Question: The Creator made the evil inclination and the good one. It is written, “I created the evil inclination.” So where does the good inclination come from?

Answer: In reality, there is no good inclination. There is just the evil inclination, which was initially created by the Creator. That is why He informs us that He created the evil inclination. But we correct it with the help of the Torah and turn it into the good inclination.

“Inclination” is desire. The desire remains. But “evil” means that I constantly want to receive for my own sake, and then it harms me because I close myself off in this world like a small animal, living out the years I have to live. This is the most miserable kind of life that is possible in reality.

The good inclination means that we try to unite in the group and see that we are incapable of it, and begin to scream in a common prayer. Then the Light that reforms comes and creates unity between us, and inside of that unity the intention to bestow, the Light becomes revealed. Then, instead of the evil inclination, we have the good one, the same desire, but with the intention to unite with the neighbor.
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From the 3rd seminar at the New Jersey Convention, 5/12/12

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Question: Can one person acquire an anti-egoistic screen if it can only be acquired through the group? Or is the Creator the only one who can give us a screen?

Answer: The Light comes through the group in response to my request and builds a screen within me, which helps me rise above my ego and connect to the group. A screen is a connecting link between myself and the group, or between myself and the Creator, which is the same thing. It helps me rise above egoism and, once I rise above myself, to connect with the Light, with the Creator, with the essence of the group that is revealed at the group’s center.

We don’t need anything other than the screen. There is my desire and there is the group within which the Light and the Creator are found, and the screen helps me connect with them. That is how I enter the spiritual world: at the center of the group.
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From the 4th seminar at the New Jersey Convention, 5/13/12

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Question: Can a physical desire, for example, sexual desire stand in my way on the spiritual path?

Answer: Physical desires for food, sex, family, money, honor, power, and knowledge cannot stand in a person’s spiritual advancement. We shouldn’t deal with what belongs to the body separately.

We should only be worried about the hatred we feel towards the friends and then toward the whole world.

If you want to eat five servings instead of one, it is harmful for the body, but it doesn’t interfere with the spiritual path. The same goes for sex.

So think only about the connection with the Creator through the friends, and you can stop worrying about all the rest.
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From the Brazil Convention 5/06/12, Lesson 5

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Convention in New Jersey, Lesson 4

Convention in New Jersey, Workshop 4

Convention in New Jersey, Lesson 5

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One Convention in New Jersey, Workshop 1

One Convention in New Jersey,  “Balance Through Connection Between Us as a Solution for the Crisis and Rising to the Higher Dimension,” Lesson 2

Convention in New Jersey, Workshop 2

One Convention in New Jersey, Lesson 3

One Convention in New Jersey, Workshop 3

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By acting against our ego and connecting more strongly, we go through 125 degrees of ascent that are divided into Sefirot, Partzufim, and worlds. The stronger we connect the more we feel the inner power that connects us, called the Creator. Thus we go through five worlds: Assiya, Yetzira, Beria, Atzilut, and Adam Kadmon and rise to the world of Infinity. We learn about all these states in the wisdom of Kabbalah and embody them in practice internally.

In order to fulfill this more efficiently, we have conventions. It’s very good that there are people from all over the world who don’t know one another in the convention hall: men, women, veteran students that have been studying for years, and those who have just heard about the wisdom of Kabbalah and as if “by chance” have come to this convention. The connection among everyone is possible and doesn’t require any early preparation.

If we try to connect practically, we begin to feel that something is happening inside: A special force is being revealed between us, which as if didn’t exist before and which we haven’t felt. This force is only revealed in our world when we begin to work, by actually carrying out the advice of Kabbalists, and then we discover the force of connection between us.

Therefore, Kabbalists were happy about every opportunity to connect. They understood that thanks to this action we can attain correction and see the spiritual reality that is above us, to discover the force that manages us and leads us to a certain goal.

It’s the only way that we can look at ourselves from above, as at those who exist in the corporeal bodies, and to discover the upper worlds, the states that are above this world. It’s the only way we can see that this world isn’t real and to receive new attributes, new senses, that enable us to see the upper spiritual dimension that rises above the corporeal world, and to live in the two worlds at the same time. We feel this to such an extent that a person begins to feel eternity and perfection and isn’t afraid of death at all.

He will not feel when his body dies, just as he doesn’t feel when he has his hair or nails cut. This is because the corporeal body belongs to the animate level, while the hair and nails belong to the vegetative level, meaning a lower level. So if we rise to an upper level, called the human level, which is symbolized by the connection among us, we cease to worry about losing the beastly body, the body can live or die, while we exist on a higher level of existence, which we have attained.

This is what we should reach and this is the goal of the wisdom of Kabbalah: to raise a person to the next level, to eternal existence so that we will not live in a beastly body but the life of the soul. The soul is the feeling that is created within our connection. So the purpose of all these explanations is to attain the only goal—connection.

We perform the act of connection in the conventions so that through this connection, as a small part of the general correction, we will feel spiritual life. Thus, we create one system of Adam HaRishon (the First Man), by bringing his parts together and discovering the spiritual life in which the upper system, the general soul, lives.
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From the Brazil Convention 5/04/12, Lesson 1

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One Convention in New Jersey, “Essence of Kabbalah,” Lesson 1

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Question: During seminars in the group, some people talk more and some less, some are more expressive and others less. What is the right way to relate to this?

Answer: When I sit in a circle together with other people, I must see every one of them as a puppet through which the Creator speaks. This is not a person, but the way in which the Creator presents Himself to me in various forms. No matter how silly the things they say are, that doesn’t matter to me; I bow down before them. No matter how unpleasant they may suddenly seem to me, how repulsive and unattractive, I must counterbalance this by understanding that He is awakening this outlook, this antipathy in me. And this is the place of work.

