Question: If the matter of creation is the receiving desire, what does it mean to bestow in order to bestow? Where is the work with desire?

Answer: The truth of the matter is that the receiving desire itself works for the sake of bestowal. It supports a fellow human being, helps him, and performs various actions in relation to him.

In general, to understand bestowal for the sake of bestowal, it is necessary to understand what reception for the sake of bestowal is. It means that I work with my receiving desires so as to use them to raise a fellow human being and perform the actions of bestowal upon him, similar to how Bina works in its AHP.

I include the receiving desires of the other into my own and fill him with everything he requires. And what he requires is infinity. Then with my help his desires reach an infinite magnitude, while the Lights coming to him through me grow to the infinite size of NRNHY. This is how I work receiving in order to bestow: I make sure to give the other everything necessary, utilizing all of my abilities for this purpose and totally ignoring my own benefit.

However, for this I need the upper force that is not in my nature. My inborn nature lets me perform only actions that promise me personal benefit, whereas the actions of bestowal are totally selfless and do not benefit my receiving desires in any way. This is why I can’t perform them unless I receive the strength from the upper dimension, that of bestowal.

Hence, I incorporate the needs of the other into my desires and then through my desires I fulfill him. In general, we are talking about the desires that relate to our interconnection since the spiritual work is performed at the level of the unity of souls where we fill ourselves with the upper lights.

There is another option: not to engage my receiving desires, but only to transfer all the good from myself to the other, to participate in his fulfillment, but not with my own desires. This is pure bestowal. As a rule, these actions precede mutual bestowal. They correct our unification. Thanks to them we annul our egoism in order to rise above it to unity. And unity itself is activated by the direct use of our receiving desires.

In this way, bestowal for the sake of bestowal is an intermediate, small, weak, “poor” state. But we have no choice: We need to undergo it since we thereby clean our desires and rise above our egoistic qualities. Without it, it is impossible to start working with them. First of all, we have to “cleanse them,” meaning to fill them with the Light of Hassadim (Mercy).
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/23/2011 on The Principles of Global Education
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Question: The people of Israel were afraid to leap into the Red Sea (Yam Suf – Final Sea) until Nachshon decided to do this. It seems that it was not easy to do.

Answer: Indeed it is not easy. We see that difficulties arose in all stages of the spiritual process. There are always those who were ready to turn back. Our ego is so multi-layered that it does not immediately give us the opportunity to escape from it or at least to define it as bad.

It is difficult for a person to nullify himself before others. If I do not act first, it means I would prefer someone else to. Is this a desire for love and unity? At the moment, this has not been clarified yet. And we see that after that the “golden calf” and many other problems were to appear.

Question: What does “Nachshon’s leap” symbolize?

Answer: There is a quality in a person that can go above reason: “Better death than such a life.” So the person leaps into the sea, come what may. Of course this is not our present state. The act called “Nachshon’s leap” requires preparation.

It is required to pass to the next stage, but are we prepared to carry it out? In the meantime, we are far from realizing it, even though this moment is quickly approaching. There is no doubt that we are in the stages of redemption. Peace and perfection are achieved in the connection of hearts. This is our salvation; this must replace the current state of Egypt. Therefore all of our work, study, and dissemination are aimed at connection and unity. Only with the help of connection and a good mutual relationship can we be saved.
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From KabTV’s “Kabbalists Write: The Night of Passover Seder” 3/4/13

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The Torah, “Leviticus,” 23:4 – 23:8: These are the Lord’s appointed [holy days], holy occasions, which you shall designate in their appointed time: In the first month, on the fourteenth of the month, in the afternoon, [you shall sacrifice] the Passover offering to the Lord. And on the fifteenth day of that month is the Festival of Unleavened Cakes to the Lord; you shall eat unleavened cakes for a seven day period. On the first day, there shall be a holy occasion for you; you shall not perform any work of labor. And you shall bring a fire offering to the Lord for a seven day period. On the seventh day, there shall be a holy occasion; you shall not perform any work of labor.

Question: Why is it forbidden to work on the first and last days of Passover?

