Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Item 133: And only the heroes among them, whose patience endured, defeated the guards and opened the gate. And they were instantly awarded seeing the King’s face….

Question: What is the degree of “patience endured?”

Answer: A person arrives at the wisdom of Kabbalah “dying” to attain everything and all at once, but when he or she doesn’t succeed, they start getting angry at themselves, the Creator, and the whole world. This is how a person’s healthy, strong egoistic desire expresses itself when it realizes that it doesn’t have any chance to be fulfilled because it’s totally opposite to the source of fulfillment.

The degree of patience is formed in a person when he begins to understand what the spiritual path entails and comprehends the necessity of each stage. As if with a pair of tweezers, grain by grain, he collects his accumulated impressions, fully aware that without them, he cannot assemble the “building blocks” of his soul. After all, a person’s soul contains thousands of various details within it, each of which must be refined, and that is why it is impossible to leap over a certain stage.

Baal HaSulam writes that it is only the one who walks a long path to corrections that wins the most due to the fact that he or she undergoes deeper discernments. In fact, our soul is not just a two-dimensional puzzle, but rather a complex structure that expands in depth in every direction because each soul must contain all souls within it.

It is a multidimensional spiritual space where a person with his body is connected with absolutely every soul as if besides himself, there is no one else. Therefore, a person has to perform very big discernments.

So, the measure of patience doesn’t imply the degree of your self-composure or, conversely, impatience. The Creator is an immutable law of nature, and there is nothing you can do. For example, in truth, you can yell at a machine all you want when you can’t make it work, but it won’t help whatsoever.

The degree of patience is when a person strives to obtain the correct approach to his spiritual advancement with the help of his environment. In other words, until we all unify, our Kli (vessel) will not be complete, and we will not be able to enter the Creator’s chambers. We must reach a certain minimal degree, a so-called Seah (amount of efforts). This requires patience.

You must constantly turn to the group and ask it for support and learn patience from the others. However, it is only regarded as patience when, in fact, it is mutual engagement with the others.

Patience is when I know that I will not obtain spirituality before the others. I have to work together with them, advance them, and then, in the last turn, I will enter the spiritual world.
It is precisely the awareness of my being the last one which defines the degree of my patience. It is a very important property that derives from the fact that there is nothing but a single Kli (vessel) and the Light, while I only stimulate them toward unification.

That is, when everyone strives to reach the summit of a mountain and step into the King’s palace, I don’t run ahead of them all, but push them from behind. I am the last in line. If I am willing to do that, it means that I have the endurance of patience. If I assist everyone, then after they become transformed, I, too, will be reformed.

No one can come to correction before his or her environment. It is regarded as: A person is unable to raise himself above his circle since it is a wholesome system where all its parts interact with each other.

How, then, will there be one part that is corrected within it while another is not? Therefore, the more a person strives to elevate his environment, the more exalted he or she becomes. Only this kind of approach leads to success.

Also, the degree of one’s patience is measured by his or her ability to turn suffering from having to compose oneself into bestowal and pleasure. In that case, that measure of patience that “endured” this work turns into a great Kli (desire).

After all, all impatience is an authentic expression of ego that is “burning” with desire to be fulfilled and hates everything that holds it from getting such fulfillment. The degree of a person’s patience tames this ego, reforms it, and becomes the criterion of the spiritual advancement of man.

Ultimately, the measure of patience is the very same uncorrected Kelim that separate me from the Creator since it is in them where I feel the impatience.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/25/2011, “Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot”

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Our method of raising children is not to tame and terrorize them into developing habits; only the few habits necessary for daily life should be instilled. The key in upbringing is to give the young the instruments they can use to understand the place and significance of every phenomenon in their life and to develop a clear system of values: First, there is the importance of the group, above it there is the importance of the Creator, and below it everything that leads to this. The rest doesn’t have any connection to free will and should be utilized as dictated by a simple decision of how essential it is to life.

Thus, a child’s surroundings should be divided into two parts: 1) living necessities, and 2) everything that relates to spirituality, the importance of which we wish to increase by way of our free will with the help of the group, unity, and studies. This system is the priority for him or her. A child must constantly be in it in order to find themselves as the most important thing in the world which must be realized.

