Question: How can I actually turn the desire that awakens in me to bestowal?

Answer: Suppose I am relentlessly worried by something since the morning. This unsatisfied desire gives rise to a thought that I have to calm it down. I am tormented by this problem, immersed in it, and am looking for a way to solve it.

I received all of this from Above. If my problem relates to something that is vitally necessary, then I have to solve it without paying too much attention to working with the intention. First of all I have to provide myself with the vital necessities. It is written about this, "Without bread there is no Torah."

However, if it is not something that’s vitally necessary, if it isn’t something I need on the animate or bodily level, then I have to try to transfer this thought to the right format. I received it from the Creator and it was in order for me to build the right reaction to it. It is "help against the Creator." It is against the goal, yet at the same time it helps me to react correctly, and by pushing myself off of it I can aim at the goal.

My goal is adhesion with the Creator. The Creator is good and does good and there is none else besides Him. He sends me all the problems and worries in order to help me. Therefore, above my worry, as if making a mirror image of it, I turn back to Him, who is good and does good.

I have to reach the sensation that my problem is help to enable me to understand the Creator’s attitude to me, which is opposite to the sensations that awaken in me. That is how I build the Creator’s image. By having a careful and accurate attitude, I will be able to identify why a certain worry or problem is being sent to me precisely in this form. I will see a reverse mold of it, the form of the One who is good and does good, and who engraved it in me.

By virtue of this "inversion" I will ascend to the degree of a righteous man and will justify the Creator in some regard. And by doing so I will get on the right track. The most important thing is to keep going, without falling asleep during any state on the background of any negative forms that the Creator sends me.

I can react to them correctly at every second if only I equip myself with the support of the environment. Without it my efforts are episodic, but with it I am constantly "in the loop." The group entirely determines the speed of my advancement.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/4/11, Writings of Rabash

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Question: How can a person choose bestowal instead of reception?

Answer: First of all, this requires preparation on his part. He has to desire for this to happen. Even if he will get knocked off track later on because the Creator will increase his egoistic desire and alien thoughts, the preparation he made will still do its job.

Secondly, one must set apart a time for studying and doing things related to bestowal. This will also give him forces to return to the path.

Thirdly, a person must motivate the environment to bestow and reach mutual guarantee so that not a single one of the friends would stop thinking about it, but will always aspire to ascend above reason and egoism. The constant, common thought of the group is the surest guarantee there can be.

It is written: “Do everything that is in your power.” At the end of the day, our common efforts awaken the Light that Reforms. A person has to understand that it is necessary to obligate the Creator to give him Light. The Creator constantly increases his egoistic desire, and only at times does He awaken a person with the bestowing desire, the Light, in order to ignite his inner spark which he has to bring into the group. However, this can only happen several times and we shouldn’t wait for it to happen because this kind of awakening is linked to a very unpleasant calculation.

That’s because the Creator cannot give you a bestowing desire “for free.” Therefore, if you are waiting out for it, you will have to experience suffering and pay back for the support in full. On the other hand, you can ask for it ahead of time according to the principle, “Turn to Me and I will give it to you.” You can ask the Creator for the forces of bestowal and then pay for them.
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/4/11, Writings of Rabash

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Question: Does it matter for spiritual advancement whether we read The Book of Zohar in Hebrew or translated into other languages?

Answer: I have to say that it does. The uniqueness of the Hebrew language comes from the fact that it has spiritual roots. That is why the shape of the letters as well as their sequence reflect combinations of spiritual forces.

Hebrew isn’t my native language, and specifically because I am not accustomed to it, I can see in the combinations of letters and their shapes a truly mathematical logic. They are calculations and signs that are expressed in the form of letters. A letter is a sign.

The Zohar describes letters, their shapes, and order in such great detail that if you read it in another language, you as though become unable to do it. The same refers to the order of the words and the sequence of letters.

Let’s say, Hebrew has many things that seem to be unnecessary: letters “Shin” and “Sin” that  appear as the same letter same but are pronounced differently, or “Tav” and “Tet” that are different letters but are pronounced in the same way, or the spelling of letters and words.

Other languages got modified as history progressed; hence, there still are individual elements of the ancient language in the modern one, such as the endings in the French language, for instance. As to Hebrew, it hasn’t changed with history. The forces in charge of creating the meanings of words in spirituality are arranged in such manner that over the course of millennia it is impossible to change either the spelling of the words or the shapes of the letters.

Every language has an old and a modern version whereas Hebrew does not. There is a colloquial slang, but the language itself hasn’t been altered. It cannot change since its structure is based on the forces which create the signs regarded as letters and words.

