Question: At the end of February, once again we are going to the Arava desert. How can we manage to not erase what we already achieved the first time?

Answer: This cycle is different from the previous one. You will see that the first time everything became realized suddenly, like in a naïve and unsophisticated child. We succeeded then, but this time the success is possible only after multiple problems, greater contemplation and fluctuations.

After all, each time the desire becomes more cunning and gives greater resistance. No matter how high you rise, your evil inclination rises above you. This is why we cannot repeat something that already happened.

The most important thing is to be involved in this, to prepare and to understand that we have to unite and there is no other choice. Otherwise, there is no use to even start. There is no need to go to the wilderness if we are not bringing a real desire. This desire appears in the broken heart.

In the desert, the one that wins and survives is the one who really sticks to the path. On one hand he is devastated, but on the other hand, he has the end of the thread. This thread is the unity with the friends. In the end, we are not exiting the desert, but rather it turns into the land of Israel flowing with milk and honey. We will receive all spiritual abundance right at the “spot” if we unite. Then the desert, which lies between us, will turn into the Promised Land, into the intention, the yearning for the Creator. There we will reveal Him.
[68602]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/3/12, The Zohar

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Question: How can I convince myself about the urgency of spiritual work if we constantly lose the direction and strength on the way?

Answer: On the contrary, I must constantly worry for the correct direction and strength for the work. We only need to clarify these things according to the laws of creation, and this is what we learn.

The wisdom of Kabbalah is a wisdom that includes all the wisdoms. It investigates the one general nature. But humanity, in the meantime, doesn’t understand that it exists in this global network. It exists in darkness and is immersed in complete unknowingness.

In order to clarify the surrounding world, humans divide it into separate parts and match them to the scientific disciplines: physics, chemistry, biology, zoology, etc. In this way we have “scratched out” nuggets of knowledge from the mountain of darkness we are in.

The wisdom of Kabbalah, on the other hand, explains each field in terms of one law. It doesn’t refute the general, traditional sciences. All the laws that we discovered with the help of traditional sciences belong only to a small area of our perception, in the egoistic desire, which is opposite to the nature of creation. Therefore, we must understand that in Gmar Tikkun (the end of correction), when this desire disappears, we will find other laws that transcend time, movement, and space. There is another physics and chemistry; everything is different. This reality exists only temporarily, until we enter the real and wide perception of the world.

Our entire world exists only so that we will exit it and find independence. It gives us a base, a beginning point, central and independent, and disconnected from the Creator. It is farthest from the world of Infinity, the most deeply immersed in darkness, but it is specifically from this point that we begin our advancement.

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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/24/12, “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot”

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The laws by which we are moving toward the goal of creation, are not similar to those laws that are moving people without a point in the heart. They belong to the AHP (Awzen, Hotem, Peh – Ears, Nose, Mouth), whereas we belong to GE (Galgalta ve Eynaim – Skull and Eyes).

We must attain feeling and intellect; we need to know the system, understand it, and know how to operate it, imitating the laws similar to the Creator according to the law of the “head,” in order to attain the thought of creation. We need to manage the entire creation as if from the position of the Creator. This is the task of the head.

The Creator created the world of Ein Sof (infinity) and we, in our work with the line and circles, build the head surrounding Ein Sof where the thought of creation is found and is concealed from us today. We work within Malchut of Ein Sof and build our desires in it. By this we move on the line; we constantly build new heads in similarity with the Creator, until after all the acts, we attain Him.

Then all these individual heads combine to a general head, which is the attitude, the thought, the beginning of creation. We reach this point from which everything begins and is included in it. This is the work of Galgalta ve Eynaim.

The desires of the AHP help us with this ascent. They constitute the same “matter” from which we ascend until we complete our task. Of course, they are included in the shared system with us, and they have all that they need. But in this system there is a part that makes decisions and a part that executes them, until finally at the end of correction (Gmar Tikkun), all the differences will disappear. And then all will merge into a whole through the collective action called “Rav Paalim ve Mekabtziel.”

In the meantime, we don’t understand how the parts that belong to Galgalta ve Eynaim and AHP will connect to each other. In the meantime along the way, there is a clear “division of labor”: The reward is the same for all, in that we are all equal. Moreover, in Gmar Tikkun the greatest lights will enter the greatest Kelim, the desires of the AHP.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/24/12, “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot”

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It is hard for a person to overcome the “barrier” (Machsom), an obstacle, and adopt the approach that Kabbalah teaches which is so contrary to his habitual, egoistic perception. But if he rises above his egoism to bestowal, love, mutual responsibility, and guarantee with respect to the fellow person, it would mean that he has acquired spiritual power.

