Question: What does it mean to reveal broken desires or Kelim? Do we reveal them in our aspiration to attain the Creator or in the desire to unite with one another?

Answer: We reveal our broken Kelim only in the desire to unite with each other in order to attain the Creator. And we reveal them more and more each time.

Let’s say that at the recent convention we discovered that on one hand we would like to unite, but on the other hand we do not desire it. Something on the inside stops us; there is some enemy, hater, inner stupor, or Machsom that does not let me come closer to others and unite with them.

This is the first plague of the ten Egyptian plagues or blows to Pharaoh (Pharaoh is the name of the one stopping me). I feel that he does not let me unite with others, even though I don’t yet fully realize: why I have to unite with them, where is the Creator here, and how is it possible to bestow to Him. For now I only have an aspiration to unite.

It will happen differently the second time. We want to unite and we have to be together to attain spirituality because spirituality becomes revealed only in the unity among us. This will become a little bit clearer to us. On the other hand, we will once again feel that something stops us. We demand, “Free us!” But he does not let us go.

The Creator continuously reveals a more powerful ego inside us, “hardening Pharaoh’s heart.” Then we will go out and attack again, and this does not have to happen only at a convention. We will then see that we are unable to do it ourselves; we need an external force. So where is this external force? We begin to desire for the Creator to unite us; then we will break through the Machsom.

Next time we will begin to feel that breaking the Machsom means breaking the Machsom between us. We shouldn’t attack some external boundary. The Machsom is between us, in our hearts, which are isolated from each other by an egoistic boundary.

Afterward, by making another attack, we will feel that we do not need all of this for ourselves; we don’t need it in order to unite and reveal spirituality, but in order to bestow to the Creator through it. This is the “last stop.”

All of this becomes revealed gradually. Once we reveal all of these phases in practice and experience them to the fullest, we will thereby create the right desire, Kli, or vessel for receiving the Light. Otherwise you cannot reveal the Light. The Light is abundantly present, but you have to reveal the right desire or Kli for it; you have to attain the same frequency or the same quality. This is possible only through the actions that come to us as they create a true desire in which the Light will become revealed.

So let us get ready to make the next attack on Pharaoh!
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/30/10, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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Today, we have reached the limit of our egoistic development concluding our thousand year old history, and this is why humankind is experiencing crisis in all areas of life. We do not see where to go further and what else there is to do; hence, the world is falling into depression and drug abuse.

And this is where the wisdom of Kabbalah comes in. It was awaiting to be revealed precisely at the end of the 20th century, as described in The Book of Zohar and other Kabbalistic texts. This is taking place namely today when everybody understands or begins to feel that they have come to a dead end since our egoism has no direction to grow in.

If egoism continued to develop, we would be running after it without a thought as we have done during all of the previous lifetimes, all our history, each new time trying to attain something, win, improve for the sake of home, family, children, career, and so on. Each generation is like a row of soldiers moving from life to life, from incarnation to incarnation.

Over the course of these life cycles, we did not get tired of running after our ego because our desire was pushing us to do so. It doesn’t matter that it was worthless and we had done it all before and many times. We kept running and did what the ego wanted us to do.

But due to the fact that this egoistic desire has reached its final, highest level, we have started to feel that the road has ended. People don’t even want to bear children any more since they are losing hope that the next generation will live better than the present one.

This is where the wisdom of Kabbalah comes in and says: You can join the good! This is the good future for all humanity. But this good is not in our egoistic ideas and the dimension of this world at all. Here, there cannot be anything good any more.

If everybody wants to receive something into their egoism, they will never be filled. The moment a person starts getting filled, his pleasure disappears. Pleasure and fulfillment are opposite to each other, and fulfillment subdues the desire. And if I don’t feel lack any longer, I don’t feel pleasure from receiving and have to look for a new one.

Thus, all my life passes by in pointless search. But for those who feel that they must find something above this material life, Kabbalists tell us how to join the good.

In truth, I already feel that this world has exhausted itself and I need to find something above it in order to understand “what for?” and “why?” Where is the source of life, and what is its purpose? What was before it and what will follow? I want to know what is beyond, outside of these borders that lock me in this world.

I must know the reason of all that is taking place and see around this world: How each thing begins and ends, how everything is interconnected? Without it, I don’t feel well. This is the way our soul, which is beginning to unfold now is built.

And this is the reason why Kabbalah, the method of finding the soul, has arrived. After all, everything we have experienced thus far was being perceived in the animate body with its five sensory organs. We used to fill the body with tastes the body was enjoying or we suffered pain in the same body.