This language will disappear only at the end of correction (Gmar Tikkun), when we will ascend from ZAT (seven lower Sefirot) of Bina and ZON to GAR (three upper Sefirot) of Bina, wherein the letters will vanish. That’s when all of the matter will also dissolve.

Therefore, when asked “Should or shouldn’t I learn Hebrew?”, I would reply that it will be necessary, to a certain degree. If a person has time and opportunity to do so, it is worthwhile making an effort.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/30/10, “Introduction of The Book of Zohar,” Article “Yitro (Jethro)”

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Question: Since the beginning of the crisis, many folks accept what Kabbalah explains; they agree that we need unity and that egoism is to blame. But they also inquire: “Then what do we need to do exactly?” We can’t make everybody sit and study The Zohar, can we?

Answer: Clearly, we can’t make everyone sit and study Kabbalah if they don’t have aspiration for it. But they have to learn the basics that Baal HaSulam explains in his writings, albeit in a light, accessible form: about society, integral connection, the need to unite, and a different attitude to each other. That would be enough to draw upon ourselves the developing force.

It is similar to how we design a book for children, using language they can understand and colorful pictures. But it does educate and develop them. As to an adult, we have to give him a different book, appropriate to his level of development. But it is still the same content, if only simplified, adapted to each group: for men, women, and children. If Baal HaSulam’s articles are adapted and abridged, they can reach the mind and heart of any person.

If, however, people immediately ask what to do physically, then the answer is: “Don’t do anything!” If we start acting only physically, we will ruin the method. Before anything else, change your thought pattern, and it will fix everything else! “Everything gets clarified in the thought,” and it is impossible to start something with actions.

The only actions we take are aimed at the circulation of Kabbalah and assisting our internal unity. No other action is necessary. Any meal or convention is merely an opportunity to connect. Everything is directed within. If we could get by without them, no action would be required at all. All action takes place within, in the person’s heart. We need to transform the heart.

Baal HaSulam’s articles have to simply become a “national treasure,” and everybody has to understand, discuss, and familiarize themselves with them. And while all of humanity will be going through trying events that lie ahead of us, you will see how one will link with the other.

Man will find himself in the middle. On one hand, the Creator will be pressuring him externally and internally by way of the intensifying crisis. On the other, humanity will have the wisdom of Kabbalah in a simple form, corresponding to its current state, and man will start changing. He will find himself between these two influences: suffering on one side and the method of Kabbalah, the Light, on the other.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/29/10, “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy”

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Writings of Rabash, Shlavei HaSulam, “What Does It Mean That if the Good Grows Also the Evil Grows at Work”
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The Book of Zohar — Introduction: “Yitro (Jethro),” Item 73, Lesson 4
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Talmud Eser Sefirot 3, Part 8, Item 44, Lesson 26
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Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy,” Lesson 7
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Question: If in the end the whole path we have gone through becomes canceled, then what’s the point of all the actions we make today?

Answer: How else could you reach absolute love? How else could you build it if every subsequent level is built based on the previous one?

The entire path you have gone through becomes canceled similar to how you reveal that this entire world is imaginary. When you attain the end of correction and become part of the original point of creation, then the first state (the beginning of creation) and the third state (the end of correction) merge as equals. And the second state (the process of correction) ceases to exist. It becomes part of the third state together with the first state, as if none of it ever happened and all of it just seemed so to us!

All the changes took place only in our sensations. It was necessary for us to go through all of these states in order to be able to understand the Creator and feel Him, become attached to Him, and merge with Him.

All the worlds (Olamot) mean concealments (Alamot), and these worlds or concealments disappear! They were necessary only in order to create this gradually increasing concealment; the problems and suffering awaken us in order for us to gradually start attaining, from below upwards, the one and only existing state in reality. Nothing exists besides it.

All the states we go through are necessary for making discernments. They are 125 levels of discerning the perfect state in which you always exist. You are simply unable to attain it fully all at once, and therefore you do it gradually, in parts, each time understanding and feeling more.

It’s as if you’re “eating this meal” in parts; that is how you ascend up the levels of the worlds. In reality, these worlds do not exist other than in your perception. As soon as you attain everything, there is no more need for them.

However, don’t they seem to exist in me because I ascended up through them until the end of correction, until the final unity? That’s right, but this is only your sensation, the path of attainment. However, in reality there is only one perfect state, existing before and after you: Malchut, filled by the Light of Infinity, both in the very beginning and at the very end.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/3/11, “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy”

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We have to attain our nature, including all the transgressions and mistakes, because otherwise we won’t be able to ascend above them and attain the Pharaoh in us in order to understand how much he is in our way. It is through him that we want to come to serve the Creator.

