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Question: How do we create the right atmosphere today for the Unity Evening at Kibbutz Gaash?

Answer: It is not enough that we speak, we must act. So which physical actions will arouse us so that we will want to serve the external public and turn for its sake from the group to the Creator?

In a group I must nullify myself in spite of rejection, tiredness, and hatred towards the friends, and also in dissemination work I again nullify myself in spite of rejection, hatred, scorn, and ridicule from the public. I have the opportunity to nullify myself everywhere; there are no lack of problems. It is not enough that they “reject” me from two directions; rather, I ask only one thing from the Creator, that He will give me the strength to continue this work. That is how I “scrub” all the dirt of the ego from myself, layer after layer, until I am cleansed, will be pure, and rise to the level of “bestowal in order to bestow.”

During this work I am thrown in all directions, I make various calculations, until finally I truly reach “bestowal in order to bestow” and really work like an ant that doesn’t need anything for itself and has no life of its own.

Let’s go back to the Unity Evening. Which actions can be “imprinted” to demonstrate the work with the group with the general public that is directed towards the Creator? The main thing is to convey some kind of understanding of this work  to people, and on the other hand to exercise free choice. I nullify myself towards the public, towards the group and the Creator, transfer the center of gravity within this range of self-nullification to the intention of the actions.

It is up to us to express and to convey this in our Unity Evening. We connect the points in the hearts. Without this we don’t advance. Specifically the successful events of this type open opportunities for acts of spiritual bestowal before us.

The most serious situations have been offered to us for practical work that never before were given to Kabbalists for practical achievement. No generation before us was given the opportunity to connect the general public in a variety of places to the spiritual concept of connection between everyone, according to the principle “and you shall love your friend as yourself.”

It is clear that we act as much as we can, but this power needs to be drawn from the group. This power is derived from the connection between us. We are united in the face of all the tension, the rejection, the tiredness, and the unpleasant states and convey to people the sum of the individual forces, the collective intensity, of the connection between us.

It will be more and more difficult for us to connect, and through the overcoming that we do we can measure the power that we convey to others. The greater this power is, the greater the resistance, until we reach the state of the students of Rabbi Shimon that initially hated each other intensely, and after that received power from the connection to rise above the hatred. Before such potential, the entire world will be calmed and will accept this help.

Therefore, I don’t bring my power and my excitement from the group to people, but rather the connection between all the points, the collective power that I have acquired among the friends. And only from this will they be excited.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/18/13, Preparation to Unity Evenings

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The desire to receive can be changed in size (in its density), beginning from the root level to the fourth level. And each one of them is divided further and further into sub-levels, and therefore ends with 125 degrees or levels. And everything in our world is also measured according to size, according to quantity, and the quantity influences the quality.

If we take some substance for example, its characteristics are established by the number of electrons, protons, and neutrons within the atom. The quality of the substance depends upon their quantity. If we add electrons, we get a new substance.

That is what happens with the still substance and the same thing can be related to plants, animals, and humans. For us it is more difficult to identify this in regard to our sensations, but this is so. Everything depends on how much effort we make, on the number of details that we gather from them. Therefore it is said, “There is none as wise as the experienced,” because he adds details all the time, until he attains a new quality, a new comprehension and feeling.

Everything depends on the simplest actions. Nothing exists in reality besides reception and bestowal. And in fact even bestowal doesn’t exist; rather, there is reception that transforms into bestowal thanks to intention. Everything is built on “plus” and “minus.”

Therefore all of the work is to constantly add quantity. And the quantity that is gathered begins to demand a new quality, an understanding of why and for what am I doing this. Questions begin to be awakened that bring us to more qualitative actions on a new level already. But also to them we need to add more and more quantity until we reach a new quality.

Through our actions we attract the Light that Reforms that acts all the time and adds a further drop of change all the time. At the end of the matter, “many pennies accumulate into a large sum ” until we reach the ability to carry out intentional actions that are measured not according to the actions themselves but according to the intention.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/13/13

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The Torah, “Exodus,” 22, 25-26: If you take your neighbor’s garment as security, until sunset you should return it to him; for it is his only covering, it is his garment for his skin. With what shall he lie? And it shall be (that) if he cries out to Me, I will hear because I am gracious.

During the days when the Torah was written, clothes were very expensive, so people did most of the house chores naked so that the clothes would not wear out. Even two centuries ago clothes were passed down from a grandmother to her granddaughter, etc. In the region where the state of Israel is located today people used to wear clothes made of wool, which took a long time to make and lots of work: weaving the fabric, sewing, etc. Even today in Tunisian wool is very expensive.

In spirituality “attire” refers to a Masach (screen) that a person acquires. So if you borrow it you have to return it the same day since it is impossible to leave a person without a Masach for the night, which means in a state of darkness. It isn’t about the sunlight but about an internal state, when a person feels that he is in the dark or in the light.

