Question: We constantly hear that we have to unite and look for the Creator, but we do not perceive this as practical work. What should we actually do?

Answer: If the external actions are beneficial to the inner processes, then we have to carry them out. The benefit might come in the future. For example, suppose I perform a physical action for an entire year so that my actions will result in me attaining a more inner layer, or in other words, so I will come closer to the quality of the Creator, bestowal. I will realize how far away I am from it and then my desire will facilitate the correction of my intention from “for myself” to  “bestowal.”

In other words, the “end of the action” must be present in the “initial thought.” Either I am told what to do and I carry it out “above reason,” or I act this way myself. In any case the execution of the action belongs to the person.

However, if the action is not done with the intention “for the sake of the group’s unity,” then no matter how important the intention is, it won’t bring any benefit. A person’s work is precisely the work on the intention.

It’s impossible to go around it because the nature of the world is the desire to enjoy and the desire to give pleasure, the thought that is next to them, their unity and mutual inclusion. There is nothing besides the desire and intention!

The desire to receive of the lower one enters the desire to bestow of the Upper One as MAN (plea for correction), and the desire to bestow of the Upper One descends into the desire to receive of the lower one and fills it as MAD (the Light of Correction). Then the two undergo mutual unification: Bina in Malchut and Malchut in Bina, the Creator in creation and creation in the Creator, until they attain total equality. That is the entire act!

Where does this happen? It takes place only in the thought, in the desire, in the inner effort! Of course, that is the most difficult thing. Some of us find it easy to work mentally while others find it difficult. However, spiritual work is equally difficult for everyone, whether you are a scientist or a carpenter, because it is performed in the soul, not in the mind.

We do perform certain external actions that unite us with the right intention: Why are we doing this? Why do we do it together instead of individually? Why do we want to expand the circle of participants? This revives us and brings us inspiration.

Without an intention to our efforts, we are a “gathering of fools” because even the most important work is devoid of meaning if it lacks an intention!
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/1/10, Writings of Rabash

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We all are outside of the spiritual world, in the same Egyptian bondage that the Passover Haggadah describes. Therefore, we need to sort through and realize how well we are prepared for the opportunity to escape which may be presented to us at any moment. Will we be able to flee?

For the time being, the spiritual work tastes like dry and bland Matzot (unleavened bread) for us. Moreover, the love of friends tastes bitter, and we don’t want it. All this means that we are in exile from spirituality. We feel that the spiritual world is much more exalted, but I am exiled from it because I am unable to appreciate and comprehend how good it is. In my sensory organs, I experience it as bad, which means that I am in the dark.

It isn’t Egypt itself which is dark; Egypt, as such, is an enormous and rich empire, dazzling and abundant. Darkness results from my seeking spirituality while I am in Egypt. I feel exiled in relation to spirituality, and for me it is the “bread of affliction.”

I experience this state only if I desire to exit Egypt, and I must agree to eat such simple bread in order to prepare myself to escape. I will agree to flee if I feel that Egypt threatens me with the Egyptian plagues, and I can’t bear such a state any longer. I will feel that I truly desire to unite with the others, but the Pharaoh won’t let me.

I wish to advance at least a little bit and from this egoistic bondage reach some form of bestowal. I feel that there is life only in bestowal, but for now, I am in Lo Lishma (not for Her Name), in egoism, and wish to use it to win, to escape from the Pharaoh who brings me misfortunes.

Such an attitude must be formed in the group so that we would start crying from such hard labor, Moshe (Moses) would pull us forth, and the Pharaoh would show himself in full force, letting me know that the use of egoism no longer promises us anything good in the future. After all, the point in the heart has reached such opposition to egoism that we cannot bear it anymore.

We connected with each other and raised the importance of the spiritual goal to such a height that we cannot stay in our ego. We wish to break free from it. Let me eat the bread of affliction in the future; it doesn’t matter. I must be in bestowal. All fulfillments that Egypt grants are at the animate level, but I don’t wish to live solely for my stomach and feed my animal. I wish to live a human life for the Human in me.

All these calculations lead me to escape, but the escape itself is a miracle from Above.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/31/10, “This Is for Judah”

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Coming out of exile is exiting our egoistic desire, ascending from it by way of faith above reason, from Lo Lishma (for oneself) to Lishma (for the Creator), from love of myself to love of others. What do we undergo while preparing for this exodus and fleeing from our “will to receive” to the “will to bestow”? It is paramount for us to know it since we are approaching this state right now.

