Zohar allows us a unison with the thought of creation. The purpose of the Zohar, as it declares itself, is to rescue or to allow us a tool, a meeting point—a unison with the thought of creation which is reformation, or tikkun. This can take every spirit out of exile.

Only with the connection to the state that is expressed and exemplified by the Zohar community can we actually start to feel the presence of it and enable it to work upon us.

As a basic notion, shame in Hebrew (bushah) is a description of the condition that activates the power of return to the form that the Creator can actually bestow his light or his will upon us (shuva).

Nehama d'kisufa is the bread of longing-- everything that has to do with the way, on the most basic level, that we are able to connect to the purpose or to the reason of our existence and our life. The function of shame is to awaken one to this longing. The second function of it is to realize the state that we are in and to know that we are being garbed and dressed by the higher in order for the shame not to inhibit us from furthering the work.

I must be willing not to think, not to calculate with my vessels or with my abilities, but to calculate with the will of the higher. He wished this state of longing, of feeling inadequate in order to enable me to rise to a different level. Therefore, shame is not in order to punish oneself. If you punish yourself for your inabilities, you're actually rejecting the Creator.

When we start with Zohar, which is so layered and concealed and needs so much preparation, the first thing that we will make is not understanding. There is a law, what I call eternal engagement: if a person perseveres in not understanding, willing to be in not understanding, and yet he still holds in himself the wish to understand, he is drawing the light that belongs to his spirit into him. In English it means that you stand under something. In Hebrew it goes straight to the core, the quality of bina, meaning that we need to stand under in order to understand. So the question is where to stand so you will be under.

When you say, I want to understand, you stand under the will to receive to himself. When you say, though I do not understand, I wish to understand, I want to stand under something else, this can actually carve in me a vessel of understanding. This is the gap. Even in English sometimes we do not understand, even in Hebrew sometimes we do not understand, not to speak about Aramaic. It did not do it accidentally. There is a gap here as well which actually demands work, a gap of understanding, a gap of attitude. It was actually to create the difference between rear and front. The Hebrew is giving it the face, and then you have the gap. The language of Kabbalah creates a different grip from the Hebrew.

So not understanding is a tool. Being actually saying, yes, I do not understand, I am not able to understand it, it is a calling. So I am asking to understand, but not on my terms, on the gap of what it wishes to tell me, for what I wish to know. This is another point in how the proper will is being created. It is not a given state. We want to understand not because we want to control it, but so we can fulfill our duty. What the light is doing is not giving us the understanding. It is carving in us a tool and a need in a more adequate position.

Rabbah Saphir Noyman Eyal reflects on the concept of being "uprooted from the world" and reframes it as a profound spiritual blessing rather than a threat. This uprooting involves a shift from finding one's roots in the physical, corporeal world to being replanted in a higher, spiritual realm. Jealousy, often perceived negatively, can serve as a catalyst for this transformation when it stems from a desire for wisdom and connection to the divine. In this context, being uprooted signifies a redirection of one’s focus from self-centered pursuits to higher spiritual goals, allowing individuals to leave behind the limitations of their current reality and embrace a new, elevated perspective.

This process requires bravery and honesty, as it often involves recognizing one’s own self-interest and indulgence in prior pursuits, even in spiritual studies. The acknowledgment of these motivations becomes a turning point, inspiring the desire to transcend them and seek Lishma—a state of pure intention and devotion for the sake of the Creator.

By embracing the discomfort of being uprooted, individuals can move toward a deeper alignment with the Creator’s purpose, transforming their lives and perspectives in the process. This journey reveals the true potential of spiritual growth as a means to transcend the corporeal and connect with the divine.

The Hebrew word HISARON, when translated as “deficiency,” creates the mistaken sense that something is wrong with one’s character. A more precise meaning is lack of perception, lack of feeling, and lack of the ability to pursue what the spirit actually wants. Corporeal wishes, whether for health, financial stability, a partner, or better circumstances, have nothing to do with this.

