Question: If I accept others’ desires as my own, doesn’t that mean that along with their pleasures I also receive all of their suffering, for all of humanity? I came to receive unearthly pleasure, but why do I need extra suffering?

Answer: You don’t receive the suffering of others, but their desires. How can you enjoy filling others’ desires if they aren’t empty first? You have to feel their emptiness.

Clearly it isn’t pleasant to have empty desires. But if you acquire them in order to fulfill them, then you are happy that they are empty! That means you have the opportunity to fill them! It’s like a mother who is happy that she has prepared so much food and her hungry child is eating it well.

Therefore, there is no suffering here, but only pleasure! It’s as if there is a good meal in front of you and you awaken the appetite in yourself before the meal. After all, this is the only thing you lack in order to receive it.

The Light is at absolute rest and we are in an ocean of Light. The more you receive from other empty vessels or desires, the more you will be able to fill them with Light and all of that fulfillment will be yours! This is what the science of Kabbalah teaches. It is "the wisdom of reception" or fulfillment.

You are like a mother who has 7 billion hungry babies and enough milk for all of them – the entire Light of Infinity. Can you imagine what a pleasure that is!?

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/17/10, "The Freedom"

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Talmud Eser Sefirot, Volume 3, Part 8, Question 36: "Place." Time, motion, and place are practically the same notion, which determines the relative change and renewal of form (desires). However, when we are speaking of the order of the descent of the levels, this is called the change of "place," whereas when we are speaking of cause and effect, it is called "the order of time."

Why are time, motion, and place practically the same notion? It’s because they are changes taking place in our desires, Kelim. The will to enjoy undergoes changes. But why do I think and feel one change as the flow of time, and another as a change of place, motion? Why do I perceive everything that happens as changes in time, motion, and place?

Isn’t motion a place? After all, if I change my place, it means I am in motion. Yet I am told, "No, this is a completely different category." However, all the categories are changes taking place in the will to enjoy. In relation to what? Only in relation to the quality of bestowal that it has, meaning the degree of its inclusion into Bina.

Malchut can become included in Bina in three forms, which are called time, motion, and place." They give Malchut different sensations. What kind? When we are speaking of the order of the descent of the levels, meaning the successive changes of states, this is called the change of "place," which is when one’s level or inner state changes. Whereas when we are speaking of the cause and effect, of what happens first and what happens next, meaning that it is not the places that change, but their order, it is called "the order of time." And if we speak about what kind of state was present in every place, this is called "place."
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/16/10, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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A regular science studies and explores matter, the will to enjoy. We study the still, vegetative, and animate degrees of desire by learning about their behavior, testing their reactions to various stimulants, accumulating them, and creating a science.

We can study our own matter, the desire to receive of the human degree, test it, and make a science out of it as well. This is how the wisdom of Kabbalah emerged.

It derives solely from empirical conclusions that a person learns by experimenting on himself. There is no book that falls from the sky as there is no voice that comes from Above.

A Kabbalist is a person who studies nature and discovers its unifying force. This force produces the energy that has constructed the entire Universe. We regard this force as the Creator and study how we can affect it and how it responds to our actions. This is what we call the wisdom of Kabbalah.

We see that all natural sciences that study the corporeal world, the still, the vegetative, and the animate levels, as well as the wisdom of Kabbalah, derive from the knowledge of this one global force, which affects all levels of matter or desire. Hence, the wisdom of Kabbalah that studies this unifying force and its effect on the matter it created is the most general science. And all the other sciences are included in it.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/15/10, “A Handmaid that is Heir to Her Mistress”

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It’s a problem that a person can only study what is below the speaking level: the still, vegetative, and animate levels of the will to receive (desire). He is unable to separate and study the desire of the human level because he is not similar to the Creator.

The human level is regarded as the “divine part from Above.” And this part is invisible to you right now; hence, you are unable to study it.

The desire of the human level is called a soul; it is the matter of the soul. The matter is the will to enjoy, and its form is its equivalence to the Creator. This is exactly what Kabbalists study: where He and I are similar, in what way, on what levels, and in what combinations of conditions?

The wisdom of Kabbalah studies how the matter of the desire to enjoy acquires the Creator’s form; this is when it may be called a soul. It’s called a “soul” (Neshama) because it is the highest degree of similarity to the Creator which we are able to reach before the final correction (Nefesh-Ruach-Neshama).

This limitation exists in this science until all people engage in it, but eventually, we will all be able to study it at a much higher level.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/15/10, “A Handmaid that is Heir to Her Mistress”

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Question: When studying Kabbalah, how can I can be sure that I don’t “philosophize” about concepts that I have not actually attained, such as love, adhesion, unity, and bestowal?

Answer: If a person studies the wisdom of Kabbalah from authentic sources, receives proper instructions, and clings to the teacher, a true Kabbalist, then he can’t fantasize. He can only compare himself with the Light that Reforms.

