Shamati, Article 159: It means that if Israel are under the dominion of a certain nation, that nation controls them and they cannot retire from their dominion. Thus, they tasted sufficient flavor in that work and could not be redeemed.

So what did the Creator do? “The king of Egypt died,” meaning they had lost this servitude. Thus they could no longer work….

Is it good that Pharaoh died? After all, he brought the children of Israel closer to Holiness by forcing them to fulfill two discernments within them. On the one hand, they had pots full of meat, but on the other hand they were slaves.

If we don’t think about spirituality, then we forget the slavery and don’t feel that we are slaves. You work for your ego and you make good profit. Slavery begins when despite that the pots are full of meat; you feel that you have no spirituality because you don’t attain connection and love, the opportunity to exit the ego.

Slavery is felt only when you have two points of discernments: on the corporeal level everything is fine, but on the spiritual level, there is nothing and there won’t be anything. In this case it is called “slavery,” the domination of matter on the spirit. The Creator hears us only when we connect among us and begin to separate corporeality from spirituality, and see that we have to look for the spiritual point in the connection among us.

This is why we are called “the Children of Israel” and “brothers sitting together,” those who feel themselves as slaves in Egypt who don’t have the power to attain connection. At first everything seemed possible, was good and wonderful. Then the troubles began and we see that in different groups. This is the second stage of the slavery in Egypt, in which the Children of Israel groan from the hard work. They cannot connect, but instead of escaping, they continue to work on connection.

If a person doesn’t leave the group because of that, but continues to hit on that one point, trying to achieve connection, then eventually he despairs and cries out because he lacks the powers. If we are connected, we receive a vessel to discover the Creator, but we can’t create it by ourselves because a person can’t achieve spiritual actions by himself.

Then we groan from this work, which means that we understand that we need the help of the upper force. Only it can correct us and connect us. This groan is already a salvation, the great revelation of “there is none else besides Him,” and that only He can connect us. We have attained the desire to connect by our work when we understand that this is the only thing we need without any tempting corporeal conditions, no matter what they may be.
[74787]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/8/12, Shamati #159

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In Egypt we had plenty of material benefits, everything except one thing: bestowal without any calculation for oneself, which is called the spiritual work in the desert. Man doesn’t strive for this, and it is impossible to strive for this above the constantly growing ego. One has to constantly fight the ego as he connects more and more with others, until they all become a single whole.

“The thing is that, indeed, they were very fond of the work in Egypt.” It was a wonderful consumer society: You worked, earned, and succeeded. Everything was up to you; everything was clear, according to the order, the laws of democracy.

As it says: “…’But they mingled themselves with the nations, and learned their works.'” That is, everything was managed only by the desire to receive at every level, in every appeal. “It means that if Israel are under the dominion of a certain nation…” that is, if the point in the heart, the direction towards bestowal, the spiritual spark, is under the dominion of a person’s ego, then the desire for spirituality only helps the ego develop in different directions. And there is no way to break free from this slavery because a person sees that he can even profit from his aspiration to spirituality.

Thus different altruistic organizations and mystical practices, anything that is a bit above the simple ego and can fill a person, come into being. Such people feel that they are fulfilled, perfect, and elevated, and it seems to them that they don’t lack anything. This is a sign that the point in the heart is under the rule of Pharaoh, and this is why it all looks so good: altruism, mysticism, or New Age. These people don’t suffer and only want to make others like them.

While Israel (those who yearn for the Creator) suffers, works hard, and fights with problems. After all, a person works against the ego that is getting stronger all the time. So on one hand, he has all material benefits, a “pot full of meat” as it was in Egypt, and in spirituality there is nothing: a desert, the dry land, only faith. And so a person is constantly torn between the two points, trying to decide what he should do.

