Lesson Preparation
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Lesson on the Topic “Weaving A Blanket of Love” (Preparation for the Convention in North America Convention 2019)
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Lesson on the Topic “Preparation for the Convention”
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Lesson Preparation
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Lesson on the Topic “Awakening the Dawn With Joy and Gladness” (Preparation for the Convention in North America Convention 2019)
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Lesson on the Topic “Living in the Greatness of the Creator” (Preparation for the Convention in North America Convention 2019)
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The force of faith comes from a special illumination that opens from above. The light of faith gives a person faith, meaning the force of bestowal. Just as now, naturally, according to the formula implanted in me, without hesitating, I constantly think about myself, so will I begin to think according to the inverted formula, about the benefits of others, that is, ultimately about the benefit of the Creator.
I understand that the Creator depicts all the details of reality that I see in front of me so that through them I could come to true bestowal to the Creator. My friends, allies, and enemies, different characters that poison my life and conversely, support me, all the inanimate nature, plants, animals, and humans, are just actors in the great theater called life. They are all controlled by the upper force of the Creator with the sole purpose that through them I will connect to the upper force.
Faith is the Creator Himself; He is called the “God of faith.” When this light is revealed, then under the influence of its illumination, I begin to act according to the instructions of this force. And when the light is concealed, I act contrary to it, like Pharaoh, the evil inclination. In fact, there are only two forces, both the front and back sides of the Creator, that are playing with me.
The entire world are the details of the Creator’s game with me; as much as I can connect them, I come closer to the Creator. All the calculations are directed only to the Creator, my intention is directed only to Him; all the rest are just the means. However, without these means it is impossible to reach the Creator, so I must treat them exactly the same way as I treat the Creator. Then these means, along with me, will turn into the matter, the desire, by which I adhere to the Creator.
The light of faith is the surrounding light that returns to the source and brings the force of bestowal to the heart of a person. It is the only thing that we need; there is nothing else to wait and hope for. If we attain the light of faith, then with its help we will be able to ascend to the level of bestowal, exit the desire to receive, and start working with it altruistically. The whole Torah is to correct the intention from “in order to receive” to “in order to bestow.”
The desire to enjoy remains as it was created by the Creator. The only question is what gives us pleasure: to enjoy ourselves or to give joy to others. This is the whole difference between the nature of receiving and giving. It is not the desire that changes, not the matter itself, but rather the intention that is inverted by the reforming light.1
My ability to bestow is determined by the light of faith that I receive. Therefore, the use of my desire expands and I see what can be done with it. If I work with it in order to bestow, the world suddenly becomes transparent to some extent. The more of my desire I use to bestow, the more transparent the world becomes.
After all, I see the world through the desire to receive. If the desire is egoistic, the world is very limited, closed. The intention in order to bestow opens an opportunity for me to see what is beyond my narrow animalistic interests. Now I think only about things that are good for my animal. The reality I feel in this perspective is called this world: food, sex, family, money, honor, and knowledge. However, if I expand my perception, I see a different life.2
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/20/19, Shamati “What Is Greatness and Smallness in Faith?”
1 Minute 4:38
2 Minute 20:30
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Lesson Preparation
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Lesson on the Topic “Annulment As A Condition for the First Spiritual Degree” (Preparation for the Convention in North America Convention 2019)
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Lesson on the Topic “Building The Future Society”
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Darkness is a sign of the abundance of the light of Hochma and all that is missing is the light of Hassadim in order for the darkness to shine as the light. Darkness is the manifestation of the Creator, but I need to add the light of Hassadim to this darkness; to that extent, I will reveal the Creator in order to bring Him contentment. The more light of Hassadim, the greater the revelations. The Creator fills the whole world, but no one can feel Him except those who can add the light of mercy, as is written: “in Your light we will see light.”
In a state of hardship, one must believe that there is none else besides the Creator and rejoice at the Creator’s revelation of any evil, because that is a sign that something good will be revealed soon. If I receive a blow, it means that I am ready for the revelation of the next degree.
The Creator reveals his attitude toward me with more clarity, but I perceive it as evil and I suffer, although in reality it is all good. In the most acute, critical states, we have the most opportunity to say that it all comes from the Creator for our own good.2
Why do we come to this world if our purpose is to leave it? We fall into the kingdom of the egoistic desire to enjoy, to the lowest level of reality, as primitive animals in order to rise from it. We are even worse than animals because we agree with our instinctive, automatic responses. We are slaves to egoism, while an animal does not feel enslaved. Even house pets do not feel themselves enslaved when they lose their freedom, but love their master who feeds them and are ready to work for him.
But the Creator does not allow us to live in such a way with our egoism. Each consecutive generation feels more and more unhappy. Thus, the Creator is pulling us out of the animate degree and raising us to the human level. We have to train ourselves to resemble the Master.