If he really were able to rise above himself, it would mean that he is above the restriction because he diminished his egoism and achieved a spiritual attitude towards fellow man, spiritual perception, the upper world.

A person does not understand and does not feel that through this path he can reach the eternal, perfect upper dimension instead of the limited reality, which he now feels. All this is quite close to us, and that is why it seems so simple and primitive: Any love towards the other, which we instill in our children is to prevent them from fighting with each other.

This is the first obstacle, which takes years to overcome. But we have to understand that each stage of spiritual work requires time until we learn and accept it. It depends on how much a person can be included in the group, through which he accelerates his development.

If he is impressed by others and strives to absorb as much as possible from them, enters the group with the eyes closed, then he begins to see how effective this tool is. In this way, he can get the desire of the higher dimension.

A spiritual vessel is built by the quality and quantity of relationships with others. The quantity is determined by the fact that eventually a person must unite with all souls because all together we make up one soul: Malchut of the world of infinity.

And the quality is determined by the fact that he must unite with them through complete reception and bestowal, so that everyone’s desire is linked with the others like a cogwheel, and turns all of them; everyone depends on him, and at the same time, he depends on everyone else.

Connecting in this form, everyone is transformed into an integral part of the overall system. Everyone depends on him and he turns everyone, but he turns them according to the overall program, their collective desires, and everyone’s individual desire. This is the perfect system that we must achieve.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/3/12, Writings of Rabash

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Preparation to the Lesson
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Writings of Rabash, “Come to Pharaoh,” Lesson 2 
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The Book of Zohar – Selected Chapter “Beresheet (Genesis,” “A Prayer for the Poor,” Item 194, Lesson 56
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Talmud Eser Sefirot, Part 6, (Starting with: “We find that because of…”), Item 26, Lesson 18
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“Introduction to the Study of Ten Sefirot,” Item 79, Lesson 37
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We are in a state where precisely the “prayer of the pauper” can save us. This means that a person has nothing and he does not need anything, besides one thing – to revive his soul. He does not ask for anything beyond this.

We are going out to the desert, which reflects our inner state, because the desert is poverty. And we don’t desire anything, other than to acquire the point of contact with the Creator, to revive our soul.
In return we can receive all the benefits of our current level, instead of the drop of unity with the higher level, which is always called the Creator for the lower level, creation.

We lack desire for the higher level, a desire just to unite with the upper one, to feel that we are inside of Him like a drop of semen that begins to develop.

This should be our intention while reading The Book of Zohar.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/6/12, The Zohar

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Aspiration is something that goes beyond ordinary desire. Desire is given from Above. It becomes revealed within me and I begin to want something. Let’s say a desire to eat some soup has appeared within me. I realize this desire and fulfill myself. My “me” is totally absent here. A desire simply became revealed and it realized itself.

Aspiration is called something that originates not from my desire for the fulfillment that is currently given to me, but rather, it is an additional desire to give pleasure to the Host who gave me this soup. This additional desire appears above the fulfillment. After all, He also gave me this desire for the soup. I want to show that I want this soup because He is giving it to me. This is called an aspiration.

I discern that I received the desire from the Creator and that the fulfillment comes from Him too; all of this is in order to create a connection between us. However, I don’t want to receive this fulfillment in a direct form. I agree to receive it only for the sake of my attitude toward the Host. I make a restriction on the fulfillment that He brings to me, but this is also terrible because it’s like pushing away the Host. However, I’m going for it for the purpose of rising and using this fulfillment, but only because it comes from Him.

I reveal the aspiration for the soup and the desire for the soup itself, which comes from the Creator. I do it only after my decision to receive for His sake. This means to reveal “the initial point of the letter ‘Yod’,” the head of HaVaYaH, Keter.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/30/12, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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The wisdom of Kabbalah only speaks of inner work, correction of the soul, revealing the Creator to the created, and all the images in its stories constitute different types of desire through which we view the world. The desire to bestow is called Israel, (Yashar-El, straight to the Creator). “Israel in exile” is the desire to bestow with an intention of self-benefit. “Nations of the world” are the egoistic desire to receive.

