Baal HaSulam: “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Item 11: However, we find and see in the words of the sages of the Talmud that they have made the path of Torah easier for us than the sages of the Mishnah. This is because they said, “One should always practice the Torah and Mitzvot, even Lo Lishma, and from Lo Lishma he will come to Lishma, because the Light in it reforms him.”

Thus, they have provided us with a new means instead of the penance presented in the above mentioned Mishnah, Avot: the “Light in the Torah.” It bears sufficient power to reform one and bring him to practice Torah and Mitzvot Lishma.

It turns out that we don’t need to change anything about our lives; we don’t need to limit ourselves or to pay attention to our body, to count how much we eat, drink or sleep. It doesn’t matter if I sleep on a down comforter or on the ground, how “good” I am to others, to my relatives, to myself, and what I deal with. All this doesn’t matter, what’s important is the practice of the Torah (which means the study of Kabbalah) in such a way that the Light in it will reform me.

I only need this Light and it will already manage all my relations: with myself, with the friends, with the environment, with the Creator. The Light will manage everything. I only have to try to draw the Light upon me and give it a chance to operate. This is what the sages say.

They have already established the connections in the general system of the souls, which was totally shattered, and they have taken it through several stages of development: Babel and the exile in Egypt. The group that Abraham took out of Babel has already developed and established connections between all its members, which mean the souls, the parts of the general system.

They could already build the first Temple, and receive the Light of Mochin De Haya in order to bestow, and then they fell from this level and were exiled to Babel. Then they came out of exile and built the second Temple there, on the level of Mochin de Neshama, and then fell again. This means that they have been through different levels of development that were necessary for the preparation: three exiles and three redemptions. Thus they performed all the personal, individual corrections, which the people of Israel who are part of humanity, the group that stands at the head of the process of correction, have to perform.

Thanks to the fact that this group has been through all the exiles, the redemptions and the destruction of the two Temples on the level of Mochin de Haya and Mochin de Neshama, it established a network of the right and necessary connections with the upper part of the general soul, of all of creation, called GE. So any person who wants to correct himself now, has the chance to do so.

The destruction of the two Temples and the exile of the people of Israel were necessary in order to return to Babel that remained without correction and to integrate with them in order to later correct them. This stage, which was made for the mutual incorporation ended about a hundred years ago or even during the time of the ARI. Now anyone who wants to be corrected doesn’t have to torment his body and to live under the conditions of penance, which the group that corrected GE lived under.

Then they corrected themselves separately from the other nations of the world and lived under the special conditions of “you shall eat bread and salt and drink water sparingly, sleep on the ground and labor in the Torah.” But after they had performed their corrections and tied themselves to the whole system, this system already exists in a partially corrected manner, concealed from us.

Now everyone can use this mutual incorporation of the souls of the nation of Israel with the nations of the world; GE that entered AHP and integrated with it. If a person wants to be corrected, if the spiritual spark lights up in him, then there is a system that supports him, through which he can draw the Light that Reforms.

The Light will fix everything since there is a system that is ready to absorb it and to provide it with all the levels of correction. So we don’t have to restrict ourselves in any way, everything is possible except for denouncing or causing harm intentionally. A person can have a different character and different attributes, but if he wants to work in order to draw the Light that Reforms, then he should be provided with the chance to be incorporated in a group. His lifestyle and attitude towards others, the load that has accumulated, which he brought with him, should be left for the Light, so that it will take care of it.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/14/12, “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot”

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Preparation to the Lesson

 Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot, Item 23, Lesson 8

The Book of Zohar – Selected Excerpt, Parashat “Emor,” Item 134, Lesson 11

Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol 3, Part 8, Item 59, Lesson 37

“The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” “The Law of Root and Branch by Which the Worlds Are Related,” Lesson 6

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Egoism pressures us, holding us in its slavery and not letting us rest. Every moment we continue doing selfish calculations in its favor with no end to it. How can we escape from this slavery? By all means of establishing ourselves stronger in this demand, that we are in the group, study, and participate in events, dissemination, workshops, gathering of friends, and festive meals only to obtain the force of bestowal. This is called faith.

A person experiences the suffering of Job which is the symbol of unbearable human suffering, revealing all of his egoistic nature to the deepest level and discovering that he can do nothing with it. No matter how much he checks himself, he won’t find a single grain that will bring forth something good. This is called the suffering of Job that can’t be overcome and somehow healed because in fact it’s impossible to find any clue in our nature from which correction could begin. That is, we have no power by means of which it would be possible to perform the actions of bestowal.

