us from above. Those who can approach this process individually, enter into the Upper world and perfect reality earlier. Also, the very path of correction (if done consciously by applying one’s own efforts), is felt as a reflection or romantic urge rather than a constant blow of fate.

We study the structure and functioning of the entire existence to be able to clearly understand how to intervene and alter this process. In general, man cannot exert a direct influence upon his root/origins. He exists at the lower degree as the upper’s derivative. However, by correcting ourselves and becoming similar to our root, we are able to change our inner sensation of what we receive from above. Instead of blows of fate, constant problems, and daily difficulties, we start to experiencing bliss, peace, perfection and complete knowledge. The Creator has put us into this world so that we can, by using Kabbalah, master the Upper world and start ruling over our own destiny.

Luckily time works in our favor. The time of inner–spiritual and outer-physical deliverance of the entire humanity is approaching, according to the Preface to the “Book of the Zohar”. As man cannot exist in our world without any knowledge of it, similarly man’s soul after the death of its body cannot exist in the Upper world without receiving some preliminary knowledge about it. This is why the knowledge of Kabbalah guarantees comfortable existence in our world and affirms eternal and perfect existence in the world to be.

Noah Walked in Front of the Omnipotent

Our world exists and is sustained by the tiny spark of the spiritual light that broke through the border of the spiritual world and slipped into our world. Now imagine the spiritual world which consists entirely of the light, millions and millions of times bigger than the spark, containing all the pleasures of our world. The pleasure that exists there includes sensations of eternity, freedom, and complete fulfillment.

This is the reason why we are given the Torah. The Torah is a collection of rules that govern the world. It is the description of the laws of creation. These are the spiritual laws. They resemble a net that lies beneath all the worlds and rules over them. In the beginning only one net was created. Later coarse matter formed in it. More subtle matter is "spiritual worlds” and the coarsest matter is called "our world".

The Torah was written by Moshe (Moses), a Kabbalist. The Torah describes the laws of the worlds. However, it does so allegorically, in earthly language and thus it seems to us that the Torah is a historical narrative. But does the Torah really speak about? The Creator created a creature, Adam, and gave it a capacity to evolve. As the result of this evolution (at its tenth degree), there was a need to implant the property of Bina (bestowal/mercy) into creation. Otherwise, creation would self-destruct. Ten generations (i.e. ten Sefirot) separate Adam and Noah: Adam, Seth, Enosh, Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, Noah. This is how the Torah narrates the events that followed:

Chapter Noah

And it repented the LORD that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him at His heart. And the LORD said: 'I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and creeping thing, and fowl of the air; for it repenteth Me that I have made them.'

But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. These are the generations of Noah. Noah was in his generations a man righteous and wholehearted; Noah walked with God. And Noah begot three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

And the earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah: 'The end of all flesh is come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

Make thee an ark of gopher wood; with rooms shalt thou make the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. …And I, behold, I do bring the flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; every thing that is in the earth shall perish.

What is Noah? What is an ark? No words can express the depth of one sensations in the revelation of the Upper world in the Book of Zohar. The Torah, in contrast, renders the secrets and magnitude of the Existence in simple words and stories that seem like historic descriptions. This completely confuses us and prevents us from focusing on genuine understanding of multi-layered structure of the universe. Moreover, if we relate to the events described in the Torah in a superficial manner, we bring it down to the earthly level. The Torah loses its entire value of providing the instructions for entering the Upper World.

However, if you approach the Kabbalistic books correctly, you will uncover the deepest layers of Existence. You will find yourself beyond time and space of this world, and realize what the author of the Torah, the Creator, has in mind. This chapter says that "all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth". Does this currently apply to us? The answer is that it applies to all generations. This is an on-going process in each of us.

The Torah does not speak about the events that happened at some point in the history of mankind. The Torah explains that this is man's condition. This is the state in which man sees all of his animalistic desires, and wants to "sort" them by discerning which desire is personally his, which desire can help us in our spiritual progress, and which desires we have to drown.