What does it mean, “Let my people go”? Who lets me go? It says that Pharaoh even accompanies the nation of Israel during the exodus from Egypt. That is to say, we have to go through various discernments in order to be ready for the exodus, and then we come out! Pharaoh holds us back only until we acquire forces and become ready.

When we break through the barrier of the spiritual world and pass the Machsom, it means that we have a desire and force for it, but if we don’t have the desire yet, then we cannot pass it. Therefore, Pharaoh only helps us with his opposition!

That is how we ascend above all the obstacles, and by virtue of that, we acquire the force of bestowal, opposition to egoism, the firmness of the screen, desire. We increase our desire and aspiration to spirituality. All the “anti-forces,” all the disturbances and suffering are revealed only in order to strengthen us and teach us.

That is how we should view every state we are in, any thought or sensation that naturally comes to us, knowing that it is precisely the place for our work. We do not contain anything at all that can be left as is, uncorrected.

First we reveal the degree of Hafetz Hesed (desiring only bestowal), ascending above our egoistic thoughts and desires and admitting that they are transgressions and mistakes; we reveal that everything comes from the one upper force, bestowal. Then we acquire the bonds of love, performing actions of reception for the sake of bestowal, and through them we start to attain what is called love.

In the end we ascend to a state called Keter, which does not belong to matter or anything that originates beneath it. It contains only the primordial cause of what happens below. Everything that happens beneath Keter until Malchut itself is necessary only in order to give Malchut the opportunity to ascend back and become similar to Keter.

Therefore, in the end we establish the same attitude to the Creator as He has to us, above our matter and everything taking place in us. Then we do not retain any connection to everything we went through, experienced, decided, did, or revealed, not from His end nor from ours.

All of this becomes absolutely canceled and only His initial, fundamental attitude to us and ours to Him is revealed. That means that we reveal everything only inside Keter, in the Light of love, when we have absolutely no care about any action or gift, whether we receive for the sake of bestowal or bestow for the sake of bestowal. All the differences disappear and everything merges in the attainment of unity.

Matter and the form of reception cease to exist because they were initially created by the Creator only in order to enable us to attain that original, primordial point with which the Creator began creation.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/3/11, “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy”

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Writings of Rabash, “He Who Has Not Made An Effort On Shabbat Eve…”: The main efforts are made in the work against knowledge, when a person does not know for what sake he must work. This is very difficult.

Question: Why is it so difficult?

Answer: Because it completely contradicts everything that I am. In reality, this is not just very difficult, but impossible. I won’t reach success here with my own forces because I don’t have any means to make any action in my mind or feelings that is above knowledge.

I always act based on my own thoughts and desires. Can it be otherwise? What else does a person have?

Nevertheless, in order to make the right action, one must be equipped with the mind of the Creator rather than creation. That means I need His head instead of my own. But how can I achieve that?

That is why Kabbalists give us advice. When a person wants to serve someone great, the group, or the friends, he tries to turn off his mind and his feelings, accepting the mind and feeling of the neighbor instead. With the help of these exercises, we then build the same attitude to the Creator.

A small person always lacks a “mind” or understanding. He does not know how to become similar to the Upper One and does not understand Him. That is why he has to receive or accept a part of the Upper One’s mind. Working with the mind of the Upper One instead of your own is faith above reason.

Why “faith”? Couldn’t it just say, “the mind of the Upper One”? The matter is that the lower one acquires the head of the Upper One, rejecting his own mind in the quality of Hafetz Hesed, the quality of bestowal. Otherwise he cannot do this. He cannot see the action of the Upper One and become similar to Him.

The most effective means enabling one to acquire wisdom and greatness of a new level is to try and neutralize one’s mind and feeling in order to accept the mind and feeling of the neighbor, who is higher than me. Otherwise I grow only in the animate part of me, growing quantitatively rather than qualitatively.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/3/11, Writings of Rabash

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Question: Can the reading of The Book of Zohar help us acquire a general, universal perception? Would it not cancel out the uniqueness of each human being?

Answer: What uniqueness can there be at the moment? What human being?.. We are talking about your “beast” which we have to turn into a Human Being.

You have a “donkey” (“donkey” in Hebrew is “Hamor,” from the word “Homer” – “matter”), and there is only one spiritual spark in it. We want to help you extract this spark from the “donkey” and connect it with the rest of the sparks shimmering above the herd of “donkeys.”

Imagine seven billion “donkeys” and a twinkling spark above each of them. We want to unite these sparks together and then build from them Man similar to the Creator. Only then will they acquire a general perception of the collective soul of Adam HaRishon.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/3/2011, “Introduction of The Book of Zohar,” Article “Yitro (Jethro)”

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