We have finished with this world; we have filled ourselves with it and felt disappointment. Now we have to go on! Ego keeps growing, but in another dimension: above the body. This is called the evolution of the soul, an inner part that will develop in you, and thanks to which you will attain the Upper reality.

And this doesn’t cancel your current world; it will continue to exist. But you will also attain what is above it, meaning all of the forces that descend from Above and govern our world. You will understand everything that takes place here, below, since you will ascend to the higher roots and uncover the relationship between the root and the branches.
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From Lesson 1, World Kabbalah Convention 2010, 11/9/10

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The most popular Israeli newspaper “Maariv (Evening)” published a big article about the recent Convention:

[Show slideshow]

Excerpts from the article: Roberto from Mexico walks up onto the stage in a gigantic hall filled with thousands of participants. He is choking on tears and is barely able to speak.

Suddenly, we hear the words, as if he found a string in his throat: ‘You are my family,’  he says. ‘And I cannot live without you.’ The audience is crying. They will cry when Alexander from Russia will ask everybody to join the good within, and when Reuben from the United States will ask everybody to close their eyes and think about this special day.

Reporter: ‘I don’t understand why people are crying here. Do you?’

Alexander Demidov: ‘They are crying because they didn’t know that they would find so much warmth here, that everything here would be so close and true. It is like you suddenly discover you have a son. And you didn’t know he existed, that he is so nice, strong, and handsome.

This is what I feel when I see people from Japan and Turkey here, the people who say that we are closest to them. I didn’t cry because I am not that sensitive, but I felt short of breath.’
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Baal HaSulam, “Thou Hast Hemmed Me In Behind and Before“: Thou hast hemmed me in behind and before, meaning the revelation and concealment of the face of the Creator, for indeed “His kingdom ruleth over all,” and everything will return to its root because there is no place vacant of him. But the difference is in present tense or future tense, because he who connects the two worlds, discovers in the present His clothing: that everything that is done is a clothing for the revelation of divinity.

All events, from the beginning to the end, are sent by You and are aimed solely to open my eyes and bring me back to the Source. And there is no place where You don’t rule so that I may say that I acted on my own or someone else stood for or against me.

Everything is permeated by the Light of Infinity, the Creator; therefore, there is no act, thought, or step that would not be completely controlled by Him. And all of it has only one purpose: to get us to attain Him so that we come closer to Him, know Him, cling to Him, and accept His governance.

We need to become like Him and walk with Him further, agreeing with all His actions and copying all His moves to such an extent that we would be able to predict what He is going to do and wish to do it before He does. It turns out that it is my desire to make it so, and He is the one who does it after me!

A person reaches such subtle understanding and perception of all this system that is being revealed to him that he completely unifies with the Creator. I anticipate what the Creator wishes me to do, and like a small child who pulls the grownup by the hand, so do I move the creature toward perfection.

Clearly, in this case we annul time. There is no more past, present, or future, and we ascend to the state where everything takes place at once and simultaneously. The future gives way to the present.

And this is deemed present tense, meaning that now too he comes out in royal clothes [also in Malchut’s clothing] and evidently shows that the rider is not subordinate to the horse. But although it seemingly appears that the horse leads the rider, the truth is that the horse is provoked to any movement, only by the sensation of the bridle and headstall of the rider. And that is called the construction of the stature of divinity, and it is also called face-to-face.
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From Lesson 7, World Kabbalah Convention 2010, 11/11/10

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Spiritual fulfillment cannot be obtained directly, like a young child grabbing at a toy. In this form we only obtain life in our world.

At this very moment all of us are present in the World of Infinity (an unbounded reality), but because our method of existence is based on “grabbing,” that is, receiving and fulfilling ourselves egoistically, all we are able to receive from the infinite world is a tiny spark of the Light called “a thin candle” (Ner Dakik), which is limited to sensations of this world. We are incapable of perceiving more while receiving egoistically.

Egoistic fulfillment available to us in this world bears the shape of a faint illumination. It is intentionally given to us so that from this moment on, from this degree and further, we begin to develop using a different method: receiving into the vessel outside of ourselves and thus becoming a willing participant, similar, suitable, and equal to the Creator!

Only a tiny part of the vessel (desire) that we sense as “this world” is being filled. To directly receive more than this is impossible! The rest of our desires can only be filled through our similarity with the Creator, through our having the intention “in order to bestow.”