Noah – Property of Bestowal in a Man

Our spiritual desires are inside of ourselves, however, they are completely suppressed by all other desires. We are born into and live in the society which dictates to us our desires through advertising. Today, this is like a dreadful plague. We are constantly subjected to an intellectual and emotional assault. This is because the Creator created both forces against each other. The more opportunities man has for spiritual elevation and growth, the stronger are the hindering forces that oppose this process. These forces are necessary for our spiritual work, for analysis and realization of our properties.

Initially, man has only one force called "the point in the heart'. This is the center of our desires that connects man to the Creator. However, this point is totally suppressed by all the other desires and urges that the surrounding world lashes upon man. It is necessary to extract from all these forces and desires that exist inside of man, only one most important and personal desire. My personal desire is turned only upwards. The soul is the only personal aspect of man, and everything else is corporeal and absolutely foreign. Only the genuine and pure desire is called "Noah inside of a man".

Man completes the evolution of creation. It is known that the purest creation is made first. As for man, he is the coarsest creation out of all existing in the world. But when man acquires a screen of the strongest anti-egoistical power and pushes the light away, he later receives this light within. He reaches the highest level out of all creations of the world. This is the secret of "Tselem Elokim" (God's image). By receiving the strongest desire and building a corresponding screen, man reaches the upmost level. When the screen of such degree gets broken, the scattered vessels (Kelim-desires) fall lower than the others. "Tselem Elokim" represents Bina, desire to bestow.

Part of "Tselem Elokim" exists inside of us, so that we could understand, at least a little, what is bestowal and what is the Creator. This is why man has a right to choose. If we bring ourselves to the correct correspondence to the Creator, we will be able to use our egoism in order to bestow, and by doing so grow and advance.

However, if we want to use the pleasure that we receive from the Creator selfishly, we fall lower than all the rest. "Tselem Elokim" is the power given to us from above so that we use our egoism correctly. No other creature received anything like this.

And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, and upon all wherewith the ground teemeth, and upon all the fishes of the sea….

In nature, the young feel humility and tremor in front of the old. When man sinned with the Tree of Knowledge the high level of light that he received earlier disappeared. What remained was only the emptied desire, the biggest desire created on earth. Then man felt that he was the lowest creature on earth. "Tselem Elokim" is the part in us that resembles the property of Bina - bestowal. This part in us is that what allows us to grasp the Creator and His properties. By choosing correctly and restricting our desires, we can work for bestowal. "Tselem Elokim" is the power of bestowal that the Creator gave exclusively to us.

The Flood

Usually water refers to purifying the environment, the light of Hassadim (mercy). However here the strong streams of water surrounding man became inundating and deadly. What are these forces that outwardly resemble waters, but in reality bring along death? When external and all sorts of conflicting thoughts and desires overwhelm a person, this becomes like the Flood. Although the Flood comes as a very harsh force that can destroy everything, this very force purifies with its harshness.

However, it only purifies us if we, as Noah did, erect the ark around ourselves. Noah represents a person who falls into a state in which the heavy waters of the Flood try to distract him from the path. If a person continuously consorts with foreign forces and intentions, they will turn into the Flood. He will not be able to escape them. He will be constantly bombarded by the deadly desires of the surrounding people, dictating to him what he has to do.

Some crave money; others want power or fame, etc…Everything around us is impregnated with somebody else's desires. Only one thing can save one's soul: an even deeper connection with the purpose of creation. We have to build a surrounding layer, a screen, around ourselves. This screen will protect us from outside obstacles that attempt to distract, seduce or frighten a person. If we cannot construct the protective shield that will shelter us from all the useless folly of this world, we will not able to progress spiritually. The ark represents a make-shift screen, this is a shielding force that one builds for themselves. One who holds the purpose of creation cannot be exposed to any other influences. The ark is only one of many actions that we need to perform if we want to advance spiritually.

