Question: Why didn’t the Creator walk Moses through the Machsom (the barrier separating us from spirituality) at the last Convention and leave the Pharaoh to stack the chairs?

Answer: Where was our Moses when we had to plea for exiting Egypt? Where was our cry to the Creator? There was no one but Pharaoh.

We did not demand from the Creator to break the wall between us. Everybody was waiting: “When on earth will He reveal Himself? I want to be filled!” We were still ruled by Pharaoh. Moreover, we got to see what was in our way, what blocks our unity.

It wasn’t accidental that I immediately threw to the audience the words about the necessity to think about our mutual connection, submerging into it, and finding the torn strings in order to tie them together. No dancing, no talking, just let everybody look within themselves and think solely about how to unify with all the others.

And what was the result? We got stuck. It turned out that I am unable to do it. And it’s good because I got to see something important: I am totally disconnected from the others; there is no link. All strings and channels are cut. There isn’t a tiny impulse. I’ll do anything but unify with the others, absorb their thoughts and desires so that they, God forbid, become like my own.

This is the power of Pharaoh. But where is the cry? Yes, we are cut off, isolated from each other. But where is our plea to make us unite? Why aren’t You coming to unite us?!

We don’t have the need for such a plea yet. We still think that we can unite by our own will: “We will make an effort and succeed.” But how is it possible to achieve this with our egoistic qualities?

The need for the Creator must be born from our mutual work, when the group will obligate everyone to use this method and convince them that the Creator will correct the situation. We need the Creator’s labor, not Bnei Baruch’s. We must provide only the plea. When we achieve this collective, world-wide demand for His correction of us, we will ascend to the next degree indeed.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/19/10, “Questions and Answers”

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Question: At the recent Convention, there was a strong presence of the female part of the Kli. They were asking numerous questions, and what I heard and felt in them was that the male half doesn’t exert enough effort, and the women wish to receive the Light that Reforms themselves.

I am speaking about all the women: those who are married and whose husbands study Kabbalah, those who are not married yet, or those whose husbands are not studying Kabbalah. True, the Light comes from the Creator, not a male or female. And it doesn’t matter who you are, male or female, except the realization.

Won’t it be so that many women (and men since everyone has a female part, which is the only one I can work with) use it as a guide to action? It would divide us, would it not? Why then do we need to be married, men and women? Or are your answers only for women whose husbands are not studying Kabbalah yet?

Answer: A person gets married not to receive the Light from his wife, but in order to place himself in the setting most beneficial for spiritual advancement. This is what Kabbalists advise, and a man who ignores it deprives himself of an opportunity to advance. He thinks that he can logically justify or debunk what a higher spiritual degree is telling him.

A Kabbalists’ recommendation is “Segula,” a magic potion that needs to be taken. Men are obligated to marry; women are not. And spiritual work remains spiritual work for both. There is a World Kli, its male and female parts, each of which must be working for the sake of our unification and aspiration to the Creator.
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Question: I see joy and frustration in my friends. They don’t realize what has happened yet: a huge blow to Pharaoh. How and what can I do to help the friends and myself to draw the right conclusions from the convention and continue advancing together? Who is to blame that we merely approached the goal, only the ego?

Answer: No one is to blame. We should appreciate that the aim has been clarified. We thought we are able to defeat our ego and unite by our own effort, but we were wrong: Only the Creator can defeat Pharaoh, whereas our job is the ask Him to do so. It is our common cry to the Creator that we must be working on together right now. That is what the major conclusion from the convention should be.

Question: Lots of people cried during the opening ceremony. Was this crying a lament over everyone’s personal egoism, or was there a moment when they were not thinking about themselves and could have done it?

Answer: They were tears of collective enthusiasm, egoistic for now, and the Creator was absent from it. Therefore, although we felt unity between us, we couldn’t keep this sensation. Let’s not despair though; on the contrary, let’s rejoice because it became much clearer what we need to be working on.
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We began our preparation for this convention many months prior to it; we anticipated uniting with one another, breaking our ego, and attaining unity. In spirituality, one always needs to strive for perfection; anything less is impossible. After all, if you want to jump on the table, you need to prepare yourself to jump higher than the table, and then you will land on it. This applies to everything.

