Question: Not everything that I do in life requires me to solicit help from my friends or from the Creator. However, these actions still lead me to the goal; for example, I get up in the morning and head to the congress all by myself. But there are actions I have been unsuccessfully trying to implement for 20 years now. Does it mean that these actions require applying the efforts that we talk about in the wisdom of Kabbalah?

Answer: No. If you can’t do something at all, then it’s not about your effort. Exertion is about asking to be given strength to do something. Our appeal for forces is the exertion. We apply lots of efforts, but all of them are directed towards ourselves. Efforts start when we see that we are powerless to do anything at all. Real exertions are above human powers. Only when we run out of energy, a place for exertion appears.

How can it be? Let’s say, I can lift a maximum of 100 pounds. Where is my effort here? I won’t lift more than this anyway. So, my effort is about asking for additional strength to increase the load. I did everything that was in my power: I got ready for the congress, registered, arrived, but in fact I am not there yet. We talk with friends, have joint meals, go for a walk, the weather is great, the air is clean…Are any of these actions considered to be my efforts? No! But it is only due to our efforts that we have gathered together.

Our effort is that we want to come to unity, and for that, we perform various actions. If as a result of these actions, each discovers that he did not achieve anything, if he did not rejoice, and groans and cries for salvation, it is called “We shall do and we shall hear.”

“We are ready! So give us strength!” This is what we scream about. In Kabbalah, this demand is called an effort. The Creator performs the action, not us. Our contribution is only the demand.

Question: But this is contrary to my masculinity. I literally humble myself before the Creator…

Answer: So, lower yourself a little. No big deal! Do you always have to be macho? Where you will humble yourself you will see greatness. Modesty is a great thing. Our efforts are all about our demand to be humbled. You have to “pay” your friends to have them help you achieve this.

Question: Are there any examples of this in nature? Do I humiliate a child to raise him?

Answer: No, all you do is repetitively add complications to a child’s life and set up tasks of increasing difficulty for him. As to becoming more humble, it doesn’t originate from Above. You are the one who has to come to this point. This condition emerges when you are helpless, powerless to act and unable to reach the goal. Imagine that you want to lift 400 pounds even though your limit is 350. So, you ask the Creator to help you. Does He humiliate you in this case?

Of course you did everything that was in your power: exercised a lot in order to lift 400 pounds so that you do it yourself rather than be indebted to anybody else. Yet, a spiritual path is different; here, you have to get the power of bestowal, the force of the Light, that you are still lacking. You cannot receive it if you don’t ask for it.

You have to bow your head since otherwise you won’t be able to use this force. Similarly, a young child given adult things would get hurt. The child should move ahead step by step and understand causes and possible consequences so that his knowledge and powers will be a result of his own personal experience. Otherwise, he will turn into a terrible and destructive monster with a little intellect.

Question: Why are our efforts to unite not enough for the Creator? Why does He want us to appeal to Him?

Answer: Your demand signifies that you can use the powers that He gives you correctly. If you open your bestowing vessel properly, it means that you know how to handle the force He gives you, and vice versa, the absence of the correct demand shows that you are not ready to use the Creator’s gift correctly and that it would only hurt you and others if He grants it to you.

This is the reason Plato and Aristotle were against exposing the sciences to the masses. People would acquire powers without any idea of the relationships that exist in nature, without any understanding of cause and effect, and this would lead to complete destruction

Question: So it makes no sense to carry out the actions I can do myself?

Answer: That is true. Accordingly, it is said, “Better sit and do nothing.” If humanity could only be satisfied with basic needs in food, having a family and children, then its path would be much more successful since, in this case, all their other forces would be devoted to the internal advancement and the rest would be left up to the Creator.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/15/13, The Zohar

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In the article, “The Peace,” Baal HaSulam writes about the quotation: “All is in deposit, and a fortress spreads over all of life. The store is open and the shopkeeper sells by deferred payment; the book is open and the hand writes.” [Meaning the Creator records everything that happens.] “And all who wish to borrow may come and borrow,” [the access is unobstructed, and one can take anything one wants] “and the collectors return regularly, day-by-day, and collect from a person knowingly and unknowingly. And they have what to rely on,” [meaning that everything is documented] “and the judgment [a decision on what a person is charged with] “is true, and all is ready for the feast.”

