Question: Can we reach a true prayer artificially, through games?

Answer: Advancement is only possible through prayer, by the revelation of the deficiency. If you wish to count how many times and in what way you advanced, then you have to take into account the moments in which you discovered a deficiency for the Creator from the bottom of your heart.

This deficiency activates the Reforming Light. What depends on you is only the prayer, (the raising of MAN), then accordingly you can calculate things. How many times do you recall that you raised MAN yesterday by discovering a need for the Creator inside you and the desire to advance towards bestowal upon others, the group, and the connection with the friends and the rest of humanity?

Did you yearn for that yesterday, at least to some extent? If you didn’t, then there was no yesterday; you have erased that day from your history!
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/24/12, Writings of Rabash

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The four hundred years of exile were given to us so that we would cry out and reach a true prayer. When you finally cry out “Help!”,  you come out of exile.

So, the conflict between the “shell” and “holiness” is about one question: Who will rule? Is it the human part in a person or the Creator that is in a person?

This is the middle neutral point called the middle third of Tifferet, the shell of Noga. The Creator rules the upper part, as it is written, “There is none else besides Him,” and below, Pharaoh, or myself.

Here in the free neutral point we have to clarify many things, because each time, Pharaoh grows stronger and denies the Creator’s control. This is after you have decided that the Creator should rule and you are totally under the domination of the Upper that does everything. For a moment I imagined this whole picture in my mind.

This isn’t easy since I am constantly confused about who the Creator is, who rules, and where my place and the place of others is. It is very difficult, here, to keep things balanced, as if standing on one leg on a high pole in a circus constantly trying to maintain balance, trying not to fall.

I need the Creator’s help here that He will give me the force of bestowal, which will make me independent of my desire to receive. Otherwise I will constantly need to stabilize the picture of reality in me that is absolutely impossible, and will have to balance on one leg on a pole like a circus performer. Only the power of bestowal can provide me with such a safety net and balance.

Thus, our point of freedom, “the shell of Noga” is revealed on the lowest level, “the middle third of Tifferet,” that obliges us to answer the question as to who will rule and “Who is the Lord that I should listen to His voice?”
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/25/12, Writings of Rabash 

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Our goal is to reach a true prayer, which means to understand what we lack. It is true because it is accepted Above. This means that a deficiency on the part of the lower one and a deficiency on the part of the upper one have to be equal, the lower should ask for exactly what the upper one wants to give him.

This means that I have to feel that I only lack bestowal and the understanding that only the Creator can give me this filling: the force of bestowal and the ability to bestow, all the necessary conditions. The Creator has to reveal the desire to bestow and how to reach it inside me by showing me upon whom and what I can bestow.

This whole system of connection is called the Torah. And both the Light and our ability to bestow are included in it. But until then I have to work and first of all check what I want, what desires there are inside me, and to what extent they are all in order to receive.

Then I become included in the right environment and with its help, I gradually begin to change. I already begin to hear that the spiritual world isn’t meant for self-pleasure, but for the good of others. I realize this gradually and with great difficulty. I hear about it, but it takes a long time until I really understand this in my mind and feel it in my heart.

There is a great distance between simple awareness and actually doing something. We have to exert ourselves while in our natural ego in order to perform actions that are totally opposite to it, that are aimed at connection and bestowal. Even though it may be artificial and against my will, it is still called “above reason.”

But what can fuel my machine, what can be the reward? After all, I can’t work so that others will feel better, I don’t see any benefit in it and I can’t even move a finger for this cause, I can’t perform even the slightest action. My nature doesn’t work on bestowal energy. I don’t feel someone else’s desire as my own in a way that I can fill it and feel as if I fill myself.

In the meantime, I don’t feel anything, and it is as if others don’t exist for me. To fill the others is against my interests. So I operate mechanically, as if I bestow upon them and connect with them. Actually I do it for my own sake.

