From an article by Rabash, “Destruction by Old Men Is Construction”: “‘Destruction by old men is construction; construction by young men is destruction’ (Megillah 31b). Old men are those who are regular in service to the Creator. Young men are those at the beginning of their work. Destruction is what descent or fall is called. That previously they had some kind of ascent in the work, which was considered to be constructive, meaning that they thought these were ascents. But the destruction at the time that they felt some kind of fall, which comes from the concealment of the Creator, that is to say that the Creator conceals Himself from them, this is called destruction.

The destruction of the old men, when they say that the Creator sent the concealment to them, it is found that they are already found in construction, being that the Creator is taking care of them; and from this they receive vitality. And the essence of faith is revealed at the time of descent; this is to say at the time that He doesn’t enlighten a person, for then he is standing before the dilemmas. Either he will say, “I don’t need any benefit, rather I want to give satisfaction above, and it is not important to me what I feel, or God forbid, the opposite.”

“Construction by old men is construction.” If the “concealment,” rubble, comes to old men, then upon it they build a new level, from experience. An old man is a sage who acquires the way of Torah.

And the young men (the youths) who don’t have experience in the work, even when they merit construction, ascent, they cannot build anything, and with these ascents in the meantime, they build contradictions, ruins, descents, disappointments, until the Upper Light influences them and transforms them into old men, and then they “restore” all the rubble and the contradictions that they built in the process of building from above; this is to say, they raise the shattered “Reshimot” and correct them. And in this way they begin to build upon the rubble. And all this is thanks to their faith. The “Light of faith” is what the Upper Light is called, the Light of bestowal that illuminates the person and makes it possible for him to pass from “destruction” to “construction.”

The rubble, the “contradictions” (conflicts) are the difficult thoughts and doubts that dominate a person and conceal the unity of supervision from him. From our experience it is known that if the person continues to be stubborn, then the Upper Light acts on him gradually and “One penny and another penny accumulate into a large sum.” And so ultimately he reaches a state that through discernment of the conflicts, from the descents and the disappointments, he begins to ascend.

Otherwise we cannot ascend, rather only through feeling the exile, the lowness, in other words, through feeling the shattering, feeling the crisis. Only from this state do all the creatures begin the way of their ascent.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/13/13

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Question: How do you maintain the right intention when performing dissemination over the Internet when it is not a physical exercise and a friend cannot remind you about the intention?

Answer: You are disseminating the correct material over the Internet. They direct you correctly themselves and in fact you have no distractions unless you intentionally divert your attention.

Foreign desires are awakened in you at every moment: to surf other sites or leave the computer and do something else. In this case, certainly you must restrain yourself. Disconnect all the external sources like television and radio, disconnect your access to other websites such as news sites, various entertainment sites, and so forth. Disconnect all the external sources like television, radio, disconnect your access to other Web sites such as news sites, various entertainment sites and so forth. Do everything possible to limit your “beast” so that it will not be attracted to any place, for there is nowhere to be attracted. Lock it in a cage and force it to work.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/25/13, Question and Answers with Dr. Laitman

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The worst thing regarding our physical and spiritual state is frivolity. There is nothing worse than this. Some small smirk, movement, or act of disrespect, and that’s it. Everything within me falls. It is terribly necessary to be afraid that, with this, you are liable to harm a friend, but you could harm yourself many times more.

It is necessary to always be in “serious joy” but from the heart. Even if your condition is the worst but excitement comes from the heart, this will help. In no way or manner should there be any showing off unless you are intentionally playing at this to cheer a friend. It is very necessary to maintain our level and constantly be concerned about rising further and further all the time. Don’t forget about the most important thing: preparation.

I advise those who have the opportunity to connect to the live broadcast of our morning lesson. Although I say that it makes no difference when you watch it, it is also possible to watch later, but if you can, this is the true time. There is psychological importance to this for a person. The spiritual energy that exists in the world, it is found here.

But when a person feels that right now there is no need to seize this state and fear for it to pass, meaning, he is in a relaxed state, he  gets up, pauses the computer, sips coffee, and so on; he is not glued to the screen.

Therefore, I strongly urge you, I recommend, if possible, to see part of the live broadcast of the lesson at least, and don’t miss our connection and unity on Sunday evening.

