Lesson Preparation
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Lesson on the Topic “The Work Within Reason And The Work Above Reason”
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Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol. 2, Part 7, “Histaklut Pnimit,” Item 13
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Writings of Baal HaSulam, “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar“
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The holidays that come with the beginning of the Jewish New Year symbolize a person’s entrance to spiritual work. The truth is that this entrance starts much earlier, during the period of preparation. Therefore, the month of Elul means “I am for my beloved, and my beloved is for me.” That is, a person begins discovering that he has a connection with the Creator.
When a person begins studying Kabbalah, after a few years, he discovers that he experiences ascents and descents in his mood, understanding, and the perception of the texts. Then, after some time, he realizes that spirituality really can be attained only through connection; that is, he starts believing in what he is reading about, he connects to the material.
He understands that there is no choice, he needs to join a group for practical work. After all, it is not enough to speak about it with nice words, he should open his heart and awaken his feelings. This is necessary for his spiritual advancement, feeling, and realization of life. He does not want his life to pass between his birth and death and to end meaninglessly; he wants to rise above it and continue living. Then he understands that he must correct himself, acquire the force of bestowal above the force of reception. The realization of the need for inner change is the beginning of the month of Elul.
Elul is the month of self-analysis: what can I do with my soul to begin approaching the first contact with the Creator. I wait for revelation of the upper force not in order to enjoy it, but in order to surrender to it.
Let my egoism surrender and allow me to become a servant of the Creator. I will be happy to give myself to the rule of the upper Light and to feel its perfection, eternity, and greatness. My desire to enjoy is ready to submit before such revelation, to lower itself, and give itself to the rule of the upper force.
This is how we reach the New Year, Rosh HaShanah, the essence of which is to crown the Creator to be the King of the entire world. The upper force is at the beginning of everything, at the end, and in the middle, governing everything without exception. All we need is to feel ourselves under the control of the upper force, like slaves of the Creator, His faithful servants: to receive faith above reason, the force of bestowal above the force of reception, and to begin to work on our desire with its help.
All this work relates to the holiday of Rosh HaShanah—the first station on the way to the correction of creation.1
In fact, a person’s whole life can fit into a segment from the New Year, Rosh HaShanah, until the next New Year. It does not matter which properties he was born with, good or bad, the main thing is their change, and this is in his power. Together with certain qualities, he receives opportunities to use them correctly. The goal is for all to reach equivalence with the upper force.
Therefore, there are no absolute righteous or wicked among us. Everything can be changed, everyone has the freedom to choose. No one can complain that he was not given an opportunity to correct himself and to become closer to the Creator— he just did not use it correctly.
To be a righteous or a wicked does not depend on intelligence. It is possible to be smart and wicked, or foolish and righteous. Spiritual work does not require any exceptional abilities. The main thing is not to miss the chance given to you to awaken and to follow this path all your life with persistent consistency—then you will succeed.
Rosh HaShanah means that a person clings to the first point of connection with the upper system, with the Creator, and he never lets go. After all, in all his life, there will be no other point of connection between him and the upper world.2
Natural qualities are given to a person according to his place in the common soul of Adam HaRishon so that he could perform his function. From his point, from one cell of the body of Adam HaRishon, through connection with others, he reaches the understanding of the entire common body, of this entire system in its perfection.
Therefore, there is no sense in changing your base point, the spiritual “stem cell.” If a person connects to the system, then all of it is placed at his disposal according to his place.
The righteous and the wicked exist within one person. The Torah speaks about one person only and everything else is an imaginary world. Thus, all the righteous and all the wicked, all the impure forces and the sanctity, the whole system is inside a person. We just need to figure out this system and calibrate it to the target.3
Rosh HaShanah is the revelation of the perfection and the force of the Creator, of his complete governance: “I am the first and I am the last, and there is no God besides Me.” This is how a person imagines the King of the world, and his spiritual path starts from there. After all, this is just a potential revelation. Then he needs to develop it by identifying himself with each quality and with each individual revelation of the Creator, and gradually, starting from Rosh HaShanah and onward, he should acquire the full degree of the Creator.
Rosh HaShanah is just the first contact with the upper force, the first attainment of the King of the world, the realization that the Creator governs everything. We have no way of interfering with Him or changing anything; we can only agree with His plan. All changes occur only within a person.
The Creator does not change His governance relative to us, but we ask for such a change that makes us feel how the governance of the Creator changes, becomes kinder.
