Question: A part of me really wants to go to the Convention, but another part of me opposes it so strongly that I don’t want to see anyone. What should I do?

Answer: You have to make your free choice. You should understand that both parts of you, like all of the thoughts and desires that awaken in us at every moment, come to us from the Creator. These are conditions which are set for us; it is not the actual me.

What makes the decision is not my body, which gets sick and does not want to go to the Convention, and not my mood either. We act like a mechanism where all of the internal electrical signals are controlled by the upper force according to the program leading us to a certain state.

Life, death, and all of the states in between are determined from above and there is nothing accidental about any of it. Therefore, in every state I have to detach myself and look at this “mechanism,” meaning my body, its mood, and everything in it, from aside. The purpose of this is to see that this is the Creator’s work and to understand what He wants to give me right now, and to what state does He want to bring my “donkey” (Hamor, donkey means Homer, matter). Then I will understand how to work with it and will not identify myself with this “donkey.”

The more times a day a person is able to detach from himself in this way and look at himself from aside, like at a body in which some kind of forces are being awakened, without identifying himself with it, but rather using it as a means to attain the goal, the faster he will reach success. That is also how we should treat the friends in every regard. Don’t look at their faces or personalities, but at their inner desire in the pure form, which does not depend on anything external. This is the friend of my point in the heart.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/22/11, Preparation to the WE! Convention

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Yesterday while watching our TV channel I saw a broadcast of the cultural program that was held at the big Convention in Israel last fall. It included performances by different groups and special dances of different nations from all parts of the world where people came from to attend the Convention. There was a huge audience and a very special atmosphere, making it impossible to take your eyes away from the TV screen. I had to watch it until the very end.

I didn’t see any disappointed or dejected faces there because every person was influenced by the common inspiration and the entire hall was filled with joy, hope, excitement, and inspiration. And it wasn’t even because any special spiritual revelation was taking place there, but simply because the mood of the society influenced every person in this way. Every person that was part of it felt happy and joyful at that moment.

That is the power of social influence and it is the only thing we lack in order to advance at every moment in time. On the path we cannot demand any revelation other than the revelation of bestowal, meaning the correction that enables me only to bestow, to connect to others and not to demand anything else, like Bina which does not desire anything for herself (Hafetz Hesed).

The Creator demands for us to become the same as Him: To bestow for the sake of bestowal, and then to receive for the sake of bestowal. That is why our advancement always happens “above knowledge,” meaning we cannot ask for any other quality or fulfillment to manifest in our sensations besides the quality of bestowal. Moreover, I don’t even care whether I will be given the opportunity to bestow. I don’t expect anything in response form the Creator besides the very aspiration for bestowal which will always develop in me, more and more.

The world does not understand this attitude yet and we, too, are only gradually coming closer to being able to hear and understand what is the essence here. But there is no other way to go. All of humanity has already entered this process of correction and we have to understand that there’s no way back. We cannot stop history. The whole world is undergoing very swift development in the direction of this new quality – the quality of bestowal that will begin to rule the world.

That is why Kabbalists say that we don’t have any other means besides organizing an environment that will support us on the path to the goal and will give us strength, inspiration, and joy. We cannot receive all of this from the Creator and especially not from ourselves, but only from the society.

That is why our dissemination should emphasize inspiring events such as, for example, the cultural programs at the Conventions. This means “joining the good,” which is our motto of choice. The more programs like this we will have, which convey joy, unite, and might that has been acquired, the greater is the life force that this will give to every person.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/21/11, Preparation to the WE! Convention

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Question: How can we ascend above all the quarrels in the group before the convention?

Answer: When preparing for the convention, you have to see how all of these conflicts are given to you as “help against Him,” how Pharaoh rises up and asks, “Who is this Creator for me to listen to His voice?”

The Creator tells you to unite with the friends, while the Pharaoh tells you to disunite! The Creator says, “Give in!” While the Pharaoh says, “No, you have to rule over them with an iron hand!” The Creator says, “Work joyfully,” while the Pharaoh says, “No, you will work dejectedly and enslaved to me.”

