Question: How do you use hatred as a means to keep us away from evil?

Answer: It is hate that separates us from those we hate. We don’t need anything except to hate the ego. There are two stages: purity and holiness. The first stage of the correction is the purification from evil. This includes the whole process we go through from the beginning of our work until the revelation of evil, and then from the revelation of evil until the level of Bina, to bestow in order to bestow, don’t do unto others what is hateful to you.

This part of the correction is called the recognition of evil and exiting it until we escape from Egypt. Then we enter the phase of correction of to bestow in order to bestow, which is called the work in the desert. Then we enter the land of Israel by purifying our desire as we aim it at Yashar-El (straight to the Creator); we turn it into Israel, which is called the conquering of the land of Israel. Then we reach the phase of love thy friend as thyself.

This is done in stages: I detach myself from the ego, from evil, purify myself, and the moment I discover that my ego is my enemy, I begin to hate it, and so I have to break away and escape it. I am ready to jump into the Red Sea, anywhere I can, as long as I can escape and be saved from the pursuit of the ego. I receive ten blows (plagues) from it that force me to come to the final decision and that doesn’t leave me any chance of remaining inside my ego.

I cannot stand it anymore, as I see that it only brings me trouble and pain. All this is a result of the Surrounding Light that shines and bestows upon me. I feel so evil in relation to it, to the attribute of bestowal, to any revelation of the Creator in a cloud, in a pillar of fire, in a burning bush… Only when the Creator brings me to Pharaoh do I realize that he is a tyrant and wicked. Pharaoh is revealed in contrast to the Creator, and when I stand in the middle, I see who is a friend and who is a foe.

I cannot bear the domination of Pharaoh anymore, since on the other side the Creator is by my side. I already begin to see the difference between bestowal and receiving, and this summons the hatred of evil in me. It’s impossible to come to Pharaoh without the Creator! Otherwise I will not see that Pharaoh is evil, since before he seemed so good to me when he raised Moses as his grandson. Even before that, in the beginning of the period of exile, the good Pharaoh ruled until he died and there rose a new king in Egypt who did not know Joseph. Thus we gradually go through the phases of the recognition of evil.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/25/13, Shamati #54 “The Purpose of the Work”

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All our work is inner concentration because the external reality does not change no matter how much we expect it to do. The reality is defined only by its perception within us and entirely depends on a person’s properties. A person changes, and through that reality which he felt in his five sense organs before, he sees other connections in our world, a new reality, the presence of the upper force. Gradually, this force becomes huge, controlling everything and supporting the entire reality.

But now we neither see nor notice it. This is the only thing that changes to the extent that this earthly reality disappears completely with the death of the body and only the spiritual reality remains. Everything depends on how we change from a “feeling” person to a “believing” person.

The difference between the two is determined by the instruments with which we work. If we perceive the reality in the desire to enjoy, this is called a person of feeling, and if in the desire to bestow, then this is called a person of faith. But they both imply sensations. Faith is also a sensation only in the Reflected Light, in the desire aimed at bestowal instead of reception.

The feeling of his distance from the Creator means that a person has received more sensitive instruments (Kli) for measuring his attitude to the Creator. Just a few days ago at the convention we felt more connected with each other to such an extent that a person disappeared within the feeling of our community. The general force and inspiration held him, allowing him to stop feeling himself.

But this can happen with any joyous enthusiasm when many people, united by one idea, one opinion, thought, purpose, and reason, get together and thus they feel their unity. How is our state different from others? It is in order to make it different from them that we are now given the sensation of descent, distancing from the light state. We feel that we miss something in this state so that it could remain.

We ourselves are not able to keep it; it requires the presence of some new force, a new reality, that is above us. This sense of alienation means the expansion of our desires, the tools of perception, to a new depth and width, an increase of their inner sensitivity, as well as the obtaining of a more powerful external force.

And thus we see that we cannot cope with this. We are seemingly immersed in a vast sea of feelings left from the convention, which is gradually cooling down and soon will freeze completely. We cannot stop this. The trend is clear, but it is not clear how to resist this.

First of all, you need to understand that this trend is natural and you should try to protect yourself from it, to stop, to fight with this cooling as much as possible, but only in order to sharpen your sensation of this distancing, trying to retain the previous warm feeling as much as possible!

And in spite of all our efforts, we can see that we are not capable of this. We will check our state, comparing how it is changing from day to day, and will understand that our inspiration is gradually fading. Sometimes the thoughts of unity come but immediately disappear. And today’s state is even further from what is was yesterday.

But feeling our separation from the great King, one must understand that it is not real alienation, but simply the Creator increasing one’s degree of sensitivity to the state, increases one’s desire quantitatively and qualitatively. And then a person feels that he lacks something in the same state.

In fact, we are still in the same state because nothing disappears in spirituality. But in every successive state, we lack our unity and the presence of the Creator to a greater extent.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/19/13

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Baal HaSulam, “The Peace:” The angels asked of the Creator: “What is man, that thou art mindful of him? And the son of man, that thou visitest him? Why do you need this trouble?”…

There is an allegory about a king who had a tower filled with good things, but no guests. What pleasure does a king have in his full tower?