But really I am changing, not the Creator. There are no changes at the top. The upper Light is just increasingly revealed to the created beings so that they will attain Him in all His depth.4
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/21/18, Lesson on the Topic: “Rosh HaShana”
1 Minute 0:20
2 Minute 13:35
3 Minute 21:50
4 Minute 28:50
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Secret Meaning Of Rosh HaShanah
New Life #436 – Rosh Hashanah
Lesson Preparation
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Lesson on the Topic “Rosh HaShana“
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Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol. 2, Part 7, “Histaklut Pnimit,” Item 9
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Writings of Baal HaSulam, “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar“
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It is impossible to judge a state until you have been in it. In the evening, it is difficult to believe that in the morning you will not have power to get up and that sleep will be so sweet because in the evening we are attracted by completely different pleasures.
Therefore, it is written: “Do not judge your friend until you are in his shoes.” The other is you, so do not judge yourself in vain. To judge the place, you need to be in it with all your desires, thoughts, and feelings. This means that “the judge has only what his eyes see.”
The spiritual path presumes that a person judges himself, looking at himself from aside, in every state, until he reaches the middle line, and then he can become a real judge.1
What’s most important for advancement on the spiritual path is prayer, a request. It does not matter what happened, what state we are in—all this is given and arranged by the Creator. And we can only appeal to the Creator, all together, with one request, from one heart. This is what’s most important.
If a person treats the request to the Creator correctly, he immediately receives an answer and by this he can sharpen his request and again receive an answer, again sharpen the request, and again receive an answer, etc. So, it goes in circles all the time: “I am for my beloved, and my beloved is for me” until we adhere to such an extent that we work together. It is not that I ask and the Creator answers or that I react to the Creator’s response, but the request and the answer occur simultaneously.
Later on, we will see that the answer lies in the request itself. This is determined by the measure of adhesion between us. One does not need to wait for an answer because the request itself already contains the answer.2
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/20/18, Lesson preparation
1 Minute 6:11
2 Minute 8:00
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The most important thing is to rise to the level of Lishma on which the whole spiritual ladder is built. That is, one has to gain the power of faith, the power of Bina, which is the power of bestowal above reception and the desire to enjoy, which the Creator, the upper Light, constantly awakens in us. Thus, the Creator advances us, awakening darkness in us, and we have to hold on to the Light of faith, the Light of Hassadim, bestowal above darkness.
This means that one has to advance by faith above reason. The gained knowledge becomes a level on which we build faith. And the faith that one gains above knowledge becomes new knowledge, and one has to rise above it to an even greater faith. And so, every time, a new level of bestowal and faith turns into a new level of reception and knowledge, over which one has to rise again.
One ascends because he does not pay attention to his feelings inside the desire to enjoy. Of course, one feels darkness, helplessness, and desperation in everything relating to egoism. But despite this, one has to act as if he is in bestowal, the property of Bina, in faith and unity, as it is said: “They have eyes and see not.”
We have to work on two levels that do not cancel each other. I know exactly in my common sense that I am in egoism and that I do not want to connect with anyone and give to anyone. I am not attracted to all the conditions that the science of Kabbalah recommends. One feels all this in his egoistic desire, and he gives himself a full account of this without turning a blind eye to the truth and deceiving himself as if he has already been corrected.
I stand with both feet on the ground because “the judge has only what his eyes see.” And with it, I lift my head above the clouds, that is, I imagine a spiritual step as if the upper Light has already come and filled me and given me the power of bestowal, unity, merging with the group, and within it, with the Creator.
This becomes my new, second stage, which does not cancel the first. I am on two levels at the same time; they do not cancel each other, but exist each by itself. Thus, I build the level of faith above reason: There is reason, which is Malchut, and above it—faith, Bina.
I live so all the time. If I manage to hold on to faith above reason, putting a full measure of effort in this, then I will feel how my state will change. The former level of faith gradually turns into knowledge, and then I need a new faith and a higher level of bestowal.
I thus climb the ladder. What was faith turns into knowledge; Bina transmits its power to Malchut and Malchut swells and grows. One rises above it to a new level of Bina: higher and higher and higher!
This is the whole secret of the spiritual ascent. The most difficult thing is to stay on two levels simultaneously: in Malchut and in Bina so that they do not cancel one another. Do not be small children who can only be in one state. The adult stands firmly on the ground in this world and keeps his head high in the future world.
One has to practice this a lot because the whole ascent upward until the end of correction happens only in this form. The faster we can realize it, helping each other, the more we will succeed. We are close to this state. It is very important for the group to support everyone. Our destiny depends only on adopting this principle: how to rise from the level of reason to the level of faith. Spiritual ascent and acquisition of the soul are built on this principle.1
[231718]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/14/18, Lesson on the Topic: “From the Bottom of the Ladder to the Permanent Dvekut”
1 Minute 0:20
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Lesson Preparation
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Lesson on the Topic “Rosh HaShana“
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Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol. 2, Part 7, “Histaklut Pnimit,” Item 7
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Writings of Baal HaSulam, “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar“
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The work within reason is clear to all. It is important according to our understanding, and therefore, we are ready to work. The work above reason goes against our mind and feelings. Our whole world works for the sake of receiving, according to its own mind and feeling, within reason. A human being, as the most intelligent and developed being of all, must act reasonably.
