From Rabash’s letter (No. 8): …at the end of the day, this is a group of people who have gathered in a certain place, under a certain leader, to be together. With superhuman courage they face up to all those who rise against them.

Indeed, they are brave men with a strong spirit, and they are determined not to retreat one inch. They are first-class fighters, fighting the war against the inclination to their last drop of blood, and their only wish is to win the battle for the glory of His name.

These words are said about the internal war that takes place inside us, as it is written, “There will always be a fight between good and bad inclinations.” The more we kindle this internal battle, the sooner we will understand that we have to exit from our ego, overpower it, escape from it, and rise above the materiality that we now sense.

There is no other way to escape from this world and attain the higher level other than by being under constant pressure, fear, and troubles that lead us to a condition that is defined as the “exodus from Egypt.” We begin revealing these qualities in us, and they make us come “out of our skin,” meaning to leave our bodies.

Only these conditions allow us to rise. It happens by a single circumstance: We should retain and work with our internal properties that are opposite by nature. One doesn’t escape by soaring into spirituality. We can’t do it by floating in the skies or leaving this material world below, nor is it about detaching from this corporeality. At the same time, we shouldn’t submerge into this realm or consider that this world as something that exists on its own.

We have to stay in the middle and realize that both forms are given to us by the Creator and that we are supposed to combine them together. By no means should we run away or hide from the desire to be pleased; rather, above this desire we have to stay confident that it’s the Upper Force that governs everything around us. It’s a unique and complicated approach for which we need an internal inborn readiness that is called “the root of the soul.” As well, we also need a group that is ready to follow this path, as it is written in Rabash’s letter: At the end of the day, this is a group of people who have gathered in a certain place, under a certain leader, to be together.

There are not many such groups. On the contrary, the farther we advance, the more will be the supporters around us and the fewer the people inside the group. The more precious a quality is the less it’s found in nature. Our goal is to rise to a “superhuman level.”

We can achieve it only by leading a merciless war against our egos. This war is called a “Holy War,” meaning the “war for the sake of the Creator.” In order to lead this war, we should connect both worlds with the Creator, agree to live in two parallel realms, and thank Him for everything that He sends to us. We should understand that everything is originated from one place and is given to us to make us grow.

Rabash writes to us about these issues: …at the end of the day, this is a group of people who have gathered in a certain place, under a certain leader, to be together. With superhuman courage they face up to all those who rise against them… This implies our internal problems. Indeed, they are brave men with a strong spirit, and they are determined not to retreat one inch…meaning that they won’t move towards materiality. They are first-class fighters, fighting the war against the inclination to their last drop of blood, and their only wish is to win the battle for the glory of His name.

This explains why we have to strengthen; if we manage to achieve everything that we spoke about and attain the states that we went through during this Passover, there is no doubt that we will end up being at the doorstep that is already in front of us.
[104062]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/2/13

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In the News (from Phys.org): “’The vervets show us that tolerance towards group members and patience while others are learning how they can improve things individually can go a long way in solving coordination problems,’ said Ronald Noë of Université de Strasbourg in France.

“In the study, the researchers had groups of vervet monkeys, two living freely in a South African park and another in captivity in France, play a social game without offering them any training on the game or how to play it. In each ‘forbidden circle’ experiment, a single low-ranking female was trained to open a container holding a large amount of food only when other monkeys dominant to her stayed outside an imaginary circle. If anyone was to get their treats, everyone had to figure out the rules and show enough restraint to follow them.

“And sure enough, the vervets did. One by one, without any guidance from humans, the dominant monkeys learned to control themselves. As soon as all of them showed restraint, the provider monkey in the middle opened the bin of food right away, saving everyone precious time.

“Remarkably, the vervet monkeys each learned how to ‘play’ on their own, in order of dominance and by trial and error. Higher-ranking monkeys figured out the rules most quickly because their status allowed them to reach the food dispenser first and to see the provider’s response that their actions provoked. With the rules to ‘back off’ understood, those more dominant individuals watched on patiently until each of their peers followed suit. The monkeys showed no evidence of communication or coercion at all.

