Question: Baal HaSulam writes in “The Freedom” that the method of Kabbalah is intended for the purification of Israel, and this refers to the recognition of evil. How is one connected to the other?

Answer: Do you really achieve something good by recognizing your own evil? Of course, because this has led you to purification, you have become better, more receptive; you feel more, understand more, you permeate the matter of your desire. Before it would come down to good or bad sensations, and you had no knowledge of anything else. You would simply respond to stimuli like a very primitive animal. Just like a frog’s leg automatically contracts under the influence of an electric impulse.

Now you have questions: “Why do I do this? Who does this come from? What is it for? Is it for the good or the bad?” You rise above your nature by analyzing the situation, and in some way it’s the same as coming out of your nature. Like a worm in an apple, you start making your way towards the light.

Imagine a red, juicy apple, and you’re inside of it. And an opening leading to the exterior appears. Even if you haven’t yet gone through it, you already begin to distinguish that there is light there, and it is dark here. Differentiating between them becomes your recognition of evil.

This is an enormous achievement amid the size of creation, which serves as our “apple”…..
[65395]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/5/12 “The Freedom”

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A prayer is a desire which appears in the heart at every moment. The main work lies in understanding your prayer: what I want, what I should want, and whether my prayer has reached the heights of the forefathers. In other words, I examine what my heart is feeling. After all, I am not its owner, and I must place severe guards and protectors over it to watch it and build a system to influence it.

Only my environment, my friends, rule over my heart. If I create this environment, it will be able to control it, but I can’t control it on my own. This is my only freedom of choice.

It follows that my prayer completely depends upon the environment, and it must reach my “half of the coin” with its help, a one hundred percent desire towards the Light, bestowal. For this reason, with a correct attitude towards the environment and a demand for them to convince my heart to have the desire to bestow (the importance of it), they’ll create the correct prayer in me. It’s in this way that I’ll complete my half of the coin and finish my work.

It turns out that instead of working on fulfillment and with my heart directly, I work with the environment, directing it so it’ll influence my heart and make it want the right kind of fulfillment, meaning to become filled with the quality to bestow, love for one’s neighbor. This is exactly what I am lacking now. When I complete this entire process, I find the “second half of the coin,” fulfillment.

And here “the common and the private are equal,” everyone is absolutely equal. After all, every element is equally important in an integrated analog system. No one is big or small, rich or poor; everyone must earn their half of the coin and reach a complete specific desire which is only attributed to them.

This is why no one is more special than others, greater or smaller in this kind of work, all friends are absolutely equal. After all, if the smallest correct desire is missing, we’ll not achieve the perfect half of the coin. And this is why it’s necessary to care for everyone.
[65422]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/5/12, Writings of Rabash

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Lesson Preparation
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Writings of Rabash “Come to Pharaoh”
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The Book of Zohar – Selected Chapter “Beresheet (Genesis),” “The Two Great Lights,” Item 113
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Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Peace,” (Start with: “And I believe”)
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Israel (Yashar-El) is a person who has a point in the heart, pulling him toward the Creator and forcing him to begin this work. The work comes down to acquiring a desire, because only it is necessary from man’s end. We usually look for fulfillment – this is our natural aspiration. But here we must change our approach completely.

In our world we always lack fulfillment because we always have a desire for material fulfillment: I want one thing, another, and a third, and I look for ways to satisfy my desire.

But in the spiritual world, everything’s opposite. The fulfillment is always present, but there is no desire! Therefore, I have to work on the desire, the necessity, instead of working on the fulfillment as in our world.

Therefore, Israel, called “A head for me” (Li-Rosh – derived by changing the order of the letters) is a person who understands that his work lies in searching for the desire, building it, and forming it correctly, so it would suit the second half – the fulfillment, which is already present. After all, the Creator already fills the entire earth.

100% of man’s work is called half of the perfect state, of the world of Infinity. The second half is 100% of the Light, which fills these 100% of desire.

On every level it is possible to attain a 100% desire according to that level, in order to be filled with 100% of the Light belonging to that level.

Therefore, first of all we need understanding and mutual support, realizing that we must work on the desire rather than the fulfillment. Years go by until a person changes his approach, leaving behind the one he got used to in our world.