Man Becomes Slightly Better – Slightly Better Becomes the World

Noah is the next man after Adam. He starts the entire journey on Earth. In Hebrew, earth is "Eretz"; it is our internal desire "Ratzon". One cannot embark on their journey on Earth (transform something inside) without first securing this power, support, and internal system which will free man from any external obstacles. The ark is the means that Noah (that is, the soul that reached this spiritual degree) chose in order to progress towards the goal.

The entire world exists inside of our soul. Representatives of the entire existence and the root of the world are inside of it. We exist at the highest level of our world, meaning that our soul includes all the animate, vegetative, and inanimate souls.

The entire world changes in accordance with us: we become slightly better – slightly better becomes the world. By ascending, that is correcting ourselves by overcoming obstacles we elevate the rest of nature along with ourselves. In this Chapter, the example of Noah shows us how we should behave when we find ourselves in a peculiar environment or face obstacles. In such a state, we have to take the already corrected parts of our soul (i.e. animated, vegetative, and inanimate, what is called “male and female of all flesh”) and build around ourselves an ark. That is, a surrounding shield that will protect us from all external obstacles. This shield has to be absolutely altruistic. If we need nothing, if we are completely indifferent to all but the purpose of creation, then nothing around can harm us. If we are connected with the purpose of creation we simply raise above all the obstacles so much that we stop feeling them. They cannot affect us or alter our path.

The Creator instructs us how to build our protective shield from above. It is said that Noah enters this shield and the Creator "closes the door behind him". Enormous impure and infringing forces separate Noah from the Creator. Noah had to work against them all the time so that he could correct all these infringing forces during the next stage – the Flood. This is the essence of our advancement.

It is necessary to try isolating oneself, to limit oneself from external influences. This is what is called making the ark. We need to examine ourselves a little; to brake away from all infringing forces of this world and try not to interact with the cruel environment. We need to do it in order to bear something inside of ourselves that will subsequently trigger the development of humankind. "Humankind" refers to the forces that help one to attain the Creator. Then all the forces that are about to drown us are gradually corrected, their correction allows us to reach the purpose of creation. However, under no circumstances should any influence be interpreted as a negative one. On the contrary, one should relate to everything as necessary, and as the desired means for the attainment of the goal.

This is why the powers that emerge as obstacles are not really harmful. On the contrary, one should feel in them the Creator's call to use them for the next spiritual correction. Afterwards, we will be able to step on the new land. This land will be purified for us, and we will look at it differently. Then, truly, we will be able to continue our spiritual ascent and our spiritual growth.

When Noah Goes Forth From The Ark, The Creator Offers A Covenant With Him

Noah resides in his ark until the land, that is, all the desires ("Eretz" – land, from the word "Ratzon" – desire) are completely immersed in the waters and drawn in it, meaning in the light of Hassadim (in Kabbalah, water refers to the purifying light of Hassadim). Until the rest of the desires are sufficiently purified, Noah remains in the ark so as to utilize them correctly, that being only for the sake of his inner personal desire. How did this happen? First, Noah managed to separate his desires from the desires of other people, developing his yearning for the spiritual as the sole driving force. He then turned back to the remaining desires, the actions of this world, and began using them for spiritual progress.

When Noah goes forth from the ark, the Creator offers him a Covenant, that is, a connection, a union with Him. Why was this Covenant offered? Its purpose was to receive strength from the Creator and commence living. Meaning Noah has to use these newly received desires, the new bare ground that emerged out of the waters, and cultivate his further states on top of them. The correction Noah performed (that is, had kept all of his inner spiritual forces suppressed), resulted in his worthiness of having the ground emerge. The land previously cursed by the Creator now yields fruit and bears life, which gradually brings man towards the correction, the purpose of creation.

To Achieve Unconditional Happiness The Desires Have To Be Increased, Not Decreased

We must understand that everything around us was created solely of sheer necessity for our spiritual adhesion with the Creator. Nothing was created in vain, or for another purpose. Hence, the single challenge is to wisely use all that exists around us and inside of us beneficially for the true, eternal, genuine goal. The goal in itself also has to be clarified: Is it indeed true and eternal? What is this goal exactly? All inner desires and surrounding pleasures were created not just for nothing. Hence, under no circumstances should man simply spurn anything.

