Question: Could you please explain all of these forms of connection that The Zohar is describing, or can you give an example? What is the easiest way to visualize them?

Answer: The Zohar describes the forms of connection between the souls: types (lion, ox, eagle, man), Sefirot (Gevurah, Hesed, Tifferet, Yesod), letters (Chaf, Zain, Tav), colors (white, black, red, green), and so forth. When all of a sudden you experience a certain spiritual sensation, this gives you a clear understanding that it is called “the right eye brow,” that another sensation is called “the left eyebrow,” and so on; you feel it.

Suppose I look at person’s face. It evokes various impressions in me: “What a forehead! What eyes!” But they are not a forehead and eyes, but rather, my inner impressions, feelings, a phenomenon in my will to receive pleasure. I am affected in a certain way and it creates an image inside of me. Its name corresponds to the feelings that it evokes in me, but not what it really is.

The same is true in spirituality, only without the image I usually see in this world. Spiritual images exist without my participation. I unveil these forms, forces, impressions, and label them with all kinds of words: “red,” “white,” black,” “bitter,” “sweet,” “sour,” “tall,” “short,” and so on. But all of this exists without a corporeal picture.

In truth, we don’t see the images of our world outside our will to enjoy; we see them inside, just like seeing various combinations of electrical signals on the computer screen which are assembled into a movie. We have to gather all of our desires in similar combinations in order to see that this world, this form of reality that we perceive right now, is, in fact, only imagined. It doesn’t exist on its own; it only exists relative to us because we perceive it that way.

Each of us is a product of the Light’s projection, similar to the forms made by laser projectors. We are all forms, images, depicted by the Light; we just feel as if we exist in some reality, some space. But in truth, there isn’t anything real in these images. It is merely a projection of the forms that appear before me since I am still unable to perceive them in a more internal form.
[31868]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/5/10,  “Introduction of The Book of Zohar,” Article “Yitro (Jethro)”

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Question: How does working with the “wicked” differ from working with the “righteous”?

Answer: First of all, please understand that we are talking about the states a person experiences relative to the Creator. As Baal HaSulam explains in the “Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot,” we need to undergo these states on the path: a complete wicked, an incomplete wicked, one in the middle, an incomplete righteous, and a complete righteous.

How do I measure these states though? Anybody you ask thinks they are at least those in the middle if not complete righteous. In truth, the only criterion of a correct assessment is self-annulment in the group. In our case, the environment is our measuring device. The common Kli (vessel) broke only so that you, by lowering your head before the group, could know where you are and receive strength from the Creator.

After the breaking, your Kli split into multiple parts. The Creator, who was present in it, also split, and is now in all of these parts. They are as the pieces of once whole puzzle that you are assembling according to the program designed Above. Thereby, you are restoring the parts of your soul, along with the parts of the Creator, parcels of Light that are hidden in them.

In this world, in your egoism, you perceive all of this as a physical group. But in truth, it isn’t a group. With time, the group will become a spiritual appellation to you. These are not people who sing songs and wish to unite, but rather in each of them, you discover a part of your Kli and a particle of the Creator planted in it.

Behind the friends’ faces, there is a spiritual environment. Now you clearly realize that the breaking, our current reality, and the friends allow you to engage in spiritual work. When the Creator has no value in your eyes, you feel a sinner, and to gain this value, you appeal to the environment. It contains the Kelim (vessels); the Creator dwells in it; and the Light pours into it and brings this spiritual meaning to you. Thus, everything is in one place: the person and all his parts he sees as alien to him at the moment.

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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/5/11, “What Are the Misfortunes that Come to the Wicked Which Start From the Righteous in Work”

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The descents show me that I will never realize the importance of the Creator alone; I will never come out of my egoism or find the strength within. However, every descent teaches me in its own way, revealing different weaknesses, properties, and degrees in me. Descents are followed by ascents, but at the end, one way or another, I always discover how powerless I am.

At first, I want to satisfy my egoism, which is referred to as discovering the number of angels in the skies. Then I switch over to the Creator, I want to “catch” Him and see the spiritual world. It appears to me as if the door of change needs to open before me and not within me.

Finally, I begin to understand that changes need to happen within me. I catch a thread of an answer to my question: Liberation must come from the outside because alone I am certainly incapable of it.

