Preparation to the Lesson
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Writings of Baal HaSulam, “The Meaning of Conception and Birth,” Lesson 9
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The Book of Zohar — Introduction, “Among All the Sages of the Nations of the World, There Are None Like You,” Item 162, Lesson 60
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Talmud Eser Sefirot Vol. 6, Part 15
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Preparation to Unity Evenings
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Baal HaSulam, “Exile and Redemption”: As long as we followed the path of Torah, we remained safe.
As we all know, all the commandments of the Torah come down to one main rule “Love thy friend as thyself.” All the commandments are the correction and the changing of our desire to receive from the intention of in order to receive to in order to bestow. So if the people of Israel performed all these corrections and kept the principle of love, they wouldn’t suffer from all the afflictions of being in exile.
On the other hand, we have to understand that the exile is essential; we have to feel it and to actually be immersed in it for some time.
It isn’t by chance that a couple of centuries ago Kabbalists in eastern Europe used to exile themselves, a person would leave his home and wander not knowing where to. He walked around among people and encountered different troubles and problems and found himself in different situations that allowed him to “mingle” among all those who hated him.
Such voluntary exile helped hasten the general exile so that it would end much sooner than the predetermined date. Kabbalists didn’t do it for themselves but actually in order to bestow. Today it is hard to imagine what situations and afflictions they put themselves through. Yet, they felt they had to go through all that in order to acquire the real power to turn to the Creator.
Theoretically, however, if the people of Israel had kept the law of love and had not adopted the manners of their neighbors, they wouldn’t have been incorporated in them in exile and wouldn’t have discovered the evil and hatred others feel towards them. So all the bad things that are discovered are actually the same “hardenings of the heart” that we didn’t manage to turn into ascents and which thus have caused us to descend…
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/12/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam
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We should see every moment of our existence as an opportunity for fulfilling our life, our existence, what this life and this reality were given to us for. Reality is arranged so that we, the created beings, will be able to attain our Creator. We have to become acquainted with Him from a state that is totally opposite from Him so that our attainment of Him will be as complete as He wants it to be.
This means that if the Creator wants us to attain Him to a certain extent that includes many sub-levels and individual revelations, then we have to be in a state of concealment in each of these sub levels. Since the concealment can be attained only by the opposite state, from being in a state of revelation, the descent into exile and the pulling away from the Creator is also gradual. The more we descend down the levels of concealment, the more we can attain the revelation from one level to the next.
If we were to imagine all of reality correctly, then there is nothing else to do but reveal the Creator! So in every action, in every state, in all our work, in the study, discussion, connection, and dissemination activities, all we lack is only this intention. The only thing we lack in every action is the desire for one outcome, to discover the Creator, the force of bestowal and love, and then we will be worthy of Him.
We prove our readiness by our efforts and the exercises that we perform between us. The only thing missing in all our work is the right intention before every action that we perform at any given moment. First we have to focus ourselves on the Creator, on His revelation. If we focus ourselves on Him, we can already understand how to establish the connection between these two points, between ourselves and the Creator.
The connection should be established from Him and not from us, from the force of bestowal and love. We should find out how to establish the systems that are adaptable for the revelation of the force of love and bestowal and what my inner vessel should look like so that it can reveal this attribute. In order to tune it, I begin to connect to others, connect the whole global soul to me: the still, vegetative, animate, and the human beings that are connected by me. Thus I create a place where the Creator and I can be together, where we have a chance of being revealed to one another.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/09/13, Writings of Rabash
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The problem is that a person is satisfied with what he has gained. He reaches a certain condition and feels that he has succeeded in something, understood and felt something. And then he wants to develop the same degree: to become smarter in it, to understand and feel more. He begins to expand in the same state as if “in width,” to seek out some quotes pertaining to that level which he has now achieved in his heart and mind.
He delves into this state and wants to stay in it. It’s as if he wants to remain a primary school teacher, grades 1-5, working on the same level all the time, but increasingly going deeper into the material and improving his skills. But is it good or is it still worthwhile to become a secondary school teacher, grade 6 and higher?
If he starts to rise there, then there are things that he needs to study, to understand. Then the problems start, headaches and pressure. This is how the egoistic force (Klipa) acts, which allows us to work: “Please, work in the state in which you are now. Just don’t go forward, don’t climb higher!”
In order to ascend higher, you need the upper force. Either it will awaken and pull you, or you will be attracted to the group. But it’s known that “He, who adds knowledge, adds suffering.” That is why it is so difficult to advance and the forces that restrain us are called the “shell” (Klipot). Klipa promises a sweet life and coaxes us: “Stay with me! I will cover you and you will feel warm, cozy, and calm.” And you relax, relying on these promises and you are finished.
