Man begins with the unity of our thoughts and desires into the smallest possible vessel. And then it keeps growing larger as a result of the addition of newer and newer parts. In this way, he becomes man, Adam, stretched to the ends of the universe. And his connection, his mind and heart, is being built from all the broken pieces contained in each of us because each piece contains the mind and the heart inside of it.

The connection of these forces is similar to how matter forms in our world throughout the whole of the evolution on the still, vegetative, and animate levels. Matter started to unite in the same form. And when we start to unite our parts, we also go through the same steps, the still, vegetative, and animate, in the unity between people. These are called the spiritual states: embryo – nurturing – maturing (Ibur – Yenika – Mochin).

That is why all of our work depends on for the sake of what we are uniting—for the sake of the quality of bestowal to rule in us, meaning for the sake of the Creator, for the sake of His pleasure, or for the sake of ourselves in order to make it better for ourselves when we only think of our own condition in this world and about our bodies. Meaning that we are concerned with our bodily existence and not about gathering the image of man from our pieces.

That is why the “prayer of the 18 blessings” describes the spiritual path so well, the direction, the intention, the urge towards the next step, onto which the world, the human society has to rise to now. That is why the necessity for unity is being revealed. The only question is: For what sake does it happen?

And here, humanity divides into two parts. Those, who understand that unity is necessary for reaching the human level, the image of man. They are actively building this image. And the rest are related to the desire, and unite for the sake of a good life in this world.

This is the way they divide: the screen is called Israel and the desire is called all of the people who only need to connect to those who will do the work that is laid upon Israel.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/25/11, Shamati

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Rather than existing in this tiny part of reality, when a person wishes to break through to its second part, the eternal and perfect part, then he has several means to do it: teacher, group, and books. The teacher explains that such an opportunity exists. He explains that it can be realized with the help of a group where everyone strives toward the perception of the true, perfect reality, and with the books that speak of the same perfect reality.

When we try to be together, it’s as though every person comes out of himself, out of his ego, because he must feel that he exists in the others. Then, when he tries to be above himself, in the others, connected with them, and he reads about the perception of reality in bestowal, this is the way he makes himself similar to the future state, as if he were already there.

To the extent of his aspiration, he evokes the second force from there that exists in reality, the force of bestowal, besides the small force of reception given to him from nature. Then, the force of bestowal comes and makes the changes in him.

A person can perceive these changes as an additional force of reception that comes to him, instead of the force of bestowal that changes him, and this type of perception is also correct. However, besides that, he attains the same force of bestowal. In this way, man advances, sometimes to the right and sometimes to the left, but driven by the same force of bestowal.

He must attain this force of bestowal together with the force of reception. These two forces begin to be revealed to man as two lines, the right and the left. Then, man advances, sometimes in a state of descent and sometimes in a state of ascent. He does not know yet what descent and ascent are exactly, and so far, he identifies them by his current sensations.

However, as time goes by, he begins to feel that he needs to use these two lines by being between them. In this way, he takes control of them and begins to combine them in the middle line.

Essentially, our entire work consists of studying together, wishing to connect with one another in our hearts, and aspiring toward unity above all the disagreements and differences because all of these things only concern our animate existence, which stays here in this world. We want to connect together in our desires, our points in the heart, above these things.

When we read The Zohar with this intention, the book speaks of our corrected states, about the way we reveal the quality of bestowal in the connection between us which is the same as the Creator, the Light, the spiritual world, the upper world. For this reason, every person must imagine this state when reading The Zohar.
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From the lesson on 8/12/11, The Zohar

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People come out to the demonstrations because they don’t have anything. But all of the corrections can only come from the Light. Today we are already in a global, worldwide process where correction is impossible with the help of any government. They just don’t have any instruments to accomplish that.

The instruments of the new, global world come only with the Light that reforms. It is in our world that we have to realize all of the changes that Kabbalah talks about, and the world will feel and understand in practice how the upper Light influences it through us.