It turns out that there is nowhere for a person to run, but only to delve deeper inside himself. That is why it is called “inner work” or one’s inner world. It’s because one has to delve deep inside one’s heart, instead of chasing some external effects. Everything depends on the desire in the heart.
[65425]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/5/12, Writings of Rabash

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Question: What is the “good sign” that we have to attain in the studies, and how can we check it?

Answer: A “good sign” in the studies is the attainment of bestowal, “Lishma.” And of course, we have to take care of it so we don’t waste time in vain. No one has an advance guarantee that he will attain success.

Although, of course, any work is taken into consideration and produces a result in the end. And in this regard, dissemination is most important. That’s because work on dissemination will undoubtedly bring a positive result. No matter what, this is already recorded in your account – you already did this!

We are not even able to assess what dissemination really means. After all, it is 100% bestowal! The fact that you are not in spiritual attainment yet while doing it might actually be to your own benefit. This makes you a “loyal servant” of the Creator, who does not receive any reward from his master, but only executes His desire.

But you say, “No, I want a reward – let me see it and feel it!” However, this might ruin all your efforts in dissemination. Now you are revealing the Creator’s name to the world and you want everyone to attain the full redemption, the end of correction, as planned. And you don’t receive any benefit for yourself – and that’s wonderful!

Maybe you should just agree with this with your entire heart and soul and not want anything else!? And then you just might begin to receive…
[65431]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/5/12, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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We should understand the forces of Nature that are called “angels” are messengers of the Creator and work like His loyal assistants; their duty is to help us. If a person realizes that his life is too calm and quiet, that he doesn’t go through any resistance, hindrances, confusion or internal struggles, then he should be worried why he doesn’t have all this in his life.

He probably doesn’t apply any effort in the right direction and thus does not allow the angels to do their work. It happens if a person fails to join a group or disseminate, in other words; he doesn’t move toward the source that contains all major forces of development.

If a person develops the proper attitude towards the forces that help him grow by constantly creating obstacles on his path, he starts to realize that in order to advance further he has to raise his prayers to a level that is above the resistance he gets. This is everyone’s duty. If someone manages to act this way, he carves himself into the right shape.

One of the resisting forces clings to a person from behind and pulls him backwards like a woman who holds her husband back and doesn’t allow him to develop. The other force blocks the importance of the goal that is far ahead of him; it hides the greatness of the Creator.

It is essential to sense that the resistance comes from both sides and to work one against the other in the right way. This is like a train that carries a heavy load that has an engine in the front that pulls it forward and at the same time has another engine at the back that pushes it forward from behind. A combination of these two forces makes it possible to move the train: One pushes the train from behind and the other one is pulling it ahead.

This explains why the Pharaoh separates us from the goal and hides it from us by saying that the Creator is not important. Sinners who push us from behind are the forces that help us; they are loyal angels of the Creator.

If a person understands that everything that happens to him is sent by the Creator, he will see the Creator’s hand in all negative situations that happen. This is similar to obstacles that we put in front of small children so that they overcome them and learn.

It is pleasant to watch a child trying hard to achieve a small success. Even if a child doesn’t achieve any result, it doesn’t matter, since he still learns from the experience. We have to view ourselves the same way and realize that we move forward only because of the forces that create difficulties for us from behind and at the same time pull us forward.

So, the question is: Who strengthened the Pharaoh’s heart? The Creator did! He states it openly: “Come to Pharaoh, for I hardened his heart!” This is written plainly and directly.

It is crucial that this opinion dominates in the group and everybody who experiences difficulty accepts it without second thoughts. In this case, we won’t mind having stronger, more efficient and numerous hindrances; if we get them, we’ll be able to immediately overcome them through our prayers. We would know that at this time of our life the Creator has hardened Pharaoh’s heart and so should He give us strength to stand before Pharaoh.
[60916]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/16/11, Writings of Rabash

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Baal Hasulam, “The Arvut” (Mutual Guarantee), (abridged version): “The impression that comes to a person when engaging in Mitzvot between man and God is completely the same as the impression he gets when engaging in Mitzvot between man and man. He is obliged to perform all the Mitzvot Lishma (for Her name), without any hope for self-love. Here, in this exalted point, the love of the Creator and the love of his friend unite and actually become one. Thus he affects a certain measure of advancement on the ladder of love for others in all the people of the world in general. And one who cannot overcome and conquer his filthy self-love, sentences himself and the whole world to the scale of sin”

We don’t know what bestowal is. We only know it is the opposite of us, opposite to our nature, our desire, our tendencies, and all our attributes. So how can we go against our nature? How can we resist the main force that is imprinted in us?