“Noë said the findings represent skills that the vervets probably use all the time, in coordinating movements for protection of the group or their territory, for example. Their behavior shows that higher cognitive processes, such as insight into the thoughts of others and complex language, aren’t always needed to solve complex social puzzles. ‘These capacities do help us a lot, of course, and the fact that humans are so often confronted with such [coordination] problems may well explain the evolution of language and higher cognitive capacities,’ Noë said. ‘But individual learning and a bit of patience while others learn can go a long way too.’”

My Comment: How would adults and children behave in this situation? Our egoism makes us different from primates; it makes us blind! How much suffering will we have to bear before accepting the orders of the higher nature?..
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A mature approach to problems is when you know that you can reach the goal only by overcoming the problem. You overcome the unpleasant feelings in your desire to receive, above the darkness, and there you ask for connection with the group, with the Creator. Even your prayer is false, and internally you only wait for the problem to go away, for the darkness to dissipate at least a little, so that you will be able to rest, to relax, and to feel secure to some extent.

But you hold yourself and look for a connection and adhesion with the group, with the books, and with the teacher. You are like a baby who wants them to hold you in their arms. You look for all the support you can get that allows you to ask not for the darkness to dissipate, but rather to rise above the darkness and to think about the Creator, and not about your own feelings. Your concern is to bring Him contentment and not yourself.

If you can think this way, then to that extent you already feel joy. When you can yearn for bringing the Creator even greater contentment through the group and all the other means, then you feel even greater joy. If you cannot, then you should ask for that so that you will feel life in the external vessels, in the foreign vessels, which means “outside your own skin,” where your soul is.

The symptoms of the “illness” will go away since you will stop thinking about them and will adhere to the Creator and not to the bodily symptoms. You will come out of your skin, as if you die, and adhere to the Creator, to the soul and not to the body. This is called living in faith above reason, coming out of yourself, the transition between life and death, at least to some extent.

Then you gradually add to this transition and thus beat death. We have to at least understand the pattern of this transition, and then everything will be according to the same principle, in the same manner.
[104528]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/4/13, Shamati #36

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Question: Won’t rising above physical problems lead to apathy regarding physical life?

Answer: You specifically build your spiritual life above this physical life. Spirituality is built only above this world. Our world was created for this; it was not given to us by chance. The life of our physiological body is wondrously arranged in the same pattern as the upper world, as a branch resembles its root, so that in all events in this world you will begin to feel what stands on a higher level behind them.

We see how much the ten plagues of Egypt differ: blood, frogs, lice, and so forth, to the plague of the firstborn. Every plague is an unpleasant blow, but they all differ from each other. According to your place in the general system of the soul of Adam HaRishon, you pass through everything that happens in this world personally, as blows to your ego, inside your skin.

Specifically these blows help you to get out of your skin more and more, thanks to your overcoming every time. And you bless these blows, for without them you have no chance to become free. The ego holds you within the skin; only through a blow will you decide to flee from there.

The blow builds the human being in you, meaning Klipat Noga, the middle third of Tifferet, giving you the opportunity to think about why you want to get out. You don’t want to hide and flee from the blows, you are ready to stay in the dark; rather you want to adhere to the source, to the Creator, with great thanks that He gives you the opportunity to exit this body a little and approach Him.

In this condition, you begin to see and feel an enormous amount of subtleties and nuances, and in this form you build your spiritual body, namely the first ten Sefirot of the Returning Light. This really will be the Returning Light, for you no longer ask for yourself, rather you rise above the darkness felt in your will to receive, which transforms into the contracted Malchut.

You overcome this darkness and begin to build a screen above it. And your yearning to satisfy the Creator is called the Reflected Light, for you think only about His benefit. Thus you take on the initial structure of your spiritual Partzuf from which begin states found above our substance, our desire to receive in order to receive. You are detached from your “Self.”
[104524]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/4/13, Shamati #36

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To be a Tzadik (righteous) means to justify the Creator in all circumstances. A person is given every state to help him to want to go outside of his skin to such an extent that darkness thickens around him, and this is a very great help that the Creator sends someone ready to be a Tzadik.

