After the destruction of the Temple and exit from spirituality, people decided to lower their relationships down to the lower degree: instead of an internal connection from heart to heart, they just became outwardly polite to each other. Thus, external laws were created that determine how to act in the field, how to treat someone else’s ox or donkey, and the neighbor’s property, in order at least not to steal from and harm each other.

If it is impossible to connect with the hearts, then at least let us not allow hatred to burst out between us. Therefore, on the earthly, corporeal level, it was necessary to establish all kinds of laws of behavior, which as if reflected the spiritual laws. If there is no love for one’s neighbor as for oneself, then at least do not do to others what you do not wish for yourself.

Thus, relationships were lowered from the level of the heart to the corporeal level of hands, feet, and tongue. Instead of connecting from the entire open heart, we began to follow instructions, checking each time in the book what we should say to the other so as not to offend the other. After all, there was no other way.

It turned out that externally, relationships were extremely polite so as not to offend the other in any way, but internally, each one hated the others and did not want to get near them. But the main law of the Torah is to love your neighbor as yourself.¹

Connection is reached not through changing everyone by changing their opinion, understanding, and heart. On the contrary, with all the diversity of opinions, we must rise above all contradictions and connect with each other there. Otherwise, we will never come to unity.

The people of Israel must connect on two levels, as it is written, “love will cover (the second floor) all crimes (the first floor).” Let us learn how to make this tasty sandwich in which love and hate, plus and minus, sweet along with bitter and salty, are combined. One cannot be without the other.

The entire creation should exist in such a form, and this will happen only if the people of Israel implement this correct approach and direct all the others to it. This is why we need to learn how to connect above all differences, hatred, and rejection between us. On one hand, we are ready to strangle each other, but, at the same time, we embrace each other, and we exist between these two states in the middle line.

Therefore, each of us is correct: me, you, and him, we are all right, each in his own way. But for the common truth and justice, it is necessary to rise above everyone in love that covers all the differences. We must learn such faith above reason, the middle line, the ascent above the egoistic human nature. This is called existence on the spiritual level.

As soon as we learn how to do this and exit our egoism, rising above the clouds, above this world, above the force of egoistic reception, we will find ourselves in the open world and begin to feel the spiritual reality.

The correction is to add the good force to the evil, egoistic force. The Creator created the evil force and He will give us the good force at our request. It is said about this: (Prophets, Isaiah 45:7) “Who forms light and creates darkness, Who makes peace and creates evil; I am the Lord, Who makes all these.” That is, everything comes from the Creator. But we need to connect the light and the darkness together so that “the darkness will shine as light.”

The connection between everyone must arise above the hatred because everyone hates everyone else, including himself. Only the wisdom of Kabbalah, which teaches us about the middle line, can teach about such a connection. Inside this sandwich we have built, between the first and the second floor, between hate and love, we reveal the Creator and adhere to Him, achieving eternal and perfect existence.

It is unnecessary to destroy the evil; it is only necessary to understand that it is the foundation to which we must add the good. Therefore, I am ready to meet with anyone who hates me. I do not see him as an opponent but as a partner in achieving a new state to which we all need to come.²
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/31/19, Tishaa BeAv (Ninth of Av)
1 Minute 5:35
2 Minute 26:30

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Lesson Preparation

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

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

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The nation of Israel is an unusual group, because our connection is not on a corporeal level, and therefore, it is very unstable. It seemingly connects us somewhere above, but we feel no connection to each other. All of this is because of our big egos that separate us from each other. There is no natural, corporeal, worldly connection; there is only a spiritual one, which evades our senses.

Baal HaSulam writes that only common problems unite us, like brothers in misfortune. Thus, we resemble a bunch of nuts in a bag united only by the bag alone, which does not let them disperse. Therefore, our only hope is a public education, a movement toward national unity capable of igniting love for the nation within the people, so that we will feel ourselves as one body.

We must feel ourselves not as brothers in misfortune, as we do today, but we must feel the natural, eternal connection that exists inside each of us that no one can hide from. It is the upper light that holds us together. Other nations are connected instinctively by nature itself, feeling a sense of belonging to their nation. But for the people of Israel, this connection requires our participation, we must draw it from above by ourselves.

This love existed among us at the time of Abraham, the founder of the nation of Israel. But after the destruction of the Temple it started to fade and was completely lost over the years of the exile. We must rebuild this love now so that it would be natural and spiritual. After all, there is no corporeal love between us and we do not want the connection with each other like the other nations. There is nothing left of the national love after the two thousand years of exile.¹

I have to do everything to awaken the group. Regardless of their response, I keep doing everything to unite them: quietly praying for my friends, and doing various acts that everyone can see, leading by example. By doing so, I depend on no one but the Creator, so I ask Him to give me the strength and the desire. Then, I turn to my friends and try to inspire them. I hold myself accountable: “If I am not for me, who is for me”²
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/17/19, Writings of Baal HaSulam, Newspaper, “The Nation”
1 Minute 1:00 – 1:19
2 Minute 12:00

