The Book of Zohar, Introduction, “Rejoicing on the Holidays and Not Giving to the Poor,” Article 175: The Creator’s role is to cheer the poor according to His ability. For the Creator appears on the holidays so as to look at His broken Kelim.

Someone who yearns for what is higher is called a “pauper,” someone who feels himself “poor in knowledge” and wants to reach the revelation of the Creator. “Holidays” are unique “times,” unique states, in each and every one in which one is found closer to the Creator. Just like when the earth rotates on its axis and revolves around the sun and the moon revolves around the earth, undergoing periodic changes. In other words, besides what depends upon a person, in the general “operating system,” cyclical changes take place that are sometimes discovered and we differentiate them, sometimes for better and sometimes for worse.

It happens this way in order to awaken additional alternative systems that influence us and hasten the times. And these “peripheral” systems pass through various processes, take on part of our work, and bring states to us, sometimes making the heart heavy and sometimes making the heart light.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/26/13, The Book of Zohar

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Without Klipa we cannot identify the Kedusha (sanctity) because seeing the advantage of the Light is through its contrast with darkness. If we want to draw a line between any two properties, we must see both, one characteristic and the other that is differing from the first. We need boundaries, limitations, definitions, differences, and only the system of impure forces (Klipot) can provide this to me, and more qualitatively each time.

It is an extraordinary ingenious system that works in the form inverse to that of sanctity, but in a way that brings a person to sanctity. And therefore it requires a double trick. It is like an adult in playing with a small child tries to show him all his shortcomings, but in an enticing way so that the child will not run away. He shows all the means that will help the child along the way in order to teach the child how to use them himself, to teach him how to attain these powers himself.

On every level, the Klipa brings a person to a final stage of development, (Behina Dalet), where he begins to have control over himself. And then he is ready to build sanctity above it. It is so cleverly arranged that it’s as if it is fooling itself, producing double opposites. Therefore Klipa is considered insidious and cunning, but all of its deceit is directed towards the goal of creation. The system is constructed this way from above.

The question is: “How can we identify the Klipa if it is so tricky?” We can identify it according to the intention because it shows me that my intention is still not to bestow, Lo Lishma.

The Klipa is anything other than the opportunity to contact and reach the Creator, as it is said: “Another god is sterile and bears no fruit.” Through the Klipa, I cannot connect with the Creator. And only if I am to give up everything for the sake of the Creator, even if only for a moment, and to bestow to Him in one direction without regard for anything in exchange, then the gates are opened and I pass from Klipa to Kedusha. This is the only thing that is lacking in the system of impure forces and is found in the system of sanctity: contact with the Creator with unidirectional bestowal, only from me to Him.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/13/13, The Zohar 

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Question: Why does the Creator need a “middleman,” Israel, between Him and His creation?

Answer: The material (matter) by itself is Malchut, a desire to receive, nothing more, which can only respond to pleasant and unpleasant effects in a straightforward, predetermined manner. It cannot bring any updates in nature.

If I build some kind of mechanical, electrical system that responds to my influence, it cannot be considered a “new creation.” After all,  it’s based on our thoughts, sensations, intellect, and attitude. If it’s built correctly and if we are its creators and if it’s completely under our control, then it’s just a part of us and there is nothing new or different about it. We made it the way we wanted it to be.

This explains why still, vegetative, and animate nature, as well as those people who lead a purely material life cannot be called “creation,” since they are governed directly from above. When pricked, they scream “Ow!” and when patted, they enjoy, “Ah!” Except for “Ow!” and “Ah!” there is nothing more they can do—either suffer or enjoy. Their reaction to pain or delight is obvious and predictable. Where is the creation in this picture?

Creation is one in whom there is a part of the Creator, and because it is already there, there is a certain opposition,conflict, a gap, a delta between the properties of the Creator and creation. If we can work with these two parts correctly, then between them a zone of “freewill” emerges, a special place where we do not depend on the Creator nor do we hinge on the material He created; we are positioned at the borderline between them.

This neutral zone is called “the middle third of Tifferet.” It’s a point that is considered to be true creation. We still have to work to attain this state, but at least we already know where to look for it and how to tune to it. Somewhere in the middle between the Creator and creation (not true creation but a material creation) there is a state that embraces both opposites and at the same time is not dependent on either of them.

We cannot yet comprehend what it is, but eventually we reach this state. When working with the general public, we are working with the material creation. The Creator is the force with which we want to perform the action. By that, we transform ourselves into “creation.” This has never happened before in the history of humanity; this process did not begin until today. Only after we achieve it will we be able to call ourselves “people,” “sons of Adam,” “similar” (Domeh) to the Creator.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/26/13

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Question: I feel a complete detachment from TES (Talmud Eser Sefirot.) I can neither understand nor sense it. When I read it, I feel really frustrated. Is there a way to handle this?

