Psalm 97: The Lord has reigned, the earth will exult; many islands will rejoice. Cloud and thick darkness are around Him; righteousness and judgment are the foundations of His throne. Fire will go before Him and will burn His enemies all around. His lightnings illuminated the world; the earth saw and quaked…You who love the Lord, hate evil; He watches the souls of His pious ones, He rescues them from the hands of the wicked. A light is sown for the righteous, and for the upright of heart, joy. Rejoice, you righteous, with the Lord, and give thanks to His holy name.

In each and every line we notice how King David reveals the Creator more and unites with Him, feeling an increasingly deeper and more internal connection with the Upper.

This is usually attained by the rule You who love the Lord, hate evil to the extent that a person clarifies his egoistic desires and wants to leave evil and thinking about himself, which is possible only by incorporation and adhesion to the group where the Light that Reforms operates on him and helps him advance.

He begins to love the Creator to the extent that he hates evil, He watches the souls of His pious ones, He rescues them from the hands of the wicked. If a person keeps away from evil, he is guarded from Above. His constant efforts to be in thought, in adhesion, with the Upper Force in a request, awakens the Light that Reforms and he receives correction.

Hatred towards evil helps a person ascend from it. He doesn’t need anything but this feeling of hatred, because the evil, the desire to receive, remains. The evil has to accumulate in order to discover the love, the connection, above it.

A person who understands the basics of the creation correctly doesn’t wait for the evil to disappear and for everything to be rosy and bright. These two forces exist one opposite the other and are equal in their power, while a person between them determines which of them is more important: Is holiness more important than the Klipa (shell) or is the Klipa more important than holiness?

This decision constantly changes, moving like a pointer on a balance scale. Thus a person clarifies this balance each time and establishes his middle line, between the two forces, above them, by including the two.

He justifies the creation by including the good and the evil inside him and justifies both, as it is written: A light is sown for the righteous, and for the upright in heart, joy. Honesty and truth is the middle line, by which he attains joy by delighting the Creator.

It is because he determines that everything that was created by the Creator is only for the benefit of man, if used correctly, and has to be aimed at the benefit of the Creator. Thus he reaches adhesion: Rejoice, you righteous, with the Lord, and give thanks to His holy name.
[135460]
From the Preparation for Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/20/14

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Preparation for the Lesson

“The Book of Zohar” — Selected Excerpts, “On the Night of the Bride,” Item 132

Writings of Baal HaSulam “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Item 54

Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Mutual Guarantee” 

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Question: Did Baal HaSulam leave us information about all the stages on the way so that it will be possible to create the method on the basis of this information?

Answer: No, Baal HaSulam didn’t leave us with information like this. We need to find the way ourselves. The path seems clear, but how to advance on it from stage to stage is what nobody knows.

The problem is that we have to go out on this path without any guarantee, any knowledge, but only by realizing the need and having no choice. The world pressures us, meaning that the Creator pressures us through the world, and we must bring people to connection so that through it they will attain the equivalence of form with the Creator.

The moment we begin the right search through our connection with friends, we begin to discover the method. This is because it is imperative for us and is expressed in our words, our manner and style, with all of our conditions. No Kabbalist until our day could write anything about this.

The wisdom of Kabbalah is a practical science that was conceived through experience, through experiment. And someone who is not living in our time didn’t know and wouldn’t know even if he were a great Kabbalist. He could talk about general tendencies, about two ways, but he could not write more about our time. That’s why the Kabbalists were deployed in each and every generation, and now we find ourselves in our times.

In the writings of Baal HaSulam, it is possible to find some hints about our time. There is something mentioned in the writings of The Last Generation, but it is impossible to copy blindly from there. One may discover that he is trying to draw into the present reality something that will be realized after many years and which in the meantime, is of little importance.
[135705]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/21/14, The Book of Zohar

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The entire great Kli of the soul was shattered into fragments, and among the fragments are pure Kelim (vessels) that are close to the characteristics of the upper Light. It is very easy for them to be awakened, so when Abraham called to them, they were immediately awakened, got up, and followed him, leaving Babylon.

