Keep Us under the Protection of the Torah

961.2All the work is only where there are two ways, as we have found, And he shall live in them, and he shall not die in them (Baal HaSulam, Shamati 188 “All the Work Is Only Where There Are Two Ways – 2”).

Question: Why is it said that we have two ways? After all, we only have one way, the way of Kabbalah.

Answer: The point is that we must observe the laws of the higher world that governs us. Within it, there are conditions that allow transgressing various requirements except for the three commandments.

The main one is that the Creator is one, unique, unified, and there is none else beside Him. Therefore, first of all, one must adhere to this and work on this commandment. And everything else depends on the states a person inhabits.

Therefore, it is written that all our work is only in the place where there are two ways: whether to fulfill the commandments or not. As it is said: “And they shall live in them, and not die in them.”

This means that we cannot approach the sanctification of the Creator in things that do not require it, and the notion of “die but not transgress” applies only to the three commandments called incest, bloodshed, and idolatry. We find that the first righteous ones gave their lives to fulfill them.

That is, everything a person must do, and he stands by it, is to devote all his efforts to fulfilling the commandments or even go even to death. This is our entire work because at the time when a person must observe the Torah, the heavy burden is revealed, i.e., the entire weight of its execution. And at the time when the Torah protects a person, it is not so difficult for him.

As it is said, a person’s soul shall teach him. When a person moves forward and various means for further advancement are revealed to him, this is called the Torah teaching and protecting him.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/19/24, Writings of Baal HaSulam “All the Work Is Only Where There Are Two Ways – 2”

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The State of Shabbat in the Ten

528.01Question: What is the state of Shabbat (Sabbath) in a Kabbalistic ten?

Answer: This is a state where there is nothing to correct; everything is already corrected, everyone is in complete connection with each other as if you were suspended in the sky.

Question: You said that in our world on Shabbat people walk and talk differently. How can we come to such a state where we feel as if we were suspended from the sky? What needs to be done?

Answer: Indeed on Shabbat people walk slower, do not argue, do not rush anywhere, and do everything as if they were on vacation. But external, physical actions do not give anything.

Nonetheless, in the ten, you should also treat each other with kindness and consideration, you should be help each other and be in contact with each other, and you will gradually feel what kind of atmosphere it is.

After all, the feeling that you are suspended from the sky is a state where you do not want to be governed by earthly qualities.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/30/24, Writings of Rabash “Why Is Shabbat Called Shin-Bat in the Work?”

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Read like it Is the First Time

526Question: What does it mean to look at a book anew each time?

Answer: It is as if you do not remember at all what you once read and you look at the book like it is the first time.

Question: If we have to perceive a text every time as if we were seeing it for the first time, then what about the fact that some passages from the Torah or The Book of Zohar pop up in your memory and literally resound in you?

Answer: It does not matter, do not fight it. Everything will settle down on its own and take its place.

Question: There are people who speak quotes from sources without using any of their own words or who remain silent. Is it good?

Answer: On one hand it is good if they really know the original sources and can play them back from memory. But beside this, you need to be free and as if travel through all the original sources and be connected with them in many ways.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/29/24, Writings of Baal HaSulam “Looking in the Book Again”

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Check Desires

49.01Question: Is it necessary to restrict all desires to the minimum, even those that do not interfere with connection with the ten?

Answer: There is no need to restrict anything. Try to understand which desires can bring you closer to the Creator and which draw you away from Him.

Check it out with your friends. If desires bring you closer to each other, they will bring you closer to the Creator.

Question: How do we determine the required minimum? After all, each person has their minimum.

Answer: If you do the right things, you will not have to think about how much you receive and how to receive less.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/27/24, Writings of Baal HaSulam “His Divorce and His Hand Come as One”

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Focus on the Most Important

942Question: You said that as a result of the spiritual work, the ten will become like one body and appear before the Creator. How does this happen?

Answer: This is done by the Creator from above. But in order to help Him as much as possible, you must be ready to unite in one desire and strive for one goal.

Comment: We try to do this during the lessons and at all our events, but it does not work out.

My Response: No, it is slowly working out, but it has not yet come to the point where you feel it in your sensations. To speed up this process, you need to focus on making sure that your desires are similar to each other.

Question: We compose a prayer every day and try to build a common desire. Is it better to focus on one thing?

Answer: Yes, on what is important to us today.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/29/24, Writings of Baal HaSulam,Introduction to The Book of Zohar

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The Path of the Torah Is the Path of Education

600.02Question: Can we say that the path of the Torah is the path of education?

Answer: Of course, the Torah is the teaching about educating a person or, more correctly, a society. We must educate ourselves to be kind, good people who support one another and rise above our physical nature.

Question: If a person decides to follow the path of suffering, i.e., the natural path of come what may, can he come to spiritual revelation?

Answer: Maybe, but this is a long path where one will endure great suffering.

Question: Does a person have freedom of choice? For example, do I have a choice in the case that I am considering whether I should follow the path of the Torah or the path of suffering? Or do we not have this choice?

