Baal HaSulam, “The Teaching of the Kabbalah and Its Essence”: Clearly, when one ponders and contemplates words of the Torah that pertain to the revelation of the Creator to our fathers, they bring the examiner more Light than when examining practical matters.

This is how Baal HaSulam recommends we read books that tell us about the relationship between a human being and the revelation. The articles, letters, The Study of the Ten Sefirot, and the Sulam commentary to The Book of Zohar, in fact everything we received from Baal HaSulam and Rabash are books that are especially for us about the revelation of the Creator to the created being. They are written in different styles but they are all about this.

Some of them explain things directly and describe the spiritual work psychologically, so to speak, like the letters and the articles. In other articles we read about the connection between the wisdom of Kabbalah and other sciences, but they are also about the revelation of the Creator to a person. We see this especially in works talking about The Book of Zohar and in The Study of the Ten Sefirot.

All these books and texts were written during the drawing of the Light. Kabbalists discovered the Light in different states and levels and wrote accordingly. There isn’t one word or one letter that was written before the writer had attained the specific state that he described in the text.

So when we read these texts, we can receive the power in them. It is by these texts that we connect to the writers, and then we can draw and enjoy the Light that Reforms, but this is only if we yearn to resemble them in their simple faith and receive everything that they have. While reading his writings, I want to be like the Kabbalist, to annul myself, to belong to him, and by that I turn on the Light that he has prepared for me.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/19/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam, “The Teaching of Kabbalah and Its Essence“

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The environment—from the moment that the ape came down from the tree and became a human, it is everything  This was written about in the book, The Tree of Life by the Ari, 400 years before Darwin. Beginning from that moment on, they already had become not just a band of apes but had transformed into being a kind of “society,” a society of individuals. In this, each one is a personality by himself, and in spite of it all, everyone is connected together; there are various types of unique links between them which are evolving all the time.

This was an alliance for the sake of a particular goal: defense against predatory animals, defense against other bands of apes, and so forth. Thus a social structure began to evolve more and more.

Human evolution is possible only due to the environment! There are legends about the existence of Bigfoot living somewhere in the Himalayas. But why do we describe him as a wild man with a height of two and a half meters, covered with hair and not think that he could be subtle, beautiful, and good? Because he lives alone! Perhaps he has a family, but this is still a form of existence on an animal level and not like a human society.

Therefore, if you have chosen some environment, you must become integrated within it. You must arouse yourself with jealousy all the time; this is the most effective means. It is necessary to be jealous of others, how much they have already advanced, are active, running everywhere, and internalizing the goal. If you begin to be jealous of them, then you will surely succeed.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/15/13, Shamati #64 “From Lo Lishma to Lishma”

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Question: How do we distinguish between egoistic exertion and purposeful exertion?

Answer: I exert myself purposefully outside myself according to the intention and the goal. I bring my whole exertion to the center of the group like a bird that brings everything to her nest. I want everyone to enjoy this and our pleasure is in discovering how much we can delight the Creator.

Even if we don’t discover this, what’s important is that we have a chance to do something that brings Him contentment. The main thing is that we have the intention that allows us to do this and to reach this. The Creator doesn’t even have to know about us as long as we can bestow.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 09/27/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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We have said many times that advancement depends on the sense of the importance of the goal. The problem is that our egoism diminishes this importance all the time because of its opposition to it. But it is not the goal that is opposite, but the means of achieving it. The goal of creation is to delight the created beings. Our egoism wants to enjoy, and the goal is to get the maximum enjoyment, both in quantity and quality.

So, what prevents us from achieving this goal? What prevents it is the means by which this maximum pleasure can be achieved. This pleasure can be received only in unlimited vessels, but such a vessel cannot be receiving. The vessel of reception is limited by definition and receives only to the extent of its capacity.

Only if a vessel passes fulfillment through itself, receiving for the sake of bestowal to the other or the Creator, which is essentially the same, under this condition it opens itself for infinite pleasure and can achieve the purpose of creation, a sensation of the infinite goodness of the Creator.

The Light, by the initial conditions, cannot enter the receiving vessel, which leaves all the content in itself. There is no way out—no entrance. That is why the task is not to stop seeking pleasure. It is necessary just to change the character of fulfillment: What do I enjoy? Or more specifically: “Who do I bring pleasure to?” Pleasure should come from bringing pleasure to others, from bestowal. In this case, my vessels will become unlimited and I will reach the goal.

