Baal HaSulam, The Study of the Ten Sefirot, Part 1, “Table of Questions and Answers for the Meaning of the Words“: Question 39: What is the Middle Point (Nekuda Emtzait)? This is the name of Behina Dalet (phase four) in Ein Sof (Infinity). She is named after her unification with Ohr Ein Sof (the Light of Infinity).

We begin to perceive ourselves, our existence, only after having reached the fourth phase. This is because we can only feel our own being in contrast to its opposite: the upper root.

This feeling is revealed at the last, fourth phase of the fourth phase (Behina Dalet de Dalet). This is because the fourth phase is the desire to enjoy starting to get to know herself. All of the previous phases have to be revealed inside of her.

Phases zero, one, two, and three are separated from the root and build themselves inside of the fourth phase. The last, fourth phase gathers up the experience of all of these phases and reveals herself and her relationship toward Him, that is, attains what the upper one is doing with her, relative to them.

This fourth phase of the fourth phase discovers herself as the desire to enjoy. In her upper part, she comes to the understanding and attainment of the root, while at the bottom part, her own relationship, the reaction to the revelation of the Creator’s relationship to her, is already apparent. This reaction is the feeling of shame that makes her perform the First Restriction (Tzimtzum Aleph).

As it is written, this phase is called the middle point (Nekuda Emtzait) “after her unification with Ohr Ein Sof (the Light of Infinity),”  meaning that all of the Light of infinity is revealed in her before she feels the shame and decides to perform the restriction.

All of this is concentrated inside the fourth phase (Dalet) at the borderline where her upper part ends. In this part she senses the Creator’s attitude toward her and thus cleaves to Him, meaning that she is included into Him and annuls herself before this Light, the Creator’s love.

This happens exactly at the border, after which the lower part and a new revelation begin. In the state of her merging with the Creator, where she attains her full unity with the Light and loyalty to Him with all of her heart and soul by virtue of her nature, at the very depth of this unity, she suddenly discovers a quality in the Creator to which she cannot connect.

This is because now sbe is not connected to the Creator Himself, but to the fulfillment that she is receiving from Him. That is why she feels their connection as an imperfect one. There is one more quality in the Creator, the quality of the giving one, and she is not able to connect to this quality. That is why she begins to feel shame. In the very depth of her connection to and dependence on Him, like that of a baby feeding completely from the mother, she discovers that He is opposite to her.

This arouses terrible shame inside of her because she is located right inside the Creator, in the closest connection to Him. This feeling of shame builds the four reverse phases when she decides what to do with this discrepancy and comes from the root of feeling the shame to its fourth phase, to the decision to restrict herself and not receive the Light anymore. Now, she begins to search for how to merge under the conditions of equality and similarity of qualities, and not by restricting herself and becoming one who is fully receiving.

This is the middle point, the one that was completely merged with the Creator before it started to burn with shame and all subsequent actions took place.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/27/2011, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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Dear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. The commentaries in brackets are mine.

Two Ways to Discover the Wholeness

There are two ways to discover the completeness: the path of Torah and the path of pain.
– Baal HaSulam, “The Solution”

There are two authorities in the conduct of development:

• The authority of Heaven, the rule of natural law of development which transforms egoism into bestowal through suffering;
• The “authority of the earth,” the rule of people who have taken the laws of development under their own government, manage their correction, and can free themselves entirely from the long and painful path of natural development.

– Baal HaSulam, “Peace in the World”
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Shamati #21 “When One Feels Oneself in a State of Ascent″
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The Book of Zohar – Selected, Chapter “Truma (Donation),” “A Time of Good Will,” Item 545, Lesson 22
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Talmud Eser Sefirot Part 1 “Table of Answers for Topics” Item 65, Lesson 38
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Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah, Item 24, Lesson 17
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“The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee),” Lesson 1
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Question: Can we present mutual guarantee to people as a guarantee of security?

Answer: Possibly, yes. If you find a direct, understandable connection that equates mutual guarantee to security, you will have an opportunity to turn to the nation with an appeal to unite together as one man with one heart, in mutual love, above all the differences between us.

Go ahead, act, but under an indispensable condition: Your words have to convince people that one can put an equation sign between mutual guarantee and security. Essentially, our promise has to satisfy a certain desire of theirs:

• Mutual guarantee = security;
• Mutual guarantee = cheap goods;
• Mutual guarantee = freedom;
• Mutual guarantee = a good climate.

It’s not important what it is in particular, but the idea of them being identical has to be there. This is the basis of the advertisement, agitation, and approach to people.

Then we should study the needs of different circles we would like to approach and to prepare accordingly. We are not going to sell them yet another product. On the contrary, we will hand a gift to them on a silver platter, a real “work of art.” It will be like a spiritual formula for babies, and they will only have to open their mouths. This is what they need to feel: There is no need for any effort, just receiving a gift.

You start with something small: “Let’s watch a movie, visit an Internet site, or read a book.” It’s not even an action; it’s just passive participation. It’s another thing to press on a button: This is a problem, it’s hard work for a person. By himself, he would keep pressing on it the entire day, but when you are offering it to him, doing it even once becomes a serious challenge.