But it’s said that the Creator created the evil inclination and the Torah as a means to correct it. That is, there is a remedy: the upper force, the Reforming Light that comes to a person on condition that he requires correction. All that we need is to discover our plea, and then the Light will affect us.

A plea is a desire, the need to be corrected. It’s not just an egoistic desire to enjoy, but a regret that one was born an egoist. This requires preparatory work carried on from generation to generation, the influence of the environment, of the Surrounding Light that reaches a person even unconsciously and without his knowledge.

Even without studying Kabbalah, a person begins to get to know his evil. As in our current state of crisis, humanity is about to do this in order to discover that we are all egoists, and there’s no way out. Everything is heading towards this, and we’ll just devour each other, and will it be the end of civilization on the earth? What are we to do?

There’s a general and personal preparation period in which a person’s evil nature is slightly revealed. He feels that there’s no escape, and it needs to be corrected. And if the point in the heart awakens in him, he begins his correction. But those in whom the point in the heart is not awakened, they feel the true suffering of Job, with no hope to change themselves. Any actions that seem altruistic to us, any charity and noble impulses will nonetheless turn out egoistic in the end. Becoming more aware, a person begins to understand that throughout everything, egoism is manifested, acting only for its benefit. No matter how nice charitable organizations and actions look, they do not bring any correction.

The world is built in such a way that if we act according to the law of the correction of nature with the help of the Reforming Light, then we correct it. And if we don’t follow this law, all our best actions are turned into harmful ones. And with these best intentions, we cause the most damage, not bringing any good. That’s why Rabash writes that when he looks at all the suffering that the world experiences, he has nothing to help other than to pray for their correction.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/18/12, “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot”

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The Book of Zohar is the source of the upper Light that illuminates from the top of the world of Atzilut. It’s a system of the upper Providence and leadership that operates on us, so that when we study The Book of Zohar we actually connect with this upper mechanism. The closer we want to get to the upper leadership while reading The Book of Zohar, the more strongly it influences us. But what does it mean to get closer to the Lights, to relate to the system of leadership and Providence correctly?

It means to be like it. It’s total love and bestowal and its law is the law of love. How can we check that? We do so according to the principle of “from the love of the created beings to the love of the Creator.” The Creator is nature, the essence of the upper system. So the word “God  –  ים-אלה” is the same as the word “nature – הטבע” in Gematria.

So if we want the upper force to connect us, to bring us connection and correction, it matches its plan. On our part there can’t be any other intention or inclination, according to this system with the upper Light. That is why it is called the Light that Reforms: When we want to connect mutually in “love thy friend as thyself,” which is the great rule of the Torah, that is Light, then it comes and corrects and fills us. Actually this is the only action in nature and this is the only thing that can help, save, correct, and bring good to us and to the world.

The current global crisis is meant to show us that only the action of connection can save humanity. Accordingly, the current “small war” in Gaza is meant to evoke us to the same inner action that is aimed at connection. So let’s try to connect all our inclinations in mutual guarantee and understand that we have to become “as one man in one heart.” In fact this is all our work.

We hope that the Light that comes while reading The Book of Zohar will fulfill the connection among us. Then there will be no enemies and there will be no wars. By trying to connect above the situation, we drive away the negative force. If in the past the leadership operated on us through the posterior of the Light because we were opposite to it, now it reveals its face. Let’s try and focus so that it will all happen this way.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/16/12, The Zohar

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All the exiles the people of Israel have been through were all exiles from mutual guarantee. And each time, the sufferings increased to such an extent that the group of Abraham reconnected again. But eventually the desire to receive grew so much that the brotherly love turned to unfounded hatred. The Temple was destroyed, the mutual guarantee was broken, and the people found themselves in the last exile that continues until the present day.

Today, as Baal HaSulam tells us, the people of Israel are like a sack of nuts, who are together only because of external circumstances. The hatred of other nations compels them to connect to a certain extent, but this connection doesn’t exist in the inner connection or in natural connections that are typical of other nations. Among the people of Israel, there was only the connection of mutual guarantee when their recognition and understanding, and their efforts were aimed at being together.