It seems that by leaving Egypt we are separating from it totally. But in spirituality it isn’t so because when you fall, it is as if you fall back. Of course, it isn’t the same state because it is a new degree, and so the troubles begin already in the desert: snakes, scorpions, quarrels, all sorts of problems, and diseases. The ascents and descents come one after the other and are combined in one person.
[74790]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/8/2012, Shamati #159 

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During the preparation for correction the order of the inner work is as follows: Wanting to connect with the friends, I pressure myself and make great efforts. In response, the Light, the force that helps me connect, shines on me. Finally, I complete the connection and immediately the AHP of the higher degree, whose desire to receive is even lower and thicker than mine, is revealed. As a result, I feel that I am in an even greater exile.

So it turns out that the more I try to reach goodness, bestowal, the deeper I sink into evil. However, this immersion into evil is comprised of two parts: On one hand, I still remember the connection that was achieved, the closeness to the friends, and on the other, a new corrupt desire is now revealed to me, even worse than before.

Thus during the period of exile, I grow not in a linear way, but step-by-step. By attaining connection I fall, and not by one degree but by two. It’s because in the beginning I rose to unification (+), then I fell to detachment (-), and so now I feel a double descent (x2). Then everything repeats again and again: I rise and fall even lower.

I always fall not to the previous level of the ego, but from the level I rose to. Therefore, because of every ascent, the next fall is twice as bad. When I rise, I ascend in bestowal, and when I fall, I descend into receiving and into the filth.

Thus a person expands his vessels by building-up the good according to the evil, and thanks to that he advances during the 400 years of exile.

The exile begins when we approach unification in the group. It ends when, having given all our powers to unification, we reach a point when we cannot connect.

During this process we unite and become the people of Israel. It isn’t the same small group that once descended into Egypt because of internal conflicts, like the conflict of Joseph and his brothers, for example. One united nation comes out of Egypt, although it is still impossible to attain Godliness by this unification. At the present state the form of unity is revealed as the control of the desire to receive. Only by our last effort does the escape, the exit from the ego, occur.

In spirituality we also walk on “two legs”: from unity to separation and then to unity again. Pharaoh grows, so does Moses opposite to him, and the Creator is revealed.… All these discernments become greater and greater, and we don’t escape them, but carry on with our work.
[74558]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/5/2012, Writings of Rabash 

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Question: What does it mean when you have to jump into the “Red Sea” in order to escape from “Pharaoh?”

Answer: It is a state of despair when Pharaoh, your ego, pushes you from behind. He doesn’t leave you, he wants to swallow you, to eat you, and you feel that being in it is worse than death.

When the Twin Towers burned in New York, people jumped from the 50th floor. It was meaningless, but a person simply cannot stay in the fire. For him to stay even a second outside the fire seemed like redemption, and so he jumped.

A person feels the same way while escaping from Egypt. You cannot stay in this situation one second longer, and you are ready to jump into the sea, no matter where, for you it is redemption. When you reach this state the sea opens up.

You overcome the splitting point, the breaking point, and there is no way back. You have already reached the decision and by that have totally killed, cut, and broken the connection with your ego.

Question: Has the ego today reached this state, that you can overcome it only together in a group?

Answer: Yes, this is a collective point in the group that is described as Nachshon that jumped into the water first.

It is the point of “Moses,” that is the center of the group, but which changes its role each time, according to the attribute that is revealed in it each moment.

So the point of Nachshon is revealed in the group, when all the group is convinced that unity, closeness, and mutual support, is the most important thing for it.

At the same time, people don’t mind that they are in the dark. What’s important is to get closer, even if they die together. It is more important than being alone in the ego and existing in it in a most comfortable beastly manner. This is all our free will.

Then the sea is split, which means that you simply discover the next level, meaning the jump into the “Red Sea.”

This is the end of the period when you lived under the control of your ego. From this moment onwards you don’t return to it.

You never return to the previous level. If you think you are in a worse situation, it is only because you were given the next level, which isn’t corrected yet.
[74634]
From KabTV’s “Foundations of the Integral Society” 4/1/12

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Question: You are saying that the desires of the masses should be in first place and not our own spiritual aspirations. But today I am worried about my advancement and this is the reason I disseminate. How can I make this internal transition?

