Question: What is “Jerusalem” in the spiritual sense?

Answer: “Jerusalem” (Yerushalayim) in the spiritual sense is a “perfect awe” (Yira Shlema).

As The Book of Zohar explains, we have a commandment of fear and a commandment of love. The first commandment is fear, which can be of different kinds: from this world, from the future world, for oneself, for the community, for the Creator, and so forth. So, “Jerusalem” is the perfect fear, the level of Bina, which then develops itself in order to become the basis for receiving the Light of Hochma for the sake of bestowal. That is why this level is called perfect, on it, the Light of Hassadim and the Light of Hochma are together in one vessel. This way, the fear, meaning, Hassadim, holds the Light of Hochma, and this perfect state is called Jerusalem.

Besides that, as we know, each of the four levels of the still, vegetative, animate, and human natures contains in itself all of the others. Accordingly, on the human level there are also the previous levels, the still, vegetative, and animate. Finally, the ascent along them reaches an interaction (Zivug) of a maximum depth, that “place” where all of the creatures, connected by a common net, come to an integral state and come to the merging, to the drop of unity with the Creator.

That is what Jerusalem is. This is how we will see it, as the point of the highest spiritual quality, as the drop of unity. The Temple will be there, the high priest will be there, we will bring everything into this point.

But, perhaps, you suppose that Jerusalem is a city on a map? No, we are not talking about that. The material world will disappear, will rise in our perception to a spiritual level. The picture, which we see today is distorted by the forces of filth. This is a dream of those who are in materiality. But we want to awaken from the dream, then the shroud in the form of this world will disappear and we will see the true reality in which everything is united.

So the point is not in the buildings located on the Temple Mount; the work we need to do is internal. Throughout all of the years that I spent with Rabash, just once we visited Jerusalem. In his time, Baal HaSulam left Jerusalem for Jaffa. Therefore, clarify your expectations regarding the ancient stone slabs. In the branches, they symbolize what is inherent in the root, and we need them in order to get to the root from the branch. However, if we cling to the branches, then we will never arrive at the necessity for correction.

Today, the material still dominates in us. Some believe that if the stone blocks were to be arranged according to the drawings, which seem correct to us, then we will suddenly breathe the spirit of life into them, that we will endow them with holiness and spiritual force. In the same way a child makes an airplane from the materials he has at hand in the hope that it will fly.

Who really knows how to create spiritually today? It is good people are waking up, thinking about it; however, we understand that in this approach there in no spirit of life, no understanding of what really needs to be done.
[84180]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/29/12, Writings of Rabash

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Preparation to the Lesson

Writings of Baal HaSulam “Thou Hast Hemmed Me in Behind and Before,” Remember and Keep Were Said in One Utterance, Lesson 4

The Book of Zohar – Selected Excerpts “Beresheet Bet (Genesis 2),” Lesson 147

Talmud Eser Sefirot, Volume 1, Part 3, Chapter 4, Item 4, Lesson 10

“Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” Item 58, Lesson 23

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Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to the Book of Zohar,” Item 53: After he purifies the animate part of his will to receive, and turns it into a will to bestow, “until He who knows all mysteries will testify that he will not turn back to folly”…

What supports a person if not the Light that breathes life into him? Without Light, the opposite form, “existence from absence” could not exist either.

Bina, which is present between all Sefirot, is the turning point, the point of transformation. At the degree of Bina a person purifies himself from the receiving desire and then once again begins using this desire, but already with the intention for the sake of bestowal. If until now, a person constantly fought the receiving desire, now he turns to it for help.

Thus, at the stage of Bina, a person acquires support from the Upper Light, which lets him turn his desire into a partner.

The degree of Bina is a transition from childhood to adulthood. Until now a person was corrected in relation to what is more important for him. He rose above egoism again and again, preferring the Creator over it. But now that he has acquired the degree of Bina, the Light firmly holds him on that degree and a person will no longer return to his folly, will not fall into the bondage of the receiving desire. This “promise” is given to him from above, being the “testimony of He who knows all mysteries.”

That is when a person receives the permission and capabilities of working with his desire in a new way – by receiving for the sake of bestowal. Previously I couldn’t even look at this “bait.” I just turned away, trying to stay as far away from it as possible, until I rose to the level of Bina. Here I receive the Creator’s support and guarantee – He testifies that nothing bad will happen to me. Then I carefully look back on Malchut, looking for a chance to turn her into bestowal, with the help of the Creator, who constantly keeps me from falling.

This transition point from altruistic bestowal to altruistic reception is very important. Here a person needs a covenant with the Creator, firmer support from Him. After all, he will have to work with egoism for the sake of bestowal…
[84458]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/1/12, “Introduction to the Book of Zohar”

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The world is ruled by one force of bestowal. This force is called the Creator since He created the quality opposite to Himself, the desire to enjoy, in order to raise it to His level. In this way, this desire can bring itself to perfection.

