Question: If connection occurs on the spiritual level, why do we need to come to the convention and meet in person?

Answer: You don’t think that it’s possible to disconnect from the Internet entirely and instead of the lesson, to sit with your eyes closed and connect to us through internal channels, do you? Evidently, you’re not yet prepared for such internal connection and will begin to daydream and meditate.

We understand each other better when we meet. It’s necessary to meet at least once in order to feel what that is. We receive impressions from this world, from the five bodily senses of perception, and therefore we need to feel each other through the regular senses. We’re animals, not angels.

Our brain consists largely of cells that perceive smells, and they grow like seaweed covering the ocean floor. Despite all of our modern virtual networks, we act in this world according to our animal instincts. This is why we need the most direct contact; otherwise, on a subconscious level we’ll lack a great amount of data needed for a higher connection.

We are required to meet since we live in this world and from this world we begin our spiritual ascent along the rungs of the ladder! Thus, if we won’t lay the foundation for this ladder, we won’t be able to climb it.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/9/2012, “Questions and Answers Regarding the Brazil Congress”

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If there were no spark of bestowal inside the desire to enjoy, it would not develop. How did a human being evolve from an ape? An ape operates purely by instinct, and a huge question arises: How in the process of evolution, from what type and kind, and in what way did a human suddenly appear? How could he develop from an animal?

His desire to know the upper force, his Creator, raises a human above the animal. It is explained by the presence of the spiritual spark developing inside a human being. This spark can be of four types, four levels, and that it is why there are different kinds of people more or less close to spiritual work.

If the spiritual spark begins to speak inside of my desire to enjoy, I already have two qualities—one against the other. I can compare them and decide what to do: to work for the sake of my egoism or for the sake of the spark of bestowal.

The spark of bestowal can bring my desire to enjoy a great gain. If we had been guided only by the desire to enjoy, we would have remained animals that do not evolve. But if we have the spark carrying the force of bestowal, we begin to use it to our advantage. Thus humanity developed.

In the beginning, a man used to bring his prey to his cave only for his family. But then he saw that it was too much, and his family could not eat everything. Then he gave a half to his neighbor and exchanged it for something useful. The egoistic desire was constantly growing, and he did not want to just share with everyone; thus, began mutually beneficial exchange.

The desire to enjoy was growing, the desire to bestow was increasing at the same time, and a human was getting smarter. He invented trade and markets, which exists to this day. Only it stimulated all our development, as it is said: “Go and earn money from each other.”

But this was not the main gain, it was the qualities that we learned from each other in the course of this trade. Thus, the desire to enjoy was growing due to the presence of the desire to bestow in it.
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From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/11/12, “The Gate of Intentions”

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Preparation to the Lesson
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Writings of Rabash “Show Me Your Respect”
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Zohar for All – Passover “Bo (Come Unto Pharaoh),” “And It Came to Pass at Midnight,” Item 129
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Writings of the Rabash “Dargot HaSulam”
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Question: What is an internal preparation for the convention?

Answer: Internal preparation is a reverence for the property of bestowal as the force, property, value, that is above everything. On the basis of such preparation, you can then continue and work out various individual states, actions, and goals in order to reach the common goal and realize this property of bestowal within our matter, the desire to enjoy.

I am asking everyone to send their suggestions on how to conduct the convention in Brazil. We will discuss them during the lessons, and in this way we will learn from our common action and prepare our common desire. In other words, the convention will be a realization of what we will prepare together.

Everybody must prepare themselves, wherever in the world they may be. It cannot be that a person returns from work, does all the household chores, and when there is a little free time left, suddenly remembers that there is a convention going on, turns on the broadcast, and begins to watch.

Nothing will come out of it. A person should prepare in advance, anticipate, and plan what he will be doing together with us and how he will advance due to these actions. The action itself is worth nothing; everything depends on the preparation.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/9/2012, “Questions and Answers Regarding the Brazil Congress”  

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If we are in our desire to receive yearning only to receive a filling, we don’t feel that there is something else outside our desire. We only understand that there is a void in us that must be filled and that feels that it is empty. As long as our desire doesn’t receive all the filling, it will not calm down. It is like a crying baby that doesn’t calm down until he receives everything that he needs.

How can we teach such a desire to receive another pleasure, pleasure from bestowal? It doesn’t even understand what it is, and cannot feel and do such a thing. But gradually we begin to teach it according to a plan.

The whole study is based on the readiness to suffer, because the desire needs to give up its filling, to give up the desire for the filling, to give up the feeling of the self, the self pride, the envy, the respect, and the control, which means its independence.

