Question: Where is a person’s free choice if everything comes from the Creator? It seems like I can’t do anything myself.

Answer: If I am creation, then everything I have inside came to me from the Upper One. I am beneath Him, being a lower level.

You can say that you have been stuck on this level for too long and you are not advancing in the slightest. But this also comes from the Upper One! Only a part of His actions is expressed clearly, while a part is expressed unclearly. Therefore, even the simplest logic tells us that there can be nothing in the lower one that is absent in the Upper One. Then where is my freedom?

The Upper One put you in a specific state. He made you in a specific way, creating you and the environment so that through the relationships between you, you would be able to generate a new quality.

If you aspire to mutual bestowal with your environment, then a force comes to you from the Upper One that connects you, the environment, and the Upper One.
This is where your freedom of will is expressed. That is how you earn the opportunity to become equal to the Upper One.

Question cont’d: But Kabbalists say that everything that happens afterwards also comes from Him!

Answer: Of course everything comes from the Creator! But we are talking only about what relates to our level. I don’t know what will be revealed to me after the end of correction.

Imagine a child who is allowed to do anything he wants in his room. At that moment he thinks that everyone has forgotten about him. But when he becomes an adult, he understands that this was done deliberately and in fact, he was always under supervision. Someone was watching him so he wouldn’t harm himself, while he felt that he was free.
From the lesson on 12/31/11

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Question: Since a person has to realize his freedom of will, could we be taking it away from the children by teaching them Kabbalah from an early age?

Answer: We are specifically teaching them how to use their freedom of will! States keep changing, egoism grows, the surrounding society changes. Every moment a child needs to make a new decision about who he wants to be with, how to treat and perceive things, and what he needs to do. If they keep relating to the changing environment correctly, they will develop very well.

Everyone knows about the teenage crisis, when everyone revolts. We need to use this wonderful quality and never repress it. It will help children make an easy leap from corporeality into spirituality. We only need to properly prepare the children prior to this age so that the coming-of-age years (12-15) would become their years of spiritual ascent and entrance into the spiritual world.

For this reason, children need to be educated ahead of time in a way that would help them realize what they have learned in practice later. Nature intentionally lays this period of inner explosions in our genes: on the levels of hormones, egoism, and the desire for power.

This is the age for working with a person in order to raise him or her into spirituality. They start “growing old” afterward. Beginning with the age of 20, people start moving in the direction of the cemetery. They “enter life,” end up in an ordinary society, and become concerned only with providing for themselves in the corporeal world.

A child needs to be educated from the age of six or seven so he would acquire an opportunity to act in a correct manner, grow up, and become “big” in the spiritual sense before he enters adolescence and grows up. We must not miss the childhood years; otherwise, it will be too late!

It would be the same as beginning to teach grammar at twenty. Imagine all the opportunities this person would miss in his life. But in our case we are referring to the fundamentals of nature, which need to be instilled in a child. We teach him to properly organize all his desires and qualities.

This is absolutely essential, and this is why we are so concerned with creating an educational system according to the method of Kabbalah.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/6/2011, “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy”

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When we are “pulled by the sleeve” to get acquainted with our egoism, we should rejoice since thereby we acquire spiritual degrees. When a person loses faith in this world and is burdened with questions about the meaning of life, these questions derive from the point in the heart. Then, one is given an opportunity to construct spiritual degrees, the levels of the Creator’s revelation, until the entire Light of NRNHY (Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama, Haya, Yechida) is revealed.

Moreover, even the smallest degree gives him a sensation of eternity, of the life beyond the body, detached from the flesh. This is described as: “You will see your world in this life.” At these degrees, a person feels that he resides not in the receiving Kli (desire), but rather above it. Thus, he experiences his life as connected to the Creator; he feels that he has entered eternity.