That is why all of our work consists of reaching the quality of bestowal. However, we do not disappear into that, but we change the form of our desire, the initial material, to bestowing. It continues to act with all of its fierce strength and power with which it used to think only of itself before and is revealed as an unclean egoistic system, opposite to bestowal, but now this desire corrects itself and the form of its action. Now, instead of receiving, it desires to bestow.

Such a change happens due to the Light that Reforms. However, until such a change happens inside of the desire to enjoy, it absolutely does not understand what is being talked about here since it is completely located in egoistic qualities, meaning in thoughts and desires for oneself.

The change that it undergoes is truly a new birth, similar to how something develops from a drop of seed in which there is nothing besides internal information about a future person, and in the end, it finally turns into an independent personality which thinks, understands, feels, and answers for its deeds. Where does it all come from? Is it simply out of emptiness? However, in exactly the same way, our own spiritual birth happens.

This process is incomprehensible to us and hidden from us. Until we experience serious changes, we completely do not understand how all of that is being realized on matter, how the Light works, how it changes our qualities, and what is left for us from each of the levels from which we have ascended.

Man becomes confused and does not understand where he really is. It is said that the Creator is the first, and He is also the last. So, where is the human in this? Perhaps he is at least in the middle? There is an initial state of the world of infinity, and there is a final state, the return back to Infinity, and we are on the path somewhere in the middle between the former and the latter.

In addition, what can we add from ourselves to the Creator’s actions, with whom everything begins and ends? We only can speed up our development to show that we want to move toward being similar to the Creator and to not to be pushed from behind by suffering.

The Creator has created a desire to enjoy inside of me that feels the good and the bad in relation to itself, and, now, with the help of these good and bad feelings, He can control me! However, if I am controlled only by my pleasant and unpleasant feelings, then I am acting like an animal. If I want to move forward to that same goal through my own efforts, then I need to feel its importance, to receive the strength for development, acting against my nature.

I must rise above the egoistic perception of good and bad toward the perception of truth and falsehood, and consider them as the good and the bad. These forces must pull me forward, having replaced pleasure and suffering with themselves, by which I am being pushed from behind. This is called the level of a human, not an animal.

That is only possible to achieve by the means of an environment that instills into me such values, such an importance of truth and falsehood that provide the strength for my development. However, in order for that to happen, I must listen to the environment, meaning that all of my work on the attainment of the Creator and toward reaching the goal of creation—to rise from the natural feeling of good and bad toward reason, from the animal level toward the human level, from the perception of pleasure and suffering toward the perception of truth and falsehood—all of that is work with the environment.

My goal is to find an environment that has these goals and values, and to be impressed by it. Thanks to that, I will receive the strength to develop as a human and not as an animal since an animal moves only because it sees a sack of grain in front of it or if it receives blows from behind. However, a human considers pleasure and suffering to be the approaching or distancing of the quality of bestowal, the truth and the falsehood.
[84157]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/27/12, Shamati #13, “The Eighteenth Prayer”

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Preparation to the Lesson

Writings of Baal HaSulam “Thou Hast Hemmed Me in Behind and Before,” Surrender, Division, Mitigation (Sweetening), Lesson 3

The Book of Zohar – Selected Excerpts “Beresheet Bet (Genesis 2),” Lesson 146

Talmud Eser Sefirot, Part 3, Chapter 4, Item 1, Lesson 9

“Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” Item 53, Lesson 22

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Question: How can I determine that The Zohar is influencing me?

Answer: The signs appear when I begin to feel how important the group becomes for me, how essential the concern for the friends, for their existence, and the connection with them become for me—just like the goal itself, since it is by this means that we attain the goal.

This means that there is no goal that is revealed within the means as we may think now. After all, the Creator (Bore) is “Come and See” (Bo – reh). The right order of the connection between the souls, which we discover, is the Creator’s image.

This means that the group is not the means for the revelation of the Creator. The group itself becomes the Creator. It is revealed as “He and His name are one,” in adhesion with one another, where it is impossible to distinguish between them.

And there, we have no way to differentiate between “I” and the “group.” It is such unity that you melt into it and you cease to exist there. And the right order of the connection between us connects us to form a network and creates a schema of the upper worlds and turns everything into Malchut of Ein Sof (infinity). Accordingly, we ascend the levels of the revelation of the Light, the force of bestowal that flows within the system as an eternal stream of vitality and energy.

