Question: How do we fulfill our deficiency of reaching mutual help and true connection?

Answer: True connection refers to a person’s inner work and not just to gathering in one place for different events. We don’t have to go to the desert in order to connect, but we actually do it wherever we are. The work of connecting is concentrated in everyone’s heart and goes through all the hearts.

We have to feel mutual concern, a necessity and a need for one another. It is according to this yearning, according to the need for connection, that the Upper Light will influence us. And it will be necessary for us  because we will not succeed in our dissemination without it.

Everyone must participate in dissemination no matter what the outcomes are, as long as he is incorporated in people’s desires and feels committed to them. Everyone must bring these deficiencies into the group and then we will feel a great need to connect.

Question: How can we connect all these desires into one general prayer that can be accepted by the upper?

Answer: What’s important is not the desires of the public, which we feel, but the fact that we don’t have an answer to them. This unprocessed raw deficiency for something specific has to be brought to the group. Because we are all anxiously under the influence of this deficiency, it will force us to connect. This is the work in the heart, the insecurity that you feel after a dissemination action that will force you to look for the connection in society where you can find security, a filling, a safe place to hide, and get some rest from all your worries and your troubles. It is like being in a womb, like being in a secret cave, concealed from everyone. Where is this place in the group?

You discover that it exists! Your friends are connected there and there is room for you too. You will discover it like the vision of Rabbi Chiya who saw the meeting of the upper souls. You will also see your real self, sitting on the heavenly throne speaking with the friends. You will see this state as the absolute truth, because all the levels already exist in potential. Incorporate in the group, look for your place, and then like Rabbi Chiya you will discover that everything is easy and that you are sitting among the friends.

Question: Are there any clues that can help you find what you are looking for?

Answer: You are looking for the force of connection, for the vessel in which you can feel the Light, the filling. You lack the vessel, which is the connection with others when these deficiencies connect into one spiritual desire on an upper level, like all the still matter that equals one plant. We will be rewarded with the Light that is revealed. The Light connects us and we become a desire to receive on a higher level of quality. The upper force only expects the quantity and quality of our exertion, our measure.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/25/14, Talk about the Importance of Unity

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Question: As I understand it, the wisdom of Kabbalah came from Judaism and all of the Kabbalists of the past were very religious. What is the real connection between the wisdom of Kabbalah and religion?

Answer: The wisdom of Kabbalah is the foundation of true “religion.” Baal HaSulam writes about this in the article, “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose.”

The three major religions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—are based upon the teachings of our father Abraham. But Abraham specifically discovered the wisdom of Kabbalah, which is the foundation of all religions, and he described his discovery in the Kabbalistic book, Sefer Yetzirah (Book of Creation).

The main principle of the religion that was discovered by Abraham is “And you shall love your friend as yourself.” So it is also written, “And you shall love your friend as yourself is the great general rule of the Torah.” In principle, this is meant in every sense. Or minimally: “What is hateful to you, don’t do to your friend.”

The entire Torah speaks about good relationships between people. Relationships of this kind existed among the people of Israel before the destruction of the second Beit HaMikdash (Temple) 2,000 years ago, which was destroyed because of the sudden eruption of unfounded hatred.

Everything revolves around only one point: Good or bad attitudes among the Jews determine what will happen with them and the entire world in general. This is precisely the reason for anti-Semitism; it is because the Jewish people cannot reach agreement among themselves and because of this the whole world suffers.

The wisdom of Kabbalah is involved only with how to attain the right connection between us, and this is the foundation of the entire religion. And what has been considered religion in the last 2,000 years is the maintenance of all kinds of traditions that seem to be enough for people.

This is the form religion takes in exile when we were separated from the principle of “And you shall love your friend as yourself,” from the yearning to unite. This is the form in which the Jewish people had to ripen for 2,000 years, to go out to the nations of the world and be mingled with them, and after that to return to their land.

But after we physically returned to the land of Israel, we needed to revive the wisdom of Kabbalah, so that it would live among us and help us build a people and a nation in the same form as it once was: with love and unity between us.

There are no restrictions on this. If a person studies the method of connection, it makes no difference if he is religious or secular, what country or community he came from, or if a person is a man or a woman. Everyone must study this method and as soon as possible because our good future depends upon this.

The wisdom of Kabbalah teaches us how to realize this unity, and in a practical manner makes feeling this possible during the workshops and in the connection in the discussion circles that we have brought everywhere. Thousands of people have already participated in our roundtables, and they feel that within half an hour of discussion according to the method of the wisdom of Kabbalah, they suddenly experienced an unusual feeling, an illuminating, an awakening of inspiration and warmth. And this feeling spreads to all the participants.