He is already developing the correct approach and knows that it is the only source of life. He learns in order to attain the desire to bestow, thereby attracting the Light. Although he hasn’t come to study the genuine spiritual world yet, he is working with the group as in a laboratory.

In a group you’ll discover what an egoist you are. On the other side, you will attract the Upper Light which will begin to shine on you from afar, making you see your properties against the Light. You’ll suffer because you’ll want to be like the Light, but you’ll realize that you cannot. This tension, the gap between the desired and actual, will bring you to an outburst, and then you’ll pray to the Creator for help. That’s when you will receive the force of bestowal.

From that moment, you will become a Kabbalist and begin to explore the spiritual world. Then you will be able to taste, to a small extent, what differentiates the receiving and bestowing forces.

You’ll become a research scientist, exploring yourself and the Creator, which is actually the same. It will be possible since you will both share a common “area” that will be within your reach. Thus, you’ll have the opportunity to explore the spiritual, the “human” degree.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/15/10, “A Handmaid that is Heir to Her Mistress”

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In order to explore bestowal, we must obtain a second force. The still, vegetative, and animate degrees are egoistic matter; hence, we are able to use our own egoistic nature to explore them. Our instruments are tuned into its “range.”

But the human (speaking) level is a degree similar to the Creator’s, which is why I need a spiritual force in order to explore it. Then, I will be able to study my matter by comparing it to the Creator’s, one against the other.

Therefore, before I gain the force of bestowal, I am not a true Kabbalist. A Kabbalist is a person who works with two forces while exploring the Creator. He doesn’t explore himself; he studies the Creator Who has revealed everything to him. He continues to submerge deeper into Him with the help of the force of bestowal. The greater the force, the more he gains and comprehends by making his will to enjoy equivalent to this force.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/15/10, “A Handmaid that is Heir to Her Mistress”

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Question: Should I remember the diagrams from Talmud Eser Sefirot (The Study of The Ten Sefirot) by heart, or should I make an effort to experience them within me, without any understanding?

Answer: If you check our archive, you will see Rabash’s diagrams. If you open the texts written by other Kabbalists, even The Book of Creation (Sefer Yetzira) or the ARI’s manuscripts, you will see diagrams there as well. If you open The Book of Zohar, there aren’t any drawings in it, but you will find various charts.

Kabbalah is a science. We are exploring a new world full of various forces, and we want to know the formula by which these forces are mutually intertwined in each state, each place. If we learn about these combinations of forces, we will be able to achieve the same state by obtaining the screen.

Suppose I have a screen, the force or the strength of desire to ask for the force, then I’ll receive the knowledge, strength, and an example from the upper Partzuf. I need all three components: the knowledge, strength, and an example. In front of me, the lower Partzuf, is the upper one. This upper Partzuf demonstrates an example for me by bringing the lower part of its Partzuf down to me (Raglaim, lower extremities).

As Rabash’s article “Inclusion of the Attributes of Mercy and Judgment” describes, the upper Partzuf brings me darkness, but it allows me to clearly define what I must add in order for it to start illuminating as Light. This is how we work.

We reside in a cosmos of forces that act according to certain laws, and we must perform our work with absolute precision and knowledge of how much to take from one side or the other, how to ascend and descend, and how to establish a connection with which properties. And all of this is accompanied by extremely powerful experiences, impressions, discoveries, but at the same time, with clear and accurate knowledge.

In our world, I can appreciate and enjoy music, but it is impossible to compare my impression with that of a musician, who experiences the music in his emotions and mind, feeling it much deeper than I am able to do. If people approach this correctly and try not to egoistically demean another’s work, they become more proficient in the subject. Consequently, they bring their mind closer to their feelings, and the mind enhances the feelings. But in our world, the mind usually overrides feelings because its roots are in the ego, and we desire to belittle each other.

Yet, it is different in spirituality. We may get impressions while looking at the diagrams, but a diagram gives me a chance to understand the relationship between spiritual forces and its properties; it does not reflect the object itself.

If I look at the diagram where Abba ve Ima is clothed from Peh up to Chazeh of Arich Anpin, I don’t receive this impression. But it does give me an opportunity to feel impressed by if I know what Arich Anpin is, what its properties from Peh to Chazeh are (since I experience them), and what are the attributes of Abba ve Ima, what they can receive from Arich Anpin by becoming clothed in it, how they react, and so forth.

A diagram is similar to an inanimate formula since it is just letters. It all depends on what you bring into these letters, what essence. Therefore, we have to know the basic diagrams.

Baal HaSulam writes that we can’t exist in this world without a basic knowledge of the processes taking place in it. Similarly, we can’t exist in the spiritual world without a basic knowledge of it.

