Question: Since I started studying the wisdom of Kabbalah and entered the group, I have been feeling how my desire for sex and other worldly pleasures are growing in me. How do I work with them?

Answer: It is written, “He who is greater than his friend, his desire is greater than him.” During the entire course of our history, we have been developing egoistically; our ego has been constantly growing. In the end, we come to a state when we are utilizing all of the enormous egoism this world contains.

Therefore, people feel despair, fall into depression and abuse drugs; terrorism and other misfortunes expand. We don’t know what to do with our lives anymore. Now, we must leap further with the greater egoism in order to reach the spiritual world and the Creator.

Therefore, people who come to the wisdom of Kabbalah think that now they will be like “angels with wings,” as if wings were the only thing they lack when no worldly pleasures can fill them any longer. However, when a person starts studying, he suddenly discovers more desire for food, sex, traveling, and other corporeal pleasures.

Why is this so? The ego is increasing, and there is nothing we can do about it. Age doesn’t matter. A person can be 80 or 90 years old, and he still begins having desires as a young person would. I don’t want to advertise it or we will turn in a group of oldies. But, in truth, there is no salvation; in a person who studies the wisdom of Kabbalah, all desires must keep growing.

The foundation of all desires is sexual pleasure, the root of which is adhesion of the Light and desire (Kli, vessel), the coupling of the male and female parts of creation. For this reason, a person first experiences an increase in sexual desire to such a high degree as has never happened to him before.

Previously, he was a stable person, and all his desires were in check. However, now, they manifest in such a grotesque form that they start getting in the way of his normal life. All of this is true, and we know that as a person begins studying the wisdom of Kabbalah, all our desires and tendencies get renewed.

What do we do with this? As we may know from the wisdom of Kabbalah, we are prohibited from resisting our desires. Don’t challenge the “evil inclination” directly, as if you are about to battle it as a hero; you won’t win. Just submerge yourself in the studies, the group, and connect with them to the best of your ability so that the Upper Light could affect you more strongly. Only in this manner will you be able to go through this with all the kinds of obstacles surrounding you.

Besides, there is no other choice. All of it is designed to purify the intention and thoughts in order to seek in all of these obstacles the point of bonding with the group since your free will lies solely in it.

You are given such states so that you may forevermore settle in your choice, even on the foundation of all the desires for wealth, sex, family, and other pleasures of the corporeal world. On this ground, bond with the group tighter and realize your only free choice.

You don’t have the power to fight your desires. Don’t be a fool and start a war with them. After all, you are not the one in charge; it isn’t your job. You are given external conditions so that, thereby, you could exercise your free will to a greater extent.

This must be understood while facing any predicament in our life. Act normally in our world; there should be no change in home, family, vacation, and health. However, all your attention should be focused on your only free choice.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/5/10, “The Freedom”

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We have to understand that the more we try to come closer to each other, the more each of us discovers that he hates the others. That’s because every time I come closer to you, I discover how opposite you are from me. And the closer I come to you, the more I leave the place I came from where I was alone.

Suppose I take steps toward you, meaning that I get to know you more and more. The more I get to know you, the more my hatred for you grows. Why? It’s because I gain a greater realization of how opposite you are from me. This poses one obstacle to advancement.

The second obstacle is that the closer I come to you, the further away I get from myself. In order to get to know you, I have to leave my qualities and attain yours.

Say you are a salesman and I am a customer. You name your price and I offer mine, and gradually we bargain, reaching a compromise. But the more I go in your direction, the further away I move from my initial words. It becomes more and more difficult for me because I leave behind my previous opinion in order to come closer to you. Even though you also grow distant from your opinion, this does not worry me. I am worried only about myself.

Thus, to the degree I come closer to you I discover: 1) Your opposition and 2) Distancing from myself. Therefore, the more we advance and move closer to the Creator, to corrections, the more our Aviut or thickness of desire increases, and the heaviness that we feel grows exponentially as well. It becomes more and more difficult for me due to the realization that you are opposite to me and that I have to move away from you more.

