During the expansion of the Light from above downwards from Keter, to Hochma, and to Bina, a stop should have happened because Bina is already the quality of bestowal that does not need anything for itself. So how is it possible to develop any further?

That is when Bina feels the desire of the Creator that is in Keter, the desire to unite. Thus, Bina divides into GAR and ZAT, which feels a connection with Keter and therefore develops reception within itself in order to bestow to the lower ones. Otherwise further development would not take place.

In the same way, when we ascend upwards and attain Bina, first we acquire Galgalta Eynaim, the quality of bestowal for the sake of bestowal, Hafetz Hesed, which is called Mordechai. That is when we have to decide how to use our desire to enjoy. For us, this is ZAT de Bina, connected to our Malchut of the Reflected Light, the highest Sefira that attains Keter of the Direct Light.

This is the point where a decision has to be made. This makes the difference of how the desires of Haman are to be used—egoistically or for the sake of bestowal. If we begin to bestow egoistically, then we return back down. And if we choose bestowal, then we use the desires of Haman with the intention of Mordechai, meaning we receive for the sake of bestowal.

This is the “fatal point” of Purim. Pur means “lot” or “fate,” when we decide: What to do next? That is, we have to decide: In which direction will we incline? But this is impossible to understand for now. We do not see all of our qualities from aside, besides Mordechai. In all other directions besides him, only total darkness awaits us. This is the true point of a person’s choice and it is very thin. After all, how can I understand that bestowal for my own sake was not part of the Creator’s program?

That is why we have to reach the very end until we see that Haman buries all of the bestowal we have attained. Otherwise we won’t feel that this quality disappears. We have to feel that if we give power to Haman, then nothing will remain of our bestowal!

The same thing happens to us now as well. Sometimes we become so confused that we think that by making some sort of actions we will be able to reach the goal. We still don’t feel that this completely separates us from our foundation, from bestowal, and nothing remains here besides egoism, and all of our bestowal is also done for our own sake. Only if we verify this until the very end will we be able to decide that we have to annihilate Haman and come out of his power.

At first it seems that this was useful for our progress toward the goal, but now you reveal that everything is completely opposite and it can bury your entire advancement, goal, and your entire path. But you only discover this at the very end, when you are walking along together with egoism, Haman, and it slightly steals little portions from you, taking away everything you have, until you are left with nothing. That’s when you see that there is no choice: You have to run away from his rule.

We are yet to go through such suffering on this path where Haman can clothe into real people or just ideas….
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/20/11, Shamati

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Question: Why do people experience more joy when they are together? Is there a spiritual root in this?

Answer: Certainly! It is impossible to enjoy alone. We are gradually coming to this conclusion as a result of our development. After all, one Kli is incapable of receiving pleasure; it can only do so if it passes the Light through itself to others.

It is possible to feel pleasure if one passes the Light to another and the Light does not remain in any of them. This is similar to Mother-Bina who receives the Light in her upper part (GE) and passes it through her lower part (AHP) to others. This is the only reason the Light of Hochma (Wisdom) exists in her.

If she only has GE, she has no Light of Hochma, but only the Light of Hassadim (Mercy). However, if she has AHP, the “uterus” which allows her to beget and pass the Light to others, only then does she have the Light of Hochma.

Therefore, it is impossible to reveal the Creator if you are not connected with others and do not bestow to them! In this case you do not have the Kli for the revelation of the Creator. He becomes revealed precisely in AHP, in the Light of Hochma, while GE is only the Light of Hassadim.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/18/2011, Writings of Rabash

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Question: We are made to receive the good, the enjoyment. Why then must we feel the pain of others? After all, if I suffer the pain of all mankind, I’ll have a stroke.

Answer: Do you think that a mother doesn’t wish to know her child’s pain in order to learn what’s wrong with him or her? Love makes her feel what her child lacks.

And any lack is pain, after all. I can feel pain because I don’t have a life or just because I crave some sweets. One way or the other, if you love, you wish to feel what someone you love is lacking so that you can give him or her what they need and enjoy doing so.