“Angels” are the essence of the forces of nature, such as gravity, electrostatic, magnetic force, etc. And their question is clear, “If all of reality is Your forces, that is, Your manifestations before the matter of desire, then how does this matter benefit from everything that You do with it, moving it from state to state?”

The Creator replies, “I want to create a man—such a fusion of elements, such a combination of basics so that their connection produced something new that is not My direct consequence.”

The human degree (Adam) is above “angels”—above the laws of nature that leave no room for freedom of will. The human being stands over them; he is capable of free choice. “Angels” do not understand his creation because they are just the forces of Creator acting in creation. And yet in this, His derivative, subordinated immutable laws, a special point of freedom is revealed.

It stems from the Creator and comes to the created being. This means, that in this creation He creates something autonomous, independent—first of all from Himself…

So, how? Can a desire, independent, separated from Him, opposite to Him, and equal by power, confront the Creator? After all, this will lead to conflict, to clash, to “disaster.” “Angels” do not understand how the Good Who Does Good Creator can allow this.

And the Creator replied to them that indeed He had a tower full of good things, but only this humanity was invited to it.

In other words, only on condition that if people would go through problems and troubles, which will encourage them to think and obtain an independent desire, will they be able to partake of what He has prepared for them.
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From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/19/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Question: How in practice can we form a union within the group to stay in the same feeling of belonging to the general unity?

Answer: But we all want to advance! We have reached a new sensation at the convention; it’s not for nothing we prepared so much for it and gathered so many loyal friends. There were almost no people who came by chance and if someone showed up, he disappeared in the general atmosphere.

And now we are all interested in this union to continue what we have achieved. If everyone wants to maintain the same feeling of belonging to one whole in which we aspire to find the mutual property of bestowal, then the upper force is present within. It’s hidden for the time being, but it will be manifested gradually, clearly, and it will shine. It will happen! We are already discovering the area in which it should occur.

A union is different from simple efforts that we commit to each other. Now that I feel I belong to the collective unity, I pledge to keep it, as if swearing allegiance to my people, my homeland. We feel that we belong to our country and this requires us to be loyal. The same thing happens here.

Actually, we have already formed this union, and now we just need to strengthen it, to sign it. The signature means that you cannot retreat from your obligations even for a moment. You promise that regardless of any new situations and disturbances you will keep loyalty to the collective unity. This is called signing a covenant.

You will be thrown from state to state, but you will keep your agreement thanks to the power of the Creator. Although we are not revealing Him yet and that is why we do not feel that everything depends on Him, meanwhile, we should be supported by the fear of losing what we achieved; this is the rope that binds us together. Then, we will be able to get closer to bestowal and will understand that the Creator is the guarantor of our union.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/17/13, Writings of Rabash

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Before the shattering, there was a vessel that wanted to receive the Light in order to bestow (Adam and Eve). But there was a place in this vessel called the heart of stone which was impossible to correct. The Upper Light couldn’t enter it. The Surrounding Light couldn’t enter it either. So how was it possible to correct it? After all, it is the whole essence of the created being.

It turns out that I have a desire to receive that is opposite from the Creator, the Upper Light, which cannot enter it. It would contradict the law of equivalence of form, and after all, it says: “He gave a law that cannot be broken”; the Creator himself doesn’t break His own laws. The laws were determined, and all of reality, all of creation, exists according to these laws.

So what can we do? How can the created being still be corrected and become similar to the Creator? How can the created being take on the form of the Creator if the Upper Light cannot even touch the stony heart according to the laws of restriction and a lack of equivalence of form? It can never do that since the stony heart is the essence of the created being.

The shattering was necessary; it was necessary to confuse the created being so that he’d want to receive in order to bestow as if that were even possible in the stony heart. This is how the Creator arranges the created being and the created being accepts this action in absolute devotion. The Upper Light gives him this feeling by the Partzuf that it has created in which the head of the Partzuf belongs to Bina and the body belongs to Malchut. He intends to use all his desires in order to bestow in his head; this is pure Bina, pure bestowal. So he doesn’t feel that there is a chance for it to go wrong or fail, but still he fails.

It wasn’t a mistake or a failure at all; it did not depend on the created being, but was intentionally arranged so from Above. But mutual incorporation of the vessels of Bina and the vessels of Malchut take place as a result of the shattering. The main thing is that it allows continuity by the clarification of all the vessels except for the stony heart.

This is a very delicate point that we have to think about, “the advantage of Light from darkness.” We clarify the first nine Sefirot, all their discernments, except for the stony heart, which is “in reason,” in the ego, which we don’t clarify. But by clarifying everything around it, I get to know the stony heart, and by that I get to know the Creator Himself from inside it.

Thus, we perform correction without correcting our own desire. But we do differentiate and take from it everything that we can, leaving only the actual stony heart in which there is nothing else that we can correct. As a result of this clarification, we discover the form of the stony heart in contrast to the form of the Creator and reach the end of correction.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/02/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Preparation to the Lesson

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Igrot,” “Letter 17”

The Book of Zohar — Introduction

Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol. 6, Part 15

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A descent happens only because we cannot maintain the previously achieved state since every time there is a burdening of the heart. We have not been given this burdening of the heart because we are shown mercy from above.

