The Zohar
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Posted by Mark Zimmerman Mar 19, 2007 |
"The depth of wisdom and learning contained in the Holy Book of Zohar is concealed behind a thousand locked gates."
Baal HaSulam, in Preface to the Book of Zohar.
It's not that The Zohar is really hidden. The field of which The Zohar speaks is completely open. So why do we call it "hidden"? It is hidden only with respect to us, to our inborn perception ability.
In order to perceive what The Zohar speaks about, we need to transform our perception so that it "moves" closer to the level of perception from where The Zohar speaks. Then we won't read its stories as some kind of abstract imagination about roses and donkeys, but we will see the qualitative, inner part of it through our own inner correspondence of qualities with its author.
This is a long way from us.
To bring this book closer, Baal HaSulam wrote many books and articles to simplify the method of this inner transformation, and tried to explain it in academic and layman's terms. His disciple and student, Rabbi Baruch Ashlag (Rabash), further clarified the inner work of rigorous and continuous self-transformation through his articles.
Today, Rav Michael Laitman, PhD (disciple of Rabash) and the students of the Bnei Baruch World Center for Kabbalah Studies further work to simplify and clarify the words stemming from the height of perception to our world. This is so that everybody will have the opportunity to ascend to the level of which The Zohar speaks; the level of endless perfection and continually amassing pleasure.
Bnei Baruch have just updated their Zohar website resources, including new articles and features to help guide anyone who is searching for something more than this world has to offer:
The Zohar - Updated Articles and Features at the Bnei Baruch World Center for Kabbalah Studies
- The Zohar - A Brief Introduction – Who is The Zohar for? What is The Zohar about?
- Introduction to the Book of Zohar - About the Book – Introduction to the Book of Zohar (Laitman Kabbalah Publishers: 2005) is an in-depth commentary by Rav Michael Laitman, PhD (available for free download) on two of Baal HaSulam's introductory articles to The Zohar.
- The Mystery of the Book of Zohar – Why has The Book of Zohar been hidden throughout history?
- The History of Kabbalah and the Zohar – the fourth chapter from Rav Michael Laitman’s book Kabbalah for Beginners, outlining a brief history of The Zohar’s origins, how it’s come to us today, and how we should approach it in our times.