However, I understand that this is what “You labored and you found” means! I exert myself, and in the meantime the Light influences me and changes something in my soul. Gradually I begin to feel the greatness of the Creator and the importance of the environment, but it takes years to reach this internal attitude.

I advance by first realizing that bestowal is good for my own sake, and gradually I begin to perceive the importance of the attribute of bestowal itself. There are ups and downs on this path. One time I may value bestowal more and another time I may want to use it for my own sake, to enjoy the fact that I am on this path. Sometimes I don’t think about it at all, but only about receiving, and then I wonder about wasting my time and I have doubts about the whole way. So I advance by going through all these states.

The goal of the advancement is to bring me to a true prayer. I receive all the elements of this prayer from the environment. There is nothing in a person himself that can bring him to spiritual attainment. He needs a teacher that will constantly guide him, he needs a group in which he fulfills the whole process, and he needs books through which he receives the Light that Reforms.

These three elements are not part of our desire to receive and of the corporeal life. And they must be organized so that with their help we can attain the importance of the spiritual properties.

This is possible only by the Light. How can I otherwise wish for something that brings me no self benefit but only requires that I make efforts, and what is more to enjoy it. But the Light gradually cleans me and gives me this ability, and then I begin to value the spiritual connection with the Creator.

I attain a true deficiency, which is very powerful. Besides, its truth is proven to me since the Creator accepts it and responds to my request. Thus we meet Him for the first time “face-to-face,” the Creator’s deficiency connects with the deficiency of the created being.

This means that the Creator is revealed and then a person rises above his ego and begins to work in order to bestow. This whole process is divided into two parts: The first phase is the preparation for the true prayer. The moment we attain it, we begin to advance with it by gradually revealing a greater deficiency. But from the moment we attain this true deficiency our attainment of the Creator begins.
[76157]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/24/12, Writings of Rabash

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Question: How can we explain the influence of a Kabbalistic book on a person to the general population?

Answer: As I study a book on psychology, I begin to reveal different phenomena in myself. I talk to others in the group of people who want to change who are using the group therapy method. We work on ourselves, I uncover my reactions, I get to know my own character, and I compare it to others.

Suppose we are scientists who gathered in a group. Within it, each studies its own nature about the natures of others. A book helps us: It was written by an intelligent person who gives necessary explanations. Thanks to that, I no longer view myself from within, but try, to whatever extent possible, to look from the side, from an objective position, in order to understand who I am, what I am, what for and why… . What is this creature that is me? Of course, in our world there is no true objectivity, no real separation from oneself, but an approach does exist, and through its means we come to all kinds of results.

Freud, who was one of the founders of this approach, acted very logically. However, material society can only design experiments based on the details extracted from life, from the matter that appears before our eyes. If we grasp something from it on an empirical, experimental basis, then that’s what we can use without crossing the boundaries of a rational approach based exclusively on experimental data.

How is this different from the wisdom of Kabbalah? In it, I work exactly like psychologists do, without knowing or prejudging anything in advance. Desiring to know and study myself, I come to a group like to a School of Psychology. I have teachers and textbooks, and they speak to me about myself, explaining what it is that I am. Only their explanations penetrate further inward and touch upon the deepest layers of my being.

It turns out that there, on the inside, there are two forces: reception and bestowal, though not like the ones in our world, but fundamental ones, which govern me and all of nature. Kabbalah speaks about perception of reality, but again, penetrating deeper than psychology. I learn how I am connected to everyone else; I begin to understand to what extent the picture that I’m seeing is true. It turns out that when I address someone, I address that image which is depicted inside of me.

All these aren’t fantasies but real, material facts. I only need to check how I perceive reality, what in that perception depends on my properties, and which of those properties I am able to change.