This is why the Creator separated our sensations into two parts: this world and the Upper world, placing a barrier between them called “Machsom.” This barrier (Machsom) has a psychological origin since while being underneath it (in this world), we are only capable of receiving internally, for our own sake. We would get much more, but it seems to us as if “other people” are strangers or outsiders.

We could have all of this under the condition that we overcome this psychological problem of perception, which makes everything seem “foreign” to us. We have to start considering everything there is to be “our own,” get closer to it, and begin sensing that things outside us are in fact our own. In return, we will receive all the worlds: Assiya, Yetzira, Beria, Atzilut, Adam Kadmon and at the end, the World of Infinity.

The biggest problem is to start perceiving those desires that seem “not our own” as “our own.” Afterward, whatever we receive into them will comprise our spiritual world.

For that, all we have to do is to attract the Upper Light that will show us our connectedness and demonstrate that all of us constitute one body. Then, the Upper Light will work as an eye-opener, and eventually we will perceive spirituality.

We will arrive at the clarification, and there won’t be any resistance left in us since we will see everything around as our own parts that belong to us as organs of one body. We never existed apart! It only appears to us that we are split, but, in fact, only our bodies are detached.

If we look deeper, we’ll see a system of our interconnectedness. Everything is done by the Upper Light!
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From Lesson 7, World Kabbalah Convention 2010, 11/11/10

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Question: On the second day of the Convention, I started to feel that all people, all “points,” as though, are within me, and feeling them as part of me, I could truly love them as myself. Is it correct to perceive the entire group within myself?

Answer: It is precisely how we start to form the place where later the property of bestowal called the Creator becomes revealed.

Question: I witnessed how during the Convention, people completely devoted themselves to work. Do we really need such external actions? Perhaps they actually distract us from the goal? After all, aren’t they just vaguely related to the truth?

Answer: Possibly, we need to distribute duties more evenly, but there is no doubt that we have to fully care for and perform all these duties ourselves.

Question: Suppose, we start hating the friends. How do we distinguish between this, let’s call it “divine” hatred that obstructs the connection of the broken vessels and simple hatred caused by nasty character or mental disability?

Answer: If, in order to reveal the Creator, a person exerted efforts in connecting with the friends, then a strong common effort exposes hatred toward the obligation to unite. The Zohar talks about it as well. But if a person did not exert effort in trying to unite, he will not feel true hatred.
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Excerpts from people’s letters sharing their impressions of the last convention::

“I am writing to you because this time I cannot help it! THIS CONGRESS IS THE MOST INCREDIBLE, AMAZING, AND POWERFUL, EYE OPENING, AND HOPE-FILLED EVENT of my entire long life in Kabbalah! It made my endless suffering worthwhile.

All previous congresses were also meaningful to me: One was heartwarming, another significant, and so forth. But this time I felt, even if by way of the body, what you tell us about: THE COLLECTIVE HEART BEAT, TEARS, AND DESIRE, not always consciously recognized, THE SENSATION OF HIS PRESENCE, namely BETWEEN US….

Never and nowhere have I felt that all of us are together and connected by something that can be felt, and here I did feel it! I knew, unable to comprehend this fact, that those surrounding me are me….

It is impossible to properly relate in words, but you suddenly, after these feelings, explained from the stage at the last lesson, all that I felt and lived precisely, like a psychic! And how does he know everything about me so well, to the smallest details?

Now I clearly understand that the value of this convention is not only in what we felt there, but in the anticipation and yearning, in people’s ability to see that all the others around them wish the same! It is one enormous, common desire in the eyes and hearts of all. Faces glowed; the audience cried; some felt something, some didn’t yet, but it is a very powerful spiritual phenomenon. People will keep living on the emotions of this great convention.

Nothing has ended in that pavilion. I would give anything for what I experienced there! Great love filled the hall and all the hearts, and it doesn’t matter that someone didn’t feel what the others did; it is already within us….”

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Each convention is the connection of a multitude of people: beginners and advanced students, all very different by nature. However, all of them are unified by one goal: to reveal the meaning of life, to find the place we have to reach, the place worth living for instead of wasting our life away.

The wisdom of Kabbalah is intended to lead us to the most meaningful and central point: the revelation of the Creator to the created beings. To reveal the Creator means to reach His level and status here, in the corporeal world, in this life.

To accomplish this we need great power which none of us possess; it can only be found in the connection between us. The Creator did this on purpose because in order to attain Him, I must acquire His nature. To be closer to Him means to obtain more and more of His attributes. I do not approach Him physically, but in the soul where I get to know Him better in my new properties which are identical to His.