These two forces argue within a person when he reaches the “ten Egyptian plagues” as he discerns which of them is right. I have to understand that I determine which of them will take the upper hand and rule—the Creator or Pharaoh! Everything depends on me.

This is the most decisive point, and I am standing in the middle between these two parts of reality: the positive and the seemingly negative, which were prepared for me in this form in order to give me the freedom of choice. I have to decide that I want for the force of bestowal, love, freedom from egoism and ascent above it to assume power.

I am ready to accept the blows falling on Pharaoh and egoistic Egypt, and I am happy about them. Let the blow fall upon me because it is hitting my egoism, helping me to be freed from it, to ascend above it and no longer be inside of it. After these blows, I already come out of Egypt and am no longer enslaved to it!

Yet, a person shouldn’t work on himself, but in relation to the environment, the group. He shouldn’t correct some kind of qualities inside of him, but his attitude to others. The most important thing here is not to get confused and not to change the direction of one’s efforts.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/22/11, Preparation to the WE! Convention

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We need to prepare ourselves for the convention so as to come there in an uplifted mood. We have to get familiar with all the preparation materials, to watch all the video clips, and learn all the songs that we will sing there.

In this sense, there shouldn’t be any news or surprises for you. The more familiar the material is, the stronger impression it makes on you. We learn from the structure of the worlds that the first unity between the male and female parts does not beget a new life, but only creates the vessel (Kli). The Light becomes revealed in that Kli only starting with the second union.

First of all, a person needs to prepare his desires (vessels, Kelim) and therefore, it is worthwhile to familiarize oneself with all the materials. If everything is familiar to a person, he or she will be able to reach a stronger connection during the convention. And if we see something for the first time, we are unable to master it immediately. We don’t yet have the desires for it; there is no place to receive the fulfillment into; it is just the first encounter.

But a mere encounter is not enough for us; we want participation and fulfillment. It is possible only if you are well-familiar with the program. We are not talking about some individual performances, but we have to know and participate in everything else that’s happening on the stage.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/22/11, Preparation to the WE! Convention

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A spiritual action depends entirely on the preparation. That is because the action itself is already predetermined in advance and has to take place. Nothing can change in the entire program from the beginning until the end of creation. All of these phases are already definitely determined.

Man can intervene in a certain part of this program, but only in order to change its speed. However, there is also a part where he can change the character of the program that unravels within him, meaning to determine how he will experience his development.

Through this part of the program he establishes his independence and has the opportunity to express himself. That is how he ascends as an independent individual who has power, who is integral, and who understands and attains the entire program of creation which was intended only for this purpose.

Therefore, the preparation for a forthcoming action changes its character from the beginning and until the very end. Everything depends on the preparation, which is why we attribute so much significance to it.

Now, in anticipation of the convention that will be held in New Jersey at a time that is so special for the whole world, it is extremely important for our preparation to be correct and later to bring good results from our unification at the convention.
Let powerful waves expand outward from this place near New York, the center of America, like a good tsunami wave that will wash the world with love and the force of bestowal. This will enable people to understand how they should start relating to one another in anticipation of the new world and the changes we will have to go through according to nature’s program.

This will help the world go through these changes gently, quickly, and in a good way, by preparing for them and realizing what is happening, instead of like animals that are being beaten and spurred forward by the whip of history and who don’t understand what to do.

Therefore, everything depends on our preparation for the convention so that by virtue of it we will prepare the world for the changes it will have to go through in any case. By preparing for them well, the world will be able to accept them correctly and to see that they are for the better.

During the next 10 days, in the last hours we have left before the convention, we have to perform great work. We have to see every moment as preparation for an extremely important event and discern how we want to go through these moments in order to obtain the expected result for ourselves and for the whole world.
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/22/11, Preparation to the WE! Convention

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Every person has to feel the influence of the environment on him every day, rather than just at one evening at the convention when you are so inspired that you seem to rise above yourself, to come out of yourself outwards and be included in the common mood, forgetting about your ego. We have to give the whole world this sensation of confidence, inspiration, ascent, and aspiration to the goal. Otherwise how can we advise the world to “join the good”?