This is why the Torah is regarded as the means of ascent to freedom from the “angel of death.” We abandon the desire to enjoy for self-gratification, which, in essence, is the “angel of death,” thereby arriving at authentic, endless life.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/7/2011, Writings of Rabash

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Question: When I watch how humanity lives, I don’t see any kind of free will. Someone established the initial and final conditions for us, and we just keep running from this starting point to the finish line. Where is our freedom then?

Answer: You are absolutely correct. We can choose neither the states of creation: one-two-three (start-change-finish) nor the stages of our advancement from state one to state three. Everything is predetermined already.

I was born with pre-set characteristics and must actualize the program installed in me; I am corrupted and must come to final correction (Gmar Tikkun). It is clear to what extent I am corrupted and what I will be like once repaired. Furthermore, my entire path to correction has been written out, step by step.

If I become aware of this path, I begin to understand how strictly connected everything is, as if in an engine where each part moves after the other in a certain sequence. The “Torah” derives from the Hebrew word for “manual” (Oraa) which means that you are given precise instructions that don’t leave room for any degree of free will except one! Do you wish to achieve it through your free will, through your personal choice, or do you prefer to be forced into it? Now choose whether you will do it by exercising your free will or by getting beaten until you do it willingly.

And this choice doesn’t imply avoiding suffering. When you choose to evolve with your own will, you walk the path of attainment, development, and you experience the greatness of spirituality, feeling it as something infinitely exalted.

The point you have within that wishes to know the spiritual world, having risen above your material, egoistic desire, is called your “Self.” You can’t avoid this state but it is up to you how you will enter it.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/7/2011, “The Freedom”

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Question: In the past Kabbalah was passed on through the chain of Kabbalists, from one to the next, between selected individuals, special souls. Today, however, the conditions have changed and Kabbalah must spread around the world. How do we accomplish this?

Answer: As we become more distant from the first “man,” Adam HaRishon, who was the first to unveil the spiritual world 5771 years ago, it becomes necessary to simplify this wisdom even more and reduce it to the level of understanding for the masses. We are witnessing the so-called “descent of the generations,” which become much more “material,” meaning that their egoistic desire is getting bigger. We see how egoism grows from generation to generation.

Because of this, today’s souls have greater potential than the previous souls, which allows them to receive, understand, and attain more. On the other hand, it has been more difficult to reach them, that is, have them finally accept and understand it.

In truth, we contain such enormous ego that it clothes us in a bullet-proof armor of egoism of horrific coarseness (Aviut). Hence, we are constantly trying to simplify Kabbalah for the masses even more. In the degree of the ego’s growth, we should lower Kabbalah as well so that we can pass it on to a person at his level. Either way, it remains a mystery to him. By simplifying Kabbalah, we don’t deprive him of his free will; he will still have to exert effort.

After all, if one person is burdened with desire for pleasure valued at “100 pounds” while another at “500 pounds,” then each of them needs to receive this wisdom at the same caliber. He will have to exert an effort in the matching degree in order to break through such a powerful concealment. We won’t steal his free will.

It is our duty to bring Kabbalah closer to a person, or he will keep walking away from it even more. Our ego removes us farther away from the notion of what spirituality and bestowal are. In the past, it was very easy for people to comprehend since it was obvious to them that this was the truth based upon the design of their soul. Today, however, it is completely alien to man with his egoism; he is unable to process even a drop of bestowal even intellectually, not to mention emotionally.

Therefore, our work lies in the field of adapting Kabbalah to serve the people. Unveiling the wisdom of Kabbalah means simplifying it to such degree and forms that would make it enter a person freely and easily, and become as close to his heart as possible. After all, our ego today has grown out of proportion, so much so that people have become totally deaf to perceiving spirituality.

It doesn’t matter that in the past, only a chosen few could study, avoiding all others, while today, there are millions. Increased egoism equalizes all conditions. Today, one can buy Kabbalah books in any store, learn about it from newspapers and television, but people still fail to hear.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/7/2011, “The Freedom”

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Where is our free will, after all? It wasn’t my will to come into this world, nor did I pick my life setting: family, country, and ethnicity. I am made of my parent’s genes which define absolutely all my qualities. I was raised by the environment where I found myself: my home, the kindergarten, and school, none of which was up to me. Nothing in me is my own!

