Why should we treat each other nicely? We should do it only in order to attain adhesion with the Creator. Why do I come to the group? It’s only for the sake of the Creator.

If I have other reasons, then I am the same as the Communists in Russia who built the society of the future for their own sake. That is why they are still dealing with the consequences to this day. The only way to correct them is by "fire with fire," meaning with the right kind of communism – Kabbalah.

The Creator must be our goal! Otherwise there are horrible blows awaiting us. The example of that is Russia, which had invested gigantic efforts, means, and money, and made it the topic of discussion everywhere: on the radio and television, in kindergartens, schools, songs, plays, and everything else that people did. Everything summoned people to do just one thing: Let’s unite and be friends!

But look at what happened. Man did not accept any of it and everything immediately turned to egoism even though it seemed like good, proper education that taught everyone: Let’s live in peace all together as one family.

If the Creator does not stand at the head of everything, being the source of the Light that changes a person, then what’s the use of empty words? They do not match the real facts!

As a result, it becomes necessary to make a person follow them coercively through punishment, suppression, and force. We have to draw conclusions from this about what is the right education and how it applies down to the smallest details.

The only way to educate anyone is through example. And you don’t just show your personal example because if a child learns how to behave as you do, this will not be inner correction; he will simply imitate you. Tomorrow he will see a bad example and will copy it as well.

On the other hand, if he has corrected himself and understood it, then he is already protected until that level.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/29/10, "Body and Soul"

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Aviut from the side of the Kli is lack of its fulfilment, Hissaron, hunger, or appetite. On the other hand, Aviut that comes from the side of the Light is the realization of the Creator’s importance, the revelation of His greatness.

The Light descends and expands your Kli, making the One who Gives Light appear higher in your eyes. It’s best to advance precisely by virtue of this Aviut.

Suppose someone invites me to their house and wants to treat me to tea and cookies. I don’t see anything special about this. However, if I were to suddenly find out that this person is very important and influential, the visit would acquire a totally different meaning for me! The Prime Minister of Great Britain, Benjamin Disraeli wrote in his memoirs that the Queen once invited him to her palace for tea. Prior to that he had conversed with her many times, but this “cup of tea” meant a lot more to him.

In other words, a person is always impressed by whom he receives from, rather than what he receives. By praising the Creator, you expand your spiritual vessels. You come closer to Him by admitting His importance and greatness. The illumination that comes from Him increases in your eyes and this creates additional Kelim inside you.
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From the lesson on Shamati on 11/19/10

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There is a wonderful opportunity opening up before us. We see from one Convention to the next that none of them is anything like the others. Today we have reached a special state and we are given special help from Above.

From the moment the group formed, we have systematically observed how the Creator advances and safeguards it. Day by day, year by year, we attain greater achievements. Could we really succeed on our own on such a grand, global scale, not knowing any steps we take ahead of time?

Throughout all of history no one has done “what we are doing.” To date no one has yet taken on the corrections that “we are trying to make.” Indeed, we are receiving so much help from Above that I never cease being surprised: How did we merit such wonderful treatment?

We are given the opportunity to carry out enormous spiritual corrections, and even in the material sense to hold truly colossal meetings and conventions that are attended by thousands of people, to translate our own TV channels, to disseminate through the mass media, and to develop educational programs in different languages.

The Creator is preparing us. Everything we have attained thus far was from Him. And now He is helping us to prepare for the Convention that “we are hosting” in order to reveal Him. Let us hope that we will be worthy of it and He will cease being concealed and will become revealed to us.
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From the lesson on Shamati on 11/5/10

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Educating a child means bringing him closer to our world and the spiritual world. Over a short period of time, and particularly between the ages of nine until thirteen, the child has to figure everything out.

Education ends at the age of twelve or thirteen because children naturally stop hearing us. They act and attain on their own, not receiving anything from us. Therefore, we have to give them explanations and truth about what is happening in the world.

If we feed them lies, then it’s like poison that can never be removed from their consciousness. It distorts their worldview and to some extent separates children from reality, replacing it with an illusion.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that we cannot use analogies and legends when educating a child, but their form and boundaries must be clearly defined. It’s one matter if the child understands you are speaking to him metaphorically, and a completely different matter if he thinks that there really is a forest inhabited by animals he only sees in pictures and that these animals are able to talk to each other.

Everything depends on how you present things: In the first case a person becomes acquainted with the real world, whereas in the second, his consciousness and memory are pervaded by false images. Besides, we have to understand that in many regards today’s fairy tales come from ancient faiths and mythologies, when every object was thought to have a soul, an upper force, and a special influence on a person.
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From the Talk on Education 9/29/10

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If I don’t have support from my friends in the group, then I cannot advance spiritually. At the very least I must have passive support from the group to the extent every person is able to provide it.

