Preparation to the Lesson
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Writings of Rabash “Igrot,” “Letter 25”
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The Book of Zohar – Selected Excerpts “Beresheet Bet (Genesis 2),” Lesson 154
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Talmud Eser Sefirot, Volume 1, Part 3, Chapter 8, Item 1, Lesson 19
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Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Nation”
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When reading The Zohar, we are facing the Light that is capable of everything. The Creator makes Light and He makes darkness; He raises and lowers. He does everything. If so, then the problem is only us: We are unable to ask Him for the right thing. The Light has no problem bringing us anything we could possibly desire, even in our greatest and most exorbitant fantasies. It has no problem. It is a force that contains everything and its possibilities are infinite.
So what should we really ask for, coming from our desire rather than deception? And how can we form that desire? Say, I come to a toy store and, like a small child, my head starts spinning: I want this, and that, and a third and fourth thing.
How do I choose the only, best, most useful and necessary thing from everything I see before me? How do I entrench myself in my desire in order to ask precisely for this, and to do it in such a way that I will receive it? If I demand the right “toy,” then I will receive it. But if I ask for something else, which is not entirely for my own good, then I won’t receive it. Let us ask for this from the Light as well, for it to help us choose.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/13/12, The Zohar
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Question: You say that in the current extraordinary circumstances, we need help from the women. What kind of force is this, which we will not be able to manage without?
Answer: Someone once said that behind every successful man stands a woman. Apparently, the greater his success so, to put it mildly, is the more serious her approach.
So, I would like to ask all our women, those whose husbands study with us and the single ones, at every opportunity, show the men that women expect unity and correction from them. Let them see that a great anxiety about the existing threats lives in every woman, so that we rise above the current state and correct it.
Every woman needs to show this. And in the family, of course, the maximum effect is achieved when the husband feels that his wife is expecting real spiritual actions from him.
It is important that every woman applies efforts. After all, women have a special talent that allows, even without words, at the level of feeling, awakening men to bring in a desire and send them in the right direction. This is not just a woman’s, but a mother’s property.
A man, not being able to give birth, remains somewhat of a “child” and thus has the opposite tendency—to obey. So, we, men, really need female support.
Question: By nature, a woman feels a characteristic need. What should it be aimed at today?
Answer: The world is in crisis, and this crisis has arisen for us to correct it through unity. First, we unite in groups, then in the people of Israel, on the “territory,” from which comes the Light that Reforms, and then in the whole world. We should take care that correction is spread in this order. A wife requires this from her husband, and, in general, every woman from every man, gently but persistently. They know how to do this…
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/12/12, Writings of Baal HaSulam
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Question: A person learns by example. What kind of examples should one see all around?
Answer: One should see solidarity and a good attitude toward others, above self-love. Indeed, the work is precisely in rising above the ego.
In life, typically if I’m at odds with somebody or if I don’t care about them, I don’t even notice them. I couldn’t care less about my coworkers—my relationship with them doesn’t extend beyond a friendly greeting. In light of the above, if we want to escape all the troubles, we must extend deliberate bonds above our ego. On the level of this world we perform the same work as in the spiritual: We begin to express a slightly warmer attitude toward one another. Why? Because our duty is to establish a connection. After all, therein lies the special power that is capable of mitigating our problems.
Such must be our approach: above the isolation and indifference we form—perhaps not love—but a mutual connection, so that we could feel as one nation.
It’s no accident that the crisis is demolishing borders and clearly demonstrating that all people are interconnected as though we all live in the same country. If we were to combine all our systems into a single whole, we would rise above the crisis.
It follows that I must find strength and direction in my environment, which must convince me of one thing only—that our unification will neutralize all problems. Everything that’s fraught with negativity today will instantly turn positive, as if by the wave of a magic wand.
Question: So all we’re talking about are positive relationships?
Answer: Yes. That is sufficient. I don’t care about anybody else, but together we start working on building a better society through the connection between us, one that’s brimming with life, prosperity, and optimism.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/12/12, Writings of Baal HaSulam
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Preparation to the Lesson
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Writings of Baal HaSulam “Igrot (Letters),” (To: “Because of that”)
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The Book of Zohar – Selected Excerpts “Beresheet Bet (Genesis 2),” Lesson 153
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Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Nation”
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Question: What can I do for the group while reading The Book of Zohar?