It is important to understand that this is a subtle distinction that separates desire and intention. Desires can grow as much as you want! We do not have to suppress them, go on a diet, or torment ourselves. On the contrary, we need to enjoy life! Otherwise, you seem to ignore what the Creator has prepared for you. The only question is whether you desire all this in order to delight the Creator. To do this, we need to discover new desires.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/20/13, Writings of Rabash

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Baal HaSulam, “The Teaching of Kabbalah and Its Essence”: According to the above-mentioned power in the Torah, that is, considering the measure of Light in it, it is certain that the Torah should be divided into degrees, according to the measure of Light that one can receive from studying it.

The “Torah” is the means of correcting the primordial desire. The Light, “something out of something,” created the desire as “something out of nothing” and develops this desire to correct it to the required state. Thus, the whole influence of the Light on the desire during its development is called the “Torah.”

Thus, the “Torah” is the method of correction of the desire until it reaches the required state. Individual Lights “shake” vessels of desire, align them, connect, and disconnect, and all this is the Torah.

We are talking about it and coordinating ourselves to the extent that we are able to engage and draw the Light. The part that we attract is called the Torah for us. We can draw it according to one of the fives layers of desire (stages of Aviut), from zero to the four. Accordingly, the Torah is divided into five parts for us.

By studying it, we study the relationships of the broken fragments. Today, we observe their egoistic interaction; they depend on each other, but their connection is bad, and we study how to connect them correctly. For this we need the Light that Reforms to create good relationships with the various desires, parts of creation, and all the interconnections between people in the systems they have built. We want the Light to organize us in the correct connection; otherwise, all the achievements of humanity will end in failure.

That is why we need the wisdom of Kabbalah, the means which allows us to attract the Light. It will bring us back to the source, and then the general Light, the Creator, will be revealed in our correct relationships.

When I am studying, I align all these components—moving them from the broken state to the corrected one, from the crisis to unity, from an egoistic reception to general altruistic relationships, to connection and mutual guarantee—then the correct connection, the correct system will be revealed to me.

Moreover, they are revealed in stages. If I act only in the first layer of desire, I reveal the “secret” (Sod). The second layer shows “allegory” (Drush), the third one is the “hint” (Remez), and the fourth layer is the one where all connections are aligned correctly, it reveals to me the “simple meaning” (Pshat), here everything is simple, open, disclosed.

Thus, the Torah is the means for the correction of the vessels; the correction of the human being is the fourth stage (Behina Dalet) because it contains all the previous ones. When the human being is corrected, all the other levels are corrected as well: the still, vegetative, and animate.

Therefore, everything depends on the study of the Torah. This means that I want to learn the correct components and connections between the vessels in various forms, which bring me to the correct, true system where all the desires are connected with each other in mutual bestowal. And this makes it possible for me to reveal the Creator.

Thus, due to the connection of different desires and their interaction, through mutual bestowal to each other, I reveal the Creator. Why? Because in the desires that are connected correctly, in the spiritual Partzufim, in the “circles” and “straight lines,” TANTA (Ta’amim, Nekudot, Tagin, and Otiot) is manifested, all of the details of perception, all the discoveries that come to me from the Light. Thus, I disclose the vessel and the Light supporting each other, and this allows me to feel, to reveal, the root according to the principle “From Your actions we will know You.” It expresses itself in the Light and the vessel, in the structure of TANTA, HaVaYaH, and thus, is manifested in us.

This is the purpose of creation. Indeed, I am able to reveal Him only by adhesion, which I reach in the end. I reveal the Creator in the corrected vessels, the main TANTA, HaVaYaH is revealed, and by this I bring Him pleasure in the same way as He does. Due to this reciprocity, we come to adhesion, the final state.

In fact, all these facets are very close to each other, and the main thing for us is to try to link them together. The crisis, the current problems, the enemies that stand against us, and the Creator who saves us from them, the whole process that we go through, we must bring all of this together and view it as a single system.

For the time being we turn to the Torah as the book written by Moses. In it, he described and presented the very process that lies before us. It is said that in every generation, a person must view himself as if he came out of Egypt. The entire history up to the present crisis can be compared with the seven years of satiation. In general, we were pleased with our egoistic desire, our development, the “American Dream” which seemed about to come true. Competing with each other, we expected to rise higher and higher, to take more and more, to reign over nature…

Then, suddenly the seven years of famine arrived, the promised rewards were no longer satisfying; on the contrary, they humiliated and belittled us. The work turned out to be too hard, like slavery. Despair is rising; we groan under the unbearable yoke, and find no exit. The entire world is “floundering” in turmoil, and in essence these states herald the escape from Egypt. We are getting closer to the realization of complete helplessness, and the only way out is to show people the door to spirituality. This is truly a passage through the wall into a new world. However, the condition for passing through it is that we cannot see the wall. We will try…
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/19/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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There are two paths: the path of the Torah and the path of suffering. However, these are actually not two options because along the path of suffering, we receive blows that put us back on the path of the Torah.