Answer: And rightly so. After all, you see that everything written there is unclear to you; it doesn’t “stick” to you.

When we study any science that belongs to this world, we read slowly, try to understand, listen, “digest” the same page or a part of it many times, and then we eventually comprehend it. We can draw it on paper, create a model, or see it somewhere, or ask others about something we don’t understand yet.

Those who know the answers will show us how it works; they will also bring examples: This is an atom, it has electrons and protons. This is an accelerator, it speeds atoms up, hits them, and they break away from their nuclei and bounce from side to side… . We don’t see this picture but we can imagine “bouncing” balls.

When we study spirituality, we just don’t understand a thing. Everything that pertains to spirituality happens in a totally different realm, on a dissimilar plane, in another dimension, in opposite properties and qualities.

All we have is our brain (an empty computer) and an egocentric “program” that has filled our brain since we were born. We observe everything through this prism. We are not able to read texts that are so different, nor do we understand what these texts tell us. This is because we are run by different types of software.

As an example, let’s take a regular computer with a “Windows” operating system. We try playing a different software on this computer, let’s say “Linux.” However, it doesn’t have software to do that, so the computer has “no clue” of what is going on with it. This attempt of ours creates a total mess in the computer, nothing else.

The same applies to us. We are internally programmed. Connections between our memory and logic cells already have been established. We read with our eyes, but internally we feel what we are reading. So we should have a program inside us that is “compatible” with the incoming information, as in a computer. Quite simply, there is nothing else to it.

So, the information that we scan with our eyes contains a different volume and “sits” in a different pool of cells; it isn’t on the same grid with the informational data and their relationships that are in me. We read the information that is based on bestowal, on “getting out of oneself.” However, it is totally different information; it isn’t in us. We don’t have an inner machine to comprehend it.

There are people who still love to read, to understand; they literally “chewing” the granite of science. We have a student who is this way; by the way, he is a very good friend of ours, although he is a big “nerd.” I always use him as an example of how strongly one can really seek knowledge.

I too was one of them. I thought that through learning, I would conquer everything and to the extent that I understood the material I was studying with my brain, I would reveal and attain Kabbalah as any other science of this world. As a result, I hit a wall and felt a tremendous repulsion to TES.

It took me several years to understand the sixth and the seventh portions of TES, the World of Nekudim. Starting with the eighth part and from there on, I didn’t comprehend a thing! In other words, it didn’t live in me because I didn’t have these elements inside of me.

There are people who study TES and are very happy about it because they don’t have an internal demand to reach attainment, meaning they have no point in the heart. And I do have a point in the heart and it requires that I feel things that I study. I have to sense and form them internally; it’s not enough for me to imagine them as a basic model, I have to feel the entire world that they describe to me.

If this world is not present inside us, we won’t understand anything at all. Therefore, one who gets frustrated and angry about not understanding, is a really good soul. However, no one will understand this material until one “upgrades” oneself, re-structures one’s internal “program,” and in addition to the software that runs him or her, is added another programming language called “a spiritual system.”

Then, everything will be just fine. To the degree of our internal spiritual advancement, we will realize what’s written in this book, because it will tell us about ourselves, our sensations, and the innermost vivid feelings and states that we go through. There is more revelation, stronger sensation, deeper understanding, insight,and  connection with the universe and with other people who read TES when we begin disclosing Kelim, vessels, tools, that emerge in us.

So, please continue to be annoyed, not at TES, but at yourself. After all, if you’re angry, it  means that you have already come to a stage when you are able to re-arrange yourself in order to “accommodate” this material; it signifies that this structure will soon become yours. You will feel these sensations inside yourself. You will be able to tell that these particular feelings are Aba ve Ima, the other ones are ZON, others are small (Katnut) or great (Gadlut) states, and some are the Surrounding or Inner Light. It all exists in you! It’s not external but internal because the entire world is inside us. You will start seeing that everybody who is around you is in fact inside you and you will expand yourself to the entire universe.
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From Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/25/13, Questions and Answers with Dr. Laitman

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Even though this is against my nature, I still try to build this chain: to give satisfaction to another in order to give satisfaction to the Creator. Which is to say: “From love for the other to love for the Creator” and “Israel, the Torah, and the Creator are one.” In a manner like this, I attract the Light that Reforms to me, power arrives from the Creator and gradually helps me to do this, gradually teaching me.

But a large amount of activities are included here, one after the other, for I am not prepared to work together with all of my desires to receive with my ego. It’s very great and still not familiar to me. I don’t even know one percent of it, not even a billionth of a percent!