Obviously, we are not talking about catastrophes, the co-experiencing of which would certainly earn a stroke. Imagine this: Thousands of your offspring are dead, and hundreds of thousands are destitute. You won’t be able to bear it. And hence, this kind of empathy is revealed to us gradually.

In truth, although it’s impossible to explain it at the moment, if you could really love them right now, you would be able to see that they are all fine. Having found the love, you would reform the perception of reality according to your new, spiritual desires.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/18/2011 on The Principles of Global Education

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True egoism develops within us when we wish to unite. It begins after the “usual” egoism. We naturally hate others, are eager to take advantage of them, and want to rise above them. This doesn’t exist on the animate level since it characterizes only the speaking level: We need to feel superior to others at least in some way.

But when a person still wants to become one with the others above his egoism, he discovers resentment of an unprecedented magnitude. It turns out that a force that opposes unification is instilled in his nature, and hence, even while willing to unite, a person cannot accomplish it. His desire to receive cares and thinks about itself, while hating and rejecting another.

Despite all my effort to bond with the others, I detect this force, that very egoism which we define as purposeful. It is not merely hurting the others, but the property which resists oneness. Only this kind of egoism leads me to transformation. I feel that it is exactly what I need to reform. It is a kind of supplement to the final, fourth stage of the development of desire.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/18/2011 on The Principles of Global Education

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Question: Most people are appalled by the thought of having no free will in our world. How should we approach them?

Answer: That’s true since if there is no free will, there is no person either. He is not a person but a mechanical toy, a puppet controlled by strings. And it doesn’t matter that it includes you as well: A person sees in it your attitude toward him. You, sort of, discuss your own non-existence. After all, I only exist if I have free will, a personal opinion, and perform autonomous actions.

But we are talking about the omnipotent system of nature where everything is governed by absolute laws. Even if we don’t bring the wisdom of Kabbalah into it and just think logically, from where can freedom appear in this world? From a global perspective, what is freedom? Is it seemingly spontaneous actions, even though it’s not the case? Or is it some sudden desires that in fact are conditioned by the life giving force?

Where do my actions begin? As to me, I don’t see what triggers the events of my life, my thoughts and desires. What inner depths give rise to different urges in me? Out of the blue, I crave something. Where did this impulse come from?

If I found its source, it would be clear to me that it isn’t I who chooses, but that these kind of impulses are triggered in me by nature. But man has no access to what lies below the level at which nature makes decisions. He receives ready-made thoughts, desires, and actions deriving from nature’s acts.

At this level, we assign a certain degree of independence to man since it is he who had a desire or a thought. Based on this shaky premise, we view a person as an autonomous being.

Obviously, it is totally wrong. If we saw the integral picture, we wouldn’t find the slightest reason to judge a person or, on the contrary, to show him mercy. We would all feel as cogwheels controlled by the general force. The same is described in the wisdom of Kabbalah.

Where then is free will? It lies in my ability to take over the management from the upper force that sets the entire system in motion. I can govern in its place, in alliance with it. In the degree of my agreement with it, I overtake management functions and begin to activate the system myself.

What’s in it for me? By doing so, I obtain freedom and autonomy. I take example from the upper force, demand assistance from it, and thereby take part in the plea. This opportunity is available to me due to the breaking: It presented me with free will in the middle third of Tifferet, in the middle point, a very delicate intermediate state. It is from that point in particular that I can ask to take the Creator’s place.

Thus I acquire autonomy. And there is nothing else that I can call my own.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/17/2011 on The Principles of Global Education

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From “The Principles of Global Education”: Even when we begin independent, adult life, our perception of the world is a finished product composed of three components: our “matter”(individual genetic traits and inclinations) and two factors that form this matter in their own way: the upbringing we received and the influence of the environment. None of us has free will, neither in decision making nor in evaluating anything in life.

The question is to what extent we are aware of it. Do we realize that we are trapped in the net of forces? We are not free in thought or intention. We have no freedom even in understanding of this very fact.