And here they explain to me that there is a property called “reception” and I’m currently in it and it defines my entire psychology of the perception of reality. I look at everything through just one prism: “How can I enjoy what I’m seeing?” The egoistic desire inside me wants only one thing: to receive pleasure. And this is why the images that appear inside of me are dictated by my egoistic desire: Each time I am gauging the extent of pleasure or, conversely, of hatred and rejection. Should I bring a given detail closer or push it away? This is how I evaluate everything, and the contours of everything that I am seeing appear in this mirror. They seemingly appear in front of me, but in reality, they are within me, inside my receiving desire.

In this manner, I begin to understand how I am perceiving reality and how I can rise above the current perception, replacing it with a true one. “Your next degree,” Kabbalists tell me, “is a transition from a receiving view of the world toward a bestowing one.” I’ll simply acquire a new tool that will help me discover where I actually am.

And then, when I discover a second reality, two possibilities will appear before me: to perceive either through reception again or through bestowal. It’s impossible to make do with just one of these forms; I need to completely master both of them. By attaining reality in bestowal, I attain it in reception. It is written “The Creator made one against the other”; I ascend in two lines and they both grow in me equally until I acquire knowledge of the system, the method, the formula, which would allow me to use them in a form that is excellent for my desire. In other words, I fill both the receiving and giving desires within me in an optimal, best possible way. The formula is always based on a limiting value, such is its necessary condition: “You will receive nothing other than the maximum.”

This is what we study in the wisdom of Kabbalah, and we study it in a group, that is, in a laboratory that includes chemistry, physics, biology, zoology, and other components. On the whole, we explore the foundations of universal Nature, which, ultimately, is a receiving desire and a giving desire, and also intentions to receive and to bestow.

This is why I became so happy when I discovered it back then. In science, everyone is occupied with his narrow segment of the field—but then what? While here, the very foundations of Nature lay before us. First, we’ll reveal reality for ourselves and grasp the fact that everything is inside and there’s nothing outside. All of reality unfolds internally within its borders, and we reveal all of it completely.

We do not know what comes after that, but the approach remains entirely scientific. There are no contradictions here; on the contrary, the Kabbalistic method is so universal and all encompassing, so fundamental that it supplies us with ease and simplicity in everything.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/10/12, Writings of Rabash

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The spiritual work is different from the work we do in this world. This world is the world of actions. I perform a certain action in order to get a certain result. There is a thought, there is a goal, a plan, and accordingly I begin to work to fulfill the action in order to reach the goal—this is how I perform the whole process.

But in spiritual work we have another key partner that does the work. We only create the work for Him. He works and performs all the actions, the plan is His and He does everything. We are only responsible for the fact that we can activate Him.

The boss here is the Creator, He has His own plan and all the materials and the power to fulfill it, everything that is needed. Everything takes place according to a predetermined plan, but only if we hasten it.

It is as if there is a lazy contractor that undertook to build us a house, but we always have to come to him and ask that he do something. As long as you demand, he does; the moment you stop demanding, he immediately stops. We fuel this machine and only then does it begin to work.

It is very hard for us to internalize this, to understand, and to feel it because we don’t feel the one who performs this work and we think that we have to do everything by ourselves! What is more, this work is done on us, so we don’t really perceive what is happening.

If I could see the Creator and understand that everything depends on Him, then I would certainly constantly ask Him, beg, and urge Him. The problem is that I don’t feel Him! This is the essence of the concealment of the Creator, that I don’t feel that I am in His hands, and so I don’t ask Him to do anything.

I don’t feel that I depend on Him, but I think that everything is within my abilities. This concealment created the egoistic power in me, a shell, by making me feel sure that I myself will rule! So the Pharaoh in me says: “Who is the Lord, that I should listen to His voice? Do everything by yourself!”

This is the point where the domination of the ego is revealed; this is the place where the “shell” and the “Holiness” in me clash.

