Convention in New Jersey, Day 2, Lesson 3 

Convention in New Jersey, Day 2, Workshop 2

Convention in New Jersey, Day 2, Lesson 4

Convention in New Jersey, Day 2, Workshop 3

Convention in New Jersey, Day 2, Lesson 5

Filed under: Conventions, Workshops - No Comments →

Suppose I hurt someone. Can he love me in return instead of feeling resentment and hate towards me? For what? Maybe I am bigger and smarter. Or maybe he loves me since by the blows I want to bring him to the good, to something special and sublime?

For example, I pressure my little son to study so that he will grow smarter and become a “great man.” He may not like that now since he may want to play, but I oblige him to study.

In response he doesn’t love me, but hates me. However, later as a result of my blows he grows smarter and thanks to the study develops internally. I force him to develop, and with time he understands that I do it for his own good. Yes, I pressure him and force him to follow the hard way, but it doesn’t mean that I don’t love him, as he previously thought. No, I do it this way because I want what is best for him and I suffer even more than he does because of my toughness, but I simply have no other choice.

So, the Creator has no other choice either: This is the only way He can create the created being. Only then, as he develops, he will turn to the Creator not because of the blows or the pleasures that come from Him, but in a different purposeful manner, understanding that the Creator awakens him to exert and to ascend, to reach eternal, perfect life, to come to eternal understanding, and to reach a new, special level.

When he reaches that he already has two types of nature:

1. The feelings of pleasure and suffering that come from the Creator.
2. And above them, a new love that he feels for the Creator, instead of the hate he felt before.

This is how the created being becomes independent of his initial nature and receives a second nature.

In this world I sometimes also want people to love me, not because I am nice and good, but that they will love me just as I am, even if I treat them badly. I want you to love me and to appreciate me, although I treat you toughly and I cause you pain. I want to you to love me not because of how I treat you and others, but because of who I am.

It’s somewhat like the game that the Creator plays with us when He establishes direct relations with us and at the same time allows us to focus on another “direct line.” It’s like the relationship we see between parents and children, when the parents love the children although they cause them great troubles and worries. It says: “Love will cover all the sins.”

Thus we can understand the game that the Creator plays with us. All our work involves transcending the body that feels only pleasure or pain, establishing the right attitude towards our Teacher, who teaches us to transcend our “animal,” and appreciating His essence: Why does He do that and for whom? He does it only for our sake.

It says that He suffers more than we do since He has to conceal Himself and to put our “animal” part through different sufferings. He does that so that we will transcend this level and become human beings, sublime, eminent, mature, and developed. He wants us to appreciate His attitude according to its essence and not according to how He evokes us to transcend the “animal,” ignoring the pleasures and the sufferings that He intentionally sends us, and see everything with regards to the goal.

In Kabbalistic terms it means that we perform a restriction (Tzimtzum) on the “animal” feeling of pleasure or pain and aim only at the goal, that is, we perform Zivug de Hakaa (coupling by striking) above all the corporeal pleasures in order to be only in mutual bestowal with the Creator, regardless of all my “animal” pleasures and sufferings. This is already a different, higher level, in which I establish my connection with the Creator according to how much we both think about this connection, about the unique goal, about the special state.

Coming back to the example of the father and son: When the son already understands why the father treats him toughly and forces him to study, he transcends the sufferings and rises to a new level of relationship with his father, as they both worry about his success. Thanks to this they are in unity, in adhesion, and in a common intention; they are connected and understand one another. This is already a spiritual level, the unity of spirit, despite the pain and the limitations that the son has experienced by his father on the corporeal level.

These two levels are essential since otherwise the father and son will not be able to establish a real, personal, inner connection between them. Without the spiritual connection they will be connected only by what they receive from one another, which is on the “animal level,” where the created being is undoubtedly operated by the Creator and remains dependent forever. This example clearly explains the basis of our connection with the Creator.
[107093]
From a Talk On Preparation for the Congress in New Jersey, 5/10/2013

Related Material:
Roadmap To The Creator
Unnecessary Sufferings
The Creator’s Game

Filed under: Conventions, Education, Inner Work, Spirituality - No Comments →

Convention in New Jersey, Day 1 “Importance of the Gathering” 

Convention in New Jersey, Day 1, Lesson 1

Convention in New Jersey, Day 1, Workshop 1

Convention in New Jersey, Day 1, Lesson 2

Filed under: Conventions, Workshops - No Comments →

Rabash, Shlavei HaSulam (Steps of the Ladder), “The Purpose of Society” (1984 part 1): And this is why we gather here—to establish a society where each of us follows the spirit of bestowing upon the Creator. And to achieve bestowal upon the Creator, we must begin with bestowal upon man, which is called “love of others.”

