Question: It is written that the first man, Adam, had several bodies and coverings. How do the “body,” “matter,” and “covering” differ?

Answer: “Matter” is the will to enjoy. “Covering” is the degree of bestowal that it can be in.

The entire “history” of matter starts with the breaking of the worlds followed by the birth of the collective soul (Adam), which also breaks and which we must reform since we are its parts. To do so, it is necessary to select desires (Kelim), after clarifying which of them can and cannot be reformed, and which don’t need to be corrected. Therefore, they are divided into three categories or three bodies.

The external body is the worst desires that you cannot reform at all. The internal body doesn’t need to be corrected because it is reformed from Above. In fact, if it hadn’t been corrected from Above, we wouldn’t be able to correct anything at all.

We are not expected to correct all the damage from the breaking since we are unable to accomplish it. We need to become part of the system that will help us to make corrections. Therefore, desires that are in bestowal are corrected from Above. And the authentic Kelim (vessels) of reception, the “stony heart ” (Lev ha Even), cannot be reformed by us.

Actually, we don’t correct anything whatsoever; we only discern the difference between the Creator and the created being! I don’t need to correct my desire to feel pleasure since it is given to me for the purpose of clarification so that through analyzing and synthesizing, I come up with a “derivative,” a synthesized new meaning.

It is not matter that is interesting (whether it is “corrupted” or “corrected”); rather, it is more interesting to use it to discern a more exalted concept: “Who is the Creator?” meaning to get to know Him through “His acts.” And therefore, I don’t need to work with desires that either cannot be reformed or do not need to be. What I need to do is examine the place where they are all mixed.

In the “stony heart,” there is nothing to study and examine. With the most exalted desires, GE (Galgalta ve Eynaim), there is nothing to do either since they are the properties of the soul that don’t belong to me. I can only be in the middle, between one and the other. My entire correction amounts to discernment, sorting out the good from evil.

By doing so, I don’t correct anything since it isn’t my job. But thanks to my discernments and effort, turmoil and pain, I acquire something special, which is above the desires that don’t go beyond the animate level.

It is the entire matter of creation, the will to enjoy: the still, vegetative, and animate degrees. But I need to uncover the human level, the degree of the Creator in me! Presently, it doesn’t exist within me, but by figuring out the difference between receiving and bestowal, I start to comprehend the Creator. And this is the “benefit” of spiritual work.
[30641]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/23/10, Beit Shaar HaKavanot

Related Material:
Is It Worth It To Believe The Sages?
A Force Field Of Love And Goodness
Seven Billion Shimmering Sparks

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Inner Work, Q&A - No Comments →

Question: When raising a child, adults mostly use tenderness in an attempt to encourage and support the child in any way they can. Why do I get a feeling that the Creator educates us more with a stick than a carrot?

Answer: That is called: "Every person judges according to their own flaws." But when you reveal His attitude towards us, you will see with what infinite mercy He has acted. Looking with our egoistic eyes, we can’t see and understand it.

Even if you get a complete, one hundred percent fulfillment today, the next instant, when new informational genes (Reshimot) emerge, you will feel as though you have nothing and ask: "Well, where is He who created me? Why doesn’t He fill me?!"

From the ego’s point of view, it’s a fair claim. If He’s created the desire to enjoy, He probably should fill it with pleasure, shouldn’t He? We just don’t take into account that He wants to fill us with pleasure on another, much higher level, and to achieve that, we must first become like Him. Being on our level, it’s impossible to justify the actions of the Creator. Therefore, the stage of the righteous begins from Bina and above.

Because we constantly feel that our ego is being beaten, we have the ability to proceed by faith above reason. Only by being submerged in never ending problems and doubts are we able to break away from our ego. Had the Creator always filled me with pleasure, I would have been running like a thief in front of the crowd, screaming louder than the rest: "Stop the thief!"

Next, I would be singing praise from dawn to dusk: "Hail to the Creator, the Good, and Who Doeth good!" I would thank Him for His generosity to my egoism.

We, however, need to rise above these empty desires. They are not just empty, but have a huge "minus" sign of great suffering. If a person is able to rise above such sensation and start to bestow, that means he is making a restriction (Tzimtzum) and a screen over his ego.

Moreover, if in addition to that he is able to receive pleasure, but not for himself, agreeing to remain empty inside while being filled only in order to bestow to the Creator, then he is called a complete righteous.
[30617]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/23/10, “Peace in the World”

Related Material:
Having The Upper One’s Head On Your Shoulders
The Torah Is Given To Those Who Need It
A Bright Mind Is Not A Guarantee Of Light

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Inner Work, Q&A - 1 Comment →

Kabbalah derives all its definitions from the original creation, the will to receive pleasure, which stands against the Light and has to become identical to it. This is why we should evaluate our desire only in relation to the Light and not to our current experiences.

Man has arranged an entire system of criteria of good and evil, good and bad, pleasant and unpleasant, which he employs. And now you are reading a Kabbalistic text which implies something totally different, but you don’t wish to penetrate its real meaning. You wish to twist it so that it serves your ego.