This is the way Kabbalists expressed the essence of our relationship with the Creator.

On one hand, “all is in deposit,” meaning nothing is given to us for free. It’s the law of nature in which we exist in which all its parts are clearly linked in cause and effect relationships.

We judge nature according to ourselves, and so we think that there might be some inaccuracies, confusing and complicated things. But every time when we really explore nature, we discover that the laws are amazingly accurate and we marvel at the wisdom and the interconnectedness of nature.

Presently, scientists recognize that there are other universes and dimensions besides ours.

When I was a child, in school, we were told that our universe is endless and eternal. Then, it became known that it originated 14 billion years ago, and if we are talking about the time, then there is a beginning and end of the universe. This discovery was made by the American scientist Hubble after whom the space telescope is named.

Later, scientists discovered that our universe is not only expanding, that it emerged from a point, but also, that it disappears as evidenced by black holes, etc.

This points to the fact that everything is predetermined and defined in accordance with the laws of conservation, all is absolutely, clearly distributed.

Therefore, it’s said, “the judgment is true, and all is ready for the feast,” meaning for the final and correct state.

However, “a fortress spreads over all of life.” The Creator prepared an elaborate trap for humanity where the upper force guarantees that everybody will eventually return to the right state, but at some stage in the journey, we are given the freedom of will. Presently, we completely lack understanding of this fact. No science apprehends it because science exists in one plane, one line; there is no duality.

When faced with duality, science gets stuck. Science reveals certain properties in nature, as opposed to ours, but it never comprehends the duality. Today, only quantum physics approaches this phenomenon. That’s why it is considered as “out of this world” physics, but not more.

We should change ourselves, our mind, our feelings, and then we will be able to sense behind this a potential barrier, the boundary between the phases—it doesn’t matter what you call it. For us, this is transitioning the Machsom.

The law of nature says that “the book is open and the hand writes… and the collectors return regularly, day-by-day, and collect from a person knowingly and unknowingly” (according to the upper court’s decision) meaning that the whole system is in a state of a precise and sealed form.

However, we have two ways to go: Go to the shop and take whatever we want either knowing that everything is recorded and that we will have to pay the fee, or  without knowing or even thinking about it. If a person is unaware of these things, it means that he still is in a different developmental phase; in this case, he is not being “charged” too much, just according to his level of advancement.

People who study Kabbalah already understand that they are in a state where everything they borrow must be paid back and they automatically sign their names in the shopkeeper’s book. So, the very moment we receive anything, we have to start thinking hard about how to meet the owner, how to return the debt, and how to pay it.

Every moment of our lives is recorded in His book, every breath, heartbeat, and action, because all that we have we receive from Him. “Don’t consider any moment to be insignificant,” each moment of life has to be paid for.

But we have absolutely no way to keep this in mind, nor can we rely on the reminders to make us feel that we are actually marked in His book and that each of us will have to pay since we are in debt and that our debt constantly grows and accrues. And each subsequent time, our obligations become more demanding and rigorous.

We have arrived at an interesting phase where we need to learn this law and to get to know its source. We are led there gradually, as small children. This law of development treats us gently and gives us a chance to get used to it.
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From the Novosibirsk Convention 12/9/12, Lesson 5

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Question: When we study nature and ourselves, we discover that we all totally depend on our genes and surroundings. Compelling evidence suggests that there is no freedom of will whatsoever and that we all are mortal. However, we are not ready to conform to these facts; we ignore the results of our own research and prefer to stay in the illusions that appeal to us. How can this conflict be resolved?