Yet I hear from many people that they are experiencing descent and disappointment. That means we expect to receive something for our actions, but we don’t receive it and then our mood is ruined. However, a person who desires bestowal (Hafetz Hesed) is happy with his lot. What does he have? Nothing! He doesn’t even have a shirt on his back, like in the parable about a righteous man who lived in the forest. This means there is no clothing on the Light of Hochma.

He does not have the Light of Hochma or another fulfillment, yet he is still happy because he has ascended above his ego. This is the correction we have to acquire first of all. Obviously, the Creator will never give in to our stubborn persistence and He won’t become revealed. His revelation means our correction. If we attain correction which is called “reception for the sake of bestowal,” then we will begin to reveal Him.

I am the Creator’s actions. And if I receive for the sake of bestowal, then this action I make is called the Creator— the force of the Leading One that operates inside the one who’s being led. That is how we must work time after time, detaching from our egoistic desire more and more, from the calculation of: How much did I earn?

Then only the society can hold me back so I would always soar up in the sky and not fall. Only it can give me the force and the stability to justify the path, even despite the fact that I do not receive anything. I will feel proud because I don’t have anything but I still go on. I can be happy precisely because I don’t receive anything for myself and am aimed at bestowal! I check all of this and evaluate it in relation to the environment. Therefore, we have to build this environment so we would constantly, ceaselessly feel the same inspiration just like at the most exciting evening of the convention, and even more so time after time.

On one hand, we have to hold conventions and get together. But on the other hand, we have to aspire for this inspired state to remain in us constantly instead of rising and falling. It is written about the Sabbath day that completes the week that the goal is to attain the state where every day will be like the Sabbath day, meaning that there will not be any descents any longer, but there will be one non-stop ascent, the end of correction (Gmar Tikkun).
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbaalah Lesson 3/21/11, Preparation to the WE! Convention

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The Creator is concealed; the property of bestowal is concealed; the future is concealed, and I can’t see it with my egoistic vision. No spiritual property can become revealed in my current egoism, and I have no opportunity to influence its exposure but to work with the environment. Indeed, I reveal my unwillingness and inability to unite specifically there. I’m ready for anything but this!

This is called the "revelation of evil," the hindrances coming from Pharaoh, and if we do not overcome them together, they will bury us beneath them. All these crimes and quarrels that took place in Egypt and then in the desert, fights with each other and the Creator, all of them are the demands for some fulfillment, for payment in the place where you have to only think about bestowal and not about yourself.

The instant you think about your own benefit, it is a crime. Even if you do not receive anything, the very anticipation of a reward for your bestowal is a sin. One needs to strive for this aspiration to be one-sided and make sure that this one-sidedness constantly intensifies. Indeed, the second the tension weakens, the demand for oneself emerges naturally. For this reason, we need the environment’s support and mutual guarantee.

What helps me not to drill a hole in our common boat, not to think about myself but only about the environment, about our future ship? Only the friends’ support. It’s because I’m under their influence, they own my heart and mind and become more important to me than I myself. The environment has to impart me with such an attitude.

This will allow me to detach myself from selfish thoughts and to switch my entire attention, all my feelings and mind outward, like a mother whose entire desire, heart, and feelings are in her baby. If I begin feeling this way, it means I received the property of bestowal.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/21/2011 on Preparation for the WE! Convention

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I think that during the WE! Convention in New Jersey we will reach the connection that we are already capable of creating. It’s when everybody forgets about himself and gives himself away to the society, totally submerging in the common feeling of unity and the corrected collective soul in which he doesn’t feel himself, but only this collective desire.

Besides this, everybody wishes and does everything possible to preserve this state in us forever and use it to ascend higher and higher. After all, only thanks to such an environment, by applying mutual efforts with regard to it: I toward it, and it toward me, will we reveal the force of bestowal within. And then we will acquire the property of Bina, without expecting any reaction or feedback for ourselves. We will remain in joy from being ruled by the pure property of bestowal.

I receive strength and support for this only from the environment. I have to develop such an ability myself; otherwise, it will not be considered to be my accomplishment.

Obviously, for my current egoism this seems irrational: Why do I need to create the society myself, which would confuse me and impart me with its values, forcing me to act accordingly and even rejoice in it? Will it give me any benefit at all?