A person is placed in situations that are unacceptable to his ego so that he will be ready to come out of himself. It is clear to us that the spiritual world is above this physical world. Therefore, everything physical must die, but this is not about the usual death of all humans, but rather, that a person, himself, will agree that all of his worldly values will die. And thereby, he acquires the next level: spiritual life.

He exits his body, being released from all self-interest in what will happen to him, above all the situations into which the Creator puts him. He concurs with these circumstances, accepting them happily as builders of his new, spiritual level, for they raise him above his physical conditions, take him out of the limits of his skin and, particularly, make it possible for him to ask for adherence with the Creator from within the darkness. The only inclination this person will have is to give the Creator contentment while he, himself, is found in the dark.

In this, he sees his salvation, his departure from exile. Outside of his skin, he feels true life because he can satisfy the Creator without any consideration of self. Thus, he defeats the darkness, the suffering, the fear, the anxiety, and the shame that he feels, which were revealed intentionally to indicate to him his corporeal limitations and to help him rise above himself.
[104427]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/4/13, Shamati #36

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Spiritual vessels are made of the desire to receive and its restriction, the Masach (screen), and the shame that is contained within it. The shame is for not being able to turn myself to bestowal and of being afraid to tie every state that I go through to the One who bestows.

When I rise after a descent from the sensation of evil and from that height examine the previous state, I see that it wasn’t bad. I understand that the descent was the preparation for the current ascent. I begin to love and to value the previous state and to be grateful for it since without that descent, I wouldn’t be able to ascend now.

This allows me to value my ascent even more since it comes to correct the previous flaws. So, I correct this ascent by my new attitude toward it and learn from this experience for the future. Now, I know that I must prepare myself for the next state, for the next descent, so that I will be able to control it as much as I can and to work above reason.

There are very few chances to work above reason in a state of ascent, but the descent helps us here. The descents are actually the most helpful states, not the ascents.

A person’s work is to be grateful for the past and thereby prepare for the future. We should always say that everything that has happened up until now, whether a conflict with the friends or whatever it may be, was done by the Creator and that there is none else besides Him. You must add all these states toward the revelation of the Creator to you whether it is in the form of His “posterior” if it is a descent or in the form of His “face” if it is an ascent.

In the future, we must be prepared for whatever happens. This is called total devotion. This is what we prepare ourselves for in the group through investing our efforts in it in mutual guarantee and mutual help, which eventually return to the person himself.

Everything depends on our preparation. If we sit idly and do nothing, we hardly will feel any descents and ascents, but only mild changes in our mood. However, if we prepare ourselves in the connection with the friends, then we will be able to manage the pace of our advancement and see all our advanced states positively: both the ascents and the descents.

It is harder to relate decisively to an ascent than to a descent. In fact, when we are in an ascent, we are under the influence of the pleasure that totally fills us and doesn’t allow us to clarify the state we are in and to control the desires.

During a descent, however, it is your desire that forces you to look for help and even for salvation. Therefore, as it is written, “Pharaoh has brought the sons of Israel closer to our Father in Heaven.” The desires that are revealed during a descent—in exile, in suffering and in feeling bad—are those that bring a person closer to the goal, while the ascents don’t really help us advance.
[104233]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/2/13, Writings of Rabash

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Question: I am very excited about your statement to women and I think that it is right, especially after the experience I gained as a result of the exercise that you suggested: try to get closer to unity and if you find that you criticize your girlfriends, attribute this to the Creator.

As a result of this exercise, I discovered that my attitude not only to my friends but toward absolutely everyone (except my kids) is criticism. It is like an instinct, like breathing, which you do not notice. And the more you do it, the more it persists. Despite the fact that I continue to attribute this to the Creator, it is growing, and I just don’t have strength up to the point of nausea. Sometimes there is a desire to have someone wipe me out.

What can I do with this if it is my nature? Men do not have it; they are much purer. How can we, women, help each other find and correct this quality?

Answer: Only when a person applies efforts to unite in the group according to the method of Kabbalah does one discover in herself or himself the forces that oppose this. These forces are called egoism. And all the other desires to “grab” more for oneself exist in everyone, even in animals, and from the point of view of Kabbalah are not considered egoism.

