Writings of Rabash, “What is the Flood Water in the Work”: Faith above reason is the territory belonging to holiness….

Question: How can we reach this territory?

Answer: “Faith above reason” means that I arm myself with the force of bestowal above the egoistic desire, which awakens in me time and time again. This is not just a desire to sleep, eat, or have a good time, but a desire that obstructs me from uniting with others.

We are talking about the single criterion: for unity or against it. All the other desires belong to the animate degree. The true desire for pleasure, belonging to the human level, originates only from the breaking of the souls. Everything else belongs to the lower levels in me: still, vegetative, and animate. I don’t deal with them at all.

Thus, the criterion of my analysis is my attitude to unity. The advice is to check myself in the group because in the wide world confusion is inevitable and there is no one to work with there. If we get together in order to unite and I discover that I am unable to do this and don’t want it, that I hate and reject the very idea, it means I reveal the evil inclination inside myself.

I make efforts, trying to to ascend above them, but discover that I am unable. Then, due to lack of any choice and by feeling how important and necessary it is to attain unity, I cry out, “Save me!” And from Above I receive the force of bestowal which helps me to think about unity, to connect to others at least slightly.

Meanwhile, others do not and should not feel it. We are talking about the inner work of a person who starts to feel the common force of unity inside this aspiration to unity. This force is called “the Creator.”

That is how a person moves forward from one phase to the next. His desire constantly grows, opposing unity more and more. He makes all the efforts, trying to manage with everything alone. But he fails, despairs, and calls out for the force of bestowal. In this force of bestowal, aimed at the heart of the group, he reveals the Creator.
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/29/10, Writings of Rabash

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Question: If our world is the lowest of the worlds and if we can start climbing the ladder of spiritual steps with the help of the wisdom of Kabbalah, why then are millions of people walking about this lowest degree never reaching even the starting point of spiritual ascent?

Answer: There are five spiritual worlds: Atzilut, Beria, Yetzira, Assiya, and Adam Kadmon. We are at the lowest degree, in the corporeal world. All of the 125 degrees that are above us are levels of transformation of reality.

Do you wish to change reality? If yes, you need a screen. A screen is defined as the measure of connection between me and the Light, the Creator. I must connect myself with the Light, the Creator, with the help of the screen.

Then, by means of various actions I perform with the screen, I will be able to create various forms of reality. Besides, these forms are alive, just like people whom I see right now. Yet, at the moment, I am not the one who is creating this reality; such perception is given to me by nature.

However, when I start ascending in spirituality, I act as the Creator does. I create each degree, all its still, vegetative, animate, and speaking levels. I create this reality; I form and support it instead of the Creator. However, who is this “I?” The “I” is the one who possesses a screen.
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From Kabbalah for Beginners, “Perception of Reality” 10/20/10

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Love covers all transgressions. It envelops them from the outside; it doesn’t annihilate them but creates a covering. The degree of transgression determines the degree of love. Otherwise, love has no form; its form is determined by hate.

What can we tell about happiness? Not much. On the other hand, in the drama of misfortune, we discover a numberless multitude of states and shades. There are novels, films, and music inspired by it.

This demonstrates that everything begins with the creation of the evil inclination: hate, misfortune, grief, and problems. We have to discover assorted forms of these states of existence so that, later, we may clothe them in love. And that will be the form of the Creator.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/29/10, “Come onto Pharaoh-2”

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Question: To participate at the convention, one has to pay over $200. Isn’t it a bit much? Besides, as a man and a member of the group, I will be working in the kitchen and doing other chores during the three days of the event, as usual. Why should I be paying for participation?

Answer: I have already given instructions to suspend you from all duties. You may attend the convention as a guest and sit with the audience. We view catering to the others as a reward, not a duty, and are happy to receive an assignment.

The friends from the group will also be paying to attend the convention, despite the fact that they will be working serving others. And that’s exactly what they are paying for. By the way, if you ask them about it, you will hear that the real convention takes place in the kitchen, where during the events in Israel, they are cooking for 7000 adults and 1600 children!