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The People Of Israel In The Land Of Israel

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Even when a little man at the bottom asks and demands, he passes his deficiency up to the very Malchut of Ein Sof. In response, the light of infinity descends upon him, passing through all the degrees and leaving a record about this person in each one of them. This thread, stretching from above downward, is recorded in his name. Thus, every time when he raises a deficiency and brings down a little bit of light, he invests his part, his addition to the general end of correction.¹

The attainment of a Kabbalist depends on his state, character, and height of the root of his soul. However, a Kabbalist does not aspire to gain insight in spirituality as much as possible; he wants to see only what is beneficial for correction. If the revelation is not for the benefit of correction, he “conceals his face.” The prayer of the righteous rises solely for correction, and he must take care of the screen that will allow him to accept revelation only in the light of Hassadim, not for his own sake.²
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/31/19, Writings of Baal HaSulam “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Item 160
1 Minute 42:30
2 Minute 43:40

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Lesson Preparation

Lesson on the Topic “Tishaa BeAv (Ninth of Av)” 

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It is not necessary to grieve about a ruined building hoping that if we build it in Jerusalem, we will change something for the better. The Temple is in our heart, where mutual bestowal and love should exist. This will be the holy structure, which means above our egoism.

This is what we should aspire for and this is the destruction we should regret—the one that is happening right now, not the one that happened sometime in the past. The Temple is being ruined day after day, that is, the connection between us is destroyed more and more. New informational genes (Reshimot) are revealed, but we are unable to correct them and that is why the destruction is happening. The possibility for connection is revealed again and is destroyed again, and so it goes moment after moment. This is what we should regret.

But instead of dealing with our inner correction, we cling to matter. We do not understand that the Torah is sanctity, that it is detached from matter and relates only to our spirit. The stones and geographic places where historical events took place are more important to us. It is very difficult for a person of this world to give up material symbols; he feels as if he is in space. The earthly symbols confuse us and we begin to sanctify material objects instead of thinking about the intention.

At the same time, Kabbalists did not call for the abolition of material symbols because a person lives by them. It is important that one has a daily routine, holidays, and special days, reminding one that there are spiritual forces and qualities behind them. Otherwise, a person will not remember spirituality. If one is not connected to spirituality, then at least the material symbols will remind the person of it. Therefore, symbols cannot be canceled; we only need to add intention to them. Both have to exist as long as our world exists.¹

The only thing that we are lacking in our state is to reveal the Creator, the force of bestowal, love, and connection. If we aspire specifically to this, then this is the correct work and direction. Exile (Gola) is a broken will to receive unable to connect in order to feel the true reality. We just need to add the letter “Aleph – א” to it, the Creator (Geula—redemption), and then the desire to connect will reveal to us the entire true reality.

It is written: “And they will teach no more… for they will all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them.” That is, all the crumbs of the will to receive. With the help of the reforming light, they will build a common vessel inside of which they will attain the upper force. Everyone must come to this; not even one part of the desire should be missed. If even one of them does not connect to the common will to bestow, it will be missed in the great Malchut of the world of infinity.²

The evil is revealed in the world more and more, day by day, and there are signs of recognition of this evil in humanity. People are beginning to understand where evil comes from. But this is only the recognition of evil, not of the way of correction. There is still no recognition of the mission of the people of Israel; on the contrary, the opposite, negative attitude is growing. It must be revealed that the method of correction is within the people of Israel.

Everyone agrees that the situation is bad and deteriorating day by day. But the main thing is to convey to people that the correction will come only through unity, and that the people of Israel have the method of unification. Until that happens, anti-Semitism in the world and the negative attitude toward Israel will continue to grow. This is a sign that the knowledge of the source and the method of correction are insufficiently disseminated.³
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/29/19, Tishaa BeAv (Ninth of Av)
1 Minute 3:20
2 Minute 12:25
3 Minute 16:20

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Spiritual Meaning Of 9 B’Av

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Lesson Preparation

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

Lesson on the Topic “Tishaa BeAv (Ninth of Av)” 

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First of all, we must remember that the goal of correction is the whole world, all the nations. It cannot be any other way and this is the role of the people of Israel. Just like our forefathers, once in the corrected state, worked with the people of Israel and drew them to spirituality, we must today reach the degree of the forefathers in order to perform their work and be able to lead others. They were once able to make us into the people of Israel, and now we need to do the same work and draw the entire world to the spiritual degree.

No concessions and compromises are possible here because this is the law of nature.

Abraham raised disciples and then they passed on his teaching to other people, who formed the nation of Israel. In the same way, we too must become teachers who will deal not only with the ones who came out of ancient Babylon, but rather with all people, elevating them to the same degree that the people of Israel were once in, that is, leading them to understanding and awareness of spirituality. This means correcting the desires into bestowal with the help of the reforming light and coming to love for one’s neighbor.