From the spirit’s point of view, existence without true spiritual consciousness is existence without allowance for life. Most people cannot settle into the state of true spiritual want. They do not hold it even as a wish or a perception. The starting point is narcissistic, like the early Yosef, organized around how one thinks and what one believes one deserves. The real journey is through the dark parts of oneself, to discover that life is not for everyone to serve you, but to discover how your life can serve everyone else.

This connects to Hanukkah. What made Greek philosophy so attractive, even to the Hashmonai priesthood, who changed their Hebrew names to Greek names, was its promise that the human mind is capable, by its own nature, of perceiving all and understanding Infinity independently. The conflict is clear: how can this powerful sense of knowing give way to faith? The answer came not through the men of the time but through the deep nature of Malchut, through Yehudit. She stood and challenged whether they would obey the law or rise above it toward what is truly right. As daughter of the high priest, she initiated the movement to recapture not only autonomy but serenity, which is not an issue of the soul but of the spirit.

Faith is the declaration that one prefers divine consciousness over one’s own state of perception. True faith is divine intelligence itself. The true meaning of HISARON is not a deficiency of character but a disconnection from the spirit. That disconnection is true death.

The Creator cannot be fully described within human language. In Hebrew, the term for Creator, Bo Ur-ee ("come and see"), is not a title or a sefira but a resonant calling—a sound that vibrates through creation. It transcends gender or form; it simply is.

Being is something we attribute to a will, and we speak of the Creator's will. Since a will belongs to someone, we associate it with a being, but this is our limitation. This notion arises from the first step in becoming acquainted with the language of higher learning, which differs from learning as we understand it. It is a language of higher perception.

As Baal HaSulam and the Ari teach through Torah, the definitions of light or sound are not about the light or sound themselves but about the vessel—what the vessel is capable of perceiving. Perception occurs at different levels, with the highest being the ability to hear the Creator's call, Bo Ur-ee, as a whole, resonating throughout creation.

Shekhina, or Shakti, as a living essence. It’s not a mechanical creation, but a sensing, feeling entity. One can say that all of Creation, whether nature, animal, humans, plants, fauna, flora, whatever, is the sense tentacle of that Being, the end nerve of that Being. So it’s not only a force or power. This is where Ba’al HaSulam is speaking about neglect, because in a way the wholeness of it is our spirit, our true spirit. So the ego should grow in order to be able to contain, transform and actually bestow.

When we say Shekhina is actually the whole of Creation, it means it’s the membrane of connection between us. It means that each one, each spirit holder, is a point on the net, of what is Shekhina, and the way we can actually express the service for her is to connect, because we, I don’t want to say should, but the offer is that I see you not as something that is a reflection to my way, but you as a part of me--you are an essential part of my spiritual body. When I see you, I see the part which is actually my limbs, or that which is missing in me, and I am, that which is missing in you.

Rabbah Saphir Noyman Eyal and Rabbi David Ingber discuss the profound influence of Baal HaSulam on Rabbah's Kabbalistic studies and teachings. Rabbah explains that Baal HaSulam's interpretation of Kabbalah is often misunderstood, particularly in popularized centers, where it is stripped of its deeper meanings. She emphasizes that his teachings, which combine the heart-centered approach of Baal Shem Tov with the intellectual rigor of HaARI, offer a holistic understanding of humanity's relationship with the Creator. Baal HaSulam's focus on materialistic psychology resonates with the current generation, aiming to awaken the 'point in the heart', the spiritual consciousness that seeks liberation from the ego's captivity.

The Role of Kabbalah in Self-Discovery

When asked what Kabbalah offers to modern seekers, Rabbah emphasizes that Kabbalah reveals uncomfortable truths about oneself rather than about God. She explains that studying Kabbalah requires surrendering to the reality of the ego and recognizing that we operate primarily through self-interest, even in acts of kindness. The goal of Kabbalistic study is not to gain intellectual understanding but to shape one's identity and spirit through patient engagement with the light. This process, according to Rabbah, involves an ongoing practice of surrendering one's ego, although it may take years to fully comprehend this surrender and its implications.

