Question: Why was the paper The Nation that Baal HaSulam published immediately shut down?

Answer: The paper was shut down because of the mixed multitude that joined the Israelites during the exodus from Egypt. According to them, the correction is in remaining the way we are now and waiting for the Messiah, instead of connecting according to the principle of “love thy friend as thyself.”

Of course, they don’t like it when someone like us calls for the love of others and for the connection among the whole Israeli nation.

Their objection is clearly understood since when we call out for that it stands in their way of pulling people in their direction. Instead we guide people in a totally different direction, letting the whole nation know that the correction is in connection and unity, as the Torah requires.

It turns out that our Torah, our teaching, is opposite from their study. It says: “the opinion of the Torah is opposite from the opinion of the landlords.” A landlord is someone who thinks that he is his own boss, while we think that it is the Creator who has to correct us, that this is what we should pray for, and that our correction actually depends on the connection among us, when we become as one man in one heart.

They, on the other hand, want to separate everyone and to pull them apart from one another, since that way it is easier to control people. This is the style of the mixed multitude.

They are called the great affliction that accompanied our exodus from Egypt until this very day. They are the ones who bring about all the dangers and the problems of the Israeli nation, including the destruction of the first and second Temples, the exile, and today’s interferences. It is all their doing.

Their role will be revealed, but one way or the other, we have to do our job.
[137954]
From the 5^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/22/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

Related Material:
The Goal – Love Of The Other
With Our Face Turned To The Country And The World
The Root Of All The Exiles

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Israel, Nations of the World, Religion, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Baal HaSulam, “The Nation”: Hence, we have taken upon ourselves the publication of this paper, to stand guard and warn of the trouble, and explain it to the public until all the segregating elements will be silenced.

Question: It is no secret that in our day publications are undergoing a crisis. Will newspapers survive in the future?

Answer: It is difficult to say how much longer they will last considering the strength of electronic formats. Today a person essentially doesn’t need a newspaper or a book, he sees everything on a computer screen conveniently and comfortably where one can adjust the font and style of the text.

Today it is possible to take electronic devices everywhere, like a newspaper. And tomorrow we will really be able to open an article and keyboard in the air in front of us, in the form of a hologram generated from some small device the size of a wristwatch.

So I don’t see a future for the printed materials, not for a newspapers or books, besides our books, even though most of them will be transferred to a screen format.

Humanity is creating electronic instruments according to its desire, and this is becoming more sophisticated all the time. So I suppose that there won’t be a return to the era of print.
[137960]
From the 5^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/22/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

Related Material:
Reading, This Is No Longer Our Method
The Writing Man
A Book Versus A Computer Screen

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Dissemination, Globalization, Internet - No Comments →

Our way is reflected in the reaction of the other nations to the people of Israel. When we see that our enemies and haters are strengthened in the surrounding nations and organizations, according to this we can identify the rate of our advancement. And we must understand that serious and strong work is required of us.

Against every new external wave we must strengthen the unity of the Jewish people. For the power that makes it possible to neutralize the external evil is found only in our connection here. And this is specifically what will bring the world to correction.

And as much as the nations want to “catch” us more and more, so our unity must be stronger. Then we can influence them and change them. This is exactly what our war is.
[137962]
From the 5^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/22/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

Related Material:
Connection In The Face Of Evil
The Force Of Connection Will Disarm The Terrorists
The War Of Gog And Magog: In Or Outside The Soul?

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Israel, Nations of the World, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Question: How do you attain simple faith?

Answer: Simple faith is absolute bestowal, Hafetz Hesed, when I try to be free of all my pragmatic thoughts, when I think about the friends and about the group and try to exist only in order to fulfill our connection.

The first phase is the minimal attainment of the level of mutual guarantee in the group. We begin to understand that different forces constantly are operating on us. Of course, they all come directly from the Creator’s trying to separate us and disrupt our connection, to divert our attention from thinking about the upper force, about connection, about unity, about the goal of creation, and about our obligations.

