Rabash, “What is Because of Impatience and Hard Work in the Work”: We need to work hard because it is only the sufferings of hard work that make us cry out to the Creator with a whole desire that the Creator will save us from the dominance of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. This means that it is from a state of lowliness that a person senses that he feels worse than all the other people and this pushes him to cry out to the Creator with all his heart so that He will help him. But he believes that the Creator hears his prayer since He has revealed his evil to him and so He will surely help him and take him out of the evil too, which is called redemption. This means that he believes that the Creator let him understand that he is in exile and He will surely take him out of exile afterward.

We advance by two forces, but for those who don’t know where to go, there is only one force that pushes them from behind and forces them to move forward. They are constantly trying to escape from it, trying to be saved from the “roller of evolution” that catches up with them from behind and pushes them to advance.

But the path of the Torah is different from the path of suffering. A person is given the wisdom of Kabbalah so that he will build up the force that will illuminate before him and will pull him, in the hope for a better future, with great hopes, positive examples, a feeling of awe that is felt by the connection and spiritual elation.

The goal must be as glowing and as attractive as possible, and depicted as wonderful and good. Although the advancement is by the ego, which we must constantly reject, we have to try to use this method: to draw the Light that Reforms, so that it will do all the work. The approach here requires subtlety, like in anything. If you know how to enter it, then it is very easy for you to do it. Someone who doesn’t know this feels great difficulties and constantly runs into a wall.

We have to arrange the right environment in which you will soon begin to suffer because of the lack of connection and because of your envy, lust, and desire for respect. You will see that others are more successful than you. You will envy others that succeed in connecting so strongly and you will also want to attain that.

The envy forces you to demand your change. You already know how to evoke the Light that Reforms, you begin to change under the influence of the Light, and thus advance. The main thing is to develop the drawing force that is called “I shall hasten it.” It is because the troubles, the sufferings, the natural force of evolution “in its time,” is not up to you. We should understand that the sufferings come to a person in order to wake him up; we need to develop the pangs of love by ourselves instead of corporeal sufferings so that instead of the evil that catches up with us, the goodness will illuminate in front of us.

Instead of the natural course in the grip of time, we should rise above time in order to determine the pace of our advancement by ourselves. This means that it is all in your hands! We have to feel elation and a sense of awakening since it all depends only on us! If we want it today, it will be today! If we really want it now, it will be now! Everything that we want to attain by the path of the Torah can be promoted and achieved.

It is very important to emphasize this in the work: to operate and integrate all the components, all the means that we have in the way of “I shall hasten it” that will help us advance. We have to develop all the means and to connect them correctly in order to see that there is certain method here instead of following the path of suffering by developing under the pressure of our nature. A person can advance by rising above nature in order to advance before it and to open the gates for it.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/21/13

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Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” Item 20: And the same “body,” in its bad form that is given to us in the present, this too does not spoil our essence as this and all its properties are about to be annulled completely together with all the system of impurity that is its source, and everything that is about to be burned is as if it is already burned, and is considered as if it never existed.

The essence of the soul (Nefesh), clothed in the body, is merely at this stage of desire, but the desire to bestow is derived from a system of four worlds of ABYA of sanctity; it exists eternally, because this form of the desire to bestow is in equivalence of form with the source of life and is unchangeable.

We exist in the reality of Ein Sof (Infinity) and all the worlds (olamot), meaning the concealments (alamot), are only filters that adjust the picture of Ein Sof for us; the degree of concealment exists only in our perception and they will vanish the moment we are able to annul our body,” the desire to receive for itself.

However, this desire still needs to be revealed. Where does it really exist? In fact, today all my desires are actually acting at the beastly level. The real desire in order to receive is revealed only when I begin to work in order to bestow and find out everything that is opposed to the desire to bestow. Opposing the right line, the left line is revealed; against sanctity, impurity is revealed.

Here below, under the line of spiritual perception, we are in the imaginary world where our desires, as it is said, “All look like beasts.” But if by work in the group, in dissemination, in connection, for friends, for humanity, and finally for the Creator, we reveal our inclination toward Above, then we reveal our corrupted “body,” meaning the desire to receive with the intention to receive.

In order to correct this desire, the intention needs to change to in order to bestow. The desire to receive itself stays and above it I build a desire in order to bestow that is called soul (Neshama). Its essence is in my bestowal to everyone. By giving to everyone, loving everyone, I develop the soul above my “body.” And in this form, we are reach correction.

Then this world disappears, and I can see all the worlds to the world of Infinity.

Now we also exist in the world of Infinity. And now, too, everything depends on my intention. Nothing is immutable and constant, as everything is being depicted and happens only in my qualities.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/13/13, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar” 

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Question: As much as a person is in more adhesion with the Rav, the group, and study, then his desire to receive grows more?

Answer: Of course, otherwise how would you grow? That’s why it is said: “The one that is greater than his friend, his inclination is greater than his.”

Question: So how do we restrict our desire?