You see yourselves what the meaning of preparation is: We all are preparing for the state of the completion of correction, of full adherence of everyone together with the Light. All of our lives, all of our spiritual elevation, is called “preparation,” and therefore, it needs to precede all of our activities. Before the lesson, I need to get up at least a quarter of an hour before in order to read something. I need to do something with myself. I need to hear something on the way to the lesson.

Read Psalms or some excerpts from our literature, something not connected to anything, which gets you tuned up in the right way. A violinist or cellist tunes his instrument no matter what melody he will play later. So, we also need to tune up our “instruments,” and then, in a lesson we will play.

I can’t imagine that I would come to the lesson without tuning myself for it. It is not important for me to know what I will do with you. Believe me, I sat down now, I looked at the subject of the lesson, and started it. This makes no difference to me, but I must tune myself up before then!

Before the nighttime lesson, Rabash would take a walk in the street for half an hour. I would get up an hour and a half before the lesson even though I only needed to walk fifty meters or less. I needed to take a hot shower, cheer up, read something from his materials that wouldn’t divert my attention from the lesson but, on the contrary, would tune me up properly.

Sometimes it happens that you read some material, and after that, it is difficult for you to regroup and come. You arrive and suddenly, a completely different subject has been prepared for you. This is a responsibility, for in front of me there are tens of thousands of students sitting around the world!

This is how each one of us must feel because we are working on a common Kli, vessel. I am not tuned to anything in particular. I am tuned to that connection that you can give me at any moment, and if you cannot, then even the lesson is lacking.

Sometimes, your state, your connection, opens me up so much that the speech really flows freely and fluently, and this doesn’t depend on the number of people. Rather, this depends on the quality of the connection. Sometimes you succeed, and then wonderful material appears. Therefore, it is necessary to take all this into account and be good children.
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From the St. Petersburg Convention “Day Two” 7/13/13, Lesson 4

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Question: What does the dialog between letters and the Creator that is described in The Book of Zohar in chapter “Letters of Rabbi Hamnuna Saba” mean?

Answer: We want to clarify the properties of each force (a letter) relative to Keter (the goal, the white Light) that act in the general system of our universe that was made by the Creator. The system defines relationships between the power of bestowal and the force of receiving.

There are two forces: “something out of something” (Yesh mi Yesh) and “something out of nothing” (Yesh mi Ain) and there is a system of relationships between them. How is it possible to make “something out of nothing” similar to “something out of something?” How can the desire to receive become like the desire to bestow? The desire to receive cannot turn into a giving desire, but it can copy the latter by acting like it. This type of behavior is called “receiving for the sake of bestowal.”

For that, it is necessary to have a sensation of the Giver since we are not yet concerned about Him; all we worry about is how to fulfill ourselves. In order to receive for the sake of bestowal, we have to sense the one to whom we are giving and use our desire in accordance with what the Giver wants.

Our desire turns into a method of pleasing the Creator, so we need energy and properties that we did not have previously. We want to “get acquainted” with the One to Whom we bestow and we should understand why we are doing this. In other words, we have to detach from ourselves and start feeling somebody else’s internal world.

What properties, forces, and augmentations are necessary to achieve this goal? We have to resolve this problem. We have to go through a certain process in order to achieve the goal. This question is clarified to us by the letters. Malchut asks Keter if she can become similar to Keter with the help of the letter “Samech.”

Keter responds to Malchut that it’s not possible. She can only cover a part of the path to meet Keter; she can only go a small portion of the road, to the place where Malchut separates from herself and receives support (Simcha) (derivative of the letter “Samech”). At this point, Malchut does not depend on the desire that she had in the beginning of her journey. It’s as if she floats in the air.

What’s next? Correction cannot be accomplished this way. On the contrary, if Malchut wants to proceed, she has to receive for the sake of bestowal. “Samech” doesn’t want to receive. This letter aspires to bestowal, to “Hafetz Hesed,” nothing but that. It’s like a righteous man who lives alone in the woods and doesn’t have even a shirt, but he doesn’t need one.

That’s why it’s necessary to cancel “Samech” since the force that envelopes this letter becomes a hindrance to it. We need a developmental power of the letter “Mem” that consists of two letters: “Dalet” (two doors – Delet) that have to open and let the fetus go out in order to continue its development. These doors are two opposing forces that fight with each other. That’s why they are called the door hinges (Tzirim), or labor pains (Tzirim), meaning the pain of advancement. The second power that cancels “Samech’s” protection is getting stronger and the fetus starts getting additional desire to be pleased that was previously under the power of egoism, but now it transitions from receiving to bestowal.

