Every person must discover 613 desires in himself and correct them. Only to this is it worthwhile to aspire in dissemination in public life, in everything. Everything that is aimed at this goal, you need to accept. And everything that is against it, you need to cancel. In this there can be no compromise; only the higher law, the adherence of the Kli and the Light, should determine what it is up to us to do.

We hope that we will discover all 613 parts of our desire to receive, and through connection in a group we will succeed in clarifying them, we will see their egoism and begin to work on their correction for bestowal. And this is possible to do only through the Light that Reforms, which is called the Torah.

Therefore all of our existence is possible only thanks to the Torah and the Mitzvot, meaning we must discover the 613 desires of unfounded hatred and correct them to bestowal and love, which is called keeping the Mitzvot. A Mitzva symbolizes that through the Upper Light that is called Torah, we cleave to the Creator and with this we give Him contentment.

This is because today in relation to Him we are like ungrateful children. Imagine to yourselves that your children don’t want to know you, they despise and hate you, are against you in everything, they don’t even want to look in your direction. That is how we behave today in relation to the Creator. And even this is not a sufficient example, because we don’t love our children like the Creator loves us.

Therefore we give the Creator great contentment when we begin to approach Him, to love, to discover our good relationship, opening our heart and soul before Him. All this brings Him great joy. Try to describe and to feel this condition: What terrible sufferings we invite from Above through our behavior today! The Creator is waiting for us to turn our faces towards Him and begin to get close, to recognize Him and agree to accept all of that good that He wants to give to us. And it could be that ultimately we will understand that this is truly the eternal good.
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From the Talk at a Meal 2/21/14

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Question: I was at a convention in Israel for the first time, and I cannot be freed from the feeling of fear of losing something great. I felt a very great difference between being in my group and being here, in the Bnei Baruch group. The thought haunts me all the time. Isn’t this ego, or is this a normal fear of losing that intensity that is felt in a congress?

Answer: This intensity doesn’t disappear anywhere. It exists on the spiritual plane. If you are connected to it, then you are in it. If you are detached, then you lose it, and after that, you can connect again. This is eternal.

That you feel fear is very good. What is the first Mitzva? It is the Mitzva of fear. I could be detached from the spiritual level, could lose it, I won’t be able to bestow, and so forth. This is the main thing. Therefore, you have a very good basis for staying in a good connection with us.
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Question: How do we connect the two expressions: “commandments that don’t need an intention” and a “commandment without an intention” is like a body without a soul?

Answer: “Implementation of the commandments does not require an intention” refers to the fact that even when we don’t have an intention of in order to bestow yet, we still try to connect with the friends and that brings us to the right intention of love and bestowal.

An intention of in order to bestow means that I focus on you and I want to fill you. A person in this world has no such intention. We are born without it, live our lives, and then reach the group. This means that the commandment doesn’t need an intention, so start the way you are.

Even if you have an intention, it is only for yourself and not for anything else (this is how you were brought to the wisdom of Kabbalah). So, study and you will succeed.

Suppose we have two levels of energy. The lower level is the intention of in order to receive that lacks the intention to bestow. There is a phase of preparation (Achan) for the intention of in order to bestow between this level and the next one, and then there is a Machsom (barrier that separates us from the upper world).

Above the Machsom, we discover the intention that is external to me, or to bestow, the attribute of Bina, the Light of Hassadim (charity). Then, there is the intention of to receive in order to bestow, or the Light of Hochma, and there is the end of correction (Gmar Tikkun).

First, we are on the lowest level on which we have a normal healthy desire to receive in order to enjoy.

Gradually, we come to the recognition that we have no intention to bestow.

A person decides, “I must start changing myself,” and so he reaches the phase of the very serious preparation for the intention of in order to bestow called the time of preparation (Zman Achan).

This very hard work may take months and even years. Gradually, under the influence of the Upper Light, a person reaches the intention of bestowal outside of himself.

At the same time, he doesn’t give anything but simply exists as an embryo (Ubar). He adheres to the upper and annuls himself like an embryo, or like a small child with regard to a grownup, without interfering with his growth as he allows the upper to do whatever is necessary with him: “Do whatever you want with me; I agree to everything,” and this is aimed against his growing ego.