In other words, as long as a person feels the Light that sustains him and performs a certain kind of work on him, you can borrow his Masach and work with it. But when he descends into the night, you have to return it to him.

Question: What does “what shall he lie” mean?

Answer: Surprisingly, in ancient times clothes were even more necessary during the night than during the day. According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, at “night” you have to be protected from the dark by a Masach. It’s because the spiritual attire is a kind of a Masach over the desire to receive, which thus acquires an intention of in order to bestow.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 5/27/13

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Question: What does inclusion in the deficiencies of others mean? How does this happen?

Answer: When you are concerned for others, you are included in all of their deficiencies. They say that by way of five people you are connected with the entire world. It’s logical that if our groups work with dissemination, for example in South America, as of today close to half a billion people live there, so by way of connection with a few thousand people, by way of the general network, they receive the deficiencies of tens, and even hundreds of millions of people.

Our groups disseminate integral education to all corners of the world and in a form like this they awaken this connection. It’s logical that all the deficiencies caught in one “fish net” reach our center, and from here the method of correction is derived. And we absorb the deficiencies of the entire world and continue to raise them upwards to the Creator, to the “Malchut de Ein Sof,” wanting to be “as one man with one heart.”

When we work in the form of a pyramid like this, we correct the entire world and carry out work that is called the “work of the Kohanim – priests,” the work entrusted to Israel. All human deficiencies belong to the material world, the need for nourishment, sex, family, money, respect, and knowledge. But we have reached such a crisis that we are not prepared even to fulfill the earthly desires without the right connection between us. And this shattering is discovered more and more every day.

Formerly we endured various private problems, divisiveness in the family, problems at work, and problems in the education of children. These problems did not threaten our existence directly. But today the problems have already risen to the level of the general ecology, health, the breakdown of the concept of the family, and mass unemployment. These are simple daily problems that our existence depends upon in this world.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/14/13

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Baal HaSulam, “Exile and Redemption”: This is why our sages said, “Israel is the fiercest of the nations,” as one whose mind is broader is most obstinate.

This is a psychological law. And if you do not understand me, go and study this lesson among the contemporary members of the nation: While we have only begun to build, time has already disclosed our fierceness and assertiveness of the mind, and that which one builds, the other ruins.

…This is known to all, but there is only one innovation in my words: They believe that in the end, the other side will understand the danger and will bow his head and accept their opinion.

This is exactly how different parties in parliament—members of the same party and any person against himself—fight. This division means that everything is in contrast to everything else. Everyone insists on what they believe. Everyone zealously guards his own views, expecting his rival to succumb and agree with him. The parties insist and confront each other, competing as to who is stronger and who is more determined. It makes no difference whose approach is more just since they are all after who will rule. Everyone is looking for the means to dominate others by force and/or cunningness.

There is no hope for peace and for correction under such conditions. It is clear that the people are under the domination of all these rivals and never will really benefit from the “circus” at the top.

We, however, must have no part in this struggle. We turn to the people only for one reason: to connect everyone and set an example of how connection helps us organize things and win. It isn’t about beating others, but about beating the problems. This is the only way we can act, and this is actually what Baal HaSulam tried to convey to Ben Gurion (the first Israeli prime minister) and to other leaders. He tried to explain how to establish the right relationships in government and how to build society and the state.

Generally speaking, we can be part of the municipal, state, or global leadership, but only if you are strong enough to hold onto connection between everyone and constantly work on that. In that case, it makes no difference what issue is discussed, whether it is national security, education, housing, problems of different parts of the population, and so on. You only say one thing: It is possible to correct it on the basis of connection and we must establish the right relationships between people. Later, based on this, we can solve any problem (if there any are left) after we connect correctly.

According to this approach, we don’t take part in the general quarrel, but rather accumulate the power given to us by the people so that eventually we will subdue all the quarrelers by the main solution, which is the need for integral education and the connection of the people. Even if they don’t believe us, it is important that we reach a mutual agreement that will allow us to fulfill this method. It already will bring about the changes.

We never should argue with anyone about anything, no matter what, except for the one main thing: that we can reach a solution only through integral education and the connection between us.

This is the difference between us and the others since they discuss the solution for a certain problem, while we speak about the universal means, about the approach that we must fulfill in order to solve any problem. Generally speaking, we see this world as a means for correction, and they see it as an arena for their activities. We think that we should correct ourselves, and they believe that we should correct the world. It is a huge difference, the difference between the cause and the effect.

One might wonder how connection is relevant to housing, to the educational system, and to other problems. We say that we should connect first and then solve the problems. In the meantime, people are receiving integral education gradually, and the problems disappear. When a person’s nature changes as a result of the right educational method, he already begins to look at life differently.