There is nothing that is absolutely and entirely good. There is no letter or force that could help us in all circumstances with the exception of the letter “Bet” that means “blessing.” The letter “Bet” doesn’t depend on anything at all, only on the Upper. The ways of receiving its blessing (meaning the Returning Light) can be learned from the wisdom of Kabbalah. The remaining properties reveal and correct because of this blessing.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/27/13, The Zohar

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Preparation to the Lesson

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Shamati #58 “Joy Is A Reflection of ‘Good Deeds“

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The Book of Zohar — Introduction, “The Fourth Commandment,” Item 213, Lesson 75

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Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol. 3, Part 9 

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Lesson on the Topic: “Sukkot”

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[media 10]

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Question: How can we help friends during a descent?

Answer: There is no need to specifically identify someone who is in a descent. Instead, within a group, you always should maintain high spirits, an elevated mood, the importance of the goal, and shared commitments to remain in connection and mutual guarantee. We still lack mutual responsibility.

If all this is in the group, then we will be able immediately to turn these descents into ascents and achieve revelation. The only thing we lack is a stronger connection. People do not feel their commitment to each other. Everyone still thinks that he acts on his own, and he just has colleagues at work, as in a factory: He came, worked, got paid according to his work, and went home.

We transfer our attitude toward usual external work to spiritual work. We do not yet realize that spiritual work is only in connection, in contracting oneself in order to turn into one whole, in mutual guarantee, and become one man with one heart, and only then can we get paid! Indeed, the reward is to create a place where the Creator could be revealed. By that, we will please Him and reach adhesion with Him according to His will.

We do not pay enough attention to this point of unity and do not realize that this is where all the work is realized and rewarded. We still lack this feeling because it is necessary to feel this, not to remember the words, so that the heart would pull me there all the time and wish to be there.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/13/13, Shamati #33

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Question: It is written that prayer is said to begin with gratitude. Is there any gratitude in the prayers of Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement)?

Answer: First of all, the prayers on Yom Kippur are linked to the prayers of Rosh Hashanah that are designed to exalt “crown” of the Creator as king of the world. With this we elevate the goal, bestowal, love, it is a great attribute that we must attain. It manages the entire world, dwells everywhere, and controls everything.

The Creator means the characteristic of bestowal and love. He has no other image so He is clothed in the Kelim, and so we get to know Him, get to know the force that acts in creation. We respect, appreciate, and exalt this property above all.

This is the meaning of Rosh Hashanah; we celebrate the “head” (Rosh in Hebrew), which is the characteristic of bestowal. It is the most important, runs everything, attracts us, and we want to reach it, to be like it, and to be integrated within it.

Whereas Yom Kippur shows us how we are still far from this. We examine, discover, the defects and see that in the meantime we lack corrections so that we will acquire the characteristic of complete and full bestowal. We regret this when we uncover and prepare our flaws for work.

After that come the days of correction and on Purim we finish it.

Question: This is saying that on Yom Kippur there is only regret that we are not yet corrected?

Answer: And this is a great joy. In fact, I am not sorry but joyful. The shattered Kelim are revealed to me and now I can fix them. That’s right: My regret, the repentance, and the “forgiveness” are linked to joy, since I have finally discovered the evil in me and now am totally trembling with desire to correct it. I am happy that I have discovered this and I am grateful for this.

Try to read the prayers on Yom Kippur with happiness instead of crying and you will discover something completely different in this.

How is it possible to cry when we are found next to the Creator? You see that now if you are sorry, you are attesting that the Creator is the one who caused the sorrow, and this means even that the Creator is not the Good Who does good? In fact, there is no such thing. The Creator reveals the shattering to you so that you will be happy and will correct the flaw. With this you will be able to resemble Him yourself. And on the contrary, if He had created you like Him without your independent participation you would simply be “stuck” to Him like duct tape.

But no, He now gives you the opportunity to identify the differences, prepares the state for you that seemingly says, “In these characteristics you are different from Me. Carry out the work and you will be like Me.” How could it be that you would cry; for He has related to you this way and has given you the opportunity to be like Him?

