We are created from the material of “the desire to enjoy.” Therefore, we need energy in the form of “pleasure” in order to perform any physical or mental action. In other words, nothing moves in our world without an egoistic stimulus. Consciously or unconsciously, we weigh everything in our “desire to enjoy,” and in the assessments of this desire each thing acquires “its own” qualities: color, weight, height, and distance.

In order to be successful in this world, we need to have the right scale of values, or in other words, the right set-up of “the desire to enjoy.” And this is what we teach our children: to strive for the good things and to avoid the harmful things. To distance oneself from evil means not to have the energy to work for it.

However, there is no motivation in our “desire to enjoy” for reaching the spiritual, “the desire to bestow”! After all, the spiritual world is opposite to me; it is the desire to bestow rather than to receive pleasure. This attribute doesn’t exist in me at all. Therefore, I do not feel the spiritual world. I can “see” only what I evaluate in “the desire to enjoy” as more or less valuable, determining it as something close and important to me or distant and insignificant.

In spirituality, “the quality to bestow,” all the criteria, thoughts, and actions are based only on bestowal. Yet my “desire to enjoy” does not understand what that is. Bestowal passes through me like an invisible illumination, which I do not sense in any way. Whole worlds and actions are performed beside me, and I do not notice them in my “desire to enjoy” just like an animal doesn’t understand the sensations of a human being.

What can I do if I am created this way? All the worlds and most importantly the One who controls me, the Creator Himself, remain unnoticed by me! In order to feel them, I need to begin to value “the quality of bestowal.”

This is why we are given the environment: the books, the teacher, and the friends so that they will instill the importance of bestowal into me. Although I personally don’t think so, they tell me this, and their opinion is important to me. I am created to absorb the influence of the environment, and what is important to the people that surround me becomes important to me.

Thus, even bestowal, which is of no value to me, begins to be important if everyone talks about it. It becomes important in my “desire to enjoy” as a good acquisition. I am willing to exert effort to attract the Upper Light which brings me “the desire to bestow” because this is important to my “desire to enjoy.” In Kabbalah this is called spiritual work for oneself, Lo Lishma.

However, the Upper Light that I draw changes me and replaces “the desire to enjoy” with “the desire to give enjoyment” (from Lo Lishma to Lishma). I then enter the perception of the Upper World.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/30/10, Shamati #15

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The main requirement for a person is the proper reaction when the Creator addresses him. The Creator is primary. The Creator always begins. A person is the consequence, the reaction to the Creator’s influence on the desire. I am a reaction of the desire to the Light’s influence on it. The Upper Light comes to us from Above through the four stages 1-2-3-4, HaVaYaH (Yod-Hey-Vav-Hey). The created being has no other connection to the Creator.

Therefore, we should try to react properly to the Creator’s appeal to us; that is, to our perception of ourselves and the world at every given moment. We should recognize a constant dialogue with the Creator in our existence. He created a connection between the initial point of addressing us, the tip of the letter “Yod” (Kutso Shel Yod) and the last letter of HaVaYaH – “Hey,” in which we and our world are situated.

The connection between the initial point of the letter “Yod” and the last “Hey” can include all five worlds, 125 degrees, and then we do not feel a connection with the Creator. The connection is revealed immediately as we ascend to the first degree, number 125, Malchut of the World of Assiya. And then follow the degrees 124, 123, and so on, until we ascend to the World of Infinity, the uppermost degree.

And all this is within HaVaYaH, between the beginning of the letter “Yod” and the last “Hey.” This HaVaYaH (my connection with the Creator) starts to become more and more clear to me, as though the fog (the concealment) clears.

I achieve revelation of the connection, by continuously directing myself to the Creator in response to His influences on me, trying to connect everything to Him, according to the principle “There is none else besides Him.” How can one react in the most proper and effective manner? The most effective reaction, directed precisely at the Creator in any circumstance, is to try to carry out a common action of “appealing to the Creator” together with the friends.

However, the appeal is only effective if it is directed back through the HaVaYaH. This is achieved by reading authentic Kabbalistic sources. When you read about what happens in the HaVaYaH, you direct Malchut to Keter; that is, you direct your unification to the source.

To the extent that we unite, we exist in Malchut. This is only if we come together. And as we read The Book of Zohar all together, we desire to launch the HaVaYaH back through the reflected Light to its beginning, the letter “Yod.” After all, Kabbalah books only tell us about the connection between Keter, “Yod,” and Malchut, the lower letter “Hey.” Therefore, when we read without the revelation and understanding of the connections in the HaVaYaH, we rouse this connection onto ourselves and cause this system to be revealed.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/28/10, The Zohar

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Question: If you were to choose from the three different times: the time leading up to a Congress, the time during it, or the time after the congress, which is the most effective time?

Answer: One period is impossible without the others! If I don’t receive great inspiration during a Congress, and if I don’t descend after it, then I will have nothing over which to ascend and no strength to ascend. I am talking about an ascent to the next degree.

