Question: How can we plead with the Creator correctly? I encounter my egoism everywhere….

Answer: You have to realize one thing: Everything is ready for your birth, but if you don’t start acting and fighting, Pharaoh will keep you in prison and won’t let you free. On one hand, your egoism gives you an opportunity to develop, but on the other, it doesn’t let you exit.

There is a need for external pressure, greater suffering, wars, and misfortunes—just so you will desire to be born. A spiritual birth is not a mechanical process; it is impossible without your consent. You reveal your desire from within and then you feel a new life. Without it, you can’t transition to a new stage.

And hence, two possibilities exist: Either the developmental factors will pressure you or you yourself arrange the pressure of the group. Then Pharaoh, who doesn’t let you breathe, becomes a good environment. Moreover, this environment also pressures and obliges you. What’s more, you yourself demand this from the friends, until you begin to scream: “I want to be born!”

So, everything is ready for your birth, and everything depends on you. Clearly, we are now numb, dormant. How can we awaken? For this we need to spur everybody to action. We need to apply effort, which doesn’t pass in vain, but accumulates into a critical mass.

The path to your birth, if you accelerate it, is not a gradual ascent to the summit whereby you rise higher and higher. Rather, you experience a sequence of ascents and descents, until their sum (∑) brings you to the point of birth. It happens all of a sudden, you are not aware of it until the last moment—suddenly you are born into the world in the escape from the Egyptian exile.

This way you don’t need to grow by experiencing the intensifying misfortunes and birthing pains. A few pangs that you arouse yourself are enough. After all, you do it consciously and sensibly; you see what is happening with you and hence don’t have to rise by the degrees of suffering. The understanding of the process covers and compensates your misfortunes, and torment turns into a yearning for the Light.

Instead of suffering from wars and other corporeal disasters, you are burning with impatience: “Why haven’t I been born yet?” A small pain at the human degree replaces huge misfortunes at the still, vegetative, and animate levels.

A tiny effort in conscious progress is a billion times more effective than forced efforts on the long path without acceleration.
[70136]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/27/2012, “The Peace”

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Question: We are saying that the Arava Convention requires one to be serious. What does it mean to be serious during the convention?

Answer: This means that I do not allow myself to deviate to any thought or desire outside of the goal. I must be united with others and reveal the Creator in this unity.

Along the way I see that I lack desire. Sometimes I want it, and sometimes I do not. And then I come to prayers and questions, I analyze my state, and this, essentially, is our preparation. As we arrive in Arava, we need to feel a constant need for the Reforming Light, so it would give us unity.
[70267]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/19/20,  “Advice for the Arava Convention”

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Question: If our whole path is already predetermined and can’t be shortened, does it mean that I can’t change anything and that all I can do is just go with the flow?

Answer: It’s impossible to skip degrees and to miss some states of your development. However, you can hasten your development by applying your own effort. Time represents the speed with which your states change.

If you’re in a group and you attract greater reforming Light, then in each given moment you can perceive, attain, understand, and react to new states. You can go through these states a lot faster because you’re building an environment that helps you sense these states correctly.

If you are not doing this, then it will take a long time for you to start feeling, understanding, and reacting to your states. After all, you must experience each state, but without this inclusion you won’t have the vessel for revealing the Creator.

As a result of applying effort and trying to build an environment that will allow you to reveal your states, you hasten time and speed up your development. It’s similar to the way we help ourselves study in this world by putting on reading glasses, by turning the light on, by using computers, printers, and various video and audio devices: All of this is done for the purpose of better absorbing information about the world and developing faster.

Just compare this to the life of some primitive nations versus nations that have access to knowledge and information that allow them to quickly advance and build various supportive devices.

This also applies to spiritual development. We build a group; we study, listen to the teacher’s advice, and create a proper environment. All of this is done so that we could more quickly analyze the states that pass through us. Therein lies the purpose of our work.
[70144]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/6/12, “Study of the Ten Sefirot”

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Preparation to the Lesson
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Writings of Baal HaSulam “Pri Chaham”
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The Book of Zohar – Selected Chapter “Beresheet (Genesis),” “Moses and Two Messiahs,” (Starting with: “The Hey of Moses”), Item 234, Lesson 67
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Talmud Eser Sefirot, Part 6, “Histaklut Pnimit,” Item 10, Lesson 27
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Topic: Constitution of  Arava Convention
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Question: How can we achieve unity in such a diverse world?

Answer: There must be a new principle here: unity above all the differences. We are not trying to correct the differences among us or to delve into details of different streams, different parties, or any differences. There can be many peoples and cultures in one state, and that shouldn’t disturb us. European history, for example, is full of wars, hate, and mutual claims that go centuries back. But above all the differences and the conflicts, we open an umbrella of unity. We know that we are all different, and we work on a very high level.