We are reading Kabbalists’ writings and think that we can understand them using our present perception, as it suits the current definitions of “good” and “evil,” “bestowal” and “reception”, “top” and “bottom,” “corruption” and “correction.” But in truth, we know absolutely nothing of their true meaning.

The book says “this world,” and I think that it means the world I presently live in. But wait, first you have to “clothe” into the author and read with his eyes! For instance, in the book Beit Shaar HaKavanot (The Gatehouse of Intentions), Baal HaSulam writes: “And the seven heavens that we see in this world…” Where have you seen seven heavens here?

In other words, we need to understand that it discusses spiritual meanings opposite to our current understanding. And until we enter the spiritual world, we won’t understand them; nonetheless, we must strive to become more familiar with them in some way.
[30634]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/23/10, “Peace in the World”

Related Material:
The Code Of The Upper Worlds
The Spiritual Decoder
A Bright Mind Is Not A Guarantee Of Light

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Inner Work, Kabbalah Study - No Comments →

Question: Baal HaSulam writes that in order to advance by way of the Light (“Achishena,” ahead of time) I have to take my evil properties and turn them into the properties of love. But you said that I will discover my evil qualities or the evil inclination only after I cross the Machsom (the barrier separating us from spirituality).

So at the moment, it looks like I do not advance by way of the Light, but by way of suffering (“Beito,” in its time)?

Answer: In either case, to a certain extent you already recognize your evil since you are in the preparation phase. You can exist at four levels of development:

1. As all regular people in this world;
2. In the preparation stage;
3. In the property of “Hafetz Hesed” (wishing nothing for oneself);
4. In the property of love.

“Hafetz Hesed” and love are spiritual levels; “As all regular people” and “in the preparation stage” are corporeal ones. Corporeality means the intention “for oneself”; spirituality means “in order to bestow.” The spiritual world is separated from the material one by the Machsom.

When you are in spirituality, on one hand, you have an evil inclination, the matter of creation; on the other, you have a good inclination and the Light that Reforms. Below, in the material world, they don’t exist.

But even now, being in the preparation phase, you still have some reflection of spirituality, an approximate understanding of the left and right lines, ascents and descents. This is why it is call preparation. And that’s what you are working with.

Either way, you are advancing. You have some idea about what is written in the Kabbalistic texts, although for now, just in its projection on your egoistic substance. Yet, you do understand and feel something. It is a great achievement! Is preparation time worthless? It can last for decades. So what? But you pass it and enter eternity!

Therefore, do not demean the time of preparation. You are undergoing a very intense, great, and powerful process. And you should value it! If a person doesn’t appreciate it, he is deprived of all his power. We must constantly remain in this process and each time add to it a little more by organizing conventions, more powerful ones, accompanied by deeper discernment.

Even descents become clearer, sharper, and you are able to better comprehend their causes and recognize the inner properties. And that’s what matters.
[30647]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/23/10, “Peace in the World”

Related Material:
Keeping The Light At All Costs
Breathe Life Into The System
The Elusive Key Component

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Inner Work - 1 Comment →

Question: Will any person who dropped in at the Kabbalah convention feel joy?

Answer: We are inviting everybody. Anyone may come and join us. There are people who have been participating in this process for 15 years; they have reached higher levels already. However, there are those who will be new to this, and, perhaps, they don’t even realize why they came.

I am very happy for them and envy them. They can, so to speak, “find their world in the blink of an eye.” They can come and join the others, similar to how a child who was born in the 21st century receives everything that our civilization has prepared for him in the last twenty centuries, ready-made to enjoy. Why is this so? It’s because he was born just now and it is his right.

The same goes for people who find themselves at the convention for the first time. They don’t understand anything, but since we had prepared the entire infrastructure for them, laid all the necessary conditions, and established a connection between us, they connect to us like newborns, having no idea what is going on, but receiving all the benefits nonetheless.

This is why I am happy for them and envy them. I had to exert tremendous effort, sweat, and suffer until I achieved something, and I see how easy it is for a new person to enter this process and understand it. Where does such understanding come from? It comes out of thin air, just because he connects with the others.
[25632]
From Kabbalah for Beginners, “Happiness” 10/28/10

Related Material:
The World Depends On Us
Internal Combustion Engine
An Opportunity To Bring Goodness Into Our World

Filed under: Conventions, Group Work, Inner Work, Q&A - No Comments →

In the News: (From WSJ.com): “Traders… are not the only people doing pointless jobs. Divorce lawyers, the makers of advertisements for cars and the manufacturers of very large handbags are among the many who are doing nothing to make the world a better place.

In the middle of last year the chairman of the U.K.’s Financial Services Authority upset many bankers by describing the jobs they did as “socially useless.” A year on, and Adair Turner is placing that judgment in a much broader context during a series of three lectures at the London School of Economics.