What to do: the same as the men do, who also have this but in a different form. The revelation of egoism (Pharaoh) is the highest gift of the Creator because this brings the need to turn to Him for help! And turning to Him leads to His revelation!
[104060]

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Overcoming is not fighting like a hero. Overcoming is to discover our weakness through the environment, through everything that we have learned. The wisdom is not to look within myself for the powers to overcome, but rather, to understand that everything is arranged by the Creator every step and each small detail. All this is in my favor, for my advancement, in order to help me reach adhesion.

Therefore, I am happy about every state that comes along. As it is written, “Even when a sharp sword is placed upon one’s neck, one should not despair of mercy.” He should not despair of mercy since everything is calculated.

If a person holds himself above all these trials, which we even may call “surprises,” then he has nothing to fear. He feels secure and in adhesion with the Creator.

Overcoming is when I quickly overcome all the thoughts and all the inclinations to one side or another and reach a request. I leave all the worries and being thrown side to side and reach a request to the Creator. I don’t ask Him to change my state, but rather to have the powers to remain adhered to the Creator, not in order to ease things for myself, but in order to bring Him contentment.

By that, the state ends, and I go on to the next state where an even greater surprise is prepared for me. So, it turns out that life is full of surprises.
[104251]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/4/13

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Rabash, “What is that the People’s Shepherd is the Whole Nation in the Work”: All the heaviness in the  service of the Creator is only due to the lack of faith. Since when a person is rewarded with whole faith, he yearns to annul himself before the Creator like a candle before a torch. And indeed all the organs, which means, all his thoughts and desires do what the force of faith obligates them to do.

We can purchase this force of faith only according to the hardening of the heart and all the problems that Moses went through in his time. He was educated in the home of Pharaoh and received everything from his adoptive grandfather and mother. This means that, thanks to his ego, a person goes through a special phase in his development. This ego is very big, and, so, the Israeli nation is called a “stiff necked,” “stubborn” nation because Pharaoh resides in it. So, the ego educates a person in his own territory, but a person still wants to follow his way so that the property of Moses can grow in him.

One must be a great egoist, closed inside his ego. It isn’t by chance that it is written, “He who is greater than his friend, his inclination is greater than him.” What is more, the attributes that a person develops, both in the “house of Pharaoh” and in the “house of Jethro,” are necessary for his spiritual development. Later, the attribute of Bina comes only through a difficult inner struggle between the spark that is revealed (the point in the heart) and the great egoistic desire to receive that is so cruel and hard that it is not ready to and cannot listen to anyone.
[104199]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/3/13, Writings of Rabash

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Writings of Rabash, the essay, “What is, ‘a shepherd of the people is all of the people’, in the work”: And then he can understand what the “Shechinah in the Dust” is; being that he then sees how where he needs to do something for the sake of Heaven and not his own benefit, immediately the body complains and asks, “What is this work to you”, and doesn’t want to give him the energy to work, this is what is called “Shechinah in the Dust”, meaning what does he want to do for the good of the Shechinah, he tastes dust in this, and he doesn’t have the strength to overcome his thoughts and desires.

Generally, we describe the Exodus from Egypt simply: “It was very bad for us there, and we fled from this evil to a good life.” The superficial, egoistic, childish approach is like this: “We were slaves, and now we are free.” And this is correct really, for the will to receive accepts only this simple explanation.

But we need to understand that we advance on two levels: within reason and above reason. What is discovered within reason doesn’t point towards the exodus from Egypt at all, rather the opposite; Egypt only becomes stronger and more and more difficult for us. And that is why we can rise above Egypt all the time to go above reason.

This is called the spiritual exodus from Egypt, and therefore, with every commandment, that is, with every correction, we say it is a reminder of the Exodus. It is not arbitrary that it is said that the person must personally feel as if he is now leaving Egypt. In the spiritual path, we always feel not just a difference but an opposition between these two levels: reason and rising above it. And we establish our reality, the reality of the Human Being (Adam), through the distance between them.
[104188]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/3/13, Writings of Rabash

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