Good Environment – 11.15.10
Posted on November 15th, 2010
The Zohar, “Introduction to The Zohar,” “The Night of the Bride“: There is a book of remembrance before the Creator about the sins and transgressions taking place in the world. For He needs them for the day when He will perform a miracle (Segula).
Question: What is Segula?
Answer: The Upper Force, or the Creator, or the Light, is inside the group. I can receive corrections only if we study the primary sources together with the group.
This is Segula – the special means, the works of Kabbalists, which make it possible to unite a person, the group, and the Creator into one whole. Their unity is possible only on the condition that the system they are in is used correctly.
Even now we are part of it. The worlds and Partzufim are all here, but in order for them to come through we have to evoke the influence of spiritual forces upon us. Desire alone is not enough. We need a means that will set the system in motion so it will start working on me through the group.
The system is set in motion with the help of the primary sources. That is why we study the works of Baal HaSulam, Rabash, Ari, and Rashbi. Without this I cannot establish a connection with the spiritual system and set it in motion.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/15/10, The Zohar
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At The Center Of All Circles And At The End Of The Line
We have acquired something big and precious during the Convention: We have discovered for the first time that Pharaoh is sitting inside us and hates us, and we have to get rid of him, to run away, to exit Egypt…but are incapable of it.
We would have never realized that we must run away from him. We hoped that we could reveal spirituality in our egoism, in “Egypt.” But we did not even think that this is “Egypt.” Yet now we are beginning to understand that we must break free from it.
Our egoism, Pharaoh, received a blow, and this disappointment passed through him. Now we see that we have to distance ourselves from the desire in which we reveal disappointment and bitterness.
However, had we not gone full out till the end, we would not have felt disillusionment; we would have sensed that, truly, something is stopping us. There is no middle ground in spirituality; we have to go till the end.
Hence, now a certain new sensation has manifested in us. That same disappointment, the force of suffering that we now feel (since I invested so much effort, had so many hopes, and nothing happened) is my Pharaoh, who received a beating and is now suffering.
However, the Pharaoh has to feel the beatings since otherwise we will not be able to run away from it. Indeed, we run only from evil.
If I reveal my egoistic desire, my nature as evil, I will want to escape from it. And, perhaps, I will have to experience more of such blows before I decide that I must do it. I literally have to come out of my skin, to exit my “body.” This is called that Pharaoh is receiving blows, the “ten plagues of Egypt.”
We achieved this only because we nevertheless united between us. One is always revealed against the other, as it is said, “in Your Light we will see the Light.” Thanks to this unification and our preparation, we realized that we suffer because of our egoistic nature. And this is a big achievement!
Millions of people who participated in the Convention virtually were together with us. They, too, went through the same states.
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From the Lesson on the Weekly Torah Portion 11/12/10
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Ascending To The First Level
1. Malchut and the first 9 Sefirot
The first 9 Sefirot are the properties of the Creator, and Malchut is the desire to receive pleasure with regard to the creature. How then can Malchut receive the Light at all? It can do so only due to the fact that all 9 Sefirot are included in it. Malchut absorbs all 9 Sefirot and becomes the 10th Sefira. In other words, the creature, Malchut, becomes like the Creator. All 9 Sefirot, His properties, enter Malchut. This is achieved by way of mutual inclusion.
2. Bina and Malchut
We study that all our work lies between Malchut and Bina. Malchut rises to Bina and is included in it. And then Bina descends into Malchut and includes itself in it. Due to this mutual integration of Bina and Malchut, we receive an opportunity to correct ourselves.
After all, Malchut, per se, is an egoistic desire to receive pleasure, whereas Bina is the desire to bestow. Thus, their mutual integration into each other brings the properties of the Creator to the creature.
To the degree that we ascend to Bina while desiring to become similar to the Creator, the Creator is able to descend to us and bring us to His properties.
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From Kabbalah For Beginners, “The Integration” 10/27/2010
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Question: I try very hard to cross the Machsom (the barrier separating us from spirituality), but Pharaoh always wins. At a certain point, I lose faith and unite with the group only out of habit, not genuine aspiration. It makes me angry. What shall I do now? Ask the Pharaoh to let me pass to the Creator?
Answer: No, you should beat him. He hates you and does not let you pass through to the Creator. He is standing between you two.