That is the problem. If the Klipa had shown its true face, if you had seen how it stops you, not allowing you to gain attainment, huge fulfillment, then you would have fought against it. But the whole problem is that it calms you, and in a fraction of a moment catches you and sucks fulfillment out of you. And it works because of its sweetness that you feel by being a bit relaxed or dozing off in the classroom…This is standard work of Klipa.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/12/13, The Book of Zohar – Introduction
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The environment is designed to pull us out of the grasping hands of the impure forces (Klipot). After all, we cannot escape them by our own forces and will always remain in their sweet captivity. Only to the extent of my connection with the group that evokes me, inspires, and pushes me, can I choose to move forward with the group instead of relaxing in the warm company of my Klipot.
From where does the group take force to influence me more than the force of Klipa? The fact is that the group acts on the same egoism of mine that the Klipa does. If the group persuades me that the goal is great, that this is the dream of our life, then it’s not even important to my egoism whether the goal is spiritual or material. If everyone around me insists that it’s important, then I will have forces to fight against my laziness.
We get this great help as a result of the breaking of desires. Thanks to this, I can play with my egoism, with my stony heart, with the help of the environment. Friends can pull me anywhere, even lead me to death, and I will gladly go with them.
If the environment knows how to affect me, I will be ready for anything. But the challenge is to ensure that our environment affects us only to the extent to which I allow it, giving myself to it! I pay the group for this special influence; I become integrated with the friends. Otherwise, the group will have no effect on me.
This is no ordinary society because I can be in the group and not feel any of its effects. We see these examples when a person studies with us for 15 years and doesn’t fall under the influence of the society because he doesn’t want to bow his head before others.
But here I have freedom of choice: If I bow to the group and join it, then to that extent it will begin to affect me. Thus, in this group I get the opportunity for free development. All this ultimately happens because of me! I have cancelled myself and thus the environment influences me, and I enter the spiritual world. I myself reach the spiritual world, having used the environment of my own accord.
At the same time, entering normal society, a person falls entirely under its influence, and nothing depends on him; the environment affects him and directs everything. In a Kabbalistic group, I have to cancel myself before the environment every second.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/12/13, The Book of Zohar – Introduction
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Baal HaSulam, “Exile and Redemption”: As long as we (the Israeli nation) followed the path of Torah, we remained safe.
The Torah is the law of bestowal, “don’t do unto your friend what is hateful to you,” and then “love thy friend as thyself” until we reach “love thy Lord your God.” If you really yearn for the goal in all these phases, if you value your life only according to these principles and advance from the minor corrections to the general correction, if you act this way according to the laws of nature (or the laws of the Torah, as the word God and the word nature have the same numerical value), then you are in the right direction and nothing bad can happen to you on the way.
All the evil that you encounter is revealed to you only because you have not corrected a certain flaw that you should have corrected in the current phase. These flaws are revealed one after another from the minor to the more serious ones and if you don’t correct them they accumulate.
Since these processes are also typical to the systems in our world, minor corruptions or an illness can be corrected immediately in the initial phase, but if we neglect the problem the corruptions accumulate and bring about additional corruptions and greater problems and troubles that are hard to overcome.
So if the people of Israel observed the Torah, which means that the Light that Reforms would correct all the flaws that are revealed from the minor ones to the most serious ones, then nothing bad would happen to it. On the contrary, it would rise and grow stronger; it would feel the future corrections and the future fillings in the flaws that are revealed.
All the evil that we encounter is revealed since we neglect the necessary corrections. All our problems starting from the private ones and all the way to global disasters like world wars depend only on the corrections. Since the Israeli nation is responsible for these corrections, then clearly the moment people feel bad in this world they accuse the Jews and blame them for all the troubles in the world.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/13/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam
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The main thing that we lack in order to succeed in our work is focusing our attention on the inner spiritual success, which means on the revelation of the Creator, rather than on external corporeal success. The revelation of the Creator should be our only goal, and all our work, dissemination, study and efforts at any given moment should become the means for attaining this goal.
It shouldn’t be the opposite! We don’t pray to the Creator that we should succeed in our dissemination or in our life. This is how all the religions operate when they turn to the Creator so that He will help a person in his corporeal life and fix things for him. We do the opposite: All we need in life is to succeed in one thing: in the revelation of the Creator, to connect to Him, and to feel that we bring Him contentment by doing so.
