Question: Can the lower bestow upon the upper, a student upon a teacher? What stops a student from receiving bestowal from the teacher?

Answer: The student bestows upon the teacher by allowing the teacher to bestow upon him, to give to the lower. The lower bestows upon the upper by his prayer (MAN).

The upper wants to give to the lower. He doesn’t need the lower for any egoistic purposes. The lower can give the upper the chance to give to him. What can a baby give his parents except for the pleasure of taking care of him? After all, it is a pleasure for them.

It is up to the student if the teacher can bestow upon him. The ordinary interruptions are the distancing of the student from the teacher, his pride, his disrespect, and lack of connection. In such a case he cannot be considered a student. There are special rules that determine what it means to be a student of a Kabbalist, and they are explained in TES. The vessel must annul itself and open itself to the filling and agree to remain only in Light of Hassadim.

This is according to the three phases of growth of the lower level with regard to the upper level: Ibur (gestation), Yenika (suckling), and Mochin (mind). This is called being a student—a lower level with regard to an upper level from which it receives fulfillment.

This form hasn’t changed; there is a hierarchy that, once revealed, remains forever. The structure of the general soul doesn’t change, and so everything depends on the student’s efforts. The teacher has to be very patient because the students go through many states until after several years they begin to understand what they have reached.

The moment the student is ready to annul himself, he receives influence from the teacher. But first he has to annul himself before the group, and only then before the teacher. Otherwise he will not enter the spiritual work. One doesn’t work without the other.

He will not be able to receive what he needs only from the group, from the friends, if at the same time he isn’t adhered to the other side, to the right line, to the teacher. There has to be a balance here, the right approach to the middle line, which he determines with the help of the two sources he has—the teacher and the group.

Sometimes the most important thing for a student is the group and sometimes the most important thing for him is the teacher. It depends on a person’s character. But the perfect form of work involves the balance between the two.
[95359]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/12/12, Writings of Baal HaSulam 

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Question: In what way is Hanukkah, which is related to the date of the Maccabee’s victory over the Greeks relevant today? What is its symbolic meaning?

Answer: This holiday symbolizes the fact that eventually unity wins. This is the reason that the Maccabees won, and we have to act in the same way.

The meaning of the holiday is very simple: If the people of Israel unite and draw the Light, they win. It isn’t by force. All the evil forces cannot be beaten but only by unity, although many are close to this approach. In essence, this is our message in mutual guarantee, but it leaves out one key factor. After all, our enemies are also united and even more so than we are.

In fact, Israel can win only if its unity draws the Light. Then through Israel it is passed on to the enemies and changes them from enemies to supporters. This is the real victory.

Thus the war takes place on a totally different dimension. We don’t operate external factors but rather nature’s internal forces and by that win the battle. Here we mustn’t forget that we are dealing with a force that holds all matter and suddenly begins to operate in an opposite way.

The force of receiving, dominance, and cruelty rules our world. In our world, the strong take over others and use them to their advantage in their understanding and feelings, according to their own concepts.

But there is a small, weak group, small and weak according to usual standards. No one takes this group into account, although it can be like a magnifying glass and pass the Light through it—the great force of bestowal. This force will illuminate not the group itself, but its enemies, and then they will calm down, and be corrected; for example, they will suddenly feel that they have to deal with something else in a totally different place.

The nations of the world think that Israel makes the world go round, and Israel really can do that—for the good of the world, of course. If it doesn’t do that, then it is bad for the world. So it turns out that the people of Israel always bring the world either good or bad. By that they have freewill: Like “switchmen,” they direct the Light of Ein Sof (Infinity) one way or another, determining by that its influence on the world and the form it will take.

The question is whether we can dress this Light with the right intention of in order to bestow, or whether we don’t have the right intention. It depends on us, on the Bnei Baruch organization (BB). The Light drips, and we are with it—but are we holding on to the right intention?

If we do, the Light that Reforms reaches everyone and the world is corrected. Then, of course, our enemies also disappear, or, in other words, the hostile desires and forces disappear. This happens if we are united, since then we give the Light the right attire of unity.

If we are separated we don’t give the Light that goes through us the right “wrapping” and it turns into darkness for the world, to its opposite from. It is bad both for the world and for us, since humanity turns back to us, feeling that we are the source of all its troubles.

This response will continue until we finally understand that there is no other way and that we have to correct ourselves to make ourselves and the whole world part of the Creator and to bring Him contentment.