So, we must realize as quickly as possible that there is actually only one path and that we need to advance by the Light that Reforms since the sufferings don’t correct us. Only a prayer, a request for correction, draws the Light, and then after going through several corrections, we reach the goal of creation.

The Creator is the absolute goodness that illuminates on us, and we have no choice but to advance toward the goal that has been prepared for us in advance. The goal is to do good to His created beings, so adhering to Him is the real benefit. This is what we should reach.

The good and benevolent Creator is revealed according to the law of equivalence of form to the extent that we are equal to Him. He is in absolute bestowal and love, and we must reach the same attributes, too. However, we approach this state gradually, discovering, time after time, the evil in us, trying to draw the Light that Reforms that is called the Torah. It corrects us and these portions of correction that are called “keeping the Mitzvot (commandments)” push us forward, one by one, until we become like ripe fruit that is ready for the “complete coupling” (Zivug).

This is how the Creator’s attitude toward us is revealed according to the purposeful providence. It operates that way in order to spur in us its different forms time after time. Thus, we know Him according to the principle of the advantage of the Light from the darkness.

So, he who is greater than his friend, his desire is also greater. When we ascend toward the Creator in the attributes of bestowal and love, we can better clarify how opposite we are from Him, and can clarify things more deeply as the picture becomes clearer and finer. Thus, we get closer to the Creator all the way to the last level of the clarification of the connection between us.

Baal HaSulam asserts that religion is a means, a tool for attaining the Creator, the goal of life. The means are given to those who work on themselves, and all the others are confused by their own ideas about religion. Instead of establishing the right order and the correct system, they are building an “idol and an image,” false images, as long as they have something to engage in without correcting themselves for the sake of love and bestowal, without yearning to reach the level of “from the love of the creatures to the love of the  Creator.”

According to this sign, we can differentiate between the wisdom of Kabbalah and all the other methods because none of them enables a person to change his nature from hatred to love. Therefore, they are all unacceptable.

This is why we study, disseminate, and work on the connection in the group, and by that we reach the recognition of evil. It turns out that the evil is our nature and we must get rid of it and change it to a different nature.

It doesn’t mean that I must destroy myself or hate my nature, although it is evil. No, I see what the Creator has given me in it, and I only must correct it gently and with great care. I have no other engagement in life, except for the correction of my nature. I mustn’t disrespect it, but I must study it deeply, accurately, and in great detail and then, from these corruptions, I understand what the correct form should be.

Therefore, the Creator is called “Boreh” (come and see). I turn my ego to “in order to bestow” and establish a restriction above it, a Masach (screen) and the Returning Light, and gradually form the Creator’s image from the corrected parts. I build Him in me.

Otherwise, He remains an invisible force that cannot be revealed in our senses. It is because He is revealed only according to our adaptability to Him, according to the law of equivalence of form.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/8/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Question: When I go out to disseminate, I encounter specific examples of hatred and violence toward us. Of course, I react externally as is customary in our world. But how do I realize this internally by performing internal correction?

Answer: Internally, you should only accept the fact that everything stems from the Creator, which means to react to it only spiritually. However, since you are in your uncorrected world, then as it is written, “blunt his teeth,” which is a concept in the wisdom of Kabbalah.

You must behave according to the accepted laws in our society since it is also under the Creator’s control. I understand that, at the moment, it is hard for us to connect our inner attitude, the understanding of what is going on, and our external behavior. I see my students who say, “How can we blunt the teeth of someone who attacks us?” Then, we need to expose our own teeth, too.

We are not on the level of the world of Ein Sof (Infinity) at the moment, but we are on the level of our world, and so we must react to everything accordingly. If someone attacks me, I could knock his teeth out,or I could let him beat me. So, how is it possible to resist this if the Creator operates this way?

There must be a middle line here, not the right line and not the left line, but only the middle line of our behavior! It is because you are not corrected yet, and there isn’t just one line in you. It will appear later, at the end of correction, and then too, it will be only in the form of the connecting point, the point of adhesion.

