Baal HaSulam, The Study of the Ten Sefirot, Part 1, “Table of Questions and Answers for the Meaning of the Words”: Item 15. What is Zakh. Behina Aleph (the first phase) of the will to receive is defined as more bright (Zakh) than the three Behinot (phases) that follow her.

“Fine” and “rough” are defined relative to the will to receive. In the root phase, Keter, there is no depth (Aviut) to the desire to enjoy at all, but only the will to bestow is given, instilled by the Creator in every creature. Therefore, the first phase (Aleph) is the beginning of the creature, its desire to enjoy, and it is brighter and finer than the other three phases that follow.

This is because it hasn’t yet experienced many impressions from the influence of the Creator, the Light, which makes it the brightest. The Light hasn’t yet developed it to the depth of desire suitable for use. It is still the very beginning, the embryo of the desire, and in this sense, it’s the closest to the Light.

It doesn’t yet have any independent action and its own reaction. However, when it begins to react at the end of the first phase, it causes the emergence of the second phase, Bet.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/20/2011, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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The Torah starts with the condition of loving another as yourself. Under this condition a person comes from love for the other to love for the Creator and reaches adhesion. And adhesion with the upper force is the purpose of creation that we have to reach.

Granted, we cannot talk about this when we’re disseminating to the masses. We hide this part in the same way that we do not tell children the entire truth about our world all at once. We gradually, as much as it is possible, disclose the truth to the parts of desire or the people who are not ready to hear it in full. We tell them what they can accept, what is close to them, and what will benefit them. And then, as they grow, we reveal to them more and more.

According to the principle of love for the other, I should come to a state when all desires of another become more important and greater to me than my own. I use my desires, my forces, to service the other, in order to fulfill his desires.

Indeed, we are built in such a way that we can fulfill the desires of the other by means of our own desires, but only through the Creator. I have nothing to give to others, but if I turn to the Creator in order to satisfy the desires of another, my vessel will suddenly appear to be designed precisely for this: to establish a connection with the Creator and receive from Him what I intend to give to the other.

Thus, the action starts from the other whose desires I want to accept as my own, above myself, to raise his desires along with my own to the Creator, to receive forces and fulfillment from Him, and give them to the other.

This reminds us about what we study during the lessons: Malchut ascends to Zeir Anpin and rises together with him to Bina. They are also called two brothers; one of them is the first born who takes twice as much in order to grow up and be ready to perform a Zivug (coupling) that will allow carrying the Light to the lower one. This is what happens in our relationships as well. All the souls act in this manner.

Thus, anyone who bestows to the other takes the form of Zeir Anpin. And everyone who receives takes the form of Malchut, Shechina, which connects to Zeir Anpin, to the upper one, the giving friend. Thus, we actualize the theory which we study during the lessons on The Study of the Ten Sefirot.
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From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/27/2011, “Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah)”

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Modern technologies allow for the provision of all our necessities in a 3-4 hour work day. But egoism forces us to strive for greater revenue, which means producing more and imposing unnecessary products and services on consumers.

This is why almost 60% of the cost of the product is its promotion. We are habituated to acquire and consume, to walk around in huge superstores instead of parks, and to replace “old” with new since broken things are not supposed to be fixed, need to expire in a certain time, and be replaced with new items. This leads to the exhaustion of nonrenewable resources and keeping people at work for eight hours a day.

If we were to refuse to produce all nonessential goods, if we stopped producing items that are intentionally made to expire quickly and cannot be repaired, then up to 80% of the manufacturing industry will free up to provide all the world’s population with the necessary level of existence.
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Question: How do I avoid misleading myself into thinking that I’m advancing, but also assess my advancement accurately?

Answer: You cannot assess your advancement properly since you don’t have any means of measuring it. Until you’ve reached the spiritual world, you are unable to fathom what is in your possession, just as a child cannot differentiate between playing with toys and reality.

Similarly, an adult who works in a big company, a science lab, or a vast social system, who considers himself big, important, and involved in serious work doesn’t sense that he lives on a tiny planet near the border of a small galaxy, lost in the universe. Everyone feels his place in accordance with his degree.