Any other nation is united by a natural “instinctive” force, while the Israeli nation has to work on its connections, since otherwise this work is done by the hatred of those around it, leaving it no other choice. In such a case, the nation of Israel is connected only on the level of the still nature; it doesn’t develop and remains in exile since it doesn’t advance towards connection by itself, of its own initiative; it doesn’t yearn to discover the quality of bestowal and love, that is, “the Champion of the World” (אלוף); the Hebrew letter Aleph (א) makes the difference between exile (גלות – Galut) and redemption (גאולה – Geula).

The children of Israel leave the exile, when they yearn to discover bestowal and love in the connection among them. So today they are still in exile and are not a nation yet. Only a series of troubles keeps them together, so that they will not disperse, so that they will be able to fulfill their role and to pass on this message to the whole world, and eventually bring contentment to the Creator.

This is the current situation. This means that the children of Israel should invest all their power in that, in order to move from the external pressure to the internal pressure. If the internal pressure obligates them to connect more strongly than the missiles and other revelations of general hatred, the external pressure will stop. The people of Israel must constantly obligate themselves to connect by overcoming the pressure of external factors.

But today the people are ready to speak about connection and it is simply a shame. It is the wrong situation when the Creator evokes it to connect by enemies from the nations of the world. This isn’t the real work of the Israeli nation and there is nothing to be proud of. People don’t establish good and desirable relations between them and external forces do this work. In the meantime, we must develop our inner powers by turning them into connection and then all the external pressure will stop. It will simply disappear.

It is very easy to test this since the internal mutual connection doesn’t cost anything, it doesn’t require anything except for a desire and a decision. So let’s try and see what benefit it will bring. There is no doubt it will heal society, be helpful to the country, and beneficial for everyone. The number of car accidents and crime will be reduced. At the same time, we will follow and see if it helps increase our sense of security and whether it affects our enemies. I am for testing.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/16/12, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Question: If all the stages of my path are predetermined, can I change a certain event in my life by freewill? How will my life be different with the wisdom of Kabbalah and without it?

Answer: It is a huge difference.

Suppose I don’t want to go to school and so I am “beaten” by my parents. It is the same here: I break a leg, my country is at war, there are natural disasters; the “parental attitude” is felt but more realistically. By these problems I will still do what I am required to do. What is more, if I sometimes managed to escape punishment at school, here there are no discounts, there is nowhere to run.

I am between the “path of the Torah” and the “path of suffering” and this choice changes my life. In fact it is a matter of life or death, although we feel it as different kinds of sufferings. If someone wanted to win a million dollars in the lottery but won only a hundred thousand and someone else is bedridden for 15 years, both cases are felt as sufferings.

Question: But still, do I actually have to break a leg?

Answer: If this is the only thing that will change your attitude toward the goal of creation, then yes. But you can follow the path of “hastening time” and correct your attitude and then you won’t have to break a leg, since you will transcend the sufferings from the animal level to the level of the speaking.

The Lights and the vessels need to be opposite one another. On the animal level it is expressed, let’s say, by breaking a leg or losing one’s salary, or a fire, a serious illness, etc. But if you raise the sufferings to the level of the speaking, if you experience it and feel sorry about the fact that you cannot bestow now, it is your problem and this is what you suffer from. The Light that Reforms gives you this feeling and then there is no need for corporeal disasters any more.

Furthermore, many more corporeal troubles are required than spiritual ones. For example, to be sick for a thousand years without getting out of bed is like experiencing a moment of pangs of love: “Why don’t I love the Creator?” This is the difference between the levels, what can a small child do compared to a grown up if the lights go out at home? It is incomparable.

See how the crisis is spreading: No one is protected and safe from it. The world is threatened by terrible sufferings that are meant to break man, just to put a small switch through his common sense. Then, after a third world war he will discover that he is under the influence of nature. Then the fourth world war will replace another tiny switch: “Ahh, I have to be balanced with nature.” A fifth world war will show him the necessity of bestowal upon others, in order to reach harmony with nature, and so on.

Monstrous disasters, years of troubles, will only help to switch on what the Light could switch on in a couple of months. Through correct studies, a person could understand in a month that there is no other choice. So we have to bring our message to the world as quickly as possible.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/15/12, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah“

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Preparation to the Lesson

Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot, Item 18, Lesson 7

The Book of Zohar – Selected Excerpt, Parashat “Emor,” Item 128, Lesson 10

Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol 3, Part 8, Item 57, Lesson 36

“The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah“

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Rabash, Letter 34: As it is said, “And the Lord shall be unto you an everlasting light.” When? When you are all one society, as it is written, “live every one of you this day.”