When he completes the correction of all his desires, he ascends to the last level where he can receive pleasure in order to bestow for the sake of the Creator.

This is a very high level, and we want to attain it by performing and completing all the corrections.
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Right now we need to clarify which problems must actually be solved before and during the convention. Otherwise this will not be called a “convention,” a convening, a connection.

Question: It is understandable that we need to feel happy about connection. But must we also be afraid of not attaining a connection?

Answer: There is a particular age below which the child is exempt from commandments (Mitzvot) because he is small. After that we begin to educate him and say to him what he is allowed to eat and what he is forbidden to eat, or that one can do something this way and is not allowed to do it that way.

The first commandment is called “fear” in the presence of the Creator. I am afraid of whether or not I will be able to give Him contentment, will this action make Him happier, what will make Him less happy? For this, I must reach an age of maturity, “Bar Mitzvah,” meaning a level when a person is aware that he is responsible for his thoughts, intentions, and deeds of correction. A “Mitzvah” is correction. The question is, have we reached this age?

If we were already like this today, we will feel the fear, the apprehension: “Friends, the goal before us is to give contentment to the Creator! If we don’t do this, it will be very bad.” This will be very bad not for ourselves, but bad for another, for others; otherwise, this is not called a “Mitzvah” if I am thinking about myself. But if we succeed in giving contentment to the Creator, this will be good for the entire world! What will be with us doesn’t matter to us.

This means that we must make many preliminary corrections before we reach realization of this first commandment of fear, of apprehension, of the thought, “Am I giving contentment to the Creator or not?” It’s forbidden for you to get some kind of benefit from this in return for this will no longer be a commandment, this will not be bestowal, this will not be giving contentment to the Creator. It’s possible to bring contentment to the Creator only if there is no self-interest, if one is making Him happy without considering personal loss or gain. We must still rise to this level by making a restriction on our ego so that the result will not be considered in relation to ourselves.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/27/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Come and see the words of the sage Rabbi Even Ezra in his book, Yesod Mora, (The Foundation for Fear) p. 8b: “And now note and know that all the Mitzvot that are written in the Torah or the conventions that the fathers have established, although they are mostly in action or in speech, they are all in order to correct the heart…”
Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot”

Those who engage solely in the dresses of the Torah are gravely mistaken. And when the Creator’s demand is abandoned and the majority of the multitude of the sages of the Torah do not know its purpose, and they consider the wisdom of the Torah with its purpose as mere addition of some quip to Talmudic debates—which, though truly sacred and precious—they will not illuminate our souls.
Rav Kook, Igrot (Letters), Part 2, No. 153
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The Generation We Are Dealing With

Baal HaSulam: “The Merit of Recollection”: And this is the matter of the diminishing value of the generations, until they have reached the last restriction in our generation in which “the wisdom of authors shall reek, and those who fear sin will be loathed,” since this is the state the masses are all in, and they don’t feel any obligation to engage in the Godly work and do not feel any deficiency when it is lacking. This is the form of our generation with whom we deal.

Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot“, Item 36: We learn from the words of the Tikkunim of The Zohar that there is an oath that the Light of mercy and love will not awaken in the world before Israel’s deeds in Torah and Mitzvot will have the intention to not receive reward, but only to bestow contentment upon the Maker…

Thus, the length of the exile and affliction that we suffer depends on us and waits for us to merit the practice of Torah and Mitzvot Lishma. And if we only attain that, this Light of love and bestowal (Lishma), which has the power to extend, will immediately awaken, as it is written, “And the spirit shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding.” Then we will be granted complete redemption.
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Indeed, there is a common opinion that the primary goal of religion and the Torah is only the cleansing of actions, that all that is desired concerns observing the physical Mitzvot (commandments), without any additions or anything that should result from it. Had that been so, those who say that studying the revealed and practical actions alone is sufficient would be right.