Every ascent is based on 1.) receiving the strength from the environment, receiving the greatness of the goal and the Creator during a Congress, 2.) revealing new egoistic desires (descents) right after a Congress, and 3.) making the effort to rise above the desires and finding the strength that we receive, drawing closer together, getting involved in the routine of the work, and preparing for the next Congress as quickly and intensely as possible.

Before a Congress we are constantly preparing ourselves for the forthcoming meeting; we get ready to unite. We prepare to receive an impression from such a great number of people around us during the Congress so that they can influence each of us as much as possible, and so that everyone will be in awe from the impressions they receive. After all, the only freedom of will consists in absorbing the strength from the environment.

The influence of the environment is the only means for a spiritual ascent. The more inspiration I absorb from the others during a Congress, the greater the degree that I can then ascend to by realizing this inspiration. It should become my own, constant sensation of belonging to the common desire (Kli).

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/28/10,"Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot"

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Question: When a person is surrounded by the big group where he is supported and cared for during his downfall, it is great. But what about the others, who are separated and live far away from the nearest Kabbalah group, in spiritually foreign surroundings such as in Europe for instance?

Answer: We think that physical proximity has a positive impact on spirituality, but it isn’t necessarily so. If a person exerts great effort in order to progress and achieve contact wherever he is, he always gains more than when he moves faster and closer to where the others are. It is always more useful to try to connect with the others from a distance for at least six months. We should not focus on the bodies that surround us, but should try to see the spiritual states through them.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/28/10, “Introduction in the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot”

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Question: After experiencing such a great inspiration and unification during the recent Mega Congress, now some friends feel separation and indifference. How can we help them?

Answer: It is a good omen. If a person falls from a high mountain into a deep hole, it shows us that the Congress has come to an end, and we have entered a new state. We can help our friends in two ways: through inner and external care.

Within ourselves, we should continue feeling that we are one common Kli, a spiritual vessel, no matter what. Those who descend expose a new layer of egoistic desire in themselves, which is revealed now in our common world Kli. They are the carriers of this new desire (a greater thickness, Aviut).

On the other hand, those of us who do not feel this heaviness of the desire wish to ascend together with them even higher, in a single embrace. Then we all will win. We will bring the screen and the Reflected Light, and they will bring the intensity of the desire (Aviut), and together we will create a ready Kli, with which we will be able to ascend.

Therefore, particularly now, when the Congress has already ended, we can make a considerable step forward. The time of a common meeting simply tallies up our whole previous work, and now, after the Congress, the next stage in unification begins. In this stage each person should desire to raise everyone else.

This is what happens in the common spiritual vessel: One supplies the desire, another supplies the screen, and then they switch places. In this manner movement occurs. This is a very good and beneficial period, and under no circumstances should we view this time as dead and await the next Congress! On the contrary, all the work and advancement consists in this time as we rise above the interferences.

The Congress itself is unification, and no work is required there. A common inspiration of all the participants and annulment of each person before the others are in effect there. At Congresses we receive the strength precisely for the periods of ascent between congresses.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/28/10, “Introduction in the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot”

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The Zohar, Chapter “Lech Lecha (Go Forth),” Item 153: NR are not two separate degrees from one another. Rather, they are one degree, and they are two that are conjoined. And there is one that is superior who governs them and clings to them, and they to her. And she is called Neshama.

The Zohar tells us how, after achieving the first spiritual contact, we intensify this connection and see the subsequent manifestations of spirituality in it. Then we feel not only the first degree of unification called Nefesh (N), a state of rest (Nefisha), and the ability to maintain ourselves in this connection, but also the common great life, which is revealed from within the point of our first contact as another higher, deeper dimension called Ruach (R).

If we do not reach the first contact, the place of our unification, we will not reveal the entrance to the upper dimension (the quality of bestowal). Yet, when we establish this contact among us, the Upper Light begins to affect it. It reveals it, and we enter a completely different dimension through it: the spiritual world.

Everything that happens within this connection is called the spiritual world. First it seems to us that attaining this universal connection between people promises us a good life, safety, and pleasant sensations. However, that is not all! Within this common point, an entrance into the spiritual world is revealed.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/27/10, The Zohar

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As a consequence of our spiritual work, we should reach a state in which 1) We all desire to reach the same goal and 2) We all are united. However, we unite not because this is our initial state that comes from Above, but because it is our common goal.

In a best case scenario, when we correct something in our world, we return the object to its former state. However, when we correct the broken connections with other souls, we acquire much more than we had prior to the breaking of the common soul. This is due to the fact that we reveal and endow independence to every part outside of ourselves.

Within my egoism, I relate to everyone as though they have no independence and they all should service me. As I begin to love them, I wish to relate to them like every one of them is great, independent, and special. This is also how we want to see our children. Then each of the friends that surrounds me suddenly becomes a possessor of freedom of choice; each of them takes his place and level. And then, when we unite and I adjoin all these friends to myself, it turns out that each of them has grown and become just as great as me.

As a result, I do not re-adjoin the same seven billion parts to myself; rather, seven billion worlds of infinity unite into one. This means that I increase the scope of my spiritual vessel (Kli) by 620 times. However, all this works only in relation to me. After all, everything exists within me and depends only on the extent to which I relate to my friends in the right manner every time. I do it only in order to increase my Kli, to make it worthy of the Creator’s revelation.

