Question: What does “the first wife of King Аhasuerus” imply?

Answer: His first wife Vashti symbolizes an egoistic desire that we have to get rid of.

Egoistic desires that we are unable to transform into the property of bestowal are called “unfaithful wives.” “Faithful wives” signify desires that are used to seek the Creator.

What happens to the king’s wives who are unfaithful to him? They are executed, murdered, beheaded, since they tend to receive for their own sake.

That’s why all “unfaithful” desires must be killed; only the desires that “transmit” the Light of Hochma for the sake of fulfilling others should remain alive.

The King’s faithful wife personifies a huge desire through which she nourishes the entire nation, meaning. all human properties.

Question: Who are the eunuchs in the King’s palace?

Answer: “Eunuchs” stand for desires that support the properties of bestowal and receiving. These desires do not directly participate in the processes of giving and receiving; all they do is assist them. These desires are called “eunuchs.”
[101675]
From the Virtual Lesson, 2/24/13

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Baal HaSulam “Introduction to the Book of Zohar,” Item 10: It is so because He has no interest in reception, only in bestowal, whereas the Klipot want nothing of bestowal, but only to receive for themselves, for their own delight, and there is no greater oppositeness than that.

Question: What is a Klipa?

Answer: The Klipa is something that prevents me from getting closer to the Creator. I recognize it as the force that puts obstacles in front of me.

Actually, what can prevent me?

I want to enjoy, and this means that all kinds of pleasures prevent me; they distract me, take me away from the likeness to the Creator, and keep me from advancing towards unity and bestowal. These are the pleasures that are called “filth.”

So, the Klipa is something extremely pleasant. Let’s say, I like to relax at home more than to participate in the gathering of friends. It is more pleasant for me not to think about the world and correction but about what will happen to me personally. It is dearer to me to take care of my own children, not the neighbors’.

But the real Klipa is when I feel that I advance towards the Creator along a certain path and thus can bring Him pleasure but suddenly I find out that it is more pleasant and comfortable to deviate somewhere, become distracted by something. This is what the Klipa is: It seems to cling to my clothing and pull me back.

We cannot understand all this until we acquire the intention above the desire, until we get out of the desire and begin to act on the basis of intention.

To act on the basis of intention means to apply restriction (Tzimtzum) to the desire to receive. I must be independent of it and be completely free to choose. In other words, independently from the desire, I can decide for myself that I will work with it in order to receive. I have the opportunity to work in order to bestow, but I decide to the contrary. This is what filth is. Conversely, if I have no choice, there is nothing to ask from me. To receive with the egoistic intention is the Klipa that runs through all our ascents until the end of correction. And we are always required to make a difficult decision—how to act, in order to receive or in order to bestow?

We are talking about the work with the Lights and vessels of the egoistic desire, not just about the rejection of the “small” pleasures of our world. I am required to make a decision of a high order when I begin to feel that there is a king, egoistic by nature. This is the flipside of the Creator, and I think that it dominates the world. So it should be, and I decide in these conditions.

Moreover, the decision is possible only if I rise above the restriction, if I am independent. This is when I decide to enjoy for the sake of reception, and turn into a Klipa.

In general, the forces of filth energetically propel a person to the goal. They awaken him in such a way that, like a mountaineer, he must climb above them, overcome them, and ascend to the summit to the King’s palace. And his every move is a rise above filth.

The Klipa is the essence of the material of creation, the desire to receive that took its egoistic form and appears to us in this way. That is why it is impossible to make a step forward without being connected to the Klipa.

But of course, we don’t connect to it ourselves. We always must keep in the right line, and then the forces of filth come at the right time and in the right form.
[102088]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/5/13,”Introduction to The Book of Zohar”

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Question: When do I begin to bring contentment to the Creator consciously?

Answer: At the stage of spiritual maturity (13 years), when I already have vessels of receiving that are ready for correction in which I can receive the Light with the intention of in order to bestow; to the extent that I receive, I actually bring contentment to the Creator.