Usually, if someone takes a pile of branches, can he break them all at once? But if taken one at a time, even a baby can break them. Similarly, you find that Israel will not be redeemed until they are all one society, as it is said, “In those days and at that time, says the Lord, the children of Israel shall come, they and the sons of Judah together.” Thus, when they are united, they receive the face of Divinity.

I presented the words of the Midrash so that you don’t think that the issue of a group, which is love of friends, relates to Hassidism. Rather, it is the teaching of our sages, who saw how necessary was the uniting of hearts into a single group for the reception of the face of Divinity.

We can only feel the connection with the Light from a whole and perfect vessel; a vessel in which all the desires in order to receive are covered by a Masach (screen), which turns them to in order to bestow. This is possible only when there is connection, since to whom can I express my intention to bestow? Only towards others! So by connection in our desires and intentions in the heart and mind, we reconstruct the shattered vessel and by that get closer to the Light, until eventually it can illuminate for us.

If in the meantime, we only try to get closer to one another, we summon upon ourselves an illumination from a distance, which is called the Surrounding Light. This is the law we know from the wisdom of Kabbalah, which is the law of all of reality, the law of nature.

So the condition for receiving help from Above for the revelation of the Light is our connection. If we want to improve our condition, there are no other methods but that. There is no point in looking for anything else and just wasting our efforts. We must only yearn for connection by which we will evoke and draw the Light that Reforms us.

If we don’t act towards connection, then nothing good will come out of our efforts. So in the very difficult and tense situation the people of Israel find themselves in today, we should try to connect as hard as we can and to attain unity. It’s through this that we bring the Light closer to us, and bring it closer to everyone. Thus we advance to a better state in a better way, through the Light.

We should do that before the sufferings reach us and force us to connect by putting pressure on us. We should always have the inclination to connect out of our goodwill and not because we are forced to do it. This is the difference between the “path of the Light” (hastening time) and the “path of suffering,” the natural process of developing (in its time).

Let’s try to understand that the connection summons the influence of the good force upon us and explain this to everyone. The more people will join this connection and unity, by feeling this condition and understanding that the more we disseminate and publicize it by every available channel, by Internet and TV, the more people hear about it and incorporate in it, the closer we will be to the good Light. The Light is the only thing that operates. It’s a waste of energy to think that there are other actions that can improve our situation except for connection and unity.
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From the Preparation the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/16/12

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Baal HaSulam, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah:” A revelation of Godliness does not appear at once, but gradually, over a period of time, depending on the cleansing of the attaining, until one discovers all the degrees from Above downwards. And because they come in an order of attainment, one after the other and one above the other, as do rungs of a ladder, they are called “degrees” (steps).

Everything is built and was prepared in advance in great detail in every way possible. So we cannot change anything in any way. We climb the same “tree” from the bottom up the way the levels descended from the top down according to the law of a branch and a root. There is nothing new on this way back by even one millimeter. The states are fixed and everything is predetermined according to the desire, the Masach (screen) and the Light on every level. There can be nothing new here, since there is an unchangeable law between the Lights and the vessels, and “iron formula.”

There can be nothing but Lights, vessels, and Masachim (screens). So, from the whole state in Ein Sof (Infinity) to the most shattered, smallest state in this world, everything is predetermined by the cooperation of these three elements. There is nothing new on the way from the top down, and nothing new in the correction from the bottom up. This is called “Thou hast hemmed me in behind and before.”

The Creator is the one who bestows, “something from something,” and the created being is the one who receives, “something from nothing.” There is a formula that determines the extent of the equivalence by the Masach. In fact all the levels differ according to the Masach, which connects the Light and the vessel to a greater or lesser extent. So the one general law of the equivalence of form operates always and in everything. This is what determines the difference between the Creator and the created being or between the Light and the vessel.

In such a case, what is the role of the lower? Do they exist if everything is determined by the mutual integration of the two forces? If nature rules everything, what upper or lower are we talking about?

