Baal HaSulam writes in the article “The Messiah’s Shofar”: We have accepted that there is a precondition for the redemption—that all the nations of the world will acknowledge Israel’s law, as it is written, “and the land shall be full of the knowledge,” as in the example of the exodus from Egypt, where there was a precondition that Pharaoh, too, would acknowledge the true God and His laws, and would allow them to leave.

The Pharaoh himself opened the door for the exodus from Egypt, with intention for his own sake, and allowed people, especially the people of Israel, to exit egoism, the Egyptian slavery. Pharaoh did it himself; he is the opposite of the Creator himself, he is His reverse side. In the same way, we must spread the wisdom of Kabbalah as a prerequisite to redemption so that all nations will learn about the teachings of Israel and the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Creator.

Even Pharaoh is obliged to recognize the true Creator and His commandments, that is, the need to act not on the orders of Pharaoh for his own sake, but for the sake of bestowal, and allow the person to leave. This means that a person understands that this is right and true, there is no choice, and he must change. This understanding should unfold throughout the world as a result of the dissemination of the wisdom of Kabbalah.

Now the situation is exactly the opposite: anti-Semitism is growing, the people of the world want to eliminate the state of Israel. They have to be brought to the wisdom of Kabbalah until all nations hear and recognize that the wisdom of the Creator is in the midst of Israel. This is our task, otherwise we will not be able to advance. Our task is to begin this work and the upper force will finish it.

That was the condition for redemption from all their exiles and especially this one, the last one. The situation is developing at a catastrophic rate, becoming more and more threatening. We cannot escape from our mission, the Creator will force us to fulfill it by all means. After all, it is a law that the wisdom of Kabbalah must spread throughout the world so that all the people understand the method of correction. At least they should know that the people of Israel have a method to get rid of all problems and troubles in the corporeal world.

Every day the situation in the world pushes us to this more and more. It is already clearly felt that the upper force acts upon us and creates conditions that are illogical from the point of view of earthly representations. The closer the spiritual forces and laws approach our world, the more extreme the conditions become, the reality of which is simply impossible to believe.¹

We are now in a transitional state between exile and liberation when it is so crucial to spread the wisdom of Kabbalah in the world and especially to the people of Israel. We came out of exile, but did not achieve redemption: we were just given this opportunity and this is the time to prepare for it. Therefore, we need to spread the wisdom of Kabbalah to the people of Israel through all possible channels. We cannot miss this moment.

People must understand that it is impossible to achieve the correction of the world by any other means except, first of all, through the unification of the people of Israel from which this unity will spread to the whole world. The world needs it more and more every day.

Unification is the Torah of Israel. The exit from the desire to enjoy for one’s own sake, that is, from mutual hatred, is called redemption.²
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/27/19, The Importance of Disseminating the Wisdom of Kabbalah to the World
1 Minute 1:30
2 Minute 8:50

Related Material:
When Will A Prophet Walk On The Mountain Tops?
Pharaoh = The Creator, Only Opposite
Everything Is Mixed With The Desires Of Humanity

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson - No Comments →

Lesson Preparation

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Item 17

Lesson on the Topic “A Kli [vessel] that Holds a Blessing for Israel” 

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson - No Comments →

It is written, “Anyone who mourns for Jerusalem is rewarded with seeing its joy.” This means that we need to pray for the public, but what should we ask for? Does the public have a desire for spirituality? The fact is that all the desires existing in the public belong to a person working on correction. Desires are within people, and a Kabbalist must develop intentions. Desire and intention are two separate categories; they do not exist in the same place. When a Kabbalist works with a screen, restriction, and reflected light, the desires start falling into place and change according to the intention with which he wants to use the desires.

The intention is called Rosh (head) and the desire is called Guf (body). We work on the Rosh, on the intention, so that it will suit the Guf, and then we will be able to use the Guf, meaning the desire. The disappearance of such compatibility after it existed is called the destruction of the Temple. If such compatibility between the intention and the desire is restored, then it is the construction of the spiritual Partzuf, its birth.

The vessel is the intention to bestow. The entire correction consists of achieving the correct intention. The desires exist. They are just arranged incorrectly, unequipped with the correct intention. There are no new desires. The shattering, restriction, and concealment all happens so we can scrutinize desires and start connecting them. Like a baby, who was born and starts growing, we correct the shattering and grow our soul.¹

We work on the intention to make it in order to bestow, directed to bringing contentment to the Creator. In order to bestow to the Creator, it is necessary to concentrate the correct intention and select from the shattered desires those that will be able to work under its control. By doing so, we build the spiritual Partzuf, the extent of our bestowal.

This is why there were breakages, preparations for the correction that occurred through no fault of ours. There is almost no work of the lower one in this. The Egyptian exile, the desert, the destruction of the First Temple, the Babylonian exile, then the Second Temple, which was also destroyed, and the exit to this last exile—how could all this happen?