We set a goal for ourselves at the convention: to attain the revelation of the Creator. Naturally, every day this needs to be our goal. But this time we really aspired towards it, and this is why we have taken a big step forward. We have acquired a new status. We created a new Kli (vessel) in which the sensation of connection, unity, the goal, and the way of reaching it has already manifested.

Some felt that they have come a lot closer to it, while others not as much. Some experienced it from the side of the Kelim (vessels), and some already from the side of the Lights. The people who felt that they are not yet part of it acquired the realization of evil; they discovered how much they are yet to correct.

We have experienced a multitude of different states together. We discovered that the environment by acting upon a person can do anything with him because a person is completely susceptible to its influence.

Of course, we lack the environment’s constant influence. Of course, for now we are unable to cancel ourselves in relation to it. And, certainly, the environment is not displaying a force strong enough to determine everyone’s direction.

However, we have definitely developed a connection between us. And I think that soon we will also begin to reveal more and more fulfillment in it.
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From the Talk during the Closing Ceremony, World Kabbalah Convention 2010, 11/11/10

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Studying Kabbalah provides us with a connection to the Upper World. The split between our and the spiritual worlds is an abyss, a barrier, an iron wall, which is impossible to move. Only the Upper Light is able to break it.

Therefore, we cannot connect to the Upper, spiritual world other than by studying authentic primary sources: the writings of Rashbi, the Ari, Baal HaSulam, and Rabash. Only due to this will the Light that Reforms come to us.

We need to constantly study their writings, thereby giving the Light an opportunity to continue its work. You will feel that the unity we achieved at the convention will spread out from its beginning to the ten Sefirot, and it will obtain fulfillment. I expect this to occur very soon, and in regard to every participant of the convention.

We have yet to feel what kind of mutual inclusion into each other we have achieved, the men, women, and even the children. Each of us acquired a broader, multi-layered, and complex Kli (vessel), in which one can already prepare himself to receive the Light.

Now, after the convention, if we all live in one theme by studying the works of the Kabbalists at the lessons, we will be connected to the Light that they contain. In addition, we will unite with all the friends who are going through the same material as we are, the same day, during the same 24 hours. Nothing can unite us more than daily presence at the lessons.

Because we will draw continuously new portions of the Surrounding Light every day, what was born between us at the convention, that for which we laid the foundation, that seed which we sowed into the ground, will continue to develop, and it will give its ten Sefirot. We will feel the Upper Light, the revelation of the Creator, in them.

We are now at the threshold of this. It is an accumulative process, as it is written: “Penny after penny accumulate into a big account.” Unity that arose at the convention, a connection that took place between us is a great achievement. It is the beginning of a new stage of our spiritual development.
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From the Talk during the Closing Ceremony, World Kabbalah Convention 2010, 11/11/10

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If we don’t receive the desire to bestow from the environment, we will not be able to reveal the spiritual world through our own efforts. Indeed, spiritual pleasure is infinitely greater than its corporeal counterpart. Even the smallest pleasure which we receive upon ascending to the first spiritual degree out of 125 is billions of times greater than all the pleasures of our world combined.

The “Big Bang” is the result of a tiny spark of Upper Light that infiltrated our world and caused our whole universe. And it was merely a tiny spark! Meanwhile, now we are primed to reveal the entire Light of NRNHY to its full measure. It follows that for this we will need unlimited vessels of reception.

Therefore, we cannot receive all this Light; otherwise, we would simply explode. This is why each person needs to build external Kelim (vessels) outside of himself. Only through connection, a mutual inclusion into one another, are we capable of achieving great external desires.

