Question: Today at the lesson you proposed enforcing extremely harsh conditions to those who wish to attend the Unity Congress on July 6^th through the 8^th: consistent lesson attendance, paying maaser, actively disseminating, arriving no later than 6 AM on the 6^th and not leaving until it’s over, and so on.

Why are you so strict with those who want to participate?

My Answer: The purpose of unity is to push the participants to the conditions necessary to reveal the Creator via unification.

We gather at such unity congresses periodically, and each time around we must draw closer to these necessary conditions under which the Creator is revealed. Otherwise, what’s the point of exerting and only doing the job halfway? We might as well have just had a picnic or something.

But if we’re determined to get the job done, we must be serious about it. We don’t set the bar; it is the Creator who sets the bar for us.
[82029]

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One can’t forget that we must unite precisely because the whole world demands correction. Otherwise, we would not have been given the desire for spirituality and Kabbalah would still continue to be passed on in a hidden way from one chosen Kabbalist to another like it has been done for thousands of years.

It is not by accident that suddenly the desire to reveal the Creator has emerged in thousands of people around the world. This is done so that they would unite together and become the “priests,” meaning those who teach and care about the whole world in order to lead the whole world to correction.

That is why, although at the end of next week we are getting ready for the congress with the goal to reach unity with each other, from the very beginning we must remember and never forget that our unity is needed for the sake of bringing the whole world to the revelation of the Creator.

We are carrying out the role of those who ignite the Light! We serve as the screen for the desire, like the wick of a candle. The oil, or the desire to enjoy, is the whole of the humanity, the light is the Creator, and we are the wick that helps the oil light up. This means being the servant of the Creator.

That is why if we are not longing towards unity with the Creator for the sake of passing His revelation to the whole of humanity, then all of our work will pass in the wrong direction. All of the time, we need to be thinking about both poles while we are located in the middle; this is the mission of Israel.

That is why at the congress, although we will basically be talking and working on our internal unity, we need to also touch on the topic of external dissemination. However, it is not demanded of us to perform too many actions in order to engulf the whole world with them. We only need to let the Reforming Light work, letting it pass through us.

We need to unite with each other with a much greater force and then the Light will go through us. We must only open the entrances for it, and it will do its job. Meaning, it is enough to be at some place, to arrange a roundtable there, to bring the people to some kind of unity, and you have already connected to it and you remain there. You have left your spiritual “fingerprints” there and that is enough! The Light will start to function through them.

Under the impression of only one of our meetings, people will start to feel themselves how they need to act further. It is clear that virtual systems need to be built and connection with them needs to be kept up, but the most important job is done by the Light.
[81799]
From a “Talk About General Questions” 6/29/12

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North  Convention, Lesson 1

North Convention, Workshop 1

North Convention, Lesson 2

North Convention, Workshop 2

North Convention, Lesson 3

North Convention, Workshop 3

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Question: What should I do if, during the convention, I connect via the Internet, and in the workshop, I can only hear the focus group? How should I incorporate in the unity like the people who physically attend the convention?

Answer: The friends who conduct the workshop on the other side of the screen are with me. I also am connected to the focus group, only listen to these friends, and as appropriate, give instructions and speak. I don’t hear the others, so you are in the same situation I am in, and it is enough in order to be with me. If a person sits by himself in front of a screen during the workshop and opens his heart as strongly as he can, he is with us.

Question: How should the groups around the world prepare for the convention?

Answer: Just like we do. After all, the distances don’t separate us. Prepare mattresses and food and everything that you need in order to constantly be with us, like us. Then, you surely will experience the same feelings, the same fillings, the same states.

Question: Should we have a protocol in this convention?

Answer: Yes, the same protocol as in the workshops or in the group according to which a person comes to the convention only to connect. By that, it will be clear what we have to do.

No one can leave for a while during the convention; no one does anything outside the general framework. In short, we are consolidated. People who served in the army will find it easier; they have such memories.

One way or another, a person should follow his feelings, and everything should follow the feeling of unity from which no one detaches himself. After all, the moment a person leaves this feeling, this necessity, the yearning for it, he falls.

Then, he needs a protocol in order to act according to its rules. In the meantime, he holds on to the unity, and the protocol is written in his heart.