We begin to acknowledge the lack of free will out of hopelessness. It is neither good nor bad since we are talking about nature. But what exactly can we discover outside of it?

First of all, why are we brought to the realization of our entrapment? It is most likely so that we would still want to get out of it. Perhaps, we do have such a chance.

Here the main factor is how strongly a person reacts to freedom, how well he understands that he is controlled by various impulses, and how eager he is to break free from them, gain a certain new power, objectively look at himself from aside, and rise above his nature. But again, to rise to what? To another nature that will control him?

These questions are not for everybody. Not so many people in the world ask and seek answers to them, are receptive to them. That is why we can use this criterion to cut a clear line between a “human” and an “animal.” “Animal” isn’t a label but a level of development: A person lives as the society dictates for him or her to do, which in its turn, isn’t free either. A kindergarten and school teachers, parents, and media, who mold our opinion, do not possess free will just as well. All the systems, be it internal or external, don’t act autonomously but are triggered. Hence, it’s not worth talking about them.

If I am looking for my individual mission that is above this enforced flow of life, it is pointless to seek logic in its loops and whirls. They are meaningless, and I won’t find anything in it but nature’s forces which govern the entire humanity and the whole of creation, including all of its parts, over the course of the entire human history. It doesn’t offer any free will to anyone.

It’s a waste to spend time on studying something that is totally useless. In general, this is how the wisdom of Kabbalah views our world. It isn’t arrogance. Indeed, we think that we activate some forces and laws, enforce rules of behavior so that life could be more comforting. We assume that making new laws or building new machines will make the world a better place.

We do it unaware of being controlled. The desire to be free and better our life is not an expression of freedom, but rather mere internal urges that are caused by the process conducted Above. Thus, lies are built over lies. Even admitting to our own entrapment, we are forced to perform certain actions that seem to be autonomous but are, actually, not.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/17/2011 on The Principles of Global Education

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Usually it is customary for different nations to hold holidays as a way of honoring certain historical events that took place in this world. But since the nation of Israel once separated from the other nations to carry out a special mission, to realize the correction of human nature upon itself and then to bring all of humanity to this, its holidays, therefore, have a special meaning related to that.

The Scroll (Megilat) of Ester, which is devoted to Purim and which talks about Mordechai, the King Ahashverosh, and Queen Ester who saved the Jews from destruction after the evil Haman planned to kill them, actually explains how to attain that goal. That is why it is written that all the holidays will be canceled in the future with the exception of the holiday of Purim because on that holiday, on that level, the greatest Light shines, which includes all of the previous levels.

All the holidays of the nation of Israel are symbols of special states on the ladder of the spiritual levels which we ascend from this world to the world of Infinity, attaining increasingly greater equivalence to the Creator through bestowal, love, and unification among us. Therefore, every higher level includes all the lower levels as its constituent parts. Purim, the highest level, obviously includes all the previous, smaller levels which are canceled before it and enter it. In the end, not a single holiday remains besides the holiday of Purim.

How do we reach this holiday? Our entire work is based on raising a prayer (MAN) for unification and love among us, which we are trying to attain. All of our work is devoted to correcting the division. At first we have to unite on the level of “bestowal for the sake of bestowal,” which means the quality of Mordechai.

When we reach “the king’s gate” (as the story tells about Mordechai who sat by the king’s gate), there we meet our Haman, the huge and horrifying egoistic desire that becomes revealed to us. Then we have to correct it and receive Light into its Kelim with the intention of Mordechai, “for the sake of bestowal.” That is how one can receive the Light of Mordechai into the Kelim of Haman and attain the end of correction (Gmar Tikkun).

We have to take the force, the “spiritual vessel” from our nature, our egoistic desire, and add to these desires the intention “for the sake of bestowal” so it would begin to rule over us, “to saddle the desire” like Mordechai who rides on top of a horse.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/20/11, Shamati

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The difficulty lies in the fact that a person has to start feeling the need to turn to the environment and ask for the greatness of the goal; otherwise, he won’t reach it. This act is regarded as “Lo Lishma” (not for Her Name) that everything begins with.