By the time I grow up, I am completely formed, a finished product, like a pie from the oven. But this isn’t all! In fact, as the wisdom of Kabbalah teaches us, we are all interconnected cogwheels; we are parts of one integral soul that was broken into pieces. It is as if we became a “puzzle” printed as one whole image to later be cut into small fragments.

So, each of us is assigned a very specific place in which we fit with all our properties and attributes, 613 desires, that make us depend on one person, the second and third, in order to link with them. Everyone depends on all for this puzzle to be complete. And it isn’t just a one dimensional puzzle since we don’t connect by mere contours: Each of us has “613” facets by which one is adjacent to all. Imagine such a 613 dimensional space.

Then what is the freedom that we are talking about if I am merely a tiny piece in the puzzle forced to totally match all the others in my properties? Hence, when free will is being discussed, it doesn’t pertain to a person per se and his personal, independent choice. This is one freedom shared by all; it is determined by all of us together!

Even if a person can make some move, it has to correspond with all the other parts, all the other souls and their properties. If I move in some direction, the movement must occur in the entire system. Now we need to find out: What constitutes my free will after all?
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/7/2011, “The Freedom”

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Question: You said that in order to build ourselves we have to use two forces: reception and bestowal. What if instead of two forces, I have only one, the force of reception?

Answer: You have both of these forces except that you don’t wish to use the second one! We start ascending from below, from “zero” of bestowal, until we have covered 125 spiritual degrees and acquire absolute bestowal. But “zero” of bestowal doesn’t mean you don’t have it; you simply don’t employ this force you possess.

We can’t say that something doesn’t exist in the universe; this force doesn’t register only in you, in your perception. And the confirmation of the fact that it does exist is that it can unfold in you in the next instant, only to disappear yet again. This is regarded as a “zero.” In reality, however, it doesn’t exist; it can be so solely in man’s perception.

You have free will to evoke the force of bestowal from this zero. In order to do so you are given an environment comprised of the teacher, group, and the books. Start utilizing it to work on your zero of bestowal and it will be a zero no more.

After all, you can evoke the force of bestowal only when you relate to someone else who also desires to experience it. So start building such relations; don’t get locked in your own self! What other way is there to unveil bestowal?

The force of reception is concentrated within one person, but it takes two to keep the force of bestowal so that it can work in between the two. Therein lies the major difference between the egoistic and altruistic choices: In your ego, you are alone, but to bestow, you need the right environment. Otherwise, where will you actualize it? Where will you find this force and confirm that you indeed possess it?

Therefore, as soon a spiritual spark awakens in a person and calls for development of the soul, he or she is immediately brought to a group and instructed: “Choose it!” This is where the real free will is exercised: in choosing the correct environment.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/6/2011, “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy”

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Question: In mathematics, when analyzing a system with many unknowns, we make all parameters constant, leaving only one degree of freedom. Oftentimes, in man’s inner work we get the same feeling that you are looking in a number of directions: perception of reality, the group, the Creator; that is, there are too many "degrees of freedom," and it’s overly perplexing. Can I use the same principle as in mathematics and in the meantime only take into consideration the attitude towards the group?

Answer: In spiritual work it’s much easier. Even with all that infinite number of variables, we need to relate to a single Source and become included in Him. Let all these thousands of parameters change, while you remain inside the Creator, the sole cause of all that infinite number of changes.

If you attempt now to "freeze" reality, making it still in order to connect all of it together, it would forfeit the whole purpose of the spiritual work, degrading it to the level of dissecting events in the material world. Why do we need it?

We only need to know that from all the infinite number of changes, I should immediately establish contact with the Upper One, the Creator, and grasp Him. Let everything around me change even more, let the whole world swirl.