Kabbalah vs. Buddhism: Expanding the Ego for Spiritual Growth

Rabbah contrasts the goals of Kabbalah and Buddhism, noting that while Buddhism aims to dissolve the ego, Kabbalah seeks to grow and expand it. In Kabbalah, a larger ego allows for greater capacity to connect with others and receive divine light. The key difference lies in Kabbalah's belief in a purpose-driven expansion of the ego, in contrast to Buddhism's focus on reducing the self. This expanded ego enables individuals to form meaningful connections with others and ultimately with the Creator. The conversation concludes with a discussion about how true spiritual connection is realized through balancing different aspects of the self and society, and how Israel has a unique role in contributing to global spiritual growth.

When there is an awakening to the lack of ability to feel, then you feel the weight of the yoke—of what is required of you. Then you start to ask.
Passover is a meeting point that evolved humanity into the state of recognizing what true freedom is. There is a choice not to live under the imprisonment of the law of the will to receive to oneself. On Passover we have a unique opportunity to ask to reveal the goodness that was hidden in creation so that we can pull the curtain up on that reality. This is an offer of redemption for all of humanity.

Meet the teachings of the Rabbah Saphir Noyman Eyal, the studying group, the sacred texts and the ways of studying Kabbalah in Mishkan Hakavana.

The working base is that the Creator wished humans to be His partners.

We need to understand forgiveness in its Hebrew sense, meaning how forgiveness allows us to move to the other side: not where we will feel more comfortable with ourselves (lighter, without anger, guilt, resentment) allowing different things to come into fruition, or be felt for ourselves). This is the will-to-receive talk, which is fine in itself, but it has nothing to do with forgiveness. Forgiveness, in Hebrew, speaks about sending away. Sending something away means that if you find yourself in a position (this relates to Yom Kippurim, since the beginning of the year - in Kabbalistic perception - relates to judgment, meaning: getting to know ourselves as a disturbance to the process of growth of creation). This goes back to the conversation that I had with Elyse (a member in the Mishkan): it's not going back into creating better equilibrium among ourselves, rather it is creating a common purpose that will allow us to send away (or to understand) that the conflicts between us relates to the bigger conflict we have with the Creator. 

Forgiveness, on your part, needs to come with wishing not to continue to partake in the human disturbance (or shutting down) of the will of the Creator to bestow goodness. You have to send it away. And sending it away (not wanting to be part of it) doesn't automatically mean that we know how to be. We can’t have insurance on how to be in order to send something away. It needs a state of vacancy in us. Meaning, I want to be vacant of this, and I wish, ask, beg that what will take its place is His intention, not my intention to be better. 

It relates to the article that you read, because forgiveness has to do with prayer. In Hebrew there are three levels that relate to this: atonement, forgiveness, and absolution. Even the Christians understood instinctively that absolution, though given today in the form of indulgence,or forgiveness, by the priest in the Catholic church, cannot [work]. It needs to be given directly from the Higher. No representative can give it to you.

The commandment commonly translated as "Love your neighbor as yourself" is more accurately rendered as "Love the other as thyself." The Hebrew word re'acha (רעך) is usually translated as "friend," but this translation does not carry what the word holds. It does not speak about a familiar companion but about the other, about whatever stands outside of oneself. It carries the root of self will and at the same time a built in relation to what is outside of it, not as something separate but as something that belongs. It is the will to receive as it is positioned toward the other, and within it there is also the connotation of responsibility, a sense of how one relates to all that is outside oneself.

The structure of the word itself expresses this. The final Hebrew letter kaf creates belonging and corresponds to the number twenty, which suggests the relationship between direct light and return light, ten and ten. When this form is present, a new vessel can be formed, a cooperative state in which the will to receive remains but works with the intention of bestowing. In that state one can begin to sense oneself through the other, not from within alone but through the presence of the other and through the balance between receiving and returning.

The other is ultimately the Creator, but one cannot begin there directly. Human others are needed as a way to measure, to grow, and to be trained in this perception. Through them one learns to feel, to evaluate, and to value the other, and through this develops the capacity to relate to the ultimate other. "Love the other as thyself" is therefore not only a statement but a structure of work, defining how one relates to everything outside oneself and how a vessel is formed that can hold this relationship.