“I rule!”, means that I will do everything by myself and not the Creator. I prefer to do everything by myself, instead of asking Him to do something. But we know that our work is to reach the request. This is the only thing that we need. Then everything happens by itself.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/25/12, Writings of Rabash

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Preparation to the Lesson

Writings of Baal HaSulam “Igrot,” Letter 13

Zohar for All – Passover “Bo (Come Unto Pharaoh),” “And Pass Over the Lintel and the Two Mezuzahs (Doorposts),” Item 88

Talmud Eser Sefirot, Part 15, Item 43

Lesson Topic: The Israeli Nation (Independence Day)

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During the Plagues of Egypt, the Creator said to Moses, “Go unto Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may show these signs of mine among them” (Exodus 10:1). Due to the blows that our egoism gets, the Creator grows between us. He grows on these “indications,” these  signs, when we discover in our egoistic desire how controlled, dependent, and helpless it is. Yes, it reigns over us, but in fact, it is stupid. Its moral and physical weakness is exposed before us.

Once egoism pushed us forward helping us build a life. But in the end, it turns out that by using it, we get negative results that are clearly seen. And even if the masses don’t want to know anything in their narrow-mindedness, we need only look at the deeds of humanity and we see that it truly destroys itself and nature.

If we observed such development of events on another planet, we would conclude that its inhabitants weren’t sensible beings. It would seem that some misfortune had taken their mind away, and that they had begun to cut the branch they’re sitting on, to block the channel that feeds them.

Twenty to thirty more years will pass by, and humanity will be left with nothing. We have created a terrible world, a pyramid of endless gain that generates profit by adding more and more new people. Once this growth runs out, everything collapses. However, while the pocket is still full, man continues to play.

The whole world economy is built by the Americans on the principle of the pyramid, of enriching its top at the expense of growing production and consumption. But here comes the crash: There is nowhere to grow, and thus nothing can happen but the collapse of the pyramid. A consumer society based on purchasing power has come to an end. There is nowhere to outsource production, there is no one else to involve; the Earth is round and not so big. It’s interesting how parallels appeared between our pyramid and ancient Egypt, the country of pyramids.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/23/12, Writings of Rabash

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Nowadays, the group cannot be closed within itself; it cannot avoid bringing the method to the masses. It would no longer be a group and wouldn’t be the wisdom of Kabbalah.

Isolation cannot be considered; otherwise, we simply won’t survive. On the contrary, each day, the world is demanding more and more from us.

It is now beginning to understand on what its good future depends, how to be rescued from the crisis or to sweeten it a little bit. So far, there are searches, but already it is becoming clear that a new direction must be taken to advance man, and it is not science or technology.

The main thing is people’s inner world and the mutual connection between them. As humanity understands this, it discovers its helplessness.

Likewise with us, we are investing great effort on the spiritual path, and we don’t see results. In the meantime, we have no other choice. We must change ourselves.

External experts also understand this, but here the question appears, “How can we do it?” Even we accept with great difficulty the thought that the Light that Reforms is the only means.

Sometimes, it is only after ten years that a person understands that it is specifically this Light that we must place first. It turns out that my efforts need to be directed toward this in order to awaken the Light, and it will execute the task.

Indeed, the world today is in a similar state where many are searching. They are searching for ways in which it is possible to change a person. In the end, they will see that it is only through integral education that we, the Arvut movement (Mutual Guarantee), recommend.

The world will discover this. They have no other choice. Then, the world will really need us. In the meantime, we need to disseminate this knowledge and system to people as much possible so that it will be easier for them to accelerate time.
[76051]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/23/12, Writings of Rabash

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Why wasn’t it enough for us to receive one page of text from our teachers, from Kabbalists, from the great sages, who discovered the whole upper system and the upper force that will connect us to them? Instead they wrote many articles about different states, about holidays, and about all the levels of attaining the Creator. After all, there is nothing but the attainment of the upper force by studying the changes that occur in the upper system.

Kabbalists described all these states because we have to draw the Reforming Light, in every possible way, in every direction, in all the levels, although we are not there yet.

