Question: How important is for everyone who arrives at the Kharkov Convention to participate in the workshops?

Answer: Everyone without exception must participate! Workshops are more important than lectures! The workshops are the spiritual practice through which a person enters with the help of the group, within it, like in a means of transportation into the spiritual world. He will not arrive anywhere without the workshops. Nowhere! It’s a pity to come to the convention and not participate in the workshop; it just will not work.
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From a Virtual Lesson on Fundamentals of Kabbalah: “Harkov 2012″ 7/8/12

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Question: How is the unity of the vessel of the general soul expressed?

Answer: The vessel itself is the unity. A vessel isn’t seven billion parts, but the connection between them. The connection between me and all the others is my spiritual vessel.

By establishing a relationship with you I restrict my ego and begin to treat you in bestowal and love and discover the Creator in our relationship and thus bring Him contentment. I know that I bring Him contentment by treating you well. It says, “from the love of the created beings to the love of the Creator.”

So I had to choose you and to start loving you although I didn’t want to. I thought that you had nothing to do with me, but I do it only for the goal, which you raise so high that it gives me enough power to begin to fix my relations with you.

When I begin to restrict my ego and to treat you with love, when I do it in order to bring contentment to the Creator, the Creator, the upper force, is revealed in our relationship. But in the meantime He is revealed on the level of the still nature, Nefesh. I begin to feel His presence, which is passive for now. After all, the extent to which I discover Him is up to me.

Then I develop my attitude towards you in order to bring even greater contentment to the Creator and discover in our relationship the Light on the next level, on the vegetative level, Ruach. I begin to feel that I, you, and the Creator are changing and advancing in our relationship. There is a kind of vitality in it, support and mutuality that fills me with life.

There is someone I can mutually cooperate with; I am not facing a wall. Then I continue to develop my relationship with you in order to bring contentment to the Creator on the level of Ruach, to learn this like a flower that lives and dies, that responds to the sunlight, to day and night. I discover that I can revive this love and to feel what weakens or deteriorates it.

Thus I develop my sensitivity and rise to the next level, to the level of the animate. This means that I am already independent to some extent. I don’t just respond to different conditions, I can also move from place to place and give birth to new life. I begin to feel more and more deeply the desire to receive that I have discovered before, and I see I can continue working with it, to change it and to generate new actions and to be independent as the animate level should be. I begin to feel the Creator as the Light of life.

Then I build the relationship until the level of the speaking and attain self-management from the Creator. It’s just like in our world when a child grows up and becomes old enough not to be under his parents’ supervision. In the same way, the more I do that, the more I resemble the Creator and merge with Him. It’s because I begin to perform His part and by that become totally independent. The Creator doesn’t control me; I perform this function by myself.

It all depends on how much we work with our desire to receive. Only in it do we discover all of reality, by penetrating deeper into it and discerning more and more details there. Thus you will suddenly discover the spiritual world in this world. It was here all along, but you simply lacked the sensitivity to see it. Your detector didn’t have enough determination; it didn’t have the desired frequency range to perceive the spiritual world.
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From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/9/12, The Study of the Ten Sefirot 

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Question: What should happen at the convention in Kharkov, Ukraine so that it really becomes our next stage?

Answer: As it is known, there is force in quality and force in quantity.

When we gathered at the convention in the North of Israel, we tried to create this qualitative force, and we succeeded.

It was indeed a very powerful “ball” by intensity, force, and people’s abilities. There were people who study with us seriously and perform minimal, but important conditions necessary to advance towards unity.

The Kharkov convention is intended as a general convention of the entire Russian-speaking area. Of course, our friends from Europe will also arrive, but in general, there will be representatives of Russia and nearby countries, the former Soviet Union. So, unlike the convention in the North of Israel, this convention is for a fairly wide range of participants.

But the combination of that concentration of quality that has been achieved in the North of Israel with the quantity that we hope to reach in Kharkov should give significant results and the next degree.
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From the Virtual Lesson 7/8/12, “Fundamentals of Kabbalah”

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Question: Today people don’t believe one another. Even high government officials steal shamelessly, so how can I believe a friend when he speaks about the Creator’s greatness?

