Question: Kabbalistic sources say that working in the Torah and the commandments leads to benefits and pleasures received in the Kelim of bestowal. Why is there so much talk about pleasure if one who works in bestowal does not seem to have to think about them anymore?

Answer: A Kabbalist receives pleasure to please the Creator. Otherwise, what will he give to the Creator? By making calculations, he receives pleasures, feels them, evaluates them, and transmits them to the Creator.

For him the most important thing is the Creator, and the pleasure and everything he does with them are only means of turning to the Creator, achieving the Creator, filling Him.

Question: Why is it that when you feel pleasure from any work in the ten, thoughts immediately come that this is the wrong pleasure, not from what it should be?

Answer: Because it is very important for us that our pleasures are correct and we do not deviate in the opposite direction. After all, if pleasure for its own sake passes through our egoism, then we do not move toward the goal.
[320678]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/11/23, Writings of Rabash “What Does It Mean that the Creation of the World Was by Largess?“

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Preparation to the Lesson

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1st part of the Lesson — Writings of Rabash, “On My Bed at Night”

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2nd part of the Lesson — Writings of Baal HaSulam, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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Selected Highlights

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Question: As a rule, we do not interfere in the inner work of a friend. If, for example, he stops attending lessons or outwardly shows less activity, we support him. And if he is doing well, we do not touch him. Is this the right approach?

Answer: Why not? If he is on the spiritual path, why bother him? We should just show that we are going together. But if someone turns aside a little bit, we need to try to get him back on the right path.

Question: Let’s assume that a friend did not come to the lesson although he should have come. What should I say to him if he says: “But I work in intention, I pray for you”?

Answer: No, it cannot be. Intention does not replace action because all our actions take place in the ten, in the group. Therefore, we must fulfill all the physical conditions of our connection.
[320959]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/18/23, Writings of Rabash “Hear Our Voice“

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And since he has one Mitzva, which he always keeps, the Mitzva of circumcision, a Mitzva that the body cannot resist, if he can be happy with one thing, even that he is keeping the Creator’s commandment, if he is thinking about keeping this Mitzva, of which the body has no opinion, by that he can reawaken his work and toil diligently once again, as he did prior to the descent. (RABASH. Article 17. (1985). “Know Today and Reply to Your Heart”)

Question: You said that circumcision is the ability to rise above your desire to receive. The article says that with this power a person himself can reawaken his state of action and work again with full energy as he did before the descent.

How do we acquire this power to rise, the circumcision, to work every time as before the descent?

Answer: When a person rises above his desire, as if breaking away from it, it is called that he circumcises himself. This is when he gets the force of bestowal he did not have before.

Question: How can you acquire this force, how can you rise above yourself?

Answer: By circumcising yourself, that is, by cutting off everything relating to the egoistic desire to receive.
[320916]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah lesson 11/15/23, Writings of Rabash “Know Today and Reply to Your Heart“

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Question: In Baal HaSulam’s article “What Is Support in the Torah, in the Work,” there is a phrase: “In the work, if the thought leads to action … .” Can a person direct thought?

Answer: Of course we can do that. Everything depends on the magnitude of our closeness to the Creator.

Question: What is the difference between the Torah and the commandment, and how is this difference expressed in our work in the group?

Answer: The Torah is a general attitude toward friends, and the commandment is a private attitude.

Question: Which is more important, a group request or a private one?

Answer: The group, of course.

Question: How can we constantly maintain vitality in the group, and is it possible at all?

Answer: You can do it together, and then you will feel yourself rising, like in a hot air balloon.
[320956]
From the Daily Kabbalah lesson 11/17/23, Writings of Baal HaSulam  “What Is Support in the Torah, in the Work?“

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If the Kli is mixed with reception for oneself, which is regarded as “dirty” compared to the light, which is all about bestowal, accordingly, before a person comes to receive sustenance from the Creator, which are delight and pleasure, he must clean himself up from self-reception. At that time, the abundance, which is the pleasure, does not go to the Klipot, regarded as reception for oneself. Rather, the abundance will go to Kedusha because he can aim to benefit the Creator while receiving the pleasure. This is called “eating the food on the pure table.”

After the meal, it is to the contrary. He must give a part to the Sitra Achra [other side]. This means that he says that there is still dirt here, which belongs to the Sitra Achra, and I must still correct myself (Rabash article No. 22 (1988) “What Are Merits and Iniquities of a Righteous in the Work?“).

Question: How can one understand that it is time to give to the Sitra Achra (impure desires)?

Answer: We do not want to give anything to the Sitra Achra. But there is nothing to do; some part still escapes to it. In addition, it is believed that it is also necessary to feed it because it helps us separate purity from impurity, reception from bestowal. This commandment concerns absolutely everyone.

Question: If a person has already committed a sin and has fallen into the Sitra Achra, how should the sinner and the righteous in him work properly to get him out of receiving for himself?

Answer: It is necessary to pull out the sinner with the help of the righteous. And in order to awaken the righteous in us, we have been given the ten, the friends.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/21/23, Writings of Rabash “What Are Merits and Iniquities of a Righteous in the Work?“

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Question: Where can I get an example of how to become like the Creator if I do not feel Him?

Answer: You will not be able to feel the Creator until at least to some extent you become like Him.

But in our world you will not get such an example. You have to imagine for yourself what it means. You have your qualities, so make a correct portrait of them, and then turn to the Creator and ask.
[320963]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/17/23, Writings of Baal HaSulam “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar“

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Question: What does unity mean in our work and how can we bring it to the surface when we are together?

Answer: Unity is when we are all so different, distant, opposite, and even repulsive to each other, but we yearn to unite in order to be able to reveal the Creator in the unity with each other.

This state of yearning for mutual connection is called unity.
[320877]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/12/23, Writings of Rabash “What Is Peace in the Work?“

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Question: In Rabash’s article “What is: “The Torah Speaks Only Against the Evil Inclination,” in the Work,” it speaks of a Kli (vessel) in which a taste is felt. This taste is created by spices, and the spices are the Torah and light. How can we attract this light and spices in order to unite?

Answer: The answer is actually simple. The only way to attract the light that unites us is through a common intention. Try to connect with your friends, pray together, ask for unity, and you will succeed.

The Creator is interested in us receiving everything in the reflected light, meaning for the sake of bestowal.
[320498]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/10/23, Writings of Rabash “What Is, ‘The Torah Speaks Only Against the Evil Inclination,’ in the Work?”

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Question: When a person receives pleasure for the sake of bestowal, does it also extinguish his Hisaron?

Answer: Of course. This is real pleasure because a person receives it in the Kelim for the sake of bestowal.

Question: How can one be a correctly tuned instrument of the Creator in the material world and constantly be in inner work? What does this person look like?

Answer: This person constantly sees the Creator in front of him.

Question: The main thing in a person’s efforts should be the achievement of strength that gives a feeling of the taste of bestowal. This is achieved by reducing the power that gives the feeling of the taste of receiving for oneself. How does the taste of receiving for oneself differ from the taste of receiving for the sake of giving to the Creator?

Answer: I cannot explain this in any way because first you have to taste it, and then you will know.

Question: You said that we need to feel the Creator in our friends. Where exactly in my friends do I feel the Creator?

Answer: At the center of your group where you all come together with your thoughts, feelings, and desires.
[320867]
From the Daily Kabbalah lesson 11/16/23, Writings of Baal HaSulam “As Though Standing before a King“

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