At first a person thinks that he can correct himself, until he sees that it is impossible, and that it can only be realized by the upper force. He learns from failing all the time. Thus he is taught that he should lower his head and ask, ask for the one thing that he doesn’t want. Then he receives help and changes, becoming his opposite, by beginning to enjoy what was hateful before.

We have to go through this whole process in understanding, in recognition, in agreement, in our feelings and in the mind, in our consciousness. Everything you were proud of before and considered respectable, now seems the opposite, and you discover your lowliness and your helplessness. Our desire to receive, which doesn’t know anything but to fill itself, feels all this when it learns about a totally new method.

This process takes place according to the three symbols: “Pesach” (Passover), “Matzah,” and “Maror” (bitter herb). It is called “Pesach” from the Hebrew root to skip, as a person constantly jumps from one side to its opposite, and so he turns his small measures of receiving into bestowal. He does that by Matzah, “the bread of affliction,” since he has no other food and he agrees to settle for what he receives from bestowal.

A person constantly raises the importance of bestowal, while his desire to receive only gets the “bitter herb.” Thus he raises the right line, the Matzah, over the left line, the bitter herb, like a hero who overcomes the bitter taste and wants to turn it to the sweetness of bestowal. Then he reaches Pesach, the changing of his consciousness.

By the new attitude towards the desire to receive, that doesn’t change, he builds the human in him. “Adam” (Man) is what is built above the desire. This is the system that begins to work according to the new principle with the same natural attributes, but by using them in order to bestow.

The mechanism, that is created by that is made of all the person’s actions and exertions as he overcomes his desire to receive, is what is called “Adam.” All this is done by the three special components that symbolize the holiday of freedom from the ego, Pesach, that are called Pesach, Matzah, and bitter herb.
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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 role of our general, international group is to give the world the method of correction. This group is in contact with the Light that Reforms—for itself and for the whole world. This group today is called “Israel.” What is special about it?

Let’s start from the fact that the Surrounding Light (Ohr Makif or OM), meaning the Light that Reforms, is at the upper degree, and it is abstracted and concealed from us. But it can shine upon us to the extent that we awaken ourselves. Thus we can turn to the Light and it can respond to our request.

When does it answer our request? When the request matches the Light, that is, if we ask according to the way it is designated to respond. We are Galgalta ve Eynaim (GE), or Israel. And besides, we have to connect to AHP and to get a response from it. Together, GE and AHP make up ten Sefirot, meaning a spiritual Partzuf, or the general creature.

From this we can understand what is happening to us. We have to awaken the nations of the world (1) so that they will want change (2) To do that, we have to turn to the Light that Reforms (3) and to get its help (4) so that we will change ourselves and will serve AHP.

So what should we do in the meantime? Kabbalists say that in the meantime there is nothing we can do. Similarly, the wisdom of Kabbalah was concealed throughout history: People kept and passed it on in secret because the masses didn’t feel the need for it. But when the world went into a new era that requires the revelation of the wisdom of Kabbalah, then the “corporeal” people of Israel got their land back in order to carry out their mission and Kabbalists began to talk about this wisdom.

Everything exists for AHP, for the nations of the world, generality that essentially includes all of humanity. In this sense everyone is equal in the eyes of the Creator. And indeed, it says that in the end of correction all people in the world will know the Creator.

Still, before we perform the first action and turn to the nations, we have to be ready for that. Therefore, we are given the chance to make the first steps without any connection to them, without their knowledge, and so we develop during the first years, thus preparing ourselves for the job.

But at a certain point we cannot advance any further if we don’t become the means for the correction of the nations, that is, if we don’t bring them the method of correction. And while doing so, we don’t correct anyone—it is the upper Light that corrects everyone, including us.

So we should ask ourselves about our role more assertively. The answer is that we exist only in order to bring correction to the world. We can stay on the level of Hafetz Hesed, on the level of Bina, that has no desire for itself and is totally aimed at the needs of the lower one. For this purpose Bina is divided into GE that are aimed at the Creator and AHP that are aimed at creation, and the cutting line between these two parts is our free will.

This is the role of Bina. All our dissemination, all our attitude towards people should be determined by this schema.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/9/2012, “The Role of Israel and the World” 

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Baal HaSulam, “One Commandment”: The essence of prophetic success is to extend the upper Light to the dwellers below. The one who brings it lowest is the most successful.

This is very important because the corrections are performed from the lightest to the most difficult. The light layers of the broken vessel have already been corrected in previous generations, while in our generation we begin to correct the lowest, thickest, and worst layer to which we ourselves belong.

The general desire is divided into five levels (0-4) of Aviut, or “thickness,” depth of the desire. In the drawing, they are marked on the time axis according to which we perform our correction, from the lightest to the most difficult one, as said before. The principle of the “descent of the generations” stems from this: Each generation is worse than the previous one in terms of its ego. As a result, we advance from the lightest Reshimot (reminiscences) to the most difficult ones.

