The foundation of the group is the daily morning lesson. Someone who doesn’t join it, at least during the hours that are convenient for him, simply cannot connect to me. And also the lesson itself must become a running operation of “mixing” all of us together in order to see ourselves as one whole and to expect the Light that will open between us.

The lesson must be very difficult, as if in a cement mixer where you must turn this whole mass through which the sand, cement, and water are mixed until it’s completely connected. That is how we must feel the lesson developing, with great difficulty and with much effort. If a person doesn’t feel this difficulty and oppose it, then he doesn’t build the Kli, he doesn’t attract the Light. This effort must be felt inside all the time, with tension and pressure.

To adhere to the Rav, to the Elyon (Upper), doesn’t indicate adherence to some particular person. The Elyon is not a person; rather, it’s a concept because within this person the connection is attracted towards what is higher. Therefore I must clarify:

• Why was he chosen to be the Elyon with regard to me?
• What exactly does this term “Elyon” to which I must adhere mean?
• And how, through this external form of adherence, by which I adhere to the Elyon, will I attain internal adherence with Him?

[128907]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/27/14, Topic of Lesson: “Teacher”

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Question: We know that to be connected to the Rav (teacher) is possible only through attainment of equivalence of form, the same desire. But often when the Rav turns to us with some task, suddenly it’s clear that the person is not ready to carry it out because this is against his understanding and inner convictions. It turns out that that he has a million things that are more important, and with this he misses this opportunity to connect with his teacher. How can the group give a person the power to grasp this opportunity immediately and transform it into a link, making his desire similar to the desire of the Rav?

Answer: In fact, the desire of the Rav is the desire of the group. It’s that desire that must be in the group but cannot yet has not be reached; this becomes the desire of the Rav.

The Rav doesn’t have his own desire. Where could he take a desire from with which to approach the group, the students, the lesson, everything? He takes the general desire of the group and according to this, he acts and behaves. This is not the desire that is in the group at the moment; rather it’s that desire which must be in the group. And therefore he is their guide.

The group is in a state of “-1,” and the Rav directs it towards a state of “+1” so they will know what direction they should proceed. This is the role of the guide on the spiritual path. His role is not to show the students where he himself is or where the Creator is; rather, he must show them their future state, the next step. Therefore a Rav must feel the corrected state the group must attain and show the students how it should be. And also, he must show them what should be done in order to reach that state. This is the role of the guide.

The Rav demonstrates your best future state for you and nothing more. Therefore you must agree with him, surrender yourself, work for him, and help him because he is showing you your future form: If want it, accept it; if don’t want it, then there is no reason to study in vain, so leave.

The students will never see or know the desires of the Rav himself. Rather all of his behavior in regard to the students and the group is determined by their future level, their next closest step, like hands extended to an infant that teach him to walk step after step. This concept, this principle, is called a Rav, a spiritual teacher, who is a little higher than the students. If he were to turn to them from a height of two levels, then there would no longer be a connection among them and this would not bring them benefit.
[128902]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/27/14, Topic of Lesson: “Teacher”

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From the The Book of Zohar, “The Donkey Driver,” Item 109: All the righteous stand in the lower Garden of Eden, clothed in precious adornments, similar in quality and form to those which they wore in this world, meaning in the same form as people in this world and according to man’s actions in this world. They stand there and fly away through the air, ascend to the Assembly in the Supernal Garden of Eden, fly there and bathe in the dew of the pure river of Apharsemon (persimmon), then come down and fly below in the lower Garden of Eden.

Question: Up to now I have not understood what the benefit of reading from The Book of Zohar is, I perceive it as abstract and it doesn’t awaken any emotion in me and my thoughts about the connection between us are not at all connected to what we are reading.

Answer: Suppose that I checked the temperature and found out that my body requires more heat, otherwise it will get cold and will not be ready to maintain normal metabolism. In order to warm my body they suggest that I light an oven. The oven requires heating material, etc. What is the connection between cutting down trees or laying a gas pipeline and the metabolism of my body? If we ask a little child, he will tell you that it’s not necessary to cut down trees or drill and produce oil. Who needs that black liquid?

The fact is that you are like that child and you don’t see the connection between things. But the Kabbalist sages say that there is definitely a link between what we read in The Zohar and the connection between us. In the example of the fuel, there is a direct connection since they are involved only with external causes. And here this is talking about your soul that you want to correct. The Book talks about the most internal phenomena that are taking place within it.

When you on the lowest level, you make some efforts just to sit in the lesson and listen to my voice that you hate at the moment. You want to sleep and instead of this you must sit and listen to all of these explanations that you don’t understand. But if you invest the smallest effort, obligating yourself to read and to listen, then what you read and hear is happening inside of you. But these phenomena are happening in the highest states and levels connected to the world of Infinity.