But when two forces collide, penetrate each other and influence each other, a new condition is born, an attitude, a response. The combination of these two forces, the receiving and the bestowing is called a “creation,” and the point is that this creation will want to resemble the attribute of bestowal, the force that bestows, by itself and that it will awaken before an action from Above; before the two forces obligate me to take steps of “in its time” along the path of suffering, I can wake up by myself and summon their action upon me. Then my ascent up the spiritual ladder is bringing contentment. This is the whole difference.

By that I begin to know, to appreciate, to value, to thank for, and to love these conditions, the one who is Above who has created them for me and prepared everything that I need. Why? Because it is in my attitude to these states that I feel that I am alive. We will have to acquire this reality.

So there is a spiritual system with an immense amount of details, most of which are not described by Kabbalists so as not to “overload” us. Since we, with our limited understanding, need to be free for what is important. So no matter what they write, it is all meant only to help us increase our intention to bestow, so that we will acquire the right and positive attitude towards the upper force.

But we shouldn’t think that the wisdom of Kabbalah is just some schematic description of the upper worlds with drawings and explanations. It includes all of creation, including our world and everything in it. If we understand that all this helps us ascend the spiritual ladder, then we perceive that all the events are part of the method of preparation of the Lights and vessels, or the two lines, or the force of bestowal and the force of receiving, the connection between them through the Masach. And the Masach should be stabilized not “in its time” but in “I shall hasten time.”
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/15/12, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah“

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Rabash, “Three Lines:” Before a person is granted to exit self love and to do everything in order to bestow, which is called Lishma (for Her name), even though a person studies different things the way they are, they are only names with no commentary, since he has no attainment of the matters that he studies, since he knows nothing about the upper roots that are called by the Holy names or Sefirot or Partzufim.

And we can learn the upper matters, called the wisdom of Kabbalah, only by way of merit, since they can bring a person a desire and passion to adhere to the Creator, since these are Holy matters referring to the Holy names…and when a person studies the upper matters in order to get closer to Holiness, it brings the closeness of the Lights, which he wants this study to bring him, so that he will be granted to aim all his actions in order to bestow, and this is called working in preparation, as a person prepares himself to be ready to enter the King’s palace and to adhere to Him.

There are several phases in the preparation work. In the first phase of the study a person listens, but he doesn’t hear, since he doesn’t know what it’s about. All the terms Kabbalah books speak about are hidden from a person—he doesn’t feel them and doesn’t see; he doesn’t discern himself or his environment. So he imagines what he hears as he desires.

He doesn’t work with these concepts and cannot discern them or respond to them, he thinks that Pharaoh is a person who rules Egypt, which is a distant country, that the Creator is very far, and that Israel is someone who is born to a Jewish family. He lacks the right spiritual concepts, so that he can immediately feel an inner reaction if he hears them.

If he hears about a pain in the heart, the head, the arm or the leg, he can immediately imagine it. He would feel a reaction to the word he hears, but the Kabbalistic terms don’t evoke any reaction in him, and so in the meantime he studies without attributing all this to himself. But the Surrounding Light operates on him and reforms him, and to the extent that a person does everything in his power, it brings him closer to the upper world.

The main thing is that at first a person doesn’t know that the only way to advance is by subduing himself to the group, the teacher and the books. After all, he is like a baby who has to adhere to the grown ups, to an upper level. By that he shortens or prolongs time. The preparation may take several years, until he comes close enough to the Light and begins to feel how the Light operates in him and begins to discern every attribute in him. This can take 20-30 years.

Everything depends on the extent to which a person can subdue himself before the teacher, the group, and the study with all the means that he has. It’s the study period of Yenika (infancy) when one must adhere and devote himself to the upper level, when you annul your mind and everything that you know as much as possible. Then there is the stage of greater awareness, when a person already begins to discern these attributes in him and to experience ascents and descents.

In the third phase he already understands that it’s the Creator who evokes these ascents and descents in him, as He calls him, “Come to Pharaoh!” The Creator is always on the right side, and Pharaoh is on the left side, and a person is left in the middle between these two forces. But until this is actually revealed within him, he can only guess that that’s the way it is according to his own reactions. Eventually he cries out since he cannot exit himself and break free of Pharaoh’s domination, and then is granted redemption.

Afterwards the road doesn’t get any easier. A person simply sees everything that happens along this road differently. Redemption becomes an opportunity to bestow for him, to ascend above himself and to work disregarding the unpleasant inner feelings.

Thus he advances and his advancement is determined by the re-evaluation of his values.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/15/12

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