And in order to help me to give pleasure to another in order to give satisfaction to the Creator and to transform the guest so that he is like the host, all of my work is divided into small portions that I can indeed do. But these portions, meaning these levels, are absolutely separate from each other. Every time that I finish some small portion for the purpose of bestowing to the Creator, even in an insignificant form, without feeling and understanding it, in spite of it all, I transform my state; I pass to a new desire that is always greater than the previous one. And therefore working with it is different both in quality and in quantity.

That state through which I passed yesterday seems to me completely insignificant compared to the new and stronger desire. It’s as if I hadn’t done anything. I examine this with my new desires and they are greater than the old ones. Therefore it’s not necessary to grasp this directly in a form like this and to be in despair that it’s as if you are returning to that state all the time and that it might be even worse. This is how it must be because you get a greater and greater desire all the time.

The main thing is that you are actually taking what is found outside of you: still, vegetative, animate, and human, what is given to you, as well as the teacher, the group, and the books, in order to be equipped with the power of the Creator, with His help, and you try to work with them as a conduit that connects them. That is how you build a system through which and within which you will give pleasure to the Creator.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/26/13

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Preparation to the Lesson

Shamati #33 “The Lots on Yom Kippurim and Haman”

The Book of Zohar — Introduction, “The Third Commandment,” Item 204, Lesson 72

Talmud Eser Sefirot, Volume 3, Part 9

Writings of Rabash “Shlavei HaSulam,” Article 36

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Our task is to carry the Light to fulfill the desires, to conduct by intentions.

Our intentions are addressed to the Creator, and the actions to a wider audience, to its needs. These requests always boil down to getting something, and thus they will remain throughout the spiritual ascent. People will ask for more again and again because it is the task of AHP. It grows in its desires, and we are growing in our intentions to bestow.

Question: But how can I ensure the fulfillment of their desires?

Answer: I am in the environment, in the community of people. And besides that, I have a connection with the Creator through the group, with the world of infinity. From there, the Upper Light passes through me and enters a community. Meanwhile, I am not just a fiber-optic channel. After all, in order to carry bestowal to people, I have to make calculations along the way:

1. First of all, I absorb their desires.

2. Then I raise MAN, the request for correction, to the group. In other words, I unite with the group.

3. Next, I raise MAN to the Creator. The request must come from our common circle, and thus I carry it through the group so that it would match the Creator.

4. The whole group gets a response to the request—MAD from above.

5. From the group, I have to transfer it down, having performed a Zivug (interaction) with the Light. And so here, I need to move from the state of smallness (Katnut) to the state of adulthood (Gadlut) to pass their new state to people.

6. And then I carry the Light to the community.

Question: Suppose for example, the community asked me to get an apple. So, in the end of this sequence, in part 6, will it get an apple?

Answer: Yes, it will get its “apple” through me.

We record the participants’ requirements in the minutes and proceed to the construction of correct relations between them. And as a result, the fulfillment comes from me to them, and then we will check whether everyone received what they desired.

Question: But will it not be an apple?

Answer: They will receive the fulfillment that will satisfy all their needs, including the unspoken and unrecorded, added during the waiting time. After all, spiritual fulfillment comes devoid of form and becomes clothed in a person, filling him like a vessel, desire.

Question: What is required from me at every step of this process?

Answer: The work according to the principle “Israel, the Torah, and the Creator are one.” I serve as a conductor, “stretch” from the Creator to the community, and dwell in everyone: in the Creator, in the group, and in the general public. I am a connecting link, like jelly I fill everything with my work, my incessant efforts.

And as I decide to take care of some part of humanity, I must constantly transfer the Light to it, worry about it, love it, connect it with the group, and combine the force, enabling connection with the people and the force, providing connection with the Creator.

The group is standing beside me all the time, supporting and guiding me correctly toward the Creator, and toward the “dependents.”
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/11/13, “The Peace”

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In the article “The Peace,” Baal HaSulam analyzes the Russian “experiment” of building a socialist society in the last century. This period brought about a huge number of victims, and we have yet to understand the causes of what happened. Of course, the events were run from above and had to happen as a kind of discernment, “reconnaissance.”

Why did the attempt fail? It could not work out because its initiators had everything but the main thing, the connection with the Creator. They despised this relationship, could not understand it, keep it, or feel the need for it, so their expectations were not fulfilled.

Today, we know that it’s impossible to do without the Light that Reforms, and a person must correctly aim himself at its influence. But since Russia had nothing like that, the huge investment in education turned out to be in vain. The authorities tried a variety of things. The people were “brainwashed” in many different ways: through the press, radio, and television. The borders were locked to protect the country from external influences. Brainwashing started in kindergarten and continued in schools, but nothing worked.

