(from a recent lecture)

This is an important Shabbat for many reasons. One of them is it is the Shabbat that directly follows Shavuot. We know that every Shabbat that follows a holiday has residue of the holiday. What is different about this Shabbat is that this Shabbat is a direct extension of the holiday.

Not only is the holiday continued forward into this Shabbat, it is actually magnified in this Shabbat. All the Light that was revealed did not have a chance to dissipate.

If there is an intervening day, the Light has a chance to dissipate. The Light is stronger this year on this Shabbat because it did not have a chance to dissipate. We did not have a chance to do things to make it dissipate.

It’s important to have the consciousness of the amount of Light that is available because it influences the amount of Light that is revealed. The gift that is available today is the magnification of the Light of the final correction. It is not a coincidence that Parashat Naso deals with the great revelation.

Most of us know, in the section of the Zohar that speaks about Naso, Rabbi Shimon gathers his nine closest students — his son and his eight closest students — and for the first time really reveals the greatest secrets of our world.

When the kabbalists speak of secrets, it is not just about understanding. Most importantly, it is talking about revealing Light. They mean hidden Light — Light that humanity has not had the merit or not done the work to reveal. A secret means something that is not known by other people. Rather than referring to something in an intellectual sense, it is referring in a spiritual sense to Light that has not been revealed.

One indication, one sign, of the type of Light that is available to us, is that it was on this Shabbat that Rabbi Shimon felt the world was ready for the greatest revelation of secrets, of Light. Therefore, in this portion, there is the revelation of the Idra Raba. Rabbi Shimon sat with the friends and began the revelation of the greatest revelation of Light to this world.

There are no coincidences. It is within this section of the Zohar that the Zohar reveals both the importance of the Zohar and the power of the Zohar. As we read now about the Zohar revealing to us the importance of the Light it contains, we hopefully not only awaken the understanding for ourselves, but we reveal it to the world.

It’s difficult for us to keep the consciousness of the power of the revelation that we accomplish as we utilize and as we connect to the Zohar. We should never let that wane. We should use these opportunities to strengthen our consciousness of the power of the Zohar.

The Zohar is talking about the time in the desert when the Israelites did not have water to drink. The only water in the area was water that was bitter. It says in the story that God showed Moses which tree to take. And in the story it seems to be a physical tree. Moses put it into the water and sweetened the water.

The Zohar explains that they had done negative actions at that time, and we know there are two ways to connect to the Light, through the Tree of Life, or through the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. As the Zohar explains, in the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, sometimes it’s good and sometimes it’s bad. As long as we are connect to the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, yes, there will be good times, but there will ultimately, necessarily, also be negativity.

Therefore, part of it is sweet — the part that comes from the Right Column — and part is bitter, the energy coming from the Left Column. Therefore, when a person, either personally or as a collective, when he does enough negative actions, he makes it as if the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil is completely negative. In those times, we experience life as completely bitter.

That’s why it says they came to this place and the water was completely bitter. They had done negative actions to the degree that their connection was only bitter. This bitter tree, it’s talking about the same type of water that they drink. And Moshe has the ability to sweeten the water.

We know Moses was connected to the Tree of Life. This is something the kabbalists speak about: The power of the Tree of Life. It can transform everything. Even the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil can be transformed to be only good.

We know that the Angel of Death, Sameach-Mem-Alef-Lamed, will be transformed into positive. The letter Mem, which signifies mavet or death, will be removed, and he will remain as Sameach-Alef-Lamed, one of the 72 Names.

This is our work. We have the ability to use the Tree of Life to transform the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil into only good. That is what will happen at the gamar tikkun, the end of the correction. That is one of the powers we have in using the Zohar.

The same will happen towards the end of this final correction. The Zohar and the Prophets explain there will come a time of Ashrei or Oy. The closer we get to the final correction, the more potential for negativity and positivity.

It says in the book of Daniel that the people, all of us, will have to be purified and cleansed. We have the choice of doing it proactively or having it done to us. Those connected to the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil will, unfortunately, have the negativity.