Without that Light, we won’t find a single solution to our problems. We will only draw ourselves into wars so that eventually this path would bring us to reveal the need for the Light. The first thing that the people holding strikes on the streets should be shouting is, “We demand the forces for our own correction!” That’s because uniting with one another is the only way we will receive everything we desire—whether you’re a mother with young children, a senior citizen, or a doctor.

The world has entered a crisis of such proportions that it has nothing to give you! For example, the demonstrators in Greece began with threats. But the government had nothing to give them, and it wasn’t hiding anything. The fact of the matter is that the developmental process is unfolding in order to convince people of the need to start the correction. That is why it is revealing the evil of our existence in this world to us. This is the essence of what is happening today.

The entire world must now understand several new principles. Firstly, we are all connected, and the crisis we are experiencing today is global. The world itself has become global, and we can only come out of the crisis by virtue of unity.

And there is nothing for us to demand from the government. We will receive everything only on the condition that we unite with one another. Just like being in a group, I can only receive its force if I lead it to unity.

The crisis has a higher cause: It is the Light influencing us and revealing the breaking between us. Therefore, not one person in our world has a solution to this crisis.

We solved all of the previous crises by finding a greater means to humor our growing egoistic desire. But today a completely different era has set in. Today the Light is revealing the lack of connection among us. And only be taking certain steps toward establishing that kind of connection will we be able to improve our state. Then every person will receive what he wished—but it will only happen through the attainment of connection, unification, integration, and mutuality.

Therefore, all of the forces that aspire to protectionism, division, and isolation, are aimed against correction, and there is nothing worse than that because by that they move humanity closer to war.

The only thing we need is the Light that reforms. A person who studies Kabbalah attracts the Light with his studies and work in the group, whereas a person who does not study has to attain some kind of understanding and awareness of the situation, the need for unity, mutual guarantee, and brotherhood. That is how we will bring ourselves to goodness.

Everyone has to achieve at least some kind of small understanding of this. But the primary work is incumbent upon those who actively attract the Light because the world receives it through them. Therefore, all of our students have to become even stronger and correct themselves even more so the Light we attract would influence everyone.

This is the predestination of a person called “Israel”—both those living in the state of Israel and all of our students all over the world. Every person whose point in the heart has awakened and who has joined our group, is obligated to think about this.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/9/11, Writings of Rabash

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In the News (from The Independent): The Office of National Statistics (ONS) of Britain attempted to “quantify a phenomenon that has until now been the preserve of poets and songwriters rather than statisticians….a happiness (or more accurately a wellbeing) index….

“All ages …seem to agree that, fleeting pleasures aside, there is a holy trinity when it comes to how positive we feel about ourselves and where we live: good health, functioning relationships and a satisfying job.”

My comment: For all the people in the world happiness comes down to satisfying the following:

• Three bodily desires rooted in the “animate” body (food, sex, and family (friends));
• Three “social” desires, arising under the influence of society (wealth, power or fame, and knowledge).

Surveys in each country can identify how its citizens view happiness because everybody has the above mentioned six desires. But in each individual, they are expressed in a particular proportion, while in every nation, in a proportion specific for a given nation.

There is another kind of people who, beside these six desires, have a higher desire to reveal the meaning of life—its root, the Creator. Satisfying all other desires interests them only to the extent necessary for their existence.
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Why do we need the science of Kabbalah? What’s the need for it?

We perceive the world through the five senses. We see the “picture” of this world, live in it, and arrange our lives in it. We develop the sciences in order to attain it. We have enough mind and feeling for that. We study the world and accommodate ourselves to it in joyful and troubled times. Then why do we need the science of Kabbalah, even if it’s not fantasies or lies? Is it to know how many angels there are in the sky? Or to become acquainted with the upper force, the upper world?…. Maybe it’s time to go visit a doctor?