Fish swim upstream to the place where they lay their eggs. It is hard to swim against the stream, but nature obliges them to, and this is a hint for us: If a person wants to be something worthwhile, he has to go against the stream.

It is hard work to overcome one’s nature. Where do we get the power to do it? How can I demand them to? Do I only want to rest and not ask where I can get the power to do that? Even if my power grows, according to egoism, it is only in order to make a double profit from it. What about the damage? It is the opposite; I am up to my ears in egoistic desires. If I cause myself harm, it can break me, but sometimes it can make me go even through unpleasant situations.

But we are talking about practical bestowal here. How can I actually advance towards it, if nature has denied me the possibility to do so? My “car” doesn’t run without fuel, meaning without calculations of egoistic gain.

In fact, Kabbalists tell us that we can’t reach bestowal by ourselves, and that we can’t ask for the power of bestowal, but we can ask for bestowal egoistically, so that there will be something left in it for us. Such an intention to reach maximum detachment from ourselves is called “Lo Lishma,” (not for its sake).

How can one reach that? In order to do so I have to be in a group. There is no other way. The group is outside me and I want to act in its favor. What for? I am told that I gain the upper World this way. “Wow! A whole eternal world? It’s worth it!”

And so I make great efforts to bestow hoping for a reward in return. Everyone wants to gain something; it is natural and legitimate. I don’t operate alone, but with the friends who also want to gain the upper World. And even if we, like “healthy egoists,” are ready to give each other something in order to get something from Above in return, I still study together with the friends, bow my head before them, and hear from them how important bestowal is.

At first I translate everything into self-benefit: “Of course bestowal is important. After all thanks to it I will get the upper World.” This means that instead of bestowal, I hear the words “to receive.” But I still hear, and gradually this idea takes on a form inside me and turns into something that I didn’t actually ask for. Thus, I gradually move from “Lo Lishma” to the altruistic intention of “Lishma,” (for its sake).

“Is that possible? I really didn’t ask for it….” True, but now I see the benefit it brings. The values inside me begin to change, and suddenly the attribute of bestowal itself becomes a treasure for me. “It is better to get rid of the attribute of receiving. It brings me nothing but trouble. It is better to bestow.” In the meantime it is “Lo Lishma,” but I continue, I want to get rid of the problems and the troubles, I am looking for the true meaning of life, and the Light that is concealed in the method of Kabbalah reforms me a little.

All my actions and my intentions are egoistic, inside me I think lightly of the whole world and deride everyone. I only have to grab the feet of the Creator… and yet, by all this I reach the reforming Light.

It makes no difference which attributes I was given from the start, because it is the Creator who created them. It doesn’t matter what thoughts and desires awaken in me, after all they all come from Him. What’s important is to make as many efforts as possible to connect and to study. Then I draw the Light and it changes me, it actually performs an operation in my heart, in my soul.

And so bestowal becomes a value for me. I think less and less about receiving. I find bestowal in its pure form attractive. A new perception ripens in me: There is nothing better than to live in bestowal and to forget about myself.

At first I expect to get rid of all the troubles with the help of the upper world, but soon this personal reward will also disappear. We should simply let the Light do its job, and I will not be able to believe that I was such an egoist. The Light performs this long operation and gradually implants the attribute of bestowal in me.
[61342]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/21/11, “The Arvut”

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Question: If I am very envious of my friends, how do I transform this envy from being destructive to constructive?

Answer: A person does not hear words about the spiritual vessel being a common vessel. “I will do something now and advance,” he thinks. Our egoism keeps convincing us that a spiritual goal can be attained the same way as a corporeal goal—individually and personally. This is only needed to give us the force of resistance, which drives man inside himself. The stronger the material drive, the more it will give later because the person has taken advantage of it. It is written: “One has swallowed an abundance and then expelled it.”

However, we must accelerate the time, and the only opportunity to do this is to resist the centripetal currents. Otherwise nothing will come out of it.

“It is not the smart one who learns.” The spiritual path is not intended for the sharp ones, but for those who invest themselves. This path consists of simple actions. It is the same way that a computer carries out very complicated calculations through a sequence of elementary operations.

There can be one advice for man: Cancel the mind and do the deed. Your small steps will make a pathway, which will lead you to the feeling of belonging. It is like a father becomes imbued with love for his newborn child as he takes care of him. Daily care rouses feelings. And this applies to everything: Your heart attaches where you invest yourself.