Yet, this is not the case. Our sages have already said, “Why should the Creator mind if one slaughters at the throat or at the back of the neck? After all, the Mitzvot were only given to cleanse people.” Thus, there is a purpose beyond the observance of the actions, and the actions are merely preparations for this purpose. Hence, clearly, if the actions are not arranged for the desired goal, it is as if nothing exists. And it is also written in The Zohar: “A Mitzva (commandment) without an aim is like a body without a soul.” Hence, the aim, too, should accompany the act.”
Baal HaSulam, “The Teaching of the Kabbalah and Its Essence.”

If one wants to correct one’s egoistic desire to receive and change it into a desire to bestow, there is only one remedy at one’s disposal—the Light—under the condition that one is engaged into studying the Torah with the intention to correct one’s desire.
Rabash, Shlavey HaSulam (Steps of the Ladder) “What is the Torah and the Work on the Path to the Creator”

…the Creator gave us Torah and Mitzvot, which we were commanded to do only in order to bestow contentment upon the Creator. Had it not been for the engagement in Torah and Mitzvot Lishma (for Her Name), to bring contentment to the Creator with them, and not to benefit ourselves, there would have been no tactic in the world that could help us invert our nature.

Now you can understand the rigorousness of engaging in Torah and Mitzvot Lishma. If one’s intention in the Torah and Mitzvot is not to benefit the Creator, but oneself, not only will the nature of the will to receive in him not be inverted, but rather, the will to receive in him will be much more than what he was given by the nature of his creation.
Baal HaSulam, “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar”
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Question: So what is the most important thing that we need to tell people?

Answer: We need to reach people with the fact that without a change in the nature of man from hatred of others to love, we are going against the evolution of nature to an integral form and with this we are summoning greater and greater personal and collective problems.

We must speak about this in all channels of communication, that to acquire the characteristic of “love of the other” is the goal of the wisdom of Kabbalah; this is the correct result of the right spiritual work (the work of the Creator).

This is the difference between the wisdom of Kabbalah and religion: Kabbalah accepts the condition that “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” is the great general rule of the Torah, whereas religion supposes that what is essential is carrying out physical requirements. Therefore it abandons correcting human nature, which is what it was specifically designed for.

Kabbalah considers that if the objective is not “Love your neighbor as yourself,” then the entire Torah is not respected because this is the general encompassing rule of the Torah, since specifically this goal brings the person to the characteristic of bestowal, to Lishma, for the sake of the Creator.

If a person doesn’t aspire to rise above his ego, then his actions only increase the ego. And instead of approaching the characteristic of bestowal and love, that is, the revelation of the Creator, then he moves further from the Creator and transforms into the “mixed multitude” who are the “God-fearing servants of Pharaoh,” all of whose actions are for the sake of their ego, for the sake of reward in this world and in the next world.
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Question: Why do we work especially on the 613^th commandment which is love of others and the 612^th commandment which is fear of the Creator, while these two commandments stem from all the other 611 commandments? This means that these two commandments had to be considered less important than all the others.

Answer: All we have to attain is:

1. Restriction one, the Masach (screen) over the Light of Hassadim, which means over the attribute of Bina; to be above all our desires, to bestow in order to bestow, and this is the 612^th commandment, receiving the Light of Hassadim.
2. Then we have to fulfill the attribute of “to receive in order to bestow” in the attribute of Keter, which is the 613^th commandment, the commandment of love, unity, the receiving of the Light of Hochma in the Light of Hassadim.

All the other commandments are private corrections and actually make up these commandments, and so in Talmud Eser Sefirot we study only about these two corrections. But when we yearn for them we gradually correct ourselves by fulfilling the private desires the soul is made of in all its 613 parts. So think about these two corrections and all the other private forms will be fulfilled in you by themselves under the influence of the Surrounding Light (Ohr Makif).
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Question: The Orthodox claim that you are revealing the wisdom of Kabbalah to the whole world, yet the Jews are the ones who have to learn it first.

Answer: That’s right! But on the other hand, it says that the Jews will not come out of exile until they disseminate the whole wisdom among the nations of the world. I support the Jews coming out of exile and so I disseminate our method to the nations of the world. I do everything as stated in our sources.

Let those who disagree with me explain their stand based on the system of creation, as the wisdom of Kabbalah teaches us. I am ready to change my approach. Am I my own enemy, or someone else’s enemy? Don’t I want to fulfill the Creator’s desire?