Comment: I was able to participate in these roundtable workshops that were transmitted according to the ancient wisdom of Kabbalah. And I remember that in the beginning the people who gathered were very skeptical and even cynical, they regretted the time they were wasting. But at the end of the evening, people simply floated from excitement and emotion, they were moved to tears and embraced each other. This was an outbreak of vital force and warmth that melted all of the ice and indifference that separates our hearts.
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From Israeli Radio Program 103FM, 2/15/15

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Humanity has reached a dead end that is already making itself felt. We live in one global modern village and we reluctantly discover that we have to connect, to begin to think and talk about that. It is time to take our place on the human level within the general system.

A Hazard to the System

All of nature, the levels of the still, vegetative and animate, is global, integral and mutually connected in all its parts. All the created beings from reeds to the biggest predators are welded into one system, and together, sustain the general order. On the other hand, we are not part of that picture. Man is the only true and harmful part in nature. It is because we have no limits in the satisfaction of our needs. This is typical of the whole human race in every aspect of life, including family, work, social relations, etc.

The rate of divorce, for example, is growing and so is the abyss between parents and children. Young people find it increasingly hard to find a mate and start a strong family. These extreme changes have taken place in the last 50 years or less. They have even had an impact on the Jewish people who always cared about helping young people marry and helped with their starting a home.

Inseparable Individuals

The reason for all that is our ego, which has reached its last phase.

Egoism refers to the fact that I cannot identify with others. I feel others only to the extent that I can benefit from him or her. Ideally, I wish to squeeze everything I can from others. This isn’t an accusation, of course, but a psychological fact about human nature. This is our nature.

However, on the other hand, we have locked the whole world into mutual ties of a single network that cannot be broken, in the global economic, financial, social, family, and political development. The problem is that this network is full of hate, conflicts, confrontations, egoism, and pride.

Consequently the world shakes as a result of the continuous obstacles, worries, and threats. The lack of unity between us invokes inadaptability to nature on the whole and so the world suffers terribly.

Not My Business?

Question: Most people live an ordinary life and although they profit at the expense of each other, they don’t set any special traps and don’t plot against those around them. So where do they go wrong? It is hard to see yourself as an absolute egoist in the continuous flow of daily worries, in the constant battle to survive.

Answer: That’s true. But if you justify yourself that way, you still suffer. So you should find out why. This requires a sound scientific approach even before we refer to the wisdom of Kabbalah, which sums up and includes the whole world.

A rational scrutiny indicates that we suffer because we cannot get along, cannot get along with one another.

You may ask what can you expect of a poor man who goes to work in the morning and comes back in the evening. But, these miserable poor people have created a network of seven billion parts that lack the right connections between nodes. This is the reason that we are all opposite from the unity embedded in nature.

What is required of us today is the correct unity and connection. We will not end this war if we don’t understand the problem.

But each of us shuts himself off in his little corner:

– I don’t know anything, what do you want of me?

– You feel bad. Don’t you want to correct and change things?

– I want to, but it isn’t my fault; I simply live my ordinary life.

This is no way to deal with problems. We gradually sink more deeply into dangerous situations and the pace of events is accelerating from one year to the next. Some of these events are already behind us and we should learn from them. We have to finally realize what is going on instead of hiding in our den, pretending that it doesn’t concern me, since humanity is made of such people who say that they have nothing to do with such things.
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From Israeli Radio Program 103FM, 2/15/15

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Question: What does it mean to look at all problems through the “center of the group?”

Answer: Anyone can say that everything comes from the Creator. This is not a problem. The question is how does this obligate me and how do I react from my side?

We don’t need a group to humbly accept blows. And we don’t need a group just to ask about the Creator. But to be directed towards Him, we require a group.

So, as soon as we begin to ask ourselves about the meaning of life, we are brought to the group somehow. All of our work is done in a group. And this is not done in order to receive bestowal from the Creator. I get it this way from the outside world also. But the group makes it possible for me to react to this bestowal. For the problem is not about how to receive His bestowal; rather, it is how to respond to it, how to create contact with the Creator from my side.

I need to correct myself from within in order to be connected with the Creator. This is because the levels of ascent on the spiritual ladder are my gradual changes, levels of integration into the attainment of greater and greater resemblance and equivalence. I need to speak His language, to carry out the same actions, to approach His understanding, to be more and more congruent to Him.