Therefore, I see them in a three-fold way:

1. As higher than me, so that they would be great in my eyes,
2. As lower than me, in order to bestow to them,
3. As equal to me, in order to unite with them.

Then I acquire a huge, powerful Kli called my true soul. It becomes several billion times bigger than it was prior to the correction. After all, before the correction, I was in the World of Infinity as one point. Now I return to it with a “620” (Tarach) times greater sensation of perfection and eternity. The difference between these two states is like the difference between a drop of semen and a grown-up person who attains everything.

From Mega Congress Lesson 5, 7/25/10

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Becoming a spiritual embryo means totally annulling oneself before the Upper One. There is a clear analogy in this world: an embryo cannot choose whether or not to eat, while a baby already can. An embryo receives sustenance directly through an umbilical cord, but it has to receive an anti-egoistic screen to be connected with its mother. Being an embryo is tremendous work. It seems to us that a drop of semen simply grew to 7 pounds in order to be born, but that isn’t completely correct. It not only gained 7 pounds; it also climbed 125 spiritual degrees, as it is written: “In the mother’s womb a candle burns and enables an embryo to see from one end of the world to the other, and it is taught the entire Torah,” the entire Light of Infinity (NRNHY).

An embryo receives and digests only to the degree that it annuls itself before its mother, and this annulment must take place in every spiritual degree until the End of Correction (Gmar Tikkun). A screen is needed so that it will not interfere with the action of the Upper One and so that it will only annul its own ego. It remains a drop of semen until its birth, as it were, while 7 pounds are formed only by annulling itself.

Until you become a drop of semen, you simply do not exist in spirituality. Annul yourself relative to the very first degree of spirituality, annul all your egoism relative to the point in the heart that you received, and then you will become a drop of spiritual semen and enter the mother’s womb of the Upper Partzuf. There, you will see all your friends; they are waiting for you. You are the only one missing in order for the spiritual embryo to start growing and evolving! You cannot do it alone because you have to unite with the others inside one Mother.

From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/9/10, The Study of the Ten Sefirot

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Question: How do I check my intention so that I am not lying to myself and I am doing everything possible for my advancement?

Answer: When a person begins his spiritual development, he only has an intention “for myself.” Only under the influence of an invisible Upper Light does he begin to feel a change in himself in that his intention becomes “for the sake of others.” In order for this to happen, a person needs to perform the actions that he is capable of performing, namely to 1) Unite in the group to the point of reaching a state of a mutual guarantee, as one man with one heart, and 2) Study Kabbalah together.

Kabbalists advise us to perform these two actions. This is called “half a shekel” which we need to put in. The other half will be given by the Creator.

We should invest, invest, and invest in the studies, unification, and dissemination. First, there should be the action, and no one can argue whether it did or did not happen. It is seen clearly, and it is within your power. Make a list of your actions (not necessarily the physical ones) that you have done that have transferred from your desire to the neighbor. You direct your actions to the group or to the Creator. By turning your actions toward them, you invest in them.

This is much like adopting a child where you invest in him, and he becomes closer to you than your own child. You don’t invest as much into your own child since you know that there is a natural connection between you anyway. However, you invest more in an adopted child because you are afraid that your connection is not strong enough. You wish to connect yourself to the child and to have him be connected to you.

Thus, adopted children become more dear to us than our own. This is because there is fear within that he isn’t really mine, and there is more that I could add or do. Maybe I am not treating him right or maybe he won’t treat me like I am his father. We see how important this inner fear is in order to use it as a foundation for revealing love.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/22/10, Article, “You Stand Today, All of You”

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In order to reach love, we first need to achieve fear of the Creator. The first stage that we need to undergo in this process occurs on the level of a simple action, as it is written: “We shall do, and we shall hear!” (“Naase ve Nishma”).

In our world, we worry about our close ones since our well-being depends on them. However, we do not experience this natural concern in regard to the society and the Creator. Thus, we need to exert much effort in order to create the beginning of such fear in us.

We put in a great deal of effort in the group in order to unite. We read and hear a lot about the broken system of connection among us, which was purposely destroyed by the Creator so that we would aspire to recreate it. We try to behave like we love each other, like we need each other. These attempts are, in fact, practical actions despite the fact that it is a game, superficial behavior. But in the beginning we need to “do” and then we will “hear”! To “hear” is the second part that depends on the Upper Light, the Creator.

If we exert a sufficient amount of effort, the Light reveals this opportunity to us: It opens the entrance in our hearts called “the entrance for those who knock at the Creator’s door” (Petach Le Dofkim Bi Tshuva). And then we begin to sense the desire for bestowal, the opening in the heart through which we feel concern for others, like mother Bina does about her children. We become this mother Bina in relation to the whole system of souls with which we need to unite in order to give to them. I adjoin the Creator to myself in order to give to Him also. I bestow and thus become seemingly above Him.

We only lack this trepidation. Once we obtain it, we begin to understand how this attitude evolves into love.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/22/10, Article, “You Stand Today, All of You”

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