Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” item 33: …any contentment of our Maker from bestowing upon His creatures depends on the extent that the creatures feel Him—that He is the giver, and that He is the one who delights them. For then He takes great pleasure in them, as a father playing with his beloved son, to the degree that the son feels and recognizes the greatness and exaltedness of his father, and his father shows him all the treasures he had prepared for him…

“Playing” means that I feel the Creator’s desire, His attitude, His need to create us because of His desire to do good to His created beings. I feel the unending love that flows from His level. He created us in order to allow us to feel His love, and we can enjoy this love only if we understand it, to the extent that we can value it.

We are together in this mutual love like two lovers, like a father and son. They play together, but the son perfectly understands his father and is adhered to him. They are incorporated in one another in their desires, and each one can fill the other. They are originally opposite from one another by nature, but thanks to the correction, they are united and have endless opportunities to develop. This inner contradiction is not an obstacle, but rather, allows them to reveal infinite love above the separation.

Question: Why do we talk about evil so much and so little about the good?

Answer: First, you should talk about the good with one another, about the goal of creation, and about the work and the group.

Second, we study and examine our vessels, our desires, and this is not more or less, but a lack of desires. Our study and raising a request for correction stem from the lack of fulfillment in the desire. We learn how to reach the right desire and to raise it in order to receive the forces, the Masachim (screens), and the correcting Lights in response. Only then do we reach fulfillment and eventually are rewarded with pleasures as a result of the adhesion, the unity, and equivalence of form with the Creator.

So, all our work is done under pressure, but if you value it, if you appreciate this pressure, if you remember that you are working for a reason and to serve the Creator, if your faith is strong enough—which means the forces of Bina, the forces of bestowal—then, even if it’s about overcoming unpleasant states, you still will enjoy it. After all, you have another force, the force of Bina that raises you above Malchut. Although you don’t feel comfortable in Malchut, Bina gives you the feeling of the ascent.

It is difficult to express this dualism in words, but this is our work. We make efforts, and then the question is whether we enjoy them or not. That depends on for whom are we making these efforts.

In any case, there aren’t so many words about excitement and pleasure in the story about this work. The work, itself, is most of the story.

Personally, I enjoy most of the states I go through. Sometimes, you are thrown into an unpleasant feeling and sometimes into indifference. Anything may happen, but you should try to hold on to the ascent and to enjoy every state. After all, if the Creator manages you, if you are constantly in His hands, even when He cuts you off and throws you out, eventually there isn’t a moment without pleasure.

Back to the playing of the father with his son: We actually feel it in a state in which you don’t receive anything. It is in contrast to our perception. There is nothing in your vessels. The Light of NRNHY is not the fulfillment that you receive from someone, but your attitude toward the Creator that is built on top of the emptiness inside you. It is this attitude that reveals to you a Light that is “in the air,” the attitude itself. It is the Light of bestowal and love that comes from you.

We say that the abundance of the Light comes from the Creator and is revealed in all the worlds, but, in fact, it doesn’t mean that you are egoistically filled with pleasure—no. It is because it happens above the first restriction, in the attribute of “to bestow in order to bestow,” and then, in “to receive in order to bestow.” It is in complete contrast to our current views, and it is impossible to explain this.

This is the reason we cannot describe the pleasure that we experience to others when we play with the Creator. It is all a result of self-annulment and devotion, above the Machsom (barrier), outside yourself, in your aspiration outward, above the pangs of love.
[104741]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/09/13, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”

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Question: How do you see the most effective way of promoting integral education in America where the entire system is built on an individualistic social and economic principle of separation between people?

Answer: Different parts of the world come to the need to do something at different times and in different aspects; otherwise, it will be bad. After all, there is no solution—not economic, not financial, not political, and not social, not anywhere. The crisis is general, but not its particular manifestations as it was in the past. That is why we need to disseminate Kabbalah for those who have the point in the heart and integral education for the rest.

In Europe, they still resist a lot even though they feel bad, and it will be even worse in the near future. In Russia, they only now have begun to feel that something is coming. As it is said, “As long as thunder breaks out.” For the time being, it is possible to put up with everything there, and thus, until it comes, a year or two might pass.

It is the same thing as in America. The Americans live according to the principle, “Today, you die, and, tomorrow, I die.” They will be able to ignore the crisis for a long time. They will print dollars—for them, it is not a problem—and they will climb out at the expense of the rest of the world.

Therefore, the problem is in Europe. Then, there are North Africa, the Middle East, Iran, not to mention China and India, and, in addition, Russia with the southern republics of the former Soviet Union. All that comprises the closest area of a very serious crisis that needs to decide for itself what to do.

However, each of them has its own problem with dissemination.

We cannot disseminate in the Arab countries, and that is a big problem. Perhaps, they will come to this from their point of view and, eventually, will revive Sufism.