In the corporeal world we have to finish school in order to interact with the world and people correctly; only in the same way can we enter the spiritual world and navigate within it. There is no other way. Everyone must have a minimum amount of fundamental knowledge. It gives a person an admission slip to enter spirituality.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/15/10, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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Question: How far do letters descend in the process of creation of the worlds?

Answer: They descend to the lower seven Sefirot of Bina (ZAT) and settle in YESHSUT. Here, there are nine letters, starting with Aleph (א) and ending with Tet (ט).

Below, in Zeir Anpin, there are nine letters, from Yod (י) to Tzadi (צ). And in Malchut, there are four last letters: Kuf (ק), Resh (ר), Shin (ש) and Tav (ת).

This order derives from the Second Restriction (Tzimtzum Bet) when Malchut ascends exactly to ZAT de Bina (lower seven Sefirot of Bina), bringing her Kelim (desires, vessels) there, her will to receive. She cannot rise any higher. Consequently, the properties of Bina and Malchut, bestowal and reception, get mixed, thereby forming contours of letters. Mingling, the forces of Malchut and Bina get intertwined and create various forms of mutual inclusion, their combinations.

Why are there only 22 forms and not more? According to the laws of the Second Restriction, we employ not Malchut per se but only her connection with Bina. In Bina and Zeir Anpin, there are ten Sefirot, which Sefira Malchut is prohibited to use. Thus, all in all, they have 18 “workable” Sefirot. Besides, four Sefirot of Malchut clothe in Zeir Anpin, which totals 22.

Additionally, there are five forms, MaNTzePaCh, belonging to Parsa; they are different shapes of certain letters when they end a word. The entire process of letter formation takes place in the world of Atzilut, where they are called to perform bestowal to the world of BYA (Beria, Yetzira, Assiya) and the broken souls.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/15/10, "Introduction from The Book of Zohar," Article “The Letters by Rabbi Amnon Saba”

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Writings of Rabash, Dargot HaSulam “The Creator Created the Evil Inclination, and He Created the Torah as a Spice”
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Talmud Eser Sefirot, Volume 3, Part 8: Time and place in spirituality signify a renewal of form. Since a Partzuf grows only through a multitude of unions (Zivugim) and transfers of Lights that differ from one another, building it together, they are called "the months of the intrauterine development" or the period of embryonic development, which can last for 7, 9, or 12 months depending on the amount of portions of Light that are necessary to form it.

We study the changes that happen to the will to enjoy and count the number of these changes or renewals, which are called "months" (Hodesh, month, comes from the word Hidush, renewal). There is no time in spirituality. Time is determined by the number of changes that we have gone through, rather than the motion of the hand of a clock or the changes of some external factor. As much as I changed, that is how much time has gone by. This is how time is defined in spirituality.

Therefore, the period of an embryo’s development means that I go through one state after another ("I go through," Over, comes from the word embryo, Ibur). I have to go through a specific amount of changes in order to go from the intrauterine development inside the Upper One to development outside of Him.

Now I am also in the Upper One and He develops me. During this process of development I have absolutely no influence on the changes I undergo. I am forced to change by instincts and forces that I experience as suffering, and thus, I go through these changes against my will.

Then another phase comes: I start to feel that there is some kind of reason behind it, that there is a high need for it, and there is an Upper One who makes all these changes to me, wishing for me to start finding out about the system of governance, the cause and effect order of development, the beginning and goal of the whole path. That is how the whole world is beginning to awaken in our times.

After that we reach the realization that we have to evoke these changes ourselves. From a certain state onward there is no time that the Upper One changes for us, forcing us to develop. Now the Upper One only adds Lights for us, which we perceive as evil. However, this does not enable us to develop, but only to reach the realization that we have to demand development from the Upper One. That is, we must already participate in the development ourselves and demand it.

The Upper One does not force me to do the action itself, but only to request it so I would ask the Upper One to carry it out. My request has to be in the middle. For now this request can be expressed as a cry due to feeling bad.

After that I develop and am required to have this cry come out of the realization of goodness, when I understand that all of this is for my good. Even though I might feel bad in my sensations, I already realize that this is good for my development, because I have to ascend to the next level. Then the Upper One no longer demands a cry from me, but cooperation in development. This is called partnership.

After that we reach a state where the Upper One does not awaken me at all, but I have to search for an opportunity to awaken inside of me, using the environment. I have to awaken the Upper One so He would awaken me, and then agree with His action and tell Him exactly how to do it. It’s as if I understand and choose the best form of action for myself, and then the Upper One does it.

In the end we reach a state where I give the Upper One all the orders. In the beginning of the path He made all the actions upon me, from beginning to end, without my awareness. I did not know who is operating me, what He does, and where I am. But at the end of the path I determine everything from beginning to end, and only use the force of the Upper One.

Our entire path lies in that we acquire increasingly greater independence and self-sufficiency, becoming more and more similar to the Upper One.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/16/10, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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