Answer: We study many phenomena, but are not necessarily guided by the results. There are such things as doubts, beliefs, faiths, and egoism after all. Even if we know we’re wrong, we still stick to our “opinion” since this is what we really want. We know this about children, but adults often do the same.

In short, our life is difficult. But in any case, the impartial, reasonable data proven by scientific research should be accepted as facts. Otherwise, in the end, we’ll hurt others and ourselves.

On the other hand, concepts that have not been validated or proven by science cannot be accepted anymore.

Question: So, a human being is an egoistic irrational creature that believes in fairytales if they suit him?

Answer: Really! How can that be? Are we actually triggered by pleasant sensations even if they are wrong? Let’s say, I like to smoke, overeat, and do many other unhealthy things. I don’t care that it harms me as long as I enjoy them. I want to do what pleases me and if I have to pay for it later, who cares.

Such an attitude is irrational. Logically, I have to accept the laws of nature and comply with them, following them as precisely as a machine. However, my desire “spoils” everything and instead, I do what pleases me. This is the way a human being is created. In contrast to inanimate, vegetative, and animate nature, humans are spoiled.

If not for our egoism, we would simply be animals that have a rigid program inserted in them; if it were so, it wouldn’t leave us any choice. Animals don’t face dilemmas like: “To do or not to do something? Should I do it this way or that way? Will it be pleasant or not?” They are governed by rigid commands; that’s it.

And here we are worse than them; we are the worst of all! After all, our egoism stands in our way and prevents us from observing the laws of nature; it doesn’t let us act as we are supposed to, without deviating an inch to the right or to the left, to only walk on the fine line of the route. The laws of nature are immutable, invariable, and infinitely precise; however, the surplus egoism destroys and overwhelms all of us. We do what is good for our ego and it is always is against reason.

This is the way a man turns into a “spoiled animal.” All of our additions to the animate level look extremely good: culture, education, etc. These things are particularly based on our corruption. Literature, music, and other “spiritual heights” result from man’s deficiency after he stopped being an animal. Birds are singing not because they are aspiring to beauty, but do so. Yet, we are different…

In the end, any embellishments to common sense and to science in its pure form are harmful. In fact, all we should promote is science. However, we are making use of everything we can. What can we do about it? In fact, even education, upbringing, and culture, all that is not derived from animal instincts, is flawed and are attempts to compensate them. We don’t realize how strongly we deviate from the way that is given to us by Nature, nor do we understand that we have become an alien element, a “cancerous tumor,” that developed in our collective body. Eventually, the tumor destroys itself and the environment it lives in. Ecology is the best example. Cancerous cells devour the body and die together with it. They cannot stop. This is their form of existence. Egoism acts the same way in us.

So we have to clearly understand where the thin line is, the edge, the partition between science and “science fiction,” that is, religions, beliefs, philosophical concepts, psychological constructs etc. We can use things within the scientific sphere if we do it accurately, like animals following instincts, and don’t make mistakes. Even though we have discovered all sorts of phenomena and developed various methods that are based on our findings, these things still originally exist in nature. Therefore, if we follow the laws of nature, everything goes well. It’s fine if the laws of nature are revealed in science.

However, if we refer to the speculative sphere, to artificial theories and practices, we should keep in mind that all of them are imaginary and false. You cannot apply them in life. In that case, how do we relate to the soul? We did not find its scientific methods and we don’t feel it with our sensors. So does it really exist?

It’s quite possible that science will soon be able to answer this question. Science constantly brings something new out of hiding, corrects current deficiencies, modernizes and improves things that had already been discovered previously. However, we cannot base things on guesswork.

On the other hand, how should we refer to books by Kabbalists who tell us about the soul? Can we rely on them? After all, faith doesn’t work since it is not scientific.

So, until we attain these things ourselves, no evidence proving its existence, we will have doubts.