Therefore, we cannot outline for the children the norms of behavior for their entire life since this method doesn’t work any longer for the new generation. They need to receive the tools that will remain with them for life. They will act by employing these devices, deciding “pro” or “con” each step of the way, every moment in their lives.

Hence, we are passing along the method, but habits should be cultivated in the group. The more time a child spends in the group, the better he or she understands its influence on him or her, senses its response, engages in it, and evolves.

There a youngster finds connection, strength, support, and the field for work. There a child advances, and if he or she fails at some point, then they employ study and prayer. Having gained the forces to rise, they fall yet again, and this process can occur only in the group. With the rest of the world, a child may interact as necessary.

These principles should be assimilated within children as much as possible while we raise them. Part of it will enter them as habitual behavior which depends on each child’s personality and the peculiarities of their souls, while the rest will be acquired during work in the group. However, in order for it to stay with them, children must know how to live, starting with the first years of their lives.

After all, it is the “human” part in the new generation that has to undergo transformation, not the animate one. Previously, all of us were as animals, and that is why there weren’t any specific changes.

Children used to receive education that was sufficient for life. The failure in upbringing can be explained by the fact that in the new generation, a “human” part of our desire is developing and changing constantly. Hence, nobody understands what is happening with the children and what it is that they want.

They don’t understand it either. The human part that is developing in the young generation requires a method of correction. If we give this method to this part of man and provide his animate part with habitual behavior acquired in childhood that will become his second nature, thereby, we will give him everything that’s needed.

He will govern both parts on his own. For the animate part, he will have a set of habits, and he will have the method to work with the human part.
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From the Talk on Education 2/18/2011

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In the corporeal world, our perception of beauty constantly changes, and we are forced to follow the opinion of the majority. After all, we live in a human society and respect its values whether we like it or not. This is our nature. At the end, every person will esteem the things that the majority in his environment respects.

We do not even realize how unreasonable these values are. So frequently fashions change in education, culture, the industrial sector, creativity, and even food. We see them come and go, without any actual value. Everything beyond the limits of our animate existence that the body requires (simple shelter, family, and food) has value in our eyes only because the society appreciates it.

But spirituality is different because nobody is dragging us there. We need to build our own society and awaken it ourselves so it would pull us after it and through it, to spirituality. In other words, we are given free will in the spiritual development, and no one will force us there!

Of course, the Creator stimulates us: He arranges a hard life for us in this world and deprives us of fulfillment. But on the other hand, life is no longer as difficult as it was in the past, and we are not starving. Yet, we feel an inner emptiness that pushes us to develop. And when we discover this emptiness and start thinking about the purpose, the meaning, and the secret of life, but are unable to answer these questions, we realize that no one can tell or explain it to us, nobody pulls us after them.

We look around and fail to see any examples. We receive examples in everything else in life: the choice of a profession, the style of our home, the kind of things to buy, what to do, who to be like. The human society gives us examples of everything. And only spirituality remains without examples, as if you existed in an empty vacuum, and every day, even every moment you are faced with the questions: what to do, where to go, where to get examples of spiritual values and purpose?

This is a big problem. But on the other hand, this is a consequence of the freedom given to us! This is because when a person enters spirituality, he builds his own soul. Nobody teaches him. There are many advices and books, but all of them are merely general explanations around this topic, which only support us a little.

Ultimately, everything depends on the person himself. He needs to build his own environment which would provide him with the spiritual values and direction and be just as sound as the environment in our world with all its examples. Without this, he naturally would not know how to advance.

This is the main difference between the spiritual and the corporeal advancement.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/4/2011, Writings of Rabash

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In the process of gradual descent from the world of Infinity, the vessels (Kelim) receive the Lights. On the way downward, there lie the worlds of Adam Kadmon, Atzilut, Beria, Yetzira, and Assiya.

Their ladder is a gradually decreasing reception of the Light for the sake of the Creator. In the world of Adam Kadmon, there is a big Light of Yechida; in the world of Aztilut, the Light of Haya; in the world of Beria, the Light of Neshama; in the world of Yetzira, the Light of Ruach; and in the world of Assiya, the Light of Nefesh.