True, I will not receive anything for egoism—but I will rise above my nature. This is the first stage of correction called “faith above reason.” Later, thanks to this faith I will attract the Light of Hochma (Wisdom) “inside reason,” into the desire, by receiving in order to bestow. But first and foremost, I have to rise above my egoistic desire.

But unfortunately, we stand like children in a stubborn pose and demand the Creator to become revealed, being totally oblivious of who the Creator is and what His revelation implies. We have all the conditions for revelation of the property of bestowal: Go ahead, do it! But it is the property of bestowal which will be revealed, and not a new, very cunningly disguised fulfillment for your egoism.

And our disappointment only shows how egoistic our expectations are. We don’t even realize that we demand: “Give me!”

This is why the force of mutual guarantee is so vital. It supplies everyone with confidence, the foundation, the necessity to rise above one’s ego, to bestowal without any self-consideration and compensation. This is the first property of Bina, which we have to acquire.

The only thing we can do in our state is to constantly turn to the environment for help. Moreover, one shouldn’t ask for some fulfillment for oneself, but only for support that allows him to stay above egoistic demands. Joy comes from the “good deeds,” from an outward movement toward the others because this makes you similar to the Creator.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/21/2011 on Preparation for the WE! Convention

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A few times a day we need to perform a calculation and to examine the state we are in, our stance relative to the Creator, the environment, and ourselves—and to adjust our direction. We veer off the path all the time; it’s natural. After all, our ego is constantly growing and we have to add evermore strength to keep it under control.

I have to separate my animate body from the spiritual goal, to give the body everything necessary, and to direct everything else toward reaching bestowal, verifying it relative to the environment, according to how strongly I desire to connect to the latter.

Then I will not get confused, and it will be clear to me how much I need for a regular life, and how much I can give to the environment. That is, I will know precisely where I am and where my limit is. It is very important since if you feel a limit, you can guide yourself correctly: Give what’s necessary to corporeality and do everything possible for the sake of spirituality.

Now, before the convention, you have to examine how strongly you feel the need to connect. Awaken yourself by watching the recordings of the previous conventions so as to connect to the environment that is joyous and happy from its advancement. This prepares a person very well.

There is no time in spirituality: There is no past, present, or the future. Hence, when you are watching the recording, it’s not the past. We connect to the state which exist now. There is no difference whether I watch a recording done six months ago or participate in what is happening today. All these states join into one and the same reality. By getting inspired by the past, I can prepare myself for the upcoming meeting.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/21/2011 on Preparation for the WE! Convention

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Question: During the lesson we work with the Light that corrects us. But what do we work with at the Convention?

Answer: At the Convention this happens even more! We don’t have any other means to influence what is happening to us besides the Light that reforms. It is the only thing we can awaken!

We awaken our future states that haven’t been revealed in us yet and which are about to be revealed. They are states of bestowal to the outside, where every person bestows outward, to his neighbor. This is precisely the quality that we want to discover—each person inside of him and all of us as a whole.

When we reveal this quality of bestowal, it means that we have revealed the Creator. As Kabbalists tell us, this quality gave birth to us, formed us, and dispersed us far away from one another so that by uniting with each other we would reveal it once again.

In the meantime, the Creator is in exile. What does that mean? We can say that He also disintegrated into tiny pieces and is inside all of these broken parts that are far away from one another. As soon as you begin connecting them, you start to recreate or restore Him, the common force of bestowal.

We have to build an image for ourselves that is close to the truth. Otherwise we live in various religious fantasies, imagining an unreal, non-materialistic picture.

We have to understand that the difference between faiths or religions and the science of Kabbalah is that faiths or religions want to imagine spirituality in the material desires, which perceive everything “within” and therefore build their notions according to the earthly reality, with creation being below and the Creator being above, as if they are separated by distance rather than qualities. They do not talk about man’s correction.

In contrast, the science of Kabbalah says that everything is inside of man. Thus, the upper reality or dimension becomes revealed in a person’s inner corrections and changes. Therefore, the most important thing for us is to correct man. By correcting our qualities, a person feels that the Creator is revealed inside of him.
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/21/11, The Zohar

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