To the degree we advance we always acquire additional Kelim, desires for correction, and increase them. We suddenly discover desires that are much greater than we thought before. And this is good because then I have what to correct, and I have much more than before. Previously I thought: "Who cares, I need to correct just 10 ounces." But suddenly I discover that it isn’t 10 ounces, but 50 pounds. However, by correcting them, I earn 50 pounds of Light.

Question: So when does correction happen?

Answer: Correction will happen when you reject the great hatred you feel and neglect the great separation from yourself because the most important thing for you will be to connect with me. This is a rejection of us both. Do you want to exist in love? Then show that you love! How? By rejecting hatred and neglecting separation from yourself. In our world everything is simple: You buy a ring for your bride and she is yours. But in spirituality this rejection is very difficult.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/20/10, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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If the world provided correct upbringing to the growing generation today, then in 15 to 20 years, we would live among new people, a new humanity. We wouldn’t have to worry about what to do with the adults. Beginning at the age of three or four, we would methodically educate a child to have a new perception, an aspiration to bestowal.

Up to the ruining of the First Temple, the entire nation of Israel was raised and lived by this idea. It is written that from Dan in the north to Beer Sheba in the south, meaning across the entire country, there wasn’t a child who would not know what “in order to receive” and “in order to bestow” meant. In those times, they were following the method received from Abraham upon his departure from Babylon.

We will have to do the same with time, but the opportunity is presented to us even now. In the end, we will teach our children how to get along with each other, how to establish a connection, be friends, interact, and love.

In the present conditions, it is very difficult because children are subject to the modern system of education and all the problems it entails. Yet, we are trying to explain to them that love of others as themselves is a universal law of nature. There is no way to escape it. Resist or fight as you might, in the end, you will only hurt yourself. History demonstrates to us how empires fell, and the victorious nations, after all their triumphs, ended up in the gutter.

Blindfolded egoism thinks that success in a competition brings profit, trophies, and power: “Watch me be a hero!” However, looking farther or even closer ahead, it turns out that this attitude doesn’t pay off. We are bound by nature, and we need reciprocity.

This is why we add to modern, professional education the rule of love of others as we love ourselves. To achieve this, we utilize various forms to present it such as games, songs, talks, debates, and discussions in order to lead children to the new perception of reality.

We find ourselves at the very beginning of the journey. Let’s hope that this year, we will manage to arrange an international educational network that will encompass all our groups around the world. We will produce films, books, and educational brochures, work with psychologists and other specialists, and, in a few years, we will see how our children will benefit from it.

Today, it is simply necessary to develop and expand healthy upbringing so that our children won’t grow up with the laws of the jungle and become misanthropes as it is at present. While growing up, our children will be successful in all areas such as in the sciences, professional preparation, behavior, and in their attitude to society and the world. It will be so because they will internally be equivalent to the Creator.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/5/10, “What to Look for in the Assembly of Friends”

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Nukva (Malchut, the female part) was created out of the desire to receive pleasure. Zeir Anpin (the male part) was created out of the desire to bestow. Zeir Anpin is the Creator (Kadosh Bar Hu) and He does not have a desire to enjoy. He only has a desire to bestow and love.

Nukva consists entirely of the desire to enjoy and is therefore able to become similar to the male part only by overcoming and suppressing her own natural egoistic desire, by restricting and correcting it. That is how she attains equivalence with Zeir Anpin and adhesion with him.

Therefore, Nukva‘s entire work in order to attain unity with Zeir Anpin lies in taking an example from him and being his Nukva, female part, rather than becoming the same as he. For Nukva, becoming similar to him means being opposite to Him, “help against him.” This is like two interfacing forms with curved shapes: as much as one is concave in one place, the other is convex. Each complements the other along the entire boundary between them, either by “bulging out,” meaning having some quality, or “curving in,” lacking that quality.

