The wisdom of Kabbalah is given to us to correct our state. Having descended from the World of Infinity (Ein Sof) into the corporeal world, we can ascend back up into the World of Infinity by using the method of Kabbalah. When can we do so? As soon as we use it as it was intended.

In Infinity, we all are linked together, as one man with one heart. We are bonded in the hearts, regardless of the bodies. The “hearts” should be viewed as desires, intentions, and even thoughts. After all, thought is designated to amplify and sort desire; it is intended as a tool for working on desire.

Hence, it is not said: “As one man with one heart and one mind” but rather, just “one heart” for it is enough. We have to link our desires to become as one. What kind of desires? The desires aimed at the purpose of creation. They are the ones we must link together. They expand from Infinity so that we may unify and correct them.

Our entire problem has been caused by the breaking of the Kelim (vessels) and separation, the distancing of these desires or sparks from each other. Thereby, correction is their moving closer to each other and achieving total adhesion. It is implemented by way of our efforts when we desire to unite while reading the authentic primary sources, the works written by Kabbalists who were in attainment of oneness and correction.

With this intention, we should turn to The Book of Zohar.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/18/10, “Hakdama, BeLaila De Kala (The Night of the Bride)”

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At the Convention we acquired a new sensation, and we now have to develop it. We feel that there is a wall before us and we have to break it with the help of the Upper Light, the Creator. He is precisely what we lack. Let Him say, “Let us go to the Pharaoh.”

To do this it is necessary to understand, and most importantly to agree that we are breaking the wall in order to give pleasure to Him instead of ourselves. We forget about the two most important aspects of the path:

1. The only way to advance forward is by means of His force.
2. We are advancing towards bestowal to the Creator.

All of this eludes me. For now I am thinking about myself instead of bestowal to the Creator. I try to break through the Machsom with my own forces rather than His. This way, the goal and the means are still locked inside my egoism.

Nevertheless, this is a good state because we start to understand the fundamental principles of spiritual advancement. A boundary emerged before us and we have to do something about it. It does not exist by itself, but constitutes a psychological barrier inside us. If we aim ourselves correctly, it will disappear.

The thought about the Creator’s benefit is opposite to my nature, and the friends also don’t have it. It lies precisely inside our unity. That is why we have to work on three aspects:

1. I am united with the group.
2. Together with the friends I have to define the right aspiration, which will enable us to break through the Machsom: By uniting, we elicit the force of the Creator.
3. All of this is in order to give Him pleasure or in other words, to attain unity with Him.

The common, unceasing care and worry must awaken everyone. This is the mutual guarantee; the group is not the faces of the friends, but the spiritual community which permeates every person with thoughts about the goal. We suddenly start to think about this and to desire it. When every person tries to build his desire into a line, then it expands across the whole world in circles, unbounded by any boundaries or distances.

Mutual guarantee means that I am responsible for the entire system in which the Creator has placed me. If I don’t hold on to the right thought, then at that moment everyone is thrown out of the right thought. By disconnecting, I stop providing for the common organism. Can the liver or kidneys go on vacation?

That is why I ask the world group to always think about the goal of creation, about bestowal to the Creator. Then I won’t lose the connection no matter where I am.
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From the lesson on 11/20/10

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Question: What is meant by “prohibitory commandments” and “positive commandments” which are described in The Zohar, and what is the difference in their correction?

Answer: “Prohibitory commandments” means “do not do,” meaning that you need to refrain from using your specific desire to receive pleasure. We are talking about an egoistic desire which a person strives to use in order to receive the pleasure that stands opposite to this desire. And if there is no pleasure against the desire, I do not feel this desire although it exists in me.

However, we are talking about the desires that awaken in us, against which there are Lights that bring pleasures. We need to somehow refrain from using these desires, separate or “freeze” them. This is called “prohibitory commandments.”

I need to activate many forces for this. But what forces? Not using a desire does not mean that I hold myself back. In the material world I wish to use a desire, but I slap my own hands so that I don’t touch it. However, I cannot do this in the spiritual world. In order not to use my desire, I need to place a higher value and significance against it.

