Lesson Preparation
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Lesson on the Topic “Hardening of the Heart – Invitation to Ascend” (Preparation for the Convention in Bulgaria)
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Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Item 88
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How did it happen that Adam HaRishon made a mistake and sinned? It was arranged from above by giving him incorrect data. How can the product of the Creator’s work sin? It means that the Creator arranged it for him because there must be the shattering so that he understands who he is and what his correction depends on. We call this a mistake, a sin, according to spiritual definitions. However, Adam HaRishon could not make a mistake because it is a system. The system had to shatter to reveal the difference between the Creator and the created beings.
There were two shatterings: the first time in the world of Nekudim, in the worlds, in the external system, in the “shell,” and then in Adam HaRishon himself. Now they correspond to each other, both are shattered. Therefore, a person begins the correction through the world, and the world is corrected through a person. Thus, through reciprocal influence, they correct each other, helping one another.
Without the shattering, there is no Adam, no created being. Only after the shattering does the created being appear, capable of realizing how much it is immersed in egoism, which is opposite to bestowal. Without the shattering, there is no contradiction and there is no scrutiny. Wholeness is absolutely impossible without the previous shattering.1
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/7/19, Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Item 65
1 Minute 14:37
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Baal Hasulam, Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot: Therefore, come and see how grateful we should be to our teachers, who impart us their sacred Lights and dedicate their souls to do good to our souls. They stand in the middle between the path of harsh torments and the path of repentance. They save us from the netherworld, which is harder than death, and accustom us to reach the heavenly pleasures, the sublime gentleness and the pleasantness that is our share, ready and waiting for us from the very beginning, as we have said above. Each of them operates in his generation, according to the power of the Light of his Torah and sanctity.
Our sages have already said, “You have not a generation without such as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”
On the memorial day of the great Kabbalist, our teacher Rabash, we do not indulge in memories and do not grieve about his passing as is customary in the corporeal world, which is far from the truth. We perceive this day as an opportunity to connect even more strongly, to cleave, to get closer to our root.
Rabash is the revelation of the Creator to us in a certain form and with a certain strength.
We want to thank the Creator for sending us such a messenger through whom He opened up the possibility for us to approach the upper force, to correct ourselves, and bring ourselves into resemblance with the Creator. Through Rabash, we attach ourselves to the Creator because he is an intermediary step between us and the Creator. Due to Rabash, we exist spiritually, and through Rabash, we receive everything necessary for our spiritual ascent.
Rabash is revealed to us as a system connecting us to the Creator through which we can realize ourselves and approach the truth. Therefore, we do not recall the external image of a person and his earthly habits, but consider him first and foremost as a special revelation of the Creator who manifested Himself in this form to us. The more we honor Rabash, the more we approach the Creator, cherishing the special revelation that the Creator made through him. Thus, the higher force called “Rabash” becomes important for us, connecting us with the Creator, and bringing us closer to Him.
To some extent, this revelation of the Creator manifested itself in an external form and then disappeared. Despite this external disappearance, this purification, we need to purify ourselves and reach a connection with Rabash, with this spiritual root as our higher level, through which we can connect with the Creator.
The Creator acts through special souls upon a certain number of lower souls. It is as if the brain sends an order to some important organ so that it sends out signals to various bodily cells under its control, guiding their behavior. Rabash, Baal HaSulam’s successor in our generation, has become a turning point for us, a source of a modern practical method of spiritual ascent.
Therefore, we need to understand the loftiness of this gift we were given: the opportunity to contact him, to absorb from him the method suitable for our time, and to realize it.
How grateful should we be to our teacher Rabash whose soul, his part of reality, was so great that it was able to form and pass the whole method of correction to us? Without Rabash, it would be extremely difficult or even impossible to reach the spiritual world.1
The upper force spreads in the system of Adam HaRishon, revealing itself from top to bottom by animating more and more parts of the soul. And when the light must spread to the lower layers of the system in order to revive the next organs of the body of Adam HaRishon in the chain, then there is a need for the special upper parts of the system to be included in this work.
The development takes place from top to bottom; therefore, when a certain lower stage develops, it causes changes to all the upper stages. Any correction is intended only for the awakening of the lowest souls, called “the last generation,” in order to also bring them into similarity with the Creator.
Rabash symbolizes a huge global force acting on our entire generation. All that remains for us is to implement Baal HaSulam’s method, which Rabash transmitted and explained to us. Therefore, we study Rabash’s articles in order to imagine the world as a general system and to correctly realize it, and Rabash leads us to it in the most practical form.2
Baal HaSulam is revealed to us not as a guide but as a scientist who attained the entirety of creation, from its beginning to its end and beyond. Rabash takes our hand, like an adult takes a child’s hand, and leads us along this path until the very end of correction. He opens the way for us and walks next to us.
The heavy, coarse souls that are revealed in our generation would be unable to merge with the Creator without the method revealed to us by Rabash. After all, he explains how to achieve the states that Baal HaSulam writes about.
Baal HaSulam writes about the upper levels and the upper states as a scientific researcher. Rabash speaks more not about the steps themselves, but about the inner work that a person must do to achieve them, that is, about the means: the environment, unification, and self-annulment.
In his books, Baal HaSulam describes the whole upper system, but these are not textbooks with which you can rise. He is like a composer who wrote a symphony. We first need to learn the musical notations and master the technique of playing scales before we can read this score and play it. To do this, we need another person, a teacher, and Rabash has become such a teacher for us, leading us all along the way.