Fathers and sons are two degrees and today’s sons are the whole world, so we must teach everyone. The whole world demands correction and we are responsible for it like fathers are toward sons.¹

Before we come to correction, we need to determine exactly what we want to correct. Therefore, we need to connect to the nations of the world and discern their deficiencies, their state, in order to imagine the state we need to come to ourselves and the state to which we need to bring them. And then we will be able to perform our correction because we do not correct ourselves for the sake of ourselves but for the sake of becoming a pipeline for the whole world.

Our correction should from the very beginning be aimed at such a selfless transmission, “the pipeline.” If in our request we do not present ourselves as a pipeline, passing everything received from the Creator to others and leaving nothing to ourselves, then we will not receive anything from the Creator but only ruin ourselves even more. We have nothing left of this transmission but our role and it is called “the vessel that holds the blessing for Israel.”

This is why the people of Israel still do not see the blessing no matter how many actions they perform. On the contrary, there is a continuous descent from generation to generation because we do not fulfill the main thing—our role regarding the world that many Kabbalists wrote about. A person limits himself to observing traditional commandments, not wanting to take upon himself responsibility for the nations of the world and the soul’s correction. The necessity to think about it and worry about it all the time is difficult because it goes against the will to receive, and therefore, our egoism resists it.

Until the time of the Ari, it was enough to observe the corporeal commandments. But after the Ari, the opportunity for everyone to engage in the wisdom of Kabbalah opened up and became a duty, because only through it the correction of the world will come.²
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/23/19, “The Importance of Disseminating the Wisdom of Kabbalah to the World”
1 Minute 2:30
2 Minute 10:10

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The Principle Of Dissemination

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The 9th of Av is a day that reflects a very important emphasized state in the development of creation—the shattering. Without this shattering no correction is possible. Therefore, on one hand, it is a joyful event, but on the other hand, it is a day of mourning and contemplating how it was possible to prevent the shattering, or at least, to resist it.

As usual, in spirituality, two opposites are included together in one event. Therefore, we should mourn all the disasters that resulted from the shattering, which was planned in the spiritual roots. Yet, on the other hand, we should rejoice that we have been through the shattering and are in the process of correction. This opportunity is given to us from the time of the Ari, and it is only due to our own negligence that we still have not come out of the shattering to correction.

This is what we must mourn on the 9th day of Av, not the ruin of the Temple that occurred thousands of years ago, but the Temple that still has not been built in our heart, and which is thus as if ruined anew every day. This is the real mourning and catastrophe: why do we still lead to ruin and shattering? After all, it is written, “Each day that the Temple is not resurrected is as if it is destroyed anew.” This is what we should think about.

Instead, we mourn the ruin that occurred 2,000 years ago, as if we are great righteous and those people were wicked since they allowed the ruin of the Temple and the Romans and Egyptians to come to power. It is not for us to judge them, we do not understand what happened back then. All those events were inevitable according to the order of development of the degrees.

However, if today, so many years after the Ari when the time has come and the wisdom of Kabbalah has been revealed, we still reject Kabbalah and the method of correction, not admitting the need for connection—this is the true shattering within us. The real catastrophe is not the one that happened in the past, but the one that is happening now within us day after day.

Rabbi Akiva called to love one’s neighbor as oneself. However, when the Temple was ruined, he rejoiced, because it meant the beginning of the correction. Therefore, we need to think about the present and the future, and not regret the past.

The past shattering was the result of the upper forces battling with each other. Although we understand that the Temple must be destroyed, we still must resist the shattering. We should disagree with exiting holiness. If you have reached even a drop of spirituality, you should disallow yourself to fall out of it into Klipa.

Therefore, Rabbi Akiva was calling to hold on to “love your neighbor as yourself.” On the other hand, if the shattering has already happened, we must understand that it was for the good and from this moment the correction begins. If the Temple has been ruined, we should not cry about it. Instead, we should begin to restore it with renewed strength.

There is nothing worse than shattering. Yet, only from this shattered state is it possible to rise and be reborn, and therefore, it is good when we discover our shattering. We, again and again, try to connect, but each time we discover how the evil forces are awakening within us even stronger than before. That is, we reveal greater shattering.

It is revealed precisely when I want to connect with the friends and suddenly discover that I cannot do it. All day long I was dreaming about how tomorrow I will meet my friends and there will be a strong connection between us. In the morning, I wake up and do not even remember that there is a gathering today. I forgot everything! All my good intentions crumbled into dust; this is what is called the shattering, this is how it is revealed in us.¹

I myself have no strength to resist the shattering. The only way is to become incorporated in the correct environment that has this strength. The friends must hold me and drag me after them and through this, they themselves are strengthened. After all, I was a reason for them to unite for the sake of my salvation. It turns out that I helped the group.
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/21/19, Lesson on the Topic “Tishaa BeAv (Ninth of Av)”
1 Minute 08:20

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Lesson Preparation

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Item 179

Lesson on the Topic “Tishaa BeAv (Ninth of Av)” 

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