And this is why you need to close your eyes and invest all your energy into the group. This is the only way for you to feel like it is close to you, like it is yours—and then you will be able to build a common Kli (vessel) together with it. Your investment, switched from an egoistic account over to the group account—is your spiritual vessel.
[61604]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/21/11, “The Arvut”

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Question: How are the Maccabean war and Chanukah felt in the internal work, as the ascent of Malchut to Bina?

Answer: The work is always on the desire to receive that awakens and on my intention with regards to it. The Maccabean war symbolizes the fact that I have to raise my intention above the desire to receive—not to use it, but only to rise above it. I don’t descend into the desire; I don’t study it. The main thing is to restrict my desire to receive, to rise above it and to acquire the form of Bina: to bestow in order to bestow. Bina is called Hafetz Hesed, and it has a huge desire, all of Malchut de Ein Sof. But I don’t use this desire; I only rise above it and want to bestow more than anything. I don’t touch this desire.

It’s like a person to whom I can give 10 dollars to keep for me, knowing he will not spend it. There are people you can depend on even if we speak about 100, 1000, 10,000 or even a million dollars. This is the level of Bina in a person when you can be sure that he won’t spend this money, meaning how pure he can stay and not touch the money. But there are people who can use the desire to receive with the intention in order to bestow: to take the “money” and to somehow bestow with it.

We are required to use our corporeal life according to our necessity, and this should “not be criticized nor praised,” meaning we should not use it in this egotistic world but to reach the level of Bina in the spiritual sense.

This is the preliminary state from which the wisdom of Kabbalah begins and which explains to us how to work with the desires to receive with the intention of in order to bestow. In them, we already resemble the Creator, but not until then. Until then you don’t fill others, but simply don’t want to receive anything, like a person who lives alone in the forest not needing anything for oneself.
[64300]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/26/11, Writings of Rabash

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Question: How can I awaken the group to such a great deficiency that they’ll be ready to go to the desert to connect by tomorrow?

Answer: The only thing that we need is an internal worry. All other things stop working. Our perception of our world transforms into being closer and closer to spirituality, and we notice that there are subtler, so to speak, “not corporeal” forces operating in it.

There are such actions, which can not be described as simply mechanical—they are already more “spiritual,” relating to the force of thought, and emotional care and concern that takes place in both heart and mind. In our world today there are forces that cannot be attributed to physical forces or electromagnetic fields.

If you want to bestow to others, the main influence is executed from within the thought and desire, and through them we are all tied to one another.

Of course it’s possible to attain this also through some physical actions, but that’s very difficult. We see that according to the coarseness of the force, more time and energy is needed in order to activate it. We observe this from the development of the planet Earth. For example, on the still level, the creation of Earth took millions of years to create. For the appearance of vegetative level, another millions of years, and then for the animate world, a little less time than that was required. And when the stages of development reached man, then in total, only a few tens of thousands of years were required.

To the extent that the force is of more quality, so the time of its development is shorter: the quantity changes to quality. If you want to influence the friends in a fast and strong way, then it’s worthwhile that it happens already tomorrow. The main thing is the worry from the heart, from thought and desire.

We don’t use this enough. And it’s especially here that the force of Arvut is concealed. It’s not signatures on paper contracts or in having common property. Everything is clarified internally, with the help of the shared force: our desire, as learned in concern, and with intellect, as learned in intention, in order to shake up and awaken the network that connects between us. It’s like when you take a piece of clothing and shake it; we also need to shake the connection between us, so that the vibrations from our heart and mind will pass through it.

All of this happens as in a game. It isn’t real, after all, as we haven’t yet reached it. We only want it to happen, until in the end, it really happens. And work like this with respect to the friends, we must carry out in relation to the Creator. This means to bring to spiritual mating (returning the crown). We are coming closer and closer to this until we receive one direction in seriousness and thoughts even though we are opposite to it. The spiritual coupling is called Zivug de Haka’a, “mating by striking.” This is because it’s a real collision. Otherwise it won’t be felt.

It is written, “one’s seed is also blessed,” since from one side there is resistance and from the other side the connection breaks through. And both of these opposite attributes create the feeling of mating, the clarity of the connection, the point of unity, the spiritual orgasm.
[65170]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/2/12, Writings of Rabash

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