Question: Why does the Creator afflict pain unto the righteous, and how can I justify Him?

Answer: It is so the righteous can justify Him. You “harness the cart before the horses.” However, the truth is that the Creator afflicts pain unto the righteous so that they will have a chance to bless and justify Him. How can they justify Him without the pain, on what grounds?

An independent person must be opposite to the Creator internally and similar to Him externally. This means that you must be made of two opposite forces, two opposite forms, two opposite attributes.

It is written, “I have created the evil inclination, I have created the Torah as a spice.” This refers to the Light in it, since the Light in it reforms it. The evil inclination, the matter of the desire to receive, remains the way it is, and we must dress the intention of in order to bestow above it. Thus, we reform it with the help of the Light and change it to the good and right form.

When we work that way, we first curse the Creator on every level and disagree with Him. This is the reason that the level of Ibur (Conception) is called “rage and wrath.” Then we reach the blessing and the justification of the Creator, until we reach self-sacrifice.

My self-sacrifice, however, is not a result of pleasure the way it is in our world when I am ready to totally sacrifice myself if it is worth it. In that case, I don’t connect to the Creator but to the pleasure that stems from Him, and, if it stops, my ego will not allow me to connect to Him anymore. We totally depend on the pleasure in this world, whereas, in spirituality, we add another dimension, another level, and reach adhesion with the Creator and not with the pleasure and the benefits that stem from Him.

Now, I begin to value my status as the one who bestows and gives. The Creator doesn’t give to me. I don’t need His bestowal. I don’t want to receive it. I don’t want to adhere to Him because of this goodness. I don’t want to be addicted to it. I want to respect the attribute of bestowal, which has no form or image. I yearn for it.

As a result, I must be made of two forms, of an internal form that is the desire to receive and the external form that is the intention of in order to bestow. Otherwise, I cannot be adhered to Him since “For our heart will rejoice in Him” and not in the Lights that stem from Him, which only confuse and bribe me, and which I must resist.

The Lights are measured from above and awaken me—which means my ego—so that I will be turned on and become addicted to the pleasure that drives me crazy and dominates my mind and my heart. Eventually, I am left with only one point that doesn’t attract me to pleasures that come from the Light, and, at that point, I can keep myself constantly outside of the pleasure, refuse the tempting offers. Not that! Not to be addicted to the pleasure!

The temptations make our head spin, and the body is confused by the excitement. Here, we need to prepare the mutual guarantee between us since, without it, I cannot be independent. The pleasure comes in order to cover the shame and to make me independent. Baal HaSulam speaks about it in the Talmud Eser Sefirot, “Histaklut Pnimit,” part 1 item 7:

… They said that there is a great flaw in free gifts, namely the shame that encounters every receiver of a free gift. To mend this, the Creator has prepared this world, where there is work and labor, so as to be rewarded in the next world for their labor and work.

But that excuse is very strange. It is like a person who says to his friend, “Work with me for just a minute, and in return I will give you every pleasure and treasure in the world for the rest of your life. There is indeed no greater free gift than that, because the reward is incomparable with the work. The work is in this transient, worthless world compared to the reward and the pleasure in the eternal world.

What value is there to the passing world compared to the eternal world? It is even more so with regards to the quality of the labor, which is worthless compared to the quality of the reward.

Our sages said: “The Creator is destined to inherit each and every righteous person 310 worlds, etc.” We cannot say that some of the reward is given in return for their work, and the rest is a free gift, for then what good would that do? The blemish of shame would still remain! Indeed, their words are not to be taken literally, for there is a profound meaning in their words.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/16/14, The Book of Zohar

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Question: I always hear that the Creator is good that does good, but in the meantime I don’t feel this. So how can I be happy?

Answer: We are used to being happy when we feel that we have gained. If the ego gains at every moment, if it is comfortable, good, warm, and pleasant for me, money drips into my account, “One penny and another penny accumulate into a great sum” (Baba Batra 9b) and I enjoy. Thank God everything is okay, soon I will take a vacation, sail on a luxury liner, on Shabbat my favorite soccer team is playing; there is something to enjoy in life!

This is what we call “pleasure,” but this is joy now or in the future within the desire to receive. That is how we live. If I don’t feel joy in the present or in the future, I am ready to die. A person is not able to exist without joy, if not now, then at least from hope for joy in the future. Otherwise, “it is better for me to die than to live” (Jonah 4:3).