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From the article by Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Item 68: We must know that all the inclinations, tendencies, and properties instilled in a person, with which to serve one’s friends, all these tendencies and natural properties are required for the work of God.

To begin with, they were created and imprinted in man only because of their final role, which is the ultimate purpose of man, as it is written, “he that is banished, be not an outcast from him.” One needs them all so as to complement oneself in the ways of reception of abundance, and to complement the will of God.

We need all the details of the relationships that unfold between friends. We should not retouch, cancel, hide, or suppress anything or prevent it from developing. All aspirations have to awaken, open up, and develop in everyone. Precisely these bad and good inclinations (no matter which one) with respect to the relationship of a person and his friend we afterward will have to turn into the relationship between a person and the Creator.

This is why the one who does not develop his relationship with his friend is not ready to become even one step closer to the Creator.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/13/12, “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot”

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Question: Why does Baal HaSulam say that a person is thrown from the friends to the teacher and back again like a “slingshot” and by that the right vessel for receiving the Light is built in him?

Answer: A person receives wholeness from the teacher and through the group he discovers his evil. Despite his reluctance, he is incorporated in the group and makes great efforts to become part of the environment and to connect with the friends.

Thanks to that, in response to all his efforts, he discovers aversion, hate, and anger. This is how his egoistic desire is revealed in him; it isn’t his friends that he sees, but himself in the friends, as if in a mirror.

When all these negative feelings are revealed, the question is to what extent he acknowledges that this evil is revealed in him and not in the friends. At the same time he comes to his teacher, to the lesson, and receives treatment from the teacher, a correction.

If he has the right connection with the Rav and with the study, he has to come out white. As all the evil that he felt towards the friends takes on an opposite form, and he understands that it is in his favor. Instead of cursing he now gives thanks for it. Instead of feeling the evil in the friends, he feels good; instead of feeling good and proud about himself, he now feels bad. This means that everything turns upside down.

The opposite definitions that he now understands and feels in his attributes compared to the friends is called “a slingshot,” reverse, a trigger.
[95282]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/12/12, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Question: How does the system of: person – group – teacher work? What is the function of each component in this formula?

Answer: The role of the teacher is to correct the student, and the role of the environment is to evoke the egoistic desire in him, not for the corporeal filling but rather for the spiritual filling.

There are two systems: the system of the uncorrected desires, the left line and the system of corrections, the right line. (Although it is clear that everything is run from above and designated for correction).

The teacher is on a higher level since he passes the Light downward to the students and for him the good and the evil come from one source. With regard to the student, which means on the lower level, the good and the evil are perceived as coming from two different sources, a good one and an evil one.

The teacher’s goal is to pass the Light to the student by the help of the study and the Creator, so that it will correct him and the good and evil will become one whole for him. This means that on his current level, the student will reach a feeling that “There is none else besides Him, the good and the benevolent.” Thus he ends the current level and goes on to the next level, and so he rises time after time.

It turns out that all the components have to be divided into two parts: the right line and the left line. And who are you? You have to try and reach the middle line, the upper level, in which there is no good or evil and where there aren’t many factors, but rather, everything converges into one: the group, the study, and the teacher—everything belongs to the Creator, and there is none else besides Him.
[95279]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/12/12, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Question: How is it possible after the convention to continue feeling that I have no individual abilities, but only the abilities of the group?

Answer: Before you didn’t have any individual abilities either, and you were part of the group, but now it is clearer, and accordingly more is demanded of you. The more that is revealed to you, the more you are demanded to participate, mentally, emotionally, and actively in overcoming.

It is very clear that by very small efforts, we have already discovered that within our collective vessel an illumination is emerging. The problem is that we attained this by physical connection between us and not by spiritual connection. In the meantime it is a very big deficiency.

In addition, it happens thanks to the fact that I am incorporated in the group using the force to connect with them. This means that there is still al lot of work that has to be done on the part of our group in order to reach a true inner connection among the friends. Then the Light that is equal to this connection will arrive.

In the meantime it is lacking within the group and among the groups. We have to connect more strongly with one another. I think that this convention has shown everyone that we are closer to one another than we thought. All the groups felt close and people understood that we have no choice but either to advance toward an even greater connection or leave.

We will soon see how this happens: There will be people who will come gladly and there will be those who will leave cursing. This is how the clarification is done.