Today we have reached the final stage of the generation of Mashiach (Messiah): the correction of the last layers of the desire to receive. Of course, this is difficult. The world is immersed in the ego, people are unable to be considerate of one another, they distance from one another: a person from a person, a man from a woman, and children from parents. Countries, nations—everything is falling apart, disintegrating.

So it says: “The essence of prophetic success is to extend the upper Light to the dwellers below. The one who brings it lowest is the most successful.” And so we should “descend” to the masses, not only to those who lead a good life, but also people who have the worst attributes and the greatest resistance. We are trying to reach everyone and to convey our message to them, considering, of course, the circumstances in each place.

Our success depends on this. It is measured namely by how deep we can dive. Baal HaSulam writes about this in “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” Item 63: “Thus, in our generation, although the essence of the souls is the worst, which is why they could not be selected for Kedusha thus far, they are the ones that complete the Partzuf of the world and the Partzuf of the souls with respect to the Kelim, and the work completed only through them.”
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From the Preparation for the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/11/2012 

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“And here is the ladder standing on the ground and its head stretched to Heaven, and here are the Lord’s angels going up and down” (Jacob’s Dream, Chapter “VaYetze” ).

Rabash: “Angels” who go up and down the ladder are people who say that they were sent into this world to perform corrections, and that is why they are called angels. If they see that they are in a state of descent, darkness, they should “descend.” But first they were in an ascent, otherwise it is impossible to feel that one is in a state of descent.… So only as much as you aspire to do good will you see how much evil is in you.

It mainly relates to the work in the group. The more a person tries to do good in it, the faster he discovers that he is not able to and he has no chance to advance. To discover the real darkness, we must rise first. It’s just like it says: “The advantage of the Light is from the darkness.”

First you need to rise, to receive new attributes and discernments, and to be closer to bestowal in order to later see what is going on in you. Then you will always see greater darkness inside you.

Of course, the darkness wasn’t created now, you simply didn’t notice it before. By rising above it and being able to compare different attributes and values, you can now see that you were in the dark, in your egoistic desires.

This is why we should aspire only to the good and the evil will be revealed by itself. There are people who are looking for the evil, digging into it, and drowning in it. However, the real evil is revealed only by ascending and experiencing joy, by understanding how good it is that the evil has been revealed. Even when a person reveals the evil, he is happy. It is a sign that the evil is purposeful, that is revealed along the way, and that an ascent is constant.

But if a person falls and despairs, if he tortures himself, it is a sign that he isn’t on the right track yet. A person should advance by the left line too, and not only by the right line—by walking on two legs forward. But he shouldn’t sink into the left line, into a descent.

If a person receives support from the environment and the books, if he listens to the teacher, learns, and understands that he must only think about the positive advancement that is awaiting him ahead, and not about anything bad—only about the greatness of the Creator, then he saves time and advances constantly.

On the way upward there are dark and bright moments. And specifically where everything first seemed totally bright he now discovers the darkness, and more and more each time. This means that he discovers the left line in an ascent.
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From the Preparation for the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/11/2012 

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The Zohar, Chapter “BeShalach (When Pharaoh Had Let the People Go),” Item 11: And she said, “I dwell within my people.” What does that mean? When judgment is hanging over the world, a person should not separate himself from the public, and he should not be distinguished from Above, and he should not be known separately.

Because when judgment is hanging over the world, those who are known and registered separately, although they are righteous, are caught first. And so a person should never detach himself from the people. Because the Creator’s mercy is always with all of the people together. And because of that she said, “I dwell within my people and I don’t want to separate from them, like I did until this day.”

It relates to both the external, corporeal perception and to the inner, spiritual one. Let’s start with the latter.

A unified soul was divided into many parts. “Within my people” means within the commonality that was created from the combination of the disconnected parts, which correct themselves by connecting with one another. They overcome their individual ego that repels them from one another and form “the Creator’s people.” After all, these parts share the intention of in order to bestow and by that they resemble the Creator. That is why they are called “My people.” It refers to a collection of individual, shattered vessels that gather with the intention of in order to bestow, which the Creator also has.

These parts connect with a mutual intention of in order to bestow in order to become the support, the vessel for the revelation of the Creator as the general attribute of bestowal. And of course, the phenomenon called “Creator” (Bo–Reh), which means “come and see,” is revealed in this assembly. This is the formula for the revelation of the Creator in the corrected vessels: “I dwell within my people.”

On the corporeal plane, it means that the great masses of people are under the general Providence, which sets them in motion.

Later on The Zohar speaks about judgment that “depends on the world.” “The world” means concealment, an egoistic connection, in which the general collective ego is revealed.  And “a person should not retreat from the collective.” We may ask why? If the attribute of the ego, “judgment,” is revealed in the people, then why shouldn’t I escape it?

