Question: What does it mean “to rejoice over the friend’s joy and to grieve over his grief,” and how do we achieve this?

Answer: To rejoice over the friend’s joy is to feel happy that we reach our spiritual goal together, that we are on the path together. It’s when I feel the friends’ yearning within me and don’t feel my own presence or personal eagerness toward the goal, but rather how I aspire to it with them. In fact, my “self” disappears, dissolves into the others. This is how I attain eternal life, too.

A person’s “self” no longer exists. It functions only as a conduit of the Creator’s Light to all others. So it turns out that all our “selves” disappear. And instead of them, there emerges one integral whole, multiplied by the number of the “selves” that there used to be.
[33303]
From Lesson 1 in Moscow 1/14/2011, “Introduction of the Book of Zohar”

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Question: How should those coming to a convention for the first time prepare for meeting with friends from the World Kli?

Answer: No preparation is necessary. We have friends all over the world. Even if you don’t speak their language, you will not feel different from them because everyone is aimed at the Creator.

Every person who has such a spark for spirituality awakens to the same goal; you are together and feel no differences. Don’t be afraid that something will be new to you. You will feel that they are all close to you.

Question: If I am a beginner and don’t understand anything in this science but want to come to the convention, is it worth doing so? And if yes, how should I prepare for it?

Answer: First of all, if time allows, you should study the material online designed for convention preparation. But regardless, you will pick it up “from the air” that you will be breathing….
[23871]
From the Introductory Lecture Series Kabbalah for the Nation 10/12/10, “Preparation for the Convention”

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Question: Suppose I reached complete bestowal and harmony with the Creator. How can I make this state continue and work from a plus to a greater plus?

Answer: The instant you feel that you are neutral and work with the Creator in total tandem, start searching immediately: "Where can I get foreign desires in order to start working together with the Creator, to act the way He does? Let Him show me how to relate to others!" And you immediately witness how He fills them all.

Your eyes suddenly open and you see: Everybody is in the world of Infinity, completely filled. In reality, the poor ones scream that they have nothing, and they curse everything. And you see them as absolutely filled, absolutely spiritual.

That is, on the next stage you begin to work as the Creator, in the same system, being ahead of Him and wishing to act instead of Him. You become His partner. You do it. You even take Him by the hand and pull Him, like a little child pulls a grown-up, asking Him to carry it out. You add your desires to it. You feel the pain of others, and you force Him to fulfill them.
[33102]
From the Lesson 1 in Moscow 1/14/2011, "Introduction of The Book of Zohar"

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We need to try to build a state of an endless convention and be constantly impressed with many thousands of people gathered in one place. I have to feel the same “electric vibrations” anytime and anywhere. Distance doesn’t affect this spiritual force field. It depends on us; we can make this state of existence permanent.

This unique field of spiritual connection and direction is what is called a Kabbalistic group. In it, everyone retains the influence not only of the 7,000 friends, but of the millions of our friends around the world.

First of all, we create the group out of several thousands of our students, in which all of them are mutually connected within our integral network. If part of this group reaches the state of Arvut (mutual guarantee), it starts projecting this illumination outward, and it cannot be stopped anymore.

This is what is called the authentic circulation of Kabbalah. Everyone will have a chance to come, see, learn, and examine whether it fits him or not, and if it doesn’t fit today, then perhaps it will tomorrow.

This convention must show us an example of such a state, and it has to become permanent so we may ascend higher and higher. This is what will become the impact of the environment on a person, and it is our job to create it.

If the environment determines my entire future and the velocity of my spiritual advancement, then I must be concerned solely with how to make this environment stronger so that it would constantly inspire and pull me forward “by the ear.”

In that case, I will definitely come to the convention. After all, what else can advance me forward? I possess no other means but this one. I will come, but we must keep providing the same kind of influence all the time. Granted, there isn’t any other engine that fosters spiritual growth.
[25958]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/4/2011, “Exile and Redemption”

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I receive the strength to reach spirituality from the environment, and it is a unique force. We arrive to the wisdom of Kabbalah with a desire for spirituality, but this desire is egoistic: to obtain both this and the future worlds.

This enormous desire pushes a person forward, but when he intends to bond with the friends, he has to annul himself and increase the importance of the friends. Thereby, he elevates his attitude to the friend at a minimal spiritual level. He annuls himself, desires to unite, and acknowledges the friend as the important one.

It is a very unpleasant, repulsive endeavor, but there is no other choice: We must unite. And if we do, I receive from the friend the importance of the goal, the strength to ascend. This strength is spiritual. After all, in order to turn to the friend, I nullified myself and raised his value. Since I related to him according to the spiritual rule, the importance of the friend, I received from him the strength to ascend despite the fact that he is just like me.

Even if I act out of hopelessness because I wish to obtain the spiritual world egoistically, I receive the true power from the friend, which raises me above myself. Acting this way with the friends, I acquire the correct approach to spirituality. Moreover, the friends may pay no attention to it nor even be unaware of what fuels me with spiritual power. I acquire it by performing an egoistic act, nullifying myself in relation to them despite the force of resentment.

