Everything depends on the efforts exerted by a person. It’s natural that every time we discover a bigger desire. This is why a bigger effort is required of us, more desperation for which there is no answer.

Again, we make efforts, and again reveal a greater desire. So again and again until we employ the full measure of effort and frustration.

As a result of all these efforts, they remain unanswered; a realization comes to us signifying that we have nothing to depend on! Everything is in the hands of the upper force, and if only it will have mercy on us then we can start working towards bestowal.

We change and become more aware of what a true prayer is, adhesion, and dependence upon the upper force at every stage of these efforts. It becomes clear why there is no answer still: because our prayer is impure. It hides an egoistic intention for oneself.

It’s impossible to reduce the number of these unsuccessful attempts because every penny is added to the total bill. We are obliged to go through them all one by one, and it all depends on the speed of our commitment towards this sprint, it depends if we don’t apply brakes when the Light is beckoning ahead or pushing us back, or doesn’t work.

Finally, we come to a genuine prayer, knowing what we require while agreeing with this request and desiring it. It already emanates from us, because we really want to achieve bestowal, without any regard for ourselves, desiring such bestowal with all our heart and soul. We believe that there is no better state than the power of devotion to bestowal, to the Creator, and we ask only of this.

Because all of these actions, our request transforms from egoistic to altruistic, then it reforms and becomes a correct cry, which receives an answer that comes from above.

It’s impossible to get anything without a need for it. All of our work and all of the states we find ourselves in are essentially intended for us so we ask for the correct things, which previously had already been prepared for us. As soon as we ask for them, we immediately get an answer.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/26/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Question: In the last few decades, the subject of the pursuit of happiness in human society, in Israel, and in the world has become a trend. A large number of books, courses, and workshops have appeared on this subject. In the book Ecclesiastes by King Solomon, the pursuit of happiness goes hand in hand with the pursuit of truth. What kind of truth is he talking about?

Answer: The truth is different all the time. Every generation determines general rules for itself according to which it determines what is called truth and what is called falsehood, good and evil, pleasure and suffering. A hundred or two hundred years ago, what was considered happiness was having a job, a place to live, a family and children.

If a person could provide his family with food and a roof over their heads, then he was happy. He didn’t want anything besides this. Besides everyday clothing, if he had an additional suit, then this was wonderful! After that they came up with the wardrobe, which was small in the beginning. And now everyone has his own room in an apartment and his own closet. But even that is not enough; we need a walk-in closet for clothes!

We have reached saturation, but a person is still involved with consumption. Our lives have become a race. Where do we feel pleasure? I live in an area where the population belongs to the strong middle class. At seven in the morning, my neighbor runs to his car holding a baby in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other. He puts the coffee down, sits the baby down, and drives the child to the daycare center, after which he travels to work.

He doesn’t come home before eight or nine in the evening. When does he feel happiness? Is it the one day of the week where in the evening he goes somewhere with his friends? Or is it once a year when he travels for a week’s vacation abroad? Where is the pleasure really? He looks at others and says, “Everyone is doing this, and so am I.”

Question: It follows that there is no happiness in the world?

Answer: Happiness, in “Vanity of Vanities” (Ecclesiastes 1:2) is bestowal to others! If we bestow to each other and build a life where everyone is connected in a positive manner in society, then we will fulfill each other, not with things, but with happiness. At present, I want to have the feeling of happiness through the acquisition of something that I bought and then enjoy. How much can I look at it and enjoy it?

Happiness must constantly be renewed. Happiness from a new car lasts for a month, from a house it lasts for a year. How can I arrange life such that my desire to be happy all the time will be renewed and its replenishment will be new? It is this way when I get up every day like a child with wide-open eyes!

In childhood I lived in a house with a big yard. In the yard grew trees and flowers; we had a dog. In the evening I already imagined how I would jump out of bed in the morning and run to the yard to meet friends. I want to live in a mood like this!

Question: In the book Ecclesiastes by King Solomon, the same sentence repeats all the time: “That which hath been is that which shall be, and that which hath been done is that which shall be done; and there is nothing new under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 1:9). This is a very sad discovery.

Answer: If you just want to enjoy the world then you always get emptiness.

Question: Is it really necessary to reach a state of absolute lack of pleasure in order to understand the necessity of renewal? Is it impossible to get pleasure from both things and connections with people?