The fact of the matter is that looking through the spiritual prism, I see a totally different picture. I see all my desires that depict the imaginary “external world” for me. If I discover the attribute of judgment in them, I have to correct them by the attribute of bestowal and lead this rule to the attribute of in order to bestow. This is the mission of Israel: Instead of running away from the collective, I should be inside it trying to correct it.

The Zohar continues, “when judgment is hanging over the world, those who are known and registered separately, although they are righteous, are caught first.” Why? Because if a certain attribute of a person is aimed at bestowal, it is “caught first” and begins to operate in order to receive as the source of the Light lies specifically in it.

It is the same in our world, as Baal HaSulam says at the end of “Introduction to The Book of Zohar” that “judgment” strikes the best of us. Therefore people who reach the heights of attainment live in distress.

“The Creator’s mercy is always with all of the people together” because this is where correction is performed. So if we want to be corrected and to advance, we mustn’t detach ourselves from the public. We must do everything possible to be in it, to feel it as much as we can although it isn’t pleasant, and to worry about people, introducing knowledge, sensation, and everything possible to them just to make sure they advance. They are the Creator’s real goal and He is revealed only in our connection with the people, like the spark in the desire to receive.

Therefore it says, “I dwell within my people and I don’t want to be separated from them, as I was until today.”
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/11/2012, “The Role of Israel and the World” 

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For thousands of years, our development continues on the inanimate, vegetative, and animate stages, which are not simple at all since they are based on the shattering of the first spiritual entity (Man), meaning the split souls. Since the moment they were shattered, each broken element includes all others in it. Each particle acquired a chance to live: to receive and to bestow, to consume and to discharge.

All forms of existence emerged from two forces, receiving and giving. The desire for pleasure in its pure form cannot subsist on its own. It needs some force that acts against it, meaning that it requires the desire to bestow.

This is how matter (desire) develops until it reaches a human (speaking) phase, which in its turn also starts to progress. The human level of advancement needs special “treatment” in that it requires a higher intensity of spiritual power. That’s why a specific group of people called “Israel” transpired; the direct translation of the word “Israel” is “Yashar-El,” “straight to the Creator.”

After exiting Babylon, this group of people descended to Egypt in order to absorb additional, powerful desires while still being in a state of immense aspiration; it was called the “Egyptian exile.” After getting an additional portion of the desire to receive, this group was granted a chance to work with it in order to transform it into the desire for bestowal.

At that time, the world’s nations used to be at an average level from which this particular group of people fell to the degree of “minus four hundred (400) years, which stands for “Egyptian exile.” It dropped 400 steps in accordance with the full circle of development, four phases of the Direct Light.

While in Egypt, the group acquired additional desire, and along with the additional desire, the group exited Egypt, received the Torah, and rose to the level of the First Temple. However, it ws destroyed and fell; the Second Temple was constructed, but it again was destroyed. As a result, the group descended to the depth of the last (current) exile where we are all at this time.

The degree of the fall that happened during Egyptian slavery equals the level at the time when the Temples existed. All of the above happened to make us drop from our prior height and reach the final shattering (exile) that continues to this date. The downfall we are currently in is so deep that we simply cannot fall any lower. From here, we can rise together with other nations and complete our correction.

Each spiritual action triggers material consequences in this world. Thus, we are obligated to continue working in this material realm during the whole period of exile. Exile means separation from spirituality and the inability to produce any spiritual actions. However, since we act materialistically and pursue egoistic desires through our bodies rather than souls, we still fulfill preparatory work that is associated with the period of exile.

The last exile is coming to an end and we all have to transition to freedom. The difference between exile (Galut) and deliverance (Geula) is only in one letter “Aleph,” which stands for “revelation of the Creator.” This means that we have to attain the upper world to reach the state at which the Creator fills the whole universe.

The reality we live in today will stay intact. All we will do is add the upper Light, the power of bestowal, to our prior sensations and thoughts. They will fill the whole world in which we will discover the upper reality since we will obtain different corrected properties.

At that point, we will understand the essence of the preparatory work that we did previously by fulfilling material commandments since we were incapable of doing anything else while we were still in exile. Thus, after we manage to return to the physical land of Israel, our present day task is to rise to the spiritual land (desire) of Israel.

It is said: “Each action leaves a mark.” This applies even to material actions since we build spiritual acts on top of them. Prior generations were supposed to fulfill material work in this world, whereas our duty is to pursue spiritual activities. That is why we concentrate only on spiritual work: human intentions and desires, attitude to concealment and revelation, and the property of bestowal that we’re about to acquire.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/30/12, The Zohar

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