Everything depends on me. He will reach me from anywhere; there is no doubt about this. Besides Him, there is nobody who operates on me. But without a group I have no possibility of responding. I simply don’t enter into the same dimension, the same space, the same matrix, and the same conditions in which He is found.

If I want to transform into being like the Creator, then I can do this by adhering to the group more and more. I need to create His image, and for this I need to connect the group with me until I ultimately transform to be like Him. It is necessary to pass through all the stages, 125 levels, in order to resemble the Creator. And all of this happens through the group.
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From the Convention In France “One For All And All For One” 5/11/14, Lesson 5

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The Torah, “Leviticus,” 25:1 –  25:5: And the Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying, Speak to the children of Israel and you shall say to them: You may sow your field for six years, and for six years you may prune your vineyard, and gather in its produce, But in the seventh year, the land shall have a complete rest a Sabbath to the Lord; you shall not sow your field, nor shall you prune your vineyard. You shall not reap the aftergrowth of your harvest, and you shall not pick the grapes you had set aside [for yourself], [for] it shall be a year of rest for the land.

We first meet the concept of “the land shall have a complete rest a Sabbath to the Lord” in the weekly section of the Torah, Ba’har, since there is no Sabbath of the land. But when a nation that obeys the spiritual laws lives on that land, everything below that nation, the world of the still (the land), vegetative, and animate begin to acquire the attributes of that nation and its effect.

Therefore, there is no land of Israel without the nation of Israel. When they gather in that place, there is a corresponding phenomenon with the nation of Israel in the land of Israel. The laws that operate on the land are a replica of the spiritual laws of the people that live on it.

This means that that the customs of the people who live there apply to their environment, and in particular, their day of rest, the Sabbath. This isn’t a vacation, a day of rest, but a day full of efforts, a special spiritual state since there are very special corrections done on the Sabbath that people cannot do on any other day.

When a person’s spiritual states are replicated unto the lower levels of the still, vegetative, and animate (or parts of our world), everything changes and is defined differently. For example, a week, becomes a year. For the land it is a year of prosperity, a special year when we are absolutely forbidden to work the land. It is a year of Shmita.

In ancient times, this commandment was observed in Israel more than 2,000 years ago before the destruction of the Temple. The crops of the sixth year were enough for the three years that followed, which seemed to calm everyone, “Don’t worry, you will have enough crops for several years to come until you have a new crop.”

Comment: But the human mind objects to this saying: “You have to collect the crops every year, how can I take a break?!”

Answer: We are speaking about the spiritual state of a whole nation in which the laws of our world do not apply.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 8/13/14

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The individual and the group need to behave as if they are in a constant dialogue with the Creator. This is to such a degree that any dialogue with any person in the world is not important to me since they are all managed by a higher force and basically don’t determine anything.

I gradually cleanse the world of all illusory influences. I am in a world, in a natural environment, and with people, a multitude of forces and various factors that influence me: government, neighbors, family, enemies, and friends. But I begin to think: No, there is a Creator above who arranges everything.

He determines all the influences of the forces of nature upon us because I see that people are unable to manage them. The Creator controls all of this: the rain, the sun, earthquakes, and tsunamis.

After that, I attribute the next circle to the Creator: the government. I understand that the government basically doesn’t decide anything and is managed by the Creator. For the Creator influences us through the government, as it is said: “The hearts of princes and kings are in the hands of the Creator.”

Then I also attribute to the Creator all my colleagues at work, all of the people in my city, my family, and how my wife and children behave towards me; I can say that all of this comes from the Creator.

And after that, I also move to the group. I gradually advance from above to below; I attain such a state where the entire world (Olam) disappears. All of the concealment (Alam) disappears and I see the Creator everywhere in the world.

And everything that filled this world: nature, the government, people who are familiar and who are strangers to me, my family and friends, all become one vessel in the place where the Creator is revealed, which is called Divinity. Instead of this world, I see the Upper Light that fills all of reality.

Nothing more is left. I only see the Light clothing the world. Where are my friends, where is my family, where is the government, where is all of nature? There is nothing! Everything disappears, and I find myself face to face with the Creator.

