“In the beginning, Rabbi Shimon started, “The flower buds have appeared in the land; the time of pruning has arrived, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.” “The flower buds” are the work of creation.”
RASHBI, Introduction of the Book of Zohar, “The Flower Buds”. Zohar for All. Vol.1.

Beautiful, alluring, somewhat understandable, the Book of Zohar and its language of legends reaches out to you with its stories and allegories, but is that all it is?

The Book of Zohar is written and taught for the point in your heart, a desire that yearns for spirituality and the upper worlds, to develop into a soul that reaches its purpose to discover the Creator. 

It’s not meant to be understood with intellect, but with feeling, this is why it’s written, “the heart will understand.” The heart, or the will to receive, starts to discern changes that it goes through, and from those changes it then starts to understand. 

What is it that we understand? Between good and bad, our intellect then assists us in understanding these changes. Most of all, we should yearn for the reforming light that helps us with this. 

So, how does this relate to the Book of Zohar?

Baal HaSulam explains, in The Teaching of the Kabbalah and Its Essence, about the special qualities of the Book of Zohar: “The language of legends is easy to understand through the allegories that perfectly fit the desired meaning. In superficial examination, it is even easier to understand than the language of the Bible. Yet, for complete understanding, it is a very difficult language as it does not confine itself to speaking in sequences of root and branch, but only in allegories and marvelous wit. However, it is very rich in resolving abstruse and odd concepts that concern the essence of the degree in its state, for itself, which cannot be explained in the languages of the Bible and laws.”

If you want to read from the Book of Zohar with the inherent reforming light in authentic Kabbalah sources, Kabbalists established four primary conditions:

1. Do not try to understand the Book of Zohar with your intellect. It is read with the heart, with desire and emotion, as opposed to other forms of learning for the sake of knowledge. This study is meant to awaken inner changes, to prepare us for perceiving a hidden reality, and its success depends on the extent of yearning to discover and feel that reality. There’s no need for prerequisite knowledge, or special abilities, all we need is to develop a true desire to open our eyes and heart. 
2. The Book of Zohar does not speak about our material world, rather internal states that we go through. Even though the words and descriptions are familiar, it is important to realize that all these details mentioned in the book do not speak about this world we see around us, but about what’s inside us. While reading, we should interpret what’s written as inner actions that happen in our desires, and the text is a bridge that leads us to the innermost qualities and yearnings.
3. The Book of Zohar contains reforming light that changes us, operating on the natural development that’s within us, if we are yearning to change from our egoistic world to the altruistic spiritual world through the light within it when we read.

As one person with one heart: Ten Kabbalists authored the Book of Zohar, through the unique connection and unity that they attained, which allowed them to penetrate through this world and ascend to the eternal degree of existence upon which the book speaks about. If we want to follow in their footsteps, to reach the same attainments, we need to build between us the connection which they built between them. The Book of Zohar was written from a state of mutual love, and this is how we should read it.

Now a first reading while attempting to hold the intention from what was just learnt.

“1) Rabbi Hizkiya began: “It is written, ‘As a rose among the thorns.’” What is a rose? It is the assembly of Israel, Malchut. There is a rose, and there is a rose. Just as a rose among the thorns has red and white, the assembly of Israel has judgment and mercy. Just as a rose has thirteen petals, the assembly of Israel has thirteen qualities of mercy that surround it on all sides.”
RASHBI, Introduction of the Book of Zohar, “The Rose”. Zohar for All. Vol.1.

About this verse from the Book of Zohar, Rav Dr. Michael Laitman explains that the rose has thirteen petals that hold it, and in addition there are thorns. The rose symbolizes the correct connection between us and the Creator, including the petals that hold us together and the thorns, and if we aim ourselves toward the Creator, then we will be called a rose. This is why the Book of Zohar starts with the “The Rose” story, in order to teach us how we are to correctly connect in order to reach the state that the Creator will clothe in us and be revealed.