Answer: I have to understand that everything that will happen to me depends on others, on the extent to which I bring them closer to the source. To do that, I have to bring them closer to me, and then they will provide me with the right deficiency in order to turn to the Creator. That’s why they are suddenly important to me.

Next I will discover that they are my parts and then I will find out that they, in fact, are the parts of my soul. The need for the “Self” totally disappears: Let it burn, I only want to provide for them, that’s most important. The previous self-consciousness disappears: My upper part belongs to the Creator, my lower part belongs to the created beings, and I am in the middle, in the neutral middle third of Tifferet that exists only in order to connect the two halves. We shouldn’t do anything with it.

Question: So it follows that when we connect with the masses in order to absorb their desires and to serve them, we do the work among us and we receive the answer somewhere from Above. It’s quite a complicated system….

Answer: The system is simple: Above is the plus and below is the minus, and you allow the entrance in the middle and open up the way.

It can be drawn differently, like a fan. On the left there is positive pressure (P+), on the right there is negative pressure (P-), and you determine what will come out. On one hand, there is the nation, on the other hand there is the Light, and in the middle, Bnei Baruch (BB).

This is exactly how nature is built. This system is normal and natural. Let’s draw it in Kabbalistic terms. Above there are Keter and Hochma, in the middle there is Bina divided into GE (Galgalta ve Eynaim) and AHP (Awzen, Hotem, Peh). At the bottom there is ZON (Zeir Anpin and Nukva). At the top until the middle of Bina there is the system of the Creator, at the bottom there are the lower ones, and among them there is Bnei Baruch. It’s all the same: Above there is the plus, below there is the minus, you are in between, and the tap is in your hands.

This is our work. We connect in the group in order to correspond to the Light, and below we build the system of dissemination that conveys the message of love of others and unity. This is how we connect with the people in order to bring contentment to the Creator.
[74641]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/6/12, Writings of Rabash 

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Rabash, Shlavei HaSulam (The Steps of the Ladder), 1985, Article 15: And the more they afflicted them”: “And the shell of Egypt, is the general shell, where the sparks of Holiness fell, that the People of Israel who were in Egypt, had to correct them. Then there must first be such pain and suffering that they can’t leave their control, as it says “and the Children of Israel sighed from the work, and they cried out, and their cry rose to the Lord from the work, and the Lord heard their sigh.

There must be a feeling of exile, there must be such strong suffering and pain that “it is better to die than to live” if I can’t come out of Egypt, if I don’t achieve what I want. My desire has to be so big. Otherwise it isn’t a vessel; it isn’t a place for the revelation of what we are looking for.

At the same time, my crying out should be strong not only in quantity but also in quality. I have to know what I am yearning for in exile, what I want to discover, what is happening to me.

So the exile is the most serious preparation for redemption. In exile I clarify things, by clarifying what exactly I want and in what way. This is the reason why the exile cannot be less than 400 years, according to the four phases we go through when we build our vessel. Only at the end of this process can we come out of exile and really receive what we have prepared. The upper Light has no form and now too it fills everything, but we don’t feel it. We must acquire the four phases, a whole vessel, and then the Light will be revealed.

So it isn’t about 400 years, but actually about four whole phases of building our vessel. The forms we develop in it totally depend on each of us. Of course, we receive the initial spur from Above as it is written: “The Creator puts a person’s hand on the good fate and tells him, take it.” But later on a person’s fate is in his own hands.
[74644]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/6/12, Writings of Rabash

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We are nearing the exodus from exile only when we begin to understand that we are in it. “Exile” symbolizes my perception of everything that I receive in my desire to receive as worthless and unimportant. Everything that is in my ego belongs to “Pharaoh,” and I am allowed to receive only what is necessary.

This doesn’t mean that I have to limit myself in every way, like a monk living in the desert. I simply don’t see anything material as very important, and accept it as necessary for my existence. All my life is devoted to achieving love for the Creator, the general attribute of bestowal, through the connection with others.

If a person has such an internal necessity and he is included in the group, he begins to aim himself correctly, which means to hate everything he receives in his ego, trying to be satisfied with what is essential. At the same time Pharaoh bribes him and gives him everything. This means that he builds beautiful cities for his ego, Pithom and Ramses.