It is written about the great sage Rabbi Yossi Ben Kisma that he had a group of students who were total beginners, stupid and with no merits, but he placed himself even lower in relation to them, and then they suddenly became great in his eyes and he was able to receive all attainment through them from the Creator.

No one is higher or lower; all of that exists according to our evaluation. Therefore, I can sit with a group that came “from the street” – that doesn’t matter. Everything depends on how I position myself in relation to them.
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From the lesson in America on 5/10/12, Shamati

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Question: Is there a difference between watching the convention at home, on the computer monitor, or coming there in person? Does a person get anything additional by being there in person?

Answer: You probably know that in the 18th century it was popular among the wealthy class to buy their own seat or box in the opera or theater. If a person wanted to hear his favorite aria in an opera, he could come for just those 15 minutes, enjoy it, and then go back home. Back then there were no tape recorders or recordings so people had to come there in person to hear a symphony or opera.

Later tape recorders and televisions were invented, so why haven’t theaters closed down to this day? For example, a ticket to an Italian opera performed by a famous singer costs a lot of money. I once went to an opera in London and the cheapest seat at the top of the gallery cost 40 pounds. But people still go there because it is impossible to transfer an impression through the screen.

To get a full impression, you have to be at that place in person. “A place” is a spiritual notion, which also exists in our world.

And this is even truer for a Kabbalistic convention because we get together to unite! And for that it is not enough to see it on the screen or hear it through the microphone. If even a recorded opera does not give you the same impression as a live performance, then it is even more so with the feeling of unity.

The entire purpose of the convention is unity. All the events, seminars and discussions are devoted to this. This is one, single, living process, which cannot be conveyed in any form. For this I am willing to travel to any group, to any point in the world, even though this is quite burdensome for me. But there is no choice; I cannot carry out my mission in any other form and you cannot attain the goal in any other way.

Only if someone lives in a very remote location and has no opportunity to attend, and really cannot (and he will have to prove that to the Creator, not to us), then apparently there is a personal, special calculation with him. But I would not let the opportunity to take part in a convention pass me by for anything.

There is a famous example of a person who lived thousands of years ago in the Negev desert and worked in agriculture, and once a year he travelled by foot to study in Jerusalem. He was only able to stay and study there for one day because the road there was so long that he had to immediately set out to go back so he could return in time to start working in the field. But to this day there is still a special day during the year that was named in his honor (“a student for one day”) when everyone sit and study.

It is impossible to pass energy from one person to another without personal, physical contact, when we are all together. That is why we exist in this world! This world is special because we are all egoists and are therefore able to begin our connection only in this way.

After all, we are not connected with a spiritual connection yet. And therefore, another, lower level has been given to us, called “this world” – an imaginary reality in which our connection is born. And after that it already begins to grow in spirituality.

It is like a flower that does not grow until the grain rots in the earth and a sprout grows out of it, which then grows to become a flower. That is how we must plant the beginning of our connection. And even though we are in the egoistic world, our grain must rot in this egoistic soil and a new sprout will shoot out of it.

However, this preliminary phase, this physical connection between us is necessary, and that is why this entire world exists.

I think that after these words, an explosion should occur and everyone who hasn’t registered yet will rush to register to the convention. If I was a person living in America, I would not stay home.

You can place a television with the biggest screen in front of you, and set up the ideal, most comfortable conditions, take a vacation from work so no one will bother you from watching, but this still won’t give you real contact. You will miss out on the most important thing: the inner sensation, and will see just the external picture.
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From the lesson on 5/9/12 in America, Shamati

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When I am included in society, I want to bestow upon all the other souls, all the desires that are outside me. But what can I bestow upon them? Then I (I) receive a very great Light from the Creator, the Light of Ein Sof (Infinity) (∞) that passes through me to others.

Eventually, each of us becomes similar to the Creator in his relation to others—the One who bestows, who feels everyone and fills them.

At the same time, we are all different and no one can take the place of another. Everyone has his own special abilities that allow him to join others and to give them something that only he can give them. It is this ability that makes a person similar to the Creator in his attitude to others.

The wisdom of Kabbalah tells us that a person shouldn’t be pressured or oppressed. The education should be free: We teach people about mutual guarantee, mutual connections, mutual help, and mutual fulfillment, but without coercion. If we dictate anything besides this to a person, we will deprive him of the ability to connect with others correctly and to bring his unique contribution for the benefit of all. He will not be able to be like the Creator in is attitude to the world and will not be able to raise himself to the Creator’s level, to the level of the One who bestows.

“Bestowal” is when I receive from the Creator and pass the Light that is meant for others through me. In order to enable a person to do that we have to give him the right education, without any pressure or oppression, according to the principle of: “educate the child in his own way.” In other words, develop his attributes, but don’t pressure, don’t oblige, and don’t break.

This is a special method and we have to learn how to use it. If we educate our children this way, they will become whole and successful people. This is because we will teach them to easily connect with others and thus provide them with the means to come closer to the Light. Thanks to this it will be easier for them to identify the general force that is concealed in nature. This is the uniqueness of our education.

A person in this world actually lacks only one thing, to know how to connect with other people. By learning how to connect, he will undoubtedly succeed in everything. This is the correction of the world. All our other dealings are only lies. We confuse ourselves by imaginary successes after which there are always disappointments, and crises and our troubles only keep on growing.
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From the Brazil Convention 5/05/12, Lesson 4

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