Question: The higher Partzuf is concerned for the lower. How do we create and develop within us that concern for people’s needs?

Answer: Where does the deficiency come from to be integrated with the desires of the people? We would want to remain by ourselves, detached from everyone. We have a link with God through the study and we don’t have any inclination to be linked with someone else. And that is how we could continue forever. Solely and only on condition that we want to give contentment to the highest, do we descend to a lower level. This is the right motivation.

And then we begin to feel the lower because we acquire the right deficiency from him. Everything depends on which purpose and goal we have for descending to the lowest.

• Either we descend in order to give contentment to the lower.
• Or we do this for our own good, in order to manage him, to get respect and thanks from him.
• Or we do it for the sake of the higher.

There are only three possibilities for what stage we act: it is either for the sake of the lower, for our own sake, or for the sake of the higher. And this must be solved. Through the society, dissemination, and attraction of the Surrounding Light, we can truly begin to think about the welfare of the higher. Accordingly our relationship with Him and His revelation appears.
[130430]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/20/14, The Zohar

Related Material:
A Duet: The Creator And Created On One Violin
For The Sake Of The Ultimate Goal
Formula Of Action: Creator – World – Creator

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Dissemination, Group Work, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Question: What is the manner of work for attaining unity?

Answer: First of all it’s necessary to think seriously. Try not to think with your head but with a greater and higher head, meaning, listen to what the Kabbalists recommend. After that, try as much as possible independently of the ego to decide how we will carry this out so that pride in our task, or in other words, the importance of the goal, will be greater than love for oneself.

After that, when we accept a decision like this calmly, as if nothing depends upon us, and understand which actions must be carried out, we organize a plan, and after that we pass to the next stage: How do we carry out this plan? The practical implementation stage doesn’t need to change the decision of the previous stage, meaning the plan for the necessary actions. Rather it’s only necessary to realize it and accordingly see if we are involved with spiritual work or not.

I don’t know how and why this wonderful mission to make these corrections has fallen upon us, being that we are all weak and lazy. Either we accept the mission, go forward with it, and carry it out, or we don’t. So there is nothing to complain about and don’t come with accusations that three or five years or more have gone by and there are no results. We were given this work and we need to carry it out. And alone I am prepared only to clarify the method in detail, and this is what I am doing.
[130374]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/18/14

Related Material:
Simplicity On The Outside, Unity On The Inside
The Group Is The Ground For The Revelation Of Nature’s Secrets
Unity In Everything

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Dissemination, Group Work, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

From the book, Ohrot, by Rav Avraham Isaac HaCohen Kook: The structure of the world, which is at present crumbling at the feet of the terrible storms of the sword filled with blood, requires the building of the Israeli nation. The building of the nation and the revelation of its spirit is one thing, and it is completely united with the building of the world which is crumbling and awaits the full power of unity and elevation.

And all of this is found in the soul of the community of Israel. The spirit of the Creator fills it, the spirit fills it there, and it is impossible for the human spirit, which feels its soul pounding within, to be quiet at this great hour without calling upon all of the forces concealed within the nation: awaken and arise to your tasks. The voice of the Creator calls with power and we discern this from within our living soul and its movement. Israel is compelled to seek the source of its life, to stand here on the feet of its spiritual character.

All of the cultures in the world will be renewed through the renewal of our spirit, all the sciences will be straightened, all lives will be illuminated with the happiness of the new birth in our uprising, all faiths will be clothed in new clothes, removing their soiled garments and will dress in precious clothing that was prepared from yore for every nation and every person in the well of Israel. The blessing of Abraham to all nations of the earth will begin its activity with power and revelation and will begin according to its foundation, anew, among us in the Land of Israel. The present destruction is a preparation for a new revival….

During the exile of this idea, this method, it acted in a hidden way within the people of Israel. But beginning from the time of the Ari and onward, when the period of the exile was concluded, the method began to be revealed. Since the exile brought about mutual integration, today the most refined parts of the soul begin to be aroused everywhere.