But how do we receive a portion of the Light so that we can measure ourselves against it at our degree? It doesn’t have to be a complete assessment relative to our final, fully corrected state (this cannot be done until the end of correction), but we will gradually move toward it along the “right” and “left” lines. And we will use the “right” and “left” impressions to correctly balance ourselves along the “middle line.”
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From the 1st part of the DailyKabbalah Lesson 4/28/2011, Writings of Rabash

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Shamati (I Heard), No. 166, “Two Discernments in Attainment”: There are two discernments: 1) the cascading of the worlds from Above downward; 2) from below upward.

First discernment: “that God has created and performed.” This means that the Creator has prepared for us a place for work. Second discernment: when we begin to engage and clothe from below upward. However, before we achieve the completion of the degree, we cannot know anything for certain. This is called “learning first, understanding next.”

A little one, who is beginning to eat bread, still has no knowledge, but only of the bread. And when beginning to grow, he begins to understand that there is a reason for the bread, which causes the shape of the bread….

Thus he continues until he comes to the state when the wheat is taken and sowed in the ground. Until then, he can only receive from the bread, meaning reduce the bread that exists in the world. But afterwards he already knows how to add.

If I simply take a piece of bread and start eating it, I will feel only pleasure which dresses in the desire and nothing else. Then, I begin to think about what the bread is made of. This is its previous stage. In order to reach this previous stage, I must delve into it, rise to it, and attain it.

It was the state that preceded the bread, for example, the dough. I have to advance and to learn about its existence. I rise one step above myself, from the bread to the dough, and attain what happened during the expansion from Above downward, from the dough to the bread.

Then, I ascend higher, from the dough to flour and water, and find out that the dough is made from them. Then, I advance even higher and understand from what source the water is taken and that the flour is made of grain. Where does grain come from?

Thus, I move higher and higher until I reach the source. From my perspective, I went toward the root, but I understand that the levels cascaded from the root down toward me until they reached “the bread.”

“Bread” means pleasure. I examine my desire all the time: It is pleasure or lack thereof, the reason why I do not have pleasure, and how to reach it. I have nothing else to explore. All of our life and its sensations revolve around this.

Through the actions, I attain the root from which come the entire attitude toward me, myself, and this entire path from Above downward, which also contains within itself my return from below upward. If I reach the root, I attain the true state. All the previous states that were revealed by me until then (which formed during the descent from Above downward and in my ascent upward to the root) were only necessary for me to reveal this single, existing state.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/27/2011, Shamati #166

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Question: What lesson for my work can I take away from the fact that reality is relative?

Answer: Reality is relative with respect to the one who attains it. Presently, I’m revealing some kind of reality, which appears to me in my desire and is called “my world.”

In my world there is a concealment “from above downward,” which I reveal, and my attainment “from below upward.” This division forces me to achieve a state where my movement “from above downward” merges with the movement “from below upward” into a single whole to the greatest possible depth.

In other words, I must aspire to make my attitude toward the Creator from below equivalent to the Creator’s attitude to me from Above. This is portrayed in the example with the guest and the host. If we equalize completely, that means we’ve achieved the deepest kind of connection, Malchut of the world of Infinity.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/27/2011, Shamati #166

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Question: I address the Creator to help me with bestowal to a fellow human being. Could you please describe this in more scientific language because, essentially, the Creator is the law of nature?

Answer: As we know, Malchut should cancel itself before Zeir Anpin (ZA). Then, ZA accepts its desire, and their desires rise together to the mother, to Bina. In response, Bina has to give Zeir Anpin an adult state (so that ZA grows up) as well as the Light for Malchut.

This is what the giver attains. If you ever really want to give to your friend, you will get twice as much. What you give him will create an adult state in you, a higher status, so that you produce your friend’s degree and give it to him.

For him, you will be great spiritually; you will be the giver. In this role, you receive new desires from him, and from Above, you get fulfillment. Thus, you constantly “expand” by receiving desires from others and the Light from Above.

This is what it means to be the giver. However, you “expand” in your vessels of bestowal. Here, a psychological transformation is hidden. How can you grow bigger in bestowal? Where is the profit? How do I fulfill myself? What fills me up?

Our problem is that we do not feel much gain in the vessels of bestowal. But this is obvious from the graph.
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From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/27/2011, “Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah)”

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Last week, our supplementary education center for children and youth celebrated its birthday. Here are some pictures from the event.

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