Question: What do the students who live abroad and are found in various cultures need to do if they want to feel that they are part of the people of Israel?

Answer: I will try to explain the difference between someone who is a Jew from birth, genetically, and a person who doesn’t have these genes, yet has an inclination to be “Yashar-Kel,” meaning belonging to the Creator.

It is said that someone who converts to Judaism is born again. This means that he is a Jew 100%, and even more because he originated with a more distant desire. And if he corrects it, he becomes closer and more internal than the rest. Rabbi Akiva, from whom all our Torah comes, was not originally a Jew. In the period when the people of Israel were on a spiritual level, there were numerous great Kabbalists who originated from the nations of the world.

There is no disparagement here, rather the opposite, because all of the desire that we need for correction is specifically found with the nations of the world. It is said that the Creator first wanted to give the Torah to the nations of the world, meaning for the correction of the AHP. And Israel, the Galgalta ve Eynaim are only a transition towards this correction.

Therefore, the people who approach the collective correction and don’t belong to the people of Israel according to their origin are the pioneering part of the AHP, those “pioneers” from the collective soul that require correction. This means that this is its most important part.

So, they come to us and serve as the conduit between us and the entire world. I hope very much that they will develop the system of integral education, will begin to teach it, and pass it on to the entire world. Each nation has a different culture and a different mentality. So, it is only in this way that it will be possible to help in the correction of the world.

These people are expected to get a much higher reward, and their work is much more important than those who belong to the people of Israel from birth because they are the true conduit and include within them the desires of the AHP. Along with this, they raise themselves to the level of GE.

This picture is still not completely clear, but eventually it will become clear how rich and important the idea of the “convert” is, how many roles it has. A “convert” is a concept, a role, serving as a conduit between GE and AHP that elevates the will to receive toward correction.

There was a time when the people of Israel also left all the other people in Babylon. The spiritual sparks were discovered gradually within the collective desire, layer after layer, beginning with Adam HaRishon. After that, the sparks that remained from the shattering and were called the “points in the heart” were discovered in Abraham and thousands of other Babylonians whom he took from there to the land of Canaan.

These people were a part of all of humanity in the beginning. After that they gathered into a group in accordance with their collective desire and readiness to love thy neighbor as thyself, so that in the center of this connection the higher power was discovered. This is how it is even now. So, this includes both those who were once part of this gathering, as well as those who weren’t in it yet, but are waking up now.

For every one of us, both those who belong to the physical people of Israel and the spiritual Israel, there is a task within the collective system. But it is still unknown to us. But in general, someone who comes from the nations of the world and joins with the people of Israel has a very important role that is yet to be discovered.

They are specifically the ones who establish movement towards the process of correction. GE cannot advance by themselves; they lack desire, lack the power of movement. Therefore, it is said that the nations of the world will carry Israel on their shoulders to Jerusalem to build the Temple.

It is impossible to reach the Creator, the spiritual Kli called the Temple, without the movement that is carried out by the nations of the world, those people who understand this task, this process, this goal. Israel cannot do this on their own. Therefore, our work with all the groups in the world and our concern for our brothers who are part of the nations of the world and are parts of all the groups in the world, is so important. The importance of these groups will be discovered more and more.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/15/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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MAN is translated as Mei Nukvin (female waters), which means that in a prayer there should be two elements: Malchut and Bina. Maim (water) is Bina, and the female attribute is Malchut. Only then is it called raising a prayer, MAN.

If I just feel sorry for feeling bad, it is only Malchut. The question is what should I feel sorry about, who should I turn to, what do I want to receive? There must be a clear picture of this request that ties Malchut to Bina: the desire and its direction. I have to understand to whom my sorrow and my pain are directed. Perhaps I simply feel sorry because I am in a bad mood, but that is not considered a prayer, raising MAN.

If I feel bad because the Creator is concealed, and I don’t feel the importance of the spiritual advancement, don’t want to come to the lesson but would rather sleep, it isn’t raising MAN, a prayer. It is simply a feeling of emptiness in my egoistic desires.