Thanks to this we will be able to bestow upon the Creator, the general force of bestowal. This is what we call the attribute by which we rise above our ego.

Mutual bestowal is love of others. If I love someone, I want to give him everything and I make sure that he feels good. It is as if I am constantly in him and I see myself only as a means to bestow upon him, which helps me transcend myself.

This is the reason that such a big world with so many people in it was created. It allows us to gather and establish a group where by the mutual connection between us everyone will be able to transcend his ego and see that he has the means to acquire a second nature: bestowal. In fact, this is what we call the exit from the ego, from its limited system.

And on the other hand, be proud that the Creator has given us the chance to be in a society where each of us has but a single goal—for Divinity to dwell among us.

Our goal is that the revelation of the upper world will fill us. This is called “the revelation of Divinity,” which takes place namely among us. Each of us is an egoist, but when we exit our nature and begin to rise above ourselves, a great collective force is created between us, full of mutual bestowal. We make sure that we achieve this mutual force when we mutually bestow upon one another, and our concern is called mutual guarantee.

We all feel the upper world in this general force. There we discover the forces of all the people who lived before us and who live in this world together with us, of all the people who transcend themselves and live in an eternal state.

This general force is one collective soul. There are no separate individual souls, but only one soul for everyone. But in it everyone feels the eternal world in different depth and width, to the extent that he rose above his ego.

We go through ascents and descents along this road that summon different states in which the eternal world seems to be changing. The truth is that it doesn’t change, as it says: “The Light is at absolute rest.” But we feel as if it changes since we are actually changing. Our ego is transforming all the time, we overcome it in different ways, and accordingly, the picture of our world and the feelings we experience are very dynamic.

Thus we advance until everything is totally revealed and this is the end of correction. All the people in this world must reach that. Even if the bodies change, our spiritual parts remain the same. The bodies separate us from the general feeling into individuals, but if we leave the body, we immediately feel one world and ourselves as one. This is precisely where we are headed.

The efforts that we make in the convention depend on us. We may experience this eternal sate for a couple of minutes. It may be temporary and it may disappear, but the actual phenomenon will remain and will draw us forward forcefully helping us overcome the future phases.

If we really make great efforts, then besides this world we will feel the spiritual world and live in two worlds. It is all up to us. If we can initially think about this and are getting ready for this, then whoever comes to the convention will join us and we will all advance together.

So let’s hope for the revelation of the upper world, which we must always see as the goal that is attained by our unity.

And although we have not yet achieved this goal, that is, we have not felt the upper world by exiting our ego, we have the desire to achieve it. And this, too, should be appreciated by us.

It is true that we have just started, but we hope to reach the goal, and it should be appreciated by us. It is up to us and depends on our efforts. It says: “A person can buy his world in one hour.” If people, who are part of a group, really want to transcend themselves, they will really feel this ascent.
[107176]
From a Talk On Preparation for the Congress in New Jersey, 5/10/2013

Related Material:
The Convention In New Jersey: United Into The One
Conventions: Breaking The Shell Of The Old World
Merge Into One Heart

Filed under: Conventions, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Inner Work - No Comments →

Preparation for the Convention in New Jersey

Filed under: Conventions - No Comments →

Rabash, Shlavei Hasulam (Steps of the Ladder), Article 38, “What is a Glass of Blessing Should be Full, in the Work”: Since it is hard work to constantly overcome one’s self and annul before the upper one, so that the upper will make what the upper wants of it. This is called Ibur, which is the state of smallness that is most restricted.

On one hand, it’s a state of smallness (Katnut), a state of an “embryo,” the lowest possible level, and on the other hand, it’s a state of greatness (Gadlut). The point here is at what level I remain as an embryo. It’s because the phase of Ibur (conception) includes all the states and all the levels. Only later do I move on to the levels of Yenika (suckling) and Mochin (mind), when I already work with my desire in order to bestow, by continuing the same direction of self-annulment that is on the embryo level. Then, however, I already annul myself not only by restricting myself, by limiting my desire, but also in using it in order to bestow, in the same direction that I started using it initially.

Thus, the level of embryo, which is the basis for everything, is great and unique. On this basis the future human being continues his embryonic phase, but he already uses it differently. One way or the other, we constantly annul ourselves before the Creator, before the upper Light, so that it will show us our nature and will give us more strength.