It was just preparation from above. Now, all we have to do is make a final correction. Only the work toward the final correction is considered the person’s work; all the rest was preparation.²
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/11/19 “The Ninth of Av”
1 Minute 32:20
2 Minute 37

Related Material:
“Everyone Who Mourns For Jerusalem Is Rewarded With Seeing Its Joy”
Jerusalem: Not Stones But The Spirit
Jerusalem: A Symbol Of Unity

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson - No Comments →

Lesson Preparation

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Item 12

Lesson on the Topic “How to Act at the Time of Descent” 

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson - No Comments →

Even if we manage to think about the friends and stop caring about ourselves, in the next moment it disappears. It will never become a constant thought, but will change at a frantic pace. After all, we need to scrutinize all the crumbs of the desire, all of its fragments. The vessel of the soul was shattered into pieces and then fell from the height of the world of Atzilut through all the worlds: Beria, Yetzira, Assiya, continually breaking into such tiny particles, the smallest atoms, which can no longer be divided.

Now we need to restore this soul, assembling it from these atoms. I receive the foundations of creation in my hands and think about what to assemble from them. In our world, we need to know the laws of valency to make up some substance from the basic elements. It is the same in the spiritual world; I begin to learn how I can connect the elements of creation on myself. What does it mean to connect two, three, or four atoms for the sake of bestowal?

How are they connected on the inanimate level into inanimate matter that does not move and develop by itself? Then, the foundations of creation must be connected into vegetative matter so that the connection of atoms causes development, that is, becomes more similar to the Creator. A plant already has life in it. It turns out that I took the still, inanimate matter and brought it to life! This already is a completely different degree.

I then create a connection on the animate level that exists on its own and has some kind of free choice: moves freely, excretes, and absorbs. This is how we build all kinds of connections between us, starting from zero and even from minus, coming from hatred to unity.

Imagine, how much we must connect with a friend in order to create vegetative matter, that is, for the group to become a “plant” and begin spiritual life, reaching such a connection above rejection that it begins to emit and produce materials, scrutinizing what is good and bad for itself. The friends in the ten begin to grow all the time.¹

The main action is provided by the environment, not actions of a person himself, but of the environment he is in. You can be a perfect seed of some elite sort, but if you are not planted in good soil, then nothing will come of you. The environment is more important than the seed itself, that is, the root of the soul.

There are even stories about Kabbalists who initially had no chance of reaching spiritual development. According to the root of their souls, they could not ascend to high degrees. Only thanks to the environment they joined, without any idea of what they were saying and doing there, only through their constant presence, did they receive a new soul. It is even possible to achieve the state when the Creator will change your soul, not because the former soul was bad, but it was shallow, not suitable for the elevated role. It turns out that a person as if moves from the heel of Adam HaRishon to the heart or brain of the entire system of the general soul.

It depends on how devoted the person is to the group, doing everything one can. Those people who in the beginning were very unsuccessful, could not understand and integrate into the group, felt great resistance, but did not leave, precisely those people achieve great success later.

Therefore, every day it is necessary to take care of improving and enhancing your environment, in order to receive optimal influence from it, which will help you become even more devoted to the friends, and through the friends, to the Creator.²
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/12/19, Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to the Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah”
1 Minute 31
2 Minute 1:22:51

Related Material:
Until All The Friends Are In My Heart
Make Space For The Creator In The Assembly Of Friends
See The Friends As New

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson - No Comments →

Lesson Preparation

Writings of Rabash, “The Fifteenth of Av,” Article 35 (1986)

Lesson on the Topic “The role of the people of Israel” 

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson - No Comments →

We are honored to have such a teacher, Baal HaSulam, who is the next incarnation of the soul of the great Ari. It is said about the Ari that he was Messiah ben Joseph, that is, he connected all the previous Kabbalah with the current state of the end of correction for us, with the generation of the era of the Messiah. Therefore, as soon as the Kabbalah of the Ari was revealed, Kabbalists abandoned all other Kabbalistic methods and adopted his methodology.

This was not due to the Ari’s methodology being more understandable or that he ascended in his attainment above others, but because of the connection of his soul with the end of correction. The soul of the Ari is directly connected with the end of correction, and therefore, through him and his teaching, we can also establish a connection with the state of the final correction and correctly realize ourselves, all together, and each of us individually.

Baal HaSulam writes in the “Introduction to Panim Meirot uMasbirot”:

‘’You have not a generation without such as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Indeed, that Godly man, our Rav Isaac Luria, troubled and provided us the fullest measure. He did wondrously more than his predecessors, and if I had a tongue that praises, I would praise that day when his wisdom appeared almost as the day when the Torah was given to Israel.”