This refers to all the groups. People who don’t take part in our daily activities, but feel a need to participate, can join our groups, but it should be full participation. You cannot just visit the friends during the convention for a couple of hours and that’s it. If a person participates in the convention, it should be from the beginning to the end and only with the permission of the group if his intentions are really serious. Our convention is not for beginners, but for those who follow our path and who feel the need to unite in order to reach the spiritual world.

Question: How can we choose a stronger environment before the convention?

Answer: In order to do that, we must unite as strongly as we can. I don’t escape from one group to another, and I don’t choose between two groups. I clarify the concept of a “group” itself.

Question: A week ago, you said that a 1% effort during the morning lesson is much more effective than a 10% effort during the convention. So, why do we need the convention?

Answer: The morning lesson involves greater difficulties since is very hard to work against a habit, but, indeed, by many actions during the morning lesson, we can do much more and come to greater results than during a convention. If we made enough efforts during the morning lesson, if we were serious and constantly thought about how to make the best of it, we wouldn’t need conventions. They wouldn’t compensate for much either. After all, every morning lesson is a special event, an important state.

Question: What should be the outcome of this convention? What is the final picture that you see?

Answer: Constant unity in which we open up the upper dimension.

Question: How should we aim ourselves with the help of the convention and the Creator who does everything so that this wisdom will become common knowledge so that it will be the general approach of the group?

Answer: Everything is revealed in unity.
[81965]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/2/12, “Questions About the Congress of Consolidation in the North of Israel”

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Question: This congress is quite sudden, and we fear that we will not arrive with sufficient enthusiasm. How can we prepare ourselves in the time we have left so that the convention will not turn into a festival?

Answer: The congress will not turn into a festival; we will make sure it doesn’t. Don’t expect celebrations, but rather most likely a forced march with mattresses. So you can stop worrying, it won’t be easy.

As for the suddenness, the best and most important things appear suddenly, the exodus from Egypt, for example that took place in a hurry. So there is nothing to complain about, it is just the opposite case.

Besides, we are talking about connection and unity, so do we have to make a fuss about that and say: “Friends listen to the news, we have to unite! Let’s prepare ourselves and in six months we are going to unite…”

Are we talking about something new we haven’t heard of? Do we have to start preparing for it only now? Shouldn’t we be ready for that all our life and every moment in our life?

What do we need a congress for? It may very well be that we will receive what we want to attain today and then there will be no need for the convention and other actions will be required instead. We should expect the coming of the Messiah every day.

Question: What should I expect from the congress?

Answer: That by the connection and the unity with others I will attain the general from of bestowal called “the revelation of the Creator,” the revelation of the “upper force.”

Question: This is the first convention that in advance you are not awakening us, leaving room for our exertion. How do we examine ourselves to see whether we are preparing ourselves the way we should?

Answer: I act according to the situation. In the current state, I don’t feel that I can spur you in any way other than what I am doing. Listen to today’s lesson again, and you will see that I am constantly waking you up. It also refers to the recent lessons and workshops.

What can I do if you don’t take this into account, if you don’t pay attention to that? I am trying to do my work. Besides, you should demand! I am ready to give a thousand times more, but where is your demand? You have no spiritual hunger; it is as if you are all full: “Well, tell us some more and we will listen…” what else can I say?

Question: How can we consolidate our forces in order to break through the Machsom (barrier) during the convention?

Answer: We need the unity that is attained out of necessity, the awakening of the desires and the impression. It says: “Each man shall help his friend.” Nowhere does it say that the teacher has to dance before the group in order to evoke joy or tears. The teacher guides the group in the right direction, but the students should follow this direction by themselves. There should be a collective desire among the friends. The teacher cannot do what the group should do, and you are wasting your time if you are hoping for this.
[81968]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/2/12, “Questions About the Congress of Consolidation in North of Israel”

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Question: In what way is the congress in the North different from the one we had in the Arava desert?

Answer: We already spoke about it yesterday in the workshop when we spoke about how our feelings change as a result of the workshops and our attitude towards them. We saw that each time the beginning is more difficult—it is harder to come to the workshop—but the entrance and the connection come more quickly and our impression grows and becomes clearer and more stable.

It is the same when it comes to congresses, since a congress is a kind of a workshop, but more complex since it is made of more parts, and we have to relate to it accordingly.