Answer: It is because we distinguish between two states in the spiritual work: awakening from below and awakening from above.

During the awakening from below we evoke the cooperation between the light and the vessel by our yearning. The light corrects the vessel and gives it the right intention. During the awakening from above, this work is fulfilled from above but only because we have created all the right conditions for it in advance.

We make efforts, and thus create the right conditions for the first and last days of the holiday since the week of Passover has to be closed at its ends by states in which we don’t do anything since the upper light does all the work. The first day of the holiday is the beginning of the exodus from Egypt. The last day is the end of the exodus that seals it.

It is important to say that the nations of the world have different calendars. The Christian calendar is based on the movement of the sun. The Muslim calendar is based on the movement of the moon. While the Jewish calendar takes the movement of the sun, the moon, and the earth into account since the earth is the central object between the sun and the moon.

On one hand we take the year into account, which means the revolution of the earth around the sun, and on the other hand we take the month into account, the revolution of the moon around the earth, and compare the two. Thus the Jewish calendar doesn’t change and so, for example, we can calculate in advance which day of the week will be the first day of Passover in another 35 years.

What is more, based on the comparison between the movement of the sun, the earth, and the moon, we can say that Passover cannot be on certain days of the month. This means that everything is accurately related to the general astrological system.

Question: The Torah refers to holy assemblies several times. Why do we have to gather in Passover?

Answer: Holy assemblies during Passover are the most important thing for the Israeli nation since it is actually thanks to their desire to unite that they need to come out of Egypt.

A person’s union with a group of people, with the society, with the nation, or with the whole world is actually different levels of the exodus from Egypt (from the ego). When we attain the force of unity, a certain tension, this exodus, the detachment from the ego, takes place.

It is always among us, separating us and making us feel repulsed by one another. If we begin to compress and condense it, try to unite and connect to one another, then the exit from the ego begins the moment we first attain unity.

On the first day of Passover (the exodus from Egypt) we begin to tighten this connection. Then we work on it during the week and totally unite on the last day of the exodus from Egypt. From that moment on we are a united nation.

But in the meantime, people don’t understand what they should do, although there is a direction that spurs the desire to escape from the ego, it is merely an animalistic instinct without the proper awareness. People will acquire the recognition when they gather at the foot of Mount Sinai.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 5/28/14

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The measure of the filling is as much as one can go above reason, and this is called Romemut.

There is only emptiness in a place where there is no existence, as it is written, “hangeth the earth over nothing.” You find that what is the measure of the filling, of the empty place? The answer is, according to one’s elevation of oneself above reason.

This means that the emptiness should be filled with loftiness, meaning with above reason, and to ask of the Creator to give one that strength. It will mean that all the emptiness was created, meaning it comes to a person to feel thus, that he is empty, only in order to fill it with the Romemut [greatness] of the Creator. In other words, one is to take everything above reason (Shamati #13, “A Pomegranate”) .

We do not know what faith above reason is. It is a total separation from all of our calculations. I remember how three or four months after I started studying with Rabash, I asked him, “What is faith above reason, since it is written that a person must always be in it?” At that time, I even wrote down on my hand that one mustn’t forget to think about faith above reason, even though I did not know what it was. As I was sitting in the car behind the wheel next to Rabash, I looked at what was written on my hand and asked him: What is the meaning of this concept?

In reply he gave me an example that is, of course, limited by the boundaries of this world: Suppose that a friend borrowed a $1,000 from you and later returned an envelope to you as if it had the entire sum inside. But you find only one dollar inside. Your friend says that there is $1,000 inside, but according to your calculation there is only one. Where are the other $999?

That is when you can advance by faith above reason. That is, you attain such a correction (rather than just forgiving your friend the debt!) that you perceive this dollar as if you received a $1,000 instead of one, as if the friend returned everything to you.

But how do you perceive the $999 that are missing? This is called the force of faith above reason. It is impossible to understand what this means ahead of time. Only when this force becomes revealed inside of us as a result of our inner efforts, inside of our desires, when we change, then we see that we really can make up for the knowledge with faith, and this faith is bestowal instead of reception.