From you to the world of Infinity there is a thread, a conduit through which you get some kind of energy. The moment when you show at least a small awakening from below, not sleeping in the classroom, you don’t sleep for the entire lesson, rather you try to hear to some degree, and then this transfer is already beginning to work. And all of the levels are in it, including those about which we read in The Book of Zohar, but they are very high. And they are activated by your small desire that you can awaken now.

Suppose that you are ready to look with only “half an eye,” from half of a dream and your brain is 99% asleep. But this is not important, for in spite of all this, you awaken the desire and the conduit begins to work. Even though this conduit is sealed, at least something is passing through it. And thanks to that small amount that passes, all of the levels about which you are reading in The Book of Zohar begin to work. You look at us with quarter of your eye open and are connected to the reading with one percent of your mind; this is not important, for on the higher levels there is a Light that is much stronger and the greatest desire. And you activate them and obligate them to work.

So I am ready to tolerate those who are just about asleep in the lesson because they still have some small desire. And in the meantime they are not aware that they are activating all of the high levels that are described in The Book of Zohar.
[128624]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/25/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Question: If a Kabbalist lives in two worlds, in the physical world and in the spiritual world, then how are the physical and spiritual divided within him? Does the physical influence the decisions and behavior of a Kabbalist?

Answer: According to my experience I can say that it’s impossible to understand this from the outside. A person doesn’t see anyone outside of himself. He always sees everything through his eyes, through his brain, through his desire to receive, through his heart. And therefore he never sees another person as he is, rather only through his filter.

All the more so when he looks at his Rav, he cannot decipher where the spirituality and the physicality are here. He doesn’t know the percentage that the physical enters into the spiritual with his Rav . The lower cannot make these calculations regarding the higher.

Understanding is possible only if you have an internal “judicial” system within you identical to that which is in the higher. But if you don’t have that system, then how can you judge someone? So this is impossible.

It’s even impossible to achieve this with yourself, all the more so someone else; this is something completely unknown. We see only the images that are portrayed within us. Therefore we need to go with faith above reason with regard to every person, and certainly with regard to the Rav. WITH regard to the Rav there is a relationship on a much higher level because in this case our ego portrays for us all kinds of decisions, actions, and thoughts that always transform everything in our favor and make life easier for us.

Therefore, I don’t see any other possibility beside following the Rav with eyes shut and doing everything possible, as it is said, (Ecclesiastes 9:10) “Whatever your hand attains to do [as long as you are] with your strength, do.” And it’s also the same thing regarding a friend, for in this way we hold the friend as higher, like a Rav.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/27/14, Topic of Lesson: “Teacher”

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Question: What delights the Creator more: holding a workshop with friends or reading The Book of Zohar together?

Answer: In the workshop, together with the friends, we clarify in our mind and heart our deficiencies and our vessels. We awaken and activate them, so we have to discuss, feel, and turn them around in different directions. So the workshop is good and beneficial for our inner work. During the half-hour workshop, a person has many thoughts and he delves into himself trying things one way or another, knowing and not knowing. A workshop is the preparation of our vessel, our desire, as if we dig into ourselves, clarifying what we have inside, what happens to us in there.

But while reading The Book of Zohar, we have to feel a deficiency, on the one hand, and wholeness on the other hand. During this time we are in the source of the Light of Infinity, and through our connection with it, we have to feel that we are whole. But at the same time, we have to feel a deficiency because we haven’t managed to use the Infinite Light correctly. This means that we should feel these two things at the same time.

In order to discover all the Light of The Zohar, we have to go through all the phases: Ibur (conception), Yenika (suckling), Mochin (maturity), and the whole ladder of spiritual levels; only then will we be able to understand what The Zohar says. The authors of The Zohar attained all the 125 levels and it is from this height that they wrote The Book. They didn’t write it from the first, second, third, fiftieth, or seventieth level while they were advancing towards the 125^th level. First they attained all the 125 levels, and only then did they write everything from this height.

Even when they write about levels that are lower than the 125^th level, they look at them and write about them from the height of the 125^th level. It is like a schoolteacher who teaches a first grader what 1+1+ 2 is. There is a great difference between the way he understands this and the way he explains it to his student. First, they ascended to the 125^th level and then they wrote about the lower levels.

So even while reading articles that refer to the impure forces (Klipot) or the lowest level, we still receive the Light of Infinity through them. This is actually the height from which they wrote The Book of Zohar. So it doesn’t matter if we study a short passage on a lower level.
[128617]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/25/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Question: What is the order of actions in acquiring new deficiencies?