But it’s no good if the burdening of the heart is a consequence of the external material problems. After all, from now on we can remain only in spiritual work and interpret all the material unpleasant disturbances as spiritual.

We will see nothing material in these disturbances, even in the most severe blows. They will suddenly begin to take such a fantastic shape; the most important thing is to hold ourselves at the same level. If we persist in staying at the same height above all the disturbances, we will begin to enter this degree more deeply.

We have already risen to a new degree and now we need to get further into it to see the ten Sefirot in it, new properties. And then we will suddenly see that we are able to stay in this state and are in the spiritual world! We have already touched this state in the external form.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/17/13, Writings of Rabash

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Question: During the convention there was a pleasant feeling of confidence in our belonging to unity. Now we have to separate the pleasant feeling from the feeling of belonging, but should confidence remain in this case?

Answer: Confidence is the Light that we have to secure for ourselves. No one can feel confidence because of himself only, it comes only from the outside. This is the confidence of the baby who rests in the mother’s arms. All his confidence is in belonging to the upper.

Mutual guarantee, mutual inclusion, confidence, and connection, all this is joined into one common state, one illumination. And then we will learn to divide these feelings into three lines. At different stages, birth and suckling, growing up happens in different ways. Our dependence on the upper and our attitude towards the group change, as on the upper degree or at the one where you are. If the upper force is manifested in the group, then we already attribute it to ourselves, to our soul.

Everything is within the group so we do not need to philosophize much, the most important thing for us now is to make one step forward that will become life-changing. Everything depends on whether we are able to enter the achieved degree more deeply or fall back, and then we will need a very long time to return to the same state.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/17/13, Writings of Rabash

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Question: During the preparation for the convention everyone had a definite date to which we could accelerate, to concentrate all our efforts toward. And after that, everyone went back to his project and this common effort, aimed at one point, is not felt. How can we achieve acceleration relative to the same point?

Answer: I think we are old enough and do not need to set a date as a guide for ourselves. It’s a childish level if we can concentrate regarding any one day.

Day means a state. And as we advance further we will have to hold this state at a greater height and with increasing steadiness, until eternity. For the time being, we are given pleasant feelings of being in these states so that our material egoistic force helps us hold ourselves in them. Our egoism still supports this unity because we are at the beginning of our development.

The main thing now is to make this state permanent and to feel our belonging to our whole world group. Try to separate from this feeling and associate this condition with all the events of your life; in any situation, you only need to remain inside our unity. We need to stay in the same state in which we were during the convention together with everyone, and bring all your life inside it. All the daily activities: Lessons, work, home, family, all the situations happening need to be brought into the area of the convention and continue on its orbit.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/17/13, Writings of Rabash

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There are many groups that speak about love and connection. The relations between a person and society or between a person and the Creator determine the character of the society, the movement, the party, the religion, or the trend.

There are many such connections but we divide them into two: according to the need and according to a person’s yearning to attain the Creator, which doesn’t let him rest, and forces him to look for only one goal in life, for the upper force, for the reason to live, for the meaning of life, for “whom I bring pleasure to.” Such a person has to reach the root, the source of his existence.

This is the first condition according to which a person is included in a group of Kabbalists. We don’t check this attribute in anyone upon joining the group by a special instrument, but if a person doesn’t have the spark of searching for the Creator, the inclination, the passion, the inner hunger, then he doesn’t belong to that group and eventually will leave it. This may happen even after 10-15 years of study.

These years of studying are certainly not simply erased from his life because he did work during this time and it is part of the correction of his soul, but we remain with only the people in whom there is a spark that obligates them to reach the revelation of the upper force since this is the only thing they want.

This is the main and only reason for being in a group and everything else is only a means for attaining this goal. Gradually they accept these means but not immediately; it is done step by step as part of an inner struggle and they certainly are not ready to accept them at once. It is because all the means for revealing the Creator operate against our desire, against our natural attributes, against our habits, and against our upbringing, since they are all anti egoistic.

So it takes time for a person to finally understand and feel that the first attainment of the Creator takes place in the collective spiritual vessel, in the connection among us that obligates us to connect with all of reality.

All of reality on the levels of still, vegetative, animate, and speaking nature are in a person, in the connection between people, and especially in the connection between the friends in the group. Only within the group is a person rewarded with freewill and with the choice of making it stronger or not in order to connect to it. By that he creates a place for the revelation of the Creator.

This is the only way it works: A person ascends from his ground floor, that is on the “ground” (on his desire to receive) to the first floor, to the correction of his desires. From there, together with the friends, he corrects the connection between them, and ascends to the second floor, to the revelation of the Creator who is revealed as the One who dwells in the collective vessel called Shechina.

Thus, a person reaches the goal he has yearned for from the start, not knowing what it is exactly that he is attracted to and how to fulfill this unclear desire. He goes through this long way in order to attain this goal that he has subconsciously felt is the one thing he needs in life.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/06/13, Writings of Rabash

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