In different places, in different ways and times in the Talmud and the Zohar, the Creator says, “Open for Me an opening no wider than the eye of a needle, and I will open for you the Supernal Gates." Most of us understand this teaching to mean we just have to do a little bit, create a small opening, and the Light of the Creator will flow down and do the rest. However, we have to understand this teaching in a deeper way.
“Open for Me an opening no wider than the eye of a needle, and I will open for you the Supernal Gates."
There is a story in the second book of Samuel, in Chapter 7. King David had come to a place in his life where things started to calm down, and the Creator gave him peace from all of his enemies. And King David says to the Prophet Nathan, "I was thinking about this: I am sitting in this beautiful house made of cedar wood, while the Ark of the Covenant, where the Tablets are, the most important physical manifestation of the Light of the Creator in this world, is not in a nice place. It does not make sense."
Nathan does not really know what to tell King David, and says, "Whatever is in your heart, go and do. The Creator is with you.” That night, the Creator is revealed to the Prophet Nathan, giving this prophecy to him directly for King David:
"Go to My servant David, and tell him, I have never had a home. There was a tent where I was with Moses, and there was the Tabernacle in the desert, but I have been sort of a traveler. In all this time, hundreds of years, since the time of going out of Egypt, I never once commanded anybody to build Me a home. Your idea is right, King David. I am going to build one physical resting place where the Light of the Creator will rest. There will be a building built. Once this building is built, there will be peace in the world, and there will be a tremendous amount of Light brought not just to this place, but to the entire world."
There was a very tumultuous time, from the time of the Prophets, to the time of the Judges, to the time of the Kings, to the time of King David. So, the Creator tells Nathan to say to King David, "When you leave this world, I promise you that the kingdom of your son," who we know is King Solomon, "will also be a very peaceful one. He will build a place where I will rest. And I will give your son peace forever." And it tells us in the Zohar that there was not a time in the world that was as peaceful in Israel or the entire world as in the time of King Solomon.
The Creator says, "I will be to your son, to Solomon, like a father, and he will be like a son to Me." And then He goes on to give King David a few more promises: “All My kindness will never leave King Solomon. And all of the time until the End of the Correction, you will be the conduit." The kabbalists teach that Mashiach, the soul that will come into this world bringing an end to pain, suffering and death, will be the soul of King David; this is where he receives that power.
"From the smallest opening, tremendous Light can flow."
Nathan wakes up from the vision and tells King David all he saw. But why did King David merit all this now?
The Creator says something very interesting: "All these years, nobody asked for a resting place, and I did not ask for one. But you asked.” And then it is almost like a flood of blessings, a flood of Light, opens for King David. It is the secret of, "Open for me an opening no wider than the eye of a needle." Because there are times, very often, when the Creator is just waiting to flood us with blessings. In this case, it came because King David stopped thinking about himself, and asked, "What can I do for the world? What can I do for the Light of the Creator?" That is it; he only had to ask the question and the flood opened up.
The Light of the Creator is waiting to flow down the blessings. How do we awaken that? Through this understanding. It is not about what we do. It is about a simple question that we ask and a simple desire we awaken. Had King David not asked this question, the awakening of the Light of the Temple, and the promise that King David would be Mashiach and bring an end to pain, suffering and death in this world, would not have been revealed.
The things we are blocking because of our lack of openings are unbelievable. Why don’t our small openings create the flow that King David’s did? Because we do not appreciate it. We say it, and we understand it, but do we really believe it? For King David to ask the one question, "How could it be that I am in this beautiful home, and the Light of the Creator does not have a final resting place?” meant he had appreciation for what the smallest opening can do, and therefore, the Light flowed for him. We have to really be able to know that what happened for King David - the Creator’s promises to him, and the Light that came with it - can happen from our small openings, as well.
We pray all the time, we read the Zohar all the time, but how many of us really think that flow can happen to us? The prophecy that came to Nathan for King David and all those amazing blessings and Light that King David received came from one small connection. However, if we do not believe it or appreciate it, it cannot happen. We have to really know that from the smallest opening, tremendous Light can flow. And if we know that, then we can create it.