Answer: First, no one is asking you to believe. Second, this is exactly what the descent of the generations was meant for, so that you will actually see that there is nothing else to look for in this world. This actually helps you see things more realistically.

You don’t have to believe the friend’s impression; it will affect you even if you don’t believe it. He doesn’t even need to say anything. You don’t know what motivates him: Belief or attainment, he simply “infects” you with his impression, like a virus. It is not up to you. It makes no difference whether you believe him or are suspicious of him. The main thing is that you are “infected.”

So we need “viruses” of the Creator’s greatness to “spread” among us. Who attains Him? No one. And still, everyone is tense and this determines everything: Why and for what purpose do I operate, what do I have to discover, what’s the use of it, where is the Light that Reforms that will bring me this, etc.; otherwise, it will lead to nothing.

In order to do that we need the shattering among us, so that we won’t understand one another and will truly be able to be impressed by the false yearning of the friends. It is enough to see on the friend’s face that the Creator is great in his eyes in order to be turned on as well. Even if he pulls me by the nose and fools me, it makes no difference, I will still be impressed by him. This is what we need.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/17/12, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”

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Question: Why is it said that I do all the corrections in me?

Answer: I don’t correct myself, but only my attitude and connection. The evil inclination is not in me, but between me and others—in my attitude towards them.

I need to be in a connection with someone in order to figure out whether it is good or bad and requires a change. The first stage is in revealing that this network exists. From this moment onwards, I start moving forward further and further, consciously revealing what needs correction: which relationships and qualities are required now and which qualities will be required later.

So I gradually reveal the whole system of relations between me and others. But then I find out that it was actually a connection with the Creator. These are two stages in the work.

If I can confidently work without any reference to myself, I reveal that the Creator was hiding behind the neighbor. Until that point it isn’t clear, I can steal a little here and there, and do some egoistic calculations. The Creator helps me figure out which calculations are right, and therefore, appears to me in the form of friends or some other more tangible images with which I can mutually work.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/9/12, Writings of Rabash

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Question: Why is the first phase after the root phase the still nature? Why didn’t it all start from another phase?

Answer: Because this the lowest phase that includes everything in it. There are no internal differences in it and so it cannot differentiate anything on the outside. We are speaking about the upper Light only with regard to the created being’s vessels. Therefore, still nature is the first phase in which the created being’s desire receives only the force of restriction that doesn’t allow it to discover more that it discovers now.

The force of restriction operates on the vessels and on the Lights that can be revealed in them. It operates on everything. The question is: What does this force influence? Does it influence the center of the created being or his limits? In other words, on what do I operate by the restriction—on my desire to receive or on the Light?

Of course, I influence my desire. I can never operate the Light.

I restrict the desire to receive and keep it. Thanks to that it doesn’t “jump” on anything. Thus I limit myself in order to receive the Light only in this manner. It is because I know that I don’t have the power for more than that, and so I constantly “keep the limits,” keep my ego in a neutral state.

This is the still phase: The ego is constantly developing, and I constantly keep it on the same level of the still. Actually, it is a great and positive work that takes place in different forms. But by its nature, it belongs to the still level: By myself I put my desire into the regime of the still, where my desire stays the same.

Within this desire I work in relation to the Creator. What can I do? I annul myself inside Him. Thus, I can be in the Creator and adhere to Him, I can be incorporated in Him, which is the attribute of the still level. I don’t allow myself anything except for self-annulment. Imagine that you are inside a great force and you have no other choice and this is the only way you can hold on.

On the other hand, it prepares me for the next level of the vegetative. This is because there are constant changes taking place inside me, which grow according to the five phases of the still level. We may think, so what if instead of a tiny pebble I become a large precious gem? But this isn’t everything yet: The changes I have been through have taught me what it means to grow. The ascent in the phases of the still level has given birth to a mind inside me, since I had the chance to compare things and to get used to the actual fact of instability.

I have restricted the growing pleasure time after time, but at the same time I followed the changes, until I understood that I can really change, and then I moved on the vegetative level.

Thus, we speak about a qualitative development and not about a quantitative development: At the end of the still phase, in its last fourth phase, I already understand from the experience I had that I can change by myself, consciously and purposefully. Then the opportunity to move from the last phase of the still to the phase of the vegetative is born. It is here that its initial point is created by the changes in the desire.