In the meantime, we lack this pure intention in all our actions. Even if it is artificial and doesn’t suit our mood and our feelings, still from Lo Lishma (not for its sake) we arrive at Lishma (for its sake). So in the meantime we express this desire only externally and look for the right words to express our intentions.
Although these intentions are not real yet and don’t come from inside, we want them to come from the bottom of our heart. We operate like small children who repeat the actions of the group without understanding anything. This penetrates us gradually until it becomes second nature and then we begin to feel the meaning of the words.
We can draw the Light that Reforms that will turn from the Surrounding Light into Inner Light even with desires that are not real at the moment. The structure of the spiritual ladder and the relationships between the spiritual Partzufim enable us to do that. Everything is intentionally ready so that we can evoke the action of the Light upon ourselves although we are not in the spiritual world yet.
So let’s first of all add the right intention to the great efforts that we make in our external actions. As it says “a Mitzvah without an intention is like a body without a soul.” If we want to perform a Mitzvah, which means a commandment from the Creator to adhere to Him, then we have to turn every action that we perform into a “sacrifice” – Korban (same root as “getting closer” – mitkarev in Hebrew).
The voice of the Creator will be revealed to us between the two angels, which are the two forces, the left and the right, receiving and bestowal, we will hear Him between the angels (as Moses did). We can do that if we work with our powers correctly: focusing on the intention of revealing the Creator in order to bring Him contentment in every action that we make, like a beloved person.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/09/13, Writings of Rabash
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Question: How can a person who has despaired of life know that the wisdom of Kabbalah exists somewhere and that there are people who can help him?
Answer: The Light will bring him and arranges this opportunity for him, just as it brought you to the lesson. Each one receives such an opportunity, but then he has to make his own efforts. Only then will he continue to advance.
The difference between advancing along the path of suffering and advancing along the path of the Light is speed and comfort. When a person adheres to a group, he begins to receive much more Light than when he is by himself.
I have to go through certain states and I can go through them with the help of a great Light or with the help of a small ray of Light. The difference is that in the first case I am part of a group and so the Light that comes to the group also shines on me through it. Thus I receive the general desire, the huge vessel. My Reshimo (spiritual gene) is the general Reshimo, since I advance together with everyone else. Imagine what a speedy advancement this can be.
On the other hand, I can remain in my private desire and have nothing but one point. The Light that shines upon an individual is the Light of suffering and not the Light that helps him advance. After all, a person doesn’t yearn for connection with others, which means that he doesn’t intend to annul his ego.
I can be in either one of these states: a state in which the Light pressures me from below by sufferings or in a state in which I am drawn forward by the group to connection and I make efforts to connect. My effort is the first factor, and then as a result, the Light that I have drawn shines on me. “I awaken the dawn,” meaning that I am the first. Whereas, in the first case, the Light forced me, and so it was felt as sufferings since it operated against my will.
This is the whole difference. We either run forward by ourselves or are pushed from behind by blows. The difference is in the pace and the comfort or discomfort along the way.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/02/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam
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Preparation to Unity Evenings
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Writings of Baal HaSulam “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Lesson 136
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If you come to a person at the right time when he has despaired and does not know how to switch to new criteria in order to experience the sweetness rather than bitterness, then he will listen. That is the essence of the crisis.
Previously, we have always looked for and found the means to do this, due to this, humanity grew and advanced, like children who grow because of their toys that become more goal-oriented, and thus they change their tastes, understanding, and awareness of what is called sweet and what is called truth.
And when we reach the end of egoistic development, we discover that we are in a bitter state, which is impossible to turn into the sweet one. There is neither truth nor false that can help in this and change us so that we feel sweetness instead of bitterness.
Here we come with our method of integral education and explain that there is a force: the force of connection between all people. Due to it, we will achieve sweetness that simultaneously will be truth. This sweet truth is revealed not in someone individually, but within our common unity.
People will not be able to reveal this knowledge. Even if they begin to unite with each other, everything will turn into either a circus or a criminal gang; nothing good will happen.
We must be aware that if we do not succeed in our mission, then in the future, criminal association awaits our world, that is, the Nazi regime, about which Baal HaSulam warns in the article “The Last Generation.”
If our method of integral education is not successful, then the world will be won by the fascist doctrine, which is also based on the sweetness derived from unity. But this unity is founded on hatred of others. The whole world then is divided into two halves: mine and all the rest. And we are building our unity not on the love of others but on the hatred of others, and inside it we find sweetness.
Although this Nazi approach is contrary to the goal of creation and development of nature and cannot hold out for long, this possibility exists for a short time.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/13/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam
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