Answer: One doesn’t interfere with the other, but I don’t think that a person can be in two worlds. If you are split in two, then neither of the two desires will be called fulfilled. Ultimately we need to show ourselves and others where the true source of happiness is found. The renewal of relationships between us will bring us a feeling of happiness, and this will always be the same vitality that fills the sails of our boat with advancement towards better states.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 5/23/13

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Question: The Torah tells us that Isaac found two wells in the land of Grar that had been dug in Abraham’s time and had been covered afterwards. These wells caused many quarrels with the local shepherds and after a while a new well was dug that caused no disputes.

Then Avimelech, the king of Grar, offered Isaac a treaty. Why did the nations of the world become so nice all of the sudden and want to make a treaty with the Jews?

Answer: It is because Isaac had begun his corrections.

A well is a hole in the ground, in a land that is full of water. A hole that is full of the water of life is called a well of life. Water is the essence of the attribute of bestowal that is hidden in the land, which means in the desire. In other words, your desire begins to flow so that you receive the water of life through it, which is the attribute of bestowal that brings life to everyone.

Basically, the story of the wells shows us that if we begin to fulfill our mission to organize the Israeli nation in order to correct the world, it is enough. We actually don’t have to correct the world, but only correct ourselves.

In chapters 66-67 in the “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” Baal HaSulam says that the moment the Israeli nation begins to correct itself, which means it adapts itself according to the Creator, the Light will immediately begin to flow from it like water from a well, and this Light will correct all the other nations. This way the whole world will become a better place. After all, the world cannot correct itself nor can it do anything.

Just imagine there is a nation that totally controls and manages the world and the other nations cannot do anything and simply wait for this nation to do something.

The problem is in the way it is revealed, and the interruptions can be great. At the moment, we can still somehow escape those who oppose Israel. But what if this picture is revealed and suddenly everyone would see that there are seven billion people in the world and there are about ten million on whom everything depends?

I would say that the seven billion are like a body that runs on life software, and this software is the Jewish people. Its mass doesn’t belong to the actual body of the world, but rather to the software, and it operates on a different level.

On the whole, the actual software is merely a virtual component with regard to the matter. It is a schema, a system. We can say that the software of the protein material is Israel and the actual protein material is the nations of the world. If this software is incorrect, just imagine what diseases and problems are caused in the material!

The whole history of mankind is basically the continuous cooperation between the world and the Israeli nation, just like two coils in the DNA chain. The nations of the world and the Israeli nation are in continuous communication, contact, and effort between them. Israel wouldn’t be able to reach the state of the third well without the pressure of the nations of the world upon it. There are those who dig the desire and others who cover it up. This development is necessary in order to reach the water of life, the attribute of Bina.

The first well basically refers to Abraham, the second to Isaac, and the third to Jacob. When Jacob connects, he becomes the middle line and then we reach the water of life.

Question: What does that have to do with life today? Do we have to discover this well now, this water of life?

Answer: Yes. We begin to spill out the bestowal, and this depends only on the connection between us. The unity of the Israeli nation is the key to everything. It is the only thing that can dig a well for the world.

To dig a well means to delve into our desires. They are negative, bad, and they reveal all the negativity that is concealed within a person, his nature, and his distance from the Creator. But we have to do it. We have to create strong feelings of the deficiency of the Light within us, the attributes of love and bestowal. This is called an empty well or a hole. By the way, there is a difference between these two concepts. What a person looks for depends only on the person himself.

When we dig a well, we attain the state, the depth in which we feel the greatest pain with regard to love, bestowal, and connection. Then the water that is the source of life appears.

Just like animals who feel where there is water, so did people in those times feel where they had to dig and how deep in order to find water. By the way, there is plenty of water in the desert because there are huge subterranean lakes. We only need to know where to dig and there is nothing to fear. You can go anywhere since you will always find water.

Question: Is this self-search the closeness and the connection between us?

Answer: Yes. It exists to the extent that we make efforts in order to discover the attribute of bestowal called water.
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From KabTV’s “Weekly Torah Portion” 11/14/14

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Question: Among the Jewish and Arab citizens of the nation, complex relationships have been created. We are destined to live together in one nation, even though we didn’t choose this. The Arabs are around 20% of the population of Israel. Among them, 83% are Muslims, mostly Sunni. We have equal rights and responsibilities, but there are two sides to every coin. On the one hand, many of the Arab citizens want to live in peace with us. There are cities in which Jews and Arabs have been in good neighborly relationships for decades, for example in Acre and Jaffa.

And on the other hand, this sector has become a source of violence in the latest disturbances.