Beginners often inquire: "Should we go into seclusion, turn away from everything, switch off the TV, stop reading newspapers, listening to the radio?" Absolutely not - such coercive limitations will not bear results. The finest remedy is to plainly take books and start "showering" oneself with this pure water, this light of Hassadim. As the result of correct study, this purifying light descends down, pouring over man from outside, and filling him from within. From all of our desires, this light will elucidate that which is called “Noah”, aspiring specifically towards the true Goal. Accordingly, those desires and forces which first must drown in water, will be kept there for a while, purified, and used only afterwards.

Noah appeared like everyone else, did not seclude himself until the Flood. What does "Flood" mean? It is the power that one needs to evoke on himself through the intense Kabbalah studies. When this force acts upon us in its full might, it forces us to enter the state called "ark". For this reason there is a period when man renounces all of his desires and goes into seclusion, needing to be alone (as in this Chapter of the Torah). Later, he attracts the remaining desires and uses them, since without them he cannot progress further. Egoism, the will to receive pleasure is the only driving force, as it is the only thing set forth by the Creator. Indeed, the great Kabbalists escaped the masses by going into seclusion, or hiding. However, they did so only for a specific purpose, while being at very high spiritual levels. Only after one completes his correction, his life's path, his mission on this earth, does he go into seclusion, in order to fully absorb the external world in that specific secluded state. Later, he returns and offers the new method of attaining the spiritual for the new generation or for the future generations to come.

Hence, any coercive renouncement and restrictions are out of the question. By approaching Kabbalah studies correctly (i.e. the laws of existence, the Creator), and "showering" ourselves with extensive amounts of the Upper light evoked by the study in the course of many weeks and months, we will separate our desires. We will realize how we can rule over these desires and forces, how to work with them; understanding what the right balance between these desires and powers should be, and which desire is called "Noah". Man has to attain the level that enables him to live both in our world and in the rest of worlds simultaneously. He has to feel the entire surrounding Existence the same way he feels our world. For the world is indivisible, and our task is to hatch from our inner shell, which prevents us from seeing our present or future, from understanding who we are, why we are born, and where we go after death.

The purpose of creation is for man to come out of this little shell and unearth the entire sphere of Existence. However, the problem is that one can study with one's mind, logically, or sensually attain perception of our world. It happens that we may know nothing about the spiritual world, but live in it because we sense it. I feel heat, cold, light, objects surrounding me, people, forces; I feel myself, after all. However, I do not sense myself in relation to the spiritual worlds and everything inside them, or how these worlds influence me.

And now we will open the Book of Zohar, Chapter Noah. Similar to the Torah, the Zohar is divided into Chapters, and although the language of the Zohar differs from the language of the Torah, these two eternal great books speak of the same purpose – man rising to the level of the Creator in order to receive eternal and absolute pleasure.

The Book of Zohar - Chapter Noah

38. Until Adam sinned, he had nothing of this world, meaning he had no Kelim (vessels) to receive the light of Hochma.

308. Grapes – is the light of Hochma. If the light of Hochma is received without the screen, one gets drunk; meaning loses the ability to receive for the sake of bestowal.

And when the light of Hochma is received garbed in the light of Hassadim, the wine brings joy from receiving the light of Hochma for the sake of bestowal.

327. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and all the prophets tried the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and nevertheless remained alive.

It is known that the Tree – The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil – brings death: he who partakes of its fruit, dies from the poison in them.

We will clarify that the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil is the Nukvah de ZA which must always be connected with the rest of Sefirot (other trees of the garden). Only then can one partake of its fruit and receive the delight from knowing. This is why Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and all the prophets could painlessly eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.

But for those who do not connect Nukvah to ZA, a husband, but delight exclusively in her herself, she turns into the angel of death. And as it is said, the day he eats from the Nukvah herself, he separates the Creator from His Shechinah and is sentenced to death.