What can we do?

We should reconcile our natural progression as an “electrochemical driven bio-machine” and clearly realize that we don’t have any freedom of choice except in selecting our surroundings and placing ourselves into the correct environment. It has to be done strictly scientifically; we should see everything around us only through the laws of nature that can be reduced into two parts, which we call “the path of Torah” and the “path of suffering.”
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/3/12, “Body and Soul”

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Preparation to the Lesson

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Shamati #213 “Acknowledging the Desire”

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The Book of Zohar – Selected Excerpt, Parashat “Shlah Leha,” Lesson 7

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Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol. 3, Part 9, Item 117, Lesson 20

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Shamati #25 “Things that Come from the Heart”

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A Virtual Lesson on Fundamentals of Kabbalah

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Question: Is an intention an independent element?

Answer: An intention is what you want of the desire to receive. Today we don’t have a real intention; today we can only judge where it is better to “steal” something, where it is possible to enjoy more: from what, from whom, by what, etc. It is imprinted in our desire to receive as a result of the shattering. But we cannot consider the two options, the two intentions: in order to receive and in order to bestow. We can only calculate the greatest personal benefit we could get from the options we have. I check my desires and choose the most promising option. As far as I am concerned the question is what I can use for my own benefit and where I make a greater profit.

An intention of in order to bestow is above that. By it, I check myself with regard to others. Then my question is different: How can I serve others in order to bestow upon them as much as I can? This is a totally different calculation. How can I do that? In order to do that I have to feel the other and not myself: What is good for him? What does he want? What does he need? I have to be mutually incorporated in him since how else would it be possible to weigh all the options?

So in order to fulfill the desire to bestow, we have to constantly advance towards incorporation with others until we reach actual love. We always face a dilemma on the spiritual levels as to the two ways of clarification—we fall into the shell and we rise again to Holiness.

Today, during the time of preparation, being below the Machsom (barrier), we have not entered this level yet. We study and we play in a group, but later it will actually become a holy society for us. This is where we advance to, by advancing towards the “Exodus from Egypt“,in order to rise from an egoistic clarification to an altruistic one.

This will be our spiritual birth. It is the same with a baby who is born and begins to breathe, to eat, and to feel his body. After the birth, the body begins to operate according to a new clarification that did not exist before—a more conscious one. We too want to move into a new clarification in our body, in our desire.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/8/13, “600,000 Souls”

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Question: Is the point in the heart connected to our corporeal body?

Answer: The body is controlled by desire. Sometimes I lie powerless, asleep, unable to force myself to move. At the same time, I am physically healthy, my blood pressure, my blood sugar level, my heart, lungs, everything is just fine, so why can’t I move? Because I have no desire. I don’t want anything, and it is a kind of melancholy feeling. Sometimes, even if I have a high temperature and I feel dizzy, I run around madly all day in order to solve a certain problem.

The desire leads the flesh into action. This means that we turn to the wisdom of Kabbalah and come to the lesson not with our body but with our desire.

The body is just an “animal” that we bring with us. The dog lies on the carpet near the chair of his owner, and so I settle my body on a chair. I, however, am the desire. The way I work with myself, the way I “format” myself” is how I operate my body. It is merely a “biological machine,” and if it is given enough motivation, then even with a high temperature it will advance towards the goal together with me.

In any case, the desire decides and determines what to do, while the body carries out the order. So first and foremost worry about the desire and not the body.

Besides, you can penetrate more deeply and work with the point in the heart above the desire and above the body. By that you work “against” them and the point determines all your actions by choosing what is most important.

