Sometimes a person is in such a state that he doesn’t want anything. Nothing attracts him: not unity with the friends, not understanding the Kabbalistic texts, no feeling, and no connection to someone important. He doesn’t think about the inner goals that should be fulfilled during the day in the group and at work. It is as if he is “dead.” It isn’t that he feels that he is “dead,” but that he doesn’t feel himself at all, he is asleep.

What can a person ask for in such a case? He can ask for two things:

• To be a little closer to the group, so that the “currents” that flow through the friends will flow through him too, and will thus shake him and wake him up.
• A basic desire to place himself under the Light so that it will impress him and revive him.

If he has no clear demand that comes from his deficiencies or his impressions, he needs these two factors: One of them operates from the side of the vessel and the other is operated from the side of the Light.

First I want to belong to the friends so that everything that flows through them will flow through me. The main thing here is to be involved in “spiritual matters.” I come, sit down, and listen to what is going on; I just listen on the spiritual level, by opening all my spiritual “openings” to the currents that flow in the group.

Second, I allow the Light to operate on me, to go through me by filling me and by bringing me back to life
[91018]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/23/12, The Zohar

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Question: How can I check whether there is love between friends in the group?

Answer: The love between friends in the group can be checked by how much during the day I am in the awareness of the way, how much the friends, due to our connection and mutual guarantee, take care that none of us falls down, keeping us in constant yearning for the goal, towards the center of the group.

Within such caring for one another and mutual aid, love is revealed.
[90838]

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Baal HaSulam, “Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah),” Items 3-4: Since we were commanded: “Love thy friend as thyself.” The word ‘thyself’ tells us, love your friend to the same extent you love yourself, not one bit less.

In other words, you must constantly and vigilantly satisfy the needs of every person in the Israeli nation, no less than you are always vigilant to satisfy your own needs. … And now go and see if this Mitzvah is in any way feasible.

We are required to study extensively in order to acquire two discernments:

• We have to reach the love of others in its true from, which means that whatever we do, in every desire, in every way, in every moment, we have to look for the method of how to do good unto others, and I do my best to achieve that, just as I do everything in my power now working for myself, trying to do the best for my own good. This “self service” is fulfilled naturally, instinctively, knowingly and by purposeful efforts. But now I have to act in the exact opposite manner: both consciously and subconsciously on the scale of from zero to infinity I have to constantly bestow upon everyone.

• Can I do that? Is there anything that is more antagonistic and hateful to me? How can I live with that, with such a commandment that the Torah tells us about?

We have gotten used to nice words; we teach our children to be kind; that’s true. If I want to be respected, that people will endorse me, I have to speak accordingly. Everyone agrees that the “love of others” is right, but no one seriously intends to fulfill it. Besides, no one has checked whether it is actually possible.

So we have to try to actually fulfill this. Then we will see the truth, we will reach the deepest point of clarification: It turns out that our nature is opposite from this demand. The two types of nature, in order to receive and in order to bestow, are placed one opposite the other and we are in between. On the one hand, we can’t do anything, and on the other hand, by looking for the way to reach this recognition, we draw the Light that Reforms. We really want bestowal, but we can’t bestow, as it says in the Torah, “and the Children of Israel sighed from the labor.” If internally we face these two discernments, we will find ourselves on the verge of the exodus from Egypt.
[90921]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/22/12, “Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah)”

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Question: What should happen so that I will finally be able to understand something in The Study of the Ten Sefirot?

Answer: In order to understand what The Study of the Ten Sefirot is about, I have to feel these phenomena inside me. They don’t take place somewhere on the moon or in outer space. It isn’t about some external systems. All of reality is inside us, in me, and in me I have to feel all of reality. If I imagine it to myself, I think about how to perceive it and about how I can change it, about how the upper force comes to me and changes me. Thus I divide all of reality into myself and to the source that created me, that designed me, and that influences me, which means the Creator.

In me there is a desire to receive, and in Him there is a desire to bestow. His desire bestows upon my desire, and my desire can evoke His desire in response. Thus we begin to work together like partners.

There is nothing else but that. So it turns out that the friends are inside me. These are the attributes that are closest to me, to the part of the desire that I feel as myself. They make up that part of the desire in me, together with me, from which I can turn to the Creator and manage my fate. I also have to correct all my other desires and add them to this part until I am totally incorporated in the mutual work with the Creator.

This will happen when I receive the right desire for it and want for all of us to constantly feel this. I won’t separate myself from the world externally anymore, thinking that the world is somewhere outside myself, in the form of different countries, nations, and friends; I have to constantly imagine that everything is inside me according to the right perception of reality. Then I will begin to gradually approach that perception.

At the beginning, the world will remain in duality for me and I will see it outside of me, but imagine inside. However, gradually, thanks to the Returning Light, I will start to connect these two approaches into one picture. It won’t be the kind of split like schizophrenia. I will begin to feel the goodness and the indivisible unity of the picture. A person reaches his perception gradually due to obtaining the middle line.
[90915]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/22/12, The Study of the Ten Sefirot

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Question: What does it mean to draw the Light that Reforms?