After all, in the spiritual world, a transgression is determined based upon whether I wish to use the desire or not. I need to reach a state where I have a desire, and according to the desire I would like to use it. However, according to the significance and to the system of values, I don’t want it since I don’t bring pleasure to the Creator through it; on the contrary, I become more distant from Him.

It turns out that I have a desire, and against it the correction. I need to work on this correction instead of just holding myself back and not using a desire, like in this world. I need to work on the desire itself so that there will be a screen over it, meaning the significance of the fact that I do not work with it on the level of the desire.

Therefore, our whole work on the desires consists of the system of values: how important the Creator and the goal are in my eyes, how important it is to be similar to Him in qualities. Then I can refrain from using the desires, and this is “prohibitory commandments.”

This is great work on each desire: to develop significance against it in order not to use it. Then the importance of the Creator in my eyes exceeds the use of the desire and withstands it. This is called “prohibitory commandments.”

Then there is a more advanced stage when I can use the desires in order to bring pleasure to the Creator. I take these desires and reveal them. I already have several screens on them as well as a restriction not to work with them. I have a screen of bestowal for the sake of bestowal and a screen of receiving for the sake of bestowal.

Then I work with these desires in order to bring pleasure to the Creator. This is called “positive commandments.”
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/18/10, The Zohar

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Aspiration separates us from the Creator, makes us similar to Him, and turns us into human beings. After all, the Creator created the desire as existence from absence and nothing else. The creature is expected to develop and add its own desire to the Light, bestowal, unity, and love, which are properties inherent to the Creator.

The desire that the creature adds to what was given to it by nature (the desire to enjoy, to know) is called aspiration (Hishtokekut). It is precisely it that we refer to as “I”: I attain my desire. My independence over my desire that was created by the Creator is measured according to this aspiration: What do I aspire to, how do I develop my aspiration, where do I get the additional desire?

In order to help the creature, the Creator broke the unified desire that He had created into many pieces, and He included His spark, His quality, which is referred to as a point in the heart, in every piece. This is why everyone has the desire to receive pleasure and a spark of aspiration toward something higher. And since both come from the Creator, we cannot say that “I” exist.

So where can I get the additional desire, according to which we exist at all? I can get it from uniting with other people, when I accept their desires and connect them to myself!

When I do this against my nature, resisting and fighting it, putting my effort into it, and overcoming obstacles, then the connected parts (the close and the far) are considered to be created by me. They strengthen my desire for the goal and are called aspiration. Only according to the volume of aspiration can we say that I exist, that I am independent, and that I can feel things because I create this desire by adding another’s deficiency to me.

This is why it is the aspiration and not just the desire that comprise the Kli of reception of pleasure and revelation of the Creator. Desire is matter created by the Creator, while aspiration in a form of matter that I add: whatever I want from this matter, on which level, and in what volume.
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From Kabbalah for Beginners, “Yearning” 11/15/10

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Baal HaSulam’s article “Exile and Redemption” (Synopsis):

Harmony Between Religion and the Law of Development or Blind Fate
“And among these nations shalt thou have no repose.”

“And that which cometh into your mind shall not be at all; in that you say we will be as the nations, as the families of the countries.”

The nation of Israel cannot exist in exile. It will find no rest there, as other nations that mixed with others and dissolved in them without a trace.

Not so is the house of Israel. This nation will find no rest among the nations until it realizes the verse, “And from there you will seek the Creator.”

And we say about all the rebuke that is happening to us that it is chance and blind fate. This has but one cure—to bring the troubles back on us to such an extent that we will see that they are not coincidental but steadfast Providence.

Due to the wisdom of Kabbalah, a far more rapid development than the other nations has come to us. And because the members of the nation developed so, there was always the necessity to go forward and self-correct.

And because they would not do it, but wished to include their narrow selfishness, this developed the ruin of the First Temple, since they wished to extol wealth and power above justice, as other nations.

But because the wisdom of Kabbalah prohibits it, they denied it and the prophecy and adopted the manners of the neighbors so they could enjoy life as much as selfishness demanded of them.