Every such change comes from the Creator in the form of the reviving force. I could never find the preliminary conditions for growing inside me. Therefore the Creator doesn’t just develop me; He inserts His force of creation inside me so that I will resemble Him. As a result of this development, we and the Creator become partners in the creation. His goal is not to increase the desire to receive, by putting it through a series of changes, but rather to teach me His art. What is more He teaches me in a qualitative manner.

Thus, thanks to everything we go through, we attain His actions, according to the rule: “From Your actions we shall know You.”
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/17/12, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”

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Question: If I live in the USA and 100 miles away from a Bnei Baruch group study center and cannot be there every day or even two to three times a week, am I your student, a member of the group, a member of the leading group, and can I come to the unity convention in the North of Israel?

Answer: You must be virtually in the group of those like you, study with them virtually, send Maaser to Bnei Baruch America Treasurer Beth Shillington via the Education Center website, take part in dissemination physically or virtually; in this case, you are my student and a member of your group. If in addition to this, you regularly attend the lessons and meeting of friends, you will be considered a member of the leading group.
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It’s a very simple principle, but it’s very hard to keep it since it constantly disappears. It is said: “There is none else besides Him,” and “His honor fills the land,” but at the same time everyone is asking: “Where is the Creator? Where can we see, feel, and discover Him?”

His revelation is the real goal of our life, although we don’t understand or feel it. It seems as if there are different goals along the way, but it isn’t true. Behind everything that we want, (food, sex, family, money, respect, control, knowledge, spiritual attainment, and eventually everything a person is attracted to) there is a concealed desire for the Light, for the Creator, which includes and brings a person all the fillings.

So even the smallest desire that is evoked in a person, is eventually for the Creator, but it’s concealed from us. I don’t perceive or feel that for which I really yearn. I want to rest, I want to enjoy life with friends and family, but behind all this there is always the Creator.

We are chasing different images and their clothing, but our true yearning is actually only for Him. What should we do so that we won’t be fooled by all these false garments and so that we won’t spend our life searching in empty corners, smashing our heads against the wall, and wasting our time? After all this can take forever and lead to nothing.

The process we go through teaches us that we will never be able to be filled egoistically! All the enticing clothings are false and fake. How can I discover that behind all clothing, even when I want to enjoy the children and the family, tasty food or rest, I am enjoying the Creator? The difference will be felt immediately.

If by receiving pleasure from an ordinary filling I am aware that I am actually enjoying the Creator, my enjoyment will be whole. It’s possible, but we have to enjoy in the same way He does, to neutralize the external clothing and to enjoy in order to bestow upon Him, to repay Him by this pleasure, so that we will enjoy each other mutually. Then the clothing will disappear and instead you will see the pleasure itself in its revealed form that will be revealed in your clothing.

So we have to constantly evoke the truth in the group by reminding each other that we are yearning for the revelation of the Creator, the revelation of the attribute of bestowal, and this is what we actually enjoy and not its clothing. The main thing is the Creator’s honor, which means His greatness, the greatness of the attribute of bestowal that constantly takes care of us.

The Creator has created different false goals and clothing that will constantly draw us until we reach Him. These false clothing attract us to the way of suffering. If these clothing help us receive the clothing of bestowal, the Light of Hassadim, we advance by the way of the Torah, the way of the Light.

We always work vis-à-vis the Creator and we should try to change the clothing: to take upon ourselves the Creator’s clothing in which He conceals Himself and to hide our desire to receive under this clothing. Then we will adhere to the Creator, which means that we will leap over the false clothing. I annul the clothing He conceals Himself with, and it’s as if I get closer to Him rather than to this clothing by dressing my desire to receive with this clothing. Then my intention, my soul, is adhered to the Creator.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/8/12, Writings of Rabash

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Nothing will be solved if we don’t start from the point of our connection. It is the foundation and everything should start from it. It is to this that we add every word, every attribute, everything that we want. It is to this point of connection.

Therefore, we mustn’t activate a single thought before we determine this point. You first must stabilize it within you and start thinking about how to strengthen it, how to expand your control over other attributes, how to turn it into a circle.