Answer: When I read The Zohar, I want to see changes inside me, as if a stream of energy enters my internal system, a light, powers, new discernments, new attributes. Something influences me, and I want to feel what it is that influences me and performs changes in me. I want to know this and to feel the flavors and see how these changes take place in me and where inside me I can imagine everything that I read about in The Zohar so that it will not just be imagination, but that I will really feel it in my attributes. This is what I expect, the changes in my desire to receive.

We have to make collective efforts, in mutual help, and then the Light that Reforms will be much stronger than when it influences a single person. Then it is much easier to achieve something. But this is only if a person works with others, in connection with them. By that, he approaches the Light since his desires for the Light are not egoistic any more, but are similar to it in some way.

Of course it is still for himself, but a person tries to resemble the Light in some way and to seemingly become equal to it. This is called a “game.” Of course, I am asking for myself, but to some extent it is like the real and correct attribute of bestowal.

In what way is it similar? Several thousand egoists come together, all of them want to bestow, although deep in their soul everyone wants for himself and disrespects everyone else, but they make collective efforts, as if connecting, as if yearning, as if for the Creator, for bestowal—this “as if” is called a “game.” They “brainwash” each other’s minds as if it is really something great and important. In fact there is nothing real here, but this is what should be done in order to attain the upper level. This is because there is an abyss between the levels, and you cannot be in an upper level before you ascend to it, and in order to ascend you play it.

So we have to connect more strongly and to want to feel that that Light changes us. In the meantime it just changes us, but later our intention will be more accurate, so that it will change us in our connection, in unity, but this will come later. Now at least we have to aim at the influence of the Light.
[90908]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/22/12, The Zohar

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Question: When will it be possible to say that a person is working with “three lines”?

Answer: We have still to arrive at this work, and then we will learn it thoroughly. In its simple, general form, it is possible to say that man simultaneously is able to be found in both a feeling of the greatness of the goal and also in the lowliness of self in that he is acquainted with all of his ego at the same time and also annuls it. All of this connects together, and above all these states, he is in a state of examinations with the Creator, in that he justifies and thanks Him.

But in the meantime, these are just words and one needs to attain the feeling of the phenomenon. And here it is impossible to jump above the levels. It is impossible to reach a sensation through someone else’s words. One needs to slowly “chew” it, so that it will begin to enter us, and we will begin to absorb these states in that we will begin to gradually feel the inner movements. And then, at the end, it will be revealed as a shared feeling of a certain amount of data that in total will be called the “middle line.” We need to make this happen.

This is why we discuss these states in the group, in order to accelerate their approach. Everything depends on that, on how much this goal will constantly be in front of our eyes to that extent we awaken each other, and that it won’t let us rest day or night.

If a person awakens alone, on his own, it isn’t enough. It is said that he received “an awakening from above.” But if he receives an awakening from the group, that is already good. That is exactly what is needed. And when he awakens alone, that is simply a present from above, which isn’t so useful for his advancement.
[90895]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/21/12, Writings of Rabash 

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A long time passes before a person finally begins to not only hear, but also feel and react internally for the need of support and help. And this is not the same support and help that he is used to in our world when he does something and others can help him with it.

The point is the support and help accepted by a person in a group is absolutely necessary for him because he achieves the desired goal not just by the friends’ help, but directly in them. It’s a little different from what we imagine.

A group is that one soul that we have to attain internally. And then we will understand why the Creator brought us all together, each one with his special traits, internally and externally. All of this is calculated and comes from the Reshimot (spiritual genes), which are revealed in such a sequence and connect together, so that precisely in their connection, we can achieve the correction.

There is no other way; the correction is precisely in the mutual connection. Therefore, that final system that existed already from the beginning is being more and more revealed, and we are in some section of its revelation. Therefore, we need to accept the friends as totally essential parts and that without them the connection is impossible in the path set for us. And if not, then as time goes by, it will turn out that someone will disconnect, each one according to his fate.

As long as such an opportunity is given to me, then “I look for my brothers,” and we need to connect with them. And when I begin to connect with them, then I see how much this affair is not simple, to such an extent that it’s revealed to me as the “Egyptian Exile,” egoistic slavery. But this is considered exile only to someone who wants to be connected with others, and then he discovers forces that oppose it.

These are the forces of exile because they disturb us in achieving connection, love, mutual participation, and self-annulment: everything that we consider to be our salvation. If a person is ready to work in such a way, then this is called a discernment of Joseph, the middle line of the Ten Sefirot. And this work is done in faith above reason, meaning in Sefira Yesod and not in Malchut. And when a person begins in such work, then he feels the interferences that come as help against.

Then the work in the right and left lines are revealed to him, until he finally comes to the middle line. Everything exists in one common inclination, which we must actualize.
[90815]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/21/12, Writings of Rabash 

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Question: Yesterday during the seminar, we really felt that we wanted to achieve the goal very much and were completely unable to do so. But then the aftertaste of despair remained: there are no count to these states.

Answer: True. It was what the sons of Israel felt in Egypt, a threat to remain forever under the rule of Pharaoh.