In Europe, this may go through integral education, but before that, they should be shaken well. There are a lot of problems, tension, and strife.

Russia is an oil state. Until oil production falls, it will be bad. When it falls, it will be bad on the one hand, but good on the other hand. Then, everyone will understand that they need to save themselves, not by covering with money, but by restoring a correct society. There, it is the easiest thing to do because the Russian people are agreeable to integral education; they have it in their genes.

As a result, our world group must feel itself in the center of the world. As the Earth is at the center of the solar system, so should we feel ourselves in the center of the universe, and around us, the world Bnei Baruch group, the rest of the world, and all the planets and stars, are spinning.
[104726]
From the Virtual Lesson 4/7/13

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The wisdom of Kabbalah considers the entire creation to be like a will to receive divided into four levels: still, vegetative, animate, and speaking.

Essentially, this is talking about the vital force that acts within them. On the basic level of the still, it only constitutes the compulsory need to maintain its structure. So everything begins from a simple polarity, from “plus” and “minus,” from an electron and a proton, to which are gathered other particles, forming a complete “galaxy” within the atom.

Then the atoms build all kinds of forms of inanimate matter: gases, liquids, solids, plasma. And on the next level they connect into molecules, and at a particular moment life is formed within matter.

We don’t understand how this happens. Because up until now the particles were connected with each other “mechanically,” then suddenly something new appears among them.

What is life? Is it simply the “leaping” of electrons? No. Basically, in what way is animate organic matter different from the inanimate matter of the still? Science doesn’t know this. But we see the vital force, metabolism, reproduction, all kinds of mutual connections, forming memory, forming reactions that produce the connections and the uniqueness of all kinds of different cells. The origin of all this evolution remains a mystery to us. Nobody has succeeded in creating the vegetative or animate level from the still level.

But in fact, this is talking about the vital force, the desire that acts within matter. It is derived from the spiritual interaction of Lights and vessels; this is the reason why its appearance cannot be explained in physical terms. We discover and investigate all kinds of phenomena but not the force that forms them.

In this manner, the will to receive is the basic force of creation and we can only witness its existence. It is worthwhile to accept this as a fact, to be able to discover and perceive all the rest later. For in sum we are creatures who perceive ourselves in some kind of reality, at a particular moment in our development. Certainly we ask questions, but in order to find answers about them, it is necessary to go either to the beginning of creation or to its end.

A person is a small and limited part of the immense creation, and if he wants to investigate it, he must first grow to its dimensions, to the required height. Only then will he be able to grasp, absorb, and investigate it through analysis and synthesis.

In general, life is Light. But we discover this within a desire that is born within our comprehension of the phenomena of the levels of the still, vegetative, animate, and human. In fact, it is singular, even though on the “screen” of our consciousness we see all kinds of images that are sketched by the Light; even though they compel us to experience all kinds of emotions, all this takes place within us and not in reality. In reality only desire and the Light that animates it exist, to a greater or lesser degree. If to a greater degree, then one is happy, and if to a smaller degree, then one cries. And that is how we develop…
[104680]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/10/13, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar” 

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There are a large number people in the world who have wanted to discover the program of creation, its purpose, which is to say, its entire journey where it leads and its reason. Many have wanted to understand what is taking place in this world and to understand why everything happens specifically in the way that it does and how we should act correctly in this world.

For in this world now it is as if we are blind in a dark room, wandering in the dark, causing only harm to ourselves and to others and bumping into each other all the time. This is not useful for anyone, not even for someone who succeeds in winning over others, but for what does he win?

It is up to us at least to know what is happening and where are we found, why we are called humans! The nature of the silent, the vegetative, and the animate acts in an instinctive manner and never errs. An animal never errs because nature compels it to behave correctly according to the commands of nature.

The Creator controls every particle in creation including the still, the vegetative, and the animate parts in us, but the speaking part in us is given freedom of choice. The person develops according to a natural evolutionary process called “in its time,” in an instinctive form due to his ego. And on his way he constantly errs because he doesn’t invest effort in a development, which is called “I will hasten it.” And therefore, all of our lives are one great suffering.

So, what is the reason, where is the turning point found where I can change my fate? We must attain awareness, understanding, connection, and adherence with the higher supervision, become conscious of the Creator, and to be like Him. It is up to us to take the reins of control over all of reality from Him.

In order to carry out this task, first of all we need to want this wholeheartedly and to understand it intellectually. Through our mind and heart, we perceive new levels of the higher supervision from the Creator all the time as it pertains to us, and against our will we realize them in ourselves.

And when we advance in this way, step by step, we become like the Creator. Even though we don’t want to be like the Creator, which is to say to bestow and to love, with the help of the environment we must gradually acquire desires and abilities like these, drop by drop. It is up to us to submit ourselves and ask the Creator to give us a possibility of being like Him, which is to say, to transform ourselves and control our part, our portion, our spiritual body, which is the beginning of the spiritual Partzuf.