He feels that in relation to the intention of in order to bestow in which he wants to be in his thoughts and heart, he is in exile, because he has no powers to bestow. Then he feels that he has complaints towards the Creator, for not helping him come out of exile, which means that He doesn’t let him be the one who bestows.

But in the meantime a person’s desire is very small and he has to go through 400 years in exile. This means that he has to raise his desire until he will really want to bestow.

All our work in the exile in Egypt is in a group in which everyone grows stronger and receives from others the greatness of the goal, the pure bestowal, and the nothingness and meanness of his preset state in which it is impossible to achieve mutual bestowal. From a spiritual point of view, this is very bad.

So a person begins to perceive the term “exile” correctly: exile refers to bestowal, the ability to bestow, and so he really feels that he is in exile in Egypt. Until he reaches a state in which he cannot bear it any more. Then the “ten plagues of Egypt” begin.

A “plague” or blow symbolizes the fact that you are offered different good corporeal things, but in spirituality you receive nothing, and a person feels this as a blow.

He feels the hardening of the heart, and the corporeal desires keep growing. He has no choice. He understands that the egoistic desire will continue to grow and to confuse him by distracting him and drawing his attention to different corporeal goals, different clarification in the group, so that he will overcome the corporeal ego by the contact with the friends. Only from them can he learn to appreciate the way and the goal of creation more, the greatness of the Creator, and the meanness of the egoistic filling.

One can receive all these values only from the society, from the environment. Then, despite the difficulties and the interruptions, he still adheres to the group above his feelings and his mind because only in it does he find protection and salvation. He understands that otherwise he is lost. He understands that only when he looks above the egoistic desire because from the point of view of the ego the situation could be wonderful and bring knowledge and other benefits.

When he interprets the whole situation correctly, he discovers that he is facing Pharaoh. This stems from many reasons, attributes, and attempts that he accumulates for 400 years in exile in Egypt: the four phases he has been through in each of his desires to receive when he raised the yearning for bestowal above it, which is called “faith above reason.”

Going through these four phases is called “the time of preparation.” And when it is about to end, a strong resistance to the ego is revealed, called the ten plagues of Egypt, darkness. These are final clarifications and revelations that really help a person exit the slavery to his ego.

Thanks to them he grows stronger and finally escapes in the dark, at night, feeling them in his desire to receive with one point that leads him, called “Moses.” Thus he raises his ego and achieves redemption.
[74637]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/5/12, Shamati

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A person decides what to consider the day and what the night: what is good for him and what is bad. Sometimes, he is given awakening, raising of the spirit, great light, and he understands how wonderful it is to enjoy and come closer to spirituality. He calls it day, but in reality, it is light in his egoistic desire. Egoism enjoys, and this is not called spiritual advancement.

Or maybe he feels in the dark, exhausted, but his mind understands that this state is useful for advancement. And although in his desire to enjoy he experiences unpleasant sensations, it is said: “I sleep, but my heart is awake.” The desire to enjoy feels darkness, but the point in the heart—Light. A person understands that this darkness is useful for him, descent precedes ascent, and he needs to prepare even greater desires for this. And the desire comes from darkness.

That is why it all depends on what a person values, what he considers the day and what the night—in his sleeping egoistic heart or in the point in the heart, which is burning and yearning for spirituality.

If a person begins to separate one from the other, then he already has two points, according to which he can aim and direct himself exactly to the goal. One point is his ego. And it is good that egoism does not feel anything good. The darker I feel in my egoism, the greater my desire (Aviut) will be above which the point seeking the goal exists.

The main thing is to separate these two points and all the time hold them correctly against each other, finding out with what I identify myself. Do I choose the direction that leads me to the Creator, although my path lies in the dark, do I consider it good? Then, I can be sure that I move correctly because my egoism is not interested in rushing there, like a thief, running ahead of everybody else and shouting: “Catch the thief!”