In the end, all the Lights in all of the vessels expire, and we find ourselves at the bottom, in the state of “this world.” There are neither Lights nor vessels in it, but only a life force, a material desire. Over the course of the entire descent, the screen kept reducing from 100% to a zero. As a result, we don’t have the force of resistance or a thought of bestowal, nothing. We reside in the material world, that is, in the egoistic desire.

And at this point, we must evolve to the condition when we will desire to go back to the world of Infinity: starting from zero, from below upward, to climb the five worlds that we descended through. By doing so we essentially realize the purpose of creation.

Thus, having fallen to this world, we existed in it over the course of history until we reached the year 2011, the beginning of ascent. From here on, all souls are beginning to rise upward. The path from Above downward and from below upward extends over 125 degrees since each of the five worlds consists of five Partzufim that each contains five Sefirot.

Basically, everything is preset and premeasured in the universe; everything is purposeful. We only need to disclose our next state of existence, time after time, and carefully step into it: everybody in his or her individual manner. Everything is prearranged, and in the world of Infinity (Ein Sof), we come to our final, perfect state of being.

Before we descended from there, we existed in state 1, and then through the broken and confused state 2, we return to Infinity, state 3. What do we “earn” thereby? We earn autonomy. After all, it is we who walk this path to Infinity, we who act, and we who attain the Creator’s creation and actions. Gaining awareness of who He is, we become like Him and understand how to act without Him. We learn, as a child does, until we reach a rung at which we are able to work instead of the Creator in all of reality, in all creation.

The Creator is only a force, but it is we who set it in motion. And this is why in the third state, there are only the Creator and the created being, equal and similar in all. That is what we earn. This is the goal the Creator placed before us so that we, the created beings, may become equal to Him.

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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/4/2011, “Explanation to the Article, Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

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Question: How can we bring our inner movements to match the text of The Book of Zohar?

Answer: Relative to other Kabbalistic sources, this is actually easy to do with The Zohar because the speed and reading of the text are such that all you have to do is feel out how to “flow” together with it. But this does not mean that you are hearing its sound like the noise of a river that flows by.

“Flowing together with it” means that you are trying very calmly, as it is written, “The words of the sages are heard in calmness.” You are going together with the authors of The Zohar without any resistance, arranging your inner motions to suit the sound of the words. If you missed a few words and did not hear them, don’t worry and keep going with the following words. Thus, you continue with the flow like a wooden chip on waves, repeating all of the nuances of the water.

That is how we should enable our qualities, desires, and sensations to flow together with the text of The Zohar as if on the water’s surface, trying to suit this flow, trying to find where these qualities and desires The Zohar describes are inside of us. But we should look for them very simply and easily. The most important thing is to let this flow pass through you. After all, we are just a vessel or Kli through which this entire flow of words has to enter us.

When reading The Zohar, we do not try to activate the mind or discern the inner definitions. Even in places where The Zohar seems to use technical, scientific terms, using the language of Kabbalah, we should also try to let this text pass through the sensations rather than the mind, meaning to try to listen to our own feelings and impressions, trying to feel how every word echoes inside us regardless of the language that The Zohar uses.
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/9/11, The Zohar

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Question: You say that a married couple has to “play” at being a corrected family. But what should they do if the evil is revealed between the spouses constantly, if they fight often, don’t respect one another, and don’t understand one another?

Answer: Unfortunately, none of us received the necessary upbringing and we weren’t prepared for family life. We have to raise a man and a woman in a way that teaches them to establish the right interconnection with one another and with their children.

This is the problem of egoistic development: Each person thinks that he knows what to do. No one prepares a person for life. Instead of educating a person, we barely teach him some kind of profession. That is why the modern crisis is so deep.

The crisis of families has become unbearable. The whole world is being immersed in universal, total despair from the attempts of families to live together. And while this is happening we do not admit that the family unit is the foundation of all of life. Without it, life will not go on.

Man will have to search for the answer, and the answer is: “Husband and wife, and the Shechina between them.” We have to understand that egoistic development has brought us to a dead-end: We cannot stand each other anymore. Only the importance of the goal can help us, and we can attain that goal only if we have the corrected family which gives their children the right upbringing. Only on this condition do we acquire similarity to nature or the Creator. Then we reveal Him, unite with Him, and attain eternal life on the spiritual level.