“Here is the bread of affliction eaten by our forefathers in the land of Egypt” (Passover Haggadah). When we reside in our ego, we eat the “bread of affliction of the pauper” because we are beggars in relation to spirituality and receive only a tiny bit of Light, a minimal spark of life (Kista de Hayuta) or so-called “faint illumination” (Ner Dakik) that brings to life all of our world.

It is not the “bread” eaten in Egypt. In Egypt, there is lots of food. Our ego gives us everything: Please, do enjoy! However, as soon as we start desiring the spiritual world, long before exiting egoistic “Egypt,” we start tasting the “bread of affliction” since we don’t understand how one can reach bestowal and what good is in it.

I don’t taste any flavor in it. Everything is dry and insipid as this simple cracker made of only flour and water. That is how the spiritual world that I am walking to looks to me. Do I have to flee the prosperous Egypt, all the pleasure-pots filled with fish and meat, rich and delicious, in order to live on the bread of affliction in the desert? Is that what I yearn for?

However, it is indeed so. This is why it is written that “the commandment to eat unleavened bread (Matzot, the bread of affliction) was given to the sons of Israel long before their exodus from Egypt as a symbol of liberation that will come to pass in haste.”

“In haste” means that otherwise it is impossible to exit egoism. Spirituality looks so unattractive and repulsive that exiting into it must be rushed due to the aggressive, external force pulling from egoism. I, myself, am unable to step out of this marvelous world as it seems to me in my egoistic desire.

As for the spiritual world, it seems pitch black darkness to my ego. There is nothing attractive for my egoism there, and I don’t want to see it. Hence, the escape can be made only “in haste”; I am thrown out of there abruptly. Let’s hope the same will be done with us.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/31/10, “This Is for Judah”

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Question: What do I receive from the Creator in the measure of my equivalence to Him?

Answer: In the degree of my similarity to the Creator, I receive His mind and sensation. I connect with Him through mind and feeling and obtain the same sensation of oneness, completeness, and eternity that exist in Him. In my “line” vessel I receive “circle” vessels.

The Upper system was constructed so that from each “circle” would expand a “line” (desire restricted by the screen), followed by a “circle” and a “line” again. To the extent of my efforts “from below upward,” I exert strength and ascend to the first circle which is regarded as the first revelation of the Creator and the first degree of similarity to Him. I exert effort again and reveal Him more in the next circle.

With each new step, I work with ZAT de Bina (seven lower Sefirot of Bina), and the Upper degree for me is GAR de Bina (the first three Sefirot of Bina) with which I cannot work and which I receive from Above as a result of adhesion. In this fashion, I climb the 125 rungs of the spiritual ladder.

“In the straight line,” I myself exert effort, annul myself, work with the anti-egoistic screens, and connect with other people. To the degree that I have completed this work, I come to the revelation of the Creator, the state of a “circle,” perfection, a mini-world of Infinity.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/28/10, “The Acting Mind”

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The mind is the instrument that connects the Creator and the creature, the degree of connection between me as the creature and Him as my Creator. The mind is located in the middle between us, and it belongs neither to me nor to Him.

To possess a mind is to be an action that connects to the One who acts. I attain Him by attaining His actions over me through this connection between the action and the One who acts.

After all, the Creator is called “Bo-Re” (“come and see”). In other words, I never attain His essence, but only His attitude toward me, as it is written, “By Your actions, we will know You.” I study whatever is happening inside of me. I look for the Creator behind these actions and thereby begin to know Him.

That is, I must reveal the root of every one of my properties and states and come to understand that “There is none else beside Him,” and everything comes from the Creator, “the Good who does good.” When I reveal the fact that everything comes from Him and everything has a good purpose (regardless of how bad it seems), this means that I have attained the root. The same happens in every state.

Just like material objects allow us to understand the thoughts of the craftsman, the purpose and the intended user of the things that he made, in the same way, we can examine the creature which contains all the information about the Creator. This is because He has materialized everything that He has planned in His mind, and we can attain His mind through the different forms of matter. The connection of our mind and His mind is called unity of the creature and the Creator.

This means that the Light of Hochma (Wisdom) clothes in the Light of Hassadim (Mercy) to the extent that we have corrected ourselves in order to receive Light from Him without any interferences and distortions that come from our egoism. When we wash our egoistic desire in the Light of Hassadim, the Light of Hochma (the Creator’s mind) can clothe in it. That is, it enters these corrected and pure desires, and we attain His mind.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/28/10, “The Acting Mind”

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Question: What does it mean to think about unity during the reading of The Zohar in order to have the entire group cross the “Red Sea” and enter the spiritual world?