This is fulfilled by the environment. If you create this point and work in order to incorporate the friends in it, it expands correctly, and you don’t forget what is really important.

Question: So, why are the states prolonged? Why do we feel heaviness?

Answer: You feel heaviness in your corporeal, egoistic vessels. When you feel better and things are easier, you are happy. On the other hand, if you advanced mutually connected to others, you would feel happy when you feel heaviness.

The question as to why the states are prolonged is an egoistic question. A person who advances doesn’t have such thoughts. He asks himself one thing only: “How can I be sure that in my current state I bestow without any self benefit? I only need a sign that I really am bringing You pleasure, a sign that is totally detached from me. I don’t need any sensations or that things will be easier, I just need to know that I am doing the right thing.” This is bestowal.

Question: What is the sign that I have succeeded?

Answer: It is according to the Light of Hassadim that you receive. It won’t give you anything except the belonging to bestowal. Then, I will understand and feel that the Creator knows nothing about my efforts and my achievements, and neither does anyone else, and I feel even happier about that. It is a sign that I am truly detached from my ego.

Question: How can we fix such an attitude in our hearts?

Answer: You can do that only by the general opinion of the society. We need to know what is “in the air” about bestowal, which is the lack of different, opposing demands. I only need the right direction and the powers to go through it, and the road itself is like a one way road.

Then, by correcting my vessels this way, I ascend to a new level and begin to enjoy in order to bestow. This cannot be described in words. I receive in order to bestow and enjoy, but my pleasure isn’t felt in the ordinary desires, although they are all there.

Question: What is “the general opinion of the group?”

Answer: It is the general tendency that puts bestowal above everything. Everyone must simply know that this is how they should speak about it although they raise the importance of the Creator in the eyes of one another artificially.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/15/12, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”

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Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” p. 39: Now we have shown that the Creator’s desired goal for the Creation He had created is to bestow upon His creatures, so they would know His truthfulness and greatness, and receive all the delight and pleasure He had prepared for them, in the measure described in the verse: “Ephraim my darling son, is he joy of his parents?” (Jeremiah 31, 19). Thus, you clearly find that this purpose does not apply to the still and the great spheres, such as the earth, the moon, or the sun, however luminous they may be, and not to the vegetative or the animate, for they lack the sensation of others, even from among their own species. Therefore, how can the sensation of the Godly and His bestowal apply to them?

Humankind alone, having been prepared with the sensation of others of the same species, who are similar to them, after delving in Torah and Mitzvot, when they invert their will to receive to a will to bestow, and come to equivalence of form with their Maker, they receive all the degrees that have been prepared for them in the Upper Worlds, called NRNHY. By that they become qualified to receive the purpose of the Thought of Creation. After all, the purpose of the creation of all the worlds was for man alone.

Question: The sensation of others is inherent in us, by which, through love for created beings, we can obtain love for the Creator. It turns out that the attitude towards the other is the means that we just use?

Answer: In our world a “means” is what we use along the way and throw away when we reach the goal. If I found a more effective means, I give up the previous one because the main thing for me is the goal.

In spirituality, things are different: Here, the goal is revealed in the means itself, and the means becomes the goal because it is not the I who reaches to the Creator, it is the system that I reveal and put up together by my own effort, by identifying with it like one whole. If I had stayed the way I am, I would have used the means only on the way to the goal. However, the process is different; being included in the means, I obtain the willingness to adhere to the goal.

Thus, the means is sacred for me because I reach the goal not with its help, but within it. I become it. My soul is this, the entire collective system.

It turns out that who I am now is not the real me. The real me does not exist yet because my current “I” came from the Creator, it is His part from above, that does not exist on its own. It represents the force of breaking and is intended to feel itself “cut off,” separated.

This helps me to adhere to the group, and in it, one step higher, I find myself. And here, in this one whole, I find fulfillment: the Creator.

Thus, I cannot reach the Creator by bypassing the means, the group. And besides, I do not throw away the means when I reach the goal. On the contrary, by being cut off from it, I build in it the system in which I discover the life, called the Creator, the reviving inner Force, the “elixir of life.”
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/12/12, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”

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