To annul myself before the upper one means to rise above my current self and to take on its form. An “embryo” (Ubar – עֻבָּר) is a static state of someone who passes (Over – עוֹבֵר) from one state to another. What’s more, he moves feeling rage, and against his natural desires since he constantly clarifies and overcomes himself under pressure.

At first this path looks very difficult and unattainable. Is it possible to live this way? Of course it’s impossible if we had to act alone. But the Creator has created the shattering of the vessels for us, and we can work in a state of an embryo with the help of the environment, and not by ourselves. We are surrounded by friends and work with them. Thus our work is divided into many parts according to our efforts, and each part joins the others. So eventually we collect the right efforts for the state of Ibur, and we finally accept it.

We should thus understand that the difficult part is not self-annulment, but the unity and connection in the group. If I join the friends, I will have the power to become an embryo.
[106271]
From the Men’s Convention “The Next Step” 4/26/13, Lesson 2 

Related Material:
I Am Pregnant With The Whole World And The World Is Pregnant With Me
Integrating In The Work Up To The Point Of Self-Cancellation
The Beginning Of Correction In Three Lines

Filed under: Conventions, Group Work, Inner Work - No Comments →

Question: The unity convention in New Jersey is coming soon. We understand that everything depends on preparation. How do our friends throughout the world need to get ready for this meeting?

Answer: First of all, we connect in the convention in order to reach unity, Arvut, merger between us—all those conditions are required to discover the upper force that controls the world and constructs all of reality. This is the goal of learning the wisdom of Kabbalah. It is designed specifically in order to find this upper force. The wisdom of Kabbalah is the revelation of the upper force to the created beings, as Baal HaSulam writes in the article, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”: “This wisdom is no more and no less than a sequence of roots, which hang down by way of cause and consequence, by fixed, determined rules, interweaving to a single, exalted goal described as ‘the revelation of His Godliness to His creatures in this world.’”

This is the reason that we gather at a convention: to build the conditions through which the Creator will be revealed. The discovery of the Creator to the created beings is the goal of the wisdom of Kabbalah. This is realized through the unity between us. This is what we want to attain at a convention, and we must think about this.

The force that we discover is the force of bestowal and love. The “Creator” is the foundation of bestowal and love. He is the good and benevolent because benevolence is the characteristic of someone who does good. And “there is none else besides the good who does good.”

To reveal Him, we also need to acquire two details  of perception:

·       There is no one except us, united as one person with one heart;
·       Each one of us is good and benevolent for all the others.

In this way, we create a “place” where the Creator can be discovered according to the law of equivalence of form. When relationships between us are adjusted to the principle of the “good who does good,” then the upper Good who Does Good will be manifest among us. This is how we will reveal the Creator in the created beings by becoming  Shechinah, meaning the “place” where He dwells.

This is what we want to discover throughout the world in the convention that will be held in another week. This is what we must prepare ourselves for.

It must be said that the convention will be unique in its scope. A wide variety of participants will be gathered there, and this is good. Diversity gives power to unity.

I hope that we can connect properly and that all of us feel that we belong to that unity to which we must return; to be integrated, to be like one again. Then, within this common unity, the one Creator will be discovered, and the discovery of this upper force will solve all of our problems, both physical and spiritual.
[106593]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/1/13, “The Mutual Guarantee”

Related Material:
Conventions: Breaking The Shell Of The Old World
The Purpose Of Life Is The Revelation Of The Creator
Unity Within The One

Filed under: Conventions, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Egoism, Group Work, Q&A - No Comments →

After a very powerful Men’s Convention, we feel great heaviness. But I think that it should be the opposite since we have ascended to a new level, have received new desires, and now have to go out and fight the narrow-minded world we have returned to. We have to fight so all the confusions and the hardening of the heart that we will feel will not wane our feeling of awe and elation. If we won’t let things calm us down, then all the locks will become openings and the gates will open up.

If you feel heavy and indifferent, it is a sign that you are working with your primordial raw egoism. It is the way it operates in its pure form, as a feeling of a dark extinguished desire that doesn’t care about anything. Now you have been given another ten pounds or ten ounces of desire, it doesn’t really matter how much, and you have fallen under this load.

You mustn’t refuse to receive the new desire since doing so is considered disrespect of the chance to advance, of the gift you are given from Above. But you should ask for two things: From the group, you should ask for support, empowerment, mutual guarantee, and mutual responsibility; and from the Creator, you should ask for correction, awakening, elation, and the Light.