These forces arrive continuously in different forms, in different directions, confusing us, and dulling our senses. It isn’t in our power to resist them if there isn’t the right spirit in the group that can help us survive. Therefore, as it is written, “They helped every one his friend.” This is our obligation.

Otherwise, the days will go by, and everything will change, but a person will remain the same. So, each one must support the others and worry about them so that they will worry about him. A person cannot worry about himself since these forces operate on each one, pressuring him on all sides, trying to tear him from the others by forcing him to worry about himself.

The moment he focuses on himself, it is very easy to detach him from the goal of creation. It is because the real goal of creation is in the connection among everyone. Therefore the impure intentions are the Klipot; it is not thoughts that separate a person from the Creator. The entire world is ready to think about the Creator, to cry out to Him, to go and pray in different holy places. A person has no problem doing that.

The goal is unity, connection. As long as a person holds on to it, he is fine. However, the moment he breaks away from this form of connection, he is no longer a danger to the Klipot, and they leave him alone. He can study by himself, acquire knowledge, but that doesn’t disturb the egoistic forces. They allow him to observe all the Mitzvot (commandments) very carefully, everything but connection, everything but “Love thy neighbor as thyself.”

Everything else doesn’t disturb them. On the contrary, if he has no intention to advance toward the love of others, all the other actions pull him in the opposite direction.

So, when the point in the heart awakens in a person, it is important to know how to fulfill one’s freewill. The Creator brings a person to the good fate and tells him: “Choose!” And this is what a person must do, that is, understand that fulfilling the Reshimo (reminiscences) is only through connection.
[137432]
From the Preparation for the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/15/14

Related Material:
Payment For The Revelation
The Light Of Faith In The Vessels Of Egypt
Believing “Above Reason” That Bestowal Is Above Receiving

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Free Will, Group Work, Mutual Guarantee, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “The Arvut”(Mutual Guarantee): The work in Torah and Mitzvot is expressed in the words, “and ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests.” A kingdom of priests means that all of you, from youngest to oldest, will be like priests….so will the entire nation be organized so that the whole earth and everything in it will be dedicated to the Creator only.

It turns out that he who harvests his field in order to feed his fellow person is the same as he who sacrifices to the Creator. Moreover, it seems that the Mitzva, “Love thy friend as thyself,” is more important than he who makes the sacrifice….

The closer a person’s actions are to serving the physical needs of others, the higher his work is. If I have stitched sandals for a friend with loyalty and love, like Rabbi Yochanan, the Shoemaker, then with this I have done work that is greater and more important than the work that the High Priest does in the Temple in the Holy of Holies on the Yom Kippur (Day of Judgment).

All the more so, if I go out of my way, out of my surroundings to the wider public in order to explain to a person the goal of creation and to attract him to it, to give him a little knowledge about it, to give him support, to lend a helping hand, then there is no more important work than this. It is even impossible to compare how important this work is compared to all other work.
[137784]
From the 5^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/18/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

Related Material:
This Is The Center Of Correction
The Open Dissemination Channel
It Is Easy To Correct Others!

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Dissemination, Group Work, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Mutual guarantee is the law of connection between the vessels, between the souls. None of us can do his work if the others don’t sustain and don’t support him. It is a structure that exists only thanks to its connections. The moment someone breaks the connection, the whole structure falls apart.

The general law of connection and interdependence is called mutual guarantee. I exist now in the simplest form that has nothing to do with spirituality since it is the only form that can exist without the law of mutual guarantee.

The moment I begin to mix with others and connect to them, I detach myself from my current form and feel that I belong to the system, and to that extent, I feel the force in the system that is called the Creator.

Everyone is connected to one system of connection of mutual guarantee. And this is actually the reason we can connect because everyone connects in order to work for others.