We should take into account man’s nature and use presentation methods that attract him: films, performances, and songs, everything that can become a nice packaging for our message so that it will be gradually absorbed. But in one way or the other, the message has to be close to man and his desires.

Circulation is a fine matter, and we must become experts in it.
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From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/12/2011, “Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah)”

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Kabbalah for the Nation Introductory Lecture Series, “Development of Life”
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We are glad to introduce our Cameroon group. They came together from different cities around the country for a gathering of friends.

[Show slideshow]

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Question: What can a person do when he is unable to overcome himself when there is gossip and insinuations in the group?

Answer: This is a problem. If we are connected at least with one letter of the wisdom of Kabbalah, then everything that happens with us from now on is only connected to the friends and the attainment of the Creator in the group. There is no other cause for the events in our life. No matter what happens to you, all the good and the bad goes in line with the goal. You have entered a spiritual highway.

People around the world are still at the stage when their egoistic desire is growing. This will continue until they reach a point where the problem will become revealed to them: either a worldwide crisis of the integrated interconnection or the point in the heart.

However, our failures only come from careless work in the environment. And once again, you can correct all the problems only in the environment, only in a mutual connection with the friends. Why is it so? It’s because this way you awaken the Light which does all the work. It is the Light that organizes and determines everything in your life from physical health to spiritual well-being. Everything depends on its presence or lack thereof.

This way, the work in the group is a universal method that allows you to attain success in everything.

Question: How do we make sure that the group is the only territory of our work? How do we stay on this track?

Answer: For every person to remember it and feel its importance, we need a common opinion and mutual guarantee. I must make sure I do not forget that my life on all its levels and in all details depends only on the well-being of the group, its perfection.
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From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/10/2011, “Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah)”

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Question: Why do I reveal hatred toward the friend within myself? Is it so that I would not receive personal, individual pleasure from the Creator?

Answer: What you feel toward the friend is not so much hatred, but rather rejection or antagonism for various reasons. You certainly reject, hate, and refuse to accept the Creator to the same extent. And this presents you with an opportunity for correction. After all, you reveal a space for work, your own “construction zone.” This is the only way we advance; we have no other area for work.

This is what differentiates the science of Kabbalah from all other methods. One would think that it tells us about some lofty matters, some empyreal spheres, while in truth there is nothing in Kabbalah except work in the group with friends, a very simple and real work.

Humanity as a whole is also approaching this need. All nations will need to become one “group”; otherwise, they will have no right to exist. The upper Light constantly affected us and led us to this point, and today it illuminates the desire to such depth that we must understand: We will not survive without unity. From now on our life does not depend on the economy and trade, like during the past 50 years. We depend more and more on human interconnection; we need to unite our souls.

In this manner, Lights affect the vessels, penetrating them deeper and deeper and illuminating this need. Whether we want it or not is irrelevant. The engine of the generator picks up speed, the illuminator amplifies the brightness of the projectors, and their glow protrudes into the depths of our desires.
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From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/10/2011, “Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah)”

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In the News (from unesco.org): The 8th Forum of Ministers of Social Development in Latin America opened yesterday in the Republic of El Salvador. “This edition of the Forum will focus on social policies for youth and social inclusion in Latin America. Convened within the framework of the UNESCO Management of Social Transformations (MOST) Programme, its main objective is to strengthen linkages between social science research and public policies, especially those addressing poverty eradication and social development….

Organized by the Ministry of Work and Social Security of the Republic of El Salvador, in cooperation with UNESCO, the event will also gather representatives from several United Nations agencies such as UNICEF, ECLAC, UNDESA, ILO; representatives from several social science networks, such as the Latin American School of Social Sciences (FLACSO) and the Latin American Council of Social Sciences (CLACSO); officers from the Andean Community of Nations, Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), and the Social Institute of MERCOSUR; and several academic experts of the region.”

Our involvement: A representative of the Ashlag Research Institute (ARI), Ms. Norma Livne, has been invited to participate in the Forum and represent our views on upbringing and education at the Forum’s lectures and seminars.
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Opinion: (Michael Mandelbaum, the Christian A. Herter Professor of American Foreign Policy and director of the American Foreign Policy Program at SAIS, the author of a new book, The Frugal Superpower: America’s Global Leadership in a Cash-Strapped Era): The world’s only superpower, burdened with debt, is becoming weaker. “American foreign policy stands on the brink of substantial belt-tightening. The mounting expenses of servicing the growing national debt, combined with the skyrocketing costs of Social Security and Medicare as the 78-million-strong baby-boom generation retires, will leave less money for American initiatives abroad. …

The burden that these obligations will impose on Americans—in the form of higher taxes and fewer benefits—will weaken public support for the expansive international role that the United States has played since World War II.

This will change the world, and not for the better. American foreign policy, for all its shortcomings, has underpinned political stability around the world.”

My comment: This stabilizing role in a “cash-strapped era” is being reduced and may disappear. The world will become unpredictable. The American departure from Iraq, Pakistan, and other countries in Asia is fraught with consequences (terrorism, drug trafficking) for the whole of Europe and Asia.
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