My ego does not want darkness, and I rise above ego, above reason, and want my bestowal to be above reception. And this is a good state in which my day and the day of the Creator are the same day.

And if I suffer that I feel bad and have no interest in advancing, it means that I follow my desire to enjoy, my ego. I run there where my egoistic heart, but not the point in the heart, calls me: This is the difference.

We need to try to divide ourselves into two parts: the point in the heart, which faithfully adheres to the goal, to bestowal in any situation, no matter what happens, and the heart itself, which is always eager to receive. Its appetite is growing constantly. Darkness reigns in my heart, and there is a ray of Light in the point in the heart; this means that I directed myself correctly. And I achieve this through the environment, group, external force, which is needed to pull the point in the heart out of the egoistic heart and aim it at the goal.
[74550]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/5/12

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Question: Each time I go to a convention, I feel a kind of heaviness, a burden that pulls us to the ground. You said that this would soon pass and we would feel the unity. How is it possible to get rid of this heaviness? What can help us?

Answer: The only force that can help us against our ego is the importance of the goal, the importance of the group as a means of attaining the goal. But the most important thing is the goal.

If we work on the importance of the goal so that it becomes the most important thing, we won’t feel that the ego disturbs us. We will begin to feel that the ego is a sign of the places within us that we still need to correct. It shows us where you can still make efforts, where you can still correct something.

It’s like a broken car engine: In the place where something is knocking, the valve needs to be adjusted, in the place where something is whistling, the connections need to be fixed, and where it is heating, water needs to be added or something needs to be cleaned.

Your ego works in the same way, showing what is still uncorrected in you. If you advance towards the goal, if you want to direct yourself correctly, you discover the ego as “help against you. ”It pulls you by the legs, and this means that you don’t have enough strength. Here you must add strength and then advance forwards.

If you didn’t have this indicator, you wouldn’t know what you need to correct, just like in the engine or, for example, in our body. The biggest problem in the physiology of the body is the diseases that progress without us feeling it. During this period they don’t even cause pain or any other negative sensations. While if I feel unpleasant sensations, I immediately go to a doctor and stop the disease in the beginning of its development, and not when it already reaches a state where it isn’t possible to cure or to operate it.

That is, we need to relate to the ego correctly and rationally; we have to interact with it and not just annul it: “I don’t want you! I hate you!” No, the ego is support along our way.
[74108] 
From the Vilnius Convention 3/23/12, Lesson 1

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Question: Can the Book of Exodus help us get out of egoism?

Answer: The fact is that any spiritual action must first be reflected in our world. That is why the story of getting out of egoism was first shown in a small group of people, and today it is repeated in the whole world.

No book in the world can help us with that. Only by passing the stages of correction, will we be able to understand and comment on it correctly.

This is a problem because people read it like a historical novel. But I see in it the description of the most serious internal changes in a person, which he must pass through in relation to the group and together with it, finding within himself a force that is called “Moshe” (Moses) from the word “Limshoch” (to pull out). This force pulls the group out of egoism and raises it to the revelation of the Creator.

Moshe is the point of connection that we reveal between us, and which guides us. The upper Force is revealed inside this point.

Thus, we come to Mount Sinai, to the mountain of hatred, around which we stand. It divides us, and we see only hatred in front of us, but we stand around it because we have nowhere to go.

In spite of this hatred, we have to guarantee for each other in our collective mutual guarantee. But if we get stuck in hatred, in egoism, that will be the place of our spiritual death.

Question: But after the exodus from Egypt, there was no state when a whole group got out of egoism. Next, only individuals exited, but not groups. There is no such experience. What should we do?

Answer: You should continue to work. And we are doing it. What is the difference? The work in the group was described then, so it came from there: “Love thy neighbor as thyself,” “from the love of friends to love for the Creator.” That is all described in those sources.

That is why there are no other principles. The spiritual system, the system of all the worlds does not change; it is manifested in the same way just on the lower layers of egoism, which must be corrected. But the laws remain the same.
[74543]
From KabTV’s “Foundations of the Integral Society” 4/1/12

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