Despite and above it all, I have to hold on to Him even more strongly so that these changes will only strengthen our bond. There’s nothing else I need! I don’t have to learn anything about these changes. The moment I adhere to the Creator, I attain all the senses and mind, achieve the purpose of all the changes. So why should I get bogged down in them to begin with?

The sciences of our world are entering a crisis because they are going in the wrong direction. What are we wasting our time on: looking for yet another one of many thousands of particles, a search that has no end? The further we advance, the more and more entangled we get.

Let’s say they discover a new elementary particle which they were missing, only to find that it can be split into another thousand particles, and so on to infinity. It’s pure curiosity. Although in the final analysis each quest contains the search for the Upper One, the Creator.

But if we want to advance correctly, we need to find the cause of all that is happening. And it means that we must break through to a higher level. So I never concentrate on what is happening in this world. I must make only the actions that connect me to the Creator: Through the group, make some physical actions, but only in that direction.

On the level of this world we will never reveal anything higher than that. After all, what research tools do we have in the material world other than our earthly, animal intelligence? From the height of the animate level we explore the still and the vegetative degrees.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/5/11, “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy”

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Question: Where is our freedom of choice when reading The Zohar?

Answer: We read The Zohar to realize our freedom of choice. Otherwise, there is no need either in The Zohar or in the entire wisdom of Kabbalah. Why do I need it? Is it to know the number of angels in the sky? What difference would it make if I counted them by name? I still wouldn’t know what “skies” or “angels” are, or I would draw them with wings.

For this reason, I approach the reading of The Zohar, the study of the wisdom of Kabbalah, work in the group, and the entire spiritual work in order to realize my free will, in order to receive the miraculous remedy, Segula, through all these means.

The book before me is a certain artificial device that connects me with the spiritual world of which I am neither aware nor have any idea about its properties. However, Kabbalists say that I have a certain “adapter” that can connect me with an unknown world.

Let’s say that there is a notion of a “micro world” in quantum physics, a world of elementary particles. Even though I live among them, I do not feel them, but physicists say that it is possible to create an instrument which will help you attain this world and begin to perceive it. This is why they are building different devices, such as (elementary) particle accelerators.

This way, there are tools that help us perceive the inner world of particles that are concealed from the world we presently feel. We can attain a world where we are not able to perceive anything because our senses do not operate in its range.

The wisdom of Kabbalah also gives me a tool, the reading of The Zohar, which can help me attain the concealed spiritual world, and it works! Just use it.

However, by using the tool in Kabbalah, you are the one who changes, and this tool transforms into your inner instrument. In contrast, the scientists who study earthly sciences do not change. They only perfect their tools and make them more powerful. For this reason, whatever they are doing is called the external world, outside of man.

In Kabbalah, we work with the inner world because thereby we change our nature. And at the same time, we suddenly begin to perceive phenomena that previously were completely outside of our sensations.

We do not improve the sensitivity we already have, as do musicians who perceive sounds much better than we do, or artists who perceive colors much better. Kabbalah helps us attain a state where properties that we previously did not have develop within us.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/29/10, “Introduction of The Book of Zohar,” Article “You Are Partners With Me”

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We want to reach free choice in order to attain the Creator. Right now we are unwillingly carrying out nature’s orders. Reshimot awaken in us and we realize them as if they are our own desires because we do not feel the One who obligates us to do this. However, the goal of creation is for us to attain the Force that obligates us, as well as its goal and program in relation to us. We should take from it all the forces and parameters for our growth in order to independently desire, understand, and realize the phases of development.

That is why their realization is actualized above the current parameters. The parameters come from the Creator, manifesting in the will to enjoy, or in the corrupted Reshimot. It is written about it, “I created the evil inclination.” On our part, we have to arm ourselves with the force of correction and all the necessary means so that on every phase, when revealing yet another parameter, we will find the way to correct it and make it similar to the Creator.

By virtue of this work we will attain the Creator and acquire independence.
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/29/10, Writings of Rabash

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