This is Israel, which only seems to be the most egoistic part in the world because it has already gone through the path of spiritual development. But essentially, this is a very refined Kli (vessel) and belongs to the Kelim of Galgalta ve Eynaim (GE).

Every remaining part of the collective Kli belongs to the nations of the world, and specifically through their correction, we attain Ohr Hochma (Light of Wisdom). They are the goal of creation, whereas Israel acts only as a help in this realization, in the role of an adaptor, a conduit.

Question: It follows that the Creator chose these refined Kelim as sacrifices?

Answer: On the one hand, we are sacrifices, but on the other hand, Israel is a unique nation that serves all the others. Everything depends on how you accept this honored mission: Do you think and receive your service to the Creator and to the world as a respectable merit or as a punishment?

You came into this world to serve all the nations of the world and through this to serve the Creator. These are the refined Kelim that are awakened first and have the readiness to connect. They have an initial preparation for correction because they have the “merit of the forefathers,” meaning that they have already passed through spiritual states that were latent in them in a concealed form and they can be awakened again.

All this is done to be a light to the nations, so that in them the thought of creation will be realized. The goal is to reach all the heaviest Kelim. They are called “the chosen people” because they have a unique role.

Israel is in the service of the Creator and the creatures, and we are in the middle as a conduit, as a pipe. And it is essential to accept this mission when it is necessary, otherwise you will always be obligated from Above. There is no reason to argue with the program of creation; the more rapidly that Israel understands what must be done, it will be to our benefit and the benefit of others and there will be less suffering.
[135410]
From the 5^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/19/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Time after time, as a person works, he connects two types of control: “If I am not for myself, who will be for me” and “There is none else besides Him.”

The principle of “If I am not for myself who will be for me” doesn’t disappear, but rather remains below, while above it, there is a Masach (screen) and the Returning Light, a connection of “coupling of beating” (Mated de Haka’a) with “There is none else besides Him.”

A person’s self doesn’t disappear, but actually keeps on growing in a form suitable to the Creator. It says that a person is like the Creator’s shadow that repeats all the Creator’s actions. But by such actions, a person doesn’t become a shadow that has no desire. Even if everything is predetermined by the Creator, it doesn’t erase me, my free will.

It is because I have clarified it by myself, and I have built myself to resemble the Creator by myself, and so I am equal to Him in height. This is actually the Creator’s desire: that I will be a human being, Adam, that resembles Him, and that the two great Lights Zeir Anpin and Malchut will be equal in height.
[135156]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/15/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Preparation for the Lesson

Workshop

Shamati #35 “Concerning the Vitality of Kedusha”

“The Book of Zohar” — Selected Excerpts, “On the Night of the Bride,” Item 130

Writings of Baal HaSulam “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Giving of the Torah” 

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The state of Lo Lishma isn’t just an ordinary corporeal ego. Being in a state of Lo Lishma (not for Her sake) means that I try to be in a state of Lishma (for Her sake) and to perform actions of bestowal, and to discover time after time that I still perform them for my own benefit.

The time during which I make efforts in order to ascend above my ego and to reach an action of bestowal but am still unable to do so is called the period of Lo Lishma.

Question: Perhaps one time isn’t enough in order to invert my nature from Lo Lishma to Lishma.

Answer: Of course it doesn’t happen all at once. There are 125 levels and each of them is divided into many more states. Baal HaSulam says that we don’t understand how great the state of Lo Lishma is. It is even much greater than we can imagine and think that the state of Lishma is.

It is because the real state of Lo Lishma means that I do my best to perform an action of bestowal, with all my might, but eventually I discover that I still act as a result of the desire to receive, in order to receive an egoistic profit.

Question: Is there a certain structure or an environment where one can enter in order to perform the necessary inversion?

Answer: Yes, this is the role of the group.
[135726]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/23/14, Shamati #8

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Question: Why did the Creator choose one nation for a special mission, and is this choice related to religion?

Answer: The true religion is to love your friend as thyself. This is the rule that Abraham publicized in ancient Babylon, and he gathered the people around him according to this rule into a group called Israel, which means Yashar El (straight to the Creator).