Even now we are all swimming in the Upper Light; we are just unable to feel it. There is no place inside of us that can be filled because we only have a tiny spark. In Baal HaSulam’s Letter No. 8 (Fruit of Wisdom, Letters), he describes the Light that is revealed in us:

“At the hour of attainment one feels the Upper Light which is revealed and based on all the reverse transformations. And it seems to a person, at the hour of attaining perfection, that all the suffering he had gone through was valuable because it allowed him to appreciate the sweetness and flavor of the Light, of uniting with the Creator. And all of his organs and tendons shall say and bear witness that anyone among the living in the world would gladly agree to chop off his hands and feet seven times a day, if only he could attain the flavor of adhesion for but a brief moment in his life.”

In other words, we need to understand that spiritual revelation is something infinitely stupendous, and we need to prepare our empty desires (Kelim) for it. A great inner work awaits us, and yet it is incredibly easy only if we do it together with love. This union determines everything!

If I unite with others and feel that I exist together with them in one Kli, in one desire, then the Light becomes revealed inside. It is written that “love thy neighbor is the main rule of the Torah (Light)” because love is a vessel for the Light.
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From Lesson 1, World Kabbalah Convention 2010, 11/9/10

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Excerpts from people’s letters sharing their impressions of the last convention: “I participated in the convention virtually. On the second day, during the lecture “The Purpose of the Group,” after numerous inner efforts and unity, I, like many others, hit the “membrane” that the Light was beaming behind.

I didn’t get disappointed by it (deep inside, I had suspected that breaking through the Machsom wasn’t going to be that easy). At that moment, I realized that whatever was taking place was not a dream but reality. I didn’t have doubts from the very beginning, but I’ve gained even more confidence, and my strength got renewed.

I am standing in front of the “membrane” looking at the Light glowing behind it… It is so hard to match the Creator’s qualities. I let it go. Later, I feel an iron grip of egoism on my throat, and again, back to our goal, with all that I have.

I am still a total ignoramus about the terms in Kabbalah, but I am trying. We will break through. I am with you with every fiber of my soul. Le’Chaim!”
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Our entire history is nothing but development in the material body in this world, but now we have to build our spiritual body and do so ourselves. In our world, I was born from the father and mother who raised and educated me until I became an adult and started living independently. In the spiritual world, I have to do the same. And here, too, we have a spiritual father and mother (Aba ve Ima), a spiritual environment that develops us. However, we need to arrange it with our own desire.

The question is where to get such desire? For this, we are given a spiritual spark, “the point in the heart,” a tiny desire for spirituality. With its help, we can evolve nurtured by the environment, a Kabbalistic group, and the Upper Force that is called Aba ve Ima (father and mother).

We have them, and we are yet to find them. They can also be called the Creator who works on us by means of two forces, Hassadim and Hochma (mercy and wisdom). The force of mercy assists us, and the other force burdens our path, similar to how we teach a child by giving him difficult assignments.

These two forces, “help” and “help against us,” come to us and teach what needs to be done while we move forward. If we arrange our evolution so that we will be able to advance at the speed that depends solely on us since there is no time in spirituality.

We will begin to uncover these forces that act in Nature, the Father and Mother, the positive and negative ones. When we ascend to the first spiritual degree, we already start perceiving ourselves as eternal and complete. After all, we don’t depend on our body anymore. We start perceiving everything in bestowal, outside of ourselves. I connect and bond with all, and they become my spiritual vessel.

In the corporeal world, I always received into myself to the extent that I was able to, and as soon as I was filled, I lost the sensation of pleasure. In contrast, the spiritual pleasure is defined by how much I will pass to another and he to the next one.

This is how we all pass this fulfillment to each other. Therefore, it is an endless stream of unending pleasures. It is what we call the sensation of eternal life.

The Light of Infinity enters each of us, but he takes from it only what is necessary to sustain corporeal existence and passes this endless Light further. If we exist in such a form, we experience ourselves in the World of Infinity, unrestricted and fulfilled by the entire Light of the Creator.

This is what the wisdom of Kabbalah wishes to bring us to, and this is why it is called this way (“Kabbalah” means receiving in Hebrew). It teaches us how to receive fulfillment and experience eternal and complete life here and now, in this lifetime.
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From Lesson 1, World Kabbalah Convention 2010, 11/9/10

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Freedom of will lies only in strengthening our environment so that it influences every one. This is in our hands. There is absolutely nothing else that we are able to change in this life.