It should be a systematic approach, on the level of a national plan: We cut down the edges from above and from below and gradually reach a fair and equal distribution of resources. Even if it happens two hundred years from now—it doesn’t matter. The main thing is that the process has begun. First we must raise all the poor above the poverty line. Let’s take care of this.

Education is necessary here. If we begin to save nationwide just as we save at home, we won’t need more than that. It will be enough to raise everyone above poverty. As for the economic resources there are very interesting data: For example 17% of the food produced is discarded while still in the original packages.

So it is all about attitude: If we provide a general “umbrella, then there will be some order. We must only change our attitude: The nation is the family. In the family I save, I worry, I keep, support, concede…this is how we should live on a national level, but without isolation and parasites, without waste and protectionism. Everyone is equal, and everyone connects to the common line.

Question: Can this connection start in Israel?

Answer: Not only can it start here, it must.
[69972]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/16/12, “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot”

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All of our study and work are dedicated to the clarification of our deficiency, the clarification of our goal in life, to what it will lead us, and who I want to be. This is all a person is. Everything is determined only by a person’s deficiency, and only what one adds to what was received from nature.

If certain desires are simply evoked in me to go somewhere, to do something in the group or to connect with friends, these are not my desires. I am incorporated in a group that influences me now by its desire to go to the desert; I am impressed by the friends, but it isn’t me. In that I am like a rock. Does it receive anything from the environment?—almost nothing.

But if I want to invest my powers and am in the right environment, I begin to grow in it like a seed that was planted in the ground from which a whole tree will grow. I only need to add my own efforts and not just wait for those around me to wake me up.

I evoke myself and the others. I rouse all of them so that they will influence me. And what I receive from them is my spiritual vessel. A spiritual vessel is always received from the environment, and it is always the result of a person’s inspiration and working for the society.

There are those that are in the society but are totally isolated from others, as if they have surrounded themselves with electrical tape. So how can they benefit from the environment? In such a case, a spiritual vessel will not be formed in a person. He will be impressed together with the others from the general mood that the environment will put him in and will be swept away by it, but his individual spiritual vessel will not develop.
[69961]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/16/12, The Zohar

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Question: There are states that you cannot exit without the friends’ help and there are states that depend on a person. How can you distinguish between the two?

Answer: Receiving from the group is like receiving from the Creator because He is dressed in all my external reality. If the friends simply impress me and inspire me, it is exactly as if the Creator awakens me.

But it isn’t my spiritual vessel. My spiritual vessel is the addition I receive from them for my demand, for my efforts in “buy yourself a friend.” Here everything works according to an accurate account: The more efforts I make, the more I demand from them, and the more I receive.

What I receive is thanks to our connection, our yearning for connection, and working above reason, and the more I see myself as less than everyone, as a zero, and the others as greater than me, as 1, accordingly I am evoked, like the 1 with the addition of many zeros, 1000000; this is how my spiritual vessel is measured.

Nothing is done by itself. Everything is done according to an accurate account: My desire is taken into account, the desire of the friends or the desire of the Creator, and the force that was received from me, from them, or from the Creator. Everything is calculated accurately.

But if I am awakened by accidentally hearing friends singing or talking, it isn’t counted as a result of my work. I can be impressed by it and ignited to want spirituality, to want to connect with them, but it will all be on their account. It is registered on my account only if I develop my yearning by myself when I don’t feel any interest and would rather not get out of bed, and not move at all. Still I must worry about how to add a certain movement on my part towards them. Otherwise it won’t be my vessel.

Therefore, it may seem to a person that he has done a lot, but if he could see the actual account, he might find no “income” in it. The spiritual world exists only as a result of the acceleration in our efforts. But if I move at a constant speed, it is as if I am standing in one place. Only the addition counts, the coefficient, the acceleration.

The acceleration shouldn’t be constant either, because it may be counted as a stop. There must be a constant addition. If we could calculate this “formula,” we could see that we didn’t invest very much into our account.
[69956]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/16/12, Writings of Rabash

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Question: Is it possible to pave the way to spirituality in a way that the disturbances will be of assistance and not seen as obstacles that we can’t respond to?

Answer: The problem isn’t the obstacles. You reveal exactly what you can overcome. We are speaking of a systemic formula of the connection between the Lights and the Kelim (vessels or desires). No one here decides anything according to his understanding. After all, the Creator is Nature. In the opposition between the right and left lines, you are always given from above the middle line, and you need to build from below an identical relation to what is happening.

If this doesn’t happen, then that’s another matter. But in general, everything is realized optimally, according to various calculations. We live in a perfect world, in a complete system. At each moment, the best conditions for correction are created for me. Even if I forget and detach, it comes from me because this is the way my situation has to be right now. Thus, whatever comes to me, the problem is: How do I respond to it?