Of course, it is harder to get ready for the coming congress and to the impression we should receive from it compared to the Arava convention, in which we felt as if we were leaving Egypt and coming closer to Mt. Sinai. There was something of the legend there, a kind of an adventure. Today we are facing routine work: We are coming to a new place, we fix what is necessary, we have lectures…the previous impression is missing, it has been changed to a “standard procedure,” into routine.

This is good since this is how nature provides us with a more mature attitude so that we will try to penetrate our feelings and to be impressed by more profound things.

We say that in the Arava we attained the level of Shoresh (the root level) of our vessel. The fire burned in us and we felt like heroes looking forward to an adventure. Now we’ve moved on level one or two, the desire is also “thicker,” and our attitude should be more serious. There is no room here for the “airy” euphoria, to the childish impression anymore; we should search for all this inside, in the depths of our feeling and understanding. That’s what’s important.

Today we must attain the connection under difficult conditions, without the first impression, with a desire that is thicker. We have to be thankful for having received a thicker desire. Apparently we’ve managed to do something in the past and now we should attain a much stronger impression than before that isn’t childish but much more mature.
[81971]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/02/12, “Questions About the Congress of Consolidation in North Israel”

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Baal HaSulam, Letter No. 13: …This came upon you due to your negligence of my request to exert in love of friends, for I have explained to you in every possible manner that this remedy is sufficient to compensate for your every deficiency. And if you cannot rise to heaven, I have given you ways on Earth, and why have you not added in this work at all?”

We are the ones who draw the picture of this world in our properties. Actually, we distinguish two types of impact that our desire to receive feels:

• good and comfortable
• bad and dangerous

The “matter” we consist of is the desire to receive that is divided into five (5) levels: zero to four. On all these levels, we have multiple qualities that in general can be reduced to how to receive pleasure.

Our perception of reality allows us to differentiate the edges of the Light of Infinity that can either bring us pleasure or harm. All we do is we portray them in our perception; the entire picture of our reality is woven of them.

This picture is very small and limited; Kabbalists have been telling us about this fact for thousands of years now. Lately, also scholars ascertained that we catch only a fraction of reality.

Is there a way to observe authentic reality other than the one we are born into, live and die in, in which we feel insignificant, unhappy, and incomplete?

Kabbalists say that it’s possible to perceive the true reality and sense the Light of Infinity in which we constantly dwell only on one condition: if we manage to amplify our tools of perception.

This is why the science we study is called “the wisdom of receiving.” With the help of this methodology, we manage to broaden our sensors and in addition to the five senses—sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch— we climb a step higher towards obtaining five additional senses.

To do this, we have to change our desire to receive in terms of not only perceiving what’s important to us in a positive or negative sense, but rather to perceive things that are outside of our desire also regarding them in a positive or negative way. How do we do that?

I need to dress into somebody else, into someone who is external to me, to rise above my own sensations, both positive and negative, to the perception of what is good or bad for another. If I manage to catch somebody else’s sensations, at least the perception of one person, then I get out of myself and start identifying the world as it really is, in a initial, small extent. Then, a person can continue working on expanding my exits outside of myself, again and again, until I start sensing the reality completely independent of myself. This is called the perception beyond reason, above the desire to receive.”

We have been in the process of developing this quality for quite a long time now. The matter of which the desire is built has transitioned from the inanimate level to the vegetative, then to animate, and it has been the development of the receiving desires of self-perception. The desire to receive continued to enlarge its ability to feel various outside impacts from within until it depleted this option to the very end. There is no room for further growth in this direction any longer; so, the desire to receive now recognizes its limitations.

Here is what today’s generation is going through: We lack interest in life, indifference to further growth and what we do in this world. We can’t control ourselves and the world around us as before. Our egoistic desire has exhausted itself; we have completed this phase of evolution.

In the future, our desire to receive will push us towards the next developmental stage. It is said that by creating affliction and predicaments, the Pharaoh forced the sons of Israel to exit from Egypt. Similarly to them, we too feel hopeless in this life. The egoism that is governing us, demonstrates that it is unable to fulfill us any longer. We go the extra mile to find reasons to live, search for additional pleasures and livelihood; however, all of them lead to even deeper descents; the more we try to live better, the worse our lives become.