We don’t understand why we need this. Even the people who admit that Kabbalah speaks about the spiritual world still don’t feel a need for it. Some people are a little afraid of it, some feel repulsed by it and are negatively disposed to it. There are plenty of hindrances. And no one puts them there deliberately. It’s just that this is how we are built, this is our nature. We erect the obstacles on the path ourselves: We neglect it, don’t desire it, and reject it. After all, we are driven by the egoistic desire, which is far from the spiritual world and opposite to it.

As a result, the science of Kabbalah appears unrealistic to us. When we come to it, we don’t understand how this happened and what keeps us here. We often leave it and return to our regular lives, to the place where we have strength, money, and power in our hands, instead of a “fog.”

When Kabbalists attained the spiritual world, they understood how important and great it is. After all, it opens up the true life to a person, instead of the perishable existence on the animate level. We act on the level of the animate nature and depend on the body: I am alive as long as it is alive, and I die together with it. My “I” is inside of it. On the other hand, Kabbalists master the human level—the level of being similar to the upper force, of existing in attainment, in the sensation and power that is equal to the upper force, and of being equal to it to some extent.

Thus, the science of Kabbalah is a great asset that gives us eternal existence instead of our current miserable, short lives. But there’s no one you can tell this to. That is why the science of Kabbalah was concealed for a long time, until humanity starting feeling a need for it instead of neglect, fear, and dislike. That is what happened to us as well: We did not think or plan on it, but suddenly we felt a need for it. It turned out that without this, our life is base, animalistic, and empty. We lack fulfillment.

In reality, Kabbalists did not care what people were saying about the science of Kabbalah and how they viewed it. The world was always confused about it and believed in all sorts of fables. Kabbalists knew about this and did not pay any attention to it because their primary concern was to guard people from the “unripe fruit.” And the unripe fruit is not the science of Kabbalah, but man’s desire. Man is the unripe fruit. He is still unable to “digest” his ego and transform it into something good, so it would benefit him.

When unripe egoism that isn’t able to correct itself yet encounters the science of Kabbalah, it rehashes it into mystical teaching, philosophy, religion, New Age, and so on. Baal HaSulam writes that the revelation of The Book of Zohar by Rabbi Moshe de-Leon’s widow caused great damage, all sorts of obstacles and problems. That’s because people took the wrong path to spirituality, following their egoism instead of the desire to correct themselves.

However, today we have entered a new era. Kabbalists assert this and we see this in our world as well. The world already realizes that it has found itself in a foul situation. The universal crisis is enveloping the worldwide village in which everyone is interconnected by egoistic bonds. We are discovering that our egoistic network has become global, that we are inseparably and incorrectly interconnected.

We cannot come out of this situation and we don’t have any possibility of being saved from egoism’s clutches, which are pressing on us more and more strongly.
In these conditions, we are revealing the need for the science of Kabbalah, which is the only method that offers the real solution to the problem.
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From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/22/11, “The Teaching of Kabbalah and Its Essence”

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Question: Is it possible to extend our corporeal existence in this world by attaining spirituality? Does one affect the other?

Answer: A person needs to aspire to complete his spiritual path in this corporeal life. Attaining this state means that his life really was a success. This depends on him.

The number of years of his existence does not depend on him. Filling his existence with corrections does. Regardless, one’s corporeal path is such that it allows one to attain his or her correction over the course of these years. This opportunity is given. The rest depends on a person.
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From the Sunday Virtual Lesson Series 7/10/2011

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The Zohar, Chapter “Truma (Donation),” Item 432: …all the people in the world know that they will die and return to dust, and therefore many repent and return to their Master because of this fear. They fear sinning before Him.

Question: What is the meaning of “to die”?

Answer: “To die” or “to live” talks about the desire. According to The Zohar, “alive” means bestowing and “dead” means receiving.

In spirituality there is no life or death. We talk about life and death in our world because we perceive only one form of existence and we see that this form seems to disappear from us. We think that life is the body when it’s breathing, and death is when it stops breathing.

