Question: Why after actively participating in the workshop is there the feeling of extreme tiredness?

Answer: Working in the seminar consumes a great amount of energy and nerves, both mental and emotional. A person expends a lot of effort.

After the workshop it is good to eat together, to have a small amount of alcohol, about 50-100 grams, just in order to get energy. Not for a good mood!

The good mood and the other things need to come from the unity between us. We drink a little not in order to be happy or become relaxed and calm and not to make it easier to become integrated into each other. It is just the opposite. It is preferred that it would be difficult for you to become integrated with others. You need to overcome all of that. This is that same mountain that we need to climb in order to reach the palace of the Creator. Thus we are talking here only about obtaining energy.

After the workshop, the best thing is not to talk to anyone about anything, but to immediately go to sleep. You are taking with you the most precious thing that you acquired in the workshop. Then, for you, sleep will be a continuation of the attainment, and the morning lesson will be a continuation of the sleep.
[79051]
From the Virtual Lesson 5/20/12, “Fundamentals of Kabbalah”

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Baal HaSulam, “Preface to The Book of Zohar,” Item 33: So is the matter before us: All these images and changes begin and end only with the impression of the souls. Yet, by the will of God, they appear as though they are in him himself. He does that to enhance and expand the attainment of the souls to the utmost, in accordance with the Thought of Creation, to delight His creatures.”

The gap between me and the desired picture, which I imagine, should be filled with knowledge. We must make efforts to understand and clarify and thus expand our vessels.

Eventually we attain a reality that is 620 times greater than the initial reality, and this addition comes from the head of the Partzuf. The desire that was created by the Creator stays the same, but it receives an additional understanding and recognition, and by that it grows qualitatively. Thus I attain not what I have received from the Creator but the Creator Himself.

Question: If I fill this gap with knowledge, what is the role of the feeling?

Answer: The Creator wants only one thing from us, that we will build a mind above the feeling so that we will understand, attain, and reveal Him. By that our vessels of feeling expand as well, because the mind operates on feeling; if I know whom I receive pleasure from, then it is 620 times greater.

Before I was offered a candy, but I didn’t want to taste it. Suddenly I discover that someone I respect gave it to me and so the candy immediately tastes differently.

It all depends on our evaluation. Suppose you were served fine, vintage wine from special reserves, and you are also told about its history, of course you will pour it and enjoy every sip. But what if suddenly it will turned out to be a mistake and that the wine was actually from a barrel that was intended for an ordinary supermarket?

Our tastes and preferences depend on our values, it all depends on our evaluation. If I value something, I feel its taste. Then according to this taste, I evaluate other things. However, without any initial evaluation, I am like a computer without software, just a piece of metal. Of course there are genetic discernments of tastes, but the filling of my desire is what determines the set of values.

Therefore, the addition of 620 times provides me with a mental evaluation, recognition, of the one who brings me the pleasure.

Question: How should I establish the right evaluation if I see before me a picture that is totally opposite from the right order of priorities?

Answer: This picture was given to you on purpose so that you would correct it. I have to see the importance of the one who sent me this corrupt form that allows me to be corrected. Without the broken puzzle I wouldn’t put the separated parts together and wouldn’t acquire the mind of the artist through this process.

I exert myself in order to put the pieces together and eventually, by completing the original picture, I discover its message: “I love you.” What is more, now I know who is saying this to me and what His words mean.
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From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/29/12, Baal HaSulam “600,000 Souls”

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A ladder, which divides the worlds into levels and the Light into portions, descends from Above, from the whole state, all the way to our world, until the total concealment. The concealments were created so that we will grow and fill them with our recognition, our work, with our exertion and efforts.

Instead of working with the vessels of receiving, we should begin to work with the vessels of bestowal, which means with the desire to receive in the intention of in order to bestow and not with the intention of in order to receive. Thanks to that, a person acquires freedom and independence, knowledge and the feeling that he’s in the Creator’s world, in the upper world.

In order to bring a person to this state, he’s shown concealments from a certain point in his development, which is happening in our times. For selected individuals this already happened in previous centuries, but today the whole world feels the concealment, a kind of obscurity, confusion, helplessness, and disorientation. There’s a feeling that we can no longer advance with the old attributes and forces to calculate our exertion and our desires to make plans and achieve results.