Answer: Connect with everyone and to be in the same intention. Rabash says that all the sparks in the hearts of the friends unite into one big flame of love. Therefore, we should try to connect all the small desires, passions, inclinations, and intentions.
There is a great difference when there are thousands of people with us here and all over the world connecting by reading the text and thinking about how to connect with spirituality, and the fact that each one thinks about it separately.
If everyone’s separate request rises, it is a lie. It isn’t a lie in the corporeal sense when people deceive one another, wanting to use one another, which is natural.
Here it is about you wanting to relate to the Creator falsely. What does that mean? If you do it alone, then you undoubtedly do it since it is your nature. However, if you do it by connecting to others, you are already giving up something, you take them into account and you cooperate mutually.
So if millions of people yearn for spirituality, but separately, the outcome is very weak and is practically negligible, although they make efforts, study, and do something. We can see this in those who study the revealed Torah.
If we connect by wanting to attain spirituality by mutual bestowal, we are immediately in equivalence of form with spirituality, and if you ask for something, your request immediately arrives in a vessel of bestowal, since it goes through the connection. Accordingly it evokes the Light that will return to you from the Creator, the Light that Reforms.
So to yearn for the goal by yourself is a waste of time. These are futile attempts. To yearn ten times less but through the connection with others is a million times more efficient.
This means that our work is not quantitative but qualitative, better less but with the right intention.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/9/12, The Book of Zohar
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If you were privileged to receive the Creator’s blessing, which means a spiritual ascent, that you can pray, study and work, then you should do everything in your power as you do that. You feel that suddenly you succeed in everything that you do, so use this wonderful opportunity, make an effort and do your very best. This is because there will be times when you won’t be able to lift a finger.
Besides, you should invest in the group as much as possible, like in a bank account that yields great return when you need the money. This is your savings account for rainy days, just as you fill the fridge with food for a week, just like a pension fund for old age, or like medical insurance in case you are ill.
If our vessel is a vessel of receiving, it can accumulate power, understanding, energy, readiness, and a connection with the cause and keep it for times of trouble. The point is that our vessel is made of two parts: the revealed and the concealed. The revealed part is my small vessel that I feel in our world: food, sex, family, money, respect, control, knowledge, and a little bit of spirituality just to add some spice.
But my true vessel is all the created beings: all the still, vegetative, and animate nature and human beings in this world. These are all my desires. If I invest in them, it comes back to me even without my knowing.
So if I have a chance to invest in others, I should do so, since it will undoubtedly come back to me. Everything I invest in them now is somehow related to bestowal, since I feel them as strangers to me. Therefore, the evil inclination is called a “helpmate,” since it helps me even now.
If I work with the friends, with the world, by wanting to invest my powers in them and bring them to goodness, I actually invest in my spiritual vessel in the spiritual sense by working against my desire to receive. I can do that even mechanically. It doesn’t matter what my intentions are as I do that as long as I perform the right actions. Our ego is a great help as it works against us.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/8/12, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”
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Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” Item 69: From the above we can thoroughly understand that the Torah, too, contains internality and externality, as does the entire world. Therefore, one who engages in the Torah has these two degrees, as well. When one increases one’s toil in the internality of the Torah and its secrets, to that extent, one makes the virtue of the internality of the world—which are Israel—soar high above the externality of the world, which are the Nations of the World.
A person in our world is attracted to a wisdom, to a source, to a filling that suits his nature. Everyone has his priorities: special colors, special sounds, or a special lifestyle. We acquire many of these preferences from our family. On the whole people are different and still there are certain types of characters in this spectrum.
A person can be interested in science or music, he can be calm or active, closed or outgoing, inclined to physical work or mental activity, to express himself one way or another; these are all the results of our diversity. A person chooses a suitable occupation and the means to succeed in life according to his nature.
We too are not different. Each of us has followed his own path until he decided to change his priorities at a certain point and to deal with something else. It happened because our nature changed.