There is no need to sentence man to death. Disappearance of light – this is death by itself. The Torah does not punish for transgression. Spiritual death is losing the connection with the Creator. We are yet to attain such a level while living in this world.

A person who has never had a connection with the Creator, does not feel its loss. Existing below the line of Machsom (boundary, separating spiritual and corporeal worlds), we do not perceive the spiritual, and thus are not considered dead. Only a person who knew he was alive and felt the Creator's light but later ceased receiving Him, can be called dead. If one is in this state, then only he alone can determine it so, and pronounce his own spiritual death. In this condition, he regrets what happened and suffers immense pain, which in itself is a force capable of subsequently bringing him back to life at even greater spiritual degree.

Without feeling spiritual death, one cannot feel life. There is not a single righteous man who hasn't sinned while doing good. Sin always forestalls the Commandment. And when one realizes the entire evil, sensing his own spiritual death, he then turns to the Creator and asks to grant him life.

The Language of Kabbalah

Using just a few texts from the Pentateuch as an example, we demonstrated how Kabbalah uncovers the secret meaning of the Bible. The meaning remains secret only until man embarks on Kabbalah studies, in the process of which he unearths all the secret meanings.

You already have some idea about the "language of branches" used by Kabbalists. We know that the worlds above and below are parallel to each other, and all that exists in the Upper world descends into ours. All events are conceived in the Upper world, and later descend into our world. Notably all descending powers and signals match a corresponding object of this world in a precise manner. There is not a single object in this world, or a single phenomenon, that does not result from the Upper world.

In defining a few essential terms in Kabbalah:

• Light - pleasure that fills creation.
• Place – will to receive in creation; this is the "place" for all the pleasure-light in it.
• Movement – each renewal of properties is called movement in the spiritual, for it separates itself from the previous form or property and receives its own name. This resembles part of a material object that detaches from it, budges and moves away from a previous place.
• Name – is an explanation of how the light that a name refers to can be attained. In other words, a name of the spiritual degree refers to methods and ways to attain a given degree.

Signals of the Creator

In Torah (Pentateuch), Moshe (Moses) explicates the science of attaining the Upper world. Yet it is virtually impossible for us to go beyond the numerous ancestral, historical, and various other details described there. We are incapable of seeing something more profound than these stories, to sense the secrets that Kabbalists claim are hidden there. Man may search for Bible codes and discover all sorts of dependencies there. There are millions of various connections between any given part of Torah because each part is connected with all the rest. People have counted the number of letters, words, expressions, blocks, and more. Recently using computer technology, tremendous work has been done in investigating the inner structure of Torah, the types of letters, and their parts. Ultimately it gives nothing to a person because he lacks the understanding of what stands behind each symbol, point, and curve of a letter, or combinations or certain transference of words.

Torah in its original is recorded as a single word without gaps. Later, this single word was divided into words. They in turn are divided into letters, and letters into elements. As a result, we come to analyze a letter: a dot and a line that comes out of it. The black dot on a white background refers to the source of light, that is, the light emanating from it. If the light descends from above downwards, that is, from the Creator towards creation, then a vertical line symbolizes this. A horizontal line symbolizes the Upper Force relating to the entire existence.

Basically the letters constitute all information emanating down to us from the Creator. All possible combinations of lines and points depend only on these two signals sent to us:

• personal signal that the Creator sends to man: a straight line;
• general signal that the Creator sends to man: horizontal line;
• various states between them.

This is how all the signals create a code, a correlation between man and the Creator. Notably, at each instant it could look differently, because at every moment the state of each soul looks different as well.

If a person receives correct instruction in apprehending Torah, then gazing at these symbols in each of their combinations, he sees his past, present, and future state. But in order to see that, it is not enough to simply read the text. The key to reading Torah correctly, as the instruction for entering the spiritual world, is the Book of Zohar. "Zohar" means shining. It contains commentaries on the five parts of Torah and explains what is concealed in the text of Moshe.