Answer: Everyone has it. Not at every moment in time, but we have it. Unlike inanimate, vegetative, and animate nature, a person can choose how to advance.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual states” 3/14/24

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Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 4/17/24

Preparation to the Lesson

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1st part of the Lesson — Writings of Rabash, “The Difference between Mercy and Truth and Untrue Mercy”

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2nd part of the Lesson — Writings of Baal HaSulam, “The Freedom”

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Selected Highlights

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Audio Version Of The Blog – 4/16/24

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The Creator Will Always Understand You

239Question: You said that the Creator understands the human heart in prayer. How can we turn to Him so that He understands as much as possible of what the person is telling Him?

Answer: It should be understood as much as possible by the person himself. And you do not have to think about the Creator. If you precisely turn to Him, worship Him, and want to get closer to Him, the Creator will always understand you.

Question: What does it mean to worship the Creator in prayer?

Answer: He does not need us to belittle ourselves in front of Him. But depending on how much we see ourselves below the Creator, we can get closer to Him.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/28/24, Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Written Torah and the Oral Torah – 1”

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What Would We See if We Lived only One Day

448.2Question: A one-day butterfly landed on a perennial plant and started to admire everything it saw: “The sun is so kind and beautiful! The dew is amazing! And what a meadow! And the sky! And the air!”

“Never mind, butterfly,” said the perennial plant, “tomorrow, you will get used to all of this.” “There will be no tomorrow for me,” the butterfly replied and closed its eyes forever. And the perennial plant suddenly realized that in a thousand years it had not seen what this butterfly saw in just one day of its life.

What do we, who live so long, not see?

Answer: We do not see the most important thing: the beginning and the end.

Comment: We see the beginning. Here is the beginning: a child is born. That is the beginning for us.

My Response: That is when he is born. But when we are born, we do not see it. And it is the same when we die.

Question: What if we saw it?

Answer: It would be a complete cycle.

Comment: But still, this perennial plant, living for a thousand years, did not see what the butterfly saw in one day.

My Response: Because it saw the transition from birth to death.

Question: Tell me, what should we see if we lived only one day? Beside this transition, what else should we see? It saw the transition, and then what?

Answer: It would have explained a lot to us: why we are born, why we die, and how to approach these events correctly.

Question: When I know I have only one day, what does that give me?

Answer: Then you know that you are fully in this day. You hold on to it. You try to “drink up” everything it has.

Question: What is in it?

Answer: There is a connection between the past and the future. Mostly this connection gives a person an understanding of what life means. Otherwise we live as if we do not feel where we are.

Question: So this is not life?

Answer: It is not life. It is not life when you feel that everything is flowing away from you. But when you want to hold onto every moment as if it is the last, then that is life. You want to drink it up, gasping for breath! You want to absorb it all in you from beginning to end and everything in between!

Question: So, the question is: what does it mean to live this moment correctly?

Answer: To live it correctly means to attain it. Life is a moment. Who controls it?

Question: Do we need to attain it?

Answer: Yes, and then, why was it given to me? What should I have done? What didn’t I do? Maybe I still have this opportunity?

Question: Are you talking about constantly working at this moment?

Answer: Yes, at this moment. One moment.

Question: Then there will be the next, and I ask the same questions and move forward in the same way?

Answer: I do not know if there will be a next one. It is unknown.

Question: So this is how I live this moment?

Answer: Yes.

Question: A person does not live like that, right?

Answer: A person does not live like that, but he should!

Question: Will we be taught to live like that in some way?

Answer: No. I think it is already included from the start. That is how humans are.

Comment: That is, we are controlled in such a way that this apparatus is turned off: our reason, all these questions. And we live like that and keep living.

My Response: The Creator intentionally made it so.

Question: Why did He do that?

Answer: So that He would not have to ask us too many questions.

Question: Would He have asked otherwise?

Answer: Of course!

Comment: So: “Why do you live? Why do you live every moment? Who controls the world?” And so on, and so forth.

My Response: Yes, if He had practically placed His own reasoning, the beginning, the end, all actions, etc. in the creation, and we would have to answer that…

Question: So, what you were just saying is like the questions the Creator would ask if He were in the place of creation? Can we say that?

Answer: Yes, these are the questions I would ask Him.

Question: So these are the questions we would ask Him if we were His true creation?

Answer: Yes.

Question: What should a person understand?

Answer: A person should understand that there is still a mystery in life that they must constantly uncover. Not that someone once uncovered it and now they can read and know, but they must dig into themselves, into life, into the Creator, and search.

Question: And you call this the real life of a person?

Answer: That is life.

Question: Where will they reach if they keep moving like this, if these are their steps?

Answer: Everyone will reach something of their own. Everyone has their own specific task in life!

Question: Do they have to come to this task, to their root, somehow?

Answer: They are pushed toward it, but whether they go there afterward I do not know. No one knows. The Creator. And even beforehand, it may not be known.

Question: So, it all depends on the Creator whether I go or not—completely everything?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Should I turn to the Creator: “Reveal my path to me”? Or is it pointless?

Answer: Ask!

Question: My prayer is to live my life correctly, properly, is it so or not?

Answer: It should be.

You must live in such a way that every moment you try to uncover the mystery of life.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 2/19/24

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