You should understand that the Creator Himself has put Pharaoh before you. In order to develop a strong and correct desire in you; he placed a special obstacle on your path. This obstacle, your egoism, Pharaoh himself, “sculpts” you, forms a new type of striving, a new and mighty aspiration to the spiritual world out of you. If not for Pharaoh, you wouldn’t search for spirituality. You would desire corporeality, assuming that it is “spirituality.”
However, Pharaoh straightens out this lack of correspondence. You exert pressure, he gives you blows; you exert pressure, he gives you blows, again and again. Due to these beatings he shapes the clod of your desire into the desire to bestow (Tzura Melubeshet Be Homer).
As a result, you, like a key, fit the lock precisely, and the door opens. This is why it is said, “Pharaoh draws the sons of Israel (those who aspire to Him) closer to the Creator.”
We think that there are bad forces in nature, but in reality, it is not the case. When the property of bestowal will reign within me, I will discover that there is no evil, and all negative factors were called to form out of me the desire to bestow. They are all help from Above. As soon as I assume the form of bestowal, they will have no reason to pressure me any longer.
We just need to understand how to work with these forces. The faster we do, the sooner we will acquire a new form and will be born.
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From the lesson on Rabash’s article 11/12/10
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Question: Baal HaSulam writes that a person will reveal the Creator only out of despair. Does it mean that at a certain point we have to yield, to refuse to continue fighting?
Answer: No, we do not yield. We fight to enter the spiritual world by our own forces. And then we despair of our power and understand that we cannot break through the Machsom (the barrier separating us from spirituality) on our own. But it is only then that we truly feel the need for the Creator, evoke His force, and break free from the imprisonment.
It is impossible to feel the need for the Creator until we despair of our own efforts. Now we want to unite, change, and straighten up our relationships by ourselves, by our own power. We try to act by ourselves, as if the Creator does not exist.
However, when we truly desire to draw closer to each other, we will understand what we felt slightly during the Convention: We are incapable of it. Everyone is separated from the others by a partition, and he cannot break through it. Each is sitting in its own cell, like bees in a honeycomb, isolated from the others.
When I want to break free from this cell, when I exert all the effort and understand that I am helpless, then it will become clear to me that there is the Creator who can give me strength and save me. I read about and heard of Him before, but He was not in the field of my desires and aspirations. He was not my partner yet. Now I felt for the first time that I’m helpless without Him.
This is how the Creator awakens the Pharaoh within me. After having experienced a few such actions, I realize that I cannot break free without Him. As soon as I will feel it, I will cry out to Him, and He will immediately “un-bolt the door” for me.
My entire work is to desire the Creator, to want Him to manifest within me and change my nature, to want His force of bestowal to clothe me.
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From the lesson on Rabash’s article 11/12/10
The Zohar, “Introduction of The Zohar,” Chapter “BeLaila De Kala (Night of the Bride)”: … the members of the bridal chamber must be with her on that night and rejoice with her in the corrections that she is corrected….
Question: What is the criterion of our advancement? Is it hatred that becomes revealed to us in the beginning or the opposite, joy?
Answer: First of all, I advance if I do not cease to mentally gaze at the place which I want to reveal. It is called the “bride,” and it is precisely there that the “groom” (the Light that will fill the “bride,” our unification) will descend to. (In Hebrew, a groom is “Hatan” which comes from the word “Nochet,” a descending one.)
If a persistent demand to reveal that place lives in me, then I’m glad for the effort that I can exert constantly. And it’s not important how often I stray, forget, or get distracted by a rational analysis.
It is said about this, “From Zion shall go forth the Torah.” In other words, advancement is comprised of these exits (Yetziot) from the attempts to re-define the place of our unification.
Each time I have to lose my concentration. After all, any state consists of 10 complete Sefirot. In spirituality, an action is performed only if all the 10 Sefirot are present (Ein Mi Ksat Be Ruchaniut). If I correct something, I have to correct a full measure. Each part of the desire demands separation from the previous state and a new approach to unity, to a new 10 Sefirot.
This is why we disconnect from the goal again and again, even if it just for a split second. Time after time we lose the target and catch it again at the crossroads.
Due to these efforts at night we “adorn the bride” (clothe her in the Light of Hassadim [Mercy]). That is, we build the Kli (vessel) until it becomes fully disclosed and ready to accept the groom, the Light of Hochma (Wisdom), the Creator.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/14/10, “Hakdama, Laila de Kale (The Night of the Bride)”
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We forget that we mustn’t do anything besides asking the Creator to do it! Instead we think about how I should force my heart to open up, how I can connect with others, or how others can connect to me. However, we shouldn’t think about this at all! We imagine the connection inside our egoistic mind, yet it is nothing like what we think!