So this is the key principle: at every moment to settle accounts only with the Creator and to clarify that everything comes from Him. He first wants me to understand that everything that happens in front of me is the Creator turning towards me at a given moment so that now in these circumstances I will come to adhesion. And there is more and more adhesion every second until I attain a state of wholeness.
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From the Convention in France, Day Two, 5/11/14, Lesson 4

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Maimonides, a great 12^th century Kabbalist, philosopher, physician, and astronomer, dedicated quite a few medical articles to meals and the need for nourishment. In particular, he wrote, “The food must be chewed thoroughly to receive pleasure,” otherwise the food will be harmful, “and thank the Creator for this.”

In the spiritual world, food is the Upper Light that we need to receive in order to bestow, meaning for pleasure and not because we want to satisfy hunger, and we have no other choice.

It is said (even among those who were not Kabbalists) that in order to chew food, it is necessary to chew 72 (Ayin-Bet) times with the teeth. From the spiritual point of view, the teeth chew Ohr Hochma, dividing the desire into a multitude of fragments, so that it will be possible to mix them with Ohr Hassadim. And in the physical world this is expressed in the mixing of food with saliva when one chews.

It is necessary to eat quietly among friends or family (it is desirable not to eat alone), so that at every moment we feel thanks.

That is how it was with my teacher Rabash; the meal went on in total silence; nobody said a word. We were even very careful with our movements so as not to disturb others remaining within their inner thoughts.

In general, with our current education, we are used to talking during a meal. People gather in a coffee house or in a restaurant for conversation between them, to connect and so forth. And here everything is completely different; everything is done in silence, working within yourself but in relation to others. So Rambam writes that it is “necessary to eat in quiet among friends or family, and to feel thanks at every moment.”

I hope that eventually we will get to have meals like this.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/17/14, Questions and Answers with Dr. Laitman

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Writings of Baal HaSulam, Shamati #173: “He said about saying L’Chaim (to life) when drinking wine, that it is as our sages said, “Wine and life according to the sages and their disciples.” This is perplexing: why specifically according to our sages? Why not according to the uneducated?

The thing is that saying “L’Chaim” implies higher life. When we drink wine, we should remember that wine has its spiritual source, which implies “the wine of Torah,” the Light that comes as a reward, and so we say, “L’Chaim!,” a reminder that we should extend the Light of Torah, called “life.”

The corporeal life, however, is called by our sages, “The wicked, in their lives, are called ‘dead.’” Hence, it is specifically our sages who can say, “wine and life.” This means that only they are qualified to extend spiritual life. Uneducated people, however, have no desire for it or the tools to extend it.

Wine symbolizes Ohr Hochma (Light of Wisdom), which I want to receive in order to bestow (with Ohr Hassadim). If I can keep the Ohr Hochma with Ohr Hassadim (Light of Mercy) and not violate the accommodation between them to feel life, then this energy enters into us in a positive way.

But if I don’t have enough Ohr Hassadim, then Shevirat HaKelim (the shattering of the vessels) happens and I fall again into the egoistic desire. So I seemingly analyze whether I have enough Ohr Hassadim for receiving the Ohr Hochma so that one Light can be clothed in the other. And then Ohr Hochma is revealed, and the next level is revealed in me.

An analysis like this is called L’Chaim, to bestowal with faith above reason. Receiving for the sake of bestowal is a process of eating that is expressed in the word, “L’Chaim,” meaning that I am doing this for the sake of spiritual life.

I transmit the Light that I receive from above through me by conveying it to others, otherwise it doesn’t enter me. This is the law of the upper world. When I receive in order to bestow, by conveying it through me to others, and they in turn do the same thing by conveying it through me, is called, “L’Chaim.”

So when we drink wine, we say, “L’Chaim!” which means that we remember that it is necessary to be concerned about the right reception of the Light of life in order to attain the higher level.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/17/14, Questions and Answers with Dr. Laitman

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Question: In the transition from the five senses of this world to the five senses for feeling the Upper World, where is there a place to “bring a sacrifice”?

Answer: In the beginning a person has nothing. We begin to bring sacrifices during the exodus from Egypt when the Creator seems to demand the bringing of sacrifices, building the tabernacle for the “tablets of the covenant” and so on.

If a person is already found at a particular degree of attainment, it is as if they tell him: “This desire of yours is egoistic to this degree, and another desire – to another degree. It is necessary to cut it to this degree here, and from there – to another degree.” This means that they show him how, to what extent, and with what accommodation to the other desires he can use each one of his desires with an intention for the sake of bestowal.

When a person clearly feels that he is passing from one world to another, he begins to feel a kind of detachment from this world. This is already apparent to some degree in people who come to study the wisdom of Kabbalah.