Therefore, Nukva has to remain “help against him.” Her work is “against”; it is work in order for both of them to attain the goal. The more they work together, the more they discern the relationship between them, their common goal, and the quality of each of them which is opposite to one another.

Their work is to complement one another. They find perfection only in the third element, the Creator, Bina, to which they ascend by uniting together in ZON only for the sake of ascending into Bina. Perfection is possible only if they acquire a connection with Bina in their mutual unity.

Therein lies a very fine and fundamental point relating to the nature of the Creator and the nature of creation. For creation, becoming similar to the Creator means only completing itself until the Upper One, rather than taking Him as an example and becoming the same as He. I am similar to Him through bestowal, but it is me who is similar to Him based on my qualities, my nature.

Therefore creation remains “help against,” and precisely thanks to this each of them attains perfection, independence, and his own status, and both are worthy of respect. Creation does not dissolve or disappear in the Creator, but supplements Him with its opposition. And the Creator becomes revealed precisely by virtue of creation.

With His “concavity” or lack of any quality, the Creator gives creation the opportunity to express itself and complement Him with its “convexity,” the presence of that quality (like an electrical outlet and an appliance plugged into it), and vice versa. That is how they work together.

By completing each other this way they attain mutual perfection. One cannot manage without the other. The Creator needs creation and creation needs the Creator. Only through mutual completion, in the middle between them do they attain perfection.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/19/10, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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The Book of Zohar — Introduction: “The Letters by Rabbi Amnon Saba,” Item 39, Lesson 7;  “Wisdom On Which the World Stands,” Item 41, “Manula and Mifteha,” Lesson 1
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Talmud Eser Sefirot 3, Part 8, Item 26, Lesson 15
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Baal HaSulam, “Beit Shaar HaKavanot,” Item 85
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Rav Yehuda Ashlag “Peace in the World,”, Lesson 1
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Before I start studying, “engaging in the Torah,” the key is to know what and why I am studying and what I will get from it. The Torah is the only medium that can help us reach the goal. There are probably multiple conditions to that, but all of them are necessary solely in order to form a correct connection with the Torah for us.

“The Torah” is the Upper Light that affects and reforms us so that we get to know the Creator, the Upper Force, and appreciate Him as the Giver, as love itself, which lies above our essence: the will to receive pleasure.

This is why the prayer book opens with special blessings that we bring before the study: We give thanks for the opportunity to study the Torah. A person feels that it is worthwhile to study the Torah which is designated solely for the correction of the evil inclination. This is described as: “I created the evil inclination, and I created the Torah as a spice for it.”

If it weren’t for the evil inclination, the Creator wouldn’t have created this special Light, the unique system of reforming us. And now, seeing the inner evil unfold, a person truly needs the Torah. And if it isn’t the case, a person doesn’t study the Torah since he isn’t connected with the system that teaches him about inner changes.

I need to become aware of my evil and wish to get rid of it; I need to understand that there is no way out of it and only the Upper Light will reform me. Then, I will turn to the Creator in the correct manner.

The journey may be long. Most don’t have a clue about it, while others think they practice the Torah although it isn’t really so; for them, the Torah is not the instrument of correction and ascent to the Creator.

First of all, a person has to find out what inner part of him needs to get corrected. I think not about what I will get from the Torah but what must be reformed in me. After all, the Torah is a “spice” which conceals the Light that Reforms. What then is corrupted in me? What requires correction?

I must visualize both these forms, the corrupted and the corrected ones, as clearly as possible and expect liberation, the force that will help me to transit from the first to the second spiritual degree. Having constructed this crystal clear, accurate system, I anticipate and demand assistance from Above so that it all comes true.

If the evil inclination is evil for me indeed, if I understand what correction is exactly and am determined to come to it, then I draw the force of the Torah, the Light that descends and reforms me. And that is when I truly do “engage in the Torah.”
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/16/10, "Introduction of The Book of Zohar," Article “The Letters by Rabbi Amnon Saba”

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Question: You have explained that each word and letter we read in the Kabbalistic texts contains the force of correction. It is my job to draw this force and feel how it enters me and reforms my flaws into perfections.