Everything depends on what I want, what I’m sorry about—Who I am sorry for. This means that the reason for my sorrow has to be external to me. Then I form my MAN by these two dissatisfactions, these two Malchut: the Malchut of Bina and Malchut of Malchut. A prayer has to be directed accurately.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/17/13, Writing of Rabash

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Baal HaSulam, “The Nation”: It is shameful to admit that one of the most precious merits we have lost during the exile, and the most important of them, is the loss of the awareness of the nationality, that natural feeling that connects and sustains each and every nation. The threads of love that connect the nation, which are so natural and primitive in all the nations, have become degenerated and detached from our hearts; they are gone.

[…] The only hope is […] to discover and ignite once more the natural national love that have been dimmed within us… This work precedes all others.

First, we shouldn’t forget that we are actually not a nation like all the other nations. The foundation of the world is the “70 nations of the world” (the ten Sefirot times seven) that stem from Zeir Anpin in the world of Atzilut. It gives Malchut different forms, and so every nation has typical attributes that project a certain attribute of the Creator. Ultimately, all the nations unite together in the image of Zeir Anpin, the Creator.

So where is the place of Israel in this picture? Israel is the intention, the yearning for that, the activating element and nothing more than that. “Israel,” which means “straight to the Creator” (Yashar-El), has to bring all the nations of the world to this form. Those who have a point in the heart, “sparks” of the shattered Masach (screen), carry out this mission.

We used to be a unique nation different from all the other nations, with special relationships that were based on the principle of “love thy friend as thyself,” or at least based on “don’t do unto others what is hateful for you.” This framework was already established by Abraham’s group and was kept at different degrees until the destruction of the Temple. During this whole period we lived beyond the Machsom (barrier), in bestowal.

On the whole, the condition for the existence of the nation of Israel, which allows us to transcend the Machsom and to enter the spiritual life, is a good mutual connection. When this connection is lost, we are not called “Israel” in the spiritual sense anymore and are not in the “Land of Israel,” meaning in the desire directed straight to the Creator.

Today we live among the nations of the world who hate us, and the reason is clear. When the vessels (desires) fall from the level of Atzilut to the level of the shells, to the impure worlds of  BYA, they find themselves under the “press of evolution” that forces them to constantly advance.

Generally speaking, there are Lights, sparks, and vessels. So the vessels feel that they depend on the sparks, that is, on people with the point in the heart, without whom it’s impossible to receive the Light. As a result they adopt all our customs: our religion, manners, morals, laws, and so on. On the other hand, they hate us since they don’t receive from us what they need. It is because subconsciously they expect something else.

This will continue until we begin to show the nations of the world that we seriously intend to fulfill our role in practice. Thus we will again be the nation of Israel that lives in the Land of Israel and fulfill its role with regards to the 70 nations of the world. It is because they in particular are the “matter” of creation that has to reach the equivalence of form with the Creator.

So we are merely a Masach, an intention, the attribute of Bina, while the main part is Malchut. So the right combination and cooperation between us and the nations of the world is the basis for our advancement towards the goal of creation. The nation of Israel cannot exist by itself without the nations of the world. We have to reach mutuality and correction, and it does not depend on the world, but on how we act according to the times and the current conditions that we have to fulfill.
[105160]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/15/13, “The Israeli Nation”

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Preparation to the Lesson

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Shamati #68 “Man’s Connection to the Sefirot“

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The Book of Zohar – Selected Excerpt, “Ki Tetze,” Item 136, Lesson 10 

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The Book of Zohar – Selected Excerpt, Parashat, “Bereshit,” Item 1, Lesson 1

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Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol. 1, Part 1, Histaklut Pnimit, Item 136, Lesson 10

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Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Peace,” Lesson 11

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Question: What can you say about the Independence Day that the nation of Israel is celebrating?

Answer: If we are speaking about Israel, we are not independent. On the contrary, we absolutely depend on our neighbors, on America, and on the entire world. In general, today, no nation is independent. On the contrary, we see how much they all depend upon each other.