We have lived together side by side for so many years, and even today, we have not learned how to get along with each other! The latest developments are frightening, disappointing, and arouse distrust between us. What can you say about the system of relationships between the Jewish and Arab sectors in Israel?

Answer: I suppose that going deeper into the daily human psychological and social levels will ultimately confuse people. In fact, it is up to us to do only one thing in relation to the Arabs of Israel. We must show them how Jews connect among ourselves and how we can accept them among us so that they will also connect with us. It is not necessary to do anything else.

In general, the Arab people, like every nation, have a unique role. First of all, historically they are our cousins. In the Jewish view, their religion is not idolatry, since they don’t bow down to any statue or image.

We have a very similar world view from a psychological and philosophical aspect. Throughout history we were in contact with each other and in particular periods, there were good relationships between us. But this didn’t depend on them or us, rather on the general process through which we had to pass throughout history. In other words, there is no room for praise or blame here.

So I ignore the traditional studies that investigate the mentality of peoples, the uniqueness, the characteristics, and their natural lines. Now the time has come for a change in the level of humanity in all nations, so what is the reason for going deeper into everyday relationships? They can change in a moment if we activate the basic general and natural forces.

Scientists and analysts are building sand castles that disappear in a moment. They have no benefit other than the flow of publications in scientific literature and newspaper articles.

I am simplifying this to a certain degree, but it is up to us to think globally. Even though the global picture in which we are heading towards the completion of correction changes all the time, specifically the lawfulness on this level that influences the essence of life and the connection between us. And this is what we must work on.

So I say: “Come, let’s begin to connect among us.” And on the way, we will begin to attract the Israeli Arabs towards us. Even though we have not yet reached connection ourselves, it is possible to check how we are doing this. It is necessary to learn about the system of connection between us, no longer on an intellectual level, but according to the corrected form.

In spite of it all, we must advance in this direction, so this will be constructive and substantive research that will help us to understand the situation more, to identify the natural forces at work in us, to learn to activate them, to identify with them, and to walk along this path.

On the other hand, what is the reason to chew on the relationships between us and our neighbors again and again like the institutions that are involved with this? Even though they provide us with precise and accurate data, the situation doesn’t change. Why should I get information with which I can do nothing?

Suppose that we get a full and complete report about a situation, including facts and detailed statistical calculations. What do we do with this? It is impossible for us to sink into a routine; on the contrary, we must change it. We don’t require statistics from the past but information on how to activate the forces of connection, how to create and increase power among the people of Israel, and with their help, connect all of humanity into one, beginning with our closest neighbors. As of today, we don’t have this power because we still haven’t created it among the people. And that is specifically what we need.

For Israel is Li Rosh (the head, the mind). We lack the head. The body is ready and it is screaming, crying with the unrest, the disturbances, anti-Semitic acts, and blaming us for inaction because we are not leading it in the good way, nor taking upon ourselves the role of the head to bring it to a safe haven.

So what remains for us to think about? After all, we are in a serious delay.

Therefore, it is worthwhile for us to give shape to the head, which is the unique mechanism in which all of us will connect together. And the moment that we connect, the people will understand why we are doing this and what kind of work we are doing to connect with one another.

So the people of Israel, at least the Jews living in Israel, must find and build the connection between them. We have a method, and we know from the wisdom of Kabbalah what we must reach. All that remains is to realize the goal and then the relationships between us and our neighbors and the nations of the world will settle down. Beyond this, they will come to help us. It is because this is talking about the head that brings the entire body to the good.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 11/13/14

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The Torah, “Leviticus,” Kedoshim, 19:4: Do not turn to idols and do not make molten gods for yourselves: I am the Lord, your God. An idol is something we obtain a priori,  obtained without any proof and must be taken on faith without trying to comprehend it. This is not done at the level of the human being.

A person must attain the levels of bestowal and mutual love between us, reveal, study, and work with them. He should fully comprehend, understand, and feel the system with one’s heart and mind. Only then can he say that doesn’t worship idols nor accept anything randomly.

Despite the fact that this is a very difficult life, the Creator poses such problems before us so that we reach the level of Adam (human) and don’t remain on the animal level.

So we can’t afford to take anything for granted. The Creator wants us to study Him, “Know the God of your fathers, and serve Him.” That is, the greatest point of our ascent is the perception and the attainment of the Creator.

Comment: Sometimes one wants to disconnect from everything just so one would simply be carried forward.