There is nothing to yearn for since the world is covered by a shadow. But this shadow is the same concealment, which we have to balance and to fill with our exertion. We know that this concealment was given to us on purpose, not in order to divert us from the good goal, but on the contrary, in order to bring us to the good but consciously, by understanding and feeling it as grown-ups.

Accordingly we have to determine the right way to advance, by clarifying what is required from us and how to organize all the means we have and our vessel, so that they will raise us above the concealment. We don’t annul the concealment, but we rise above it.

Everything depends upon how a person accepts these states. It says: “and each man shall help his friend,” the group has to give each one the powers as well as to constantly remind him that “there is none else besides Him,” and that we must ascend the levels of bestowal in “faith above reason.”

Then all the concealments will turn into a shade of Holiness by which we acquire vessels of bestowal, which are called “holy.” If we forget that, both we and the group, it’s a serious problem because we no longer exert ourselves in order to rise above the concealment; we are not thankful for the concealment and don’t accept it as something that’s desirable, as a springboard to ascent. Instead, we are angry about the concealment and ask for it and all the unpleasantness in life to be removed.

The concealment can be very strong, but a person should remember that there is none else besides Him. A person is only required to determine his relationship with the group correctly in order to raise a request and to draw the Reforming Light, and then he will attain adhesion above the concealment. This is how he will advance.

Otherwise it will turn into a shade of the Sitra Achra, of the egoistic forces, which will lead to a greater fall, which won’t allow him to fulfill himself correctly. No matter what happens, he should rise again and start everything anew. The main thing is to determine a framework for himself: a schedule for studying and for working in the group, which will remind him in every state that his obligation is to differentiate between the shade of Holiness and the shade of the Sitra Achra.
[79182]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/28/12, Shamati #8

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Question: What does it mean to “talk from the center of the group”? What is it?

Answer: When I stop feeling the “I” and begin to feel only “we.”

This feeling should be manifested in us during the discussion, as if we are inseparably tied in a single whole, in one body. I should leave the workshop with this feeling.

Question: Is this the “height of unity”?

Answer: Yes, already I cannot look at things differently. That’s how I see the world, myself, and everything around me.
[79124]
From the Virtual Lesson 5/20/12, “Fundamentals of Kabbalah”

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Question: How can we maintain unity with a friend when he denies it?

Answer: We cannot enter into contract between us if the Creator is not used as a guarantor for this agreement. How can we commit to each other if we aren’t in control, but are completely managed from Above? How can I seriously promise something for tomorrow and expect something from you? This is completely naive.

We need to call the Creator, so that He will be a witness to our agreement, and only then will the agreement exist.

By signing on an agreement, we, first of all, clarify if you are the full owner of this property. If this land, the property, and the bank account, are under someone’s authorization, and that owner doesn’t participate in the signing of this contract, then what is the point of signing it?
[79244]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/29/12, Writings of Rabash

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Question: How can the desire to receive bestow?

Answer: A person has a chance to work with his desire to receive in order to bestow for the good of others. In our world, there are situations in which I feel that I depend on someone, and then I try to make him happy either for my own benefit or to avoid troubles.

I also may perceive the other as part of myself if it is my child or a beloved person. Then, by making him happy, it is as if I make myself happy and even more.

This is one of the forms of the influence of the upper Light, which brings us the right feeling. On the other hand, if the Light disappears, a person sinks to the bottom of his existence, losing all contact, and any sense of belonging even to people who are closest to him.

When the feeling of closeness is taken from us, we are left with the desire to receive by itself without any sentiments. Then, I don’t take anything into account except for any possible damage that I may cause myself. At the same time, the upper Light can influence me in such a way that I suddenly will feel a quantum leap and will want the other to feel good, not because I will benefit from it, not egoistically, but I simply want him to feel good.

How can that be? We don’t know, but Kabbalists tell us about this. They also say that we all should reach this feeling: “You have no other choice, and, if you don’t listen to us, you will experience great suffering, so you will want it one way or the other.”

Only the upper Light can provide me with a new, altruistic attitude toward others. I can never acquire it by myself.