Question: In real life, if a person wants to achieve something, to learn something, he needs to pass the crucial exam. And he comes to the exam in despair because he cannot know everything.

Answer: Our examination is not based on knowledge. The task is not that you give the correct answers, but the fact of what you ask for.

Imagine that I am an examiner. Do not tell me about your positive and negative potential, accumulated during the training. Do not try to soften me with your confusion. You need to act differently here: If you really see that that there is no alternative, then bring the awareness of your own helplessness and the willingness to be changed. No more, just these two things: “I cannot” and “I have to,” and they both must be of equal strength.

So far, you haven’t obtained from the group either the sufficient demand or sufficient frustration. But they are opposite each other and depend on each other: If you do not crave the goal, you will not discover its unattainability. Both poles lack power so far. Yes, both of them have already emerged due to our workshops; however, the matter is how you fill the time between the workshops.

Question: And yet, in this world, there is a date of the exam, which I know in advance.

Answer: The time of the spiritual examination comes when you are able to pass it. Do you want it today? Please. Once you are ready, there is nothing that can prevent you.
[90918]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/22/12, “Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah)”

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Question: What is the state of the exile in Egypt with regard to a person’s work in the group?

Answer: The state of the exile in Egypt doesn’t have to last a long time as it may seem by the way it is described, according to which it lasted 210 years and was supposed to last 400 years. If we advance in a good pace, we can process and clarify it very quickly.

Besides, a person or a group doesn’t have to reveal all the details of the process described in the Torah by getting into all the details of the story. This is impossible since it is a whole sea with different states that will be revealed to the fullest only at the end of correction.

So what we go through is some section of the general state of this exile as it is described with regard to the souls, which is enough for us. We however discover only a certain layer that is suitable for our souls.

So there is no need to panic while reading about the exile in Egypt and to see how every blow described there suits what we go through. Don’t think that all this has to hit one person and that everyone has to go through this on such a scale as our global ego interprets it.

In fact, the exile begins when we really want to connect and feel the interruptions. It is only from that moment that the exile begins. The first “seven years of satiety” end, and the “seven years of hunger” begin. We begin to feel them to some extent. We only have to make some efforts in order to discover the real necessity required in order to receive the Torah.

The evil inclination has to be revealed as an obstacle that stands in our way, as a “help against him,” which we must correct and attach. The necessity to work in the right and the left lines brings us to the revelation of the Creator, to the giving of the Torah, to the middle line.
[90824]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/21/12, Writings of Rabash 

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Question: How can we get over the state of heaviness and fatigue that we find ourselves in lately which makes us fall asleep during the lessons? How can we wake up together and get out f this state as one global group by supporting one another?

Answer: This is the point of the exodus from Egypt, about which we have spoken so much, the point of the receiving of the Torah, the turning point, the birth. We know that a birth is accompanied by labor pains and that it is a dangerous state. At the moment of birth itself we feel the snake’s bite, the discovery of the heart of stone, because there is no other way we can be born.

The exodus from Egypt is called a “spiritual birth.” During that time the evil inclination has to be revealed and these are very dangerous states that keep us under great pressure, since otherwise we will not agree to escape from Egypt.

All these states are not so clear to a person yet. Imagine that it is a good state from which we break through to the spiritual world, to the upper world, that from this state we are born and ascend above the Machsom (barrier), above the border to the upper world. Therefore, it is the most tense state, the most dangerous state that can ever be in a person’s life. This is the state of his birth!

We always see a birth as a miracle, and to the last moment we are not sure whether it will go smoothly, although we have such modern medical equipment and we know about the process. Still, we never know what might happen and it is a very critical point.

The uniqueness of this point is that a person is under terrible pressure, and terrible fear. All his previous life has ended or is about to end. He doesn’t see his future life yet and doesn’t understand it, and it isn’t clear what it symbolizes, since in order to reach it he has to create an opening to the new world.

A person doesn’t understand how he can exist, since he has to “close what is open and open what is blocked,” just as it happens during the corporeal birth.

If we only yearn for the spiritual birth, we have to imagine this state in a very realistic way, as close to our understanding and feeling as possible, to the extent that we are ready to approach this state and to prepare ourselves to it.

The more we prepare ourselves for this state, the more we will advance towards it. This means that we need strong minds, physical strength, and good organization of all activities that enable us to go through the most difficult state that can ever be. All the roads back are blocked and there is nowhere to go ahead! Just like the escape from Egypt, when your path is suddenly blocked by the Red Sea and from behind Pharaoh’s troops are catching up with you and there is nowhere to hide.

There are different allegorical descriptions of the state of the spiritual birth and they all refer to pressure, difficulty, and threat. We have to approach them by ourselves and not to wait for some force to drag us or to push us in this direction. Otherwise we become lax and only look for how to best manage in order to stall. But we have to bring ourselves into these seemingly dangerous states.

If I understand and am conscious of what I do, I understand that it is only dangerous for my ego. It is pressing and unpleasant, but I approach it knowingly and evoke and summon the labor pains, the feeling of suffering, by myself. It turns out that it is another kind of pain, a sweet one.
[90737]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/19/12, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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