We now have to fulfill what we felt in the convention. In order to fulfill that, a person needs constant self-control with regard to his attitude towards the world that is managed by the Creator. Am I aware of the fact that I am in a world that is managed by the Creator? Do I perceive the world as a place where by focusing on the fact that everything is done by the Creator I will eventually find the Creator in this world?

World (Olam – also means concealment in Hebrew) is concealment on the one hand and the revelation of the Creator on the other hand. The world is concealed because I don’t reveal the Creator. But because I intend to reveal Him, to identify with Him, and to receive everything that happens as the absolute good and benevolent and there is none else besides Him, then by that I accept this concealment, and then the concealment of the world becomes a revelation.

This is all I have to say about this. Don’t expect anything beyond this and don’t think that as we advance I will have new words. But the same words will be clearer to you. If someone else begins to read, it would mean nothing to him, just like people who read the Torah and understand it literally. These are ordinary words, since in spirituality there are no words.
Besides, it is forbidden to reveal more than is allowed. We have to understand that the teacher is an educator who has to do his job.
[95274]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/11/12, “Questions and Answers Regarding Novosibirsk Convention”

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Rabash, Shlavei Sulam (The Rungs of the Ladder), (1984/85), Article 13: “Mighty Rock Of My Salvation”: …Wherever he walks, he is eagerly searching for a place where perhaps someone will be able to give him the power to bestow.

Question: How do I find this power?

Answer: Seek the means that will help you to come to bestowal.

When a person begins his work, discerning the Creator’s action over him, he continuously remains in the state of search and helplessness: “How do I find the Creator? How do I draw Him close to me? How do I move and excite my affection, how do I use my mind to comprehend Him? Where do I reveal His action? What veil conceals it? How do I ‘turn’ myself in order to highlight His connection—even if it is negative, only to manifest it?”

A person starts changing his facets and properties desiring to unveil the Creator thereby. Such is the nature of our work. It isn’t simple; it requires enormous energy; it burns tons of “calories” and demands great effort in a tireless “chase after the Shechina.” Gradually, a person gains experience on this path and learns to overrule himself. This is the key.

And the Creator, based on one’s previous years and one’s life in the group, prepares all sorts of surprises for him. One’s personal errors start surfacing, or somebody makes him angry, or he feels insulted and feels the urge to put the offenders in their place in the heat of the moment, but suddenly stops and thinks: “Aren’t I supposed to work on myself by the principle ‘There is none else besides Him’?” But how? I am on the warpath now, and I am expected to remember Him?

Question: Rabash says that one has to find a group where everyone “craves the power of bestowal.” What does it mean?

Answer: In the group, we don’t receive normal incentives: money or respect. After all, the friends are getting pushed by the upper force, and gradually they assume a spiritual path. Then this force starts receding so that they can draw energy from spirituality on their own, without blows from behind.

Question: How do I draw strength from the spiritual so I advance not for the sake of honor and other egoistic rewards?

Answer: You can draw strength only from unity; otherwise, it won’t be spiritual growth. I strive to link in, to sink into the group, so I can be impressed by the friends. I don’t collect their strength for myself, but I do get impressed and respond to their giving, their love, and their spirit. Seeing them for the first time, I feel sorry I looked; after all, now I will suffer because I don’t participate in what they do. I wish they wouldn’t awaken brotherly love—I would be more at ease, would feel better, be more content. But then I tell myself: “Wait a minute, but this is exactly where you can gain strength, impressions; it can shake you up and ignite! So instead, let them be exalted in my eyes and inspire me to follow them.”

In the end, the group, the teacher, the Creator, and the Kabbalists’ books—these are the only positive factors I have to advance. And all the friends must link together as one; none of them is supposed to be lesser than the others. Only as equals can we move toward the goal.
[95184]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/11/12, Writings of Rabash

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Question: After the congress in Novosibirsk, we feel a very strong responsibility. It is as if a new system of relations between us was born, when our whole life should be in mutual care for each other. How do we start our work anew, with a clean slate; how do we take the first step onto this new platform?

Answer: Indeed, a new sensation was born. But the connection itself is not new; it already exists and only becomes revealed to us more and more. I see that you feel the new stage and discovered a new experience. And respectively, your mind that works in sync with the feelings was renewed. Now the question is how will we accept this as a fact that binds us to connect even more—all of us together, and me with you as well. This was the qualitative change—I am much more engaged in the group since you have come to a more advanced state. And our further advancement is in that each of us now should maintain the unity we achieved.