It is explained that on the animate level, there is a unique organism whose head (its thoughts and its desires, heart, and mind) is developed in opposition to the Creator, and it corrects itself to be like Him.
[104677]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/10/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Rabash, “One Should Always Sell the Beams of His House:” Rather, I truly want love of others. This is why I was interested in establishing this society, so I would see that each and every one is engaging in love of others, so that through it, the little bit of force that I have in love of others would increase and I would have the strength to engage in love of others more powerfully than I could by myself. But now I see that I have gained nothing because I see that not even one is doing good. Thus, it would be better if I weren’t with them and hadn’t learned from their actions.

To that, there is the reply that if a society is established with certain people, and when they gathered, there must have been someone who wished to establish specifically this “bunch.” Thus, he sorted out these people to see that they were suitable for each other. In other words, each of them had a spark of love of others, but the spark could not ignite the light of love to shine in each, so they agreed that by uniting, the sparks would become a big flame.

A group is not just a collection of people who gather in order to study together like in a certain course. This gathering is called a Kabbalistic group the moment these people feel a real need for an inner connection, in order to discover the Creator in it and by that to bring Him contentment.

When all these conditions are fulfilled, even in the most initial form, then we may see that a place and the time, the conditions for the birth of the group are formed. Anyone who decides that the main thing he needs in life is the concern for such an inner connection with other people in order to find the revelation of the Creator in this connection is a called a “member” in the group.

Our obligation is to constantly check whether we are compatible with these conditions. If we are not, if a person is not compatible with these conditions and exits the domination of the group, he immediately returns to the level of the animate. But whoever remains connected to others in order to annul himself in order to bring about connection and in it to discover the upper force, the force of bestowal and general love is part of the group when he succeeds in doing that.

Eventually, the collective efforts of the friends lead to the revelation of the system called the “soul.” They build the spiritual system of the ten Sefirot between them, the Direct Light, the Returning Light, the three lines, etc. All the details of the upper worlds about which we study in The Study of the Ten Sefirot will be revealed in the connection between us as the components of the system of the soul.
[104556]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/7/13, Writings of Rabash

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Preparation to the Lesson

Writings of Baal Hasulam “Igrot,” Letter 16

The Book of Zohar – Selected Excerpt, “Ki Tetze,” Lesson 5

Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol. 3, Part 10, “Histaklut Pnimit,” Item 3, Lesson 30

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” Lesson 22

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Spiritual advancement is according to the formula of “Israel, the Torah, and the Creator are one.” “Israel” is he who exerts himself in order to build a deficiency inside himself and to fulfill the Creator’s desire and allow Him to be revealed. In order to do that, the created beings’ vessel has to be whole. Whoever yearns to discover the whole vessel is called “Israel.” After all, the Creator, the upper Light, is in absolute rest and needs only the vessels.

The Torah is actually what we need to exert ourselves for to discover the love for the created beings and from the love of the created to reach the love of the Creator. We exert ourselves by yearning to love the created beings, to rise above ourselves, and to be incorporated in the environment by organizing it according to all the necessary conditions so that it will impress us and will evoke us correctly. It is impossible to reach the right awakening without an environment; it is only possible by external influence.

When we exert ourselves enough, we discover that we cannot do anything. Time and time again we discover that we cannot reach the love of the created beings and eventually we understand that we need the Creator’s help. Then a prayer bursts out by itself and it brings us to the love of the Creator.

It turns out that the three conditions: Israel, then the Torah, and then the Creator bring us to the goal; as it is said: “I have labored and I have found, believe.” It is impossible to immediately jump ahead without first exerting one’s self, that is, without the Torah, without a prayer, without a request, it is impossible to attain the Creator. It would be an egoistic request for which you will not get an answer. You will not have the letters of the prayer since they are created only by a person’s exertion. Only when their measure is filled will you know how to turn to the Creator with a request.

Before, you don’t even have a deficiency for what the Creator wants to give you, so you don’t turn to the Creator with the same request, and this is clearly why you don’t get anything!

If you want to save time and energy and to reach the goal quickly, you should act in the direction of “Israel the Torah and the Creator are one” so that eventually they will unite into one whole. It turns out that the right direction is the exertion on connection in the group in order to discover the Creator and to bring Him contentment. As it is written: “From the love of the created beings to the love of the Creator.” All the sages’ sayings refer only to these three stages: Israel, the Torah, and the Creator.
[104673]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/10/13

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Question: What forces a person to come out of the state of Bina, of Hafetz Hesed?