Thus the desire and the point in the heart constantly argue inside you. The argument stems from the fact that the point is another desire, the yearning for the Creator. Eventually, there is a constant struggle between them, but the body does not “intervene.” It acts according to the desire of the winning side, either the desire of the heart or of the point in the heart…

This point has already awoken in some people, and in others it is still asleep in the depths of the corporeal ego. Being in the center of the heart (•), it has to “emerge” and rise above the heart. Just like the worm, in the example Baal HaSulam gives, has to come out of the radish. The time of preparation lasts for thousands of years on the levels of the “nations of the world,” until the point rises by the sufferings. At the end of the ascent the real work with it begins, and at this point people come to us, to Bnei Baruch (BB).

As for the “nations of the world,” these are simply stages along the way. Everyone belongs to the general system, but today we are given the chance to advance consciously. This is what the Light that Reforms has done (the Surrounding Light). Why? We don’t know, but in general, the process takes place according to the order to the emergence of the Reshimot (spiritual genes).

During the shattering, the high Reshimot fell to the lowest place. Now the awakening is starting and here everything depends on which Reshimo a person belongs to, on the root of his soul. Then he will discover this root and will know all the details of his path. In any case, it does not depend on anyone personally. Everyone is operated and has to perform his role.

Question: Sometimes I perceive myself as superior to those who have not been “awakened” yet…

Answer: This is because the Light has not operated on you sufficiently. You are still judging by your ego. In fact, you will not be able to feel superior to any one else, not even an ant. On the contrary, you will feel the Creator in everything. He is behind a certain person or another, He is before you and you cannot have any complaints or disrespect regarding anyone. Even in the greatest enemies who cause the greatest troubles and threaten the nation and the state, you will only see the Creator; they force you to wake up and to correct the connection with Him above the current obstacle. It is He who has placed the obstacle before you, and the intensity of the interruption indicates how strongly you can be connected to Him.

Therefore it says: “Even if a sharp sword is placed on one’s neck, he shouldn’t despair of mercy.”
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/8/13, “600,000 Souls”

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We must constantly take care to be in a good mood. And not because you have heard something funny or because you have had a drink, but because you were awarded to justify the Creator in everything that happens, in every state, at every moment, for any question that may come up in your heart or your mind. Then you are in a good mood.

You justify the Creator for having created a wonderful world. And the more advanced your view, you see the world in greater scrutiny and depth, the more you see the wisdom and benevolence of the upper Providence, and you justify the Creator and judge the whole world to the scale of merit. Thus you become a beneficial, active part of the general soul of the world.

However, whoever has a “sour face” condemns the upper Providence with regard to himself and especially with regard to the whole world. By that he lowers not only himself but also the whole world and tips the scale against himself and the whole world.

This is the reason for all the evil in the world, for all the sufferings. After all, only the Israeli nation, those who yearn for the Creator (Yashar—El) (straight to the Creator) can change anything. They are the only ones responsible for justifying the Creator’s Providence in the vessels of the whole world, and if they don’t do that, then they are clearly the first who get hurt. The punishment also begins with the righteous since they are responsible for the world being in this state.

So we have to understand that this is a closed system and everything depends on the desires that are part of the general vessel that the Creator has created; they need to correct everything and to justify it, and bring the whole world to a perfect state. They must help the desires, which cannot correct themselves, be corrected and bring the Light to their lives until everything is finally corrected.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/1/13, “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot

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Question: In our group there is still no clear, transparent, understandable declaration. What should we care of in making a declaration because its scope could be more or less strict?

Answer: Write one statement: “Love thy neighbor as thyself” and then everything that Rabash recommends for achieving this condition: to lower yourself before the friends, feel them as great, high, and yourself as completely dependent upon them, to be all together in one desire, and to help each other in everything.

Feel that you benefit from the fact that you agree with it, that you annul yourself. The only exceptions are the questions in which you have to express your opinion as an expert because you are sure that something is a detriment and there is a better option, etc. This applies to dissemination, repairs, something that relates only to this world.

As for the relationships between friends, they are all described by Rabash, and it’s best to define them in one word, “love.”
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From the Novosibirsk Convention 12/9/12, Lesson 7

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