So the correction is drawn from the lightest parts to the heavier and heaviest. Each one in whom the power to recognize and discover the Creator is awakened and whoever is ready to work towards this is called Israel (Yashar-Kel).

And together with this on the material plane, there is also a group called the people of Israel. Both on these and on those the obligation for correction has been imposed. If the Reshimo (reminiscence) of Yashar-Kel has not yet been revealed, then it’s impossible to demand anything from this person. He acts according to his desires: food, sex, family, money, power, knowledge. And those who feel the desire to discover the meaning of life try to realize their Reshimo in spiritual development above physical development, and they build this on the face of that urge.

There has been no example in history for our period of correction so we cannot take an example from anywhere. It’s unique in that people who have the Reshimo Yashar-Kel must realize the method of correction actively to build the complete Kli called the Third Temple.

In order to realize the building of the Kli, they must first correct the connection between them because the Kli is built from the unification of all of these Reshimot together. And together with this they must attract all the rest of the Kelim, the souls, beginning with the lightest Kelim to the heavier.
[130245]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/18/14

Related Material:
The Meeting Place With The Creator Cannot Be Changed
Israel By Letter And In Spirit
Circulation Is Our Guarantee

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Dissemination, Group Work, Israel, Nations of the World, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Question: In our group, we read the article “There is None Else Besides Him” every day, but it never is felt as deeply as I have felt it here. It is like cooking some dish without spices. Here, I felt this spice, this taste. What kind of spice can you give us so that we will feel it all the time, everywhere?

Answer: You will not believe me, but I always am watching to relate to a group not like my little pupils but like those who are higher than me. Outside, they don’t see this because I can yell at them too, but, internally, I always am careful with myself.

This is my barometer (pressure gauge), how much I feel them higher than me; I can rise only this way and it makes no difference how they behave. The Creator chose, brought, and gathered them, and it is enough for me to think that there is no one before me higher than they are.

There are Kabbalists who are no longer with us in this world. But I almost don’t feel anything besides my friends. If I could, I would use the opportunity to feel them and to be in contact with them, bringing my excitement, my relationship with them about the greatness of the Creator so that, together with them, I will reach discovery of the Creator, because all of this is found within them.

There is nothing else besides this holding on, this group we were given. Only through dissolving into it, magnifying it, can I approach the Creator who is found within it. We don’t need anything else besides a constant concern to relate to a group like this.
[130303]
From the World Zohar Week “Integral Education Convention” Day Three 2/4/14, Lesson 1

Related Material:
So The Group Will Absorb Everything
When The Words End
When Praise Is Disturbing

Filed under: Conventions, Group Work, Spiritual Teacher, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Question: What should I do with regard to all the forms of concealment, all the problems in life that surround me on all sides and which are revealed more and more each day?

Answer: This state will only keep on growing until you feel such hatred for this concealment that you will simply burst and wish for one thing only: that the concealment should disappear. You should discover all the hatred in order to feel what hate is and what form it has.

Then you move on to the next state in which you leave this hatred and it seems to cool down and disappears. You begin to develop your attitude towards the Creator, and then you feel an obstacle that disturbs you from bestowing upon Him. This interference should also be as hateful as the hatred you felt towards your problems before. It is very important.

Question: What stops me from reaching total despair and an outcry? There is something that gives me the power to survive, to hide from the thoughts that bring the burning hatred that you are describing.

Answer: On one hand you are not allowed to leave and on the other hand you are not allowed to break in. It is because you still need to grow. There are more actions that you have to perform.
[130311]
From the preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/17/14

Related Material:
Sacred Hatred
To Tango With The Creator
Drawing the Creator’s Image When He Is Concealed

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Degel Machane Efraim, “BeShalach” (written more than two centuries ago by Rabbi Moshe Haim Efraim from Sudilkov, by the student and grandson of Baal Shem Tov)

God’s servant should be incorporated in all the created beings, and so he has to connect to all the souls and to be incorporated in them and they should be incorporated in him. So you should leave yourself only what is needed for the connection of the Shechina (Divinity).