It could be that my lack of response comes from not worrying about the group, about the factors that need to awaken me.  But from above there are no delays and postponements. Ein Sof (Infinity) operates us. All of our requests (MAN – Mayin Nukvin – Female Waters) come from there. And all the answers (MAD – Mayin Duchrin – Male Waters) descend from there, at each moment. This connection never stops, but all the time the Reshimot (informational genes – reminiscences) are renewed. We envision a very long line of connection that goes through all the 125 levels, but actually everything is much simpler.

Question: What should our response be to the actions of the system?

Answer: We need to raise a plea for correction, MAN, and not more than this. I ask from the system to be similar to it, and I ask this according to my powers. After all, the entire system of Ein Sof is the Creator, perfection. We only yearn to Him.

Question: Let’s suppose that I encountered a serious problem: money, health or family. How should I respond to this with a correct request?

Answer: You need to operate on the physical plane in order to solve problems that awaken, even though it is clear to you that everything comes from above and that everything will be solved at the spiritual level. It seems to us that we encounter corporeal problems, but actually, it is certain that their background is spiritual.
[69661]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/13/12, “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot”

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Question: I suddenly understand that we are in a convention every day. Is this the surrounding Light? How can we pass it on to the friends who are around the world?

Answer:  Everyone is mutually connected and they feel it. I am in contact with many people and they tell me about very strong impressions, about great hopes, about the concern, about their intentions… and its good.

I am happy about our serious approach towards what is expected. It is unlike any previous convention. Today it takes on a totally different form. It is hard work, including the time of preparation. We have to make great serious efforts, and be aware of the special responsibility we have. The convention is becoming more a place to exert ourselves than a place for entertainment, and I am very happy about that.

Everyone feels that. Hundreds of friends are coming from abroad for the three days of the Arava convention. It isn’t about the number of days, but about the quality and the essence of the designated activity. I am very impressed and moved by this response. There is a week left, and we should use it for preparation. We have to bring all the hopes together, as clearly as we can.

Actually, it isn’t the physical participation that counts. It doesn’t matter where the friends are; they will try to perceive the general frequency and won’t have to buy plane tickets. We will still feel that we have gathered in one place, because a “place” is a desire. If it is truly one, you don’t feel the physical distance at all. You will forget about your body, just as you forget about it in rare moments of awe, when only the spirit remains.

I really hope that we will connect, and will stop depending on the kilometers that separate our bodies. In every place in the world you can dance with us in the desert and be with us in your heart and soul. It is really so. There are no distances. Everything is determined by the desire.
[69863]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/15/12, “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot”

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We have a Kli (vessel or desire) and the fulfillment is above it, not within it. The Kli is composed of broken pieces that we need to glue together. These pieces are my friends, however not just their bodies but the desires to connect together. We must connect, and to the extent that we connect together we actually realize and feel our connection, and thereby attain the corrected state.

It is in this manner that we receive the general desire to enjoy: We connect and receive the desire of the friend, meaning I feel them within me, am impressed by them, and grasp them as mine. In this way I “buy” friends and acquire a bigger desire. All of this I do rationally “within reason” as is said, ” A judge has only what his eyes can see.” This Kli becomes my work tool, like a screwdriver, pliers, or hammer.

However, the surrounding Light (the Light that reforms) is on a level higher than me. The Reshimo (reminiscence) of the dressing is always found one level above the Reshimo of Aviut (coarseness): Dalet (four)/Gimel (three), Gimel/Bet (two), and Bet/Aleph (one). This is found ” above my reason” according to the extent that I give more value to the upper Light and adhere to it above my intellect, since that is, after all, another level.

This means that the Kli has greater value according to the extent that we did more within the intellect in order to build it: we connected together, adhered to each other, we glued our bowl together. Whereas in the relation to the Creator, it’s preferred that He invite more problems, questions, fears, thoughts, doubts of His providence, and I, in spite of everything, will respect Him and try to adhere to Him. To the extent that my faith above reason is greater, it’s more valuable and I am attracted more to a higher level.

The greater the gap is, the greater the delta (∆ – difference) between the Light, the Creator, and the Kli, the desire. It’s more respectable this way. We must constantly maintain this relation and to see the friends as the greatest of the generation. I must feel, understand and see them only in this way.

While in relation to the Creator, everything is the opposite. The fewer doubts I have in relation to the friends, it’s better. And the more doubts I have in relation to the Creator (yet in spite of that I am attracted to Him), the better. In relation to the Light that reforms, it doesn’t matter how high it is. I am ready to adhere to it, to be impressed by it, to be assimilated in it, above reason. This is because I see that the Light that reforms will bestow on me, will control and execute changes in me.

But with everything that belongs to the Kli, meaning everything except the Creator, I must accept it within reason, in the clearest, most comprehensible, and examined way.

And thus the Creator will be revealed to me, each time more and more clearly within the Kli, and I will need to ascend and want to be higher in my relation to Him, to value Him even more than before.
[69840]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/15/12, Writings of Rabash

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