Now the question is asked, how can we be happy in a situation where we really want spiritual revelation but don’t have it? If at the moment we don’t have it, then everything depends on hope for the future; am I confident that ultimately I will have it? It is clear that in the present I don’t have anything! “A judge only has what his eyes see” (Sanhedrin 6b), and I see that I have not yet discovered the spiritual world, don’t understand and don’t feel it.

But am I sure that I will discover it? If I am in a group and the group radiates confidence to me that we are going towards revelation and we will reach it, then I will be happy! The friends give me the confidence that we will succeed. Without this, I won’t succeed in advancing; rather, I will simply sleep all day so I won’t suffer, because at the moment I have no joy and also don’t expect it in the future. It is impossible to die, and what is left is just to sleep, at least not feel anything.

This is exactly what happens to a person. This is natural; there is nothing to do about it. The question is how do we deal with this? How is it possible to stimulate the environment so that it will influence us and we will be happy and full of energy? For this it is up to us to appreciate the friends and to be connected with them. And in addition to this, we must awaken the Light that Reforms together so that it will stimulate us all the time and provide excitement. And then I will not only be excited by the words of the people, but I will receive illumination from above through them.

This illumination is called “faith.” Faith is power that I invest without getting anything in return. It seems that this is impossible, but the Light will influence me and will give me the possibility of doing it. This is called, “faith above reason.” According to my nature, I am not ready to bestow without receiving anything in exchange! But if the Light will give me a characteristic like this, then I can. And then my happiness will not be connected to fulfillment within my Kelim. As it is said: “Who is rich? It is the one who is happy with his lot” (Pirkei Avot 4:1).

And what is his lot? He doesn’t have anything! But he is happy. Maybe he is crazy or stupid? No, he is truly the richest and happiest person! The rich don’t feel happy because they are pursuing even greater wealth all the time, and they are not “the one who is happy with his lot.” This is called feeling rich and happy. He doesn’t need anything more; imagine what a wonderful feeling this is. Even billionaires don’t feel this way because they want more and more money. They are the poorest people of all! If an ordinary person doesn’t have a thousand dollars, they don’t have millions, billions. So which of us is poorer, who needs more? It means that everything depends on the environment and the illumination of the Ohr Makif (Surrounding Light).
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From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/5/14, Writhing of Baal HaSulam

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Question: How should we translate the suffering of the community from the physical level to the spiritual level, meaning to see in everything a lack of Light?

Answer: This happens by itself, for you are found in your own state and the community is found in its state. When you hear them, you perceive this differently anyway, for “all who condemn do so with their own defect” (Kiddushin 70b). So you will understand and feel these problems within your perception and Kelim. You have nothing to fear from identifying with their physical needs.

Even though their pain and complaints are justified, natural, and compulsory, you still feel them according to your understanding and on your level.

Question: Does this mean that I will constantly translate their complaints differently according to my changing states?

Answer: Your state will be changed along with them. You will suddenly begin to condemn the Creator for what He is doing to them; you will discover that you lack the ability to justify Him. Dissemination gives us a wide field of work; it revives and invites many changes in us.
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From the Preparation for the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/5/14

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Question: How do we turn to people in Israel with our message in such a way that it will not antagonize them?

Answer: It is necessary to give a rational explanation and not present everything all at once, but gradually. Baal HaSulam explains the picture to us in a concrete and clear manner, in a very scientific way, in that he understands all of the troubles that are still liable to appear if the people will not change their direction. And we need to adapt this message for the wider public and explain to people that only through connection between us will we reach anything good.

Success in such areas as education, security, interactions between people and more is assured only by our own powers. The nation is not ready to do this; it is incapable of it. It cannot create a “Ministry of Love” that will resolve all problems between us. No nation is involved in anything similar. It always belongs to the citizens, to the people.

And on the other hand, in ancient times, before the destruction of the Temple, the highest political establishment of the people of Israel was specifically the “Ministry of Love.” All the other ministries were under it. There were taxes, education, and security, but all the other areas and ministries occupied lower levels of the national pyramid. And the “Minister of Love” was the High Priest.