That’s why the great Kabbalist Rabbi Yossi Ben Kisma was able to be in a small group of students who, like babies, aspired to him, and this was sufficient for him to advance. If he aspired according to his level, and they aspired according to their level, this was enough for him to attract the Light of Infinity through them.

The Light is at absolute rest. It is the same everywhere and everything depends on the person using it. Therefore, there is no difference between a small group of beginners and a large group of advanced students. Everything depends on a person and how much he really aspires to the mutual guarantee. To the degree he puts efforts into the group, he receives what he needs from the Upper Light. Therefore, he advances and helps others to advance as well.
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From the Lesson on 9/17/10, "Mutual Guarantee"

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I use the word "Stimulator" to call the system that we must now build because it comes from the Greek word “Stimulus,” meaning a sharp, pointed stick used to poke donkeys in order to keep them moving. Our “donkey” (“Hamor” in Hebrew) is our egoistic desire (“Homer”) which only understands the language of a “stick.” Yet, instead of driving this “donkey” by painful poking, we want to awaken the human being in us who looks ahead and yearns for the future on his own. We need a stimulus, but a positive one. We need to be driven by “lovesickness,” the desire to attain this state. This should be the only force driving us ahead, instead of corporeal pain pushing us from behind.

We have to invoke just one kind of suffering inside us, the question, “Why haven’t I attained unity with the Creator yet? Why am I not in awe of Him?” The first stage in returning to the Creator is “repentance from fear,” which occurs when I put forth efforts to cultivate an inner sensation of awe regarding the spiritual goal, the Creator, and bestowal, instead of running ahead because I fear painful blows that come after me. That is how I change my motivation or Stimulus.

If I run ahead motivated by the strikes (fears about things in this world or punishment in the world to come) then I am not returning to the Creator. In fact, this is how humanity has advanced naturally for thousands of years, but it isn’t spiritual evolution. It is the evolution of desire where we replace an unpleasant state of existence with a new, hopefully better one.

Yet, returning to the Creator is described as “Tshuva (return of) Hey to Vav,” which means that I invoke my own inner fear of not having the quality of bestowal and love. But what can I do if in actuality I am not concerned about this and feel no fear? Where can I get it? The answer is only from the environment!

If the environment paints a picture for me that makes me realize how horrible my condition is and, at the same time, that there is something incredibly wonderful awaiting me, then I will strive toward it. This is the correct, spiritual stimulus that enables us to advance. This way of advancing is correct because it is voluntary, and we therefore make this entire process an “awakening from below.”

However, if I don’t arrange an environment that instills this yearning for advancement in me making me run because I fear that I haven’t attained this goal yet and terrible misfortunes are following me because of it, I will never move into the next moment! In fact, I won’t move one bit.

That is why we need a “stimulator” and a positive one!

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Before Baal HaSulam there were two methods of correction (or of studying Kabbalah): through the mind (the method of the Ari) and through the heart (the method of Baal Shem Tov). Baal HaSulam took both of these approaches and unified them into the middle, third line, creating an effective, precise, and simple method that is suitable for the modern souls. It is the only means enabling us to attain correction.

The scientific part of Kabbalah is based on the Ari, while the inner work comes from Baal Shem Tov. Baal HaSulam wrote the book, Talmud Eser Sefirot based on The Tree of Life by the Ari, adapting it to our generation. However, if you look at his entire teaching as a complex, then the four compositions Talmud Eser Sefirot, Panim Meirot, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” and “Preface to the Sulam Commentary” are devoted to the "physics" of the Upper World and are based on the teaching of the Ari, while all the other articles are devoted to a person’s inner work and are based on the method of Baal Shem Tov.

The Light of Correction comes to us while studying the "physics" of the Upper World, but it only comes through the group. If the group is not organized correctly, does not study together, and does not desire to unite, then it is impossible to attract the Light. The group is the magnet that attracts the Light that Reforms. And it must have a form that makes it ready for correction. Everyone must expect it!

We must reveal two things: 1.) our evil and lack of unity, 2.) the desirable state, the state of universal connection. We must expect that we will go from the first state to the second state with the help of the force called “the Light that Reforms.” The group is obligated to understand this very clearly since otherwise what kind of Light would you be able to attract? The spiritual vessel or desire must precede the Light.

This is why all of creation was created and why it develops until the very World of Infinity: It is in order to create a need to reveal the Creator in creation. We are not required to reveal the Creator or the Light! We have to reveal the creation! We have to understand that creation was not created in order to remain a point and to live as an animal. Rather, its destiny is to become an independent individual that has freedom of will. Therefore, our desire must always come first (Kli Kodem Le Ohr).

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/9/10, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot”

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Question: What did Baal HaSulam add to the soul’s correction that the ARI began?

Answer: The ARI did not write anything himself. His student Marchu (Chaim Vital) wrote everything and the records were published over the course of three generations after the ARI’s death.

