Question: How can I use The Book of Zohar to wake up the group for the attack before the convention in the desert?

Answer: We need to ask for a desire. We are constantly falling asleep in our life. It is no coincidence that our heart becomes burdened by the constant growth of the receiving desire. It has to grow to infinity, and thus we should react to this correctly. The desire becomes more and more violent and egoistic, more demanding and burdensome.

It is good if we try to bring it to correction, that is, to unity. And if we do not try, we experience troubles and misfortunes, which will force us to think about life only not because of the goal, but because of pain. Thus, we advance.

As for The Book of Zohar, it is possible to ask for the Light, which you lack.

Suppose, you are sick. You have fever, chills, you do not feel well, and want nothing, but to lie down and close your eyes. What do doctors recommended in this case? Indeed, you should not tire the body with physical activity; you need rest. You lie in bed, good for nothing, and even cannot eat; you lose your appetite, any food seems disgusting. But what can you do? Then, do the following: Open a cookbook, read the recipes, look at the photos in color, and gradually your appetite returns.

It is the same here: You are sick, you are sleepy, so open your book. Not necessarily The Book of Zohar, any book that is close to you and to which you respond. Depending on conditions, I use different books: The Gates of Intentions, Gate of Reincarnations, the 16th part of TES, and Shamati. Everyone is awakened by something else. It could be Psalms. It is written: “A man learns where his heart is.” The main thing is that they are our materials.

If a person is completely confused, the sages advise that he should think about the day of death. He can go to a cemetery and reflect on graves. Of course, this is just an example, but the point is to throw the body some calculations and shake it. In fact, it is not about physical death, but the death of the egoistic desire.

However, the most obvious of all the means is the group, the impact of the environment. If a person works in a way that he should be included in the others, it is very effective. As a rule, it helps a lot to organize an event for the public because he receives people’s desire and power to move forward.

Dissemination is the most effective method and the best solution. When one participates in it, he feels how much strength it gives.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/9/12, The Zohar

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In Kabbalah, as compared to other sciences, it isn’t enough for a person to simply study and understand the studied material, even if he feels it in a regular, commonly accepted manner. The uniqueness of the wisdom of Kabbalah is that a person feels internal changes in it. Actually, he changes the foundations of his desire, mind, and heart. A new desire is revealed to him, consisting of 613 desires and 613 connected and corresponding thoughts enabling the realization of the desired. In general, these desires and thoughts comprise the person’s soul. That is what the studies reveal to us.

Before that, a person only had a point, the smallest Reshimo (informational gene) existing in him from previous stages of development, which we’ll attain afterward. In all our work, the only thing that can facilitate our self-development is drawing and increasing the force of the Light influencing the point concealed within us to the maximum, developing it as quickly as possible.

That doesn’t mean we can just turn on the faucet so the Light will flow more quickly. In order to hasten our development, we need to be prepared to change.

We don’t hold a knob in our hands, which regulates the Light coming from the Creator to the Menorah. I can only turn that knob from within the point in my heart. Try to discern if the point in your heart is connected to the switch. You don’t control it, and the only option is to be included in a group. That is because in this system, comprehensive and abstract Light from Infinity flows. Thus, in order to regulate it, there must be a total (∑), integral (∫) of efforts, reaching infinity. Only by being included in all the friends further and further, will I be able to turn the switch and increase the Light in accordance with the law of equivalence of form.

What is that law? I’m not in equivalence of form with the switch, the absolute force of the Creator. However, at my degree, I can operate it to a certain extent. The difference (∆) between us remains, and some sort of adaptation or equivalence exists in all.

Question: Is this switch personal for each one or common to all?

Answer: Common. What operates is only the prayer of many, the common desire.

Question: How can we create a permanent connection between the point and the switch?

Answer: It’s impossible. Because being permanent symbolizes lack of motion, in such a case you won’t develop. You will always be driven away from the path by evil desires.

In the “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Item 17, Baal HaSulam brings the words of the Talmud: “If thou cometh across this villain, pull him to the Beit Midrash (seminary),” to a place where we all demand the Creator, meaning a group, the collective force concealed amongst the friends.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/7/12, “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot”

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If we force ourselves onto nature in an attempt to “correct” it as our mind dictates, nothing good will ever come out of it. In truth, we don’t know what brings harm and what makes an improvement, and what form it will take in the end. One thing is certain: The world completely depends on the correction of man who must correct himself. If he doesn’t, he sees the surrounding world as corrupted as it is now. But if instead of correcting himself he starts correcting it, he makes it worse!