Answer: We never leave the state of Bina, or Hafetz Hesed, but only add to it. In spirituality we never lose a state, but always rise higher up the ladder. If I remain in the state of Hafetz Hesed, “to bestow in order to bestow,” I will fall into the intention of “in order to receive” for myself. “To bestow in order to bestow” is the minimal level I have to be on.

I build higher states of “Hafetz Hesed” above it with increasingly greater thickness (Aviut) of desire up to the infinite state of to bestow in order to bestow. I begin to dress additional bestowal on this state of Hafetz Hesed in which I don’t need anything and I am happy to be living in the forest not to worrying about anything without even a shirt.

In the state of Hafetz Hesed I don’t bestow in any way. This is called “to bestow in order to bestow” but I have nothing to bestow. It is as if I bestow that way, by giving up my ego, which makes me one who bestows. It is like a mother who asks a child “do me a favor, stop making so much noise.” He doesn’t produce anything beneficial, he doesn’t give anything to others; he only calms down. This means that he is doing his mother a favor.

This is the state of Hafetz Hesed, which means that I stop playing with my egoism; I don’t want it, I want to remain totally naked and to totally devote myself to my mother by listening to everything she says. I don’t do anything good yet, as she may expect of me, but I have already stopped doing bad things, as she asked. This is called “to bestow in order to bestow.”

On the whole, I don’t give her anything except for “virtual” pleasure. I have stopped making noise, breaking things, shouting and going wild, and that’s it. This means that I have reached the state of Hafetz Hesed, which is only possible on top of the minimal thickness of the desire until Ein Sof (Infinity).

But above this I already begin to receive in order to bestow, to do something that mother desires: to help her with the housework. This is already above to bestow in order to bestow; this is real bestowal.
[104666]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/8/13, The Study of the Ten Sefirot

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“One Should Always Sell the Beams of His House and Put Shoes on His Feet” (Shabbat, 129).

Question: What does it mean to “sell the beams of his house” in the spiritual sense?

Answer: “The beams of his house” are all the thoughts, the desires, and my whole attitude to life, that obligate me to worry about myself instead of uniting with the friends. In order to build one general image, one system, I have to sell this “house” that is so dear to me.

But this is not enough either. I have to buy shoes to put on my feet, which means that I need a defensive force that would hold me in its field. It isn’t enough to just annul my opinion and lower my head before the group, which called to “sell the beams of his house.” I also need to receive powers that allow me to remain adhered to the friends above all the thoughts that are evoked in me.

This means that it isn’t enough to annul myself, but that I need an additional force that binds me to the group. This is called a “covenant” or “shoes on his feet (raglan),” so as not to “spy” (meragel, which has the same root as feet in Hebrew) for the benefit of my ego.
[104554]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/7/13, Writings of Rabash 

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Question: Would you say that the source of Anti-semitism is hatred of unity?

Answer: No, if the Jews showed and “radiated” unity, if they explained it, if they loudly talked about their mission, about what they are called to give to the world, then the attitude toward them would be completely different.

Once, during the time of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the Jewish people were “good students” of spiritual advancement. However, for further steps, they had to reveal Egypt, Pharaoh, meaning the state of descent, which could be corrected later in order to rise to the degree of the First Temple.

However, they didn’t manage to preserve that level: Inner disagreements began and that led to the Babylonian exile. It was followed by a new level of unity and revelation, and the ascent to the Second Temple. Then unfounded hatred threw the people into the last exile.

All these falls on the path were necessary, and the results of the last of them merged in the “latent” period with a certain measure of suffering, which did not stop until the era of the Ari. Since that time, recovery started in the world, mainly in Europe: the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, partial emancipation, and so on.

However, all that time, the Jewish people were slow in correction. Chaim Vital, a disciple of the Ari, wrote about this. The Jews could not be awakened. They continued to be immersed in their habitual existence.

By the beginning of the 20th century, the situation became tense. Big parts of the nations of the world found themselves in a serious breaking and did not know in which way to develop further. In fact, if the Jews had revealed the method of correction practically at that time, before WWII, they would have prevented it. It was possible to come, theoretically, to the necessary recognition of evil, which is much more efficient than the death of tens of millions of people. Spiritual correction at a higher degree would have worked completely differently. There, even a small understanding is worth a huge material loss.

Then, came the 21st century. Do the Jewish people realize correction, completing the program of creation up to the necessary level? Indeed, in its inaction, it can reach a complete failure and will be forced to go into exile again. Moreover, there is a question as to who will give it refuge this time. During the Holocaust, no one was willing to accept Jewish refugees, and all this is according to the upper program from which there is no escape.

Back in the Middle Ages, the Jews were invited because they could foster development. However, since the time of the Ari, they are not wanted because the world does not need what they offer. The world needs the method of correction, instead of a banking system and industry as in the past. Are the Jewish people ready to give the nations of the world what they really need today?
[104588]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/8/13, “Holocaust Remembrance Day”

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