In any case this will remain unclear until a person actually acquires this quality.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/26/11, Shamati

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“The Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah” (Pticha) begins with these words: “The Creator wished to cleanse Israel; hence, He has given them plentiful Torah and Mitzvot (commandments)…” The Creator has a goal and He works toward it. The goal must be achieved through the process that the created beings undergo. The Creator placed this goal before us and He wishes for us to achieve it not by some miracle, but through our own effort and gradual internal changes.

This goal is primary, it precedes our creation; in order to achieve it, we must go by means of Torah and Mitzvot, meaning, to change our desire with the help of the light that reforms. This goal existed prior to the creation of a person in this world, as was the ladder of spiritual degrees that the person must ascend in order to achieve it. The Creator thought about everything in advance and organized it for us; everything is ready.

We must cleanse ourselves of our egoism and by doing so achieve the goal. But we do not negate it because nothing was created in this world needlessly. Thus, if we have the correct attitude toward our nature, made by the Creator, and strive toward the state He has in store for us, we find ourselves on a given path that we must go through.

It is impossible to skip over this path because we acquire the qualities we need while on it, we purify ourselves. We must cleanse our egoistic desire and, through this work, arrive at the intended goal. Such is the desire of the Creator.

This is how Baal HaSulam starts his article “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” trying to explain to us, in the briefest way possible, the beginning, the middle, and the end of the path of the person’s spiritual work and the study of the system of the upper worlds. In this article, one must understand that the higher spiritual laws, expanding from the thought of creation, consist of only two parts: the nature of the Creator and the nature of the creation, which must be opposite to the Creator. The final goal is to bring the creation to the full adhesion with the Creator without changing its nature but giving it a different form, which resembles the qualities of the Creator.

Through studying the article “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” the system of the upper worlds and its unfolding from top to bottom as a result of which our whole reality was built, we realize that all of it sprung from the thought of creation, for the purpose of bringing us to the final goal. This top-down development of the worlds, the spiritual degrees, states, obligates us to conduct certain actions here below in order to use all the means at our disposal and achieve the purpose of our lives. Our inner work must reflect the spiritual qualities described in this article.

We learn about the light working on the desire, building and disseminating from top to bottom, Partzufim, Sefirot, upper worlds. But in fact, we are learning about the actions we must perform in order to have a clear understanding of what our spiritual work has to be like. Thus, we eliminate all prior misconceptions and clearly see what must be done to achieve the goal.¹
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/14/19, Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” item 11.
¹ Minute 5:05

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If my goal is to give to the Creator, then it should not be important for me whether I do it from the state of ascent or descent. I make a restriction on myself as if I do not exist, and I am only looking for any opportunity to please the Creator. I constantly live in such a “sandwich”: I only pay attention to my goal to bring joy to the Creator, whether I rise or fall.

Then my attitude to the ups and downs becomes constructive: I evaluate them in terms of what will help me more. Perhaps it is more useful for me to reveal more darkness and all kinds of defects. Already by the fact that I thank the Creator for the evil revealed, I give Him pleasure because I understand that this is preparation for merging with Him. I want to be faithful to Him in bad states just as in good ones and not wait for Him to correct everything.

If I solve the problems and stay in joy, this is a sign that I am on the right track and keep the right direction. There is no good without evil. Evil is a solid foundation with which I can confidently advance to perfect work. I always check where and how, in what form and with what power can I please the Creator as much as possible, attach to Him. I do not strive for Him so that I feel good, but because my whole intention is to merge with Him for the sake of bestowing to Him. Therefore, we can feel perfection in any state so that darkness will shine as the Light, and there will be no difference between darkness and light, day and night, and everything will be united in one great day.

If I do not see myself in such a sandwich, then life will constantly throw me up and down, I will not feel that these jumps are targeted, and I will not be happy about the ups and downs equally.

The Creator is the healer of all diseases. Therefore, when I reveal some kind of breakage, I already have the right medicine. When I reveal the disease, it already means I have a cure: these two processes are inextricably linked. The main joy comes from revealing the flaws. The more we reveal them, the more pleasure we can deliver to the Creator.