The Book of Zohar depicts all properties and combinations of light and vessel (Kli). Kabbalistic books can tell us what each element of a letter means. Each letter represents a certain state. As an example, my state today at this particular moment I'm tired, I sense something, have some thoughts that manifest somehow at the animalistic level; I'm healthy or sick; I'm in a less or more uplifted spiritual state, etc. If I examine and describe all of it, I will be able to express this using a certain symbol. This symbol is called a letter.

Black Letters on the White Background

Light in the worlds must have the limit of its propagation. However, in order to depict the acts of light, there has to be both a force that attracts it and a force that restricts it. These two forces have to act simultaneously. Similarly, only restriction enables us to receive any given sensation entering through our senses. This is because the surface of an object (sound, light, or any kind of wave) collides with our organ of perception, restricting its propagation, and thus allowing us to sense it.

White background is simple. This is light, which is invariable and thus unperceivable to us. Whatever we are capable of discerning can be expressed only by restricting the propagation of this white light. Different kinds, or levels of its restriction, are called letters. This is why we see four boundaries against the white background and attain only four restrictions. Regardless of language - Hebrew, Russian, Lithuanian, no matter which, any letter will consist of black light (yet uncorrected part) and white space onto which it is written. The letter is built on the contrast between black and white.

In this way, a letter expresses the measure to which the properties of the Creator differ from the properties of creation in our consciousness. Properties of the Creator are absolutely white and incomprehensible to us. In contrast, we rank and express the properties of creation in relation to the Creator according to the way we sense ourselves in relation to Him. This relation is what comprises the letters, symbols, and our comprehension as well. Consequently, it is the only means of perceiving ourselves, our dependence, and our dissimilarity from the surrounding light. We are incapable of sensing the states when there is only black (i.e. see just ourselves) or when there is only white (see only the Creator). Taking a closer look, we will realize that all our feelings and sensations are built on contrast, one against the other. Hence, using the alphabet, which exists in any language, we can describe our states, ascents, and descents.

In general, we could re-write the entire Kabbalah in any other language. However, upon attaining the World of Infinity, letters fade away since the black property in them, the property of creation, becomes equivalent to the light, the property of the Creator. If the desire has acquired a screen, it reflects everything from itself. In Hebrew it is called "Masach".

The question arises: if the desires do not disappear, then how can we say that letters do? Letters disappear because a letter is built on sensing the difference between the Creator and creation. What does it mean, "dissolve"? The letters represent information about the Creator which becomes infinite, totally complete, and therefore no longer expressible in a form of restriction – in a form of letters. In other words, this is not dissolvent or disappearance. On the contrary, knowledge becomes so immense that it is impossible to depict or explain it by the means of our restricted language, as language itself is built on restriction.

Letters, symbols, and speech serve for conveying spiritual knowledge, and attainment. Every letter of every alphabet contains its spiritual meaning because people convey their sensations through books. Any sensation, not only human but animal as well, represents an unconscious perception of the Creator. Nobody understands this, but in reality when a poet for example, composes a verse portraying his love for a woman, children, the sun, light, or even in describing his suffering, he is expressing his impressions of the light that acts upon him, whether he wants it or not.

Question: Does a language play a significant role in the way the Kabbalistic information is conveyed?

This question basically asks if it is possible to convey spiritual notions and their meaning using different letters, or words of different languages. No, it makes no difference which language is used to transmit the spiritual notions since we are expressing our sensations. Listen, for instance, to cow's moo and try to understand, feel what she is trying to "say". What does her language mean? Meanwhile, at the animalistic level it expresses the sensation of nature, sensation of the Creator. And indeed, our current communication with each other, our words, expressions, exclamations, hails, and sighs are different ways of expressing our sensation of the Creator.