Today, in order to transform the pyramid that has been created and bring it to the state that it must be requires painstaking work among the people.
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From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/4/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Preparation for the Lesson

Writings of Rabash, “Rungs of the Ladder,” “The Importance of a Prayer of Many”

The Book of Zohar – Selected Excerpts “Good and Evil,” “Day to Day Pours Forth Speech, and Night to Night Reveals Knowledge”

Talmud Eser Sefirot,  Vol. 6, Part 16, Item 125

Writings of Baal HaSulam, Letter 66

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Question: To reach prayer, is this the individual work of a person or the work of the entire group?

Answer: Of course this is the shared work of all of us. From where would I get the strength for it? If I don’t identify with the sorrow of the community, I wouldn’t be able to reach prayer.

Otherwise I will scream for myself, but for this won’t receive an answer from above. I must transmit to the Elyon (Higher) the request of others, the Prayer of Many. It is called this because I scream for the many, and not because many people scream.

The “many” are my own desires that are portrayed to me as strangers. I scream because I want to approach them, feel them like I feel myself, reach love of others as myself, and connect.

I don’t scream about it being bad for them and the Creator needs to help them, even though this is also prayer, as it is said, “One who prays for his friend is answered first” (Baba Kama 90b). The main thing is, when I see them as parts of myself and am connected with them, to that degree I am connected with the Creator.

After all, if I ask the Creator to be merciful to them and to solve their problems, then in this way I blame Him that He is abusing them and am thinking He is cruel and am asking Him to do something good for them. But I cannot turn to the Creator that way and I will not have equivalence of form with Him if I don’t decide that He is merciful and gracious.

So a true prayer is not a request that something good should be done for others. How can I ask the Creator to do something good if He is also good that does good? I ask Him to make such a correction in us that all of us will adhere with Him. This is the entire prayer, there is nothing more for which to ask.

If I see something bad, this is because there is a gap,; the forces of Shevira (Breakage) are discovered. And the Shevira is within me, so I see reality as being so bad. So I ask that all of us will be able to adhere to the Creator and give Him pleasure. After all, we are so despicable that we are not prepared to accept Him as He truly is: good that does good.

It means that we don’t ask Him to do good for us because in every case we are found in an optimal situation for us. We ask for correction of our distorted vision and sensation, so we don’t blame the Creator like little children who scream, “Bad Mommy!”

Question: But what is to be done with an evil inclination that constantly proclaims that everything is bad?

Answer: A person must try to rise above his evil inclination and not annihilate it. We need to rise above it and be higher than it because desires of bestowal must be above desires of reception. Yet it is forbidden to extinguish the desires of reception; for then the desires of bestowal cannot exist.

Without the Yetzer HaRa (evil inclination), what are we left with? The Yetzer HaTov (good inclination) cannot exist in us because this is the Creator, the desire to bestow. I cannot be the Yetzer HaTov; the Yetzer HaTov can exist within me only to the degree that it rides on the Yetzer HaRa.

The Yetzer HaRa assures me of detachment from the Creator, independence. And the Yetzer HaTov that controls it gives me the form of the Creator. However, I can only ask for the Yetzer HaTov to dominate over the Yetzer HaRa within me. Only the Upper Light can carry this out; I myself am not able to. This is not at my power.

I can only clarify that this is what is required from me. I get such a possibility as a result of the Shevira, which builds the connection between the desire to receive and the desire to bestow. So I get the ability to clarify, to analyze, to differentiate between one and the other. The Upper Light begins to illuminate these concepts for me and I see what is good and what is bad.
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From the Preparation for the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/6/14

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Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot,” Section 1: It is the opposite of the argument of the negligent in attaining the interior, who say to themselves: “We settle for attaining the Peshat. If we attain that, we will be content.” Their words can be compared to one who wishes to step on the fourth step without first stepping on the first three steps.

May God grant us the understanding of the simple meaning, the knowledge of which they attribute to themselves. After all,  on the way to it we must pass through the way of the Sod (secret), Drush (interpretation) and Remez (hint). And as long as we haven’t completed the previous steps, what simple meaning can there be? A person attains the Peshat on the fourth level of the corrected desire; how can that happen if we haven’t yet corrected the first, second, and third levels?