You have to ask. There is nothing you can do other than that! If you stop asking, then you immediately fall into a state of unconsciousness. So you must constantly ask and pray internally, focusing on the group and on the Creator, holding on to this prayer. Otherwise, you fall into a deep sleep.
[106251]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/28/13, Talmud Eser Sefirot

Related Material:
After The Convention: Under The Creator’s “Millstone”
After The Convention A New Day Begins
Keeping The Finger On The General Pulse

Filed under: Conventions, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Inner Work, Mutual Guarantee, Prayer and Intention - No Comments →

Question: Can we expect to cross the Machsom at the New Jersey convention May 10^th – 12^th?

Answer: If you know exactly what it means to cross the Machsom and you want to do it, then you will surely succeed. To cross the Machsom means to enter into the group and to be born into the spiritual world.

In order to be born, the point in the heart, the drop of spiritual semen, has to be moved upward and turned into a “white drop,” the embryo of your soul that belongs to the Light. Through it you will feel spirituality and in it you will feel self-annulment: first, in regard to the group; next, in regard to the attribute of bestowal; and then, in regard to the Creator. This will be the first feeling of the spiritual world: self-annulment.

Then, from this drop of spiritual semen, the embryo will begin to develop and more and more ego will be added to one’s self-annulment, which you will correct and turn into a matter for connection to the group. Then you will build your vessel, meaning the spiritual body, and will continue to move your entire ego to the other side, beyond the Machsom.
[105806]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/23/13, Writings of Rabash

Related Material:
The Machsom Is A Psychological Barrier
The Barrier Is In Your Heart
Crossing The Machsom Together

Filed under: Conventions, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Inner Work, Q&A, Spirituality - No Comments →

Question: How does a student who learns Kabbalah need to relate to a world in which there are so many problems: terror (like the recent bombs in Boston), the economic crisis, and ecological imbalance? What needs to be done?

Answer: The truth is that the world is in a much more difficult state than we think lacking understanding and knowledge. There is a period of reaction from nature, which is accumulating our negative influences, all the destruction that we throw at it. The main destruction exists on the human level in the relationships between us since by this we directly influence the most vulnerable place, the system itself.

There was a time when the damage we caused wasn’t that great. This was when we destroyed something in the crude, mechanical part of nature. After that we began to destroy its more subtle systems, say like the electronic or electrical mechanisms that activate the whole of nature. We have finally reached the program itself, where every small injury brings terrible, negative ramifications throughout the system.

This is the problem. Today we have developed to a state where we destroy nature exactly at that level, the level of the program of nature. We must adapt ourselves to nature on this level: We need to understand it, to discover, and be sensitive to the upper force and together with it, participate in the management of all the worlds. But we are not doing this yet. This delay accumulates and accumulates and will ultimately explode on us.

So we see so many problems in the world: terror, natural disasters, and bankruptcy of entire nations. The United States is absorbing hard blows: Just as its influence on the world is enormous so is the intensity with which it will feel the corruption of the world. To keep this from happening, our friends in the United States must make great efforts to work together with us.

In general this is something all of our groups in the world must do. The entire world is facing great blows which we can prevent. We specifically can help in this, nobody else can do anything, not even a president. Everything depends on the upper force and on our accommodation to it. The more that we correct ourselves and attain equality with it, the more we balance and heal nature.

In this way we can transform every negative influence to positive. After all, every negative influence that we discover in this world due to our lack of accommodation to nature will be regarded as the realization of evil that we can transform to good. So instead of a disaster that may come if we fail to mollify it by bringing the Light into it, we will feel the opposite: a great ascent.

The evil is still accumulating now as a result of all of our deeds. The time is tight, it is becoming critical. Everything depends on one question: Do we have enough time to attract the Light to all this negative charge accumulated by humanity, transforming it into positive or not? This is where the decision is made whether we tilt the world from the scale of guilt to the scale of justification?

Hundreds of thousands of tons have already accumulated on the side of accusation, which we can transfer to the side of merit, meaning to transform the sins into merits. The higher a person is, the greater is his ego. The main thing is to turn towards correction. I very much hope that thanks to conventions like these, we will accumulate sufficient power to attract the Light that Reforms so that instead of the accumulation of negative energy in the world, we will discover its opposite: positive energy.
[105883]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/23/13, Writings of Rabash

Related Material:
Open Your Eyes: You Are Harming Yourself
How Do We Protect Ourselves From Nature?
The World’s Only Chance

Filed under: Conventions, Crisis, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Inner Work - No Comments →