Question: It is written, “Don’t believe in yourself until you die,” meaning until your egoism dies. How, then, can I be sure that I’ll reach the goal and won’t lose the path?

Answer: I have a spiritual goal and the means to attain it, and I have to hold on to them. I cannot be sure about tomorrow, which is why I have to make a covenant with the group and the Creator today in order to guarantee that I will reach the Upper Goal!

If I can’t manage to stay on the path, then I will fall into the animate existence and will view life from that level. Then the Creator will not take me into consideration at all.

Alternatively, I can bind myself to the group and give myself over to them completely so they will guard me. Then I am tied to the group and I can’t fall, as if I’m on a ship caught in a storm where the sailors tie themselves to the deck so they don’t get washed into the sea by the waves. Every person should see himself as being in such a perilous state.

I have to organize the covenant between us while I am still full of energy and inspiration, while I am in the state of ascent. That’s when I sign the covenant because I understand that later on there might be a time when I won’t be able to justify the spiritual goal. Everything will seem hopeless and bad and I won’t have a doubt that I am right about that.

Therefore, it is written, “Don’t believe in yourself until you die.” If a person doesn’t give himself over to the group so it governs him, then he will be governed by his own egoism and won’t have a chance to break out of it. It’s useless to waste time in vain: Either make the covenant or go back home to sit on the couch.

From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/17/10, Shamati #52

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Yom Kippur, the Day Of Atonement, is a state when the Kli (desire) that we need to correct is revealed. Rabash writes in many articles that a person comes to the Day Of Atonement according to his inner state, which can be revealed without any connection to the onset of the holiday according to the calendar.

Each of us goes through these states in our development, including ascents called Rosh HaShana (the New Year), Yom Kippur (the Day Of Atonement) and others. Yom Kippur is a very elevated state. A great Light has to influence us in order to reveal this degree in us and a whole sequence of actions is required. A person must exert great effort within the group, in our unification, where the breaking once occurred. The place of the breaking is given to us so that we can correct it. Then we will understand what is called correction, what the structure of this place is, and how the Upper Force created and continues to support it. As a result, we discover the Creator.

In order to achieve this, we exert effort according to the main rule of the Torah: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” As Kabbalists advise us, we first actualize it in one or several small groups rather than in all of humanity, since that would be impossible. By trying to realize this rule in the unification between us according to the method of Kabbalists, we go from love for the created beings to love for the Creator and discover to what extent we are not in the quality of love and bestowal.

We are not talking about life in this world and how good or bad we feel. We do not check good and evil according to this, nor do we arrive at The Day Of Atonement in this manner. Only by being in a group, aspiring toward the connection between us, and awakening the Light that Reforms, do I come to see how consumed I am by hatred and rejection with regard to my friends, who are trying to unite in order to reveal the Creator within the group.

I reveal the force of the separation, the force of the breaking in me, and only in regard to this force can I say that I have revealed evil. Then, with this evil, I can come to the Creator and demand correction from Him. The Day Of Atonement then becomes a day of joy because I reveal the ailment of egoism, my own nature that needs to be corrected. I reveal the condition, “I created egoism,” and now I can ask the Creator for the Torah, which is the force to correct it. It is written, “I created egoism and I created the Torah for its correction because the Light in it returns one to the Source” (to the Creator).

First we have to work very hard on the unification between us, and then the Upper Light shines upon us from the level of ELUL (which stands for “I am my Beloved’s and my Beloved is mine”). Then we reach Rosh Hashanah, a state where we desire a new beginning, new changes on the path, unity between us, the birth of a new system or a new human being (Adam) in us. And only after going through all of this do we reach a state where we check all ten of our qualities. On the 10th day after the New Year, which marked the beginning of the new path, we come to the Day Of Atonement.

At that point, on one hand we are truly in a state of complete despair and lack of strength, and on the other hand we experience great joy because we can now finally cry out to the Creator asking Him to help us with the complete confidence that He will help us. We have this confidence because we have already checked ourselves and reached the realization that we all dwell only in evil, unable to do anything about it. But now, by virtue of the connection between us, we have the confidence that the Creator is helping us and is just waiting for this very moment.

Baal HaSulam writes that “There is no happier moment in a person’s life than when he discovers how absolutely powerless he is and loses faith in his own strength since he exerted all the possible efforts that he was able to, but reached nothing. This is because precisely at this moment, during this state, he is ready for a complete and clear prayer to the Creator!” This moment is called the Day Of Atonement. From this moment on, a person can be sure that he will receive the Light of Correction.

From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/15/2010, “Yom Kippur”

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Spiritual Simulator: Questions of the Day

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When we read The Book of Zohar, we try to create a common space where we aspire to connect our points in the heart. This is the meaning of “studying the Torah.” It’s impossible to "study the Torah" without such an intention.

The point in the heart is “Israel.” "Isra-El" translates as “aspiring to the Creator.” Through the study, we want to attain the Torah: the Light that corrects us. Then, we reveal the Creator in the connection between us. In that connection and, accordingly, in revealing the Creator, there are 125 degrees, or 5 worlds, 5 Lights of NaRaNHaY.

Our world is the total lack of connection from which we commence our efforts to unify. The end point of unification between us is called the “World of Infinity.”

This is how the entire system of the common Soul, called Adam Ha Rishon, Shechina, or Malchut of Infinity is revealed. The form of this spiritual vessel (Kli) is called “the Creator” (Kadosh Baruch Hu): the quality of love and bestowal.