This work is done through descents and ascents until man comes to the threshold of truth, and then he understands that everything depends on him, on a change in his perception. The Light gives him the strength to do this; this strength cannot be found within. His demand is egoistic, but he lowers his head before the upper force allowing it to change him, agreeing slightly with the fact that everything comes from Above.

On the next degree, man begins to understand that he needs to acquire the property of bestowal instead of the property of reception. His demand is still egoistic, yet it’s a step forward.

Then he works with the environment in order to evoke the Light that lifts him to spiritual wealth. As he works on figuring out the notion of the group, he makes himself dependent on it, hoping that this will benefit him, as it did before.

And then the Light actually reforms a person because he has properly arranged everything. There is only one change that still remains: the intention, the final outcome, who is he trying to benefit?

By turning to the Creator, through the group, with the correct appeal, we shorten the path.
[31837]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/5/11, “What Are the Misfortunes that Come to the Wicked Which Start From the Righteous in Work”

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Question: How can I check whether my intention is really aimed at the Creator? What practical test does the science of Kabbalah have to offer?

Answer: Kabbalah offers something very simple: work in the group, which accelerates your personal development and provides you with a practice ground. Inside the group a person can find the place for the Creator’s revelation, the place to bestow to the Creator. Overall we attain the goal by way of mutual study and unification with friends.

At the same time, no matter what we do, it is important to ascertain that we do not suppress our egoism by trying to run away from bad sensations. After all, a person spends most of his time covering up his ego.

Inside us there is hatred, envy, lust, ambitions, and other attributes of interaction with others. Sometimes these desires are so small that a person does not even discern their evil. Yet, whenever I look at someone, I unconsciously or consciously make a calculation: how much better I am than him, how much I don’t accept him, how much power I have over him, how much I can use him, and so on.

I always have to feel higher than the neighbor in some way. Even if I don’t have anything to criticize, I am still higher.

Thus, if I don’t blur over my egoistic attitude, then at every second I reveal an opportunity to work. Overall my sensations are called "unfounded hatred." My nature dictates that I feel it toward every person. But can I immediately build a good attitude, love above it?

I hate every person for some reason and if I don’t conceal this from myself, then I can work ceaselessly until every situation turns into a means for coming closer to the Creator.
[31951]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/6/11, Writings of Rabash

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We haven’t yet reached a sensation that the entire problem lies in the connection between us. For the time being, each of us wants to "pick the fruit from the tree" by himself.

We have to reach a state of standing at the foot of Mount Sinai in order to understand the hatred which the authors of The Zohar describe. Then, you will uncover that mountain of hatred and begin to correct it.

Until then, it’s only the individual ego of each one without his or her relation to others. It’s not yet the reverse imprint of the Creator. Each person isn’t yet aimed at the connection with the others.

That’s the way babies grow. Up until the age of two or three, a child has no need for the company of other children. He plays with his own toys. It’s only after he is two or three years old that he begins to realize that he can play with someone else, that someone else exists.

We are at exactly the same degree in our development. So far, we don’t want to unite with others; we don’t want to "play" with them yet. No matter how much we talk about it, the result is only words and not a change in our desire.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/4/2011,  “Introduction of The Book of Zohar,” Article “Yitro (Jethro)”

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Question: Without the environment, it is impossible to advance. How do we build the environment when we read The Book of Zohar?

Answer: We build the environment when all of us, together, wish to attain everything we read about in The Zohar in our mutual connection. The Zohar draws various forms for us. What are they? If we become unified, we will obtain a certain form of connection between us. Let’s name it “a rabbit,” for instance. The next form of connection will be labeled as “a cow,” and the next after that will be “a donkey.”

Later, we may come to such a connection that will be called “human” at various stages of development: Ibur, Yenika, Mochin (fetus, breastfeeding, and adulthood), until we reach the level of human. Then the form of connection between us will have a human shape. In other words, it isn’t I, you, or he, but rather a form of our mutual connection, some unifying formula, that will make our image human.

“Human” in spirituality is bestowal. But what is bestowal? What is its form? It is a certain field between us that we will title as human. This field undergoes various states that The Zohar describes as individuals with different hair and eye color, and so forth. All of it speaks about the forms of connection between us. The wisdom of Kabbalah doesn’t discuss anything else; there is nothing else to talk about.