So, what is true independence? It means that we have attained a good unification between us. The better this unification, the more independent each will feel within it. If one has good relationships with others, they don’t oblige him to do something that he doesn’t want to do, and he also behaves in this way with them. Therefore, logically, everyone is independent and yet interconnected.

Today we are already unable to cut off ties between us. The world has become like a closed system, all its parts are connected, and it’s impossible to sever this connection even with the help of world wars. Mutual dependence will remain and only grow.

So what are we going to do? The answer is the same: Only a good connection between us will give us all a feeling of independence, even though all of us absolutely depend upon each other like cells or organs in one body. It is possible to feel independent only when there is a mutual balance, when we understand that belonging to the system is a constant search for harmony and complementarity between us.

A healthy person doesn’t feel his body. A healthy body makes it possible for us to act at full force, without any limits. In a good connection, too, we will free ourselves of any limitations and find our independence. This is the only possibility, there simply is no other.

If some nation supposes that by rising above others it will become more independent, the opposite is true: It becomes more dependent on all. The best example is the United States, which is immersed in various conflicts and confrontations, and is unable to get out of a tangle of problems. This “concern about the world” costs the United States many billions, and they cannot rid themselves of this until they understand that it is necessary to correct relationships with everybody. This is exactly what the United State, as a great power, should take care of. Namely Americans have to introduce integral education to the world. Otherwise, they can expect trouble from the entire world.

In fact, the entire world is one family, and in every good family, there is a head that is concerned about everyone and takes care of them. This is a simple rule.

Baal HaSulam writes in the essay, “Peace in the World”:

“Do not be surprised if I mix together the well-being of a particular collective with the well-being of the whole world because indeed, we have already come to such a degree that the whole world is considered one collective and one society. Meaning, because each person in the world draws his life’s marrow and his livelihood from all the people in the world, he is coerced to serve and care for the well-being of the whole world. …

We should not discuss further something that is known to all, and the aforesaid is only to show the drawback, the place that needs correction, and that is that each and every individual will understand that his own benefit and the benefit of the collective are one and same thing. In that, the world will come to its full correction.”
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/15/13, “The Israeli Nation”

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Writings of Rabash, Volume One, “And If You Come to the Land that Your God Gives to You”: The Creator promised the land to Abraham, as it is written, “And He said to him, I am the Lord, that has taken you from Ur Kasdim, to give you this land to inherit it.”

We should understand why the Creator first gave the land to the nations of the world, and then Israel came and had to fight and drive them out of their land, thus making the whole world complain as to why you have conquered a land that was never yours, and it is only by conquests and wars that you say that this land it yours.

We can explain this whole matter according to a branch and a root, since it is commonly known that Eretz (land) is called Malchut, which is the root of all created beings, reception for oneself, meaning the first who receives called the world of Infinity. 

Then there were the corrections so that the created being wouldn’t receive egoistically but want to bestow upon the Creator. … Accordingly, the order in the corporeal world should be the same as it was in spirituality: That is, this land was first given to the nations of the world, and then by overcoming and wars, they were driven out of this land and the nation of Israel conquered it and inherited it instead of the other nations.

… thus, only after the nations of the world received this land did the nation of Israel come and corrected the land so it will all be for the sake of the Creator. This is called “the Land of Israel.”

We have no justification to live in this land unless we proceed from the spiritual roots. The Creator has created the evil inclination (Eretz), meaning that the whole desire (Ratzon), the whole land, was given to the egoistic intention for oneself called “the nations of the world.” However, if there is a group called Israel (Yashar El), which means the aspiration of “straight to the Creator,” then by its work, this group conquers this desire at the cost of war in great exertion, and then this desire acquires the intention of bestowal and is called the land of Israel.

This means that there are terms such as “the nation of Israel” and the “Land of Israel,” a special zone in Malchut of Infinity or on earth, as a branch of the spiritual root, that has the right to be called so according to the intention of the souls or the people in this world who populate it.

Israel cannot exist as the land of the nation of Israel, like in the case of all the other nations on the world. It is always part of the nations of the world, of the huge desire to receive for one’s own sake that must be corrected to bestowal. This cannot happen without war, without our work.