Only some of the people of Babylon followed Abraham; those who had greater vessels of bestowal. All the others had vessels of receiving. This was intentional so that they would have a chance to help one another.

First the vessels of bestowal are corrected so that they can ascend to a spiritual level. When Abraham collected them, they had nothing. So first they had to go through the hardening of the heart called Egypt, that is, they don’t ascend but rather descend.

After the exodus from Babylon, they go down to Egypt, then come out of Egypt and ascend to the receiving of the Torah. They then cross the desert, build the first Temple, and fall. They ascend again to the height of the second Temple and go through another descent to the corporeal level. This is in order to be mutually incorporated with the nations of the world and get ready for the end of the correction of the world.

The whole process, starting with the exodus from Babylon and everything that follows, is in order to reach greater connection. This is what Abraham taught. The moment they started to connect, they felt that they were in a greater and greater descent.

The Light that shone on them made it possible for them to descend more and more deeply into their ego and to see that they were far from bestowal, from the Light. Therefore, they felt the gap, the delta between the state of the exile in Egypt and the level they were on when they left Babylon, and they would have remained on that level if it weren’t for the Light. This is the gap between the Light and our ego.
[135413]
From the 5^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/19/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Rabash, Letter 22: Therefore, if you write that you live a life of sorrow, it is a sign that you are following the path of the Torah. This means that you have black and white, since the Torah is written in black on top of white. But you have to try to have a black fire on top of a white fire, which means that everything that you feel will be as flaming fire.

We should feel constant tension, be under pressure, and inclined with all our might to yearn for the goal. It makes no difference what happens to a person as long as he is focused in the right direction. Whatever happens on the way depends on the way itself, and I only need to adjust myself according to it,

The road itself, how many twists and turns are on it and how many failures we have, is not up to us, but rather depends on the structure of our soul.

Since the Creator wants us to receive the Torah, we must feel the deficiency for the Torah ourselves, since one is not given luxuries from Above, but only necessities.

I will not receive what I ask for from Above unless my request is solely for necessities without which I cannot exist. Otherwise these are merely powerless requests.

Of course, it takes a long time until a person comes close to a real prayer. First there should be the intensity of the request by which it can be heard. Second, it has to be for the right thing that is exactly on the path.

A person should grasp onto a real part of the string on the path each time. If I ask for something now, my outcry may be correct, but perhaps it isn’t mine, and is instead arranged by the Creator.

I attribute everything to myself, and this is totally wrong. I have to search myself more deeply and find out who directs me, who arranges a good action, my prayer, or the desire to connect to society. If all this comes from Above, then what do I ask for?

And the greatest reward is that a person needs the Creator, which means the giver of the Torah. Therefore, when a person feels his lowliness, it is a reason for him to need the Creator. However, if he feels that he can help himself and that he doesn’t need the Creator, then he is separated from Him.
[135483]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/20/14, Writings of Rabash

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Question: We disseminate integral education and the idea of mutual guarantee to the public so that they will have a better life. But we don’t demonstrate this ourselves. Don’t we need to be an example of a society that lives according to the laws of mutual guarantee? Isn’t that one of the stages along the way? It seems that we are disorganized and are not suitable for this goal.

Answer: We cannot serve as a role model because we are different, we have different values than the public. If I have a job, running water, a table, and a bed, I don’t need anything else in order to follow the spiritual path.

On the other hand, the public may need a two or three-story house, a lawn, several cars parked by the house, and a swimming pool, etc. Every person has his measure according to which he can fulfill his mission in life. It turns out that we cannot be a role model for them because we live differently and have different values.

But we want to improve their lives according to their values. We don’t force anyone to get up at night and come to the lessons and participate in the life in the group. On the contrary: “Live your life as you please, the way you are used to, we will only work together on removing the problems and on how to arrange your life in a better way, according to your idea.”

Don’t go on any diets and don’t deny yourself anything for a better future. On the contrary, we bring the Light into the ordinary frameworks of your lives.

We cannot and will never be a role model for others. We dedicate our life to other goals and don’t live them the way those around us would.
[135162]
From the 5^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/16/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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