• Offering/Sacrifice
• Sin
• Mistake

Offering/Sacrifice

The word Korban (offering/sacrifice) comes from the word Karov (near), as it is written, “As Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel looked, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they became very frightened; so the sons of Israel cried out to the Lord” (Exodus, 14:10). Pharaoh is our biggest force of advancement. In fact, everything we slaughter at the altar, all that we correct, are parts of Pharaoh, that great will to receive from which we cut slices and sacrifice. By that, we become corrected and draw closer until the image of the Creator emerges in us from the image of Pharaoh.

Sin

Sin is the complete disclosure of our nature, how absorbed we are in self-love instead of love of others.

Mistake

The corruption of the force of Bina in us is called “mistake.” The corruption of the force of Malchut in us is called “sin” (deliberate faulty act). In our world, the sins are far greater than the mistakes. Take for example a person who wants to steal; the mistake is that he is jealous of another and seemingly does him no harm by that.

The correction of the mistake is when a person transcends one’s will to receive and does not want to use it whatsoever. At that time a person becomes detached from the mistake, and later inverts the entire ego, the entire will to receive into having the aim to bestow upon others. This is how we correct the sins.

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• Work
• Cloud
• Donation
• Tabernacle and Tent of Meeting

Work

Work is correction of the system of the tabernacle. This is nothing more than that. There are nine works in the work of the tabernacle; the rest are neither work nor craft.

Cloud

A cloud indicates concealment. The Creator hides Himself, but the disclosure is in concealment, when one sees that He is hidden. There are opposites here, which is why it corrects us. The cloud leads us, and even Moses went into the cloud.

Donation

A donation to the Creator means that the more we increase the importance of the Creator in our eyes—the importance of the quality of love and bestowal—the more we can advance.

Tabernacle and Tent of Meeting

The soul contains a surrounding, external Kli (vessels). Although it contains great lights, they are surrounding. Also, there are the inner Kelim (plural of Kli), which are the tabernacle. Similar to our world, we have a Shoresh, Neshama, and Guf (root, soul, and body respectively) within us, and Levush and Heichal (clothing, hall respectively) that are the rest of the world. This is how we are built, how we perceive the Kli we are in. But everything is within us even when it seems to us that everything is external.

The same is true for the tabernacle. It is an inner tabernacle, surrounded by the tent of meeting, a court, and many other details. When we begin to notice it and study it, we see that each element is truly a unique form of work.

From The Zohar: Beautiful Boughs, the Joy of the Whole Earth

The beauty of the world and the vision of the world were not seen in the world until the tabernacle was built and established, and the ark entered the holy place. From that time, the vision of everything, of Divinity, was seen in the world and the world was established. The worthy come into the tabernacle and the ark until they arrive at the middle point that is there, which is “Beautiful boughs, the joy of the whole …” Once they arrive there, the ark started and said, “This is My resting place forever; here I will dwell, for I have desired it.”

Zohar for All, Pekudei (Accounts), item 42

When we arrive at this exciting moment, there is nothing more sublime. We are in contact and Dvekut (adhesion) with the Creator, and discover the goal for which we have labored so long. Henceforth we only enhance the point of Dvekut through the end of correction.

Today the world is in a crisis. It is the beginning of the way, of the inclination toward connection. Especially, it is the beginning of the revelation of the wisdom of Kabbalah. It is written, “And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them” (Jeremiah, 31:33). In other words, everyone will know about the Creator. This is the wisdom of which it was written, “they shall all know Me,” and “My house shall be called ‘a house of prayer for all the nations” (Isaiah, 56:7).

In other words, the tabernacle, the tent, the Third Temple, all the desires, everything that exists in the universe will achieve connection and correction, as it is written, “I will bring them to the mountain of My holiness, and I will rejoice them in My house of prayer, their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be acceptable on My altar, for My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nation” (Isaiah, 56:7).

• Everlasting Candle
• Olive Oil
• Priest
• Breastplate

Everlasting Candle

A person who wants to reach the point of contact with the Creator, called “the priest’s work in the Temple,” must first see to always having the light that reforms, for only with it is one sanctified—adding the aim to bestow to one’s desires, thus rising closer to the Creator.

Olive Oil

In spirituality, olive oil is the light that reaches Zeir Anpin, Malchut.

Priest

A priest is man’s highest degree. It comes from the left line and from the right line and reaches pure and complete bestowal. This degree includes the degree of Bina, ZAT of Bina, and the upper degree, GAR of Bina. It is impossible to be a priest without also having Levites and Israel in you. That is, a person tends to the entire world, as well as to Israel, and unites with everyone.

It is hard work to achieve the degree of a priest. A person must actualize the greatest and most powerful desires.

Breastplate

On the degree of clothing there are things that belong to the inner part of the soul. The breastplate is one of them.

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• Donation
• Atonement
• The Ark of the Covenant
• Menorah (the sacred lamp)
• Sockets, Veil
• His Heart Moves Him

Donation

A donation is what a person can set aside, sacrifice of one’s ego and correct it into working in order to bestow. Each time we must set aside for correction more and more of our heart until it is entirely “a heart of flesh” instead of the current “stony heart.”

Atonement

The collective soul was shattered; we are all broken. Atonement means we must correct the intention of those broken vessels, broken desires—the 613 broken desires which are our soul.

We must bond with the other and thus discover the Creator, who appears in neither, but rather in the unity between us. Gradually, we must all build the tabernacle, and in it attain the revelation of the Creator. It is written that the Creator tells us each time, “Do this or that work and I will come and appear before you there, and tell you what needs to be done.” The common work of people is what yields the revelation of the Creator between them, and what clarifies the next step.

The Ark of the Covenant

This is where the upper force comes from; the place from which the Creator appears.

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• Law, or Rule
• Idolatry
• Murder, Theft

Law, or Rule

We are living under laws. The whole of nature is a law. The Creator is a law; the creature is a law; everything is one law—the law of equivalence of form with the upper force. The upper force is the primer, the foundation, and we constantly measure ourselves and all other laws in relation to it.

The laws are particular instances of a single law—the law of equivalence of form. The whole of creation must achieve balance, equivalence, similarity to the force of the Creator. Each of us, at our own degree, must achieve bestowal and love.

What is the difference between law and judgment?

We must accept the law of bestowal and love as superior to the ego. Hence, what controls the ego and sustains it, what gives it the form of bestowal instead of the form of reception is the force of Din (judgment). Man must restrain the ego, keep it at bay, and build above it a new Kli (vessel).

Is this natural, coming from nature?

No, what nature has given us is the ego, the will to receive. In order to turn it into a desire to bestow we must have the influence of the upper light. We need an outside force to come and help us, the light that reforms, which reforms that negative force and turns it into a good one. It was a good force once; this is why it is called “reforming,” turning back to good. Now it is our task to turn the negative force into a positive one. This is our work.

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