Answer: This is how our egoism works within us. On one hand, the ego always accompanies us during the correct development. On the other hand, there’s a need for a distinct spiritual attainment, development, and absorption, otherwise one doesn’t quench their thirst or feel oneself.

Bestowal is the source for clean water that quenches the thirst.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 3/26/14

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The main thing learning is not the study of separate phenomena but of the connections between them: how one phenomenon depends on the other in a direct and an opposite manner. This means that studying provides us with a picture of the connections between all the parts of reality.

This is what we pay most attention to during the lessons. We learn more about the connections between the elements than about the actual elements. It is impossible to study only one thing.

It turns out that a person cannot study by himself. Therefore it is written: “I have learned from all my students.” The teacher doesn’t learn by himself but actually from his students. So if we disseminate the wisdom of Kabbalah or teach the integral method, we learn from our students and thus advance.

But if I don’t teach and have no students, I cannot advance. One can only learn from his students, and it is an essential condition. Now we may understand why Kabbalists call us to disseminate the wisdom of Kabbalah. We are not doing anyone a favor by that but are helping ourselves.

Teaching a student means establishing a connection between him and the Creator. This is actually what a teacher teaches his student: how to connect to the Creator. This means that the teacher is between the Creator and the student as a mediator, a guide, a conductor.

A student connects with the Creator through the teacher whether he wants to or not. Every time he renews his connection with the Creator, whether in a positive way or a negative way, all the changes are through the conductor, through the teacher. No matter what the student does, whether he ascends or descends, he activates this conductor and the teacher gains from that.

It is impossible to connect to the Creator unless you are a guide, a conductor that conveys to the group or to a student. This goes together with the fact that there is no need to correct a person himself, but rather his attitude towards others, including the Creator.
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From the Congress In Verona “Day Two” 11/22/14, Lesson 4

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From the moment the wisdom of Kabbalah was revealed to a group of people called the Israeli nation, this nation became responsible for everything that happens to humanity and to all of nature in general.

Israel is responsible for every process in the general evolution and for the fact that all of nature should go through different, perfect phases in the course of advancing towards the ultimate goal.

If there is any distortion and this form is no longer perfect, it is Israel’s fault. They then must feel the stronger influence of the forces that evoke it, forcing it to wake up and bring all of humanity to a state of harmony once more..

This is the perspective from which we have to look at all problems, especially current problems and every event in the entire history of humanity. We should understand that all the intifadas and the anti-Semitism in the world stem from our delay and from our insufficient participation in the evolutionary process of the world. We should have started to pull everyone towards connection and unity a long time ago, starting with all of the Israeli nation and then all of humanity. We should have helped humanity become more connected and united and closer to the perfect ultimate form.

Question: Why do you think we are in a delay?

Answer: We can see it by the pressure that is put on the Israeli nation. The Israeli nation is a clear index. If there is an eruption of violence, it means that we are behind in our correction. We actually summon the imbalance of the positive and the negative forces that cannot reach a state of balance between them by our delay and our refusal to bring the system to a state of harmony at any given moment.

All of humanity is in the middle between these pluses and minuses, between the evil inclination and bestowal, the Creator, and the pressures that affect all of humanity and through it, the Israeli nation. It is actually Israel who has to bring all the others to the perfect form.

This is the reason that it hurts me so to see the eruption of terror, but we have to understand that we are the only ones to blame for what is happening. All the nations of the world only carry out the orders of nature’s forces. They have no freewill and they don’t determine anything. This is the reason that we cannot expect them to correct the situation.

It is fundamentally wrong to expect that the Americans or the Europeans will be able to bring peace to the world or that the Arabs will suddenly change by themselves. We have to think only about how we, Israel, take command and control of nature’s forces and arrange the connection within our own nation.

We are not required to establish connections with anyone, neither the Israeli Arabs, nor with our Arab neighbors or the UN. We don’t need to think about others in order to do our job. This work is done within the Israeli nation. But to the extent that we connect among us internally, the power of this wholeness, the unity, the connection and the love, will pour through us unto the whole world and all of humanity will suddenly begin to calm down and connect.

Then the whole world will come out of the global crisis it is in and all the disputes in the UN and all over the world will come to an end and everyone will quiet down, unite, and hug. It will be a wonderful good state, one great global commune, and it all depends on how the Israeli nation establishes the internal relations between its people.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 11/13/14

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Question: There are many social networks today. How do you see their development? What will be the values, processes, rules, and feelings they offer?