Indeed, we are unable to appreciate the height of the Ari, like a baby cannot appreciate the actions of adults. Everything we have today came from the Ari, and through his soul, we receive all the upper influence and correction. Baal HaSulam and Rabash come after the Ari in this chain.

The Ari never wrote a book himself. His books were written by his disciples. Some of the records were hidden in his grave and some were secretly kept in some kind of chest, and this is how they reached our time. Of course, the upper force and the higher purpose acted throughout. Otherwise, how is it possible that in some merchant like the Ari traveling between Egypt, Israel, and Damascus, engaging in trade, suddenly the upper aspiration awakened and forced him to settle in Israel and devote himself to Kabbalah.

All the information about the Ari is very inaccurate: there are two synagogues in Safed named after him and it is not clear to which he belonged. Everything is very vague as if it were not about a human being. There is no information about his family, wife, children, whether he had descendants. Nothing is clear. Of course, no one has freedom of choice and everything that happened to the Ari was dictated from above by the Creator.

Before the Ari, only individual, chosen people were engaged in Kabbalah. After him, however, Kabbalah came out of concealment. The life of the Ari in Safed was not easy because of the many opponents to Kabbalah. He began to reveal Kabbalah and organize groups. It helped him that Ramak, Rabbi Moshe Cordovero, who had great authority in Safed, stood up for him and realized that the methodology of the Ari came from true, deep attainment.

The Ari is unique because he opened the wisdom of Kabbalah for us in a completely new way. He introduced such concepts as ten Sefirot, direct and reflected light, Malchut, the screen (Masach), and precisely defined the structure of the worlds and the Partzufim. All this is described in the book The Tree of Life written by Chaim Vital from the words of his teacher.

Chaim Vital studied with the Ari for only a year and a half until his teacher’s death. During this year and a half, he managed to gain knowledge that was enough for twenty books. It took another three generations to collect and print these books. It is obvious that some upper, nonhuman force was behind all this.

After the Ari, Kabbalah was revealed because he brought a special inner, spiritual force to the world. Besides, his teaching began to spread little by little. It doesn’t matter that he taught only in a small city, in Safed; this spiritual force, which he brought closer to our world through his soul, was felt all over the world.

Thanks to this, a Kabbalist such as Baal Shem Tov later appeared in Russia, who continued the work of the Ari and began to talk about the same concepts: worlds, Sefirot, Partzufim. In Hasidism, it is customary to call them the teachings of Baal Shem Tov, but in fact, the basis was laid by the teachings of the Ari.

Baal HaSulam wrote that he was the reincarnation of the soul of the Ari, that is, that he had a direct connection with him and was able to directly attain everything attained by the Ari. The next reincarnation of the soul is like inheriting the entire spiritual attainment of the father, passing it to the son.

Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to Panim Meirot uMasbirot”: “There are not enough words to measure his holy work in our favor. The doors of attainment were locked and bolted, and he came and opened them for us.”

Restriction, screen, reflected light—the Ari describes not only how the light spreads from above downward, but the specific development of the desire, its stages of coarsening, the connection of this process with the force of the screen. Therefore, he belongs to the generation of correction and is considered to be Messiah ben Joseph, after which begins the correction of Malchut itself, the era of Messiah ben David.

Perhaps Kabbalists reached the same heights even before the Ari, but they did not receive a clear understanding in the form of a connection of lights, Kelim, and screens. Their attainment came as a revelation from above and not from within, from their own Kelim, which would allow them to build the world by their own attainment. Therefore, after the Ari and onward, everyone can study Kabbalah and gradually attain what he revealed.

Without an explanation of how the desire works with the screen and the reflected light, it is impossible to implement correction. Therefore, the Kabbalists before the Ari made only preparations for correction, and the Ari revealed the work from below upward and opened the method of correction—practical Kabbalah—to us.¹

The day of a Kabbalist’s departure is the day of his elevation. Therefore, on this day, we want to be connected with the Ari, with his soul and his method, in a special way, even more than before, and commemorate the day of his memory. This, in fact, is a joyful day because his soul has fulfilled itself and rose to a higher degree. Therefore, Kabbalists never mourn the departed.²
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/4/19, Memorial Day of ARI
1 Minute 0:20
2 Minute54:50

Related Material:
Passing On The Message Of The Ari
The ARI
Who Is Rav Isaac Luria (The Ari)?

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson - No Comments →

Lesson Preparation

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah” 

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson - No Comments →

Lesson Preparation

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Item 11

Lesson on the Topic “To Learn From the Descent During the Time of Ascent” 

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson - No Comments →

Lesson Preparation

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to the Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Item 11

Lesson on the Topic “To Learn From the Descent During the Time of Ascent” 

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson - No Comments →