Until then there is only the preparation, the state of “smallness” in which we are not required to do “mature” things yet and are treated forgivingly. We demand from a child because we want to educate him and not because he must. He doesn’t have to fill all the requirements.

Question: How many years does it take to reach maturity?

Answer: There is no time in spirituality. “13 years” is a level and we really yearn for it, really want to enter the state of Ibur (gestation), to enter the upper system, and to feel it as a womb, a friendly environment, an environment in which my friends think only about how to help me and the teacher guides us towards the goal. I adhere to them and through them, like through the umbilical cord, am “nourished” by the Lights that influence me. This environment is a womb for me, something round, whole, a round sphere that I am in. I am also like a sphere and I don’t limit anything, but constantly restrict myself in order to adhere, nothing more than that.

I value the wholeness of the external environment, the friends and the teacher, and they reflect and project the right attributes on me. Then my “piece of flesh,” my desire, begins to take on the form of Adam, a human being. The environment imprints its form on me, not the environment that I see today, but a different environment that I value more and more.

Thus I develop like an embryo, constantly adhering to the environment, although I am constantly sent different interruptions and complaints regarding the whole group or each of the friends. I accept everything in “faith above reason” and continue working not towards the Creator but rather towards the environment, the friends among whom I already identify the inner essence.

Then, after I feel them, I want to receive their imprint, their impression. I wait for their bestowal because I discover wholeness in them. I want them to “imprint” themselves in me forcefully. I am ready for that and I make efforts so that it will happen. I actually match myself to them and ask that they don’t leave, that they will work with me and imprint themselves in me.

Everything depends on the Ibur, it is the most dangerous stage in our development. If it is successful, then the rest is much easier. Every time I receive a greater defending force, a stronger force of inner overcoming that allows me to overcome all the negative things I see in the group. It is because I look at the desire to bestow of the friends through my ego and I discover terrible things.

But I continue to rise in faith above reason and tell them to continue working on me, to process me, to continue imprinting me with their stamp. I want it! I lower my head before them and I am ready in advance to accept everything that comes from them.

If a person really wants that, he receives a full imprint and then he is ready to be born.

Question: But, at the same time, I still don’t reach an equivalence of form with the environment.

Answer: True, but not more is required at this stage. It is as if I am standing before a puzzle in which one piece is missing—my part. And I shove my piece of clay in the gap so that its shape corresponds to the contours of the other parts.

How do you do that? I ask the friends to push me on all sides, to squeeze me, to knead me, and to push me into the group until I take  the right form. This form is the right “me” together with all the Sefirot and Partzufim, with all the right components.

The Creator is revealed in this puzzle when it is whole. We design the correct desire, build the corrected Malchut, and in it we discover the Creator according to the principle of “come and see,” Bo-re (Creator in Hebrew). There is no other way; we can only do it together, only if we put together at least one piece of the human puzzle. The bigger this piece is, the greater the revelation will be.

Question: How important is it that I enter this puzzle consciously?

Answer: You must agree that the group will imprint itself, its external form, in you. In order to do that you have to agree with the friends on every issue that is related to spirituality, value them as the greatest in our generation, ask them to influence you, and lower your head before them since the Creator lives in them.

Question: But if I see something that is totally opposite…

Answer: This is exactly our work. The egoistic desire remains (in black), but on the outside, it takes on a form, the form of bestowal (in red). This is our spiritual education, which is a “formative” education. Simple matter that is a desire to receive isn’t enough. Everything depends on the form; when two different types of matter make different forms, we receive an education which means that we begin to understand reality.

Question: Why is it so hard for us to be incorporated in the spiritual environment?

Answer: Because here the evil inclination is increasingly revealed to me. Each time new “thorns” are revealed and I have to take on a new form each time, to give in, to annul myself, and to look at all these problems in faith above reason.

Only yesterday everything was fine but today it isn’t anymore, and I have to work on myself again in order to see, in the obstacles, the right forms that belong to the embryo’s body. The next day, the hardships increase and demand that I change my attitude. Thus I constantly rise above the interruptions in faith above reason and correct myself.