For the same reason there are those who yearn for the external Torah: They study the sources and the main thing for them is to know what they say. They don’t go into the internality; they don’t try to penetrate an unfamiliar world, they don’t follow the clues that lead to the Creator, to His actions, to His revelation. No, a person reads the text and doesn’t want to imagine something higher than this world. When Kabbalists speak about a “theft” they understand that someone stole something. The egoistic desires that steal the fruit of my work remain “out of the picture.” They interpret “damage,” as actual physical damage. “Trees,” “rocks,” “the Temple,” are all concrete objects in our world.
There are those who cannot stand such a superficial approach and are attracted to the internal essence.
Eventually, everyone chooses what he wants to deal with on one level or another, on a corporeal level or on a more internal level, and the depth of the level can also differ. On the whole the external Torah is really opposite from the internal Torah.
Therefore, it is impossible to judge a person’s greatness by his attraction to the wisdom of Kabbalah. He simply feels more comfortable here; it belongs to him. In the same way people who like to draw feel comfortable in a drawing class. The internal attraction does not depend on the person himself. Accordingly, there are people who are attracted to the external Torah and it is because they are made that way.
This is why our message is different: No matter what a person is attracted to, we still explain what he should do by rising above his natural inclination. Actually Baal HaSulam emphasizes here that it is a person’s obligation to be above his natural inclination, which creates a balance between his internality and his externality.
Question: How can I be sure that I am developing my internality and not my externality?
Answer: I feel it when I begin to be considerate of others. Only I can know it. On the outside everything may remain the same. This is why the wisdom of Kabbalah is called the “Hidden Torah”…
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/8/12, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”
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Question: If eventually everyone will know about the wisdom of Kabbalah, then is the mutual guarantee movement a temporary means?
Answer: Yes, but we don’t know how long it will take. After all, the point is not the name but in approaching people according to their desires. If in the meantime, a person wants to know how to succeed in his material life, I have to wrap my wisdom in wrappings that will be pleasant and comfortable for him.
On the whole it is about Lights and vessels, but for him these Lights should be expressed in good health, in his children’s education, in a comfortable life, a vacation, etc., so I explain to him that it is possible to attain all that by unity and by giving to others.
Its essence is the same: the correction of the vessel. There is no other activity in this world. The question is only on what level a person acknowledges this. I measure his exact level of awareness and always give him the dose that he can digest and which I understand is for his own good. I dress the corrections with “clothing” that he can accept since he sees that it is for his own good.
I don’t suggest that a person should give up his comfort and devote himself to hard work and to the well being of others. I offer him a pleasant way to unite, which he will actually enjoy and which will also bear good fruit. I don’t tell people that something bad may happen to them, I don’t assign a fee for the wellbeing; on the contrary, together we use the wonderful means and reach wonderful results.
Accordingly I don’t feel the mutual guarantee as an obligation either, but as pleasant mutual help and concern for one another. It is all in the form of a “sweet syrup,” like for children. These are the same corrections, but in a hidden manner.
Question: So at what point is there a switch from mutual guarantee to Kabbalah?
Answer: I don’t know. It may be in another 30-40 years and it may be tomorrow. You see how things are happening now at a much greater pace.
But it doesn’t matter to me, I do what I can at the current historical moment and not more than that.
Question: Will only those who study the wisdom of Kabbalah be able to understand the real reason for the problems?
Answer: That’s right. The others will reach it either by the path of suffering or through our dissemination.
We are not hiding the role of the wisdom of Kabbalah, but why should we shout it in vain? Since things are getting worse, we can explain to people the reason for what is going on. But again, we don’t promise that there will be new problems, but we provide solutions for the current problems. We don’t call this solution “the wisdom of Kabbalah,” but “unity.” Why should we use a term that scares some people and is repulsive to others? After all, we are not changing the meaning, but getting closer to people. We don’t wave our finger at them scolding them, and we don’t scare them with stories about approaching disasters; we don’t condemn the egoism but offer them an idea: “Let’s unite together correctly and we will all feel good.”
No one can object to this and we will overcome the disrespect—the main thing is to get started.
We should tell people what they want to hear, we should speak so that they can perceive our ideas and implement them in their everyday life. Otherwise they will hate you; they will block the idea and disparage and discredit it. This is why it says: “Educate a child in his own way.”
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/8/12, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”
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