– “So let the Light influence me!” I am told.

– “No, it will influence only if you want it to.”

– “But how can I want it if I am an egoist?”

This is why you were given a “point in the heart” in addition to your desire to receive, a grain of understanding. I admit that bestowal is special, and this candle, which you didn’t light by yourself, burns within you and evokes you.

Besides that, the upper Light flows upon this point or this candle, bringing you to the group, to the study, and placing you in such an environment that enables you to resemble the actions of bestowal, the forms of bestowal. Like a small child who imitates the grown ups, you were given a bit of a desire, so use it.

By that, you will summon the Light that will influence you more strongly, and you will suddenly acquire new attributes. Then, the other, which is the friends, humanity, nature, and the Creator, will become more important that your own self.

The Light does all that if we raise a request for correction and do “good deeds,” which means that we play together in bestowal as if we want it and, by that, reach a prayer, a demand: “We have done so much, and where is the result?” Then, we begin to pray, understanding that only the Light can give us the form of bestowal, and so we advance.

Today, you have no connection to bestowal except for this game. In order to bestow upon the Light, we must resemble it, which is possible only by connection and unity in the group. This is the only form of bestowal that you can express and exhibit in our world in order to resemble the Light and to summon its influence upon you.

– “Okay, we are holding hands. We really want to unite. What’s next?”

This isn’t enough. You don’t connect like a football team; you want to feel the need for bestowal. You lower your heads before one another and unite. What is this for? It is in order to reach the One who bestows.

In order to do that, you should know that you must have the right attitude toward Him. So, please, take a book and read about how to do that. If you want to be big, read what the big ones have written, what they do, and how they prepare their actions of bestowal upon the Creator.

If you really want that, play at it like a child who wishes to resemble a grown-up. Unite with the friends equally by wanting to reach mutual guarantee and as an expression of mutual bestowal. Yearn upward for bestowal upon the Creator, use the sources, and advance together toward the goal.

Then, you will be influenced by the Reforming Light and will reach your goal. Without the Light, nothing will happen. You only evoke a desire that is as correct, as efficient, and as intensive as possible, to the fullest.

You will reach the desirable measure of exertion so that the Light will turn from the Surrounding Light into the Inner Light. In other words, it will bring the attribute of bestowal into your desire, and you will perceive this feeling as the Light itself, as life and vitality.

If you were given the feeling of bestowal now, it would seem to you as hell. The only difference is that, by correcting yourself, you will be prepared for bestowal and be happy with it, whereas now it only will cause you pain and make the darkness seem like death since the Light of Hochma that isn’t dressed in the Light of Hassadim will be like a knife that cuts your whole life.

A small portion of this Light brings about our descents by evoking us to look for the way to rise to Hassadim. You are drawn upward, asking the friends and the Light for a bit of the attribute of bestowal that will pull you out of the descent. By that, you are begging for Hesed (mercy), for the dressing of the Light of Hassadim. When it comes, you receive a little vitality and come out of the abyss.

So, the Reforming Light is different from the Light that does not reform by giving you a Masach (screen), which means the readiness to stand bestowal and even to accept it as the real life.
[78503]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/21/12, “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot“

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A spiritual action differs from a material one in that it always proceeds through the upper one. Therefore, I cannot connect with others on my own. I exert efforts in order to ask the upper to connect me with others.

If I want to raise a prayer, how is it possible to accomplish since I cannot send the Creator a postcard or a message? This is why I ask the upper to help me reach a state of prayer.

Everything goes through the upper; I don’t perform any actions on my own. I only need to prepare my “half a coin.” And advancement lies precisely in seeing each and every time that a person does everything only through the upper one. It’s as if there is an intermediate dispatch station in front of me through which I pass along all of my actions.

Only if my action goes through the upper does He add force into it and returns a response. I must act through Him. And this pertains to any action or thought, “for” or “against.” Only through this will we come to adhesion.
[79256]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/29/12, The Zohar

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Baal HaSulam: “600,000 Souls”: It is said that there are 600,000 souls, and each soul divides into several sparks. We must understand how it is possible for the spiritual to divide, since initially, only one soul was created, the soul of Adam HaRishon.

