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Michael Laitman’s Personal Blog

The Book of Zohar Can be Opened by All

Question: Who can read The Zohar?

Dr. Laitman’s Answer: The Book of Zohar was concealed from people for a long time. Since its composition in the 2nd century CE, only a few chosen souls (Kabbalists) used it and passed it from one to another, forming a lineage.

The book was revealed to outsiders when the widow of the Kabbalist Moshe De Leon sold it along with other books belonging to her husband. That is when Kabbalists began to forbid its study and created rigid restrictions to repel people from it. In the meantime, they continued studying this book in order to correct their souls, and they also taught other disciples who had a point in their hearts. The majority of people at that time did not have a point in the heart, meaning they weren’t striving for spirituality, and therefore they were banned from opening the book.

Today humanity as a whole has reached a stage of development where The Book of Zohar can be opened by anyone. There is no danger in doing so. First of all, this is due to Baal HaSulam’s work: “The Sulam Commentary on The Zohar,” and secondly, because of the current level of the souls’ development.

Without a doubt, this book is the only resource capable of correcting the soul. We still don’t fully understand what a wonderful tool it is.

When we understand what kind of system it is, connect to it, and start using it, then we will enter the spiritual world, and we will continue to grow by ascending from one spiritual degree to another until reaching the ultimate purpose of creation, perfect peace and delight. The Book of Zohar is a gradual revelation that works in this manner—it is truly a device for revealing the Upper Light!

What is Revealed in The Book of Zohar?

Question: What is revealed to me when I am reading The Zohar?

Dr. Laitman’s Answer: You reveal what is happening on the higher level, in spirituality. Our reading The Zohar is very much like a little child growing up—every day he understands life a little bit more, gains a greater understanding of what is happening, and reacts to things more consciously.

Similarly, when we read The Zohar, we gradually reveal a new, spiritual world and gain a greater understanding of it with each passing day. We reveal spiritual qualities inside ourselves on a sensory level and we therefore begin to feel, and then understand what is being said, similar to how we revealed this world when we were growing up.

Spiritual revelation is not rational but sensory, and it happens through a new sense called “the soul,” brought about by the Light that The Zohar radiates to those who approach it with the right desire. This may not sound serious and you may wonder, “How is this a science? After all, we are just reading a book.” But when we desire very much to be in that picture or that reality about which it is telling us; just like a baby simply feels: “I want it and that’s it!” Then we suddenly reveal it. Nothing else is required of us except this desire.

Baal HaSulam, the greatest Kabbalist of the 20th century, writes, “Although they do not understand what they are learning, through the yearning and the great desire to understand what they are learning, they awaken upon themselves the Lights that surround their souls.”

It works the same way as how a baby wants to know the world he is in. When we desire to reveal the spiritual world, it suddenly becomes revealed to us.