Even those who have everything do not sense any joy or happiness. Besides, our material life constantly gets harder. We definitely continue to fall.

This is exactly what is supposed to be happening. At some point, the sons of Israel fled Egypt because they went through a similar situation. They would have liked to stay there, but they were hit by huge blows and sufferings that didn’t leave them any choice but to escape.

When a Kabbalist begins his self-correction, he acts as if he strives to enter a beautiful spiritual world full of light, into the bright future that will open all horizons to him. However, on his way there, he discovers quite an opposite picture —tough internal life and intense burdens that press him immensely. This pressure is caused by the fact that he isn’t moving forward in the usual egoistic way. Instead, through desperation and unfortunate circumstances, he must pass through all stages of spiritual birth, meaning to exit Egypt, rise above his egoism, get out of himself, and feel what it is like to be out of his body; that is, he lives through sensing other’s desires.

In this world, the process of birth is also accompanied by labor pains (Tzirim in Hebrew), in other words by (Tzarot) troubles, sufferings, and pressure. And in particular, those feelings are given to those who study the wisdom of Kabbalah to help them advance by pushing them forward in the same way a mother’s uterus presses on the fetus for it to be born.

However, the wisdom of Kabbalah is not just telling us about the birth of a new perception and the acquisition of the transition from absorbing to releasing, from reception to bestowal. It is not a theoretical study of the process; it is not about philosophy. Kabbalah helps us to realize this by a process of spiritual birth.

After all, like a fetus in the mother’s womb, we have to feel cramped, dark, tightness, suffocation, and the need assist this process on our own. It’s a very unpleasant sensation. That’s why we are granted the wisdom of Kabbalah to begin realizing and acknowledging the process in order to make it easy and fast.

Thanks to Kabbalah, we know what to expect; we realize that we have to exit out of our internal sensations into the external world in order to avoid viewing the reality only through the limitations of our five senses; we should see the world that is outside of us, outside the womb. We have to achieve this state somehow. How?

We need an “obstetrician” here; we have to be born not as a result of painful birth contractions that push us from behind, but rather due to the outside force that pulls us forward. In this case, the process of birth will be quite easy, with the “waters,” with the property of Mercy.

For that, we need external support that has to be provided by the group, which elicits the external force. It is said: “Man shall help his neighbor.” The group can pull us out of this dark world into the bright light; it will help us raise our perception of reality to the next level so that it’s not limited by five senses anymore; but on the contrary, we begin viewing everything around us in the Reflected Light without absorbing anything inside ourselves, but rather turning outside.

Hence, the terms “bestowal,” “love,” and “mercy,” all of them, in fact, are talking about the perception of reality in a different quality, in exchanging one’s desires with the desire of his friend. If one manages to transfer one’s primary concern from himself to his group of friends, it is as if one is drawn out of the womb, out of this world, and go beyond this material realm into the world of externality. In this case, our efforts trigger the upper force’s response, which helps us go through this and to be born.

This is the first step we have to go through; it is extremely difficult. Similarly in our world, in spite of all efforts to facilitate the process of birth, to make it easy and safe, it always appears to be a miracle similar to the “miracle of exiting Egypt.” At this stage of development lies something new and extraordinary, and even more so when it comes to spiritual birth.
[81263]
From the Miami Convention 6/23/12, Lesson 1

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Our conventions are becoming more and more qualitative. It might be that they are not as presentable as in the past, but they are deeper. Of course, in them, we are talking about the realistic connection and unity, but now this unity, in addition to the external discoveries, is penetrating to the boundary of inner experiences and feelings.

We know that “advantage of the Light is from the darkness.”

The Light is revealed only in the vessel, and therefore, we have to prepare the vessels, the desires, to feel the exile from the spiritual world in order to reach redemption. And this is to say, that all of us must work on the necessity that is directed to this convention. We need to define the character of the convention to know what one wants, to what one wants to reach, and what should happen in our meeting. We need to build this convention by ourselves.

This is not about the technical or organizational component. I speak here about this, that we need to build from beginning to end the whole process that we need to go through in creating the connection between us, until the step in which we will reach qualitative unity and we will enable the Light to illuminate inside us. And for that, we need to work, to invest efforts, and to do preparation without any connection to the place where the person will be during the time of the convention.