Is it correct to assume that when you speak and explain the content of the Kabbalists’ writings, I must also apply this process regardless of the fact that in one case, I am dealing with a word written in the book and in another, I hear it from you?

Answer: No, it works in a different fashion. You hear from the other what has already passed through him, his own experience of spiritual revelation; therefore, you adhere to him and, together, you act as one system. Meanwhile, when you read the text yourself, you perform corrections differently. In short, there are different ways to do correction, depending on whether you listen to or actually read the text.

When you read it yourself, you become one with the author and belong to his system, whereas when you listen to someone, you join him and together with him or through him you perform correction.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/16/10, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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Until now, we were able to develop according to the general program of nature. We kept on developing our egoism over the course of human history. Now, we have completed this development and need to begin evolving in a different form.

Before, nature was pushing us to develop according to program “A,” but now, it seems to be beginning to influence us from a new “orbit,” and is launching a program “B” of development. This is why we need to develop in a completely different way.

If program “A” directly developed the desire and the mind, program “B” is working in a different way. It is striving to bring us to similarity in properties and harmony with nature. This is why nature is showing us that we are connected, unified, and that we live in a global, integrated world, regardless of whether we want it or not.

Nature is revealing a new form to us which did not exist previously, and we must make ourselves correspond to it, in other words, to connect, unite, and attain mutual bestowal. We must begin to organize within ourselves and the entire population of earth according to the laws of nature which we are now revealing in society as we discover that everyone is interconnected and depends on one another.

When we do not do this, we become opposite to nature, and a “delta,” a lack of correspondence, appears between us, and it is very dangerous. When we used to work according to program “A” before, we were not opposite to nature. We simply were on the “inanimate” level. Nature was pushing me to develop my egoistic desire and search for fulfillment, and that is what I was doing.

Suffering was pushing me from behind. It always helped me when I was not advancing fast enough, but I always developed in a normal, egoistic direction. This is why those who tried always attained success.

But this no longer works today because nature has begun to influence us from Above in a different form, and we need to change accordingly.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/3/10, Special Talk on the Tragedy in Northern Israel and Balance in Nature

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“Introduction of The Book of Zohar,”Article “Flower Buds,” Item 5: The flower buds are the patriarchs, who entered in thought and entered the next world, Bina, and were hidden there. From there, they came out in concealment and were hidden in the true prophets. Joseph was born and they hid in him. Joseph entered the holy land and erected them there, and then they appeared in the land and were revealed there.

Our entire connection with the spiritual world goes through the Partzuf of Nukva of the world of Atzilut. The broken souls raise their MAN, the request for correction, toward her.

A person with a point in the heart aspires toward the spiritual world, and spirituality is bestowal and unity. Because of this, he strives to unite with others, and he is given the opportunity to do this in the group.

When a person carries out the condition of ascent and creates a Kli (vessel), he connects with Malchut de Atzilut. She raises the common appeal of the friends to Zeir Anpin, and He gives them the Light that Reforms. Then, the souls that wish to become one whole ascend the degrees of unity.

First, they rise to the state of conception (Ibur). Here, they unite through nullifying themselves before one another. Each lowers his head before the environment and becomes “like a fetus in its mother’s womb.” Then, they reach the nursing degree (Yenika, drawing of sustenance) where their unity becomes stronger. Now, they become able to work with their desire to receive pleasure, and rise above it.

Then, the souls move on to a grown state (Gadlut, adulthood). The degree of their unity enables them to connect with Zeir Anpin, and this degree is called Yesod de Gadlut or Joseph.

This helps us understand the story described in the Torah of how Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers. These events unravel around our fight for unity, for us to attain the mutual guarantee to the degree that is sufficient for revealing the Creator between us.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/2/10, “Introduction of The Book of Zohar,” Article “Flower Buds”

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