If the desire “Israel” is in exile, its intent becomes egoistic, meaning it becomes bestowal with the intent of “in order to receive.” Hence, Israel in exile can gain much greater benefit than the “Egyptians,” than the regular desires to receive. That is why it has been said that after the sons of Israel descended to Egypt, they multiplied, became rich, fattened, became important, and had plenty of onions, garlic, meat, and fish.

In other words, all desires received the filling they wanted. After all, they were working in bestowal in order to receive: They used the force of bestowal to benefit egoistically. And of course, they succeed more than “the nations of the world.” As it written, the nation of Israel mingled with the other nations, learned their ways, and achieved greater success because they know how to use bestowal even in order to receive.

That is why it is very difficult to exit the ego; it requires special work. A unique force is required to extract the egoistic desire to bestow from Egypt, the desire which is so advantageous to Pharaoh who can’t receive the same from his own people:  the simple, egoistic will to receive.

Israel on the other hand, work for their own benefit, using the spiritual force to fill their corporeal desires. Surely, the ego doesn’t want to lose them; they become the primary means for receiving its fulfillment, which can’t be received from anything else. Nothing can provide such great fulfillment.

And so, how can Israel’s desires become disconnected from the ego? They have to undergo two corrections because they work in bestowal with the intention of in order to receive, not just the Egyptians (the desire to receive), rather the will to bestow, which learned from them, hence, it fell even lower than Egypt. Egypt doesn’t have the option of using the force of bestowal for egoistic fulfillment.

Everything begins from the moment the Egyptian king dies and those desires that worked in bestowal for self-benefit suddenly stopped feeling fulfillment in that way. There’s nothing to work for any more; our king died, disappeared! That means, I stop feeling why I’m studying and working. I don’t see the reward any longer. And then, “And Israel cried out from the work.”

At first, we knew the purpose of our work; we worked hard and gained egoistically. We were faithful slaves of the ego and wanted nothing beyond that. And now, all of a sudden, hard work begins without the clarity of knowing why.  We don’t feel the purpose in egoistic bestowal: That is help arriving to us from Above. The development reaches a state in which we’re incapable of enjoying that, we cry out in desperation and then begin to search.

Indeed, if there’s nothing to enjoy, “This life is worse than death.” There’s no life, no sense of fulfillment. And if there’s no pleasure, a person is prepared to commit suicide, rather than feel the emptiness. Then the work of exiting Egypt begins, which lasts “many days.”
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/5/12, Shamati #159

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Question: At what stage should we introduce students who study through virtual courses of the Education Center to veteran students and the groups?

Answer: I don’t think it’s possible to restrict this connection in any way. In general, it’s best not to intervene; it should occur by itself. And certainly some of our experienced friends need to assist the teacher in working with new students, by giving lectures, answering their questions, and helping establish communications with them. However, the veterans need to be careful not to show themselves as “big” since by doing so they would undermine the image of the teacher in the eyes of the students and prevent them from the possibility of learning in the correct manner.

It is possible only to learn from a “great man.” Conversely, if you think he is small, then you are already the teacher and he is the student. Thus, it is very important that the assistants don’t stand out, but remain as assistants to the teacher and display a respect for the teacher. They will set an example for the students and will elevate respect for the teacher in their eyes, and this will help the students receive more from him.

After all, in the wisdom of Kabbalah, the material is comprehended according to the importance of the teacher. The more the student annuls himself before the teacher, thus he will be considered a better student. We are not talking here about knowledge that I comprehend with intelligence, but specifically about how I see myself as small in comparison to the teacher, or the teacher as great in comparison to myself. The greater the gap between us, the more abundance will descend on me. There is no measurement for abundance in itself. I define its intensity precisely according to the same greatness that I elevate the teacher in my eyes. This is very important. The assistants need to correctly build the relationship of the new students to the teacher. Success depends on this.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/5/12, Learning Kabbalah

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Writings of Rabash, “Come to Pharaoh”
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The Book of Zohar – Selected Chapter “Beresheet (Genesis),” “A Prayer for the Poor,” Item 192, Lesson 55
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Talmud Eser Sefirot, Part 6, Item 26, Lesson 17
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“Introduction to the Study of Ten Sefirot,” Item 79, Lesson 36
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