Everything exists within this system. The entire science of Kabbalah speaks only of how to reveal the Creator in accordance with the law of equivalence of form, as it is written, “From love of the created beings to love of the Creator.” By uniting together, we create a system between us which matches the Upper Force of bestowal.

This is the picture we must always have in our heads when we read The Book of Zohar. I must always check where I am on this ladder of connection between us, what The Zohar speaks of right now, whether I want to unite with others or I resist, and what is it that’s stopping me. The whole time I think of one thing only: how I (Israel) am connected with the others through a force which unites us (the Torah). Within our correct connection, I reveal the true quality of bestowal: the Creator.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/14/10, The Zohar

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Question: If “there is none else beside Him” and everything is done only by Him, then why am I considered to be a sinner?

Answer: When the evil becomes revealed to me for the first time, this is not yet considered to be my sin. However, if after having discovered an evil desire within, I still plan on using it, now this goes on my account. When this happens for the second time, it is considered to be a sin. It is like repeatedly tasting the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. However, it is only when this happens for the third time that I am considered to be a real sinner. The second time is only the revelation that I exist in evil.

Let’s say, I committed a crime, but this was my very first time. Even courts take this into consideration as extenuating circumstances. I am given a light punishment as a warning to help me never do anything like this again. In other words, I am given the force of correction.

However, when, regardless of the correction that I am given in accordance with the transgression, I still repeat the crime because the criminal desire that awakens in me is even greater than the punishment or fear of a crime, this means that I have really sinned.

When I transgress for the first time, the magnitude of my evil is revealed to me. For now, this is not called a sin. The second time, I reveal how big of a crime against the Creator it is, and I am given a punishment for it that is slightly greater than the sin.

If I now reveal this kind of desire in me for the third time, and the desire is even bigger than before, then this difference is called "the evil inclination" because it is in it that I go against the Creator. This is the force of the Pharaoh within me. Now, this is a real sin. It is there where I need to repent and ask for forgiveness. Now I am undoubtedly a sinner.

The first time is merely the creation of a vessel (the desire). The second time is the evaluation of my sin. While the third time is the true crime, it is only as the result of this crime that the appeal for correction appears.

However, the most important part is that all of this is only possible through the Surrounding Light which comes in the form of a “group” or the connection within which the Creator exists. This means that “Israel (one who strives toward the Creator), Torah (the Light of correction), and the Creator are one."

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/14/10, “Preparation for the Reception of Torah”

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Question: Where do you get the energy for your inner work if you always have to keep the Creator concealed?

Answer: The energy comes from the Creator through the group. There is no other source of energy besides Him, and the group is the channel for it.

In the group, the energy or Light is expressed as a result of unity or similarity to the Creator. The Creator is present inside the unity of friends.

If you organize your work correctly, then you will understand that the Creator and the group are the same thing. The group is the model that enables you to reveal the inner force contained in it, called the Creator.

There is a source of energy, but you have to plug into it. The energy can only be consumed by a contactor (a socket) that is similar and opposite. The force of the energy’s flow depends on the thickness of contact in the group.

Through the group, I receive examples from the Creator. I start to see the group and its structure as the system of the worlds. Inside it I reveal the connections of the souls in the Upper Worlds.

The inner force of the group, which enlivens and sustains it is the Creator, the Upper Light.

From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/15/10, “What is the Advantage that There is in Work Which is More than the  Reward”

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Spiritual Simulator: Questions of the Day

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How, during the Ten Days of Repentance (Selichot), between the New Year (Rosh Hashanah) and the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), can we see ourselves as the completely wicked? A “completely wicked” will surely attain repentance, Selichot. But we can feel as such only if the Light comes and exposes our true nature.

We are already the completely wicked, except that we don’t recognize it for there isn’t enough Light. In other words, to become the wicked, we don’t have to commit any transgressions since we are already in them. We just lack awareness of our evil. There isn’t anything we haven’t done in our egoism: stole, killed, and gossiped, but we didn’t realize it was a sin. And indeed, this isn’t the sin that the Torah is talking about and what the Creator implies.

To prepare to repent means to try to unite and through our unity draw the Light that Reforms. Then, we will unfold our sin, our unwillingness to be one. The only sin there is lies in the rejection of oneness. In fact, a person would do anything, even die, rather than unite with the others!

And when a person realizes that there is nothing more important than this but that he has no desire for it, he is ready to repent. We lack only awareness of our evil to be able to cry out and ask for the strength to unite, for the force of love and correction.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/14/10, “Preparation for the Reception of Torah”

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Spiritual Simulator: Questions of the Day

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The key is to reveal the first point of the soul: the property of mutual guarantee. This is similar to the state of  a body awakening from unconsciousness. That is the state the broken soul exists in. Such awakening of the soul may occur only when it is impacted by the Upper Light (Ohr Makif, the Surrounding Light) and is filled with the Upper Light (Ohr Pnimi, the Inner Light).

There are questions concerning our world: What is the secret of life of the material body, and where does life come from? We could collect and connect all the necessary body tissues in a laboratory, but how do we light the spark of life in it so it may live? The source of life is not in our hands; we only manipulate the body while it is alive.

But where in the bodily tissues does life reside, the force that makes the body alive? We cannot create vegetative matter from still matter, nor can we make animals from plants, and humans from animals. That is because the life force expands from its concealed plane.

This life force can be revealed in mutual guarantee as the inner force of our oneness, if we desire to annul alienation between us and attract the force of the Creator. This life force is regarded as “the Creator.” When it becomes revealed to us, we start to understand to what extent all our previous existence has been just an outermost wrapper on this force.

From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/12/10, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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