We all need to see what necessity and deficiency we need to reach by our internal and external efforts, in study, in intention, and organization at the place.

I am waiting for your opinions and reactions, and according to them, we will hold our convention.

I will prepare myself according to what you will write. Then, truly there will be collaboration between us and we will progress forward maximally.

Otherwise, if I will do something people are not prepared for, it results in a one-man show. We don’t need a show here, rather unity, a mutual, common action.
[75214]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/12/12, Shamati #190

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To get a sense of the Light, we must practice, and exercises are possible only in the group. For example, a dance teacher begins to perform various movements with me: a step forward, a step backward, a spin, and so forth. The group is in front of me, and I can feel it, work with it, and thus advance.

Yes, this is very unpleasant to my egoism because, every time, I must give primacy to the group, not me, but it leads me in this “tango.” Friends express their desire, and I should follow it. As it is written, “Nullify your desire according to His desire.” I am learning how to bow my head, to accept the desire of the group as my lead partner, and come to cooperation, unity, with friends. I begin to feel their desire. It turns out that my dancing partner is reliable and close, devoted and faithful. I act for him, and he acts for me. Then, our unity turns into a real group.

The “group” means a single desire of friends to be united with each other. There is neither “me” nor “them” in this desire that is being born between us, but there is one whole, a new reality, not connection itself, but its result.

This is the spiritual fruit that came out of the mother’s womb. In it, we perceive the One and the Light; the Creator is revealed in it, in that desire to which we gave birth and created, which we have achieved by becoming one whole. There cannot be a divided multitude, but unity reigns in it.

Baal HaSulam writes about this in Letter 13: Besides the great power hidden in it, you should know that there are many sparks of sanctity in each of the friends. And as you collect all of these sparks into one place, as brothers in love and friendship, certainly you would have a very exalted degree of the level of sanctity at that hour.

A person can be included in the group in different ways, can come and go in waves, wholeheartedly or half-heartedly. Nonetheless, each of us has a unique particle of the Light that pulls him out of the bottom of this world, and that is why we must appreciate everyone. Moreover, this applies equally for men and women.

Our sparks are a true gift from above. A person is called a human (Adam) if he has this spark pulling him toward becoming similar (Adameh) to the Creator. If he does not have a spark, he still belongs to the “animate” level.

We are not speaking about some inadequacy. Some merely get a “dual” task to be born earlier than others and help everyone else to be born spiritually. They are similar to the head of humanity and must lead it forward.

That is why we need to understand that every friend has received a special attitude from above, from the Light that dressed into him. In his soul, in his spiritual root, there is something very special placed in him, so he is close to the light and receives this assignment.

Of course, he does not rise egoistically above humanity. We respect the friend because he was granted a special role to serve. We don’t treat others with disdain because this mission doesn’t depend on us.

That is why I must respect each friend. He was chosen from above, by the Light to become my partner. I cannot be born without him, and neither can humanity.
[81447]
From the Miami Convention 6/23/12, Lesson 1

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Question: How should we direct our “Prayer for the Many” before the convention in the North so that it will personally influence each one of us so that we will feel the importance of the group and for the world?

Answer: Conventions of this kind are very beneficial. I saw it also according to the groups I visited lately. We need to maintain the intention of bestowal for all of our friends all over the world. It is very influential and advances them significantly.

Each time, I happily discover that the gap between the groups shrinks more and more. It is especially now as the groups opened to meet the general public, when we support the unity of the congresses, and especially with the workshops, the groups feel a very, big change. The distances between us disappear, all gradually become one group, and this causes great happiness.

The convention in the North will begin on Thursday of next week. I very much hope that our friends can get away from work and their other involvements. Nowadays it is not so simple, since it can cause unpleasantness on the side of the employers. I warn you: Don’t put your position at work in danger and don’t leave if there is no possibility to take a vacation.

We will try to have a continuous live broadcast.

As to the preparation, the main thing is the connection. This means a really deep, internal connection between everyone, between all the groups and all the friends so that not one of us will be forgotten. We must prepare for more consolidated and dense activity. From Sunday of next week, we will devote special lessons to this. Be with us, and everything will work out.
[81520]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/26/12, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”

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