You entered the Convention hall and felt a powerful tension. This is because a common desire that was there influenced you. Everyone burned with an enormous desire to reach the might that would enable us to make a leap up, and this affected you.

So, why are you not able to organize your environment so it would influence you the same way now? There are many thousands of people participating in the daily lesson with us, so why are we not able to influence one another?

We have the same connection, and we are in the same common field. Does it matter that much that we are not sitting in the same hall, in the same physical space? Is this the only problem? Why do we lack that common joy and enormous happiness?

We simply lack preparation. Several months before the Convention, we all waited for this day with hope, fear, trepidation, and worry. We read and listened about it, memorized special songs. We all prepared ourselves for this event.

It took an enormous amount of money, time, and physical effort. Of course, when all of this gathered in one place and exploded at the same time, it led to an impressive result. Everyone who was there as well as those who followed this event behind a screen received this strong impression. Why are we not able to continue the same way?

We achieved this degree, this elevation of the spirit, with our common work from below (Itaruta de Letata, awakening from below), and now it is ours. We bought it; we paid for it. So, why are we not able to hold on to our possession?

We need to remember that we have kept this attainment after the Convention because “one is elevated, not lowered in spirituality.” Everything I have attained is now mine, but now I am being swamped with a new, uncorrected desire that obstructs anything that happened previously because it reveals a new height to which I need to rise. I need to regard this new mountain as a means to ascend.

So, let us understand what happened to us. We did not fall; we acquired an opportunity to ascend. Then, we will see a precise goal before us, and we will simply need to combine our strength. After all, this is the only action that can enable us to ascend, only through joining together.

We unite even more strongly in the group, and this will mean that we are ascending. The Light lifts me; I myself do not need to do anything. I just need to connect with others more strongly than ever. Then, the Light will lift me to a new height, a new degree.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/23/10, “Body and Soul”

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Understand that you did not fall, but rose to the next degree and received a new desire, specifically because you did such a good job! Now, we simply need to join forces in order to turn this darkness, this apparent barrier (Machsom) into Light. And then you will receive an even stronger inspiration than at the convention.

We received some initial impression there, and now we need to realize it in a clear and practical form. Now, we need to methodically break that wall, the Machsom between us, which we have felt slightly. We need to keep hitting it in one place, and it will collapse after several blows.

This happens suddenly, “in a blink of an eye,” as it is written about the coming of the Creator’s redemption. Revelation occurs suddenly: Efforts keep accumulating and, all of a sudden, the escape route opens for us to run in extreme haste.

We need to do all of this now, but instead we keep remembering how nice it was at the convention, unlike here, where I am now. However, this is the actual time for work. We did not work during the convention. It was the result of everything we had accumulated in the past, which combined all the efforts, hopes, money, and nerves.

The time to work has come again. The work is always the same. Our ego, the desire to receive pleasure, constantly keeps growing and shows itself in different ways. You need to recognize it and understand that this is “help against us,” that this is sent to you for a specific purpose, out of great love.

The Creator is playing with you like with a small child who is given small obstacles on purpose in order for him to learn to overcome them and grow up. This is how we advance.

However, a child has a natural instinct that pushes him to develop, and he never sits in place, as he is constantly trying to overcome something, do, understand, feel, or break something. Meanwhile, you need to work on your desire yourself.

Imagine the fate of an indifferent and bored child who is too lazy to play with toys, and he sits in class like you, all sleepy with his eyes closed. Will he develop and grow up? This is exactly what is happening to you now.

However, the Creator will not deviate from His program. He must raise you to His level until you become equal to Him. So, what is there to do when you sit with your eyes closed? He will have to beat you until you wake up.

Yet, if you want to do the walking instead of going down the path of suffering, there is one simple law: “He who chooses the best environment every time, advances.”
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/23/10, “Body and Soul”

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