How do I obtain these attributes? I am told that they are opposite to my nature. Yet, I don’t know what “opposite” means. I might be able to understand what “white” is compared to “black.” But what does “opposite” mean if I am only submerged in one nature, my own?

The Creator divided the entire reality into two parts: me and what exists outside of me. I either hate or love whatever I see on the outside depending on whether or not I can use it for my own personal benefit.

At the Convention I was given an opportunity to connect with a multitude of people that are on the outside. If I begin to perceive them as part of me, understand that we have united and are aiming towards one goal, then by forming, creating this unity, we are literally constructing a property similar to the Creator’s. It is called the corrected spiritual vessel.

We will start to unite, and the connection between us which used to be rejection, hate, disdain, envy, and the need to control each other will turn into love and unification. We achieve this unity not inside you or me but between us! This unity becomes the Kli (vessel) where we will be able to experience the Creator: you and me, the two of us together!

In this Kli, we will experience our spiritual life. It is similar to the blood that flows between the cells and organs of our body, carrying oxygen, life, to them. After all, our body lives because of this circulation, the bond that ties all of its parts together. Every organ bestows to the others and functions for the benefit of the whole system and not itself. This is how our body is designed on the corporeal plane.

This is exactly the kind of bond we have to attain at the “human” level of existence, and we must do it consciously and willingly.
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From Lesson 7, World Kabbalah Convention 2010, 11/11/10

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Question: After the Convention, I felt blocked; I couldn’t unify with the others and advance. Is this how the Creator’s revelation gets manifested, and is this evil His reverse side?

Answer: Yes, Pharaoh is the reverse side of the Creator, which is regarded as a “help against him.” This is His way to help you, and we mustn’t forget that.

When you feel drowsy, depressed, and immovable, you have to remember that all unfolding problems are purposeful and are designed to propel you toward the goal. You only need to grit your teeth and go against them. It is the Creator who trips you. It is written, “Come unto Pharaoh for I have hardened his heart.”

He, Himself, hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and, with each plague, the Creator will make him more resentful. You come to Pharaoh like Moses holding onto the Creator’s hand and watch from aside how they argue. What can you do when these two giants clash, the good and the evil, while you are in the middle between the two forces of nature, the left and the right lines?

Yet, at the end of each plague, Pharaoh yields and agrees to release you from bondage (exile) to freedom. That is, the path into the spiritual world is now open for you. You wish to leave and witness how Pharaoh claims power over you again, with ever greater resistance to let you go, and loads you with heavier work and difficulties.

At this point, we forget how this process develops. It isn’t worth fighting with our Pharaoh and arguing with the friends. Turn to the Creator. After all, He admits that it was He who hardened Pharaoh’s heart. He initially created egoism and the Torah as a spice, a means for its correction. If you wish to have it corrected, turn to the Creator, and He will give you a weapon to fight this battle.

Until you defeat your Pharaoh, you won’t exit your Egypt, and this is exactly what many groups forget when they start arguing and bargaining among themselves. This Pharaoh cuts in between us so that we rise above the egoism unfolding in our relationships with each other.

In the beginning, when a group is being formed, everything is so wonderful in it that you simply marvel at it as when we watch a newborn. However, then the baby starts growing and shows willfulness.

Yet, we have to understand that it is all correct. This is how our nature gets revealed, and huge problems will come along with hard hits. This is precisely what is regarded as revealing the Pharaoh.

However, the stronger we unify to stand against it, against our collective egoism, the greater our success will be. In this, we must call in all the means that we have: the Creator, the other groups, and the studies. This is the only way for us to advance.

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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/19/10, “The Freedom”

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Excerpts from people’s letters sharing their impressions of the Convention:

“In our life, there are two states of existence totally isolated from each other: One is the state of the convention, which begins exactly at the moment when the previous convention ends and is its continuation. The other is everything else that happens in life.

This sensation has been registered for a while, but only now everybody started talking about it, and there is a necessity to do something about it. The state of the convention is a gift we receive from Above, so should we, by exerting our own effort, transfer this state onto the other part of our life?

In order for it to stop being two isolated conditions, but to allow the intensity of the inner life we experience during the gathering to manifest during the time between the conventions, we need to work on our own, as homework, instead of later falling into self-pity….”

“Now, there is a mess in my head; it is frightening to return to daily life, where instead of material simplicity and spiritual fulfillment, everything suddenly becomes broken into multiple small but aggressive material problems, which deafen the internality. The best thing to do after the convention is to start preparing for the next one. How do you envision our further development in general?”
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