In the future, the land of Israel should spread all over the world, meaning that all of the desire will be in order to bestow. Then, the complete redemption comes. To the extent that we manage to perform such corrections in the spiritual world, we will see better results in the corporeal world. If we have received the corporeal land of Israel, it is only a chance we were given from Above, which we must fulfill through our corrections.

This has never happened before. It’s only in our times when we have returned to the land of Israel from exile before we have become worthy of it internally. We didn’t spend forty years in the desert, we didn’t correct ourselves by the Torah, but we have received a chance to come here uncorrected and unworthy. We have received this land as a corporeal branch in order to conquer it completely, to conquer its spiritual root too, which is the sign of the complete redemption.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/15/13

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There are three states: the initial state after the creation of the created being, the process of the corrections, and the state of the end of correction. These states exist only with regard to the person who is attaining the spiritual world, but in fact we only exist in Malchut of Ein Sof (Infinity), in the desire of the created being who attains the Creator.

The attainment is achieved as the created being changes gradually and reaches an equivalence of form with the Creator. According to the level of the equivalence of form, he attains the Creator more deeply each time until he becomes equal to Him in all his attributes and actions. By that he fulfills the thought of Creation, which is to do good to His created beings.

So, the moment the desire to receive develops to such a degree that it begins to understand and to feel its existence by asking: “Who created me and what do I exist for?” All one’s thoughts and actions have to be aimed only at attaining an equivalence of form and the revealing the One who gave birth to him. Thus, we reach the fulfillment of the goal of creation.

The main thing is to constantly think about how to accept the movements that the Creator is operating on me now. I need to accept everything as coming from there is none else besides Him, from the upper force, and that there is nothing else but Him, and to understand that everything is in the hands of the Creator, and to decide that “if I am not for myself, who is for me,” in order to reach an agreement and adhesion with the one root that does everything.

The indication for such an attitude is joy. Its fulfillment is only by connection, in yearning to bring all of creation to its one common root.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/14/13

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Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” Item 41: Bear in mind that the reality of all the worlds is generally divided into five worlds called a) Adam Kadmon, b) Atzilut, c) Beria, d) Yetzira, and e) Assiya.

These “worlds” are the levels of my internal closeness to the Creator, to bestowal. It’s as if I look through their prism. At the same time, I can accept bestowal on a certain level of Aviut (thickness) from zero to four. On the whole, these are all levels of attainment until full adhesion.

Question: What do we need these worlds, these concealments, for?

Answer: So that we will gradually discover the Creator according to our equivalence of form with Him; it’s a law: Every phenomenon in reality can only be attained according to an equivalence of form. As long as I, according to my egoistic nature, am external to it and am not compatible with it, I cannot feel it. When the point in the heart awakens in me, I begin to feel my oppositeness to the Creator, and then I can grow and increase my point and my closeness to Him. But until then, I am detached from Him by my ego: He is total bestowal and I am total receiving, and I have no connection with Him. This is how the law of equivalence of form works.

Question: Can we say that the levels of equivalence reflect my sensitivity to others?

Answer: Yes. My attitude to others or to the Creator is actually the same thing. The main thing is that the direction is from me outward.

We must understand that we are in one state called the “world of Ein Sof (Infinity),” or “Malchut of Ein Sof.” But we are separated from it by five levels of opacity of the senses. Special Masachim (screens) weaken them like filters that are dressed on the perception of the world of Ein Sof, and as a result, we only feel the “external world” although everything actually takes place inside.

Reality is fixed, but it’s depicted to us in the form of this world. The only difference is in the vagueness, in the dullness of the senses.

Question: How can we sharpen our senses?

Answer: It depends on your sensitivity to others in feeling the other and whether I can feel that he is as important as I am. Therefore it says: “Love thy friend as thyself.”
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/14/13, “The Introduction to The Book of Zohar”

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Question: On one hand, I must correct my attitude towards the friends, no matter how I perceive their relation towards me, even if it seems that they hate me. But on the other hand, I can’t aspire to correction if I do not receive support and guarantee from the friends. How do these things work out?