If I am ready, I will always be glad for any fall: “Look, there is still a flaw! And here is another one, and more!” I will enjoy and rejoice in revealing defects and regret those that have not yet been revealed. After all, a hidden problem has no chance of resolution, and discovering it is a great blessing from above. If it is manifested, it means it existed before but in disguise.

If the Creator reveals bad qualities, conditions, and broken relationships to us, it is a sign of our progress. We must accept them all with joy because they are sent to us by the Creator with love. We must immediately answer Him with love, gratitude, and blessings for the bad as much as for the good^.1

It is not good if everything goes quietly and smoothly in the group. This is similar to a family: if a husband and wife never argue, then it is not life. According to nature, there must be conflicts so that we understand each other’s weaknesses and love each other no matter what. There must be gaps and connections, and only their alternation gives a sense of life.

We do not need to wait for the relationship to be smooth like a horizontal line. After all, it is known that a flatlined electrocardiogram means death. Life means beatings, blows and overcomings: there must be ups and downs.²
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/13/19, “To Learn From the Descent During the Time of Ascent”
1 Minute 2:40 – 11:24
2 Minute 16:00

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The Torah, Deuteronomy, 23:25: When you enter your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat as many grapes as you desire, until you are sated, but you shall not put [any] into your vessel. 

Grapes symbolize desire. That’s why “you may eat as many grapes as you desire, …but you shall not put [any] into your vessel” for the desire is foreign. When you get included into that desire, meaning rise to the next level, there you can receive into yourself without descending back to your level.

This refers to two Partzufim, two souls: big and small. If a small soul rises to the big one and gets included into it, like an embryo into its mother’s womb, then it can feed on everything there is on the upper level. However, it cannot descend to its level since it would be like death, like bodily infection.

When you are able to ascend and descend freely, understanding that you may not use this desire on your own level, the inclusion in the upper level will gradually raise you, and you will begin to ascend yourself and build your own “vineyard.”

Interestingly enough, on the farming fields in Israel, one can pick and eat all the fruits and vegetables he wants, but if wants to take them away, he has to pay for it. Everything has its roots and branches. This is the law of the Torah.

You can enter any field, say the sunflower field, choose whatever you like, and the owner will not say a word about it. He probably would not even look at you, though he knows he will be stripped of. But it doesn’t matter, this is a commandment. It means that the Creator will allow to replenish the harvest.

When you enter your neighbor’s standing grain, you may pick the ears with your hand, but you shall not lift a sickle upon your neighbor’s standing grain (The Torah, Deuteronomy, 23:26).

You may take as many ears of wheat as you need at the given moment because you’re not producing anything from it. But you cannot cut the harvest of a friend with a blade since that is an entire production (egoistic reception).
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 10/26/16

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The Torah, Deuteronomy 23:14: When you sit down outside [to relieve yourself], you shall dig with it (with a stake), and you shall return and cover your excrement.

Question: Why one must cover his excrement?  

Answer: All human waste, including the deceased body must be buried in order to undergo a complete circuit.

As a result of the person’s life everything should rise, and the body waste and the body itself, from which all spiritual energy disappears after death, remain only on inanimate level and therefore should be liken to earth.

In contrast to the traditions of other nations that embalm mummies, the Jews immediately buried the dead body so that it would rot. It was considered correct since animalistic body symbolizes egoism that remains from the former person. It has to dissolve and turn to ashes by completely disintegrating into constituent parts.

The living matter gradually descends to the level that is truly inanimate. Some Jewish communities even had a custom to put lime into graves so that body would decompose quickly.

Question: Does it mean that attitude to the body should be purely biological?

Answer: The body is worth nothing, it must die. In our world, we should use it only to the extent that it is required for the spiritual ascent. It has no other value.

If you have an opportunity to correct some level of your body, you should correct it. If it works for the general correction, then do it, go to the doctor, take medicine, and so on. The attitude to the body must be purely mercantilist so that it would give us an opportunity to cling to eternity while we still alive.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 10/19/16

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Question: Why do Hebrew speaking Kabbalah students call each other “companion, comrade” (“Haver“ in Hebrew) and not “friend” (“Yedid” in Hebrew)?