In order to do so, there should be a multitude of people who are connected, as it is written: “Connection of the righteous is good for them and good for the world.” Since the Light of the Shechina (Divinity) will be revealed more if there is a multitude of people who serve the Creator.

According to the sages, “the righteous are the same before the Shechina (Divinity), like a candle before a flame,” so according to the multitude of candles, the Light of the flame will grow since it is the Shechina (Divinity). Therefore one should be incorporated in all the people and in all the created beings, and they should all ascend to their root in order to correct the Shechina (Divinity).

The correction is actually in having more and more people who have learned just a little and who join the same great connection, called the Holy Divinity, in which the Creator can reveal Himself to the created beings. Therefore it is said: “The King’s glory is in the multitude,” and a force that is strong in quantity should appear, just like in previous generations a force that was strong in quality appeared and was operated by great Kabbalists.

They were on a very high spiritual level, but they were few as they had to draw and to convey the Light that reforms from Above down to our generation. We receive it through them, but the manner of correction in our times is totally different. If we want to reach at least the beginning of correction, we have to connect all the candles, and thus reach the Light that can illuminate in our vessels.
[130318]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/19/14, Conversation about Importance of Dissemination

Related Material:
And The Main Illumination Is Left In The Root
The Mission Of The Nation That “Aspires To The Creator”
According To The Advice Of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Dissemination, Group Work, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Question: If each of us had a measuring tool, we could measure where we are. How can I know if I am doing everything the right way?

Answer: If you had such a measuring tool, you wouldn’t need to correct anything. I have to constantly think how to do the right thing every moment along the spiritual path, what the Reshimot (reminiscences) Yahsar El (straight to the Creator) that I have received demand from me. Then I have to refine myself and to sharpen my sensitivity, my accuracy, in order to find out what the Creator wants of me and how I can fulfill it in the group, in dissemination, with myself, in the study, in the connection with the friends, the teacher, etc.

I constantly clarify things. This is the work we have to do. If I received everything readymade I would be a total righteous, an angel. It is actually by the difficult clarification in which I have to ask for the Creator’s help every step of the way in order to correct myself, that I reach connection with Him. Otherwise I wouldn’t reach that. I have to exert myself to a certain degree since the exertion is my vessel. Only by the exertion do I begin to differentiate between things that are concealed from me now.

We are born into this world with an instinct and a desire to develop, and so little children run around all the time doing something and thus develop. If we behaved like children with regard to the spiritual goal we would advance very quickly.

All we have to do is to exert ourselves. This exertion has to be right and not where our ego is dragging us to. We need a group so that the pride in the goal, the pride in belonging to it, and the pride in the mission that I have received from Above has to be greater than my self-love. This is what a person should develop. This is the key formula that is fulfilled only in the group, it is like team spirit, pride in the unit.
[130322]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/18/14

Related Material:
A High Responsibility And Pride For Our Mission
Looking At The World And Empathizing With The Suffering
All Who Feel The Sorrows Of The Public Merit Consolation

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Dissemination, Group Work, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Question: I want to ask a question on behalf of all of the sick and correlate this with the fact that there is none else besides Him. When I hear you, everything flows into me very well and I accept it, after that it passes to my intellect, and as a sensible person I cannot agree for some reason that He needs us to be sick.

Answer: This does not concern you. Use your intellect to recognize that there exists a single force in the world that gives you the possibility of thinking that He is not alone. Begin to “absorb” this initial expression: He gave us the possibility of feeling that we exist outside of Him, that He is not alone; he gave us the chance to choose to approach Him through equivalence of form.

Question: How is it possible to put yourself under this power so He will flirt with us in a different way?

Answer: It depends on how you perceive Him. He increases only His positive influence on you all the time. And depending on your situation, it could be that you feel Him as the opposite, negative.