We respect a person for his intelligence. Specifically here, we need to go, as if, against feeling and reason. But what else do we have? Nothing. It turns out that we must go against everything that exists in us if we want to attain the upper world. After all, in the upper world our mind and feelings do not work, the upper world is above our reason and feelings.
This is the next step: instead of receiving—bestowal, instead of reason—above reason. But what can I do if I do not possess the properties of bestowal and the spiritual world is built on completely different principles. One cannot even say opposite, because we do not know what this opposition means.
We do not understand how to change ourselves in order to rise to a state called “the world to come,” to the next step. One just has to try to do it. The spiritual world is called “the world to come” because it will come, but it will come only according to our efforts.
Even if we do not want it, the program of creation already has our desire and it will come. He who makes efforts in advance, saves time and suffering because he quickly comes to a prayer. Otherwise, he will waste time because his stubbornness will do him no good. You have to be stubborn only with regard to application of the efforts, as the saying goes: “Do anything but leave.”
Even if I see that by all signs nothing works for me and the Creator even lets me know that I am not wanted, I still do not quit. Persistence is the key to advancement.
One needs to have profound reason in order to work above it. Our task is to make an effort until we receive the property of bestowal, the property of connection and love.1
Spirituality is revealed in the desires of bestowal, and it is necessary to know how to check and measure these desires according to the principle which is opposite to what we have. As it is written: “I saw an opposite world .”
In our world everything is measured by how much I get, how much is on my plate, in my purse. But in the spiritual world, the opposite is true: the more I would like to receive in reason, I would joyfully rise above these demands in order to bestow, despite my great desire to enjoy.
This is how my faith above reason is measured. I rejoice because I ascended to the next step, became closer to the Creator, and began to feel and explore the reality called the upper world. After all, I am sure that the Creator controls everything, and therefore, knows better what is good.
Everything that I have comes from the Creator, including all my instruments of His verification. Everything that I have directly and indirectly comes from Him, and nothing depends on me. Even if I decide to check myself, the verification comes from the Creator.
Without the Creator, I am not just an empty computer on which no program is installed; there is no computer at all. There is nothing. Therefore, the higher I can rise above reason, the more powerful and elevated sense of the spiritual world I possess.
The first step to spirituality is to give up on your good and confident feeling within reason and build above it the opposite attitude to the world, for the sake of bestowal. It turns out that I have two levels: reason and above reason. And I try to expand both of them, to open these scissors as much as possible. There, between them, I will feel the upper world, the upper reality.2
The goal of a person’s work in this world is a feeling of perfection in his desires to enjoy: to gain more, to win, to succeed, to fill oneself with all the blessings. The goal of a person’s work in the spiritual world is a feeling of perfection in the desires of the upper one. To the extent of our efforts to imagine this, we are influenced by the Light that returns to the source and leads us to the desire of the upper one and to the feeling of perfection in this desire.
One cannot exist without the other. It is impossible to feel the spiritual world and suffer from it. I will receive spiritual attainment only if it makes me happy.3
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/20/18, Lesson on the Topic: “The Work Within Reason And The Work Above Reason”
1 Minute 0:20
2 Minute 10:08
3 Minute 21:11
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Lesson Preparation
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Lesson on the Topic “Rosh HaShana“
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Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol. 2, Part 7, “Histaklut Pnimit,” Item 5
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Writings of Baal HaSulam, “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar“
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Lesson Preparation
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Writings of Rabash, Vol. 2, “Concerning Truth and Faith” (1985)
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Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol. 2, Part 7, Item 43
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Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar“
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Question: I have been studying for three years, I watch your daily lessons and the evening Zohar lessons. Should I stop studying if I do not have a group?
Answer: Under no circumstances should you stop. One who wishes to spiritually progress should be maximally connected to us—if possible, through a group; if not, then without one. Gradually, however, you will feel a connection with us.
It is a cumulative process that accumulates in a person. In the final stage, the individual starts feeling and understanding what happens within themselves and within the world’s depths. It all works.
Question: If I watch a recorded lesson, will I still receive a small portion of Light from you?
Answer: Yes. It is also not just a small portion of Light. During the morning lesson, a tremendous field of information streams between us, and one who is correctly tuned to it can literally, like a bird, rise and soar on the ascending flow of air.
Watch the lesson recorded or live, just be together with us.
[231737]
From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 4/1/18
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Daily Audio Version-MP3
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