Turner’s goal during the first lecture was to establish whether economic growth made people happier. His broad conclusion was that it didn’t.” The richer a society the more people are engaged in performing useless and even destructive activities.

My Comment: Let’s hope that not only this gentleman is aware of the situation and there are others who can help change our society and the world as a whole. Kabbalah teaches us that we have to observe the law of nature and consume only as much as we need to carry on. Anything above this point will return back to us as like a boomerang.
[25311]

Related Material:
The Wall Before You Is Your Next Spiritual Degree
When Technology Is Futile
Don’t Wait For Any Favors From Nature

Filed under: Crisis, Economy, News - 1 Comment →

Writings of Rabash, Shlavei HaSulam, “He Who Has Not Made An Effort On Shabbat Eve, What Will He Eat on Shabbat”
Download: WMV Video|MP3 Audio

The Book of Zohar — Introduction: “Yitro (Jethro),” Item 62, Lesson 3
Download: WMV Video|MP3 Audio

Talmud Eser Sefirot 3, Part 8, Item 43, Lesson 25
Download: WMV Video|MP3 Audio

Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy,” Lesson 6
Download: WMV Video|MP3 Audio

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Zohar - No Comments →

My Good Environment – Questions of the Day

Filed under: Group Work - No Comments →

It is very difficult to connect the two worlds together. How can we establish such a connection between us in this world that will help us to reform our soul?

Today, through our unification, we put Kabbalah into practice. Generally, Kabbalah is known for invoking spirits, amulets, or manipulating some hidden forces. But in reality, practical Kabbalah is our collective attempt to increase the value of unity between people in order to achieve revelation of the Creator, the force of bestowal between us.

We are all egoists, and none of us has the power of bestowal; yet, we wish for it to descend onto us and fill the space between us, which is presently full of resentment and hatred. We were born this way; we didn’t have a chance to choose our nature. It is written in the Torah: “The inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood.”

Hence, when we start to unite in the smallest degree, not for some other reason but to find the Creator, the universal force of oneness, then we are implementing the wisdom of Kabbalah. This action is beneficial for the transformation of souls.

One can learn all the texts by heart and be successful in everything, but it won’t help. Until a person starts taking serious actions by bonding with the others despite the reluctance and resentment, he won’t understand how evil the inclination of his heart is.

The Book of Zohar describes the friends of Rabbi Shimon, who represented the ten initial Sefirot of the upper system in the head of Arich Anpin, at the exalted degrees of the very foundation of the world. In their own words, before they undertake studying, before they start revealing the Light, they hate, resent, and can’t look at each other. They are appalled by all of it. And yet, they sit around the book because they know that this power of hate has come to them from Above.

They are given The Book of Zohar to be employed as the means of unification above hate and rejection, as it is written: “Love covers all sins.” Love isn’t supposed to annihilate transgression, but rather to rise above it, that is, to be so powerful as to overrule hate.

We have an enormous desire for pleasure within us, which is completely egoistic and boiling over, and so it remains. And above it, we cover all hate with love.
[31359]
From Lesson 1, Convention at the Arava Desert 12/30/10

Related Material:
Hatred On The Path To Love
The Zohar: A Tale Of Hate And Love
Does Love Have A Form?

Filed under: Conventions, Group Work, Inner Work - No Comments →

At Kabbalah conventions, during Unity Days, and at other such gatherings, we do very serious work, and it affects us every time. If we spend the three days correctly, then during the lessons you will begin to understand and feel much more than now.

Such unifying events elevate a person since he becomes saturated with spiritual forces while participating in them. We receive them solely by way of unification and will never find them within or obtain them directly from Above. We gain the strength to ascend solely from the environment. The more tuned-in and immersed I am, the greater our collective benefit is.

From a person’s initial desire, from the “point in the heart,” he appeals to the group, gains additional desire from it, and employs it to raise MAN, the plea for correction. Then, in response, he receives the force of bestowal, which in essence is his soul.

Every one of us has only a seed of a soul, the point in the heart. Later on, we must face our evil inclination, our mutual hate and resentment. My evil inclination resists unification with people who are willing to come with me to the Creator, to the purpose of creation.

There was a time when we were all linked as one whole, until the breaking occurred, cutting us off from each other. True hate emerges precisely between us, not in each of us separately. I don’t need to dread the character I was born with or my inclinations. It is all nonsense. What matters is that while striving to unite with the friends, I discover that I don’t wish to do so and am appalled by it.

I get to see the whole mountain of hate, Mount Sinai. I transform it with the Light that Reforms; in other words, I receive the Torah and merit “the land of Israel,” the spiritual desire aimed directly to the Creator. Finally, I get to know Him and reveal spirituality.
[31356]
From Lesson 1, Convention at the Arava Desert 12/30/10

Related Material:
The World Depends On Us
Let’s Keep Thinking About Unity
An Opportunity To Bring Goodness Into Our World

Filed under: Conventions, Group Work, Inner Work, Spirituality, Unity - No Comments →