This is a special work on the part of creation. Therefore, the Creator constantly awakens in us a feeling that we are in exile, in slavery, in insignificance, without knowledge and sensation of our master, like an animal that will not allow itself to be tamed. It will be this way until we reveal the Master and realize that He is the most sublime; then we will cleave to Him consciously, not out of animalistic habit, but by attaining His greatness and role in creation and His effort to raise us to His level so that we do not only fulfill his desire like an animal tied to the owner, but receive the same qualities.3
Life is a feeling of adherence to the Creator, harmony with the upper force, movement in unison, the absence of the perception of leader and follower but only together. There, at the highest point, where the end of action is united with the initial thought, the Creator and the creation achieve such an adhesion that there is no first or last, only all together.4
We have to come back to adherence with the Creator like an embryo in the mother’s womb, connected to her in all its essence. But now I am no longer an infant but a grown man, burdened with the experience of various states and knowledge. Along with all this burden, I annul myself before the upper one like an embryo. I do not annul my thoughts or desires, but I try to be devoted like an embryo to its mother. Everything always comes back to the first point of conception—the point of complete adhesion between the creation and the Creator. No matter how huge, strong, or smart I have become, I reduce myself to a single point within the Creator.5
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/23/19, Writings of Rabash, Vol. 1, Article 20, “He who Hardens His Heart”
1 Minute 55:00
2 Minute 57:15
3 Minute 1:02:21
4 Minute 1:06:50
5 Minute1:25:18
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Lesson on the Topic “The Absolute Zero”
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Lesson on the Topic “The Perfect Ten in Arvut” (Preparation for the Convention in North America Convention 2019)
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The work against Pharaoh, against men’s egoism, is truly enormous because egoism in its corrected form is the spiritual vessel that contains all the upper light, the entire Creator, all His revelation. The Creator wants to bestow pleasure to the created beings, that is, to reveal Himself in them entirely, so the desire must be enormous. The Pharaoh is equal in size to the Creator, only his intention is opposite.
The holy and the impure forces, the Creator and the Pharaoh, are fighting for the same desire. Man is in the middle between them and decides who will rule him. It is clear that he is not the master of himself; he only decides which king to choose.
In the same way, during elections we think that we are making a choice and making a decision. But even before the elections someone governed us and after the elections somebody will govern, we only choose our ruler. It works in the same way both in spirituality and corporeality because the latter follows the former. It is good if we make the right choice so that the good force governs us. But if not, we will be governed by an evil ruler until we want to replace him with a good one. Only at this point of choice do we have freewill; therefore, all our work is only there.
Since the desire to enjoy is huge, equivalent to the Creator, it cannot be corrected at once; many separate actions are required until the correction is fully completed. That is why the Egyptian exile must last four hundred years, that is, four degrees, to its full state.
Therefore, we should not think that we can jump into the spiritual world at once and quickly go through the exile. We should not despair that the states repeat themselves all the time, but perceive all of them as new and make new clarifications. In this way, “Many pennies join into a great amount.”
We wish for patience and perseverance. A person advances not qualitatively, but quantitatively, by multiple repetitions of the same work until a tangible result is accumulated. By repeating, a state is added to all previous ones and it brings about a qualitative change. But quality is a consequence of quantity.
It is like a computer with nothing but zero and one. But from numerous zeros and ones, we get a huge number of operations and possibilities. The most complex formula can be resolved through a sequence of zeros and ones: entrances and exits, light and darkness.
We must strengthen ourselves in such a way that we can perceive our ascents and descents as advancement, as a new state each time. It is precisely in the darkness, not in the light, that we are tested, that is, how much I do not care that I entered the darkness. After all, I do not check the state on myself, I am above it. Let there be darkness because it is in the darkness that I build up the properties of bestowal and faith. A person is tested when he has nothing, when nothing shines in the present and in the future and he does not require the Light, but only one thing: to relate this state of darkness to the Creator and live in the darkness as if in the light. This is how his faith is tested.
The whole work is precisely in the darkness, and therefore, Kabbalists have decided that it is necessary to study at night. Baal HaSulam always woke up at midnight and started his day. Therefore, we need to get used to studying in the dark, until darkness shines as light. Darkness will remain darkness, but it will shine to me because it is there where I will find the light of faith and then in it, the light of Hochma.
The light of Hochma, without faith, leads to darkness. If I try to add the light of faith, then I turn on the light and illuminate the darkness.1
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/23/19, Writings of Rabash, Vol. 1, Article 20, “He who Hardens His Heart” (1985)
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1 Minute 0:20
Lesson Preparation
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Writings of Baal HaSulam, Shamati 53 “The Matter of Limitation”
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Lesson on the Topic “Awakening to the Creator’s Invitation” (Preparation for the Convention in North America Convention 2019)
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It is written that the Creator hardens the heart of Pharaoh, that is, the egoistic desire to enjoy. It is necessary to isolate and increase it so it will become obvious who your enemy is on your way to the Creator, identify it, then turn it from the evil Pharaoh into the good Creator, and thus reach adhesion with the upper force.