When I correct the first level of the desire to receive, I discover that the entire Torah is a big secret for me. And this is already an attainment. Until now I didn’t even know this, and now I understand my lack of knowledge. As a result of this, a connection is made between me and something that is hidden from me, but for now I cannot discover this secret. And after this the Drush appears, I already penetrate into things and see the connections between them, but still don’t understand the principles by which they operate.

After this I discover the Remez; I still don’t recognize the causes and the results, don’t get the exact purpose, but I can already see how the Creator operates and I can cooperate with Him. And only on the fourth level do I gradually attain His goal, and this is already adhesion. And then the Peshat is revealed to me because between me and the Creator there is no longer any concealing clothing, no screens, or partitions.

So if a person already studies Torah, he must relate to it with great seriousness. This is because it is called Kedusha (Sanctity) and Kedusha is bestowal. Am I advancing correctly towards bestowal through learning the Torah?

By learning the wisdom of Kabbalah I gradually discover that I am immersed in darkness, I don’t understand and don’t feel that something exists that is concealed from me, inaccessible to me. This feeling is the discovery of Sod, a very important feeling in the present stage. For this desire, the deficiency that dominates in me, will help me to reach Peshat.

And yet how is it possible to remain indifferent when I see that I don’t even have a drop of understanding? This is worse than death, for the dead don’t feel anything and I feel a spiritual deficiency. I am most unfortunate. So, as a result of studying, we discover darkness….

Question: How can this be? I thought that after we discover the Sod, we solve all the problems.

Answer: In this way I solve the biggest problem; I finally understand that all of my problems are derived from my attitude towards the Creator. In other words, it is up to me to build the right relationship.

Until now I didn’t know this. It seemed to me that it was about other causes and circumstances. And now, after I attain the Sod, I see that I have no connection with the Creator and that I depend only on Him. This is already not bad, for it is the truth. Finally I am locked in, connected to something true, real.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/5/14, Writhing of Baal HaSulam

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Preparation for the Lesson

Writings of Rabash, “Rungs of the Ladder,” Article 4

The Book of Zohar – Selected Excerpts “Good and Evil,” “The Guidance of the Creator”

Talmud Eser Sefirot,  Vol. 6, Part 16, Item 121

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “The Teaching of Kabbalah and Its Essence,” “Necessity and Unfolding of the Expansion of the Wisdom”

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A very egoistic perception of the world is typical in humanity, according to which we think that the world revolves according to the way that we manage it. That is what governments, powerful people, the rich, and the successful think. Even the simplest person thinks that his entire life is the result of what he does.

Everyone blames someone for anything that happens, and all of us think that we are the masters in this world. We acknowledge that the nature of humanity is evil and egoistic, but what can be done if we are like that? That is how we are and that is how we live and run the world. Certainly we could manage it better, not with such barbarity, but more thoughtfully and humanely. But nothing can be done about our being like that.

We construct all kinds of systems and try to be involved in this world as much as possible. We agree that it is imperfect, but that is how it is. People suppose that the world is the result of our management, our behavior, the connection between us, culture, education, politics, economics, commerce, etc.

All of this determines how the world appears. We hope that through our actions we can improve our lives somehow, and we cannot accept that the picture of the world that we perceive and see is not at all the result of our activities.

But the Creator, the Higher Power, draws this picture for us at each and every moment according to the Reshimot (spiritual genes). And a picture of the world is portrayed within us according to these Reshimot, and we cannot influence it in any way, but only determine the right attitude towards this picture, meaning an awareness that it comes to us entirely from the Creator. This applies to the past, the present, and the future. The Creator arranges our perception according to such a timeline.

What is important is not how we relate to the world, but how we relate to the Creator! The moment that we turn our attention toward the director, the origin, the Creator of the world, we immediately acquire the right perspective. And then it becomes clear that the whole world is concealed, evasive, a temporary image that is drawn within our mind with all of its nations, countries, and the entire terrible mess that is happening on the face of our small planet and within each and every individual person.

This picture becomes clearer to us at every moment in all kinds of different forms, in all of the various international and private quarrels, all of the different types of internal and external problems. All this is only so that when faced by all these troubles, we learn to justify the Creator, the source. All of these forms are clarified within our ego, within the desire to receive, which is the opposite of the Creator. And so we see our inner malfunctioning and perceive it as an external reality.