We still must clarify this mechanism, but it already is clear that there are advantages and disadvantages to this approach. The advantage is that we don’t fight others on their territory. As long as they fight, we sit aside since we know that none of their solutions will work, but only our solution. Why? It is since they don’t understand the main thing: that the problem in the world is the lack of connection. This is where all the problems stem from. So, instead of discussing endless numbers of problems, we must treat the root of the problems: the fact that we are separated.

However, in order to grow stronger and activate the means and the resources needed to fulfill integral education, we need great support from the public. We must turn to the public, avoiding any arguments, and receive the power from the people. We don’t need power in order to prove that someone has beaten someone else. On the contrary, we work where we have no competition. No one else can be where we are.

On the other hand, however, this is also a disadvantage. The struggles between them are evident. People go out to the street in order to achieve something, and the leaders talk about that. We are very abstract, vague, and may seem to speak about a fantasy of some blurry connection among people. However, if we do succeed in explaining that the real power is in the connection between us and that it will help us change our lives, we will be able to draw very far away from all the “wise guys” and advance safely along our path.

As long as society assumes that everything depends on blind fate, the parties will continue to argue about the methods and the solutions for different problems. However, in fact, no one can solve them since they stem from nature and it requires the understanding of the general system that currently is concealed from humanity. So, we must connect it to the force of the Light, to be the link, and then we will succeed in carrying out our mission.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/14/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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In the News (from the UN News Center): “UN unveils ‘Free & Equal’ campaign to promote lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender rights. With consensual, same-sex conduct a criminal offence in more than one-third of the world’s countries, the United Nations human rights office today launched its first global public education campaign to raise awareness and respect for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) equality.”

My Comment: Anything that can limit the birth rate, shorten life expectancy, reduce the population of the planet is a priority for the elite and the UN that is managed by it.
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Question: How can women help one another to pass through the states to become one? How can we work as a single Kli (vessel)?

Answer: I cannot put myself in the place of the woman. Sometimes I try to be clothed in her, but even from a state of spiritual perception it is impossible to feel the woman: her inner world, her comprehension, her philosophy of life. This is something completely opposite to a man.

Therefore when women ask questions like these, I don’t know what to answer. What can we do to become one? I can repeat those words with which you are familiar no less than I am. There are no other words or actions. The unity of women, this is a big problem.

For men it is easier to get rid of linking the spiritual work to their physical representation and to be left only with emotion. For a woman it is much more difficult to be released from the link with her external appearance and to be left only with emotion. After all, she embodies the desire that is linked to the source of fulfillment. And therefore she cannot get rid of her external appearance, and not from how she is seen, comprehended and felt by others.

To a man it doesn’t matter. For him all this is not important. He has another, freer relationship with himself and the world. The relationship of the woman is more dependent.

Therefore I don’t know what to advise. You simply need each one within herself and between you, to be more honest, more objective; each one directed not to herself but to everyone. You need to learn from each other how to go outside of yourselves, for this happens differently for you than for the men and in a much more complex manner.

It is very difficult to contend with this obstacle, but this is the work of the woman. With women this happens laterally, with men, vertically. That is how we grow. A woman is like a Kli, and a man is like the source, the conductor, the channel for her fulfillment. That is how this works together.

It is said that the Kli of the woman is wide and short (wide from the presence of Ohr Hassadim, and short from a lack of Ohr Hochma), while the male Kli is long and narrow (long from the presence of Ohr Hochma, and narrow from a lack of Ohr Hassadim). And this is not just in physiological form, but also according to the inner comprehension, according to the correction. Therefore it is necessary to work.

I repeat and say: It is necessary to be honest, not to be afraid of learning from one another how to do this. In no way to play one against the other, after all, you feel how each one plays, does something by herself. Be released from everything external. Don’t look at the outside—this is your task.
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From the St. Petersburg Convention “Day Three” 7/14/13, Lesson 5

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Question: How can one be in agreement with all the situations and at the same time to be directed towards the goal? How is it possible to knowingly attract the Light?

Answer: One has to try to feel the inner soul that directs you. Thus, it is called “wind” (Ruach – spirit), as if it moves within you and directs you.

In order to feel this, we are involved in connection and unity. Why does the connection give us the possibility to feel this spirit, this force of life that moves within us and motivates everything around us, but we feel only the results of it? Because the breaking of matter occurred; it, as if, broke into pieces and this spirit that holds together this material is not able to move, is not able to fill it.

The disconnection of this material causes suffering in us, lack of life, which is felt more and more, but we have to try to connect and unite the desires, as if collecting these fragments. And then we allow this spirit, this Light (Ohr Nefesh) to move, and we feel how it gives us life, how it requires us to be in motion both emotionally and intellectually.

In this way we collect more and more of these fragments; fitting them together, we will feel in what sense they go with each other, how complex the combination of our broken desires, our feelings, is. We will see the work of the Light in assembly, in correction, in complementing, all of us into one whole.