Question: What do all of my sick friends and I need to do in order to feel this influence as positive?

Answer: Attain resemblance and equivalence to this force at least on the first level, that is, 1/125^th of its characteristic, this characteristic of bestowal and love. In this manner you will rise to the first level, pass through the border between an inability to feel Him and minimally feeling Him, this border is called the Machsom.

Do you want to be physically healthy? Yearn to resemble the Creator together with the friends. Imagine how you would nullify yourself in regard to the friends in order to reach the first restriction, Tzimtzum Aleph. It is possible to attain this only through mutual work.
[130216]
From the World Zohar Week “Integral Education Convention” Day Three 2/4/14, Lesson 1

Related Material:
Why Am I Sick?
Sandpaper On Egoism – Balm On The Heart
Facing A Wall Of Ego

Filed under: Conventions, Group Work, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Question: To the degree of our advancement we truly begin to look at the world and people differently. But what must be done in order to see everyone in the end of correction (Gmar Tikkun)? Do you see everyone in this state?

Answer: I can’t imagine how it is possible to describe something from the spiritual world to you if the matching sensations don’t exist with you. I could say words to you and you would comprehend them in a distorted, egoistic mutation. It’s impossible to describe even those small levels close to us.

I am not in the end of correction. I am higher than you, but they also don’t let me rise higher, because I must be close to you. Therefore we need to go forward together.

It’s very good that you yearn for this feeling, want to feel and to understand it. But it’s not given if you lack the property of bestowal, and there is no possibility of creating  an appropriate picture within us. One can only ask; there is nothing other than prayers for all.

Question: A contradiction is created within me between the concept “There is none else besides Him” and the “prayer of many.” Meaning, can the focus of the person be directed towards only one thing?

Answer: No, this is the same thing. The prayer of many to the Creator is the completely accurate accommodation of an intention towards the goal. In the prayer of many you pray for yourself because the many is you, but when you describe them outside of yourself, you are detached from your egoistic “self.”

Question: It follows that the search for There is none else besides Him is not found within me, but is found outside, in the friends?

Answer: He is found everywhere. Don’t divide everything into physical distances but emotional distances that you need to integrate together.
[130213]
From the World Zohar Week “Integral Education Convention” Day Three 2/4/14, Lesson 1

Related Material:
Equality And Oppositeness All In One
Several Details About The Picture Of The Spiritual World
Distorted Views Of The World Of Infinity

Filed under: Conventions, Group Work, Prayer and Intention, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Question: When we come to a group we have a yearning for some inexplicable property. Then we begin to feel some tastes and understand that we are attracted towards the characteristic of bestowal. But when you say: “Try to feel all this as one,” then we are terribly afraid. There is a desire to flee, it’s unclear to where because this state presses from behind.

Answer: This is very good because there is nothing more opposite to our nature than bestowal and love. We are terribly afraid of it; we don’t want it, and when we reach it, we turn around and go back.

Question: How can we help each other, for indeed you cannot even help yourself?

Answer: Only the group can direct you so that you will cross the Machsom. I very much like the example from the Harry Potter films, Platform 9 3/4. In order to reach it, they must pass through a barrier that separates between the 9^th and 10^th platforms. So the mother of one of the children advises Harry: “All you have to do is to go directly into the barrier. Don’t stop and don’t be afraid that you will hit it, this is very important.” That is, you shouldn’t see this obstacle, it doesn’t exist, and so you will pass through.

Question: But how is it possible not to see it?!

Answer: You lack a connection. If you connect and unite among yourselves, the obstacle disappears. When you dissolve within the group of ten, the wall also dissolves.
[130210]
From the World Zohar Week “Integral Education Convention” Day Three 2/4/14, Lesson 1

Related Material:
Facing A Wall Of Ego
A Door, An Opening, An Entrance
Sandpaper On Egoism – Balm On The Heart

Filed under: Conventions, Group Work, Spiritual Work - No Comments →