One cannot exist without the other since all the phenomena of the Light are the same vessels that operate this way from the inside. There is no Light that appears as something foreign in the system. On the contrary, the system itself begins to illuminate, as it says: “Darkness shall illuminate as the Light.” This is called Light. Nothing comes from the outside. It is the correct actions of the vessels that illuminate. There is no Light outside the vessel.
[84249]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/30/12, The Zohar

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Preparation to the Lesson

Writings of Baal HaSulam “Thou Hast Hemmed Me in Behind and Before,” Lesson 2 

The Book of Zohar – Selected Excerpts “Beresheet Bet (Genesis 2),” Lesson 145

Talmud Eser Sefirot, Part 3, Item 4, Lesson 8

“Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” Item 49, Lesson 21

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It is important to clarify exactly how we can change our desire to receive under the influence of the Light so that we will not waste our powers in vain. All we can do is to hasten the pace of our development by using the environment as a magnifying glass that brings the influence of the Light closer to us. This is actually the only thing we can do and the only thing we need.

By starting to work in a group, we learn to focus this telescope: We bring together all the rays of the Light that Reforms so that they will go exactly through the center of the group and will be focused exactly on our desire to receive. Then the desire to receive will be changed by the Light that Reforms.

We want to learn how this is done: how this ray of Light that goes through the magnifying glass grows, concentrates and is intensified, and then falls on the desire to receive and puts it through four phases. Then we will see how changes begin to take place in the desire to receive and how it becomes the opposite of what it was initially. A person begins to live not inside himself, but to rise above his desire, above the restriction and the Masach (screen) towards the Returning Light, towards bestowal, instead of receiving, and thus reaches correction.

This work in hastening the development of our desire by the Light that Reforms actually provides us with the power to understand and to attain the whole system. Although it is only the hastening of a process, it is in it that we discover all the means and all the details of creation and the process of its development. It is because in every stage that we go through, we have to orient the group differently.

So the focus through this magnifying glass constantly changes and becomes the opposite of what it was before, depending on the new external and internal conditions. We are constantly changing the influence of the group on us, and we change it with regard to the Light, with regard to the Creator. Eventually we build a new system inside us, above our desire to receive. The group becomes my world. Instead of a tiny point of desire, I receive a whole world, the enormous system of the world of Ein Sof (Infinity).

It is thanks to the desire we have that we begin to attain this system called the “group,” an infinite system in its finite form, and thus receive the means that raises us above our desire to receive.

The whole level of bestowal is called “self-sacrifice.” It means that a person has totally detached himself from his desire to receive, which means that he “sacrifices himself.” Of course, the whole correction is done by the Light, and we only have to adjust and to focus its influence on us through the environment, to connect these three components like a gun sight, so that they are all arranged in one straight line.

Then we will have no more doubts that we have to get close to the Light’s nature and so we imagine the society this way and want the Light to influence us through it. Eventually all these components become one whole.

The level of love is revealed after the level of self-sacrifice. Then a person understands what the goal of creation called “to do good to His created beings” means.

We gradually rise by keeping a certain condition and thanks to this we discover a little more understanding as to the Creator’s intention regarding the creation. Thus we advance: First there is the correction of the vessels by the Light that Reforms and then we attain the thought of creation.
[84030]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/26/12, Shamati #219

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Question: What condition is our group facing now in order to rise to the next level?

Answer: The main thing is to use the two forces correctly, the two ends. On the one hand it says: “And his heart shall rise in ways of the Lord.” Since if a person isn’t proud that he is following God’s way, he will not be able to resist the egoistic forces, the “shells” as he goes out against the world opinion.

But on the other hand, if he is not modest and humble, this pride will not be the right pride. This is why he has to be submissive before the Light that Reforms and understand that only the Light performs the changes and can give him the desire to bestow.

After every success a person has to say, it isn’t I and my own power that did this, but everything was done from Above and its success was predetermined. So instead of feeling proud in one’s achievements and accomplishments, he has to be proud that the Creator has chosen him and has raised him to this level, so that now he will be able to use it in order to bestow and thus get closer to the Creator.

He shouldn’t aim the success towards himself but rather from himself towards bestowal.

Thus we begin to learn and to use the success we have reached to advance correctly. After all, this state, like we are in now, when a person feels that he has attained something, can be a great obstacle for one’s advancement.

A person falls off track because of the imaginary failures or successes. These are two polar states. As a result of the failures he loses hope, despairs, escapes, and feels disappointed. But when he succeeds, it is even a greater problem, since it can draw him even further from the Creator, as it says: “He and I cannot dwell in the same abode.”

There are people who are more immune to that and there are those who are less immune. But if a person doesn’t forget the importance of the goal and he is clean with regards to it, it guards him. Otherwise he can be bribed by a good job, a respected name, a good reputation, or by being successful in the eyes of others. It will not be a clean calculation that is only aimed from him outward.
[84028]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/26/12, Shamati #219

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Preparation to the Lesson

Writings of Baal HaSulam “Thou Hast Hemmed Me in Behind and Before”

The Book of Zohar – Selected Excerpts “Beresheet Bet (Genesis 2),” Lesson 144

Talmud Eser Sefirot, Part 3, Item 2, Lesson 7

“Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” Item 48, Lesson 20

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Zohar - No Comments →