Only the spiritual goal will obligate a person to create the right family, to have children and the right relationships between the spouses.
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/8/11 on Women

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In order for the property of the Light to penetrate desire, a special process of descent takes place. First of all, desire is imparted with a sensation that it is opposite to the Light. As a result, it cannot bear itself and performs a restriction (Tzimzum).

Afterwards, desire concludes: “I need a screen (Masach).” In other words, it needs a chance to equalize itself with the Light by performing an autonomous act. This means that it will indeed be detached from the Creator and face Him as the guest before the host. Even though the guest receives nothing from the host, he still feels that he is opposite and suffers from it.

I don’t need the feast that the host has prepared for me; I reject it. But the host still keeps asking me to taste from his table and laments my not accepting his gifts. Seeing that, I do accept them, being fully aware that I am doing it solely to delight him.

Thus, being opposite, the Light and the creature are detached from each other. The Light wishes to fulfill the creature (1), whereas the creature pushes it away (2). But eventually, when the Light returns and “begs” (3), the creature, as if doing a favor, agrees to receive from it (4). This reception is regarded as bestowal. Thereby, their relationship develops.

This is the development by way of the screen. The creature presents itself as a place of desire, but this desire is covered by the screen. It is as though desire installs a “divider” atop and decides: No matter how much Light comes in (1), the first thing I will do is push it back (2). But the Light still pressures me (3), so in that case I calculate (?) how much of it I am able to receive. I let the right amount in and receive it as a “treat” (4).

The calculation becomes an additional factor: How much am I able to receive in order to bestow to the host as much pleasure as he wants to give me? And this calculation makes me a human (Adam) since thereby, I claim my autonomy in complete detachment from the host and act as he does. He gives to me, and I to him. Or, as it is described in the Song of Songs: “I am for my Beloved as my Beloved is for me.”

Acting this way, the created being arrives at a corrected state, and this kind of reception makes it a spiritual vessel. Why a “vessel”? Because it can receive the Light. Why “spiritual”? Because it is equal to the Creator and bestows like He does.

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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/4/2011, “Explanation to the Article, Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

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The Creator created desire which was “round” (meaning that initially it didn’t have any details of perception) and filled it with the Light. With His force, the force of the Light, He created desire’s reality and filled it with the same very Light.

Thus, there are only two elements in the universe: desire and the Light, the vessel (Kli) and what fills it. The Light is regarded as “the Creator,” whereas desire is regarded as “the creature.” Only they exist in the world of Infinity. As to a “world” in spirituality, it is a state of being and not a picture that we are accustomed to seeing in our world.

So, the initial state of desire and the Light is called “the world of Infinity” since there are no boundaries or restrictions. Desire has as much Light as it desires. All desire’s components are fulfilled.

What is missing here? Desire is created but isn’t conscious of it. It exists because the Light is sustaining it. In order for desire to evolve and feel what it is, what it has, and what it was created for, it is necessary to insert a certain additional component into it. This is because as long as it is locked in itself, desire lacks self-awareness and knowledge of its own existence.

In order to perceive itself, desire has to look at itself from aside, observe itself, and reflect on its existence. Undeveloped mammals and humans do not possess such characteristics. Only having evolved, does man start asking himself: “Who and what am I? What am I for? What is the essence of this life?” He or she is interested not in self-fulfillment but in the meaning of life and strives to look outside of his or her existence.

In order to give desire this opportunity and capacity, the Light must enter it and impart it with its own properties. In that case, the properties of both desire and the Light will co-exist in it, and on the contrast between them, it will start asking itself: “Where did I come from? Why do I exist? Where am I going?”

However, if the additional property doesn’t surface in desire, it will not start pondering over anything and will care only about its natural need: to stay fulfilled and whole. Similarly, the representatives of the still, vegetative, and animate degrees strive to fill and preserve themselves in the best possible form.

This is why the Creator must penetrate desire and permeate it with Himself, to give it the form of the Light.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/4/2011, “Explanation to the Article, Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

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