After that a clear desire for the next state is revealed, the discovery of the Creator. But the person doesn’t yet understand what the Creator is, what kind of characteristic this is—bestowal and love, and what he must sacrifice to discover the Creator, which he wants very much after all.

Of course, a person needs a group in order to develop correctly, to look at the others and maintain his envy and craving within him, his aspiration to move forward. He needs to feel that he is not alone.

He makes a Tzimtzum (restriction) on himself, and strives forward on every level. And problems are constantly awakened within him, which apparently pull him backward: withdrawal, indifference, and excuses. After this he makes a leap forward; he goes through difficult experiences in the form of the plagues of Egypt, the splitting of the Red Sea, the wilderness, and so on.

But the main thing is that only then does he receive instruction and guidance about what to do. After all, he doesn’t immediately receive instruction about how to bring sacrifices.

First of all, we understand the importance of detachment from this world in which only our physical body exists. And we, with our desires, intentions, and hopes move towards attainment of the upper world, the characteristic of bestowal and connection between everyone.

As serious investigators we want to discover how the still, vegetative, and animate levels of nature are connected, where the forces that exist between them are.

We gradually discover all of this in two stages. In the first stage we don’t want anything for ourselves, we try to be completely detached from the receptive characteristic, and in this way we acquire a characteristic called “Hassadim” (mercy).

In the second stage we fully rise to the level of the Hassadim, to the level of Bina, after we make a correction on our desires, when they are found in total separation from reception and any fulfillment. After this we begin to transform those desires into characteristics of bestowal and love. This is where the place for sacrifice is revealed. In other words, we must clarify how to sanctify each one of our desires, everything that is within us: the still, vegetative, animate, and speaking.
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From KabTV”s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 11/20/13

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Question: What is the connection between us through which we left Egypt?

Answer: From Egypt only desires that want to connect leave, meaning only Israel. All the rest of the parts of the desire to receive that don’t feel an attraction to connection die in Egypt, they are the army of Pharaoh.

We work on the connection between us in a group; but we discover that we are not ready to reach it, so “…and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage….” (Exodus 2:23). This means that we cry out to the Creator and ask Him to connect us.

Question: So what is our work? Must we work on prayer?

Answer: The prayer cannot be artificial, for prayer is the work of the heart. At the end of all my efforts, after I have become convinced that nothing depends on me, I break out into prayer.

It is impossible to pray by the clock, this is not called prayer. Prayer must be adjusted to the feeling in the heart. So at this moment you can be in a state of “Yom Kippur” and in a few more hours be in a state of “Passover.” This is not talking about time but about states.

So why is there great significance to the Passover holiday that is marked on the calendar? It is because the Upper Lights that come down to us from the “end of correction,” through all the steps of the ladder, reach our world and even create a small illumination in it. And we want to connect this illumination with all the Upper Lights of bestowal and love of others, which we yearn to reach, to connect them together to world of Infinity. So also in our world, in the physical branches, we celebrate this state and want to be like it even on the physical level. This is particularly relevant to the Passover holiday.

All the rest of the holidays are very high: Rosh HaShanah (embracing the right) and Sukkot (embracing the left) are great Surrounding Lights. But everything begins with Passover. Therefore it is called the “head” of all the months. The exodus from Egypt is the birth of spirituality, so this spiritual source is the closest to us, found right above our heads. All the rest of the holidays are much higher.

We want to approach this source, meaning to begin to actively connect as much as possible. The symbol of the exodus from Egypt is the first connection between us, and after that we add more and more “meat,” more desires, to that point of connection.

But the first contact is the exodus from Egypt, which is why it is called the “birth” of man—that which we have succeeded in accumulating from the shattered parts through leaping above our ego and the connection between us. This is called a true “miracle.” We receive this opportunity thanks to the influence of the Light; otherwise, it is impossible.

We must seriously prepare for this state because we spend a lot of time together at meals and in lessons with all the groups in the world and try to actively reach a connection. We hope we will succeed in implementing this; we still have time. There is no time in spirituality and we can carry this out very quickly, at least temporarily reaching this state and descending again. And there is also a second “Passover” in another week. Someone who doesn’t succeed in realizing this in the first Passover will get a second opportunity.

Question: What is connecting actively?

Answer: All of our hearts must contact each other in a single point, reaching a point of contact. It is not enough just to want it; rather, we must actively carry this out. The prayer is awakened in a person only at the necessary time that comes as a result of the action in the physical world. If I do something and absolutely suffer from failure, from this point the prayer breaks forth.
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From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/13/14, The Zohar

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