On the outside, in still, vegetative, and animate nature there is nothing to correct! It must remain the way it is; and the only thing we can transform is man, internally. Therefore, don’t evaluate what is harmful and what is beneficial: If I am getting a beating to get transformed during the journey, then I accept these problems as aid. After all, only man pays dues. If it weren’t for you, all nature would be in balance. But in order to have you evolve, it gets out of balance, and you start feeling it in yourself.

All of the surrounding nature is your external desires that you cannot correct yet; in Kabbalah these outward levels are regarded as “cover” and “house” (“Levush” and “Eichal”). If you don’t wish to work on them, they will be bothering you. And if you decide to correct them directly, instead of reforming your inner desires, by annihilating some type of fly or other animal species, hoping to improve the world thereby, it will only lead to a double catastrophe on both planes: as on the material plane, so on the spiritual one.

From trying to perform “corrections” on the outside, which wasn’t supposed to be touched at all, not only will you continue to suffer internally, but also externally. Everything there is in the world, no matter how harmful, has its designation and must exist. If you wish to fix it, please do: Fix yourself!

Before World War II, Baal HaSulam was shouting out that we were headed for disaster, and he appealed to people to make corrections, but nobody would listen. And all who remained in Poland ended up in Nazi concentration camps. But even today, we still don’t hear the warnings.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/22/10, “The Peace”

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Question: How is it possible to organize clarification in the group correctly in order not to be involved with our ego and not turn the bad to Klipa (shell)?

Answer: When I clarify my relations with you, I only reach the point of breakage, and immediately ask for correction. And the group needs to participate in this. After all, I don’t just discover the bad between you and me, but I want it to be a general gain so that we will discover the connection between us.

It is specifically that these transgressions are the place where above it love is discovered, and without transgressions, there can’t be love. The entire system of work in the three lines is assembled from this, which doesn’t appear in any religion or faith. We use our ego, specifically use it, and don’t destroy it.

And in principle, the Klipa is the lack of desire to use the ego. All the mistakes made by religions, faiths, and in general, all mistakes in life are summed up by a person not understanding that in the force of bad lies the secret of life. It is forbidden for you to cover this up, to erase or change anything. You only need to cover it with a good attitude and that’s all. The forms of the bad remain; you only cover them with the attribute of Hassidim (mercy) and receive the Kli of holiness, the Kli of bestowal.

But I don’t simply need to awaken the bad in me: “where is my hatred for everyone?” The correct approach is that we long for the good, and don’t descend to the bad. There is no Mitzva (commandment) to awaken quarrels. We need to add to the longing for connection, and then certainly we will discover the impairment. Only longing for ascension is needed, and according to that we will discover the descent.

But if we don’t long for what is above, then from above we will be shown the corruptions, and they can be of different sorts: sudden unpleasantness in the family or between friends of the group; anything is possible. But all of these are signs that the group doesn’t strive upward, and then problems and tragedies are revealed at the corporeal level. Even if the group is not united enough, but aspires to unity, then the deficiency of the connection will be revealed. And if it doesn’t yearn enough for the upper level, then deficiencies at the corporeal level will be revealed and even lower than that.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/6/12, The Zohar

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A person goes through different stages in his spiritual development. At the beginning, while on the still level, a person isn’t capable of independent action, he doesn’t understand where he is; therefore, he includes himself in the group and it begins to effect his development.

A few years go by until a person realizes that his active involvement is required. There’s work for him and he needs to be active. He always has to clarify in what direction he’s headed. From that moment on, he advances from the still to the vegetative level. He begins to grow as a result of taking care of himself, connecting with others, following the teacher’s advice, and paying close attention to the path he’s on.

He submits himself to the influence of the environment because he realizes that a group isn’t just a gathering of people but that it possesses a unique inner force, which he needs in order to develop. He becomes a “plant” and the group becomes his “soil” from which he draws the strength to develop and to further include himself in the group. He realizes that only an adult tree can produce fruit and that a tree can grow only if a person includes oneself in the group.

Upon growing, he wishes to receive the fruits, which are connection, love, and the revelation of the force of mutual bestowal, where the Creator is revealed. For the time being this is all on the vegetative level.

Then there is the animate level. This is when a person can influence things and partially takes it upon himself to care for the connection between everyone. He is no longer a “tree” that’s stuck to the ground and that is passive in relation to the one taking care of it.