That which I feel is the light, my sensing the Creator, and if it seems to me that I perceive Him through you, through somebody else or from some inner space inside, it does not matter. Occasionally this is a correct sensation, because both inside and outside – all is the Creator. All is but the manifestation of the general force; this force is the only thing that exists besides the vessel-Kli-creation, and we refer only to it. All of us express the Creator's way of influencing us, the way we perceive and sense the Creator, and our reaction to His influence. Thus it is not important which language we use.

The book of Zohar is written in Aramaic, a spoken language of Mesopotamia. Kabbalists were able to freely express themselves using it. The Babylonian Talmud is also written in Aramaic, however it is already slightly different from Aramaic of the Book of Zohar, because it was different era by then. Simply, Kabbalists of that time lived in Babylon, and Aramaic was their spoken language.

Later on after the Greeks conquered ancient Judea, many Greek words were incorporated into Hebrew. We use a number of Greek terms, not just words but also definitions. In this instance, keywords are borrowed from the Greek language and this does not take away from the completeness of the conveyed information recounting the structure of the spiritual world.

Question: Why is Hebrew the language of Kabbalah?

The entire Kabbalah describes the degrees of becoming closer to the Creator, of perceiving Him. Kabbalists chose this particular language so that they could communicate with each other. They convey their knowledge in a form of words and symbols of our world, similar as mathematicians in our world express information using formulas, and musicians with the help of notes. Both Kabbalists, the one who writes and the one who reads, understand what is meant there, what these words imply in Kabbalah. The word is a code, which points to a particular spiritual object and its particular state. Reading a word, another Kabbalist can re-create this state, as a musician can re-create sound. In other worlds, a Kabbalist can sense what his colleague implies by this word. He can sense exactly what its author had in mind.

Language is just the recording of emotional information perceived as the influence of the light and delight. We do not need language for ourselves inside of ourselves, for they are feelings. However, when we want to convey our sensations to the others, we must clothe our sensations into something comprehensible to a person, to whom we want to convey our sensations. Language is clothing of sensations. It makes no difference which language it is. Simply Kabbalists chose Hebrew and presented all the information in it, using Aramaic – a bit of the spoken language of Mesopotamia.

The Book of Zohar easily utilizes "foreign" languages, used in the land of Israel at the time when the book was written (Greek, etc). We naturally follow Kabbalists and also use this language. I asked my Teacher Baruch Ashlag the same question and he told me that any language can be adapted to convey the spiritual information, however, because Kabbalists already described everything in Hebrew, had already composed the dictionary of "root and branch", this language now is the basis of Kabbalah. Hebrew is considered to be a sacred language for it brings us to holiness, the properties of the Creator.

What basically do we want to express? We express human sensations. We can use the language of music, light, or any other language. Everything that enables us to express human sensations and human notions, that is, the process of perception, can be used as a language. We can tell about the spiritual using any language. The uniqueness of Hebrew is that the code is already given to us. But if there would be a Kabbalist who would fully master the roots of some other language, he would be able to do the same using any other language as well.

The forces that stand behind the Hebrew letters are subtly interconnected. The particular forms of the Hebrew letters express these links. However, we would be able to express these correlations in other languages as well. The shape of letters in other languages, originate essentially from the same root as Hebrew letters. However, they are altered since the connection between letters in other languages and the spiritual roots are different.

Question: How can we describe the sensations of someone who sensually exists in the world of Infinity?

Kabbalists have no way of describing the soul that exists at the level of Infinity, because we comprehend, accept, and sense all of our letters and ways of conveying information only within boundaries, not the Infinity.

Without boundaries, there are no sensations. Our perception is built on contrast: black - white, bitter – sweet, good – evil, pleasant – appalling, all of our sensations emerging at the juncture of two opposite forces. This resembles our measuring instruments, in that all of them are based on resistance. They always have some resisting spring in them and what gets measured is its resistance, which is equivalent to pressure exerted on it. Our sensations of every kind are built on such comparisons, as this is our nature. But when man begins feeling the Infinity, the unbounded reception for the sake of the Creator, this limit, so to speak, disappears. It becomes impossible to describe these sensations using symbols comprehensible to us, for all of them are built on contradiction, on collision, on emergence of some sort of boundary.