The Zohar explains, and this is the great gift, that those who will understand, who will connect to the Light and energy of Binah, which the Rav refers to as the “energy source,” the power of Binah is only the Tree of Life. The Zohar continues: Those people will shine like the Light of the firmament, and they will hear the telling of Rabbi Shimon, through your book, the Zohar.

What is the Zohar? It’s the Light of Binah, the Tree of Life. Those who connect to the Light of the Zohar won’t be tested, won’t have the experience of the negativity.

Because they will taste. The Zohar uses the word “taste,” an important word. Those who merit the “taste” of the Tree of Life, which is the Zohar, those who merit to taste from the Tree of Life, from the Zohar, will be able to go out of this world of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, only with mercy, with Light. They will merit that the Creator Himself will be the one Who guides them through.

I want to focus on the word lit’om, to taste. In the introduction to the Ten Luminous Emanations, Rav Ashlag says, taste and you will see that the Light of the Creator is good. Rav Ashlag asks, what does it mean to actually taste the Light?

It’s an important point. There are points you can understand and points you can feel. This is one of the points we have to feel. We have sensitivity. We have senses. We taste food, hear things, see things. Most of us, unfortunately, limit our senses to the physical. How? To the degree that we spend the time to taste, to hear, to feel of the things that are of the Desire to Receive for the Self-Alone only, then to that degree we strengthen our physical five senses. The beautiful thing is we also have the ability so strengthen our senses, to see, to feel, to hear and to taste the Light of the Creator. It’s work. But it’s important for us to know not only that it is possible, but also that it is necessary.

To the degree we take the time to ask for, desire and develop our ability to feel, hear, taste, see and hear the Light of the Creator, to that degree it will grow. There is a way to do this. We know that everything we do that is within the realm of our comfort — anything we are doing, sharing, or connecting to such as Shabbat, study, everything in the realm of our comfort — does not develop our spiritual senses. To develop the spiritual senses, we have to go to the level it’s uncomfortable.

I hope after this Shabbat we also understand the need to taste the Zohar. At 12 o’clock, when you don’t want to do it, it’s an opportunity to reveal Light, and also to develop your taste of the Zohar. This is true of every action that connects us to the Light. Every time we do an action, a connection that is beyond our comfort zone, we are developing our spiritual senses.

The reason I say it’s necessary, the Zohar says here, who are those to merit the connection to the Tree of Life and go out of the darkness, the pain and suffering in our world? Those who merit to taste from the Zohar. How do you merit to taste? By developing your spiritual senses.

It’s not that it’s a spiritual level. You can viscerally feel it with the senses that until now have been used for the physical. It’s said beautifully in the introduction of Rav Ashlag in Ten Luminous Emanations. That is the level we have to achieve. That is the level we came to this world to achieve. Taste and feel that the Creator is good. That is the point we have to get to.

If we want to accomplish what we came to this world to accomplish, we have to ask, how many connections do I make that are uncomfortable? Only through those connections will I develop my spiritual sense. Only when I begin to taste the Tree of Life, the Creator, the Zohar, do I achieve the level of leaving this world of pain and suffering and only be connected to the Light of the Tree of Life. Only when I taste that Light.

That’s why it’s so important to get to this level, to be able to taste and see that the Light of the Creator is good. Every single one of us have the ability, but only if we work, ask, beg for it. Connecting to the Zohar is not enough. The Zohar explains, to “taste” from the Tree of Life, to “taste” from the Zohar.

Because this is revealed in this Shabbat, we have the ability to connect to it on this Shabbat. The gift we should all be aware and ask for, is to get the opening, or make it wider, to taste, to be able to feel the Etz Chaim, the Tree of Life; to feel the Zohar, the Light of the Tree of Life. Besides the understanding, this Light is revealed on this Shabbat.

We can only say it so many times, but it’s up to each of us to do the work. The Zohar says: Those who will not need to be tested are those who taste and see that the Light of the Creator is good. That is the level that we have to strive to get to in order to truly connect to the power of the Etz Chaim.