And that is the attainment of the Creator, of the 125 levels of attaining Him. But they all come from our attempts to connect between us and by that we invite great influence of the Light, of the spirit, that can already move even through the gaps between the part of the desire (matter), that all our movements are towards that, i.e., we towards Him and He towards us.
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From the Convention in St Petersburg 7/14/13, Lesson 5

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Question: All kinds of thoughts and desires are awakened in me and I find myself in all kinds of states in life. If I know that they all come from the Creator, how should I react to them? How can I strengthen the link with the Creator through them?

Answer: First, if I am detached from the Creator, I must be sorry about this. After all, in our world there cannot be anything worse than detachment from the connection with him.

Therefore, I need to hold myself “on the line”, and not forget that this is the Creator who constructs all of reality for me. He portrays in my imagination this “picture of existence” that is drawn with the five senses: There is myself, the world in which I exist, and there is some kind of external force that causes this sensation for me. And so I don’t want to divert my glance from this “picture” with the three components: I, the world, and the Creator. To the degree that I relate the feeling of myself and of the world within me to the Creator, to that degree I am found in a connection with him.

In the meantime this link is not apparent, not clear, but is already felt internally. In order to strengthen it, I need a group, study, and teacher—the unique part of the reality that I can use. All the rest of reality is opposite from the Creator and conceals Him from me. It only confuses me, even though this is for my own good. In contrast to this, the teacher, the group, and the study help me on the way if I relate to them correctly, don’t make light of them, but value and respect them. When I want to approach them, they approach me, are ready to help me and influence me more strongly. Thus I also try at every moment of my life to go together with the higher power.

And the picture of reality is the divider between us until I discover its activity in everything that happens between me and the higher power. And then the entire world transforms into a bridge that links between us.

When I look at everything that happens to me, in thoughts and desires, and at what happens in the external world, I want to see the thought of creation behind all of this: Why does the Creator act like this? As is understood, He acts for my own good and helps me build the right connection. And I am excited all the time and from morning to evening go through an incessant series of exercises.

In other words, I must keep in the direction of the unity of Israel, the Torah, and the Creator. “Israel,” this is me trying to discover the Creator, and specifically by discovering the Creator, I see my goal, the “Torah,” this is the entire world that I must connect into one Kli, one desire. Gradually I discover my part and my Kli to which I relate without hatred already, but with love and empathy. After all, I know that behind them stands the Creator, and therefore these parts lose their negative character. Now I look at them like I look at the Creator who activates them in order to change my attitude.

In a form like this, I begin to love the worst things in the world, and they transform into the best means of advancement for me. This is speaking about the hatred, the ugliest events, wars, and so forth. Suddenly they transform into states that bring me closer to the Creator, and by way of them, on a background of threats and pain, I feel how the negativity transforms into a good, wonderful feeling, into absolute love from the side of the Creator. The evil transforms to good.

In the essay, “The Creator’s Concealment and Revelation,” Baal HaSulam explains this transformation. The concealment adds a minus to everything, and so everything in my eyes is harmful, all people are evil, the payoff is not enough, and the family endures illness, and so on. And suddenly I see an opposite picture: Everyone is healthy, the payoff is enough, there are no enemies, there aren’t bad and disgusting people, and so forth.

Everything depends on discovering the higher supervision. It is not necessary to correct anything externally; there is only one task: to discover the guidance of the Creator.

This changes our relationship to correction from the root. It becomes clear that only the work between us, with whose help we are strengthened in order to discover the higher supervision, can change the world. And therefore, if we advance in a large group that makes massive and widespread dissemination to the degree that the Creator reveals its potential, with this we transform all parts of reality into active parts directed at discovery of the Creator.

After all, I feel the world and myself with my desire as two parts: an inner Kli and an outer Kli. And this is saying that I simply connect to myself, attribute to myself, more and more parts, in particular those that are related to human nature in which there is free choice, and after that, according to the degree of correction, also the parts of the nature of the still, vegetative, and animate.

This happens like this. First we attract to ourselves the components of the still, vegetative and animate that relate to human nature, and then their counterparts that are portrayed for us as the animate, vegetative, and still of this world are also combined with us. Thus all of reality transforms into being a single corrected Kli.

What is derived from all this is that we lack only one thing—maximal connection—so that with the help of the teacher, the group, and the study, it will be possible to make all of us as active a part as possible that is directed throughout the day towards discovering the unity of Israel, the Torah, and the Creator.

In addition to this, the Creator appoints us to correct the entire external world: our external parts, the desires, the external Kelim. And we are obliged to combine them also, to discover in them the guidance of the Creator who is good and does good, that there is none else besides Him.

Therefore, a person must seek the Creator at every moment when he grasps the end of the rope, the thought, or the desire that is a reminder of the higher guidance that he is required to discover.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/07/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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