[102033]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/6/13,”Introduction to The Book of Zohar”

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The correction that we need to make is divided into many acts, small parts, and gradual changes that create the feeling of time for us. Time is created as a result of this; time is due to the fact that we work today and we expect to get paid tomorrow. If this is the way a person feels, then that is actually a corruption.

The correction is to imagine to oneself that right now you already exist in a corrected and complete state where there is complete abundance. What is missing is the clothing on the Light, our attitude, intention, and the attribute of bestowal. If you acquire it, then you discover that the concealment was only towards you and that you always were in the Light of Ein Sof (Infinity) but you weren’t able to feel and understand it.

And all of this is because you didn’t appreciate the attribute of bestowal. You didn’t think it was worth anything or even less than that. Thus, you didn’t feel it or you even felt the opposite attribute: instead of altruism and bestowal, you felt the attribute of reception, the ego.

Thus, all of our work is to transform the work itself into the reward. And every moment the opportunity is given to us to make an effort that allows us to draw more Light that reforms, and thus to attain even more attributes of bestowal and be thankful for the evil that is revealed. The evil indicates the place where the correction is needed, where, for us, bestowal is lacking.
[102020]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/5/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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According to the Creator’s part, you are always in a corrected state. But according to how you see it and understand things, it appears very different and this is the flaw. Absolute good comes from the Creator, but He has to hide it and reduce His bestowal upon you so that it will not seem so bad. It is because you are opposite from Him and you receive everything in an opposite manner.

So the Creator cannot pour infinite bestowal upon you since you would feel an infinite minus and would not be able to bear this horrible state. Therefore, the Creator has to diminish Himself, by reducing Himself to practically zero level, leaving only a tiny spark to sustain life, a tiny drop of Light. And even this minimal Light is perceived by you as a cruel world full of evil and pain.

Gradually, through the study and the influence of the friends and the teacher, according to your efforts, the Light comes, reforms you, and changes begin to occur in you. Then you gradually find out that you are actually in a good state and that you feel it as bad because of your uncorrected attributes. Then you begin to work in order to change yourself by using all the means you have: the group, the study, dissemination, and the teacher.

If you work correctly and make efforts in order to see yourself in a state of bestowal, love, and connection, through the teacher, the study, and by yearning for the Creator, then it operates on you. It is not immediate of course, but gradually you discover that bestowal and love, the best attitude, surround you; finally you understand, feel, and interpret this correctly.

Thus you rise to your first spiritual level. You agree with the Creator and see that all the powers you have invested were for the correction of your perception, for the correction of your vessels. You didn’t have to pay anyone, but you corrected yourself. Thus you have corrected the vessel of perception and now you feel a whole state.

You have to feel the world of Ein Sof (Infinity), the perfection in the current state without changing anything in it, except for your inner attitude. If you don’t feel that, it is a sign that you are cursing the Creator instead of thanking Him and blessing Him.

We can say that about every state, no matter how terrible it is. Nothing changes in reality, except for our attitude, which is called the correction of the vessel of perception.
[102017]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/5/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Happiness is a feeling of the fulfillment of desire. It is possible only when there is a desire, hunger, passion, and it is fulfilled, realized. But as soon as a desire has been fulfilled and realized, the feeling of happiness gradually disappears. Thus, two constants are needed for happiness: a) desire, b) fulfillment.

In order for fulfillment not to cancel the desire, they need to be separated, to be in two objects. For example, a mother and a baby; a mother can endlessly enjoy a baby because she fills the object outside of herself.

If we create a connection above our mutual rejection, we will be able to fulfill each other and enjoy our actions indefinitely. There is only a purely psychological problem of understanding that the goal of creation is in pleasure and that the means to achieve the eternal and infinite pleasure is in “love thy neighbor as thyself.” This state is called the upper world. When we feel it, the sensation of our temporary flawed world—what is felt only in oneself—disappears.
[102039]

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Question: What is the difference between spiritual cooperation and a corporeal, egoistic union?