Today we are reading about these states at the time that matches their corporeal branches, the special time that is connected to Passover: We read about the exodus from the exile in Egypt and about the Passover sacrifice, which means how to come closer (the same Hebrew root korban and karov), and transcend the Machsom (barrier). Besides, we are doing it together in the group, and this symbolizes the whole essence of the exodus from Egypt, of the transition from separation to connection.

We feel the separation as being enslaved to our desire to receive, as separation and shattering. Connection seems like freedom, redemption, the desired miracle! If we read the articles with this intention and want to draw the Reforming Light, it will come.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabblah Lesson 4/22/12, Zohar for All

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The Book of Zohar, “Bo (Come unto Pharaoh),” The Passover Sacrifice, Item 189: When the Creator came to Egypt, He saw the Passover blood written on the door, and the covenant blood—how they were standing at the door.

Question: How can I keep the right intention while reading The Book of Zohar?

Answer: There is no doubt that I can’t keep the right intention, but I need to imagine the state I want to be in now.

First I need to totally detach myself from the voice of the announcer, as if I don’t hear anything. I know that I am connected to a pipe through which the Light flows unto me and it can either help me or harm me: it can become the “elixir of life” or the “potion of death.” It all depends on how I hear!

It is as if I put on earphones, but I turn the volume down and don’t want to hear. First I want to know what energy, what force, reaches me through these channels, how the Reforming Light should influence me. Do I receive it like a bat and sink even more deeply into the darkness, or like a rooster that expects the dawn? It all depends on my intention and so I have to clarify this first.

So first I block my ears in order not to hear anything. What should I do now so that the Light that reaches me will heal me? I don’t want the snake that is the symbol of medicine, to turn into a real snake and poison me with its lethal venom. The same poison can be used as a medicine even though it comes from the same source, from the same snake. In order to do that I have to prepare myself, to be in a group together with the friends, to want to connect with them in my heart and soul to become one man in one heart, to attain such a love into which we can all dissolve and feel ourselves as one whole.

To the extent that we can reach that by the Light that Reforms us into one body, we will feel the force that unites us, the Creator, internally. We will feel the source of the Surrounding Light. The Light determines the connection among us. The source of the Light is the Creator who is revealed in the vessel that is arranged correctly.

First I have to imagine this whole state accurately. When I see it before me by imagining it emotionally and even visually, I gradually begin to unclog my ears. Then I turn on the volume in order to hear the announcer’s voice, as long as I can keep the image I have created in my mind. But if what is going on disturbs me from keeping that image, I turn the volume down again. If it doesn’t disturb me, I follow that voice.

I try to hear the announcer and no matter what is being said: whether it is about Passover, the blood of the circumcision on the door, the details about the exodus from Egypt, I try to find all these discernments in that image in which we are all connected.

I don’t depict the image according to the corporeal meaning of the words which the “language of the branches” uses, but rather translate them into the “language of the spiritual roots”: Sefirot, Partzufim, reception and bestowal, the connection between us and the Creator, and the unity of the concepts “Israel, the Torah and the Creator.” I immediately get rid of the actual words, as from an unwanted shell. It is as if I clean the shell off the nuts before I begin to eat them, and thus I get rid of corporeal concepts and immediately move on from the branches to the roots.

I try to imagine what it looks like in the spiritual roots: what is the meaning of “lintel,” “Mezuzah,” or “blood.” Even if I don’t understand, it makes no difference. The main thing is my efforts, wanting to know what is being studied, to connect to what is being studied. The Reforming Light influences me according to my efforts.

We must constantly repeat these exercises over and over again, in every book that we study: the articles of Rabash and Baal HaSulam, The Study of the Ten Sefirot, The Zohar, the Mishnah, Shulchan Aruch, all the books are about how to connect the broken vessel.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabblah Lesson 4/22/12, The Zohar 

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