Perhaps I am wrong about something. It says: “never believe in yourself until your dying day.” I am ready to listen.

What is disturbing the Orthodox? Is it the fact that I don’t teach my students to observe the Mitzvot (commandments)? I am waiting for us to reach the right level of understanding so that we will feel these Mitzvot inside us. Then it will be easier for me to explain to my students how to perform them.

I cannot tell them now that when we perform the ritual act of hand washing we first wash the right hand and then the left hand, or that we first tie the laces of the shoe on the right foot and then the laces of the shoe on the left foot. It will do nothing because it is just the keeping of one condition: of starting everything from the right line (the love of others, of in order to bestow) and to the extent that the left line will be revealed (an even bigger ego).

I can explain all the Mitzvot that were written in this world’s language by using their inner attribute.

But the Ari tells us about it by using high Kabbalistic language, by talking about worlds, Partzufim, Sefirot, etc. It can be explained not only by the language of the Sefirot, but also by the language of attributes, which means by using the language of the psychology of human attributes: bestowal, receiving, mercy, justice, etc.

But all the languages were meant to correct the heart. In his commentary to the Torah, Eben Ezra says: “All the Mitzvot were meant only to correct a person’s heart,” which means his ego.

Do we also think that we have to give up a certain part of our ego that is revealed in us when we perform the ritual of washing our hands (I am not against it and I don’t say that we shouldn’t do it)? Should we constantly check ourselves?

Usually I am inside myself with my ego. If I annul it with regard to the attribute of bestowal and the love that is called the Creator, and pass it through the other, I have to check whether I am aiming at the other so that I want to bestow upon him, that I want his wellbeing despite my ego, so that I can be sure that I am operating correctly and that I am not lying to myself.

In order to do so, I advance along the right line. If the left line is revealed at the same time, I pull it to the right line again and only later does it turn into the middle line. Am I in this inner process (no matter what you call it, you can call it meditation or a prayer)?

If that’s the case, then we should perform mechanical actions. If not, then perhaps they distract a person. I see that those who perform them don’t think about their inner performance, about their inner meaning. None of us knows it.

I want all my students all over the world (and not only the Jewish ones) to start feeling the inner movements of “I – the group – the Creator” to some degree when they annul themselves before the Creator, and the group is between them as the link.

When I perform all that, no matter what I do in the world (Me with regard to the Creator and the group or humanity, all of nature, the whole world in the middle), I should always do so, so that no matter what I encounter, I should delight the Creator through the world. Then I perform a Mitzva.

If I want to drink a glass of water, for example, how can I bestow upon the Creator and delight Him? I bless Him. I bless Him because I really feel this and convey it to Him through people. I am incorporated in it and feel that I am really ready to rise to the same level not for myself, but for Him, for others.

It is as if I convey the pleasure from myself to them and to the Creator and don’t take it for myself. What is more, it is not only that I don’t take the pleasure for myself, but I also perform the first restriction over my ego and now I think about how I can still bestow something upon others.

Then I understand (a system of connections is created between us) that only if I receive the pleasure will I be able to pass it on to them. This is a higher level of receiving in order to bestow. Only then do I perform this movement, the inner intention that is so powerful that it fills me with pleasure in which I feel a huge deficiency, but I do not fill it only for myself but for others.

It is a whole system of corrections, decisions, and very serious inner measures. Only after that can I do it.

Therefore, if a person can bless the glass of water spiritually, which means to truly receive it in order to bestow and to pass the pleasure through all of humanity to the Creator, then he is already on a very high spiritual level.

I hope that we will at least be able to come close to a state in which I can explain these things freely, easily, and simply to my students. They will immediately begin to understand, and then we can explore what the Mitzvot mean. This will be our system of inner training. The 613 Mitzvot are the system of the spiritual levels; our system of correction of in order to bestow or of receiving in order to bestow.

But this will happen when we have not only a common written language or an oral language, but also a common language of sensations. But if I just teach them the Mitzvot, without understanding the inner meaning of the Mitzvot, they will misconceptions and misperceptions. They will be confused and who knows what this will lead to.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 6/29/13

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