All the letters are composed out of black elements on the white background, meaning, they are built on contrasts, on left-right imprints, on limitations, and on transference. All letters are a precise portrayal of certain dots, heaping in certain directions. Without this, we simply don't know what to feel and how to feel it. For this reason we are completely incapable of describing the existence beyond the world of Infinity and above. That is, we cannot speak about the Creator Himself; truly, we cannot as of now.

The Language of Kabbalistic Music

Spiritual sensations can also be transmitted using the language of music. The advantage of this language is that even a person who has not mastered any other Kabbalistic language, not yet seeing the spiritual information, can be emotionally inspired even if a little, by the sensations of the spiritual world experienced by a Kabbalist who created this music. This is feasible because the melody that enters a person penetrates him without any resistance, for it is not transformed by thought or mind, perception or analysis. Rather, it strikes the heart directly. Without realizing it, a person starts sensing from within himself or herself certain actions carried out by music or what is hidden it in.

What is so interesting and special about Kabbalistic music? It is what a Kabbalist senses in the spiritual world. He senses the Upper World, the manifestation of the Creator. This manifestation can be expressed in a form of poems, songs, melodies, etc. – in any possible forms of recording inner sensations of man. However, out of all the languages, all ways of delivering information from person to person, the language of music is the most immediate, the most accessible, the most direct, requiring no explanations. It is built of the fact that we share common feelings, common perception, and this is because we belong to the human species populating this planet. This music makes approximately the same effect on people of completely different mentality, who are not used to this kind of music.

When you listen to the Kabbalistic melodies, simply try sensing them directly, open up for their perception, so that these melodies can exert a direct influence upon you, penetrating you directly. Later you will see and feel that listening to these melodies, even from time to time, gives you the same results as many hours of serious Kabbalistic studies. These melodies articulate the connection between man and the Creator. This connection consists of two components: the desire (Kli, the spiritual vessel, the soul) and filling with the Light (sensing the Creator). If a person, a Kabbalist, wants to show how he perceives the Creator, what desire he employs to approach Him, we hear sad music. On the other hand, if he talks about fulfillment of his desires, we perceive such music as light, joy, and occasionally as sweet yearning.

Although Kabbalistic melodies sound sad, have a melancholic tint to them, we should realize that we only hear them this way. You nevertheless have to keep in mind that a Kabbalist sensing these melodies feels enthusiasm, greatness, and sublimity. Meaning, this is something that just lifts you up and keeps you in the air. Kabbalistic melodies convey precisely this sensation, so do not apprehend them as suffering, but as admiration, ascension, as a flavor of being connected with the Creator.

All Kabbalistic melodies express certain spiritual states. While it is beneficial to listen to them, we should constantly remember that while doing so, we try penetrating the information which gets transferred in the process of listening, since these sounds also contain a wave that neither our hearing or heart is able to pick up. Music affects our "Reshimot", our informational, spiritual genes, from within. This wave develops them. This way, we start to sense more subtle spiritual layers.

Question: For some reason, when I listen to the Kabbalistic music, I get sad. But music exists in order to uplift one's mood, doesn't it?

If you existed at the levels recounted by this music, you would dissolve in the ocean of bounty, delight, and the light as a child does in the hands of his mother. However, since the light of this music comes to you from afar, it carries all the information of all the rungs that separate you and the degree from which this music emanates. In these sounds, you hear suffering, longing of the Kelim-vessels-souls for the light.

But as you ascend higher and higher, instead of melancholy you feel more and more tenderness and bliss from uniting with the Beloved. Music is suffering for the remote and delight for the intimate. It is like when you are hungry but see a smorgasbord, your hunger is joy and delight. But if you are hungry and the table is empty, then this hunger brings you suffering.

Reveal the Creator – the Source of perfection, eternity, delight, and you will not feel your desire as suffering; it will be the means for feeling life!