We should at least try to maintain the same feeling that arose during our uniting at the congress. This is despite the fact that totally opposite states will be coming: totally opposite feelings and calculations will wash over. And they will not even contradict the former unity, but will just distract and sway you off to the side, forcing you to strive for the philistine values that you used to have in the past. And this is where you should try to view your condition with the Creator’s eyes. This means to look at it not only from “below upward” but also from “above downward”. In other words, you should see yourself as a child who is imagining being a grownup.

He doesn’t just look upward at adults from his place, but he imagines being big and what he would do then, how he would arrange his life, himself. That is, we should visualize how we would apply an “adult” spiritual state to our life if we were already in it.

To be an adult means to be like the Creator. And I need to envision I am next to the Creator and my spiritual vessel creates a complete connection of all desires, thanks to our self-annulment and the mutual inclusion of everyone into everyone infinitely, so that each of us feels all the common desire and the Creator being revealed in it. This cannot be described with words because all our words derive from the broken world and not from oneness.

With these eyes we should look upon life, the friends, the teacher, and on your entire work, and regard them accordingly. In normal life, “outside the temple walls,” we act as all others, not separating from them. But inside your group, you should see the corrected state. Everyone should view the group and his or her life this way. Then, a person can fit into this corrected picture. Likewise, as during studying, so with the teacher and the group, one can act in sync with the upper state being envisioned. After all, who is the Creator? It is the upper state. And this is all we need.

Most importantly, stay in “There is none else besides Him, the good who does good” every moment. I envision the Creator, who resides within me, as such, and what He demands of me in this case. What would be required of me if I were in such a state? How would I see everything if I were exactly the one, besides whom there is nobody else, someone good who does good?

I need to see that all my actions come from the Creator, and my attitude to the friends, and to the world—and all of it is good and only for their benefit. Everyone will eventually feel this way, and gradually, we are beginning to feel it. This is described as “penny by penny builds to a large sum.” We exerted efforts that accumulate and ultimately result in a leap: one passes level 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 and finally makes a leap. And then again stages 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 and a new leap. That is how we finally reach our first spiritual state.
[95181]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/11/12, “Questions and Answers Regarding Novosibirsk Convention”

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Preparation to the Lesson

Rabash – The Social Writings “Come Unto Pharaoh – 2” 

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

Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol. 1, Part 1, “Histaklut Pnimit,” Chapter 1, Lesson 2

“The Peace,” “First Method: Nature,” Lesson 2

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The Writings of Rabash, “Maoz Tzur Yeshuati (The Rock of My Salvation),” Article 13: … but what can a person do when he wants to praise (the Creator) and his heart is sealed, and he feels that he is full of deficiencies, and that he cannot open his mouth and say a song of praise. The advice is to work above reason, and to say that everything is “concealed Hassadim,” which means that he should say that everything is Hesed, but that it is concealed from him, because he isn’t qualified to see the good and the delight that the Creator has prepared for His created beings.

Question: How can one reach the state of praising the Creator?

Answer: Suppose you feel bad, problems follow you, you have unpleasant thoughts, unfulfilled desires are torturing you, and you are upset and mad at everyone around you. Now you have to rise to the level of there is none else besides Him and that the Creator is good and benevolent. You do that by building the corresponding calculation, you make many efforts, search incessantly, and gradually you rise above reason.

At the same time, it’s important to clarify why you are doing that: Is it because you are confused? Or is it because you have an unpleasant feeling? Could it be that it’s because of the fear of punishment? Or is it because you want to bring the Creator contentment?

Eventually you see that everything stems from Him, that He is good and benevolent as He raises you from the previous level to a higher level.

This is how you advance: You thank the Creator for what He has done, and of course, you immediately receive new problems and descents. Time after time you rise and descend, increasingly faster than you can calculate and arrange, in order to stabilize your attitude to what is going on.

Still this process continues. First you operate out of fear, since you are afraid of different troubles and don’t want to feel unpleasantness. But gradually you balance yourself with the Creator and begin to think about bestowal a little. Then He immediately throws you off track and now you try to work together with Him. Next time you already want Him to feel good, and the time after that you really operate for the Creator, by wanting to justify Him, not because you want to save yourself or others from suffering.

Thus you advance, by clinging more tightly to the intention of in order to bestow each time. You constantly understand and assess the situation, but the assessment is always according to one criterion: “To what extent do I think of the Creator?”
[95188]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/11/12, Writings of Rabash

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