On the contrary, you are happy: “Indeed, we have erred and betrayed. Indeed, I am guilty, I am a thief, I am a liar…”, and you have pleasure from what you have discovered. You are happy that He created you opposite Him and that this opposition shows you how it is possible to be like Him and to merit adhesion.

This says: “To serve the Creator” is the work of the Creator. So how is this linked to crying? You see with this you bring Him contentment. You are thankful that He is the one who has placed everything in front of you and you are grateful that He created you the opposite.

Essentially, it is as if you are “kissing the stick”, the whip that strikes you; and in this way you neutralize the evil inclination. Now it is no longer bad, since thanks to your change in attitude, it becomes good.

Question: This is to say, we are happy that we discover that we are opposite the Creator?

Answer: No, we are happy because by means of this He gives us the opportunity to be equivalent to Him. I thank Him for the preparation that I have done, for His mercy towards me both in the past and in the future. All that He does, including the shattering and the terrible disasters through which we have passed, the essence of all this is complete kindness. This is exactly what we discover. Everything depends on my outlook on life; that is precisely what we must change.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/13/13, Writings of Rabash

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Question: With us in the World Kli, the entire group is united with its own uniqueness. On what internal and external level must the group be in order to go out to disseminate with the right intention and action? For if the group is not prepared and not connected enough, then it’s liable to cause harm to the action. As it is said, “It is preferable to sit and do nothing.” How is it possible to examine the amount of readiness of the group to go out to the wider public?

Answer: If the group is connected, then you will feel that you can do everything. The Creator doesn’t put any difficult problems before you. None whatsoever!

If I am connected with the group into a single whole body, then together, I and the group are filled with the upper force and in this case the Creator is found within us. And then I can be sure that I am conveying the higher power to the 99% of humanity and there is no problem with them. They will really begin to “unfold” in front of me; they will smile at me in response. I will not see anything else besides smiles. I assure you! They will listen to you very willingly.

The Light does everything. It builds, realizes, and molds. And you only need to open a passage for it through you. Nothing more than this is needed!

Therefore, all the claims that you don’t understand, don’t know enough, and are not organized enough, all these are nonsense! It’s up to you to make yourselves into a “pipe,” so that the Upper Light will pass through you to all the rest. And then you will immediately feel a good relationship and good will from their side.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/25/13, Question and Answers with Dr. Laitman

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Question: For spirituality, the men are responsible for connection and I can simply work with dissemination without wasting time on corresponding with the groups of ten. I have not succeeded in finding a reason why women need to be connected between them apart from the men. And in addition to that, it’s very difficult to find the time for it.

Answer: This is right, but from where will a woman find words and power to convince others if she doesn’t participate in connection? The vast majority of women listen to all our classes, the program “A New Life,” participate in workshops, and read the blog regularly. I cannot imagine what would happen if a woman didn’t participate in all of these things.

If there wouldn’t be all of this, how would she go out to the public, how would she tell people what to do, and with what would she go out to them? All this needs to live in her and she needs to enter into all of it. After all, when women act, they truly do it from the heart.

Besides this, they have greater ability to convince others than men do. If the woman goes out to disseminate together with a man, then she does the main part of the work of disclosing and the explaining to the masses. Before women all the doors are opened, they are accepted better because they are softer. All this must be taken into account. After all, this is based on the works of nature.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/25/13, Question and Answers with Dr. Laitman

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Question: I am responsible for a “special unit” for dissemination in Russian. From the start, we chose a number of people for this with the ability to express themselves nicely and with characteristics required for dissemination.

Ultimately the unit reorganized. It turned out that the greatest success rates were by people who never opened their mouths. Some kind of miracle happened.

Answer: Quite right. The ability to express the material nicely doesn’t indicate anything. Sometimes it happens that quiet and humble people, who don’t even know how to enter into connection with others, go out to disseminate and are very successful. It’s really amazing that it’s specifically through them that the Upper Light passes and not through someone who knows how to speak well.

Therefore, all members of the group need to engage in dissemination, otherwise this will not be a group, because only through dissemination is it possible to reach connection between us. This is a completely new method of connection that appears as a result of the need for connection so we will have the power to persuade and correct the external world. The group is called only when an external danger forces everyone to mobilize in order to convince the public.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/25/13, Question and Answers with Dr. Laitman

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