Audio Version Of The Blog – 12/27/24
Posted on December 27th, 2024
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We must always consider the goal, which is to “do good to His creations.” If the evil inclination comes to a person and asks him all of Pharaoh’s questions, he should not reply with lame excuses, but say, “Now, with your questions, I can begin with the work of bestowal.”
This means that we should not say about the questions of the evil inclination that it came to us in order to lower us from our degree. On the contrary, now it is giving us a place to work, by which we will ascend on the degrees of wholeness. That is, any overcoming in the work is called “walking in the work of the Creator,” since each penny joins into a great amount.” That is, all the times we overcome accumulate to a certain measure required to become a Kli for the reception of the abundance (Rabash, Article 22, “The Whole of the Torah Is One Holy Name“).
Spiritual advancement begins with working on a very small egoistic desire—at the degrees of the inanimate, vegetative, and animal nature—because we have nothing else within us.
After many millennia of animalistic development, we reach a special stage where a question arises within us about the meaning and essence of life. This marks the beginning of the “human” degree. It is this distinction that separates the animal within us from the human within us.
With this desire we begin to search for how to continue existing. I can no longer live purely at the animalistic level, even though it still attracts me, holds me down, and prevents me from rising, as if tying my feet to the egoistic plane.
Every individual, as well as society and humanity as a whole, passes through these stages. We can see that there is no other way—the upper force, the program of governance, drives us into a state where we are compelled to begin our spiritual development. This can happen either through suffering, through being pushed toward happiness with a “stick,” or through being drawn toward spirituality with something sweet; there is no other path.
To advance without suffering, as humanity has done for ages through plunging itself into new wars, new problems, and dreadful conditions, we must preemptively attract the upper force. This force would not push us forward with suffering, but would instead draw us ahead with pleasures.
If we unite with one another, we will reveal the Creator—the quality of bestowal, the quality of love, and the quality of connection.
Humanity is now approaching this point as more and more people are becoming interested in the wisdom of Kabbalah. This wisdom is built precisely on the development of egoism.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/3/19, Writings of Baal HaSulam “There Is None Else Besides Him”
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Question: Can we say that our common feeling moves the group forward?
Answer: What moves us forward is precisely our unity in the effort to reveal the Creator within it, which is the most central point, the point of our balance.
When we together wish to bestow to one another and receive from one another in order to maintain dynamic equilibrium, we build a platform from our ten that constantly rises.
Within this process, some experience the egoism of the left line while others experience the bestowal of the right line. In this way, we continuously ascend as if on a disk that varies and elevates due to these movements. The key, however, is the central point of the disk where we are all united. It is in this unity through our connection with the Creator that we reveal Him.
At the place where the Creator is revealed, we begin to construct a Partzuf with the help of restriction (Tzimtzum), a screen (Masach), and a striking connection (Zivug de Hakaa) with the Creator. All of this must be mastered by us.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/3/19, Writings of Baal HaSulam “There Is None Else Besides Him”
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Question: The unification of the right and left lines is similar to a pendulum. How can we guide it more quickly to the point where one transforms into the other and regardless of the amplitude, create a mechanism to help transform it into the middle line?
Answer: Indeed, on the spiritual path, we are like a pendulum swinging from side to side. First, it moves to the negative, toward the left side, accumulating egoism within us. Then, as we work in the group, study, and engage in dissemination, we draw the upper light causing the pendulum to swing to the right.
How can we increase the amplitude so that the pendulum swings in proportion to our actions and we gain control over it? This can only be achieved in the ten. There is no other way.
If we desire to be similar to the Creator, it must be through our mutual interaction within the group. For this, at least two people are needed: one works against the egoism of the other, which in turn means working against one’s own egoism. After all, as soon as someone appears before me, my egoism is triggered. Otherwise, I am in a purely animalistic state, merely seeking corporeal fulfillment.
It is only when I am faced with someone like myself and feelings such as envy, jealousy, competition, or various mutual relationships arise between us that true egoism is activated. It is through this that I can move forward.
The only way to accelerate this process is in a group, understanding that this is our collective challenge and acting accordingly.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/3/19, Writings of Baal HaSulam “There Is None Else Besides Him”
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Question: The fulcrum in spiritual work our inner feelings: is what we consider bestowal, bestowal for us?
Answer: Our spiritual fulcrum is not a sensation within ourselves, but a feeling found in the center of the group.
It appears, disappears, and reappears depending on our efforts. Yet, it is precisely this point that serves as our support.
There cannot be a point of support within me personally as that would simply be some egoistic point. I need it too, I must feel it, but it is not the fulcrum.
The fulcrum is outside of me, in the center of the ten. When we strive to find this shared central point among us, it becomes a profound discovery—the center of the soul.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/3/19, Writings of Baal HaSulam “There Is None Else Besides Him”
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Question: How is the ability to disclose the materials we are studying connected to the ability to pass it on?