Answer: The Zohar reveals that what happens from the perspective of the spiritual vessels (desires), that is, different types of connection. It does not describe the picture from the Light’s perspective. There are Kabbalistic books that contain descriptions from the Light’s perspective: how different Lights come and how they spread. It is like we are being told what is depicted in a certain picture.

To provide a description from the desires’ perspective, however, is to explain how a picture was drawn, not what is actually drawn. It is like saying what colors one needs, how they are mixed, how to apply them on the canvas, or what technique and brush to use.

It turns out that a spiritual picture is not simply made by freely drawing whatever I want, like from the Light’s perspective. No, at first, everything needs to be arranged as if you were using a ruler and other graphing “tools” (Kelim, vessels); everything needs to be calculated. This is because it comes from the side of the desires, the spiritual vessels, and they need to be well-prepared in the first place.

This is the narrative style of The Zohar and the entire “practical” Kabbalah that comes from the side of the created beings: the depth (Aviut, coarseness) of the desire that is needed, the screens, different actions including screens, and that which will be consequently revealed. We need to use this description and draw the picture ourselves, instead of simply enjoying it.

If we already were in these states, we would be able to enjoy the picture in a different way. We would read and receive the explanations of the picture that we would already see. However, so far, we are unable to be impressed by the picture. We arrive from the side of the desires and learn to draw the picture. The Zohar tells us step by step where we need to arrive and hands us the instruments that we need to create this “canvas.”

We create this picture in the group, in the unity between us, and all the names, lines, and all the objects only stand for different types of interconnections of the desires. Once you connect them and create even the initial, minimal connection, you will attain the first spiritual degree, and the picture will become revealed.

It’s essential for us to understand the way everything operates, the way everything needs to be connected for the system to work. It is like constructing a vehicle, connecting all the parts and the power supply, putting in the gas, the oil, all the necessary fluids, completing the construction, turning on the ignition, and, voila, the car powers on! This is the result we need to reach.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/27/10, The Zohar

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Question: If I am the one who creates and projects the film of my own life, this entire reality, then why do people create unpleasant films for themselves?

Answer: Creating a film is not yet in your power. You cannot yet be a producer. You need to rule over your desire, the Light, and be able to determine exactly how they can vary according to strict laws and not just the way you want them to. This way, you gradually build a better reality.

This is your only freedom of choice, and this is exactly why we study the wisdom of Kabbalah. Until you gain power over the film of your reality, the Creator is in charge of it in order to obligate you to create your own film. This is why our entire life and all our reincarnations are meant to “inspire” us to make the proper film, an authentic one, not an imaginary one.

This is what makes the perception of reality in the wisdom of Kabbalah so interesting. It is because this is neither a theoretical study nor a scholastic discussion, but a special method which I can use to really change my world, to escape to different dimensions, as it were.
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From Kabbalah for Beginners, “Perception of Reality” 10/26/10

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Question: What kind of perception of reality does the Creator have?

Answer: The Creator does not have any perception of reality because He has only one property: the desire to bestow, bestowal. The Creator does not have reality. He is, Himself, the perfect reality.

When we perceive and depict the surrounding reality, we reach the states that become increasingly closer to Him. Therefore, the best form of the world appears when we correct ourselves to the degree that we create or project to ourselves the reality: the Creator. This is the state we achieve.

When we go through all the movies, pictures, and forms during our correction, we gradually, step by step, bring them closer to such a reality in which only the Creator exists, as it is said, “He and His name are one” and “There is none else besides Him.”
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From Kabbalah for Beginners, “Perception of Reality” 10/26/10

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 Cable TV channel STREAM began broadcasting my interviews with various Russian celebrities. STREAM broadcasts in 7 regions of The Russian Federation, 518 cities and villages. In 2009, the total number of subscribers on the territory of the RF has reached 4.1 million.
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Rabash, Shlavei HaSulam, “Which Degree Should One Achieve so He Will Not Have to Reincarnate?”
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The Book of Zohar – Selections, Chapter “BeShalach (When Pharaoh Sent),” Item 298
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Baal HaSulam, “Beit Shaar HaKavanot,” Lesson 13
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Rav Yehuda Ashlag, “Exile and Redemption,” Lesson 1
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