Answer: It’s necessary to see the reality like this: There is Malchut of the world of Infinity, and all of it it’s me. Malchut is divided into two parts: Now I feel one part as myself and the other as what is outside of me. Yet actually these are external Kelim (desires), near and far, constituting a complex system of various relationships between themselves and even between me and them. This entire system, everything that seems to me as “I” and “them,” is in fact myself. All this together is mine. But at this point I need to see a double picture: my own part and the part that is opposite, contrary to me.

And besides this, there is a Creator who built this state. What for? This is to develop my mind and feelings. After all, they are developed only through the work between us, meaning between me and others.

If the picture of reality were entirely portrayed within me, I would be below the still level. It’s because even the still feels the environment, while I would only be a point of primordial matter. I would be even further from the vegetative level that feels the environment more strongly, consumes, absorbs, and excretes substances, and reproduces, in short, lives, even if it pays for it with its death. This is even more relevant regarding the animate and speaking levels. People don’t just interact, they overcome vast distances, discover new means of communication, and make extraordinary efforts to transcend time and space.

Therefore, everything is measured according to the strength of the connection between a certain creation and its environment. The intensity of our development depends on the amount and capacity of connections between us, in other words, on interdependence, mutual guarantee, and the integration revealed throughout the world.

It’s impossible to reach the Creator if I don’t see everyone as opposite me and opposing me, hated by me and hating me. And in every detail I must rise above the habitual, superficial approach to a higher level. I need to ask for help from the Creator and build support in a group by picturing it to myself as part of me.

In fact the entire world, all people, animals, and plants, all of the still level of nature, the entire universe, is my soul. But I am separated from it by that power of imagination that the Creator inserted into me and thus I can’t discern see the closeness between us. This is too much for me.

But Kabbalists suggest to me to use a group, a small part of the world that I can imagine as my soul. It means that I need to stick to my friends with my heart, to unite with them, and to bring these Kelim (desires) back into me, contrary to the power of my imagination that portrays them as being outside of me.

Understandably, I can’t do this alone, the upper Light is required here. It separated me from these Kelim, so let it now correct my present “vision” and bring it back, within. And then I will feel that I am getting my soul back. I sink into the friends, melt into them, or embrace them and put them inside, it doesn’t matter how to say it. The main thing is to make it happen: unity, oneness, the guarantee. As I build a mutual connection between us, to that degree I will feel what is felt in the soul: the revelation of the Creator.

Regarding the current period, our times, a small group is not enough. We need to connect with the groups scattered throughout the world and then with the entire world. This is the task we have received.

In its essence, the present generation is ready and called upon to correct the entire shared soul. This is clear from the world crisis, from the awakening of the people and the continued correction in all kinds of places.

But the most important thing that we need to understand is that the group is the soul. Even though in reality the soul includes all levels, all the worlds, the Malchut of Infinity, but at least for now we must focus on ourselves, the members of the group. A friend is someone who works together with me and wants to reach unity like me so that no “gaps,” no separation, nothing remains between us. Exactly in this form we must define and mark the boundaries of the group.

In this case, if there are hundreds of thousands of our supporters in the world, the world group can count only a few hundred people, those who understand the idea, work on it without question, and use their natural resistance to create an even stronger connection. After all, everything contains its opposite, which makes it possible to establish itself. Thus, we need to be happy when defects are discovered—after all, the love is revealed above them.

Someone who is capable and ready to work in this way is called a “friend.” And the rest, in the meantime they are “spectators”…. Of course, I don’t underestimate anyone—everyone should examine where he is.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/7/13, Writing of Rabash

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Preparation to the Lesson

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Writings of Rabash “Shlavei HaSulam,” “According to What Is Explained About Love Thy Friend as Thyself“

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The Book of Zohar – Selected Excerpt, “Ki Tetze,” Item 109, Lesson 9

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Writings of Baal HaSulam “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” Lesson 24

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Topic of Lesson: “Men’s Congress”

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