The human level within a human is where one takes care of the tree. But the animate level within a human is more than a tree because it also strives to grow and actively participate in the whole system. A person sees general flaws and tries to fix them. He sees not only how to correct himself and to passively include himself in the system, but also sees how to help others; thereby, he enters into general connections and corrections. This can be attributed to the animal level.

The human level is where one adheres to the Creator as a result of his actions. So it turns out that the basis for our development is in caring for the “tree”

Primarily it’s enough to divide your life into corporeal and spiritual. You should give to the corporeal what is necessary, no more and no less, and give the rest to your spiritual work without any limitation.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/8/12, Writings of Rabash

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Question: In the post “Call Upon Him While He Is Near” you say “not to miss the opportunities as they arise” and to “react properly.” Could you give an example of an “opportunity” and a “proper” reaction to it?

Answer: Aspire to feel yourself connected to the Creator each moment, and then you will develop a new sensation. After all, you are connected to the group and study together with us. However, you lack constant effort to keep yourself connected and feel that this is how the Creator is “talking” with you.

Question: I am wondering whether animals have souls, and if they do, whether they have the possibility of development?

Answer: Only the one who reaches the property of bestowal has the soul, and only to the extent that he masters this property.

Question: Are the friends my point in the heart? Does linking my desire to theirs reveal bestowal?

Answer: A point in the heart is one’s “Self,” and the soul is one’s aspirations to bestowal (the Creator), received from the environment and corrected by the Light.
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Question: The Kabbalists are telling me about the property of bestowal, but I don’t sense it. I don’t even have the end of the thread…

Answer: When you experience the need for bestowal you can understand what bestowal is like. Try to bestow to your friends and you will see that you don’t want it. From this you will understand what it would be like if you possessed the property of bestowal. Then you will start guessing what you lack.

The reasoning is as follows. I want to achieve unity with my friends. They are united with one another while I am detached from them. Honestly I don’t want this unity, I am incapable of doing this, I keep forgetting about it. The sparkle of my desire dims. I can revive it only when I am with my friends, when I connect to them even because of shame.

I become closer to them, I work in the group and I begin to understand how much I need love. The sketches of my efforts gradually depict a picture of bestowal. I think about its benefits and this way I form a vessel, desire. Perhaps it’s still unreal and only preliminary. However, with every effort I draw the upper Light, which is built according to my desires. It is coming from perfection, from Eternity, to the very breakage, to this world. Perhaps like a child I play a guessing game, but the Light is doing its work. This makes it possible for me to move toward bestowal.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/2/12, “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot”

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We have to go to a great deal of trouble in order to eventually reach “the King of Egypt died.” And afterward, “many days” begin in which we have to carry out many acts in order to reveal the correct demand within us. If we simply “scream from the lack of will to work,” that is not called “sighing from the work.”

If we don’t receive pleasure from the work, we should gradually discern: “What does it mean “the King of Egypt died?” Why are we working and for whom? We gradually discern this, until we realize there is another king and we must exit Egypt in order to be the workers of the Creator, that is, to work for bestowal.

Yet, how can I do that, if here in Egypt everything’s so simple? I’m built in such a way that I feel pleasure the moment I carry out a certain act or make an effort in thinking. The reward arrives instantaneously, within my desire. Although initially, I seemed to long for bestowal, it was with the intent of “in order to receive.” I bestow, but that is how I receive pleasure,when I identify with my egoistic desire.

However, when the King of Egypt dies, it’s great help from Above, enabling us to detach from him. Indeed, he is now dead; I am rid of him. I didn’t want that, but he has left me. My ego has detached from him.

And I don’t know what to do; I have no one to work for any more. I cry and am still. I always enjoyed him so much, and now I am left with no pleasure in life. How will I find pleasure? In what desire, thought, or intent will I be able to feel it? I begin searching.

I used to work, bestowing in order to receive, yet now I will have to look for something else, and inevitably, through beatings, I will attain bestowal in order to bestow. I think to myself: If I don’t have the vessels in which I may find pleasure, I might be able to derive pleasure from someone else.

I look at someone else: He has pleasure, whereas I have no vitality. That is why I envy him and want to join him, in order to enjoy his pleasure. Perhaps that way, at least I’ll receive some satisfaction. That is how we begin to view our surroundings. I can’t enjoy by myself any more when I work within my “Egypt” as before.