It is very difficult, but if I manage to overcome myself, I receive from the friends the strength to advance further. This is the essence of our work, and this is the objective of the upcoming convention.
[25865]
From the Lecture on the Unity Day 10/31/10

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Question: As we prepare for the European Convention in Berlin, we are experiencing difficulties trying to receive forces from the environment. While we make the physical actions, how can we avoid losing a connection with the inner goal?

Answer: First of all, it is good that people feel a lack of intention because without the inner component, the intention of bestowal, the external efforts cannot succeed in attaining the Creator’s revelation. So where can we get the right intention for uniting and connecting, inside of which we will act?

We have to try, the way a small child tries to be an adult, with all our might to keep the intention and not forget that we carry out all of the external actions coming from our inner effort. To what extent will we able to do it—that no longer relates to our success.

It is possible that the Creator wants to show us that we really are small and unsuccessful so we would stop being proud of ourselves and would feel that without help from Above we will not be able to keep the intention and will not be able to unite with our own powers. If we were able to do it ourselves, then we would not need the Creator and would not reach the state of “Let us go to Pharaoh.” In essence, a person never has reason to complain about the states he receives. They become revealed as a result of his advancement and therefore at every moment they are correct. The question is how to be able to build the right attitude to them with the help of the group.

In most cases we give ourselves a guilt trip about the past, thinking about how we acted incorrectly, did something bad, missed out on something, were unable to do something, and so on. This is the influence of the impure force, Klipa, which brings us back to the past. The same thing is true about being disillusioned in our qualities: What is the point of blaming ourselves if it is a known fact that we are egoists and continuously reveal just this? We have to form the right attitude above this state.

Therefore, everything depends on the effort. It is impossible for a person to be unsatisfied and to want something different, but that doesn’t matter because the sensation comes from Above. Beginners are shown how successful they are, being encouraged and supported like small children. On the other hand, those who advance are shown their flaws and mistakes not so they would correct themselves, but so theywould demand correction. And all of the reactions are for our own good.

A person’s inner work in relation to the group should be separated from the actions done to organize the studies, the conventions, and dissemination. One does not relate to the other. The inner ascents and descents should not affect the external work. There has to be a daily routine and program, according to which we act independently of desires.

In our inner work we make efforts as much as we can, but the sensation we receive—good or bad—depends on what exactly we should be feeling. If we do not feel inspired, excited, and generally supported, it means that this sensation is being sent to us to help us detach from egoism.

Disappointment with the states that come to us shows a person that the egoistic desire does not support him and thus he naturally turns away from it. Egoism itself helps us to reject it, which is called “help against you.” Our unpleasant sensation in the work is help from the opposite side, until we are able to ascend above our nature and look at it from Above together with the Creator. This is called standing against Pharaoh together with the Creator. That is how one ascends and passes the Machsom.
[33000]
From the lesson on 12/24/10, Writings of Rabash

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Year in and year out, we are trying to bring our lessons closer to people, to the world, and it is extremely difficult. Baal HaSulam wrote in his "Prophecy" that he had asked, pleaded before, the Creator to help him descend from his degree to be able to explain the method of revealing the Creator to people.

In the spiritual world, it’s very hard to lower one’s degree because there everything is completely transparent and clear. Since the upper degree is perfection, to "step down" from it on your own is even "more impossible" than to climb to it. There are no words to explain it either since spirituality is pure sensations.

Kabbalists managed to find words to convey spiritual information, but they intend them for their own peers in their Kabbalistic writings. Behind each word they pronounce, such as the "screens" (Masachim), "discernments" (Havhanot), the "rise of Malchut to Bina," and so on, behind special forms of the enlarged capital letters there stand spiritual notions.

For them, all of it is like a "musical score" for a musician who may cry or laugh simply by looking at it. For him, they are life-like sensations which immediately arouse feelings in him. It’s another thing, however, to take a musical score and relate it in words. If I asked you to tell me about your sensation from a symphony, what would you say?

However, we need to relate our feelings somehow. Although they are not spiritual yet and precede the entry into the spiritual world, nevertheless, our students and ordinary people on the street are separated by many, many years of development. If we were to broadcast our lessons in a unadapted form, nobody would understand them. It’s very difficult to descend from that degree, but we have to attempt to do it. There is still a lot for us to do here.
[31432]
From Lesson 2, Kabbalah Convention at the Arava Desert 12/31/10

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Question: There are several dozen of us in Holland getting ready to take part in the European Convention that will be held in Berlin. For most of us this will be the first time attending a Kabbalah convention, and some of the students still don’t realize what the point is of the convention and why is it so necessary to attend. How can we prepare them for it?

Answer: Europeans have to understand that their continent is in a very dangerous state compared to all others. Out of the whole world, Europe faces the greatest and most serious problem, which, if they explode, can escalate to a third World War.

