The Special Spice Contained in the Book of Zohar

“Neither shall you lack the salt of the covenant of your god from your offering.” Why is salt so important? It is because it cleanses and perfumes the bitter, and makes it tasty. Salt is Dinim [judgments] in the Masach [screen] of Hirik, on which the middle line emerges, which unites the right with the left. It cleanses, perfumes, and sweetens the Dinim of the left, which are bitter, with the Hassadim [mercies] on the right line. Had there not been salt, the middle line would not have been extended and the world would not have been able to tolerate the bitterness.

 Zohar for All, VaYechi [Jacob Lived], Item 666

Salt is the basis of all the spices, adding flavor to the food. In spirituality, when we begin to receive the upper light into the soul, it is regarded as flavors spreading within us.

Our evil inclination, the egoistic material of which we are made, is like a stew without spices. We derive no pleasure from it. This is why it was said (Babylonian Talmud, Kidushin, 30b), “I have created the evil inclination; I have created for it the Torah as a spice.” With the additional spice that the upper light brings—using the right intention—that same substance acquires wondrous flavors. Then, we have an evil inclination, and next to it, The Zohar as a spice. The combination between them yields the middle line.

If there weren’t salt, the middle line would not have been drawn and the world would not be able to tolerate the bitterness, says The Zohar. In other words, if we could not mitigate the ego, we would not be able to tolerate it.

We Must Build New Tools of Perception to Perceive the Spiritual World

The soul says to the Creator, “Tell me the secrets of the sublime wisdom, how You lead and govern the Upper World; teach me the secrets of the wisdom that I have not known and have not learned thus far, so I will not be shamed among those high degrees, among which I come.”

The Creator replies to the soul, “‘If you know not, o fairest among women,’ if you have come and did not gaze in the wisdom before you came here, and you do not know the secrets of the upper world, ‘go thy way,’ for you are not worthy of entering here without knowledge. ‘go thy way by the footsteps of the flock,’ reincarnate in the world and become knowing by these ‘footsteps of the flock,’ who are human beings that people trample with their heels, for they consider them lowly. However, they are the ones who know their Master’s sublime secrets. From them will you know how to observe and to know, and from them will you learn.”

New Zohar, Song of Songs, Item 485-486

When beginning to study The Book of Zohar, it compels us to “rearrange” our minds, to perceive reality differently. The Zohar “sculpts” us from within, according to that inner world that we should enter, like a key that must match its lock.

Even now the spiritual world is in us, except we simply don’t feel it. We must build within us a different nature, new tools of perception, and new senses so we may feel it.

“The Best Way to Prepare for Spirituality” is based on the book, Unlocking The Zohar by Dr. Michael Laitman.