Answer: First we have to organize a group and to see that we have created a certain system in it. Then we begin to learn how to come out of the group to the public. In the group we are connected according to an internal idea, by our desire to discover the Creator. We learn this system from Kabbalah books and discover what deficiencies we should have, what exactly we will feel when we discover the Creator, the upper force, and what we will see and understand.

We learn what the revelation of the Creator means; what the Light of NRNHY and the vessels of Keter, Hochma, Bina, Zeir Anpin, and Malchut are; what the levels of the upper and lower are; and the phases of Ibur (conception), Yenika (suckling) and Mochin (mind) are. Thus we prepare ourselves for the revelation, receive the knowledge of how to draw the Light that Reforms, and also develop our feelings in order to yearn for the Light that Reforms, for correction. This is how we work in the group.

But if we want to expand our deficiency because we see that it’s not enough, we can’t remain inside the group only. We can study and “stew” this way among us for another ten or twenty years and nothing will change. This is the reason that the Creator opens up the external vessels for us and so we go out to them. We begin to study the method of integral education, workshops, games, roundtables, etc., and then we go out to the public.

By working with the public, we actually fulfill the spiritual system that connects the three levels: the lower, the upper and the upper upper, and then we understand better what we do. We incorporate in the desires of the public and want to succeed. Thus, we feel additional sorrow because we want to bestow upon people and to make them feel better. We feel we are interested in them since we invest our powers in them.

In addition to that, the Creator has arranged different reasons for us to go out to the public. No matter if it’s for corporeal or spiritual reasons, He somehow shows us that we need the public and that it’s our shield and our path to the future. Kabbalists advise us and life also shows us that we have to engage in dissemination. So we should constantly yearn for the expansion of our deficiencies, both in the group and with the public, to deepen them and to clarify what form they should have, and thus we can advance.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/25/14

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Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” Item 65: You already know that there is an inverse relation between Lights and vessels: in the Kelim, the Higher ones grow first (see Item 62), which is why the first were more complete in the practical part than the last. But with the Lights, where the lower ones enter first, the last are more complete than the first.

Question: What is the meaning of the “practical part”? Does it refer to practical Mitzvot (commandments)?

Answer: These are Mitzvot that we fulfill between us on a physical level because our intentions are not yet sufficiently revealed. We don’t have a desire that is deep enough yet.

The same thing is also typical of the evolution of humanity. With time we gradually advance from physical work to mental work, to more delicate areas, whether it’s precise mechanics, nanotechnology, biology, etc.

This is already the work of the heavy vessels, those that have a great Aviut (thickness) of the desire. When you resist it, there is a whole variety of Lights that match the current depths of your ego. You begin to work with the Lights, with the intentions, with the delicate but strong vessels, like with a laser beam instead of manual instruments. Even the thought itself becomes a means that allows us to change the world, and we are already close to it.

Before, when we had a small desire we couldn’t penetrate the inner part of the world and discover all its components. Without a great evil inclination we couldn’t divide, classify, and organize it

There is the practical work and there is the work in our intention: the former is always in GE, while the latter is in AHP. As long as the vessels are pure, on the Aviut level of the root phase, phase one and two, there is an advantage to the actions. In other words, the intention in this state is called an action. It says: “Do everything that is in your power.”

This action isn’t performed manually, but the intention is small. In the meantime it isn’t supported by the great thickness of the desire and isn’t established on top of the resistance. I don’t establish an opposite intention to what is revealed inside me yet.

On the other hand, the real intention rides on top of the strongest desire on the third and fourth level of Aviut. This is where the real ego is concealed, against which I must work. It’s no small thing anymore. When a small child obeys his mother even when he doesn’t want to, it’s one thing, but if you ask a 15-year-old boy who already feels mature enough and overcomes the strongest inner resistance to do so, it’s a totally different thing. This is the difference between an action and an intention, and this has to do with both the Mitzvot of do and don’t do.

Question: So what, in this sense, are the physical actions that we perform in the group: duties, etc.?

Answer: These actions are also considered according to the intention. It says that Mitzvot don’t need an intention, which means the right intention of in order to bestow. But still everything is considered according to the intention, even if it’s egoistic for the time being but goal oriented.

“I want to reach the Creator.”

“What does that mean?”

“I don’t know, to be good.”

“But to be good is in order to bestow.”

“So I want to act in order to bestow!”

The truth is that I have no idea what bestowal is and I only say that I want it, but it’s enough in order to be part of the correction.
[128528]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/27/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Question: How must the group work on its connection in order to adhere to the teacher and not allow external viruses to pull the entire society somewhere to the side?