Answer: I would start with a short review. The general tendency of the network is to allow people to connect.

This connection should become increasingly more developed so that everyone will feel life unlimited by time or space. It is about the psychological development of the user who understands and feels himself and the world more and more. It isn’t by chance that people came up with the name “Internet”— an internal network between us.

This network should be internal, not because of communication channels and endless other options of connecting, but thanks to a direct and open mutual connection. Thanks to that, we will know how to open ourselves to cooperation and to filling ourselves and others. This is called a bilateral mutual connection from me outwards and from the inside towards me.

If we clean the virtual space of the dirt within it, the only thing left will be many desires that are trying to find fulfillment and that eventually don’t receive anything. This emptiness should accumulate as such a general emptiness that it will push us to a more qualitative development. The next phase is to teach people how to connect correctly in order to fill themselves.

This approach is totally rejected at the moment, of course. I would try to interest Internet owners to develop new programs, especially in order to educate users. Working with psychologists and programmers, we have to develop special games that will subtly attract people to a new form of connection.

It isn’t about courses and not even about short clips. A person doesn’t want to study. He wants to see and to enjoy. People love to watch programs about delicious food hoping that it will fulfill them, like sex that fills them instantly. They see themselves as kings and rulers and they enjoy this adventure.

This means that they want to feel good immediately:”Connect me with the source of pleasure, with a simple direct channel without any preconditions.” This is the reason we have to develop  software that will make a person feel pleasure each time he changes himself, even a little.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 2/7/13

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Question: What benefits do I get when I contribute to the dissemination of knowledge of Kabbalah in the world? What rewards do I get from the Creator when I tell the whole world that we need to achieve adhesion with the Creator?

Answer: There is only one soul that broke and fell into many pieces. And now each part, each of us, restores its part of the whole vessel of the soul. I put together the entire vessel according to my properties, you organize and put it together according to your properties, she does it according to hers, etc.

So, it’s important to bring a lot of people in this world to study and to correction. For instance, I was able to bring 50 people to study Kabbalah with Rabash.

We are one integral soul where everyone is included in each other and every one contains parts of all the others. Obviously, what is good for me is awakening some fragments of the soul lifelessly lying on the floor.

I wake them, ignite them, revive them, and convince them that it is worth studying and striving towards the goal, and they then start to do something. Thus, I awaken others, and they make a correction for me!

It’s not that I’m doing them a favor by pushing them to the correction, to the purpose of creation and the Creator. On the contrary, by prompting others, I persuade them to perform work for me, since they correct my soul.

Suppose I come to a convention and teach you. Believe me, I gain a lot, more than all of you, to the extent that I pass knowledge on to you and an awakening. I awake you and you begin to correct yourselves, but, in fact, you are correcting my soul.

We do not understand this and therefore neglect dissemination. It seems to us that no matter how many people know about Kabbalah, we aren’t personally affected. Internally, I possess such properties that I can never correct directly, but only through someone in a roundabout way.

If the group is awake and affects me by inspiring me with the greatness of the Creator and the spiritual goal, then I awake and start working while being fueled by friends.

I take a student and begin to teach him, and while studying, he corrects my soul. If we had only known how much a person benefits from dissemination, everyone would have rushed excitedly to the group to disseminate. It’s like opening a factory where your employees work for you. Students correct the teacher’s soul.
[148318]
From the Congress In Verona “Day Two” 11.22.14, Lesson 4

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By studying the long periods of the Jews in the Diaspora and the exile of two thousand years, we can say that same phenomenon recurs over and over again.

Whenever they came into a new country, the Jewish people looked for shelter and a place where they could dwell and survive, and they could survive only by strongly uniting among them. Therefore, having no choice, we became closer when we were in exile, and the correct mutual relations were formed between us, not because we wanted it, but because we forced to do so.

Our positive attitude towards one another affected those around us. We brought science and culture to the people in the country where we lived and that country began to prosper.

But the moment we got used to a certain place, the ego grew between us, as did competition, and we became alienated from one another. These negative relations were reflected in the people that surrounded us and thus summoned in them hatred and accusations against us. As a result, we were expelled from that country and the country would deteriorate.

The internal state of the Jewish people was always conveyed to people they lived among and brought them either prosperity or recession.

Therefore, if we begin to get closer to one another today and establish the right mutual relations between us, we will summon a positive attitude on the part of the nations that surround us on every continent.
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From KabTV’s “Short Stories” 10/24/14

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