Without his explanations, we could be confused by Baal HaSulam’s teachings, incorrectly interpreting them however much our imagination allows. Yet if we implement Rabash’s instructions, which let us achieve such an attainment, then we will start understanding Baal HaSulam’s writings.3
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/3/19, “Memorial Day for Rav Baruch Shalom Halevi Ashlag (Rabash)”
1 Minute 6:10
2 Minute 8:30
3 Minute 19:30
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Lesson Preparation
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Lesson on the Topic “Hardening of the Heart – Invitation to Ascend” (Preparation for the Convention in Bulgaria)
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Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Item 86
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In order to achieve restriction, we must understand that there is no point in living for the sake of our egoism but that our entire life should be for the benefit of others. But only with the help of the environment is it possible to come to such a breakthrough when everyone around me is lying to me, as adults lie to a child, that it is worth living for the sake of society. And I believe them like a baby.
When I begin to integrate with the friends, the reforming light comes to me through them. In ordinary life when children trust adults, they are also affected by the reforming light, only in a corporeal form. The same law works here.1
If at the end of each action I do not reach despair and a prayer to the Creator, this action remains incomplete. The properly-completed action is one where I am disappointed in my abilities, understanding that there is no success and there will be none, but I have to achieve what I want. I understand that everything is in the hands of the Creator and I turn to Him.
I have every reason to turn to Him and ask because I have done everything possible and made sure that I really need this goal, but I cannot achieve it by myself, only with the help of the Creator. This is the seal that approves the action.2
If a person wants to reach a prayer but something stops him and disallows the prayer to escape from the bottom of the heart, it means that his desire has not yet ripened. This is not a simple request. It must rather consist of many components. It would seem that it is enough to cry like a baby and the Creator will understand. Indeed, the Creator understands. However, if a person is required to pray effectively, to raise MAN, he must be well aware of his current state and the state he wants to reach.
This is not just a request like in our world, but the ascent of the future Partzuf, only in the form of an information code (Reshimo). It includes in itself everything a person can imagine. We are not yet ready for this, and therefore, our request does not deserve an answer. So far, it does not accurately reflect our future state.3
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/7/19, “What Is the Measure of Repentance?”
1 Minute 1:05:30
2 Minute 1:11:55
3 Minute 1:40:05
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Lesson Preparation
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Lesson on the Topic “Living In The Deficiency to Bestow” (Preparation for the Convention in Bulgaria)
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Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Item 85
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For every spiritual phenomenon there is a special imprint in our world like a branch that corresponds to the root. Since the corporeal branch is revealed at a certain time, in a certain place, and in specific corporeal conditions, it exists in a very compressed form, clearly limited in time and space. Therefore, there are all kinds of corporeal customs that reflect spiritual commandments.
A commandment is an action of correcting the desire through attracting the reforming light called the Torah. The light makes changes in us called commandments, which correct our desire. It is useful to observe how the spiritual root comes down and manifests itself in the corporeal branch. This is why in Kabbalah we can use the language of branches and perform actions in our world as spiritual symbols.
For example during Yom Kippur (The Day of Atonement), it is customary to repent and pray for returning to the Creator. However, one must ask about such a return to the Creator every day, at every moment. Repentance should be constant. In the corporeal branch, however, we specifically dedicate one day a year to it: Yom Kippur.
The month of Elul is called “I am for my beloved, and my beloved is for me,” symbolizing the yearning of a person for the Creator. Do we only need to yearn for the Creator for one month only? However, this is how it is imprinted in the corporeal branches. Therefore, as we approach the day of atonement, we should especially think of how we can return to the Creator.1
If we want our actions to be directed toward spirituality, toward achieving the quality of bestowal and rising above our egoistic desire, we must think only about bringing contentment to the Creator. That is, our actions, calculations, and thoughts must be above corporeal existence. Therefore, all of the actions we perform seem detached from reality and meaningless in our world.
It is very difficult for us to continue day after day because each time we need again to add to our efforts, drop by drop, until we receive the new quality of bestowal.
Therefore, we should simply follow the advice of the Kabbalists, understanding in advance that in our world there is no rational basis and pragmatic benefit in these actions that would oblige us. These actions are as detached from reality as is the entire spiritual world. We do not feel the need for them.
The Creator made them contradict our egoism, our will to receive, and this is a great help for us. After all, without such a contradiction, without an opportunity to feel and evaluate our resistance, we will not know at all that we perform spiritual actions and advance. The less desire I have to perform an action, the more certain I can be that it is close to spirituality.
The Creator purposely created the evil inclination in us so that we can evaluate our actions and thoughts with respect to our egoism and understand to what extent they do not correspond to the spiritual direction. Otherwise, we would never be able to enter the spiritual world, we would not know at all what it is.
Egoism works as help against itself. Every time it pushes us away from spirituality and takes our strength, but if we understand that all this is given to us as help, then we can advance exactly in this way.2
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/7/19, “What Is the Measure of Repentance?”
1 Minute 0:20
2 Minuute 15:45
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Lesson Preparation
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Writings of Baal HaSulam, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”
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Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Item 82
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Lesson Preparation
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Lesson on the Topic “Preparation for Convention”
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Lesson Preparation
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Lesson on the Topic “Sukkot”
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Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Item 79
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