But to a person who starts to feel spirituality, this distinction becomes very strange: How is it possible that this is the indication by which we tell the difference between what exists and what doesn’t exist, what is alive and what is dead? That’s because this person shifts to perceiving a different form of existence, and the earthly notions of life and death disappear for him.

If a person shifts to a more important perception where bestowal is considered life and reception death, then he rises above the level of an animal to the level of a human, and then life to him means existence on the human level and death on the animate level. He does not connect life and death to the existence of the animate body.

Then this animate body disappears from his sensation, losing its significance for defining his state, life and death. Even if the body dies, a person is already on a different degree of desire in the sensation of life and death in relation to spirituality, and he is united with them.

Therefore, this world no longer causes him to experience breaks in the process of the soul’s development.
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/8/11, The Zohar

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Our development can be divided into two parts:

1. All of the inevitable phases when people are able to calm themselves down with life and actions within the boundaries of our world.
2. The phase when a person understands that none of the means that he has at his disposal are effective anymore and he has to attain the root.

Then everything that’s external recedes into the background, as it is written, “The Creator does not care about how you cut a sacrificial animal—from the throat or the nape of the neck.” In other words, there are no actions in our world through which we really can attain the Creator. Therefore, we have to find a new, completely different means—the Light that reforms. Thanks to this force, we begin to develop ourselves.

There is a very clear delineation here:

– Either we are in our world and use its attributes because our desire is only here, and we desire to receive what this world has to offer, and in addition we hope for something more after death;
– Or we want to reveal a new means in this life that is not present in our world—the Light that reforms, a new, special force that opens us up and starts to bring to light completely new desires and fulfillments in us, which are completely different from anything we knew to this day.

I live like a person in our world—with a family, job, and social relationships, with all of my knowledge and feelings, but this person is in no way connected with what forms inside of me under the influence of the Light that reforms. It develops the soul inside of me, the part of the Creator from above, the Divine image that I attain and build inside of me, participating in the process together with the Light. In that case, what came before is called “the animate level” whereas the new part if called “human” (Adam) because it is similar (Domeh) to the Creator.

That is why external actions don’t matter. Only one thing can help me—to attract the Light that reforms. There is no other force that can raise me from the animate level to the human degree. The only thing necessary here is a force from outside, and the entire Kabbalsitic method is aimed only at this.
From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/6/11, Matan Torah

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Question: What should we think about all together, the entire world group, when we hold a Unity Day? How can we unite?

Answer: Every person has to delve into himself and there to feel the chain that connects him with others, the inner net that exists between us. Moreover, a person can be in this world or he might no longer be in it because this is a network between desires, between the souls and not the physical bodies.

Baal HaSulam and all the great Kabbalists of the past millennia are here, in this connection. They are all together with us, embedded in our common net. There are millions of us today, but in reality, there are many more because all of these souls throughout all of human history are together with us, amounting to hundreds of millions of souls. And all together they are a tremendous spiritual force.

If we wish to unite together in this net, then naturally not only will we influence each other and become part of this net so every person will acquire it for his own spiritual ascent, but we will simultaneously influence all the people in the world, who are tuned into this net involuntarily, without sensing it. We will start to awaken them.

Therefore, let’s start by reaching an agreement among us that we desire to clearly feel our common connection.
From the lecture on Unity Day, 6/26/11

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Dear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. The commentaries in brackets are mine.

The Superiority of Man to the Beast

Man’s advantage over animals is that he can aim at a remote goal, meaning to agree to a certain amount of current pain, out of choice of future benefit or pleasure, to be attained after some time.
– Baal HaSulam, “The Freedom”

And man’s pre-eminence over all animals is that our minds are developed to such an extent that all the body’s events are depicted in our brains as images that we experience as concepts and rationalities. Thus, the mind and all its deductions are but products that extend from the events of the body.
– Baal HaSulam, “Body and Soul”
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