There is no servant more faithful to the Creator than Pharaoh who is summoned to bring us to the Creator so that we will be able to distinguish between light and darkness, bestowal and reception, sweet and bitter. With the help of Pharaoh, we learn how to reach the qualities of the Creator. Ultimately, the Creator hardens the heart of Pharaoh, that is, He is behind everything, even the events that are most unpleasant for us. “There is none else besides Him” in the entire reality.
If we are able to accept that all forces of nature, all human beings, all hostile actions, and all thoughts come from the Creator and we want to come to love Him, then we turn all these adverse means into help.
We can only discern any quality through the contrast of opposites, not by itself. We are created beings and we must feel both ourselves and the Creator. The gap between these two sensations gives us the feeling of reality.
The more we differ from the Creator, the deeper and more accurately we can reveal Him, on a more inner level. Therefore, it is said that the greater a person is, the greater is his egoism. The further we advance, the more serious disturbances we encounter, and, at the same time, the collision of opposites helps us come to the conclusion that “There is none else besides Him.”
Our entire work is in establishing the uniqueness of the upper force, nothing besides it exists. The whole world is comprised of disturbances from the force that opposes the Creator, called “the Pharaoh.” Over all this confusion created by the Pharaoh, we can establish that it was sent by the Creator. Then all the disturbances become enveloped in “There is none else besides Him,” and we can examine this principle more accurately in all its detail by building the image of the Creator through the image of the Pharaoh.
We have no way to approach the Creator who has no image. However, it is the disturbances that build the image of the Creator in the inverse form for us.1
Pharaoh confuses us throughout our lives until the day we die, forcing us to think that our duty is to serve egoism. We are not even slaves, but voluntary workers, of Pharaoh, ready to carry out all the orders of our nature in order to receive pleasures in return, or at least to avoid suffering. However, if the Creator wants to bring a person closer to Him, he hardens his heart, showing him that he is working for the evil force, for Pharaoh, who does not care about a person’s welfare, but deceives one throughout one’s life in order to eventually bury him in the ground. Pharaoh enjoys the fact that we are following his orders.
However, the good force is hiding behind the evil one and wants to teach us the advantage of light over darkness by showing us through these opposites that there is something above our nature. All this is so that we, through our desires and efforts, will discover this upper reality, the spiritual world, by ourselves, and come to recognize the upper force that is above Pharaoh. This is how we reveal the opposite form of Pharaoh—the Creator.
Afterward, we chase “none else besides Him,” looking not at Pharaoh himself, but trying to see the Creator through him. Let Pharaoh play any role before me, the main thing is that he helps me reveal various forms of the Creator’s attitude toward me.
The Creator is a permanent, unconditional, invariable good that I cannot see. The upper light even now fills all of reality, but who sees it? Pharaoh gives me a transparent negative through which I look at the light and see all kinds of images. I will not be able to understand and distinguish anything in the Creator if it were not for Pharaoh.
The crueler Pharaoh becomes, the more contrasting details we can reveal in the Creator. Without Pharaoh there is no Creator; therefore, the Creator initially created the evil inclination. When we look at the Creator through our evil inclination, we can see all kinds of forms, types of relationships, actions, and intentions, and with the help of Pharaoh, we learn how to become similar to the Creator.2
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/24/19, Pesach (Passover)
1 Minute 0:20
2 Minute 28:36
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There are people who find it hard to even hear that we need to reach connection in order to attain the Creator. The Creator is so exalted and incomprehensible, He is in another dimension that we do not feel. He does not fit into the scope of our mind and feelings. We cannot assemble this puzzle—the image of the Creator—from the thoughts and sensations within us so that we somehow feel and understand Him.
Yet, on the other hand, they say that it happens through simple corporeal actions in our world. We do not understand the connection between the two: how will it help if I smile at others and treat them well? We don’t think of it as a serious game, just hypocrisy. We are egotists by nature and have already tried to change our external behavior without changing the inner essence.
However, here we should understand that there is a special spiritual component called the light that returns to the source—a special force that we can draw and it will change our nature. Therefore, even if we do not want to connect, to get closer to each other, and to support each other, we must do this in order to come closer to the Creator. This is hard work and we need to convince ourselves of its necessity so that even acting against our desire, pretending and playing, we awaken the light that reforms.
The more artificial and unnatural our effort is, and we make it nevertheless, the more light it awakens. Hence the paradox that people who cannot stand any connection with others and do not accept this principle, through their smallest efforts to connect, they awaken a great light of correction.1
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/28/19, From The Point In The Heart to A Ten” (Preparation for the Convention in Latin America Convention 2019)
1 Minute 14:52
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