So we don’t need to regret the difficult situations that we went through in the past or that we are going through now in the present and to lose all hope for a good future. Rather we need to rise up and adhere to our root, which is only good that does good. And everything that we feel in this reality, ourselves, and this world is intended only so that above all of this we connect with the absolute good source and abandon our desire to receive in which we feel such a distorted and inferior picture of this world.
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From the Preparation for the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/7/14

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From an article by Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot”: Section 3: Let me explain the matter. We distinguish four divisions in the speaking species, arranged in gradations one atop the other. Those are the masses, the strong, the wealthy, and the sagacious. They are equal to the four degrees in the whole of reality, called:
a. Still,
b. Vegetative,
c. Animate,
d. Speaking.

…Atop them is the speaking, consisting of an emotional force and an intellectual force together. For this reason, its power is unlimited by time and space in attracting what is good for it and rejecting what is harmful, like the animate.

This is so because of its science, which is a spiritual matter, unlimited by time and place. One can teach others wherever they are in the whole of reality, and in the past and the future throughout the generations.

It follows that the value of one person from the speaking equalizes with the value of all the forces in the vegetative and the animate in the whole of reality at that time, and in all the past generations. This is so because its power encompasses them and contains them within its own self, along with all their forces.

After the desire to receive was created, it began to develop not quantitatively, as if its weight was one kilogram and it developed into ten kilograms. In no place in nature is quantitative development considered to be development. If a child were to grow, increasing only his weight, he would be called mentally undeveloped.

This means that we always associate development with a new quality. First of all there is the gathering of wisdom, the recognition of evil, inquiries and observations. And if we require more power for this, then we get it accordingly.

Apparently, only qualitative changes are considered to be developmental in nature. Quantitative development is not considered. What would the benefit be from adding one more, a million more or even a billion more of the same? But it is important that an addition changes the quality, like a change in the number of electrons, protons, and additional particles within the atom, and accordingly there is development.

The atoms connect into molecules; the molecules become more and more complex and connect into cells. The nucleus of the cell appears within the center of the cell and is ready to manage the processes within the cell. The cells gain the possibility of connecting, specializing in different activities. This is not talking about the number of cells here, but about their quality. Different types of cells begin to be formed from stem cells from which the human body is built.

This means that development is always qualitative. Baal HaSulam doesn’t talk about quantities either. There are four levels of development that exist in the world: still, vegetative, animate, and speaking; they are levels of development and are qualitative. The qualitative development is that the desire to receive begins to understand what it wants more and more.

And this is right, from where could it know what it wants? If I am a desire to receive, in order to know what my desire is, I must know what the Creator wants from me. I am not conscious of this on the levels of the still, vegetative, and animate. And on the level of the speaking, I already begin to understand that my intellect is a copy of the intellect of the Creator who implanted it in me because it was specifically His desire that I would understand and think and would be conscious of Him in a form like this.

This is called development. Thanks to development like this, I can control myself and the various processes. But it is up to me to understand that all of the systems that are found in me, all of my intellect and emotion, all of the results of development are a gradual copying within me of the characteristics of the Creator. He leaves only one thing in me, freedom of choice within these systems, meaning to resemble Him or not!

That is how we developed according to these levels, shaping more and more complex systems on the levels of the still, vegetative, animate and speaking. And this makes it possible for us to approach the understanding of our nature more and more on the level of the speaking and control the levels of the still, vegetative, and animate. We add more and more desire to receive to ourselves, and together with this, we add to our ability to use it.

On the level of Adam this is no longer talking about a greater ability to use the desire to receive, but about the ability to understand the desire itself. The level of the Animate realizes itself maximally. The Adam is constructed differently from a qualitative aspect and for him the main thing is not to realize his desire, but the purpose for which he is doing this. The level of Adam (Man) begins specifically from it. Otherwise, we would be a continuation of the animate level. For an Adam, what is important is the reason he wants to realize himself.

Here begins the recognition of evil. We run after different goals that only cause trouble for us, until the Adam—by the way of Beito (in its time), by the way of suffering— reaches the question: What is the reason for living? This means that he searches for a suitable purpose to which it does not bother him to dedicate his life. The development of desire is done gradually and systematically and ultimately brings us to the right result.
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From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/6/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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