Answer: The group must learn the method of correction on the spiritual path from the teacher, but realize it in itself. The connection between the friends has to provide everyone with such a power, with such a foundation, that they will also be ready to hold themselves in their place without the teacher. They need the teacher only to be able to advance constantly in the right direction.

But on the level that has already been attained, the group has to be already be in such mutual connection that it creates a stable base so that they don’t need anyone. In the connection between them, they discover the Creator, and in this way they advance.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/27/14, Topic of Lesson: “Teacher”

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Question: Is the inner concern we feel regarding the public’s suffering the right indicator for building the spiritual Kli?

Answer: When we invest our forces in working with the public, we want to succeed for egoistic reasons. Therefore it’s easy for us to continue this work. We invest so much in these people that we already feel them as if they are relatives and we want their success. Therefore dissemination expands our vessels. If we are “cooked” only within the group, ultimately it will degenerate and remain in a static state. We will find it more and more difficult to take steps toward one another and to come closer to each other. This is really what happens.

But if we take care of people, we begin to be concerned for their advancement and success. It’s reasonable that we will advance together with our students, even though each one of them advances according to his level. And when you come from your students to friends, then you already relate to them differently, not like before.

It’s very difficult to reach an immediate and strong connection directly with people who are on the same level with you so as to be like one man with one heart. But only after you are concerned about the people who are on a lower level than you, do you soften and get the feeling of bestowal within your desire to receive, and as a result of this, you will pass to that inclination a desire to bestow toward the friends.
[128566]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/25/14

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After the beginning stages of the right connection with the group, it’s necessary to continue through studying of The Book of Zohar with the same method that the students learned with Rabbi Shimon. They wrote this book themselves, revealed the levels, the spiritual states, and expressed them in writing. Rabbi Shimon taught, Rabbi Abba and Rabbi Elazar explained what he said.

The Ramchal described this in the book, Adir BaMarom: And Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai revealed the secrets of the Torah, and the friends listened to his voice, and they joined with him in this connection, each one answering for his part. That is what Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai wanted, that a book would be written that would include the sayings of all the members of his Yeshiva, and the book would be written about the Torah, for other writings speak about particular ideas, yet The Zohar that is made about the Torah is called the great opening of the entire Torah. And Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai commanded Rabbi Abba to be the writer and arrange all the things that the sages of the Yeshiva said, whenever and wherever they were, everything arranged according to the order in the Torah.

That is also how we must get along in groups in order to study The Book of Zohar, and then its Light will influence us. If we make an effort to be like the students of Rabbi Shimon in order to connect together so that all of us will be like one man with one heart and with love of friends, then the Light will influence us and will give us a greater sense of connection. And within this, we will begin to discover the network of connections between us called a Partzuf of ten Sefirot.

First within these ten Sefirot, the smallest Light will appear, Ohr Nefesh de Nefesh de Nefesh. But this is already a breath, some kind of feeling of the spiritual world. Although I still cannot act independently, I am found and exist in the spiritual world. So we develop the relationships between us more and more; we discover Ruach de Nefesh de Nefesh, and so on.

We begin to understand more and to feel the connection between us. The quality of our Partzuf gradually grows, and the general Light will begin to be clearer and clearer within it, in that it reveals its relationship to the Kli. This is how we reach a feeling for the general program that operates between us and we understand what is happening between us, what is happening in all of reality, in the entire world, and in all the worlds.

All this will be revealed within the ten Sefirot of the connection between us, exactly as the ten students of Rabbi Shimon discovered it when they were connected only within their group. They weren’t connected with the rest of the world at all nevertheless they discovered all of the infinite reality.

In other words, all of the means are in our hands. And in the meantime, the world deteriorates becoming darker and more sinister. It is written about these times that insolence will be multiplied beyond measure and all the problems and all kinds of misfortunes will befall the world. But we must understand that all of this is happening specifically because the Light is approaching our world, and the world must be more and more adapted to the Light. And if it doesn’t accommodate itself to the Light, then instead of Light, it will see Darkness, because it is in properties opposite to the Light. And therefore our obligation is immediately to begin to explain to the world what our best future depends upon. That it’s only through connection between us and thanks to The Book of Zohar that all of us can go out from the exile, from this Darkness.

Therefore, I am happy that we have begun to translate The Book of Zohar into several languages. We hope that this convention will be a good beginning for the acceptance of this gift that we have received: The Book of Zohar, and from here on we will continue with the correction with a much greater power than we have had until now.
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From the World Zohar Week “World Zohar Convention,” Day One 2/5/14, Lesson 2

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