The Europeans are in a very unstable situation precisely because they decided to unite, but on the other hand their union is egoistic. If one egoist separates from another with a boundary, then they are still able to maintain a connection through that boundary according to set rules. But if there are no formal connections and everyone comes to the common market with a common economy, and with the huge problematic reserves that Europe possesses, then I don’t see it having any opportunity to exist and thrive in the world.

After all, how would that be possible? It would go against the laws of nature. Therefore, Europe will face increasingly more serious problems unless Europeans recognize that it is necessary to correct their ego. They have placed themselves in a situation where they simply have no other choice.

Europe is precisely the place that now serves as the practical laboratory for actualizing the method of Kabbalah because it desired to unite, but did so based on egoistic profit. Now from one day to the next, it is bound to reveal that this is the most horrible evil there can be and the worst possibility of all.

That is why Europeans have to attend the convention where we will all unite together, attracting the Upper Force and desiring for it to influence this part of the world in order to correct it. Otherwise Europe might bring suffering upon the whole world and that will become our common problem. I am turning to you on behalf of our entire world Kli: We have to do this.

Europe is the most problematic place in the world, along with all of its disintegrating nations and common currency. I do not see any symptoms there of a good future. Even though Europe has a very good foundation, yet the relationships between all of the countries make that powerful potential precisely the factor that can lead to a huge explosion.

Moreover, besides the social problems, there are also natural disasters awaiting us, and we are completely powerless before them. The climate problems are growing worse and Europe is entirely dependent on the Atlantic Ocean, making it vulnerable from all sides. This is a very grave problem. Humanity does not have the powers or methods to withstand the situations that are now starting to arise in Europe, other than to follow the method of Kabbalah.

Our task comes down to one thing: To bring the knowledge of this method to all until it is implemented. Therefore, I am waiting to see all of you at the convention in Berlin! I have nothing else to add.
[32317]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/9/11, “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy”

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Question: How important is it to participate in the upcoming European Kabbalah convention in Berlin?

Answer: I really hope that everyone who studies with us understands how vital it is for us and all humanity, especially in our present state, that Europe becomes unified in spiritual terms. We are standing at the threshold of very trying events in Europe. I think that everyone is beginning to feel it.

All these sweet hopes to find solutions through the commonwealth market are starting to melt away. Behind it all, we see the manifestations of great hatred and mutual separation and growing protectionism.

Therefore, now is the time to accelerate the circulation of the wisdom of Kabbalah in Europe with our best effort. All our friends who live there must view their own future and the future of the entire humanity in this light.

Otherwise, Europe will start a new fire yet again. It is there that the first two world wars began. It could be the same with the third one. I think that Germany, more than any other country, feels how real and close this threat may be.

Yet, as the wisdom of Kabbalah informs us, everything depends on the unity between people and on achieving balance with nature. All of this can be actualized with the help of the Upper Force if a person desires it so and strives to draw this force. This is what the wisdom of Kabbalah helps to accomplish.

The key lies in the circulation of Kabbalah in all possible forms so that it may reach every person in Europe. We will keep adapting the articles and publishing them on the Internet in all European languages in the most intensive form. There cannot be any more delays since the next year or two will be the turning point for all of humanity.

The world is yet to face great trials. In order to go through them in the right way so that they don’t throw us into an abyss, but rather bounce us upward toward the goal, we need to be armed with the wisdom of Kabbalah. It is all up to you!

Let’s hope that all our students from all over Europe will take part in the convention, even from the most remote places. We are expecting to see everybody. I have a hope that our voice will finally be heard.
[31745]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/4/2011, “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy”

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Only when we start assembling the broken pieces of Adam HaRishon (the First Man) into one whole, do we begin to notice how everything that happened to us in this world starts falling into places in some miraculous way. All events, from the very unpleasant to more pleasant ones, important or not, unexplainable and seemingly accidental, become ordered and match the other pieces perfectly, to the smallest detail.

Then, we begin to understand the necessity of all the pressure and crisis that the world is going through today as well as the necessity of the painful states each person is experiencing in his individual life. All of this is designed solely to push every one of us toward his place, mission, and its correct realization. If only we heed what the Creator wishes to do with each of us, if we exercise “There is none else but Him,” welcoming Him to do His work on us and listening to Him, it will suffice.

But to hear Him, we must prepare for it with our actions, as described in “We shall do, and we shall hear” since to hear what the Creator is doing means to have reached the level of Bina (hearing is the level of Bina, a very exalted degree). Therefore, first, certain acts must be carried out, as standing at Mount Sinai is described: “We shall do, and we shall hear.”

We have to undergo the same process by striving to become closer to one another in the hearts, as one man with one heart, and to reach mutual guarantee by helping each other unite. After all, only together, yearning to connect all our points in the hearts, our desires, we are re-constructing this broken Kli (desire), assembling it from parts, and restoring it anew.
[31439]
From Lesson 2, Convention at the Arava Desert 12/31/10

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