They just have a different mindset. For instance, at the convention you might see a “sale” sign saying: “Sale! Special offer! Such and such book that you can usually buy at 10 dollars now sells for 15 dollars!” Everybody knows that our entire world organization has no sponsors and exists solely thanks to the charity of the friends.
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Writings of Rabash, Shlavei HaSulam, “What is the Flood Water in the Work”
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The Book of Zohar — Introduction: “You Are Partners With Me,” Item 68, Lesson 3
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Talmud Eser Sefirot 3, Part 8, Item 39, Lesson 22
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Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy,” Lesson 3
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When reading The Zohar, we have to think about the fact that the only thing we lack is the Light of Hassadim. If I look at the same reality that we are in, but in the Light of Hassadim, which emanates from my intention to bestow, then instead of the current reality I will see the spiritual reality.

In order to start feeling the Upper World, I lack only the Light of Hassadim which emanates from me to everything around me. Usually we waste a lot of time, energy, and life itself on completely useless actions that do not depend on us. But the only thing we can do is bring ourselves to the Light of Hassadim so it will manifest inside us, being the quality of bestowal in which the Light of Hochma becomes clothed, the knowledge and attainment of the Creator.

All the actions we make besides attaining the Light of Hassadim, the attitude of bestowal to the environment, evoke only a negative reaction from Above. It corrects us, but through the lengthy path of suffering, eventually returning us to the aspiration of bestowal, albeit by the path of suffering.

Therefore, if a person constantly discerns what is necessary in order to attain this single action that can come from him, the quality of bestowal, it means that he is waiting for salvation. That is exactly what we should feel while reading The Book of Zohar.

Kabbalists have revealed this spiritual reality. So what do I lack to reveal the same thing and see what they are talking about? The only thing I lack is the Light of Hassadim.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/28/10, The Zohar

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Writings of Rabash, Shlavei HaSulam, “What’s the Difference Between ‘The Gate of Tears’ from the Rest of the Gates”: Even if a person weeps shedding bitter tears, but he weeps for excesses, no one will respond to his cries. This person stands before the gate of tears, but the gate is closed and does not allow his prayer to enter. People do not cry over excesses. It is customary to cry only over vital necessities.

Question: What does it mean to cry in spirituality? How does a person know he is really crying? And should the group reach the state of crying?

Answer: Of course, both the group and every individual in it have to reach this state. This is the “prayer of many” where every person prays for everyone, including himself. The prayers in the prayer book are constructed upon this principle.

Crying is the state of smallness (Katnut) when I know that I cannot attain unity by myself; in fact, I cannot even desire it by myself. Even before I reach the certainty that I am unable to make a spiritual action, I have to understand that first of all I need a 100% desire. “Let it happen to me!” And this is a desire I also can’t acquire alone.

For example, I had hoped to get rid of an illness by myself, but gradually I realized that it’s impossible. Having suffered and wasted a ton of efforts, I see that I cannot do anything about it. I discover that I can only get cured by a doctor. So what’s the problem?

The problem is that I have to ask the doctor for it. I have to demand and implore him to perform the surgery. And I have to really desire this, even though I am very afraid of it. Fear stops me, but the futility of the situation pushes me to plea for help.

The same thing happens to us: To the degree we advance, we feel more and more clearly that we have to go through surgery to eliminate egoism, that very egoism that leads us through life and supports us in every way. So how can I ask or even think about coming out of it? It can only be done by means of the Upper Light.

I have to receive the desire from outside, from the group, and I do so unwillingly. It is written about it, “We go from Lo Lishma to Lishma,” meaning from the egoistic intention to the altruistic one. I aspire to that which is opposite to me today: for all of my worries to be about the neighbor, so all the money besides the “vital minimum” I need will go to my neighbor, and so everything will be for my neighbor.

Can I really desire this, as if there is nothing more important in life? Can I ask for these thoughts not to leave me for a second? Can I cry for it?

Suppose someone shows me a petition for bestowal: “I request to be provided with an altruistic desire so I will take care of others with everything I have besides what I need to survive.” Sign it! Go ahead! Want it! But how can I want it? After all, I can’t create a new desire inside myself.

That’s true, but if you agree to it in principle, and then start working in the group, the necessary desire will come to you from the friends. The environment contains a spiritual force, the force of the Creator. Nothing depends on the friends themselves, and it was arranged that way initially. If I turn to the environment, to our inner interconnection, there I find everything. There I reveal all the levels, forces, and states until the very end of correction.

Suddenly I discover that we are united and in our unity I feel all the spiritual phenomena, down to total unity. I reveal everything that the science of Kabbalah talks about there, in our interconnection.