Answer: The ability to disclose the material comes to a Kabbalist when he has students who are willing to receive from him.
If there are no such students… There have been times when Kabbalists lived without passing on their knowledge to anyone. That is very difficult.
Question: We are currently in a stage of preparation for a convention and are working toward revealing some new quality or degree within us, such as Lishma. Is this connected to what we convey to others or only to our internal work?
Answer: Certainly these things are necessarily related because the wisdom of Kabbalah comes from the word “transmission.” When people from the beginning of creation to its end have passed on to each other everything that they can reveal in a given period of history, then it happens.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/18/24, Writings of Baal HaSulam “Disclosing a Portion, Covering Two”
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All Jewish holidays, joyful and sorrowful days, point to the spiritual process carried out by a special group called Israel. In the past, this group already experienced some states in potential and now it must implement them in practice.
We are approaching this realization, and therefore we must study what should be done on each holiday or special day, as it is said: “The deeds of the fathers will become a sign for the sons.”
Some holidays were originally established by an awakening from above and others were established by people by an awakening from below. Hanukkah is a special holiday that is not mentioned in the Torah. It comes entirely from the awakening from below, from the degree of Bina, from creatures who desire to achieve bestowal, a small state, GE, a stop on the way (Hanu-Ko) before continuing.
After acquiring the bestowing desires of GE, we move on to the goal of creation, to the desires of AHAP. This holiday is called spiritual because it refers to the bestowing desires of GE, to the stage of Bina, unlike Purim where desires to receive are used; and therefore, the customs are polar opposite.
Purim refers to the end of correction and is therefore called a corporeal holiday, because the spiritual descends to the material world, corrects, and fills the desires of the AHP.
Hanukkah is closer to us than Purim and therefore more understandable. We can imagine what it is like to be in bestowal, above our desire, in opposition to it and acting above it. Therefore, it is worth studying the customs of Hanukkah in order to try to get closer to the spiritual stage closest to us.
All spiritual levels are based on this condition because any of them begin with GE, with a small state, which is the main one, and a large state is just an addition, which appears and disappears.
Hanukkah is a very special holiday, and let’s hope that during the holiday week, we will be able to achieve this state, figure it out, and realize it.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/2/18, Hanukkah
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Question: What can serve as additional glue for our group on the eve of such a unique event as the congress?
Answer: What can be the glue for a group on the eve of such a momentous event as a congress? This is a problem.
Let us say this is your group; you know each other well and you want to enter and leave the congress many times stronger. How can I use it for this? Do you want to stay at the congress as a separate group or, conversely, to mix views with everyone? What is the best way?
On the one hand, it is desirable to dissolve into everyone. That is, you go there, you go here, and so on. Not even to meet with my friends from studies of Kabbalah during the entire congress, “I want to absorb everything from everyone through the pores of my body, inhale completely everything that is in everyone, to dissolve into them.”
Or maybe it is better if I do this in my group, when we go on the attack in a ten to get everything from the others and give everything we can to them.
Frankly speaking, I do not know what to answer, and I do not hide it, because in Kabbalah it is impossible. You must understand my doubts. And although I have enough of them too, I still need to combine one with the other.
We always have an inner light and an ambient light, a connection of striking (Zivug de Haka’a), two opposites in the middle line. How can they be connected? I do not know. But the principle is the same as two incongruous, completely inconsistent concepts, attitudes, actions, thoughts, or desires, and they must come together. How is it done?
The best thing would be if after each lesson, after visiting another ten, you gathered together for at least 15 minutes or half an hour, exchanged impressions, and discussed what you learned from communicating with others among yourselves. To do this you do not have to wait for the end of the congress, but continue to connect with each other along the way.
I do not know if there will be time for this at the congress, but I think we should try. This would be the right combination of general dissolution with the personal assembly. Do not leave everything for after the congress, but it is here that such instant combinations are carried out: outside-inside, outside-inside.
I would recommend this to all tens. In principle, based on what I understand in Kabbalah, this is the most optimal approach: combine one with the other and always strive for the middle line.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/2/19, “Questions and Answers”
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The spirit and the soul mean the intention in the matter. This is why the King of Sodom said, “Give me the soul,” meaning the intention of a person, why he engages in Torah and Mitzvot, this will be for him (Rabash, Assorted Notes, 374, “He Touched the Hollow of His Thigh”).
Question: The King of Sodom says: “What is yours is yours, what is mine is mine.” Why does he need a true intention? Why does he ask for it?
Answer: He wants to make a person like himself. At each stage, a person reveals the “King of Sodom” in himself, but this state will not become apparent until a certain measure has accumulated in him.
Question: How should we relate to the negative characters in the Torah, such as the King of Sodom? Should we discuss it in the ten?
Answer: Why not? You can discuss it and find out how much you are still in the egoistic line or no longer in it.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/9/24, Writings of Rabash “He Touched the Hollow of His Thigh”
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