Answer: In Hebrew, there are two terms: a “comrade, companion” (Haver) and a “friend” (Yedid). But a “friend” is a buddy, a pal, while the word “companion” is derived from the Hebrew word “Hibur” or connection, link.

Question: Why is it said, “And you shall love your neighbor” (Leviticus 19:18), meaning that one shall love the other and not the “companion, comrade”?

Answer: This is because a comrade or companion is someone who is close to you ideologically. In Hebrew there are many synonyms for the word “friend,” which are used according to one’s relationship with another person.

“Hibur” (connection) is above them all, it expresses a mutual aspiration towards the goal for the sake of which two people connect with each other. “Neighbor” is a person who is not particularly close to you, but you have a particular connection with him. The “other” is someone outside of your ego whom you want to draw closer to yourself. A “friend” is a pal, a buddy, and there is also an acquaintance (“Mekir” in Hebrew).

All of these words as if illuminate the level of closeness between you and another person. The wisdom of Kabbalah is a unique language, everything that relates to the spiritual ascent of a person is divided into thousands of levels, and everything else is not.

Comment: But Rabbi Akiva in his famous saying, “And you shall love your neighbor as yourself” used the word “neighbor” and not the word “companion, comrade.”

Answer: Once you love a person he can already be called a “companion, comrade” for this is a higher level.

Question: What is the meaning of the saying, “And you shall love your neighbor as yourself”?

Answer: To the same degree that my ego loves itself, I must rise above it to love the other.
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From KabTV’s lesson in Russian 12/11/16

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Throughout his entire life, a person cannot make a single action aimlessly, without any connection with the upper force. However, it is preferable that he or she acts only in order to resemble the upper force and to connect with it since thereby he approaches revelation.

Question: Why do I need the upper force? Why do I need to resemble it? In what way is it connected to my everyday life? I get up in the morning; I go to work; my concern is for my children to get to school safely and return home safely. I would like for everything to go well at work, for my boss to be in a good mood, and for my projects to go smoothly.

In the evening I return home and want to be greeted by a satisfied wife and happy children so that there is no stress or aggravation.

This daily routine repeats year after year, only with new problems, discernments, inventions, and losses. How does trying to resemble the upper force, which theoretically protects my life, fit into all this? What kind of connection, if any, does it have to a person’s life?

Answer: All your life you were following commands of the upper force without even being aware of who was controlling you. You just ran along the tracks of life like a toy train that is set in motion by a remote control. And it seemed to you that you did everything yourself.

The problem lies in the fact that the upper force is hidden from us. But if you begin to sense who is controlling you and for what purpose, and how you can participate in all the things that He is doing with you, then you will understand that you are not being aimlessly led around in circles like a toy train. Precisely by participating in these actions you will be able to attain the One who is controlling you and to see your entire life from His perspective.

And then in all that you do, you will attempt to establish contact with the Controller. A person must conduct this type of inner work each moment. That is, all that you do in life is only in order to reveal the upper force that directs you. You begin to sense how it behaves at each moment.

Question: A person senses his complete vulnerability in life, in not knowing what tomorrow will bring. Does a connection with the upper force give us a greater sense of security in tomorrow?

Answer: If a person is connected with the upper force, then he is not concerned at all about tomorrow, the main thing is to remain in contact, in adhesion with the Controller. What difference does it make where He is leading me? I am not concerned about the next moment, my only concern is to not lose contact with Him.

This provides such a protective shield in life that nothing else is required because you are connected to the upper mind. Connection with the upper force is like an insurance coverage for all situations in life from the biggest and most successful insurance company that includes all of existence. This is what the wisdom of Kabbalah offers a person.

Question: But what if the person is not religious?

Answer: This has nothing to do with religion, only with a desire to attain the force that governs us.

Question: Where do we look for this upper force?

Answer: We need to look for it inside our own hearts with the help of the wisdom of Kabbalah. It’s not an easy task and it requires time. But ultimately, each will be able to “know your G-d and serve Him.”
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From KabTV’s “A New Life,” #818, 01/26/17

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