This is the level of the Upper World; we are revealing a new reality! We must only ask and that is all! We learn that everything happens by virtue of request. We raise the prayer, the MAN, and in response comes the Surrounding Light, MAD, and corrects everything, while we are simply present during the correction. Everything comes from Above, and on our part only a demand, plea, and aspiration are necessary.
The problem lies in this point: Do we turn to the Creator or do we try to do everything independently? This is the point where we make a mistake and get stuck for many years, unable to change the direction even slightly, to understand that there is nothing besides an address, a demand, a request!
In order to achieve this request we have to make efforts, but it is only to accomplish this. If we try to independently build the right social system based on love and friendship, this will be a lengthy path that will bring us to the understanding that we are moving away from the goal, that we are insincere, that we hate each other and do not move closer to unity.
Kabbalah has to bring us to a very precise analysis: Don’t try to connect to another person, you are unable to do this, you are an egoist and so is he. Only the Upper Light can do it; it has to come and meld us together – only it!
Therefore, don’t look for a connection with each other because it is written “husband and wife and the Shechina between them,” meaning there is me and my friend, and the Creator between us. “He who makes peace in the Upper will make peace in us” (Oseh Shalom BeMromav, Hu Yaseh Shalom Aleinu).
Any time we turn toward one another without the force that connects us together, it is a false address. When we hug, we do not want to hug or we do it on the level of our world. Do we really demand love, unity, or friendship from one another? It is only on the level of this world. Who of us can become a guarantor for another, or even for himself? Where do we have the strength for it? We can only aspire to each other through the Upper One, who fills all of the space between us.
If we demand for Him to fill the emptiness, to connect us together, and to always be present among us, then it will happen, and easily so. The science of Kabbalah is meant to bring us to this correct attitude, while we always run away from it, being inside our egoistic nature.
Let us not forget that “There is none else besides Him”! The Creator carries out the action, but in order for it to happen we have to precede His action with our desire. This is called “making a covenant,” where we sign an agreement with the Creator: We demand and He carries it out.
Similarly to how small children walk and pull adults after them, we are pulling the Upper Force so it will correct the nature it created; then we will become equal to the Creator. We cannot attain mutual guarantee or even really desire it. As soon as we start to talk about unity, we have to remember the condition: “Israel, the Light, and the Creator are one.” Myself, my neighbor, and the Creator between us; only the three of us together will be able to achieve true conciliation and perfection.
Precisely the aspiration to unite in the group will quickly bring us to the realization that we have to turn to the Creator for all the help!
From Lesson 8 , World Kabbalah Convention 2010, 11/11/10
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The Zohar, “Introduction of The Zohar,” Chapter “BeLaila De Kala (Night of the Bride)”: The time of correction is called night. …On the next day, the bride is to be with her husband under the Huppah….”
Our broken souls as well as the lower nine Sefirot of Malchut of the World of Atzilut are located above this world in the Worlds of Beria, Yetzira, and Assiya. The Keter of Malchut is located on top, in the World of Atzilut, and represents just a point. The remaining nine Sefirot are under the Parsa, in the Worlds of BYA.
The state of the souls in the Worlds of BYA are called “night.” By rising to Malchut of the World of Azilut, they compel Malchut to raise her nine lower Sefirot which now remain unnoticed in the darkness.
To the extent that we connect to Malchut, she starts raising its Sefirot to Atzilut and becomes a Kli (vessel). This enables her to connect into one whole with Zeir Anpin (ZA), which is called Huppah (a wedding canopy or cover, the Masach [screen] under which the Zivug [union] or a wedding ceremony takes place). In other words, we are talking about connection, Zivug.
ZA is called the Creator, while Malchut, Shechina. Their unity is what we need to achieve. When does it happen? By raising our desires to Atzilut, we instigate the ascent of all the worlds. Malchut (BON) rises to the degree of SAG, while ZA (MA) to the degree of AB. This is their future.
We attain and feel all of it in our unification. From the level of the Zivug of AB-SAG, we receive the Light and fill our souls that are located below, in Malchut.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/14/10, “Hakdama, Laila de Kale (The Night of the Bride)”
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Daily Audio Version-MP3
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