The Kedushat Halevi (Rabbi Levi Yitzhak of Berditshov) writes that Pinchas is the same being as Eliyahu Hanavi, Elijah. He is physically alive, in his physical body.

The body, for most of us, has two parts: the body and the soul. Our soul is where the actions and desire to transform, the Desire to Share comes from. And then there is the body. It’s a consciousness as well as a physical body — the consciousness of the Desire to Receive for the Self-Alone. For most of us, it’s two separate at things: the Desire to Share that comes from our soul, and the Desire to Receive for the Self-Alone that too often overwhelms us, which is the desire and consciousness of the body.

Too often the body only thinks about itself. It is the soul that thinks about actions of sharing. It is the soul that thinks about connecting to the Light of the Creator.

Because the body only thinks of the Desire to Receive for the Self-Alone, it has to end, and eventually goes to the grave. In truth, if the body was also of the spiritual work, of actions of sharing, if we transformed our Desire to Receive for the Self-Alone into sharing, the person would not die. That’s the way humanity was before the sin of Adam. The body and soul were the same, the Desire to Receive for the Sake of Sharing.

The reason why Pinchas, in this Shabbat, was able to transform his Desire to Receive for the Self-Alone, to make his body become soul, was only to Receive for the Sake of Sharing. Because of that he never died. Because of that his body remained forever.

I just want to share a small thing with you. When I first began to take the Zohar seriously, I was studying with the Rav in the summer when I was 12. I was going to be a counselor at camp, which was a terrible idea. I remember it was Shabbat Pinchas. You have to be in the bunks with the kids, and you have to be there to supervise. I really wanted to study, and the only light was from the bathroom. I would leave the door open at night and study sitting on the floor. It was the first time during which I truly began to see the Light of the Zohar.

Rav Ashlag writes that when we understand every action of the Desire to Receive for the Self-Alone, we take one step closer to physical death, and every action of the Desire to Receive in Order to Share takes us one step away from death. This should transform our lives.

Death is not a moment in time. A person does not die suddenly. From the time of 12 for a girl or 13 for a boy, when we become responsible for our actions, every action of Desire to Receive for the Self-Alone brings us one step closer to death. Still, we do positive and negative actions. Every time we do actions of the Desire to Receive for the Self-Alone, we are extinguishing one element of the connection of our body to our soul. We are extinguishing one element of the life of our body. We act with ego, with selfishness, time and time again. Eventually, the culmination is death. We have extinguished completely the body from the soul.

The body goes to the grave not as a punishment, but because we have taken all the Light out of the body. This Shabbat, we can make it our life’s work to transform, not disengaging body from soul. We can transform Desire to Receive for the Self-Alone into sharing. We have the ability, like Pinchas, like Elijah. Every single one of us can achieve that level.

But it is the hardest work we can imagine. There is a big difference between wanting to be spiritual and achieving what we came to do. Every one of us can achieve the level of Pinchas, of Elijah. But is a tremendous amount of work. I hope reading this is a tremendous revelation for all of us. That’s the beauty of Rav Ashlag’s writing; it is so simple, but so powerful.

Every time we do an action of selfishness and ego, we take the body one step further toward death. Every time we transform, we bring ourselves away from death. In the history of mankind, only a few have been able to complete this path.

This is what makes Kabbalah different. The closer we get to the critical mass, the closer we get to the Final Correction. But that is not the reason. We study Kabbalah because we know there is an ultimate process here. It’s not easy. It’s the most difficult thing you can imagine doing. But think about the rewards. On this Shabbat, Pinchas and Elijah give us their energy.

Time goes by — a week, a month — and we forget it. But how much clearer can it be? Rav Ashlag writes that every action of the Desire to Receive for the Self-Alone bring us closer to death. Every action to share brings us one step closer to life. Every one of us can achieve the level of Eliyahu.

Every one of us has to ask ourselves every day, “When will I reach the level of the great spiritual giants? When will I become like Pinchas?” The negative side tells us we can’t. But it’s not true. We can.

How to do it? Yes, it’ very difficult. I have to transform my ego, my selfishness into the Desire to Share. Not partially, but completely.

There is a story of a Kabbalist. In a dream, he asked to see the Garden of Eden. In his dream he is walking on a path with an angel. He sees these two spiritual giants sitting by the road talking. They are studying. He says, Where is the Garden of Eden? They say, you are in it. It’s not about a place. It’s within you. Every one of us can achieve that transformation.

It’s not easy. It’s a huge action to say I will make my life’s focus on completely transforming. I know if I don’t, there is one path, the path toward death and darkness. Yes, every action will receive Light, but who wants to receive the remnants? We should want the ultimate. We should want to be like Pinchas, like Elijah.

Ask each day, What path am I on? Where will it lead me? Is it making me more like Pinchas, more like Elijah? Is it taking me to the true revelation of the Light of these 3 weeks? Of course not. If we make it a true desire, a true focus of our lives, every single one of us can be like Pinchas and Elijah.