Mutual guarantee is our achievement. Feeling that I am responsible for all of the still, vegetative, animate, and speaking nature means that I feel that I am equal to the Creator. This is the only way I can be like Him: It is as if I give birth to everyone, raise them, sustain them, and revive them all. The whole world is nourished by me. This is called the force of mutual guarantee.
[137408]
From the 5^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/13/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

Related Material:
Floating Together Above The Water
What Is Mutual Guarantee?
The Conditions Of Mutual Guarantee

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Mutual Guarantee, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Question: In 1940 Baal HaSulam wrote about the danger looming over us. But today we see that this danger is no longer in potential if we don’t connect, we see it in reality in our children being kidnapped (in Israel).

Answer: It depends on how you look at things. Most people don’t think this way and go on with their life as if nothing happened. They may be ready to participate in some actions for the kidnapped boys, and here too, it isn’t everyone. Everyone has very egoistic calculations, so in the meantime we are forced to advance along the path of suffering, along the path of in its time.

In order to switch from in its time to I shall hasten it, we need a powerful system of education so that people will understand that they can change things and gain something by it.

It has to be a wide system of clarification that includes the whole nation. It shouldn’t be a result of the sufferings, the blows, and the troubles. We should not wait for the moment that people will be ready to listen to us. We shouldn’t wait for the blows, but rather we want to reach them when they feel good and bring them to an even better state. We have to establish a gradual system of education that will increasingly influence people.

We are going through a difficult practical learning process with the public. We learn what people accept, what they don’t, how we should better approach them, how to talk to them, and what our message should actually be. Thus we teach ourselves how to learn from others.

Comment: It is scary to think about what may happen if we don’t manage to carry out our work and prevent the war of Armageddon that the prophets wrote about.

Answer: There is nothing to be scared of! If we do whatever we can and try to convey the method of correction to people and draw them to the goal of creation, it is enough. Even if we don’t see that we succeed, it still works. We open a passage for the surrounding Light (Ohr Makif) and allow it to reform everything.

It is like a baby who in one day advances in learning about the world much more than an adult may advance in a year. But a baby doesn’t understand that and acts unknowingly.

This is what happens to us. We act without understanding, trying one way or another, and it seems that we don’t succeed. But such states are actually the most beneficial for advancing. Thus we don’t create a barrier for the Light since we are too confused and this is actually a good thing!

Question: Can we prevent the war of Armageddon if we carry on this way?

Answer: We are already at war. If we continue to work this way and other parts of the nation join us in order to fulfill this mission, this goal, then there is no doubt that everything will be alright and things will quickly improve. I don’t foresee any disasters in that case.

But we have to try to stay ahead of the blows so they will not catch up with us. We have to run faster than the whip that is about to hit us. We are able to do this thanks to the importance of the goal, so that we will not have to escape the whip but will yearn forward because we value the connection and the goal.
[137882]
From the 5^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/19/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam 

Related Material:
Connection In The Face Of Evil
The Force Of Connection Will Disarm The Terrorists
The War Of Gog And Magog: In Or Outside The Soul?

Filed under: Baal HaSulam, Crisis, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Dissemination, Group Work, Israel, Nations of the World, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Baal HaSulam, The Nation: This paper, The Nation, is a new creature on the Jewish street, an “inter-factional” paper. And you may ask, “What does an ‘inter-factional’ paper mean? How can there be a paper that can serve all parties together, despite the opposition and the contrasts among them?”

Indeed, it is a kind of creation that was born in straits, through hard and dreadful labor-pains, from amidst the venom of hatred that had struck the nations to obliterate us from the face of the Earth, the destruction of millions of our brothers, and they are still prepared to continue.

We see that it is the same today. Our movement operates for the connection of the whole nation and of the whole world actually, so that they will all be as one bundle, as one man in one heart. We have to set an example and dedicate ourselves to serve the people and the world. Therefore, we don’t belong to any party or any political movement, but are actually among everyone above all the differences.