And because they did that, the powers of the nation disintegrated: Some followed the kings and the selfish officers, and some followed the Kabbalists. And that separation continued until the ruin.

In the Second Temple, it was even more conspicuous, since the beginning of the separation was publicly displayed by egoistic disciples. Their mutiny against our sages revolved primarily around the obligation of Lishma.

Because they did not want to retire from selfishness, they created communities of this corrupt kind and became a great sect called “Tzedokim” (Sadducees) who were the rich and the officers, pursuing selfish desires.

And they fought the Prushim (Pharisees), those who exited from their egoism, and brought the Roman kingdom’s rule over Israel. They are the ones who would not make peace with the imperious, as the Kabbalists advised, until the house was ruined and the glory of Israel was exiled.

The Difference Between A Secular Ideal and A Religious Ideal

A secular ideal stems from humanness to raise itself, in similarity to humanness.

But a spiritual idea, which stems from the Creator, can raise itself above humanity.

This is because the basis for a secular ideal is equalization and the price of glorifying man, and he acts to boast in the eyes of people, even if they don’t know him.

A spiritual ideal, however, is based on glory in the eyes of the Creator. Hence, he who follows a religious idea can raise himself above humanness.

In exile, for as long as we followed the intention of Lishma, we retained strength. But because people rebelled against this in their aspiration to execute their selfish ploys, we have lost life’s purpose.

Instead of scattering monetary surplus on collective needs, they were scattered on the joys of life.

The wisdom of Kabbalah, the natural law of development, goes hand in hand in wondrous unity even with blind faith. Thus, the bad incidences in the exile, which we have much to tell of from the days of our exile were all because we embezzled the Torah. And if we kept the commandments of the Torah (unity and Lishma), no harm would come to us.

Congruity and Unity Between the Wisdom of Kabbalah and Blind Faith, and the Development of Human Calculation

Hence, we must say to our troubles, “Enough!” and at the very least, make a human calculation regarding our country as well: We have no hope of remaining on this earth as a nation as long as we do not accept the work with the intention of Lishma, and not for oneself.

If we do not establish ourselves accordingly, then we will undoubtedly be pushed right and left as all nations are, and much more so. This is because the nature of the developed is that they cannot be restrained, for any important notion that comes from an opinionated person will not bow its head before anything and knows no compromise.

This is a psychological law.

They believe that in the end, the other side will understand the danger and will bow his head and accept their opinion. But the nature of the developed will not allow one to surrender to the other even a little, and no danger will interrupt anyone from carrying out his ambition.

As long as we do not raise our goal above the corporeal life, we will have no corporeal revival.

We are the children of the idea. And even if we are immersed in materialism, we will still not give up the idea. Hence, it is the holy purpose for His name that we need.
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Our unification has to take place at a quantitatively new level. We need to unite in a way where everyone internally engages inside all the others, leaving his egoistic desire outside. He must only bring his yearning for spirituality, called the spark of Light.

With this spark, he dives into the group, disconnecting from his emotions and everything else that doesn’t belong. As a result, all the sparks of all people merge together.

This detachment allows me to get to know the collective will to receive pleasure that resides outside of my ego, and in it I discover the ability to perceive the Upper World and the Creator.
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From the lesson on Rabash’s article on 11/05/10

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Work in the group takes place in two planes: 1. the greatness of the group, the friends, or the Creator (which is the same thing), and 2. your own insignificance compared to the group and the Creator. If I orient myself in this manner, then I receive the right desire, which enables me to cancel myself and become part of the group.

The moment I really become part of it as just one point, I begin to feel that I am a spiritual embryo immersed in the Light that fills the group.
The faces of the friends that we see around us are not called a “group.” The group is the common desire of souls united with each other and given to me as the place where I meet the Creator. I have to work in relation to this “place” because I am a desire or vessel, and this place is the desire or vessel that I work with in order to become part of it, to adhere to it and expand myself. I can work with it because we have the same nature!

However, I cannot work with the Creator because He is Light. He is the quality I reveal inside of our common vessel (the “place”) to the degree I enter it and participate in it. Right now this place appears to me as filled by separate particles (souls). But if I saw the true state inside, I would see all of them as special souls and spiritual Partzufim united by one connecting net, one desire.