Answer: I do not restrict the desire itself, but rather the use of the desire. I don’t want my desire to become smaller or to completely disappear. No, I relate to it with all the respect that it deserves, with love not hate, because it is help against it. I deliberately work on myself in this manner of recognition and try to guard the limits of my desire in all my discernments. They become a real treasure for me, and I give them high regard.

Then all my life becomes something very important, precious. In front of me, as if in a game, parts of this very complex mechanism are passing and I do not neutralize them, do not restrict them; I want to rise above them. This is the ascent, the rising in the spiritual ladder. The restriction itself is made by the Light and I do not do the work of the Light. That would be like asceticism and there is nothing good about that. We need to receive the things as they come, rise above them, and then use them in the correct form.

Question: How does it happen? It is very easy to drown inside a desire.

Answer: I ask all the time to be in faith above reason, in the middle line. My desire that I rise above is the left line; the bestowal that I achieve is the right line. And the order of the mutual relations between bestowal and receiving is called the middle line. This mechanism rises higher and higher as if by a jack.
[102765]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/10/13, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”

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Question: You say that “spirituality” is when the other is more important to me than myself. How can a person want that? Isn’t there anything else to it?

Answer: Yes. This is indeed spirituality. What’s more, you are given everything that you want except bestowal upon others, and you constantly choose only that.

The whole point here is the clarification of the vessels, desires. No one is asking us to do something that is above our nature. We are simply changing, and then we discover that the attribute of bestowal is important for us, not in the egoistic sense anymore, but in itself.

You are not taking into account the actions of the Light that Reforms, but in the meantime it influences a person and so a person changes. What’s more, he changes in such a way that he doesn’t have the same mind and feelings he had before; everything changes and becomes new.

So we have to allow the Light to operate. Let it do its job, open yourself to the action of the Light; it’s on the outside, surrounding us, so let it touch you; let it touch your desires, which you now cover from the Light. The moment it starts to operate, you will see how everything changes.

It’s because we are in a world that is on the lowest level, restricted, “specific”; we are limited in time, motion and space. It’s simply awful, but we don’t understand what is going on. Great distances separate us and are between our understanding, our feeling, and our attainment. They were created as a result of our desires, as each one is focused on its self-benefit.

On the other hand, desires that are in bestowal are incorporated in one another. If we all want to bestow only goodness unto one another, we are incorporated in one point, where there are no distances between us, where we annul this world. Imagine a world without distances, without time, as the Light operates on all sides. According to Einstein, if you move at the speed of light, you don’t see what is before you anymore, it’s as if the light comes to you from all sides, and the concepts of time and motion disappear…

Today we simply don’t understand that we are living in a tiny meaningless dimension, we live and die not knowing where our mind and feelings are, sunken in the bottom, in lowliness. So let the Light influence you a little. You cannot even imagine its attributes. It isn’t just “bestowal,” it’s a different dimension in which the importance of others is not a source of confusion and embarrassment. Expect the Light to save you.
[103097]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/18/13, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”

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Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” Item 24: And since the essence of the soul is but a desire to bestow, and all its manifestations and possessions are fulfillments of that desire to bestow, which already exists in the eternal first state, as well as in the future third state, it is immortal and irreplaceable. Rather, it and all its possessions are eternal and exist forever. Absence does not affect whatsoever at the departure of the body.

Question: What does “the departure of the body” mean?

Answer: The desire to receive disappears in its previous form, and it is as if you acquire a new vessel instead, a desire to receive in order to bestow. In this vessel you discover the Creator, the Light, your eternal life. All your egoistic attributes take on the opposite form by the restriction and a Masach (screen), an intention and the dressing of the Returning Light. Now this is your life.

So, the transition from the intention of in order to receive to an intention of in order to bestow is called “the departure of the corporeal body.” Although the desire to receive was formed as “something from nothing,” it exists eternally. Without this it wouldn’t be a created being, a desire to receive fulfillment and pleasure. There is nothing we can do with it, but only to reveal or conceal it according to the different states.

By revealing the desire a little, you see “this world.” Greater revelations are called “the upper worlds.” Eventually you discover the whole “sphere,” in its full scale (∑), in every direction, and rise to the “integral” (∫) from zero to Ein Sof (Infinity), or to the world of Ein Sof.

The desire to receive is divided into “layers:” from the root phase to phase four. We can restrict (Tzimtzum) the desire and then you cannot use it in any way. You can also put a Masach on the desire, and then you can use it and operate it to the depth of the different layers.

If you use the Masach at the Aviut (thickness) of the root phase, you feel the world of Assiya. In the Aviut of phase one you feel the world of Yetzira, in the Aviut of phase two you feel the world of Beria, etc.

At the same time, the desire to receive doesn’t disappear, but it is as if you always work above it. Of course, you still remain in it, but schematically we present it as an ascent. We can say that the attributes that are corrected by the Masach “descend” and take their place in the Aviut of the desire to receive.

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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/18/13, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”

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There is only the desire to receive. The Creator created nothing but it. And the desire wants to become like the Creator.