You must act according to the laws of this world, which is the external wrapping. However, at the same time, you should know that everything that we undergo is determined only by the Creator, which is the internal wrapping.

When our world rises to the level of the world of Ein Sof, you will feel that everything is connected. Until then, you will be constantly between these two opposite lines and will wonder constantly, “Is it from the Creator or from me? Where does it stem from? Whom does it go through?”

It is permanent oppositeness. In the Torah, for example, the Creator promises Abraham that the world will be corrected through his son, and then He says,  “sacrifice him”. How can we understand the command to kill his son if it is through him that the method of correction should be passed on to the world? We cannot understand that, and we will not understand it until we experience the first contact with the upper world. Then we at least will have an example as to how two lines connect into a middle line. Then, an even greater ego will appear which will nullify everything there was before. This is called following the spiritual path in faith above reason.
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From the Talk about Group and Dissemination 10/21/13

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Preparation to the Lesson

Shamati #40 “Faith in the Rav,What Is the Measure“

Writings of Rabash “Shlavei HaSulam,” Article 31

Writings of Rabash “Dargot HaSulam,” Article 409

Questions from the World Group

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Our personal ascents and descents should not affect external dissemination. As organizers, instructors, and teachers, we always have to behave consistently with the outside public. People should not feel that you are going through ups and downs. You must maintain contact with them every day, providing them with everything necessary, and your inner states are your personal matters and nothing more.

It is desirable to be like that in relations with friends. Friends have to see you in constantly high spirits, inspired by the importance of the goal, joyful, and to feel your support. And for that, you sometimes you really have to play at that.

At most, you can complain that you are a little tired today and can find some physical reasons, but don’t let them suspect that the reason for your bad mood is internal. Externally, you have to appear cheerful, striving only forward, showing everyone an example.

From the moment that you could have set an example for others and did not do so, all their negative states are immediately credited to your account! It is like communicating vessels. If you cannot fill them, that’s it! Their desires that you did not want to fulfill are transferred to you and fall on you as an additional burden. It is important to be aware of that.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/18/13, Writings of Rabash

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Question: All our actions, everything that we do, must be aimed at the revelation of the Creator. This is the only way we can determine the effectiveness of our action. And if, after the analysis, it turns out that it is not aimed at the revelation of the Creator, then is it better to “sit and do nothing,” as it is written?

Answer: No, no matter what state you are in, you should still act. There are cases in which a person seems to be “dead,” but he still must come to the group, to be present in it  even if he sleeps during the lesson, he still must perform certain basic actions.

A mechanical action isn’t really mechanical. If I can perform even the tiniest movement, it means that my desire participates in it since otherwise I wouldn’t be able to move.

Not a single molecule or atom could move if there weren’t any desire active in it. The electrons that spin around the nucleus are desires since all of matter is a desire to receive. In all the atoms, molecules, and electrons, there is a great desire to reach a state of saturation.

A state of saturation that is achieved in elementary particles—as a result of the big bang, for example—descends from the spiritual level and operates the whole universe in all the stages of its evolution. This is why they are moving ceaselessly in search of pleasure for fulfillment since it is only this way that they can express their need for fulfillment. They think that they are chasing fulfillment.

We are made of these elementary particles, so we chase pleasure all our life. This yearning is revealed on a different level but in the same direction. So, we must perform mechanical actions, even though they cannot be performed on the emotional level yet.

Sometimes, we think, “Why should I sit with these people? What have I got to say to them? I don’t want that at all. How can I lie to myself and to others?”

Lie to yourself and to others. Pretend. Act like you are their friend! However, remember that it is an act, a lie, since you are doing this consciously. This is part of your development.

“How can I do that? After all, I am an honest person! Why should I sit with them, eat with them, and hug them? I don’t care about them at all. If we loved one another, it would different, but I don’t feel that they are my friends this way.”

That’s right! You don’t feel them, and you even will hate them like Rabbi Shimon’s students. What will you do then? Should everyone leave because of the way they feel? On the contrary, you should be aware and rise above this as you understand that this is how our ego speaks inside us.

Act, although you don’t want to, because your desires are inside you, and the actions are on the outside. After the actions, there will be new desires since the Upper Light influences even actions without a desire. As it is written, “Mitzvot do not require intention.” Even if you perform them mechanically, they summon the Upper Light.
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From the Talk about Group and Dissemination 10/21/13

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