A person wants to reach the spiritual world and, having no other option, turns to the environment and seeks in it the greatness of the goal; if not, he will withdraw from the goal for good. Then he begins receiving all kinds of impressions from this greatness, although he first turns to them egoistically and doesn’t feel the need for the environment itself except for the goal. A person only wants to use the environment to reach the goal and for now doesn’t link the former with the latter.

But gradually, he begins to realize that the environment contains all his Kelim, desires, within which he attains the goal, the fulfillment. As he studies and the Light works on him, he begins to feel that the goal itself exists in those very desires which he received from the environment by having united with them. In other words, his bond with the others is the place where the Creator is revealed.

Then, the force of bestowal gradually awakes in his relations with the others, and he realizes that they are that same very Kli, the property of the Creator, thanks to which one becomes similar to Him. There, within these relations with the other people, a person and the Creator meet and become one whole by achieving adhesion.

Egoism that the Creator created as His reverse imprint within the desire must stay! In fact, above and in opposition to it, a person holds himself in the equivalence to the Creator. If he didn’t possess this reverse form, he wouldn’t be able to reach the property of bestowal and recreate himself in the image of the Creator.

Thus, attainment of the greatness of the Creator is our Kli, the soul of each of us, which we receive from the environment and within which we experience our spiritual life.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/16/2011 on Attaining the Greatness of the Creator through the Environment

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Question: The holiday of Purim symbolizes the opposition of two forces: Mordechai and Haman. Then why are we commanded to get so drunk on this day that we can’t tell the difference between Haman and Mordechai?

Answer: This happens after the analysis where you use all of the Kelim, when everything is already clear to the utmost. You have hung Haman and his ten sons on a tree, or in other words, on the tail of the letter Kuf (ק). No more illumination comes beneath the Tabur in order to give life to the impure forces (Klipot). There are no Klipot since you have destroyed all the egoistic intentions.

Previously intentions for the sake of reception, Klipa were below. Klipa lives by virtue of the illumination from above. Above the Tabur are the letters or qualities of Kuf (ק), Reish (ר) , Shin (ש), and Tav (ת). Previously the tip of Tav also descended down, but its “leg was cut off” and now only Kuf descends beneath the Tabur. This means that the Lights descend down, giving life to the Klipa.

This is necessary because the Klipa helps us. It has to exist in order to give us the opportunity of free choice, to place us between good and evil.

Here, below, are Haman and his “family”—all of the egoistic qualities that have joined him. It is important to remember that this is talking precisely about intentions for the sake of reception, rather than about desires. After all, desire is just matter.

After that, from Yesod of Zeir Anpin to Nukva comes the illumination of Mordechai. It comes as a result of the ascent of a plea (MAN) from the souls of Israel, which are below, under the rule of Haman. Then they are all able to ascend upwards with the help of the illumination called Purim—the illumination of Mordechai.

In that case only Haman with his family remain below. After that the leg of the letter Kuf is annulled so the Klipot would no longer receive an illumination, or in other words, Haman is hung on the tree. Then the Klipot inside each of us die because they no longer realize or feel the opportunity to steal or to attain anything.

That is where it all ends. All the egoistic intentions disappear due to not having a footing and everything shifts above the Parsa, into the intention for the sake of bestowal, into the approaching end of correction. Now all of your Kelim are covered by the altruistic intention and you fill them with the Light of Hochma without any restrictions. That is because you have created great, perfect screens which free you from the necessity to make calculations.

The entire matter of Haman, who is under the power of the egoistic desire, has shifted to the altruistic intention. Stated differently, all the desires that were below have ascended upwards. They divided into two groups of 248 and 365 desires, and now even the lowers ones are above because you have cut off the egoistic intentions from them. Thus, nothing remains below.

And since there is nothing below, holiness (Kedusha) expands from Raglin until Sium, until the Mount of Olives.
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/20/11, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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