Baal HaSulam explained and systematized all of the Ari’s teaching. Before him, the teaching of the ARI was not arranged in an orderly fashion, and therefore it was impossible to study. That is why many people who began to study the ARI’s teaching gave it up and instead studied the works of the Ramak.

I also studied the Ramak until I discovered Baal HaSulam, and I encountered many Kabbalists who studied the Ramak instead of the ARI because everything is clear and orderly in the Ramak’s books. On the other hand, the ARI’s works were not orderly. Baal HaSulam systematized, detailed, and explained them, and gave them shape: three lines, the First and Second Restriction, the Creator and the creation, the definition of the worlds, Sefirot, Partzufim, NRNHY, KHB, ZON, he created a compilation of graphs of the Upper Worlds – The Book of HaElan.

Even though certain parts are missing which he could have put in order as well (such as Adam HaRishon and the impure worlds of BYA), apparently he did not want to work on this. Without Baal HaSulam, we would not have the teaching of the ARI and it would be impossible to understand the ARI.

When you read other Kabbalists now, you understand them because you are familiar with the works of Baal HaSulam. Without him, you would get confused. No matter what texts you look at, whether books on Hassidut, the Ramak, Agra, or others, you will only be able to understand them because you studied Baal HaSulam.

In addition, without the Rabash’s articles we would not be able to understand what is required of us and what the work of the Creator is. Without these two Kabbalists, Baal HaSulam and Rabash, who supplement one another, we would not have the right approach to the method of correction.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/8/10, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot”

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Today we are celebrating the anniversary of the death of the ARI. We will commemorate this day by joining together in a festive meal; many students around the world will participate as well. We honor this special soul that revealed spiritual redemption for us: the way to come out of the last exile and to achieve the revelation of the Creator. The revelation of the Creator is the revelation of love and bestowal, which connect us all together. And to the extent that we unite, we reveal the Upper Force, a higher, spiritual life within us.

If we talk about the ARI as a person who lived and died, rather than as a soul that exists eternally in spiritual space, then the ARI was a person who threw the end of the rope to us who are existing in this world. By grabbing onto this rope we can begin to ascend to the spiritual world from our present state.

This is why we are so thankful to the ARI and we honor him so much. We want to be as close to him as possible since he represents the desire of the Creator, thanks to which we ascend. Baal HaSulam writes that he did not add a thing to the ARI’s teachings; he merely explained them. Every Kabbalist that came after the ARI helped to develop his teachings a little more since the ARI laid the foundation for the method of correction.

You might ask: “What about Abraham, the father of the nation? Doesn’t the method of correction belong to him?” During the times of Abraham we had not gone through the breaking of the souls and the destruction of the First and the Second Temples; the period of exile had not yet come to an end.

The ARI lived during the very end of the last exile, and from his time and on the “labor pains” of the time of redemption, the need to ascend, began. The ARI took the method of Kabbalah from the time of the Patriarchs and the time of the exile and made it into a method for correction of the souls. That is why he is especially dear to us. Let us hope that we will merit becoming true students of the ARI.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/15/10, Pri Hacham, Igrot (Letters), Letter 39

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Baal HaSulam, Letter #39: Itzhak Cohen, one of the Ari’s students, said that he entered the Ari’s room when he was dying and wept because the students were losing the hope they had during their teacher’s life to see a world full of goodness, wisdom, and the Light of the Creator. The Ari replied, “If there was at least one complete righteous man among you then I would not be taken away from this world before my time.”

The student asked him, “What should we do next?” To which the Ari replied, “Tell the friends on my behalf that from this day on they are not to touch the science I taught you because you did not understand it properly. Therefore, only Chaim Vital will continue to study it quietly and in secret.”

The student exclaimed, “So we don’t have any hope?!” And the Ari replied, “If you merit it, I will come to you and teach you.”

The student objected, “How will you come to teach us if you are already leaving this world?” The Ari replied, “What do you understand of the concealed secrets and paths of my return to you!” With these words, he immediately passed away to enter life in the world to come…

Indeed, this is a sad picture. Everything was arranged from Above so that during the Ari’s death his group of students was not next to him. Just one student was present, Itzhak Cohen. Even Chaim Vital, the leading student of the Ari to whom the Ari transferred the paths of this wisdom, was not present next to his teacher at this time.

Apparently Itzhak Cohen did not possess great attainment at the time since he did not even understand what was happening and asked, “How will you come to teach us!?” This means that he did not yet understand that there is no difference between the worlds, and that the Upper Level is always able to descend and manifest on the lower levels whenever they are ready to accept it!

The Ari tells us, “As soon as you make an effort and are ready, I will make contact with you! As soon as you rise to the spiritual level, we will immediately meet and there you will receive all the fulfillment and help from me!”
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/15/10, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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