I have to correct my attitude to them in order to seem them as connected, and that constitutes my correction! The group is Malchut of the World of Infinity. There is not a person in the world who isn’t connected with others and is not at the End of Correction.

However, right now I see a different world due to my uncorrected vision, as it is written, “Every person judges to the extent of his own flaws.” When I demand greater inspiration and energy to advance from them, I am turning to my own reflection in the mirror!

The Creator has arranged the whole world we see in front of us in this way. It is a copy of me with which I work. To the degree I demand that the group work and unite, it influences me in response in the same way. In essence I work with myself, as if standing before a mirror and making different faces at myself!

It was in order to accomplish this that the Creator divided my perception of the world into me and everything outside of me so I would have the opportunity to work and attain the inner sensation. Otherwise I would never be able to feel Him. I wouldn’t even understand that something else can exist besides me.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/21/10, Beit Shaar HaKavanot

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When we read Baal HaSulam’s book, The Foundations of Intention (Beit Shaar HaKavanot), which describes the system of the Upper Governance, we can slightly feel where our roots come from – how there is a transition from the First Restriction (Tzimtzum Aleph) to the Second Restriction (Tzimtzum Bet), and we exist inside its systems.

Keter of the World of Atzilut is called Ain (absence) or “the concealed mind” because it is fully nourished from Above, from the World of Adam Kadmon. The First Restriction governs the Second Restriction because it is impossible to plan anything unless you come from the final state.

I have to see the entire final picture: where each of its details comes from until reaching its place and how they all unite together. After that we can already break this down into small actions: how is it possible to carry them out, in what form, and how it is done with each soul and with groups of souls.

Therefore, Tzimtzum Bet, beneath which we are found, is governed from above, from Tzimtzum Aleph, and in general all the orders come to us from the World of Infinity. The general, final picture is the final, completely corrected state (State 3), and it entirely determines the initial state of the World of Infinity (State 1) and the entire process of correction (State 2).
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/21/10, Beit Shaar HaKavanot

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Human nature is completely egoistic. That is why a person cannot transform it on his own and needs an outside power to change him. This power can be evoked only by studying the wisdom of Kabbalah in the group.

“Indeed, I admit that this is a very difficult thing. One cannot change the nature of one’s own creation, which is only to receive for oneself, much less invert one’s nature from one extreme to the other, meaning to not receive anything for oneself, but rather act only to bestow.

Yet, this is why the Creator gave us Torah [the wisdom of Kabbalah] and Mitzvot [actions in the group], which we were commanded to do only in order to bestow contentment upon the Creator.” (Baal HaSulam, “A Speech for the Completion of The Book of Zohar”)
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Question: I am in a descent ever since the Convention has ended. I’m afraid that I have lost the desire for bestowal. I work in the group, but do not feel that this helps, and maybe it even interferes. I am thinking about leaving just in order to reveal the desire again. Is this correct?

Answer: What desire will you reveal if you leave? The desire to go to a bar or a football game? We receive the need for spirituality only from the environment. By leaving it you will go in the exactly opposite direction.

It is written about the revelation of egoism: The sinners will fall where the righteous walk. This is your dilemma: to become righteous or a sinner.

The concealment that came after the Convention revealed a new, powerful, egoistic desire in you, intended for you to work on and correct. However, you want to run away from this work instead of making a new start precisely from the place where you have to.

We always advance from the “opposite” – from the revelation of a new, corrupted part of the desire for pleasure. In this place you must only discern your connection with the goal. In reality this corrupted part does not separate me from the goal at all, but on the contrary, it offers me the opportunity to move forward by pulling it towards correction.

However, in the process I experience bad sensations, darkness, and helplessness. Heaviness and indifference come down on me and all the passionate speeches lose flavor. So what should I do? How can I keep from running away?

That is when habit, obligation, and an established order come to the rescue. My efforts accumulate, penny by penny, until reaching a great sum. No matter what happens, you cannot leave the path.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/21/10, The Zohar

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