On one hand, a person sees a picture of a broken and divided world, and on the other hand, it is clear to him that he is the one who is broken and divided inside and this is why he sees the world this way. It says that by the correction, a person tilts himself and the whole world to merit. When I reach my private Gmar Tikkun (end of correction), I should see the whole world as corrected. Now when I look into myself I see that the world is corrupt; this is how my flaws depict it for me. But when I correct myself I tilt myself and the whole world to merit because I and the world I see are the same. The world is the essence of my vessels.

And what about other people? Do they exist or not? Will they also reach Gmar Tikkun? Or does Gmar Tikkun depend only on me and others only assist me along the way? Could it be fair to everyone? Could it be that the others don’t exist and that I am facing my shattered vessel that is depicted to me as egoistic people who oppose me? Does it mean that I only have to attach them to me?

In short, where do the general and the particular meet here? Could it be that it is really my vessel before me and there is nothing else in the world but one soul in which the Light, the Creator, has to be revealed?

This means that if I penetrate more deeply into my soul, I will discover this vessel—in uniting all its parts, in mutual spiritual cooperation with the Creator. The imaginary picture of the world with billions of people will disappear and by the connection of everyone into one soul I will see that there is none else besides Him.

Until then I will perceive the world as divided into independent parts, into many separated souls.
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From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/29/12, Baal HaSulam “600,000 Souls”

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In our longing to rise above our ego, to correspond to nature, to its attributes of bestowal and love, we need to be careful not to postpone our correction until “later.” This is what our ego pushes on us in its resistance to be diminished. Whoever postpones his correction from “ today” to “tomorrow,” “That which changes today for tomorrow for you,“ will discover his mistake only after many years of lack of advancement, “And he that can wait until tomorrow will get lost after years, G-d forbid.”

The reason for such a loss is the negligence in relation to the efforts in loving his friends, in relation to the necessary and sufficient methods of correction of all our ego.

We must understand what a huge force is hiding in the unity of the group and in each one of the friends. After all, we are not dealing with friends or a group, but with the huge force of nature. Each one of us is in unity with it, only the illusion of this world around us and all of its parts confuses us and hides from us the great forces and attributes of nature, of its system of governance regarding us so that each one of us will attain the attributes of bestow and love.

If we connect our forces to each of nature’s representatives, then in the assembly of friends, in love and friendship, we will discover forces that change us to be similar and to become equivalent to the upper force of nature.
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From Baal HaSulam, Pri Hacham (Fruit of the Wise), Letter 13, 1925

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We need to try to turn every lesson of ours into a workshop. In the beginning we describe the central point of the connection between us, of the entire world group, and from within the feeling of this center, this connection, we listen to the lesson, and clarify all the questions. We exist within this unity. From within it, together we raise the prayer of MAN, and all of us together attain the answer of MAD, the Light. This bonds and brings us to the state of revelation.

Everything depends on the preparation, from the search for the common point shared by us all, the Shechina (Divinity). Thus the preparation for the lesson is the most important thing.

According to the order of spiritual work, the day begins in the evening. A person completes the “day” he went through, exits his work, and enters into the bestowal of the upper that begins to change his Kelim (desires), Reshimot (informational genes). And a person needs to prepare himself for this, connect to the property of Bina, bestowal, leaving less of his feelings and mind, acting as if half-asleep.

Thus he prepares himself to changes that occur within his desires, Kelim, that are disclosed specifically in the darkness. In the evening, everything becomes mixed: the good and the bad, the light and the darkness, bestowal and reception. Everything becomes identically gray and undifferentiated. But the person deposits himself in the hands of the upper one and “goes to sleep.” This means that he understands that he needs to completely annul himself now, like a fetus in his mother’s womb, which is called, “secretly sits in the upper.”

Then, despite everything, he can continue and awaken at “midnight”, since he received new Kelim and desires. From the beginning of the evening, he executes corrections, and after the completion of the stage where he doesn’t rule in self-control, he then receives new desires and begins to awaken at the coming of “dawn”. And then comes the new connection, which is called the morning prayer (Schema Kriyat), it produces Light. In this way he begins his new day, new revelation, a new advancement with fresh forces.

It is specifically in this way that we need to prepare ourselves to the morning lesson.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/23/12

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