However, if I bestow unto the environment and cause them pleasure, I’ll be able to join them and enjoy along with them; even though I join with the intent of receiving something in that manner, it still is called bestowing unto the environment. That is already called Lo Lishma (not for Her name). I bestow unto them and want for them to have goodness since I’m going to identify with them and join them, so that I will find goodness within them. That’s already an advanced stage.

There are different stages of drawing near exiting Egypt. Some already realize they act in order to benefit egoism and later reach Lishma, and there are others who don’t realize it in the meantime and only act in search of pleasure. Yet, no matter what, we’re advancing.

I already have the direction: I understand that I must join the group that is exiting Egypt. Indeed, I don’t receive pleasure from the simple life. Yet, if I join them, then there, within them, in our unity, I’ll find the pleasure and reveal my unique spiritual life. That’s already a step toward salvation: There’s a purpose in detaching from egoism. After all, Egypt is already dead and that is enough. If a person feels he must bestow unto the group and reveal the collective force in it called the Creator, if he wants to be included in it so that he will also receive something, that is already called Lo Lishma (an egoistic longing for spirituality).

There are various forms and levels in each one, at different times, but it already gives the direction until we conclude the struggle, the ten beatings, which help a person detach from Egypt for good and feel the life in Egypt as darkness.

The last beating is the killing of the firstborn, which shows us that nothing will stem from this situation for us, nothing will “be born” of it. And then it’s already totally clear to a person that this state can’t bear any result. When each firstborn in Egypt dies, then he agrees to escape.

All those states the Torah tells about take place in our will to receive. Beating after beating: Either Pharoah prevails, or the Creator prevails and “Moses” sees how all this happens within him and what the values are that he gives the will to receive and the will to bestow. That is until he sees the darkness in his situation, and remains with no choice other than escaping through this darkness to the will to bestow, only to see some sign of Light ahead. And this is how he escapes from Egypt. That’s what should happen in a person who’s prepared to join the society, even if he arrives in order to find livelihood in it and egoistic fulfillment: That is already called Lo Lishma
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/5/12, Shamati #159

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Question: Why do we search for the spiritual world through the eyes of the corporeal world?

Answer: This is the way we are built; these are our desires. We can fulfill them only through the means that have been given to us: hands, legs, the five senses, and the brain.

My calculation is rather simple: to fulfill myself as much as possible with the desired pleasures and constantly to remain fulfilled 100% of the time. But the moment that I approach the upper line of fulfillment, the pleasure disappears, and I need to descend a little. For example, before a meal, I must be hungry in order for it to give me pleasure.

We need to be concerned to create the Kli (vessel) and the fulfillment that is suited to it. Nevertheless, the fulfillment doesn’t need to extinguish the deficiency, but rather to accompany it. It is best when the fulfillment and the deficiency go hand in hand; the more I receive, the more I want; I still receive and I still desire, again and again.

Here the question arises: What do I feel—eternal pleasure or eternal deficiency, or maybe once this way and once that?

In our world the only possibility to enjoy both the deficiency and the fulfillment is if they are directed to a third party. Then both of them are desirable and exist within me. Not alternately, but at the same time, together. About this it is said, “Love covers all transgressions.”

If they exist side by side, then from within their combination the middle line is created, and I constantly enjoy myself, without end, without any transition between the deficiency and the fulfillment. And thus I reach the form of Infinity, and I don’t need to replace the periods of deficiency and fulfillment.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/6/12, “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot”

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Question: How does one find a balance between the corporeal desires and the desire for the Creator?

Answer: I have a point in the heart from which I observe all that is happening. First and foremost, I sense my body. I can even look at it from this point in the heart; I can observe its organs and parts. From this point in the heart I can observe my body and the systems that operate within it.

The Creator gave me this bodily sensation; it is the system closest to me. However, I do not belong to this system, I simply observe it from the inner point in the heart, where my “I” dwells.

Besides my body, I also have people that are close to me, such as family. There are also more extended influences, such as all of nature. These are all things that influence my point in the heart, the point which tries to analyze and identify itself: “Who am I?”

From the point of my “I” (Aleph-Nun-Yod), I have to go to the point of “No” (Aleph-Yod-Nun), which is above myself. On one hand I want to take over the world, destroy my enemies, and control everyone. This is what my egoistic point wants.

However, I work on nullifying myself so that I can exist from this point and begin to sense the upper force, which exists outside of me.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/7/12, Writings of Rabash

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