After all, the differences stem from the human mind that wants to perform corrections one way or another. Even if everyone acts out of good intentions, it is still only according to one’s understanding. We, on the other hand, don’t operate according to our desire but according to the desire of the upper, which we learn from the upper wisdom, from the wisdom of Kabbalah, from the wisdom of truth.

Thus our approach is inter-factional and is suitable for all the streams and movements. We are ready to work with anyone who is ready to connect to us, but if we feel that there is separation somewhere, we immediately leave that movement and move aside.

Our work is important in order to bring the idea of connection to everyone. We are ready to join anyone, no matter whom. But of course, it has to be a connection that leads to the correction of the world and not a connection of the wicked that causes harm to the whole world,

Baal HaSulam called his newspaper The Nation (Ha Uma – also translated as The People), an inter-factional paper that was first published in 1940, and we can say the same about the pamphlets that we are publishing now one after the other for all the different levels of society. All this is above any inter-factional disputes or conflicts.

As with our past experiences in history, if a nation erupts on us, we find its substitute in another.

However, now things are very different. Not only are we attacked on all parts of the land at once, but even the most advanced nations have locked their doors before us without any sentiment of mercy or compassion, and in such a ruthless manner, unprecedented in the whole of human history, even in the most barbaric times.

Baal HaSulam wrote that we have reached a state in which we must immediately bring about a change in the nations of the world by the connection between us. Otherwise things will be very bad for us and for the whole world. Baal HaSulam wrote about this in 1940. Then the paper was shut down because of complaints that came from the religious public. His inclinations and his attempts to connect the people and to soften the situation didn’t succeed, and the outcome was the holocaust.
[137774]
From the 5^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/19/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

Related Material:
With Our Face Turned To The Country And The World
The Kidnapping Of The Boys Is Like A Knife In The Heart
Hoping For The Return Of The Youths Unharmed

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Dissemination, Israel, Nations of the World, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Preparation for the Lesson

[media 1]

[media 2]

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Igrot,” Letter 47

[media 3]

[media 4]

“The Book of Zohar” — Selected Excerpts, “Torah and Prayer,” Item 184

[media 5]

[media 6]

Writings of Baal HaSulam “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Item 73

[media 7]

[media 8]

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Zohar - No Comments →

Question: Why do we connect in times of adversity, when something bad happens, but when things calm down, everything reverts back to competition and separation?

Answer: Why do we have to wait for the blows in order to connect in the face of adversity and advance towards the Creator on the path of suffering? It is better to follow the path of “I shall hasten it” (Achishena) than the path of “in its time” (Beito).

Even now, if we hold workshops in circles after the kidnapping of the three boys, it is already the path of in its time, the natural path of evolution, and not the path of hastening time, the path of I shall hasten it. But if we don’t perform any actions of connection, it will be even worse, since we will not advance but descend.

We have received a negative blow (a minus) and if we make a circle now, which means if we draw the Light that Reforms and advance further ahead, to a better state, this path is called in its time, which means the natural path of evolution.

But if we had made this circle and advanced without the initial blow, without the minus, it would have been the path of I shall hasten it, the path of the Light.

However, if we receive a blow and don’t make a circle, but simply advance in a certain direction, we advance towards an even greater minus, as if we descend. On the path of in its time, we somehow still advance towards the goal, but here we don’t advance towards the goal at all.

This means that even if we hold connection workshops now, after the tragic case of the kidnapping of the boys, it will still be the path of in it time.

We have been given a method according to which we can improve our lives in every way, no matter what happens. Now we only have to use it. We have all the means. We know how to summon, to draw, the good force that will automatically correct everything, that will spread and clean everything like water. We only have to draw it by workshops, discussions in circles, etc. Do you want to use it, fine, and if not, then don’t!
[137757]
From the 5^thpart of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/8/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

Related Material:
One Big Workshop Throughout Israel
The Kidnapping Of The Boys Is Like A Knife In The Heart
Hoping For The Return Of The Youths Unharmed

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Dissemination, Group Work, Israel, Nations of the World, Spiritual Work - No Comments →