After all, people’s egoism remained at the same level, even though they were a little accustomed to the external, superficial attributes, since a habit, as it is known, becomes second nature. Yes, there were songs and nice words about unity and other values, but it was not enough to be a real support.

In the end, the country has not achieved a decisive victory in the economic, social, or political sphere. Many in the world believed that Russia would become an example and influence the rest, but most of the world treated them with hatred and fear, or at least with dislike.

On the other hand, before the revolution of 1917, Russia blossomed against its industrial-technological development and sold its products in Europe. As long as there was temptation for and satisfaction of the egoistic desire, progress was remarkable. If that had continued, Russia might have surpassed the United States in spite of the reactionary government that prevented many progressive reforms.

However, the revolution switched development to the non-egoistic track and demanded a person work for the good of society because society is greater and more important. As a result, “fuel” disappeared and the breakdown started.

What could support these altruistic social transformations? They could only be supported by the connection with the Creator. After all, the human being needs a reward for his labors. And this reward is adhesion to the Creator. It’s worth working for, and although the Light that Reforms in the process turns the egoistic consideration into something else; nonetheless, it’s like a reward. We still don’t understand to what change this approach leads: A person seemingly works for one thing, but gets another.

But Russian revolutionaries cut themselves off from the source of Light, the force that animates changes, corrects a person and leads him to the goal. In other words, they fenced themselves off from the only force acting in creation, and in a short period, their endeavors were not successful. As a consequence, instead of a positive force from above that recharges and unites people, the authorities had to resort to the negative methods of influence that drove people from below by intimidation and suffering…

Today, in our society we should consider this lesson, and with respect for each of the friends, we should only use the upper force and not any coercive method. You cannot replace what the Upper Light gives with social pressure. Social pressure must be used to bring a person under the influence of this Light.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/10/13, “The Peace”

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Baal HaSulam, “The Peace”: Although I have thus far proven that one must work to benefit people, where is the proof that it has to be done for the Creator? Indeed, history itself has taken care of this for us and has prepared for us an established fact, sufficient for a full appreciation and unequivocal conclusion.

Is it enough to simply worry about the world when we approach the public? Is it enough to build a happy, integral, global, society in which everyone works together in collaboration and cooperates with each other? Or should all our actions be aimed at delighting the Creator, to such an extent that without it we wouldn’t lift a finger and go through any trouble for this suffering humanity or pay any attention to what is going on? If it is impossible to delight the Creator, then let the whole world burn.

I present this sharply and toughly on purpose, although not everyone will understand this. After all, it is actually the upper level that determines everything with regard to the lower level. If we yearn for and focus on the goal of creation, it means that we have a desire that matches it, a point in the heart that is connected to the goal of creation and not to nice, worldly social urges. Our work on the way to the end of correction is basically to rely on the principle of “Israel, the Torah, and the Creator are one.” This means that if the Creator is not part of our plans we will not succeed in anything that we do and all the nice initiatives will turn into futile attempts at establishing communism or kibbutzim and nothing but that.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/08/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Peace”

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Baal HaSulam, “The Peace”: Anyone can see how a large society such as the state of Russia, with hundreds of millions in population, more land than the whole of Europe, second to none in wealth in raw materials, and which has already agreed to lead a communal life and practically abolished private property altogether, where each worries only about the wellbeing of society, has seemingly acquired the full measure of the virtue of bestowal upon others in its full meaning, as far as the human mind can grasp.

And yet, go and see what has become of them?… Indeed, that fact puzzles us, because judging by the wealth of that country and its plentiful population, it seems unreasonable that it would come to that. But this nation has sinned one sin which the Creator will not forgive: that all this precious and exalted work, namely bestowal upon others, which they have begun to perform, needs to be for the Creator and not for humanity.

Question: What does it mean, “The Creator will not forgive”?

Answer: This is the law, the effects of which may only be revealed in the form of prolonged shattering and destruction. It will take a long time for Russia to understand the flaw in its attempt. It has already been twenty years since this country has been going through a sort of transition period, as a result of which it has started a pseudo-return to the previous era, to the days of Stalin with the intention of finding out what exactly and to what extent the corruptions were. See what a huge turn they will have to make in order to realize and to recognize how to move on.

The Americans and the Europeans will also have to work seriously on their mistakes, until eventually everyone will reach a common decision. In the meantime, they each follow different directions and the world is returning to the days of the cold war with all its particulars.

On the other hand, however, this century is different from the last one: Today there is no fear of big wars between the superpowers. This is improbable since it would definitely lead to disaster and total annihilation. So there will be conflicts and regional wars; there will be unrest and troubles, until all sides realize that they have no other choice but to cooperate integrally.

What is more, the future blow will come from a different direction: social, economic, etc.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/08/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam, “The Peace”

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