The forces of bestowal between us is the connection between the souls. The soul is the force of bestowal in a person, a part of the Creator from Above.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/28/10, Writings of Rabash

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Question: In order to receive strength from the friends, I have to value them. But how can I value them if I’m an egoist?

Answer: You value the unity of people, or in other words, of souls. Externally the only thing there can be between people is hatred, envy, and the like. However, behind the external facade, every person contains the inner him – the force of bestowal that is concealed inside him.

It’s like there are two screens in front of you: external and internal. On the external screen you see this world, whereas on the internal screen everyone is united by the forces of mutual bestowal. After all, the soul is the force of bestowal that’s concealed inside us. This is the picture you turn to, wishing to reveal it, to be included in it, and to dissolve in it. You do not deal with the external forms.

What does it mean to love your neighbor as yourself? When you turn to the inner picture, you will see that there is no breaking there, but all the friends are united with each other. This is the Shechina. It contains mutuality, unity, mutual guarantee, and in a word, everything besides you. You want to become part of it, demanding it, asking, and pleading for it.

That is the meaning of building the right environment. Otherwise you look at the friends on the outside and do not find anything there. The Creator deliberately drew this picture in front of us so that by tearing down the veil and looking deep into our unity, you will discover the exact environment that Baal HaSulam talks about in “The Freedom.”

This is the environment you have to turn to and from which you have to demand everything. There, everyone is corrected; by becoming included in the friends, you will discover the Creator among them, meaning the common, all-inclusive force of bestowal.

In Kabbalah, besides the simple sum there is a notion of all-inclusion (Koalel), which is the integral force of everyone. For example, the common force of 100 people equals 100. But inside their unity the Creator is present, being an additional force that is deeper, spiritual, and all-inclusive.

That is why the friends are capable of anything due to having rejected their egoism in order to reveal the Creator, to reveal the root and unite with Him. They do not attain the four degrees of still, vegetative, animate, and human, but the Creator. They do not attain Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama, and Haya, but the addition, the Light of Yechida that was not there previously; Keter, the point of the letter Yod.

If a person desires to work with the environment, then the environment is ready for him. Then he sees all the friends as the greatest people of the generation. And in truth, inside each of them there is a giant. After all, if they have an inner spiritual aspiration, then inside they are already united. In principle, on the inside all of humanity is united, but you have to turn to those who also externally express the spiritual desire at least slightly. Then you have an environment.

After that, to the extent you lower yourself before the environment and value it, you will receive strength from the friends until finally reaching the gate of tears. Spirituality will become the most vital thing in your life, but at the same time you won’t have any possibility of obtaining it. That is when you will cry out.

You will then be crying out to the reality that you reveal as mutual bestowal, to the common force that lies there called “mutual guarantee.” It is from there that you will receive what you need, the desire or need to become a part of the friends. Having discerned many details of unification, you will enter the inner picture.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/28/10, Writings of Rabash

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Question: Who are these friends that The Zohar writes about all the time? How can I identify them within me?

Answer: If you identify your friends as really belonging to you and being within you, then you will see that they are parts of your soul. With their help, you are building your spiritual world now, and you reveal the Messiah in it.

It’s simple: The present picture disappears, and you feel only the internal structure of the soul. “Friend” (Haver) comes from the word “connection” (Hibur). If you are able to attach to you someone who seems a stranger to you now so as to feel him within yourself, he is called your friend.

Friends are the same attributes you used to feel outside of yourself as strangers. You’ve worked on them to attach them to you, and, of course you failed to do it alone. Then, you asked for the Light to do it for you. It influenced you and attached them to you.

It created in you such an attitude toward the friends on the same path as if they were part of you. Then, you feel them as your “assembly.” An assembly means a common desire, a union of individual desires, each of which previously existed on its own, or so it seemed to me in my pride, in my egoism.

I lowered myself from the state of “standing,” reaching the state of “sitting” (Yeshiva). Then, sitting together, everyone can connect with each other as in the verse from the song: “How wonderful and pleasant it is to sit together as brothers” (Heene Matov uManaim Shevet Achim Gam Yahad). That’s why it is called “assembly” (Yeshiva), a small state (Katnut).
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/26/10, “Introduction from The Book of Zohar,” Article “The Vision of Rabbi Hiya”

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