Answer: A union of egoists will produce an egoistic outcome. Suppose a group of people get together to beat up someone. In this case, they certainly would get some benefit for themselves. The same thing is true in business and everything else where the strong win over the weak.

And how is an altruistic connection manifested? How can they connect at all? I want to give, you want to give, he wants to give, but where, and to whom do we give? Can we give to someone on the outside? Then, we would not be understood at all.

When altruists come together, they create an altruistic field between them where they discover a good force called “Nature” or the “Creator.”

They reveal this force between them, between their mutual altruistic movement, and it turns out that their achievement is felt as attainment of eternal life beyond our world, above our world. They exist in a new dimension, in a new field created by them as part of a “spiritual bubble,” and they exist in it.

Out of this “spiritual bubble,” which they created between them through mutual altruistic movement, they do not see our world the way an ordinary person sees it. They do not see matter and images, but the forces that are behind our bodies and the objects of this world. They have a completely different perception of reality.

They feel the matter of our world not only through their five senses, but also through the general property of bestowal that they have achieved, and they see the forces that govern the universe. This is called: They have reached their soul. That is why a union of altruists, in contrast to a union of egoists, takes them to the next level, the next dimension.

Question: Do they set this goal, or is it the result of the action?

Answer: They set an absolutely clear goal for themselves: to reach the level of the property of bestowal, the level of the altruistic upper world. This is the goal from the side of the Creator and from the side of man.
[102005]
From the Virtual Lesson 3/3/13

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Baal HaSulam: Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” Item 8: For example, when two people love each other, you say that they are attached to one another as one body. And when they hate each other, you say that they are as far from one another as the east from the west. But there is no question of nearness or remoteness of location here. Rather, this implies the equivalence of form: when they are equal in form, and each loves what the other loves and hates what the other hates, they love each other and are attached to one another.

And if there is some disparity of form between them and one of them likes something that the other hates, then to the extent that they differ in form, they become distant and hateful of one another. And if, for example, they are opposite in form, and everything that one likes, the other hates, and everything the other hates is liked by the first, they are deemed as remote as the east from the west, meaning from one end to the other.

Question: What kind of love and hate are referred to here?

Answer: It is typical of mutual relations between different people: with a friend, with one’s wife, etc. The more you resemble one another in your desires and thoughts, or the more different you become, to that extent you love or hate one another.

But a person’s intention here is not to reveal the innate physiological feelings and not about the simple natural connection that is based on interests, habits, and understandings. No, we are speaking about two people who work together in order to prepare the “place” for the revelation of the Creator in their connection.

We build this “place” by our general, mutual intentions. Because our desires and thoughts are different and people are different, everyone is set at his “frequency.”

In the past, long waves were used for communication. Then greater accuracy was required, greater intensity, and the ability to penetrate deeper, and so we started using higher frequencies by which it is possible to transmit more information. Before all the fine details were swallowed, but now in the high frequencies it turns out that everyone can be special and we don’t need to be like one another. A creature from another planet wouldn’t notice the differences between us: everyone has arms, legs, eyes, ears, etc. But if we penetrate deeper into a person’s character, into his essence, we discover great differences. Not only is every individual unique, but also he is constantly changing.

So how can we connect to one another?

We connect according to our intentions. I intend to bestow goodness upon you with all my attributes and you intend to bestow goodness upon me with all your attributes, desires, and abilities. Then we are equal, similar, connected. We are not connected in our actual desires but in our intentions that are aimed at mutual bestowal.

I don’t force you to listen to Mozart, although I really enjoy his music, and you don’t force me to listen to Moti Mor, for example, who is your favorite singer. No, I turn off the classical music and dress in you and check what in you matches this frequency, what you like in your analog desire. Ahh, you love Moti Mor. Although I can’t even compare him to Mozart, I still begin to value him, since by that I connect to you and attain the Creator. Thus, suddenly, Moti Mor becomes important to me and I change my desire to your desire. Mozart was a source of pleasure for me on the “animal” level, while Moti Mor becomes an opportunity for me to connect with the other and to build a spiritual vessel.