In what could it become like Him? In bestowal. The desire is filled with a sensation of the Creator, and this is called his “soul,” the “Divine part from Above.” The sensation of correspondence, similarity to the Creator that the desire experiences performing actions of bestowal, is called its fulfillment. It is fulfilled by being similar to the Creator. If it needs to receive to do this, it receives, and if it needs to restrict itself to do this, it restricts itself. The action is not important, what is important is to become more and more like Him.

This is the Lights of NRNHY, which fulfill the desire. I enjoy not them themselves but the fact that I adhere to the Creator. That is why fulfillment could be a tiny spark of the Creator, which gives life to our world, and nothing else. Everything is in the realization of the importance of the Giver; this is what fulfills me. The similarity to Him is what I long for, and this is a spiritual fulfillment for me.

Initially, there is only a spark, which emerged as “something out of something,” and a desire, which emerged as “something out of nothing,” such a primary “elementary particle,” and nothing else. And the rest is being “spread out” from the Creator, from His actions.
[103083]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/18/13, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”

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Question: Can we measure the desire of the group?

Answer: Yes, if it’s really a group, meaning that it has a formed system in which you see the ten Sefirot. After all, a real group is something that exists on its own, a spiritual mechanism, a spiritual structure, a spiritual body.

Question: What stands between us and such a group now?

Answer: A lack of connection. We need to establish a correct relationship between us that is infused with dedication, unity, and support. We need to feel that there is no alternative, that this is our duty; otherwise, we will not achieve the property of bestowal and will not bring contentment to the Creator through the friends and teacher. We will not advance without connection, we will not be able to save the world, and will not be able to delight the Creator.

Moreover, without strengthening our mutual connection, we bring damage, like someone who drills a hole in a common boat. Baal HaSulam writes in his article “The Peace,” that society punishes theft, but if a person does not add his efforts, there is no punishment. Meanwhile, he who “prays,” does so for himself and he damages society. After all, the real prayer can be produced only by a community of people who want to bring contentment to the Creator by mutual bestowal.

Alone, none of us is capable because I do not have that “place,” that desire, from which I could address Him. There is no Creator without the unity of created beings who want to mutually bestow upon each other, thus giving Him a “place” to be revealed between them and to enjoy. Once and for all I have to understand that I have no “place” to be filled, no force that will help me to bestow; there is nothing. Everything is only in the connection between us.
[102759]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/3/13, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”

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Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” item 26: We have already stated that the first state necessitates the third state, to fully materialize as was in the Thought of Creation—in the first state—not omitting a single thing.

The three states of Creation, the initial state (1), the intermediate state (2) and the final state (3) obligate one another to exist. At the beginning the creation is in Ein Sof (Infinity). In the second state we (WE) are in our world. Then third state is the end of correction.

During the transition from the first state to the second state, we go through shattering and restrictions, and during the transition from the second state to the third state, we go through and ascent and corrections. In addition, we correct GE on the way and then AHP of Aliya. Thus we advance from the Light of Nefesh to the Lights of NRNHY.

We should remember that all these states exist only in our perception, but we have to use everything that we have until we attain one desire that is filled by one thought. It is because the desire is emotions (a heart) and the thought is the mind. They have to connect so that in the connection between them we will attain the Creator.

This will become our final state, and this is our goal today. We don’t know what comes after that, but we should know that after the end of correction we will go in some unknown direction. The creation will continue since we have corrected the vessels, our desires.

It is like fixing a broken-down car and learning how to drive it: The job is done, the repairs are completed, and I learned how to drive it. I sit in my perfectly fixed car and what’s next? What have I corrected my vessels for?

So the equivalence of form with the Creator is only the beginning. Then He opens the door of His palace for me inviting me in…

We rise to His level, and we don’t know what will be next. I don’t see that Kabbalists have hinted about this. They hint that there is something afterward in terms that we can understand. We simply cannot understand these dimensions.
[103174]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/19/13, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar“

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Question: How can I serve the friends with my thoughts? How can my thoughts support the convention participants in Germany?

Answer: What happens when you worry about someone you care about? All your thoughts are focused on his success, on his getting well and on his succeeding in his mission. Your heart aches for him since it is as if you are acting with him, in his place.

This concern is enough even if we don’t know the mechanisms it operates. The friends all over the world should prepare in advance for mirror conventions so that we will not only be spectators but will actually support the general connection. Here we have to exhibit determination and concern in unity, in genuine exceptional concern. By that we connect to the convention in desperate concern for its success on a global scale.

If we all connect around this convention, then all of humanity will feel a special force of connection and this will change reality. Then our method of connection will be accepted all over the world, and it will be as if we “change rails” so that the train we are all riding will move from the path of suffering to the path of the Torah.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/18/13, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”

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Preparation to the Lesson

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Writings of Baal HaSulam “Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah),” Lesson 5

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The Book of Zohar – Selected Excerpt, Parashat “Va’etchanan (A Plea),” Lesson 5

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“Introduction to The Book of Zohar“

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