There is nothing to say about the will to receive pleasure (desire) since it simply strives to enjoy. But as individual desires rise above themselves and mutually connect in bestowal in this place of unification, they create the common form that The Zohar is describing. It is that very form of the Creator which you are getting to know.

Therefore, The Zohar explains what specific form of the Creator you are discovering. It is what is named “human” within you, your inner equivalent to the Creator. Do you find him a bit unattractive in his uncorrected state? True, but that is what you are for now. Hence, The Zohar explains what steps you take as you advance.

It always speaks of the connection between the souls: to what degree it is equivalent to bestowal which awakens hatred, caring, and other feelings between them. However, all of it still lies in their mutual connection.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/4/2011,  “Introduction of The Book of Zohar,” Article “Yitro (Jethro)”

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Question: How important is it to participate in the upcoming European Kabbalah convention in Berlin?

Answer: I really hope that everyone who studies with us understands how vital it is for us and all humanity, especially in our present state, that Europe becomes unified in spiritual terms. We are standing at the threshold of very trying events in Europe. I think that everyone is beginning to feel it.

All these sweet hopes to find solutions through the commonwealth market are starting to melt away. Behind it all, we see the manifestations of great hatred and mutual separation and growing protectionism.

Therefore, now is the time to accelerate the circulation of the wisdom of Kabbalah in Europe with our best effort. All our friends who live there must view their own future and the future of the entire humanity in this light.

Otherwise, Europe will start a new fire yet again. It is there that the first two world wars began. It could be the same with the third one. I think that Germany, more than any other country, feels how real and close this threat may be.

Yet, as the wisdom of Kabbalah informs us, everything depends on the unity between people and on achieving balance with nature. All of this can be actualized with the help of the Upper Force if a person desires it so and strives to draw this force. This is what the wisdom of Kabbalah helps to accomplish.

The key lies in the circulation of Kabbalah in all possible forms so that it may reach every person in Europe. We will keep adapting the articles and publishing them on the Internet in all European languages in the most intensive form. There cannot be any more delays since the next year or two will be the turning point for all of humanity.

The world is yet to face great trials. In order to go through them in the right way so that they don’t throw us into an abyss, but rather bounce us upward toward the goal, we need to be armed with the wisdom of Kabbalah. It is all up to you!

Let’s hope that all our students from all over Europe will take part in the convention, even from the most remote places. We are expecting to see everybody. I have a hope that our voice will finally be heard.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/4/2011, “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy”

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The sages said: “One who did not toil on the eve of Shabbat (Saturday), what will he eat on Shabbat?” In our world, time flows on its own. We grow, mature, get old, and die. Time controls everything. The same could be said about other laws governing our life.

We are governed without our participation which makes us the still, vegetative, and animate degrees of evolution. In the drawing, they are marked as number one (1) and colored black. Man arranges his life against “others” or anything outside of himself.

Further on, we start drawing the Light that Reforms by working in the group, thereby receiving a vessel of the soul from it. Then, we turn to the Creator, raise MAN (Mayin Nukvin, Female Waters), and receive help, MAD (Mayin Duchrin, Male Waters), from Him.

Finally, after all the events, troubles, thoughts, and desires in us and the world, we begin to realize that they come from the Creator, the singular Cause. This Cause sends them to us through “another” so that by rising above him, we could establish a connection and make decisions with the Creator.

Thus, we move onto the second type of governance and rise above the reason by which we had lived before. We work against our intelligence and desire and justify the Upper Governance since we realize that all its actions are designated to elevate us to adhesion with the Creator. In that case, all things unpleasant for our egoism help us ascend and build an attitude to the Creator above reason.

We do this work during the “week,” in all the properties of the soul. By the sixth day, we reach Yesod which includes all the previous stages, and we feel how the others and the Creator merge as one whole. Thereby, the third type of governance unfolds.

Finally, on Sabbath (Saturday) eve, we enter the fourth stage. We see for ourselves that the upper governance includes us as well. As a result, when Sabbath comes, we are one with the Creator due to everything that we went through during the week.

Thus, in small seven-day doses, we undergo the total transformation of our soul. Each week becomes the foundation for the next, until we arrive at the final Sabbath (Sabbath Sabbathon).
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/3/2011, “He Who did not Toil on Shabbat Eve, What will He Eat on Shabbat?”

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