It is about this that it says, “Make your will His will.” I cannot annul my attraction to Mozart, I have only “restricted” it, “covered” it with a new cover of my attraction to Moti Mor and by that have connected to you. I do the same thing with everyone, equating my desire to the other’s desire. Eventually, I acquire deficiencies from the whole world and connect with everyone.

In fact, I don’t even need to check any further in order to do that, the Light helps me and I connect to the greatness of the other, to his understanding and feeling. This is not an effort but actually easy and wonderful.
[101946]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/4/13,”Introduction to The Book of Zohar”

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Baal HaSulam, “A Sage’s Fruit”: During a common prayer a person is prohibited to separate from the others and to ask for himself, even if he wants to bring pleasure to the Creator, but he is going to do it himself, and not with the others. After all, he who disconnects from society and asks for his own individual soul does not build it, but on the contrary, he damages his soul, by becoming the “proud man, with whom the Creator cannot be together.”

It’s not easy to overcome this difficult psychological problem. Our ego does not allow us to understand, to remember, to learn, and to adopt the rule that only by coming out of the boundaries of our body will we find the vessel of our soul. And everything that I psychologically see now as my “I” exists only in my fantasy so that I must cancel this thinking, annul myself, and see myself outside of it.

To accept this fact, this worldview, and to live with it, we need the strong support of the environment and studies and hard work in mutual guarantee. Any action of correction starts from this because every time more egoism is added to us, we have to work with this additional load in order to decide that, in spite of it, our vessel is above it.

These messages: “That which is hateful to you, don’t do to others” and “Love thy neighbor as thyself” seem to us simple rules of courtesy, “cultural” behavior, moral homilies. But no, we talk about an internal orientation that must exist in a person if he wants to find his inner part, his soul, and begin to correct it.

That is why the one who prays for himself not only does not advance in spirituality, but also causes great harm to himself because by this he cuts himself off from the others, worsening the breaking. Although it’s clear that negative actions are also inevitable because a person needs to come to the realization of evil before he understands and feels that this is an incorrect attitude.

But we are about to complete this work, and that is why we must understand and constantly reinforce the general opinion that spiritual existence, advancement, and the result of work are only in “We,” not in “me,” but only between us. This where we need to draw all our forces, trying to accustom ourselves to this view and replace ourselves with “We” in order to live inside the soul.
[101778]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/3/13

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Correction is possible by great sufferings that cannot even be described since it requires the full recognition of evil in each individual property in order to refuse to receive in each one and to move on to the path of bestowal. This path is impossible since a person cannot bear such sufferings.

Therefore, the advancement is usually somewhere in the middle, between the path of sufferings and the path of the Torah (the path of the Light), between “I shall hasten it” and “in its time,” along what is called “Derech Eretz (the path of earth).” A person advances as he is pushed from behind by the sufferings or drawn forward by the Light. He cannot be on the same path all the time.

It’s impossible to move to the path of the Torah from the beginning, unconditionally, but to the extent that we try to do it—especially by actually building the Shechina, which means by building the connection between us in mutual bestowal, according to our exertion and our responsibility for others—then, to that extent, we leave the path of suffering and advance towards the goal along “Derech Eretz,” along the middle road.

It isn’t that the “middle line” is better for our spiritual ascent, but the “middle road” is a compromise between the two roads on which we should remain. The only choice is to strengthen our society so that it will influence everyone. We should see the friends as the area where the Creator will be revealed, the attribute of bestowal. Thus I see my soul and not myself.

A person can check himself and his advancement according to how he worries about the friends and the group so that the revelation will take place in them, like a mother who worries about her babies. Then one can be sure that he understands what advancement means, that he knows what to add to it, and that he can actually fulfill this in this world now and bring his intention to wholeness.
[101859]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/4/13

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